"Rats Of The System" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

the pod's cameras had captured: a rare glimpse of the Transcendent, It was hard
to see against the burning background of the star's surface because it was a
perfectly reflective sphere.
"Exactly a kilometer across," the scientist said, "orbiting the equator every
eight minutes. It's thought they enclose themselves in bubbles of space where
the fundamental constants have been altered to enhance their cognitive
processes. This one's a keeper. I'll send it back—"
A glowing line of gas like a burning snake thousands of kilometers long whipped
past. The pod shuddered, probably from stray magnetic flux.
Carter said, "I should climb inside before I start to cook."
The scientist said, "I have to fire up the motor pretty soon." Then she said,
"Wait."
Carter waited, hung at the edge of the hatch.
The scientist said, "You switched on the antenna array."
"Just long enough to check it out."
"Something got in. I think a virus. I'm trying to firewall, but it's spreading
through the system. It already has the motor and nav systems—"
"I also have control of the corn system," another voice said. It was light and
lilting. It was as sinuous as a snake. It was right inside Carter's head.
"Carter Cho. I see you, and I know you can hear me."
The scientist said, "I can't fire the motor, but I think you can do something
about that, sailor."
So she'd known about the cutout all along. Carter started to haul himself toward
the stern.
The voice said, "Carter Cho. I will have complete control of your ship shortly.
Give yourself to us."
Carter could see the singleship now, a flat triangle at the tip of a lance of
white flame. It was only seconds away. He flipped up the panel, plugged in a
patch cord. Sparse lines of data scrolled up in a window. He couldn't access the
scientist's flight plan, had no nav except line-of-sight and seat-of-the pants.
He had to aim blind for the base of the flare and hope he hit that narrow window
by luck, came in at just the right angle, at just the right place where parallel
lines of magnetic force ran in just the right direction…
"Carter Cho. I have taken control. Kill the woman and give yourself to us, and I
promise that you will live with us in glory."
… Or he could risk a throw of the dice. Carter ran a tether from his p-suit
utility belt to a nearby bolt and braced himself against a rung. With his helmet
visor almost blacked out, he could just about look at the surface of the star
rushing toward him, could see the intricate tangles of orderly streams that fed
plasma into the brilliant patch of fusion fire at the base of the jet.
"Kill her, or I will strip your living brain neuron by neuron."
"Drop dead," Carter said, and switched off his com. The jet seemed to rise up to
infinity, a gigantic sword that cut space in two. The scientist had said that if
the pod grazed the edge of the jet, spiraling magnetic fields would fling it
into the sky at a random vector. And the star took up half the sky…
Fuck it, Carter thought. He'd been lucky so far. It was time to roll the dice
one more time, hope his luck still held.
He fired attitude controls and aimed the blunt nose of the pod. A menu window
popped up in front of his face. He selected burn and full thrust.
Sudden weight tore at his two-handed grip on the rung as the motor flared. It