（外文电子版资料）Greg Costikyan - Bright Light, Big City.pdf

Bright Light, Big City by Greg Costikyan _(Originally published in the February, 1991 issue of Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine.)_ IBM was down a point. Not unusual, but I wondered why. Rumor had it that their profits would be up next quarter. I stared at the Quotron screen and frowned. Something zipped past on the news line. I caught terrorists, New York, and . . . ton device. What? I pulled up Hot News. ATT Sues IBM, aha, but where . . .? Dammit. They put newsflashes on the news line instanter. Sometimes it takes a minute or two to key a story in to Hot News. They didnt have it up yet. I bashed the keyboard frantically. Steve came into the office. I looked up from the monitor. Have you heard? he said. Heard what? Come on, he said. Marys got a radio. So I left the office and went down to Marys cubicle. Half a dozen people were clustered around -- most of the department. Mary had a newsradio station on. . . . demanding one-hundred million dollars, the freeing of a list of 43 imprisoned terrorists world wide, and a formal apology from the United States government for last months Djibouti incident, it said. Mayor Cardinale has appealed for calm. And it cut to a scratchy tape of the mayor saying some damnfool thing. Whats going on? I asked. A nuke . . . said Mary. She looked a little wan. They . . . A bunch of wackos claim theyve got a hundred kiloton nuke somewhere in Manhattan, said Dave. I looked around at them. A joke? No. Mary didnt have the imagination for anything this elaborate. And there was the radio: . . . twenty-two minutes, well give you the world. The top story this afternoon: nuclear terrorism in New York. In other news . . . I looked at the group again. Here they were, hanging on the radios every word. They must be shell-shocked. I picked up the phone. 1-201-659 . . . Damn. Busy signal. I tried again. Again. Again. I got a recording this time. Were sorr