"Paul J. McAuley & Kim Newman - In Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

that guitar from anywhereplacehow? Oaths and imprecations cease as
the Lobos come loping through the gridlock slap-ping out the rhythm of the
hunt on spray-customised hoods, leaping from fender to fender to fender,
leering in at the Valley Girls in six centimetre heels and hi-thi-leos and
wrap-round teleshades.

In some off-avenue back alley overseen by videowall Marys, he stops
to listen if they are still behind him.

Oh yes, Annunciato. Most definitely, Annunciato.

The roar of engines is like a steel-capped boot in the stomach. The
lowriders come revving along the alleyways, Lobos hungry, eager, riding on
doors and roofs, beating out their hunting song on hot-shopped Toyota
steel. Sparks scream back from their scratch plates.

Reconcile your soul with the saints of the boulevard.

And the big hoload for Diet-Coke on the side of the National Lottery
Office says: ANNUNCIATO.

The name, tastefully iconised in spray-can platinums and razor blues,
tumbles away through holospace. The spotlights of the Lobos pin and pluck
you naked as one of the chickens Madre Amparo takes to the shrine of St
Anthony. The back streets off St Dominic’s Preview are loud with the
whisper click of switchblades.

TRUST ME. I WILL PROTECT YOU.

Lasers sear the night. Brave, bold howling Lobos fall back swearing
screaming clutching burns gashes scars. A new ingredient in the city
perfume of sweat, shit, smoke and semen: scorched flesh. Glass guitar in
hand, Annunciato is safe behind a wall of flickering laserlight.

A miracle.

STAY HERE. SOMEONE WILL COME TO HELP YOU, says the
hoload.

‘What who why how?’ says dazed and confused Annunciato.

The big BVM videowall on the Credit and Loan fills with starry starry
night. A pair of strawberry luscious lips rezz up on the startrek sky. Fruit
comes tumbling out of the mind of the Coca-Cola Company’s
videographics computer; bananas, pineapples, oranges, guava, mango,
piled up like Mr Socks’ stall in Birimbao Plaza. A woman’s face fills in
behind the lips, beneath the tutti-frutti hat. Blessed Virgin Mary was never
like this.

LA MIRANDA, says the videowall as, with a wink and a smile, the