The Eyes of Heisenberg Read Online Free PDF Page A

change. There exist an infinite number of energy rules, each set dependent on the twin aspects of viewpoint and background. In an extended system, this thing from outside assumes the aspect of a node appearing on a standing wave. That’s what they say.”
    Svengaard slipped off the desk, stood in a rapture of awe. He felt that he’d had a fleeting glimpse, a wisp of understanding that penetrated every question he might ask about the universe.
    Could that be what it’s like to work out of Central? he wondered.
    â€œThat’s a great summation, isn’t it?” Potter demanded. He stood up. “A truly great idea!” A chuckle shook him.
    â€œYou know, a guy named Diderot had that idea. It was around 1750 or thereabout. They spoon-feed it to us now. Great wisdom!”
    â€œMaybe Diderot was … one of them,” Svengaard ventured.
    Potter sighed, thinking, How ignorant a man can become on a diet of managed history. He wondered then how his own diet had been adjusted and managed.
    â€œDiderot was one of us,” Potter growled.

    Svengaard stared at him, shocked to silence by the man’s … blasphemy.
    â€œIt comes down to this,” Potter said. “Nature doesn’t like being meddled with.”
    A chime sounded beneath Svengaard’s desk.
    â€œSecurity?” Potter asked.
    â€œThat’s the all clear,” Svengaard said. “They’re ready for us now.”
    â€œCentral’s Security hotshots are all in place,” Potter said. “You will note that they didn’t stoop to report to you or to me. They watch us too, you know.”
    â€œI’ve … nothing to hide,” Svengaard said.
    â€œOf course you haven’t,” Potter said. He moved around the desk, threw an arm across Svengaard’s shoulders. “Come along. It’s time for us to put on the mask of Archeus. We’re going to give form and organization to a living body. Veritable gods, we are.”
    Svengaard felt himself still lost in confusion. “What’ll they do … to the Durants?” he asked.
    â€œDo? Not a damn’ thing—unless the Durants force it. The Durants won’t even know they’re being watched. But Central’s little boys will know everything that goes on in that lounge. The Durants won’t be able to belch without the gas being subjected to a full and complete analysis. Come along.”
    But Svengaard held back. “Doctor Potter,” he asked, “what do you think introduced that arginine chain into the Durant morula?”
    â€œI’m closer to you than you think,” Potter said. “We’re fighting … instability. We’ve upset the biological stability of the inheritance patterns with our false isomers and our enzyme adjustments and our meson beams. We’ve undermined the chemical stability of the molecules in the germ plasm. You’re a doctor. Look at the enzyme prescriptions we all have to take—how profound the adjustment we have to make to stay alive. It wasn’t always that way. And whatever set up that original stability is still in there fighting. That’s what I think.”

3
    T he cutting room nurses positioned the vat under the enzyme console, readied the tubes and the computer-feed-analysis board. They worked quietly, efficiently as Potter and Svengaard examined the gauges. The computer nurse racked her tapes and there came a brief whirring-clicking as she tested her board.
    Potter felt himself filled with the wakeful anxiety that always came over him before surgery. He knew it would give way presently to the charged sureness of action, but he felt snappish at the moment. He glanced at the vat gauges. The Krebs cycle was holding at 86.9, a good sixty points above death level. The vat nurse came over, examined his breather mask. He checked his microphone, “Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was black as hades—the surgeon took the credit for