"Charles Stross - Duat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

"But I don't --" she winced. Her head stung where she'd fallen against the floor. "I'm
speechless. I figured there was an element of manipulation, of profit, but I didn't realise --"

"Yes." The Boss sat up straight. No, that wasn't quite right: it was only the body the Boss
used to communicate with humans. The Boss himself was elsewhere. The body stared at
Oshi with eyes that glowed from the shadows of his face. "You have not remembered
everything yet," he said, smooth as oil. "Are you trying to avoid it, by any chance?"

"I want the truth, damn you! Not more lies!"

"No lies." Shadows stirred against the wall behind the Boss. Within the wall. Patterns of

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Stross,%20Charles%20-%20Duat%20(ss).html (10 of 103)4-7-2007 2:25:58
2: In the Duat

light and shade. Oshi felt curiously lightheaded. "I am amused. Slightly. Your
presumption is refreshing."

"Bullshit." She sat up and held her head in both hands. She'd taken a bruise while the Boss
dumped a century of memories into her wisdom interface. "Is that all we are to you?
Tools?"

The Boss did not reply immediately.

"Well?"

"No," he said finally. "That would be disrespectful."

"Well then, what am I?"

"Meat."

When she did not reply, he added: "tell me what Hree told you while you were dirtside.
Tell me what you omitted from your report. Now."

Blood pounded in her ears. Oshi felt stunned; sick to her stomach, physically revolted.
Dirty. Memories crowded in, unwelcomed. Some of them were her own, but others
belonged to this, this demon ...

"Your people, the Superbrights," she managed. "You're not human. You never were. That
body is a, a golem. Or a, a projection. You don't really belong here; you mostly exist in
the Dreamtime, scattered across a hundred thousand processors, isn't that right? And you
want it all for yourselves -- all the processor resources in the galaxy. Leaving us just
enough bandwidth to gate in and out between the stars, or store personality dumps
between bodies. Except for the dirtworlds."

"You came from a dirtworld, Oshi," the Boss reminded her, deceptively gentle. "A planet
without resources, without a sophisticated civilization. Like this one."