"Edward M. Lerner - Part I of IV - A New Order of Things" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)

"I'll be off the treadmill in another few minutes." She gestured at the mini-gym's other piece of gear, a
stationary bike. "Or did you plan to use that?"

"On second thought, maybe I'll do the walking course."

"I'll join you, if that's okay."
The "walking course" consisted of the narrow corridors circling the two decks on which passengers were
allowed, and the ladders joining those levels. A circuit took about thirty seconds. I'm trapped like a rat
in a maze. On those two decks, Art knew the location of every hatch, duct, ziptite stash, and alarm
button.

In total silence, thirty seconds is a long time. "How does our little project affect you?" Eva finally asked.

"It makes me nervous as hell. Assuming light still defines a speed limit, this visit was many years in
coming. So why didn't the Snakes speak up until they were almost on top of us? Having announced
themselves, and that their ship is damaged, why have they had so little to add?

"And if they've found a way to beat light speed ... you would know far better than I what that implies
about our comparative grasps of physics. I'm no xenophobe, but anyone in my position at the ICU can't
forget how they once exploited a superior knowledge of biocomputing."

"Not knowing how they got here is killing me--or maybe the swill they call coffee onboard ship is doing
me in." She patted her stomach and grimaced. "Something is getting to me. But I meant at a personal
level. Who did this tear you away from?"

The kind of question he never knew how to answer. "My job. Truth be told, my best friends are
coworkers." She gave back some of his silence as they completed the circuit of one deck and climbed
down to the other. Fine. "Pre-ICU, I was married. Moving around the solar system, from project site to
project site, eventually took care of that." On one spaceship after another. In newly carved asteroid
habitats. Under low domes. He'd been too busy confronting his inner demons to connect with his family.

"Children?"

"A son, nine, and a daughter, fourteen. Good kids. They and Maya live on Luna. I see more of them now
than when I was married."

Some combination of the partially completed jog and the walking circuit kicked in, and he yawned. That
gave her an excuse to cut short the conversation. She said goodnight the next time they passed her cabin.

Later, tossing and turning in his own confining compartment, Art realized Eva had volunteered nothing
about herself. Inquisitive and simultaneously incommunicative....

She might just be his type.
****
The bad thing about Earth was that it crushed you every day. The bad thing about everywhere else
humans lived was that one slip-up could kill you. It need not even be your slip-up.

Until Art was six (standard), the tunnel mazes of Lowell were all he had ever known. He'd seen holos of
the surface, of course, but never actually been on it. Then, his parents announced, they would be traveling
clear across Mars to a family reunion. And ... since it was almost on the way anyhow, they would do a