Читать онлайн «Halting State»
Автор Чарльз Стросс
Halting State
SINGULARITY SKY
IRON SUNRISE
ACCELERANDO
THE ATROCITY ARCHIVES
GLASSHOUSE
HALTING STATE
Halting State
CHARLES STROSS
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc. ) Penguin Books Ltd. , 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd. ) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd. ) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. , 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd. ) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty. ) Ltd. , 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd. , Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2007 by Charles Stross.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
ACE is an imprint of The Berkley Publishing Group.
ACE and the “A” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stross, Charles.
Halting state / Charles Stross. —1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 1-4295-4716-2
1. Bank robberies—Fiction. 2. Virtual reality—Fiction. 3. Computer games—Fiction. 4. Edinburgh (Scotland)—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6119. T79H36 2007
823'. 92—dc22
2007015872
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOGUE: We Know Where You Live, We Know Where Your Dog Goes to School
SUE: Grand Theft Automatic
ELAINE: Stitch-up
JACK: Steaming
INTERLUDE: CIA World Factbook, 2017
SUE: Earning Overtime
ELAINE: Death or Coffee
JACK: Revenge of the Mummy Lobe
SUE: Wayne’s World
ELAINE: A Catastrophic Loss of Goodwill
JACK: mouthinsert(foot);
SUE: Gaining Access
ELAINE: Being Constructive
JACK: In Hell
SUE: Victim Liaison
ELAINE: Stitched Up
