Scattrbrain by Larry Niven

Author:Larry Niven [Ismeretlen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf

SATURN'S RACE

Taking the elevator back to his apartment, Chaz was caught three times by various Xanadu folk seeking audiences.

In the last year he had steadily and surely felt the hand of dis-cipline closing around him.

There seemed to be endless demands for his services, and it would have been impolite and impolitic for him to refuse.

There were standard linking questions: amplification and modifications to installed equipment bases. New equipment to be tested and installed in Xanadu and abroad. The operation of telemetrical systems around the planet and beyond. Interpreta-tions of data from subjects like Barrister, questions about whether this or that action or reply could possibly indicate true intelligence or awareness.

Then there was the arena of finance. As little as it might mean to him, his money continued to amass, and there was a call from a broker…

"Chaz?"

"Van Buren. How's the weather in Geneva?"

"Fine, thank you." Sober banker the fellow might well have been, but Chaz still remembered Van Buren's last visit to Xanadu, when Chaz had talked him into a descent to Squark City. It was hard to forget the image of Van Buren in full rebreather gear, goggle-eyed and incoherent at the sight of the first Squark dome ever shown to an outsider and fourteen armed and dangerous squarks juggling steel rods underwater.

Today: 'T want to discuss the disbursement of funds for the month. You have a standing order for the purchase of Synaptech. We know that there will be a new offering soon and wished to be certain that you hadn't changed your mind."

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Yes, and frankly, we feel that there are some better opportuni-ties available."

"I'm sure. Keep me there, Carter."

Pause. Van Buren didn't like it, but then there was no reason for him to. Chaz's motivations were not shaped by money here.

The image winked off.

The last call requested that he attend a board meeting in the afternoon. Decisions had to be made about copyright piracy in India. He made useful noises and signed off just as the elevator reached his apartment.

The door opened and closed behind him, and the new security systems went into operation.

Chaz entered his library.

He loved his collection of computers. It was hard to recall his enthusiasm over the Sinclair's membrane keyboard, or that he had once been involved in a lively debate defending the minus-cule CRT screen on the Osborne as "Almost exactly the size of a paperback book held at arm's length," as if anyone read that way.

No outsider knew, or could know, that he had personally pur-chased every one of these at retail. But any citizen of Xanadu would understand.

And it was hard to believe that the Macintosh computer case had once looked so strange, or that its sealed system had once caused so much frustration to its devoted fans. If he used the special tool and took the case apart, there, engraved on the inside of the composition plastic, would be the names of the original design team. Flush against the right edge, halfway down the list, was the name Chadwick Kato.

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