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

"Just a coincidence, I think. Without a large sample, you start seeing phantoms."

"Speak."

"Well, the mailing address, тАШ[email protected]тАЩ. Building 0925 is on the hill crest
thataway."


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"You canтАЩt see that from where we started."

"Right. ItтАЩs like тАШLustingтАЩ had to get you here first. And thatтАЩs the other thing. Prof. Reich has
a senior graduate student named Rob Lusk."

Lusk? Lusting? The connection seemed weak to Dixie Mae. "What kind of a guy is he?"

"RobтАЩs not a particularly friendly fellow, but heтАЩs about two sigmas smarter than the average grad
student. HeтАЩs the reason Gerry has the big reputation for hardware. Gerry has been using him for
five or six years now, and I bet Rob is getting desperate to graduate." She broke off. "Look. IтАЩm
going to go inside and tell Graham and the others about this. Then weтАЩll find a place for you to
hide for the rest of the day."

She started toward the door.

"IтАЩm not going to hide out," said Dixie Mae.

Ellen hesitated. "Just till closing time. YouтАЩve seen the rent-a-cops at the main gate. This is
not a place you can simply stroll out of. But my group will have no trouble going home this
evening. As soon as weтАЩre off-site, weтАЩll raise such a stink that the press and police will be
back here. YouтАЩll be safe at home in no time."

Victor was nodding. "EllenтАЩs right. In fact, it would be even better if we donтАЩt spread the story
to the other graders. ThereтАЩs no tellingтАУ"

"IтАЩm not going to hide out!" Dixie Mae looked up the hill. "IтАЩm going to check out 0925."

"ThatтАЩs crazy, Dixie Mae! YouтАЩre guaranteed safe if you just hide till the end of the work dayтАУand
then the cops can do better investigating than anything you could manage. You do what Ellen says!"

"No one tells me what to do, Victor!" said Dixie Mae, while inside she was thinking, Yeah, what
IтАЩm doing is a little bit like the plot of a cheap game: teenagers enter haunted house, and then
split up to be murdered in pieces . . .

But Ellen Garcia was making assumptions, too. Dixie Mae glared at both of them. "IтАЩm following up
on this email."

Ellen gave her a long look. Whether it was contemptuous or thoughtful wasnтАЩt clear. "Just wait for