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.com/abcpalm.htmlbut there is a more than reasonable chance that he will get out withouttrouble.Naturally, we will have him reexpand within Gregory s body as littleas possible just enough to make us reasonably certain we can find and extracthim.He will then be rushed to the safe room where the rest of the reexpansionwill take place.Please, Tertia, even ordinary medical procedures have theirrisk. Mrs.Arnfeld was in the observation room as the miniaturization of Mike tookplace.So were the holovision cameras and selected media representatives.Theimportance of the medical experiment made it impossible to prevent that, butMrs.Arnfeld was in a niche with only Johannes for company, and it wasunderstood that she was not to be approached for comment, particularly ifanything untoward occurred.Untoward! A full and sudden reexpansion would blow up the entire operatingroom and kill every person in it.It was not for nothing the observation roomwas underground and half a mile away from the viewing room.It gave Mrs.Arnfeld a somewhat grisly sense of assurance that the threeminiaturists who were working on the procedure (so calmly, it would seem socalmly) were condemned to death as firmly as her husband was in case ofanything untoward.Surely, she could rely on them protecting their own livesto the extreme; they would not, therefore, be cavalier in the protection ofher husband.Eventually, of course, if the procedure were successful, ways would be workedout to perform it in automated fashion, and only the patient would be at risk.Then, perhaps, the patient might be more easily sacrificed throughcarelessness but not now, not now.Mrs.Arnfeld keenly watched the three,working under imminent sentence of death for any sign of discomposure.She watched the miniaturization procedure (she had seen it before) and sawMike grow smaller and disappear.She watched the elaborate procedure thatinjected him into the proper place in her husband s body.(It had beenexplained to her that it would have been prohibitively expensive to injecthuman beings in a submarine device instead.Mike, at least, needed no life-support system.)Then matters shifted to the screen, in which the appropriate section of thebody was shown in holosonogram.It was a three-dimensional representation,cloudy and unfocused, made imprecise through a combination of the finite sizeof the sound waves and the effects of Brownian motion.It showed Mike dimlyand noiselessly making his way through Gregory Arnfeld s tissues by way of hisbloodstream.It was almost impossible to tell what he was doing, but Johannesdescribed the events to her in a low, satisfied manner, until she could listento him no more and asked to be led away.She had been mildly sedated, and she had slept until evening, when Johannescame to see her.She had not been long awake and it took her a moment togather her faculties.Then she said, in sudden and overwhelming fear, Whathas happened? Johannes said, hastily, Success, Tertia.Complete success.Your husband iscured.We can t stop the cancer from recurring, but for now he is cured. She fell back in relief. Oh, wonderful. Just the same, something unexpected has happened and this will have to beexplained to Gregory.We felt that it would be best if you did the explaining. , I? Then, in a renewed access of fear, What has happened? Johannes toldher.It was two days before she could see her husband for more than a moment ortwo.He was sitting up in bed, looking a little pale, but smiling at her. A new lease on life, Tertia, he said buoyantly. Indeed, Greg, I was quite wrong.The experiment succeeded and they tell methey can t find a trace of cancer in you. Well, we can t be too confident about that.There may be a cancerous cellhere and there, but perhaps my immune system will handle it, especially withPage 21 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe proper medication, and if it ever builds up again, which might well takeyears, we ll call on Mike again. At this point, he frowned and said, You know, I haven t seen Mike. Mrs.Arnfeld maintained a discreet silence.Arnfeld said, They ve been putting me off. You ve been weak, dear, and sedated.Mike was poking through your tissues anddoing a little necessary destructive work here and there.Even with asuccessful operation you need time for recovery. If I ve recovered enough to see you, surely I ve recovered enough to seeMike, at least long enough to thank him. A robot doesn t need to receive thanks. Of course not, but I need to give it.Do me a favor, Tertia.Go out there andtell them I want Mike right away. Mrs.Arnfeld hesitated, then came to a decision.Waiting would make the taskharder for everyone.She said carefully, Actually, dear, Mike is notavailable. Not available! Why not? He had to make a choice, you see.He had cleaned up your tissues marvelouslywell; he had done a magnificent job, everyone agrees; and then he had toundergo reexpansion.That was the risky part. Yes, but here I am.Why are you making a long story out of it? Mike decided to minimize the risk. Naturally.What did he do? Well, dear, he decided to make himself smaller. What! He couldn t.He was ordered not to. That was Second Law, Greg.First Law took precedence.He wanted to makecertain your life would be saved.He was equipped to control his own size, sohe made himself smaller as rapidly as he could, and when he was far lessmassive than an electron he used his laser beam, which was by then too tiny tohurt anything in your body, and the recoil sent him flying away at nearly thespeed of light.He exploded in outer space.The gamma rays were detected. Arnfeld stared at her. You can t mean it.Are you serious? Mike is dead? That s what happened.Mike could not refuse to take an action that might keepyou from harm. But I didn t want that.I wanted him safe for further work.He wouldn t havereexpanded uncontrollably.He would have gotten out safely. He couldn t be sure.He couldn t risk your life, so he sacrificed his own. But my life was less important than his. Not to me, dear.Not to those who work with you.Not to anyone.Not even toMike. She put out her hand to him. Come, Greg, you re alive.You re well.That s all that counts. But he pushed her hand aside impatiently. That s not all that counts.Youdon t understand.Oh, too bad.Too bad! Robbie Ninety-eight ninety-nine one hundred. Gloria withdrew her chubby littleforearm from before her eyes and stood for a moment, wrinkling her nose andblinking in the sunlight.Then, trying to watch in all directions at once, shewithdrew a few cautious steps from the tree against which she had beenleaning
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