“Didn't you say they stayed away from the mats?”
“On average,” Marcus replied. “This one seems to have developed some bad habits. I’ll message perimeter security. Meanwhile, let’s just emulate the dolphins and not attract its attention.”
“There's a plan.”
Vaguely cuttlefish-shaped, the Leviathan had four tentacles that it used to grab prey from below or above the water. They’d taken out a significant number of humans in the first year on Poseidon, before the colonists figured out how to keep them away. Perhaps this one was just passing through - it didn't vary its heading or speed, and was soon lost in the watery distance. The Dolphins started to swim around once again, although they remained more subdued than previously.
“That was fun,” Bridget said.
After another hour Bridget announced she was satisfied. We squeaked goodbye to the pod, and headed back to Moody Port. Docking the Mannies took only moments, and then we were back in Marcus's VR.
“Did you get what you needed?” he asked.
“Yes, I think so,” Bridget replied. “I've noted some things that are important to allow for in our research, but generally speaking, I don't think the physical aspects of being aquatic are going to be an issue. If we can adapt to being dolphins, we can adapt to being oversized beavers.”
“Are you going to be working with the dolphins over the long-term?” I said.
Marcus nodded. “I’ve kind of picked a vocation, I think. I've noticed that Bobs in general seem to eventually gravitate toward some kind of endeavor and then stick with it. Like the group trying to design and breed an intelligent airborne species on New Home.”
“Wow, I haven't heard of that one.” I grinned and shook my head. “Well, as long as someone doesn't get the idea of raising the elder gods or something.”
“That would play havoc with your humanism, wouldn't it?” Bridget stood. “Time to go. Thanks for your help Marcus. Let’s go, Lovecraft.”
14. Council of War
Bob
April 2334
Virt
It was an even fuller house today. I had the leaders of the support team as well as the expeditionary members. Bill, Will, Garfield, Bridget, Gandalf, Hugh and Locutus all sat according to individual preference, in La-Z-Boys, beanbag chairs, or wing backs. I’d given in and expanded the library floor space. It was a bit jarring to see everything just that little bit farther away.
“Things are going well, relatively,” I said. “No major hiccups.”
At this point Locutus held up a hand.
I sighed. “Something happen since I talked to you this morning? Manny construction in trouble?”
“No, nothing that dramatic. Just something that occurred to me: we need to field-test the Mannies, but there is no actual field where you are, if you get my drift.”
“Oh for god’s sake,” Garfield muttered.
I grinned at him. “Isn’t it always the little things that bite you?” I scanned the group. “So okay, the steam-Borg have the Mannies ready, but we have no way to test them in a realistic environment. In the past, we've always had a planet for testing. And if something went wrong, we could just do a fix and re-release. In this case, once the androids are in-country, we're stuck with them.
“We could use the Quinlan home planet,” Garfield suggested.
“Absolutely not,” Bridget replied. “We don't know everything that went into the destruction of the homeworld. Can we call it Quinn?” We all nodded, and she continued. “The Quinlans had some kind of conflict or multiple conflicts that ended up killing off everything on the planet. Nukes and orbital bombardment are obvious because they leave evidence, but with the used biological warfare as well? Imagine us picking something up on the Mannies and then transporting to Heaven’s River. By definition it would be virulent and hard to kill.”
“Um, good point.” Garfield sat back, embarrassed.
“Still, we can’t afford to not test the Mannies,” Bill said.
“Look, it's not quite as good, but we can at least test the design. We send one or two Mannies down to Quinn and just leave them there when were done. It'll set our schedule back, having to fab a couple of replacements, but it'll be much faster with the second batch, and if we find an issue, we can fix all of them.”
Locutus sat forward, showing enthusiasm. “We can sense some maintenance equipment down with them, including a small printer, so we can perform any fixes on the planetside Mannies as well. That way we’re always testing the current version.
We all looked at each other, smiling. It was an excellent solution.
“And as a bonus, it might settle some questions about Quinlan history.”
“Good.” I turned my attention to Gandalf. “Now, how about gaining entry?”
Gandalf blew out his cheeks. “Um, good news and bad news.”
“Great,” Garfield grumbled.
“The good news is we have a plan. The bad news is it will carry some risks. Not only of getting caught, but also of getting grounds to a pulp.”
“Even more great.” Garfield sat back and crossed his arms, looking aggrieved.
“We can’t activate the spin-transfer system, that's the bottom line. There’s no way to do that without alerting the powers that be. It's just too tightly bound to internal control systems.”
“That's not terribly surprising,” Bill said. “Do you have an alternative?”
“Yeah, but you're not going to like it.”
“I already don't like it.”
Gandalf flashed a quick smile. “The collection bins in our mining drones are just big enough to fit one Quinlan Manning at a time-”
“No, no way,” Garfield interrupted. “You cannot be serious.”
“Sorry, but yes. We’ll ferry the Mannies in the same way we ferried the spy drones in, except one is a time. Like I said, look at the bright side: you won't all be at risk at the same time. It decreases the chances of losing the entire expedition.”
“While increasing the chances of losing one member,” Garfield interrupted. “I don't like it.”
“No one does, Garfield.
