"Ray Vukcevich - Fired" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vukcevich Ray)

Fired
Ray Vukcevich


Deep inside the spacelinerCan of Peaches there was a small dim bar called the Slingshot Lounge. The
Can of Peaches along with three sister hotel ships moved between Earth and Mars continuously. The
ships never stopped. They never landed. Because there were four of them, you never had to take the
long way. The ships were really in an orbit around the sun and used the planetary gravity to slingshot
forever between the two worlds and thus the name of the bar where John Wagner went looking for love
in one of the very few places it might reasonably be found and met the fire woman.

When John was on duty, he was an тАЬoutside guyтАЭ -a man or woman who gets into a space suit and goes
out to fix whatever needs fixing on the outer skin of theCan of Peaches . He was a permanent peach. He
had not set foot on Earth or Mars in many years. Tourists were ferried up to the liners from the surface of
either planet. That was the most expensive part of the whole deal. The rest was just a matter of going
around and around and since almost anything could be simulated to a degree you couldnтАЩt tell the
difference and since everyone was augmented to the eyeballs and beyond, you had to wonder why
people bothered going in the flesh. Part of it was a status thing. You had to have the bucks if you wanted
to take the ride. People claimed there was something immediate and elemental that squeezed the very
core of your being when you looked into the deep darkness of space with unaided eyes. John didnтАЩt see
it anymore. Maybe heтАЩd gotten used to it.

Another factor was the long shot that you might be there when the тАЬdark spotтАЭ returned. If it ever did
come back, you might get gobbled up and disappear forever. A little danger tossed into the mix. Ten
years before, the rip in space known as the тАЬdark spotтАЭ had appeared. Several things had emerged and
the spot had disappeared. Just like that. None of the emerging things had ever been tracked down and
identified. Aliens or rocks. Who knew?

Since there was never a shortage of tourists on board, John figured there might be someone new in his
favorite bar, so he got his persona buffed and beaming (dress-black uniform and spaceman boots,
rugged chin and piercing ice-blue eyes, a random gleam from the teeth) and set on out after work,
augmented peepers scoping and pheromoner sniffing around for monkey business. He waltzed on into the
Slingshot and took a stool, signaled the polar bear bartending that he needed an Irish on the rocks,
looked left and right without really looking like he was looking, and oh, man, would you look at her?

John couldnтАЩt say exactly why the fire woman was so hot, sitting there (if sitting was what she was
actually doing) looking anything but human, all blue and maybe made of some kind of transparent jelly
your fingers just ached to touch. YouтАЩd pretend to touch her and say, тАЬOuch!тАЭ Or тАЬsizzleтАЭ or maybe just
тАЬssssss,тАЭ and sheтАЩd say, тАЬOh like I havenтАЩt heard that one before,тАЭ but by then sheтАЩd be smiling (if you
could call it smiling) and everything would be cool. HeтАЩd buy her a drink. Or would she go for some kind
of gas instead or maybe a hickory log? Whatever fans your flames, sweet cheeks. And speaking of
cheeks, that black splatter spot just below her left eye was a nice touch. It was like looking at the тАЬdark
spotтАЭ through a telescope from a long way away. He should say something, but how do you break the
ice with a fire woman?

But then she beat him to the punch. тАЬYou ever do it in a spacesuit, bobby?тАЭ When she spoke, sparks
drifted from her mouth and winked out as they touched the bar.

тАЬWhat?тАЭ John was knocked off his game. тАЬMy nameтАЩs not Bobby.тАЭ
She looked startled like sheтАЩd been working on that utterance for a long time and was confused by his