"Kathleen Ann Goonan - The Bridge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goose Mother)

тАЬOh. Of course. Here. YouтАЩll do it, then?тАЭ

тАЬI told you: I will investigate the facts surrounding these possible
murders.тАЭ

тАЬBut the copies?тАЭ

тАЬIf your mother and sister are indeed artificial persons, and their
copies are in this safe, it is possible that the copies might fall into my hands
during the course of my investigations.тАЭ

She did not look entirely satisfied, but nodded once. тАЬAll right.тАЭ

****

The next morning, after I rose from my couch and washed in the small
bathroom in my office, I began to work in spite of myself. Old habits die
hard.

I hadnтАЩt told her, and she hadnтАЩt asked. That was the strange part.

I was in a building that had not been infused with receptor capabilities.
In pre-conversion language, it had not been wired.

But what was happening nowтАФhere, everywhereтАФwas different from
being wired. It was internal.

CommunicationsтАФregular, old communications like the way they were
back in the old daysтАФwere gone. Because of the electromagnetic
interference. TelephonesтАФand, therefore, the good old InternetтАФdidnтАЩt
work. Broadcasting didnтАЩt work. No one knew what was causing this, but it
was like a long solar flare that might never end.

Arlington was being Converted to new biological ways of doing things.
Interstices filled with benign bacteria capable of carrying an infinite amount
of information ran up the sides of converted buildings. There was a port in
every room, where a clear, semi-permeable membrane gave access to
those who were converted, through the wonders of genetic engineering,
and could send and receive information. They call it metapheromonal
communication.
 The owner of the Zephyr Building, in which I have my office, is a
tightwad. When it became clear that he was never going to convert the
building, most tenants moved out.

Julia Quick either did not know or did not mind that both the building
and, by inference, myself, had not stepped into the future.

Or maybe she did, and, finding it to her advantage, didnтАЩt care. It
wouldnтАЩt take much asking to find out about me. I was a bit of a local joke.