"Larry Niven & Steve Barnes - The California Voodoo Game" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

"Sorry, Griff. Heh heh. Anyway, even if you don't need it yet, I do, to run
the Game. Is that stuff in place?"

"We're still mounting scanners. Sharon, let's do a run. Tony, you can stay or
you can party." When Tony seemed inclined to stick around, Griffin added,
"I'd party if I were you."

"On my way, chief." Tony saluted and spiraled out of the chair.

He was at the door in three breaths and paused there, casting a final
glance behind him. Alex and Sharon were standing close together,
generating enough heat to make the air shimmer.

Do you remember Acacia Garcia, Griff? She'll be here, for the Voodoo Game.
Did you look at the roster, Griff? Do you know? Do you care?

Tony cared, enough for it to create a sour, aching void in the pit of his
stomach. Enough to wonder where she was at that moment, and what she
was doing.


The back of Acacia's neck burned with the touch of Wizard's eyes. She
longed to check her coordinates on her "location finder," but dared not. She
had to save that juice! Tammi would be closing in on her with lethal intent.
Tammi would
be expecting Acacia to prepare an ambush, or to select the best possible
location to stand and fight. Neither approach would work. Tammi was too
good at selecting her own sites. There would be no way to sucker the
Troglodykes.

But there was one stratagem that had never been tried.
She walked rapidly and spotted a telltale reflection only an instant before
her nose bumped an invisible barrier. Thump.

She edged around, both hands spread, searching for the ends of the glass.
There had been nothing, just another endless crystal vista, and suddenlyтАФ

Acacia stood on the edge of a waterfall. Victoria Falls? Niagara, in some
prehistoric age? The air churned with foam, a million acre-feet of water per
second cascading into the dizzying depths.

There was no way across? Her team might well fight and die here...

"Captain Cipher!"

An odd, fat, pale little man came waddle-jogging to join her. Corby
Cauldwell was as nimble as a somnambulant geriatric. He had the personal
hygiene habits of a water buffalo. A bumper crop of potatoes could be
grown on his scalp. But his alter ego, Captain Cipher, was not only a