Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card Read Free Book Online Page B

fourth on the way."
    "How old are they?"
    "Stephen's almost eight, Robert is nearly five, Elizabeth is two, and the new one is negative five months now."
    "I'll tell you, I really get along great with kids," said Gallowglass. "If you want me to tend the kids for you sometime, let me know."
    "Yeah, right. A programmer who makes more money than God, and I'm going to call him up to babysit for me."
    "I mean it, I really like kids, and I get kind of lonely sometimes."
    "You don't live with your folks?"
    "Dad hates me," said Gallowglass. "I live by myself."
    "Hates you? Come on."
    "No, I mean it, he says it wheneve r I go home. I walk in the door, he says, 'Damn but I hate you, do you have to keep coming back here?' Mom's OK though. Hey, we're just a good old southern family."
    "Sorry. I wasn't trying to pry or anything," said Step.
    Gallowglass laughed. "I haven't seen a grown man blush in a long time," he said.
    This poor kid, thought Step. A sweet, brilliant, nice kid, and not only does his dad hate him, not only did his mom blow smoke in his face as a baby, but also he's getting seriously ripped off by the very people that he trusts most in all the world. None of my business, I know, but this kid ought to at least know that something else is possible. "Let me tell you something," said Step. "The difference between royalties and bonuses is that a royalty is yours by right, by law, even after you leave the company, while a bonus is a gift and if Ray ever feels like not giving it to you, then that's just too bad for you."
    Gallowglass looked at him steadily through those bottle-bottom lenses.
    "I just thought you ought to know that," said Step. "In case you ever want to write another piece of software. Maybe on the next one, they'll mention your name somewhere in the manual. It's something we programmers don't get much of-credit for what we do."
    "You had your name on Hacker Snack," observed Gallowglass.
    "I turned down two software publishers because they wouldn't write that into the contract," said Step.
    "That's why you folks here at Eight Bits knew my name. But until this very moment, no one here ever mentioned your name. In fact, I kind of got the impression that Ray wrote Scribe 64 himself."
    "You did?" asked Gallowglass.
    "Not that he ever said so," said Step.
    "Ray can't program a computer to print his name on the screen," said Gallowglass.
    "Yeah, well, I didn't know that," said Step. "He never told me.
    Hey, not his fault if I got the wrong impression. The main thing is that I think it's important for programmers to get credit for what we do. Like an author getting his name on his own book."
    "You weren't the first to get your name above the title, you know," said Gallowglass. "Doug Duncan got his name on Russian Front even before you."
    "Yeah," said Step. "I already had my contract signed before Russian Front came out, but he was the first to get his game out that way. "
    "I met him at CES last year," said Gallowglass.
    "Yeah?"
    "I did him like I did you-told him it was a great game but then I laid into one of the flaws in the game."
    "Oh, is this something you do to everybody?" asked Step.
    "Sure."
    "Where'd you learn that technique, from How to Win Friends and Influence People?"
    Gallowglass giggled. "I just like to see how people react to it. You took it just fine. In fact, best ever. You actually listened to a kid with glasses and a pocket protector and you didn't know me from shit on the sidewalk."
    "What did Duncan do?"
    "Well, let's just say that Doug Duncan is the kind of guy who never, ever forgives anybody who dares to suggest that anything he ever did was somewhat less than perfect. He actually got me kicked off a panel at a conference six months later. Said he'd leave and not do his thing there if I was given a microphone at the conference.
    He never forgives and he never forgets."
    "Maybe that would have taught you not to criticize strangers."
    "Hey, it's my flaming-asshole test, and Duncan leaves a trail