Assemblers of Infinity by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Kevin J. Anderson [Anderson, Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Exploration, General, High Tech, Military, Space Exploration, Hard Science Fiction, adventure, Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy
ISBN: 1614750696
Google: ZfYRngEACAAJ
Amazon: B004ELAGYQ
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 1993-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Parvu kept losing track of time. The stereo continued to play random musical selections, letting him work for hours with no interruption.

With the rat inside its cage breathing the filtered air of the clean-room, Parvu had no idea how long he had tinkered with the nanocore's fail-safe controls. He knew the passwords, the security interlocks -- he had designed the system himself, after all. But he couldn't remember everything.

Finally, when the klaxon screeched its warning for the fourth time, upsetting Old Gimp inside the cage, Parvu found the main power circuits and shorted across the wires.

The nanocore would allow him access now.

His hands shook as he worked. His actions, the inexcusably risky course he had decided to take by mixing the two types of automata, went completely against his lifetime of meticulousness and care, of rigid adherence to procedures and controls. He himself had been considered a roadblock to other researchers because he insisted on so many doublechecks.

And now he was sabotaging his own equipment. He, more than anyone else, understood the dangers of unleashing the nanotechnology demon. But he didn't have much time. Erika needed answers now! He couldn't wait.

Using the microwaldoes and tiny capillary pumps that had been intended for seeding analytical samples, Parvu managed to withdraw a small aliquot of the milky nutrient solution filled with billions of hybrids.

He stared down at the nanocore seals with his fingers trembling on the controls before he keyed in the long command sequence that would release the sample. It required three separate passwords. Each time, a warning message told him the peril of his actions. Each time, Parvu overrode it.

The Daedalus automata had already spread three kilometers across the lunar surface. They had already infected Erika and everyone else on the moonbase and on the Collins -- but for some reason they had replicated but otherwise gone dormant in the human bloodstream.

He squeezed his eyes shut, driving back the panic. What if he was wrong? The clean-room dome was sealed and airtight, but by no means would it contain vigorous nanotech samples if they attempted to breach the walls. What if he was starting a chain reaction that would turn the planet into a ball of Drexler's infamous "gray goo"? If so, Parvu himself would be responsible for bringing a nanotech plague to Earth.

But the alien automata were already here! What good would it do to contain them inside the nanocore's defenses when someone like Kent Woodward could trot out with a snowshovel and dig up a dozen more samples out in the open air?

But those samples had been inert, activated only by Parvu's prototypes.

They might pose a different threat entirely.

However, he always had the x-ray burst inside the NIL as a last resort.

That would sterilize the hybrid automata, himself, and everything else. It gave him small comfort.

For now, Parvu had to see what the machines would do when they encountered the rat's bloodstream.

Old Gimp squirmed and made a high-pitched noise as Parvu injected it with the sample fluid. "Hold still, please," he told the rat.

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