За разломом орла

           Aftertwocenturiesofstudy,humanmachinescannowconstructandinterpretthesyntaxwithanacceptablylowfailurerate. Givenadesireddestination,theycanassembleastringofrunesthatwillalmostalwaysbeacceptedbytheaperture’sownmachinery. Furthermore,theycanalmostalwaysguaranteethatthedesiredroutingistheonethattheaperturemachinerywillprovide. 

           Inshort,youusuallygetwhereyouwanttogo. 

           Takeasimplepoint-to-pointtransfer,liketheHaurakirun. Inthatcasethereisnorealdisadvantageinusingautomaticsyntaxgenerators. Butforlongertrajectories—thosethatmayinvolvesixorseventransitsbetweenaperturehubs—machineslosetheedge. Theyfindasolution,butusuallyitisn’ttheoptimumone. That’swheresyntaxrunnerscomein. PeoplelikeSuzyhaveanintuitivegraspofsyntaxsolutions. Theydreaminrunes. Whentheyseeapoorlyconstructedscript,theyfeelitliketoothache. Itaffrontsthem. 

           Agoodsyntaxrunnercanshavedaysoffaroute. ForacompanylikeAshantiIndustrial,thatcanmakealotofdifference. 

           ButIwasn’tasyntaxrunner. Icouldtellwhensomethinghadgonewrongwiththeplatelets, butIhadtotrustthatSuzyhaddoneherjob.Ihadnootherchoice. 

           ButIknewSuzywouldn’tscrewthingsup. 

           Itwistedaroundandlookedbacktheotherway. Nowthatwewereinspace,theq-planeshaddeployed. Theywereswungoutfromthehullontriplehundred-metre-longjibs,likethearmsofagrapple.