"Syndrome Johnny" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maclean Katherine)

In the dining hall of a university, a biochemical student glanced up from his paper to his breakfast companion. УYou remember Johnny, the mythical carrier that they told about during the first and second epidemics of Syndrome Plague?Ф

УSure. Syndrome Johnny. They use that myth in psychology class as a typical example of mass hysteria. When a city was nervous and expecting the plague to reach it, some superstitious fool would imagine he saw Syndrome Johnny and the population would panic. Symbol for Death or some such thing. People imagined they saw him in every corner of the world. Simultaneously, of course.Ф

It was a bright morning and they were at a window which looked out across green rolling fields to a towering glass-brick building in the distance.

The student who had gone back to his paper suddenly looked up again. УSome Peruvians here claim they saw Syndrome JohnnyЦФ

УIdiotic superstition! YouТd think it would have died when the plague died.Ф

The other grinned. УThe plague didnТt die.Ф He folded his newspaper slowly, obviously advancing an opening for a debate.

His companion went on eating. УAnother of your wild theories, huh?Ф Then through a mouthful of food: УAll right, if the plague didnТt die, where did it go?Ф

УNowhere. We have it now. We all have it!Ф He shrugged. УA virus catalyst of high affinity for the cells and a high similarity to a normal cell protein Ц how can it be detected?Ф

УThen why donТt people die? Why arenТt we sick?Ф

УBecause we have sickened and recovered. We caught it on conception and recovered before birth. Proof? Why do you think that the countries which were known as the Hungry Lands are now well-fed, leisured, educated, advanced? Because the birth rate has fallen! Why has the birth rate fallen?Ф He paused, then very carefully said, УBecause two out of three of all people who would have lived have died before birth, slain by Syndrome Plague. We are all carriers now, hosts to a new guest. AndФ Ц his voice dropped to a mock sinister whisper ЦУwith such a stranger within our cells, at the heart of the intricate machinery of our lives, who knows what subtle changes have crept upon us unnoticed!Ф

His companion laughed. УEat your breakfast. You belong on a horror programme!Ф



A police psychologist for the Federated States of The Americas was running through reports from the Bureau of Social Statistics. Suddenly he grunted, then a moment later said, УUh-huh!Ф

УUh-huh what?Ф asked his superior, who was reading a newspaper with his feet up on the desk.

УRemember the myth of Syndrome Johnny?Ф

УGhost of Syndrome Plague. Si, what of it?Ф

УTitaquahapahel, Peru, population nine hundred, sent in a claim that he turned up there and they almost caught him. Crime Statistics rerouted the report to Mass Phenomena, of course. Mass Phenomena blew a tube and sent their folder on Syndrome Johnny over here. Every report they ever had on him for ninety years back! A memo came with it.Ф He handed the memo over.

The man behind the desk looked at it. It was a small graph and some mathematical symbols. УWhat is it?Ф

УIt means,Ф said the psychologist, smiling dryly, Уthat every crazy report about our ghost has points of similarity to every other crazy report. The whole business of Syndrome Johnny has been in their Уfunny coincidenceФ file for twenty years. This time the suspect hits the averaged description of Johnny too closely: A solid-looking man, wide-boned, five-eight, one eighty, unusual number of visible minor scars, especially on the face and hands, and a disturbing habit of bending his fingers at the first-joint knuckles when he is thinking. The coincidence has gotten too damn funny. ThereТs a chance weТve been passing up a crime.Ф

УAn extensive crime,Ф said the man at the desk softly. He reached for the folder. УYes, a considerable quantity of murder.Ф He leafed through the folder and then thought a while, looking at the most recent reports. Thinking was what he was paid for, and he earned his excellent salary.

УThis thumbprint on the hotel register Ц the name is false, but the thumbprint looks real. Could we persuade the Bureau of Records to give their data on that print?Ф

УWithout a warrant? Against constitutional immunity. No, not a chance. The public has been touchy about the right to secrecy ever since that police state was attempted in Varga.Ф

УHow about persuading an obliging judge to give a warrant on grounds of reasonable suspicion?Ф

УNo. WeТd have the humanist press down on our necks in a minute, and any judge knows it. WeТd have to prove a crime was committed. No crime, no warrant.Ф