"Tom Maddox - Gravity's Angel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maddox Tom)

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тАЬYou really like this thing, donтАЩt you?тАЭ Carol Hendrix asked as she reached up to
touch one of the Invisible BicycleтАЩs clear polystyrene tires. It hung from
rubber-covered hooks just inside my front door.

тАЬYeah,тАЭ I said. тАЬI got it in Germany. ItтАЩs just plastic, but thereтАЩs something
wonderful about itтАФalmost the Platonic idea of a bicycle. ThereтАЩs one in the
Museum of Modern Art.тАЭ Hanging above her head, it seemed to glow in the soft light
given off by baby spots. тАЬI usually ride it to think.тАЭ

тАЬWhat do we do now?тАЭ she asked. She wasnтАЩt interested in my toy.

тАЬWe get Dickie Boy over here,тАЭ I said. тАЬIf we can. IтАЩll call him.тАЭ
тАЬNew physics,тАЭ I told Dickie Boy on the phone. тАЬNothing youтАЩve ever seen.тАЭ

тАЬBullshit,тАЭ he said.

тАЬNo bullshit. Wrong physics, maybeтАФthatтАЩs what we want you to help with,
find out if weтАЩre missing something tricky.тАЭ

тАЬOr something obvious.тАЭ He had no respect for anyoneтАЩs ability on The
Thing but his own.

тАЬI donтАЩt think so. I think weтАЩve got a whole set of tracks here like nothing
youтАЩve ever seen.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩve got the Meson Group on my schedule.тАЭ

тАЬI know. Diehl said I could borrow you today.тАЭ

тАЬWhere you want me?тАЭ

тАЬCome over to my house.тАЭ No way I wanted anyone looking over our
shoulders.

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Dickie Boy had made his name as a post-doc at Fermilab, where Diehl had recruited
him when the SSC was nothing but a stack of plans, an empty tunnel, and mounds
of heaped dirt. He hadnтАЩt been brought on for his good looks: he stood just over six
feet tall and weighed maybe a hundred and thirty pounds; his dull brown hair was
tied into dreadlocks; he had a long, thin nose and close-set eyes and usually seemed
slightly dirty. However, in his brief time at Texlab he had already made legendary
forays on The ThingтАФthe last, a tricky sequence of pion studies, lasted nearly
seventy-two hours, during which time Dickie Boy had worked through several shifts
of physicists and finished by asking the group leader if he needed anything more.

Carol had heard about Dickie Boy, but she had her own reputation, and so
when they said hello and looked each other over, I could almost hear the wheels