"02 - They Came and Ate Us - Armageddon II- The B-Movie 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rankin Robert)

'Jack,' said the dean. 'How is the work progressing?'

'Excellently, thank you sir.' Jack did his very best to give it his all.

'Good, and you have everything that you need?'

'Well. . .' I have forty-nine empty desks, thought Jack.

'I wonder if you would mind coming up to my office.'

'Well . . .'

'Good. Shall we say five minutes? Thank you.'

Jack replaced the receiver and returned to breakfast. Five minutes, up in the office? So it had finally come to this, had it? He could already hear the dean's words delivered as ever in cold deadpan. Situation beyond our control. Constant cutbacks. Our hands are tied. Regret that we shall be forced to let you go.

'Something tells me,' said Jack Doveston, 'that this is not going to be my day.'

He was quite right of course. But what he didn't know,

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although it is doubtful whether he would have received much consolation from the fact even if he had, was that this was not going to be anyone's day at all.

Rex Mundi work up on this particular day, although many years into the future, with a hangover. But as he dwelt in paradise he felt as fresh as the proverbial daisy. He belched, shamelessly, broke wind and rolled over towards his wife Christeen.

'No,' she said in her sleep. Rex rose from the nuptial couch and gave his surroundings a bit of first-thing inspection.

It was not at all bad, considering. Somewhat rustic, but that was the name of the game. Everything grew as required. Bed, chairs, tables, furniture all round. The only prohibition was the growing of televisions.

Prior to the Apocalypse, the heirs to the 1999 Nuclear Holocaust Event eked out a bitter existence on a forced diet of compulsory TV. Constantly under the surveillance of electronic iris scanners, rations were allocated accord­ing to the viewer's dedication before the screen. In paradise TVs were a definite no-go area. It was now ten full years since Rex had watched television and this fact gave him no sleepless nights at all.

He padded to the window, peered out and took it all in. It was another beautiful day and he was putting on weight. He prodded thoughtfully at his stomach. Dis­tinctly on the plump side and no doubt about it. Portly. Now that wasn't paradise. Beneath his fingers he felt his belly shrink away to be replaced by tight corded muscle. Now, that was paradise. And that really depressed him.

Before the big renewal he hadn't been much to speak of. He had been scabby, downtrodden, dumped upon from impossible heights, shillied, shallied, used, abused and beaten. But somehow he'd been alive. He'd won through and ultimately triumphed. Shit, he'd even got to marry God's only daughter, and that was no small thing in itself. But where was he now? Well, he wasn't dead,

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although it seemed at times to amount to pretty much the same thing. Ten long years of doing exactly as he pleased and getting everything that he wanted. And what had it all turned out to be worth? Nothing, Rex con­cluded.

Perhaps Man just wasn't built for paradise. Perhaps it simply never got coded into his genes. Mankind generally spent its collective days either searching for something it could never find, or if by chance it did, then discovering that it never actually wanted it in the first place. There had been a word for this in the twentieth century. Rex searched his memory. Oh yes, cliche, that was it.

What he needed was some kind of challenge, conflict, confrontation. Some great quest. Something. Anything.

Rex gazed towards the naked Goddess on the con­tinental quilt. She had to be the most beautiful woman that had ever lived. 'Come to me my beloved,' she murmured.

That made Rex feel even worse.

'Sit,' said the dean. Jack sat. The dean's office was the size of a small stadium. There was probably a ceiling up there somewhere. Vertical acres of wall displayed count­less bright rectangular patches. Much of the marble statuary had taken up their plinths and walked. The priceless carpets had obviously realized their price. Now probably wasn't the time to broach the subject of a salary increase.