"Thomas A. Easton - Silicon Karma" - читать интересную книгу автора (Easton Thomas A)

He shook his head. "If they caught us ... Besides, that's what we sell,
privacy, no interference, ever since the government ..."

"Can't you just ask the machine?"

"We tried. All it says is that the problem is internal, it's working on
it, and we're forgetting privacy."

"Then it has to involve the residents," said Manora Day. Spander nodded
as Kymon said, "And someone knows regardless."

"My department squashed the collapsing-world story. It was easy to make
it seem just too ridiculous. But the crime wave ..." Minckton gestured
with one hand. "We know people are getting killed," said Spander. "Not
many, and we don't know who. But we can see the reboots."

"It's too bad we don't have more access to what's going on."



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"At least we've managed to keep it off the front pages."

Kymon made a face at Spander. "There isn't supposed to be any crime at
all in the box. Did your screening let in a mobster?"

"Not as far as we can tell. But the residents are human. They had to
have enough money to pay the bill. And to get that money ..."

Now Kymon laughed. "A poor man's prejudice, Jon! Or do you think we're
all unprincipled?"

Spander did not answer in words, though his expression and the sound
that escaped between his teeth suggested that he sometimes wondered. "We
tried lowering the price," said Day. "As soon as the sales fell off. It
helped a little, but not enough."

"And we didn't find any more crooks than ever," said Spander. "We think
it's just one person, or maybe a few. Running wild. Trying to take
over."

"Can't we do anything?"

He shook his head. "We promised our customers a world of their own, to
run by themselves. We programmed the machine so that short of unplugging
it we couldn't interfere even if we wanted to. Even the machine itself
has severe limits on what it can do."