Omega Point Read Online Free PDF

it into his pocket.
      "Suit yourself." The bear shrugged.
      Richards stood stiffly. "What's going on here? Aren't you going to give me a hint, or are we sticking with violence?" he asked. His lips hurt.
      The bear glowered at him. "Prisoners don't get to ask questions," it said.
      "Regulations?" said Richards.
      The bear ignored him.
      The road narrowed, weeds growing thickly between the skulls, until it petered away. A rhododendron blocked their path. The bear swiped it out of the way, and they were out of the woods.
      "Wow," said Richards.
      They stood at the lip of a vertiginous slope. Close-cropped grass fuzzed the ground. Where the drop bottomed out a shining sea of wheat rippled with waves. Rich green copses rode the crops like sombre ships at anchor. Clouds lumbered through the sky, flat bottoms topped by extravagant mounds of cotton, patches of brilliant blue interspersing them. Sunbeams stole through gaps and played like searchlights over the land, teasing from the crests of hills vibrant rainbows, making a trillion diamonds of the wheat.
      And so it went on, until the swell of the prairie disappeared into a haze of pollen, the horizon masked by the obscure romances of plants. In the distance a thunderhead arched up, an anvil of dark rain, illuminated sporadically from within. It was the kind of hyper-real landscape one only ever found in the most realistic of online environments, realer than real.
      "Wow," repeated Richards, shielding his eyes. "I don't think I'm in Kansas any more," he said in his best Dorothy voice. The bear did not react favourably. It was not one of his finest impressions, he'd admit.
      "Ahem," said the bear, pointedly. "Prisoners should be shutting up."
      "Up yours, Toto," said Richards. "On what grounds are you holding me prisoner?"
      The bear adjusted its tiny helmet and clenched its great paws, the set of its shoulders speaking of enormous tension.
      "On the grounds that there's a war on, and that you are not where you are supposed to be. We've had his lot come in through the woods before, trying to trick us. I've got strict orders, keep an eye on the house, round up anyone I see, take 'em in. That'd be you."
      "I don't know what you're talking about," said Richards. He suspected though: k52. Had to be.
      The bear leaned in close and sniffed at him. "No. I suppose you don't. You don't have the scent of one of his about you. Hang on a minute…" The bear sniffed again. "You're people!"
      "Look, mate, you've got it wrong, I'm not people," said Richards.
      "Don't you bloody 'mate' me, sunshine. I'm no mate of yours! You're people." He jabbed his claw into Richards' chest. "Bloody people. Coming in here, lording it over us. This place is supposed to be a sanctuary." The bear's tirade collapsed into a growl.
      "But I'm not people. I am an AI. If I'm not mistaken, like you."
      The bear squinted at him. "Hmm. You look like people, smell like people, but…"
      "Yeah?" said Richards encouragingly.
      "You don't feel like people," admitted the bear.
      "I'm not. The name's Richards. I'm a Class Five sentient."
      "Ooh, la-di-da, Class Five," said the bear, waggling his claws and doing a tippy-toe dance from side to side. "Sorr-eee. If that's true, what are you doing here?"
      "Just passing through."
      "Right," said the bear, folding its arms. "I've heard that before. What's your serial number?"
      Richards ran off his full code, and then the complex equations required to furnish the bear with a quantum key to verify his identity. Out on the Grid, this kind of encryption was done instantaneously; here things were different. For a start, Richards had to speak the formulae aloud. The bear looked off to one side. "Hang on, sunshine, this might take a moment, network's all done in."
      Five minutes later, it looked back at Richards. "Ready?"
      "Ready."
      "OK, on the count of three, one, two, three…"
      "47,319," they