"Thomas Easton - Organic Future 02 - Greenhouse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Easton Thomas A)

like unrolled sleeping bags, were arrayed on a carpeted platform, without
frames or headboards or box springs. They came in all sizes--crib, youth,
twin, queen, king--and in as many shades of skin as one could see on a city
street. A few were even piebald.

The customer leaned over to pat a light tan Slugabed. Over her shoulder
blades, Tom could now see, her coverall had been embroidered with small wings.
His own coverall bore no decorations other than the darker green figures woven
into the fabric. "They're not very thick, are they?" she asked.

"They don't have to be. Try one, and you'll see."

She looked skeptical. "And the surface. I expected..."

"Something slimy?" When she stiffened, he thought that of course that was
precisely what she had half expected, in the back of her mind, even as she
craved to rest on the leading edge of fashion. He added, "Well, the basic
genome did come from a slug. But then they added the genes for a real skin.
And warm blood."

"It feels just like human skin, without the hair." She giggled at a
thought. "Or the stubble."

"I believe it's a modified pigskin. Very smooth, very soft."
 She lay down. The Slugabed twisted under her, fitting itself to the
contours of her body. It did not wrap around her, but rather cupped and
cradled her as if she lay in the palm of some giant lover's hand. It made Tom
think of Muffy Bowen. They weren't married, but they lived together, and she
would be at home now, looking forward to his return. He wished that he were
there now, and that he could afford a Slugabed for their bedroom, and
that...He sighed, more loudly this time.

It was not the customer's body that made him think of Muffy, but the way
the Slugabed embraced her, and the way the ripples ran through the
bioppliance's substance, and the way she responded. Her nipples had erected
quite visibly.

The Slugabed's skin, he knew, was as soft and smooth as that of a baby's
butt. He had lain down on one when they first arrived and been depressed for a
week. He wanted a child; Muffy didn't; that was the greatest flaw in their
relationship.

"Ooh!" the customer said. "I see what you mean. What do you feed it?"

"It absorbs your sweat and body oil and skin flakes. If that's not
enough..." Tom Cross pointed to a patch of skin near her head. It was slightly
lighter in color than the rest of the Slugabed. "This spot turns bright pink,
and you pour some milk on the bed, or gravy, or..." He shrugged. "Instructions
come with it."