Travel and communication both happen here faster than the speed of light.

The next Zone beyond the Slow Zone is called the Beyond, and this is where artificial intelligence dominates. In this zone, communication is less than the speed of light, which is possible in the other more advanced zones. There is some intelligence in the Slow Zone, but not the most modern artificial intelligence that exists during the present-day time of the novel. Although Earth is not a part of the novel, it is understood that the Slow Zone is the old Earth. It is considered the innermost zone and is surrounded by the Slow Zone, the birthplace of humanity. The novel is set in a galaxy made up of four different “Zones of Thought.” The innermost zone is called the Unthinking Depths and is defined by its lack of intelligent life. Vinge published a prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep called A Deepness in the Sky in 1999, and then a third book, The Children of the Sky, which ended the three-book series in 2011.

Published in 1993, it was named the Hugo Award for best novel of the year because of its complex, detailed, and thought-provoking dramatic plot about a galactic war taking place thousands of years in the future. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels A Fire Upon The Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999) and Rainbows End (2006), his Hugo Award-winning novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster (2004), as well as for his 1993 essay 'The Coming Technological Singularity', in which he argues that exponential growth in technology will reach a point beyond which we cannot even speculate about the consequences.A Fire Upon the Deep is the first book in the Zone of Thought science fiction series by Vernor Vinge. Vernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels A Fire Upon The Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999) and Rainbows End (2006), his Hugo Award-winning novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster (2004), as well as for his 1993 essay 'The Coming Technological Singularity', in which he argues that exponential growth in technology will reach a point beyond which we cannot even speculate about the consequences.

A fire upon the deep