36. Riker – September 2158 – Sol

Riker concludes tense negotiations with Colonel Butterworth over resource priorities, insisting that searching for other human survivors will not delay the critical path to building colony ships. After the colonel accepts his position, Homer reports on surveying promising material sources across the solar system, and together they begin establishing autofactories at strategic locations to bootstrap industrial production.

Riker and Colonel Butterworth argue over priorities: the colonel wants Riker to focus exclusively on building colony ships for his refugee group without diverting resources to search for other pockets of humanity. Butterworth fears such searches will delay their safety and security. Riker counters that searching for survivors will happen only after new Bobs are created and will not impact the critical path of the construction timeline. He applies his old project management experience to demonstrate that locating other survivor groups is not a bottleneck. The colonel concedes he is dependent on Riker's resources but continues to advocate for his people before ending the connection. Riker then discusses progress with Homer, who reports that most drones and resource-locating busters have checked in, identifying several promising material locations and treasure hoards. Homer notes that the remote stations on Titan and at the Oort outpost have reported in with no radio communications outside Mars orbit; drones are en route to investigate both locations. Homer reflects on the moral duty all Bobs share to help humans who may die without their assistance. After twenty days, Homer completes his survey, finding that large concentrations of refined material from space-battle wreckage are sufficient to begin work. Both Titan and the Oort station are discovered to be abandoned but not attacked. Homer then establishes small autofactories at each major find location to produce cargo drones, which will move materials to the L4 and L5 Lagrange points in the Earth/Moon system, where larger autofactories will begin producing Bobs, drones, and eventually the industrial equipment needed for full-sized colony ships. Riker reflects on the weight of responsibility he now carries for thousands or millions of human lives.