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

Ollie and Tony were playing a computerized hockey game in a small arcade nearby. She loved to hear
Ollie laugh, or see him smile, even the uneasy smile he wore when he thought he was the focus of
attention.
It was easy to remember her first meeting with Adolph Norliss. It was an I.F.G.S. function. He was
wearing motorized armor lifted from an old novel, Starship Troopers, and she had knocked on the
chest cannon and asked if it wasn't a little humid in there. He'd started telling her all about
the cooling and dehumidifying system he had rigged up for it. Before they knew it they were in a
nearby coffee shop finding out how much they had in common, while a goggle-eyed waitress brought
them breakfast.
Dating and wargaming together had followed, with the spectre of romance hovering close behind.
Maybe it was the fact that he never took himself seriously that made her love him. Heck, somebody
had to take him seriously, and she wasn't doing anything better than falling in love. But


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sometimes she worried about what he could see in her, worried that some day he'd decide the whole
thing was a mistake, and she would be alone again, haunting the conventions and tourneys and
libraries alone, just another little fat blond girl marking off bland days in a bland life.
The older woman's words broke her reverie.
"Oh, I was playing Zork when I was seven," Margie Braddon was saying. "My father had a computer
and a Modem. You know Zork?" Acacia shook her head. "You played a role-playing game against a
program in the computer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Zork was a treasure hunt with
death traps, just like some of the Games we play now, but with no sensory effects at all. The
computer led you around like a blind person. There were a lot of ways to get killed," Margie
laughed. "Monsters, and mazes to get lost in, and logic puzzles.
"And you Gamed with Hap the Barbarian?"
Her thick white hair bobbed when she nodded. "His real name was Willie Hertz. He was superb. He
was a Lore Master for eighteen years. Owen and I had an open marriage, and he wasn't interested in
Games-"
"Wrong-oh!" said Owen Braddon. He was white-haired too, and bald on top, with a tanned and
freckled scalp. His long body was all stringy muscle, but for a small, discrete pot belly. "The
Games sounded too damned interesting," he said. "I could see how it got to Margie. It would've
wrecked my career if I'd let myself get that hooked. So I'd go skiing with someone, and Margie
would become Shariett the Sorceress and go off with Hap the Barbarian."
"Then Willie died," said Margie, "and Owen retired, and now he is hooked. Aren't you, dear?"
The older man grinned. "I'm getting good, too. The Startrader Game last year was the first time I
haven't been killed out."
"He tries to research the Games," Margie said. "This time he was right."
"The lizard was a Merseian. Never trust a Merseian. I think I'm right about the South Seas
Treasure, too."
Acacia waited, but Owen didn't go on. Margie said, "He won't even tell me."
Ollie ran up to Gwen, breathing heavily. "I trounced the infidel, my lady!" Gwen squeezed his
hand.
The white-haired couple took their leave, headed toward the Gravity Whip, by God. Tony McWhirter,
moving to join Acadia, stopped and looked past her shoulder. A trio of weary-looking, dusty
tourists had come stumbling into the Hot Spot carrying backpacks.
Tony said, "I wonder what did that to them?"
"Let's ask." Acacia smiled brightly and called, "Hey, we've got some empty seats!" The trio, two