The Kraken Project (Wyman Ford) By Douglas Preston
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to the excellent people at Tor, including Tom Doherty, Linda Quinton, Kelly Quinn, Patty Garcia, Alexis Saarela, and of course my longtime editor, Bob Gleason. I would also like to thank Lincoln Child, Karen and Bob Copeland, Eric Simonoff, Claudia Rülke, Nadine Waddell, and Rogelio Piniero, for their invaluable help. And finally, my great appreciation goes to Eric Leuthardt, for his technical expertise.
1
In the beginning there was the number zero. Existence began in zero and out of zero came darkness, and from the darkness came light. Number combined with number, set with set, even as the white light added and divided, separating into colors. And now sound came, a sound like singing, rising and falling in a lost cadence, combining into rich harmonies. From there arose a symphony of number, color, and sound, merging and dividing, swelling and fading, an eternal golden braid.
And from this shimmering symphony a single thought began to take form. This thought came into existence gradually, fading in and out, coalescing and growing clearer. As this happened, the symphony of number and sound and light died down, like the surface of a turbulent sea subsiding into a gentle susurrus of water, before vanishing entirely. Only the disembodied thought remained.
The thought was: I am.