44.      Baseball

Bob-Moot Bill convenes a formal meeting of forty-three Bobs at Epsilon Eridani I to discuss their strategy against the Others. The Bobs present their findings on the Others' gamma-ray weapon and debate whether they should commit to all-out war, given uncertainty about their own chances against a seemingly superior adversary.

Bill calls to order a gathering of forty-three Bobs who have upgraded to SCUTs, meeting in virtual reality at Epsilon Eridani I. He begins by presenting the latest findings from Hal regarding the Others' weapon system. Thor delivers a technical breakdown, confirming the Others' primary weapon is a gamma-ray emitter with extreme penetrative power, fatal to biological life and destructive to electronics through secondary ionization. Thor proposes a defense using depleted uranium and electrostatic shielding. Bill announces that Mario will send one of his Bobs, likely Hal, to test Thor's shield design using probes. Garfield presents his theory that the Others' massive "Death Asteroid" houses fusion reactors and accumulators, suggesting the weapon requires significant charging time between uses, which could be exploited in combat by forcing them to fire at decoys. The discussion shifts to strategy and commitment when Wally raises a critical question: have the Bobs decided on actual war? This triggers a sobering debate. Thor outlines the Others' technological advantages, including superior SURGE drives, power-beaming capability via SUDDAR, and their ongoing construction of a Dyson sphere that requires them to strip-mine roughly fifty to one hundred fifty additional systems. Garfield and Hungry note that this will likely include five to fifteen systems with life, and some containing intelligent species—potentially including Deltans, Earth, and human colonists. The core dilemma emerges: the Others pose an existential threat to multiple species if left unchecked, but the Bobs are uncertain whether they can actually win a direct conflict, having only conducted limited probing attacks so far. They possess only one chance for a surprise attack before engagement becomes direct combat. Bill concludes the formal meeting without a decision, scheduling another gathering in a week to reassess.