"Isaac Asimov - Nebula Stori" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

falling. Dreamers carried it off with
grace, but he had never mastered it.

He managed to reach the dance floor, a
languid disk turning in the DomeТs center.
Dancers drifted away from him, slim and
willowy, silver-eyed works of art. On the
other side, he ventured into the rings
again and was soon being carried this way
and that. Each time he neared a hovertable
occupied by Dreamers, it floated away on
cushions of air. He wished just once
someone would look up, admit his presence,
give a greeting. Anything.

Meanwhile, the server brought the spacer
her drink, which was a LaserDrop in a
wide-mouthed bottle. Tiny lasers in the
glass suffused the drink with color:
helium-neon red, zinc-selenium blue,
sodium yellow. Drink in hand, she settled
back to watch the dancers.

Jato quit pretending it was the bar he
wanted and headed for the spacer. But
whenever he neared the ring with her
hovertable, people and tables that had
been drifting away suddenly blocked his
path. The spacer meanwhile finished her
drink, slid a payment chip into the table
slot, and headed for the door. He started
after herЦand the drink server appeared,
blocking the way, his back to Jato, his
tray of laser-hued drinks held high.

Jato scowled. He had always been long on
patience and short on words. But even the
most stoic man could only take so much. He
put his hand against the serverТs back and
pushed, not hard, just enough to make the
fellow move. The server stumbled and his
tray jumped, rum splashing out of the jars
in plump drops. Even then, no one looked
at Jato, not even the server.

He made it to the door without pushing
anyone else. Outside, lamps lit the area
for a few meters, but beyond their
radiance, night reigned under a sky rich
with stars. Jato strode away from the