We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 2: Chapter 38: Following up

Book 2: Chapter 38: Following up

Hal

May 2188

Gliese 877

I was ten months from Gliese 877 when I received Bashful’s final radio transmission. Effectively, I had just watched myself die. It was a freaky feeling, not something I cared to repeat.

How had Bashful been traced? One possibility was that the Others had intercepted his transmissions, since those would have passed through the system once he was on the far side. Between the encryption we put on all our comms and the lack of any format information, I wasn’t worried about them learning anything, but simply detecting the transmissions wasn’t too much of a stretch.

I was more concerned about me joining Bashful as the main course. It wouldn’t take much intelligence to decide to follow the direction of the transmission, if that was what they’d keyed on. In that case, there might be an alien armada coming straight down my throat.

With that thought, I immediately instituted a hard right turn at 10 g. As soon as I was a few light-minutes off the straight line between Gliese 877 and Gliese 54, I fired off a drone along my original vector. At the speed I was still going, the drone wouldn’t need to use its drive. It could operate on minimal systems, drawing just enough power to maintain a maser link with me. I wanted to know if anything was coming.

I also fired off some commentary and analysis of the situation back to Mario via SCUT. We had to plan for the possibility of them tracing Bashful back to his origin. In principle, if the Others got hold of a space station, they could eventually trace the connection all the way back to Epsilon Eridani. And if they found one that had been upgraded to SCUT, they’d have that, too. If Mario was still back there, manning the station, I suggested that he booby-trap it.

I sat back in my easy chair and looked out the window, lost in thought. The floor-to-ceiling glass showed a winter scene unbroken by anything man-made. Tall evergreens in the foreground gradually dropped into a tree-filled valley. Snowflakes blurred the view into the distance, while lending a postcard feel to the foreground. In a small breach of reality, my VR world never filled with snow, despite never having spring melts. But hey, what’s the point of obsessive realism?

I let myself get about thirty light-minutes off the line before turning back toward Gliese 877. The drone would let me know if something approached along my original vector. Unless there was a collision, which frankly would be just fine. The combined kinetic energy of two masses, each going about .75 C or so in opposite directions, would produce a truly impressive light show.

I sighed and turned to Guppy. “Analysis?”

[Too many unknowns. If the alien SUDDAR has greater range than ours, they may destroy the drone before it gets close enough to register their approach. Or it may not be big enough to register or to bother with. Or they may not be interested enough to investigate]

“That’s about what I was thinking. The Others don’t seem to care a lot about other species. Or ecosystems. Or civilizations. They may actually be very Borg-like in ignoring us until it suits them.”

Guppy didn’t comment. Version-3 memory capacity or not, he still wasn’t into small talk.

* * *

It took a month to close the distance to Gliese 877. I was sure Bashful had thought he was being cautious, but I was ten times more so. I fired off several probes, with orders to rendezvous at coordinates two light-hours away from where I’d be waiting. They’d sit there for a week while I watched for any reaction. Only then would I collect them.

Things went pretty much according to plan. Mostly. I got to my planned location and waited for the probes to gather at their location. Right on schedule, they coasted up and came to a stop. I transferred all their data over, and settled down for a week of waiting.

I got through two days’ worth before a flotilla of Others showed up on the probes’ SUDDAR. As hoped, the Others were too far to detect me or for me to detect them directly.

[Same conformation as last time]

“Yeah, they seem to be consistent that way. Any indication they’ve detected us?”

[Negative. Trajectories are focused on the probes]

“Okay, then. Blow the probes, and let’s get out of here.”

[Aye. Probe destruction directive sent. Will we wait for SUDDAR confirmation?]

“Yes, but if the Others show any inclination at all to change course, we’re outta here.”

Right at the expected time, the probes disappeared from SUDDAR. We turned and put some distance behind us at full 10 g.

* * *

After I squirted a status report and all the raw telemetry Mario-ward, I combed through the data myself. We continued to accelerate away from Gliese 877, although I was planning on looping around and approaching from stellar north for another round of spying. ???????

In the holotank, a picture slowly formed of the inner system. The first interesting tidbit was the outer rocky planet.

“Will you look at that…” I leaned back in my chair and shook my head in disbelief. Even Guppy looked impressed. I think. Really hard to tell with a fish.

[The planet is completely encased in metal]

“Or is completely made of metal. Do we actually know if there’s a planet underneath that?”

[The engineering for an artificial structure all the way down would be impressive]

I experienced a jolt of irritation. I was the engineer, and Guppy had just handed me my ass. He was right, of course. A completely metal planet all the way to the core would require some truly astonishing engineering. A totally encased planet, maybe with a lot of underground structures, would make a lot more sense.

The problem was, we really didn’t know for sure. And I was beginning to think that astounding engineering might be exactly what we could expect from the Others. I turned to the main event on the display.

“That is what I think it is, right?”

[Based on what we can detect, it appears to be the beginning of a Dyson Sphere]

Ah-yep. Truly astounding.

The orbit just to the inside of the inner planet was crazy busy. Fusion signatures, radio traffic, SUDDAR emissions, and high-albedo craft flitting around. And that was just the small stuff. Floating in orbit, spaced equidistantly around the sun, were massive structures. Analysis indicated that they conformed to a spherical curvature with the same radius as their orbit. They were, essentially, the beginning of a globe around the star.

“Well, we know where the metal went. We can guess where the…” I couldn’t finish the thought. “Any idea of population based on what we have?”

[Impossible to estimate without more information on subject biology]

Hmm, fair enough.

I turned to the other terrestroid planet in the system. Atmosphere blocked a lot of direct observation, but infrared and spectroscopic analysis indicated generally breathable air, though with a lot of pollutants. And the temperature would be close to fatal for a human.

“My guess is that’s the home planet. And they global-warmed themselves almost to extinction before getting into space.”

[Reasonable]

Out of idle curiosity, I started putting together a simulation to predict how they would assemble the Dyson sphere, how long it would take, and how many systems they’d have to plunder. I had to make a lot of assumptions, but I needed to start somewhere. I was immersed in the problem when I was interrupted by Guppy.

[Alert! Proximity alert! Incoming!]

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me! How are they detecting us? I’m not even using radio!” In one sense, that was a good thing, since it would mean they didn’t have any idea which direction we were coming from. In another sense, I was being chased, which was much less of a good thing.

I spared a few milliseconds to review the SUDDAR results. Our improved SUDDAR, courtesy of Bill, had given me an earlier warning of the approaching enemy. Again, the same formation as the two previous occasions. Well, they were consistent, anyway.

They were coming up from behind, so there was no opportunity for our traditional trick. This was going to be a straight-out stern chase. Which meant I would find out who had the better legs.

I immediately sent an update to Mario via SCUT. I also started on a baseline backup as well, with plans to add periodic differential backups.

All of this analysis and planning took perhaps twenty milliseconds. I turned my ship away from Gliese 877 and cranked the SURGE drive up to maximum. Interestingly, the Others did not react immediately. There was a half-hour delay before I saw them change their course. That was too quick for a visual reaction, so it meant that I had a thirty-light-minute advantage in SUDDAR range.

Unfortunately, I seemed to be about 2.5 g’s outmatched in the SURGE department. Pings indicated that they were accelerating at 12.5 g on my tail.

I was going to lose the footrace.

I briefly considered using the SUDDAR jamming, then mentally slapped myself. Jamming wasn’t like cloaking, it was like blinding everyone with a searchlight. They’d be able to follow the emission like a beacon.

My only advantage was the apparent difference in range between my SUDDAR and theirs. If I could keep myself in that range long enough, I might be able to jink out of their view entirely.

Over the next several days, I changed my vector at random times, in random directions, but always with the intention of extending my lead. The Others kept cutting the distance, then I’d pull a fast one and extend it. I was subtly training them to expect certain behaviors from me, and I watched for them to start anticipating my moves.

Finally they were doing exactly what I expected of them. I made a predictable turn, then as soon as I judged myself to be out of range, I turned to an unexpected vector and shut down all systems. By my calculations, I’d stay out of SUDDAR range as they passed by. With no reactor signature I should be invisible since I was certainly too far away for a visual.

* * *

I coasted for three days, unwilling to take a chance of attracting their attention. There was a good chance that they were quartering the area, trying to reacquire my trail. But given the immensity of space and the speeds we had been travelling, for every second that passed, the volume that they had to search expanded faster than they could search it.

On the fourth day, I bundled up all my observations and data, added a differential backup, and squirted it off to Mario.

There was something about the whole thing that nagged at the edge of my mind, though.

The timing of the appearance of the Others’ patrol groups wasn’t consistent with following or chasing the probes. It was more as though they spotted them and came running, but not before the probes were already at or near rendezvous. Could the Others be detecting our radio interaction? That would require an amazing level of sensitivity, but then they did have that big grid, which might be good for more than deep-frying Bobs. And if they’d followed the direction of the probe’s final transmission, that would explain how they’d found me in the first place.

I had to test the theory. I knew I was taking a chance, but the payoff was too huge if I was right. We could use this against them. And maybe they’d be dumb enough to fall for the same evasive maneuver twice.

I sent a probe out a couple of light-seconds and set up a conversation. I made sure my backup was up to date and verified. Then I sat back to wait.

* * *

[Proximity Alert! Incoming ships!]

I checked the SUDDAR, and sure enough, the Others were coming straight at me. From behind, again, which meant another straight footrace. Because I’d been running silent, it was their SUDDAR pings that alerted me to their presence. Unfortunately, that meant they could now see me.

I cranked up the reactor and the SURGE drive to emergency levels and started evasive maneuvers, but I wasn’t likely to escape them this time. They had a good head of steam coming in and had better acceleration than I did. Well, I guess I was going to find out if—

[Alert! Controller replicant offline. SURGE drive offline. Requirements for self-destruct protocol have been met. Reactor overload engaged…]