[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
To Wang-mu's horror, Grace laughed out loud at her, instead of nodding
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
respectfully.
"Overkill," Peter murmured.
"Oh, don't criticize her," said Grace. "She's Chinese. From Path, right? And
I'll bet you used to be a servant. How could you possibly have learned the
difference between respect and obsequiousness? Masters never are content with
mere respect from their servants."
"But my master was," said Wang-mu, trying to defend Han Fei-Tzu.
"As is my master," said Grace. "As you will see, when you meet him."
"Time's up," said Jane.
Miro and Val looked up, bleary-eyed, from the documents they were poring over at
Miro's computer, to see that in the air above Val's computer, Jane's virtual
face now hovered, watching them.
"We've been passive observers as long as they'll let us," said Jane. "But now
there are three spacecraft up in the outer atmosphere, rising toward us. I don't
think any of them are merely remote-controlled weapons, but I can't be certain
of it. And they seem to be directing some transmissions to us in particular, the
same messages over and over."
"What message?"
"It's the genetic molecule stuff," said Jane. "I can tell you the composition of
the molecules, but I haven't a clue what they mean."
"When do their interceptors reach us?"
"Three minutes, plus or minus. They're zig-zagging evasively, now that they've
escaped the gravity well."
Miro nodded. "My sister Quara was convinced that much of the descolada virus
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
consisted of language. I think now we can conclusively say that she was right.
It does carry a meaning. She was wrong about the virus being sentient, though, I
think. My guess now is that the descolada kept recomposing those sections of
itself that constituted a report."
"A report," echoed Val. "That makes sense. To tell its makers what it has done
with the world it ... probed."
"So the question is," said Miro, "do we simply disappear and let them ponder the
miracle of our sudden arrival and vanishing? Or do we first have Jane broadcast
to them the entire, um, text of the descolada virus?"
"Dangerous," said Val. "The message it contains may also tell these people
everything they want to know about human genes. After all, we're one of the
creatures the descolada worked on, and its message is going to tell all of our
strategies for controlling it."
"Except the last one," said Miro. "Because Jane won't send them the descolada as
it exists now, completely tamed and controlled -- that would be inviting them to
revise it to circumvent our alterations."
"We won't send them a message and we won't go back to Lusitania, either," said
Jane. "We don't have time."
"We don't have time not to," said Miro. "However urgent you might think this is,
Jane, it doesn't do a lick of good for me and Val to be here to do this without
help. My sister Ela, for instance, who actually understands this virus stuff.
And Quara, despite her being the second most pig-headed being in the known
universe -- don't beg for flattery, Val, by asking who the first is -- we could
use Quara."
"And let's be fair about this," said Val. "We're meeting another sentient
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
species. Why should humans be the only ones represented? Why not a pequenino?
Why not a hive queen -- or at least a worker?"
"Especially a worker," said Miro. "If we are stuck here, having a worker with us
would enable us to communicate with Lusitania -- ansible or not, Jane or not,
messages could --"
"All right," said Jane. "You've persuaded me. Even though the last-minute flurry
with the Starways Congress tells me they're about to shut down the ansible
network at any moment."
"We'll hurry," said Miro. "We'll make them all rush to get the right people
aboard."
"And the right supplies," said Val. "And --"
"So start doing it," said Jane. "You just disappeared from your orbit around the
descolada planet. And I did broadcast a small fragment of the descolada. One of
the sections that Quara pegged as language, but the one that was least altered
during mutations as the descolada tried to fight with humans. It should be
enough to let them know which of their probes reached us."
"Oh, good, so they can launch a fleet," said Miro.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]