Their lives were now less than a footnote in history. As gone, as utterly forgotten as any random individual from the Middle Ages. No longer even a ripple in time, except to the extent that I could keep their memories alive. I sighed to myself. It seemed sometimes that life was nothing more than the accumulation of emotional baggage—memories, regrets, and lost opportunities.
I looked up as I detected the faint susurrus of an approaching craft. Odd, since I hadn’t called my cargo drone to pick me up. I turned and watched as a drone came to rest on the ice, fifty feet away. There was a pause, then the cargo doors opened and two androids walked out. I queried metadata…
“Bill! Will!” Grinning, I hurried over to meet them halfway.
“Hey, Bob. When Harvey told us what you were planning, we asked him to make a couple of extra.”
“Are you guys in-system?”
Bill shook his head. “No, you’re the one on the pilgrimage. I’m fine with doing this from Ragnarök.”
I nodded, then looked at Will.
“On my way to 82 Eridani. I’m keeping the tau down so I can stay on top of things.” He grinned at me. “Once a control freak…”
I laughed. “How are things going at 82 Eridani?”
“Going great,” Will replied. “They’ve got atmospheric pressure up to something reasonable on Valhalla. When the people on the Bellerophon arrive, they’ll have three viable worlds to choose from. The colonies that are already there will complain about blow-ins, of course.” Will turned and looked out across the ice fields. “Humanity is well-distributed, now. It’s beginning to look like they’ll probably survive their own stupidity, after all.”
After a moment of comfortable silence, Bill asked, “So what will you do now, Bob?”
I looked at my two friends, then looked up at the sky. “Going out, I think. The new Bobs are right. We’re Homo sideria. And I’m tired of always finding myself committed to something. It’s time to cut all ties, just point the bow, and turn on the drive. See what’s out there.”
“You’ll keep in touch?”
“Of course.” I smiled at Bill. “I’ll stop and build stations, so I stay connected to BobNet. Someday maybe the net will stretch from one end of the galaxy to the other.”
“And we’ll probably still be around,” Will said. “As you say, we’ve got forever.”
I nodded, then turned toward the cargo drone. “You guys mind taking my android to storage? I’m going to travel light, I think.”
Bill nodded. “No problem.”
We walked back to the drone and climbed in. I turned to my two oldest friends, shook their hands, and switched off. And thirty-five thousand kilometers above, I turned on the SURGE drive and headed out to the stars.
END
Table of Contents
1.Face-Off
2.We’ve Lost
3.Trouble Brewing
4.Attitude
5.Bushwhacked
7.Date
8.Revolutionaries
9.Tension
10.Hunted
11.Remains
12.Funeral for Julia
13.Flying Cities
14.Friends
15.Enclaves
16.The Departed
17.Underway
18.Arrival at 82 Eridani
19.Cities Attacked
20.Life
21.The Return
22.Derelict
23.Death
24.Explorations
25.Battle
26.Cities in Fight
27.Repairs
28.Payback
29.Looming Storm
30.Armageddon
32.Found
33.Project
34.Kidnapping
35.Cities Victorious
36.Announcement
37.Court Battle
38.Travelling
39.Retirement
40.Recovery
41.Resurrection
42.Results Negative
43.Course Correction
44.Debut
45.Pav Arrival
46.City
47.Foreboding
48.Pav Decanting
49.Surveillance
50.A Space Odyssey
51.Moot
52.Waiting
53.Protection
54.Party
55.Offsite
57.Detection
58.Arrival
59.Reconciliation
60.Sneak Attack
61.Foreshadowing
62.Life in the Clouds
63.Well, Hold On
64.Battle Begins
65.Facilities
66.Battle Continues
67.Running
68.The Battle
69.Ending
70.Extermination
71.Victory
72.Recovery
73.Moot
74.Pav Announcement
75.Rebuilding
76.Pilgrimage