"Ellen Datlow - SciFiction Originals vol.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Datlow Ellen)

"Would you mind changing the sign and locking up for me? And then come on in the back so I can give you the
whole story."
Danny flipped the handwritten sign over to the side that said, TRADING FROM A 2 Z-CURRENTLY TRADING IN
Zs, SEE YOU TOMORROW. Trader Vic whimsy-he'd always found it strangely poignant, though he would never have
told Vic that. He locked the door, tested it, wondered briefly when Skin Music or the grocer were going to pick up their
goods, and then joined Vic in the back room.
As far as he was concerned, Vic's back room was one of the top ten rooms in the world. She had a big, overstuffed
sofa in some kind of soft fabric that was not quite velour and not quite corduroy but combined the better features of
both. It was the color of an expensive red wine and sitting on it was the next best thing to having someone pour you a
glass. The coffee table in front of it was just an old block of plastic, okay to put your feet on. The big video screen in
the antique box had a resolution that most blowfish could only dream about; almost too good for some of the older
movies Vic had. Like when she'd shown him that old space opera movie.
Vic picked up the remote and aimed it at the screen. The familiar city skyline faded in; then the perspective zoomed
in on the top half of a glass-and-steel monster, one of several built during the last glass-and-steel revival in urban
architecture.
"Is that-?" Danny turned to look at Vic.
"La Belle Ciel. Or, as we like to call it around here, C L."
Dan wiped his left hand over his face. "As I recall, it's le ciel, which would make it Le Beau Ciel."
"Yes, but that doesn't rhyme in English. Where are your priorities, man? Anyway, we have a date in that building
tonight." She glanced at him sideways. "Unless you're losing your nerve?"
Danny took a breath. "So, you say this gig pays well?" He wiggled his new fingers at her.
"How long did it take you to save up for that arm?"
"That good?" He gave a small laugh. "For money that good, I got all the nerve in the world."
Vic gazed at his arm for a moment. "You may not realize how true that is. Yet." She turned her attention back to the
monitor and pointed the remote at it again. The image vanished and was replaced by the word loading....
"This is intercepted security surveillance from a special area on the ninety-first floor, and the only reason I'm not
going to tell you how I came by it is because detailing all the connections between me and it would take most of the
night. Well, I'm also never supposed to say some of the names out loud, too, but you knew that, right? Anyway, just
watch this."
The image on the monitor faded in slowly, and it seemed to be a plain old cam-shot of an office anteroom, the sort
you might sit in while waiting for your appointment with the important personage in the inner office, as expensively
furnished as you'd expect in a building like that. But not quite: it lacked not only a receptionist's desk but the
customary multi-screen wall showing all of Ciel's channels of entertainment, edutainment, documentary, docu-dramas,
sports, sports entertainment, news, and cooking (it was said one of the higher-ups in the organization had fixated on
old footage of someone named Julia Child).
What it did have was... something else.
 After a while, Danny realized he had moved from the couch to the floor directly in front of the monitor and he was
probably blocking Vic's view. But Vic didn't seem to mind-at least she hadn't said anything-and it was important that
he keep watching closely and try to understand what he was seeing. It kept shifting, the way certain things sensitive
to changes in light and air will do, but he was sure he could understand if he had just a few seconds more.
Abruptly, the screen went dark.
"Hey!" he yelled and turned to look at Vic.
"Not me," she said, putting both hands up to show she hadn't touched the remote. "The transmission cut off. It
has to every so often-otherwise the security cam'll register the presence of an extra and very unauthorized eye."
"Oh." He glanced back at the dark screen and then went back to sit on the couch next to Vic, feeling sad and
deflated. "How long-how long did we get to watch?"
"Five minutes," Vic said.
Danny laughed incredulously. "That's a joke, right?"
"Feels more like half an hour?"
"Or even longer."