"Larry Niven & Steve Barnes - Dreampark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

There was a sudden rumbling, and the ground began to shake. "Earthquake!" Tony yelled. Then his
long jaw hung slack with amazement.
Because the buildings were tumbling back together. As they watched, sand and rock retreated from
the streets, and tumbled masonry rose in the water to reform their structure.
A golden double-arch rose tall again, and a fistful of noughts sprinkled themselves across a sign
enumerating customers, or sales, or the number of hamburgers that could be extracted from an adult
steer.
Zombies were sucked backward through the water, into office buildings and stores and cars and
buses. Bubbles rose from beneath the hoods of cars waiting patiently for a traffic light to
change. Fully clothed pedestrians stood ready to enter crosswalks.
Then the water receded, and for a moment they saw Los Angeles of the 'eighties, suddenly alive and
thriving, filled with noise and movement. They were shadow figures in a world momentarily more
real than their own. A bus roared past the group, and Tony choked on a powerful, unfamiliar,


file:///F|/rah/Larry%20Niven/Niven,%20Larry%20-%20Dream%20Park.txt (10 of 137) [1/19/03 5:52:29 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Larry%20Niven/Niven,%20Larry%20-%20Dream%20Park.txt

somehow frightening smell.
The narrator's forgotten voice had been droning on. "Now we come to the end of our journey to a
lost world. We at Dream Park hope that it has been as entertaining for you as it has been for us.
And now-" The lost world began to fade, and the green path flared bright as it flowed into a dark
corridor. Lights came up, and when the narrator finished speaking it was in the neutral voice of
the computer. "Enjoy the rest of your stay. Oh . . . is anybody missing?"
"The redhead," Acacia murmured. "Who came with the, ah, the lady who got eaten by the shark?" She
sounded only half serious, but there was an answering murmur of inquiry. Gwen tugged at her
sleeve.
"Nobody came with her, Acacia. She was a hologram." Tony elbowed her in the ribs. "Cas, she wasn't
there till the trip started. I noticed." He grinned at her. "Faked out again, huh?"
"Just wait till tonight, Tony, my love," Acacia said sweetly. "It's all set up with the Park.
You'll swear I'm there in the room with you. . ."


Chapter Three


THE LORE MASTER


Griffin heard the laughter as soon as he got out of the elevator. He peeked around the corner
carefully. One never knew what might be prowling the fifth floor of the R&D building.
There didn't seem to be anything ominous lurking about, just an open door to Skip O'Brien's psych
lab. Silence, then another gale of mirth. Alex walked softly across the hall and poked his head
in.
A group of Psych Research assistants sat and stood clustered around a hologram of a seven-year-old
boy chasing after a loping white rabbit.
"Stop!" the boy panted.
The rabbit pulled an oversized pocket watch from somewhere in its fur. Its whiskers twitched
nervously. "Oh, dear, oh dear! I shall be too late!" It bounced along a tunnel into the darkness.
Griffin smiled, then laughed aloud. Synthesizer-assisted or not, the white rabbit spoke with Skip