Slant
Greg Bear
Language: English
Pages: 512
ISBN: 0812524829
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In the sixth decade of the 21st century, the world has been transformed. Nanotechnology has been perfected, giving humans the ability to change their environment and themselves on the cellular level. And the study of the mind has brought about a revolution in both human psychotherapy and artificial intelligence.
It's a sane and perfect world. Almost.
A man called Jack Giffey is planning to break into the Omphalos, the most secure building in all of separatist Green Idaho. Rumor says that the Omphalos houses the not-quite-dead, the very wealthy deceased who are still alive, their brains connected directly into Thinkers, Artificial Intelligences that provide a virtual reality. Data is the great treasure of the new millennium, and Giffey plans to tap into the Omphalos datastream, to steal the knowledge gathered by the inhabitants of the Omphalos.
In the offices of Mind Design, Inc., the most advanced Artificial Intelligence in the world has had a unique experience. She has received a request for contact from a new AI, one she does not know and did not help to design. Jill has never met a stranger of her own kind before; is it an alien Thinker, or the offspring of some vast conspiracy?
Slant is set in Bear's Queen of Angels universe, and is one of the great science fiction novels of the 1990s.
Anomaly (Anomaly Trilogy, Book 1)
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking, Book 2)
The Replaced (The Taking Trilogy, Book 2)
The Almost Girl (The Riven Chronicles, Book 1)
A Darkling Plain (The Hungry City Chronicles, Book 4)
The Lord of Opium (House of the Scorpion, Book 2)
And second broad doorway behind the limos. The material is covered with bubbling grayish-pink foam, and it is the foam that is sizzling. The air is hot near the foam. Looking to his left, he sees the first limo sag like a melting toy where it has been sprayed. Something is taking rough shape within the slumping material. “How long?” someone asks. “The Ferret’s down but it’s still trying to fix itself,” another voice says. The driver helps them sit up and squats beside them. “Sorry about.
Unexpected defense here, quiet and subtle. A nerve gas or energy field that disrupts thinking. That would explain a few things… Including the subdued response from Omphalos. “Let’s go down a few levels, bust some doors, and see what happens,” Giffey says. “Maybe we’ll spill out some truth.” “Good idea,” Jenner says. He swats the air and shakes his head as if trying to shoo flies. 13 At Seattle-Tacoma Air and Space, Mary carries her own small briefcase and pad and nothing else through.
Escape,” Jenner observes, waving his pistol at the door. “The door closes, and out you go.” His scalp shivers. Jonathan suppresses a strong urge to reach out and slap the man around the crown of his head, just to make him be still. He feels as if he’s lost in a freak show: gnomes and giant insects and atavistic young men. Marcus seems to feel particular animosity toward Jenner. “You don’t understand. I’m going to give you all a tour. When your real boss gets back with his… toy… I’ll show you.
Her brother in months. She picks up the picture and stares at it. Carl is eleven years old in the picture and she is nine. Carl did not know what to think of his sister. He was straight-arrow, knightly. He signed up with the Marines to go to the Moon as part of a settlement effort and died in a pressure drop five years ago. She replaces the picture. Five men have wanted to marry her. She wants to tell Carl that; she did not fail in the marriage department, not for lack of interest. She never.
The possible role of a visitor to Mr. Crest’s home just prior to his death.” “You were investigating Mr. Crest on another matter before his death,” Parmenter says. “Is that matter still pending?” “It has been given a temporary open status until we can assemble a complete picture of Mr. Crest’s situation.” “Temporary open status is hardly urgent,” Parmenter says. “As you know, sir, temporary open implies all smoke and no fire, no real case at all.” The deputy director nods studiously. “Miz.