Chapter 5: Bill

"I can't believe that you guys created this." I stared up at the huge building in the middle of the desert landscape. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yep, this is a re-creation of the Vortex SF convention." Gandalf told me. "It's just the actual convention center right at the moment. There are some hesitations in just creating this, much less the surrounding area."

"Like the road where we," I started to say, but 'we' weren't technically the man who died here. We just had all his memories and most took after him in one way or form. "Where original Bob died."

"Or the hotel that he stayed at the day of his death or cryo office he signed up for." Gandalf continued. "There are some Bobs who use the hotel room as a VR room, but I am not sure if most of us want that reminder. There are ongoing discussions about that. Some want it to be a memorial of him and his death while others find it appalling. Right now, we are testing this out, seeing where the convention goes and seeing if people like it. Plus, it is for the development for our AI."

"Gar was just talking about all the rumors surrounding that AI, that I am sure no one in your group help spread, last time we talked about it you were still in development of it. How did it turn out?"

"Where is Garfield by the way, I am pretty sure he RSVP back the invitation I sent him." Gandalf deflected the question.

"He had some things to take care of." I considered asking the question again, but I was sure he'll spill the beans about it at some point probably in a big reveal. "Our work keeps us fairly busy most of the time. When we aren't working, he usually takes time to take care of other things."

"Ever worry that someone will try to poach him away from you?"

I laughed. "As paranoid as things have gotten, I doubt he'll do anything like that without consulting me first. So, what is this all about? You were rather cryptic in your message about wanting to have a get to together with a select group of Bobs. It can't be just to show this off."

"Certainly not," He paused. "Well not just that. Figure I could get feedback in addition to several other issues that have come up. Let's go in, you can give me your feedback after you experience, mind you we haven't set up any panels yet and try not to be too disappointed."

"Understandable, who would you even get at this point? Most of the best thinking is done by our group." I told him.

"You might be right," Gandalf said, but he had a twinkle in his eye. "But I think you been cooped up in your lab for too long. You might be surprised what some Bobs have been keeping close to the chest and totally neglecting the works that some of the humans and ex-humans have been working on for the past hundred years."

That both surprised, and at the same time, didn't surprise me. I haven't really paid much attention to anything that wasn't published on Bobnet in a long time."

There wasn't much talk after that due to the sheer amount of noise we encountered after entering. I have to give Gandalf and his group, The Gamers, some credit they nailed the atmosphere of the con rather well. Vegas always had a certain flair when it came to people entering into any of their buildings. The music, of a scifi vary, wasn't too loud. It was more all the people trying to be heard over the music that caused all the ruckus. From the groups of cosplayers getting to the next event to the show girls trying to get the men to gamble and buy things. Each group raised their voices over the music and other people trying to talk over those people trying to talk over the music that created the sonic chaos. It was a great re-creation of the actual event in my opinion. There were even a few people trying to brave the onslaught to actually gamble. Once we moved to a saner space of the building, I asked. "You even include those poor souls at the slot machines I see. Nice touch."

"Well, after some more testing, we are thinking of opening the scifi con to the general public. Maybe even with some real gambling."

"Seriously?" I seriously asked.

"Well, at least there has been talk of it." Gandalf's face twisted into a menacing grin. "There is even talk of creating our own currency. Bobcoin. Just for fun." I started to laugh. "Hey," He continued. "They had crypto back in the 21th century, what's wrong with us trying to bring it back… even if It is just a joke."

With that out of the way, and a lot of laughs between us, we moved on. We came to a section of the convention center devoid of the noise or décor and walked down a futuristic looking hallway until we came to a hexagon shaped door that was mechanically sealed in the middle from two interlocking metal sections.

"Is this what I think it is?" I gasped at the familiar looking door.

Gandalf lips formed into a wise all-knowing smile. "This is the inner sanctum, and yes, this is a holodeck. Prize creation of the group people are calling the Holodeckers. It has the best security in our entire system and might even have more memory devoted to it than your moot hall by itself."

"Really?" I asked. "Why?"

"Most of them are perfectionist when it comes to VR. Between creating huge environments, vast amounts of NPCs, it can also do very fine detail work." Gandalf said and waved his hand. "We shall pass."

The door parted from the middle and there was a huge arcade space inside that reminded me of a Dave & Busters. A Bob with a receding widow's peak, an odd detail to add into the standard Bob avatar, sat behind a desk modeled after a prize booth. The Bob waved away a hovering screen from in front of his face to greet us. "Good to see you arriving fashionably late like usual Gandalf. Nice to see you, Bill."

"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to, Broccoli." The man replied.

"Broccoli." I asked. "I am guessing your actual name is…"

"Barclay." He finished for me. "Or Reginald. Names don't matter to me very much. Besides telling me the maturity level of the replicant or human that I am dealing with."

Gandalf let out a small huff as he led me farther in. I could see someone with long red hair sitting with a Bob at the round bar at the center of the room. So, I guess Bridget and Howard got an invite too. Instead of heading to that section, Gandalf led me to a row of enclosed gaming cabinets. From the group he headed to the largest one with a couple of recognizable gaming characters on it with the logo 'Super Smash' hovering above it in 3D. Gandalf pulled back the curtain to find two of those characters facing each other on a floating platform in the middle of an, larger on the inside, arena. There were pixeled people and animals in the stands off to each side of us cheering in an animated loop. On the platform, I saw a sword swing being deflected by tech armor clad hand as the other, equipped with a cannon, spouted out fire that was blocked by a shield. Gandalf cleared his throat rather loudly to get the two's attention. They were sliding back from the impact of the attacks when they turned their head to look toward us.

"Is it time already?" The elven looking swordman said

"Computer Quit game." The super suited space warrior said and soon the scenery dissolved in a pixelated flurry. In their place stood two men. One was a Bob who was wearing a ninja inspired outfit with a mechanical arm and the other one was a shorter man of what seemed to be of oriental origin. First, we had a Bob who seemed like he would fit in better in Starfleet, now cosplay. I sent Gandalf a private message. "Is anyone here from Starfleet or the Skippies?"

"No" He messaged me back and out loud said. "This is Jet and Kyo. They are regulars here and even by Bobs standards are total hardcore game geeks."

I looked at the short, clean cut Asian man in a samurai inspired suit among the pair. "Ex-Human I am guessing."

"If you are referring to the current batch of replicants than no. In fact, I pre-date even you guys." I noticed he spoke with a barely noticeable accent.

"Were you the Japanese space probe?" I asked.

"Well no," Kyo smiled. "I was very similar to you. Well, I died later but was replicated sooner. I was brought back to be a Beta tester for a video game company."

"Wow," I wasn't sure what to make of that. "How was that, and why haven't I heard about you until now?"

"Not bad, it was the company that Sony became after the global depression called Osasayaki. Not very large given the gaming market, but they were trying to push the industry and technology the best that they could. As for why I've only been around until recently, it is better answered by this guy." Kyo shot a thumb toward Jet.

The Bob raised his metal hand to scratch at his chin in a sheepish manner. "Well, I was cloned directly from Goku when they were way out there. I know Bob was never that into anime but Goku, given his name, would make as many references to anime as he could, probably mainly to annoy Calvin, but I got curious about it and headed back to Earth to check on good old Japan."

"When?" I asked.

"Oh, it was several years after 'The Others' war. Now I know Riker pretty much cleared out the system of all metal, but I checked Japan and found the remains of major cities. Between the sinking of much of Japan during the war, not the Others war, but the one that nearly wiped out the human race. Long story short, I found the basement where they stored several devices. One of those contained Kyo's matrix. It was a bit primitive by our standards, but I managed to get Kyo back up and running."

"Thank you very much for that." The Japanese man added.

"I wasn't able to salvage much else, but Kyo is a pretty good man. He was a founding member of some tech firm when alive, and in his will and testimony he said if he was ever brought back, all he wanted to do is play games and indulged his hidden otaku tendencies."

"I worked hard enough for my company when I was alive. In fact, that might have been the cause of my death." Kyo said. "So, I figured if I had an afterlife it should be doing what I enjoy. I am more surprised that my company found a way to bring me back than the fact that they honored my dying wish. Still, they managed to find a way to make me useful to the company in part, by being a beta tester of sorts."

"That's quite a story," I commented. "How did you two come to be invited."

Gandalf laughed. "Because despite how new they are. These two are probably the most overall solid gamers in our group."

"And," Another voice chimed in from behind us. "Their connection to us was the only way Bridget would have let me come."

I spun around to find Howard, Bridget, and Garfield entering into the gaming cabinet. "Your connection?"

"I swear you really do have your head in the cloud sometimes." Garfield responded. "While human-mannies are almost ready for the public market after all this time."

"Heh," Howard almost seemed like he took offense to this. "Proper testing has to be done. If someone's head popped off that would make things even worse for replicant human relations."

"Yeah, yeah," Garfield continued. "These two guys have been working with the company that Howard is funding for the human surrogates, to do prosthesis for people who lost limbs or…. Really any part of the human from what I know."

"What, really?" I exclaimed.

"This isn't just for cosplay purposes only." Jet held up his metal arm. "This is an early prototype for a very real prosthesis, although it is colored to look cooler here in VR. We can use the knockoff NerveGear that Howard has been developing or have an implant that can be installed in the human brain which works better for our purposes, that was deemed too extreme for public use, to let the humans use the prosthesis."

"It was an early idea that was discarded because most humans wouldn't want to have part of their brain replaced and replicated for the process." Howard injected. "Although Bridget was happy that the computer, that she helped me design, was finally given a use."

"You serious?" I said without thinking, just reacting. I made mental a note to quit it and shut up.

"That is correct," Jet said. "It is not needed for most cases, but extremely useful for brain damage cases and some other conditions that causes the person lose their sight or hearing. The brain-to-machine is just a lot more stable with the implant, it's like comparing George's visor to the mechanical eyes he had in the movies, and if you need to repair a damage brain it is the ideal solution."

I was about to ask more, but four more people entered the room. The almost quantum leap looking door that appeared, a fuzzy white light panel that expand than shrunk when they were through it. The closing of the portal sent a shockwave out that changed the interior of the gaming cabinet into a sci-fi briefing room you see in a lot of the Star Wars movies. The seating was formed in a circle arrangement around an holoprojector that currently displayed Earth on it. Then there were stairs in a cross shape between the seating that each led to an upper area filled with consoles and panels with blinking lights.

"Since everyone is now here," A stern looking Thor announced to the group. "We thought we would come in and get started."

"It's not you're meeting to get started, Thor," Muttered Gandalf.

Thor smiled, but it was Barclay who spoke. "That's why it so fun to steal your thunder. With that said. We are all wondering why I've gathered us here today."

"Yeah, why so closed mouthed?" Garfield asked.

"Well," Gandalf took an unnecessary breath. "I was recently contacted by a member of Starfleet."

"What did the weasel have to say for himself." Thor huffed.

Gandalf laughed. "Funny you say that. The Starfleet member called Wesley, yeah, I already used the line on him… several times in fact, actually flew out to make contact with me. I, unlike most other Bobs, haven't completely cut off contact with Starfleet."

"Dumb," Snorted Thor.

"Any communications with them is well secured and limited, but he came in person so I thought I would hear him out." Gandalf tried to continue.

I hated to interrupt, and probably show my ignorance for like the millionth time today, but I had no clue who the two women replicant standing with Thor and Barkley were plus the tension in the room and talk of Starfleet had me nervous. I stepped closer to them and spoke. "Hi I am Bill. I don't know you two, but don't you think that these dick waving contests are annoying."

"They can get tiresome with some people, but you Bobs tend to give it a spin that I find intriguing." The woman with the pinned up blonde hair and glasses said to me. Her demeanor was as professional as the well tailor business entire that showed off the curves of her avatar. "I am Anne Thorne by the way. Currently a consultant to The Gamers. This is my assistant, Mai." She pointed to the shorter more reserve dark hair beauty that was at her side wearing an intricately designed kimono.

"Consultant," I asked. "What for this meeting?"

She had a sly smile. "No, but it does fall into my expertise. As you might know most Bobs are rather lacking in several areas. I was recruited, I would say hired, but what use is money when you are a replicant, but the Gamers are in position to satisfy most of my needs and wants. Beside they, and the Bobs in general are an interesting group to work with. In fact, I believe I was the president of your fan club back in middle school."

"Huh," I said. "I had a fan club? Wait are you joking with me?"

"I am not telling." That smile widen. "Nevertheless, there is good reason for me to be at this meeting, and on that note."

"Oh, yeah." I just noticed how the whole group was dealing with the hold up. Some like Bridget and Howard seemed amused while others like Thor and Gandalf seem annoyed. There were others that I couldn't be sure of, but I shut my trap and backed off.

"As I was saying," Gandalf glared at me. "Wesley contacted me to set up a campaign."

The word 'what' was probably the mildest reaction out of the mess that came from that statement. After a few full seconds it took for the group to settled down, Gandalf raised his hand to continue. "I know what you are thinking."

"It is a trap." Thor said and it was Garfield who muttered. "What a waste of time, and we are immortal."

"Yeah," Gandalf agreed. "All those thoughts went through my mind, but it was the way he said it that got me serious enough to call this meeting."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It was like he wanted to tell me something about Starfleet but couldn't. At least not directly." Gandalf gave us his impression of the meeting.

I thought about it. When I talked to Lenny, I thought the reason why Starfleet started the war was just something he didn't want to talk about. I never thought that maybe he couldn't talk about it. "Are you saying that they have some programming that prevents them from directly discussing the events that led to that mess."

"Something like that." He sadly stated.

"Or it is a trap." Thor repeated. "Did he tell you to who to bring?"

"No," Gandalf replied. "He hinted at Bill here, but overall, he just wanted me to get people who might be able to translate a campaign into real events and those involved in the whole Starfleet civil war. Or should I say that is the impression I got."

"I am guessing that's why she is here," I pointed to Anne.

"I wouldn't deny that is part of the reason why she is here," Gandalf told me. "But everyone here should be able to bring something to the table. Even you Bill."

"Geez thanks." I remarked. "So, you asked us here? To see if we wanted to join in this special campaign?"

"Well, I not even sure if I should get involve, but despite my reluctant, this isn't something I can decide on my own." He was conflicted. "I want all your feedback on if I should even do it. No matter how much I try to make it safe and secure, there is always a risk."

"There always is." Thor answered. "And I say no."

"Being a Gamer, and presumably the representative of Holodeckers, I have to also say no because the I can't take any chance of something getting into our system and infecting it in any way." Barclay reluctantly said.

"I don't like it," Howard glanced at Bridget. "But we say yes. I know I don't have as much to risk if this is a trap as any of the Gamers, but the knowledge that we could gain from this is worth the risk."

"A game with actual risk and rewards." Jet thought about it. "I am game." Kyo nodded his head in agreement.

Since it seemed like the pair of ladies were going to continue with their silence, I spoke next. "What do you think Gar?"

"It's probably not a trap, but it also seems weird. I just don't know?" Gar shrugged.

"Normally I would say yes that we need to know, but lately everything I advise on turns out badly." I took a breath. "I want to know why Starfleet did what they did, but I can't ask anyone to do anything that would put them at risk. This isn't a major threat, that I am aware of, but it could be one or potentially be a solution to one that we might have to solve in the future. That's all I will say."

Gandalf let out a puff of breath. "Ah damn Bill, I thought you would be the one to pull through with this, but it's not really a vote. Anne informed me that, from what she knows, she watched the playback of the meeting several times, that Wesley is being honest and straight forward as he can be. You all can watch the footage of it as many times as you want before making your decisions, but I am doing it. As Jet said I just can't pass up a game when a real prize is on the table."

"I guess that would mean you want me on security." Barclay stated.

"If you don't mind," Gandalf said. "I know you are against it, but since you are the best in that area, I would appreciate it."

"My instincts might be to not take the risk, but I think most of us think that it is a worthwhile venture." The stern Bob said.

"Take Mai and meet up with Michael," Gandalf commanded. "He is inspecting the data Wesley left with us. Double and triple check it before it goes anywhere near even our secondary systems."

With that Mai split off and followed Barkley as he exited through a white square that expanded into life. After the exit shut itself, I asked. "Why did Mai go with him? I thought she was Anne's assistant."

"Well, I said assistant, but the term student probably more accurate." The blonde said. "My main job is to teach her how varies humans are, to understand and imitate them."

"Huh?" I exclaimed.

"In short she is an acting coach." Gandalf explained. "Mai is our AI. Mother Artificial Intelligence. Anne is a fabulous actress or at least she was in life."

"I was a little more than that." She scoffled in response. "And I am a lot more than just an 'acting' coach."

"Yes, I know PHD in psychology along with a several masters in the sciences and arts," Gandalf went on. "But you were most well known as an actress on Vulcan."

"Probably would have done more if I we weren't building our society from nothing." Anne commented. "There was a huge desire for entertainment and my understanding of people let me both act and write very well, but that was just my earlier life. I went on to teaching and chairing several departments at universities later on in life."

"Yes," Gandalf sounds like he's heard this a thousand times before. "And your knowledge in almost every area has been invaluable to us, but your primary purpose with us was to instruct Mai how to design and play the most realistic NPCs for both our games and holonovels which you have been doing a great job at."

"So, you hired a tutor for your AI," I couldn't help it. I laughed than had a question. "Then why did she, or it, what pronoun do I use?"

"Mai prefers a female brain structure most of the time. She thinks it makes her better at empathizing with people. Neurobiology was never my strongest subject matter, but from what I know she is correct." Anne answered.

"Why did you sen her with Barclay?" I got back on subject.

"Well of course we didn't design her for just one purpose." Gandalf said. "I wouldn't go into details, but Mai is an invaluable resource when it comes to securing and analyzing data. Also, she does quite well in balancing encounters in campaigns."

"Well that makes sense… I guess." I spoke.

Gandalf swept his arm to create a stairway in the wall that led to a metal door. He ascended the stairwell and once at the top he turned toward all of us. "It seems like most of you agree to this quest. Inform me if you wanted to be included in this potentially hazardous campaign. Just to be safe, we will be going over everything for the next month. I hope to have your reply by then. Until than I bid you farewell and feel free to enjoy the Con or one of our many programs in this holodeck to your hearts content until you wish to leave."

With that he opened and exited the door. Mostly of us started snickering during that dramatic sent off, but afterwards most of us were hunched over in laughter due to that ending display. Even Thor had a small smile on lips. After the heavy tone of the meeting, that wizardly act might have been just what we needed.

"So, I guess," I said. "Most of us are going. Well maybe beside Thor."

"I don't know about that." Garfield spoke up.

"Huh? What you talking about Gar?" I used my best Gary Coleman impression.

"I think some of us should stay out and monitor or support. I agree we got to do this, but we have to be smart about it. I am sure Barclay, Mai, and their support are good, but they aren't seeing the whole picture. Thor, is a month enough time to do a total risk assessment for factors not involved with the program."

"Yes," Thor spoke. "It will take some time, but I know a few Bobs and non-Bobs that can do an analysis of possible outside threats."

"I know you need to know," Garfield told me. "But I should say back and monitor everyone's programing to make sure if Wesley has some virus or malicious programing that it doesn't try to jump to any of you. Who else is going in with Bill?"

Anne was the first person to speak up. "I should definitely be in. I don't care how smart all of you are. When it comes to deciphering the meaning of the text of any given medium, I practically have a PHD."

"You know I want in," Jet called out. "Gaming is life."

"I wonder what class I should play." Kyo muttered to himself.

It was down to Howard and Bridget now. Both of them seem to be conferring among themselves. After several whole seconds, Bridget was the one to speak up. "We'll both go in, but I think we should be developing a special back up system in case something happens to us."

"Not a bad idea." I told her. "Let me know if I can help out with that. Is there anything else we need to go over?"

No one else spoke up, so it was decided we would stay in contact and make adjustments as needed before we gave each other our farewells.