"Rudy Rucker - Postsingular Outtakes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rucker Rudy)

тАЬWhy dusty?тАЭ said Jayjay. тАЬI never understood that.тАЭ

11: A Beak From A Higher Dimension. For a fish drifting calm beneath a glassy water ceiling, what
could be more unexpected than a darting bill from above? The beak symbolizes terror from a higher
dimension.

12: Electric Shock for Shoon Ant. тАЬIтАЩm teaching that plastic ant a lesson,тАЭ said Thuy. She took the
beer-ad lamp off the wall, unplugged it, cut the electric cord right by the lamp, split the two wires apart at
the cut end, peeled an inch of insulation off the two wires, stuck the plug back into the socket, and sat
down, holding the two charged copper fangs at the ready.

The ant came in on the heels of a sloppily dressed white guy, who was wildly surprised to have a
four-foot-long plastic ant push past his legs and into the restaurant like a hungry dog. The man shouted,
and the diners looked up, some of them jumping to their feet and heading through the kitchen for the
back door.

тАЬHere I am,тАЭ Thuy shrieked at the ant. тАЬCome and get me, motherfucker!тАЭ

Jayjay understood ThuyтАЩs plan ; he stood behind her, watching with an expectant grin, ready to jump in if
things went badly.

But things went well, at least for Thuy, although, yes, rather badly for the ant. When the ant reared up to
attack, Thuy poked the two bare electric wires into the antтАЩs yielding piezoplastic belly. The creatureтАЩs
body twitched and danced; her neural system shorted out; she fell over dead on her back, with a
foul-smelling puddle dripping from the tip of her abdomen.




13: How Teleportation Works. тАЬHow does teleportation work?тАЭ she asked Ond.

тАЬTeleportation works by getting mixed up about where you really are,тАЭ said Ond. тАЬIn quantum
computation, we use the word тАШcoherentтАЩ to mean mixed up. The usage is opposite of what you might
expect. ItтАЩs like if youтАЩre sufficiently coherent you canтАЩt talk at all. If youтАЩre sufficiently coherent your
whole body folds up into a single wave function. As if you were this one exceedingly complex electron.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm not an electron,тАЭ said Chu. тАЬIтАЩm a Higgs particle.тАЭ He giggled and made pig noises. тАЬOink, squeal,
wheenk.тАЭ
тАЬAlright,тАЭ said Ond. тАЬAnd IтАЩm a quark. Thuy can be the electron.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm dark matter,тАЭ said Thuy, getting into the silly jabberwocky game. тАЬSo whatтАЩs that ocean?тАЭ

Thuy followed JayjayтАЩs link to the gently rocking deck of the barge-like Merz Boat with its central cabin
like an oversized loaf of bread. She had a moment of double vision: water waves flowed across the alley
walls. And now Jayjay linked her to a striped, silk-spinning caterpillar weaving a web from point to point,
binding the alley and the seascape together. The network of links encased Thuy, wrapping her up like a
pupa. She was neither here nor there, all of her particles were synch with each other, temporarily free of
the outside world. She felt very tiny, she was fallingтАФwhere? The pupa casing split open. With a thump,
Thuy and Jayjay landed on the soft deck ofтАФJil and CraigorтАЩs boat.