"Ken Macleod - Fall Revolution 3 - The Cassini Division" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacLeod Ken)

to suspect, not a recreation here but a necessity.
I stopped in front of a stall on which dried leaves of tobacco and hemp were laid out in labelled
bundles, neatly sorted into opentopped boxes. The woman behind the stall was prettily dressed in
an embroidered cotton blouse and a printed cotton long skirt, gathered at the waist with a
drawstring. It was hard to work out her age like many of the adult non-cos, she seemed to combine
the detached watchfulness of age with the innocent selfishness of youth, and, on top of that, her
cosmetics made a baffling mask: her cheeks reddened, the rest of her face whitened, eyes darkened
and lips flushed, as if sheтАЩd been awake all night and was now in a state of sexual arousal. But she
had an attractive smile.
тАЬSuze,тАЭ I said, nudging, тАЬcould we ?тАЭ
Suze grinned and nodded, then, when I reached into the pocket of my rucksack, frowned and
shook her head.
тАЬIтАЩll do it,тАЭ she murmured.
She looked up at the woman behind the table, and fingered a leaf labelled тАЬKent GanjaтАЭ.
тАЬHow much you got on this?тАЭ
тАЬBest stuff, lady,тАЭ the woman said. тАЬTwo grams gold, five grams silver an ounce.тАЭ
(ThatтАЩs what I later worked out she said. At the time her strange singsong went into my ears as:
тАЬBesstuff laidy, two gramzgold five gramzsilveranahnce.тАЭ) Suze recoiled. тАЬFackinell!тАЭ she said.
тАЬThassexpensiv init?тАЭ (I still havenтАЩt figured that one; IтАЩll leave it as it sounded.) тАЬNah,тАЭ said the
woman. тАЬFrom cross the riveh, thatiz. TransportтАЩs fackin criminal. You wonтАЩt get cheaper
anywhere.тАЭ
She waved around at the rest of the market. тАЬTry тАЬt anтАЭ see f yтАЭselves. youтАЩll be back.тАЭ
 тАЬNot likely,тАЭ said Suze, taking me by the elbow and firmly steering me away. WeтАЩd gone only a
few steps when the woman called out: тАЬAwright, IтАЩll give you a special, just to try it aht. Frow in
paypas, too.тАЭ
Back we went and the bargain, after a few more verbal exchanges, was concluded. To my
surprise both the woman and Suze were smiling at each other, both apparently satisfied with an
outcome which they had each insisted would, if repeated too often, reduce one or the other to
complete wretchedness.
We sat down at a table a few yards away and ordered coffee and bread rolls stuffed with cooked
meat which had almost certainly not been grown from blue-greens. IтАЩm not sentimental about
beasts, but I tried not to think about it too much marine molluscs are one thing, vertebrates are
something else. When weтАЩd finished eating Suze built a small joint of tobacco and hemp, lit it and
passed it to me after a few appreciative puffs. тАЬGood stuff,тАЭ she said.
I tested and confirmed this. тАЬYes,тАЭ I said. тАЬJust like the woman said it was. But wonтАЩt she ...
dislike you for the way you made her accept such a small amount of silver for it?тАЭ
Suze guffawed. тАЬShe got a very good price an acceptable Mount of silver for it. SheтАЩs happy
with the silver, and weтАЩre happy with the hemp. Oh, thanks.тАЭ
I looked at her as she drew on it again. тАЬSo you were both lying?тАЭ
тАЬNo, of course not,тАЭ Suze chuckled. тАЬItтАЩs a convention. Like bluffing in a strategy game.тАЭ
тАЬBut why did you bother to go through it? Why didnтАЩt you just give her what she asked in the
first place? I mean ...тАЭ I shrugged, having enough nous to understand that saying out loud how
much metal we had on us might not be a good idea.
тАЬAh,тАЭ said Suze. тАЬThatтАЩs an interesting point. In theory, OK, all the Union tourists here could
bring as much, uh, negotiables as they could carry, and buy anything they wanted. All that would
happen is that the amount the locals expected for their goods would go up, and everybody would be
worse off all round. ThatтАЩs one of the things that get explained to first-timers. It used to be called
inflation when there were states.тАЭ She frowned. тАЬSort of, except they used pretend money -тАЬ
I cut her off hastily, not wanting to get my head around yet another complication (pretend
money? Say what?).