"Alfred Bester - Galatea Galante" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bester Alfred)

"Because you've left out the crux of a kept woman's hold over a man. Don't protest, Valera. We know damn well you're ordering a mistress, and I make no moral judgment, but you've forgotten the drop of acid."
"Dominie, I do protest, I -"
"Just listen. You're contracting for an enchanting mistress, and it's my job to make sure that she remains enchanting, always. Now there are many sweet confections that require a drop of acid to bring you the full flavor and keep them enjoyable. Your Aspasia will need a drop of acid for the same reason. Otherwise, her perpetual perfection will cloy you in a matter of months."
"You know," Valera said slowly, "that's rather astute, Dominie. What would you advise? I'm all anticipation!"
"The acid in any woman who can hold a man: the unexpected, the quality that makes it impossible to live with them or without them."
"And what would that be in my . . . my secretary?"
"How the devil can I tell you?" Manwright shouted. "If you knew in advance, it wouldn't be unexpected, and anyway I won't know. I can't guarantee surprise and adventure with a woman. All I can do is program a deliberate error into the genesis of your perfect Aspasia, and the discovery of that kink will be the charming drop of acid. Under-
stood?"
"You make it sound like a gamble."
"The irrational is always a gamble."
After a pause Valera said, "Then you're challenging me, Dominie?"
"We're both being challenged. You want the ideal mistress created to your specs; I've got to meet them to your complete satisfaction."
"And your own, Reg?" Corque murmured.
"Certainly my own. I'm a professional. The job is the boss. Well, Valera? Agreed?"
After another thoughtful pause, Valera nodded. "Agreed, Dominie."
"Splendid. I'll need your Persona Profile from the syndicate."
"Out of the question, Dominie! Persona Profiles are Inviolable Secret. How can I ask Vortex to make an exception?"
"Damn it, can't you understand?" Manwright was infuriated by this intrasigence but controlled himself and tried to speak reasonably. "My dear chairman, I'm shaping and conditioning this Aspasia for your exclusive use. She will be the cynosure of all men, so I must make sure that she'll be implanted with an attraction for your qualities and drawn to you alone."
"Surely not all, Dominie. I have no delusions of perfection."
"Then perhaps to your defects, and that will be your charming drop of acid. Come back in twenty-one weeks"
"Why twenty-one specifically?"
"She'll be of age. My biodroids average out at a week of genesis for every physical year of the creation's maturity. One week for a dog; twenty-one weeks for an Aspasia. Good day, Mr. Valera."
After the chairman had left, Manwright cocked an eye at


Corque and grinned. "This is going to be a magnificent experiment, Charles. I've never generated a truly contemporary biodroid before. You'll pitch in and help, I hope?"
"I'll be honored, Reg." Suddenly, Corque returned the grin. "But there's one abstruse reference I can't understand."
"Fear not, you'll learn to decipher me as we go along. What don't you understand?"
"The old saw about the camel."
Manwright burst out laughing. "What? Never heard it? Penalty of spending too much time on the outer planets. Question: What is a camel? Answer: A camel is a horse made by a committee." He sobered. "But by God, our gallant girl won't be any camel. She'll be devastating."
"Forgive the question, Reg: Too devastating for you to resist?"
"What? That? No way! Never! I've guaranteed and delivered too many virgin myths, deities, naiads, dryads, and so welter. I'm seasoned, Charles: tough and hard and impervious to all their lures. But the breasts are going to be a problem," he added absently.
"My dear Reg! Please decipher."
"Her breasts, Charles. Botticelli made 'em too small in his Venus. I think I should program 'em fuller, but what size and shape? Like pears? Pomegranates? Melons? It's an aesthetic perplexity."
"Perhaps your deliberate error will solve it."
"Perhaps, but only the Good Lord, in whom I've never believed, can know what her mystery kink will turn out to be. Selah! Let's get to work on our perfect mistress, Charles, or, to use an antique expression that's just become a new vogue word, our perfect Popsy"
The Dominie's program for a devastating Popsy who was to be enchanting, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, cour-
teous, kind, obedient, cheerful, clever, chic, soft-spoken, beautiful, busty, eloquent on demand, and always available to entertain, began as follows:
A 12-1 0 0 (scald)
B 12-2 1 1
C 12-3 2 2 (VS.O.P)
D 124 3 3
E 12-5 4 4
F 12-6 5 5 (~/e dram)
G 12-7 6 6
H 12-8 7 7 (crimped)
1 12-9 8 8
J 11-1 9 9 ('/z scruple)
K 11-2 (garni)
L 11-3 If 8-3