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"One could imagine a very ascetic sort of life ... where the body is ignored. This is something I've played with in my books, where people hate to be reminded sometimes that they have bodies, they find it very slow and tedious."
- William Gibson
 |
| Ghostwheel | ||
| A sentient computer partially built with magic. |
| The pace of events was accelerated even more after that. A crude
attempt at knocking off most of the family with a thrown bomb was made the
next day, following Caine's funeral. The would-be assassin escaped. Later,
Random was upset at a brief demonstration on my part of the power of the
Ghostwheel, my pet project, my hobby, my avocation during those years at
Grand Design. Ghostwheel is a-well, it started out as a computer that
required a different set of physical laws to operate than those I'd learned
in school. It involved what might be called magic. But I found a place where
it could be built and operated, and I'd constructed it there. It was still
programming itself when I'd left it. It seemed to have gone sentient, and I
think it scared Random. He ordered me to go and turn it off. I didn't much
like the idea, but I departed. I was followed in my passage through Shadow; I was harassed, threatened and even attacked. I was rescued from a fire by a strange lady who later died in a lake. I was protected from vicious beasts by a mysterious individual and saved from a bizarre earthquake by the same person-who turned out to be Luke. He accompanied me to the final barrier, for a confrontation with Ghostwheel. My creation was a bit irritated with me and banished us by means of a shadow-storm-a thing it is not fun to be caught in, with or without an umbrella. I delivered us from the vicissitudes by means of one of the Trumps of Doom, as I'd dubbed the odd pasteboards from Julia's apartment. |
| From Blood of Amber,
by Roger Zelazny. Published by Arbor House in 1986 Additional resources -
|
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