We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 3: Chapter 39: Retirement

Book 3: Chapter 39: Retirement

Marcus

February 2218

Poseidon

I sat in a lawn chair, soaking in the warm afternoon sun. I hardly ever thought about the fact that I was inhabiting an android any more. Howard and Bob kept improving the model, and Bill seemed happy with the delegation of responsibility. Couldn’t really blame him, I supposed. He had other things on his mind.

Around me, children played, couples walked hand-in-hand, and people did their jobs either through tablets or tele-presence. If this wasn’t utopia, I’d be damned if I could figure out what was missing.

Especially for me. Rather than take back control of the autofactories after the revolution, I’d aggressively created the means for the population of Poseidon to take over the responsibility. Now, three years later, I had absolutely no duties in this system.

As promised, Gina had me voted out on my ear. To her chagrin, she found herself voted in as Chairperson. The new Council was still arguing about what to put in as a permanent government, but that was certainly nothing new.

Poseidon society had been fundamentally changed, and the change looked to be permanent. Fewer and fewer people were living on the mats, or even working on them for longer than necessary. The floating cities—the aquatic ones, that is—were being converted entirely to industrial use. Humans were now an aerial species on this world.

“What’s going on, Marcus?” Kal stepped closer, frowning.

“Oh, hey, that came out more dramatic than intended.” I gave Kal an apologetic smile and waved at the view. “I’m just thinking about a new career. Oceanography.” RåɴO͍BЕŚ

Kal raised an eyebrow.

“I think there’s an opportunity here. You’ve seen videos of Garfield’s pterosaur-like android? Bob-1 has definitely gone non-human. Why even stick to bipedal?”

Kal looked out at the ocean below. “You mean...”

“I wonder how an android dolphin would fare on this world.”