"Nancy Kress - Beggars 2 - Beggars and Choosers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

"Yes. I'm coming."
"Huge crowd tonight, sir. All pumped up."
"Yes. Thank you." The tech's head disappeared.
"Drew," Leisha said, her voice splintering. "She's as much a
daughter to me as you were a son . . . what is Miranda planning
out on that island?"
"I don't know," Drew said, and it was both a lie and not a lie,
in ways that Leisha could never understand. "Leisha, I have to be
on stage in nine minutes."
"Yes," Leisha said wearily. "I know. You're the Lucid
Dreamer."
Drew stared again at her holo-image: the lovely curve of cheek,
the unaging Sleepless skin, the suspicion of water in the green
eyes. She had been the most important person in his world, and
in the larger public world. And now, although she didn't know it
yet, she was obsolete.
"Yes," he said. "That's right. I'm the Lucid Dreamer."
The holostage blanked, and he went back to his makeup for
the stage.
 JULY 2 1 1 4
Concern for man himself and his fate
must always form the chief interest of all
technical endeavors, concern for the great
unsolved problems of the organization of
labor and the distribution of goodsтАФin
order that the creations of our mind shall be
a blessing and not a curse to mankind.
тАФAlbert Einstein, address to California
Institute of Technology, 1931
 One
DIANA COVINGTON: SAN FRANCISCO




F or some of us, of course, nothing would be enough. That
sentence can be taken two ways, can't it? But I don't mean
that having nothing would ever be satisfactory to us. It isn't
even satisfactory to Livers, no matter what pathetic claims they
lay to an "aristo life of leisure." Yes. Right. There isn't a
single one of us that doesn't know better. We donkeys could always
recognize seething dissatisfaction. We saw it daily in the mirror.
My IQ wasn't boosted as high as Paul's.
My parents couldn't afford all the genemods Aaron got.
My company hasn't made it as big as Karen's.
My skin isn't as small-pored as Gina's.
My constituency is more demanding than Luke's. Do the blood-
sucking voters think I'm made of money?
My dog is less cutting-edge genemod than Stephanie's dog.
It was, in fact, Stephanie's dog that made me decide to change