"Nancy Kress - Steamship Soldier on the Information Front" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

"Dad? Charlie. Did you know our neighbors in Aspen have been arrested?"
"Charlie, I'm pretty busy right now, I'm with a -- "
"They've been arrested for terrorism. There are cops all over the place."
Terrorism. Cops. Bombs, guns. What neighbors? Allan couldn't remember meeting anyone in
Aspen.
"Where's Mrs. Canning? Let me talk to her. Are you all right?"
"Of course I'm all right," Charlie said scornfully. "Mrs. Canning took Suzette to the ice rink."
"Then here's what I want you to do. Just a minute ... " Belatedly, Charlie remembered
Skaka, who was trying to look as if she hadn't overheard. "Excuse me, Skaka, it's my son ... "
"Of course," Skaka said, turning to gaze away, into the robot enclosure. The backs of her
shoulders, just a little too rigid, said Why haven't you got your personal life well enough
arranged so it doesn't interfere with what may well be the most important investment
opportunity of the decade?
"Charlie, first call your mother and tell her what you just told me. Also Mrs. Canning. Then
call a car and driver, and pack your things and Suzette's and Mrs. Canning's. Have the driver
take you to the Denver apartment. I'll have Jon or Patti okay the car bill and cancel the Aspen
house."
"But, Dad -- "
"Charlie, just do it. I don't want you in any danger!"
"Oh, okay." Charlie sounded disgusted. Twelve-year-old bravado.
Quickly, Allan called Jon. Skaka's shoulders were still stiff. Allan resented having lost the
advantage. As in-control as he could manage, he said to Skaka, "My son. There's been
terrorist activity in what should have been a safe neighborhood. I had to get him out."
Her eyes widened. "Of course. What kind of terrorist activity?"
It occurred to Allan that he hadn't asked. He didn't know the charges, the situation, the
neighbors, themselves. They were only local; he spent so much time global.
"The under-control kind," he said, hoping she wouldn't pick up on the evasion. "And we can
be out of there in half an hour. Charlie's a good packer."
Skaka smiled. "So is my daughter. We, too, have no fixed residence. I don't know how
scientists managed before disposable leases."
"Neither do I." Allan warmed to her again; she was making his lapse into civilian more
forgivable. "What plan do you use?"
"Live America. Their Code Nine Plan: three-bedroom leases, no more than ten minutes from
an airport, warm blue decor, level three luxury. They even include our choice of pet at each
house. It suits my husband, daughter, and nanny just fine."
"We're a Code Eleven. Four bedrooms. We have two kids."
Allan and Skaka smiled at each other, then looked away. That was the problem with talking
about personal life: it interfered with the strategy. Reconnaissance scouts had to stay
detached, keep moving, remain tense and alert. The information frontier was an unpredictable
place.
Skaka said briskly, "My staff will be watching very closely whatever the bots incorporate
next into their learning, if anything. Should another breakthrough occur, they'll notify me and
I'll notify you."
"Good," Allan said. "Meantime, let's talk about the breakthrough we already have. I've got
some questions."
"Shoot," Skaka said, and her shoulders visibly loosened.
 Allan spent the night on a sleeper plane to Singapore. Mrs. Canning settled the kids in the
Denver apartment, although Suzette complained the ice-rink there wasn't as good as at
Aspen. She wanted to lease in Chicago, which "Coach Palmer said has a enth-mega rink!" Allan
said he'd think about it. Cathy called to postpone their romantic rendezvous until Sunday; her