Postsingular

by Rudy Rucker

by Rudy Rucker

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Book Website

Further information about Postsingular can be found at www.rudyrucker.com/postsingular.

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Publication Information

POSTSINGULAR is Copyright (c) 2007 by Rudy Rucker.

A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010. www.tor.com Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rucker, Rudy v. B. (Rudy von Bitter), 1946– Postsingular / Rudy Rucker. –1st ed. "A Tom Doherty Associates Book." ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1741-4 ISBN-10: 0-7653-1741-9 1. Nanotechnology-Fiction. I. Title. PS3568.U298P67 2007 813'.54-dc22 2007020210

First Edition: October 2007. Printed in the United States of America

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Electronic License

Electronic edition, November 4, 2007.

The electronic version of the text is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative License. Go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 to see a full description of the license. In brief, the license has the following terms. You are free * to Share – that is, to copy, distribute and transmit the work under the following three conditions. * Attribution . You must attribute the work as "POSTSINGULAR by Rudy Rucker, Tor Books, New York. Copyright © 2007 by Rudy Rucker," and you may not suggest in any way that Rudy Rucker or Tor Books endorses you or your use of the work. * Noncommercial . You may not use this work for commercial purposes. * No Derivative Works . You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. With the author's permission you may, however, convert the electronic text into different text formats. Any such conversion must be distributed only under the same Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative License, making clear the terms by including a link to the Creative Commons web page describing the license.

This license specification supersedes any license specification made prior to November 4, 2007.

Nothing in this license impairs or restricts Rudy Rucker's moral rights to this work.

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Dedication

For Georgia, Rudy, and Isabel!

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Acknowledgments Chapter 2

, "Nant Day," appeared as "Chu and the Nants" in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 2006. This story also appeared in Year's Best SF 12, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. Chapters

3_and 4, "Orphid Night" and "Chu's Knot," appeared as a single story, "Postsingular," in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September 2006.

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Contents

PART I

Ignition

Nant Day

Orphid Night

Chu's Knot

PART II

The Big Pig Posse

Nektar's Beetles

The Grill in the Wall

PART III

Thuy's Metanovel

The Attack Shoons

The Ark of the Nants

PART IV

The Hibrane

Lazy Eight

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PART I CHAPTER 1

Ignition

Two boys walked down the beach, deep in conversation. Seventeen-year-old Jeff Luty was carrying a carbon-fiber pipe rocket. His best friend, Carlos Tucay, was carrying the launch rod and a cheap bottle of Mieux champagne. Gangly Jeff was a head taller than Carlos.

"We're unobservable now," said Jeff, looking back down the sand. It was twilight on a clear New Year's Day in Stinson Beach, California. Jeff 's mother had rented a cheap cottage in order to get out of their cramped South San Francisco apartment for the holiday, and Carlos had come along. Jeff 's mother didn't like it when the boys fired off their homemade rockets; so Jeff had promised her that he and Carlos wouldn't bring one. But of course they had.

"Our flying beetle," said Carlos with his ready grin. "Your program says it'll go how high? Tell me again, Jeff. I love hearing it."

"A mile," said Jeff, hefting the heavy gadget. "Equals one thousand, six hundred and nine-point-three-four-four meters. That's why we measured out the fuel in milligrams."

"As if this beast is go

"We're lucky we didn't blow up your mom's house when we were casting the motor," said Jeff. "A kilogram of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and powdered magnesium metal mixed into epoxy binder, whoa. " He hefted the rocket, peering up the beetle's butt at the glittering, rubbery fuel. The carbon-fiber tube was stuffed like a sausage casing.

"Here's to Lu-Tuc Space Tech!" said Carlos, peeling the foil off the champagne cork. He'd liberated one of the bottles that Jeff 's mother was using to make mimosas for herself and her boyfriend and Jeff 's older sisters.

"Lu-Tuc forever," echoed Jeff. The boys dreamed of starting a company some day. "It'll be awesome to track our nanochips across the sky," Jeff continued. "Each one of them has a global positioning unit and a broadcast ante

"They do so much," marveled Carlos.

"And I grew them like yeast," said Jeff. "In the right environment these cute little guys can self-assemble. If you know the dark secrets of robobiohackery, that is. And if you have the knack." He waggled his long, knobby fingers. His nails were bitten to the quick.

"You're totally sure they're not go

"That won't happen yet," said Jeff and giggled. "Dammit."

"You're sick," said Carlos, meaning this as praise. The cork popped loose, arcing high across the beach to meet its racing shadow.