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

Another sound. A door opening! Dixie Mae looked past Ellen and saw a guy coming out of the menтАЩs
room. Dixie Mae managed to grab Victor, and the two of them dropped behind the lower section of
the holding cell.

"Hey, Ellen," said the stranger, "you look a bit peaked. Is Graham getting on your nerves, too?"

Ellen gave a squeaky laugh. "Y-yeah . . . so what else is new?"

Dixie Mae twisted the notepad and held it so the camera eye looked through the glass. In the tiny
screen, she could see that the stranger was smiling. He was dressed in tee-shirt and knee-pants
and he had some kind of glittering badge on a loop around his neck.

EllenтАЩs mouth opened and shut a couple of times, but nothing came out. She doesnтАЩt know this guy


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from Adam.

The stranger was still clueless, butтАУ "Hey, whereтАЩs your badge?"

"Oh . . . damn. I must have left in the john," said Ellen. "And now IтАЩve locked myself out."

"You know the rules," he said, but his tone was not threatening. He did something on his side of
the door. It opened and Ellen stepped through, blocking the guyтАЩs view of what was behind her.

"IтАЩm sorry. I, uh, I got flustered."

"ThatтАЩs okay. Graham will eventually shut up. I just wish heтАЩd pay more attention to what the
professionals are asking of him."

Ellen nodded. "Yeah, I hear you!" Like she was really, really agreeing with him.

"YтАЩsee, GrahamтАЩs not splitting the topics properly. The idea is to be both broad and deep."

Ellen continued to make understanding noises. The talkative stranger was full of details about
some sort of a NSA project, but he was totally ignorant of the three intruders.

There were light footsteps on the stairs, and a familiar voice. "Michael, how long are you going
to be? I want toтАУ" The voice cut off in a surprised squeak.

On the notepad display, Dixie Mae could see two brown-haired girls staring at each other with
identical expressions of amazement. They sidled around each other for a moment, exchanging light
slaps. It wasnтАЩt fighting . . . it was as if each thought the other was some kind of trick video.
Ellen Garcia, meet Ellen Garcia.

The strangerтАУMichael?тАУstared with equal astonishment, first at one Ellen and then the other. The
Ellens made inarticulate noises just loud enough to interrupt each other and make them even more