Odnośniki
- Indeks
- Alan Burt Akers [Dray Prescot 14] Krozar of Kregen (pdf)
- Le Guin Ursula Cykl Ziemiomorze 05 OpowieĹci z Ziemiomorza
- Debra Dean Confessions of a Fallen Woman (pdf)(1)
- Alan Drew Gardens of Water (pdf)
- Dean R. Koontz W okowach lodu
- Beastchild Dean R. Koontz
- Foster Siblings 2.1 Snowfall Cameron Dane
- 0873. Mann Catherine RĂłd GarrisonĂłw 05 ĹwiÄ teczny prezent
- Kroniki brata Cadfaela 05 TrÄdowaty z hospicjum ĹwiÄtego Idziego
- Herbert Frank Tom 2 Dune Messiah
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- effulla.pev.pl
First physician extended a tendril. "We concluded that this was the most
important organ of all, so we replaced it first."
"A good thing you were not struck in the head," second physician said.
"That would have been beyond our skill."
Evan looked down into his chest, past the silvery balloons that were
flexing in and out, out and in. Behind the one on the left was a mass of
plastic and tubing that pulsed at a different rate.
"Two pumps. One for fluid, one for gas. That's all," first physician
said.
"Yes, that's all."
"You can see where we bonded the replacement material to what remains of
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the original organic flesh. It was simpler than rebuilding the mess left
behind. All that tubing, just to carry fluids, and so many small ones. Very
ineffcient. But we were too busy keeping you alive to worry about possible
improvements."
Evan examined the new arteries and veins, flexible hoses fashioned of
vitreous, gleaming material. They were translucent. If he looked hard he could
make out the blood flowing through the largest.
"Actually, the pumps gave us less trouble than some of the less vital
organs located farther down." Second physician gestured. "Those things there."
Evan looked off to one side. Lying on the ground, stacked neat as a roll
of used cable, were his intestines. He swallowed, tried to view the sight
clinically and from a distance. It was not easy.
His stomach had been repaired and put back in place. Protruding from it
was a neat mass of tubing. Off to one side and slightly lower than the stomach
was something that looked like a loaf of dried bread. As near as he could
tell, his spleen and liver had survived intact.
Second physician turned back to him, occasionally referring to the pile
of tattered intestines as he spoke. "Those were badly damaged. Repairing them
properly would have taken too much time, and the entire arrangement struck us
as a particularly bad example of internal organization. For one thing, they
took up far more space than necessary." A tendril indicated the peculiar loaf
shape. "We devised a storage facility for your body. It collects and
distributes additional energy compounds as they are needed." The physician's
voice was tinged with humor. "You helped us create a battery for our own
bodies. We thought it only fair to return the favor."
"This absurd business of metabolizing gas and the component parts of
other soil things to power a body never ceases to amaze," library added.
"There is a simpler device for carrying off waste materials directly from
the metabolizing units," first physician went on. "Less risk of contaminating
the rest of the body. We also installed one venting device instead of the
previous two. It struck us an utterly unnecessary duplication, in addition to
which the vent now discarded appeared to possess the potential to interfere
with organic reproductive methods. I'm sure you'll agree that this new
arrangement is far more sensible and efficient."
"You know," the library said thoughtfully, "I really don't understand
this need to kill and consume other organic forms when you can obtain all the
same compounds directly from the ground. I think your modified metabolic
system could process them directly. It would be much neater and save you a lot
of light time."
"I don't think I could get used to eating dirt." At least there were no
blinking lights inside his torso. He was still human--wasn't he? Or did Azure
and the others now qualify as near relations instead of just friends?
"Are you ready to stand up?" asked Azure.
Evan nodded, put both palms against the ground, and pushed. He thought he
rattled as he rose, but it was only his imagination. The remaining empty
spaces within his body had been packed firm with an antiseptic, transparent
gel. His immune system ignored all the replacements. There wasn't a "living"
carbon-based device among them.
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He wasn't the least bit hungry, nor was there reason for him to be, the
physicians explained. They had helpfully tube-fed him while waiting for him to
recover consciousness. Not only his stomach but his new storage organ should
be full of glucose and other readily metabolized substances.
"How do you feel?" Azure asked him.
"Ten kilos lighter, but then I suppose I probably am." He did some
twisting and bending. There was no pain. He touched his fingertips to his
toes, bringing his face flat up against his transparent torso. Except for that
vague, all-over ache, he felt hale and hearty.
"It was fortunate that your reproductive organs were below the highest
blow the shervan delivered," second physician said. "As with your brain, our
skills would not have been equal to the task of replacement."
"You're not half as glad as I am." Evan fought to keep the inevitable
bizarre images out of his mind. "The rest of it strikes me as impossible
anyway. You just don't throw away hearts and lungs and so forth and fashion
new ones with your hands, like pottery." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]