The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Pandora, by Robert J. Martin

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Title: Beyond Pandora

Author: Robert J. Martin

Release Date: December 20, 2007 [EBook #23930]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Beyond Pandora

The ideal way to deal with a pest--any menace--is,
of course, to make it useful to you....

by Robert J. Martin

The doctor's pen paused over the chart on his desk, "This is your third
set of teeth, I believe?"

His patient nodded, "That's right, Doctor. But they were pretty slow
coming in this time."

The doctor looked up quizzically, "Is that the only reason you think you
might need a booster shot?"

"Oh, no ... of course not!" The man leaned forward and placed one hand,
palm up, on the desk. "Last year I had an accident ... stupid ... lost a
thumb." He shrugged apologetically, "It took almost six months to grow
back."

Thoughtfully, the doctor leaned back in his chair, "Hm-m-m ... I see."
As the man before him made an involuntary movement toward his pocket,
the doctor smiled, "Go on, smoke if you want to." Picking up the chart,
he murmured, "Six months ... much too long. Strange we didn't catch that
at the time." He read silently for a few moments, then began to fill out
a form clipped to the folder. "Well, I think you probably are due for
another booster about now. There'll have to be the usual tests. Not that
there's much doubt ... we like to be certain."

The middle-aged man seemed relieved. Then, on second thought, he
hesitated uneasily, "Why? Is there any danger?"

Amusement flickered across the doctor's face, turned smoothly into a
reassuring half-smile. "Oh, no. There's absolutely no danger involved.
None at all. We have tissue-regeneration pretty well under control now.
Still, I'm sure you understand that accurate records and data are very
necessary to further research and progress."

Reassured, the patient thawed and became confidential, "I see. Well, I
suppose it's kinda silly, but I don't much like shots. It's not