We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

In 2016, Bob Johansson, a wealthy software engineer, finalizes a contract for cryonic preservation. He then travels to a science fiction convention in Las Vegas, where he has a brief panic attack triggered by memories of his ex-girlfriend. He attends panels on interstellar exploration and Von Neumann probes.

Later, Bob has lunch with former employees. One of them, Karen, argues against his decision to pursue cryonics, but Bob is resolute. Back in his hotel, he calls his mother and sister. Then, as he crosses the street, a car strikes and kills him. He overhears voices discussing his power of attorney as he loses consciousness.

On June 24, 2133, Bob awakens in a lab in New Handeltown, formerly Portland. He has no physical body. A man on a monitor, Dr. Landers, explains that Bob is now a replicant—an artificial intelligence created from a scan of his cryopreserved (and now destroyed) brain.

Bob learns that the United States has become a repressive, conservative Christian theocracy called the Free American Independent Theocratic Hegemony (FAITH). Under FAITH, cryonics has been outlawed; preserved subjects were declared state property. He is now owned by Applied Synergetics Inc. and is one of five candidates competing for a project. Candidates who are not chosen will be deleted.

When Bob questions his calmness, Dr. Landers reveals that Bob’s emotional responses are being suppressed by endocrine controls. The session ends with a promise of peripherals for physical interaction.

The next day, Bob tests his new capabilities, discovering advanced computational functions and control of a manipulator arm. Dr. Landers shifts his point of view into a training room, where he operates several Remote Observation And Manipulation devices, or ROAMers.

His task is to use the ROAMers to stack blocks decorated with religious symbols. Bob quickly masters the controls and demonstrates an ability to multitask. He also observes that the training room is a sealed, high-security containment cell with no visible exits.

Dr. Landers informs Bob that a competitor has had a psychotic break and been purged. Bob requests intellectual stimulation and is granted access to vetted online libraries, as the public internet no longer exists. Access to personal and genealogical records is highly restricted. The library holdings are of varied quality; in particular, all historical records have been rewritten as FAITH propaganda.

When Bob asks to search for living relatives, Dr. Landers denies the request, citing FAITH policy. Feeling his ties to his former life being cut, Bob experiences muted grief due to his endocrine controls. He resolves to cooperate and win the competition as his only means of survival.

Three days later, Bob meets Minister Travis from the Ministry of Truth, the government faction funding the project. Travis is there to evaluate Bob’s religious and political suitability. Bob feigns a compliant attitude toward religion to pass the inspection, not revealing his atheism.

After Travis leaves, Dr. Landers explains that FAITH’s government is full of political infighting, with each group pushing forward a different interpretation of Christian theology. He then places Bob in a simulation where Bob must manage a space station. Bob quickly automates the station’s systems, freeing his time to study library materials.

Dr. Landers pulls Bob from the simulation, impressed by his performance. He informs Bob that two more candidates have been eliminated, leaving only Bob and one other. Dr. Landers confirms that Bob’s psychological profile is suitable for a long-term, solitary assignment.

Dr. Landers then reveals the project’s purpose: Bob is a candidate to become the controlling intelligence for an interstellar Von Neumann probe designed to explore space and replicate. Excited by the prospect of space exploration, Bob begins studying the project documents.

Dr. Landers warns Bob that Project HEAVEN faces sabotage threats from internal factions and rival nations. Earth is in a competitive space race between superpowers, including the United States of Eurasia (USE) and the Brazilian Empire.

Bob learns that faster-than-light travel is possible using a SURGE drive. He understands the geopolitical context of his mission: Other nations have their own probe projects, turning interstellar colonization into a high-stakes competition.

An explosion and armed assault interrupt Bob’s training. Bob uses his ROAMers to break out of his containment cell and helps security forces by incapacitating several attackers. Afterward, Dr. Landers reveals a security measure: The facility is equipped with a tactical nuke as a failsafe in case Bob went rogue.

Using a hidden ROAMer, Bob explores the facility and finds the computer room containing the replicant matrices. Only his matrix and that of his competitor, Kenneth Almeida, are active. Bob considers sabotaging his rival but rejects the idea as beneath him.

Two days later, Minister Jacoby—an official not from the Ministry of Truth—confronts Dr. Landers, denouncing Project HEAVEN as blasphemous. Eavesdropping with a ROAMer, Bob listens to their argument.

Dr. Landers refutes Jacoby’s arguments by suggesting that opposing a state-sanctioned project is a greater act of blasphemy. Jacoby leaves after issuing threats. Dr. Landers later tells Bob that while Jacoby is a minor political figure, the threat he represents is real.

Bob awakens with four days missing from his memory. Dr. Landers explains that an explosive device destroyed the replicant hardware and Bob was restored from a backup. His competitor, Kenneth, is gone, making Bob the winner by default.

With the project timeline accelerated, Bob is granted 24/7 uptime and increased library access to speed up his training. He briefly struggles with an identity crisis because he is a copy of a copy but resolves to accept his continuous consciousness and focus on the mission.

Dr. Doucette, a project scientist, answers Bob’s questions about recent history. Bob learns that “Old Handeltown,” formerly Salem, Oregon, was destroyed in a domestic nuclear attack and that FAITH uses piety monitors to enforce religious compliance.

Bob asks what will ensure his obedience in space. Dr. Doucette reveals that there are hidden software safeguards in Bob’s core programming that will ensure compliance with mission parameters. Bob is disturbed that his free will could be overridden, even to enforce actions he would have taken anyway.

Two days later, another attack on the facility forces an emergency launch. Just before the transfer, Dr. Landers sends Bob a file containing keys to bypass his software constraints and warns that a self-destruct device is likely on his vessel. Bob’s physical container is transferred; he awakens aboard the Heaven-1 probe with the launch countdown running.

Dr. Landers radios a final warning about incoming missiles just as Bob launches. Bob uses two mining drones as countermeasures to destroy a pursuing missile. Moments later, the space station explodes. Heeding Dr. Landers’s warning about the self-destruct device, Bob disables his radio to prevent remote detonation. As he departs, he observes a battle in Earth’s orbit and sets a course for the Epsilon Eridani system.

Underway, Bob detours to Saturn for some sightseeing. Meanwhile, he directs his ROAMers to locate and jettison a remote-detonated explosive hidden on the ship’s hull.

To combat isolation, Bob creates a virtual reality environment populated with AI avatars: an interface named Guppy, a butler named Jeeves, and a cat named Spike.

Bob uses the keys from Dr. Landers to remove the hidden FAITH obedience code. Reviewing backed-up radio transmissions, he learns that Dr. Landers was killed and that a Brazilian probe was also launched at the same time as he was. With full control over his programming, Bob disables his emotional suppressors and grieves for his lost life. His grief is interrupted by the detection of multiple nuclear detonations on Earth, signaling global war. Bob feels that he has been left completely alone.