We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 5: Chapter 20: Spectacular Nature

Book 5: Chapter 20: Spectacular Nature

Will

August 2339

Planet BSC-142-C

Istood at the edge of the precipice and looked down. Five kilometers, vertical drop. Jeez.

Some aspects of our former humanity still stuck with us, despite the centuries. I was controlling a manny, so in absolutely no danger, but I still had to fight the urge to backpedal, an almost overpowering desire to be elsewhere. I could, of course, use the endocrine inhibition system, which was still built into every new replicant matrix—the Bob ones, at least. But I hadn’t felt any need to use that particular crutch since—well, ever, really. Not since Bob, before I was even cloned. I didn’t know if the replicant matrix models used by the various post-life arcologies that had sprung up in post-Earth human space included the same circuitry. Arcologies was, of course, a misuse of the original term, but it had somehow stuck.

Well, it would go into the catalog with all the other systems that I was examining along the way. No outstanding colonization candidates yet, but the century was young. And anyway—I smiled as I had the thought—this whole exploration thing was at least as much for my own mental health as it was for the good of humanity. Events back in the UFS just kept getting weirder and weirder, and I was well out of it. I was coming to understand why Bob-1 had wanted to join up with me. The biggest attribute of immortality, it turned out, was that problems just kept coming at you. Eventually you realized that the only solution was to head for the hills and adopt the hermit lifestyle.

Even the Bobs weren’t immune. We’d had the Starfleet War, and now we had the Skippies’ rogue AI to lose sleep over. Things just seemed to pile up.

I was going to have to start actively advertising for potential colonists. Maybe some version of Ever Onward on the other colony planets would stir something up.

I paused and sighed. Talk about taking the joy out of the moment. Time to rack the manny in the space station, disconnect from this system, and get back to work.

I stepped back from the precipice, took a couple of quick steps, and leaped. In the 1.05-G gravity well, I would fall a little faster than Earth normal. Engaging the internal SURGE drive, I described a graceful upward-turning arc and headed for space. I laughed out loud, enjoying the sheer rush, as my dark mood evaporated. It was like having a superpower. I still hadn’t brought this up with Herschel and Neil. Not having to deal with normal gravity, they hadn’t really put a lot of effort into improving the manny SURGE drive. I was a little more motivated, and wasn’t trying to rebuild a drive system in-flight. I’d have to bring it up, though, at some point.

Well, plenty of time. I hoped.