"Spider Robinson - The Free Lunch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Spider)

"And 'huh' is even worse."

He was not prepared to debate diction. He reached, and came up with perhaps the only thing left in the world
that he was reasonably certain of. "I'm Mike."

"Hello, Mike. Welcome to Dreamworld Under."

"Uh-" He caught himself. "Sorry. Thanks, Annie. Am I really here? I mean, are we safe now?"

She shrugged. "Probably safer than most of the people on this weary planet, boy. Relax. They can't see in
here, they can't hear in here, they can't smell in here unless I want them to - and they don't even know that.
And the next inspection team isn't due through this area for weeks, unless something glitches."

The knot of muscle at the base of his neck relaxed just barely enough for him to notice. "Good. Thanks, Annie.
I hope I didn't, uh . . . I mean-"

"Don't mention it. Especially not to anybody else. So what's-" She stopped, frowned at something, and
rephrased. "How long were you thinking of staying in Dreamworld?"
"Well . . . ," he began, so he wouldn't say "Uh," and used the tiny interval to think hard about the question. It
was one he had been postponing himself, for some time now, and he knew she had not asked it casually. "As
long as I can," he said finally.

Something in her serene face changed. For an instant he thought he might have offended her, or perhaps
saddened her somehow, but then she said, "Good answer." She closed her eyes for a few seconds. "Okay,"
she said, opening them again. "You seem lucky. And clever. And reasonably polite. Here is how it will be. I will
help you - but neither of us is ever going to ask the other why they came here. Ever. Is that acceptable to
you?"

"Okay," he said simply.

"Here's your end of the bargain," she said. "You have to listen to me."

He nodded.

"Don't look so dismayed. I don't mean you have to hang a patient look on your face while I blather about my
youth, for God's sake. I mean you have to pay attention when I tell you things. Talking is very hard work for
me; I hardly ever do it. And if I have to tell you things twice, you're going to make some stupid blunder and
get at least one of us busted out of here. I warn you: if it's me, this place is going to turn on you."

He digested that. "How long have you been here, Annie?"

"Under, you mean? What year is it?"

"Twenty-three," he said, beginning to be awed. "July something, 2023."

"Thirteen years, then." She turned on her heel and walked away.

Mike knew he must follow her, and still he stood frozen a moment in shock. Dreamworld was only a little over
thirteen years old.