" Perry Rhodan 0062 - (54) The Blue Dwarfs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

From them the disease followed a completely different pattern. As before, an attack of weakness came
first, but some hours went by before the blue pustules appearedтАФand above all, in neither case did the
disease end in the patientтАЩs death. Or, at least, not yet. Both of the sick men were put under the care of
Drs. Flaherty, Weeney and Ashbury in their тАШHospitalтАЩтАФa cabin somewhat larger than usual in the middle
of the small town.

Nevertheless the recent events were so disquieting that Mullon called a special session of the PeopleтАЩs
Assembly to hear the 3 doctorsтАЩ report.

They did not have much to say. On the Earth they had all been general practitioners, after all, and now
they had been forced to deal with Bacteriology for the first time in their lives. That branch of medicine
was nothing easily learned and they were having their share of difficulty.

Weeney, youngest of the 3 doctors and giving the impression of being inordinately ambitious, stated that
he had been successful in identifying the cause of the strange disease, isolating it and starting a culture of
it. According to WeeneyтАЩs opinion, the results of the research done so far indicated that the virus would
react to the strongest Earthly medicines like an elephant would to a fly: which is to say, not at all. In any
event, Weeney went on, more exhaustive research would require at least several weeks, so people
should not let lack of success at the beginning terrify them.

The PeopleтАЩs Assembly then decided that although the situation was quite serious, the planned
expeditions should not be delayed because of it. On the strength of that, Mullon set the following morning
for the first expeditionтАЩs departure.



****



3 more outbreaks of the disease were reported the next morning. The newly infected persons were
brought to the hospital, as well, and placed under round-the-clock observation. The disease was not
taking with them the rapid course it had with Booster. Meanwhile, Weeney and his 2 colleagues had
come to the conclusion that BoosterтАЩs quicker death had been an exceptional case.

To accompany him on the expedition, Mullon had chosen Freddy, his wife; Milligan, a former member
of theAdventurous тАЩ crew; and Pashen, once an enthusiastic follower of Hollander but who now said
that he had realized HollanderтАЩs plans were ultimately a fast way for the settlers to bring ruin upon
themselves. Pashen had been a medical orderly on Earth, which was why Mullon had chosen him. He
could not take a doctor along, since all of them were needed in Greenwich, so he selected someone who
at least knew a little about medicine.

In the early morning hours the helicopter was loaded with the things Mullon had put on his list: among the
more important were food, weapons and a small short-wave radio for keeping in touch with Greenwich
while the expedition was in the mountains.

Mullon started at 7 oтАЩclock, local time, as the eastern horizon was becoming just a little lighter. The
helicopter rotors, moved by small jets, began to revolve and the heavy craft lifted from the ground,
humming and trembling, then shot upwards into the sky and disappeared into the early-dawn gloom.