"Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling - Junk DNA" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rucker Rudy)

Jose branch office of the Genomics Control Board. He argued that, since the Pumptis were neither
self-reproducing nor infectious, they didn't fall under the strict provisions of the Human Heritage Home
Security Act.
The consequent investigation made the Bay Area news shows. Then the right-wing religious crowd got
in on it. An evangelist from Alameda appeared at one of the hearings -- he'd confiscated a Pumpti from a
young parishioner -- and after his impassioned testimony he tore the Pumpti apart with pincers on the San
Jose Federal Building's steps, calling the unresisting little glob the "spawn of Satan."
This was catnip for their business, of course. Magic Pumpkin's website gathered a bouquet of orders
from eager early adopters.
But, paradoxically, Magic Pumpkin's flowering sales bore the slimy seeds of a smashing fiscal disaster.
When an outfit started small, it didn't take much traffic to double production every week. This constant
doubling brought on raging production bottlenecks and serious crimps in their cash flow. In point of fact,
in pursuit of market establishment, they were losing money on each Pumpti sold. The eventual payback
from all those Pumpti accessories was still well down the road.
Janna was bored by their practical difficulties, but she had a ball inventing high concepts for Pumpti
care products and Pumpti collectibles. Kelso's many art-scene friends were happy to sign up. Kelso was
a one-man recruiting whiz. Buoyed by his worldly success, he began to shave more often and even use
deodorant. He was so pleased by his ability to sucker people into the Magic Pumpkin enterprise that he
even forgot to make passes at Janna.
Every day-jobber in the start-up was quickly issued his or her own free Pumpti. "Magic Pumpkin
wants missionaries, not mercenaries," Janna announced from on high, and her growing cluster of troops
cheered her on. Owning a personal Pumpti was an item of faith in the little company -- the linchpin of
their corporate culture. You couldn't place yourself in the proper frame of mind for Magic Pumpkin
product development without your very own darling roly-poly.
Cynics had claimed that the male demographic would never go for Pumptis. Why would any guy
sacrifice his computer gaming time and his weekend bicycling to nurture something? But once presented
with their own Pumpti, men found that it filled some deep need in the masculine soul. They swelled up
with competitive pride in their Pumptis, and even became quite violent in their defense.
Janna lined up an comprehensive array of related products. First and foremost were costumes. Sailor
Pumpti, Baby Pumpti, Pumpti Duckling, Angel Pumpti, Devil Pumpti, and even a Goth Pumpti dress-up
kit with press-on tattoos. They shrugged off production to Filipina doll-clothes-makers in a sweatshop in
East L.A.
Further up-market came a Pumpti Backpack for transporting your Pumpti in style, protecting it from
urban pollution and possibly nasty bacteria. This one seemed like a sure hit, if they could swing the
Chinese labor in Shenzhen and Guangdong.
The third idea, Pumpti Energy Crackers, was a no-brainer: crisp collectible cards of munchable amino
acid bases to fatten up your Pumpti. If the crackers used the "mechanically recovered meat" common in
pet food and cattle feed, then the profit margin would be primo. Kelso had a contact for this in Mexico:
they guaranteed their cookies would come crisply printed with the Pumpti name and logo.
Janna's fourth concept was downright metaphysical: a "Psychic Powers Pumpti Training Wand."
Except for occasional oozing and plopping, the Pumptis never actually managed conventional pet tricks.
But this crystal-topped gizmo could be hawked to the credulous as increasing their Pumpti's "empathy" or
"telepathy." A trial mention of this vaporware on the Pumpti-dot-bio website brought in a torrent of
excited New Age emails.
The final, sure-thing, Pumpti accessory was tie-in books. Two of Kelso's many unemployed writer and
paralegal friends set to work on the Pumpti User's Guide. The firm forecast an entire library of guides,
sucking up shelf-space at chain stores and pet stores everywhere. The Moron's Guide to
Computational Genomics. Pumpti Tips, Tricks and Shortcuts. Backing Up Your Pumpti. Optimize
Your Pumpti for High Performance. The Three Week Pumpti Guide, the One Day Pumpti Guide
and the Ten Minute Pumpti Guide. The Pumpti Bible, with the quick-start guide, walkthrough, lists,