For We Are Many (Bobiverse, #2)

by Dennis E. Taylor

overboard with the level of detail in my virtual-reality environment. There was no reason for me to even have nether regions, let alone for them to pucker.

opto-electronic

The cat’s A.I. was realistic, right down to the total lack of loyalty.

Hexghi translated as something like families of our fire.

“Fine! We’ll do it your way. And if your leg falls, off, don’t come whining to me.”

Anasazi.”

fugue

“In other news, we are ready to decant the farming specialists from stasis.

I opened the conversation. “Things are looking good. Everyone seems to have settled in.”

A self-propelled forty-pound ball of steel impacting at Mach 1 didn’t leave much room for argument.

periastron,

Guppy somehow managed to look disappointed, although if pressed, I couldn’t for the life of me describe what a disappointed fish looked like.

The atmosphere was delightfully Earth-like, maybe a little more oxygen-rich.

impactor

I remembered reading that all of Earth’s water could have been supplied by a single icy comet about 1000 km in diameter. Given the amount of material in Sol’s Oort cloud, that was barely a sneeze.

Eight hundred kilometers deep. That was just nuts. I’d had some thought of artificial islands, but unless there was a Mount Lookitthat down there somewhere, there wasn’t going to be anything close enough to anchor to or build up.

commensal

moue

“The station is almost done. When it sends the report Bill-ward,

Teleconferencing was certainly a lot easier than it had been in Original Bob’s lifetime. And it made things better for me, since in this context, I was as real as anyone else.

Butterworth looked at me, one eyebrow still up.

“Ah, lawyering. Makes the universe go ‘round.”

And because of kudzu’s digestive side-effects, meals and other social gatherings tended to be outside. Or involve open windows.

discussion of gyroscopes, compressed-air propulsion, and traditional JATO units,

We would have to be vigilant until humanity was well-enough established to survive its own craziness.

biota

“Tell you what,” I said, “How does pistols at dawn sound? Three ways. That should be interesting.”

I’ll help who I want, and I’ll leave if I want. As a good leader, you should take that datum into account when deciding how much of an idiot you want to be.”

I couldn’t identify the expression on his face, but it reminded me of a fish that had just eaten a lemon.

disarticulated

than Sol and a bit bigger, but slightly less massive.

And I could think of only one reason for collecting the dead bodies. When we met them, it would be war.

I did a fist pump, and then Garfield and I whooped and performed a high five—the nerd kind, where you miss.

“Bill, this is Marvin.” Bob gestured toward the newcomer. “He’s a disrespectful pain in the ass. And that’s one of his better qualities.”

Anyway, there’s that joke about the fifty dwarves…

Great. Violent, self-absorbed crackpots. On top of everything else.

“This is not the way I envisioned a First Contact situation,” I mused. “I sure hope this isn’t the norm in the universe. Although it would explain the Fermi Paradox.”

to discuss Bob’s plastics-backed shells, if I ever had five free seconds to rub together.

depredations.

He has something called free time. I hope to experience it someday.”

He finally ran down, and I prepared to offer a response, but the minister from the Maldives beat me to it. And beating a computer to the punch was an impressive feat. I wondered if I should do a systems check.

In retrospect, maybe I didn’t allow for the amount of material that would normally be shed by a meteor on the way down. Or I forgot to carry the two.

steganography,

I was a little surprised. Normally I talked only to Butterworth—not there was a rule or anything. Still… curious, I dialed the call.

Missing Word

I couldn’t help noticing that she had a great laugh. Also freckles, dimples when she laughed… I mentally slapped myself. This could go exactly nowhere.

That’s one smart bronto. IQ up in the two, maybe three range.” Dr. Sheehy smiled at her own joke.

I turned to Guppy without moving my avatar. “Put everything we have on communications monitoring. I want to know who reacts to my words, and how. I want every byte accounted for.”

Perhaps because it wasn’t Homer.

“A super-Earth.” Luke shrugged. “Absolutely not suitable for colonization. Gravity just over 3G, but a full-on ecosystem.

hagridden.