Читать книгу Maxwell's Demon онлайн

30 страница из 77

‘Don’t be like that, I haven’t got long.’

‘No, I wasn’t. I didn’t mean it like that.’

‘I did say I didn’t know if I’d be able to call.’

‘I know, that’s fine. I’m not. I wasn’t meaning anything.’

‘Promise?’

‘Yeah. It’s just the first time I’ve said anything all day. I’m . . . strange.’

‘Ah, that’d do it,’ Imogen-on-the-phone said. ‘I did want to call when I got back, but we ended up being on site longer than I thought and it would’ve been like three a.m. or something over there.’

Imogen-on-the-screen showed no signs of waking up. She just carried on taking her slow, deep breaths – in . . . out . . . in . . . out . . .

‘It’s fine, I’m just feeling a bit weird, a bit . . .’ The word I wanted to use was flat, but I didn’t. ‘. . . abstract. Hello?’

‘Hello. I’m here. Hello?’

‘Hello. I can hear you.’

‘What did you say? Abstract?’

‘Yeah, like, as in, not all here.’ I looked down at the phone. ‘It’s not seeing people, I think. I should probably go out later, walk around a bit.’

‘That sounds like a good plan. You should definitely do that. Get some sun and have some fruit.’