Jacques chuckled at the expression on my face. “No, that’s pretty much normal feeding behavior. Miss Manners would never catch on with these people.”
I shook my head. “Count them after they’re done, okay? Make sure there are still eight.”
* * *
At Hazjiar’s request, we provided images of the proposed colony planet. It possessed a marginally heavier gravity, with correspondingly thicker atmosphere, but was similar enough to Aszjan that adaptation wouldn’t be an issue. The flora and fauna would be completely unfamiliar to them, of course, but it didn’t include anything too large to deal with.
We promised the Pav any help they needed, regardless of their decision. They seemed heartened by that, and I privately sighed in exasperation. Again, we were going to be responsible for another client race. If Jacques wanted to be involved, fine, but I resolved to keep my distance.
* * *
“We will choose the new world.” Hazjiar stood tall and spoke with confidence. I knew that the decision hadn’t been easy, or unanimous, but I was impressed at their willingness to even make a decision.
She looked down, then continued in a softer voice. “We do not like the idea of all resources being supplied by you. No offence, but we do not know you.”
I grinned at Jacques, who smiled back and shrugged.
“That’s fine, Hazjiar. We’ll get started right away. It will be necessary to put you back to sleep. But we’ll be gentler, this time.”
Hazjiar nodded. By coincidence, a nod meant the same thing to the Pav as it did to us. “When we awake, we will be there?”
“That’s correct. And we will have set up an encampment for you to live in until you can build something for yourselves.”
Hazjiar cocked her head slightly. “I am curious. Why do you do this? Who is paying you? Or do you expect us to pay you?”
I chuckled, which the translation routine converted to the Pav expression of humor. And a good thing—who knew how a human chuckle would come across.
“We don’t use money, Hazjiar. We have no need for it.”
This statement produced a look of shock. Apparently capitalism was alive and well in Pav culture. After staring at the monitor for a few more seconds, Hazjiar turned away, while muttering something that sounded like “Dozhagriyl.” The routine translated it as “critters with broken brains.”
The Pav seemed reluctant to return to the stasis chambers, and generally acted like a bunch of kids trying to delay bedtime. Eventually, though, we managed to cajole them all through the door and into the prep room. Within an hour, they were all squared away.
“Well, Bill, I guess this is it.”
“Not quite yet, Jacques. A couple of the guys did some scavenging. We’ve managed to retrieve enough resources to put together a couple of version-3’s for you and the other Bobs who are bodiless right now. It’ll take few months, but at least then you’ll be able to ride escort instead of supercargo.”
Jacques nodded. “Thanks, Bill. Let’s do that.”
* * *
Finally, departure day. The two refugee ships, officially named REFUGE-1 and -2, brought their SURGE drives up to full power and turned their bows to aim for HIP 84051. I watched their departure from the forward camera of one of the Bobs that was still in-system.
With the departure of the refugee ships, there was no longer any reason to maintain a presence in this system. It represented our greatest failure, and several Bobs had complained that it felt as though it was full of ghosts. Everyone who didn’t have a reason to stay had long since left, and now most of the rest of us would be departing. A couple of eighth-generation Bobs had volunteered to stay behind and do a post-invasion survey.
I looked at Andrew across the table, waiting for him to speak. Finally, he took a deep breath and leaned forward to put his elbows on the table. “Everyone is gathering at Gamma Pavonis. Threats or no, the Others still have a Dyson Sphere to build. They won’t halt everything while they march off to Sol. We want to be ready next time.”
I stared into space, nodding. “Meanwhile, Riker has started building dreadnaughts at Sol, and I’m building a fleet in Epsilon Eridani. Ditto Oliver in Alpha Centauri. We have the cloaking nailed now, so we’ll be able to give them a harder time of it. The root problem, though, is still to produce enough ordnance to make a dent in the Others’ armada. The size problem is still overwhelming.”
“This is all just a delaying action.” Andrew shook his head morosely. “As long as the Others are always making the first move, we can never defeat them. All they have to do is huddle for a decade or two, rebuild, and we’re back to square one. We have to take the fight to them.”
“This is true, and you know damned well it’s been the subject of many a moot.” I glared at Andrew. “I have an idea that I’m working on that might form a final solution, but I’m not sure yet if it’s even feasible. And even if it turns out to be workable, it’s a long game. Meanwhile, we’re also trying to gear up to an invasion fleet. Maybe we can drop in on the Others and pay our respects.”
Andrew’s only answer was a predatory smile.
END BOOK 2
Appendices
List of Terms
AMI
Artificial Machine Intelligence
ETHER
Estimated Time of Habitable Earth Remaining
FAITH
Free American Independent Theocratic Hegemony
HEAVEN
Habitable Earths Abiogenic Vessel Exploration Network
SCUT
Subspace Communications Universal Transceiver
SUDDAR
Subspace Deformation Detection And Ranging
SURGE
Subspace Reactionless Geotactic Emulation
VEHEMENT
Voluntary Extinction of Human Existence Means Earth’s Natural Transformation
Cast of Characters
In alphabetical order
Archimedes
Deltan native that Bob befriends.
Large Deltan warrior.
Arthur
One of Riker’s clones. Dies in a salvaging accident.
Bart
Calvin’s clone. Resident Bob in Alpha Centauri for a short time.
Bashful
One of Mario’s clones. Part of the group that works to identify the Others’ range.
Belinda
Buster’s mate.
Bender
One of Bob’s clones in Delta Eridani
Bill
One of Bob’s first cohort of clones. Sets up a Skunk Works in Epsilon Eridani and acts as the central clearing house for news and information.
Bob Johansson
An engineer and business owner, who gets killed in a traffic accident and wakes up as a computer program. As Bob-1, the first Heaven vessel.
Stéphane Brodeur
Security Chief on Vulcan, and Howard’s best friend.
Bullwinkle
Bill’s name for his experimental android.
Buster
Archimedes’ eldest son. Deltan Native.
Colonel George Butterworth
Leader of the USE post-war enclave, and of the USE Vulcan colony.
Calvin
One of Bill’s clones. Calvin and Goku battle and defeat Medeiros in Alpha Centauri.
Charles
One of Riker’s early clones.
Charlie
Bob’s Deltan-configured android.
Minister Michael Cranston
Leader of the FAITH post-war enclave, and of the FAITH Romulus colony.
Cruella
Deltan medicine woman.
Dexter
One of Charles’ clones,
who takes over for Howard at Omicron2 Eridani.
Diana
Archimedes’ mate. Deltan native.
Donald
Arnold’s son. Deltan native.
Dopey
One of Mario’s clones, part of the group who work to establish the Others’ range.
Minister Sharma
UN rep for the Maldives on post-war Earth.
Garfield
Bill’s first clone, and his assistant in Epsilon Eridani.
Goku
One of Bill’s clones. He and Calvin battle and defeat Medeiros in Alpha Centauri.
Guppy
Bob’s personification of the GUPPI interface. Various Bobs give Guppy different levels of system resources, resulting in slightly different behavior.
Hal
One of Mario’s clones, part of the group who work to establish the Others’ range.
Hoffa
Deltan native, council leader in Camelot.
Homer
Riker’s first clone, assists in the Battle of Sol and invents the Farm Donuts.
Howard
One of Charles’ clones. He accompanies the first two colony ships to Omicron2 Eridani and stays to act as the resident replicant.
Howie
Bridget and Stephane’s son, named after Howard.
Hungry
One of Mario’s clones, and part of the group that works to establish the Other’s range.
Linus
One of Bill’s clones. He goes to Epsilon Indi and discovers Henry Roberts, the Australian probe replicant.
Luke
One of Bob’s clones in Delta Eridani.
Manny
The first anthromorphic android, used by Howard on Vulcan.
Mario
One of Bob’s first clones. Mario is somewhat misanthropic and takes off for GL 54, where he discovers evidence of the Others, and sets up a program to determine their range.
Marvin
One of Bob’s clones in Delta Eridani. Marvin hangs around and assists Bob.
Major Ernesto Medeiros
The Brazilian Empire replicant. Brazil sends out a number of copies, which keep popping up to bedevil the Bobs.
Milo
One of Bob’s first cohort of clones in Epsilon Eridani. Milo goes to Epsilon2 Eridani, where he discovers the double planets which he names Vulcan and Romulus. He then goes to 82 Eridani where he runs into Medeiros.
Moses
Deltan Native. An elder who teaches Archimedes how to work flint.
Oliver
Bill’s clone, who sets up in Alpha Centauri after Bart’s departure.
Riker
One of Bob’s first cohort of clones in Epsilon Eridani. Riker takes on the task of going back to Sol to find out what happened, and ends up in charge of the Earth’s emigration effort.
Henry Roberts
The Australian replicant
Rocky
Garfield’s attempt at a flying android.
Sam
Exodus-3 controlling replicant.
Bridget Sheehan
Senior Biologist in the Vulcan colony and Howard’s eventual love interest.
Sleepy
One of Mario’s clones, and part of the effort to determine the Others’ range.
Surly
One of Bill’s clones and part of the second expedition to 82 Eridani to oust Medeiros.
Gudmund Valter
The Spitsbergen enclave leader on post-war Earth.
Verne
One of Bill’s clones and part of the second expedition to 82 Eridani to oust Medeiros
Bertram Vickers
Head of VEHEMENT
Victor
One of Bob’s later clones in Delta Eridani. Takes off after Bender to find out what happened to him.
Genealogy
Bob
Bill
Garfield
Calvin
Bart
Thor
Goku
Linus
Mulder
Jonny
Skinner
Oliver
Khan
Elmer
Hannibal
Tom
Barney
Fred
Kyle
Ned
Mario
Bashful
Dopey
Sleepy
Hungry
Hal
Claude
Jacques
Phineas
Ferb
Riker
Homer
Ralph
Charles
Howard
Dexter
Rudy
Edwin
Arthur
Bert
Ernie
Milo
Luke
Bender
Victor