We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 5: Chapter 38: Starfleet Just Won’t Go Away

Book 5: Chapter 38: Starfleet Just Won’t Go Away

Bill

May 2343

In Virt

The wormhole endpoints were all well on their way, and within a few years, we expected to have a path from Epsilon Eridani to Skippyland. Of course, Howard had decided to set up a full network, for fun and profit. On the quiet for now, since we didn’t want to publicize this invention ahead of time.

The Ragnarök ecosystem build was going very well. I now had predator–prey relationships that didn’t oscillate into extinctions anymore. I’d lost a couple of iterations of deer due to over-efficient wolfpacks, but I now had the ratios right.

I was examining a graphic of population fluctuations in virt when I received an email from a Bob that I didn’t recognize, someone named Hector. A quick search placed him about eighteenth generation, one of the Bobs who was taking his Von Neumann probe heritage seriously. He’d been heading for … hmm, for the patch of sky that Lenny had claimed for Starfleet.

Sure enough, as I read through the missive, Starfleet was involved. They had apparently threatened Hector if he didn’t reroute around their space. But threatened with what? Hector didn’t elaborate, which probably meant Starfleet hadn’t been specific. He was following their instructions since, as he explained, he wasn’t set on any particular direction except away. But it was concerning behavior, and he thought I should know.

Fair enough. And he was right. If Starfleet was now threatening people, they’d either flipped out completely, or they were really, really holding a grudge. Neither was good.

I sent a quick text off to Will, since he seemed to have his finger on the pulse of everything political—quite a feat for a Bob who was also heading away as fast as he could.

$1

I sighed and waved the population graphic closed, then closed the text window. Will was right. We’d decided to ignore Starfleet as soon as they stopped showing up at moots, but in this case, forgotten was not gone. A confrontation wasn’t the best strategy, though. Perhaps I should start with some information gathering.

One of the odd things about Starfleet during the war was how they’d completely left the solar system alone. It had been obvious enough to elicit comment from several Bobs, including Charles, who should know better than anyone. Was that simple nostalgia? Or evidence of a deeper connection?

Well, the wormhole project was on track, my Ragnarök ecosystem was currently problem-free, and I was getting a sore forehead from bashing my head against the wormhole problem. Maybe it was time for a distraction.