"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 26 - The Coming Event" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

extrapolations of probable consequences should the aberrations
continue. The prediction of internal collapse based on an
exponential curve leads to near-certain disaster."

This seemed so obvious as to need no comment.

Alder said, "Why have we been summoned?"

"To review the situation. Later I shall want from each of you
detailed plans of optimum survival based on all possible
contingencies. Now I wish to cover the base problem. From a
summation of all findings relevant to the affected units it is
logical to accept the premise that there is no mechanical or
biological cause for the derangements. The brains involved failed
because of some inherent fault other than external cause.
Agreed?"

Boule demurred. "That need not necessarily be the case.
Because we cannot find a cause does not mean that one does not
exist."

"True, but all precautions have been taken as regards
shielding and monitoring." Elge was curt. "I submit the fault
could lie in the region of the psyche. To illustrate the point I have
arranged for a demonstration." A communicator stood on the
table before him. Activating the instrument he said, "Now."

Abruptly the room turned black.

It was the complete elimination of all light and for a moment
they felt as if blinded and buried deep in a tomb, shielded for
eons from the sun. Then, slowly, light came and with it an image.

It floated above the table; a three-dimensional hologram
depicting a male, nude, set with wires which sprouted from his
skull like the tendrils of some strange and oddly designed
creature. The eyes were closed, sunken beneath prominent
brows, the ears padded. Mouth and nose were covered by a mask
and the medium in which he floated was not air or space.

"Water warmed and maintained at his individual body heat."
The accompanying voice whispered through the chamber. "All
senses have been blocked or negated so as to deny the
intelligence any external stimuli. The electrodes on the skull relay
the encephalic readings of the cortex."

Another picture joined the first; a depiction of wavering lines
traced by delicate points. The wave pattern of the subject's
brain, which all could read.