"Dickson, Gordon - Stranger Txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

"Gravityless? You must really have thought you'd make it with an off-world job. But don't you know you shouldn't wear good clothes for this kind of place? No telling what kind of work they'll offer you."

The assumption of experience by someone obviously new here irritated Merlin enough to rouse him from the chronic fatigue he shared with most adults nowadays.

"I'm dressed like this because I've got a job interview this afternoon," he said. "In my own field."

He was sorry he had mentioned it, the moment the words were out of his mouth. Sam Church's pale face was suddenly wiped naked of pretension; it was now desperate with longing.

"Oh, God!" Church breathed. "You really have an interview?"

"I've been waiting nine months," Merlin said gruffly. He was sorry now he had talked to this man at all. Luckily, Church seemed to be the only one who had heard his mention of a professional job interview. They were all in the same straits. Church lowered his voice.

"Where? Who with?"

"International Positions," Merlin said. "One o'clock."

"God!" said Church again. He sniffed the air. "You took a shower, too."

Merlin's small, bitter laugh caught in his throat.

"Not damn likely!" he said. "I used the washbasin on my crash floor, and it cost me three hundred for five minutes. My own soap and towel, and a hundred to hire somebody to stand guard."

Church's attitude had changed. He was now utterly the awestruck neophyte looking at an old hand.

"You're office-crashing?" he said. "How dangerous is it?"

"If you know what you're doing, it's workable," Merlin said.

"You carry a knife?"

"Of course." Merlin felt trapped by the conversation but unable to think of a way to change the subject. "That doesn't mean much. There's always someone around who's better with a knife. The real trick is knowing who's sharing the office with you, and all of you take turns on watch. You've got to know how to wheel and deal'with the hall-patrol guards, too."

Church breathed out softly. He looked enviously at Merlin's large frame.

"I couldn't do it," he said.

Merlin looked at him. He was quite ready to believe that the other could not do it, would not be able to survive in one of the empty office buildings that had been converted to dormitories. Only the fittest survived very long.

"Where do you live?" he asked, to change the subject.

"I've only been married five months. My wife and I, we've got a room with my in-laws."

"Wife..." Merlin caught himself just in time. He had had a sudden, unbearably poignant, vision of someone to go home to, only one other person and a room where you could be alone, just the two of you.

"You're married too?" Church asked.

"Yes. She's on the west coast."

"Oh."