"Sean McMullen - Alone in His Chariot" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Sean)

Alone in His Chariot
Sean McMullen
Vuner was shaking so much as he signed in at the laboratory that his signature was barely recognisable.
A bullet graze on his upper arm was throbbing, reminding him of how close his escape had been.
Normally he never took a hit at work, but today had to be an exception. He could not afford to call
attention to himself by dropping glassware all day.
Schilden, the Senior Research Officer in the institute, was already in, and had just brewed some coffee in
the staff room. Vuner slipped a capsule into his mouth as he sat down at the table, then accepted a mug
from Schilden and gulped a mouthful of coffee.
"Young man, you look terrible, if you will pardon my saying," Schilden said in his thick Swiss-German
accent.
"I was out in the park with my telescope last night," admitted Vuner sheepishly. "I just lost track of the
time."
"But the sky was clouded last night."
"Most of the time," agreed Vuner, "but if you wait long enough there's always a few breaks to see
through to the stars."
Schilden poured himself another mug of coffee, shaking his head and smiling. "Ach, you should have been
in a bar, looking at girls."
Vuner had no telescope, but having a reputation as an amateur astronomer was a perfect cover for being
up late on most nights. He fingered the graze that the bullet had left. It was level with his heart. If the
Artery's hit man had been closer . . .
"Piss on the Artery," he muttered under his breath. He had put a dose of an experimental drug in with the
last amphetamine batch that he had sold to them - just for a joke. Some user probably died of it. Users
had neither identity nor humanity for Vuner and the thought of possible deaths from his experiments
moved him very little. He would have to sell his drugs directly to the local pusher cells now, but that was
not a problem.
Vuner always smuggled his own chemicals into the laboratory. Ever since he had been employed as a
temporary technician he had taken it for granted that the place had chemical audits and hidden cameras,
so he never dared to steal his supplies from there. He had a legally acquired supply of chemical
precursors, and needed only the right equipment to turn them into something marketable.
Originally he had worked in the bedroom of his flat, with improvised equipment that could be quickly
dismantled and hidden. Late one night he had been making methamphetamine, and was heating hydriotic
acid, ephedrine and red phosphorous. He had heard the siren of an approaching police car, and by the
time it reached his street he had the lights out and was dismantling his apparatus. While fumbling with hot
glass, he dropped a beaker. The police drove past.
Presence of mind had saved his life. Holding his breath against the toxic fumes he switched on the fan
above the stove and opened all the windows. For the next two hours he had cowered in the bathroom,
toilet paper stuffed into the gap under the door. At 5am he went outside and collected a dozen dead
birds in the street and carpark, the only victims of his toxic cloud. He flushed the bodies down his toilet,
swearing that now he would work only in proper laboratories.
Vuner was curious about the drugs being tested where he worked, and followed the experiments with
rats as closely as the scientists. Emily Cottak, Schilden's deputy, suspected him of being an agent for
some animal liberation group. This suited Vuner, as she always explained to him what the rats were being
treated with, and how it was safe and humane. In her latest experiment they ran a maze while trailing fine
tubes that led from their heads to suspended bottles.
"They're not in any pain," she said as Vuner looked down at the maze. "The wires and tubes in their
heads look terrible, but it's only to get the TEFG-7 directly to their brains."
"I suppose it wouldn't look so bad going into their backs or something," replied Vuner, who had in fact
been wondering if the rats were getting any sort of high from the drug.
"Yes, we could do that, but by using intercranial dosing we can get measurable results from very small