Gregory Benford Furious Gulf

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

imponderable mix of people. Not the fault of either, maybe, just a fact.
He did not know if the true Shibo could ever come back again in a
Personality but that was not the point now, and in a flash of close contact
between them he told her that, not in words but in pangs of sharp remorse.
Two heartbeats. Then her reply.
Her fury battered against him. His right hand shook. Fingers went numb. Hard
to hold the tips in them. His breath caught.
She moved fast, trying everything. His sphincter clenched, balls ached. Jumpy
nervous energy wormed across his skin. His chest froze up.
Hand jangling, thumb askew, muscles rock-hard.
He made himself relax his right hand and let the wrist go free. In the
backlash of the muscles he reversed the tension against her and moved.
He jerked the tools out at all four quadrants. They came flee.
No you can't I love you love Killeen love all of you don't make me stop please
please I can't can't can't can't can't can't
His hand brought the tips around all bright-bloody and with skin caught in
them. Like a single muscle his body shivered. A violent jerking,
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
(323 of 381) [5/21/03 12:55:23 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
240
Gregory Benford throwing off a sheen of droplets. Lungs heaved as if he had
been under water a long time.
The moist forest around him lay at the end of a long shadowy tunnel and purple
flies buzzed in halos around the tunnel walls.
Closing, far away. Sliding dark.
He pitched forward into the tunnel.
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
(324 of 381) [5/21/03 12:55:23 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
FURIOUS GULF
241
Frames
In one frame of reference, the Wedge whirls at a blistering angular velocity,
skimming razor-close to the speed of light.
In another mathematical frame, it stands stationary in a geometric manifold.
Still, silent. Lines of folded space-time eddy about it.
In this view, despite excruciating gradients and wrenching torques, the
Wedge is an island of tranquil stability. Gravitational radiation from the
black hole coalesces about its slippery contours.
Waves lap. Languid, easy. Torsional stresses play like intricate spider webs
along slick, pulsing bulges.
This pressure sustains the Wedge against all lashing dissipations. It has done
so for an interval whose length--or duration--depends upon the local geometry
of the observer.
In still another frame of reference, the Wedge is locked in unending, furious
struggle with the black hole.
Forces wrestle. The Eater seeks to eat. The Wedge jams itself between the
Eater's jaws. Pries them open. Plugs the gullet. Saves itself.
All are true.
Page 171
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Each is a frame. Truth is the sum of all frames.
Down the magnetic field lines that thread the Wedge, rubbery yet unbreakable,
trickle wave packets of rippling complexity. They carry information in the
only fashion that can slip through the knotted weave of the
Wedge.
Along these slender strands--wiry, coiled lifelines--the mechanical
civilization converses with its delegate. The machine intelligences gather in
packets, elaborate sliding decompositions of data. They linger above the fray
of the great accretion disk, in the eternal sleet of hard radiation. Against
this torrent the gliding minds use defenses of ceramic and metal.
By rippling the magnetic field lines they converse with their delegate.
Hollow voices down a vast well.
At the bottom, the lone creature hears. Replies. Always amid discord, the
delegate must both debate and act. Dividing its intelligence yet again, it
assigns separate portions to these tasks.
It does not enjoy the pleasures of its rulers, who float in majestic remove.
It must endure the rasp and grit of the lands within the Wedge. Seeking,
always seeking.
All parties to the discussion think at the speed of light. Their voices cannot
escape their origins, however, or the assumptions of their kind.
I/You have explored a huge array of vaults and spaces, *>A
nothing!
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
(325 of 381) [5/21/03 12:55:23 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
(326 of 381) [5/21/03 12:55:23 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
242
Gregory Benford
I have discovered a wealth of primate culture!
That was not your task, >A
How well I know. Our own ancient data imply that there are special,
message-bearing primates. I have sought them. But they are difficult to
separate from the hordes of primates here.
There are so many? Hiding from us? They fear us--quite rightly, I suppose.
Search out these certain message-
bearers! Be done with such irritants.
The spaces here are innumerable.
Continue. Secure the minimum of three genetic layers which we/you require.
We have the basic biological information from the oldest generation, the
"grandfather." But the nature of the coded message demands three generations.
Direct bio logical descent.
The Legacies implied that we/you needed full analysis of them. This means
complete and viable copies.
I/We think not. They could just as well be dead.
I have been carefully reading each surekill I make. My subunits are equally
careful. I shall not miss the characteristic signature of the particular
primate we need, the youngest. I knew him.
On their planet?
He was useful in securing his father-self when I wished to make a capture.
I hope you/we can do as well now/
here.
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
(327 of 381) [5/21/03 12:55:23 AM]
Page 172
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
FURIOUS GULF
243
You/We are fading from our/your field of view. Is the Wedge damaging?
I have navigated the shifts here, but there is a troubling background sense.
Something more lurks in these warped passages.
What is it? I/You have heard reports from earlier units we/all sent into the
Wedge. Before they vanished from us/you.
I do not know how to describe it. A faint trembling presence beyond my fields.
But it is not localized.
An echo.
I think not. It comes from everywhere but does not repeat what I send. I am
uneasy.
Stifle your/our reactions. You/We act for us/all, remember.
This is not the time for hesitation.
Kill them all if you/we can. I/We would be done with this vexation.
I have surekilled so many. My factors overload. So much wealth to know and
savor!
Forget your/our strange sense of beauty! Never before has such a strong agency
as you/we penetrated the Wedge so deeply. Know them, yes.
Then end these parasites in their last lair.
Savage them!
I obey.
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Furios%20Gulf.txt
(328 of 381) [5/21/03 12:55:23 AM] [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Archiwum