We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 3: Chapter 55: Offsite

Book 3: Chapter 55: Offsite

Bill

December 2243

Epsilon Eridani

I looked down upon Ragnarök, and it was good. I chuckled to myself, glad that I hadn’t said that out loud. Garfield would never let me live it down.

Still, it was hard not to feel a little god-like. The seas were finally connecting to form oceans. Atmospheric oxygen was up, noxious gasses were down. My moss/lichen mix had taken hold and was swiftly turning the orbital view from a rocky brown/gray to a muted green. I’d planted some conifers and grasses, and they hadn’t immediately grabbed their veggie throats and fallen over, dead.

Time to think about building the food chain, from plankton in the ocean on up.

I pinged Garfield, then popped in. “Hey, Gar. We haven’t done an in-person tour of Ragnarök in a while. You up for one?”

Garfield shook his head. “Sorry, Bill, Rocky IV is not quite ready. I’ve pared down the wing size, but I don’t have enough supporting musculature. I’m adjusting it.”

I shrugged, but I was disappointed. Our races across the landscape of Ragnarök, moose versus weird Rodan-like bat-thing, were highlights of my otherwise stressful life. Preparing for the possible arrival of the Others provided all the excitement and variety of the worst dead-end office job.

I settled into a chair and invoked a coffee. “Almost done. Out past the Oort, not in line with the flight path between here and any nearby systems, and cloaked; it should be impossible to find except by accident.”

“Are you keeping up on capacity?”

“That’s an issue, all right.” I grinned at him. “We’re building new Bobs so fast, these days. What’re we up to, like five hundred of us?”

Garfield smiled sadly. “Yeah, weird that it takes a threat to our existence to get us to move our asses.”

“Or not so weird.” I snorted. “That’s kind of what Original Bob was like.”

Garfield grunted. “On that note, the latest batch of drones that Oliver sent to Sol will complete the coverage, once they get there and Will deploys them. From that point, we’ll get a few weeks’ warning if a convoy of Others is detected approaching Earth.”

“Still not great, but better than nothing.” I stood up. “Okay, Gar, let me know when Rocky’s ready. I could use the distraction.” Without waiting for a response, I popped out.

* * *

I took a deep breath through my nose. Ragnarök had a definite odor to it; not quite Earth-like, but not quite alien. I started walking in a random direction, admiring the grass that grew between the trees, and the insect life that was maybe a little too profuse. I might need to introduce another insectivore or two.

The human android body felt good. I still used Bullwinkle occasionally, but I admitted to myself that human form was much more comfortable. And now that Ragnarök had achieved livability, it felt much more natural.

All in all, the planet was looking good. Steady reintroduction of plants and animals from the Svalbard stocks would gradually turn Ragnarök into something that a human being would recognize and feel at home in.

Unfortunately, with the looming Others’ threat, this wasn’t exactly a prime colonization target. As one of the two systems that the Others had threatened to harvest, it certainly wouldn’t be high on the list of places to move to.

If they carried through on that threat, this could end up being all for nothing. The thought made me frown. If they carried through on their threats, it would be a lot worse than just Ragnarök.

If we succeeded in holding them off, though…

Maybe humanity didn’t need this one planet. Set it up as a preserve, instead. Let the flora and fauna evolve and repopulate without human interference.

That sounded good. I smiled and called over the cargo drone to collect me.