Zones of Thought by Vernor Vinge

Author:Vernor Vinge [Vinge, Vernor]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780575093690
Google: mH1vPgAACAAJ
Goodreads: 6656681
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2010-10-21T07:00:00+00:00

THIRTY

The Right of Petition to the Podmaster was a convenient tradition. It even had a basis in historical fact, though Tomas Nau was sure that centuries ago, in the middle of the Plague Times, the only petitions granted were matters of propaganda. In modern times, the manipulation of petitions had been Uncle Alan’s preferred way of maintaining popularity and undermining rival factions.

It was a clever tactic, as long as you avoided Alan’s mistake of allowing assassins as petitioners. In the twenty-four years since their arrival at OnOff, Tomas Nau had passed on about a dozen petitions. This one today was the first that had claimed “time is of the essence.”

Nau looked across the table at the five petitioners. Correction: representatives of Petitioners. They claimed one hundred backers, and on just 8Ksec notice. Nau smiled, waved them to their seats. “Pilot Manager Xin. You are senior, I believe. Please explain your Petition.”

“Yes, Podmaster.” Xin glanced at his girlfriend, Rita Liao. Both were Emergents from the home world, from families that had contributed Focused and Followers for more than three hundred years. Such were the backbone of the Emergent culture, and running them should have been easy. Alas, nothing was easy out here, twenty light-years from civilization. Xin was wordless for a second more. He stole a nervous glance at Kal Omo. Omo’s returning look was very cold, and Nau suddenly wished he’d taken time to be briefed by the podsergeant. With Brughel currently off-Watch, there would be no one to blame if he had to deny the Petition.

“As you know, Podmaster, many of us are working with the ground analysis. Many more have a general interest in the Spiders we watch—”

Nau gave him a gentle smile. “I know. You hang out at Benny’s and listen to the translations.”

“Yes, sir. Um. We very much like ‘The Children’s Hour,’ and some of the story translations. They help us with our analysis. And…” His eyes got a faraway look. “I don’t know. The Spiders have a whole world down there, even if they aren’t human. Compared to us, sometimes they seem more—”Real, Nau was sure he was going to say. “I mean, we’ve come to be fond of some of the Spider children.”

As planned. The live translations were heavily buffered now. They had never discovered precisely what caused the mindrot runaway—or even if it had been connected with the live show. Anne figured that the current risk was no more than that of their other operations. Nau reached to his right, gently touched Qiwi’s hand. She smiled back. The Spider children were important. This was something he might never have understood if not for Qiwi Lisolet. Qiwi had been so good for so much. Watching her, talking to her, deceiving her—there was so much to learn. Real children would be an impossible drain on L1’s resources, but something had to substitute. Qiwi and her schemes and her dreams had shown him the way. “We’re all fond of the cobblies, Pilot Manager. Your petition has something to do with the kidnapping?”

“Yes, sir.

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