Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg The Ugly Little Boy

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paleoanthropology, Mr. Deveney? I'm not familiar with the rime-scale of human
evolution the way you people are."
"You haven't answered my question," said Hoskins. "If you had known all the
data ahead of time, would you have refused the position or wouldn't you?"
"I'm not sure."
"Do you want to refuse it now? There were other qualified candidates, you
know. Is this a resignation?"
Hoskins gazed at her coolly, while Deveney watched from the other side of the
room, and the Neanderthal child, having finished the milk and licked the plate
dry, looked up at her with a wet face and wide longing eyes.
of course."
"No-no, he was talking," said Miss Fellowes.
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"That's yet to be determined. There's plenty of controversy over whether
Neanderthals were capable of true speech. That's one of the things we hope
we're going to be able to settle during the span of this experiment."
The child made the clicking, gargling sounds again. Looked at Miss
Fellowes. Looked at the milk, and at the empty plate.
"There's your answer," she said. "He's definitely talking!"
"If that's so, then he's human, wouldn't you say, Miss Fellowes?"
She let the question pass without responding. The issue was too complex to
consider just now. A hungry child was calling to her. She reached for the
milk.
Hoskins caught her by the wrist and pulled her upward so that she was facing
him. "Wait a moment, Miss Fellowes. Before we go any further, I
have to know whether you're planning to stay on the job."
She shook free of him in annoyance. "Will you starve him if I don't? He's
asking for more milk, and you're preventing me from giving it to him."
"Go ahead. But I need to know your answer."
"I'll stay with him-for a while."
He's been through a considerable ordeal and it's best to clear everyone out of
here and allow you to try to settle him down for some rest."
"I agree."
He gestured toward the oval metal doorway, much like the hatch of a submarine,
that stood open at the entrance to the dollhouse. "This is the only door to
Stasis Section One, and it's going to be elaborately locked and guarded at all
times. We'll seal it when we leave here. Tomorrow I'll want you to learn the
details of operating the lock, which will, of course, be keyed to your
fingerprints as they are already keyed to mine. The spaces overhead"-he looked
upward toward the open ceilings of the dollhouse-"are also guarded by a
network of sensors, and we'll be warned immediately if anything untoward takes
place in here."
"Untoward?"
"An intrusion."
"Why should there be-"
"We have a Neanderthal child from the year 40,000 B.C. in these chambers,"
Hoskins said, with barely concealed impatience. "It may sound unlikely to you,
but there are all sorts of possibilities for intrusion here, anyone ranging
from Hollywood producers to rival scientific groups to one of those
self-styled advocates for children's rights that you and I were discussing at
our first meeting."
she asked indignantly.
"No, no," said Hoskins. He smiled. A benign smile, perhaps a little
condescending, she thought. The prudish spinster lady is worried about
Peeping Toms, But there was no reason why she should have to dress and undress
under the scrutiny of strangers. "Your privacy will be respected completely,
Miss Fellowes. I assure you of that. Trust me. Miss Fellowes."
There he went. Trust me again. He liked to use that phrase; he probably used
it all the time, with everyone he dealt with. It wasn't a phrase that inspired
much trust. The more often he used it, the less she trusted him.
"If anybody at all can walk onto that balcony and look down into these rooms,
I fail to see how-"
"Access to the balcony is going to be strictly restricted -strictly," Hoskins
said. "The only ones going up there will be technicians who may have to work
on the power core, and you'll be given ample notice if they do. The sensors
that I spoke about will be conducting purely electronic surveillance, which
only a computer will deal with. We won't be spying on you. -You'll stay with
him tonight, Miss Fellowes, is that understood? And every night thereafter,
until further notice."
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"Very well."
"You'll be relieved during the day according to whatever schedule you find
convenient. We'll arrange that with you tomorrow. Mortenson, Elliott,
involved that I can explain to you if you like, but I think you have more
important things to deal with just now. The point to bear in mind is simply
that he must never be allowed to leave these rooms. Never. Not for an instant.
Not for any reason. Not to save his life. Not even to save your life, Miss
Fellowes. -Is that clear?"
Miss Fellowes raised her chin in something of a theatrical way. "I'm not sure
what you mean by a conservation law, but I do understand the orders, Dr.
Hoskins. The boy stays in his rooms, if there's some good and sufficient
reason for it, and evidently there is. Even if my own life is at stake,
melodramatic as that sounds, I'm prepared to abide by that. -The nursing
profession is accustomed to placing its duties ahead of self-preservation."
"Good. You can always signal via the intercom system if you need anyone. Good
night, Miss Fellowes."
And the two men left. Everyone else had already gone out. The hatch swung shut
and Miss Fellowes thought she heard the sound of electronic devices clicking
into place.
She was locked in. With a wild child from the year 40,000 B.C.
She turned to the boy. He was watching her warily and there was still milk in
the saucer. Laboriously Miss Fellowes tried to show him in pantomimed gestures
how to lift the saucer and place it to his lips. The pantomime had no effect.
He simply stared but made no attempt to imitate
Dr. Hoskins had seized him by the wrists only a little while ago. And had
pulled his arms together across his body and dangled him in mid-air. No doubt [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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