"Mike Resnick - Velvet Comet 1 - Eros Ascending" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

"Can you patch me in to your financial data bank?"

"I can take you to someone who can."

"Good," he said, walking to a closet. "Open," he commanded. The door dilated and he reached in and
withdrew a briefcase.

"I hope you haven't been waiting long," said Suma.

"A couple of hours." He opened the case, quickly checked its contents, and then closed and locked it.

"Is your suite satisfactory?"

"It's a fabulous suite of rooms, but I can't work here.

"But this is one of our finest facilities. It's close to the restaurants and the casino and-"

"I'll be happy to spend my nights here, but there are just too many distractions. I'll need a plain little
office with a chair, a computer terminal, and a steady supply of coffee."

"I don't know why you can't do your work here," said Suma. "I find these rooms charming."

"May I suggest that your job specifications are likely to be just a bit different from mine?"

Suma stared at him, and for just an instant her mask of elegant sophistication slipped and Redwine
thought he could glimpse a predator lurking beneath. He wondered what she would be like ten or
fifteen years up the road, when she had better control of the mask, and decided that the only word for
her would be formidable. Then the instant passed, and she smiled.

"We'll certainly endeavor to provide you with what you need, Mr. Redwine."

"Thank you."
"That's a very interesting pin you're wearing," she noted. "Does it mean anything?"

Redwine looked down at his jerkin and adjusted the small gold pin. "It means I won't get arrested for
impersonating an accountant."

"How very amusing. Shall we go, Mr. Redwine?"

"Lead the way," he replied, following her out into the long corridor that led past some forty doors on
the way to the elevator banks. "And call me Harry."

"If you wish, Mr. Redwine."

He smiled and chose to ignore the remark. "You know," he said, changing the subject as they
continued walking, "this is the first spaceship I've ever seen that had bas-reliefs on the corridor walls."

"We prefer to think of ourselves as an orbiting resort rather than a spaceship."

"Well, resort's as good a name as any," he said with a shrug.