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Peter Watts 224 Blindsight
a developing embryo—the genes say start growing or stop
growing, but the number of digits and vertebrae result from the
mechanics of cells bumping against other cells. Those mitotic
spindles I mentioned Absolutely essential for replication in every
eukaryotic cell, and they accrete like crystals without any genetic
involvement. You'd be surprised how much of life is like that."
"But you still need genes," Bates protested, walking around to
join us.
"Genes just establish the starting conditions to enable the
process. The structure that proliferates afterwards doesn't need
specific instructions. It's classic emergent complexity. We've
known about it for over a century." Another drag on the stick. "Or
even longer. Darwin cited honeycomb way back in the eighteen
hundreds."
"Honeycomb," Bates repeated.
"Perfect hexagonal tubes in a packed array. Bees are hardwired
to lay them down, but how does an insect know enough geometry
to lay down a precise hexagon It doesn't. It's programmed to
chew up wax and spit it out while turning on its axis, and that
generates a circle. Put a bunch of bees on the same surface,
chewing side-by-side, and the circles abut against each other—
deform each other into hexagons, which just happen to be more
efficient for close packing anyway."
Bates pounced: "But the bees are programmed. Genetically."
"You misunderstand. Scramblers are the honeycomb."
"Rorschach is the bees," James murmured.
Cunningham nodded. "Rorschach is the bees. And I don't think
Rorschach's magnetic fields are counterintrusion mechanisms at
all. I think they're part of the life-support system. I think they
mediate and regulate a good chunk of scrambler metabolism.
What we've got back in the hold is a couple of creatures dragged
out of their element and holding their breath. And they can't hold it
forever."
"How long" James asked.
"How should I know If I'm right, I'm not even dealing with
complete organisms here."
"Guess," Bates said.