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.“Not that kind.In SchoolNet.Sabotage.Someone said that some guys from Upper Form did it as a graduation prank.”“You’re talking about a system crash on the net.” She wondered for a moment if Stephenunderstood the difference between the net and real life.He’s only eleven , she reminded herself.Things outside of his narrow circle aren’t very real yet.“The bomb that went off at the Polytoday could have killed hundreds of people.Killed them dead.”“I know.But the blowdown on SchoolNet killed a lot of Crafts and even some high-levelConstellations, backups and all.They’ll never come back again either.” He reached out for therice dish, ready for seconds.Renie sighed.Crafts, Constellations – if she were not a net-literate instructor herself, she wouldprobably think her brother was speaking a foreign language.“Tell me what else you’ve beendoing.Have you read any of that book I gave you?” For his birthday, she had downloaded, at notinconsiderable cost, Otulu’s Marching Toward Freedom , the best and most stirring work sheknew on South Africa’s fight for democracy in the late twentieth century.As a concession to heryoung brother’s tastes she had purchased the expensive interactive version, full of historicalvideo footage and stylish “you-are-there” 3D re-enactments.“Not yet.I looked at it.Politics.”“It’s more than that, Stephen.It’s your heritage – it’s our history.”He chewed.“Soki and Eddie and me almost made it into the Inner District.We got this flowpastoff a guy in Upper Form.We were almost downtown! Open ticket!”“Stephen, I don’t want you trying to get to the Inner District.”“You used to do it when you were my age.” His grin was insolently disarming.“Things were different then – you can get arrested these days.Big fines.I’m serious, boy.Don’tdo it.” But she knew the warning was useless.Might as well tell children not to swim in the oldfishing hole.Stephen was already nattering on as though she hadn’t said anything.She sighed.From the level of excitement, she knew she was in for a forty-minute discourse, full of obscureJunior Netboy argot.“.It was chizz major sampled.We dodged three Bully-boxes.But we weren’t doing anythingwrong,” he said hurriedly.“Just tapping and napping.But it was so flared! We met someone whogot into Mister J’s!”“Mister J’s?” This was the first thing she hadn’t recognized.Stephen’s look suddenly changed; Renie thought she saw something flicker behind his eyes.“Oh, just this place.Kind of like a club.”“What kind of club? An entertainment place? Shows and stuff?”“Yeah.Shows and stuff.” He toyed with his chicken bone for a moment.“It’s just a place.”Something thumped on the wall.“Renie! Bring me a glass of water.” Long Joseph’s voice sounded groggy and stupid.Reniewinced, but went to the sink.For now, Stephen deserved something like a normal home life, butwhen he was finally out on his own, things would change around here.When she got back, Stephen was finishing his third helping, but she could tell by his jittering legand half-out-of-the-seat posture that he was aching to get back to the net.“Not so fast, young warrior.We’ve barely had a chance to talk.”Now something almost like panic flashed across his face, and Renie felt her stomach go sour.He was definitely spending too much recreation time plugged in if he was so desperate to getback.She would make sure he spent some time out of the house.If she took him to the park thisSaturday, she could make sure he didn’t just go over to a friend’s, plug in, and spend the wholeday lying on the floor like an invertebrate.“So tell me more about the bomb,” Stephen said suddenly.“Tell me all about it.”She did, and he listened carefully and asked questions.He seemed so interested that she alsotold him about her first meeting with her student !Xabbu, how small and polite he was, his odd,old-fashioned style of dress.“There was a boy like him in my school last year,” Stephen said.“But he got sick and had toleave.”Renie thought of !Xabbu as he had waved good-bye, his slender arm and sweet, almost sad face.Would he, too, get sick somehow, physically or spiritually?.He had said that few of his peopledid well living in the city.She hoped he would prove an exception – she had liked his quiet senseof humor.Stephen got up and cleared away the dishes without being asked, then plugged in again, butsurprisingly accessed Marching Toward Freedom , disengaging from time to time to ask herquestions about it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]