"MD Spenser - Humano Morphs 4 Air Morph One" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spenser M D)

Dr. Cumberton smiled.
"Perhaps unusual would be a better word," she said. "It may be a little unusual for a woman to make a career of science, more's the pity, but it does happen. You've heard of Marie Curie, haven't you?"
I felt my face flush with embarrassment. I hate it when I say the wrong thing.
"Yes," I mumbled. I cast a sidelong glance at Freddy, hoping I would not be quizzed on exactly who Marie Curie was. I remembered vaguely that she'd been discussed in science class Ч but I never paid much attention in science class.
"And the young man who is working as my secretary," Dr. Cumberton continued, "is a student who needed a job. He's working his way through school and I was happy to help."
She walked behind her desk and sat down. Freddy and I sat in two chairs that faced her desk.
"Now," Dr. Cumberton said. "What can I do for you boys?"
Freddy started to say something, but I interrupted and talked over him. A leader has to do that sometimes.
"We have some poison we need analyzed," I said.
"Poison?" Dr. Cumberton asked.
"Poison," I said. "Very deadly poison."


Chapter Twelve

Freddy pulled the mayonnaise jar of poison water out of the tote bag and set it carefully on Dr. Cumberton's desk.
As we talked, all three of us stared not at each other, but at the jar of water. We looked at it in fear and fascination, almost as if it were not just an object sitting there, but something alive and mean and evil.
Taking turns, Freddy and I explained the whole story Ч how we had gone on a science class field trip to the Nacirema Dairy Production and Research Center, how I had looked out the window and seen the dead cow and the dying bird, how we had snuck onto the grounds of the factory and obtained a sample of water from the deadly lagoon.
All this Dr. Cumberton listened to with intense interest.
"I am very impressed," she said, when we, had finished. "You saw a problem and wanted to analyze it scientifically to know precisely what the nature of the problem was. What an excellent plan!"
"Thank you," I said modestly.
It had been Freddy's plan entirely, of course. But I knew from my studies of the presidents that politicians often take credit for plans they had nothing to do with developing. They do it all the time.
One of the main jobs of being president, actually, is having smart advisors who come up with wonderful plans for which the president then takes credit. Freddy and I were a team, after all, and we had done the whole thing together. Maybe by now it really was our plan, after all.
Besides, one of the great things about Freddy was that he was just concerned with getting things done. He didn't care who took credit. So he wouldn't mind me implying that the plan had been mine.
Dr. Cumberton opened her desk draw and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves of her own. I liked that. It meant she took us seriously. I hate it when people dismiss what I'm saying and think I'm probably wrong just because I'm a kid.
She picked up the jar, taking great care not to drop it, and held it up to the light.
"Hmmm," she said. "Looks clear."
She unscrewed the top and held the jar under her nose.
"I don't smell anything," she said.
I started to get worried that she wasn't believing us after all.
"Really, I saw what I saw!" I exclaimed heatedly. "I know I'm just in seventh grade, but I do not make things up!"
"Easy, now," Dr. Cumberton said. "Just because a poison is colorless and odorless doesn't mean it's not there. To the contrary, it means the poison is that much more dangerous. There's no way to avoid it if you can't see it or smell it."
"Oh," I said. "Right. Of course."
Dr. Cumberton screwed the lid back on the jar and set it gently on her desk.
"I will do my best to find out what the nature of the poison is," she said. "But it may take quite a long time, and there are no guarantees I'll be successful."
"Dr. Cumberton," I said in a firm, leader-like way. "We feel this matter is extremely urgent. Why will it take a long time?"
The professor smiled kindly at me.
"You see," she said, "we have no computer into which we can just pour a sample of water and get a printout of whatever poison it may contain. We have to guess what the poison may be, and then test to see if that poison is there. If that test proves negative Ч that is to say, if that test proves that we were wrong in our guess Ч we have to guess again and run another test."
All this was starting to confuse me. I hate it when scientists talk as if they're making sense and I don't understand it.
"What do you think it might be?" I said. "Like, I mean, what would be your first guess?"
"Most probably, it's some form of insecticide," she said. "Perhaps DDT or Malathion. If not, I suppose it could be some kind of rat poison, something used to rid the area of squirrels or other pests. Cyanide, maybe, which can certainly be deadly, or arsenic."
DDT? Malathion? Cyanide? I wasn't getting this at all, and I decided not to ask any more about it, at least not for the moment.
"One other thing, Dr. Cumberton," I said. "We did not have, exactly, you know, permission to be on the grounds of the milk factory. If you could just, you know ..."
"Your secret is safe with me," Dr. Cumberton replied, smiling. "Actually, I'm quite honored you have chosen to include me in your little plan. I won't tell anyone else about it without your authorization. I'll call you as soon as I know anything at all."


Chapter Thirteen

For the next two weeks, time crawled.
Each hour seemed like a day. Each day seemed like a week. Each week seemed like a month.