Will didn't seem to mind. He headed unerringly for the structure that dominated the work area. It vaguely resembled an oversized Manny pod, but with a lot of science fictionish greebles tacked on. I did a quick mental inventory to check if any of those were actually gratuitous. Will would probably ask.
He stopped, hovering in front of the pod. “This is impressive. I have no freaking clue what it is, but I like it already.”
I cocked my head at Neil. “You want to do the honors, or should I?”
“You had it last time,” he replied. “My turn.”
I gave Neil a pro forma eye roll, then gestured for him to get on with it.
“I'll hold your Manny,” I said and grabbed his arm just as his Manny went slack.
Will look from one of us to the other, perplexed.
“He’s gone back to virt? Why-”
He was interrupted by door opening on the giant pod. Will floated back several feet as our experimental Manny stepped out and hovered in place. I gestured to it.
“This is the X-Man 1. Stands for Experimental Manikin 1. Neil is running it right now.”
Will's expression was slack with amazement as he examined it. The size and shape were consistent with our standard Bob Mannies, but the X-Man 1 was a mottled silver-grey color. It wore no clothes, and had no particular gender.
Neil did an exaggerated bow, then slowly rotated in place, grinning the whole while.
“So, what do you call it?” Will asked. “Instead of X-Man 1?”
Neil and I exchanged a glance. Will looked back and forth at us, no doubt noting our shame-faced expressions.
“Okay guys, give. You can't tell me you haven't come up with a nickname.”
I responded with a sickly smile. “Manikin Skywalker.”
Will stared at me for several mils before responding. “You’re despicable.”
He flew over and examined the Manny at close range. “The skin, uh, surface. Whatever. It seems to be, um, moving? It's a little unsettling, to tell the truth.”
“This Manny,” I replied, “is made up entirely of ants. Or our adaptation of the ants, to be more precise. We’ve managed to miniaturize them to about the size of a tardigrade. They link up, kind of like actual cells, and can form any shape we program into of them.” I grimaced. “We haven't quite got the fine control nailed yet though. Neil’s skin actually is crawling.”
Will made a face of exaggerated disgust. “Man, I can see someone getting a phobia just being near that thing. For that reason alone, I’d approve of not making it public.”
“Thing is, Will,” I said, “this design can shape shift. Not quickly yet, but we’ll keep improving it. There’s no built-in discrete structure, as such. Every ant unit is capable of doing any required task by reconfiguring itself. Everything from the SCUT transceivers to the SURGE drive is built from cooperating units. Skeletal structures are generated by units locking themselves together with double bonds, and so. The computer core is distributed throughout the structure, as is the power core. There is no Achilles' heel, no weak spot. That's a lot of power for a post-human replicant.”
Will nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Look, when you feel like it's ready for a real demo, let's have the senior Bobs look it over and maybe make a recommendation.”
“Sounds good.” I looked at Neil and tilted my head. He nodded and climbed back into the pod.
Will shook his head in wonderment. “Wow. This beats transformers and space whales, hands down.”
14. Getting Out
Bob
July 2334
Heaven's River
I don't know what I would've done if I'd run into a security patrol. I no longer had a flechette gun, and needing to be careful about Bender's matrix meant most of my go-to tactics were unavailable. Fortunately, the subject didn't come up. It was quite possible that all personnel were outside looking for me around the Helep's Ending transit station. I stared at the elevator. It didn't really look at a different from any other. Maybe a little larger door. The problem was the button, or more accurately the sign over the button, that said authorized personnel only. There was a card reader beside the button.
I took a totally unnecessary deep breath and pulled out Natasha's card. Moment of truth. I doubted that a failure would result in sirens and flashing red lights, but it would certainly alert someone, and I'd have visitors by-and-by and nowhere to run. Before I could kvetch any more, I pushed the card against the reader, then pressed the button. The button lit for a moment… and the door opened. Hallelujah, I was in business. I entered the elevator and press the top button, since that would be where I’d transferred to another stay. The doors closed, and the elevator accelerated upward. And I realized something that I'd failed to notice when I boarded - this elevator had windows.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. The Quinlans of long since shown that they had a strong visual artistic sense. Naturally, they wouldn't waste the opportunity to display this view. I had 56 miles of vertical travel in which to enjoy it, and uh, I didn't specifically remember ever having had acrophobia, but I'd never been going literally miles up into the air with a panoramic view before. I had to consciously stop myself from stepping to the back of the elevator. If this got any worse, I might have to activate the endocrine control system.
I deliberately stood at the window and observed while trying to control my breathing. The curve of Heaven's River was becoming visible, and we'd already passed at least one cloud layer. The River system, forests, townships, and dots on the water that could be boats, all spread out below me in a panorama that exceeded anything I'd seen in a lifetime several hundred subjective years long. I made a point of recording as much as I could, and forwarding it to my blog.
The trip took 20 minutes total, which was quite impressive. Deceleration was accompanied by an automated suggestion to
