NABC Book 4: Chapter 24: Interlude
Book 4: Chapter 24: Interlude
Book 4: Chapter 24: Interlude
Bob
July 2334
Virt
Hugh sat in a beanbag chair, nursing a coffee and staring into space. I’d forwarded our logs for the last few days, and he’d immediately invited himself over.
“Tranquilizer guns, huh?” He took a sip. “Interesting choice of weapon.”
“How so?”
“There are so many easier and less complex ways of taking out an opponent, starting with stabbing them and working up to a proper pistol with bullets. Heaven’s River isn’t a space station—you wouldn’t have to worry about making a hole. The shell material wouldn’t even notice a bullet up to a considerably larger caliber.”
“Okay. Anything we can learn from that?”
“Assuming the gun was stolen, which is reasonable, the Administrator seems to want to be careful not to kill anyone.” Hugh was silent for several moments more. “And the scattering. I think you’re right about the interpretation. Again, it would be easier to just kill people.”
“Is it significant?”
Hugh opened his mouth several times to speak, then got a funny look. “Not sure. It could just be that Quinlans don’t like killing each other. Except ...”
“Yeah. Quin. The planet.”
“Listen, Bob, you still have that spare manny buried near the transit station. Have you thought about activating it and sending someone off, maybe upstream?”
“Hey, Will. What have you got here?”
Will smiled and motioned to the miscellany of potted plants and plants in earthen rows. “Experimental garden. I’ve got Terran plants and native plants here, and I’m testing for compatibility. We don’t want any surprises when we start full-on agriculture.”
I nodded slowly. “It’s interesting that Original Bob wasn’t much of a gardener, but both you and Bill have turned into real plant specialists.”
“Terraforming puts a whole ’nother spin on the problem, bud.” Will motioned toward a set of Adirondack chairs near the edge of the garden area. I sat and took a moment to admire the view. Will had picked a location for his home that overlooked a huge lake, surrounded by low mountains. The tree line, or whatever it was, only extended about halfway up the distant slopes, probably due to the still-too-thin atmosphere.
Will followed my gaze and guessed the direction of my thoughts. “The tree line is moving up the slope by several feet per year right now, and it’s accelerating. By the time it stabilizes, you’ll be able to see plant life all the way to the top of these mountains. And by that point, humans will be living here without having to wear supplemental masks or live under a dome.”
We were silent for a few seconds while I admired the scenery. Will seemed to be content with whatever pace I set. Finally I turned to him. “Last time I was here, we were talking about Starfleet. Mostly. But there’s Starfleet, the Borg, the Gamers, the Skippies ...”
“And those are just the ones that have nicknames,” Will replied. “The Bobiverse is going in a lot of different directions, Bob. Literally and metaphorically. A lot of replicants have finally decided to take the Von Neumann Probe job description seriously. For instance, we’ve actually got a couple of thousand Bobs that are actively heading away from human space. Some are stopping and building stations, some are just accelerating.”
“Yeah.” I examined my hands. “It’s just that I have a bad feeling. The Bobiverse was a post-scarcity society for a while, and a utopia, at least for most of us. But what happens to a post-scarcity society when part of the society wants power over the rest of that society?”
“I think you end up either a dystopia, or with two societies.”
“And the transition may or may not be orderly and peaceful.”
Will sighed. “I haven’t got an answer for you, bud. We’re just going to have to wait and see how far Starfleet is willing to push.”
I sat back and crossed my arms, glaring at the scenery without seeing it. It appeared utopia was an unstable state.