a fire upon the deep

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 on the galactic core. Organic or machine intelligences of even the simplest level can't function well, if at all. FTL is impossible.
The Slow Zone is the next layer. FTL travel is not possible because computers cannot run fast enough to do the calculations necessary. Intelligences above the level of human-equivalent are not possible. Molecular nanotechnology also doesn't function well, if at all. The 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, along with many other technological advances, but there are still limits to how smart organic or machine intelligences may become.
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), and there are no limits upon organic or machine intelligences.

A prequel to this book was subsequently written, A Deepness in the Sky, set twenty thousand years earlier in the "Slow Zone" near Earth. Two major plotlines exist in the book, related to the appearance of a malevolent Power referred to as The Blight. Accidently 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 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 Woodcarver, 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 civilization of aquatic beings with the appearance of large potted plants, with memory and thinking enhancements provided by the movable Skrodes they manuever 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 and stranding the protagonists and many human children (in suspended animation) on the Tines' world, in the depths of slower than light travel.

A Fire Upon The Deep

See also