"Mel Gilden - Zoot Marlow 3 - Tubular Android Superheroes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gilden Mel)

taught him dances for which I did not have names. Or they might just have been nervous conditions. I
went to bed long before any of them were done. The last I saw of Grampa Zamp, he had a fishnet
draped over his head and he was shaking his hips as if trying to dislodge a couple of flies.
The next morning I got my brown suitтАФthe detective uniformтАФout of the closet. Bill stood behind it,
right where I'd left him. I wasn't on a case. I wasn't going anywhere. Bill would just be in the way. But
we'd been through a lot together and I had gotten used to him being in the way. Maybe I even liked it.
The flypaper hissed when I pulled it off the top of his head. The lights behind his eyes came on and he
said, "Hello, Boss."
"Hello, Bill. How they hanging?"
"They?" he said. "Hanging?"
"Forget it," I said. "Come on out of the closet."
Bill watched me put on the suit, then followed me to the breakfast nook and swung his feet up and
back over the edge of a kitchen counter. Meanwhile I read the paper and drank coffee. The world was
still having affairs. I didn't understand all the comics, but then, some of them probably weren't funny. I
figured that as long as the artists continued to draw aliens that looked like sacks with eyeballs on the tips
of their antennae, I was safe.
Zamp stumbled into the kitchen still wearing the Hawaiian shirt and baggies. They were a little
wrinkled. He looked as if he'd had a wonderful time the night before and now regretted it. He collapsed
into a nearby chair and held his head. I read the paper. He jumped every time I rattled a page.
At last Zamp said, "So this is Earth."
"Accept no substitutes."
"Last night was amazing."
"Don't try that stuff at home."
"Those guys are professionals?"
"No. Just Earth people."
"Yeah." A moment later Zamp said, "Nice clothes."
"The uniform. Trouble is my business.' "
Zamp chuckled and was sorry. He said, "I knew you were crazy for that Philip Marlowe radio show,
but I didn't know you were this crazy."
I nodded and shrugged.
Zamp said, "So, what's pizza?"
Bill made a tiny mechanical guffaw. Zamp looked at him and said, "I don't believe we've met."
"That's Bill, my robot. He likes to shake hands."
Zamp shook hands with Bill for as long as he could stand it. "Pizza?" Zamp said.
"Nobody here by that name," Bill said.
While Zamp stared in surprise at Bill, I said, "I don't think you'd be very interested in it in your
condition."
"Pizza is food?"
"More or less. It's good, but a little hard on the stomach."
He contemplated that. It was difficult work. After a night of brewski and yoyogurt and dancing, just
circulating your blood was difficult work.
He went away and I finished my coffee and the comics. They did not become more comical. Flopsie,
Mopsie, and Hanger came in and giggled as they poked through the refrigerator.
The morning was busy. I dozed in the sun for a while, helped Hanger pot a plant, and traded quips
with Captain Hook before he went out to surf with his bot. I had a nice chat with Whipper Will and
Bingo about their chances of stopping Max Toodemax from bouncing them. Bill's chance of becoming a
nuclear physicist was better. With all that excitement, I could barely catch my breath. I could have stayed
on T'toom.
Bingo and Whipper Will and I sat at the table thinking foggy gray thoughts about what kind of world it
must be if a guy who has enough money can toss people out with the garbage. Suddenly Bingo cried,