"Robert Weinberg - Logical Magician 01 - A Logical Magician" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weinberg Robert)

Jack blushed. He was not used to being called cuteтАФmuch less by a beautiful
young woman. Putting the brakes on his racing hormones, he tried to steer the
conversation back in the right direction.
"Then the position is unfilled?"
"You're the first to apply," said the receptionist, rising from her chair. Short and
petite, she barely reached up to Jack's shoulders. "I'm Megan Ambrose," she said,
flashing her dazzling smile warmly.
"Jack Collins," he replied as they shook hands. Her delicate fingers were
surprisingly strong.
Mentally, Jack scratched his head in annoyance. Megan's name struck a chord
somewhere in his memory, but he couldn't place it. She looked familiar, though he felt sure
they had never met before. He would definitely not have forgotten a woman this striking.
He dismissed the notion as a case of wishful d├йj├а vu.
"Pull up a chair, Jack," said Megan, opening one of the drawers of her desk. She
pulled out several sheets of paper covered with typing and a red pencil. Brushing aside the
clutter, she sat down on the desk top, facing him. "Before we proceed any further, there's
a few questions I have to ask you."
Her expression grew serious. "Try your best. The correct answers are very
important."
A shiver of apprehension passed down Jack's back. Something in Megan's tone of
voice implied that a lot more than a job offer depended on his replies.
"Define a prime number."
"A number that's divisible only by itself and one," replied Jack.
"Explain to me the fundamental theorem of calculus."
They spent the next twenty minutes reviewing the high points of college
mathematics. Jack answered all of the questions easily. He had taught most of the material
during his graduate assistant days.
Megan listened to his explanations without comment. She rarely consulted her notes
and easily followed everything he said. For a receptionist, she knew more mathematics
than most of his students. Jack suspected there was more to Megan Ambrose than met the
eye.
"A perfect score," she announced cheerfully as he finished describing Cantor's
Proof. "Which doesn't surprise me considering your two degrees in mathematics. Let's
proceed to the hard part."
Jack blinked. He never mentioned anything about his college studies to Megan.
Yet, she seemed to know about them. He again wondered why the girl seemed so familiar.
"Who are the Nazgul?"
"The Black Riders with crowns but no faces," answered Jack automatically, "from
The Lord of the Rings ."
Nodding in agreement, Megan flashed Jack a quick smile. She appeared genuinely
pleased that he knew the correct answer.
"In the novel Three Hearts and Three Lions , why did the chicken cross the road?"
Frowning, Jack tried to remember the Poul Anderson novel. It had been years
since he read it. It took him a minute to recall the correct answer. The next query
concerned the use of magic in The Incomplete Enchanter . And so it went, with the
second half of the quiz proving to be much more challenging than the first.
They buzzed through two dozen questions in little more than an hour. Jack prided
himself on his exceptional memory, but several times he was forced to admit that the
details of a particular story had escaped him. Megan shook her head with each missed
answer, but otherwise made no comment.