"James P. Hogan - Giants 2 - The Gentle Giants of Ganymede" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

Fichter smiled. "You've nothing to say to throw any light on our problem
with this wretched enzyme then," he said.
Hunt did not reply immediately but pursed his lips and inclined his head
to one side in the manner of somebody with doubts about the advisability of
revealing something that he knew. "Well," he finally said, "you've got enough
to worry about with that enzyme as things are." The tone was mildly playful,
but irresistibly provocative. All heads in the room swung around abruptly to
face in his direction.
"Vic, you're holding out on us," Sandy declared. "Give."
Danchekker fixed Hunt with a silent, challenging stare. Hunt nodded and
reached down with one hand to operate the keyboard recessed into the edge of
the table opposite his chair. Above the far side of Ganymede, computers on
board Jupiter Five responded to his request. The display on the conference
room wall changed to reveal a densely packed columnar arrangement of numbers.
Hunt allowed some time for the others to study them. "These are the
results of a series of quantitative analytical tests that were performed
recently in the J5 labs. The tests involved the routine determination of the
chemical constituents of cells from selected organs in the animals you've just
been talking about -- the ones from the ship." He paused for a second, then
continued matter-of-factly. "These numbers show that certain combinations of
elements turned up over and over again, always in the same fixed ratios. The
ratios strongly suggest the decay products of familiar radioactive processes.
It's exactly as if radioisotopes were selected in the manufacture of the
enzymes."
After a few seconds, one or two puzzled frowns formed in response to his
words. Danchekker was the first to reply. "Are you telling us that the enzyme
incorporated radioisotopes into its structure...selectively?" he asked.
"Exactly."
"That's ridiculous," the professor declared firmly. His tone left no
room for dissent. Hunt shrugged.
"It appears to be fact. Look at the numbers."
"But there is no way in which such a process could come about,"
Danchekker insisted.
"I know, but it did."
"Purely chemical processes cannot distinguish a radioisotope from a
normal isotope," Danchekker pointed out impatiently. "Enzymes are manufactured
by chemical processes. Such processes are incapable of selecting radioisotopes
to use for the manufacture of enzymes." Hunt had half expected that
Danchekker's immediate reaction would be one of uncompromising and total
rejection of the suggestion he had just made. After working closely with
Danchekker for over two years, Hunt had grown used to the professor's tendency
to sandbag himself instinctively behind orthodox pronouncements the moment
anything alien to his beliefs reared its head. Once he'd been given time to
reflect, Hunt knew, Danchekker could be as innovative as any of the younger
generation of scientists seated around the room. For the moment, then, Hunt
remained silent, whistling tunelessly and nonchalantly to himself as he
drummed his fingers absently on the table.
Danchekker waited, growing visibly more irritable as the seconds dragged
by. "Chemical processes cannot distinguish a radioisotope," he finally
repeated. "Therefore no enzyme could be produced in the way you say it was.