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

used to see UFO's, you know? Some weirdo in Oregon says
he had an encounter with his personal archetype. Pretty soon,
everybody and his brother's having visions. Mass hysteria,
collective unconscious or some such. Stupid. But modern at
least. It's very new-millennium." He seemed obscurely pleased.
"It's mystic bullshit," Laura told him. "If it was really
your Optimal Self, you should have been building something,
right? Not beachcombing for Nirvana."
David looked sheepish. "It was just a dream. Remember
that documentary last Friday? The guy who saw his O.P.
walking down the street, wearing his clothes, using his charge
card? I got a long way to go just yet. ",He looked down at her
ankle and started. "What'd you do to your leg?"
She looked at it. "I tripped over a piece of hurricane junk.
Buried in the sand. A VCR, actually." Loretta woke up, her
tiny face stretching in a mighty toothless yawn.
"Really? Must have been there since the big one of '02.
Twenty years! Christ, you could get tetanus." He handed her
the baby and fetched a first-aid kit from the bathroom. On the
way back he touched a console button. One of the flat display
screens on the wall flared into life.
David sat on the floor with limber grace and put Laura's
foot in his lap. He unlaced her shoe and glanced at its
readout. "That's pretty rotten time. You must have been
limping, babe."
He peeled off her sock. Laura held the wriggling baby to
her shoulder and stared at the screen, distracting herself as
David dabbed at her raw skin.
The screen was running David's Worldrun game-a global
simulation. Worldrun had been invented as a forecasting tool
for development agencies, but a glamorized version had found
its way onto the street. David, who was prone to sudden
enthusiasms, had been playing it for days.
Long strips of the Earth's surface peeled by in a simulated
satellite view. Cities glowed green with health or red with
social disruption. Cryptic readouts raced across the bottom of
the screen. Africa was a mess. "It's always Africa, isn't it?"
she said.
"Yeah." He resealed a tube of antiseptic gel. "Looks like
a rope burn. It didn't bleed much. It'll scab.
"I'll be okay." She stood up, lifting Loretta, and disguis-
ing the pain for his sake. The rawness faded as the gel soaked
in. She smiled. "I need a shower."
David's watchphone beeped. It was Laura's mother,
calling from her guest room in the Lodge, downstairs.
"Ohayo, y'all! How about helping Granny surround some breakfast?"
David was amused. "I'll be down in a minute, Margaret.
Don't eat anything with the hide still on it." They went
upstairs to their bedroom.
Laura gave him the baby and stepped into the bathroom,