"Nancy Kress - The Rules" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

shuddered.

тАЬItтАЩs just a simulation!тАЭ Jim said.

тАЬEven so,тАЭ Karen said, and both her husband and Brenda DiSarto
nodded.

****

Tartell, his color almost normal, waved off Juanita and the doctor, who
both left reluctantly. Tartell pressed a button on his powerchair and a
wallscreen lit up. Carmody studied the display, hiding his shock.

HeтАЩd underestimated the situation. Tartell knew about StarCorpsтАЩ
water irrigation companies and salvage operations, but Carmody had
expected that. Carmody had even expected his old adversary to know
about the land buys through the Panamanian dummy corporation, all that
cheap coastal land under a foot of water. The owners couldnтАЩt afford to
build dikes or drainage pumps ... but StarCorps could. However, Carmody
hadnтАЩt expected Tartell to know about the food-supply buy-ups in ten
famished countries, buy-ups that had so artificially inflated the price of food.
Or the hostile take-overs of six biotech companies on the verge of
genetically engineered тАЬrescue cropsтАЭ that now would not see market. And
certainly not to know about the political alliances to block organic climate
modulators in the British Isles, which was now satisfactorily advancing into a
state inhospitable for sheep. StarCorps had big plans for an economically
destabilized England.
 There were so many ways to make a profit when a civilization
crashed.

Carmody got out, тАЬAll right, Arthur. I have very broad authorization to
ensure silence. How much do you want?тАЭ

тАЬYou better wait until you see something else,тАЭ Tartell said and
pressed another button on his chair. The screen flashed into moving life.

****

In her youth Sister H├йl├йne-Marie had been a good walker. Now she
covered briskly the miles to the edge of the bright-white area to the west. It
was a risk, of course, but she had a half canteen of water at her waist and
her brand-new radio phone in her pocket.

As she neared the bright-white, it shone even more. Sister
H├йl├йne-MarieтАЩs sunglasses were inadequate, but they were all she had.
Shielding her eyes with her arm, she strode on. She wasnтАЩt sure what she
expected to find, but certainly not what she did.

The bright-white consisted of millions of tiny particles. Carefully Sister
H├йl├йne-Marie got to her knees and scooped up a handful. Brittle, brilliantly