Read Online Death Dream by Ben Bova - Free Book Online

stove working," Susan said proudly. "Tonight we eat spaghetti a la Susan."
    "Great," said Jace.
    "Sauce from a jar, though. Haven't had time to make it from scratch. And I couldn't carry that much from the. supermarket, on foot. "
    "Uncle Jace!"
    A blonde blur whizzed into the kitchen and threw herself into Jace's arms.
    Dan smiled, thinking of Dorothy and the Scarecrow. Jace hauled Angela off her feet and swung her around, nearly knocking her feet into the pots on the stove.
    "My gosh, Angie," he said as he put her down, "you've grown a foot! Here it is on top of your head!" And he mussed her hair with his knuckles.
    "You're silly;" Angela laughed. Jace scooped her up again and carried her, giggling and wriggling, into the living room.
    Dan followed them into the living room, and then went out to the master bedroom. He tossed his blazer on the bed. It was wrinkled and limp; just the way he himself suddenly felt. Tired. A little disappointed. The excitement of seeing Jace again was wearing off. Like a kid who waited all year for his birthday party and now it's over. Back on the job. It all came flooding back to him, all the memories of the old days at Wright-Patterson With Jace. It was as if the two of them had never been separated. Jace was happy to see him again, sure, but he just took it for granted that Dan would be there when he wanted him. As if he had just been off on vacation or sick leave for a while. This wasn't a new start for Dan, it was just a continuation of his life as Jace's partner.
    Well, what the hell. You couldn't do what Jace does, Dan told himself. The sonofabitch is brilliant. Who the hell else could produce a simulation that two people can share completely? These conflict games are his baby. Two people sharing a dream together. Or a nightmare. Nobody else has even come close to what Jace has accomplished. He's jumped light-years ahead of anything that anybody else is doing. A quantum leap.
    As he sat down to take off his shoes Angela came bouncing in. Dan noticed that she was already in her pink pajamas.
    "Mommy says dinner will be ready in five minutes and I can stay up and sit with you and Uncle Jace even though I've already had my dinner." She seemed quite pleased with her announcement, almost smug.
    "That's fine, Angel," he said. "How was your first day at school?"
    "It was real neat," his daughter replied, getting up on the bed and tucking her bare feet under her to sit cross-legged.
    "You liked it."
    "Yeah! I went to Mexico city and saw the Aztecs. It was terrific! They wore costumes made of bird feathers and they had these big tall pyramids and market places and ball courts where they played a kind of soccer and—"
    "You used a VR system."
    Angela nodded so hard her pigtails bounced. "It's awesome, Daddy. I was really there! With Mr. Muncrief."
    "Huh?"
    "Did you make that VR, Daddy? Is the one about the Aztecs one of the VRs you made?"
    "No, not that one, honey," Dan replied. "What did you say about Mr. Muncrief?"
    Her blue eyes were shining with happiness. "He was there, too. I saw him. He was one of the priests. He climbed all the way up the biggest pyramid, to the temple up at the top."
    "Mr. Muncrief?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "It couldn't have been."
    "I saw him. He was there, all dressed up in feathers and everything. He looked kinda funny."
    Dan tickled his daughter's chin. "You just thought you saw him, sweetie. He drove you to school and there was a priest in the simulation that looked something like him and you thought it was him."
    "It was him, Daddy! He even waved to me!"
    Dan smiled at his daughter. Twelve-year-olds and their imagination, he thought. But inwardly he wondered if twelve-year-olds might be too young for VR simulations.
    "Come on," he said, "let's see what Phil's doing."
    He padded in his socks into the baby's room, Angela trailing behind him, still chattering about school and Muncrief. His son was already asleep. Dan smiled down at Philip. Things will get down to normal pretty