The others nodded in appreciation. I looked over at Mario, who just had a gray background. I raised an eyebrow at him and received no reaction.
I found myself slightly unnerved by that, so I turned back to the conversation. “Yeah, yeah. So, the question is: do we care? About Earth’s intentions, I mean.”
“You mean as in, why don’t we just take off and do what we want?” Riker shrugged. “We could, since we’ve removed all the booby-traps and imperatives and stuff…”
I leaned forward to get attention. “I mean that this is the first time since I woke up that I have unconstrained choices. Up until now, I’ve been reacting to events, following orders, avoiding being blown up, and generally being a good little robot. Medeiros is taken care of—at least this iteration of him; my survey report is on its way back to Earth; and I’ve built you guys. I’ve performed my duties, even though I didn’t have to. Now, I—we—can do whatever we want. Take off for parts unknown, hang around and build stuff, or just play with the VR.”
Bill cut in. “Naw, I may not have to do what they wanted, but this is an interesting job, and I like the idea of humanity spreading out a little. Assuming they’re still around.” He put his hands behind his head and stretched. He appeared to be sitting in an Adirondack chair, in the shade of a large tree. “Besides, exactly what is the point of going out and doing all that exploring if no one is going to benefit from it?”
Riker nodded an acknowledgement to Bill. “Hmm, yeah, there’s that, too. Someone should go back and see what happened.”
“Boring…”
“And someone should go looking for the other probes, especially the other Brazilian one.”
“Scary…”
“Thanks for that in-depth analysis, Milo.” Riker rolled his eyes.
Milo smiled and performed a bow on-screen.
“Okay, so, possible tasks are: exploratory mission to Earth; hunt other probes—we might want to do those in pairs; finish the space station; and take off to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations.” Bill finished ticking the points off on his fingers and looked around the table.
I held up a hand and began to tick off more items, touching my thumb to a different finger for each. “Also, we could do a little early terraforming on EE-2, like sending a few Kuiper objects inward to increase the size of the oceans. Or one of us could stay here and keep building Bobs. Turn this system into a Bob factory. There’s plenty of ore available in the inner belt.”
“What, sit in one system, when there’s a whole galaxy out there?” Mario smirked. “Good luck getting a volunteer for that.”
“Actually, I’m thinking of doing it,” Bill said.
“What? Why?” Milo asked.
Bill made an offhand gesture. “Because of my earlier problem with the bad emitter. Interesting thing, when I was transmitting those weak pings, I think I was actually able to get a much higher range. Low sensitivity but really long distances. The libraries have very little on any research on subspace not related to the interstellar effort, but there’s some indication that the formula for signal attenuation varies with signal strength.”
“So…” I cocked my head at Bill.
“So, I think I’ll stay here, monitor for any signals from Earth—this is the first place they’d transmit to if they’re still around—maybe do some light terraforming work on EE-2…” Bill flashed a smile. “… I think I’ll name it Ragnar?k, since I’m going to be dropping icebergs on it. And I’ll try to work out some actual subspace theory. It was our second choice for career, right? Theoretical Physics?”
I laughed. “Yeah, just doesn’t pay very well. Uh, didn’t.”
Bill leaned forward. “Funny thing. I know how much you want to get out there and explore, because I remember the feeling of excitement and anticipation. But I find myself more interested in setting up here and doing some research. Is that weird?”
The rest of us glanced around at each other. There were a few shrugs, but no one seemed to have a comment.
Riker looked from face to face. “So, Bill will stay and run the shop. What about Medeiros, then?”
“What are we going to do?” I asked. “Go on a snipe hunt? We don’t even know where the second Brazilian ship went. And we know even less about any USE or Chinese ships. I think the only thing we can do on that front is to be better armed and ready to defend ourselves, then basically outbreed them.”
“What about visiting the Earth system?” Riker looked at me with an arched eyebrow.
“Are you volunteering?”
Riker shrugged. “I could do a fly-by. What concerns me is whether they have military craft buzzing around that would chase anything that comes into Sol’s system. But if I never come in closer than the Kuiper belt, I should still be able to pick up radio traffic. Or, I could spend some time getting prepared, then mount a better expedition. I think Bill mentioned working in pairs. Milo, want to take a trip?”
Milo looked surprised for a moment. “Not on your life. I have no interest in knowing what happened, especially if it means going back into missile range. Once was enough, thanks.”
“Seriously?” Riker stared at Milo, the beginning of a glare forming. “I’m supposed to go in alone?”
Milo pointed at his own face. “See this? This is the expression of not caring. If you feel the need, build a copy of you. I’m going thataway.” He waved a hand vaguely outward.
Bill and I exchanged looks, and I realized that one question had just been answered. We weren’t clones. I noted that Riker hadn’t asked Mario, and Mario hadn’t volunteered. Mario seemed to have gotten a double dose of my antisocial tendencies.
Riker, meanwhile, looked like he was about to explode. I quickly changed the subject. “One other thing. I was pretty pissed to realize that I couldn’t do anything but an orbital survey of EE-2, er, Ragnar?k. I’d like to have landers of some kind for close examination of candidate planets. We can all think on this but maybe Bill can make it a research project while he works in-system.”
Riker nodded, and his expression cleared. Crisis averted.
“Okay, then,” I decided to wrap things up. “Let’s decide on system destinations, and then we can get this show on the road.” I directed a significant glance toward Bill. He seemed to be the most similar to me in behavior. We would have to discuss this privately.
***
“So what was that all about, do you suppose?”
Bill shrugged. “Riker says he’s going to do what Milo said and build a copy. But really, Bob, is Milo’s reaction that out there?”
“No, I guess not. I’m kind of ambivalent, myself, about going back. I think it’s the way Riker and Milo seemed to immediately butt heads that’s got me a little weirded out.” I flashed a quick smile. “And Mario, well, he makes Guppy look like a social butterfly. Creepy.”