"Back Door Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

Crane said, УWhat kind of interface are you using?Ф

Gabriel Hale shook her head; her bell of blonde hair swung about her delicate, heart-shaped face. УIt is important. I must have it.Ф

УJust the normal rig, yes? Goggles and gloves? Listen. Take them off. Disengage. You shouldnТt be here.Ф

УI want it back,Ф Gabriel Hale said.

УTake off your gloves and goggles.Ф Crane recited his companyТs email address. УTalk to these people. Tell them what happened to you.Ф

But Gabriel Hale stood up, dusting coarse red sand from her white dress. Crane could see the outline of her slim body through the thin muslin. УThe gate is on the other side of the water,Ф she said. УIТll show you.Ф

Crane was beginning to have a bad feeling. He said, УYou didnТt come from outside, did you? The computer that generates this virtuality isnТt connected to anything else. No lines in or out. I donТt think you are the avatar of a researcher from UCLA. Who are you? An agent? An actor? I can check your codes, but IТd rather you told me. Hey! Where are you going?Ф

Gabriel Hale had jumped up and started toward the water. She looked over her shoulder, coquettish in her sunhat. Her dress clung to the curves of her body. УMaybe the people you work for arenТt telling the truth,Ф she said. УIТll show you. Or are you seared?Ф

Now Crane knew what she reminded him of. His dreamgirl. Reluctantly, suspecting that he was being led into some kind of weird gaming scenario, he followed.

Gabriel Hale rowed with swift smooth strokes. Perched in the stern of the cockleshell boat, Crane said, УI thought Gabriel was a manТs name. There was an actor in flatscreen movies called Gabriel something.Ф

УGabriel is the only female angel in the higher echelons. She rules Eden, and the host of Cherubim.Ф

Crane stifled a powerful urge to check the codes of this woman with his toolbox. Better to play along, see what she would reveal. He was convinced that she would lead him to Barbara Andresson, by and by.

He said, УWhat do you do, Gabriel? You said you worked on artificial intelligence.Ф

УArtificial life. We generated an entire world, let artificial evolution develop a virtual ecosystem.Ф Although Gabriel Hale was rowing strongly, her breathing was unaffected. She said, УWe had funding from NASA. They are interested in first contact scenarios.Ф

Crane suspected that this was no more than a story spun in the virtuality. That Gabriel Hale was a construct within that story. He said, УShow me where she went.Ф

The bow of the little boat bumped the gravelly shore of the far side of the canal. Gabriel Hale jumped out. УItТs this way!Ф she called, and ran off with long leaping strides toward two red, house-sized rocks.

Crane followed. Three pyramids stood at the horizon. They hadnТt been there before. Pyramids on Mars. Neat. They seemed to be covered with beaten gold.

Gabriel Hale walked through the gap where the two rocks leaned against each other, turned and walked back. УThe gate is shut,Ф she said, looking fetchingly desolate. УThe little girl must have closed it behind her.Ф

УStop thinking of her as a little girl. ThatТs only what her avatar looks like.Ф Crane unclipped his toolkit and switched it on. УEveryone in a virtuality leaves traces,Ф he said.

It took a little while to parse the codes, but at last the toolkit beeped and the sand at CraneТs feet stirred and ran together, grains rustling over one another like iron filings in a magnetic field, and formed a manТs face. The blind eyes rolled, fixed on Crane. A stertorous voice said, УWho wakes me?Ф

УStandard iconography,Ф Crane told Gabriel Hale. УGamers call them native guides.Ф He asked the face where the little girl had gone.

УAway from this place,Ф the face said. УI do not know where. It is not accessible to me.Ф

УThe gate was between these rocks,Ф Gabriel Hale said.

Crane asked the face if there was a path or a gate.

УIt is closed,Ф the face in the sand said.