"Barry N. Malzberg - Major League Triceratops" - читать интересную книгу автора (Malzberg Barry N)

My nights werenтАЩt so great either, Robles said. I think we all had a pretty bad time. Why else would we
show up at Camp Paradox?

Because itтАЩs what weтАЩre paid to do. See the mountains and ride the beast. And stay out of the way of
anachronism.

Smart, Robles said, youтАЩre real smart.

You learn something in the service, Muffy said. They watched theTriceratops chew contentedly, leaves
and twigs tumbling into its throat, no drop at all. TheTriceratops ate with great delicacy, stripped the
magnolia, then seemed to shrug and sink into the bog again. Shoulder high, it wobbled colorlessly away.

Full of purpose, Robles said. More purpose than we have.

Colbert theorizes, Muffy said professionally, that the horns represent individual, random solutions to a
common problem of display and protection, that they may indeed represent selectivity by being a kind of
sexual lure. Hey, she said, youтАЩre not listening. This is very interesting. You ought to pay attention.

IтАЩm paying attention, Robles said. I paid attention toTriceratops and now IтАЩm listeningto you. And
thinking of Dix. The man is dangerous. He wants more than a kill, he wants the beasts to suffer. I can tell
that from his face.

YouтАЩre a perceptive guy, arenтАЩt you? How did you get to know so much? ItтАЩs just a job. YouтАЩre not
responsible for what goes on here, that decision was made by the administration. I think that Dix just
wants a trophy like the rest of us. MaybeTriceratops is his hobbyhorse, thatтАЩs all.

He came out as if on cue, Robles said. That one seemed to be performingfor us. Did you ever think that
maybe they were waiting, that all this is some kind of show theyтАЩve set up for the tourists and weтАЩre the
ones being watched?

I think you are showing symptoms of needing a rest, Muffy said. Maybe you can take one. But not until
this is finished.

You donтАЩt think maybe that all of this is programmed? The dinosaurs too? That weтАЩre being watched and
observed?

YouтАЩre too deep for me, Muffy said. She adjusted her shirt, stood gracefully. Halfway there, she said.
Now I have to look for some pants.

ThereтАЩs too much going on, Robles said. I never thought it out until now, I just took it for granted. But itтАЩs
impossible, he thought. ItтАЩs impossible, that was it. Camp Paradox in fact as well as in name,none of this
should be happening, not by the rights they had established.

A bell clattered behind them, hardly dinosaur sound, but a technological, post-op summons. In the light
they lived by bells and those cruising forms. Turning, Robles peered past Muffy, past the transparent arc
of the tent wall, and could see beyond them the low structures of the ranch, the five or six tents which
with the Transporter comprised Camp Paradox. Small puffs of smoke vented from those tents, little puffs
of light and the suggestion of movement within. Reveille. Inside the domed structure at an oblique angle
from the tents, Dix himself would be standing now, pacing on the curved ground, staring through the
aperture, looking for hisTriceratops, measuring for the kill. Well, Robles said when the clattering had