"Dave Duncan - Strings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

in these northerly latitudes the ozone layer was too thin to filter it out.
And the window was not a window. In fact, Wilkins's cramped quarters were
buried deep in the innards of Burton Dome, a long way from that starK
exterior.
He was not quite sure why he had called up that view-possibly because it
suited his evil mood, or possibly as a reminder that them
2 Dave Duncan
was no escape overland from Cainsville. There would be no pursuit, and no
rescue. A fugitive could safely be left alone to wander among those tangled
crags until he froze, or starved. Certainly he would not live long enough to
die of the carcinogenic sunlight.
There was no airport, either, only the lev station, which Security watched
always, as a matter of course. If anything went wrong, he would be hopelessly
trapped.
There were other ways out of Cainsville, but they led to places far, far worse
than even that accursed rocky desert outside.
He had been pacing for a long time, much too long for a man who took no
exercise. Wilkins J. S.-short and swarthy, born in
2027 and already going bald. Dr. Wilkins, employed by the Institute as a
camera-repair technician. Wilkins Jules Smuts, potential traitor.
Without warning his legs began to tremble. He slumped into his chair and
scowled at the seeming window. Well-why not? In truth, he had known for some
time what his decision was going to be. "Com mode!"
The comset became a sheet of blank plastic and said, "Proceed." Damp-fingered,
Wilkins pulled from his pocket a tiny scrap of paper, a secret he had been
hoarding for almost two years. It had been slipped into his hand at a party,
with a nod and a wink and a chunk of credit to establish goodwill, plus
promises of much greater joy if he ever used it in a good cause. He cleared
his throat and began to read. "Code Caesar Columbus Dimanche Einfeuchten .
Thirtytwo words in all. His voice quavered by the end, for even to
possess an illicit override code was a felony in Cainsville. To use one was
worse than a ciime-it was a blatant challenge to the deadliest security system
on earth. "Code acknowledged. Confirm activation."
It worked! Some small part of him had perhaps been hoping that it would not
... For a moment yet he hesitated, savoring a strange tingling seeping through
him, a blend of fear and excitement. It reminded him of the real reason he was
taking this risk-Wilkins Jules had a plugin habit, which was be-coming very
expensive. It had reached the point where his weekly pay transfer would barely
cover both food and plugin. Soon he would nave to choose between them, and his
choice could never be food. "Confirm activation," System repeated, impatient
of human indecision. "Activate." There-he had done it!
STRINGS
3
"Please wait." System began to play music at him, which he hated, and the gray
plastic again became a window, now overlooking a somber view of water lilies
floating on a tree-shadowed pool. To Wilkins Jules such a scene was
irrelevant at best, and unattractive anyway. He fretted.
There was no reason why he should not make a call to the outside world-except
that he almost never did. Everyone else did, often, but not him. Security
called that "pattern breaking," and System watched for it. And if the override