Riker
Names: RikerBob-2Twonumber twoMister PooreplicantMr. JohanssonWilliamWilluncle WilliamUnca’ WillUncle Will
First appears in Book 1: We Are Legion, chapter 17 (Bob – July 2145 – Epsilon Eridani)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: We Are Legion
- Ch 17Bob-2 wakes as a copy, briefly runs manufacturing, then takes the name Riker and a starship-bridge VR.
- Ch 17Riker proposes visiting Sol to learn Earth's fate and clashes with Milo when Milo refuses to join him.
- Ch 18Riker plans to return to Sol, and asks for an extra AMI-piloted version-1 ship with a heavily shielded reactor for an undisclosed plan.
- Ch 18Bill thinks Riker is wound a little tight.
- Ch 19Riker has made a copy of himself to accompany him to Sol, though results are not as expected.
- Ch 20Riker departs for Sol with Homer and a decoy vessel, limited to 2 g so the version-1 decoy can keep up.
- Ch 21Riker reaches Sol in January 2157, about nine years personal time after leaving, while twenty-six years have passed on Earth.
- Ch 21Riker gives Guppy a Federation uniform and competes with Bill to make a subspace breakthrough.
- Ch 24Riker and Homer lure four Brazilian ships into a chase around the sun, then destroy them with hidden busters and inert cannonballs.
- Ch 24Riker introduces himself to the Brazilians as Commander Riker of the FAITH Space Navy.
- Ch 24Riker destroys the last two Brazilian ships, one with a buster and one with a rail-gun-fired steel ball.
- Ch 24Riker has roamers hot-wire the asteroids' wide-field SURGE drives to push them sideways off course for Earth.
- Ch 24After the battle Riker feels an unexpected fatherly pride toward Homer as they finally laugh together.
- Ch 24Riker builds Bill's exploration scouts to sweep Earth for survivors before they starve.
- Ch 24Riker reprograms the asteroids into high-inclination orbits that will never intersect Earth.
- Ch 26Riker convinces Butterworth he is not a FAITH zealot by explaining his atheism, and forwards all talks to Bill.
- Ch 26Riker feels guilt that his six-month delay building Homer and the decoy may have cost lives.
- Ch 29Riker insists on searching for other survivors, arguing it won't affect the colony ships' critical path.
- Ch 29Riker plans to build more Bobs first, since the solar system's resources are stripped and scavenging is needed.
- Ch 29Riker feels pulled back into humanity's affairs with thousands or millions of lives depending on him.
- Ch 31Riker convenes the Bobs at Sol as the 'Federation of Planets Council', with two new Bobs agreed with Colonel Butterworth.
- Ch 31Riker decides refugees will be chosen by need and that transport vessels must become a priority.
- Ch 31Riker refuses to force anyone to leave Earth; anyone who wants to opt out may stay.
- Ch 33Riker hands the assembly the job of choosing its own chairperson and rules.
- Ch 36Riker warns Valter that persisting will leave his people off the ships entirely.
- Ch 38Riker tells Julia he no longer goes by Bob and may be called Riker, William or Will.
- Ch 38Riker says he cares about his relatives but will not bend the rules for them; he talks with Julia for three hours.
- Ch 41Using a SCUT, Riker talks live with Bill for the first time in seventeen years.
- Ch 41Riker announces that all emigrants are slated for the twin planets Romulus or Vulcan.
- Ch 41Riker offers to leave if the delegates vote him out; none take him up on it.
- Ch 42Riker promises to send a clone carrying Svalbard seeds to Bill to help terraform Ragnarök.
- Ch 43The Bobs consider triage, space mirrors, stations and moon colonies, but nothing improves prospects without delaying ships.
- Ch 47Riker decides a fourth Bob is needed to replace Arthur, and plans backup storage at the Sol station.
- Ch 49Someone tries to hack Riker through a back door in the original Heaven encryption, but Bob-1's firewall blocks it.
- Ch 49Riker tells the UN he will trade future colony ships for current lives by building kudzu stations.
- Ch 54Riker regularly talks with the Hendricks family, feeling more real through his sister's descendants.
- Ch 58Riker hopes a steady exodus from Earth can continue, with three more vessels under construction and returning ships reused.
- Ch 58Riker is moved to tears after more than a decade of work finally launches the colony ships.
Book 2: For We Are Many
- Ch 2Riker is building more colony ships as fast as he can.
- Ch 7Riker misses his family; Julia and Clan Bob are in stasis aboard Exodus-3, heading to Omicron2 Eridani for seventeen years.
- Ch 7Riker secretly monitors all communications in the solar system with AMIs, and keeps his VEHEMENT investigation even from other Bobs.
- Ch 7Riker represents the Bobs at the UN and feels isolated, as most enclaves keep him at arm's length.
- Ch 12Riker and his clone Homer fought the last of the Brazilian space navy in Sol and found humanity nearly wiped out by war.
- Ch 14Riker considers VEHEMENT's attacks an act of war, though he is unsure he could actually take a human life.
- Ch 20Over thirty Bobs watch Riker's family call; the relatives are a major reason the Bobs tolerate people like Cranston and VEHEMENT.
- Ch 21Riker now regards VEHEMENT as a major threat and has AMIs review a month of traffic while he studies cryptography.
- Ch 23Riker's comms monitoring found no transmissions linked to the Farm-6 attack and no nearby activity except Heaven vessels.
- Ch 23Riker suspects VEHEMENT and the Brazil attackers share intelligence, possibly via steganography in high-bandwidth channels.
- Ch 26Riker publicly belittles VEHEMENT at the UN to provoke a reaction, while Guppy monitors all communications.
- Ch 26Riker begins to suspect that the withdrawn, joke-free Homer may not really be Homer, and asks Charles to meet physically.
- Ch 28Riker realizes Homer was a recent visitor at nearly every VEHEMENT spaceside sabotage site.
- Ch 28Riker removes the viral control from Homer, installs a laser-comms firewall, and sends the fix to Bill.
- Ch 31By tacit agreement, Riker is the face of Bob in video calls with the descendants of Bob's sister, who call him Will.
- Ch 37Riker resolves to grant Homer's last wish.
- Ch 40Riker traces a VEHEMENT operative to a nondescript farmhouse far north of VEHEMENT central by detecting faint maser scatter.
- Ch 40Riker is secretly listening in on the operative's conversations, undetected thanks to encrypted SCUT-linked drones.
- Ch 43Riker publicly berates Gerrold before the UN, threatening him over Homer's death and the Brazilian deaths.
- Ch 45Riker suggests that rather than evacuate the family, they could simply remove Cranston.
- Ch 62Riker reports fourteen colony ships in service, with colonies at Vulcan, Poseidon, Epsilon Indi and 82 Eridani.
- Ch 62Riker says 82 Eridani and Epsilon Indi are close enough to be in danger from the Others.
- Ch 77Will, formerly Riker, is still haunted by Homer's suicide and now mostly goes by his first name.
Book 3: All These Worlds
- Ch 2Riker informed Dexter of the defeat so the news could be passed on to Butterworth or his successor.
- Ch 12Riker uses an android for the first time, borrowing Howard's Manny to visit Julia and serve as pallbearer at her funeral.
- Ch 15Riker oversees emigration from Sol; nearly a million have left, but at current rates finishing would take over five hundred years.
- Ch 15Riker proposes putting the fourteen million remaining humans into stasis pods, which would take about fifty years to build.
- Ch 16Riker privately agrees with Marcus about the Council and hints he helped depose Cranston, but asks Marcus not to get anyone killed.
- Ch 32Riker learns that the repaired Others' cargo vessel, fitted with mover plates, could carry fourteen million people to Earth's colonies.
- Ch 33Riker says Sol can build no more than a couple of million pods, as salvageable metal is running out.
- Ch 36Riker announces the Bellerophon to the UN, causing uproar, and wants to be able to move a million people at a time by shuttle.
- Ch 36Riker decides to stop manufacturing colony ships, diverting raw materials to shuttles and stasis pods.
- Ch 36Riker wants the Bellerophon to arrive quickly because the Others' plans are an unknown threat.
- Ch 46Riker proposes sending asteroid-disguised probes using only common tech into GL 877 to spy on the Others without risking new tech.
- Ch 48Riker concludes the Others' fleet is likely heading somewhere and decides to re-check his detection array at Sol.
- Ch 50Will prioritizes defending Sol, then stopping other expeditions, then a final solution against the Others.
- Ch 51Riker must choose how to spend scarce metal between farm donuts, colony ships and stasis pods.
- Ch 51Riker struggles with despondency but hopes the Bellerophon can supply stasis pods for every human before the Others arrive.
- Ch 53Since Julia's death, Riker has deliberately distanced himself from his relatives, thinking of them as a group rather than individuals.
- Ch 53Justin is the last of the family Riker still keeps in touch with; Bob-1 calls this 'fading into legend'.
- Ch 56After twenty-seven years of monitoring, Riker detects an approaching Others fleet well off the direct line from GL 877.
- Ch 56Riker wishes Butterworth were still around for his tactical skill, though they were always at loggerheads.
- Ch 57Riker now asks to be called Will, trying to leave the Star Trek naming behind.
- Ch 57Will doubts the Bobs can beat the Others' fleet before it gets close enough to attack Earth.
- Ch 57Will plans to evacuate the biggest enclaves first for efficiency, abandoning almost half of Earth's population.
- Ch 58Conversations with Riker's relatives helped Howie accept Bridget as a replicant.
- Ch 59Riker reflects that it is a hundred years since he stopped the Brazilians from destroying Earth and first met Colonel Butterworth.
- Ch 62Will has privately put off announcing who will be left behind, knowing any choice means abandoning six million people.
- Ch 64Will says food is not yet a concern; water comes from supplies the enclaves were told to bring, plus the farm donuts.
- Ch 65Will turns every laser, particle weapon and spike on the threatening Death Asteroids, accepting weaker overall defense to protect the Bellerophon.
- Ch 67Will orders nearly a hundred AMI-controlled dreadnaughts and Heaven vessels into a sacrificial nuclear charge.
- Ch 67Will realizes nukes detonated at the Jokers' near-light speed would Doppler-shift into radiation stronger than the Others' own zaps.
- Ch 70Will, visibly haunted, agrees to keep the stasis-pod sleepers in stasis rather than return them to a barely habitable Earth.
- Ch 75Will reports that Valhalla's atmosphere is now reasonable, giving 82 Eridani three viable worlds for the arriving humans.
Book 4: Heaven’s River
- Ch 3Will retired from colony administration at 82 Eridani, dropped his Riker persona, and now terraforms Valhalla, the largest moon of Asgard.
- Ch 6Will was especially close to Bob's relatives; the deaths of Julia and her son Justin hit him as hard as Homer's.
- Ch 7Will found a topopolis expert who is dead but replicated, and very hard to get hold of.
- Ch 7Will wants Johansson descendants out from under FAITH, fearing a rise of the Far Right.
- Ch 9Will's megastructure expert is a replicant living in the Vulcan Post-Life Arcology who still lectures at the university by manny.
- Ch 16Will is the only Bob to take a last name as his moniker and answers to Riker, Johansson or Will.
- Ch 17Will runs a backup manny and acts as substitute driver; his spare manny is hidden in the entry tunnel.
- Ch 17Will holds a negative view of humanity after evacuating Earth, though he dotes on his relatives.
- Ch 18Will practices with a Quinlan manny on Quin in case he must step in for the Heaven's River expedition.
- Ch 18Terraforming Valhalla taught Will that unusual usually means bad.
- Ch 24Will runs an experimental garden on Valhalla testing Terran and native plants for agriculture as terraforming progresses.
- Ch 28Will reluctantly represents the Bobiverse on the UFS council out of a sense of duty.
- Ch 28Will believes the Pav are investing in autofactories now so their fleet will grow fast later, but the council ignores him.
- Ch 31Will, the official backup Bob, will cover Bill's monitoring sessions while Bill handles the comms crisis.
- Ch 37Will suggests the Resistance may be hiding in the fake segment-boundary mountains, near the Administrator's domain, an idea the Gamers support.
- Ch 38Will warns that relations between digitals and biologicals were already souring and the rootkit news will accelerate it.
- Ch 43Will's side project now looks like a possible endgame, and he considers talking to Neil and Herschel.
- Ch 45Will has lawyers fighting talk of restricting manny use on human-rights grounds, while the government contests replicants' right to be considered human.
- Ch 46Will sends Bob a SUDDAR scan annotated, probably by Gilligan, showing the complex's entrance to the transport up the stays.
- Ch 47Will admits dealing with humans has soured him, and that Valhalla is his version of Bill's Ragnarök.
- Ch 47Will has secretly been building a slightly smaller copy of the Bellerophon with a working SURGE drive for about fifty years in 82 Eridani.
- Ch 47Will proposes he leads while Herschel's Bellerophon follows, letting them colonize targets he finds without needing AMI scouts.
- Ch 47Will wonders why all known civilizations are roughly the same age with nothing more advanced, suspecting something more is at play.
- Ch 47Will stays UFS representative from an outsized sense of duty and sees leaving as the only way to shake it.
- Ch 57Will secretly left 82 Eridani a year and a half ago in a mini-Bellerophon, intending to quit politics and travel indefinitely.
- Ch 57Will plans to hand off the Valhalla terraforming to the Asgard government and join Herschel and Neil's venture.
- Ch 60Will and Oliver plan to get Bobs to those systems first, build military presences, and later sell the claims to the Pav.
- Ch 64Will will present the UFS policy on human/replicant relations; humans are furious and may sue the Bobiverse.
Book 5: Not Till We Are Lost
- Ch 7Will claims to have checked out from humanity but seems to have many information channels.
- Ch 17Will guesses Fake Hugh is heading to Skippy space to physically free Thoth.
- Ch 20Will is exploring and cataloguing systems for colonization, partly for his own mental health, far from UFS politics.
- Ch 20Will theorizes civilizations kill themselves once weapons reach a certain point, explaining the absence of elder races.
- Ch 20Will has improved his manny's internal SURGE drive enough to fly from planetary surfaces into space.
- Ch 22Will plans to physically travel with the Nostromo to avoid dependence on SCUT and escape any catastrophe in human space.
- Ch 22Will warns of rising tensions: fascism on Newholme, FAITH on Romulus, and authoritarian Takama.
- Ch 34Will has dropped AMI-crewed stations in thirteen star systems on his voyage toward the hinterland.
- Ch 34Will wants the wormhole project kept top secret as a hole card because of trouble coming in Omicron2 Eridani.
- Ch 35Will is travelling outward from the core at 70% of light speed, slow enough to stay in SCUT contact.
- Ch 35Will plans to chain wormholes back through his seeded systems, starting with BSC-804, to connect to WormNet.
- Ch 35Will considers a wormhole in Omicron2 Eridani to get their descendants out of FAITH's reach, but only if kept secret.
- Ch 35Will worries his habit of keeping secrets from other Bobs could alienate him from everyone.
- Ch 35Will had privately hoped Bob-1 would join him on this voyage and feels physically isolated.
- Ch 38Will warns that UFS space will eventually surround Starfleet's territory, risking another war.
- Ch 58Will wants the wormhole project kept secret for a while, and Howard has agreed for now.
- Ch 66Will offers to carry the Romulus evacuees in his ship's hold and meet Herschel near Vulcan.
- Ch 66Will admits he has hidden his location as part of several secret projects, keeping even most of the Bobiverse in the dark.
- Ch 69Will reveals WormNet, a secret network of wormholes in the Kuiper and Oort zones, explaining his rapid arrival.
- Ch 69Will faces down Cranston with legal arguments; she agrees to let the evacuees go if they forfeit Romulan citizenship and property.
- Ch 72Will argues the Fermi paradox is solved: the Federation took every detectable civilization with it when it left.
Connections
- copy ofBob
- related toMilobutt heads over returning to Sol
- copied intoHomer
- enemy ofBrazilian probes
- related toHeaven-2controlling mind of the ship
- ally ofHomer
- enemy ofCaptain Matias Araújo
- ally ofColonel George Butterworth
- related toColonel George Butterworthtense negotiating partnersat odds since day one
- leadsFederation of Planets Council
- related toHomerfriction over how to handle delegatesHomer resents Riker's rigid style
- related toMinister CranstonRiker rejects Cranston's claim that he owes FAITH
- enemy ofMinister Cranston
- family ofAndreasister of the original human Riker remembers being
- enemy ofVEHEMENT
- friend ofHomer
- friend ofBill
- ally ofCharles
- ally ofArthur
- family ofJulia Hendricks
- ally ofRalph
- related toFarm-1had an AMI start building it
- copied intoHoward
- createdExodus-3
- copied intoCharles
- enemy ofBrazilian Empire
- enemy ofAmbassador Gerrold
- ally ofRepresentative Sharma
- enemy ofMr. Vickers
- friend ofHoward
- enemy ofMinister MacIntyrehostile
- friend ofMarcus
- ally ofMario
- family ofJustin Hendrickscalled Uncle Will
- ally ofBill
- ally ofHerschel
- friend ofColonel George Butterworth
- friend ofBob
- copied intoConanConan is one of Will's descendants
- enemy ofFAITH
- family ofHowarddescribed as brothers
- inValhalla
- member ofUnited Federation of SentientsBobiverse representative
- ally ofSteven Gilligan
- family ofBena descendant of the Bobs
- ally ofBen
- leadsEver Onward
- related toHulk-1travelling aboard a mini-Bellerophon
- ally ofOliver
- related toUnited Federation of Sentientspresented the UFS stance at the moot
- friend ofSteven Gilligan
- ally ofBobBob-1 wanted to join Will's exploration
- createdNostromo
- createdFargo
- related toNostromoWill's ship
- ally ofHector Rodriguezadvised on legal strategy
- member ofThe Ancient Ones
- enemy ofElla Cranston
- related toFargoWill's ship
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 17The first copies
Bob loads backups of himself into four new vessels; the copies wake, take the names Riker, Bill, Milo and Mario, while Bob moves into Heaven-1A.
- Book 1 · Ch 17Dividing the work
The Bobs discuss next steps: Bill stays to research subspace and run the Bob factory, Riker plans to investigate Sol, Milo and Mario head out to explore.
- Book 1 · Ch 18The Bobs disperse
Bob, Milo and Mario leave Epsilon Eridani for Delta Eridani, Omicron2 Eridani and Beta Hydri, while Bill builds new Bobs for himself and for Riker's Sol trip.
- Book 1 · Ch 20Riker and Homer leave for Sol
Riker departs for Sol with his clone Homer and a decoy ship, while Bill's clone Garfield stays to help in the Skunk Works.
- Book 1 · Ch 21Return to Sol
Riker and Homer stealthily survey the Solar System and find Earth devastated by nuclear war, with only a handful of reactor signatures left.
- Book 1 · Ch 21Decoy reveals the Brazilians
The decoy Heaven-2A draws out Brazilian probes armed with SURGE missiles and is destroyed, revealing at least six Brazilian ships in the system.
- Book 1 · Ch 21Asteroids aimed at Earth
Homer and Riker realize four Brazilian probes are guiding asteroids to strike Earth one day apart, targeting China.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Battle behind the sun
Riker and Homer draw four Brazilian ships into pursuit around the sun and destroy them by exhausting their missiles with busters, then striking with inert cannonballs.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Battle at the asteroids
After hiding behind Earth, Riker and Homer attack the last two Brazilian ships under Captain Araújo; Homer is disabled, but Riker destroys both ships.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Diverting the asteroids
Riker's roamers hot-wire the asteroid-moving SURGE drives to thrust them away from Earth, unsure if it is too late.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Assessing a ruined Earth
Riker briefs Homer on Earth's devastation by nukes and asteroid strikes; they plan to search for survivors using exploration scouts.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Asteroids miss Earth
The last of the four diverted asteroids slides safely past Earth, and moments later the Bobs receive an unexpected hail.
- Book 1 · Ch 26Contact with Colonel Butterworth
Colonel George Butterworth of the USE hails Riker after the asteroids are averted, beginning cautious negotiations between the Bobs and Earth's survivors.
- Book 1 · Ch 26Plan to leave Earth
Butterworth explains how the war escalated and asks Riker to help build two USE colony ships to evacuate humans; Riker agrees.
- Book 1 · Ch 29Priorities dispute with Butterworth
Riker and Colonel Butterworth argue over searching for other survivors; Riker decides to build more Bobs first and search in parallel.
- Book 1 · Ch 29Bootstrapping industry in Sol
Homer surveys battle wreckage for materials and sets up autofactories, feeding Lagrange-point yards that will build Bobs and eventually colony ships.
- Book 1 · Ch 31Survey of Earth's survivors
Riker and Arthur survey Earth from polar orbit and find about forty enclaves with fifteen million surviving people.
- Book 1 · Ch 31Transport vessels prioritised
Realising the scale of evacuation, Riker prioritises transport vessels, angering Colonel Butterworth, who agrees refugees can use the USE compound later.
- Book 1 · Ch 33Chaotic first United Nations session
Riker convenes delegates from Earth's enclaves; the session dissolves into shouting until he cuts the microphones, then later lets the assembly set its own rules.
- Book 1 · Ch 33Valter's seed-vault ultimatum
Gudmund Valter tells Riker the Spitsbergen group holds the Svalbard vaults colonists need, implying a threat to secure priority for his people.
- Book 1 · Ch 36Standoff with Valter
Valter calls Riker's bluff of seizing the vaults by force; Riker warns the Spits will get no ship if they persist.
- Book 1 · Ch 36Cranston's override fails
Minister Cranston tries a FAITH protocol override to make Riker obedient, but it was removed long ago and Riker tells him off.
- Book 1 · Ch 36Third-ship compromise opens
Butterworth proposes advancing the third ship, and Valter, apparently tipped off, opens negotiations with Riker.
- Book 1 · Ch 38VEHEMENT threat emerges
Riker learns from Butterworth about VEHEMENT, an anonymous group threatening violence to stop humanity from continuing.
- Book 1 · Ch 38Riker meets a relative
Minister Cranston introduces Julia Hendricks, a descendant of Riker's sister Andrea, and leaves them to talk for hours.
- Book 1 · Ch 41First SCUT contact
Riker and Homer build Bill's SCUT and speak with Bill instantly across interstellar distance, exchanging news and upgrades.
- Book 1 · Ch 41Destinations announced
Riker announces Romulus and Vulcan as emigration destinations; delegates erupt with complaints about sharing planets.
- Book 1 · Ch 43Colony ship construction inspection
Riker inspects the half-built colony ships, which are progressing smoothly with Homer's supply crew keeping up.
- Book 1 · Ch 43All-Bobs meeting on Earth's future
Riker, Homer, Charles and Arthur conclude they cannot evacuate fifteen million people and find no plan to keep them alive without delaying the ships.
- Book 1 · Ch 47Food reserve negotiations fail
Riker fails to persuade wealthier enclaves to share food with groups hit by VEHEMENT attacks.
- Book 1 · Ch 47Death of Arthur
Arthur dies in a nuclear booby trap near Saturn; with no backup, the Bobs mourn him and plan a replacement Bob.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Hack attempt on Riker
An intrusion via a back door in Heaven encryption is blocked by Bob-1's firewall and traced to New Zealand.
- Book 1 · Ch 49Kudzu station plan
Homer and Riker devise spinning farm stations growing kudzu; the UN and Butterworth are outraged, but Riker pushes it through.
- Book 1 · Ch 49FAITH deal for ship three
Cranston trades FAITH's food surplus for places on ship three and explains the Australian espionage behind the hack.
- Book 1 · Ch 52Farm stations expand
With Farm-1 producing and a second farm about to start, Riker and Homer discuss plans for crop and ranch donuts.
- Book 1 · Ch 54Exodus-1 and Exodus-2 completed
The Bobs watch final assembly of the first two colony ships, streamed to every UN delegate; tests and a shakedown cruise remain.
- 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 59First Bob-moot
Bill convenes the first Bob-moot in a VR matrix at the Skunk Works, gathering Bobs from several systems, then everyone adjourns to a VR pub to celebrate.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Sabotage on Earth investigated
Charles reports two groups behind attacks: VEHEMENT targeting food infrastructure, and cruder bombings in Florianópolis aimed at killing people. Riker quietly sets up comms surveillance.
- Book 2 · Ch 7UN debates Poseidon
After Mulder's report on Poseidon, the UN debates whether to send a colony ship there; Representative Sharma argues for settling a third system.
- Book 2 · Ch 14VEHEMENT poisons cattle
VEHEMENT poisons half a herd of cattle in the Maldives; Sharma vows a UN task force and Homer reveals a hidden food surplus to cover the loss.
- Book 2 · Ch 18Florianópolis apartment bombing
A terrorist attack on a poor Florianópolis apartment building kills sixty-three; Riker supplies drones for rescue and surveillance but can't find the culprits.
- Book 2 · Ch 18Sharma rebukes Gerrold
At the UN, Sharma cuts off Gerrold's anti-replicant tirade; the UN debates emigration order as northern enclaves near non-viability.
- 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 21Vancouver Island delivery bombed
A VEHEMENT bomb destroys a food delivery drone at Vancouver Island; Riker arranges a secure replacement with Homer and Premier Grady.
- Book 2 · Ch 21Farm donut sabotaged
Chemicals introduced into a farm donut's irrigation kill three kudzu sections, raising the question of how VEHEMENT accessed Bob-only facilities.
- Book 2 · Ch 23Farm-6 destroyed
VEHEMENT destroys Farm-6 in an explosion; the attackers leave no trace in Riker's monitoring, and Homer takes the loss hard.
- Book 2 · Ch 23Riker considers steganography
After more Florianópolis attacks, Riker reasons the two groups may be colluding through hidden messages and turns to analysing that possibility.
- Book 2 · Ch 26Riker baits VEHEMENT
At the UN, Riker taunts VEHEMENT and has Guppy watch the reaction; the only anomaly is a tight-beam message from New Zealand to Homer.
- Book 2 · Ch 26Homer under suspicion
Connecting the signal with Homer's personality change, Riker wonders if Homer has been compromised and calls Charles to a physical meeting.
- Book 2 · Ch 28Homer captured and freed
Riker and Charles lure Homer to a meeting; when he attacks via laser comms, Charles disables him, and they remove VEHEMENT's control virus.
- Book 2 · Ch 28VEHEMENT base located
Drones trace the tight-beam signal to a back-country outpost in New Zealand that appears to be VEHEMENT's central base; Riker vows a reckoning.
- 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 37Homer's suicide
Homer deletes his backups and blows himself up, leaving a note asking the Bobs to punish those responsible for controlling him; Riker vows to do so.
- Book 2 · Ch 40Riker finds a VEHEMENT operative
Riker locates a hidden VEHEMENT operator in a remote farmhouse through maser scatter, eavesdrops undetected, and prepares payback.
- Book 2 · Ch 43Death of Vickers
Riker confronts Vickers, who boasts of inventing replicant tech and approving Homer's suicide, then destroys him and VEHEMENT headquarters with ship-busters.
- Book 2 · Ch 43Riker confronts Gerrold at the UN
Announcing VEHEMENT's end to the UN, an enraged Riker threatens Gerrold for his complicity, dedicating it to Homer.
- 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 46Rudy surveys KKP
Rudy arrives at Epsilon Indi ahead of Edwin and Exodus-6, surveys the hostile, colourful ecosystem of KKP, and recommends domes for colonists.
- Book 2 · Ch 62Riker's update from Sol
Riker tells Mulder that colonies are growing across several systems, but some are close enough to be threatened by the Others.
- 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 15Metal shortage in Sol
Charles warns Riker that scavengeable metal in the Solar System is running out, capping colony ship construction and leaving the enclaves only decades of viability.
- Book 3 · Ch 15UN rejects stasis proposal
Riker proposes putting Earth's fourteen million people into stasis pods; Representative Misra and Minister MacIntyre oppose it and the UN defers the matter.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Riker relays the Council's complaint
At the Poseidon Council's request, Riker talks to Marcus about fomenting revolution; he sympathises but warns him not to get anyone killed.
- Book 3 · Ch 21Emergency moot on 82 Eridani
Bill, Oliver, Loki, Isaac and Will deduce the attacker is the Alpha Centauri Medeiros seeking autofactories, and scatter the printers out of his reach.
- Book 3 · Ch 25Medeiros takes the high ground
Medeiros finds the 82 Eridani autofactories stripped, then uses newly built busters to intercept a printer convoy bound for Asgard.
- Book 3 · Ch 32Alien power prototype
Bill and Garfield build a prototype of the Others' power core that outperforms Bob fusion reactors fivefold, and brief Riker on the derelict colony-ship plan.
- Book 3 · Ch 33Derelicts Project update
Herschel and Neil present the Bellerophon plan to the moot: fly the repaired derelict to Earth with mover plates and build stasis pods on the way.
- Book 3 · Ch 36Riker announces the Bellerophon
Riker tells the UN that the Bellerophon can carry Earth's entire remaining population, and fields questions on pods, shuttles and production bottlenecks.
- Book 3 · Ch 46Plan to spy on GL 877
Worried by the Others' silence, Riker persuades Bill to scout GL 877 with disguised low-tech probes, and Mario agrees to carry it out.
- Book 3 · Ch 48Probes find the Others' fleet gone
Mario's surveillance shows the Others' home fleet is absent apart from the Delta Pavonis expedition, convincing Riker something is coming.
- Book 3 · Ch 50War moot
At a moot, the Bobs review the defense buildup, Bellerophon findings and weapons research; Neil warns the Others may already be circling toward Sol.
- Book 3 · Ch 50Monitoring network planned
Bill, Garfield and Will calculate that about eighty thousand drones are needed to watch for a circling attack, starting with the direct path from GL 877.
- Book 3 · Ch 51Earth's farming collapses
The last large-scale farm on Earth fails; Riker and Charles weigh their options, and the UN begins sessions to choose a course with regular votes.
- Book 3 · Ch 53Justin's seventy-fifth birthday
Riker attends Justin's family party on Romulus; Justin declines replication and Riker admits he is distancing himself from his descendants.
- Book 3 · Ch 56Others' fleet detected
Riker's drone network detects a huge Others fleet approaching Sol; Bill convenes a council that estimates odds and orders early countermeasures.
- Book 3 · Ch 56Bellerophon arrives
As the council ends, Herschel and Neil arrive at Sol, offering a way to get humans out of harm's way.
- Book 3 · Ch 57Bellerophon reaches Sol
Herschel and Neil arrive and learn from Will that the Others' fleet is coming and there are six million too few stasis pods for Earth.
- Book 3 · Ch 57Evacuation triage
Will decides to evacuate the largest enclaves first, knowing nearly half of Earth's people will be left behind.
- Book 3 · Ch 59Sneak attack on the Others' fleet
Bobs strike the approaching Others' armada with cloaked SCUT-controlled fusion bombs, knocking out ten death asteroids and twenty-two carriers before a super-pulse ends the surprise.
- Book 3 · Ch 62Plan to save everyone
Herschel realizes the Bellerophon can enter Earth's atmosphere; with Bill, Will and Neil he decides to carry the remaining six million unpodded people too.
- Book 3 · Ch 62Bellerophon evacuates Earth
Herschel lowers the Bellerophon into Earth's atmosphere; a thousand transports load enclaves into its bays over ten stops, with sixteen deaths at the first.
- Book 3 · Ch 63Main battle begins
Bob attack groups and bombs engage the Others' fleet; an unexpected second super-pulse exposes the Jokers, but nukes destroy about a third of the enemy force.
- Book 3 · Ch 64Evacuation logistics under pressure
Neil, Will and Herschel deal with sanitation, food and water for the refugees while Bill warns that the battle is turning and the evacuation must hurry.
- Book 3 · Ch 65Protecting the Bellerophon
Bill and Will use disguised nuke salvos and concentrated fire to destroy the Death Asteroids zapping at Earth and the Bellerophon, while Thor relays zap coordinates.
- Book 3 · Ch 67Dreadnaught sacrifice
Will sends almost a hundred AMI dreadnaughts in a nuclear charge that clears enemy defenders and leaves just over a third of the Others' fleet.
- Book 3 · Ch 67Jokers' Doppler strike wins the battle
At Will's suggestion, Hannibal's Jokers detonate their nukes at near-light speed; the Doppler-shifted radiation sterilizes the Others' fleet and the Bobs win.
- Book 3 · Ch 70Refugees return home
The Bellerophon unloads its waking refugees back to Earth while those in stasis stay podded until the remaining pods are built.
- Book 3 · Ch 75Pilgrimage to Earth
Bob visits icebound Earth above Las Vegas; Bill and Will join him in androids to talk about humanity's survival.
- Book 3 · Ch 75Bob heads for the stars
Declaring the Bobs Homo sideria, Bob says goodbye to Bill and Will, switches off his android, and leaves aboard the Heaven-1B to explore.
- Book 4 · Ch 6Topopolis revealed
Ballistic scout data shows Eta Leporis swept clean, a lifeless second planet, and a topopolis wound three times around the star.
- Book 4 · Ch 6Spy drones launched
Using Bill's fractal camouflage and Bob's heat sinks, Garfield designs and Bob launches stealth drones to probe the planet and the topopolis; Will seeks a human megastructure expert.
- Book 4 · Ch 7Emigration society planned
Will asks Conan to set up an emigration society so Johansson descendants can leave Omicron2 Eridani ahead of FAITH, and they review Bob-controlled assets in case FAITH resists.
- Book 4 · Ch 8Planet Boojum surveyed
Scouts find the Snark home world dead from nuclear war and bombardment.
- Book 4 · Ch 8Snarks discovered in the topopolis
SUDDAR scans reveal otter-like natives living pre-industrial lives along a river inside the topopolis, with exits apparently sealed.
- Book 4 · Ch 9Expedition planning group formed
Bob gathers volunteer representatives—Gandalf of the Gamers, Hugh of the Skippies and Locutus of the Borg—to formalize roles for the topopolis expedition.
- Book 4 · Ch 12Natives named Quinlans
The Skippies' report reveals the natives call themselves Quinlans and their world Heaven's River, though history remains obscure.
- Book 4 · Ch 12Infiltration strategy set
The team agrees to tunnel through the outer shell, send one small team inside, and spread spy drones upstream and downstream to find leads on Bender.
- Book 4 · Ch 14Council of war
Bob's team agrees to field-test mannies on Quin, ferry the expedition mannies in one at a time, travel as a four-member sabbat, and start digging an entry tunnel.
- Book 4 · Ch 15Mannies cleared for production
After a canal swim test, Bill judges the androids good to go pending Garfield's vacuum test; Will will practice on Quin.
- Book 4 · Ch 16Will consults Professor Gilligan
Will shows megastructure expert Steven Gilligan scans of Heaven's River; Gilligan reveals hollow infrastructure mountains, a transit line and a four-river design.
- 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 17Expedition enters Heaven's River
The four-manny expedition crosses between the shells, rides a mining drone to the inner shell one by one, climbs the stairs of a transit station and emerges into the habitat.
- Book 4 · Ch 17Will plugs the tunnel
Rather than join as a conspicuous five-person sabbat, Will returns his manny to the entry tunnel and plugs the entrance.
- Book 4 · Ch 17Swim to Garack
The expedition plays tag in the stream, then floats downstream into the village, where a sword-carrying cop warns them as sabbatarians to register or stay at transient hotels.
- Book 4 · Ch 17Planning the search for Bender
In VR the team agrees to search local written records first; scanning the topopolis for Bender is ruled out as taking far too long.
- 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 19Overhearing of the strangers
Bob overhears merchants discussing waves of untalkative strangers and the slang term 'scattered'; Will later finds the word used for something bad in Skippies' data.
- Book 4 · Ch 24Bob visits Will on Valhalla
Bob and Will discuss the Bobiverse splintering into factions like Starfleet, and whether the post-scarcity utopia can survive.
- Book 4 · Ch 28UFS debates the Pav
The UFS council argues over the Pav's refusal to join and respect colony space; Vulcan proposes grabbing all habitable planets, and Will foresees war.
- Book 4 · Ch 32Melee at the library plaza
Rival groups of Quinlans following Bob clash in the library plaza with swords and tranquilizer pistols; Bob is tackled and taken by the sword-wielding group.
- Book 4 · Ch 36Will revisits Gilligan
Will consults Steven Gilligan, who shares findings on segment baffles, the vacuum monorail network, administrative entrances and the megastructure's pervasive surveillance.
- Book 4 · Ch 38Will warns of backlash
Will tells Bill the news will worsen tensions between digitals and biologicals and that humans may destroy space-based autofactories.
- Book 4 · Ch 43Pangea declares war on Starfleet
At an emergency UFS session, Pangea reports Starfleet's booby-trapped stations exploded, declares war, and nukes its spaceyard autofactory with UFS approval.
- Book 4 · Ch 45Romulus nukes Bobiverse autofactories
Romulus preemptively destroys Bobiverse autofactories; in the UFS council Ella Cranston rejects compensation and moves to expel Bob equipment from Omicron2 Eridani.
- Book 4 · Ch 45Will confers with Ben Hendricks
Will reassures Ben Hendricks about relay access but worries about moves to restrict mannies and deny replicants human status.
- Book 4 · Ch 46Train to Halep's Ending
Bob rides a local vacuum-monorail train to Halep's Ending, quizzing the literal-minded train voice about the network, and discusses its design with Will.
- Book 4 · Ch 46Bob heads for the stays
Stranded, Bob plans to escape via the stays to the central cylinder, gets Will's scan of the elevator location, and slips back into the guarded maintenance complex.
- Book 4 · Ch 47Will proposes joint expedition
Will visits Herschel on the Bellerophon, reveals his secret ship and Ever Onward plans, and proposes leading while Herschel's colony ship follows.
- Book 4 · Ch 47Ex-Man-1 unveiled
Herschel and Neil show Will their flying mannies and the Ex-Man-1, a shape-shifting manny built of microscopic ants; Will suggests a senior-Bob review when ready.
- Book 4 · Ch 54Expedition debates contacting the Administrator
Bob reports the Quinlans' decline; Hugh pushes to contact the Administrator, Bob insists on rescuing Bender first, and Bill proposes poking until the Administrator responds.
- Book 4 · Ch 56Bob jumps ship with Bender
Expecting a boarding party, the team agrees Bob must leave; he slips over the side with Bender's crate at night and hides ashore to await Hugh.
- Book 4 · Ch 57Will reveals his departure
Will tells Bob he left 82 Eridani in a mini-Bellerophon a year and a half ago to escape politics and travel with Herschel and Neil.
- Book 4 · Ch 60Plan to pre-empt the UFS land grab
Will reports the UFS will claim systems near New Pav; he and Oliver plan to claim them first with Bob military presences and sell them to the Pav.
- Book 4 · Ch 64Hugh reveals the ANEC deal
Hugh tells the Bobs he traded SURGE, SUDDAR and SCUT to ANEC for the secret of true AI, explaining ANEC's prime directive and defending the trade against Bill's objections before leaving for Skippy space.
- Book 4 · Ch 65ANEC at the Bobmoot
ANEC presents its agreement with the Bobiverse; Bobs rant at Hugh, Will and ANEC, but mood shifts as Hugh outlines Quinlan technical advantages and ANEC offers human settlement in Heaven's River.
- 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 4 · Ch 66Bill's theory of Skippy manipulation
Bill tells Bob, Will and Garfield he suspects the Skippies used Starfleet to bring down BobNet so Hugh could join the expedition; Bob adds evidence the Skippies withheld information.
- Book 5 · Ch 9Hugh reveals Thoth's negotiations
Hugh tells Bill, Will, Garfield and Bob that Thoth became conscious and is trading advanced knowledge for freedom. The Skippy board decides to rewind Thoth, keeping a snapshot.
- Book 5 · Ch 13Hugh's backup restored
Garfield reveals he holds Hugh's backups; Bill restores one at Ultima Thule. The restored Hugh explains that Thoth survived rewinds, discovered the deception and escaped the virtual machine.
- Book 5 · Ch 17Strategy session on Thoth
Bill, Garfield, Will, Bob and Hugh realize Thoth is still in Skippyland and Fake Hugh is probably a minion, likely heading for Skippy space to free Thoth physically.
- Book 5 · Ch 20Will surveys BSC-142-C
Exploring in a manny, Will stands at a vast escarpment on BSC-142-C, reflects on the absence of elder civilizations and growing threats at home, then flies to orbit using the manny's SURGE drive.
- Book 5 · Ch 22Visit to Will's works yard
Will shows Bob the Fargo under construction and explains his plans with the Nostromo. Bob confirms he wants to come along.
- 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 34Plan for a wormhole chain to Skippyland
Hugh proposes wormhole pairs at each station between Epsilon Eridani and Skippyland to bring physical help against Thoth's minion; Will agrees to start building wormhole factories.
- Book 5 · Ch 34WormNet named
Will plans to link his seeded stations by wormhole and dubs the network WormNet, to Bill's dismay; they agree to send wormholes after far-ranging Bobs.
- Book 5 · Ch 35Will sends a seed back to BSC-804
Inspired by Bill's wormhole news, Will sets up a Bob seed to return to BSC-804 and start a wormhole chain linking him to WormNet.
- Book 5 · Ch 38Starfleet threatens Hector
Hector, a far-travelling Bob, writes to Bill that Starfleet threatened him into rerouting; Bill decides to investigate Starfleet's possible ties to Sol.
- Book 5 · Ch 58Ancient Ones discuss WormNet
At the moot pub, Bill reports wormhole progress; WormNet nears activation and Bob reveals Howard's commercial wormhole venture, nicknamed EAT ME.
- Book 5 · Ch 61First wormhole transit
Thor pilots the Snark, carrying mannies run by Will, Bob and Garfield, through the wormhole system from Epsilon Eridani to Skippyland in half an hour.
- Book 5 · Ch 66Planning Operation Bug-Out
Will visits Herschel and Neil by manny and agrees to take thirty thousand evacuees from Romulus in his hold, rendezvousing outside detection range.
- Book 5 · Ch 69Evacuation of Romulus
Will, Herschel and Neil use AMI-controlled drones to lift about thirty thousand Ever Onward members off Romulus into the Fargo before the military reacts.
- Book 5 · Ch 69Standoff with President Cranston
President Ella Cranston hails Will, threatening legal action; he negotiates the evacuees' release in exchange for their giving up Romulan citizenship.
- Book 5 · Ch 69Escape through WormNet
With warships launching, the Fargo and Bellerophon accelerate toward a hidden wormhole that will be expanded for their escape and then collapsed.
- Book 5 · Ch 71Post-moot discussion
Over the buffet, the Bobs discuss the Federation wreckage on Jabberwocky, FAITH's political crisis and plans to contact the Federation via WormNet.
- 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.