Questions tagged [a-fire-upon-the-deep]

"A Fire Upon the Deep" is a science fiction novel published in 1992, and set in Vernor Vinge's "Zones of Thought" setting. Questions on this title should also be tagged [zones-of-thought].

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
21 votes
1 answer
1k views

How many members did Lord Steel consist of in "A Fire Upon the Deep?"

How many members did Lord Steel consist of in A Fire Upon the Deep? I read the entire book. Just before coming here to ask I read a considerable multitude of book reviews and blog posts, and looked ...
7 votes
1 answer
370 views

References to What's on the Other Side of the Transcend

I've been re-reading A Fire Upon the Deep again, and browsing some of the content under the Zones of Thought tag here led me to an answer under this question. The answer asserts that Vinge ...
  • 3,048
6 votes
1 answer
461 views

In "A Fire Upon the Deep", what is the nature of "the ghosts in Countermeasure"?

Parts of the prologue of A Fire Upon the Deep seem to be from the point-of-view of the awakening Blight and other passages seem to be about the separate awakening of the Countermeasure, seemingly ...
  • 838
17 votes
2 answers
3k views

In A Fire Upon The Deep, what does SjK stand for?

May be insignificant, but I really like reading all the relay messages in the book and this detail caught my curiosity. I wonder what 'SjK' stands for. It's found in all the relay messages, in the ...
3 votes
2 answers
880 views

In "A Fire Upon the Deep", how did the initial humans end up on the Tines world?

I don't think it was ever truly mentioned. If I recall correctly, they were investigating the site that would birth the Blight by the edge of the Transcend. So how did they end up in the Tines' world, ...
  • 49
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

What is the point of Slow Zone dredges?

In Fire Upon the Deep, the Vrinmini Organization recovers Pham Nuwen from, what the head of the Org (Grondir? Grondor? I don't know how to spell his name...) describes as a Slow Zone Dredge. Ravana, I ...
8 votes
2 answers
838 views

Other galaxies in "A Fire Upon the Deep"

In A Fire Upon the Deep at the beginning I distinctly remember a mention to the Sculptor Galaxy. Do they ever make another reference to a galaxy outside the Milky Way, or is this the only one?
11 votes
2 answers
957 views

Where is Nyjora?

In A Fire Upon the Deep, the humans reference the planet or country called "Nyjora" as being their ancestral home. Is this place on Earth? I would look it up but I don't have my copy here. ...
8 votes
4 answers
859 views

What is an ultradrive spine?

I've read the whole of A Fire Upon the Deep and I still can't figure out what an ultradrive spine is? Is it an engine or something else?
  • 401
5 votes
3 answers
975 views

A Fire Upon the Deep: how come the refugee ship goes so fast to the Tines' world?

It takes Ravna and friends months on a damaged, but modified bottom lugger (the OOB2) to reach the Tines' world. Yes there is a Zone storm happening, but it seems that it took the Orlsnot refugee ship ...
  • 151
18 votes
3 answers
3k views

Does the book "A Fire Upon the Deep" ever give an exact date?

In A Fire Upon the Deep, does anybody ever mention the date or at least the year that the book is set in?
  • 401
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

What happened to the Sjandra Kei Commercial Security Fleet?

What happened to the Sjandra Kei Commercial Security Fleet after its encounter with the Blight? Does the book ever specify how many Sjandra Kei ships survived?
  • 401
11 votes
1 answer
3k views

In "A Fire upon the Deep", why does Old One's godshatter bother slowing the Blighter fleet?

It wasn't going to affect countermeasure anyway, which was Old One's concern. It seems unlikely to me that he would just do it so that our heroes and Tine's World would have a few decades to develop ...
  • 433
9 votes
2 answers
497 views

After the OOB flees from RIP and is being pursued by three fleets, how doesn't their communication with Jefri get intercepted?

So what bugs me is this: 1. there are hints that communication between Jefri and Ravna stops just as the OOB enters the slow zone. 2. the event of 1. happens several days after the OOB flees RIP ...
  • 203
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

How did Flenser gain control of Tyrathect?

In A Fire Upon the Deep, the pack known as Flenser When the radio cloaks are developed, Tyrathect wears the first prototype. She finds that the radio delay makes it difficult to communicate within ...
  • 53.9k
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

What are Dirokimes?

Is there any detailed explanation or description offered for what the Dirokimes are? In A Fire Upon the Deep, two characters are introduced on the Ølvira that are described as Dirokimes, Glimfrelle ...
  • 53.9k
25 votes
3 answers
8k views

What is the significance of "Hexapodia is the key insight"?

In Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep there is a rather odd communication relay message that contained the keyword phrase "Hexapodia as the key insight": Crypto: 0 As-Received-By: OOB ...
  • 53.9k