"John G. Hemry - Do No Harm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

why the crew would be asking his opinion about anything to do with the ship, then
spotted a section about two-thirds of the way back on the ship. Something had
bulged out into the passageway there, pushing into adjacent areas as well and even
cutting off a couple of subsystem circuits. Frowning, Kevlin zoomed in the display,
seeing that the mass consisted of hundreds of identical components, fused together.
тАЬWhatтАЩs going on?тАЭ
тАЬWe have no idea,тАЭ the captain barked. тАЬSandra doesnтАЩt seem to understand
it and claims she canтАЩt stop it. Our best guess is that one of the repair segments
locked somehow and keeps replicating the same component.тАЭ
тАЬOut-of-control replication?тАЭ Kevlin couldnтАЩt hide his reaction. тАЬLike a
cancer?тАЭ
тАЬCancer?тАЭ The captain looked baffled, then appalled.
One of the other engineers nodded quickly. тАЬHer repair systems have been
evolving rapidly under the pressure of the tests. One of them must have evolved in a
way that bypasses SandraтАЩs control functions.тАЭ
тАЬHow do we stop it?тАЭ the captain demanded.
тАЬUh...тАЭ Kevlin scratched his head, noticing that Yasmina had also woken up
and was watching them with a captivated expression. The woman got her kicks out
of the strangest things. тАЬStarve it? Can you kill power to it? Or prevent whateverтАЩs
building the components out of control from getting access to more resources?тАЭ
The crewmembers went into a huddle. The captain called out several orders to
Sandra, looking steadily more unhappy as each command failed to choke off the
equipment tumor still growing into the passageway. Finally she turned to two of the
crewmembers. тАЬChen and Ragosa. You two go down there and manually cut
through these circuits and feeders. See? IтАЩm downloading the diagram to your
personals. The repair drones can operate without external power for a limited period,
but then theyтАЩll shut down in that area. ThatтАЩll at least stop that thing from growing
any more while we identify the bad components.тАЭ She frowned again as the two
unbuckled and floated free of their seats. тАЬTake your suits.тАЭ
тАЬAh, hell,тАЭ Chen protested. тАЬWeтАЩll be carrying enough as it is with the laser
cutters and manual tools.тАЭ
тАЬWear your suits! I wonтАЩt get nailed for violating safety precautions on a
shakedown voyage!тАЭ
Kevlin watched them go, then gazed at the display again.
тАЬNow what?тАЭ Yasmina asked softly.
тАЬI donтАЩt know. Something is nagging at me. I canтАЩt figure out what it is.тАЭ
тАЬDo you think those two are in danger?тАЭ
тАЬNo.тАЭ Kevlin shook his head. тАЬI donтАЩt think so. How could they be? ThereтАЩs
safeguards built into the system, right?тАЭ
тАЬSandraтАЩs full of them,тАЭ Yasmina agreed. тАЬShe canтАЩt try to harm people, or let
people come to harm. YouтАЩre still worried about something serious going wrong?тАЭ
тАЬTheyтАЩve mimicked the operation of a living organism, Yaz. Unpredictable
and living go together.тАЭ
тАЬHow could it bypass the safeguards?тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩt know!тАЭ Kevlin made a frustrated gesture. тАЬThey designed this thingтАЩs
internal functions, especially its self-operating and repair functions, to тАШevolve.тАЩ
What are the limits on that?тАЭ
тАЬI told you. Sandra canтАЩt get sentient.тАЭ
Kevlin glowered at his display. тАЬThereтАЩs a whole lot of things that go wrong in
living organisms that operate below the level of sentience.тАЭ