We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

The foreword references Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851) to evoke the human desire for exploration into unknown territories and trackless expanses.

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).