"Stephen Kenson - Technobabel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kenson Stephen)

Hague's visitor to float gently into the room before expertly catching one of
the wall handles and hooking her harness to the nearby ring to tether herself.
Although the room was small, Hague could normally use all of the space to move
and work in, including the walls and the ceiling, rather than being limited to
just the floor. But when he had visitors, he preferred to speak to them face
to face rather than having people dangling from the ceiling while talking. It
made him sick to his stomach. The addition of his guest made the room seem
smaller and more cramped, although Hague was not sure if it was her presence
or the news she carried.
"Hello, David," Justice Lynn Osborne said with a smile. "How are you enjoying
your visit?" Like Hague, Osborne was a member of the Corporate Court in the
employ of Fuchi Industrial Electronics. Fuchi was one of the few megacorps
with two Justices on the Corporate Court. It had been a considerable coup for
the computer-industry giant

over the past few years and one that should serve them well as they now
brought a serious matter before the Court. So serious that Fuchi had invoked
the right to have all the justices present in the flesh instead of merely by
virtual reality.
"Lynn, you know how much I despise freefall. It's a good thing the treatments
they're giving out for space-sickness are reasonably effective, or you could
never have dragged me up here. Can we just get on with this?"
Osborne smiled and nodded. Unlike Hague, Osborne spent considerably more time
on board the Zurich-Orbital handling her duties as a justice. Hague preferred
to remain on Earth and conduct Court business through the virtual-reality
interface of the Matrix via a sophisticated satellite uplink system, but not
this time. No matter what he said, he and every other justice would be
physically present. When the Court was in session, Z-O would be isolated from
the worldwide computer network and inviolate to spying or outside interference
of any kind. Osborne's regular presence on board the station had also
acclimated her internal clock to the orbital's routines. Where Hague was tired
and irritable, she was fresh and well-rested, which only grated further on his
strained nerves.
Taking a computer pad from a clip on her belt, Osborne touched the flat-screen
and brought up an organizational display of the Corporate Court. Eight of the
thirteen icons representing the Justices were colored in green while the
remaining five were colored in red.
"We've got our chance," she said triumphantly. "I've just come from talking
with Doi and Msaki, and they're willing to lend their support. That's enough
of a majority for the initial hearing to go forward. It's only a formality for
the Court to convene now."
Hague wasn't overly surprised. The two justices working for Mitsuhama Computer
Technologies might have their differences with Fuchi, but they also knew what
was at stake in this issue and what could happen if two of the major
computer-tech corps didn't work together on this one.
He nodded and gave a low "hmmm" of approval. "What about Napoli? How do you
plan to handle him?" he asked,

and Osborne gave a small pout that made her look almost girlish despite her
fifty-plus years.