"Justina Robson - Quantum Gravity 01 - Keeping it Real" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robson Justina)

and Reconnaissance Division, or Incon. The only difficulty she had was in concealing those parts of her
body which were entirely metal prosthetics, but she'd found a silk trouser suit and smart boots to do that
for her. The synthetic skin on her hands and arms was thankfully wearing well enough to pass for the real
thing. As she took a sidelong glance at herself in the mirror at Ozo Records' Reception she saw a tall,
powerful young woman in elegant black flares. Her silver eyes - the irises and pupils perfect mirrors
-could easily be put down to decorative contact lenses beneath the soft
swing of her ruby and scarlet hair. There was nothing to show that she was barely half a human being any
longer. She enjoyed the feeling, until the receptionist popped her bubblegum and said, 'Jelly'U see you
now.'
Lila walked into the office. It hadn't changed since the Rolling Stone shoot, except that there were two
more platinum discs hanging over his desk, both printed with The No Shows logo: a heart inside a red
circle with a diagonal slash across it. She stood in front of the desk and looked at Jelly as he looked at
her. He was a thin, leathery whipcord of a man, brimming with nervous energy, and could barely sit still a
moment.
'Doublesafe said you were the best,' he said and shrugged, not very impressed. 'I got to tell you, I
don't know. We're getting some trouble. Letters. Threats. We have a tour to do. You look like kinda
lightweight, like a kid could push you away in a crowd, or maybe even a big wind. What you got to say?'
He took off his dark glasses and folded his hands under his chin. He had a gold ring on every finger.
Lila shrugged back, also not impressed. 'If we get into a crowd then I didn't do my job. We won't be
in any crowds.' She was recording the entire conversation, sending it to her Incon boss on a secure,
wireless feed the entire time, using the camera system inside her eyes.
'Well, you don't look too bad,' he said. 'And I know shit about it all, only that I need Zal to survive the
tour and make some more tracks. You cool with elves?'
'I'm cool,' Lila said. The lie rolled easily off her tongue. She felt her heart rate go up and she would
have begun sweating, but her auto-systems kicked in and masked all of her nerves with effective machine
frost. Drugs and hormones from adapted glands in her neck and brain smoothed her until it was true. She
was cool.
'Good. You're hired. You can start now. Go pick him up and take him down to the studios. He . . .'
T have all the details,' LiLa said in her most professional tone, tapping the back of her hand where an
ordinary person kept their Organiser. 'Your office sent me everything already.'
'Oh yeah?' For the first time Jelly seemed fazed. Then he grinned, T like having the mostest people
working for me.' Then, 'Why you still here?'
Lila walked out. On her way to the car park she connected briefly with her boss, Cara Delaware, to
tell her that the job was successful and
to hear Cara say, 'Great. You okay? Your reflexes showed some peak stress levels there. We can pull
you if it gets too much.'
'No,' Lila said quickly. She'd reached her bike. Its sleek, powerful lines and instant reaction to her
touch on the grips had already calmed her more completely than her Al-self's drug response to her
nervous-ness. The doses themselves had been so low that their effect was already gone and here, where
inappropriate reactions didn't matter, the AI didn't bother masking her true responses. The engine purred
like a giant cat, making the concrete vibrate under her feet. 'I'm fine.'
"Then you're activated,' Cara said. 'Partial cover. Your support team are online when you need them.
You're operating out of central offices now. Everything goes through the team. Nobody else. Not even
me.'
'Thanks. Take care of everyone for me.' Lila thought of her dog, Okie, whom she'd had to leave at
home to be looked after by her colleagues until she returned. She thought of her family, although they'd
been left behind years ago when she stopped being plain diplomatic attache Lila Amanda Black and
became something quite different. There was no telling when she might be back from this job, but she
had agreed to one thing for certain when she agreed to live as a cyborg of the AI division instead of die
of her wounds and now, no matter when the cover ended, she was never going home again.