Read Online The Engineer Reconditioned by Neal Asher - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Neal Asher
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Fantasy fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction - General, Fiction - Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy - General, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction - Adventure, Short Stories (Single Author)
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girl had recognised the instruction. That was fast. That was AI fast.
"Let's go and get you some clothes and something to eat."
"Clothes and something to eat," said the girl.
Chapra felt that shiver again. It wasn't fear. It was awe. And her awe increased when in the eating area the girl learned how to use the eating utensils in moments. All the time Chapra and Abaron kept up a running dialogue, some of which the girl repeated and some of which she ignored.
"I believe the educative process can be speeded," said Box, out of the blue. The girl tilted her head. "Hello," she said.
The AI turned on the single screen in the eating area and ran the upper and lower case English alphabet, reciting them as they scrolled past. On the second run through the girl recited. Box did the same with the Chinese alphabet, but at twice the speed. The girl recited. The AI ran the Russian alphabet even faster. The girl recited. After that neither Chapra nor Abaron could tell what was being run as the screen was a liminal blur and Box's and the girl's voices a babble. Abruptly the screen flickered and divided and Box began to teach a word at a time: sea, seaweed, water, human, hand, eye. Chapra noted the AI presented huge amounts of information with each word. Beside seaweed, Box opened a frame to display many different kinds of seaweed, nanoscopic pictures of genetic helices, cladograms and other graphical information. She and Abaron sat back and watched in fascination. After an hour Judd came in with a touch console and ran its fibre-optic cable to a wall socket. He laid it in the girl's lap. Shortly after that the screen became a liminal blur once again and the girl's fingers were moving across the console faster than even Chapra's. At that point the two humans left. For some it is a comfort to believe there are entities far superior to themselves. For some it is a comfort to know this. For others both views are merely depressing.
"What do you think it will want?" asked Abaron, as he poured vodka into Chapra's glass.
"You mean after it has downloaded everything the girl has learnt?"
"Yeah."
They were sprawled in form-fitting loungers in Abaron's quarters. This was the first time Chapra had been in there. She noted that the only ornaments were old paper books arrayed on a shelf. A glance at one had shown it to be very old, dating from the twenty-first century before the Reliteration. The language in them was fragmented, almost impossible to understand.
"I don't know. What would we want? What would you want if you were woken five million years hence by aliens?"
Abaron thought about that for a moment then said, "I would want to find out what happened to my own kind. I'd want to get in contact with them. But then that is me. We don't know how the Jain associate. They may be rabid individualists."
"Doubtful. You don't achieve that level of technology by yourself."
"Yeah? It might be old knowledge to them."
More vodka poured into the two glasses. Chapra and Abaron were using an old human remedy for what ailed them.
By the time Chapra was washing down hangover pills with a pint of orange juice the girl was literate in eight Earth languages. She was now rifling Box's libraries of information. Human limitations slowed her and she had gone through less than one percent of the information stored.
"Any specific interests?" asked Chapra as she stepped into the shower.
"She was taking an overview of all the information; dealing in generalities. She now probably has a general idea of human history, present attainments, and socio-political structures. She was avoiding the specific until a couple of hours ago," said Box.
"What happened a couple of hours ago then?"
"She came across the first reference to the Jain and has since been concentrating on all the pertinent information. Seeing her interest I gave her access to the files recently transmitted."
"Alex's?"
"Eight per cent of them had as their source Alexion Smith."
Chapra nodded to
"Let's go and get you some clothes and something to eat."
"Clothes and something to eat," said the girl.
Chapra felt that shiver again. It wasn't fear. It was awe. And her awe increased when in the eating area the girl learned how to use the eating utensils in moments. All the time Chapra and Abaron kept up a running dialogue, some of which the girl repeated and some of which she ignored.
"I believe the educative process can be speeded," said Box, out of the blue. The girl tilted her head. "Hello," she said.
The AI turned on the single screen in the eating area and ran the upper and lower case English alphabet, reciting them as they scrolled past. On the second run through the girl recited. Box did the same with the Chinese alphabet, but at twice the speed. The girl recited. The AI ran the Russian alphabet even faster. The girl recited. After that neither Chapra nor Abaron could tell what was being run as the screen was a liminal blur and Box's and the girl's voices a babble. Abruptly the screen flickered and divided and Box began to teach a word at a time: sea, seaweed, water, human, hand, eye. Chapra noted the AI presented huge amounts of information with each word. Beside seaweed, Box opened a frame to display many different kinds of seaweed, nanoscopic pictures of genetic helices, cladograms and other graphical information. She and Abaron sat back and watched in fascination. After an hour Judd came in with a touch console and ran its fibre-optic cable to a wall socket. He laid it in the girl's lap. Shortly after that the screen became a liminal blur once again and the girl's fingers were moving across the console faster than even Chapra's. At that point the two humans left. For some it is a comfort to believe there are entities far superior to themselves. For some it is a comfort to know this. For others both views are merely depressing.
"What do you think it will want?" asked Abaron, as he poured vodka into Chapra's glass.
"You mean after it has downloaded everything the girl has learnt?"
"Yeah."
They were sprawled in form-fitting loungers in Abaron's quarters. This was the first time Chapra had been in there. She noted that the only ornaments were old paper books arrayed on a shelf. A glance at one had shown it to be very old, dating from the twenty-first century before the Reliteration. The language in them was fragmented, almost impossible to understand.
"I don't know. What would we want? What would you want if you were woken five million years hence by aliens?"
Abaron thought about that for a moment then said, "I would want to find out what happened to my own kind. I'd want to get in contact with them. But then that is me. We don't know how the Jain associate. They may be rabid individualists."
"Doubtful. You don't achieve that level of technology by yourself."
"Yeah? It might be old knowledge to them."
More vodka poured into the two glasses. Chapra and Abaron were using an old human remedy for what ailed them.
By the time Chapra was washing down hangover pills with a pint of orange juice the girl was literate in eight Earth languages. She was now rifling Box's libraries of information. Human limitations slowed her and she had gone through less than one percent of the information stored.
"Any specific interests?" asked Chapra as she stepped into the shower.
"She was taking an overview of all the information; dealing in generalities. She now probably has a general idea of human history, present attainments, and socio-political structures. She was avoiding the specific until a couple of hours ago," said Box.
"What happened a couple of hours ago then?"
"She came across the first reference to the Jain and has since been concentrating on all the pertinent information. Seeing her interest I gave her access to the files recently transmitted."
"Alex's?"
"Eight per cent of them had as their source Alexion Smith."
Chapra nodded to
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