"Spider Robinson - User Friendly" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Spider)

startled him. His plans stopped here; he had no idea what to do or say next.
"Sammy!" His old college buddy grinned and frowned simultaneously. "Jesus, man, it's good to see you
тАФor it would be if you didn't look like death on a soda cracker! What the hell are you doing here, why
didn't youтАФ"
"They got her, Greg. They took Marian. There's nothing IтАФ"
Suddenly Greg and the front of his house were gone, replaced by a ceiling, and Sam discovered that he
was indoors and horizontal. "тАФcan do," he finished reflexively, and then realized that he must have
fainted. He reached for his head, probed for soft places.
"It's okay, Sam. I caught you as you went down. Relax."
Sam had forgotten what the last word meant; it came through as noise. He sat up, worked his arms and
legs as if by remote control. The arms hurt worse than the legs. "Got a cigarette? I ran outтАФ" He thought
for a moment. "тАФ yesterday, I think."
Greg handed him a twenty-five pack of Export A. "Fill your boots. Have you eaten more recently than
that?"
"Yeah. FunnyтАФI actually forgot I smoked. Now, that's weird." He fumbled the pack open and lit a
cigarette; his first puff turned half an inch to ash and stained the filter. "Did I drop the bottle?"
"You left it in the car." Greg left the room, returned with two glasses of Irish whiskey. "You don't have
to talk until you're ready."
Sam restrained the urge to gulp. If you got too drunk, you had less control of your thoughts sometimes.
"They took her. The aliensтАФyou must have read about them up here. They appropriated her, like losing
your home to municipal construction. Sorry, railroad's coming through, we need your universe. No, not
even that politeтАФI didn't even get the usual ten percent of market value and a token apology."
"Christ, Sam, I'm sorrier than I know how to say. Is she ... I mean, how is she taking it?"
"Better than I would. She's still alive."
Greg's face took on the expression of a man who is not sure he should be saying what he is saying, but
feels compelled to anyway. "Knowing you, the way you feel about such things, I'm surprised you didn't
kill her yourself."
"I tried. I couldn't. You know, that may just be the worst part."
"Ah, Sam, SamтАФ"
"She begged me to. And I couldn't!"
They waited together until he could speak again. "Damn," he said finally, "it's good to see you." And it
would be even better to see Alice. She must be at work, designing new software to deadline.
Greg looked like he'd been missing some sleep himself. Novelists often did. "You might as well get it
all out," he said. "How did it happen?"
Sam nodded slowly, reluctantly. "Get it over with. Not a lot to tell. We were laying in bed together,
watching TV. We'd ... we'd just finished making love. Funny, it was better than usual. I was feeling
blessed. Maybe that should have warned me or something. All of a sudden, in the middle of David
Letterman's showтАФdo you get him up here?"
"We get all the American shows; these days, it's about all we get. Go on."
"Right in the middle of Stupid Pet Tricks, she just got up and left the room. I asked her to bring me
back some ice water. She didn't say anything. A few moments later I heard the front door open and

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close. I didn't attach any significance to it. After five or ten minutes I called to her. I assumed she was
peeing or something. When she didn't answer I got up and went to make sure she was all right. I couldn't
find her.
"I could not figure it out. You know how it is when something just does not make sense? She wasn't
anywhere in the apartment. I'd heard the door, but she couldn't have gone outтАФshe was naked, barefoot,