"Allen, Roger MacBride - Chronicles of Solace 3 - Shores of Tomorrow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Allen Roger Macbride)

УDo wewant to escape? We just went through a hell of a lot of effort toget here,Ф Koffield pointed out. УThere are a lot of reasons for staying here. Besides, itТs much more likely thatthey would need help fromus. With all the equipment in this place, thereТs bound to be something they could use. Do we want to let them know weТre here?Ф

УI grant all that,Ф said Marquez, Уbut still we need to think it all through. We canТt just dismiss the thought of leaving out of hand.Ф

УEven if wedid want to escape, how could we?Ф Koffield ticked off the difficulties on his fingers. УA habitat seven hundred kilometers away, when we donТt have any transport, we donТt know where it is, we donТt know if theyТd let us in, and we canТt survive on the surface without our suits for heat and oxygen. WeТd have to walk, carrying supplies that we could use without having to take the suits off for more than a few minutes at a time. Plus it would have to be all of us or none of us. We couldnТt leave behind hostages. The thingТs impossible in so many ways, I canТt imagine DeSilvo even worrying about it.Ф

УGranted, I suppose,Ф Marquez said.

УAnd thereТs another issue weТd have to consider. A diehard hab thatТs hung on this long hasgot to be on the knife edge of survival as it is. Eight more bodies breathing air and eating food and giving off body waste and heat and sweat could easily be enough to collapse their ecostructure. We could be sentencing them to death just by walking through their front door.Ф

Koffield frowned, and went on. УPlus, theyТd know how much risk extra bodies would mean to them just as well as we doЧprobably better. TheyТd have to regard our showing up and endangering them as deliberate. We might be found guilty of attempted murder just because we arrivedЧand diehard habs canТt afford to run nice, humane prisons. They tend toward capital punishment for most offenses, even minor ones. And they tend to be terrifyingly good recyclers. Alive, weТd be a threat to their survival. Once we were tried, convicted, and sentenced, weТd be a welcome input of fresh resources.Ф

Marquez felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. УThat part I hadnТt considered,Ф he conceded. УSo, we stay away from Last Chance Canyon. Fine. And DeSilvo shouldnТt have any problems letting us go outside long enough to dispose of the bomb. I donТt think DeSilvo will want us to keep itЧand we wonТt wanthim to have itЧnot that it really makes any difference.Ф

УAgreed. Who needs a bomb for a weapon when all you have to do is cut off food, water, and air?Ф

Marquez nodded, then checked the time. УWeТve probably taken as long as we can get away with on this. Anything else we need to cover?Ф

УTwo things,Ф Koffield said. УOne: Everything IТve seen so far tells me that DeSilvo can copy advanced technology all day long, but he canТt create it or modify it. Two: There are some things that take more than two or three people to doЧnot one man and a crowd of robots.Ф

УWhat do you mean he canТt create high tech?Ф Marquez asked.

УI mean the faster-than-light drive, the FTL communicator, the improved temporal confinement systemЧthe robots themselves, for that matter. DeSilvo didnТtinvent any of those things. I doubt he understands all of them completelyЧsome of them he may not understand at all. People use tools all the time without knowing how they work, so long as they get the results they want. And what IТve seen around here tells me heТs got some sort of autofacЧpossibly a number of them, in various sizes.Ф

УNeither of us has spotted oneЧand weТve both been exploring,Ф Marquez objected.

УI doubt we will see one. HeТd be sure to keep any automatic manufacturer very carefully tucked away from the likes of us,Ф Koffield said. УStill, he might have gotten sloppy. ThatТs the main reason I want to risk having one more look around tonight: to see if I can locate any autofacs. If I can find it, and get an idea of its capabilities, weТll know a lot more about what DeSilvo can do.Ф

УOr maybe we havenТt found an autofac because there isnТt one,Ф Marquez pointed out.

УThereТs an indirect clue that hedoes have one. Nearly everything we saw in the Dark Museum had an autofac datastore included as part of the documentation. HeТd be able to build copies of virtually everything in the museum. But, even so, an autofacwould limit him in very distinct ways. It could do lots of thingsЧbut it couldnТt let him doeverything. Ф

УWhat youТre saying is that he can only make what a good autofac can make.Ф

УRight. There must have been some sort of small abandoned landing field or service field or something here, and he built up around that. He must have an autofac, and must have used it to build everything here that he didnТt already have. Subtract the equipment he found in place and reused, subtract whatТs obviously been scavenged from somewhere else and brought in, subtract whatever else was made in an autofacЧand thereТs very little left over.Ф

УSo if he doesnТt have the autofac documentation for a left-handed frangusЧФ

УHeТs got no other way to make one, unless he can give a robot explicit enough instructions, or else make it himself. Itmust limit him in particular ways. If he needs a bicycle, but the autofac only knows how to make a truck, then he has to use a truck instead of a bicycle. And thereТs more. He canТt modify.Ф

УWhat do you mean?Ф

УHe isnТt able to tell the autofac to change what it builds. If it knows how to build a five-liter bucket, he canТt tell it to build a ten-liter bucket.

УMy second point is that I think heТs reached the limits of what one man can do, even with unlimited assistance from robots and ArtInts and autofacs. He can only do large-scale jobs that can be done with all-robot labor, with most of it ArtInt-controlled. I think if heТs going to move forward withЧwith whatever it is heТs doing, he going to need peopleЧlots of them. Wandella AshdinТs been working on her presentation. SheТs interviewed him several times since she got here. She mentioned something to me this morning: His plan at one point, long ago, long before we came into the picture, was to bring a large staff here. The facility is certainly big enoughЧfar too large for one man, even a megalomaniac. The place could support a staff of hundreds. Maybe weТre just the first recruits.Ф

УAnd IТve been wondering if we were prisoners or guests. You make me think maybe weТre employeesЧor slaves.Ф

Koffield smiled. УLetТs try and think of ourselves as independent contractors. A temporary arrangement.Ф