"Sean McMullen - The Blondefire Genome" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Sean)

university, free of jealous classmates whispering behind her back, free of the huge blue eyes that stared at
her out of Jackie's scarred and mottled face. She checked the plants in her centrifuge, then booted up her
mother's PC and accessed a file. It was a proposal to NASA that she had been crafting for months: how
would the seeds of plants grown for several generations at 3G grow in weightless conditions? It would be
such a simple experiment to fly on a space shuttle.
Alex's voice echoed from the living-room.
"Hey Meg, come and watch this!"
"I'm studying, Lex."
"Stuff the study. You'll want to see this."
"...Great discovery!" The words caught her attention as she approached the living-room. Alex was
watching Rockin' and Ravin', a live studio show.
"This is a pop music show for kids," Megan objected.
"Just listen, it'll blow you away."
"And now for something way, way different that you just won't believe," bawled Danny Donohue the
compere.
"Who is this flatliner?" sneered Megan.
"Shush, just listen."
"Remember Jackie Cassall? Well after she split with Blondefire she got into science! And whadaya
think happened? Schoolgirl scientist Jackie Cassall has discovered a type of ryegrass that causes zits!
Here she is now to tell us about zitgrass-- "
Megan gasped so hard that she had a coughing fit. Her discovery-- and her name for it as well! By
the time she had her breath back under control Jackie was speaking.
"I got a really bad case of zits last spring, bad like you wouldn't believe. I had to leave Blondefire, I
couldn't go on camera with a face like the surface of the moon. I decided to work out just why I'd
suddenly got so many zits, so I began to study up on science a lot more."
"How long did it take to spot the cause?"
"Months. I doorknocked every house in the neighbourhood and asked the kids to tell me if they'd had
a bad case of zits lately. I did a scatter map of what I found, and sure enough there were hot spots. I
lived right at the centre of one. That made me think that it might be caused by something in the air, a
chemical or something. I checked with the Environmental Protection Agency on chemical spills, but no
luck. Then I wondered if some rare plant had become trendy with the local gardeners, so I doorknocked
again. Eventually I narrowed the cause down to ryegrass."
Jackie had discovered zitgrass growing wild! Although she was gearing her language to a pop music
audience, it was obvious that there was a sharp mind behind the words. She said that university scientists
had agreed to let her use their laboratory free.
Megan closed her eyes, but forced herself to stay and listen.
"So, airhead to egghead in one year?" said the compere, with a wink for the camera.
"Oh no, I've always liked science. When the zits got me I realised that as a member of Blondefire I
had nothing more than a great face and voice, and now the face was gone. So I began studying really
hard."
The compere smiled smugly. "Hey, but who cares if a few kids in a rich country have zits? Why didn't
you work on ways to feed the kids in Africa?"
Jackie took an inhaler from her coat pocket. "See this? It looks like an asthma inhaler, but I charged it
with zitgrass pollen before coming here," she said to the compere. Then she faced the audience. "He says
zits are okay!" she shouted.
The audience hissed loudly in reply.
"Brace yourself Danny, here come the zits!" Jackie walked towards the compere, who panicked and
ran. She chased him to the edge of the stage with the inhaler. He blundered into some props and went
sprawling, then scrambled out of sight.
The teenage audience cheered and hooted its approval as Jackie swaggered back to stage centre.