"John DeChancie - Skyway 3 - Paradox Alley" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

"I think I do," I said, "and I'm worried."

I looked out the side port. The "sun" was declining toward

the horizon. It looked to be late afternoon, the sky having
turned a slightly deeper shade of blue-violet. The green of the
grass-carpeted hills was iridescentтАФa psychotic, delirious
green. The neat shrubbery was variously coloredтАФhere pinks
and reds, there browns and oranges. This place had the feel of
a park, a playland.

I turned and yelled, "Winnie! Where are you?"

"Probably getting it on with George," Roland said. "Those
two are a pair."

Winnie came scurrying out of the aft-cabin, threading her
way through the thicket of human legs and bodies. George
followed her.

"Winnie here, Jake!"

"C'mere, girl."

She jumped up into my lap. I rubbed the bony, fur-covered
knot between her floppy ears.

"What do you think, Winnie?" I said.

Winnie thought, knitting her low brow. She put a lot of
effort into it. Then she asked, "What think about?"

"Huh? Oh. About that man we" met. The one with the
pretty clothes. Did you like him?"

She shrugged. I wondered if the gesture were learned or
innate.

"Big man," Winnie said. "Big."

"Big?" If anything. Prime had been on the short side. "You
mean, important? Powerful?"

"Yes, that. Big man. 'Portant." She groped for elaboration,
then said, simply, "Real big man." Then, an afterthought:

"Many."

"Many? You mean much? Much big?"