Termination Shock

Mohinder turned his head to look back at it. “Oh, I was showing T.R. some monuments that exist in the Punjab. Built to honor the heroes of our past. Saint-soldiers who fell in battle defending our homeland”—he looked significantly between T.R. and Saskia—“from foreigners who would seek to deprive us of the Breadbasket.”

“Let’s have a talk about that, shall we?” Saskia suggested, stepping between the two men and taking each of them by an arm. They turned to follow and began walking into the most magnificent sunset Saskia had ever seen. Amelia cut in front of them to look for rattlesnakes. Pippa, flanked by a couple of video drones, fell in behind as they strolled out into the desert. “I don’t know if you’ve heard,” she said, “but I just took a new job and it’s time I got started.”

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to the following persons who (in some cases inadvertently) helped him in large and small ways. Note, however, that the author conceived and wrote the book himself, and so a person’s appearance on the following list should not be interpreted to suggest that they hold any position one way or the other on topics mentioned in these pages. Some of the relevant interactions happened long before I even considered writing this book!

Jacques Bergman, Nocona Burgess, Jennifer Chayes, William Collins, Craig Danner, Carolyn Dwyer, George Dyson, Beth Epstein, staff and ownership of the Figure 2 Ranch, Tony Halmos, Marco Kaltofen, David Keith, Frank Keutsch, Janno Lanjouw, Karen Laur, Jascha Little, Scott Little, Mark Long, Michael Mainelli, Charles Mann, Ravi Mirchandani, Oliver Morton, Nathan Myhrvold, Marla Nauni, Jan-Peter Onstwedder, Lennert van Oorschot, Gordon Roy, Lynn Schonchin, Tom Standage, Zoe Stephenson, Benny Tahmahkera, Troy, William Voelker, Steven Weber, Lowell Wood.

Lists such as the above can sometimes overstate the importance of casual or fleeting interactions. Books, and to a lesser extent Internet resources, are frequently more important even though I may never have interacted personally with the people who wrote them. It feels wrong to leave such persons off the list and so here are people whose writings, or in some cases digital content on the Internet, have made a difference:

I. Lehr Brisbin Jr.; Ken Caldeira; Tan Chee-Beng; the Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee; Steve Cottrell; T.R. Fehrenbach; Stuart Gilbert; S. C. Gynne; Kyle Harper; Ray Horner; Theodora Kleisma; Jan A. Krancher; David LaVere; Thomas F. Madden; John J. Mayer; George A. Mealey; Leslie H. Palmier; Neil Price; D. S. Saggu; Khushwant Singh; Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh; Sargun Singh; the originators, compilers, and translators of the Shri Guru Granth Sahib; Paul Chaat Smith; Doug J. Swanson; Jean Gelman Taylor; Forbes Wilson.

As of this writing (June 2021) the author earnestly intends to post a bibliography that curious readers might use to track down relevant links and references; if that ever happens it will most likely show up at nealstephenson.com.

About the Author

NEAL STEPHENSON is the bestselling author of the novels Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, and the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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Also by Neal Stephenson

Fall; or, Dodge in Hell

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland)

Seveneves

Reamde

Anathem

The System of the World

The Confusion

Quicksilver

Cryptonomicon

The Diamond Age

Snow Crash

Zodiac

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.