"Leo Frankowski & Dave Grossman - The War With Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

"Indeed," I said. "Well, it happens that I have such a computer. We'll see."
I punched up Agnieshka.
"Can you get into the real estate computer?"
"Sure, boss. He's a nice kid, but dumb. What do you want?"
"I want some land, of course! You know. Something like what I used to think I had.
Find me the closest thing to it on the market that I can afford."
"Right, boss. Have a cup of coffee. This might take a little while. The kid isn't too
swift."
The realtor said, "That was really a computer? Remarkable. But I should warn you
that the Land Index is on a high-security government computer, for obvious reasons. No
one but certified government programmers can get into it directly."
My reply was cut off when Kasia came into the office, followed by what was
obviously a female version of my attendant-translator. My bride-to-be was dressed like
the other women I'd seen in the streets, with mesh stockings that stopped ten centimeters
below her micro skirt, a transparent blouse, and entirely too much makeup. Her long, red
wig wasn't bad, though, and I'd been around her way too long to do something stupid like
complaining.
I said, "Darling, you look stunning!"
"You are a liar, but I love you for it."
"I am not. Stunning is exactly the right word. I'm truly stunned. Okay, perhaps I don't
like that style on most of the women I've seen in the street, but on you it's really . . .
intriguing."
"You can see why they made him the general," she said to the others. "He keeps his
bases carefully covered. This is the real estate office?"
 Agnieshka came on line, speaking through the real estate computer.
"Boss, I've been through all the files in New Croatia, and this is the best I can find for
you."
The display zoomed in on an area about eight hundred kilometers from Nova Split. It
showed a small valley with very poor connections to the surface road system. There were
no utilities of any kind within fifty miles. And it only contained about six hundred
hectares, with half of that being mountains.
"It's a lot smaller than I'd hoped," I said. "That's the best you could do?"
"It's the biggest you can afford, boss, and the fertility index isn't the best."
The realtor broke in with, "First off, that's a very good price for that large a piece of
land. If you don't want to buy it, I just might, as an investment. Second, you don't have to
pay cash for land. You need only pay about ten percent down. I can easily arrange for a
low-interest loan to cover the rest. Your credit rating is excellent, and the land itself is
good collateral."
"I don't like the idea of going into debt," I said.
"And we don't have to," Kasia said, sitting down next to the joy stick, and zooming
the map up to a big red area to the northeast of the country. "What's the story about this
area?"
"Oh, madam, you can't be serious. For one thing, that area is all desert, and virtually
uninhabitable. And worse, that is where The War is going on! What little of it that was in
private hands has all been bought back by the government, and no one in their right mind
would want to buy it, even if it was for sale, which it isn't."
"I see," she said. "Would the rest of you mind leaving my future husband and me
alone for a few minutes? We have some private business to discuss."
The three of them were most cordial, and filed immediately out.
"Wouldn't it be nicer if all our neighbors spoke Kashubian rather than Croatian,