I really had no idea what size of force I was going to need. However, there was very little downside to overdoing it, and a lot of downside to the converse. With that thought in mind, I decided to just go for everything I could manage.
Taking a lesson from Bob-1’s experience, I decided I would start by doubling my production capability. Accordingly, my first production run consisted entirely of new printers. I then assigned a couple of printers to do nothing but produce more printers, while the rest started working on drones. I was going to invest some up-front time in ramping up my capacity, which would hopefully pay off later.
It took almost two years before I was ready to start building actual Bobs. The speed at which a printer could produce an item was dependent partly on the size of the item, but also very much on the level of detail required. 3D printers delivered individual atoms using a number of tuned carbon nanotubes, each sized for specific elements. Building something like itself required the maximum level of detail and precision, as you had to place individual carbon atoms, one after another, with zero defects. This made 3D printers one of the most complex items that a 3D printer could be asked to build. Only something biological would be harder.
Anyway, finally, I was producing Bobs. After much discussion, Bill and I came up with a blueprint for a Version 5 Heaven vessel—a virtual dreadnaught compared to the original Heaven-1. I felt a little intimidated just looking at the plans.
Bill was still working on the SUDDAR cloaking from the 82 Eridani mission, but we knew enough about it to build around the requirement for now. I also put together a design for a stealth buster, very similar in overall structure to Medeiros’ stealth fission bombs.
Howard had managed to extract H-bomb blueprints from Butterworth. I guess the colonel considered the Others to be enough of a threat to override military secrecy. Unbelievable that they were still even thinking in those terms, with 99.9% of the human race gone.
Three years after waking up at Alpha Centauri, I had my first cohort of battle cruisers.
62. Departure
Mulder
November 2201
Departure
I put my hands behind my head and stretched as I reviewed the report that I would be sending to Bill and Riker. This would be my final report from Poseidon. Tomorrow, Monty would start the return trip to Earth, empty except for some biological samples. And I would point my bow and head for a new system, leaving Marcus as Bob-in-residence here.
I pinged Monty and Marcus and invited them over. They responded immediately.
“Hey, Mulder. I’m going to miss you guys,” Marcus said, looking at each of us.
“Yeah, I know,” Monty replied. “I wish I could keep it down below .75 C, but we can’t afford the extra transit time for a colony ship.”
Marcus looked a little down, so I gestured to my report to change the subject. “Things are looking good. Three mat colonies in full operation, and two floating cities getting close to complete.”
Marcus nodded. “And as of today, it’s three months since the last kraken attack.”
“Apparently they can be taught.”
Marcus grinned and invoked a Coke. “And then there’s this.” He popped up an image.
“What the ffff…” I squinted at the graphic. “Is that actually…”
“Aerial city, as in floating in the air. Yep.” He waved a hand. “Well, okay, it’s a small proof-of-concept prototype, but still… I’ve been putting this thing together for a while. Triple redundancy, all kinds of failsafes. Theoretically we should be able to lift something as big as your floating cities and keep it in the air indefinitely.”
“Unbelievable,” Monty said. “When will it be ready to test?”
Marcus grimaced. “Sorry, buddy. Not for another six months. You won’t be able to find out the results until you get back to Earth.”
“Well, that sucks. On the other hand, by the time I’m back online, the thing might be ready for prime time. This could get interesting.”
I nodded, not saying anything. This was a good argument for staying below .75, just to be able to follow the project. If this crazy idea of Marcus’s actually worked, it would change the game significantly.
*
Poseidon receded rapidly in the rear view as I accelerated out of the system. The goodbyes from Chief Draper and the friends that I’d made over the years stung more than I’d expected. It was very possible that some of those people would be dead by the time my tau dropped at the other end. Making friends with humans just didn’t seem like a good idea, on balance.
Riker pinged me and I invited him in.
“Hey, Mulder. Sorry I couldn’t get back to you before. It’s been that kind of millennium.” Will grinned at me.
“Especially the last week or so, I guess,” I replied, smiling back. I summoned Jeeves and he arrived with a coffee for Will.
“So what’s the status back at Sol?” I asked him.
“We have fourteen colony ships in active service now,” he replied. “Colonies at or soon to be at Vulcan, Poseidon, Epsilon Indi, and 82 Eridani. Things are looking up.”
“Or would be, if not for the Others.”
Will sighed. “Yeah, I know. 82 Eridani and Epsilon Indi, in particular, are close enough to be potentially in danger. We’re working on it.”
Yep. Just when you start to get ahead in the rat race, the universe delivers bigger rats.
63. The Pav
Jacques
February 2207
Delta Pavonis
I looked down from orbit at the sprinkles of light decorating the dark side of Delta Pavonis 4, realizing that there was a good chance these beings would be dead soon.
The, uh… well, Deltans was taken. Pavonians? No, that sucked. Pav for now, I guess. The Pav appeared to be well into their industrial age, probably equivalent to the Victorian era on Earth. They were pumping smoke into the atmosphere at a prodigious rate, setting the earliest stages for global warming. I sincerely hoped that in the fullness of time, they’d have the opportunity to get all bent out of shape about environmentalism.
I finished my initial survey, packaged up the results, and fired it off to Bill.
It took about ten minutes before I got a ping, and Bill appeared in my VR.
“Well, this sucks.”
I nodded. “Remember the days when we thought finding intelligence would be a good thing?” I leaned forward and put my head in my hands. “And I could end up being witness to the massacre of an entire species.”