"Norman Spinrad - Mouse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spinrad Norman)

that of Mickey, "is a satellite television antenna!"
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If somewhere the spirit of Chairman Mao might be scowling down
unhappily on this spectacle, surely that of Deng Shao Ping would
approve, Xian Bai told himself, and at any rate Mao the Panda smiled
down benignly on his enterprise from atop the steepled entrance as he
cut the ribbon to open his fifth Panda Pagoda.
After all, as Lenin himself had pointed out, you can't make a
revolution without breaking eggs, though in this case the standard
recipes supplied in MAO THE PANDA'S LITTLE RED BOOK were admirably
parsimonious with this relatively expensive ingredient.
Xian Bai, partly as punishment, and partly because there was no
one more experienced to dispatch, had been sent back to Anaheim to
confront the minions of the Mouse. This time, however, it was a cut-
rate charter flight and a grim motel in Santa Ana, and when he finally
found himself dealing with the legal department, with what the natives
called a "Suit," a hard-eyed fellow replete with tie and wire-rim
glasses.
"No international laws, treaties, or conventions were violated,"
Xian Bai was told firmly. "The balloon antennas were released in
international airspace."
"And just happened to drift en mass over China?"
The Suit shrugged. "An act of God," he said. "You could try
suing the Pope, I suppose--I could give you my brother-in-law's
card--but you'll get nowhere with us."
"Even though the only channel the balloon antennas will receive
is the Disney Channel? Which just happens to have begun broadcasting
in Mandarin and Cantonese?"
 "The satellite is in geosynchronous orbit which is international
territory. We have a legal right to broadcast whatever we like in
whatever languages we choose."
"But it's illegal for Chinese citizens to own satellite dishes.
It's illegal for Chinese citizens to watch foreign broadcasts!"
The Suit displayed a porcelain crocodile grin that was a perfect
example of the Beverly Hills dentist's art. "That's your problem," he
said. "Our problem is your refusal to allow us to release THE LONG
MARCH in China and rake in the profits from the merchandising tie-ins
and Panda Pagodas."
The grin vanished, but the crocodile remained.
"And unless our problem evaporates by the film's international
release date," said the Suit, "your problem is going to get a lot
worse."
"Worse...?" stammered Xian Bai.
How could it get worse? There was no way to confiscate the
millions of balloon antennas, at the approach of the police, they were
just deflated and hidden away, to be redeployed the moment it was
safe. Million upon millions of Chinese were watching broadcasts from
the Disneyworlds, cartoons and feature-length animated films, endless
trailers for THE LONG MARCH, endless commercials for the tie-in
merchandising, endless promotions for the Panda Pagodas. The demand