Cybernetic Walrus by Jack L. Chalker

Author:Jack L. Chalker [Chalker, Jack L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780575102088
Google: KIS0whMLMDMC
Amazon: 0345386906
Goodreads: 1305759
Publisher: Orion
Published: 1995-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Riki and I didn't sleep much that night, and, at both our own request and with the enthusiastic encouragement of Al Stark, we slept in a room at the campus. We had packed bags, so it wasn't a big deal to find some clean clothes, and we always kept some stuff over at the apartment nearby which was eas-ily retrieved by staff.

The next day, a gray and dreary one if I recall, we made our way to the mansion and Stark's office, only to be told that he was not on site at the time but would be back around mid-day. The rest of the security crew were about as communica-tive as usual, which is to say they had all the vocabulary of a Seattle slug, which left us with little to do and a lousy day to do it in. Neither of us were in any shape for the drive home at this point—I wasn't sure I could make the apartment, which was maybe half a mile tops—and there was little ap-parent going on at the campus of any interest or relevance to us.

That left Les, who always seemed underused and ready to talk, and we headed over to the medical section in the rear

unit. He didn't seem very surprised to see us, but did insist on checking us both out.

"I think you two could both use sedatives," he pronounced after looking us over. "You're not cut out for this kind of cloak-and-dagger stuff. Truth is, neither is Stark. I think he might have been a real pistol in his younger days, but he's got heart murmurs and increasingly weak lungs even if he finally did give up regular smoking. You're both in better physical shape than he is, but mentally, well, this is his kind of game."

"I'll pass on the sedative for a bit," I told him. "I want to find out if they got anything last night at those spots. I know the odds, but, damn it, I also know Walt Slidecker and he's not likely to hide very well, either."

"Well, that's assuming they bring him here, or tell us any-thing about these things. I'm not too sure they would. This is all mighty strange business, though. Mighty strange. Particu-larly coming as it does now."

"Huh? What's so special about now versus last month or next year?"

"Didn't you know? They're preparing to put the big one online here. The free-form god machine. Networked in to all the existing Sims, it'll be the biggest and smartest Brand Box ever, about equal to what we had when Brand had his, well, accident. They're going to send a whole team in there.

They're going to try and find out if whatever was out of sync years ago is still wrong and, if so, whether they can diagnose and fix what even Brand could not. During that period they'll also have practically every Sim, every Brand Box big and small, tied in. If Brand's in there somehow, somewhere, he'll have his first access to them and vice versa.

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