"Rudy Rucker - Realware" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rucker Rudy)

"You better call Willow," said Kevvie. She glared at Umberto so hard that the dog went slinking away.

"I know." Phil told the uvvy to dial his stepmother Willow. Phil's father Kurt had left Phil and Jane's mother Eve for
Willow when Phil was thirteen and Jane was eleven. Eve had successfully remarried, and the families had stayed
reasonably close over the years, with Phil and Jane freely moving between the households of their two biological
parents.

Willow answered on the second ring. "Willow Chen Gottner," her voice was loud and harsh, just short of a scream.
Willow's image floated above the uvvy—she was a thoroughly Californian Chinese woman with a symmetric face, full
lips, and blonde hair so shiny and processed that it looked like metal. She moved with abrupt, birdlike gestures. There
were smears of blood on her hands and on her cheeks. Her normally tidy features were blurred and twisted with
anguish.

"Hi, Willow, it's Phil. I just talked to Jane."

"Kurt's really dead, yes, this is his blood all over me. I'm so scared, Phil. The wowo ate him like garbage."

"I'm coming right down. Where are you?"

"I'm at the gimmie station. They don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. They think I murdered Kurt or some shit."
Willow was notoriously foul-mouthed. This was something that Phil and Jane's mother always tut-tutted over, but it
made Phil and Jane like Willow more than they might have otherwise.

"You see!" interjected Kevvie. "Tell her to get a top criminal attorney!"

Phil glared at Kevvie, but felt he had to pass the idea on. "Do you have a lawyer?"
"Right! As if I need a lawyer to deal with some stupid gimmie pigs who I'm paying in the first place. As if a lawyer's
going to protect me from a fucking hole to the fourth dimension that ground up my brilliant handsome husband like
garbage!" She glared angrily at someone out of view. "Stay away from me, you sow!" The uvvyview jerked wildly.
"Stop it!" Then the uvvy went dead. Phil immediately called again; a gimmie answered.

"Officer Grady, Wackerhut Police Services, Palo Alto Station."

"I was just talking to Willow Gottner?" Phil said. "We were cut off?" He could hear Willow screaming curses in the
background.

"She's out of control, sir," said the gimmie officer. "We're concerned she could injure herself. I'm afraid we're going to
have to restrain her and administer a sedative."

"Take it easy! I'll be right there. I'm Kurt Gottner's son Phil. Where's your station located? I'm driving down from the
city."

The gimmie gave Kurt directions and added, "I'm very sorry about this, Mr. Gottner."

"My father's really dead?" Kurt asked.

"We've got a response team up there. We're still not entirely sure what the situation is. The material evidence indicates
a fatality, but there's no body. And, yes, your father's missing." There was a shriek from Willow. "She wants to tell you
one more thing. I'll hold the uvvy out to her."