"Dick, Philip K - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dick Phillip K)

"What have you got against me?" he asked her as together they descended.
She reflected, as if up to now she hadn't known. "Well," she said, "you, a little police
department employee, are in a unique position. Know what I mean?" She gave him a
malice-filled sidelong glance.
"How much of your current output," he asked, "consists of types equipped with the Nexus-
6?"
"All," Rachael said.
"I'm sure the Voigt-Kampff scale will work with them."
"And if it doesn't we'll have to withdraw all Nexus-6 types from the market." Her black eyes
flamed up; she glowered at him as the elevator ceased descending and its doors slid back.
"Because you police departments can't do an adequate job in the simple matter of detecting
the minuscule number of Nexus-6s who balk — "
A man, dapper and lean and elderly, approached them, hand extended; on his face a
harried expression showed, as if everything recently had begun happening too fast. "I'm
Eldon Rosen," he explained to Rick as they shook hands. "Listen, Deckard; you realize we
don't manufacture anything here on Earth, right? We can't just phone down to production and
ask for a diverse flock of items; it's not that we don't want or intend to cooperate with you.
Anyhow I've done the best I can." His left hand, shakily, roved through his thinning hair.
Indicating his department briefcase, Rick said, "I'm ready to start. The senior Rosen's
nervousness buoyed up his own confidence. They're afraid of me, he realized with a start.
Rachael Rosen included. I can probably force them to abandon manufacture of their Nexus-6
types; what I do during the next hour will affect the structure of their operation. It could
conceivably determine the future of the Rosen Association, here in the United States, in
Russia, and on Mars.
The two members of the Rosen family studied him apprehensively and he felt the
hollowness of their manner; by coming here he had brought the void to them, had ushered in
emptiness and the hush of economic death. They control inordinate power, he thought. This
enterprise is considered one of the system's industrial pivots; the manufacture of androids,
in fact, has become so linked to the colonization effort that if one dropped into ruin, so would
the other in time. The Rosen Association, naturally, understood this perfectly. Eldon Rosen
had obviously been conscious of it since Harry Bryant's call.
"I wouldn't worry if I were you," Rick said as the two Rosens led him down a highly
illuminated wide corridor. He himself felt quietly content. This moment, more than any other
which he could remember, pleased him. Well, they would all soon know what his testing
apparatus could accomplish — and could not. "If you have no confidence in the Voigt-Kampff
scale," he pointed out, "possibly your organization should have researched an alternate test.
It can be argued that the responsibility rests partly on you. Oh, thanks." The Rosens had
steered him from the corridor and into a chic, living roomish cubicle furnished with carpeting,
lamps, couch, and modern little end — tables on which rested recent magazines . . .
including, he noticed, the February supplement to the Sidney's catalogue, which he
personally had not seen. In fact, the February supplement wouldn't be out for another three
days. Obviously the Rosen Association had a special relationship with Sidney's.
Annoyed, he picked up the supplement. "This is a violation of public trust. Nobody should
get advance news of price changes." As a matter of fact this might violate a federal statute;
he tried to remember the relevant law, found he could not. "I'm taking this with me," he said,
and, opening his briefcase, dropped the supplement within.
After an interval of silence, Eldon Rosen said wearily, "Look, officer, it hasn't been our
policy to solicit advance — "
"I'm not a peace officer," Rick said. "I'm a bounty hunter." From his opened briefcase he
fished out the Voigt-Kampff apparatus, seated himself at a nearby rosewood coffee table,