| A Fire Upon the Deep | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Vernor Vinge |
| Cover artist | Boris Vallejo |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Zones of Thought series |
| Genre(s) | Hard science fiction |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Publication date | April 1992 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 391 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-312-85182-0 |
| OCLC Number | 24671893 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 20 |
| LC Classification | PS3572.I534 F57 1992 |
| Preceded by | A Deepness in the Sky |
| Followed by | Children of the Sky |
A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet. A Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo Award in 1993 (tied with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis).[1]
Besides the normal print book editions, the novel was also included on a CD-ROM sold by ClariNet Communications along with the other nominees for the 1993 Hugo awards. The CD-ROM edition included numerous annotations by Vinge on his thoughts and intentions about different parts of the book.[2]
Contents |
A human expedition investigates a five-billion-year-old data archive that offers the possibility of unimaginable riches for the ambitious young civilization of the Straumli Realm. The expedition's facility, called High Lab, is gradually compromised by a dormant super-intelligent entity later known as the Blight. The Blight rapidly learns how to infiltrate and control the computer systems of High Lab, and even develops the ability to possess and control the living humans. The novel starts with an imaginative description of the evolution of this superintelligence through exponentially accelerating developmental stages, culminating in a transcendent, nigh-omnipotent power that is unfathomable to mere humans. Shortly before its final "flowering", the changes in a single minute of the Blight's life are said to exceed those of 10,000 years of human civilization.
Recognizing the danger of what they have awakened, the researchers at High Lab attempt to flee in two ships. Suspicious, the Blight discovers that one of the ships contains a data storage device in its cargo manifest; assuming it contains information that could harm it, the Blight destroys the ship. The second ship is allowed to escape, unharmed, as the Blight assumes that it is no threat; but the second ship actually holds the Blight countermeasure.
The ship lands on a distant planet with a medieval-level civilization of dog-like creatures dubbed "Tines". The ship is revealed to be a sleeper ship, carrying most of High Lab's children in "coldsleep boxes". The boxes are rapidly failing and the surviving adults begin unloading them, but are killed when two rival Tines forces attempt to seize the ship. The faction that initially contacts the humans, led by a Tine known as Steel, kills the adults and destroys many of the coldsleep boxes. They also capture a boy named Jefri Olsndot, whom they intend to exploit in order to develop advanced technology (such as the cannon). Jefri's older sister, Johanna, is rescued by the rival faction of Tines, led by Woodcarver. She, too, is used to develop technology that could gain the upper hand in the Tine war.
A distress signal from the sleeper ship eventually reaches "Relay", a major node in the galactic communications network. A benign transcendent entity (known as a "Power") named "Old One" contacts Relay, seeking information about the Blight and the humans who released it. Old One constructs a seemingly human man, Pham Nuwen, to act as its agent. Pham and Ravna Bergsndot – a human employee of Relay's owners, the wealthy Vrinimi Organization – trace the sleeper ship's signal to the Tines world. Old One designs a vessel, the Out of Band II, to reach the Tines world and to investigate what the ship carried with it from the High Lab.
The Blight attacks Relay and Old One. Old One gives Pham the information necessary to activate the Blight Countermeasure, and Pham and Ravna escape Relay's destruction in the Out of Band II. After arriving at the Tines homeworld and allying with Woodcarver to defeat Steel, Pham initiates the Countermeasure, which drastically alters the local physics in that sector of the galaxy. This shifts the surrounding area into the "Slow Zone" (where superluminal travel is impossible), thrusting thousands of nearby uninvolved civilizations into an environment where much of their technology no longer functions, potentially causing trillions of collateral deaths. However, the massive shift in physical law also envelops and destroys the Blight, ending its destructive reign. Unfortunately it also kills Pham and strands the other humans on the Tines world, now in the depths of the "Slow Zone" where rescue by an advanced civilization is impossible.
Vinge first used the concepts of "Zones of Thought" in a 1988 novella, "The Blabber", which occurs after Fire. Vinge's novel, A Deepness in the Sky (1999), is a prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep set 20,000 years earlier and featuring Pham Nuwen. Vinge's Children of the Sky, "a near-term sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep", set ten years later, was released in October 2011.[3]
Vinge's former wife, Joan D. Vinge, has also written stories in the Zones of Thought universe, based on his notes. These include "The Outcasts of Heaven Belt", "Legacy", and an upcoming novel featuring Pham Nuwen.[4]
A Fire Upon the Deep shared the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel with Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis.[1] The book was nominated for the 1992 Nebula Award for Best Novel,[5] the 1993 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel,[1] and the 1993 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.[1]
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