"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Chimera" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

They all watched her with wary eyes. She stared back at them. She had never
seen chimera before. She hadn't known what to expect, really. All she knew was
what Dr. Prichard had told her: Chimera had been around for twenty years. They
were created for use in medical research by placing human embryonic stem cells
in animal fetuses. The cells were then tweaked so that the animals would be
useful subjects for medical testing. Dr. Prichard had said there were ethical
considerations and debates over these procedures, but that they shouldn't
concern her.

The Chimera Mission, which Anna ran, did its best to remain publicly neutral
on the creation and use of chimera. That way, the Mission gained the
cooperation of the medical research groups that created the animals.

The Mission prevented most chimera from being destroyed after the research was
done. It was Anna who had pioneered the use of chimera in dealing with the
traumatized, the mentally ill, and the unenhanced elderly. Anna's program was
the first in the country, although several others had sprung up in the last
decade. And all the studies had shown that chimera, when carefully matched to
humans, were better at healing their owners than normal pets.

Initially, when Dr. Prichard had suggested that Gen care for something, she
had turned her down. When she told Gen it was part of her therapy and
therefore required, Gen asked to have a regular pet, not an altered one.

You're altered, Dr. Prichard had said. You need to understand how changes
affect another creature.

Gen didn't want to know how changes affected anyone else. She already knew how
they affected her.

"I've never had a pet," Gen said, shivering slightly under the impact of all
those eyes. "I wouldn't know what to do."

"But you raised a child," Anna said softly.

Gen clenched her fists and then released them, just as Dr. Prichard had taught
her. "Yes," she managed to say calmly. "I did."
But the child had died, mangled beyond recognition when the guidance system of
a nine-year-old car failed and sent it careening through the streets at one
hundred twenty miles an hour. Gen, the athlete, the dancer, the one with
speed, had leapt out of the way. Dar hadn't.

If the car hadn't hit him, it wouldn't have spun and slammed into her. Even
so, she remained conscious and had crawled to Dar. She had been cradling him
when the paramedics finally pulled her away.

A long-haired cat walked under the swinging doors, hitting one with its bushy
tail. It was brown, with a white collar and white paws. It looked at Gen with
wide green eyes. Then it jumped onto the nearest chair, sitting with its front
paws before it as if it were posing for an Egyptian statute.