“Ephemerals…”
It was the dirty word of the Bobiverse, but I desperately missed my friends and I’d made very few new one since.
“Probably,” I replied. “All I really have is what Howard told me and he hadn't been at the moot, so he’d got the lowdown from Will. At this remove I should consider myself lucky I've gotten names right.”
Melleb chortled and picked up the tablet again. “So, these Starfleet wannabes might follow through with their threats, and if they do, it might affect us. So what you want from me?”
“I don't have anything specific, Melleb, but if I were still in charge of equipment, I be doing software audits and changing passwords, and maybe increasing physical security. Maybe only to the extent of moving things without announcing it. As it is, well…” I motioned to him.
“Yeah, it's my job, I get that part. Look Marcus, I'm not like a feudal lord. I can’t just arbitrarily issue orders to change autofactory schedules. These days, they are an integral part of the economy, and heavily regulated.”
“And I get that, but you do have some flexibility in some areas. I just want to put the bug in your ear. Think about it, and if you can do anything in the normal course of your job that might have a secondary goal that’s useful to us, well, it might turn out to be valuable.”
Melleb turned his head slightly and squinted at me. “You're very carefully not saying something. Is there a potential danger to the citizens of Poseidon?”
“Not physical danger. I don't think,” I said shaking my head to emphasize the point. “Economically? Maybe. Look, there's not much they can do to us in virt, so if something goes down, it'll be in physical space, which means you’ll get at least some fallout.”
“He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds and began nodding slowly. “I have a little more leeway were actual threats are concerned. I’ll still have to tread carefully, but I can at least get a few projects bumped up in priority.”
“That's all I ask.”
One down many to go. I wondered how the other Bobs were doing with their contacts.
The common area outside Melleb's office door was dominated by floor-to-ceiling windows that gave a clear view through New Thark’s fiberex dome. I paused to take in the view, and a few staff members glanced up. It was interesting how society kept evolving. The work-anywhere telecommuting style that had developed in the days after the Mat War had gradually given way to a returning preference for an actual workplace. Seemed people liked being in physical contact with their coworkers, and felt alienated when they were constantly on their own. Of course, rush hour was no longer even a concept for most humans, so the economic and social cost of going to work was nearly nonexistent.
I shook my head to clear the wool gathering, and turned my attention back to the view. A mat floated in the calm, impossibly blue ocean at middle distance with the city hovering just a one side. I could've looked up the name, but didn't bother. These days, mats were strictly industrial or agricultural locations, usually owned and controlled by specific cities. No one lived on the mats except the occasional self-exiled hermit. The technological defenses kept the ocean predators so completely at bay that a new ecosystem was evolving on the mats, based on the lack of predation. Howard's wife Bridget had visited us several times to do studies.
I turned and headed for the transit station. Melleb's reassurances notwithstanding the Bobs still had a significant industrial presence in the Poseidon system. We kept it low-key and out of the official economic calculation engines, but it would still need the same review for possible vulnerability. I sent a message to Guppy, asking for a summary of the audit so far. I’d have to get personally involved soon, but for now, the sun felt good, and the grassy ring around the edge of New Thark called out from my butt to be planted thereupon.
21. Getting Involved
Bob
July 2334
Arcadia River System
I sat up, water running off my fur and puddling around my butt. It was raining. I had a momentary surge of irritation, the kind of thing you get when you been caught outside without an umbrella. This was followed by irritation that the AMI hadn't alerted me to the issue. It had been raining for some time, judging from the level of wetness of… well, everything. But the irritation was swept away as I remembered my current form. There was no chill, no feeling of shivering dampness. The Quinlan for with its waterproofing kept me nice and toasty.
I gazed up at the sky. The rain clouds resembled rain clouds everywhere – grey, ugly, and wet. The striations might've been a little weird because of the megastructure's rotation, but then again, maybe not - I wasn’t a weather expert, and my interest in cloud formations have always been limited to staying out from under the wet ones.
I examined the horizon in several directions. I thought it might be lighter to the west, but generally speaking we were socked in in all directions, so large weather systems, check. I frowned. I could've done without this particular reproduction of a planetary environment.
“Look at this,” Bridget said.
I turned. I hadn’t realized she'd activated yet. She was pointing at some underbrush that had been crushed flat. “I think we were visited overnight. Something big. Maybe a laroche.”
“Uh…” I searched my memory. A laroche was kinda a big wolf but with claws like a grizzly bear. It grasped its prey and held it while it tore off chunks. Not a fun date, for sure.
“Why didn't our AMIs alert us?”
“I
