"Rajnar Vajra - Afterburn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vajra Rajnar)

perhaps hidden pockets was more apt. "Are you really asking, or did you notice
something specific you wanted to bring to my attention?"
"Just asking. Well, mostly asking. She does seem just a little, um..."
"Defensive?"
"Something like that."
"Christ, Troy! The woman has a chip on her shoulder you could burn in
your fireplace all night long. Price of fame, I imagine. But I'm really too
busy to fret about it."
"It won't interfere with her work?"
"Why should it?" A low-oxygen warning chime sounded and Carla glanced
toward the tank then casually made an adjustment on the zeolite adsorption
regulator. "Do you ever wonder, Troy?"
"Wonder about what?"
"What he's going through in there?"
"No more than a thousand times a day. He told me, before the accident,
that everyone subjected to the stimulation would have a different experience.
He tried out that part of the system himself. Outside the tank, of course."
"Did he ever describe _his_ experience?"
"He dreamt that he was playing a computer game he was obsessed with
when he was a kid. But under stimulation, he'd believe the adventure was real.




Page 5
He made it sound like fun. But sometimes when I'm here, I feel like I'm
watching someone who can't wake up who's having the ... worst nightmare of all
time.
****
Paul
No matter how hard I try, I cannot find a logical solution to the
puzzle. The solution only dawns on me when I ask myself a nasty question: what
will I do if there is no solution? My only option will be to choose one of the
three substances at random and take my chances. That thought brings me to the
next. In order to use any of the substances, I'll need to move it over to the
silver flames. This implies that I'll be able to pick it up! In this world,
I've rarely had the power to carry physical objects.
But I must have that power now. Therefore, I can turn the problem on
its head.
Reluctantly, I move closer to the golden bowl and imagine myself
lifting it off its pedestal. I cannot feel my arms, but the bowl rises
smoothly into the air and stays with me as I approach the cage. I am very
uneasy. I reach the cage and imagine the bowl tilting. It tilts, pouring a
single drop of quicksilver flame into the water-filled basin. The drop sinks
like a lead pellet, burning fiercely and unquenchably at the deepest part of
the basin. The next drop goes into the black sand and lies there, still
burning.
I don't bother experimenting with the golden flames, but hastily upend
the entire bowl of silver fire over them. The bowl vanishes and the result
surprises me. Neither fire is extinguished. Instead, the flames combine,