"Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon The Deep (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Vernor)

through the humans' databases. Checking, just to be sure. Just to be sure. The
humans' oldest local network used light speed connections. Thousands of
microseconds were spent (wasted) bouncing around it, sorting the trivia... finally
spotting one incredible item:

Inventory: quantum data container, quantity (1), loaded to the frigate one hundred
hours before!

And all the newborn's attention turned upon the fleeing vessels. Microbes, but
suddenly pernicious. How could this happen? A million schedules were suddenly
advanced. An orderly flowering was out of the question now, and so there was no
more need for the humans left in the Lab.

The change was small for all its cosmic significance. For the humans remaining
aground, a moment of horror, staring at their displays, realizing that all their fears
were true (not realizing how much worse than true).

Five seconds, ten seconds, more change than ten thousand years of a human
civilization. A billion trillion constructions, mold curling out from every wall,
rebuilding what had been merely superhuman. This was as powerful as a proper
flowering, though not quite so finely tuned.

And never lose sight of the reason for haste: the frigate. It had switched to rocket
drive, blasting heedless away from the wallowing freighter. Somehow, these
microbes knew they were rescuing more than themselves. The warship had the
best navigation computers that little minds could make. But it would be another
three seconds before it could make its first ultradrive hop.

file:///F|/rah/Vernor%20Vinge/Vinge,%20Vernor%20-%20A%20Fire%20Upon%20the%20Deep.htm (6 of 632) [2/22/03 2:06:50 AM]
 A Fire Upon the Deep


The new Power had no weapons on the ground, nothing but a comm laser. That
could not even melt steel at the frigate's range. No matter, the laser was aimed,
tuned civilly on the retreating warship's receiver. No acknowledgment. The
humans knew what communication would bring. The laser light flickered here and
there across the hull, lighting smoothness and inactive sensors, sliding across the
ship's ultradrive spines. Searching, probing. The Power had never bothered to
sabotage the external hull, but that was no problem. Even this crude machine had
thousands of robot sensors scattered across its surface, reporting status and danger,
driving utility programs. Most were shut down now, the ship fleeing nearly blind.
They thought by not looking that they could be safe.

One more second and the frigate would attain interstellar safety.

The laser flickered on a failure sensor, a sensor that reported critical changes in
one of the ultradrive spines. Its interrupts could not be ignored if the star jump
were to succeed. Interrupt honored. Interrupt handler running, looking out,
receiving more light from the laser far below.... a backdoor into the ship's code,
installed when the newborn had subverted the humans' groundside equipment....