"James White - SG 03 - Major Operation" - читать интересную книгу автора (White James)

which opened into a mind so keenly analytical that together they gave O'Mara what amounted to a
telepathic faculty He said, "No doubt you are thinking that I have lost my grip. You feel sure
that Mannon's trouble is basically psychological and that there is an explanation other than
negligence for what happened. You may decide that the recent death of his dog has caused him to go
to pieces from sheer grief, and other ideas of an equally uncomplicated and ridiculous nature will
occur to you. In my opinion, however, any time spent investigating the psychological aspects of
this business will be completely wasted. Doctor Mannon has been subjected to the most exhaustive
tests. He is physically sound and as sane as we are. As sane as I am any...
"Thank you," said Conway.
"I keep telling you, Doctor," O'Mara said sourly, "my job here is to shrink heads, not
swell them. Your assignment, if we can call it that, is strictly unofficial. Since there is no
excuse for Mannon's error so far as health and psycho profile are concerned I want you to look for
some other reason-some outside influence, perhaps, of which the Doctor is unaware. Doctor Prilicla
observed the incident in question and may be able to help you.
"You have a peculiar mind, Doctor," O'Mara concluded, rising from his seat, "and an odd
way of looking at problems. We don't want to lose Doctor Mannon, but if you do get him out of
trouble the surprise will probably kill me. I mention this so that you will have an added
incentive . .
Conway left the office, fuming slightly. O'Mara was always flinging his allegedly peculiar
mind in his face when the simple truth was that he had been so shy when he had first joined the
hospital, especially with nurses of his own species, that he had felt more comfortable in
extraterrestrial company. He was no longer shy, but still he numbered more friends among the weird
and wonderful denizens of Traltha, Illensa and a score of other systems than beings of his own
species. This might be peculiar, Conway admitted, but to a doctor living in a multi-environment
hospital it was also a distinct advantage.
Outside in the corridor Conway contacted Prilicla in the other's ward, found that the
little empath was free and arranged a meeting for as soon as possible on the Forty-sixth Level,
which was where the Hudlar operating theater was situated. Then he devoted a part of his mind to
the problem of Mannon while the rest of it guided him toward Forty-six and kept him from being
trampled to death en route.
His Senior Physician's armband automatically cleared the way so far as nurses and


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subordinate grades of doctors were concerned, but there were continual encounters with the lordly
and absentminded Diagnosticians who plowed their way through everyone and everything regardless,
or with junior members of the staff who happened to belong to a more massive species. Tralthans of
physiological classification FGLI-warm-blooded oxygen breathers resembling a sort of low-slung,
six-legged elephant. Or the Kelgian DBLFs who were giant, silver-furred caterpillars who hooted
like a siren when they were jostled whether they were outranked or not, or the crab-like ELNTs
from Melf LV...
The majority of the intelligent races in the Federation were oxygen breathers even though
their physiological classifications varied enormously, but a much greater hazard to navigation on
foot was the entity traversing a foreign level in protective armor. The protection required by a
TLTU doctor, who breathed superheated steam and whose gravity and pressure requirements were three
times those of the oxygen levels, was a great, clanking juggernaut which was to be avoided at all
costs.
At the next intersection lock he donned a lightweight suit and let himself into the