"Alastair Reynolds - Signal to Noise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Alastair)

тАЬYouтАЩll regret it later. Just like youтАЩll regret canceling our match, or not calling And
know you, Mick. YouтАЩre one of lifeтАЩs born regretters.тАЭ

тАЬFive minutes, then.тАЭ

In truth, Mick always enjoyed having a nose around JoeтАЩs basement. As solid as
MickтАЩs own early-universe work was, Joe had really struck gold. There were hundreds
researchers around the world who would have killed for a guided tour of the Liversedg
laboratory.

In the basement were ten hulking machines, each as large as a steam turbine. Y
couldnтАЩt go near them if you were wearing a pacemaker or any other kind of implant, bu
Mick knew that, and heтАЩd been careful to remove all metallic items before he came dow
stairs and through the security doors. Each machine contained a ten-ton bar of
ultra-high-purity iron, encased in vacuum and suspended in a magnetic cradle. Joe like
wax lyrical about the hardness of the vacuum, about the dynamic stability of the magne
field generators. Cardiff could be hit by a Richter six earthquake, and the bars wouldnтАЩ
the slightest tremor.

Joe called it the call center.

The machines were called correlators. At any one time eight were online, while tw
were down for repairs and upgrades. What the eight functional machines were doing w
cold-calling: dialing random numbers across the gap between quantum realities, waitin
someone to answer on the other end.

In each machine, a laser repeatedly pumped the iron into an excited quantum sta
By monitoring vibrational harmonics in the excited ironтАФwhat Joe called the
back-chirpтАФthe same laser could determine if the bar had achieved a lock onto anothe
strand of quantum realityтАФanother worldline. In effect, the bar would be resonating wit
counterpart in another version of the same basement, in another version of Cardiff.
 Once that lock was establishedтАФonce the cold-calling machine had achieved a
hitтАФthen those two previously indistinguishable worldlines were linked together by an
information conduit. If the laser tapped the bar with low-energy pulses, enough to influ
but not upset the lock, then the counterpart in the other lab would also register those ta
meant that it was possible to send signals from one lab to the other, in both directions.

тАЬThis is the boy,тАЭ Joe said, patting one of the active machines.

тАЬLooks like a solid lock, too. Should be good for a full ten or twelve days. I think t
might be the one that does it for us.тАЭ

Mick glanced again at the bandage on the back of JoeтАЩs neck. тАЬYouтАЩve had a
nervelink inserted, havenтАЩt you.тАЭ

тАЬStraight to the medical center as soon as I got the alert on the lock. I was
nervousтАФfirst time, and all that. But it turned out to be dead easy. No pain at all. I was
and out within half an hour. They even gave me a Rich Tea Biscuit.тАЭ

тАЬOoh. A Rich Tea Biscuit. It doesnтАЩt get any better than that, does it. YouтАЩll be go