"Jerry Davis - The Moon at Noon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Jerry%20Davis%20-%20The%20Moon%20at%20Noon.txt

THE MOON AT NOON

┬й1997 by Jerry J. Davis



The Freud simulation program told Mike that he had a
subconscious desire to be caught. That was ludicrous, though ---
being caught would mean the end of his career, which was a job he
enjoyed. It would also be the end of his marriage, as his
socially-conscious wife would be embarrassed out of her mind. His
kids would be harassed at school, taunted with jeers about their
crazy father, and for this reason alone Mike took precautions. He
had to be cautious, even though being cautious was the very
opposite of what he was doing. What did the Freud simulation know,
anyway? It was only a program.
His rubber-walled car would do no more than 35 miles per hour
down the crowded expressway --- to go faster would not be safe.
Mike often wondered why 35 miles per hour was considered safe, and
36 miles per hour was not. His car puttered like a motorboat,
burning natural gas, and inched its way from one lane to another
as he progressed toward the next off ramp. Zeiter Park Exit, the
sign read. Center City. His car made putt-putt sounds as it crept
down the long, safe exit ramp.
As he came to a stop, he did so gently so as not to trigger
the air-bag in his steering wheel --- which had gone off several
times before. For some reason it had a hair trigger, and when he'd
first bought the car Mike thought it was a factory defect. No,
said the factory representative, it was made that way on purpose.
Just to be safe. That, and the webbing that made up the seat belt
system, was now standard in all cars by law. As was the crash
helmet on his head.
Mike found a parking place on the street beside some bushes
in Zeiter Park, right between two other rubber-walled cars. Rubber
walls with a titanium-steel passenger compartment imbedded within,
the mandatory norm and ultimate in safety and protection. Four way
anti-skid disc brakes and pneumatic collapsible bumpers on front,
back and sides. Titanium roll bar. Non-breakable Plexiglas
windshield. It was --- all of it --- state of the art, and
required by law.
As was the helmet on his head.
Mike got out of the car, pulled a bundled pack out of the
back seat, and stepped up onto the soft, rubberized surface of the
park sidewalk. He felt like a spaceman stepping out onto a hostile
planet. The helmet he wore was not only a crash helmet for driving
a car, it also doubled as the mandatory helmet to be worn by
pedestrians, along with the mandatory knee and elbow pads, and of
course the bullet proof vest to protect him from muggers. Mike,