"James Alan Gardner - League of Peoples 03 - Vigilant" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner James Alan)

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html




James Alan Gardner

Vigilant
To Peter Fraser, who gave me a job, a computer, time to do what I wanted,
and a lot of paper sneaked out the back door.



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I acknowledge the people who helped me write/revise/polish this tome: Linda Carson, Richard Curtis,
and Jennifer Brehl. Where would I be without them?

I acknowledge that John Brunner wroteThe Stone That Never Came Down some twenty-five years
ago and that I lifted a crucial aspect of the Vigil from it. (Wouldn't it be spiffy if all the people who
borrowed from Brunner actually admitted it? And wouldn't it be spiffy if you, dear reader, went out and
bought Brunner's books to see what I'm talking about?)

Finally, I acknowledge that there was originally going to be a lot about politics in this book... but every
time I tried to sneak some in, it stuck out like a sore thumb. Our friend Faye is so new at her job, no one
would let her close to real political action. Besides, she joined the Vigil for personal reasons, not through
any great urge to get involved in the democratic process. Oh well... maybe next book, the characters will
get out of the way and let me pontificate.




THE STRUCTURE OF THE TECHNOCRACY
In a.d. 2454, the Technocracy consists of the following:

(a) Sixty-three planets with full membership (called the Core or mainstream worlds);

(b) Ninety-two planets with "affiliate" status (usually called the Fringe Worlds);

(c) Several hundred colony worlds founded by people who espouse some degree of loyalty to the
Technocracy. Colonies range from small scientific outposts of a half-dozen researchers, to settlements of
a few hundred thousand inhabitants.

The mainstream worlds share a single integrated administration. Fringe Worlds, on the other hand, all
have independent governments, subject to various obligations as Technocracy affiliates (such as providing
port facilities for the navy).

There is only one law that applies to all worlds: the single directive of the League of Peoples,
 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html