"Michael Kandel - Hooking Up" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kandel Michael)

Everyone on Nerol swam at least an hour a day, because the gravity wasn't good
for your vertebrae if you didn't do that. The gravity squushed your vertebrae
and made them rub together, which could cripple you for life. Look at Uncle
Archer in his big brace and taking three different kinds of pain pills every
morning with his orange juice: blue, green, and yellow.

Topaz was asked to stand up and tell the class about Nerol, as she expected. She
had prepared something to say, but it sounded so stupid, she wished she could be
back home in her bed and under the covers. On Nerol, machines do everything and
some of them look just like people. We have to wear special clothes and glasses
in the summer because of the rays from our sun. We don't have a moon but we do
have a beautiful ring, and in the autumn, from Founder's Day to Christmas, there
are so many shooting stars, it's like a fountain of light every night. Our year
is fifteen days longer than a year on Earth. Since I've been away six years,
that makes me three months younger than I would have been if I stayed on Earth.
Ms. C. said, when Topaz was finished and took her seat, Isn't that something?

At lunchtime, after they ate from trays in a cafeteria and all went out to play
in the fenced-in park, two girls came over to Topaz and introduced themselves.
I'm Cherry, said the girl who had blond curls, and that's Anemone. She said
Anemone in four syllables, pointing to the other girl, who had a big nose,
freckles, and brown curls. Topaz wondered if she should make her hair curly too,
if that was the fashion here. She would ask her mother.

The three of them played a game that Topaz didn't understand. It was a word
game, but had leap frog in it if you got a word wrong. The girls laughed hard,
so Topaz laughed with them. She liked Cherry and Anemone, especially Cherry, who
was so pretty with her tiny nose. Topaz kept wanting to say Me-ne-mo-ne instead
of A-ne-mo-ne, but after she repeated it to herself enough times, she got the
name right. The words were shouted faster and faster, and the turns at leap frog
got so confusing, you didn't know whether you had to jump or bend over, and soon
she was laughing as hard as they were. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't
have guessed that this girl had just come from another planet.

You can call me at Cherry fifty-seven Z slash two, that's my netplace, said
Cherry, when it was time for the children to go back in. Oh, we don't have a
modem yet or a netplace, said Topaz, we just moved in. What are you talking
about, a modem? said Cherry, wrinkling her forehead. A modem to call you, said
Topaz. We don't need a modem for that, said Cherry. She's not hooked up, Anemone
explained. Oh right, said Cherry, and they both stopped and looked at Topaz for
a moment before they continued walking.

Well, when you get hooked up, said Cherry -- this was when they were in the hall
among a hundred talking students heading back to Ms. C.'s classroom-- you can
call me at Cherry fifty-seven Z slash two. Don't forget. I won't, said Topaz,
and said it to herself enough times to remember it.

There wasn't much lesson-teaching for the rest of the day. Topaz didn't need to
use her notebook. The students mostly did what Ms. C. called interrelating