For We Are Many

If we can cut back on some of the tasks until you're done, we would be spread too thin right now. Do that, Chief. I'll keep you updated." I closed the connection and sent an email to Bill, requesting information on his observation drones. He'd designed them more for use by Bobs exploring new systems, but they'd do fine for my purposes as well. Security personnel were still swarming the area when my drones arrived at the fence construction site. Mud covered the ground, fortunately all Raptor. A very sad-looking backhoe sat off to one side, long scrapes and scratches marring the bright yellow paint job. I wondered idly if the backhoe's AIME controller would need therapy. Personnel were hauling several carcasses into the back of transport trucks. The Raptors resembled movie velociraptors closely enough to give nightmares to anyone who'd seen Jurassic Park, but instead of the peg-like teeth of the canonical carnosaur, their teeth resembled those of sharks—triangular, serrated, and razor-sharp. So far, the use of military-grade automatic weapons on them hadn't blunted their enthusiasm for the newly-arrived food group. I found Chief Brodeur overseeing the cleanup and floated over to him. He turned as the drone approached and grinned. And to think I'd turned down a desk job! I chuckled politely in response. Welcome to the Frontier! Did you get all of them? No. He shook his head. We let one or two get away to communicate fear of humans to their friends. And how's that working out so far? Chief Brodeur laughed and shook his head. I have a meeting with the colonel this afternoon. Perhaps you could attend? He's already invited me, Mr. Brodeur. I'll see you there. Chief Brodeur nodded to the drone, then turned back to help his staff with cleanup. I took the opportunity to inspect the progress on construction. A fence stretched about a third of the way around the planned town site. Five meters tall, it was built from a combination of native wood and metal. The Vulcan trees were close enough to their Terran equivalents that the setup crews were able to adapt them with little effort. The trees were harvested from the area immediately around the fence, forming a clear-cut for additional security. I had my doubts about whether the fence was tall enough to keep the Brontos at bay, but no one had asked me. Not that the Brontos would eat people or anything. They were more of an accidentally-step-on-you kind of danger. To the west, Vulcan's sister planet Romulus hung in the sky, clouds and seas clearly visible. When Exodus III arrived, the passengers from the Faith and Spitz enclaves would be settling there. I expected life to get very interesting once the Faith colony got started. I doubted that nineteen years of stasis would improve Minister Cranston's disposition. The Faith leader wasn't what I'd call a people-person to begin with, and his relationship with the Bobs had developed into kind of a hate-hate thing. I sent another drone up a few hundred meters and set it to circle the area, watching for any movement of native life. Something lurked nearby, probably due to the noise of the automatic weapons. Things appeared to have calmed down, and everyone was back to work. I backed out of the drone and back into my VR. Sighing, I rubbed my forehead. Sometimes I missed sleeping for a third of each day. It had been a nice break from reality. Guppy? I have some printer schedule changes. Guppy popped in and waited silently for me to continue. Looking at him, I wondered if I should change the Admiral Ackbar image, but nothing else came to mind, and anyway, it had become a kind of tradition with the Bobs. We need more observation drones. All printer groups are currently engaged in producing parts for the orbiting farms. Do you want to bump this activity? Hmm. Not really. Okay. I put half the printers on drones and produced four full squads, then back to building the farm donuts. Aye. Guppy went into command-fugue while he reprogrammed the 3D printers. I turned back to the video windows from my active drones. I would build more drones as requested, but I had a bad feeling that we'd go through a few colonists before we got the fence completed. Good afternoon, Colonel. The video window showed Colonel Butterworth, as usual, looking impeccable and wrinkle-free. I wondered how he did it. Morning, Howard, he nodded toward my image on his desk phone. Good to see you. I heard about today's attack. I took a moment to be surprised. I didn't remember Colonel Butterworth ever greeting Riker with that level of friendliness back on Earth. I wasn't sure if I should be offended for Riker or pleased for me. The leader of the USC Enclave had been at odds with Riker since day one. I had all Riker's memories of those days, of course.