"Emil Petaja - The Stolen Sun" - читать интересную книгу автора (Petaja Emil)

good for a solid hour or maybe ten. Just like a woman, he thought, grinning. In any case the
Psychs who had engineered that phase of the incredible manships (Wayne preferred to call
them Ladyships) had done this on purpose; it kept the weary enforced silences, after his brain
had been umbilicated to hers, from becoming unendurable. Her microtapes fed his brain vast
stores of mnemonic knowledge, prodding his own memory cells. When the time for action
came, though, Lady shut up, whipping her sophisticated capacities and draining his toward the
immediate end. The built-in irritation kept WayneтАЩs faculties honed to a fine edge. Lady was,
after all, a machine, unsubject to human vacillations and quixotics; at the same time WayneтАЩs
agility and reflexive capacities were more able to take care of intangibles and sudden changes.
Wayne was super-high esp, too.

They made a beautiful couple. Everybody said so.

Dr. R. Roland Delph said so, over and over and over. Dr. Delph was the FleetтАЩs top Psych,
was largely responsible for the manship umbilicus, and he told every new class of tyros the
same thing. Emulate Wayne-plus-Lady for all youтАЩre worth. They were Numero Uno.

The recruits who had made it to Astro Post XXXI were high-esp, of course, and the tests
they had passed were grueling. Physically and psychologically, and para. Extrasensory talent
was still hit and miss, still in the wistful stages. Chemo-therapeutic goosing upped the ante a
little.

But Wayne Panu was special.



тАЬDamn special,тАЭ Dr. Delph told each new crop. тАЬNow that we need out-talents desperately
to save our whole Deep Colonization programтАФwhere is it? Primitives had more of it than we
do. Like animals, they had to have it to survive. We have our mental gymnastics to depend on,
not to mention our robotic technology. WeтАЩve let these unexplored areas of our mind sit and
atrophy. Even a childтАФтАЭ

тАЬExcuse me, sir,тАЭ one bright-eyed recruit said cheerfully, тАЬWeтАЩve already been briefed on all
this. Children and animals empathize with their playthings, etcetera, etcetera. A dog knows
when his master has had a fight with his boss. As the Neanderthals learned to talk and think
they forgot how to esp. If you donтАЩt mindтАФsir!тАФtell us about Panu. Just what is it heтАЩs got and
how do we go about getting it?тАЭ

Dr. DelphтАЩs shook his loose jowls. тАЬSon, if I could tell you that I would be a reasonably
happy man. WeтАЩve tried to find out. Gone into his ancestry with a fine-tooth comb. Picked his
brains, his glands, his psychтАФuntil he threatened to leave Project Manship. Every time he goes
out we send a likely newcomer to tail him, observe, intuit, work him. But how can you explain
the inexplicable? Apart from the purely thought-mechanics, which we ordinarily have to settle
for, how can I explain the manner in which Wayne Panu actually becomes part of his ship?тАЭ

тАЬYou donтАЩt actually meanтАФтАЭ

тАЬWhatever you are thinking, I mean it! Panu empathizes in toto. He is the hull. He is the
motors. And of course the computer complex.тАЭ