We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Will

May 2334

Virt, Vulcan Post-Life Arcology

I was outside the virtual door of one Professor Steven Gilligan, a former department chair at the University of Landing on Vulcan with a list of letters after his name that could choke a horse. Professor Gilligan had been an expert in many things when he was alive, but of most importance to myself and Bob was that he specialized in artificial environments.

Of even more interest to me personally was the fact that he continued to lecture at the university, although as a guest lecturer these days. And he did so in a manny custom-made for him. So it wasn’t just us Bobs anymore.

I’d done some research at Bob’s request, and the professor’s name came up a lot. I had finally received an invitation to visit, at the Vulcan Post-Life Arcology. The Arcology was physically located in a large space station orbiting Omicron2 Eridani just inside the Oort cloud. It currently had a membership of about two hundred, mostly rich and famous people who hadn’t felt like waiting for medicine to catch up with them.

I found myself unexpectedly unsettled. I’d been living in real, in a manny, for so long that virt had become a foreign experience. At the same time, I’d been away from human society for so long that I was noticeably behind the times. I resolved to give the situation a good think when I had some time.

The door opened and Professor Gilligan beamed at me. He was short, balding, and slight of build—which surprised me, since in virt he could look like anything he wanted.

“Ah, Mr. Riker. Or is it Johansson? Come in, please.”