"Damon Knight - Life Edit" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight Damon)

LIFE EDIT
Damon Knight

[23 may 2002-proofed for #bookz]

Maureen Appleforth opened the door, saw that the little
conference room was empty, walked in, and let the door close behind
her. She pulled out a chair and sat down. One day away from her
twenty-ninth birthday, Maureen Appleforth had reddish brown hair
with a natural wave, and she was neither too plump nor too thin, but
just right.
After a moment the door opened and a young man came in with a
machine under his arm. He had sleek brown hair and looked like the
kind of man who smoked a pipe. He saw Maureen and looked
surprised. "Ms. Appleforth? I was just going to set up the life editor.
I'm Brian Orr."
He offered his free hand and she took it for a moment with her
cool fingers. "I'm a little early," she said.
"That's all right. Better early than never." He laughed briefly and
set the machine down on the table. Then he uncoiled a thick cable and
plugged it into an outlet. "Would you sit over here please, Ms.
Appleforth? We won't start until you're ready, but I just want to do
some calibrations first." He pulled two leads out of the machine and
showed her the cuffs at the ends of them. "Okay to put these on you?"
She said, "Will it hurt?"
"No, not a bit. Take off your watch, please." He wrapped the
cuffs around her wrists; the cuffs were soft but a little tight. He tapped
keys on the pad in front of him and looked at the screen. "You're a bit
nervous," he said. "Is this a voluntary decision on your part?"
"Not entirely. They told me I couldn't go any higher in the
company unless..."
"But you don't want to do it?"
"No."
 "But you want to stay in the company. Go higher."
"Yes."
"So it's a dilemma, isn't it?"
"Yes." She smiled. "That's the kind of thing I tell people."
"You're in conflict resolution upstairs? Or counseling?"
"Conflict."
"And you're good at it. Or they wouldn't care if you went higher or
not." His voice was pleasant, and she was feeling a little more relaxed.
"So let's just talk," he said. "Is there anything I can tell you?"
She looked at him. He was projecting honest concern and
impartiality. She said, "Why did you take the treatment? If you did, and
if you remember."
"Oh, I remember, all right. It was something I said to a girlfriend of
mine, years ago. I don't remember what it was, but it used to bother me
about once a week. I'd sit and think, 'Jesus, I wish I hadn't said that to
her.' "
"And now you don't remember."