We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 2: Chapter 62: Departure

Book 2: Chapter 62: Departure

Mulder

November 2201

Departure

I put my hands behind my head and stretched as I reviewed the report that I would be sending to Bill and Riker. This would be my final report from Poseidon. Tomorrow, Monty would start the return trip to Earth, empty except for some biological samples. And I would point my bow and head for a new system, leaving Marcus as Bob-in-residence here.

I pinged Monty and Marcus and invited them over. They responded immediately.

“Hey, Mulder. I’m going to miss you guys,” Marcus said, looking at each of us.

“Yeah, I know,” Monty replied. “I wish I could keep it down below .75 C, but we can’t afford the extra transit time for a colony ship.”

Marcus looked a little down, so I gestured to my report to change the subject. “Things are looking good. Three mat colonies in full operation, and two floating cities getting close to complete.”

Marcus nodded. “And as of today, it’s three months since the last kraken attack.”

Marcus grinned and invoked a Coke. “And then there’s this.” He popped up an image.

“What the ffff…” I squinted at the graphic. “Is that actually…”

“Aerial city, as in floating in the air. Yep.” He waved a hand. “Well, okay, it’s a small proof-of-concept prototype, but still… I’ve been putting this thing together for a while. Triple redundancy, all kinds of failsafes. Theoretically we should be able to lift something as big as your floating cities and keep it in the air indefinitely.”

“Unbelievable,” Monty said. “When will it be ready to test?”

Marcus grimaced. “Sorry, buddy. Not for another six months. You won’t be able to find out the results until you get back to Earth.”

“Well, that sucks. On the other hand, by the time I’m back online, the thing might be ready for prime time. This could get interesting.”

I nodded, not saying anything. This was a good argument for staying below .75, just to be able to follow the project. If this crazy idea of Marcus’s actually worked, it would change the game significantly.

* * *

Poseidon receded rapidly in the rear view as I accelerated out of the system. The goodbyes from Chief Draper and the friends that I’d made over the years stung more than I’d expected. It was very possible that some of those people would be dead by the time my tau dropped at the other end. Making friends with humans just didn’t seem like a good idea, on balance.

Riker pinged me and I invited him in.

“Hey, Mulder. Sorry I couldn’t get back to you before. It’s been that kind of millennium.” Will grinned at me.

“Especially the last week or so, I guess,” I replied, smiling back. I summoned Jeeves and he arrived with a coffee for Will.

“So what’s the status back at Sol?” I asked him.

“We have fourteen colony ships in active service now,” he replied. “Colonies at or soon to be at Vulcan, Poseidon, Epsilon Indi, and 82 Eridani. Things are looking up.”

“Or would be, if not for the Others.”

Will sighed. “Yeah, I know. 82 Eridani and Epsilon Indi, in particular, are close enough to be potentially in danger. We’re working on it.”

Yep. Just when you start to get ahead in the rat race, the universe delivers bigger rats.