Howard
Names: HowardHoward JohanssonMr. JohanssonMr. JohannsonMister ConservativeChiefWhiney McWhineyFace
First appears in Book 1: We Are Legion, chapter 58 (Riker – April 2171 – Sol)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: We Are Legion
- Ch 58Howard, the newest Bob, escorts the colony ships, carrying some of Bill's inventions in case the colonists misbehave.
- Ch 61Howard arrives at Omicron2 Eridani ahead of the colony ships, the first time humanity no longer has all its eggs in one basket.
- Ch 61Howard insists Butterworth simply choose Vulcan or Romulus quickly so the colony ships can return to Earth.
Book 2: For We Are Many
- Ch 2Howard is a Bob cloned by Riker, with all Riker's memories up to the cloning, now supporting the human colony on Vulcan.
- Ch 5Howard has built farm donuts and a food surplus for the colony, and wonders whether he'll eventually hand off to a clone.
- Ch 8Howard tells the colony leaders he is a neutral volunteer who will withhold help from isolationists, and agrees to adjudicate trades.
- Ch 16Howard uses busters dropped from orbit to protect colony hunting parties from raptors.
- Ch 16Howard plans to print oak barrels and build a distillery to keep colony morale up.
- Ch 20Howard sends data on the parasite to Bill and deploys drones tuned to detect insects.
- Ch 25Howard, whose full name is Howard Johansson, hopes the colonies' growing self-sufficiency might let him leave in a decade or so.
- Ch 29Howard coordinates eighteen drones and busters at once in frame-jack to hunt the raptors through Landing.
- Ch 31Howard deploys a surveillance system around Landing run by an AMI, a hybrid of AI and GUPPI based on Bob's work at Delta Eridani.
- Ch 31Howard designs drones to hunt the adult Cupid Bug parasite, which Bridget considers an apex predator safe to kill.
- Ch 31Howard introduces Bridget and Stéphane to create unofficial channels around the colony committee, which funnels all information through itself.
- Ch 31Howard feels a pang of regret at no longer being human when he is with Bridget.
- Ch 35Howard plans to sell into FAITH territory through a local distributor anyway, and to have vodka from his potato crop within six months.
- Ch 35Howard tells Bridget their dinner is both a business dinner and a date.
- Ch 42Howard's memories span Original Bob, Bob-1, Riker and Charles, totalling about sixty years of subjective experience.
- Ch 42Howard explains cloned Bobs share memories up to the backup but do not share thoughts afterwards.
- Ch 44Howard wants android bodies so he can 'walk among' humans instead of interacting through a flying drone.
- Ch 45Howard asks Riker for information on how to create a new replicant from a human, claiming it is just a knowledge gap.
- Ch 48Howard is so anxious during Bridget's surgery that Stéphane blocks his voice calls, and he breaks down sobbing at the good news.
- Ch 48Howard urges Bill to hurry with the androids and resolves to look into why cancer treatment has advanced so little.
- Ch 48Howard realizes he has feelings for Bridget and that, as an outsider who is not human, he missed her romance with Stéphane.
- Ch 51Howard gives his share of the distillery to the Brodeurs as a wedding present, cutting his ties to Vulcan.
- Ch 51Howard decides to leave Vulcan and explore new star systems, likening it to joining the Foreign Legion.
- Ch 52Bill sees that Howard is head over heels for a human, though Howard himself cannot see it.
- Ch 58Howard is less than a third of the way to his destination when he gets news from Dexter about the Brodeurs.
- Ch 58Howard implies he and Will were behind the leaked videos, which cannot be traced back to them.
- Ch 61Howard extracted H-bomb blueprints from Butterworth, who judged the Others threat enough to override military secrecy.
- Ch 67Howard is studying a Jovian at HIP 14101, a system with no terrestrial planets, losing about one in three drones in its atmosphere.
- Ch 67Howard admits to himself, for the first time clearly, that he has feelings for Bridget.
- Ch 67Howard notices that later-generation Bobs put less and less effort into their VR environments.
- Ch 69Howard attends Stéphane's memorial on Vulcan in the android Manny, his first physical public appearance in almost two hundred years.
- Ch 69Howard realises Stéphane was the best friend he had had since well before he died.
- Ch 69Howard tells the Bobs that being in Manny feels an order of magnitude more real than VR.
- Ch 70Howard urges Bridget to arrange to be replicated after death; she declines for now, but he plans to build the equipment anyway.
- Ch 70Howard proposes replicating Colonel Butterworth after his death to help with the war against the Others.
- Ch 75Howard visits Bridget in person through Manny, nervous enough to stall at the cargo door.
Book 3: All These Worlds
- Ch 2Howard inhabits an android body on Vulcan and is in a close relationship with Bridget.
- Ch 4Howard's android body looks like Original Bob at thirty-one, the age at which he died in a Las Vegas intersection.
- Ch 4A teenager's 'mommy' jibe makes Howard painfully aware of the apparent age gap between his android body and Bridget.
- Ch 7Howard modified his android's appearance so his apparent age matches Bridget's.
- Ch 7Howard fears that as an immortal he will keep losing the people he loves, including eventually Bridget.
- Ch 9Howard tells Rosie that Bridget freely chooses to see him and that only Bridget can end the relationship.
- Ch 9Public opinion on Vulcan is split over Howard, with his relationship with Bridget the main sticking point.
- Ch 12Howard says his relationship with Bridget is companionship without a sexual component, and he is happier than since before Jenny.
- Ch 14Howard grew up in Minnesota and describes himself to Bridget's friends as an 'extreme amputation case'.
- Ch 14Howard insists the Bobs have no desire to rule; beyond dealing with the Others, humans are on their own.
- Ch 20After many failed attempts, Howard gets a SURGE-powered drone to survive Odin's atmosphere and discovers native life there.
- Ch 20Howard prints a twenty-first-century full-immersion VR rig so Bridget can visit his VR.
- Ch 20Howard promised Bridget not to pressure her about replication but tries non-verbal persuasion anyway.
- Ch 23Howard has built scanning equipment from information he and Riker gathered, but must await the court's ruling.
- Ch 23Howard says he is deeply in love with Bridget, though their relationship has no sexual component.
- Ch 29Howard uses his endocrine control system to stay calm under cross-examination.
- Ch 37Howard defied the court order by having Bridget scanned, and tells Rosie he cannot understand how she is related to her parents.
- Ch 39Howard and Bob keep improving the android model that Marcus inhabits.
- Ch 41Howard activates Bridget as a replicant from her scan, with a matrix, ship, VR and BobNet accounts prepared for her.
- Ch 41Howard insists replicants are unique people, not mere copies, and that hundreds of Bobs have all grown different.
- Ch 41Howard is no longer on speaking terms with Bridget's children after the court battle.
- Ch 45Howard designs a floating city for Odin: Earth-pressure air in a prolate spheroid that floats at the 1.5 bar level without SURGE coils.
- Ch 45Howard thinks humans may one day need to hide colonies in gas giants to avoid being wiped out by the Others.
- Ch 45Howard feels guilty for not being more involved in the war effort after the defeat at Delta Pavonis.
- Ch 46Howard's company, the Brodeur family's company, is financing AMI-controlled starships to start interstellar trade routes.
- Ch 55Howard and Bridget enter Rivendell in androids and watch Odin's layered ecosystems through the dome.
- Ch 61Howard realizes he has no coherent objection to adopting and expects he will become a father.
- Ch 72Howard and Bridget live full-time in android form in floating cities on Big Top, with a family of their own.
Book 4: Heaven’s River
- Ch 2Howard and Bridget run one of the three biggest breweries in the Omicron2 Eridani system and export beer in stasis pods.
- Ch 6Howard and Bridget's cancer foundation has enabled many stasis-stored corpsicles to be revived.
- Ch 13Howard has not decided whether he supports Bridget joining the expedition, but knows she will go.
- Ch 16Howard and Bridget fund a human/android interface letting baseline humans operate mannies via a headset, partly to counter anti-manny sentiment.
- Ch 16Howard has wrecked four mannies snowboarding near his and Bridget's place in New Fairbanks.
- Ch 17Howard is a Bob clone with an unusually high dose of pop-culture references.
- Ch 18Howard wrecks his Quinlan manny when a canal-equalizing tunnel sucks him in and launches him into a dry canal.
- Ch 18Howard muses about selling Quinlan-manny swimming as a business, but knows Bridget would object to tours of the Quin ruins.
- Ch 43Howard, owner of a large business empire, offers to shelter Bob assets that can be transferred to him.
- Ch 49Howard is angered by a human political decision that has 'grandfathered' him and Bridget, which Bridget sees as considerable restraint.
- Ch 49Howard and Bridget own half of the city of Trantor and have plenty of lawyers to fight any attempt to confiscate their assets.
- Ch 53Howard has started a rumour that someone is developing mannies for living humans, to undermine any full replicant ban.
Book 5: Not Till We Are Lost
- Ch 9Howard confirmed a free sample from Thoth fixing a human–manny interface problem was genuine.
- Ch 23Howard helped settle Vulcan about 150 years ago and co-owns MannyPark Remote Services with Bridget.
- Ch 23Howard plans to urge Will to speed up getting their relatives off Romulus.
- Ch 33Howard and Bridget make all their employees shareholders so everyone has a personal stake in the outcome.
- Ch 38Howard is quietly setting up a full wormhole network for fun and profit.
- Ch 40Howard and Bridget enter Jabberwocky in drannies loaded with the Gamers' dragon culture and language files.
- Ch 45Howard, or rather the Bobiverse, owns most of the companies expected to grow around hueys.
- Ch 47Howard joins Alexander's army as a probie to learn more, and hears the conquest is about feeding dragons.
- Ch 50Ursula transfers Howard to Supply and Logistics, brewing tuev for the army.
- Ch 53Howard's dragon crew builds a winch-and-boom net system for fishing from a floater, aiming to feed about thirty thousand dragons.
- Ch 53Howard realizes Alexander is interested in Bridget, making him a rival of the most powerful person on Jabberwocky.
- Ch 55Howard's fishing net and boom pass a final test at the lake just as an eruption forces the flotilla to leave.
- Ch 55Howard proposes flying most dragons ahead to Lemuria, leaving enough behind to bring the floaters.
- Ch 55Howard proposes carrying rafts out to sea and tying them together as a midway rest stop for flying dragons.
- Ch 55Howard's plan uses signal fires on the rafts and mainland to guide dragons flying at night.
- Ch 55Under Howard's plan, most dragons fly ahead in waves while the rest stay to bring the floaters in.
- Ch 57Howard flies ahead with the first exodus group, secretly to report back to Bridget.
- Ch 57During the flight to Lemuria, a dragon spears Howard's dranny through the chest from behind, severing his connection.
- Ch 57Howard suspects Alexander ordered his assassination to eliminate his rival for Bridget.
- Ch 58Howard has arranged wormhole deliveries to most populated UFS planets, to be run commercially as the Enniscorthy Astronomical Transit Matter Exchange.
- Ch 59Howard survived being speared through the heart because he operates a dranny body, telling his would-be assassins he doesn't stay dead.
- Ch 59Howard tells Alexander the migration is a success but hopes he will disband his empire now it's no longer needed.
- Ch 62Howard, buried in emails at home, is urged by Bridget to hire an administrative assistant.
- Ch 71Howard identified the wreckage the dragons found on Jabberwocky as Federation hardware, bearing a serial number in Federation standard interlog.
Connections
- related toUSE colony shipescorts the colony fleet
- ally ofBert
- ally ofErnie
- copy ofRiker
- ally ofStéphane Brodeur
- enemy ofMinister Cranston
- friend ofStéphane Brodeur
- ally ofColonel George Butterworth
- related toDr. Sheehyattracted to
- friend ofDr. Sheehy
- related toMinister Cranstonrepeated run-ins
- createdCupid Bug hunters
- partner ofDr. Sheehyunspoken feelings
- ally ofDr. Sheehybusiness partners in liquor
- copy ofCharles
- leadsEnniscorthy Distillery Company
- friend ofDexter
- related toMannyoperates the android
- member ofBobiverse
- friend ofColonel George Butterworth
- enemy ofRosieopposes his relationship with her mother
- friend ofRiker
- ally ofMs. Benninglawyer
- ally ofDr. Onagi
- enemy ofMr. Kistleropposing lawyer
- ally ofBill
- createdRivendell
- friend ofMarcus
- family ofRikerdescribed as brothers
- createdhuman/android interfacefinancing the research with Bridget
- copy ofBobdescribed as a Bob clone
- family ofRosiestepdaughter
- leadsMannyPark Remote Services LLCco-owner with Bridget
- createdHuey Projectfinanced by Howard and Bridget
- member ofAlexandriansenlisted undercover as a probie
- ally ofAlexander
- related toErikcrew foreman under Howard
- related toAlexanderrivals over Bridget
- ally ofMario
- createdEnniscorthy Astronomical Transit Matter Exchange
- enemy ofAlexander
- member ofThe Ancient Ones
- createdHuey
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 58First colony ships launch
After loading USE colonists into stasis and a ceremony full of speeches, the first colony ships depart Sol escorted by Howard, watched by an emotional Riker.
- Book 1 · Ch 61Colony fleet arrives at Omicron2 Eridani
Howard reaches Omicron2 Eridani, followed by Exodus-1 and Exodus-2 under Bert and Ernie, which settle into orbit.
- Book 1 · Ch 61Butterworth chooses Vulcan
Colonel Butterworth picks Vulcan for the colony, and setup crews begin building homes there ahead of waking the first civilians.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Raptor attack on Vulcan colony
Raptors attack a backhoe at the fence construction boundary; security kills most of them, and Howard begins building surveillance drones using Bill's designs.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Howard meets Colonel Butterworth
Butterworth reviews Howard's surveillance plan and announces the farming specialists will be decanted from stasis soon.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Raptors kill two colonists
Raptors sneak into camp behind log trucks and kill two colonists, prompting debate over whether they are intelligent.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Opening Day approved
With the fence nearly done and farms ready, Butterworth authorizes offloading the rest of the colonists, and Bert's shuttles begin ferrying them down.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Exodus-3 arrives
Sam brings Exodus-3 to the Vulcan-Romulus L4 point; the colony declares a holiday and Howard warns that Romulus's fragile ecosystem must be protected.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Colony leaders clash
USE, FAITH and Spitsbergen leaders immediately feud; Howard shames them into cooperating and brokers a livestock and artificial-womb trade.
- Book 2 · Ch 16Raptor ambush foiled
A dozen raptors ambush a hunting party led by Stéphane; Howard kills one with a buster and the hunters gun down the rest.
- Book 2 · Ch 16Butterworth learns of the Others
Howard tells Butterworth about the Others' planet-stripping genocide; the colonel erupts, and Howard explains Mario's scouting and Bill's weapons work.
- Book 2 · Ch 20Deadly parasite on Vulcan
An egg-laying insect parasite kills colonists on Vulcan; Butterworth asks Howard for drones, and an adult is eventually caught and examined.
- Book 2 · Ch 20Riker's family call
With the colonists offloaded onto Romulus, Riker calls Julia and family while over thirty Bobs watch; young Justin dominates the conversation.
- Book 2 · Ch 25Rabbits proposed for the vine
Dr. Sheehy tells Howard that rabbits eat Vulcan's invasive vine and could be released to control it; she also reveals colonists are now eating bronto.
- Book 2 · Ch 29Raptors breach Landing
Raptors tunnel under the fence into Landing; Howard's drones find them hiding in a shed, but they escape back out without killing anyone.
- Book 2 · Ch 31Video call with Clan Bob
Riker, as Will, video-calls the family's descendants on Romulus; Richard raises concerns about environmental damage on Vulcan, and Howard resolves to look into FAITH.
- Book 2 · Ch 31Howard's whiskey passes testing
Bridget confirms Howard's force-aged whiskey is safe to drink, offers to partner with him, and they discuss rabbits and parasite-hunting drones.
- Book 2 · Ch 31Howard introduces Bridget and Stéphane
Howard brings Bridget and Stéphane together for beers to set up unofficial channels that bypass the colony committee.
- Book 2 · Ch 35Whiskey approved for sale
Colonel Butterworth tastes Howard and Bridget's Irish whiskey and declares it saleable, launching their liquor business.
- Book 2 · Ch 35Business dinner or date
Over dinner at The Shaded Green, Howard and Bridget plan around Cranston's liquor ban, and Howard admits the evening is also a date.
- Book 2 · Ch 42Howard explains his lineage
As the distillery thrives, Bridget asks Howard about his age; he traces his memories through Original Bob, Bob-1, Riker and Charles, and they discuss immortality.
- Book 2 · Ch 44Bob baseball and pub talk
Bobs play Scrub baseball in VR, then debate androids, the word 'ephemerals', asteroid movers and the Others over drinks.
- Book 2 · Ch 45Howard asks about replication
Howard asks Riker for human-to-replicant know-how, hiding his concern over Bridget's medical scan; Riker agrees, keen to bypass Cranston.
- Book 2 · Ch 45Cranston threatens the family
Cranston rages over smuggled liquor and threatens to restrict the Bobs' access to their families; Howard and Riker consider removing him.
- Book 2 · Ch 48Bridget's cancer surgery
Bridget has a tumor removed; a frantic Howard waits for news, then learns she will recover.
- Book 2 · Ch 48Howard sees Bridget and Stéphane together
At Bridget's bedside, Howard realizes she and Stéphane are a couple and retreats, confronting his own feelings and his non-human status.
- Book 2 · Ch 51Bridget and Stéphane's wedding
Bridget marries Stéphane; heartbroken, Howard gives them his share of the distillery as a wedding gift.
- Book 2 · Ch 51Howard leaves Vulcan
Howard hands Vulcan over to Dexter, says a painful goodbye to Bridget and Stéphane, and sets out to explore.
- Book 2 · Ch 58News of the Brodeurs' son
Dexter's email tells Howard of colony progress, Cranston's fall in New Jerusalem, and that the Brodeurs have named their new son Howard.
- Book 2 · Ch 61Oliver builds a war fleet
Oliver ramps up printer production, designs weapons and the Version 5 Heaven with Bill, and after three years has his first cohort of battle cruisers.
- Book 2 · Ch 67Stéphane's terminal illness
Howard learns from Dexter that Stéphane is dying; he asks Bill and Garfield whether their android prototype can be built in time for him to attend the funeral in person.
- Book 2 · Ch 67Manny completed
Dexter finishes building the android Manny at Vulcan; Bridget tells Howard Stéphane has only weeks left and is mostly not lucid.
- Book 2 · Ch 69Stéphane's memorial
Howard attends Stéphane's memorial on Vulcan in the android Manny, hugs Bridget, and meets her children, who know him from Stéphane's stories.
- Book 2 · Ch 69Android debrief
Howard reports to Bill, Garfield, Dexter and Bob-1 that physical contact through Manny is far more intense than VR; Bob-1 pushes to prioritise the Android Project.
- Book 2 · Ch 70Bridget declines replication
Howard tries to persuade Bridget to be replicated after death; she declines for now, and they plan a dinner date once Manny is upgraded.
- Book 2 · Ch 70Butterworth agrees to be replicated
Howard proposes replicating Colonel Butterworth after death for the war effort; Bill is open to it, and Butterworth agrees and will update his will.
- Book 2 · Ch 74Moot after the defeat
Grieving Bobs agree the Others need to be exterminated; Bill defers a vote and Thor asks how it could be done.
- Book 2 · Ch 75Howard and Bridget reunite
Howard, in the upgraded Manny, walks up to Bridget's porch and takes her hands for their long-awaited meeting.
- Book 3 · Ch 2Howard tells Bridget the Bobs lost
A distraught Howard tells Bridget the Bobs have lost against the Others at the Pav home world, dooming a billion Pav; a moot will meet to decide what to do.
- Book 3 · Ch 3Marcus joins the conspiracy
Kal and Gina convince Marcus that the Poseidon Administrative Council is grabbing power; he agrees to help as a wild card and resolves to make a personal appearance, calling Howard.
- Book 3 · Ch 4Mall date and mockery
On a lunch date at Landing's mall, a teenager mocks Howard and Bridget's apparent age difference; Bridget tells Howard her family has no vote in her relationships.
- Book 3 · Ch 7Butterworth's suicide
After a movie date, Howard and Bridget learn from the coroner that George Butterworth has died by neurotoxin; his note to Howard explains his incurable dementia and his refusal to be replicated.
- Book 3 · Ch 7Howard grieves with Bridget
Howard confides to Bridget that immortality means endless losses, and fears losing her one day; she asks him to stay with her.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Rosie confronts Howard
Rosie accosts Howard at the mall, demanding he leave her mother alone; the exchange ends in an impasse before an audience who recognise him.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Howard discovers public backlash
Bridget admits her children lecture her about Howard, and Howard finds online opinion split, with many objecting to a replicant dating a human.
- Book 3 · Ch 12Julia Hendricks dies
Justin calls Riker to say his mother Julia has had a fatal aneurysm; Riker flies Howard's android to Romulus to see her before life support is withdrawn.
- Book 3 · Ch 12Julia's funeral
Riker acts as pallbearer at Julia's funeral, then returns Manny to Howard and they reflect on losing ephemerals.
- Book 3 · Ch 14Dinner with Bridget's friends
Howard wins over Bridget's old friends with humour at a dinner, but a tipsy Kumar asks if the Bobs plan to take over the world, leaving Howard uneasy.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Life discovered on Odin
Howard's drone finally survives Odin's atmosphere and finds flocks of huge tentacled, blimp-like creatures.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Bridget visits Howard's VR
Howard brings Bridget into his VR to study the Odin life, giving her a youthful avatar; she calls it a dirty trick and reaffirms she doesn't want replication.
- Book 3 · Ch 23Bridget dies
Bridget collapses and dies; per her changed will she is placed in stasis and Howard is given permission to replicate her.
- Book 3 · Ch 23Stasis injunction hearing
Bridget's children seek to have her decanted; Judge Katz refuses, keeping her in stasis with no scanning until a full trial.
- Book 3 · Ch 29Trial over Bridget's replication
During the trial, Howard endures attacks from the children's lawyer, and Dr. Onagi warns that Rosie might sabotage Bridget's body even if Howard wins.
- Book 3 · Ch 37Verdict on Bridget's replication
Judge Katz upholds Bridget's will, ruling for Howard; Rosie immediately texts to trigger sabotage of Bridget's stasis pod.
- Book 3 · Ch 37Bill scans Bridget
Suspecting sabotage, Howard asks for help; Bill sends a drone to scan Bridget during court, before the saboteur's device shuts her stasis pod down.
- Book 3 · Ch 41Bridget is replicated
After hesitating, Howard activates Bridget's replicant in his VR; they reunite and he begins teaching her replicant life.
- Book 3 · Ch 41Bridget contacts her children
Replicant Bridget phones her children; Howie is distant and Rosie remains unforgiving, leaving Bridget in tears.
- Book 3 · Ch 43Manta flights on Odin
Howard and Bridget fly manta androids among a flock of blimps on Odin, recording their behaviour.
- Book 3 · Ch 43Bridget's moot debut
Bridget attends her first moot with Howard, meets Henry Roberts, and hears Bill report that the Others' harvesting of Delta Pavonis continues unchecked.
- Book 3 · Ch 45Odin city project
Howard shows Bridget his design for a floating city in Odin's atmosphere, a possible refuge from the Others; she agrees to help build it.
- Book 3 · Ch 55Rivendell deployed
Mover plates lower Rivendell into Odin's clouds where it floats stably; Howard and Bridget explore it in androids until a blimp tries to mate with the dome.
- Book 3 · Ch 58Howie's wedding
Bridget and Howard attend Howie's wedding to Angelina in androids; Howie embraces his mother, and Bridget reconnects with Lianne.
- Book 3 · Ch 61Bridget proposes adoption
In their Tantor apartment, Bridget asks Howard to consider adopting orphaned colony children; Howard, stunned, realizes he will agree.
- Book 4 · Ch 12Bridget joins the expedition
Bridget asks to join the Quinlan expedition, later deciding to go in person rather than clone herself.
- Book 4 · Ch 13Swimming with Poseidon dolphins
Howard and Bridget borrow dolphin mannies from Marcus and join a native pod at Moody Port to learn about aquatic mannies for the Quinlan expedition.
- Book 4 · Ch 13Leviathan passes
A huge leviathan glides beneath the pod near the mat; everyone keeps still until it passes, and Marcus alerts Perimeter Security.
- Book 4 · Ch 16Will visits Howard
Will learns from Howard about pams, public manny storage, growing anti-manny protests, and Howard's human/android interface research.
- Book 4 · Ch 18Will and Howard swim the ruins of Quin
Will invites Howard to try Quinlan mannies in a bombed former capital on Quin; they swim the canals and examine wrecks.
- Book 4 · Ch 18Howard breaks his manny
A strong current pulls Howard through a tunnel between canals and flings him onto rocks, badly damaging his manny; roamers retrieve it.
- Book 4 · Ch 49Howard and Bridget plan an expedition
Facing human political hostility, Howard and Bridget decide to keep a low profile and leave Trantor on a new expedition to a planet of Bridget's choosing.
- Book 4 · Ch 53MacIntosh recall
Howard learns that anti-replicant Senator MacIntosh is being recalled after post-life constituents feared he would threaten their afterlives.
- Book 4 · Ch 53New exploration candidate
Bridget shows Howard a strange new ecosystem Mario found; she asks Mario to build a station and autofactory there so she can study it.
- Book 4 · Ch 65ANEC at the pub
Over drinks, ANEC discusses its loneliness, free will, souls and quantum information, how true AI is evolved, and its plans to spread the Quinlans to other stars.
- Book 5 · Ch 23Huey test goes wrong
At New Landing on Vulcan, Howard and Bridget watch Terry test a huey. After lunch the huey cannot exit and the safe phrase fails, so the techs cut the power.
- Book 5 · Ch 23Romulus bans flying cities
Mark tells Howard and Bridget that FAITH, now with a majority on Romulus, has outlawed flying cities and replication, straining relations with Vulcan.
- Book 5 · Ch 26Holiday on Newholme
Howard and Bridget visit Newholme via Xavier Charles's covert base, see the facial-recognition protests, and cut their outing short after encountering an anti-replicant restaurant.
- Book 5 · Ch 26Decision to pursue life extension
Troubled by rising anti-replicant hatred, Bridget convinces Howard to quietly fund life-extension research alongside the Huey Project.
- Book 5 · Ch 29First dranny test flight
Howard and Bridget transfer into their new dragon mannies on Jabberwocky, test-fly them over volcanic lakes, and enjoy a mating flight.
- Book 5 · Ch 29Chased by dragons
Four dragons with spears chase Howard and Bridget, who outpace them. Bridget resolves to raise the possible patrols with Gandalf.
- Book 5 · Ch 31Successful huey test
At the Hawking Institute, Terry's improved huey works smoothly and even lunches with Howard, Bridget and Mark; the project moves to alpha testing.
- Book 5 · Ch 33Hueys declared ready
At the Institute in New Landing, Terry reveals she is riding a huey and Mark announces the human manny is ready; Howard approves the marketing plan.
- Book 5 · Ch 34Matter pushed through a wormhole
Bill announces to the Ancient Ones that he and Garfield sent ten hydrogen atoms through a stabilized wormhole, the first matter ever transmitted.
- Book 5 · Ch 36Gamers brief Howard and Bridget on dragon culture
Gandalf tells Howard and Bridget the dragon analysis is nearly done and warns that dragon society is in turmoil, with a conqueror annexing floating islands.
- Book 5 · Ch 40Howard and Bridget land on Jabberwocky
Riding drannies, Howard and Bridget glide over Jabberwocky, practise fishing, and land on the floater called the Hunter, where an armed squad questions them.
- Book 5 · Ch 40News of Alexander's army
The squad leader tells them Alexander's army is within fifty miles and his scouts are intercepted daily; the pair take a hotel pod in the village.
- Book 5 · Ch 42Alexander sympathizers thrown overboard
At the Hunter's village, a group promoting peaceful union with Alexander is tossed off the floater; a local tells Howard and Bridget of rumoured floater burnings.
- Book 5 · Ch 42Bridget inspects a floater tendril
Bridget climbs down a floater tendril after it drinks from a lake and finds something that troubles her.
- Book 5 · Ch 44Alexandrians take the Hunter
Watching from high above, Howard and Bridget see an Alexandrian raiding party seize the Hunter's three villages in a brutal ten-minute assault.
- Book 5 · Ch 44The Hunter under occupation
The occupiers let Howard and Bridget return, life resumes calmly, and the Hunter is steered toward the Alexandrian floater cluster.
- Book 5 · Ch 45Huey launch backlash
The huey rollout triggers fury from Luddies and FAITH and a wave of lawsuits, but Hector reveals Huey LLC pre-emptively tied up its opponents legally.
- Book 5 · Ch 47Mysterious canoe and wreckage
Howard spots a canoe of alien hull plates and advanced SCUT wreckage in Alexander's throne room; Mario confirms neither is human or Bob-made.
- Book 5 · Ch 47Howard enlists
Howard joins Alexander's army as a probie under squad leader Ursula and learns fish are declining and people may soon starve.
- Book 5 · Ch 50Alexander reveals the famine cycle
Alexander explains his family's millennia of records show recurring, worsening famines, justifying his plan to move dragons to Lemuria.
- Book 5 · Ch 50Bridget and Howard join Alexander's planning
Bridget offers maps and route advice for crossing to Lemuria and proposes net fishing from floaters, effectively joining Alexander's leadership.
- Book 5 · Ch 53The flotilla sets out north
With eruptions confirming Alexander's warnings, floaters join his flotilla and head north early while Howard's crew builds a fishing winch.
- Book 5 · Ch 53Floaters refuse salt water
Turning out to sea, the floaters recoil from salt water and head back to shore; Alexander plans to heat them, fill them at a lake and cut their tendrils.
- Book 5 · Ch 55The flotilla flees out to sea
Eruptions reach the lake; after a last net test the flotilla leaves, carried two miles offshore by a doming toxic gas plume.
- Book 5 · Ch 55A floater burns in the storm
In a fierce storm, fire breaks out on a floater; Howard, Bridget and soldiers cut it loose and it falls burning into the sea, with dozens of dragons lost.
- Book 5 · Ch 55Secret fish restocking and food crisis
Mario's drones secretly restock floater reservoirs until it is noticed, nearly causing civil war; with food short, Howard proposes flying the dragons ahead.
- Book 5 · Ch 55Alexander adopts the raft plan
Howard proposes a chain of rafts and signal fires so most dragons can fly ahead to the mainland; Alexander approves it.
- Book 5 · Ch 57The dragon exodus begins
With rafts and signal fires in place, Alexander launches the staggered mass flight of dragons toward Lemuria.
- Book 5 · Ch 57Howard's dranny is assassinated
A dragon spears Howard's dranny in flight; Mario's drone recovers and repairs the body while Howard and Bridget suspect Alexander.
- Book 5 · Ch 59Howard returns from the dead
Howard lands in front of the escort who killed him, identifies Gerrard as the killer, promises a later reckoning and has them help prepare camp for the first wave of migrants.
- Book 5 · Ch 59Howard rescues Bridget
Howard flies a cargo drone to the flotilla, confronts Alexander, drops the drone on his soldiers, and escapes with Bridget aboard it.
- Book 5 · Ch 62Aftermath of the dragon migration
Back at Trantor, Bridget tells Howard the migrated dragons are doing well while the old continent faces ecosystem collapse.
- Book 5 · Ch 72Meeting of the Ancient Ones
Bob, Bill, Garfield, Howard and Will meet with Steven Gilligan, who proposes a megastructure-based evacuation and a diplomatic mission to the Federation.