"John Varley - Steel Beach" - читать интересную книгу автора (Varley John)

been given as we came through the door. I called up the survey questions
and scanned through them quickly. My bullshit detector started beeping so
loudly I was afraid Mister Dynamic Tension would turn around again.
The questions were garbage. There are firms whose purpose is to work
with pollsters and guard against the so-called "brown-nose effect," that
entirely human tendency to tell people what they want to hear. Ask folks if
they like your new soda pop, they'll tend to say yes, then spit it out when
your back is turned. UniBio had not hired one of these firms. Sometimes
that in itself indicates a lack of confidence in the product.
"And now, the moment you've been waiting for." There was a flourish
of trumpets. The lights dimmed. Spotlights swirled over the blue velvet
drapes behind the podium, which began to crawl toward the wings with the
salesman aboard.
"United Bioengineers presentsтАФ"
"Drum roll," Cricket whispered, a fraction of a second early. I hit her
with my elbow.
"тАФthe future of sex . . . ULTRA-Tingle!"
There was polite applause and the curtains parted to reveal a nude
couple standing, embracing, beneath a violet spot. Both were hairless. They
turned to face us, heads high, shoulders back. Neither seemed to be male or
female. The only real distinction between them was the hint of breasts and a
touch of eye shadow on the smaller one. There was flat, smooth skin
between each pair of legs.
"Another touchie-feelie," Cricket said. "I thought this was going to be
all new. Didn't they introduce the Tingle system three years ago?"
"They sure did. Paid a fortune to get half a dozen celebs to convert, and
they still didn't get more than ten, twenty thousand subscribers. I doubt
there's a hundred of them left."
What can you do? They hold a press conference, we have to send
somebody. They throw chum in the water, we start to feed.
Five minutes into the ULTRA-Tingle presentations (that's how they
insisted it be spelled, with caps) I could see this turkey would be of interest
only to the trades. I'm sure my beefy buddy up front was tickled down to the
tips of his muscle-bound toes.
There were a dozen nude, genderless dancers on stage now, caressing
each others' bodies and posing artistically. Blue sparks flew from their
fingertips.
"That's it for me," I said to Cricket. "You sticking around?"
"There's a drawing later. Three free conversionsтАФ"
"тАФto the fabulous ULTRA-Tingle System," the salesman said, finishing
her sentence for her.
"Win free sex," I said.
"What's that?"
"Walter says it's the ultimate padloid headline."
"Shouldn't it have something about UFO's in it?"
"Okay. 'Win Free Sex Aboard a UFO to Old Earth.'"
"I'd better stick around for the drawing. My boss would kill me if I won
and wasn't around to collect."
"If I win, they can bring it around to the office." I got up, put my hand
on a massive shoulder, leaned down.