"Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

arenтАЩt we, David? You, I, all of us?тАЭ
He thought, Walt be damned, promises be damned, secrecy be damned. And he told her about the
clones developing under the mountain, in the laboratory deep in the cave.


Chapter 5


Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. тАЬItтАЩs the
only way IтАЩll ever get to see you at all,тАЭ she said gently when David protested. тАЬI promised Walt
that I would work only four hours a day to start. Okay?тАЭ
David took her through the lab the following morning. The new entrance to the cave was
concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. The door was steel, set in the limestone
rock that underlay the area. As soon as they stepped through the doorway, the air was cold and
David put a coat about CeliaтАЩs shoulders. тАЬWe keep them here at all times,тАЭ he said, taking a
second coat from a wall hanger. тАЬTwice government inspectors have come here, and it might look
suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. They wonтАЩt be back.тАЭ
The passageway was dimly lighted, the floor was smooth. It went four hundred feet to another
steel door. This one opened into the first cave chamber, a large, high-domed room. It had been
left almost as they had found it, with stalactites and stalagmites on all sides, but now there
were many cots, picnic tables and benches, and a row of cooking tables and serving tables. тАЬOur
emergency room, for the hot rains,тАЭ David said, hurrying her through the echoing room. There was
another passage, narrower and tougher than the first. At the end of this passage was the animal
experiment room.
One wall had been cut through and the computer installed, looking grotesquely out of place
against a wall of pale pink travertine. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes,
all stainless steel and glass. On either side of these were the tanks that held the animal
embryos. Celia stared without moving for several moments, then turned to look at David with
startled eyes. тАЬHow many tanks do you have?тАЭ
тАЬEnough to clone six hundred animals of varying sizes,тАЭ he said. тАЬWe took a lot of them out,
put them in the lab on the other side, and weтАЩre not using all that we have here. WeтАЩre afraid our
supplies of chemicals will run out, and so far we havenтАЩt come up with alternatives that we can
extract from anything at our disposal here.тАЭ
Eddie Beauchamp came from the side of the tanks, jotting figures in a ledger. He grinned at
David and Celia. тАЬSlumming?тАЭ he asked. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a
fraction, and continued down the row checking the other dials, stopping now and again to make a
minor adjustment.
CeliaтАЩs eyes questioned David, and he shook his head. Eddie didnтАЩt know what they were doing
in the other lab. They walked past the tanks, row after row of them, all sealed, with only needles
that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside.
They returned to the corridor. David led her through another doorway, a short passage, then into
the second laboratory, this one secured by a lock that he had a key for.



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Walt looked up as they entered, nodded, and turned again to the desk where he was working.
Vlasic didnтАЩt even look up. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer