"Harry Harrison & Robert Sheckley - Bill the Galactic Hero 3 " - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

"I am totally indifferent to the matter," the translator said, then turned itself off.
After Bill had been in his special cell with the padded walls for two days, Illyria came to visit him. She
sat in his cell for hours, encouraging him to talk about his childhood, his military service, his adventures
on strange planets. Bill found he was getting very fond of Illyria. Although she looked to him like all the
other Tsurisians, her manner was different. She was sympathetic, feminine. Her voice was low and
pleasing. Sometimes, in the darkness of the cell, Bill thought he could see the suggestion of breasts on the
gleaming metal of her midpoint sphere. He was even starting to think that her skinny black legs were
pretty cute, although, of course, there were too many of them. But deep down he knew that these images
were brought on by desperation. He could never really love a woman composed of three spheres. Two
spheres maybe, that was kind of a familiar image. But not three.

One evening, however, there was something different about Illyria. She seemed excited and strangely

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 Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Bottled Brains

agitated. When he asked her about it, she refused to tell him. "Just believe me, bill, I'm working on a plan
to rescue you."
"What sort of a plan?"
"I can't tell you yet."
"Is there any chance?"
"Yes, my dear, there is. It's risky, but I think we have a chance."
Bill noticed that she had said "we". He asked her about that.
"Oh, Bill," she said, "I hope to have a little surprise for you one of these days."
Much as Bill wanted to be rescued, he wasn't sure he wanted to face Illyria's surprise.


Chapter 3
Bill woke up inside the computer. Only he didn't know that at first. The last thing that he remembered, his
last recollection, was back in the cell. Then came the transition. Bill opened his eyes and blinked rapidly.
No cell. Instead he appeared to be suspended in a strange and misty environment. To begin with
everything was hazy around him. He looked down at himself. He was hazy, too. He felt numb and spaced
out. Where was he? What did they do to him after the doctors had stood over him and clucked? What had
happened next? Panic rose as he realized that he could not remember.
What was going on? He was lying on what looked like a small cloud, colored orange and mauve. There
were other clouds around, maybe attached by wires to the ceiling. Looking up he realized that,
disconcertingly, he couldn't see the ceiling through the haze. There were more clouds around him, some
of them looked like couches and chairs, floating free. There was an even illumination that suffused
everything. And the place had a faint smell of frying pork chops. Bill suddenly became aware that he was
hungry. Very hungry. He sat up. When he did that, he seemed to float to an upright position. "Where am
I?" he said.
"Welcome," a voice intoned. Bill couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but he knew that it was
the same voice he had heard earlier, in his cell.
"Where am I?" he said.
"Just take it easy," the voice cozened Bill. "You're safe now."
"What does that mean? Where am I?" He could hear the shrill edge of panic rising in his voice. "And just
who the hell are you?"
"I am the Tsuris computer," the voice said. "You are inside me."
Bill looked around. Yes, the walls of this place were gray and beige, the classic colors of computers.
"How," Bill asked tremulously, his voice barely under control, "did you get me inside this computer? I've