"(Brian Plante - Moondance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Plante Brian)

yourself. Stop being so ... old."

"I'm a little rusty, no pun intended. If I came to the club, would you dance
with me?"

"Oh, Jerry, it's not a contest or anything. I'll dance with you right now if
you'd like. Come on, your legs are all fixed."

"Here?"

"Number 60148, may I have this dance?"

"Um, how about some music?"

"Music? Sheesh. Hold on a sec."

Audrey's manipulators slumped, and the robot sank an inch or two onto its
skirt. Jerry figured that Audrey must have slipped out of her rig back in
New Jersey and her robot was unmanned. A few seconds later the mech came
back to life, and music began playing in Jerry's headset.

"Audrey, what did you do?"

"I just patched my home audio rig into the headset and found a disc to set
the mood. Sorry I can't seem to light any candles up here, though."

The music was a Billy Joel classic that was already an oldie back in Jerry's
courting days. Dana and he had danced to this one for the last time at
their wedding reception.

"Take my hands, silly," Audrey said, snapping him back to Huygens.

Jerry clumsily reached over and lightly took two of Audrey's manipulators in
his. His sensors felt the. cold alloy and polycarbonate resins, but he
perceived a warmth, perhaps a false triggering of his robot's feedback
circuits, as he put an arm around the top of Audrey's metal torso.

They moved together clumsily at first. With the transmission lag, the robots
were both a step behind the music, but Audrey bounced lightly to the beat and
Jerry struggled not to crash into her. After a minute, he realized that they
were moving well together, dancing around the repair shop, touching but not
knocking into one another. She was skilled at following his shaky lead,
anticipating his moves even with the time lag, and pulled him closer as they
spun around the room.

"I'm not much of a dancer, am I?" Jerry said.

"These robots just aren't made for it, but you're doing fine," she whispered
in his earpiece.