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- Исаак Азимов
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Perhaps
it
was
with
the
thought
of
all
that
in
mind
,
that
Ching
had
two
maps
as
the
only
ornaments
on
the
wall
of
his
office
.
One
was
an
old
hand-drawn
affair
tracing
out
an
acre
or
two
of
land
,
and
marked
with
the
now
outmoded
pictographs
of
old
China
.
A
little
creek
trickled
aslant
the
faded
markings
and
there
were
the
delicate
pictorial
indications
of
lowly
huts
,
in
one
of
which
Ching
's
grandfather
had
been
born
.
The
other
map
was
a
huge
one
,
sharply
delineated
,
with
all
markings
in
neat
Cyrillic
characters
.
The
red
boundary
that
marked
the
Eastern
Region
swept
within
its
grand
confines
all
that
had
once
been
China
,
India
,
Burma
,
Indo-China
,
and
Indonesia
.
On
it
,
within
the
old
province
of
Szechuan
,
so
light
and
gentle
that
none
could
see
it
,
was
the
little
mark
placed
there
by
Ching
which
indicated
the
location
of
his
ancestral
farm
.
Ching
stood
before
these
maps
as
he
spoke
to
Stephen
Byerley
in
precise
English
,
"
No
one
knows
better
than
you
,
Mr.
Co-ordinator
,
that
my
job
,
to
a
large
extent
,
is
a
sinecure
.
It
carries
with
it
a
certain
social
standing
,
and
I
represent
a
convenient
focal
point
for
administration
,
but
otherwise
it
is
the
Machine
!
-
The
Machine
does
all
the
work
.
What
did
you
think
,
for
instance
,
of
the
Tientsin
Hydroponics
works
?
"
"
Tremendous
!
"
said
Byerley
.
"
It
is
but
one
of
dozens
,
and
not
the
largest
.
Shanghai
,
Calcutta
,
Batavia
,
Bangkok
-
They
are
widely
spread
and
they
are
the
answer
to
feeding
the
billion
and
three
quarters
of
the
East
.
"
"
And
yet
,
"
said
Byerley
,
"
you
have
an
unemployment
problem
there
at
Tientsin
.
Can
you
be
over-producing
?
It
is
incongruous
to
think
of
Asia
as
suffering
from
too
much
food
.
"
Ching
's
dark
eyes
crinkled
at
the
edges
.
"
No
.
It
has
not
come
to
that
yet
.
It
is
true
that
over
the
last
few
months
,
several
vats
at
Tientsin
have
been
shut
down
,
but
it
is
nothing
serious
.
The
men
have
been
released
only
temporarily
and
those
who
do
not
care
to
work
in
other
fields
have
been
shipped
to
Colombo
in
Ceylon
,
where
a
new
plant
is
being
put
into
operation
.
"
"
But
why
should
the
vats
be
closed
down
?
"
Ching
smiled
gently
,
"
You
do
not
know
much
of
hydroponics
,
I
see
.
Well
,
that
is
not
surprising
.
You
are
a
Northerner
,
and
there
soil
farming
is
still
profitable
.
It
is
fashionable
in
the
North
to
think
of
hydroponics
,
when
it
is
thought
of
at
all
,
as
a
device
of
growing
turnips
in
a
chemical
solution
,
and
so
it
is
--
in
an
infinitely
complicated
way
.
"
In
the
first
place
,
by
far
the
largest
crop
we
deal
with
(
and
the
percentage
is
growing
)
is
yeast
.
We
have
upward
of
two
thousand
strains
of
yeast
in
production
and
new
strains
are
added
monthly
.
The
basic
food-chemicals
of
the
various
yeasts
are
nitrates
and
phosphates
among
the
inorganics
together
with
proper
amounts
of
the
trace
metals
needed
,
down
to
the
fractional
parts
per
million
of
boron
and
molybdenum
which
are
required
.
The
organic
matter
is
mostly
sugar
mixtures
derived
from
the
hydrolysis
of
cellulose
,
but
,
in
addition
,
there
are
various
food
factors
which
must
be
added
.
