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

Don Williams craned his head over the next partition. "Who is what?"

Given another few minutes, and theyтАЩd have everyone on the floor with some bodily part stuck into
VictorтАЩs cubicle.

Ulysse said, "Unless youтАЩre deaf, you know most of it, Don. Someone is messing with us."

"Well then, report it to Johnson. This is our first day, people. ItтАЩs not a good day to get
sidetracked."

That brought Ulysse down to earth. Like Dixie Mae, she regarded this LotsaTech job as her last
real chance to break into a profession.

"Look," said Don. "ItтАЩs already lunch time."тАУDixie Mae glanced at her watch. It really was!тАУ"We
can talk about this in the cafeteria, then come back and give Great Lotsa a solid afternoon of
work. And then weтАЩll be done with our first week!" Williams had been planning a party down at his
folksтАЩ place for tonight. It would be their first time off the LotsaTech campus since they took
the job.

"Yeah!" said Ulysse. "Dixie Mae, youтАЩll have the whole weekend to figure out whoтАЩs doing thisтАУand
plot your revenge."


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Dixie Mae looked again at the impossible "previous responder field." "I . . . donтАЩt know. This
looks like itтАЩs something happening right here on the LotsaTech campus." She stared out VictorтАЩs
picture window. It was the same view as from her cubicle, of courseтАУbut now she was seeing
everything with a different mind set. Somewhere in the beautiful country-club buildings, there was
a real sleaze ball. And he was playing guessing games with her.

Everybody was quiet for a second. Maybe that helpedтАУDixie Mae realized just what she was looking
at: the next lodge down the hill. From here you could only see the top of its second story. Like
all the buildings on the campus, it had a four-digit identification number made of gold on every
corner. That one was Building 0999.

A big clue is that 999 is just 666 spelled upside down. "Jeez, Ulysse. Look: 999." Dixie Mae
pointed down the hillside.

"It could be a coincidence."

"No, itтАЩs too pat." She glanced at Victor. This really was the sort of thing someone like him
would set up. But whoever wrote that letter just knew too much. "Look, IтАЩm going to skip lunch
today and take a little walk around the campus."

"ThatтАЩs crazy," said Don. "LotsaTech is an open place, but weтАЩre not supposed to be wandering into
other project buildings."