"Allen Steele - A King of Infinite Space" - читать интересную книгу автора (Steele Allen)

I really don't want to wake up. Everything is warm and peaceful.

"Open your eyes now," the voice says, a little more insistently. "It's time to wake up."

I open my eyes. I'm in a very soft bed in a featureless white room with no windows.

In beds all around me are many people, their arms at their sides, faces turned upward. Some are men,
some are women, all in their mid-twenties, with faces unwrinkled and unblemished, as hairless as
newborn babes.

"Sit up now," the voice says. "Can you sit up?"

My back feels stiff, my arms heavy as lead; it takes me a few moments before I manage to push myself
up on my hands. The white sheets and covers fall away; I'm naked, but that doesn't trouble me. In fact,
nothing bothers me at all. I'm simply here, and how I came to be here is of no concern at all.

"Very good," the voice says. "You're doing very well."

It sounds as if someone is standing next to my bed, but when I look around to see who's speaking, there's
no one present.

"Get out of bed now," the voice says. "See if you can stand up."

This is a very complex request. The voice has asked me to do two things at once. I hesitate, trying to
figure out what it wants me to do.

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Steele,%20Allen%20-%20[Ne...of%20Infinite%20Space%20(v0.9)%20[MMQ]%20[html].htm (11 of 263)25-12-2006 0:51:28
 Steele, Allen - [Near-Space 05] - A King of Infinite Space



"Blink your eyes three times," the voice says. "Blink them three times fast."

Blink? Sure. I can blink. I can blink three times. When I do, a cartoonish stick-figure of a man appears in
front of me. He's sitting up in a bed, just as I am now; he slowly swings his legs over the side of the bed
until his feet touch the floor. Then he stands up and walks to the end of the bed, where he stops.

"Do you think you can do that?" I nod, and the stick man vanishes. "Good. Try to do it now."

I push the covers the rest of the way back, slowly turn until my legs are over the side of the bed, then
lower my feet until their soles touch the smooth, cool floor. I hesitate again, then stand up. My hips and
knees are as stiff as my back, but my leg muscles are strong and they support my weight.

"You're doing very well" the voice says. "Can you walk to the end of the bed?"

This requires a little more concentration, but I manage to get it done. "Very good. You're doing very
well. You can go back to bed now."

I don't understand what the voice had just told me to do, so I just stand there. "Go back to bed," the voice
repeats.