"Paul Di Filippo - The Reluctant Book" - читать интересную книгу автора (Di Filippo Paul)

The ladies sought to preserve their dignity and decorum. "Of course,"
Taffy said. "We recognize your devotion to learning, and we're so
grateful
that you wish to purchase the library as a whole. It surely would have
pleased our dear Vincent to know his collection would end up in such
fine
hands."
"That's why we favored your tender over all the others," piped Marlys.
Stallkamp denied the tactics of the sisters. "Don't pretend. I know
through my contacts that you have had no other propositions, save from
the
knackers offering you pennies on the dollar. None of my peers wanted a
library without a Catalogue, a record of all the permutations and stud
lines. Too much work by half getting the whole affair sorted. You can't
rely on the books themselves for the information, of course. Except in
text mode, they're stubborn prevaricators, every one of them."
"Oh, true."
"So true. Nasty things, books."
"But I'm different. Once I get them home, I intend to overwrite them
all
anyway, and to hell with their current contents. Your foolish brother's
holdings never supplemented mine in any case. He wasted his time on all
sorts of nonsense. Gravitokarmic mechanics, indeed! No, I'm paying you
as
if the books were all blank, straight from the publishers--with a
sizable
discount for heavy usage, of course--and that's the best deal you'll
get.
There's no point in jollying me up to try to extort a few more dollars
out
 of me. So you might as well conduct me to the library right now."
The sisters stood up resignedly. Taffy pointed to a large door set in
one
wall beside the large stasis cube that served as icebox for
comestibles.
"The bookbarn is right through there, MB Stallkamp. Vincent never
wanted
to be more than a few steps from his precious books. Do you need us to
accompany you?"
"Not at all. The books will be jittery enough without the presence of
two
non-librarians. Let me just check my equipment one last time, though."
Stallkamp deposited his flat case on the tabletop and cracked it open.
Racked inside were several perfusion hypos--prefilled with varicolored
semiotic liquids in their graduated cartridges--and a wicked-looking
pronged device like a tuning fork fused to a pistol grip.
Marlys pointed to the weaponish thing. "What is that? I don't believe
Vincent ever had one."
"It's a librarian's fine-assessor." Stallkamp took up the bifurcate gun
and closed his case. "The bookbarn door is locked, I assume."