DAY 6 3:12 P.M.
Everyone went to the window; we banged heads trying to look out in all directions. As far as I could see, the horizon was clear. I saw nothing at all. “Where are they?” I said. “Coming from the south. We have them on the monitors.”
“How many?” Charley said.
“Four.”
“Four!”
“Yeah, four.”
The main building was south of us. There were no windows in the south wall of the shed.
David said, “We don’t see anything. How fast are they coming?”
“Fast.”
“Do we have time to run for it?”
“I don’t think so.”
David frowned. “He doesn’t think so. Jesus.”
And before I could say anything, David had bolted for the far door, opened it, and stepped out into the sunlight. Through the rectangle of the open door we saw him look to the south, shading his eyes with his hand. We all spoke1 at once:
“David!”
“David, what the fuck are you doing?”
“David, you asshole!”
“I’m trying to see ...”
“Get back here!”
“You stupid bastard2!”
But Brooks3 remained where he was, hands over his eyes. “I don’t see anything yet,” he said. “And I don’t hear anything. Listen, I think maybe we can make a run for—uh, no we can’t.” He sprinted4 back inside, stumbled on the door frame, fell, scrambled5 to his feet, and slammed the door shut, pulled it tight behind him, tugging7 on the doorknob. “Where are they?”
“Coming,” he said. “They’re coming.” His voice shook with tension. “Oh Jesus, they’re coming.” He pulled back on the doorknob with both hands, using his whole body weight. He muttered over and over, “Coming ... they’re coming ...”
“Oh great,” Charley said. “The fucking guy’s cracked.”
I went over to David, and put my hand on his shoulder. He was pulling on the doorknob, breathing in ragged8 gasps9. “David,” I said quietly. “Let’s take it easy now. Let’s take a deep breath.”
“I just—I have to keep—have to keep them—” He was sweating, his whole body tense, his shoulder shaking under my hand. It was pure panic.
“David,” I said. “Let’s take a deep breath, okay?”
“I have to—have to—have—have—have—”
“Big breath, David ...” I took one, demonstrating. “That feels better. Come on now. Big breath ...”
David was nodding, trying to hear me. He took a short breath. Then resumed his quick gasps.
“That’s good, David, now another one ...”
Another breath. His breathing slowed slightly. He stopped shaking.
“Okay, David, that’s good ...”
Behind me, Charley said, “I always knew that guy was fucked up. Look at him, talking to him like a fucking baby.”
I glanced back, and shot Charley a look. He just shrugged10. “Hey, I’m fucking right.”
Mae said, “It’s not helping11, Charley.”
“Fuck helping.”
Rosie said, “Charley, just shut up for a while, okay?”
I turned back to David. I kept my voice even. “All right, David ... That’s good, breathe ... okay now, let go of the doorknob.”
David shook his head, refusing, but he seemed confused now, uncertain of what he was doing. He blinked his eyes rapidly. It was as if he was coming out of a trance.
I said softly, “Let go of the doorknob. It’s not doing any good.”
Finally, he let go, and sat back on the ground. He began to cry, head in hands.
“Oh Jesus,” Charley said. “That’s all we need.”
“Shut up, Charley.”
Rosie went to the refrigerator and came back with a bottle of water. She gave it to David, who drank as he cried. She helped him to his feet, nodded to me that she’d take it from here. I went back to the center of the room, where the others were standing12 by the workstation screen. On the screen, the lines of code had been replaced by a monitor view of the north face of the main building. Four swarms14 were there, glinting silver as they moved up and down the length of the building.
“What’re they doing?” I said.
“Trying to get in.”
I said, “Why do they do that?”
“We’re not sure,” Mae said.
We watched for a moment in silence. Once again I was struck by the purposefulness of their behavior. They reminded me of bears trying to break into a trailer to get food. They paused at every doorway15 and closed window, hovering16 there, moving up and down along the seals, until finally moving on to the next opening.
I said, “And do they always try the doors like that?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because it looks like they don’t remember that the doors are sealed.”
“No,” Charley said. “They don’t remember.”
“Because they don’t have enough memory?”
“Either that,” he said, “or this is another generation.”
“You mean these are new swarms since noon?”
“Yes.”
I looked at my watch. “There’s a new generation every three hours?”
Charley shrugged. “I couldn’t say. We never found where they reproduce. I’m just guessing.” The possibility that new generations were coming that fast meant that whatever evolutionary17 mechanism18 was built into the code was progressing fast, too. Ordinarily, genetic19 algorithms—which modeled reproduction to arrive at solutions—ordinarily, they ran between 500 and 5,000 generations to arrive at an optimization20. If these swarms were reproducing every three hours, it meant they had turned over something like 100 generations in the last two weeks. And with 100 generations, the behavior would be much sharper.
Mae watched them on the monitor and said, “At least they’re staying by the main building. It seems like they don’t know we’re here.”
“How would they know?” I said.
“They wouldn’t,” Charley said. “Their main sensory21 modality is vision. They may have picked up a little auditory over the generations, but it’s still primarily vision. If they don’t see it, it doesn’t exist for them.”
Rosie came over with David. He said, “I’m really sorry, guys.”
“No problem.”
“It’s okay, David.”
“I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t stand it.”
Charley said, “Don’t worry, David. We understand. You’re a psycho and you cracked. We get the picture. No problem.”
Rosie put her arm around David, who blew his nose loudly. She stared at the monitor. “What’s happening with them now?” Rosie said.
“They don’t seem to know we’re here.”
“Okay ...”
“We’re hoping it stays that way.”
“Uh-huh. And if it doesn’t?” Rosie said.
I had been thinking about that. “If it doesn’t, we rely on the holes in the PREDPREY assumptions. We exploit the weaknesses in the programming.”
“Which means?”
“We flock,” I said.
Charley gave a horse laugh. “Yeah, right, we flock—and pray like hell!”
“I’m serious,” I said.
Over the last thirty years, scientists had studied predator24-prey23 interactions in everything from the lion to the hyena25 to the warrior26 ant. There was now a much better understanding of how prey defended themselves. Animals like zebras and caribou27 didn’t live in herds29 because they were sociable30; herding31 was a defense32 against predation. Large numbers of animals provided increased vigilance. And attacking predators33 were often confused when the herd28 fled in all directions. Sometimes they literally34 stopped cold. Show a predator too many moving targets and it often chased none.
The same thing was true of flocking birds and schooling35 fish—those coordinated36 group movements made it harder for predators to pick out a single individual. Predators were drawn38 to attack an animal that was distinctive39 in some way. That was one reason why they attacked infants so often—not only because they were easier prey, but because they looked different. In the same way, predators killed more males than females because nondominant males tended to hang on the outskirts40 of the herd, where they were more noticeable. In fact, thirty years ago when Hans Kruuk studied hyenas41 in the Serengeti, he found that putting paint on an animal guaranteed it would be killed in the next attack. That was the power of difference.
So the message was simple. Stay together. Stay the same.
That was our best chance.
But I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
The swarms disappeared for a while. They had gone around to the other side of the laboratory building. We waited tensely. Eventually they reappeared. They once again moved along the side of the building, trying openings one after another.
We all watched the monitor. David Brooks was sweating profusely42. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “How long are they going to keep doing that?”
“As long as they fucking want,” Charley said.
Mae said, “At least until the wind kicks up again. And it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen soon.”
“Jesus,” David said. “I don’t know how you guys can stand it.” He was pale; sweat had dripped from his eyebrows43 onto his glasses. He looked like he was going to pass out. I said, “David. Do you want to sit down?”
“Maybe I better.”
“Okay.”
“Come on, David,” Rosie said. She took him across the room to the sink, and sat him on the floor. He hugged his knees, put his head down. She put cold water on a paper towel and placed it on the back of his neck. Her gestures were tender.
“That fucking guy,” Charley said, shaking his head. “That’s all we need right now.”
“Charley,” Mae said, “you’re not helping ...”
“So what? We’re trapped in this fucking shed, it’s not fucking airtight, there’s nothing we can do, no place we can go, and he’s fucking cracking up, makes everything worse.”
“Yes,” she said quietly, “that’s all true. And you’re not helping it.”
Charley gave her a look, and began to hum the theme from The Twilight44 Zone. “Charley,” I said. “Pay attention.” I was watching the swarms. Their behavior had subtly changed. They no longer stayed close to the building. Instead, they now moved in a zigzag45 pattern away from the wall into the desert, and then back again. They were all doing it, in a kind of fluid dance.
Mae saw it, too. “New behavior ...”
“Yes,” I said. “Their strategy isn’t working, so they’re trying something else.”
“Not going to do shit for them,” Charley said. “They can zigzag all they want, it won’t open any doors.”
Even so, I was fascinated to see this emergent behavior. The zigzags46 were becoming more exaggerated; the swarms were moving farther and farther away from the buildings. Their strategy was shifting progressively. It was evolving as we watched. “It’s really amazing,” I said. “Little fuckers,” Charley said.
One of the swarms was now quite close to the rabbit carcass. It approached within a few yards, and swirled48 away again, heading back to the main building. A thought occurred to me. “How well do the swarms see?”
The headset clicked. It was Ricky. “They see fabulously,” he said. “It’s what they were made to do, after all. Eyesight’s twenty-oh-five,” he said. “Fantastic resolution. Better than any human.” I said, “And how do they do the imaging?” Because they were just a series of individual particles. Like the rods and cones49 in the eye, central processing was required to form a picture from all the inputs50. How was that processing accomplished51?
Ricky coughed. “Uh ... not sure.”
Charley said, “It showed up in later generations.”
“You mean they evolved vision on their own?”
“Yeah.”
“And we don’t know how they do it ...”
“No. We just know they just do.”
We watched as the swarm13 angled away from the wall, moved back near the rabbit, then returned to the wall once more. The other swarms were farther down the building, doing the same thing. Swirling52 out into the desert, then swirling back again. Over the headset, Ricky said, “Why do you ask?”
“Because.”
“You think they’ll find the rabbit?”
“I’m not worried about the rabbit,” I said. “Anyway, it looks like they already missed it.”
“Then what?”
“Uh-oh,” Mae said.
“Shit,” Charley said, and he gave a long sigh.
We were looking at the nearest swarm, the one that had just bypassed the rabbit. That swarm had moved out into the desert again, perhaps ten yards away from the rabbit. But instead of turning back in its usual pattern, it had paused in the desert. It didn’t move, but the silvery column rose and fell.
“Why is it doing that?” I said. “That up and down thing?”
“Something to do with imaging? Focusing?”
“No,” I said. “I mean, why did it stop?”
“Program stall?”
I shook my head. “I doubt it.”
“Then what?”
“I think it sees something.”
“Like what?” Charley said.
I was afraid I knew the answer. The swarm represented an extremely high-resolution camera combined with a distributed intelligence network. And one thing distributed networks did particularly well was detect patterns. That was why distributed network programs were used to recognize faces for security systems, or to assemble the shattered fragments of archaeological pottery53. The networks could find patterns in data better than the human eye. “What patterns?” Charley said, when I told him. “There’s nothing out there to detect except sand and cactus54 thorns.”
Mae said, “And footprints.”
“What? You mean our footprints? From us walking over here? Shit, Mae, the sand’s been blowing for the last fifteen minutes. There’s no footprints left to find.” We watched the swarm hang there, rising and falling like it was breathing. The cloud had turned mostly black now, with just an occasional glint of silver. It had remained at the same spot for ten or fifteen seconds, pulsing up and down. The other swarms were continuing in their zigzag course, but this one stayed where it was.
Charley bit his lip. “You really think it sees something?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe.”
Suddenly, the swarm rose up, and began to move again. But it wasn’t coming toward us. Instead, it moved on a diagonal over the desert, heading back toward the door in the power building. When it came to the door, it stopped, and swirled in place. “What the hell?” Charley said.
I knew what it was. So did Mae. “It just tracked us,” she said. “Backward.” The swarm had followed the path we had originally taken from the door to the rabbit. The question was, what would it do next?
The next five minutes were tense. The swarm retraced55 its path, going back to the rabbit. It swirled around the rabbit for a while, moving in slow semicircles back and forth56. Then once again it retraced the route back to the power station door. It stayed at the door for a while, then returned to the rabbit.
The swarm repeated this sequence three times. Meanwhile, the other swarms had continued their zigzagging57 around the building, and were now out of sight. The solitary58 swarm returned to the door, then headed back to the rabbit again.
“It’s stuck in a loop,” Charley said. “It just does the same thing over and over again.”
“Lucky for us,” I said. I was waiting to see if the swarm would modify its behavior. So far it hadn’t. And if it had very little memory, then it might be like an Alzheimer’s patient, unable to remember it had done all this before.
Now it was going around the rabbit, moving in semicircles.
“Definitely stuck in a loop,” Charley said.
I waited.
I hadn’t been able to review all the changes they’d made to PREDPREY, because the central module59 was missing. But the original program had a randomizing element built into it, to handle situations exactly like this. Whenever PREDPREY failed to attain61 its goal, and there were no specific environmental inputs to provoke new action, then its behavior was randomly62 modified. This was a well-known solution. For example, psychologists now believed a certain amount of random60 behavior was necessary for innovation. You couldn’t be creative without striking out in new directions, and those directions were likely to be random—
“Uh-oh,” Mae said.
The behavior had changed.
The swarm moved in larger circles, going around and around the rabbit. And almost immediately, it came across another path. It paused a moment, and then suddenly rose up, and began to move directly toward us. It was following exactly the same path we had taken, walking to the shed.
“Shit,” Charley said. “I think we’re fucked.”
Mae and Charley rushed across the room to look out the window. David and Rosie stood and peered out the window above the sink. And I started to shout: “No, no! Get away from the windows!”
“What?”
“It’s visual, remember? Get away from the windows!”
There was no good place to hide in the storage room, not really. Rosie and David crawled under the sink. Charley pushed in beside them, ignoring their protests. Mae slipped into the shadows of one corner of the room, easing herself into the space where two shelves didn’t quite meet. She could only be seen from the west window, and then not easily. The radio crackled. “Hey guys?” It was Ricky. “One’s heading for you. And uh ... No ... two others are joining it.”
“Ricky,” I said. “Go off air.”
“What?”
“No more radio contact.”
“Why?”
“Off, Ricky.”
I dropped down on my knees behind a cardboard carton of supplies in the main room. The carton wasn’t large enough to hide me entirely—my feet stuck out—but like Mae, I wasn’t easily seen. Someone outside would have to look at an angle through the north window to see me. In any case, it was the best I could do.
From my crouched63 position, I could just see the others huddled64 beneath the sink. I couldn’t see Mae at all, unless I really stuck my head around the corner of the carton. When I did, she looked quiet, composed. I ducked back and waited.
I heard nothing but the hum of the air conditioner.
Ten or fifteen seconds passed. I could see the sunlight streaming in through the north window above the sink. It made a white rectangle on the floor to my left. My headset crackled. “Why no contact?”
“Jesus fucking A,” Charley muttered.
I put my finger to my lips, and shook my head.
“Ricky,” I said, “don’t these things have auditory capacity?”
“Sure, maybe a little, but—”
“Be quiet and stay off.”
“But—”
I reached for the transmitter at my belt, and clicked it off. I signaled the others beneath the sink. They each turned their transmitters off.
Charley mouthed something to me. I thought he mouthed, “That fucking guy wants us killed.”
But I couldn’t be sure.
We waited.
It couldn’t have been more than two or three minutes, but it seemed forever. My knees began to hurt on the hard concrete floor. Trying to get more comfortable, I shifted my position cautiously; by now I was sure the first swarm was in our vicinity. It hadn’t appeared at the windows yet, and I wondered what was taking so long. Perhaps as it followed our path it had paused to inspect the cars. I wondered what swarm intelligence would make of an automobile65. How puzzling it must look to that high-resolution eye. But maybe because the cars were inanimate, the swarm would ignore them as some sort of large, brightly colored boulders66. But still ... What was taking so long?
My knees hurt more with every passing second. I changed my position, putting weight on my hands and raising my knees like a runner at the blocks. I had a moment of temporary relief. I was so focused on my pain that I didn’t notice at first that the glaring white rectangle on the floor was turning darker at the center, and spreading out to the sides. In a moment the entire rectangle turned dull gray.
The swarm was here.
I wasn’t certain, but I fancied that beneath the hum of the air conditioner was a deep thrumming sound. From my position behind the crate67, I saw the window above the sink grow progressively darker from swirling black particles. It was as if there was a dust storm right outside. Inside the shed it was dark. Surprisingly dark.
Underneath68 the sink, David Brooks began to moan. Charley clapped his hand over his mouth. They looked upward, even though the sink blocked their view of the window above them. And then the swarm vanished from the window, as quickly as it had come. Sunlight poured in again.
Nobody moved.
We waited.
Moments later, the window in the west wall turned dark, in the same way. I wondered why the swarm didn’t enter. The window wasn’t airtight. The nanoparticles could slide through the cracks without difficulty. But they didn’t even seem to try. Perhaps this was an instance where network learning was on our side. Perhaps the swarms had been trained by their experience at the lab to think doors and windows were impermeable69. Maybe that’s why they weren’t trying.
The thought gave me a hopeful feeling that helped counteract70 the pain in my knees. The west window was still dark, when the north window over the sink turned dark again. Now two swarms were looking in at the same time. Ricky had said there were three coming toward the building. He hadn’t mentioned the fourth. I wondered where the third swarm was. A moment later, I knew.
Like a silent black mist, nanoparticles began to come into the room underneath the west door. Soon more particles entered, all around the door frame. Inside the room, the particles appeared to spin and swirl47 aimlessly, but I knew they would self-organize in a few moments. Then at the north window, I saw more particles flooding through the cracks. Through the air-conditioning vents71 in the ceiling, still more particles rushed downward. There was no point in waiting any longer. I got to my feet and stepped from my hiding place. I shouted for everybody to come out of hiding. “Form up in two rows!” Charley grabbed the Windex spray bottle and fell into line, grumbling72, “What do you think our fucking chances are?”
“The best they’ll ever get,” I said. “Reynolds rules! Form up and stay with me! Let’s go—now!”
If we weren’t so frightened, we might have felt ridiculous, shuffling73 back and forth across the room in a tight cluster, trying to coordinate37 our movements—trying to imitate a flock of birds. My heart was pounding in my chest. I heard a roaring sound in my ears. It was hard to focus on our steps. I knew we were awkward, but we got better quickly. When we came to a wall, we wheeled and headed back again, moving in unison74. I started swinging my arms and clapping with each step. The others did the same. It helped our coordination75. And we each fought our terror. As Mae said later, “It was step aerobics76 from hell.” And all the time, we watched the black nanoparticles as they came hissing77 into the room through cracks in doors and windows. It seemed to go on for a long time, but it was probably only thirty or forty seconds. Soon a kind of undifferentiated fog filled the room. I felt pinpricks all over my body, and I was sure the others felt it, too. David started moaning again, but Rosie was right beside him, encouraging him, urging him to keep it together. Suddenly, with shocking speed the fog cleared, the particles coalescing79 into two fully80 formed columns that now stood directly before us, rising and falling in dark ripples81. Seen this close, the swarms exuded82 an unmistakable sense of menace, almost malevolence83. Their deep thrumming sound was clearly audible, but intermittently84 I heard an angry hiss78, like a snake.
But they did not attack us. Just as I had hoped, the programming deficits85 worked for us. Confronted by a cluster of coordinated prey, these predators were stymied86. They did nothing at all.
At least for now.
Between claps, Charley said, “Do you believe—this fucking shit—it’s working!” I said, “Yes but maybe—not for long.” I was worried about how long David could control his anxiety. And I was worried about the swarms. I didn’t know how long they’d just stand there before they innovated87 new behavior. I said, “I suggest we—move toward that—back door behind us—and get the hell out.”
As we wheeled away from the wall, I angled slightly toward the rear room. Clapping and stepping in unison, our group moved away from the swarms, which thrummed deeply and followed.
“And if we get outside, then what?” David whined88. He was having trouble staying in sync with the rest of us. In his panic, he kept stumbling. He was sweating and blinking rapidly. “We continue this way—flocking this way—back to the lab—and get inside—are you willing to try?”
“Oh jeez,” he moaned. “It’s so far ... I don’t know if ...” He stumbled again, nearly lost his balance. And he wasn’t clapping with the rest of us. I could almost feel his terror, his overwhelming urge to flee.
“David you stay with us—if you go on your own—you’ll never make it—are you listening?” David moaned, “I don’t know ... Jack89 ... I don’t know if I can ...” He stumbled again, bumped into Rosie, who fell against Charley, who caught her and pulled her back to her feet. But our flock was knocked into momentary90 disarray91, our coordination gone. Immediately, the swarms turned dense92 black, coiled and tightened93, as if ready to spring. I heard Charley whisper “Oh fuck,” under his breath, and indeed, for a moment I thought he was right, and that it was all over.
But then we regained94 our rhythm, and immediately the swarms rose up, returned to normal. Their dense blackness faded. They resumed their steady pulsing. They followed us into the next room. But still they did not attack. We were now about twenty feet from the back door, the same door we had come in. I started to feel optimistic. For the first time, I thought it was possible we really might make it.
And then, in an instant, everything went to hell.
* * *
David Brooks bolted.
We were well into the back room, and about to work our way around the freestanding shelves in the center of the room, when he ran straight between the swarms and past them, heading for the far door.
The swarms instantly spun95 and chased him.
Rosie was screaming for him to come back, but David was focused on the door. The swarms pursued him with surprising speed. David had almost reached the door—his hand was reaching for the doorknob—when one swarm sank low, and spread itself across the floor ahead of him, turning it black.
The moment David Brooks reached the black surface, his feet shot out from under him, as if he had stepped on ice. He howled in pain as he slammed onto the concrete, and immediately tried to scramble6 to his feet again, but he couldn’t get up; he kept slipping and falling, again and again. His eyeglasses shattered; the frames cut his nose. His lips were coated with swirling black residue96. He started to have trouble breathing.
Rosie was still screaming as the second swarm descended97 on David, and the black spread across his face, onto his eyes, into his hair. His movements became increasingly frantic98, he moaned pitifully like an animal, yet somehow, as he slid and tumbled on hands and knees, he managed to make his way toward the door. At last he lunged upward, grabbed the doorknob, and managed to pull himself to his knees. With a final desperate movement, he twisted the knob, and kicked the door open as he fell.
Hot sunlight flared99 into the shed—and the third swarm swirled in from outside.
Rosie cried, “We’ve got to do something!” I grabbed her arm as she ran past me toward David. She struggled in my grip. “We have to help him! We have to help him!”
“There’s nothing we can do.”
“We have to help him!”
“Rosie. There’s nothing we can do.”
David was now rolling on the ground, black from head to toe. The third swarm had enveloped100 him. It was difficult to see through the dancing particles. It looked as though David’s mouth was a dark hole, his eyeballs completely black. I thought he might be blind. His breath came in ragged gasps, with little choking sounds. The swarm was flowing into his mouth like a black river.
His body began to shudder101. He clutched at his neck. His feet drummed on the floor. I was sure he was dying.
“Come on, Jack,” Charley said. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“You can’t leave him!” Rosie shouted. “You can’t, you can’t!” David was sliding out the door, into the sunlight. His movements were less vigorous now; his mouth was moving, but we heard only gasps.
Rosie struggled to get free.
Charley grabbed her shoulder and said, “God damn it, Rosie—”
“Fuck you!” She wrenched102 free from his grip, she stamped on my foot and in my moment of surprise I let go, and she sprinted across the shed into the next room, shouting “David! David!” His hand, black as a miner’s, stretched toward her. She grabbed his wrist. And in the same moment she fell, slipping on the black floor just as he had done. She kept saying his name, until she began to cough, and a black rim22 appeared on her lips.
Charley said, “Let’s go, for Christ’s sake. I can’t watch.”
I felt unable to move my feet, unable to leave. I turned to Mae. Tears were running down her cheeks. She said: “Go.”
Rosie was still calling out David’s name as she hugged him, pulled his body to her chest. But he didn’t seem to be moving on his own anymore.
Charley leaned close to me and said, “It’s not your fucking fault.”
I nodded slowly. I knew what he was saying was true.
“Hell, this is your first day on the job.” Charley reached down to my belt, flicked103 my headset on. “Let’s go.”
I turned toward the door behind me.
And we went outside.
收听单词发音 |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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4
sprinted
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| v.短距离疾跑( sprint的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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evolutionary
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| adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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genetic
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| adj.遗传的，遗传学的 | |
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optimization
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| n.最佳化，最优化；优选法；优化组合 | |
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sensory
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| adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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predator
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| n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者 | |
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25
hyena
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| n.土狼，鬣狗 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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caribou
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| n.北美驯鹿 | |
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28
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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29
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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30
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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31
herding
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| 中畜群 | |
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32
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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33
predators
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| n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面） | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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35
schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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36
coordinated
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| adj.协调的 | |
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37
coordinate
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| adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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40
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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41
hyenas
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| n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
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42
profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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43
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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44
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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45
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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46
zigzags
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| n.锯齿形的线条、小径等( zigzag的名词复数 )v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的第三人称单数 ) | |
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47
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cones
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| n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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inputs
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| n.输入( input的名词复数 )；投入；输入端；输入的数据v.把…输入电脑( input的第三人称单数 ) | |
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51
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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52
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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53
pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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54
cactus
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| n.仙人掌 | |
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55
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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zigzagging
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| v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的现在分词 )；盘陀 | |
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58
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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59
module
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| n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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61
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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randomly
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| adv.随便地，未加计划地 | |
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63
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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65
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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66
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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69
impermeable
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| adj.不能透过的，不渗透的 | |
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counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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71
vents
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| （气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩 | |
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72
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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74
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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75
coordination
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| n.协调，协作 | |
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76
aerobics
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| n.健身操，健美操，韵律操 | |
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77
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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78
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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79
coalescing
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| v.联合，合并( coalesce的现在分词 ) | |
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80
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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81
ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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82
exuded
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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83
malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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84
intermittently
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| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
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85
deficits
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| n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损 | |
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86
stymied
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| n.被侵袭的v.妨碍，阻挠( stymie的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
innovated
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| v.改革，创新( innovate的过去式和过去分词 )；引入（新事物、思想或方法）， | |
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88
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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89
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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90
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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91
disarray
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| n.混乱，紊乱，凌乱 | |
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92
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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93
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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94
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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95
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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96
residue
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| n.残余，剩余，残渣 | |
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97
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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98
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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99
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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100
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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102
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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103
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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