"Michael Swanwick - Wild Minds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swanwick Michael)

Wild Minds by Michael Swanwick This story first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, May 1998


Wild Minds by Michael Swanwick This story first appeared in Asimov's
Science Fiction, May 1998. Nominated for Best Short Story.




I met her at a businesspersons' orgy in London. The room was in the back of a
pub that was all brass and beveled glass, nostalgia and dark oak. The doorkeeper
hesitated when it saw how many times I'd attended in the last month. But then I
suggested it scroll up my travel schedule, and it saw that I wasn't acting out a sex-
addiction script, but properly maintaining my forebrain and hindbrain balances.
So it let me in.

Inside, the light was dimly textured and occasionally mirrored. Friendly hands
helped me off with my clothing. "I'm Thom," I murmured, and "Annalouise . . .
Enoch . . . Abdul . . . Magdalena . . . Claire," those nearest quietly replied. Time
passed.

I noticed Hellene not because she was beautifulтАФwho pays attention to beauty,
after the first hour?тАФbut because it took her so long to find release. By the time
she was done, there was a whole new crowd; only she and I remained of all who
had been in the room when I entered.

In the halfway room, we talked.

"My assemblers and sorters got into a hierarchic conflict," I told her. "Too many
new faces, too many interchangeable cities."

She nodded. "I've been under a lot of stress myself. My neural mediator has
become unreliable. And since I'm scheduled for an upgrade, it's not worth it
running a purge. I had to off-line the mediator, and take the week off from work."

"What do you do?" I asked. I'd already spotted her as being optimized.


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 Wild Minds by Michael Swanwick This story first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, May 1998


She worked in human resources, she said. When I heard that, I asked, "Is there
any hope for people like me? Those who won't accept optimization, I mean."

"Wild minds?" Hellene looked thoughtful. "Five years ago I'd've said no, open-
and-shut, end of story. Period. Zero rez. Today, though . . ."

"Yes?"