"FWLS11" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

A Future We'd Like to See 1.11 - Tales of the Rainy City
Act I
By Twoflower (Copyright 1993)

"What's this?" I said, fingering the odd cube in my virtual
hands. It didn't seem to want to stay rigid, like other VOSNet
shapes, as it oozed and tilted and shifted color at random times.

"New program. ULTRA ULTRA hot from some guy down near the
Fathersystem. It's the latest in gaming technology," AutoReverse
said. "And what's more, you don't need a VOS hookup to use it."

"Come again?" I said, tossing the greasy cube back and forth
between my hands.

"Think, man! This is just some cheezy simulation piped
right into yer brain. All vectors and 3-D and whatnot, and no
matter how you simulate it, it's gonna look unreal. What if
someone made a system based on thoughts in your head? No need
for realism, it'd be as real as any other memory."

"Cute idea," I said, "But what does this cube have to do
with it?"

"It progs up your brain, bud," AutoReverse said. "Lays some
code in that 80% of your mind you don't use. While offline, you
just get all comfy-like, tap yer head twice and it's game time."

"Sounds like something quite capable of deep-frying my grey
matter," I said, tossing the cube back. "No thank you."

"Hey, man, I use it. I haven't gone all insane in the brain
yet."

"You were insane to begin with, Auto."

"Hey, I'm one of the most sensible guys I know. Remember
when Stop Motion and Doublecheck were jumping off that cliff with
those monofilament elastic things? How insane THAT was?"

"You did it with them anyway, Auto!"

"Yeah, but I felt bad about it afterwards!" Auto protested.
"I mean, I coulda damaged my hands. Never be able to jack in
again. Now come on, I went through a lot of trouble gettin' that
prog for you. I heard about it, and thought to myself, 'Benson
now, there's a real games freak. He'd LOVE this.' So I pick up
two, one for me and one for you."

"And where's yours?"