"Chalker, Jack L - Hotel Andromeda (SSCol)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

"Um, congratulations."

"But I'd like to take a few prenatal precautions. If this one
turns out to get my nose the way the last one did, I'll just
scream."

"I'm sorry, ma'am?" Now he would have given anything to
see Ranee's broad figure barreling toward him and her hand
reaching for the headset.

"A splicer. Do you have a gene splicer on staff?"

"Oh. Right. I'll have to check." He began to understand
what the caller wanted. But as he flipped through his service
directory, two other lights came on, two other calls buzzing
for his attention. Where was Ranee? He wasn't supposed to
leave any call unattended for more than two rings.

"I'm sony, ma'am," he said. "I'll be right back. Please
hold." He punched up the blue button. "Hotel Andromeda,

8 Karen Haber

please hold." He punched up the red button. "Hotel Androm-
eda." A voice began squawking. He cut it off, "Please hold,"
and returned to the original caller.

"Ma'am, we can have a technician with splicer outside
your door in an hour. I see from our records that she's just
finishing up with a litter of Monosikhs."

"Well, I hope it won't be too long. I can just feel all those
little nasal cells dividing inside me even as we speak."

Lekvich Tor frowned. "Actually, ma'am, as I understand
Terran reproductive processes, it's really too soon for that sort
of cell specialization, isn't it?"

"Don't be so literal, silly. I was joking. And tell your
splicer to hurry just the same. Who knows what kind of trou-
ble an unsupervised zygote can get into?"

"She'll be there in a flash." In a blaze of inspiration
Lekvich remembered a key note from his training manual:

meet all needs, cover all contingencies. "And," he said, "in
case you have any complications, ma'am, you might be inter-
ested to know that we can also provide termination services."

"Really? Excuse me for a moment" -- her voice grew