"David Marusek - The Wedding Album" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marusek David)

and there was a slight reddening around her eyes, like a raccoon mask. These were harmless
side-effects of the medication, or so Dr. Roth had assured him. Anne scratched ceaselessly at her
arms, legs, and crotch, and, even from a distance, smelled of stale piss. Ben knew better than to
mention her nakedness to her, for that would only exacerbate things and prolong the display.
"So," he repeated, "what are we watching?"

The girl sim said, "Housecleaning." She appeared at once both triumphant and terrified, as any
graduate might, and Ben would have traded the real Anne for her in a heartbeat.

"Yah," said Anne, "too much shit in here."

"Really?" said Ben. "I hadnтАЩt noticed."

Anne poured a tray of chips on the floor between her thighs. "Of course you wouldnтАЩt," she said,
picking one at random and reading its label, "Theta Banquet тАЩ37. WhatтАЩs this? I never belonged
to the Theta Society."

"DonтАЩt you remember?" said the young Anne. "That was CathyтАЩs induction banquet. She invited
me, but I had an exam, so she gave me that chip as a souvenir."

Anne fed the chip into the player and said, "Play." The media room was instantly overlaid with the
banquet hall of the Four Seasons in Philadelphia. Ben tried to look around the room, but the
tables of girls and women stayed stubbornly peripheral. The focal point was a table draped in
green cloth and lit by two candelabra. Behind it sat a young Cathy in formal evening dress,
accompanied by three static placeholders, table companions who had apparently declined to
be cast in her souvenir snapshot.

The Cathy sim looked frantically about, then held her hands in front of her and stared at them as
though sheтАЩd never seen them before. But after a moment she noticed the young Anne sim
standing on the dais. "Well, well, well," she said. "Looks like congratulations are in order."

"Indeed," said the young Anne, beaming and holding out her diploma.

"So tell me, did I graduate too?" said Cathy as her glance slid over to Ben. Then she saw Anne
squatting on the floor, her sex on display.

"Enough of this," said Anne, rubbing her chest.

"Wait," said the young Anne. "Maybe Cathy wants her chip back. ItтАЩs her sim, after all."

"I disagree. She gave it to me, so itтАЩs mine. And IтАЩll dispose of it as I see fit." To the room she said,
"Unlock this file and delete." The young Cathy, her table, and the banquet hall dissolved into noise
and nothingness, and the media room was itself again.

"Or this one," Anne said, picking up a chip that read Junior Prom Night. The young Anne opened
her mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Anne fed this chip, along with all the rest of them,
into the player. A long directory of file names appeared on the wall. "Unlock Junior Prom Night."
The fileтАЩs name turned from red to green, and the young Anne appealed to Ben with a look.

"Anne," he said, "donтАЩt you think we should at least look at it first?"