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Mahom had. But he really didn t want this person as a foe.
Leppo swallowed visibly and nodded.  Sure, he said.  What do you need?
12
After he had finished talking to Leppo, Kieran went back to the
inflatable-frame cabin, where he set Harry Quong the task of downloading
available plans for construction and standard communications equipment of the
Mule general purpose, low altitude, medium-haul transporter. By then it was
late in the afternoon. While the others took a break from their debating to
move around, some going outside to stretch cramped limbs, he sprawled out with
a pen and note pad in an easy chair in the corner of the messroom and lost
himself in thought, intermittently adding to a growing web of jottings and
doodles copiously sprinkled with arrows, query marks, and exclamation points.
Almost an hour later, he chewed on his pen and stared at a summary account of
his labors in the form of the lines:
Replete with empire, fame, and wealth, Hamilton frets for mind and health.
Seeking after higher things, That guide the fates of priests and kings.
Would such a soul fear ancient powers, Locked in pyramids and towers?
Then he got up, poured himself a mug of coffee, and went over to where Dennis
Curry was sitting with Jean at the end of the long table.
 Hi, guys.
 Well, it s nice to see you re among us again, Dennis said.  You looked as if
you were composing your life s memoirs or something.
 Just collecting thoughts. Kieran pulled up a chair and sat down opposite
them.  About that nano work of Pierre s that we mentioned this morning.
 What about it?
 I assume that these remote-programmable protein synthesizers can
self-assemble in any cell of the body. If they re taken in through ingestion
or respiration, there s no way they can discriminate.
 That s my understanding, Dennis agreed.
 Yet you couldn t have them switching on in every cell in the body when they
get a signal. It would be too crude. You d swamp the system. There would have
to be a way of selecting which cells you want activated.
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 Correct. There s some way they react to enzyme activity and know which kind
of cell they re in.
So part of the signal instructs which cells to activate. Dennis looked at
Jean.  Wasn t that how it worked?
 Something like that. I m not sure I remember the details. We d have to ask
Pierre.
 Why are you interested? Dennis asked Kieran.
But Kieran was still too absorbed in his line of thought to reply directly.
 So you could instruct them to start making some specific kind of protein only
in a certain, specified kind of target cell?
Harmless colored protein a pigment?
 Well . . . yes. That s the idea, Dennis said.
 How close are you two to Pierre? Kieran asked them.  Harry said Jean knows
him from years back.
 That s right, Jean said.  Back on Earth. We were in the same bunch of
students who hung around together, went on hikes, camping trips, tours abroad,
things like that the things kids do. She sent Dennis a mystified look.
 Do you think he d let you have access to this technology? Kieran asked.
 Maybe to help test it out in an impromptu field trial?
Jean frowned. Dennis looked askance.  Well, wait a minute, he cautioned.  I
don t know about that. As far as I know, it s still a nonpublicized piece of
private research. . . .
 It s not even his to decide about, Jean said.  What are you asking him to
do, steal it? She shook her head.  Why should he do a thing like that?
 What was his interest in your work here? Kieran asked, trying another angle.
 Was he on board just as the medic? I get the feeling his involvement went
deeper than that.
 That s true, Jean agreed.  Earth s early history and the mysteries of the
Technolithics had always been one of his passions. When we told him about the
expedition, he was wild to get a place on it. We talked to Hamil. Hamil said
that if we recommended Pierre it was good enough for him, and arranged for
Pierre to travel out from Lowell with Walter. Pierre was devastated when he
had to call it off even more so now he s heard what we re finding here.
 He knows about it all, then? Kieran said.
 Yes, we kept him informed, Dennis confirmed.  As we ve said, we re good
friends. There was no reason not to.
 So he d be pretty upset to learn that the whole thing might be over.
 Devastated, Jean said again.
Kieran gave them a moment to reconsider what he had said earlier.  Then why
don t we give him a chance to help save it? he suggested.
Dennis and Jean exchanged looks that were puzzled but at the same time
interested.  I m not sure
I follow, Dennis said.
 Pierre is in Lowell now, yes? Kieran said.  I want us to call him, and for
you to introduce me so
I can ask him a few more questions about this work of his. Then, if it s what
it sounds like it could be, I d like to offer that we try a sample out for him
. . . but leave that part to me. Kieran rose to his feet, as if what he was
proposing were as natural and everyday as calling a friend to set up lunch.
 Let s go through to the Jug and call him from there. It ll be more private.
The face staring back from the screen in the Juggernaut s center compartment
was in its thirties, boyish but stubble-chinned, with intense dark eyes and a
mop of black hair that hung in a curlicue over the forehead. Kieran s first
impressions of Pierre were that he was of the reflective sort, not overly
given to words, serious in disposition, probably a romantic at heart all of
them good signs.
Also, Pierre evidently had faith in Dennis and Jean s judgment, showing
equanimity over their telling
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Kieran as much as they had about his work but being understandably curious.
Kieran posed the questions that he had listed, mainly concerning the coding
system used and how it would be sent. The answers turned out to be
surprisingly simple: the molecular receivers would respond to a pulse
modulation impressed on a low-intensity, radio-frequency field surrounding the
body. For remote direction to produce medical pharmaceuticals internally, the
present intention was to send a signal to a body transducer worn by the
patient, maybe on a belt, carried in a pocket, or worn as a bracelet or
pendant.  But it wouldn t have to be in contact? Kieran checked. That was
correct. A field from any equivalent transmitter would do, as long as the
local field strength was sufficient. It sounded promising. Now Kieran came to
the crucial part. He mustered the look of one about to divulge sensitive
secrets.
 You ve been pretty direct, Pierre. Thanks, he acknowledged.  Now let me tell
you why I m interested. I m not with the expedition just as your replacement.
There s a political aspect to what s going on that Hamil couldn t really talk
about before Walter got here. Which was perfectly true:
neither Hamil nor anyone else had known about it.  Some people have shown up
from one of the big construction conglomerates. They re claiming first rights [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]