"Paul Di Filippo - Shipbreaker" - читать интересную книгу автора (Di Filippo Paul)

footing. Klom barely rocked, while he kept Sorrel anchored.

Now above the floating ship hung the deva: a silvery distortion in the air, in which the minds of lesser
beings discerned varying images, depending on both physiology and cultural conditioning.

The majority of sapients in the galaxyтАФHumans, Foambones, Weepers, Hyenas, Gadabouts,
Crickets, Leatherheads, Cygnets, as well as a thousand others and all their miscegenational
offspringтАФencoded their genomes in some variation of DNA: two helical strands of nucleotides on the
order of three billion basepairs. But there were higher orders of natural beings as well, those whose
longer evolutionary histories had achieved more. Their genomes consisted of four, six, or even eight
strands, featuring trillions of basepairs. These terabase beings exhibited emergent properties,
sophistications of mind and body unattainable by the two-strands and gigabases.

The devas were sentients who had bootstrapped themselves entirely out of conventional spacetime
thanks to their cellular complexity: decastranders, yotta- and zettabases. The subtle cosmic fields that
supported life simply kicked the devas up to a different quantum level of existence.

Sorrel shivered atop Klom. "I see a Trundler Demon. This is a bad omen."

"Nonsense," said Airey. "I can plainly discern the smiling face of a Hovaness Lamb. Nothing could be
a better sign. Klom, what do you see?"

Klom did not speak immediately. "IтАФI don't know the name for what I'm seeing."

"Can you describe it?"

"It'sтАФit forgives everything."

Airey made a dismissive noise. "Oh, that's helpful, all right."

A bolt of silver energy lanced out from the deva and splattered across the ship: a token of
beneficence. A joyous shout went up from the crowd at this blessing. Then the deva silently snapped out
of their ontological plane.

"Okay, Klom, you can put me down now."

Klom complied effortlessly. Airey tugged straight his best white tunic, which had been disarrayed by
the boomtube's blast, and said, "Well, I think this event calls for a drink. Shall we go to Thrash's for a
flagon of toadchunder?"

"Who's paying?" asked Sorrel.

Airey clapped Klom on the shoulder. "Why, Klom of course. He's the one who saw the unknowable
face of the deva. He's the one who's going to get rich!"



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