"Jacqueline Lichtenberg - Sime Gen 13 - Operation High Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lichtenberg Jacqueline)

except in Gen Territory, where, needlesslyimmobilized in retainers, they became weak and clumsy.
I was determined to present my arguments and inventions to GrandpaDigen tonight. If I could convince
him that the time was rightto force the issue...
After dinner, Grandpa Digen and I sat alone on the sun porch watchingdarkness engulf the pine forest.
Aunt Clare was puttering inthe kitchen as women do, and nobody else was about. Cousin Dorienand his
family wouldn't come until later.
Grandpa Digen is really my great grandfather. A hundred and twentyis old even for a Sime, so I wanted
to broach the subject gentlyand keep the talk quiet.
"Did you hear about the Sime, Ray Bilton I think his namewas, who tripped on a crowded walkway a
few days ago and knockeda Gen into the path of a truck?"
"No, I didn't. What happened?"
"The Gen was hospitalized. The Gen police didn't hold Biltonresponsible, but the Sime investigation
turned up that he'd beenwearing retainers more than twelve hours. They blamed his carelessnesson the
cumulative effect of the pain and discomfort and let itgo at that."
"There ought to be a law against wearing retainers more thantwelve hours."
"I disagree. There ought not to be a law requiring retainerswhen they are not needed."
"I should live to see the day!"
"Well, you've lived to see the invention of revolutionary,comfortable retainers, so why not?"
"I have?" Grandpa was really interested now.
"I reached into my pocket and brought forth my ring. Itglittered red-gold in the dying sunlight. "It's crude
becauseI didn't have tools to make real jewelry." I pointed outthe half-inch rounded crown where the
stone would be. "Themechanism is here. I call it an attenuator because it attenuatesfield gradients by
several dynopters with absolutely no cumulativediscomfort. Here, try it."
He took it and put it on his ring finger a bit gingerly.
"Ho! How about that! It really does." He took itoff to look it over carefully.
"It's my own invention. I want to market it, but I don'tknow where to begin. I have something else, too." I
tookout my other prize. Grandpa looked at it.
"Looks like half a sleeve. The bottom half."
"I call it a damper and I believe it will replace the retainer. You slip it on like this, fasten this strap below
the elbow andhook this loop around your middle finger to keep it from twisting. Now this material strip
hugs the lateral and completely cutsoff field sensation from that lateral only." I showed himclosely in the
fading light. "There is none of the discomfortand disorientation of the regulation model, and it leaves
allhandling tentacles free. You only wear it on one lateral at atime so there's no problem of over
sensitization, and it's quitecomfortable."
While Grandpa gave it the same careful inspection, I continued,"It will provide as much protection for the
Gens as the retainers;and used with an attenuator, it can make any Sime reasonably comfortablein any
field gradient, even direct skin contact. No time limit. No agony. No torture. The problem is to convince
them of that."
No family patriarch was ever more respected than Grandpa Digen. What he said went. I waited
anxiously while he pondered. Withfamily help, the first step of my crusade would be easy. To marketmy
inventions for private use of Simes -- for instance exchangestudents living with all-Gen families, or for
medical therapy-- and then get accepted by the Gens. The second step -- to putthe use of them
completely at the discretion of the individualSime -- would take much longer and be more difficult.
At last Grandpa spoke. "That will require convincing theGen public that transfer cannot possibly take
place without allfour laterals in skin contact. We'd have to yet their congressto legalize the things. We'd
have to get our congress to definecriteria for need of them. It would mean a tremendous publicrelations
campaign to drum up Gen sympathy for their sufferingSime friends ..."
He trailed off, and I sat perfectly still holding my breath asit became completely dark. The old man still
had a quick intelligence,a lightening grasp of the heights and depths of a problem.
When he spoke again, it was with a fired enthusiasm. "Whata fight that would make! What a crusade! I'm