"Kevin O' Donnel - Oracle" - читать интересную книгу автора (O'Donnell Jr Kevin)

behind her desk, elbows planted, bending forward. Silken blonde hair
obscuring her profile, she concentrated on the hook-nosed face in her pholo
sphere. He could not disturb her.

With a sigh, he set down the can, and wiped his hands on his blue shorts.
This is the sixth time today someone's come round. Neighborliness is nice,
but are we the only ones with work to do? Wish we could put up a
"do-not-disturb" sign without insulting the whole complex...

A five-meter-long planter divided the parquet-floored ves-tibule from the
dining area. As he approached, its six diffen-bachia reproved him with
bowed stalks and wilting leaves. "Video."

The screen above the doorframe flickered, then said, "Bro-ken."

"Damn. Oh, well ... open up."

Locks clicked. The slab of metal swayed ajar.

An old black man with a silver goatee stepped inside. "Good morning, Ale,
have you a minute?" He was panting slightly in the CO2-heavy air.

"To tell the truth, Mr. B'jay AwuтАФ"

B'jay Awu thrust a clipboard at him. "I shan't leave till I've got your
signature."

He took it warily. Once before he had signed something B'jay Awu had
handed him; for months thereafter, advertising pitches from a dozen
oddball outfits had clogged his ap-comp's memory. He suspected the old
man of selling his co-signers' names. "What is this, exactly?"

"A petition. More precisely, a petition to the Consumers and Citizens United
Party Directorate of Public Safety, demanding either that it force the owner
of this ramshackle build-ing to upgrade the wiring, or that it prohibit
hundred-kilogram mass-transceivers on the premises. Implicit in the
petition is the threat that Haven Manor will elect another party to ensure
our safety if the CCU continues to ignore our justifiable com-plaints."

"WellтАФ" He tried to pick his words with care, so as not to hurt the other's
feelings. B'jay Awu thought highly of his own schemes, even if few agreed
with him. "Ah, the CCU/ DeepSafe's reputation for responsiveness isn't
veryтАФ"

"It is necessary, as you know full well. The wiring is simply too weak to
support a hundred-key massie. Are you aware that Mr. Efwy Soo went
thirty-two hours without electricity last week? Yesterday, a momentary
glitch in elevator one fractured Mr. Eugee Teton's leg in three places. The
cinema in the shopping mall downstairs is air-conditioned to seven degrees
Celsius. TheтАФ"