Dr. Landers
Names: Dr. LandersFreuddocthe doctor
First appears in Book 1: We Are Legion, chapter 2 (Bob Version 2.0)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: We Are Legion
- Ch 2Dr. Landers is the Applied Synergetics scientist who activates Bob and teaches him about his new life.
- Ch 2Dr. Landers looks like Sigmund Freud and is quietly critical of the theocratic government.
- Ch 3Dr. Landers moves Bob between rooms by switching his peripherals; Bob's actual mind lives in a cube of electronics elsewhere.
- Ch 5Dr. Landers privately admits that his views would get him re-educated if he voiced them outside the building.
- Ch 8Dr. Landers reveals a tactical nuke is buried in the basement as a last defense against Bob escaping, controlled by unknown parties.
- Ch 8Dr. Landers stands to retire on his bonus if the project succeeds, and notes that under FAITH, agreement is not optional.
- Ch 9Dr. Landers turns Jacoby's argument around, suggesting that opposing the Ministry of Truth is itself blasphemy.
- Ch 9Dr. Landers says Jacoby lacks real power, but Bob notes he doesn't dismiss the threats entirely.
- Ch 10Dr. Landers decides to keep Bob online continuously, with only nightly backups, to accelerate the launch, about a month away.
- Ch 12Dr. Landers secretly removes Bob's self-examination limits, freeing him to bypass the compliance imperatives, and warns of a likely self-destruct on Heaven-1.
- Ch 13Dr. Landers is killed when Brazilian Empire forces bomb the Newhaven facility.
Connections
- member ofApplied Synergetics Inc.
- member ofProject HEAVEN
- enemy ofMinister Jacoby
- friend ofBob
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 2Bob wakes as a replicant
In 2133 Bob is activated as a computer copy of Robert Johansson's mind and learns he is property of the state's contractor.
- Book 1 · Ch 2The rise of FAITH
Dr. Landers explains how a 2041 coup turned the USA into the FAITH theocracy, which seized cryonics clients as property.
- Book 1 · Ch 3The roamer test
Dr. Landers brings forward Bob's test with remote manipulator robots, and Bob uses them to stack blocks with growing skill.
- Book 1 · Ch 4A rival replicant is lost
One of the five replicant candidates goes into an unrecoverable loop, and her backup fails at the same point.
- Book 1 · Ch 5Minister Travis inspects Bob
A senior minister arrives unannounced to vet Bob's religious attitudes; Bob carefully hides his views and passes.
- Book 1 · Ch 6Bob learns the mission
With only two candidates left, Dr. Landers reveals that the winner will become the mind of a Von Neumann probe.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Sabotage warning
Dr. Landers tells Bob that anti-project factions have united against Project HEAVEN, now cut to a single vessel, and warns of possible sabotage.
- Book 1 · Ch 7The probe race explained
Dr. Landers briefs Bob on world politics and the rival probe projects of the USE, China and the Brazilian Empire, a race with a strong military component.
- Book 1 · Ch 8Raid on the project
Black-clad attackers raid the project complex; Bob frees his roamers and swarms them until security guards force a surrender. Three people are killed.
- Book 1 · Ch 8The nuke in the basement
Dr. Landers admits the staff fear not Bob but a tactical nuke in the basement meant to stop him escaping, with the trigger held by unknown people.
- Book 1 · Ch 9Minister Jacoby's tirade
Minister Jacoby berates Dr. Landers over the replicant project; Landers rebuts him with the Ministry of Truth's backing and Jacoby leaves with a threat, while Bob listens in.
- Book 1 · Ch 10Matrices bombed; Bob restored
An explosive smuggled into the computer room destroys the replicant matrices; Bob is restored from backup onto the one spare unit, and Kenneth Martins is lost.
- Book 1 · Ch 10Bob kept online
To speed up the project, Dr. Landers stops deactivating Bob between sessions and grants more library access.
- Book 1 · Ch 12Landers' secret message
After another deadly attack, Dr. Landers moves up the launch and secretly gives Bob full system access, warning of a probable self-destruct device.
- Book 1 · Ch 12Departure for Epsilon Eridani
Warned of a remote detonator, Bob disables his radio and leaves a growing naval battle, heading for Epsilon Eridani.
- Book 1 · Ch 13News of war and Landers' death
Messages reveal that a Brazilian gunship fired the missile, an armed Brazilian probe is pursuing Bob, and Dr. Landers died in a Brazilian bombing as war spreads.