Vinge, Vernor - Rainbows End.pdf - Masterbatingphysics.com

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Cover Rainbows End Rainbows End RAINBOWS END To the Internet-based cognitive tools that are changing our lives — Wikipedia, Google, eBay, and the others of their kind, now and in the future Rainbows End ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful for the advice and help of: Jeff Allen, David Baxter, Ethan Bier, John Carroll, Randy Carver, Steven Cherry, Connie Fleenor, Robert Fleming, Peter Flynn, Mike Gannis, Harry Goldstein, Thomas Goodey, Bar- bara Gordon, Judith Greengard, Dipak Gupta, Patricia Hartman, Patrick Hillmeyer, Cherie Kushner, Sifang Lu, Sara Baase Mayers, Keith Mayers, Terry McGarry, Sean Peisert, William Rupp, Peter H. Salus, Mary Q. Smith, Charles Vestal, Joan D. Vinge, Gabriele Wienhausen, and William F. Wu. I am very grateful to James Frenkel for the wonderful job of editing he has done with this book. Jim and Tor Books have been very patient with me in the long process of creating Rain- bows End. Rainbows End Prologue Rainbows End Dumb Luck and Smart Thinking The first bit of dumb luck came disguised as a public embarrassment for the European Center for Defense Against Disease. On July 23, schoolchildren in Algiers claimed that a respiratory epidemic was spreading across the Mediterranean. The claim was based on clever analysis of antibody data from the mass-transit systems of Algiers and Naples. CDD had no immediate comment, but in less than three hours, public-health hobbyists re- ported similar results in other cities, complete with contagion maps. The epidemic was at least one week old, probably originating in Central Africa, beyond the scope of hobbyist surveil- lance. By the time CDD got its public-relations act together, the disease had been detected in In- dia and North America. Worse yet, a journalist in Seattle had isolated and identified the infec- tious agent, which turned out to be a Pseudomimivirus. That was about as embarrassing a twist as the public-relations people could imagine: Back in the late teens, CDD had justified its enormous budget with a brilliant defense against the New Sunrise cult. The Sunrise Plague had been the second-worst Euro-terror of the decade. Only CDD's leadership had kept the
disaster from spreading worldwide. The Sunrise Plague had been based on a Pseudomimivirus. There were still good people at CDD. They were the same specialists who had saved the world in 2017. They quickly resolved the July 23 issue. Public Relations could now spin a more or less accurate statement: Yes, this Pseudomimi had evaded the standard announce- ment protocols. The failure was a simple software error at the Center's "Current Events" website. And yes, this Pseudomimi might be a derivative of the Sunrise Plague. Denatured strains of the original, death-optimized, virus continued to echo around the world, a permanent addi- tion to the background noise of the biosphere. Three had already been sighted that year, one just five days before, on July 18. Furthermore (and here the public-relations people regained their usual elan), all such events were subclinical, having essentially no perceptible symp- toms. The Pseudomimiviruses had an enormous genome (well, enormous for a virus, small for almost anything else). The New Sunrise cult had transformed that genome into a Swiss Army knife of death, with a tool to counter almost every defense. But without such optimiza- tion, the Pseudomimis were clunky bags of DNA junk. "And so, in conclusion, we at CDD apo- logize for failing to announce this routine event." A week passed. Two weeks. There were no further captures of the organism. Antibody surveys showed that the epidemic never got much farther than the rim of the Mediterranean. CDD's claims for the outbreak were absolutely correct. This kind of "subclinical respiratory epidemic" was almost a contradiction in terms. If not one victim in a thousand even gets the sniffles, the virus is almost dependent on charity to make its way in the world. The CDD explanations were accepted. The public-health hobbyists had been scaremon- gering a commonplace event. In fact, there was only one misrepresentation in the CDD story, and that successfully eluded public notice: The failure to announce the virus had not been a mess-up at the public website. Instead, it had been a glitch in the Center's just-revised internal alert system. So the responsible specialists had been as ignorant of the event as the general public; it was the hobbyists who had alerted both. In the inner circles of EU intelligence, there were people who were not forgiving of such lapses. These were people who countered terror on a daily basis. These were people whose greatest successes were things you never heard about — and whose failures could be bigger than the Sunrise Plague. Understandably, these people were both paranoid and obsessive. The EU Intelligence Board assigned one of its brightest agents, a young German named Günberk Braun, to over- see a quiet reorganization at CDD. In those parts of intelligence where Braun was known, he was somewhat famous — as the most obsessing of the obsessive. In any case, he and his
Page 4 and 5: teams quickly revamped the internal
Page 6 and 7: CDC in America and the CDCP in Chin
Page 8 and 9: sorts of invalid clues. Vaz waved t
Page 10 and 11: The rabbit touched its nose. "I wil
Page 12 and 13: "Yes, I'm afraid so. My people have
Page 14 and 15: He was at just the spot he had orde
Page 16 and 17: and always getting lost or worn out
Page 18 and 19: line of tan and faded ochre. They w
Page 20 and 21: Alice — > Bob: Gotta go. I'm alre
Page 22 and 23: The thin air said, "Actually, Rober
Page 24 and 25: "Y-Yes." "I was here just a week ag
Page 26 and 27: And then she ran around the table t
Page 28 and 29: Miri hesitated the way she often di
Page 30 and 31: "You should get a fresh one, dear,"
Page 32 and 33: ence, but they were the best gamers
Page 34 and 35: They walked into the clearing. They
Page 36 and 37: know, I don't think — " "The Prob
Page 38 and 39: The saurian shrugged and there was
Page 40 and 41: attention. He slipped into his clas
Page 42 and 43: He started some background checks.
Page 44 and 45: Shop class was also Juan's best opp
Page 46 and 47: Juan knew all that. "But you... you
Page 48 and 49: ers. The only talent she had was in
Page 50 and 51: The young-old man was silent for a
Page 52 and 53:
"Anything you do in this class will
Page 54 and 55:
it for even an instant. Any blush o
Page 56 and 57:
Robert stood, his fingers trying to
Page 58 and 59:
"What he says when he's trying to h
Page 60 and 61:
ture showed the ground around him,
Page 62 and 63:
It was cold. He'd walked a long way
Page 64 and 65:
He poked a finger at a tiny spar. "
Page 66 and 67:
But Robert Gu already seemed to kno
Page 68 and 69:
the courage to run amok. When they
Page 70 and 71:
young businessman. As for his surve
Page 72 and 73:
nals intelligence people, he wasn't
Page 74 and 75:
long would it take to build a Pseud
Page 76 and 77:
One of the sand crabs reared back,
Page 78 and 79:
doesn't know you're working behind
Page 80 and 81:
"um." Sharif continued his guppy im
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And then there was what Juan Orozco
Page 84 and 85:
there, windowless walkways stretche
Page 86 and 87:
Sharif made no reply. Robert shrugg
Page 88 and 89:
He turned off all enhancements, and
Page 90 and 91:
show up today." " Duì. Yes. There'
Page 92 and 93:
tectors. They might have been const
Page 94 and 95:
"No problem — " began Rivera. "Yo
Page 96 and 97:
"This," Winnie waved the paper in t
Page 98 and 99:
The gesture must have been taken as
Page 100 and 101:
"Oh, yeah?" Robert picked up the mu
Page 102 and 103:
and now they were bigger than some
Page 104 and 105:
Juan's eyes widened slightly at the
Page 106 and 107:
"I'll ask her." Miri gave a little
Page 108 and 109:
Gu. Five years ago she'd had Parkin
Page 110 and 111:
After a moment, Lena shifted in her
Page 112 and 113:
claimed that if you practiced, this
Page 114 and 115:
Juan — > Miri: Yeah? Well you're
Page 116 and 117:
Lena -> Juan, Miri, Xiu: What! What
Page 118 and 119:
now, Robert wasn't keen on getting
Page 120 and 121:
"It's not your fault, my man. You'r
Page 122 and 123:
Robert gritted his teeth. "And I ta
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hardware." Leaving aside the moonsh
Page 126 and 127:
"Not at all, not at all! But you se
Page 128 and 129:
Winnie said, "It's true that we can
Page 130 and 131:
Rivera nodded. "And that by itself
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them all, along with crazy stuff th
Page 134 and 135:
They went down two flights of stair
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Books ahead and behind, and off to
Page 138 and 139:
And for a wonder, Robert did see; a
Page 140 and 141:
This talent pool was decisive in gr
Page 142 and 143:
what fits San Diego." Sharif stared
Page 144 and 145:
Miri slid off her bike and stood be
Page 146 and 147:
Then Juan had to go help his mother
Page 148 and 149:
tubes that were already piled on th
Page 150 and 151:
"No, that's okay. I'm the fellow wi
Page 152 and 153:
that he showed up just now. Robert
Page 154 and 155:
heard her call Bob that. Bob's foot
Page 156 and 157:
Robert sat on the can for a few min
Page 158 and 159:
"Pull the plug on Credit Suisse CA?
Page 160 and 161:
" — Yes. Exactly." He hadn't been
Page 162 and 163:
And the sixth floor... was empty, s
Page 164 and 165:
Neither Rivera nor Blount seemed di
Page 166 and 167:
the guy hadn't even noticed his arr
Page 168 and 169:
days. Worse, the Christmas movie se
Page 170 and 171:
This time Miri's smile was happier.
Page 172 and 173:
"Patrick?" His second-in-command ap
Page 174 and 175:
count for bioterror paranoia — ca
Page 176 and 177:
al issues aside. The main thing thi
Page 178 and 179:
surprise for the world that would s
Page 180 and 181:
"Jeez, were those critters real?" "
Page 182 and 183:
Rainbows End When Belief Circles Co
Page 184 and 185:
Rivera puffed along. "Maybe. We've
Page 186 and 187:
"It's the belief-circles clash. Peo
Page 188 and 189:
Carlos looked just as blank, but th
Page 190 and 191:
"How far are they from Goal A?" Alf
Page 192 and 193:
Juan slowed, drew Miri to a stop. "
Page 194 and 195:
There was no way back and no way fo
Page 196 and 197:
spond to his computer box. Thunk. S
Page 198 and 199:
crystals. "You know, it's really we
Page 200 and 201:
ments. From cameras flying above th
Page 202 and 203:
their reserves into the maw of batt
Page 204 and 205:
Tim Huynh could see more. After all
Page 206 and 207:
do that?" Its voice and facial expr
Page 208 and 209:
"But one of us should clearly win,
Page 210 and 211:
It would be for nothing without som
Page 212 and 213:
discussions, his own people thoroug
Page 214 and 215:
planned to find out just what Alfre
Page 216 and 217:
Tommie waved at the drifts of shred
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cies. His shoulders slumped. "Okay.
Page 220 and 221:
Winnie looked down at Tommie. "We'l
Page 222 and 223:
Chapter 3, What Alfred is up to...p
Page 224 and 225:
leave him here. Maybe he could set
Page 226 and 227:
ten a.m. tomorrow." "What? Now we c
Page 228 and 229:
elow the level of reasonable suspic
Page 230 and 231:
Braun — > Mitsuri, Vaz: Mr. Rabbi
Page 232 and 233:
Miri — > Robert: Do you really ca
Page 234 and 235:
Braun — > Mitsuri, Vaz: Losing fl
Page 236 and 237:
"But I do know that he's trying to
Page 238 and 239:
Mitsuri — > Braun, Vaz: Eight min
Page 240 and 241:
She waved for the car to stop. The
Page 242 and 243:
"Sure it is!" said Winnie. "I'm wea
Page 244 and 245:
had simplified the lab situation. T
Page 246 and 247:
There was something else that was i
Page 248 and 249:
a flat lab floor, and the localizer
Page 250 and 251:
to minimize damage to old-style wir
Page 252 and 253:
The Minimum Sufficient Response Mus
Page 254 and 255:
"So that means, um" — and Miri's
Page 256 and 257:
That had been a High Energy Infra-R
Page 258 and 259:
Interrogation teams were not yet in
Page 260 and 261:
Cara gave a panicked cry and came b
Page 262 and 263:
Bob hesitated just outside the main
Page 264 and 265:
"No jail time, Dad. Officially, you
Page 266 and 267:
She thinks I must have chickened ou
Page 268 and 269:
"Hey!" said Juan, and gave Robert a
Page 270 and 271:
scheme injected into the transmissi
Page 272 and 273:
the lyrics, what was your contribut
Page 274 and 275:
Xiu — > Robert: Tommie is old, an
Page 276 and 277:
"Do you think he'll ever get his ed
Page 278 and 279:
Lena flinched at the words, then hu
Page 280 and 281:
"Don't be too sorry. I wasn't... a
Page 282 and 283:
In fact, the medical condition of R
Page 284 and 285:
admitted that tonight. That was her
Page 286 and 287:
Somewhere in all of this, Juan retu
Page 288 and 289:
Robert concentrated on management a
Page 290 and 291:
er." Carlos looked around his offic
Page 292:
Then he was down the elevator and b
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Vinge, Vernor - Rainbows End.pdf - Masterbatingphysics.com

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