"Mike Resnick - Eros Nadir" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

“Those are just holographic recreations, Mr. Page,” said the young man. “They were set up to give the
press some of the flavor of theComet in its heyday.”
“If I know the press, they'd rather check out the flavor in the bars and bedrooms,” said Page.

The young man offered no reply, and a moment later the vehicle reached the end of the Mall and came to
a halt before the entrance to a luxurious reception area that was filled with people in formal attire.

“Thanks for the ride,” said Page, starting to get out of the vehicle.

The young man placed a restraining hand on his arm. “I believe that Mr. Carnegie wants a word with you
first,” he said. “If you'll wait here, I'll go and get him.”

“You do that,” said Page. He leaned back on the seat, clasped his hands behind his head, and closed his
eyes. The next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by a pudgy, balding little man who was
wearing enough diamonds on his fingers to stock a small jewelry store.

“Wake up, Nate!” he snapped.

Page opened his eyes. “Hi, Murray.”

“You're almost an hour late!” continued Murray Carnegie harshly.

“I'd prefer to think that everyone else was an hour early,” said Page, blinking rapidly. “Is there any booze
left?”

“You've had enough.”

“It shows?”

“On you? Always.” Carnegie glared at him. “I thought I told you to show up sober.”

Chapter 1
Page walked through the airlock, pausing for a moment to study the extremely sophisticated security
equipment. Nobody with a weapon would ever have been able to get past it, and it could doubtless have
evaluated a patron's jewelry to the nearest tenth of a credit—but the item that fascinated him was the
medical scanner. Probably it had been used to determine the presence of venereal diseases, which now
numbered more than five hundred strains and mutations.

He nodded approvingly. He'd find some way to work the scanner into the script.

He left the airlock and turned to his left. This, he knew, was the fabled Mall, the two-mile-long strip of
exclusive shops and boutiques that formed the bar between theComet 's two bells. The slidewalks were
no longer functional, and he began walking along the parquet flooring that ran down the middle of the
Mall.

He had expected the stores to look dirty and run-down, fronted by broken windows and creaking doors,
but in fact they were in pristine condition.

He grimaced and nodded to himself;of course they'd look like new. TheComet hadn't been sacked and