"Peter Watts - Flesh Made Word" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watts Peter)

take pictures. I don't know why. But I think our subscribers would
like to."
Wescott was silent for a few moments.
"What's your release number?" he asked at last.
"Six point five."
"You're just out, aren't you?"
"April fifteenth," the program told him.
"You're better than six four."
"We're improving all the time."
From behind, the sound of an opening door. "Stop," Wescott
said.
"Do you want to c-cancel the program or just suspend it?"
Carol's voice asked from the cube.
"Suspend." Wescott stared at the computer, vaguely jarred by
the change in voice. Do they ever feel crowded in there?
"Can you hear it?" Lynne said from behind him.
He turned in his chair. She was taking off her shoes by the front
door.
Flesh Made Word 8

"Hear what?" Wescott asked.
She came across the room. "The way her voice sort of--catches,
sometimes?"
He frowned.
"Like she was in pain when she made the recording," she went
on. "Maybe it was before she was even diagnosed. But when she
programmed that machine, it picked up on it. You've never heard
it? In all these years?"
Wescott said nothing.
Lynne put her hands on his shoulders. "You sure it isn't time to
change the personality in that thing?" she asked gently.
"It's not a personality, Lynne."
"I know. Just a pattern-matching algorithm. You keep saying
that."
"Look, I don't know what you're so worried about. It's no threat
to you."
"I didn't mean--"
"Eleven years ago she talked to it for a while. It uses her speech
patterns. It isn't her. I know that. It's just an old operating system
that's been obsolete for the better part of a decade."
"Russ--"
"That lousy program Mosby sent me is ten times more
sophisticated. And you can go out and buy a psyche simulator that
will put that to shame. But this is all I have left, okay? The least
you can do is grant me the freedom to remember her the way I
choose."
She pulled back. "Russ, I'm not trying to fight with you."
"I'm glad." He turned back to the workstation. "Resume."
"Suspend," Lynne said. The computer waited silently.
Wescott took a slow breath and turned back to face her.