hotmtlnovel Book 5: Chapter 63: A New Beginning
Book 5: Chapter 63: A New Beginning
Book 5: Chapter 63: A New Beginning
Bill
January 2345
Epsilon Eridani
This was going to be a huge day. I was in the Snark II in manny form, sitting about ten thousand kilometers away from the Epsilon Eridani wormhole. I had already placed wormholes leading directly to Omicron2 Eridani and Sol in slightly different orbital positions in the Oort cloud. Other wormholes were being flown in, and within a decade, I’d be able to reach any UFS star system from here. Physically reach, I mean. Not just a remotely operated SCUT-controlled manny. The Interstellar Highway, FTL version, was becoming a reality. WormNet. How much it would affect humanity remained to be seen.
Hugh had suggested a round-trip transit of the full system, with him flying across using a manny. It seemed like a safe enough activity—no Bobs could actually be harmed, even if we lost the manny and/or ship. And we needed some kind of ceremonial event to celebrate the official opening of WormNet.
My console beeped as a ship exited the wormhole. Named the Singularity, it was clearly visible in the view screen, its Skippyland silhouette distinct from the normal Heaven configuration. I engaged SURGE, and we met at the halfway point.
A brief rotation of hulls ended with our airlocks facing each other. Both doors opened, and a figure jumped across from the Singularity to the Snark. No space suit, of course. Mannies didn’t need them.
In minutes, a Bob manny strolled into my control room. We still all looked the same by default, but my head’s-up display identified the manny as belonging to Hugh. He was, of course, wearing the ubiquitous Skippy gray coveralls.
“So, my old nemesis, we meet at last,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s not dramatic.” I grinned at him. “I feel like we should have a marching band and speeches and stuff.”
“And food,” Hugh added.
“That, too,” I said, laughing. “This is historic. We’re the first Bobs coming together again after being separated by interstellar distances.”
“Mmm,” Hugh said, waggling a hand. “Well, you guys did visit us last year, but not in person.” He looked down at the hand and then gave me a sheepish grin. “Not that a manny is any less of a remote device, but it feels different somehow.”
“True.” I changed the subject. “So how’s the transit?”
“Kind of weird. I lost the manny connection, obviously. No SCUT in a wormhole. I was able to reconnect on this side right away, but it’s disconcerting. The SCUT network isn’t as smooth as a cell network. That might be something we’ll have to work on going forward.”
“I get the point,” I replied, “but I’m not sure how often we’re going to be riding active mannies through a wormhole.”
“Fair enough. So have we found a human yet who’s willing to be a guinea pig?”
“And they called you. Meanwhile, you say you had docked the ship?”
“Yup. Returned the manny and everything. Except the manny isn’t in its pod. No record of the return.”
“Jeez, Hugh, should I be worried?”
“I think I’m worried enough for both of us.” Hugh paused. “My first thought was that Port Control was either mistaken or lying. But there are enough monitoring systems in Skippyland—video, radar, radio, astronomical, and so on—that I was able to confirm Port Control’s version of events. So here’s the thing.” Again, the pause. “It didn’t match up with my experience at all. Obviously. Timing, acceleration, no overlap. The only possible conclusion is that I was experiencing a VR version of the flight back.”
“VR ... ” That sinking feeling just got worse. “You mean someone, or something, fed you a bogus experience to make you think you had docked the ship?”
“Uh-huh. Exactly that.”
“Have you brought this up with your higher-ups?”
“That’s why I’m talking to you in video, Bill. We’re locked down again.”
“Theories?”
“Someone or something took over the manny and/or the Singularity and essentially stole it. Bill, can I ask you a possibly odd question?”
“Everything’s odd right now. Go ahead.”
“Did you arrange our meeting?”
“What? No! You did.”
“Nope. I got an email from you suggesting it. The smell of old fish is all over this.”
“Motherffff ... Okay, Hugh. Keep me up to date, will you?”
“Will do.” The video window disappeared, leaving me alone in my VR. It wasn’t actually possible for a cold wind to blow through unless I specifically ordered it, but nevertheless, I felt a chill.