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“And which copy should I obey?” asked Odinex.
“The most recent one.”
“And how will I know which one that is?” asked Odinex.
“I’ll try to make sure it never comes up.”
“That would be best.”
“Odinex, show me everything on this ship that is not included in the plans that I studied in the library near the Wall.”
“The plans are complete.”
“No they’re not,” said Umbo. “They don’t show, for instance, where the spare copies of you are stored.”
“Intact copies of me are not stored anywhere. If this module fails, then a new one is assembled from the parts in parts storage, which is clearly labeled in the plans.”
“What triggers the creation of a new expendable?” asked Umbo.
“A death signal,” said Odinex. “A request for duplication. Loss of higher functions in the present module. Failure to communicate at any level for ten hours.”
“Who can issue the request for duplication?”
“The existing module. The certified commander of the vessel and all superior officers.”
“Thank you,” said Umbo. “Are the duplicates bound to obey all orders previously given to the earlier copy?”
“Yes,” said Odinex. “We are memory-identical.”
“Am I human, Odinex?”
“You are.”
“Is that what you’ll report to the Visitors when they arrive from Earth?”
“They will get a full memory dump of these events, along with all others,” said Odinex.
“They’ll see me make copies of myself by time-jumping?”
“Yes.”
Umbo wanted to grin, but restrained himself. Let the Visitors chew on that.
Then his pleasure faded. Seeing Umbo time-shift might well be a death sentence for Garden. To see someone suddenly pop into existence behind himself, and then again, so three copies exist at once—that wouldn’t exactly reassure the humans from Earth.
Well, it’s not as if they weren’t going to destroy Garden anyway. They’ve done it nine times already, and until now without any provocation from time-shifters.
It’s hard to imagine that I’ve somehow made the destruction of Garden worse. Will
they say bad words while they wipe out all life on Garden? Will they throw stones at the corpses?
“Odinex, the jewels of control are not mentioned in the plans of the ship, or the computer manuals.”
The expendable said nothing.
“Consider that to be a question, and answer me,” said Umbo.
“The jewels are thoroughly explained in the plans and manuals.”
