"Dream Park" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

The ballroom of the Dream Park Sheraton was completely filled. Bleachers had been set up on three sides of the room, overlooking a conference table set near the fourth wall.
Of the eighteen hundred people in the room, only about fifty occupied the cordoned-off section near the conference table. These were the finalists: those pre-chosen to participate in the Game, and those whose credentials had passed the preliminary screening test.
There was little noise in the room, and no talking at all. All eyes were on the conference table.
Chester Henderson drummed his fingers on the table. His light blue shirt had dark rings under the armpits from nervous perspiration, and his eyes darted from the wall clock to the room's main entrance, to the clock, to the entrance. .
He leaned toward the bald man with the roll-top sweater. "Listen, Myers, do I have to put up with this kind of crap? He's twenty minutes late!"
Myers was fortyish, with tobacco-stained teeth and a receding chin hidden behind a sparse beard. He smiled at Chester with the benignity of a suffering saint. "Mr. Henderson, this is Mr. Lopez's Game. While the I.F.G.S. may enter your complaints in the minutes of today's meeting, I'm afraid that there is no set procedure for censuring a tardy Game Master. If you would care to submit a resolution to that effect at the next meeting. . .
Chester waved a weary hand in the air and sighed his surrender. "We wait. Metesky, can we at least go over the basic points now?"
The other person at the table was a woman with a stripe of white dyed down the middle of a glorious wealth of gray hair. Age had been kind to her, mellowing the angular facial lines of her youth into softer curves. She moved her leather briefcase a protective inch closer to her chest and calmly said, "I'm afraid not, Mr. Henderson. Mr. Lopez was very specific about that."
Henderson lidded his eyes and silently mouthed further specifics concerning Mr. Lopez, then inhaled deeply through his nose, holding the air down for a long count before exhaling. Temper, temper, he reminded himself. In a war of nerves, your own arsenal can destroy you.
There was a swelling murmur in the back of the room. Chester looked up, trying unsuccessfully to mask his eagerness. Two people were approaching, a short dark man wearing crisp white denims, and a slight Japanese girl several inches taller. Chester knew the woman. Chi-chi Lopez.
The murmur grew to spontaneous applause, and Lopez turned and bowed grandly. After a moment's hesitation his wife Mitsuko curtsied. Chester had to smile. He had expected that forcing Lopez out of the woodwork would shake the great Game Master. The little man might have been born in front of an audience.
He strode directly to Henderson and extended his hand, a cool and businesslike smile on his face. "I hope my lateness hasn't inconvenienced you."
Chester took the hand and the gambit with the same firm grip. "Certainly not. I'm glad you felt free to take all the time you need to get your Game together."
Lopez nodded curtly, and led his wife to their seats at the other end of the table. There was a barely audible hum, and a "soft" translucent hologram blossomed in the air over the table, greatly magnifying the faces of the five principles.
Ms. Metesky folded her fingers primly and cleared her throat before speaking. "As the representative of Dream Park's Special Projects division, I would like to welcome Mr. Richard Lopez and Mr. Chester Henderson to our facilities. This is a momentous occasion, as these two greats of the fantasy gaming world have never before met face to face. Mrs. Lopez is known to us all, of course-" Mitsuko leaned over in her seat and gave a little wave to Chester, who returned it with warmth. "But many of you may not know Mr. Arlan Myers, representative of the International Fantasy Gaming Society." The light reflected from the top of Myers' head as he nodded.
"I believe we are ready to proceed. Mr. Myers?"
Myers stood and wiped the corner of his eye with his knuckle. "Good evening. I call this meeting of the International Fantasy Gaming Society to order at eleven twenty-five A.M., Friday March sixth, twenty fifty-one A.D. Tomorrow morning at eight A.M., Dream Park's Gaming Area A will open for the largest and most elaborate Game in the history of the Park. Basic rules will be as follows:
"One. Duration of the Game will be four and a half days, from the morning of the seventh to one P.M. on the eleventh.
"Two. Number of participants, fifteen, with substitutions for killed personnel allowed until the beginning of the fourth day.
"Three. An adjusted Wessler-Grahm point system will be used, with compensations for duration of assault, difficulty of logical problems, and abilities needed. Bonus points will be awarded for bravery, and for dying well.
"Four. There will be a penalty of 50% of accumulated points in case of death, reduced to 25% if the 'dead' player re-enters the Game as a zombie.
"Five. Players may withdraw from the Game for any reason at a loss of 25%, until evening of March ninth. Players may not withdraw after this point without total loss of points, except for medical emergencies.
"Six. The Game will be conducted for twelve hours out of every twenty-four, which will allow for sleep time, meals, and two half hour rest breaks per day.
"Seven. Additional bonus points will be awarded based on a secret ballot vote cast by all surviving and nonsurviving members of the expedition, each member rating all members of the party.
"Eight. The Lore Master has final word on all prospective entrants to the Game, except for the single Game space reserved for discretionary use by Dream Park.
"Nine. The Game Master and the Lore Master will share any profits accruing from the Game on the basis of an eighty-twenty split of net.
"Ten. The usual good luck symbol-" Myers tapped at his keyboard. Glowing curves formed in the hologram overhead, shaping a crescent moon. Myers, smiling as if it hurt, waited for a ripple of laughter to die. "-will indicate the presence of restroom facilities. Look for it in patterns of trees, rock formations, whatever.
"Eleven. As usual, a minimum of one novice must be included in the expedition." Myers coughed politely and rubbed his eyes again. "Ms. Metesky?"
Metesky stood, shaking her head so that her gray mane billowed around her. "The following additions and qualifications have been approved by Dream Park. If they are suitable to Mr. Henderson, there are no further barriers to the opening of Gaming Area A tomorrow morning. Mr. Lopez?"
Richard Lopez stood, thanking Ms. Metesky as she handed him the leather briefcase. He opened it. "In this case," he said, his Puerto Rican accent almost unnoticeable, "I have the complete outline for the Game that begins tomorrow. There are only a few points that remain to be discussed." He raised a sheet of paper close to his face and read.
"One. The Lore Master is to receive 25% of all nonbonus or penalty points awarded during the Game.
"Two. The Game involves firearms. These will become available during the course of the Game." The murmurs of surprise from the audience included a few groans. Firearms were unusual. Warriors tended to prefer hand-to-hand weapons.
"Three. All Garners will wear neck tabs." Lopez held up a short, flesh-colored plastic band bearing a silver-dollar-sized disk. "The disk is standard make; it bears a microphone and receiver and a 100 volt/.3 amperage microwave receptor. As usual, a shock will indicate wounding or death.
"Four. All categories of players will be admitted, except where such conflict with the rules as already stated." Lopez sat down.
Henderson looked at him suspiciously. "Is that all?"
Lopez nodded quietly. Chester said, "I'm not sure I understand."
"Mr. Henderson, after the last Game we were involved in, you claimed that the rules had been stacked against you, and that that was the determining factor in your defeat. I want you claiming no such handicap this time."
Lopez's smile was as innocent as a piranha's. Chester nodded; he understood. A loss in a Game with rules as soft as this would devastate his reputation. He asked, "Why are you making the Survivors' Bonus a lump sum instead of the standard allocation?"
"Merely to make things more interesting. Of course, if you think that it would make it impossible for you to engender a spirit of cooperation in your expedition. . ."
"Don't let it worry you, Lopez. My team will pull together just fine, thank you."
"Excellent. Do you have any further questions?"
"Just one. Am I correct in assuming that tropical gear will be needed?"
Richard lowered his gaze to his fingernails and considered. "I don't believe that it would be giving too much away to say that. Any needed modifications of costuming will be provided by Dream Park." He pursed his mouth meditatively. "Is there anything else you will need?"
"I do hope not." Chester stood. "Let's call it a Game and let me get down to the business of choosing my team."
Chester looked at the dossier in front of him, then up into the eager face of a strawhaired youngster of seventeen. "Says here that you play as an Engineer. We can use one, and I think you can fit the bill." He glanced again at the papers and seemed pleased. "What do you think, S.J.?"
S.J. Waters exploded in laughter. "What do I think? Wow, I think that's terrific! You won't regret this, I promise!" He bounced off happily, and Chester watched in amusement.
Gina stopped trying to massage his neck. She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "First team? You're going to start him? Are you sure you want to do that, honey?"
"Quite sure," he said, trying to be irritated with her. He didn't say that a little cannon fodder never hurt. Stick a few of them in the opening lineup, and use them to spring traps. By the time you get into the "no substitutions" period, you have the territory pretty well figured out, with a minimum of valuable characters lost. "Next!"
The selection process had been going on for two hours now. Nine of the slots were pre-registered, including Gina, Ollie, Gwen, Acacia and her guest Tony. Three more slots were filled now, so he needed three more primaries and some alternates. So far he was pleased with the quality of applicant. A rough calculation gave him almost a century of fantasy gaming experience among the players he'd already selected.