"David Marusek - Getting to Know You" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marusek David)

“What is your date of birth?”

Zoranna sighed. “August 12, 1961. Honestly, Bug, I wish you’d tap
public records for this stuff.”

“Do you like the timbre of Bug’s voice?” it said. “Would you prefer it
lower or higher?” It repeated this question through several octaves.

“Frankly, Bug, I detest your voice at any pitch.”

“What is your favorite color?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Yesterday your favorite color was salmon.”

“Well, today it’s cranberry.” The little pest was silent for a moment
while it retrieved and compared color li-braries. Zoranna tried to catch up
with the holovid, but she’d lost the thread of the story.

“You have a phone call,” Bug said, “Ted Chalmers at General
Genius.”

Zoranna sat up straight and patted her hair. “Put him on and squelch
the vid.” A miniature hologram of Ted with his feet on his desk was
projected in the air before her. Ted was an attractive man Zoranna had
wanted to ask out a couple times, but never seemed able to catch between
spousals. By the time she’d hear he was single again, he’d be well into his
next liaison. It made her won-der how someone with her world-class
investigative skills could be so dateless. She’d even considered assigning
Hounder to monitor Ted’s availability status in order to get her foot in his
door.
 When Ted saw her, he smiled and said, “Hey, Zoe, how’s our little
prototype?”

“Driving me crazy,” she said. “Refresh my memory, Ted. When’s the
Inquisition supposed to end?”

Ted lowered his feet to the floor. “It’s still imprinting? How long have
you had it now?” He consulted a display and answered his own question.
“Twenty-two days. That’s a record.” He got up and paced his office, walking
in and out of the projected holoframe.

“No kidding,” said Zoranna. “I’ve had marriages that didn’t last that
long.” She’d meant for this to be funny, but it fell flat.

Ted sat down. “I wish we could continue the test, but unfortunately
we’re aborting. We’d like you to return the unit—” He glanced at his display
again, “—return Bug as soon as possible.”