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The main premise is that as you head out of the galaxy, the more god-like you become. The inside is the 'unthinking depths'

There was an AI like enemy being, that computer archaeologists let escape, that wants to take over the universe.

One of the god-like beings puts the 'key' of the enemy's destruction into a human created from pieces of an old space battle.

The hero and the created human, who seem to be the only humans left in existence, go to a lower level, less evolved, civilized world, where a human explorer landed long ago who succumbed to the local forces or lizard people, to find the other part of the key and finally defeat the enemy AI by sending a wave of 'slowness', powered by their sun, making most of the galaxy not traversable by hyperdrive, effectively locking the enemy AI in 'space' with no means to travel.

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  • A Fire Upon The Deep...it's a great book. At the end (spoiler), they figure out how to push the intelligence/hyperdrive gradient of the entire galaxy back, causing the advancing enemy fleet to arrive in centuries instead of minutes, presumably by which time they would be ready for them.
    – Paul Draper
    Commented Jul 24, 2015 at 4:09

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Vernor Vinge, "A Fire Upon the Deep"

All quotes are from the linked wikipedia article.

Galaxy - the farther out you go, the more god-like you become - the inner part is the 'unthinking depths'

The Unthinking Depths are the innermost zone, surrounding the galactic core. In it, only minimal forms of intelligence, biological or otherwise, are possible. This means that any ship straying into the Depths will be stranded, effectively permanently. Even if the crew did not die immediately--and some forms of life native to "higher" Zones would likely do so--they would be rendered incapable of even human intelligence, leaving them unable to operate their ship in any meaningful way.

There was an AI like enemy being, that computer archaeologists let escape, that wants to take over the universe.

The Blight rapidly learns how to infiltrate and control the computer systems of High Lab, and even develops the ability to possess and control the living humans.

The hero and the created human, who seem to be the only humans left in existence, go to a lower level, less evolved, civilized world, where a human explorer landed long ago who succumbed to the local forces..

The ship lands on a distant planet with a medieval-level civilization of dog-like creatures dubbed "Tines", who live in packs as group minds.

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    There are other books in Vinge's "Zones of Thought" series that also feature Unthinking Depths towards the center of the galaxy--I think you picked the right one, but a few other quotes on plot elements from the wikipedia article might be helpful, showing that it involves the unintentional release of a dangerous AI called "The Blight", that the heroes land on a medieval-level planet, and that they finally release a "Countermeasure" which "extends the Slow Zone by thousands of light-years to enclose the Blight".
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 17:12
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    @Hypnosifl I see your point, but it seemed to me that a single click on the article would tell the OP that this was correct, and indeed, that is what happened.
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 17:13
  • True, but I've seen others on this site recommend that everything relevant to the question be quoted in the answer itself, rather than relying on people following links (I guess based on the 'provide context for links' guideline here). Maybe quoting one relevant part is enough even if it doesn't address everything, I'm not always clear on the implicit guidelines on this site.
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 17:19
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    The initial response was good enough for me! I just needed the Author and Title, not some long drawn out proof. Either way, I appreciate the help!
    – Robert Achmann
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 17:42
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    @Robert Achmann - I think the guidelines are there because the purpose of this site isn't just to answer each question for the person asking it, but also to have a sort of permanent answer that can be referred back to if someone else comes along later with a similar question in the future...the point of including text in the answer is that websites can go dead, or be edited (as with wikipedia pages).
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 18:45

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