"Mack Reynolds - Ability Quotient" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

She frowned, as though seeking the joke. "I mean where were the two of
you?"

"Back to back in a machine gun nest. The gun was jammed and all we
had were our automatics. Later on when the relief came, we counted
them. There were ten on my side and eleven on his. If he hadn't been
there, those eleven gooks would have come up on my back. If I hadn't been
there, those ten would have come up on his. I figure I owe him one life."
He added softly, "And I hope some day to catch up with him. Jim's the
best."
 "Gooks?"

He looked at her. "Listen, when they're trying to kill you, you don't have
polite names for them. They're Gook's, or Krauts, or Huns, or some such."

She nodded. "I see." She looked at her watch. "I'll have to hustle along
too." She looked into his face frankly. "Rather short notice, but I think I
like you, Bert Alshuler. What was that Killer bit when he introduced us?
Are you mad for the ladies or something?"

He stood at the same time she did and walked along beside her to the
door. "No," he said wryly. "Kind of a old nickname back in the army. I'm
not very smart with the ladies. I… I guess I got a late start. They hauled me
into the military before I was out of short pants practically. At the door he
said, I suppose I ought to go on back to my mini-apartment and get
around to unpacking. Things have been so hectic these past couple of days
that I'm still living out of my suitcases."

"Which way are you going?"

"I'm over in the Parthenon Building."

"Well, so am I. I understand that the juniors and seniors call our
quarters the dungeons. They're not as bad as all that, though."

"Sort of cramped. The new buildings have more room, now they've got
the housing shortage licked. What's the population of this university city
now?" He fell in step beside her, somewhat surprised that he didn't have
to slow his pace to accommodate to her hers. She was a brisk little thing.

"Something like three hundred thousand," she said. "The use of TV and
the computers came just in time. What in the name of heavens would they
have done with this educational revolution if they had to teach in the old
manner?"

"When the need for railroads came along, railroads were invented," he
misquoted. He took her in from the side of his eyes. "Jim likes you pretty
well. I know Jim."

She looked straight ahead. "I know," she said. "I'm sorry."