"Paul J. McAuley - Rats of the System" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

send it in an encrypted squawk aimed at Keid, repeating it as long as possible, repeating it until the
Fanatic singleship caught up. It was less than ten thousand kilometers behind them now. Ahead, the red
dwarf filled half the sky, the jet a slender white thread rooted in patch of orange and yellow fusion fire,
foreshortening and rising above them to infinity as they drove toward it. Carter said that its base looked
like a patch of fungal disease on an apple, and the scientist told him that the analogy wasn't farfetched;
before the science platform had been destroyed, one of the research groups had discovered that there
were strange nuclear reactions taking place there, forming tons of carbon per second. She showed him a
picture one of the pod's cameras had captured: a rare glimpse of the Transcendent, It was hard to see
against the burning background of the star's surface because it was a perfectly reflective sphere.

"Exactly a kilometer across," the scientist said, "orbiting the equator every eight minutes. It's thought they
enclose themselves in bubbles of space where the fundamental constants have been altered to enhance
their cognitive processes. This one's a keeper. I'll send it backтАФ"

A glowing line of gas like a burning snake thousands of kilometers long whipped past. The pod
shuddered, probably from stray magnetic flux.

Carter said, "I should climb inside before I start to cook."

The scientist said, "I have to fire up the motor pretty soon." Then she said, "Wait."

Carter waited, hung at the edge of the hatch.

The scientist said, "You switched on the antenna array."

"Just long enough to check it out."
"Something got in. I think a virus. I'm trying to firewall, but it's spreading through the system. It already
has the motor and nav systemsтАФ"

"I also have control of the com system," another voice said. It was light and lilting. It was as sinuous as a
snake. It was right inside Carter's head. "Carter Cho. I see you, and I know you can hear me."

The scientist said, "I can't fire the motor, but I think you can do something about that, sailor."

So she'd known about the cutout all along. Carter started to haul himself toward the stern.

The voice said, "Carter Cho. I will have complete control of your ship shortly. Give yourself to us."

Carter could see the singleship now, a flat triangle at the tip of a lance of white flame. It was only seconds
away. He flipped up the panel, plugged in a patch cord. Sparse lines of data scrolled up in a window. He
couldn't access the scientist's flight plan, had no nav except line-of-sight and seat-of-the pants. He had to
aim blind for the base of the flare and hope he hit that narrow window by luck, came in at just the right
angle, at just the right place where parallel lines of magnetic force ran in just the right directionтАж

"Carter Cho. I have taken control. Kill the woman and give yourself to us, and I promise that you will live
with us in glory."

тАж Or he could risk a throw of the dice. Carter ran a tether from his p-suit utility belt to a nearby bolt and
braced himself against a rung. With his helmet visor almost blacked out, he could just about look at the
surface of the star rushing toward him, could see the intricate tangles of orderly streams that fed plasma