《The Last Days of the Permanent Floating Riot Club 》作者： Larry Niven【EP...

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The Last Days of the Permanent Floating RiotClub Larry Niven Produced by calibre 0.6.40 The Last Days of the Permanent Floating Riot Club In its heyday the Club had numbered around ninety and it was the most exclusive club in theworld. Now a third of its members had quit and a third were in prison or awaiting trial andthe remaining thirty-odd active members had lost a crucial something: confidence enthusiasmesprit de corps call it what you will. quotWe always knew it was comingquot said Benny Sherman. He was a thick-set man short and broadmade mostly of black hair and muscle. He waved a big stubby-fingered hand at the south wall ofthe main room where a commentator was spreading news of the outside world across a wall-sizedscreen. quotIt was all over that screen for years. Central Riot Control in Nebraska. Pictures ofthe building going up. They told us just how it was gonna work. They gave us a completion date.Twenty of us quit that same day.quot Nobody said anything. The voice of the commentator came through at low volume speaking of therumor that the Soviets had developed a self-teleporting spy cloak. The teevee screen was neveroff in the Permanent Floating Riot Club. quotThat spy cloakquot James Get-It-All Goethals said wistfully. quotThatd be nice to have when aflash crowd goes sour. I wonder what are the chances of stealing one.quot quotSurequot said Willie Lordon. He was a featherweight pinchfaced man all birdlike bones and acidsarcasm. quotCops coming at you from all directions: What do you do You roll yourself up in yourspy cloak and as soon as it forms a closed surface its a displacement booth. Where are younowquot He paused for effect. quotIn a top secret headquarters in the Kremlin You idiot.quot quotBetter that than Central Riot Control.quot Willie snorted. quotIve been therequot said Benny Sherman. quotInside its like a Rose Bowl without seats. Receiverbooths all around the lip of the bowl. You try to flick out of a place where the riot controlis on and you wind up dropping out the bottom of the booth. You slide all the way down to thebottom of the bowl and you