"Michael Swanwick - Vacumn Flowers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swanwick Michael)

eyes as Rebel threw back her head, feeling the rich, full
laughter form in her throat. It felt good to be alive, to sense
the thoughts warming the brain like sunshine, and to
know what she had to do. But then, even as the water
splashed into the waferтАЩs cradle and the tech shrieked,
тАЬWhat areтАФтАЭ she realized that the programming wires
were still jacked into her cortex. The wafer went up with a
sizzle as she reached, catching the stench of burning
plastic as she tried, random static leaping up the wires to
smash her sideways, hand yanking out the leads an
instant too late as the universe whited out into oblivionтАж
 The memory cut off, and Rebel trembled. Where was
she? Hospitalized? Recaptured? Heisen and Snow were
still talking, the tall, slim woman looking down
impassively at the fierce little man, and then Rebel
remembered who they were. Neither had noticed her
snapping out; it must have been a brief episode.
тАЬIтАЩm taking points on this one,тАЭ Heisen said. тАЬYou hear
me, Snow? I want points.тАЭ
тАЬMaybe itтАЩs too big for us?тАЭ Snow communed with
herself for a long moment. тАЬWell, letтАЩs try.тАЭ She addressed
Rebel directly. тАЬLet me put a hypothetical case to you.
Imagine that you were approached by a small firm that
does knock-offs of commercial personas. Suppose you
were offeredтАФтАЭ she cocked her head slightlyтАФтАЬthree
points for your help in making a clean recording. This
would spoil your value to Deutsche Nakasone. No value,
no interestтАФtheyтАЩd leave you alone. Now, keeping in mind
that without this deal theyтАЩll hunt you down and wipe you
out of your own brainтАж what would you say?тАЭ
The episode had left a bad aftertaste in RebelтАЩs mind. Or
possibly it was just the dayтАЩs events catching up with her.
It was hard to concentrate. She shook her head. тАЬI donтАЩt
understandтАж knock-offs?тАЭ
тАЬWell, letтАЩs say the current best-seller isтАжтАЭтАФSnow
listenedтАФ тАЬa young man with the improbable name of
Angelus. He isтАж sensitive, romantic, shy. The publicity
wheels grind and suddenly every fourteen-year-old in the
Kluster wants to be sensitive, romantic, shy. ThereтАЩs a big
market for that persona. We lift an early copy, make
enough changes to foil legal action, and dump a hundred
thousand wafers on the grey market. These personas are
not exactly Angelus, but they are sensitive, romantic, and
shy. And cheap. The big kids make their big profit, and we
tag along for a taste.тАЭ
тАЬOnly this time,тАЭ Heisen said, тАЬweтАЩll be on the market
first, riding all that publicity free. TheyтАЩll have to pick up
on our wafer, and theyтАЩre just not geared for speed the way
we are. We can skim off the top profit for a good week
beforeтАжтАЭ