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

stated.
Momentary silence followed that declaration, then the captain came on again in
a deathly calm voice. тАЬExplain that. ThereтАЩs numerous safeguards built into the
operating system that put human safety at a premium. Sandra canтАЩt attack humans.тАЭ
тАЬSheтАЩs not attacking humans,тАЭ Kevlin explained, feeling more and more
certain. тАЬHer repair subsystem is attacking an infection. DonтАЩt you see what youтАЩve
been doing? YouтАЩve been deliberately causing damage to her, on an escalating level.
Her repair system has dealt with it at every stage, evolving the whole time. Well, itтАЩs
a simple leap from being reactive to the damage to reacting to whatтАЩs causing the
damage. The cutting back there was the last straw. To SandraтАЩs repair system, weтАЩre
parasites at best and harmful infections at the worst. Sandra canтАЩt override the
actions of her repair system any more than we can without the help of targeted
medications.тАЭ
тАЬShe tried to expel the parasites?тАЭ the captain asked. тАЬWhat happens if that
doesnтАЩt work?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩd imagine her repair system will go after the parasites directly. Her repair
system is rapidly developing an immune component. I should have seen that coming.
ItтАЩs a logical progression for any such system.тАЭ
The captainтАЩs voice rang through the circuit. тАЬChen! Ragosa! Stop cutting and
get back here!тАЭ
тАЬBut weтАЩre almost throughтАФтАЭ
тАЬStop cutting! We can see a new wave of repair drones headed your way! Get
out of there fast!тАЭ
The wait for the two engineers to return seemed interminable. Chen and
Ragosa were pulling themselves through the hatch when it started closing. They
barely cleared it before it sealed. тАЬWeтАЩve lost all internal control,тАЭ someone reported
in a desperate voice.
Kevlin saw the captain gazing around as if thinking through her next action.
тАЬAll right,тАЭ the captain announced. тАЬIтАЩm declaring an emergency. All nonessential
personnel are to leave the ship. Get to the boat and stand off in it. WeтАЩve lost
comms to the chase ship, so bring them up to date.тАЭ
The captain and three other crewmembers remained seated, but six of the
engineers unstrapped and began hauling themselves to the hatch, beckoning to
Kevlin and Yasmina to follow them. Kevlin unstrapped as well, making a point of
waiting until Yasmina had done the same and started after the engineers. Scared as
he was, he wouldnтАЩt race ahead of her.
Two of the engineers had braced themselves and were tugging at something.
The hatch swung open reluctantly under the pressure of the emergency release.
The journey through the ship to the boat dock was strange. The passageway
was deserted, yet to Kevlin it felt haunted. He couldnтАЩt look at a bulkhead without
thinking of SandraтАЩs pseudo-life functions pulsing behind them.
The engineers reached the access panel to the boat dock and wrestled its
manual control until that opened reluctantly as well. The first one who started to
enter the dock stopped and stared. тАЬItтАЩs gone.тАЭ
Kevlin shifted so he could just see over the engineerтАЩs shoulder. The boat,
which should have filled the dock, simply wasnтАЩt there even though the outer hatch
remained sealed. On the deck, a swarm of repair drones were picking at a
diminishing pile of something.
One of the engineers laughed in a slightly hysterical way. тАЬI was wondering
where Sandra was getting the resources to build so much. She ate the boat.тАЭ