A Fire Upon the Deep
From Academic Kids
A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) is a science fiction novel written by Vernor Vinge. It combines superhuman intelligences, well-developed and believable aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, Usenet, and more into an exceptional space opera. A Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo Award in 1993.
Vinge has been deeply concerned about the technological singularity which makes writing comprehensible and realistic high-tech SF novels nearly impossible. To sidestep the issue, he postulates that the galaxy is divided up into "zones of thought," where near the center of the galaxy, only simple machines and animal-like intelligences are possible; ranging out to the outer edges of the galaxy, where superhuman intelligences, nanotechnology, and faster-than-light (FTL) travel are possible. In other words, the laws of physics vary according to location.
- The Unthinking Depths is the lowest level, centered about the galactic core. Organic or machine intelligences of even the simplest level can't function well, if at all. Space travel is nearly impossible, basically requiring big, dumb automated vessels with neolithic automation and massive redundancy. These properties make actual exploration of this zone problematic.
- The Slow Zone is the next layer. FTL travel and communications do not function, dependent as they are on some physical property of the universe whose abrupt termination marks the boundary between the Beyond and the Slow Zone. Intelligences above the level of human-equivalent are not possible. Molecular nanotechnology also doesn't function well, if at all. Earth is deep within the Slow Zone.
- The Beyond is where the majority of the action takes place in A Fire Upon the Deep. FTL travel is possible, as is FTL communications, though the latter can be prohibitively expensive, often requiring planet-sized transceiver arrays. Antigravity and mind-machine interfaces, along with many other technological advances work in the Beyond. There are still limits to how smart organic or machine intelligences may become, most of them dependent on one's proximity to the Slow Zone or The Transcend.
- The Transcend is where super beings known as Powers reside. Here there are no limits on nanotechnology, FTL travel is very fast (relative to the Beyond), FTL communications bandwidth is cheap, and there are no limits upon organic or machine intelligences or meldings between the two. Indeed, each individual Power is a single consciousness comprised of the intelligences, both organic and inorganic, of an entire star system or group of neighboring star systems. The Powers have passed through the Technological Singularity and engage in behavior that is simply beyond human comprehension. They routinely create intelligent species from scratch, build Dyson Spheres, and in general perform near-miraculous feats of engineering on scales both atomic and cosmic. They regard involvement in the affairs of races in the Beyond in much the same way that humans would care about the competition for Alpha Male amongst a pack of wild animals.
A prequel to this book was subsequently written, A Deepness in the Sky, set twenty thousand years earlier in the "Slow Zone" near Earth and detailing the earlier adventures of Pham Nuwen.
Two major plotlines exist in the book, related to the appearance of a malevolent quasi-Power referred to as The Blight. Accidentally released by human explorers from an ancient library, this intelligence is able to infiltrate and control computer and biological systems, quickly infecting and destroying many star systems in the High Beyond.
Apparently with some knowledge of what they are doing, some of the humans escaping from the infected research colony travel to the edge of the Slow Zone with an object from the library. They are forced to land their sleeper ship on a planet populated with medieval dog-like creatures (the Tines) that think in packs of 4 or so. (In other words, an individual consciousness is carried between several persistent biological entities, who share their thoughts through high-frequency sound.) The book follows a long-lived conflict between two groups of Tines who now fight over the landed ship (which the closer group immediately attacked) and their future status in the rest of the galaxy, which they previously had no conception of. One group, led by the Woodcarver, so named for her (sexual identity amongst multi-gender packs is fairly arbitrary) artistic abilities, is helped to develop cannon and other technology by a survivor, a young human girl, and her toy databank. The other group, led by Lord Steel, develops radio and cannon through the help of her younger brother and his communications with the outside world through the ship. Both siblings are unaware of the other's survival and alliance with the opposing group.
Simultaneously, a rescue mission is sent from the High Beyond in the form of a human woman, Ravna, a somewhat human man, Pham Nuwen (assembled from leftover body parts by a Power and infused with memories of his former existence), and two Skroderiders, Blueshell and Greenstalk, part of an ancient species of aquatic beings with the appearance of large potted plants, with memory and thinking enhancements provided by the movable Skrodes they maneuver with. The Power ("Old One") which created Pham has been killed by The Blight, and downloaded as much of himself as he could fit into Pham, providing him with subconscious knowledge of how to activate the Countermeasure located on the landed ship. While fighting off anti-human military forces (humans are purported to be the cause and furtherance of The Blight) they reach the planet and Pham initiates the Countermeasure, a nanotechnological fungus-like substance/device. It drastically alters the boundaries of the zones of thought, expanding the Slow Zone to envelop The Blight, where it is effectively neutralized. However, this also ends up killing Pham, stranding the protagonists and many human children (in suspended animation) on the Tines' world, and a large chunk of the galaxy besides, in the depths of the Slow Zone. Also implied is that this event thrust thousands of star systems into an environment where technology needed to survive would no longer work; a situation analogous to the state of civilization on Earth were electricity to cease to function.
