"Alexander Jablokov - Dead Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jablokov Alexander)

тАЬIt doesnтАЩt pay to insult your employer like that, Ian.тАЭ

тАЬLook,тАЭ I said. тАЬWhen you had a body, do you think you could have gone on
the lam and evaded a sophisticated surveillance net for a month? Tell the truth now.
Because, you know what? If you donтАЩt tell me the truth, IтАЩll never find you.тАЭ

тАЬMy body. YouтАЩll never find my body.тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs you, you know. Not some zombie. ItтАЩs you. You inside a body. Kind
of the way you lived your entire life.тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs like saying, тАШitтАЩs you, only itтАЩs somebody else.тАЩтАЭ

тАЬOkay,тАЭ I said. тАЬItтАЩs tough talking with an under-evolved grammar that
doesnтАЩt have a clear distinction between third-person silicon and third-person
carbon. Sorry.тАЭ

тАЬIan,тАЭ he said. тАЬI hired you to find meтАФthe non-uploaded version of me, the
leftover me, the me that somehow didnтАЩt end up dying the way it was supposed to.
And you havenтАЩt gotten anywhere. ThatтАЩs not making me happy.тАЭ

The uploaded always have issues. They wonтАЩt admit that, but they do. The
body was, if nothing else, a very hard-to-counterfeit seal of authenticity. Lacking a
watermark with quite as much heft, uploads always suffered from a bit of imposter
syndrome, though they would never have admitted it. The problemтАЩs way worse if
thereтАЩs a body running around with a version of the original mind in it.
 Though this time the problem was more complicated. My client thought the
upload had been interrupted before the positions of the last little vesicles and the
voltages of every action potential had been coded and transferred. He felt out of
focus, not quite all there. He needed access to his old brain.

Of course, complete access would destroy that old brain. That was just part
of the way these things worked. He was the legal owner of the body, and was
responsible for тАЬfuneral expenses, or other expenses incidental to disposal of
remains.тАЭ My fee was that incidental expense. Legally, I would be completing an
upload still in progress, and then taking care of what was left over.

тАЬIf IтАЩm going to get anywhere,тАЭ I said, тАЬI need you to answer my question.тАЭ

A long pause. тАЬNo, Ian. I couldnтАЩt have gotten away from you.тАЭ

тАЬSo you had help.тАЭ

тАЬLooks that way.тАЭ

тАЬBut you told meтАФwhat?тАФthat you died in a car crash. Out on the highway
somewhere.тАЭ

тАЬA road heading for I-80, west of Grand Island. I spun out on some wet
pavement.тАЭ