"Frank Herbert - Operation Syndrome" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

want to admit that Pete has fooled you along with all the others."
She spoke in a slow, controlled cadence: "Look ... doctor ... Pete ... was ... one ... of ...
the ... inventors ... of ... the ... musikron ... Pete ... and ... old ... Dr ... Amanti." She
squinted her eyes, looking up at him. "You may be a big wheel in this business, but I know
what I've heard."
"You said Pete worked on this musikron with a doctor. What did you say that doctor's name
was?"
"Oh, Dr. Carlos Amanti. His name's on a little plate inside the musikron."
Eric shook his head. "Impossible. Dr. Carlos Amanti is in an asylum."
She nodded. "That's right; Wailiku Hospital for the Insane. That's where they worked on it."
Eric's expression was cautious, hesitant. "And you say when Pete thinks about the sounds,
the machine produces them?"
"Certainly."
"Strange I'd never heard about this musikron before."
"Doctor, there are a lot of things you've never heard about."
He wet his lips with his tongue. "Maybe you're right." He took her arm, set a rapid pace
down the walkway. "I want to see this musikron."




In Lawton, Oklahoma, long rows of prefabricated barracks swelter on a sunbaked flat. In
each barracks building, little cubicles; in each cubicle, a hospital bed; on each hospital bed, a
human being. Barracks XRO-29: a psychiatrist walks down the hall, behind him an orderly
pushing a cart. On the cart, hypodermic needles, syringes, antiseptics, sedatives, test tubes.
The psychiatrist shakes his head.
"Bafly, they certainly nailed this thing when they called it the Scramble Syndrome. Stick an
egg-beater into every psychosis a person could have, mix 'em up, turn 'em all on."
The orderly grunts, stares at the psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist looks back. "And we're not making any progress on this thing. It's like
bailing out the ocean with a sieve."
Down the hallway a man screams. Their footsteps quicken.




The Gweduc Room's elevator dome arose ahead of Eric and Colleen, a half-melon inverted
on the walkway. At the top of the dome a blue and red script-ring circled slowly, spelling out,
"Colleen Lanai with Pete Serantis and the Musikron."
On the walkway before the dome a thin man, using a cane to compensate for a limp, paced
back and forth. He looked up as Eric and Colleen approached.
"Pete," she said.
 The man limped toward them, his cane staccato on the paving.
"Pete, this is Dr. Ladde. He's heard about Dr. Amanti and he wants to -- "
Pete ignored Eric, stared fiercely at Colleen. "Don't you know we have a show tonight?
Where have you been?"
"But, it's only a little after nine; I don't -- "
Eric interrupted. "I was a student of Dr. Amanti's. I'm interested in your musikron. You see,
I've been carrying on Dr. Amanti's researches and -- "
The thin man barked, "No time!" He took Colleen's arm, pulled her toward the dome.