21. Earth Abides

Bill visits Charles in his VR recreation of Original Bob's hotel suite. They discuss the aftermath of the Starfleet attack, the Earth Rehabilitation Project's progress in reversing the Ice Age, and Bill's growing disillusionment with the fragmentation of Bob society after the unified effort against the Others.

Bill drops in on Charles's VR, which recreates the hotel suite where Original Bob died. Charles explains it grounds him by reminding him of their origins. Bill has been surveying damage from the Starfleet attack and sought a break in a familiar location unaffected by the conflict. They discuss whether Starfleet was spared out of luck, respect, or irrelevance. Charles reveals that despite being a prolific cloner, neither he nor his descendants can identify anyone in Starfleet's lineage, suggesting the divergence happened many generations back through drift rather than a deliberate split. On Earth's rehabilitation, Charles reports significant progress: the Ice Age has been halted and glaciers are retreating, with an estimated hundred years until the planet returns to an interglacial state. His DNA collection efforts have catalogued approximately eighty percent of species through drone scanning of carcasses and the Svalbard library, with ongoing work on museum specimens. Bill expresses frustration with society's recent trajectory—the dissolution of unified purpose after the war against the Others, the fragmentation into individual pursuits, and the loss of the utopian vision. Charles offers philosophical perspective that such cycles are natural over immortal timescales and that unity will likely return. He mentions Bill's hope that tensor field printers will be perfected to enable Earth's repopulation.