Dark Integers - Greg Egan

Novelette

Number of words : 16300
Percent of complex words : 11.9
Average syllables per word : 1.5
Average words per sentence : 22.9


READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 13.9
Flesch : 53.6
Flesch-Kincaid : 11.5




PEOPLE

Bruno Costanzo

Mathematical defect mapper and watcher.

Sam

Bruno's counterpart on the far side.

Alison Tierney

Bruno's friend and co-watcher.

Yuen

Alison's mentor.

Laura

Alison's daughter.

Tim Campbell

A number theory researcher working at Victoria University.

Kate

Bruno's girlfriend.

Machiavelli

Political theorist.

Gerard Hooft

Quantum mathematician.

Bridget

Campbell's wife, an organic chemist. Also a lecturer at Victoria University.

Richard Branson

English billionaire.

Brando

An actor.

Hedy Lamarr

An actress.

Genghis Khan

Mongol warlord.


ORGANISATIONS

Industrial Algebra

Company that wants to exploit Bruno and Alison's discovery.

Victoria University

In Wellington.

JJJ

Radio station, focused on new music for the young.


PLACES

Sydney

Australian city.

Shanghai

Major city in China.

Zurich

Where Alison lives.

West Ryde

Suburb of Sydney.

Tasman

Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

Blue Mountains

Outside Sydney.

Penrith

Sydney suburb.


MEDIA

The West Wing

American tv show.

Dick Tracy

Comic strip detective.

Dr Strangelove

Bomb movie.



CONCEPTS

Planck scale

Very, very small. Physics measurement.

Dark Integers

A type definition of 4096 bits.

Fields Medal

Prize awarded to young mathematicians.


VEHICLES

Sputnik

Russian spacecraft.


PLOT

Ten years after Luminous, Bruno, Alison and an ill Yuen work to keep a detente with the far side, who are led by Sam as their contact.

When a New Zealand number theorist makes a discovery on his own, this threatens cordial relations, and Bruno has to scramble to get him onside. As he doesn't want to kill him, being Alison's other option.

Further work of Campbell's allows him to map the other side, showing their space is different, they are in a different solar system, and have different life.

Conflict starts, and changing mathematical axioms can do bad things, like crash markets and make planes fall out of the sky, killing many people.

Bruno and company have to very rapidly come up with proof of the ability to set up a buffer zone between the two sides of the border, to stop a war.


5 out of 5

http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0805/DarkINtegers.shtml