Чужой
VII
Noneofitwasparticularlyuseful,butthescienceofficerfounditallfascinating.
Kane’sinsideswereimmediatelyvisibletoanyonewhocaredtoentertheinfirmaryandhavealookatthemainmedicalviewscreen.Kanehimselfwasinnopositiontoobjecttothisparticularlyintimateinvasionofprivacy.
Ripleywalkedin,tooknoteofthereadouts.Hisconditionhadn’tchangedsinceshe’dlastseenhim.Shehadn’texpecteditto.Thealienremainedaffixedtohisface.
Shestudiedthesmallerreadouts,thentooktheemptyseatnexttoAsh.Heacknowledgedherarrivalwithaslightsmileanddidnotturnfromhisconsole.
’Makingsomedifferenttestsonhim,’heinformedher.’Justincaseanythinghappens.’
’Likewhat?’
’Ihaven’tthevaguestidea.Butifanythingdoes,I’llwanttoknowaboutitassoonasitstarts.’
’Anythingnew?’
’WithKane?’Ashconsidered,marshalinghisthoughts.’Stillthesame.He’sholdingsteady.No,betterthanthat.He’sholdingstrong.Nochangesfortheworse.’
’Whataboutthecreature?Weknownowitcanleakacidandhealitselffast.Anythingelseweknow?’
Ashsoundedpleasedwithhimselfwhenhereplied.’LikeItoldyou,I’vebeenrunningtests.Sincewecan’tdoanythingforKane,Ithoughtitsensibletotrytolearnasmuchaswecanaboutthecreature.Youneverknowwhatseeminglyinsignificantdiscoverymightleadtoitseventualremoval.’
’Iknowthat.’Sheshiftedimpatientlyinherchair.
