"3 Star Brothers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bova Ben)

He had been a ruggedly handsome man fifteen years ago, with golden blond hair and a lean muscular body. Now his face sagged and there were pouches beneath his blue eyes. He was going to bloat, and even his hair looked a thinning, unhealthy graying blond.

"So you want to know about Stoner, do you. That's what this is all about?"

The woman nodded, holding her snifter in both hands, where it caught a glint of afternoon sunlight.

"Dr. Ilona Lucacs," muttered Baker. "Doctor of what?"

"Neurophysiology," she said, in a voice that was almost sultry. "At the University of Budapest."

"And what's your interest in Stoner?"

Dr. Lucacs was clearly uncomfortable, but she forced a smile. Luscious lips, thought Baker.

"My interest is purely scientific," she said, with the trace of an exotic accent. "My research is in the area of cryonics, freezing people at the point of death so that they can be re-

vived later, when medical science has learned how to cure the ailment that is killing them."

"Ahhh," said Baker, reaching for the cognac bottle. "So Stoner's still the only one to make it out of the deep freeze, eh?"

"So far as I have been able to determine, no other human being has ever been revived successfully from cryonic suspension."

Baker splashed five centimeters of golden brown liquid into his snifter and downed half of it in one gulp. "Then An Lmh's mother is still on ice," he muttered.

"I beg your pardon?" Dr. Lucacs leaned forward slightly, a motion that roused Baker's heart rate.

"An old friend of mine," explained Baker. "Her mother was dying of cancer so she had the old lady frozen--god, must be twenty-five years or more."

"Would this be Ms. An Lmh Laguerre?"

"You've met her?"

"I interviewed her a few weeks ago, in Paris."

"How is she?"

"Very successful. She is a vice president of Global Communications."

"So I heard. Haven't seen her in more than ten years. She was a close friend of mine, back then. A very close friend."

Dr. Lucacs caught his meaning. "She is married now, and has two children. She appears to be quite happy with her life."

Baker grunted "Global's a subsidiary of Vanguard Industries, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know."

"It is. She's working for Vanguard, same as me."

"You did know Dr. Stoner fifteen years ago "