"Alastair Reynolds - Signal to Noise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Alastair)

“I need to talk to you,” Joe said. “Now.”

“I need to call some of Andrea’s friends,” Mick said. “Can it wait until
later?”

“No. It can’t. It’s about you and Andrea.”

They went into the kitchen. Joe poured him a glass of whisky. Rachel
and Bill watched from the end of the table, saying nothing.

“I’ve been to the lab,” Joe said. “I know it’s Saturday, but I wanted to
make sure that lock was still holding. Well, it is. We could start the
experiment tomorrow if we wanted to. But something’s come up, and you
need to know about it.”

Mick sipped from his glass. “Go on.”

“I’ve been in contact with my counterpart in the other lab.”

“The other Joe.”

“The other Joe, yes. We were finessing the equipment, making sure
everything was optimal. And we talked, of course. Needless to say I
mentioned what had happened.”

“And?”

“The other me was surprised. Shocked, even. He said Andrea hadn’t
died in his reality.” Joe held up a hand, signaling that Mick should let him
finish before speaking. “You know how it works. The two histories are
identical before the lock takes effect: so identical that there isn’t even any
point in thinking of them as being distinct realities. The divergence only
happens once the lock is in effect. The lock was active by the time you
came down to tell me about the squash match. The other me also had a
visit from you. The difference was that no policewoman ever came to his
lab. You eventually drifted back to your office to carry on grading tutorials.”

“But Andrea was already dead by then.”

“Not in that reality. The other me phoned you. You were staying at the
Holiday Inn. You knew nothing of Andrea having had any accident. So my
other wife…” Joe allowed himself a quick smile. “The other version of
Rachel called Andrea. And they spoke. Turned out Andrea had been hit by
a car, but she’d barely been bruised. They hadn’t even called an
ambulance.”

Mick absorbed what his friend had to say, then said, “I can’t deal with
this, Joe. I don’t need to know it. It isn’t going to help.”