We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 4: Chapter 13: Swimming with the Fish

Book 4: Chapter 13: Swimming with the Fish

Howard

December 2333

Big Top, Epsilon Eridani / Poseidon, Eta Cassiopeiae

“Another beautiful day in Tantor.” Hands behind my back, I gazed through the picture window at the layers of cloud outside the city dome. At our altitude in the atmosphere of the Jovian planet Big Top, I could see at least fifty miles of clouds above us, and anywhere up to a hundred downward, before the view faded into the mist.

“They renamed it Trantorafter all your carping, Howard. You got your way. Stop being a sore winner.” I could feel Bridget’s glare boring holes in the back of my head. She was right, of course, but what was the point of being a curmudgeon if you couldn’t curmudge?

I turned and walked over behind her. I kissed the back of her head, and she leaned into me. This gave me an opportunity to examine the image on the Canvas. “More new Quilt species?”

Bridget pointed to several items. “Sure looks like it. I can’t figure out the mechanism, but Quilt biota can and often do spawn new species every few generations. I shelved this for five years, and I’m basically starting over from scratch.” She swiped the Canvas with an irritated motion and the screen winked out of existence.

“If you go on this expedition with Bob, it could be another several years. You might never catch up.” It wasn’t quite an objection, but it wasn’t supportive, either. I still hadn’t decided if I was for or against Bridget going.

“I know, Howard, but Quilt will still be there. This is a once-only opportunity. Did you contact Marcus?”

“Yep. He’s agreed to give us a tour. He’ll be waiting at Moody Port. We should pop over in virt first to say hi.”

“Then let’s do this.”

The manny closet opened at my mental command, and we stepped into our individual pods. As the pods started to close, I took a quick glance at Bridget. Her resting face showed she was more concerned than she let on. I knew this decision would be hard. I also knew she’d agree to do it. There were few people as driven as my wife.

I exited the manny and popped over to Marcus’s VR. A moment later, Bridget appeared. Marcus, sitting by a fireplace, waved to a couch. Coffee and snacks sat on a coffee table within easy reach. Marcus was using the standard Bob library VR at the moment. Probably taking a rest from the Battlestar themes.

He waited until we were comfortable and properly snacked, then said, “So I understand your inquiry has to do with the business that Bob-1 is involved with, but I haven’t really been following it. Mind filling me in?”

“We’ll be going into the megastructure wearing mannies that mimic the native sophonts.” Bridget shifted and leaned forward, gesturing with her hands. “That part isn’t new. Bob-1 did it with the Deltans, and Howard and I have done it. We’ve even done non-humanoid mannies, as with the Big Top native species.”

Bridget glanced sideways at me and I grinned. Flying around in the gas giant’s atmosphere as humongous manta rays was one of our first adventures as a replicant couple, and we still did it occasionally for fun.

Bridget continued, “The natives are generally humanoid, but they’re also aquatic. And they’re intelligent, and come from a technological society, although we’re not sure of their current level of knowledge. From that point of view, it’s a bit of an unknown. We were hoping you could give us some perspective on aquatic mannies.”

Marcus nodded and looked thoughtful for a fraction of a mil. “The Poseidon dolphins are intelligent animals, but as far as we can tell, they’re animals. Just like Terran dolphins were. There’s a simple language, but it’s at the level of danger, predator, and good food. There’s no symbology or grammatical structure. It’s only slightly more advanced than baboon calls. So I’m not sure where I come in.”

“You’ve been living among them almost full-time for a couple of years, though,” Bridget replied. “How well are you accepted? How long did it take to fit in? And how hard is it to ‘act like a dolphin’?”

“I get the impression they think I’m a little weird.” Marcus shrugged and gave an embarrassed smile. “But I’m not shunned. I’ve had to fend off some mating advances, so I’m not too weird, ya know?”

“Hasn’t stopped me,” I interjected. Bridget made a low growling sound as Marcus laughed.

“I think it sounds like you’re concerned about fitting in without issue. That just requires doing your homework first. As for the aquatic end of things …” Marcus shrugged. “Well, let’s find out. I have a couple of spare dolphin mannies.”

Marcus messaged us a couple of addresses, then popped out. I followed immediately, and found myself lying on my stomach on a platform, in a dark room. Wait, no, it wasn’t a dark room, it was underwater. I rolled my eyes upward as I examined my action inventory, and saw that we were about ten feet below the surface, on the edge of what was probably one of the Poseidon plant mats. This would be Moody Port, formerly a major colony location on the West Indies mat. Nowadays, with everyone living in flying cities, it was strictly for agriculture and aquaculture.

To my left, two other dolphin mannies were moving around. A quick ping identified Bridget furthest left and Marcus to her right.

My heads-up help system indicated that the dolphins used a swim bladder to control buoyancy. I flexed and felt myself float up off the platform. A quick flick of the tail and I was sliding forward through the water.

Original Bob had never been much of a swimmer, preferring to keep water in bathtubs and, in extreme situations, hot tubs. But this was different—more like flying. The big difference seemed to be the complete lack of any concern about drowning. Of course, in a manny, breathing wasn’t a problem anyway, but the Poseidon dolphins actually were fish, so they absorbed oxygen from the water using something like gills. Interestingly, they could also absorb oxygen from the air while floating at the surface, by pumping air slowly through their swim bladder. So holding one’s breath would never be an issue. It was kind of a best-of-both-worlds thing. The resemblance to Earth dolphins was remarkable, though. The domed heads and beaked mouths could fool you into thinking you were dealing with Earth stock, until you spotted the vertical tail flukes.

Bridget shot past me, then glided to a gradual stop. She turned, and repeated her actions. Marcus bumped me, then spoke over the universal intercom. “She’s very methodical. Testing maneuvers one at a time.”

“You have no idea.”

“Hey,” Bridget said, “I’m swimmin’ here.”

“There’s a pod that hangs around this area because of the spillover from some of the aquaculture. I figure we’ll go join them for a while, and you can see what it’s like to swim with the natives.” Marcus swam off, clearly knowing where he was going. I glanced at Bridget, and we turned to follow. R??O??È?

Over the next few minutes, Marcus gradually increased his pace. I had a brief bit of trouble at one point, sort of like when you change from a jog to a sprint, and I couldn’t get the new rhythm. But by letting go and allowing the autonomous systems to take over, I was able to correct. After that, I kept up with Marcus with no effort.

“We’re going just about flat out for a dolphin,” he said. “We’ll have to slow down before we get to the pod or they’ll think we’re running from something. We don’t want to start a mobbing.”

“That’s not part of the autonomous systems, though, right?” Bridget asked.

“Correct. There are some things you just have to learn through study,” Marcus replied. “How’s your swimming?”

“Fine, thanks. I feel a lot less concerned about that aspect of things. The manny systems seem to be highly competent at mimicking natural reflexes.”

Marcus didn’t reply, but he did an exuberant barrel roll. I did a barrel roll of my own, then found I’d overshot and had to complete a second one. Some things apparently did require practice.

Marcus slowed down and began taking a more circular path. Probably we were getting close to the pod, and he didn’t want to charge straight at them. Even at a lower speed, I could see that being a challenge.

Within a minute, we slid up to a pod of the native version of dolphins. Fifteen individuals, including three juveniles, slowly swam through the water, nabbing small swimmers and scraps of plants or animals. They didn’t appear to be very choosy. Presumably most things were edible in this world-ocean.

On the other hand, I used to own a dog that regularly ate dog poo, so who knew?

The adults in the pod turned and began circling us, more in a curious than aggressive manner, fortunately. They were making noises, and my translator rendered them as: “What?” “Who?” “Friends?” “Marcus friend.” That last one was interesting. Apparently their proto-language included tags for individuals, which the translator converted to Marcus’s name.

Marcus said, “Friends. Marcus friend.” That appeared to be enough. The pod did one more circuit, then went back to feeding. One of the juveniles came over, briefly bumped Bridget, then went back to its, uh, his mother.

“That was cute,” I said.

“Not so sure,” Marcus replied. “That one is approaching puberty. He might’ve been checking out your wife.”

“That’s it. He’s sushi.”

Bridget laughed, did a quick barrel roll, then porpoised into the air. She came down with a splash. That seemed to trigger the entire group, and soon everyone was leaping and splashing.

The game lasted about ten minutes, after which we all floated on the surface for a short time, pumping air through our bladders. Then it was back to feeding.

“Not a bad life,” I said. “Might get a little boring after a while.”

“The big predators mostly avoid the mats, Howard. We’ve made our feelings clear enough about their attempts to raid our farms, and they’ve gotten the message. If you want excitement, swim about a mile farther away from the mat. Krakens don’t know the difference between a real dolphin and a manny, and I can tell you from experience that getting eaten is not fun.”

“I’ll give that a pass, thanks. There’s a limit to what I’ll do for research.”

“I understand you have some kind of a training program going on?” Bridget said, changing the subject.

“More of a selective breeding thing. Dolphins that have more facility with communications and comprehension get a fish treat. Better-fed dolphins have more and healthier offspring. See where I’m going?”

“You’re breeding them for intelligence.”

Marcus did another barrel roll. “Uplifting. By non-invasive means.”

I found myself simultaneously fascinated and a little shocked. “Have you discussed this?”

“Some. By and large, people don’t see a problem. The dolphins aren’t a threat or competition, and on balance I think it would benefit them. And let’s face it, Howard, Poseidon citizenry doesn’t have any tolerance for a central authority, given our history.”

“No kidding.” Marcus had been one of the key figures in the overthrow of the previous totalitarian government. What they had now was more like independent city-states. It seemed very ancient Greece, but it worked.

“Guys? The pod is acting funny.”

Marcus and I turned at Bridget’s comment. The dolphins had become completely quiet, and in fact were barely moving their tails enough to stay in place. They also appeared to all be looking down.

I rolled enough to be able to point an eye downward. Sliding slowly through the water below us was a leviathan. I remembered from my reading that they grew to about the size of a Boeing 747. This one seemed much bigger, but that might have just been me freaking out. “Didn’t you say they stayed away from the mats?”

“On average,” Marcus replied. “This one seems to have developed some bad habits. I’ll message Perimeter Security. Meanwhile, let’s just emulate the dolphins and not attract its attention.”

“There’s a plan.”

Vaguely cuttlefish-shaped, the leviathan had four tentacles that it used to grab prey from below or above the water. They’d taken out a significant number of humans in the first year on Poseidon, before the colonists figured out how to keep them away.

Perhaps this one was just passing through. It didn’t vary its heading or speed and was soon lost in the watery distance. The dolphins started to swim around once again, although they remained more subdued than previously.

“That was fun,” Bridget said.

After another hour, Bridget announced she was satisfied. We squeaked goodbye to the pod and headed back to Moody Port. Docking the mannies took only moments, and then we were back in Marcus’s VR.

“Did you get what you needed?” he asked.

“Yes, I think so,” Bridget replied. “I’ve noted some things that are important to allow for in our research, but generally speaking, I don’t think the physical aspects of being aquatic are going to be an issue. If we can adapt to being dolphins, we can adapt to being oversized beavers.”

“Are you going to be working with the dolphins over the long term?” I said.

Marcus nodded. “I’ve kind of picked a vocation, I think. I’ve noticed that Bobs in general seem to eventually gravitate toward some kind of endeavor and then stick with it. Like the group trying to design and breed an intelligent airborne species on Newholme.”

“Wow, I hadn’t heard of that one.” I grinned and shook my head. “Well, as long as someone doesn’t get the idea of raising the elder gods or something.”

“That would play hell with your humanism, wouldn’t it?” Bridget stood. “Time to go. Thanks for your help, Marcus. Let’s go, Lovecraft.”