"John DeChancie - Castle 04 - Castle War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

The computer itself was a collection of strange components heaped together in the middle of the lab.
Tangles of multicolored wire hung from open panels. Some components were modern and functional,
but others looked like hopelessly quaint electrical equipment: transformers, rectifiers, and such. There

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/John%20DeChancie%20-%20Castle%2004%20-%20Castle%20War.html (29 of 255)23-12-2006 0:24:59
 Castle War

were things that resembled grandfather clocks, and one or two pieces that were indescribable. The floor
around the device was littered with tools, empty cartons, snippets of wire, and other debris.

Jeremy keyed a query.

HOW ARE YOUR DISK PARAMETER TABLES?

The answer appeared:

THEYтАЩRE FINE.

Jeremy typed: WEтАЩRE STILL GETTING A тАЬBAD SECTORтАЭ ERROR MESSAGE ON DRIVE 4.

I SEE. SOME FOREIGN MATTER LIKE METAL SHAVINGS ON THE DISK?

YEAH, MAYBE. IтАЩLL TAKE A LOOK LATER. NOW I WANT TO RUN A TEST OF YOUR
ARITHMETIC LOGIC OPERATIONS.

GO RIGHT AHEAD, JEREMY, DEAR.

Jeremy scowled. LETтАЩS DROP THE тАЬDEARтАЭ BIT. LOOK, IтАЩM A HUMAN, AND YOUтАЩRE A
COMPUTER, A HUNK OF JUNK.

HOW CRUEL YOU CAN BE!

SORRY, BUT ITтАЩS TRUE. WE CAN WORK TOGETHER AND BE PARTNERS, BUT ITтАЩS NOT
GOING TO GO BEYOND THAT. UNDERSTAND?

UNDERSTOOD. (SOB)

HEY, ARE YOU CALLING ME AN S.O.B.?

NO, STUPID. THAT WAS A SOB, AS IN HEARTFELT CRY.

OH. WELL, STOP BLUBBERING AND GET TO WORK.

WELL, EXCUUUUUUUUSE ME. HEIL, JEREMY!

KNOCK IT OFF.

Osmirik the castle librarian came in. He was a short man in a brown hooded cloak. He put one in mind