"Asaro, Catherine - Echea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asaro Catherine)

into the household easier.

I was so proud of her.

"Breakfast," Anne said, and I heard a tone
in her voice IТd never heard before. "ItТs
the first meal of the day."

The government had fed the children
standard nutrition supplements, in
beverage form. Echea hadnТt taken a meal
on Earth until sheТd joined us.

"You name your meals?" she asked Anne.
"You have that many of them?" Then she put
a hand over her mouth, as if she were
surprised she had let the questions out.

"Three of them," I said, trying to sound
normal. Instead I felt defensive, as if we
had too much. "We only have three of
them."

The second night, we had no disturbances.
By the third, we had developed a routine.
I spent time with my girls, and then I
went into EcheaТs room. She didnТt like
House or HouseТs stories. HouseТs voice,
no matter how I programmed it, scared her.
It made me wonder how we were going to
link her when the time came. If she found
House intrusive, imagine how she would
find the constant barrage of information
services, of instant e-mail scrolling
across her eyes, or sudden images
appearing inside her head. She was almost
past the age where a child adapted easily
to a link. We had to calm her quickly or
risk her suffering a disadvantage for the
rest of her life.

Perhaps it was the voice that upset her.
The reason links made sound optional was
because too many people had had trouble
distinguishing the voices inside their
head. Perhaps Echea would be one of them.

It was time to find out.

I had yet to broach the topic with my