"Harry Adam Knight - Fungus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight Harry Adam)

Tuesday, 5.20 p.m.

How it began. .

It was the happiest day of Jane WilsonтАЩs life. As she stood there in the laboratory cradling the organism in
her arms she couldnтАЩt remember ever feeling this elated before, even at the birth of her son Simon.

She was holding a specimen of agaricus bisporus, a species of fungus more commonly known as a
тАЬcultivatedтАЭ mushroom. But it was no ordinary specimen. For one thing its pileus, or capтАФwhich was
resting against her left breastтАФ was over a foot in diameter, and the stipe, or stalk was over two feet long
and seven inches thick. Altogether it weighed nearly four pounds.

It differed in another more important way from an ordinary agaricus bisporusтАФthis mushroom was
protein rich, yielding almost as much usable protein per gram as poultry flesh .

It was the result of seven years hard work and research but at last sheтАЩd succeeded. Two hours ago the
giant mushroom she was now hugging to her breast had been a tiny spore of almost microscopic size
sitting in its tray of nutrient jelly. And now, just a short time later, it was big and protein rich enough to
provide one person with enough food for a day.

Jane felt tears rolling down her face . No one had a right

to be this happy, she told herself. тАЬOh baby, baby,тАЭ she whispered to the fungus, hugging it harder, тАЬYou
are beautiful, and youтАЩre mine . . . all mine.тАЭ

Then she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass wall that sealed off this section of the laboratory
and felt momentarily embarrassed. тАЬHell, I look like the Madonna with Child,тАЭ she muttered to herself, тАЬ. .
. positively downright beatific.тАЭ



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It was time to stop acting like an emotional fool, she decided, and start behaving like a scientist again.
The self-congratulations could come later. There was still work to do .

She took the mushroom to a nearby table and laid it out, almost reverently, in a large enamel tray. Then,
with a scalpel, she cut a small section out from the edge of the cap. It wasnтАЩt an easy thing for her to
doтАФto mutilate her perfect creation in this wayтАФbut it had to be done.

She turned the section over in her hands and examined the gills on the underside of the cap. Her heart
sank a little. The section was enlarged enough for her to see with the naked eye the hymenium covering
the surface of the gills. The hymenium is the substance from which the basidium growтАФthe basidium
being the micro-organisms that form the mushroom spores. An ordinary mushroom can eject spores at the
rate of half a million a minute during the two or three days of its active life but Jane could see that the
hymenium on this super-sized specimen was under-developed.

Nervously, she sliced a small sliver from the gill section and placed it under a microscope. Her heart sank