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

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
crime-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 becoming very
expensive. It had reached the point where his weekly pay transfer would barely
cover both food and plugin. Soon he would have 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
"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
code itself had triggered alarms, then the call would certainly be either
blocked or monitored. The illicit code and the record coin in his other
pocket-either would make him a dead man. Nowhere in the world could a body be
disposed of as easily as in Cainsville. Nowhere in the world.
One tune ended and another began. Why so long? He might very well have fallen
into a trap. If this was all a fake, a loyalty test that he had now most
certainly failed, then the goons were lining up outside the door already. The
tingling had faded into an unpleasant full-bladder sensation. He always tended
to sweat too much, and at the moment was dribbling like a marathon runner.
Dead man-or rich man? He had never known a call to take this long. He must be
getting through to someone very high up ... high up in something.
Then he blinked at sudden brightness, seeing through the comset into a sunlit
office. The desk was shiny and empty. If that were real wood, it had cost more
money than he would earn in two years. The woman across from him was being
masked. She wore an outfit of hard metallic blue, but that was all he could
tell. Her face was an anonymous blur, although the rest of the room was as
sharp as though he were sitting in it. Whoever her emplovers were, they could
afford a first-class System. "Report!" Probably her voice was disguised also.
He squirmed like a hooked worm. One-sided! He should have put a bag over his
head or something. "You don't need to know my name ...
The woman drummed a hard fog of fingers on the wood. "I already know your
name. I even know you have less than forty hectos left in the bank.
Thirty-eight to be exact."
Wilkins's heart lurched. He had not expected the bargaining to start so soon.
"Now report," she repeated. "It had better be good."
He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the coin. "I have evidence."
4
Dave Duncan
She seemed to shrug. "Evidence of what?" But he heard a trace more interest in
that anonymous voice. "They lost a team!" "It happens. How many?" "Three."