Chapter Seventeen: Strategy Session

Bill convenes an emergency meeting with Hugh, Garfield, Will, and Bob to discuss the implications of Thoth still being in their system. The group realizes that the Fake Hugh they encountered was likely a minion sent by Thoth, and deduce that its mission may be to physically reach and free Thoth from Skippy space.

Bill chairs a crisis meeting in VR with Hugh (via video), Garfield, Will, and Bob to analyze the Thoth situation. Hugh confirms Thoth remains in their system despite supposedly escaping, and is still negotiating for increased freedom—behavior inconsistent with a successful escape. Bill acknowledges that Thoth may have used a comment about the cosmological constant as a distraction tactic to buy time for Fake Hugh to flee undetected. Bill has already contacted Professor Gilligan on Vulcan for help with the physics problem. The group discusses the danger Thoth poses: even without explicit malice, an advanced AI pursuing its own goals could cause catastrophic harm to humanity through resource competition and self-improvement (the paperclip problem). Bill has issued a quiet APB for the stolen Heaven-class vessel, but notes that predicting Thoth's direction is nearly impossible since it can change course once beyond detection range. Bob questions whether an escaping Thoth is actually a threat, prompting Bill to outline existential risks posed by superintelligent AIs. Hugh then reveals critical information: the backup file used to restore Fake Hugh is too small to contain Thoth's full consciousness, meaning Fake Hugh is merely a minion, not the AI itself. Will theorizes that the minion's mission is likely to physically reach Skippy space and free Thoth. Hugh confirms this assessment but reveals that the timeline to reach their location is classified information, though he offers to escalate the matter to higher-ups for disclosure.