"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

тАЬNo, but thatтАЩs okay, that isnтАЩt what you do. This is still very interesting. ItтАЩs a different problem is all,
but that happens. This is great stuff. Have you shown this to the chancellor yet?тАЭ

тАЬNo.тАЭ She looked surprised.

тАЬYou should. He loves stuff like this, and, you know, heтАЩs a working scientist himself. He still keeps his
lab going even while heтАЩs doing all the chancellor stuff.тАЭ This gave him credit to burn all over the townтАЩs
scientific community.

Now Eleanor was nodding. тАЬIтАЩll do that, thanks. He has been very supportive.тАЭ

тАЬRight. And look, I hope you and Marta keep collaborating. Maybe we can get you here to Torrey
Pines. Maybe thereтАЩs some aspect of hormone regulation youтАЩll spot that weтАЩre not seeing.тАЭ

тАЬOh I doubt that, but thanks.тАЭ



Soon after that, Leo got an e-mail from Derek, asking him to attend an appointment with a
representative of a venture capital group, to explain the scientific issues. This had happened a few times
back when Torrey Pines was a hot new start-up, so Leo knew the drill, and was therefore extremely
uncomfortable with the idea of doing it againтАФespecially if it came to a discussion of тАЬrapid
hydrodynamic insertion.тАЭ No way did Leo want to be supporting DerekтАЩs unfounded assertions to an
outsider.

Derek assured him that he would handle any of this guyтАЩs тАЬspeculative questionsтАЭтАФexactly the sort of
questions a venture capitalist would have to ask.

тАЬAnd so IтАЩll be there toтАжтАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩll be there to answer any technical questions about the method as weтАЩre using it now.тАЭ

Great.

Before the meeting Leo was shown a copy of the executive summary and offering memorandum Derek
had sent to Biocal, a venture capital firm that Derek had gotten an investment from in the companyтАЩs
early years. This document was very upbeat about the possibilities of the hydrodynamic delivery method.
On finishing it LeoтАЩs stomach had contracted to the size of a walnut.
 Later that week, on the day of the meeting, Leo drove down from work to BiocalтАЩs offices, located in an
upscale building in downtown La Jolla, just off Prospect near the point. Their meeting room windows had
a great view up the coast. Leo could almost spot their own building, on the cliff across La Jolla Cove.

Their host, Henry Bannet, was a trim man in his forties, relaxed and athletic-looking, friendly in the usual
San Diego manner. His firm was a private partnership, doing strategic investing in biotechnologies. A
billion dollar fund, Derek had said. And they didnтАЩt expect any return on their investments for four to six
years, sometimes longer. They could afford to work, or had decided to work, at the pace of medical
progress itself. Their game was high-risk, high-return, long-range investment. This was not a kind of
investment that banks would make, nor anyone else in the loaning world. The risks weretoo great, the
returnstoo distant. Only venture capitalists would do it.