"Tom Purdom-Legacies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

There were no pictures yet. All Trans-Solar had was a few messages from Rinaswandi and a
statement from Mr. and Mrs. Chen claiming that the "center of international militarism" on Rinaswandi
had been "effectively terminated."
"That's crazy," Captain Min said. "Even for them it's crazy."
"It's what they've been telling us they were going to do for the last seventeen days."
"It's still crazy. They could have pulled a quarter of our assault force away from the attack on Akara
City just by maintaining a low-level threat against Rinaswandi. Now they don't even have the threat."
"Apparently their assessment of the situation doesn't conform to standard military logic."
Dr. Barian lived in Nous Avon, the smallest of the Five Cities that housed most of the human beings
who inhabited the space between Earth and Luna. Captain Min had never met him in person but his face
had dominated her communication screens -- and her dreams -- from the day he had become her mentor
for her training in family therapy. She was especially familiar with the look he got on his face when he was
contemplating the follies of people who wore uniforms.
Dr. Barian was, in her opinion, one of the best teachers she had ever worked with. The lectures,
reading materials and learning programs he had chosen for her had always been first-rate. His criticisms
of her work had almost always made sense. He just happened to believe the human brain turned into
sludge the moment you put a blue hat on top of it.
"You'd better call the childcare center," Dr. Barian said. "Right away. Tell them you want Deni kept
away from any contact that may give him the news -- video, other children. Make it clear you're the one
who's going to tell him -- no one else."
He lowered his head, as if he were examining some notes, then looked up again. "Then I think it's time
you and I stopped playing games, young woman. We're both well aware that everything you've been
saying in all your memos only proves that Deni should have been put through the complete modification
procedure the day his father went riding off to war. You're supposed to be a therapist, Dorothy -- a
healer. The people who wrote the laws can't make your decisions for you."
Captain Min stared at him. This was the first time Dr. Barian had made it absolutely clear he thought
she should have applied the esem without waiting for the parents' consent. He had been dropping hints
every since the Akara crisis had started developing, but he had never put it quite so bluntly.
"We still don't even know Sergeant Wei is dead, Dr. Barian. Don't you think we should verify that
before we start asking ourselves if we've got a right to start ignoring the law?"
"From what they're saying, it sounds like most of the control module has been blown up. If she isn't
dead, then we've had a scare that should convince you we're risking that child's welfare -- unnecessarily
-- every day we sit around trying to avoid the inevitable. There's no way anyone can determine a child
has received the benefits of an esem, Dorothy. If you can arrange things so you give him the news in your
office, you can apply the procedure in complete privacy -- without the slightest possibility anyone will
know you've done it. If his parents give you a nice legal, properly authorized permission statement later
on, you can pretend you executed the esem then."
"I'm well aware no one will be able to prove I administered the esem without a legal authorization, Dr.
Barian. You've pointed that out to me at least four times in the last two weeks."
"I understand your feelings, Dorothy. You aren't the first therapist who's been put in a position like this.
All I can tell you is that if he were my patient I would have resolved the whole issue two weeks ago. The
whole idea of requiring parental consent in a situation like this is absurd. Deni's parents are the last people
in the universe who could possibly understand why he needs that kind of help."
"Sergeant Wei would have agreed to the esem sooner or later. Every report I've given you for the last
ten weeks contains some indication she would have given me her consent sometime in the next few
months. We both know her husband would have given in sooner or later just to keep the peace, once she
started working on him."
"But she didn't. And now she's never going to."
Captain Min's screen blinked. The face of her commanding officer, Medical Colonel Pao, popped
onto the lower left hand corner.