A Fire Upon the Deep

  Note 1516

  And what of the Blight — not the fleet that chased the OOB, but the Blight itself? That was a creature of the Top and the Transcend. At a very far remove, it covered much of the sky they could see this night. Could Pham’s revenge have really toppled it? If there was a point to all the sacrifice, then surely so. A surge so great that it pushed the Slowness up thousands of light-years, through the Low and Mid Beyond, past the great civilizations at the Top … and into the Transcend. No wonder it was so eager to stop us. A Power immersed in the Slowness would be a Power no more, would likely be a living thing no more. If, if, if. If Pham’s Surge could climb so high.

  Note 1517

  And that is something I will never know.

  Note 1518

  Note 1519

  Crypto: 0

  Syntax: 43

  As received by:

  Language path: Optima

  From: Society for Rational Investigation

  Subject: Ping

  Key phrases: Help me!

  Summary: Has there been a network partition, or what?

  Distribution:

  Threat of the Blight

  Society for Rational Network Management

  War Trackers Interest Group

  Note 1520

  Date: 0.412 Msec since loss of contacts

  Text of message:

  I have still not recovered contact with any network site known to be spinward of me. Apparently, I am right at the edge of a catastrophe.

  If you receive this ping, please respond! Am I in danger?

  For your information, I have no trouble reaching sites that are antispinward. I understand an effort is being made to hop messages the long way around the galaxy. At least that would give us an idea how big the loss is. Nothing has come back as yet — not surprising, I guess, considering the great number of hops and the expense.

  In the meantime, I am sending out pings such as this. I am expending enormous resources to do this, let me tell you — but it is that important. I’ve beamed direct at all the hub sites that are in range to the spinward of me. No replies.

  More ominous: I have tried to transmit “over the top”, that is by using known sites in the Transcend that are above the catastrophe. Most such would not normally respond, Powers being what they are. But I received no replies. A silence like the Depths is there. It appears that a portion of the Transcend itself has been engulfed.

  Again: If you receive this message, please respond!

  Note 1521

  THE END

  Note 1522

  NOTES

  Note 1

  * [vsv] [ur] April 6, 1991 IMP SEQ set up and characterizations: To make Ravna be (or become) more Power-phobic

  * TITLE (favorite at 17Jan91 11:14:28am ) Ravna && Tines

  * IMP put custom header on each chapter (not by file)

  * IMP put page numbers into footer

 
  Note 2

  * [ur] Using w.bat and wc.com to do 1500words/day — delete this line for initial text of book

 
  Note 3

  * [vsv] some TITLE s: Ravna&&Tines [I guess my current favorite, as spelled. The title font might be like 19’th century representation of a business firm’s name.]The Known NetThe Bottom of the BeyondBelow the BeyondSearching High and Low [this may seem more appropriate after I revise some of the Net News so that it is evident that the Blight is expending most of its search efforts for Countermeasure in the High Beyond]

 
  Note 4

  * [vsv] : The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb ( but I’m not wedded to having a title for the Prolog :-)

 
  Note 5

  * PRB this version changes the timing since it has the refugee ship leaving at the time of the Blight’s birth.

  * RETRO need something in here to indicate that there are nonhuman races around — but maybe there aren’t any 03Feb91. This relates to Straumli location INCON

 
  Note 6

  * [jrf2] questions “regolith”

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 My Collegiate says regolith is mantle rock

 
  Note 7

  * [vsv] PRB with terminology. The term “system” is much overloaded, especially in this story: planetary system, star system, computer system,… You can’t use the word for all those things! Furthermore, it would be nice to have some general term for computer systems.

  * SOLN : use the word “automation”. I like it. It’s very general and also fits in with the definition the ACM came up with > a few years ago for Computer Science, something about CS being the study of what things can be done automatically….

 
  Note 8

  * PRB I don’t want to downput wealth seeking. At least the war version draft was morally improper.

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 Okay, I’ve blunted it (though in a way mildly rpugnant to me)

  * [jrf2] would like “instructions” in place of “recipes” — NO

 
  Note 9

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 CHRON

 
  Note 10

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 6mo CHRON CHK

 
  Note 11

  * PRB I really don’t want to have a Blight PoV — too bad!

  * [vsv] April 6, 1991 Is it clear enough that you have changed PoV?

 
  Note 12

  * [vsv] 03Feb91 don’t see the problem:

  * QU INCON 3 secs? (previously, I had covered this by talking about “cold start” here)

 
  Note 13

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 TUF : April 6, 1991 some readers might see the previous paragraph as INCON with Blighter fleet’s later inability to subvert OOB

 
  Note 14

  * [vsv] January 9, 1991: In order to decrease its Low Beyond preparedness, I think it is important that the success of Countermeasure’s escape should not be known to the Perversion here. Outline for rest of prolog: frigate explodes (slow and fast) container vessel escapes how close it had been noting the blindspots killing the traitors bittersweet victory frustration peaks, then building comm and shipsremembering greatest — and this time getting it right

 
  Note 15

  * [vsv] June 21, 1991 slightly AWK :

 
  Note 16

  * [vsv] I dropped the following because of collision with my description of Countermeasure’s appearance: FRAG But what emotion does a fungus need? It simply is, it simply spreads.

 
  Note 17

  * [vsv] March 29, 1991 Later, you talk about searching High. Is it too INCON seeming to the reader that the place where Blight figures that it has lost something is not explicitly shown?

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 Certainly, what I’ve done is logical. Apparently, off stage, the Blight later realized that it had been gulled. (Or maybe it is simply looking for other instances of Countermeasure kernels — but no, at the end, it is talking about having no enemies.)

 
  Note 18

  * [ur] Using w.bat and wc.com to do 1500words/day

 
  Note 19

  * INCON Ultradrive spines not mentioned — what we have on this ship is is just the container portion plus a torch. This may SOLN the INCON but it may also make relativistic velocities too easy to attain:

  * IMP I need at least 500y grace before any remnant of the Blighter fleet shows up on Tines World

  * [vsv] IMP INCON agrav

  * PRB Maybe put in an explanation for absence of agrav

  * Following is IMP but not outright INCON 03Feb91 10:23:55am

  * BKG INCON In init version, there’s only 1 mention of Navnløs moon in t1/t2 I think it’s right to have a moon. If so, the
n months make sense. PRO write more references to the moon

  * I propose 1mo = 38.7d (1d very much like Earth’s)

  * Other things being equal, this would mean it would be 1.24 our moon’s distance, 1.24*384e3=476e3km. On the other hand for sequels, it might be good if it were with a period of 10 days, which would put it at a distance of about 0.5*383e3=192e3 km (though actually that wouldn’t make it any easier to get to; if I want it to have the the lighting characteristics of our moon, it would then be smaller though). (You could also work out its size and escape velocity. Looks like in the ten day case it would set almost 3 hours later every night. You could have 40 ten days per year, ten per season; again, you’d want the days to be a little shorter than Earth’s) Hmm, I am tending toward the ten day version February 9, 1991 but I think I will not explicitly say in n7

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 implicitly, tenday=month, but I will not use the term “month” among the Tines DONE 10Jun91 08:47:02pm

  * IMP : in connection with indecision, go through and revise Tinish references to “month” in terms of tendays

  * NO : Tines calendars composed of 10 40d months + a fudge month

  * NO : making day a little shorter could give 40d months okay, I think

  * [vsv] [ur] June 10, 1991 Following still a big PRB : But you don’t use this later

  * [ur] Note that the seasons don’t map very well then

  * [ur] I suggest having Straumers have a word for “week” (about like ours) but don’t normally use the word “month” “week” may have a statutory value in seconds, but is shrunk to fit local circumstance (which on many worlds would include a separate word translating as “month”)

 
  Note 20

  * QU PRB MG Want to start this scene in second chapter and to make it shorter. Says this is too much like a happy juvenile

  * iMP Need an inter pack sex scene

  * [vsv] Think the following is somewhere in novel: ID Flenser killed his conscience “I killed my conscience long ago” “I sent my conscience for a walk” “Send your conscience for a walk” (similarly with other virtues)

  * [HLD] Other landing scenarios other high docs images explain the High Beyond

  * TITLE Gift from the Transcend

  * [ur] ID How about a map of the Zones? MAP on Log9

  * NÆH RETRO the scar is Y-shaped

  * PRB QU Too much bundling about of Johanna; not enough solicitude for her health — TUF , and I think I have done some things to ameliorate this problem

  * [vsv] Find name for dark rocks in the area — NÆH

  * INCON Jaque’s telescope usage and its fit in the story

  * [vsv] RETRO write ( PRO write?) the pressure disks in Olsndot’s pressure suit? Probably should just delete.

  * SEQ : ID PRB should be a mind rape some place. Relationship to ordinary rape? This is all part of the general PRB that the interrogations should be easy.

  IMP ! QU How painful does an effective interrogation have to be?

  * [vsv] INCON BKG think about usage of “putting a member to the question”

  BKG QU Inheritance management.

  * [vsv] IMP ! PRB Making things very clear in the Part I About the TinesAbout the Zones

  * IMP Reason why the two kids in particular were revived

  * PRO Should remember to use the word “pressure shell” elsewhere, or delete it from here — deleted it 03Feb91 11:12:50am

  * pRB Delete “ablative shielding”

  * pRB Generally have to lay to rest radiation problem (though perhaps not in this version). I think I have done this in t1. Later, if Pham talks about dirty landers, you may need to reinforce it

  * [vsv] Small PRB should think how much energy the torch would need to do the landing and then don’t make the sum of all the heating greater than that.

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 There is only one small mention of this (in c13), and that refers to a time “shortly after the landing”

  * [vsv] CHK INCON 309 It seems to me that I have way too many characters whose names begin “V” or “W”. (In this novel, at least Wenda, Vendacious, Woodcarver.) I would kinda of like to changes Wenda’s name. There is no alternative that seems absolutely right, but my first choice is Katrin. Other possibilities that have occurred to me: Johanne, Gyda, Elena, Gerda, Giske, Liana, Natalja Margrete, Joanne, Dordei, Doradei, Katrine, Eli, Else, Elsa, Jo, Katrina, Katja, Joana, Joanna, Eva Suggestions? Johanna

 
  Note 21

  * FRAG heck, their “ship” was nothing more than the Lab’s infirmary jammed into a cargo shell.

  * [vsv] March 3, 1991 this deletion to avoid later claims that maybe there should be more medical equipment

 
  Note 22

  * pRB Do you really want him wearing the skintight? Yes

  Well, I use it to protect him from arrows

  * I hope not, and don’t think so: Later there is a little reference to the Tines mistaking the release disks for tympana Besides, he might have the helmet nearby

  * CHK 1 hour? Suppose they are 500km up. Not that they are doing a drop approach. So the lower bound on the time is tmin where 500km = 0.5*(9.8m/sec**2)*(tmin**2) ==> tmin = 319sec ! This makes an hour actually sound like too much, but I’m sticking with it June 10, 1991 (also note that for much of the flight, they are in a terminal hover to avoid “aero forces”)

  * June 10, 1991 CHKd 20d confinement

 
  Note 23

  * IMP Remember to explain why these kids are awake

 
  Note 24

  * [vsv] too bad “directions we got”, could be something more evocative maybe “dreams”

  * [vsv] QU is it too repetitive that Countermeasure appears “fungal” (ie, collision with the term “blight”)?

  * [vsv] [ur] June 10, 1991 Maybe they should have confided in Johanna more??

 
  Note 25

  * mARK 01Jun89

 
  Note 26

  * [vsv] ZZZ okay as is, I think — yes 03Feb91 11:25:31am

 

  Note 27

  * CHK feasibility of this delta vee (mass ratios) I don’t see how it matters, now that you’re not claiming this is a fusion drive In fact, 10m/s**2 takes 50000s = 13h53m to reach 500km/s

  * [vsv] IMP INCON Work this out in Blighter chase consistently! have to say the attaching the jet was ad hoc too — no, see my rewriting of this 03Feb91 11:37:33am :

  * SEQ interesting implications here for multiple cargo shell shipping

  * I’m vague about the delta vee to match novel’s ending

  * parent talk referenced

 
  Note 28

  * QU Is it okay for the steam to be visible as white?

  * [hld] superheated steam is clear. White would be particulates.

  This better be a fusion or antimatter reaction drive for that much deltaV … or else something really weird.

  Suggest soft focus the enigne or really tighten it up to avoid backsplash

 
  Note 29

  * 0.5s fall at 10m/s**2 is a distance of 1.25m = 4.17 feet

 
  Note 30

  * [vsv] small PRB this last sentence is a red herring — TUF

  * CHK pRB Put in page breaks by chapters. Also number the chapters

 
  Note 31

  * [vsv] June 10, 1991 [tojrf]: July 16, 1991 I think okay:

  * QU I use Peregrine and Pilgrim almost interchangeably for this pack. Is that okay, or should I fix on one? CHKd spelling/meaning “peregrine” June 10, 1991 Latin “peregrinator” = English “pilgrim” The English word “peregrine” is an adjective meaning “roving” (or a noun meaning a type falcon)

 
  Note 32

  * iNCON to talk of deaths here? I think it’s okay, if they were really pilgrims br />
  * [jrf2] after first sentence: Something to connect these 2 sentences — ie, Earlier in his life, Pilgrim couldn’t have borne the the company, but …

 
  Note 33

  * CHKd newby in my 2 slang dictionaries and my webster. Not there

 
  Note 34

  * [jrf2] suggests “purge” instead of “pogrom”

  * [jrf] “what the hell” anachronistic?

  * [vsv] why not, if I use it elsewhere?

  * [jrf2] Because if Tines don’t have a hell, it’s really odd. We say “what the hell” because our Western culture has a Hell, so it has meaning for us. Find a Tinish analog. NO

 
  Note 35

  * [jrf2] by “enough” (above) do you mean to suggest that there’s good sometimes among the carnage only when enough rules are broken or just: “when lots of rules are broken”?