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

shoot you anyway. There was a tremendous explosion, and he was blown out into space.

He could see a large landmass, a planet or moon where none could really be-a rough and barren place.
He could not tell if there was an atmosphere. As he tumbled he saw thePeaches going down, debris
scattering from a ragged rip in its side. Beyond the ship, he saw a star that might have been the Sun but
he was pretty sure it wasnтАЩt the Sun. Maybe the Dark Spot was back and theCan of Peaches had fallen
into it and theyтАЩd all come out the other side light-years away.

He could replay some of the highlights of his life-his boyhood playing with the polar bears on Mars, going
into space (and never coming back, so there!), first love, last love, last week, cheesecake. HeтАЩd
probably have time to play that much back before he hit the ground. There would never be time to go
over everything in his augmented memory banks. You experienced augmem from the outside like looking
up an item in a book, but ideally such an item triggered the actual memory, and you experienced that
from the inside like those tiny soft hairs on cheerleader thighs in the gym dome on Mars when he was
seventeen. Replay. But shouldnтАЩt this be all white light or something? Did you think you were going to get
some great moment of clarity here at the end? Did you think there would be dancing girls?

His body ached with her blue fire as he fell.

тАЬAre you there, Pam?тАЭ He reached out and touched her.

тАЬThanks for the ride home,тАЭ she said. тАЬIt was supposed to be easier than this.тАЭ

тАЬWhat do you mean?тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm going now,тАЭ she said.

His arm exploded in fire as she left.

At least he could find out what she really looked like. He switched on his тАЬother eye,тАЭ but she was still a
blue fire woman walking out of the Slingshot Lounge.

That couldnтАЩt be right.

тАЬHey!тАЭ

She stopped at the door and turned back and gave him a little wave with just her fire fingers.

Well, the bartender was just some guy who needed a shave and maybe a breath mint. He put another
Irish on ice down in front of John. There was a crackle of static and he said, тАЬYou should have shown
her your spacesuit, Sport.тАЭ

John banged himself in the side of the head suspecting a malfunction. Pam just kept burning, but now he
was falling toward the surface of the new planet.

His arm really was on fire.

Pam was a graceful blue burning cloud. She dipped and soared and skimmed over the surface until she
came to a cave. She disappeared inside.