"Bruce Sterling - Islands In The Net" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sterling Bruce)

with glee.
Laura looked up at the Lodge's tower roof. The flags of
Texas and Rizome Industries Group slid up the tower's flag-
pole. Old Mr. Rodriguez waved at her briefly, then disappeared behind the satellite dish.. The
old man was doing the
honors as usual, starting another day.
Laura limped up the wooden stairs to the walkway. She
pushed through the heavy doors of the front lobby. Inside, the
Lodge's massive walls still held the coolness of night. And
the cheerful reek of Tex-Mex cooking-peppers, cornmeal,
and cheese.
Mrs. Rodriguez was not at the front desk yet she was a
late riser, not as spry as her husband. Laura walked through
the empty dining room and up the tower stairs.
The tower's trapdoor slid open at her approach. She emerged
through the tower's lower floor, into a round conference room
lined with modem office equipment and padded swivel chairs.
Behind her, the trapdoor accordioned shut.
David, her husband, was stretched out on a wicker couch,
with the baby on his chest. They were both fast asleep. One
of David's hands spread cozily across little Loretta's pajama'd back.
Morning light poured through the tower's thick, round
windows, slanting high across the room. It lent a strange
Renaissance glow to their faces. David's head was propped
against a pillow, and his profile, always striking, looked like
a Medici coin. The baby's relaxed and peaceful face, her skin
like damask, was hauntingly fresh and new. As if she'd
popped into the world out of cellophane.
David had kicked a woolen comforter into a wad at the foot
of the couch. Laura spread it carefully over his legs and the
.baby's back.
She pulled up a chair and sat by them, stretching out her
legs. A wash of pleasant fatigue came over her. She savored
it a while, then gave David's bare shoulder a nudge.
"Morning."
He stirred. He sat up, cradling Loretta, who slept on in
babylike omnipotence. "Now she sleeps," he said. "But not
at three A.M. The midnight of the human soul."
"I'll get up next time," Laura said. "Really."
"Hell, we ought to put her in the room with your mother."
David brushed long black hair from his eyes, then yawned
into his knuckles. "I dreamed I saw my Optimal Persona last night."
"Oh?" Laura said, surprised. "What was it like?"
"I dunno. About what I expected, from the stuff I read
about it. Soaring and foggy and cosmic. I was standing on the
beach. Naked, I think. The sun was coming up. It was hyp-
notic. I felt this huge sense of total elation. Like I'd discov-
ered some pure element of soul."
Laura frowned. "You don't really believe in that crap."
He shrugged. "No. Seeing your O.P. it's a fad. Like folks