Sleeping in a tree. Not a phrase a Quinlan was likely the use, which made it ideal for me. I found a particularly large heavily foliaged specimen and set myself high up in the thicker parts. I spit out my spider for sentry duty, clamped my arms around the trunk, and ordered the AMI to stay put. Everything seemed stable for the moment, so I exited the Manny and popped into my VR.
“Hugh, I'm in virt if you feel like popping over.”
“Sorry Bob, stacking cargo. I'll try to get away later.”
Hmph. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I would say to him anyway. Did I want to confront Hugh about the Administrator thing? What would I accuse him of, exactly? I didn't even know for sure that he was aware the Administrator was an AI, and if he did? Say he admitted to suspecting it. What law or rule exactly had he broken?
My suspicions were second-order, I realized: suspicions of suspicions. I would have to keep a lid on it until I figured out what, if any, nefarious motives Hugh or the Skippies might have tried.
I tried connecting to Gandalf, but got an auto-reply. Probably Gandalf was fighting orcs or something. Quickly, I checked Bill, Will, Bridget, and Howard, and got either busy signals or auto-replies. It appeared everyone in the Bobiverse was a little tied up at the moment.
With a bad-tempered grumble, I called up a coffee and activated Spike.
So, item: I had seven segments to traverse, and it would have to be mostly by boat. Come to think of it, even if I trusted of the Quinlan postal system to deliver Bender safely, it wouldn't be any faster than mail, traveled by boat item.
Next, I still had to get out of Heaven's River once I got to Garrick's Spine. In principle, that shouldn't be an issue: we had the side entrance hatch that Gandalf had built. On the other hand, the locals were much more aware of us now - of me, particularly. As Will's professor friend had rightly pointed out, I was probably going to show up on a lot of surveillance systems from now. I could disguise myself, but I couldn't disguise the backpack.
Or couldn't I? Granted, I had to watch my money, but my biggest hurdle right now was to get out of Forest Hill. Once I could lose myself in the vastness of Heaven's River, I might be okay, so how to get out of town without exposing Bender's matrix to view?
15. Frustrations Mount
Howard
July 2334
Trantor
“Well, that settles it,” I said. “Humans are idiots.”
Bridget sighed. “Given what's going on, Howard, I think they've shown considerable restraint in grandfathering us.”
“Or they've noticed that we own half the damn city, and they'd lose a proxy fight.”
“That may have played a part, I admit.” Bridget walked to the picture window and gazed out, arms crossed.
I enjoyed the panoramic view of the atmosphere of Big Top through the distant fiberex dome of the city. The sight of clouds and Jovian life stretching off in all directions, seemingly to infinity, never failed to fill me with awe. But I knew that for Bridget, it was about more than the view. It was a validation of her work and her professional reputation. She was the reigning expert on Jovian-class life throughout human space, and was unlikely to be dethroned anytime soon. A passing pod of blimps brought a slight grin to her face.
“You have that smile,” I said. “Remember our first encounter?”
Bridget laughed. “Or the city's first encounter?” She turned from the window. “Howard, political issues come and go. But politics would be with us forever. We’ll just out-wait them. Eventually, people will calm down or forget, or we’ll just wait until they’re dead and a new generation is in charge. Meanwhile, we keep a relatively low profile. We’ll be okay. We have forever, remember?”
“The kids…”
“The current batch are all adults. We’ll have to hold off on new adoptions for a while. You said you needed a break anyway. Maybe it’s time for another expedition. I have several candidate planets lined up. All with interesting-looking ecosystems.”
“You've heard what Herschel and Neil are planning?”
“Yes, but they have to get the Romulus, load up, then get out of human space. It could be as much as 100 years before they reach the first new system, with no guarantees that it'll have anything worth exploring. And we can join up remotely, if and when. I want something a little more immediate.”
I nodded. Bridget was right: if it came down to it, we’d only be in trouble if the humans try to confiscate our assets. And we have lawyers up the ying yang for just that eventuality. We could literally keep the fight going in the courts longer than most of our opponents’ lifetimes.
“Alright, my love. You lead. Where do you want to go today?”
16. Still Trying
Bob
July 2334
Nirvana River System
I found myself surreptitiously reaching for my face again, and consciously brought my arm back down. I had disguised myself once more, this time using a random passerby as my model. To avoid a ‘twins’ issue, I'd tweaked the appearance a little. If I ran into my model, he might think he’d discovered a long-lost brother, but nothing more.
After much soul-searching, I'd reluctantly left Bender tied up in the tree. No Quinlan was going to climb that high, not even with a gun pointed to their head. Wildlife tended to be small, and not overly curious if something didn't smell like food. Bender was probably okay, but I was still terrified that something might
