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.The dead woman, shecorrected herself immediately, and Toreth smiled. Up to talking to me? he asked.It was a serious question, and she took her time answering. I think so, Para. Sit in, then.Mistry took him down a level, and into a small conference room where Yangwas waiting for them.In here the decor was more grey than blue, remindingToreth of I&I.Toreth introduced himself and sat down, deliberately relaxed and friendly.Asthey went through the introductions, he saw Mistry had, as usual, been dead onabout the witness s state of mind.He was extremely nervous, which combinedwith his thin face to make him look even younger than he was  thirty-three,according to his security file.He had short, spiked hair and casual clothes,although he described his position as a senior level programmer, in charge of ateam of ten. Did you know Kelly well? Toreth asked as an icebreaker.The man shook his head. Not very.Only from trials.I ve seen her in thecafeteria.We didn t work together. The phrases had a random, disconnectedair. You were with her last night? She was fine when I left her.She was absolutely fine. The statement wasn tan overt protestation of innocence  more an expression of disbelief thatsomeone he d seen alive only yesterday could suddenly be gone. Why were you there? Toreth asked. For a trial.For her work, not mine.I m on the volunteer list  the full list. Meaning?Yang stared at him, blinking rapidly. What s the full list? Toreth asked patiently. Oh.There are   He stopped. I m sorry.I m not usually  it s shaken me up,that s all.It s  poor Kelly.She was fine when I left.Absolutely fine.I can tbelieve   Take your time.Tell me about the lists. With any luck, talking about workwould calm the man down a little. Didn t you speak to Doctor Warrick? Yes.He didn t mention lists, but he said he wanted everyone to cooperatewith the investigation.That produced a slight relaxation. Oh, right.Okay  full list.It means I ll doany kind of trial.There are different lists, depending on what kinds of trialspeople want to take part in.Whether you re prepared to participate in the sex-based research, basically.And what kinds of activities are acceptable, if youare.A glance down showed a gold band on his wedding finger.Thinking ofMarcus, Toreth asked,  Doesn t your wife mind?Yang almost smiled. A bit, at first.But it s& well, it s completely voluntary,of course.No one has to do any trials at all.But you know how it is  peoplewho volunteer are doing more for SimTech than people who don t.Anya wantsme to do well here, for both of us.Toreth nodded, knowing very well how that sort of thing worked.Peoplealways knew what was expected, what their superiors wanted to hear.All thesensitivity in the world to the possibility of exploitation couldn t stop thosekinds of insidious pressures. When is the selection done? Toreth asked. Oh, when the experiment is designed, usually.To give everyone a chance toarrange their schedules. He shrugged. It s very tight, usually, becauseeveryone s so busy.The selection program picks a randomised pool ofvolunteers from the appropriate list, depending on the experiment.Explaining a well-understood topic had had the desired effect, so Torethdecided to risk a more direct question. How far ahead did you know you d bethere yesterday? Only in the afternoon.A slot came free on the sim and Kelly   He paused,blinking again, then pressed on determinedly. Kelly was next on the list.Sheneeded someone who could manage a two-hour time course.I think she tried acouple of people before she got to me. Are the sessions recorded? In   It suddenly occurred to Toreth that he had noidea what a sim session would look like from outside the system. I mean, is itpossible to see what went on?Yang nodded. Everything s recorded, at least short term.It can be, er& putback together to make a kind of recording, as if there was a camera in the simroom itself.The hypothetical observer viewpoint, it s called.Toreth nodded at Mistry, and she made a note on her hand screen for the dataretrieval team [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]