"C. L. Moore - Miracle in Three Dimensions" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore C. L)

behind it lay the prospect for a fortune vaster than any movie magnate had ever dared to hope for. To
control this was to control the whole world. Silvers clenched his cigar tighter and dreamed magnificent
dreams.
Anne Acton lay on a low couch in her lavish little dressing bungalow, staring up with conscious pathos
into the doctorтАЩs face as Silvers came into the room. Somehow, illogically, it was a shock to him to see
her here when he had so short a time before left that perfect illusion of herself in the enchanted wood
outside Athens, asleep on the bank of wild thyme.
тАЬHow are you, Anne?тАЭ he demanded anxiously, for she represented a fabulous sum to the company
and an illness now, in the midst of her latest picture, would be ruinous. тАЬIs she all right, Doc? When did
she come out of it?тАЭ
тАЬWhile they were phoning you, Abe,тАЭ said Acton herself in a faint, pathetic voice, moving her head
uneasily so that the great slipping rope of silver-pale hair moved across the brocade. тАЬItтАФit was all so
queer. Suddenly I felt too tired to move, as if all the strength had drained right out of me. And I must
have fainted, but I wasnтАЩt really out. Kept having sort of dreamsтАФI donтАЩt remember nowтАФwoods,
somewhere, and music. And suddenly it all ended and I opened my eyes here. IтАЩm all right now, only I
feel as weak as a kitten. Look.тАЭ She held up an exquisite hand to show it quivering.
тАЬWhat is it, Doc?тАЭ demanded Silvers anxiously.
тАЬUm-m-raтАФoverwork, perhaps, general exhaustionтАФitтАЩs impossible to say definitely without further
examination.тАЭ
тАЬWill she be okay now?тАЭ
тАЬI see no reason why, with rest and care, she shouldnтАЩt be.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩll send for your car, Anne,тАЭ said Silvers authoritatively. тАЬYouтАЩre going home to bed. IтАЩll see you
later.тАЭ
Philip Graves, in the braid-bedecked finery of a movie caballero, was sitting up on his couch and
holding a cigarette in unsteady fingers when Silvers pushed through the little knot of attendants that
surrounded him.
тАЬFeeling better, Phil?тАЭ he demanded. тАЬWhat was it?тАЭ
тАЬNothingтАФnothing,тАЭ said the actor impatiently. тАЬIтАЩm okay now. Just passed out for a few minutes. IтАЩll
be all right.тАЭ
Abe Silvers lost no time in calling a meeting of the board. The twelve members of Metro-Cosmic
stood about in twos and threes, murmuring incredulously in the shadows of the OтАЩByrne studio on the
night when the first dozen bar-platforms were erected. Silvers had not dared to describe fully this modern
miracle.
тАЬItтАЩs like nothing you ever saw before,тАЭ he warned them as rather sheepishly they allowed themselves
to be herded forward to the platforms. When they were all at their stations and Silvers signaled OтАЩByrne
to begin, he glanced once around the little company before the lights blazed on. Doubtfully they returned
his stare with a murmur or two of protest rising.
тАЬFeel so damnтАШ silly,тАЭ an official said, тАЬstanding here. Mean to say there isnтАЩt any screen? What are
we supposed to look at?тАЭ


AND then like a wall of brilliant blindness the foggy light closed down upon them and every man was
cut off from his fellows so that he stood alone and disembodied in the heart of that soft, misty blaze.
Startled exclamations sounded through the mist, murmurs that died away as Silvers heard for the second
time the creamy smoothness of the announcerтАЩs voice rolling through the dimming brightness.
тАЬYou are now about to enter an enchanted wood outside Athens on a midsummer night, to
share in a dream that Shakespeare dreamedтАФтАЭ
Somehow, as the play went on, Abe Silvers began to wonder a little uneasily at the violence of the
quarrel between Titania and Oberon that flamed almost tangibly through the clear dim air. Had they
fought before so fiercely? Had theyтАФ