"Ann Durand - Flight of the Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Durand Ann)

heads of all of you when he arrived from our world ten years ago."

His world, he'd explained last night over their second glass of minola, was a planet-a huge rock, like a
ball, floating in the vast ocean of space…just like her world. She'd asked him why they didn't fall off the
bottom and sides. He'd talked about a force called gravity. It was such amazing news and she'd done her
best to absorb it. Now, he was walking across the floor to her. He crouched in front of her chair.

"And since then," he continued, "Askinadon checks the discs for accuracy once a year, tunes them
up…whatever they need. That's why he has you all make your so-called pilgrimage to the altar."

Katera was dumbfounded. "But how does the…Insertech work? I mean, how do they get those discs
inside us? We felt nothing but a pinch."

A look of concentration settled over his features. He'd had the same look last night while explaining the
concept of planets within solar systems and galaxies. She'd felt deliciously safe as he'd wrestled with his
words, trying to make them clear. His patience had worn steady as she'd rattled off a multitude of
questions. He was striking a similar pose now, as if he was glancing up at an unseen tablet.
Thoughtful…and handsome, she realized as the light of the lanadik fell across his face.

"Originally, the Insertech was designed to perform surgeries," he began, gesturing with his hands, "which
is a way of cutting into the body to fix something that's wrong inside. The Insertech allows the skin and
tissue to avert insult from the incision. It has a feature that allows it to slice through tissue and preserve the
integrity of the exposed cells during the procedure. When the surgery is completed, it slides everything
back into its original position. The tissue has no memory of ever being cut, so it reattaches itself, and
presto! No marks, no nothing." Mikolen lowered his hands. "That's the simple explanation."

Katera gave him a blank look. "You mean that Insertech was cutting open our heads?"

"In a way, yes. Then, a VisiOrb-that's the disc-was inserted through a small opening on the end of the
Insertech."

"You used this…VisiOrb on your planet?"

"Yes, but for a different purpose. We used it on patients demonstrating symptoms of dementia or
Alzheimers."

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's usually an old person's disease. They become very forgetful. They can forget the simplest
things…like how to lift a fork or dress themselves."

"Oh, yes. My aunt Tasha became that way before she died," Katera said, remembering. "After a while
she didn't know us anymore-she didn't know anybody. She could not even remember how to lift herself
onto a hoshdel, and she'd been a prize rider."

"Exactly," Mikolen said. "On our planet the VisiOrb was used to guide these people through the simple
actions of daily living, like eating and using the transport system. One attendant was able to monitor three
or four patients from a remote site and direct them through their days. It enabled them to have a certain
measure of independent living before the final stages of memory loss set in, when they became incapable
of processing even simple directions."