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.They weren’t They knew what they were doing.And then, as he passed between two of the labs, Lou heard a scratchy hoarse voice calling.“Uncle Lou!”He looked and saw Big George standing erect, his huge arms upraised so that his hands rested on the top of the nine-foot wire screen fence that stood between them The fence bulged dangerously under his weight.“Hey, Georgy!” Lou felt his face stretch into its biggest smile in days as he ran toward the fence.The gorilla jumped up and down and slapped his sides with excitement “Uncle Lou’ Uncle Lou!” “Georgy, you okay?” Lou asked as he reached the fence.“Yes, yes Strangers scared me at first, but they are very nice to me It was lonesome, though, without you or any of my other friends.”“Well, I’m here now Everything’s going to be okay, Georgy Come on down to that gate over there and I’ll get you out of this compound “Big George lumbered along the fence, knuckles on the ground Lou saw that the gate had no lock on it, just a simple latch With a shrug, he opened it.George lurched out and grabbed Lou in his immense arms.“Hey’ Careful!” Lou laughed as George lifted him off his feet, strong enough to crush him, gentle enough to handle an equal amount of nitroglyceryn without danger.Lou pounded the gorilla’s massive hairy shoulders happily The warmth of his body, even his scent, carried the impression of huge jungle strength And if the gorilla could have laughed or even smiled, he would have right then.A pistol shot cracked nearby Startled, George jerked and nearly let Lou fall Lou saw sudden fear in the gorilla’s eyes, then turned to see some sort of uniformed guard pointing a pistol at them.“Stop! Put that man down!” the guard yelled—from a safe distance away He was wearing a khaki-colored shirt and shorts, with a little cap on his head and that big gun in his wavering hand.“Shut up,” Lou snapped “And put that stupid gun away We’re old friends He’s not hurting me.“The guard’s mouth dropped open.“Let me down,” Lou said softly to George The gorilla stood him carefully on his feet.Walking to the wide-eyed guard, Lou said, “Put that gun away and don’t let me catch you doing anything that hurts that gorilla or frightens him in any way Do you understand?”“I.I thought.”“You thought wrong Big George wouldn’t hurt anybody— unless they scared him so badly that he lashed out in fright”“I was only”“You were wrong Now get out of here”“Yes sir” The guard turned and walked away, fumbling the gun back into the holster strapped to his hip.Lou stayed with Big George until lunchtime—but inside the relative safety of the wire screen that marked off the gorilla’s compound Too many people out there who’ve been frightened by bad movies And too many guns The compound was wide and wild, Lou saw George had plenty of room, big trees, a stream, even the slope of one of the hills to climb.“You’d better stay inside,” Lou said as he left the gorilla at the gate, “until the people around here get to know you better I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble ““I know,” George whispered “I’ll be good”Lou smiled at him “Sure you will I’ll see you soon”Lou walked briskly back toward his quarters, knowing that George would spend the better part of the afternoon feeding himself It took a huge supply of fruits and vegetables to keep a gorilla satisfied By the time Lou approached the white prefab building, he felt sweaty and uncomfortable It was beginning to get really hot, and the breeze had slackened.The turbowagon was sitting in front of the dorm, with a driver wearing the same sort of khaki uniform that the gun-waving guard had worn The driver also had a holster strapped on.In the back seat an older man was reading some papers His face was mild and milky white, with a high balding forehead and thin sandy hair that had started to turn gray He looked slim to Lou, and was probably getting near-sighted, judging from the way he held the papers close to his nose He wore a starched white shirt, short-sleeved, and full-length trousers.He looked up as Lou’s sandals crunched on the gravel of the driveway.“Ah Mr Christopher “Lou nodded and put on a smile as he walked up to the wagon.“I’m Donald Marcus, the head of the laboratory,” Marcus put his hand out and Lou shook it The grip was limp, almost slippery“Get in and we’ll go down to the lab area I want you to see the computer set-up before we have lunch “Lou climbed up into the wagon and sat beside his new boss.“By the way,” Marcus said as they drove off, “did you know that you’re three minutes late?”Without even blinking, Lou snapped back, “My guard must’ve set my watch wrong.”Marcus looked a little startled, but said nothing.The computer was housed in a building of its own, off to one side of the lab complex and not far from Big George’s compound.Inside the one-story building was chaos.Workmen were uncrating bulky consoles, ripping off the protective plastic coverings, leaving huge gobs of spongy foam heaped all over the floor.Carpenters were putting up partitions with whirring drills and power saws.Someone was pounding on a wall someplace.Everyone was talking, calling back and forth, shouting orders or responses, mostly in sing-song Chinese.Lou was nearly run down by four men who, with backs bent and heads down, were wheeling in the massive main control desk at breakneck speed from the open double doors at one end of the building.It was hot and sticky, and the room smelled of new plastic and machine oil.Lou felt perspiration trickling down his body.“Most of these components,” Marcus yelled over the din, “come from your computer system at the Genetics Institute.”Lou nodded but kept his eyes on the nearest workmen, who were busily laying a heavy cable across the floor.“We brought the logic circuits and the whole memory bank.”“What about the voice circuits and input software?” Lou shouted.Marcus lowered his voice a notch [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]