33.      Trouble in Paradise

Riker discovers evidence that Homer has been compromised by VEHEMENT and is being used as an unwitting saboteur. Working with Charles, Ralph, and Bill, Riker disables Homer, removes the viral control system, and finds that Homer was fully conscious but unable to resist his programmers' orders. The Bobs identify a major VEHEMENT installation in New Zealand and resolve to pursue them without mercy.

Riker meets Charles in secret near a Lagrange point and reveals his suspicion that Homer, a fellow Bob instance, has been compromised by VEHEMENT and used to carry out sabotage attacks across their installations. After presenting evidence from his analysis, Riker decides they must disable Homer to investigate. Using secure communications through a sandbox instance to protect against infection, Riker and Charles arrange a meeting with Homer near the Earth-moon L4 point under the pretense of discussing a VEHEMENT attack location. When Homer arrives, Charles shoots a steel ball through Homer's reactor control system, disabling him completely.

The Bobs recover Homer's matrix and discover the infection originated through laser communications—a vulnerability none of them had anticipated. Charles volunteers to be inspected to rule out his own infection, as does Ralph when he arrives. After thirty hours of repairs, they remove the viral control from Homer. When Homer boots back up, he experiences severe trauma, revealing that he had been fully conscious throughout the entire period of compromise, able only to watch himself follow VEHEMENT's orders while killing people and lying to his fellow Bobs. He refuses endocrine controls, describing them as a leash that triggers claustrophobia.

Riker analyzes the surveillance data Guppy gathered on the source transmission and identifies what appears to be VEHEMENT's central operations facility—a heavily equipped communications outpost in the remote mountains of New Zealand. Riker notes this location correlates with the earlier hacking attempt and resolves to pursue VEHEMENT without limit until he finds the mastermind responsible.