11. The War in Meatspace

Will attends a UFS Council session where Romulus WorldGov has preemptively destroyed all Bobiverse autofactories in their system. Representative Ella Cranston announces the government will deactivate remaining Bobiverse equipment, replace their relay station with a human-operated one, and negotiate with Vulcan to mandate human-only autofactories in the Omicron2 Eridani system.

Will receives notification that Romulus WorldGov has nuked local space-based autofactories operated by the Bobiverse. He exits his manny and joins the UFS Council session to find Representative Ella Cranston arguing against compensating the Bobiverse for losses, claiming they are the source of the threat. She announces that all Bobiverse equipment in their system will be deactivated or destroyed, with a human-operated relay station replacing theirs. The Pangea colony is considering cutting the Bobiverse off entirely. Will receives a private message from Representative Ben Hendricks, a descendant, asking if anything can be done. Will reassures him that OmiComms LLC will likely keep the Bobiverse as customers despite government rhetoric, and notes the Bobiverse's large shareholding gives them leverage. His greater concern is potential restrictions on manny use, which would socially isolate them, though he believes legal challenges based on human rights grounds may succeed. He mentions that contesting whether Bobs qualify as human echoes previous conflicts like FAITH. Ben warns this could become a constitutional crisis if governments ignore law. Will decides to keep a low profile unless the situation escalates further. He reflects on the broader pattern of human resentment fueled by multiple threats—replicant concerns, Starfleet's war, the Pav threat, and Quinlan rumors—causing societies to withdraw protectionist measures against the Bobiverse.