(eng) Neal Asher - Polity Universe 05 by Brass Man

Author:Brass Man [Man, Brass]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

In a virtual space, a somewhere that was nowhere, three figures materialized. One of these was a smooth metallic head, eyeless and huge relative to the other two. Another was a mermaid served on a platter, smoking a cigar. And Horace Blegg.

‘It all seems excessively elaborate,’ said Ruby Eye.

‘How so?’ asked Blegg.

‘Why send anything in before we’ve closed it all off, and when we have done so, why not just send in kill ships? Skellor might have survived the Elysium mirrors, but he would not survive a planetary imploder.’

Blegg turned to Jerusalem and raised an eyebrow.

‘The question,’ said the AI, ‘is do we maintain our partnership with the human race, and allow it time to gain parity?’

‘You’ve lost me there,’ said Ruby Eye.

Blegg explained: ‘At present Cormac is the hunting dog that we hunters send in after the bear. He may flush it out. It may chase out after him. Or it may come out with him hanging bloody in its jaws. But it will come out.’

‘Zoom!’ said Ruby Eye, passing a hand over the top of her head.

Jerusalem said, ‘Our friend here has failed to add that we know the exact location of the bear, and haven’t told Cormac.’

‘You’ve got precise coordinates?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Then why …? Oh.’

‘You catch on quick,’ said Blegg. ‘During this hunt Cormac may learn not to be the dog any more, and we may thus learn something about our fellow hunters.’

‘Ah,’ said Ruby Eye, ‘the cracks are showing already.’

Jerusalem replied, ‘The cracks have always been there, but without sufficient stress to extend them. For us AIs, what appears to be our philanthropy is merely noblesse oblige.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.