"James Patrick Kelly - Burn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

Spur stretched his head against the pillow, trying to loosen the stiffness in his neck.

"I'm over here, son. This way."

He turned and stared into a glowing blue eye, which strobed briefly.

"Pupil dilatation normal," the docbot muttered, probably not to Spur. It paused for a moment and then
spoke again. "So about that name?"

"Spur."

The docbot stroked Spur's palm with its med finger, collecting some of his sweat. It stuck the sample into
its mouth. "That may be what your friends call you," it said, "but what I'm asking is the name on your id."

The words chased each other across the ceiling for a moment before they sank in. Spur wouldn't have
had such a problem understanding if the docbot were a person, with lips and a real mouth instead of the
oblong intake. The doctor controlling this bot was somewhere else. Dr. Niss was an upsider whom Spur
had never actually met. "Prosper Gregory Leung," he said.

"A fine Walden name," said the docbot, and then muttered, "Self id 27.4 seconds from initial request."

"Is that good?"

It hummed to itself, ignoring his question. "The electrolytes in your sweat have settled down nicely," it said
at last. "So tell me about the sim."

"I was in the burn and the fire was after me. All around, Dr. Niss. There was a pukpuk, one of the
torches, he grabbed me. I couldn't get away."

"You remembered my name, son." The docbot's top plate glowed with an approving amber light. "So did
you die?"

Spur shook his head. "But I was on fire."

"Experience fear vectors unrelated to the burn? Monsters, for instance? Your mom? Dad?"

"No."

"Lost loves? Dead friends? Childhood pets?"

"No." He had a fleeting image of the twisted grimace on Vic's face at that last moment, but how could he
tell this upsider that his wife's brother had been a traitor to the Transcendent State? "Nothing." Spur was
getting used to lying to Dr. Niss, although he worried what it was doing to his soul.

"Check and double check. It's almost as if I knew what I was doing, eh?" The docbot began releasing
the straps that held Spur down. "I'd say your soul is on the mend, Citizen Leung. You'll have some
psychic scarring, but if you steer clear of complex moral dilemmas and women, you should be fine." It
paused, then snapped its fingers. "Just for the record, son, that was a joke."

"Yes, sir." Spur forced a smile. "Sorry, sir." Was getting the jokes part of the cure? The way this upsider