"Clancy, Tom - Net Force 06 - Cybernation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clancy Tom)

Sure, you could still input everything into a computer with a keyboard or voxax, or read words scrolling up a holoprojic screen if you wanted to, but with VR software as good as it was, why would anybody do that if they didn't have to? When you could get the same information you needed and be entertained at the same time, why wouldn't you, unless you were short on imagination?
A short, balding man wearing a clean but out-of-date summer suit strolled toward Jay, mopping his florid face with a handkerchief he pulled from one jacket sleeve.

17
CYBERNATION


"Senor Gridley?" His name came out as "Greed-lee."
"Si."
"For favor, Senor, I have a message for you."
Jay nodded. He indicated the chair across from him. "Have some wine, Senor... ?"
"Montoya. Jaime Montoya. Muchas gracias."
The little man sat. A waiter appeared with a glass, plunked it down, and sauntered away. Montoya poured himself a glass of the wine, took a long sip, then sighed.
"Ah, good. Hot today."
"Mucho," Jay said.
The man removed a folded parchment from his jacket. The yellowish document was sealed with a dollop of orange wax, imprinted with the signet of a local marquis. Jay expressed his thanks as he took the parchment, thumbed the seal open, and unfolded the document.
Sure, he could have downloaded this file to his system and scanned it. And sure, if he needed hard copy, that would be courtesy of the office printer, on so-so grade ink-jet paper and not parchment, but what the hell-if you couldn't have fun, why bother?
It was what he had come to find, but a quick read told him it wouldn't do him much good. The hackers who had attacked the net servers were too good to leave an obvious trail he could follow. The marquis could not point him in the right direction, lo siento.
Oh, well, how big a surprise was that? The shock would have been if somebody good enough to rascal their way into major computer nodes had left obvious clues to backtrack.
"Personal call override" came a warm and sultry voice. "Saji on line one."
Jay cancelled the VR scenario with a finger-weave in the sensor grid and told his phone to put the call through. It came across hi visual, so he could see her sitting in the kitchen at home. She was, as always, beautiful.
"Hey, babe," he said.

18
NET FORCE


"Hi, Jay. Have you once more made the world safe for democracy?"
"If you count Republicans, safe enough. What's up?"
Saji-Sojan Rinpoche, his fiancee and the world's most beautiful and bright woman-said, "My mother needs my help picking out the bridesmaids' dresses."
"And I can help you do this how?"
"Not at all, wiseguy. I was just calling to let you know I was going to look at bridal magazines with her."
"In Phoenix?"
"No. She's visiting my aunt Shelly in Baltimore. I'm going to take the train up for the day."
"You're gonna ride the train to Baltimore? Are you crazy? The local is full of perverts and weirdos! Why don't you just do it in VR on the net?"
"Because it isn't the same for my mother, she wants to sit next to me on the couch, and I'm trying to connect with her on this. You want her to like you, don't you?"
"Well, sure. But-what's this got to do with liking me?"
"You want me to tell her you said I couldn't go see her?"
"I didn't say that. And it wouldn't do me any good if I did say it, would it?"
"No. Besides, I used to take the train to see my aunt every time I came to Washington, three or four times a year. Nobody ever bothered me."
"I don't like it."
"You don't have to like it I'm just telling you as a courtesy, idiot-mine. I don't recall either of us planning on putting anything about 'obey' into our vows."
"Yeah, well, I don't mean to come off as some kind of authoritarian jerk here or anything, sweetie-"
"Oh, I don't think of you as authoritarian at all, Jay." She batted her eyes at him theatrically and gave him a big, fake smile.
"You're a Buddhist, you can't convince your mother that VR and RW are essentially the same?"

19
CYBERNATION