"Connie Willis - At the Rialto" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

AT THE RIALTO
Connie Willis

Seriousness of mind was a prerequisite for understanding Newtonian
physics. I am not convinced it is not a handicap in understanding
quantum theory.
тАФExcerpt from Dr. Gedanken's keynote address to the 1988 International
Congress of Quantum Physicists Annual Meeting, Hollywood, California


I got to Hollywood around one-thirty and started trying to check into
the Rialto.
"Sorry, we don't have any rooms," the girl behind the desk said. "We're
all booked up with some science thing."
"I'm with the science thing," I said. "Dr. Ruth Baringer. I reserved a
double."
"There are a bunch of Republicans here, too, and a tour group from
Finland. They told me when I started work here that they got all these
movie people, but the only one so far was that guy who played the friend of
that other guy in that one movie. You're not a movie person, are you?"
"No," I said. "I'm with the science thing. Dr. Ruth Baringer."
"My name's Tiffany," she said. "I'm not actually a hotel clerk at all. I'm
just working here to pay for my transcendental posture lessons. I'm really
a model/ actress."
"I'm a quantum physicist," I said, trying to get things back on track.
"The name is Ruth Baringer."
She messed with the computer for a minute. "I don't show a reservation
for you."
"Maybe it's in Dr. Mendoza's name. I'm sharing a room with her."
She messed with the computer some more. "I don't show a reservation
for her either. Are you sure you don't want the Disneyland Hotel? A lot of
people get the two confused."
"I want the Rialto," I said, rummaging through my bag for my
notebook. "I have a confirmation number. W-three-seven-f ur-two-oh. "
She typed it in. "Are you Dr. Gedanken?" she asked.
"Excuse me," an elderly man said.
"I'll be right with you," Tiffany told him. "How long do you plan to stay
with us, Dr. Gedanken?" she asked me.
"Excuse me," the man said, sounding desperate. He had bushy white
hair and a dazed expression, as if he had just been through a horrific
experience or had been trying to check into the Rialto.
He wasn't wearing any socks. I wondered if he was Dr. Gedanken. Dr.
Gedanken was the main reason I'd decided to come to the meeting. I had
missed his lecture on wave-particle duality last year, but I had read the
text of it in the ICQP Journal, and it had actually seemed to make sense,
which is more than you can say for most of quantum theory. He was
giving the keynote address this year, and I was determined to hear it.
It wasn't Dr. Gedanken. "My name is Dr. Whedbee," the elderly man
said. "You gave me the wrong room."
"All our rooms are pretty much the same," Tiffany said. "Except for how