"FWLS44" - читать интересную книгу автора (A Future We'd Like to See)

I finished off the crusty pastries and sat in my Comfy
Chair. The patch cord was at my side... just thumb it onto my
neck and I'm in.

Cyberspace unfolded, with the garish yellows and blues of
Protege's main menu. All interfaced with idiots in mind; help
buttons everywhere, large print, the works. And the billboard.

See, completely covering the floor was a billboard. One
mother-huge one, too... changing every minute with a new image, a
new musical jingle, a new annoying pitch for you to buy so and so
product. You learn to ignore it after awhile, until you realize
you're humming commercial songs under your breath while working.
Eerie, man.

I ignore the menu and just tap into my workshop. My bosses
don't like my toolbox, which I use to skip the dozens of menus
I'd normally have to follow, but I don't care. It doesn't matter
what opinion they hold of me. They know I hate them.

I knew Bernard would be there waiting for me, and he was.

"Hey, Benson!" he waved, smiling. "Glad to see you!"

"Yeah, whatever," I muttered, pushing the piles and piles of
forms off my desk. "What's wrong this time?"

"Well, you see, you refer to one of the main characters in
Fighter Jock as 'purple'. Now, noting his Saren race, this could
be considered a racial slur, so we'd really appreciate it if you
remove it."

"Purple. Fluki didn't mind being called that. He'd call me
brownie, and we'd laugh."

"Well, that's nice and all, but I think I'm right and you
should remove it."

"First the cursing. Next the violence. You realize how
hard it was for me to code the enemy ejector seats to fire just
before the ships blow up? All because seeing death could be
harmful to the players. And the breast sizes reduced, the
dialogue modified to remove words over four syllables... THE
HAPPY ENDING. It's not Fighter Jock anymore, it's Kind Soldier
Guy Blowing Up Empty Planes."

"That's nice too," Bernard smiled. I hated that smile.
"Now, please be a good chap and remove it. Got to keep things
nice and safe for our users! Free-flowing information, nice and
smooth, that's our goal."