"Frank Herbert - The GM Effect" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

course ... that all of you should share in the decision that must be made here tonight. Each of
you, by participating in this project, has become involved far more deeply here than is the
usual case with scientific experiments of this general type. And since you student assistants
have been kept somewhat in the dark, perhaps Dr Sabantoce, as original discoverer of the GM
effect, should fill you in on some of the background.'
Stall it is, Sabantoce thought.
'Discovery of the genetic memory, or GM effect, was an accident,' Sabantoce said picking
up his cue. 'Dr Marmon and I were looking for a hormonal method of removing fat from the
body. Our Compound 105 had given excellent results on mice and hamsters. We had six
generations without apparent side effects and that morning I had decided to try 105 on
myself.'
Sabantoce allowed himself a self-deprecating grin, said: 'You may remember I had a few
excess pounds then.'
The responsive laughter told him he had successfully lightened the mood which had grown
a bit heavy after Latchley's portentous tone.
Josh is a damn' fool, Sabantoce told himself. I warned him to keep it light. This is a
dangerous business.


'It was eight minutes after ten a.m. when I took that first dosage,' Sabantoce said. 'I
remember it was a very pleasant spring morning and I could hear Carl Kychre's class down the
hall reciting a Greek ode. In a few minutes I began to feel somewhat euphoric - almost drunk,
but very gently so - and I sat down on a lab stool. Presently, I began reciting with Kychre's
class, swinging my arm to the rhythm of it. The next thing I knew, there was Carl in the lab
door with some students peering in behind him and I realized I might have been a bit loud.'
'That's magnificent archaic Greek but it is disturbing my class,' Carl said.
Sabantoce waited for laughter to subside.
'I suddenly realized I was two people,' Sabantoce said. 'I was perfectly aware of where I
was and who I was, but I also knew quite certainly that I was a Hoplite soldier named Zagreut
recently returned from a mercenary venture on Kyrene. It was the double exposure effect
that so many of you have remarked. I had all the memories and thoughts of this Hoplite,
including his very particular and earthy inclinations toward a female who was uppermost in
his/my awareness. And there was this other thing we've all noticed: I was thinking his/my
thoughts in Greek, but they were cross-linked to my dominant present and its English-based
awareness. I could translate at will. It was a very heady experience, this realization that I
was two people.'
One of the graduate students said: 'You were a whole mob, Doctor.'
Again, there was laughter. Even old Inkton joined in.
'I must've looked a bit peculiar to poor Carl,' Sabantoce said. 'He came into the lab and
said: 'Are you all right?' I told him to get Dr Marmon down there fast ... which he did. And
speaking of Marmon, do any of you know where he is?'
Silence greeted the question; then Latchley said: 'He's being ... summoned.'
'So,' Sabantoce said. 'Well, to get on: Marmon and I locked ourselves in the lab and began
exploring this thing. Within a few minutes we found out you could direct the subject's
awareness into any stratum of his genetic inheritance, there to be illuminated by an ancestor
of his choice; and we were caught immediately by the realization that this discovery gave an
entirely new interpretation to the concept of instinct and to theories of memory storage.
When I say we were excited, that's the understatement of the century.'
The talkative graduate student said 'Did the effect fade the way it does with the rest of
us?'