"Geoffrey A. Landis - David in the Lion's Den" - читать интересную книгу автора (Landis Geoffrey A)

тАЬSo soon? IтАЩd hoped for more time to prepare.тАЭ

тАЬThings are moving faster than weтАЩd expected.тАЭ

тАЬSo be it. How about your part? Are you ready?тАЭ

тАЬYes.тАЭ Jake reached into his pocket and look out a finger-sized test tube, the
end sealed with a wax plug. A small amount of dirty water was pooled in the bottom.
He handed it to David. тАЬWe finished last night.тАЭ

Dave looked at it skeptically. тАЬDoesnтАЩt look like much, does it? This is
enough?тАЭ

тАЬDonтАЩt doubt. ItтАЩs plenty.тАЭ

He looked at it critically. тАЬYou know ... thatтАЩs some real work here. ItтАЩs a pity
we canтАЩt get something publishable out of this ... maybe Nature ...тАЭ

тАЬDonтАЩt even think about it.тАЭ

тАЬI know.тАЭ He paused. тАЬIтАЩd better be off, I guess.тАЭ

тАЬOne more thing.тАЭ Jake walked to one of the stainless-steel lab refrigerators
and retrieved a sandwich in a Zip-loc bag from behind the rows of sample jars and
tissue cultures. The refrigerator was labeled with a large red letters: LABORATORY
USE ONLY. DONтАЩT KEEP YOUR LUNCH HERE. тАЬHere you go. Ham and swiss
with bean sprouts. For your trip. Shalom, my friend. And mazel tov?

тАЬYeah, right.тАЭ David looked back at his glove box. He thought about leaving a
note for his grad student to clean it up and keep the cultures alive, but realized it
wouldnтАЩt do any good. The virus heтАЩd been working with wasnтАЩt dangerous; it had
been engineered to infect guinea-pig livers, part of a study tracing enzyme
expression. The work would wait. HeтАЩd much rather stick here, tracing protein
variants through an unexceptional biochemical pathway, than fly across the world to
a place where people would be killing each other, but theyтАЩd made their plans long
ago, and now it was time to see what they could do.

He looked at the sandwich with distaste, then looked back at Jake. тАЬAndтАФby
the wayтАФyou mean bтАЩhatzlacha, not mazel tov. Mazel tov is for happy occasions.тАЭ
It figured. He hated bean sprouts.

****

Tuesday 26 March, Tel Aviv

The airport was crowded with people wailing to flee the country,
grandmothers with paper bags full of possessions and arms full of children, business
men with their laptops and cell phones, young mothers with infants sleeping over
their shoulders, tourists whose vacations had been abruptly cut short. Foreigners,
David noted; almost all foreigners. The Israelis werenтАЩt leaving.