Dr. Halsey and Lieutenant2 Keyes stood in the semishade of a canvas awning3 and watched children asthey screamed and chased one another and climbed on steel lattices and skimmed gravballs across therepulsor courts.
Lieutenant Keyes looked extremely uncomfortable in civilian4 clothes. He wore a loose gray suit, a whiteshirt, and no tie. Dr. Halsey found his sudden awkwardness charming.
When he had complained the clothes were too loose and sloppy5, she had almost laughed. He was puremilitary to the core. Even out of uniform, the Lieutenant stood rigid6, as if he were at perpetual attention.
“It’s nice here,” she said. “This colony doesn’t know how good they’ve got it. Rural lifestyle. Nopollution. No crowding. Climate-controlled weather.”
The Lieutenant grunted7 an acknowledgment as he tried to smooth the wrinkles out of his silk jacket.
“Relax,” she said. “We’re supposed to be parents inspecting the school for our little girl.” She slippedher arm through his, and although she would have thought such a feat8 impossible, the Lieutenant stoodeven straighter.
She sighed and pulled away from him, opened her purse, and retrieved9 a palm-sized pad. She adjustedthe brim of her wide straw hat to shade the pad from the noon glare. With a tap of her finger, sheaccessed and scanned the file she had assembled of their subject.
Number 117 had all the genetic10 markers she had flagged in her original study—he was as close to aperfect subject for her purposes as science could determine. But Dr. Halsey knew it would take morethan theoretical perfection to make this project work. People were more than the sum of their genes11.
There were environmental factors, mutations, learned ethics12, and a hundred other factors that couldmake this candidate unacceptable.
The picture in the file showed a typical six-year-old male. He had tousled brown hair and a sly grin thatrevealed a gap between his front teeth. A few freckles13 were speckled across his checks. Good—shecould match the patterns to confirm his identity.
“Our subject.” As she angled the pad toward the Lieutenant so he could see the boy, Dr. Halsey noticedthat the picture was four months old. Didn’t ONI realize how fast these children changed? Sloppy. Shemade a note to request updated pictures on a regular basis until phase three started.
“Is that him?” the Lieutenant whispered.
Dr. Halsey looked up.
The Lieutenant nodded to a grassy15 hill at the end of the playground. The crest16 of that hill was bare dirt,scuffed clean of all vegetation. A dozen boys pushed and shoved one another—grabbed, tackled, rolleddown the slope, and then got up, ran back, and started the process over.
“King of the hill,” Dr. Halsey remarked.
One boy stood on the crest. He blocked, pushed, and strong-armed all the other children.
Dr. Halsey pointed17 her data pad at him and recorded this incident for later study. She zoomed18 in on thesubject to get a better look. This boy smiled and showed the same small gap between his front teeth. Asplit-second freeze frame and she matched his freckles to the picture on file.
“That’s our boy.”
He was taller than the other children by a full head, and—if his performance in the game was anyindicator—stronger as well. Another boy grabbed him from behind in a headlock. Number 117 peeledthe boy off, and—with a laugh—tossed him down the hillside like a toy.
Dr. Halsey had expected a specimen19 of perfect physical proportions and stunning20 intellect. True, thesubject was strong and fast, but he was also dirty and rude.
Then again, unrealistic and subjective21 perceptions had to be confronted in these field studies. What didshe really expect? He was a six-year-old boy—full of life and unchecked emotion and as predictable asthe wind.
Three boys ganged up on him. Two grabbed his legs and one threw his arms around his chest. They alltumbled down the hill. Number 117 kicked and punched and bit his attackers until they let go and ranaway to a safe distance. He rose and tore back up the hill, bumping another boy and shouting that he wasking.
“He seems,” the Lieutenant started, “um, very animated22.”
“Yes,” Dr. Halsey said. “We may be able to use this one.”
She glanced up and down the playground. The only adult was helping23 a girl get to her feet after fallingdown and scraping her elbow; she marched her towards the nurse’s office.
“Stay here and watch me, Lieutenant,” she said, and passed him the data pad. “I’m going to have acloser look.”
The Lieutenant started to say something, but Dr. Halsey walked away, then half jogged across thepainted lines of hopscotch24 squares on the playground. A breeze caught her sundress and she had toclutch the hem14 with one hand, grabbing the brim of her straw hat with the other. She slowed to a trot25 andhalted four meters from the base of the hill.
The children stopped and turned.
“You’re in trouble,” one boy said, and pushed Number 117.
He shoved the boy back and then looked Dr. Halsey squarely in the eyes. The other children lookedaway; some wore embarrassed smirks26, and a few slowly backed off.
Her subject, however, stood there defiantly27. He was either confident she wasn’t going to punish him—orhe simply wasn’t afraid. She saw that he had a bruise28 on his cheek, the knees of his pants were torn, andhis lip was cracked.
Dr. Halsey took three steps closer. Several of the children took three involuntary steps backward.
“Can I speak with you, please?” she asked, and continued to stare at her subject.
He finally broke eye contact, shrugged29, and then lumbered30 down the hill. The other children giggled31 andmade tsking sounds; one tossed a pebble32 at him. Number 117 ignored them.
Dr. Halsey led him to the edge of the nearby sandpit and stopped.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“I’m John,” he said. The boy held out his hand.
Dr. Halsey didn’t expect physical contact. The subject’s father must have taught him the ritual, or theboy was highly imitative.
She shook his hand and was surprised by the strength in his miniscule grip. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
She knelt so she was at his level. “I wanted to ask you what you were doing?”
“Winning,” he said.
Dr. Halsey smiled. He was unafraid of her . . . and she doubted that he’d have any trouble pushing heroff the hill, either.
“You like games,” she said. “So do I.”
He sighed. “Yeah, but they made me play chess last week. That got boring. It’s too easy to win.” Hetook a quick breath. “Or—can we play gravball? They don’t let me play gravball anymore, but maybe ifyou tell them it’s okay?”
“I have a different game I want you to try,” she told him. “Look.” She reached into her purse andbrought out a metal disk. She turned it over and it gleamed in the sun. “People used coins like this forcurrency a long time ago, when Earth was the only planet we lived on.”
His eyes fixed33 on the object. He reached for it.
Dr. Halsey moved it away, continuing to flip34 it between her thumb and index finger. “Each side isdifferent. Do you see? One has the face of a man with long hair. The other side has a bird, called aneagle, and it’s holding—”
“Arrows,” John said.
“Yes. Good.” His eyesight must be exceptional to see such detail so far away. “We’ll use this coin in ourgame. If you win you can keep it.”
John tore his gaze from the coin and looked at her again, squinted35, then said, “Okay. I always win,though. That’s why they won’t let me play gravball anymore.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“What’s the game?”
“It’s very simple. I toss the coin like this.” She flicked36 her wrist, snapped her thumb, and the coin arced,spinning into the air, and landed in the sand. “Next time, though, before it lands, I want you to tell me ifit will fall with the face of the man showing or with the eagle holding the arrows.”
“I got it.” John tensed, bent37 his knees, and then his eyes seemed to lose their focus on her and the coin.
Dr. Halsey picked up the quarter. “Ready?”
John gave a slight nod.
She tossed it, making sure there was plenty of spin.
John’s eyes watched it with that strange distant gaze. He tracked it as it went up, and then down towardthe ground—his hand snapped out and snatched the quarter out of the air.
He held up his closed hand. “Eagle!” he shouted.
She tentatively reached for his hand and peeled open the tiny fist.
The quarter lay in his palm: the eagle shining in the orange sun.
Was it possible that he saw which side was up when he grabbed it . . . or more improbably, could havepicked which side he wanted? She hoped the Lieutenant had recorded that. She should have told him tokeep the data pad trained on her.
John retracted38 his hand. “I get to keep it, right? That’s what you said.”
“Yes, you can keep it, John.” She smiled at him—then stopped.
She shouldn’t have used his name. That was a bad sign. She couldn’t afford the luxury ofliking her testsubjects. She mentally stepped away from her feelings. She had to maintain a professional distance. Shehad to . . . because in a few months Number 117 might not be alive.
“Can we play again?”
Dr. Halsey stood and took a step back. “That was the only one I had, I’m afraid. I have to leave now,”
she told him. “Go back and play with your friends.”
“Thanks.” He ran back, shouting to the other boys, “Look!”
Dr. Halsey strode to the Lieutenant. The sun reflecting off the asphalt felt too hot, and she suddenlydidn’t want to be outside. She wanted to be back in the ship, where it was cool and dark. She wanted toget off this planet.
She stepped under the canvas awning and said to the Lieutenant, “Tell me you recorded that.”
He handed her the data pad and looked puzzled. “Yes. What was it all about?’
Dr. Halsey checked the recording39 and then sent a copy ahead to Toran on theHan for safekeeping.
“We screen these subjects for certain genetic markers,” she said. “Strength, agility40, even predispositionsfor aggression41 and intellect. But we couldn’t remote test for everything. We don’t test for luck.”
“Luck?” Lieutenant Keyes asked. “You believe in luck, Doctor?”
“Of course not,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But we have one hundred and fifty testsubjects to consider, and facilities and funding for only half that number. It’s a simple mathematicalelimination, Lieutenant. That child was one of the lucky ones—either that or he is extraordinarily42 fast.
Either way, he’s in.”
“I don’t understand,” Lieutenant Keyes said, and he started fiddling43 with the pipe he carried in hispocket.
“I hope that continues, Lieutenant, ” Dr. Halsey replied quietly. “For your sake, I hope you neverunderstand what we’re doing.”
She looked one last time at Number 117—at John. He was having so much fun, running and laughing.
For a moment she envied the boy’s innocence44; hers was long dead. Life or death, lucky or not, she wascondemning this boy to a great deal of pain and suffering.
But it had to be done.
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收听单词发音
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1
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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2
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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3
awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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4
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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sloppy
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| adj.邋遢的，不整洁的 | |
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6
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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7
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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8
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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9
retrieved
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| v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
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10
genetic
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| adj.遗传的，遗传学的 | |
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genes
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| n.基因( gene的名词复数 ) | |
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12
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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14
hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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15
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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16
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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17
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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zoomed
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| v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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20
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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hopscotch
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| n.小孩独脚跳踢石子的游戏，“跳房子”游戏 | |
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25
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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26
smirks
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| n.傻笑，得意的笑( smirk的名词复数 )v.傻笑( smirk的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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28
bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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29
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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30
lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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31
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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33
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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34
flip
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| vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的 | |
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35
squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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36
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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37
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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38
retracted
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| v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
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39
recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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40
agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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41
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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42
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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43
fiddling
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| 微小的 | |
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44
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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