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He nodded.  I am, as a matter of fact. I believe I m qualified, and I have my
own analytical laboratory at the spaceport.
Do you think your station manager would consider me?
Nile blinked.  Parrol will snap you up, of course! . . . But I don t get it.
How do you intend to fit this in with your university work?
 I resigned from the university early this year. About the job here I do have
a few conditions.
 What are they?
 For one thing, I ll limit my work to the floatwood islands.
Why not, Nile thought. Provided they took adequate precautions. He looked in
good physical shape, and she knew he d been on a number of outworld field
trips.
She nodded, said,  We can fit you up with a first-class staff of assistants.
Short on scientific training but long on floatwood experience. Say ten or 
 Uh-uh! Ticos shook his head decidedly.  You and I will select an island and
I ll set myself up there alone. That s
Condition Two. It s an essential part of the project.
Nile stared at him. The multiformed life supported by the floatwood wasn t
abnormally ferocious; but it existed because it could take care of itself
under constantly changing conditions, which included frequent shifts in the
nature of enemies and prey, and in the defensive and offensive apparatus
developed to deal with them. For the uninformed human intruder such apparatus
could turn into a wide variety of death traps. Their menace was for the most
part as mindlessly impersonal as quicksand. But that didn t make them any less
deadly.
 Ticos Cay, she stated,  you re out of your mind! You wouldn t last! Do you
have any idea 
 I do. I ve studied your papers carefully, along with the rather skimpy
material that s available otherwise on the planet s indigenous life. I m aware
there may be serious environmental problems. We ll discuss them. But solitude
is a requirement.
 Why in the world should 
 From a personal point of view, I ll be involved here primarily in longevity
research.
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She hesitated, said,  Frankly I don t see the connection.
Ticos grunted.  Of course you don t. I d better start at the beginning.
 Perhaps you should. Longevity research . . .  Nile paused.  Is there some,
uh, personal 
 Is the life I m interested in extending my own? Definitely. I m at a point
where it requires careful first-hand attention.
Nile felt startled. Ticos was lean but firmly muscled, agile and unwrinkled.
In spite of his white hair, she hadn t considered him old. He might have been
somewhat over sixty and not interested in cosmetic hormones.  You ve begun
extension treatments? she asked.
 Quite a while ago, Ticos said dryly.  How much do you know about the
assorted longevity techniques?
 I have a general understanding of them, of course. But I ve never made a
special study of the subject. Nobody I ve known has  Her voice trailed off
again.
 Don t let it embarrass you to be talking to a creaky ancient about it, Ticos
said.
She stared at him.  How old are you?
 Rather close to two hundred standard years. One of the Hub s most senior
citizens, I believe. Not considering, of course, the calendar age of
old-timers who resorted to longsleep and are still around.
Two hundred years was the practical limit to the human biological life span.
For a moment Nile didn t know what to say. She tried to keep shock from
showing in her face. But perhaps Ticos noticed it because he went on quickly,
his tone light.  It s curious, you know, that we still aren t able to do much
better along those lines! Of course, during the war centuries there evidently
wasn t much attention given to such impractical lines of research.
 Impractical? Nile repeated.
 From the viewpoint of the species. The indefinite extension of individual
life units isn t really too desirable in that respect. Natural replacements
have obvious advantages. I can agree in theory. Nevertheless, I find myself
resenting the fact that the theory should also apply to me. . . . 
He d started resenting it some two decades ago. Up to then he d been getting
by exceptionally well on biochemical adjustments and gene manipulations, aided
by occasional tissue transplants. Then trouble began so gradually that it was
a considerable while before he realized there was a real problem. He was
informed at last that adjustment results were becoming increasingly erratic
and that there was no known way of balancing them more accurately. Major
transplants and the extensive use of synthetics would presently be required. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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