"Mike Resnick - Hothouse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

I don't mind, she replies. I love my work. I don't know what I'd do without my
greenhouse.

I know, I say soothingly. I feel the same way.

So how isyour Rex today? she asks.

It's my turn to shrug. About the same as usual. Suddenly I laugh.

What's so funny? asks Felicia.

You think your Rex is getting too much sun. I decidedmy Rex wasn't getting
enough, so this afternoon I moved him closer to a window.

Will it make a difference, do you think? she asks.

I sigh deeply. Does it ever? * * * *

I walk up to the Major and smile at him. How are we today? I ask.

The Major looks at me through unfocused eyes. There is a little drool running
out the side of his mouth, and I wipe it off.

It's a lovely morning, I say. It's a pity you can't be outside to enjoy it. I




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pause, waiting for the reaction that never comes. Still, I continue, you've
seen more than your share of them, so missing a few won't hurt. I check the
screen at his life station, find his birthdate, and dope it out. Well, I'll be
damned! You've actually seen 60,573 mornings!

Of course, he's been here for almost half of them: 29,882 to be exact. If he
ever did count them, he stopped a long time ago.

I clean and sterilize his feeding tubes and his medication tubes and his
breathing tubes, examine him for bedsores, wash him, take his temperature and
blood pressure, and check to make sure his cholesterol hasn't gone above the
350 level. (They want it lower, of course, but he can't exercise and they've
been feeding him intravenously for more than half a century, so they won't do
anything about changing his diet. After all, it hasn't killed him so far, and
altering it just might do so.)

I elevate his withered body just long enough to change the bedding, then
gently lower him back down. (That used to take ten minutes, and at least one
helper, before they developed the anti- grav beam. Now it's just a matter of a
few seconds, and I like to think it causes less discomfort, though of course
the Major is in no condition to tell me.)