We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 3: Chapter 2: We’ve Lost

Book 3: Chapter 2: We’ve Lost

Howard

February 2217

Vulcan

Bridget opened the door, looking surprised. I hadn’t phoned ahead, and she wasn’t expecting me tonight.

She started to say, “Howard…what…” Then my expression must have registered.

“Howard, what’s wrong?” She grabbed my arm and dragged me into the apartment.

“We lost. We lost and now a billion sentients are going to die!” I collapsed onto her couch and leaned forward with my face in my hands.

“The Pav?”

I nodded, unwilling to trust my voice.

I sighed, and tried for calm. “We lost a lot of Bobs, but there are backups. It’s not quite the same, of course.” I turned to Bridget and tried to smile reassuringly. “Riker let Dexter know, and Dexter will be passing the info along to Butterworth or whoever has taken over for him.”

“Are we in danger?”

“Not specifically, Bridget. The Others only know about Earth and Epsilon Eridani. But there are almost two hundred systems closer to GL 877 than us. All these worlds are ultimately in danger as long as the Others exist.”

“And the Pav? I’ve read some of Jacques’ blog entries. They sound like an interesting species. What happens to them?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, hoping maybe I’d be in a different universe when I opened them. No such luck.

“We’ve never seen the process, just the aftereffects. Now we’ll be getting a ringside view. The Others will kill off all life on the Pav home world using the Death Asteroids, then move in with ants and cargo carriers and strip the planet and the inner system of all metals. And they’ll collect all corpses and carcasses.”

I had to stop and take a few deep breaths. The android body didn’t need air, of course, but it was designed to react to emotion, and I was working myself up into a fine conniption.

“Jacques had a plan to rescue twenty thousand Pav, but the rest will be dead soon. And the Others will have wiped out another intelligent species, another entire planetary ecology.”

I turned on the couch to face her. “There will be a moot today, to try to figure out what we can do. I just wanted a few minutes…”

Bridget put her arms around me and pulled my head down to her shoulder. Soundlessly, I tried to cry without tear ducts.