"Vernor Vinge - The Cookie Monster" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Vernor)

project out of reading each studentтАЩs exam. That was an impossible wish; there was just never
enough time. But with his contacts here at LotsaTech, Gerry Reich has come close to doing it. HeтАЩs
paying some pretty sharp grad students very good money to grade and comment on every single essay
question. Time is no object, heтАЩs telling us. The students in these classes are going to get
really great feedback."

"This guy Reich keeps popping up," said Dixie Mae. "He was behind the testing program that
selected Victor and me and the others for customer support."

"Well, VictorтАЩs right about him. Reich is a manipulator. I know heтАЩs been running tests all this
week. He grabbed all of Olson Hall for the operation. We didnтАЩt know what it was for until
afterwards. He nailed Graham and the rest of our gang for this one-day grading job. It looks like
he has all sorts of projects."

"Yeah, we took our tests at Olson Hall, too." There had been a small up-front payment, and hints
of job prospects. . . . And Dixie Mae had ended up with maybe the best job offer sheтАЩd ever had.



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"But we did that last week."

"It canтАЩt be the same place. Olson Hall is a gym."

"Yes, thatтАЩs what it looked like to me."

"It was used for the NCAA eliminations last week."

Victor reached for his notepad. "Whatever. We gotta be going, Mouse."

"DonтАЩt тАШMouseтАЩ me, Victor! The NCAA elims were the week of 4 June. I did GerryтАЩs questionnaire
yesterday, which was Thursday, 14 June."

"IтАЩm sorry, Ellen," said Dixie Mae. "Yesterday was Thursday, but it was the 21st of June."

Victor made a calming gesture. "ItтАЩs not a big deal."

Ellen frowned, but suddenly she wasnтАЩt arguing. She glanced at her watch. "LetтАЩs see your notepad,
Victor. What date does it say?"

"It says, June . . . huh. It says June 15."

Dixie Mae looked at her own watch. The digits were so precise, and a week wrong: Fri Jun 15
12:31:18 PDT 2012. "Ellen, I looked at my watch before we walked over here. It said June 22nd."

Ellen leaned on the table and took a close look at VictorтАЩs notepad. "IтАЩll bet it did. But both
your watch and the notepad get their time off the building utilities. Here youтАЩre getting set by
our local clockтАУand youтАЩre getting the truth."