"Ian Watson - Cages" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watson Ian)

тАЬDo you know why IтАЩm asking about Kore?тАЭ

тАЬWeb chat says Quantum Entanglement gonna do a big
Exprisonment gig. TheyтАЩll sample the noise the alien bees make, fuck about
with the big beesтАЩ hum and blast the mix at hoops or at the bees. Like, the
Varroa fucked with us, so letтАЩs fuck тАШem with music. ThatтАЩs the idea.тАЭ

Succinctly put. Pretty much what I was alerted to, fresh out of a
meeting about the nuke the Chi-nese had set off. So far as satellite imaging
can tell, the solitary alien hoop, which the Chinese nuked in the Gobi, was
merely hurled several kilometers upward. Maybe some blast got through to
the other side of the hoop.

First shot in an interstellar war? Considering the size of a hoop, about
a thousandth of a megaton may have got through, if any blast at all. No
repercussions from the aliens, at least not as yet. We needed to do more
than nuke a hoop? Damn the ChineseтАФthey might have provoked anything.

Svelte shrugs. тАЬOnly just found out. CanтАЩt follow everything.тАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩre fast.тАЭ

****

WHEN WE SPEAK of the aliens, precisely what do we mean? Precision is
vital in intelligence. ItтАЩs important to regularly re-analyze what we think we
know in case of some new interpretation. It can be fatal to make
assumptions then stick to them.

First of all, from nowhere, came the hoops. They appeared worldwide
during a single day, tens of millions of them. Next came the Varroa,
whoтАФor whichтАФused the hoops to arrive and exit. Is any-oneтАФor
anythingтАФelse involved about whom we know sod all?

It only took a week for the myriads of hoops to bestow impediments
upon the worldтАЩs population. A hoop would swoop. Of a sudden the
targeted person found a cage around some part of their body. I need to
keep my own left leg stretched out beneath my desk on account of my
knee-cage.

A transfixing bar holds an imped in place. In itself this doesnтАЩt hurt, but
woe betide anyone who has an imped removed by surgery or by DIY
saw-ing. TheyтАЩll experience agony until a hoop gets round to renewing the
affliction, maybe next day, maybe a week later.

Hoops donтАЩt swoop upon someone whoтАЩs up a ladder, sayтАФthey wait
for a more suitable moment. Smart hoops. If you shut yourself up tight in
your home, a hoop will appear as if by magic. Hoops are about a meter in
diameter.