Fast Times at Fairmont High
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| Author | Vernor Vinge |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
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Publication date
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17 November 2001 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 464 (Hardback 1st edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 48223605 |
| 813/.54 21 | |
| LC Class | PS3572.I534 A6 2001 |
The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge is a collection of science fiction short stories by Vernor Vinge. The stories were first published from 1966 to 2001, and the book contains all of Vinge's published short stories from that period except "True Names" and "Grimm's Story".
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The United States government has experimented with intelligence amplification by connecting a chimpanzee named Norman Simmons to an electronic memory bank. However, they have accidentally cross-connected the experimental computer with the government's main databank. Norman is able to access all data known to the USG, including fictional stories. Believing he will be severely punished if caught, he uses his information access advantageously to evade government forces and escape from the lab in which he was held.
Norman remains remotely connected to the government computers, and due to their own security systems, he cannot be disconnected. With the aid of stories that are linked to his mind, he formulates a plot to flee to Canada with the assistance of nearby Soviet agents. The Soviets are captured, however; Norman runs away, but strays too far for the data link with the computer to be maintained and reverts to an ordinary animal.
The Americans resolve not to try this experiment on a human, fearing that a human being augmented like Norman could conquer the world. The captured Russians have their memories read and erased, however, revealing that the USSR already enhanced a dog with similar results and is planning to next enhance one of its leaders. The American officials fear that they must now do so to keep up with the Soviets.
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Bob Royce, CEO of Royce Technology, Inc., and his security officer Arnold Su have discovered that one of their employees has embezzled 4 million dollars worth of computer time. The evidence points to Howard Prentice, a 90-something renaissance man doing computer science research for the company. Prentice reveals that he has used the computers to create a 4-hour computer-generated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This file is the culmination of a 30-year project by Prentice and his wife Moira to turn film into an art form which can be produced by individual artists.
(with Joan D. Vinge) Also appears in:
Describes the arrival of a peddler, Jagit Katchetooriantz, who travels into the future to sell his wares. The peddler travels into the future by placing himself in a stasis field and emerging from time to time. The peddler sells items from the previous civilization to the current civilization, hence he is dependent upon a changing civilization to create demand for his goods. During this visit the peddler encounters a planetary government which is dedicated to preventing any changing in civilization by maintaining the majority of humanity at subsistence level. This government captures Jagit and attempts to interrogate him using their global computer network. However, the people who run this government and the computer network have survived from Jagit's last visit and he knows the passwords and codes to control it. Jagit uses this power to destroy the network and the government freeing humanity from its authority. He returns to his stasis field at the end of the story to continue his travel into the future.
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