"Barry B. Longyear - The Hangingstone Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

Chinese restaurant for the duck.тАЭ

тАЬThat duck was a bio and my partner.тАЭ

тАЬIt was a duck suit, however.тАЭ

тАЬHe was named Guy Shad, he was carrying a human imprint, and he
was a detective sergeant in Artificial Beings Crimes.тАЭ

тАЬNo offense, Inspector. Just a little joke. Lighten the mood a bit? Just
an amdroid suit, right? Not the end of the world, is it? MustтАЩve looked like
that though when it happened, eh? Ah-hah-hah-hah.тАЭ

If my head hadnтАЩt been aching so terribly, I wouldтАЩve throttled the
wanker with his own stethoscope.

тАЬOne last item,тАЭ he said. тАЬYour hearing implant: Do you prefer normal
or wireless?тАЭ

тАЬWhat?тАЭ I was still mentally occupied, contemplating murder while I
could still reasonably pull off a diminished capacity plea.

тАЬYour bio isnтАЩt equipped with wireless, but I wanted to let you know the
option is available. The current hearing implants for your model all come
with the latest wireless interface. If you prefer we can attempt to locate a
pair of the old implantsтАФwirelessless, eh?тАЭ He preened at his lame
wordplay, making me reconsider the prohibition against ABCD detectives in
Britain carrying guns.

All the forensic mechs come with wireless, which is how I knew I
preferred normal. I abhorred even the idea of someone unbidden ringing
me inside my own head. Shad, whose bio came with the latest of everything
technical, always teased me about refusing to change. тАЬIn Artificial Beings
Crimes,тАЭ he once said, тАЬwe have John Dillinger, a gorilla, a bloodhound,
a duck, and a dinosaur.тАЭ

I was the dinosaur. IтАЩm not certain why, but I chose the wireless
implants. I could always disable the wireless function if my sanity was
threatened.

A few marks on a chart, another deeply offensive attempt at
apologizing for any of his possibly insensitive remarks concerning my
тАЬdead bird,тАЭ then trusses-for-less mercifully departed. Truscott was
replaced by my boss, Detective Superintendent Marvin Matheson. Entering
the room with him was a young constabulary detective who said he was
from Okehampton Station. He introduced himself as D. C. Frank Storel.

As my dead-cop-replacement meat suit model resembled Nineteen
forties actor Basil Rathbone, MathesonтАЩs even earlier replacement bio
looked like old-time American gangster John Dillinger, which was much