"Charles Stross - Singularity Sky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

тАЬYes.тАЭ

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswij...en/spaar/Charles%20Stross%20-%20Singularity%20Sky.html (5 of 259)19-2-2006 17:16:19
Singularity Sky




тАЬWill you give us one? Along with instructions for using it and a colony design library?тАЭ asked Burya,
his pulse pounding.

тАЬMaybe. What will you give us?тАЭ

тАЬMmm. How about a post-Marxist theory of post-technological political economy, and a proof that the
dictatorship of the hereditary peerage can only be maintained by the systematic oppression and
exploitation of the workers and engineers, and cannot survive once the people acquire the self-
replicating means of production?тАЭ

There was a pause, and Timoshevski exhaled furiously. Just as he was about to speak, the telephone
made an odd bell-like noise: тАЬThat will be sufficient. You will deliver the theory to this node.
Arrangements to clone a replicator and library are now under way. Query: ability to deliver postulated
proof of validity of theory?тАЭ

Burya grinned. тАЬDoes your replicator contain schemata for replicating itself? And does it contain
schemata for producing direct fusion weapons, military aircraft, and guns?тАЭ

тАЬYes and yes to all subqueries. Query: ability to deliver postulated proof of validity of theory?тАЭ

Timoshevski was punching the air and bouncing around the office. Even the normally phlegmatic Wolff
was grinning like a maniac. тАЬJust give the workers the means of production, and weтАЩll prove the theory,тАЭ
said Rubenstein. тАЬWe need to talk in private. Back in an hour, with the texts you requested.тАЭ He pressed
the OFF switch on the telephone. тАЬYes!тАЭ

After a minute, Timoshevski calmed down a bit. Rubenstein waited indulgently; truth be told, he felt the
same way himself. But it was his duty as leader of the movementтАФor at least the nearest thing they had
to a statesman, serving his involuntary internal exile out on this flea-pit of a backwaterтАФto think ahead.
And a lot of thinking needed to be done, because shortly heads would be brought into contact with
paving stones in large numbers: the Festival, whoever and whatever it was, seemed unaware that they
had offered to trade for a parcel of paper the key to the jail in which tens of millions of serfs had been
confined for centuries by their aristocratic owners. All in the name of stability and tradition.

тАЬFriends,тАЭ he said, voice shaking with emotion, тАЬlet us hope that this is not just a cruel hoax. For if it is
not, we can at last lay to rest the cruel specter that has haunted the New Republic since its inception. IтАЩd
been hoping for assistance along these lines from aтАФsource, but this is far better if it is true. Marcus,
fetch as many members of the committee as you can find. Oleg, IтАЩm going to draft a poster; we need to
run off five thousand copies immediately and get them distributed tonight before Politovsky thinks to
pull his finger out and declare a state of emergency. Today, RochardтАЩs World stands on the brink of
liberation. Tomorrow, the New Republic!тАЭ