"Peter Watts - The Second Coming" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watts Peter)

These are the tools used to dissect human psyches. The WAIS. * * *
The MMPI. The PDI. Hammers, all of them. Blunt chisels posing
as microtomes. A copy of the DSM-IV sits off to one side, a fat She's slumped across the table when he enters, her head resting on
paperback volume of symptoms and pathologies. A matrix of folded arms. Thomas clears his throat. "Jasmine."
pigeonholes. Perhaps Fitzgerald fits into one of them. Intermittent No response. He reaches out, touches her lightly on the shoulder.
Explosive, maybe? Battered Woman? Garden-variety Sociopath? Her head comes up, a fluid motion containing no hint of grogginess.
The test results are inconclusive. It's as though she's laughing up She settles back into her chair and smiles. "Welcome back. So, am
from the page at him. True or false: I sometimes hear voices that I crazy or what?"
no one else hears. False, she's checked. I have been feeling Thomas smiles back and sits down across from her. "We try to
unusually depressed lately. False. Sometimes I get so angry I feel avoid prejudicial terms."
like hitting something. True, and a hand-written note in the margin: "Hey, I can take it. I'm not prone to tantrums."
Hey, doesn't everyone?
The Second Coming of Jasmine Fitzgerald Peter Watts
4




A picture flashes across the front of his mind: beloved husband, тАФ I mean, Jesus, Myles, they wrote therapy programs back in the
entrails spread-eagled like butterfly wings against a linoleum grid. sixties that had more range than you do! In BASIC even! Register
Of course not. No tantrums for you. We need a whole new word to an opinion, for Chrissake!"
describe what it is you do. "It's just a technique, Jaz. I'm not here to get into a debate with
'Debugging', wasn't it? you, as interesting as that might be. I'm trying to assess your fitness
"I was going over your test results," he begins. to stand trial. My opinions aren't really at issue."
"Did I pass?" She sighs, and sags. "I know. I'm sorry, I know you're not here to
"It's not that kind of test. But I was intrigued by some of your keep me entertained, but I'm used to being able toтАФ
answers." "I mean, Stuart would always be soтАФ
She purses her lips. "Good." "Oh, God. I miss him so much," she admits, her eyes shining and
"Tell me about viruses." unhappy.
That sunny smile again. "Sure. Mutable information strings that She's a killer, he tells himself. Don't let her suck you in. Just
can't replicate without hijacking external source code." assess her, that's all you have to do.
"Go on." Don't start liking her, for Christ's sake.
"Ever hear of Core Wars?" "That'sтАФ understandable," Thomas says.
"No." She snorts. "Bullshit. You don't understand at all. You know
"Back in the early eighties some guys got together and wrote a what he did, the first time he went in for chemo? I was studying for
bunch of self-replicating computer programs. The idea was to put my comps, and he stole my textbooks."
them into the same block of memory and have them compete for "Why would he do that?"
space. They all had their own little tricks for self-defence and "Because he knew I wasn't studying at home. I was a complete
reproduction and, of course, eating the competition." wreck. And when I came to see him at the hospital he pulls these
"Oh, you mean computer viruses," Thomas says. bloody books out from under his bed and starts quizzing me on
"Actually, before all that." Fitzgerald pauses a moment, cocks her Dirac and the Beckenstein Bound. He was dying, and all he wanted
head to one side. "You ever wonder what it might be like to be one to do was help me prepare for some stupid test. I'd do anything for
of those little programs? Running around laying eggs and dropping him."
logic bombs and interacting with other viruses?" Well, Thomas doesn't say, You certainly did more than most.
Thomas shrugs. "I never even knew about them until now. Why? "I can't wait to see him again," she adds, almost as an
Do you?" afterthought.
"No," she says. "Not any more." "When will that be, Jaz?"
"Go on." "When do you think?" She looks at him, and the sorrow and
Her expression changes. "You know, talking to you is a bit like despair he thought he saw in those eyes is suddenly nowhere to be
talking to a program. All you ever say is go on and tell me more and seen.