"Campbell, John W Jr - Who Goes There" - читать интересную книгу автора (Campbell John W Jr)

"I've been wondering -if Connant were -changed, would he have warned us so soon after the animal escaped? Wouldn't he have waited long enough for it to have a
real chance to fix itself? Until we woke up naturally?" McReady asked slowly.


"The thing is selfish. You didn't think it looked as though it were possessed of a store of the higher justices, did you?" Dr. Copper pointed out. "Every part of it
is all of it, every part of it is all for itself, I imagine. If Connant were changed, to save his skin, he'd have to -but Connant's feelings aren't changed;
they're imitated perfectly, or they're his own. Naturally, the imitation, imitating perfectly Connant's feelings, would do exactly what Connant would do."


"Say, couldn't Norris or Van give Connant some kind of a test? If the thing is brighter than men, it might know more physics than Connant should, and they'd
catch it out," Barclay suggested.


Copper shook his head wearily. "Not if it reads minds. You can't plan a trap for it. Van suggested that last night. He hoped it would answer some of the questions
of physics he'd like to know answers to."


"This expedition-of-four idea is going to make life happy." Bennings looked at his companions. "Each of us with an eye on the others to make sure he doesn't do
something -peculiar. Man, aren't we going to be a trusting bunch! Each man eyeing his neighbors with the greatest exhibition of faith and trust -I'm beginning to
know what Connant meant by 'I wish you could see your eyes. ' Every now and then we all have it, I guess. One of you looks around with a sort of 'I-wonder-if-the-other-
three-are-human' look. Incidentally, I'm not excepting myself."


"So far as we know, the animal is dead, with a slight question as to Connant. No other is suspected," McReady stated slowly. "The 'always-four' order is merely a
precautionary measure."


"I'm waiting for Garry to make it four-in-a-bunk," Barclay sighed. "I thought I didn't have any privacy before, but since that order -"


None watched more tensely than Connant. A little sterile glass test-tube, half-filled with straw-colored fluid. One-two-three-four-five drops off the clear
solution Dr. Copper had prepared from the drops of blood from Connant's arm. The tube was shaken carefully, then set in a beaker of clear, warm water. The
thermometer read blood heat, a little thermostat clicked noisily, and the electric hotplate began to glow as the lights flickered slightly.


Then -little white flecks of precipitation were forming, snowing down the clear straw-colored fluid. "Lord," said Connant. He dropped heavily into a bunk, crying
like a baby. "Six days -" Connant sobbed, "six days in there -wondering if that damned test would lie -"


Garry moved over silently, and slipped his arms across the physicist's back.
"It couldn't lie," Dr. Copper said. "The dog was human-immuned.. and the serum reacted."
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"He's -all right?" Norris gasped. "Then -the animal is dead -dead forever?"
"He is human," Copper spoke definitely, "and the animal is dead."
Kinner burst out laughing, laughing hysterically. McReady turned toward him and slapped his face with a methodical one-two, one-two action. The cook laughed,
gulped, cried a moment and sat up rubbing his cheeks, mumbling his thanks vaguely. "I was scared. Lord, I was scared -"