Tides of Light
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37,524 Escape of Family Bishop from Snowglade in ancient human vessel. Clandestine oversight of this band by Mantis level mechanicals.
37,529 Surviving Bishops reach nearest star, encounter Cybers. Defeat local mechanicals. Adopt some human refugees.
37,530 Bishops leave, escorted by Cybers and cosmic string.
37,536 Bishops reach Absolute Center, enter Wedge.
37,538 Temporal sequences become stocastically ordered. Release of Trigger Codes into mechanical minds. Death of most mechanical forms. Intervention of Highers to rectify damage done by excessive mechanical expansion.
Preservation of several human varieties. Archiv- ing of early forms in several deeply embedded representations.
Beginning of cooperation between Higher mechanically-based forms and organic (“Natural”) forms. Decision to address the larger problems of all lifeforms by Syntony, in collaboration with aspects of lower forms.
Beginning of mature phase of self-organized forms.
END OF PREAMBLE.LATER EVENTS CANNOT BE THUS REPRESENTED.
About the Author
GREGORY BENFORD is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, was a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, and in 1995 received the Lord Prize for contributions to science. His research encompasses both theory and experiments in the fields of astrophysics and plasma physics. His fiction has won many awards, including two Nebula Awards, one John W. Campbell Award, and one British SF Award. Dr. Benford makes his home in Laguna Beach, California.
Gregory Benford is an eminent physicist, multiple award-winning author, and recipient of the United Nations Prize for Literature. Now in a new, revised edition, here is the continuing story of his classic Galactic Center series, a triumph of breathtaking imagination and tense human drama set against an immeasurable tapestry of space, time, and evolution.
TIDES OF LIGHT
Onboard an ancient starship, Killeen and the Bishop tribe escape the mech-ruled world of Snowglade. Seeking refuge on a faraway planet, they discover vast wonders—an organic life-form as large as a world, a planet-coring cosmic string, a community of humans ruled by a brutal tyrant, and ultimately an alien race more awesome than any they have encountered. As they battle for survival against these myriad dangers, Killeen and his crew will gain an unforeseen ally —one that may determine humanity’s true destiny…
“Mr. Benford is a rarity: a scientist who writes with verve and insight not only about black holes and cosmic strings but about human desires and fears.”
—NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
THIS SPECIAL EDITION INCLUDES A HUNGER FOR
THE INFINITE, A CLASSIC NOVELLA SET IN THE
GALACTIC CENTER UNIVERSE
DON’T MISS BOOK 5 OF THE GALACTIC CENTER SERIES,
FURIOUS GULF