"Rudy Rucker - Wetware" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rucker Rudy)

showed him the vizzyprint sheet, and he opened up the second
door.
Stahn found himself (found himself?) in a long laboratory, with a
desk and chairs at one end. The air was thick with strange smells:
benzenes, esters, the rich weavings of long-chain molecules, and
under it all the stench of a badly-kept menagerie. His host was
seated on a sort of high stool by that thick glass window. It took
Stahn a second to absorb the fact that about half the guyтАЩs body
wasтАж where?
YukawaтАЩs soft thin head and arms rose up out of a plastic tub
mounted on four long legs. The rest of him was a yellow-pink
puddle in the tub. Stahn gagged and took a step back.
тАЬDonтАЩt be alarmed, Mr. Mooney. I was a little upset, so I took
some merge. ItтАЩs just now wearing off.тАЭ
MergeтАж heтАЩd heard of it. Very synthetic, very illegal. I donтАЩt do
drugs, man, IтАЩm high on life. People took merge to sort of melt their
bodies for a while. Stuzzadelic and very tempting. If Stahn hadnтАЩt
been so desperate for work he might have left right then. Instead
he came on nonchalant.
 тАЬWhat kind of lab is this, Mr. Yukawa?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩm a molecular biologist.тАЭ Yukawa put his hands on the
tubтАЩs sides and pushed up. Slowly his belly solidified, his hips and
his legs. He stepped over to the desk and began pulling his clothes
back on. Over the vizzy, Stahn had taken him for Japanese, but he
was too tall and pale for that. тАЬOf course the Gimmie would view
this as an illegal drug laboratory. Which is why I donтАЩt dare call
them in. The problem is that something has happened to my
assistant, a young lady named Della Taze. You advertise yourself as
a Searcher, soтАжтАЭ
тАЬIтАЩll take the case, donтАЩt worry. I already checked you on my
data-base, by the way. A blank. ThatтАЩs kind of unusual, Mr.
Yukawa.тАЭ He was fully dressed now, gray pants and a white coat,
quite the scientist. Stahn could hardly believe heтАЩd just seen him
puddled in that tub. How good did it feel?
тАЬI used to be a man named Gibson. I invented
gene-invasion?тАЭ
тАЬYou were that mad scientist whoтАж uhтАж turned himself
Japanese?тАЭ
тАЬNot so mad.тАЭ A smile flickered across YukawaтАЩs sagging
face. тАЬI had cancer. I found a way to replace some of my genes
with those of a ninety-eight-year-old Japanese man. The cancer
went into remission, and as my cells replaced themselves, I took on
more and more of the Japanese manтАЩs somatotype. A body geared
for long life. There was talk of a Nobel Prize, butтАжтАЭ
тАЬThe California dog-people. The Anti-Chimera Act of 2027. I
remember. You were exiled here. Well, so was I. And now IтАЩm a
straight rent-a-pig and youтАЩre a dope wizard. Your girlтАЩs gone, and
youтАЩre scared to call the Gimmie.тАЭ Most Einstein law enforcement
was done on a freelance basis. No lunie ever called in the official
lawтАФthe GimmieтАФon purpose. At this point the Gimmie was a