That was the end of the meeting, but it wasn’t the end of Phil’s campaign. Two days later, he convinced the captain to purge Omni, and start construction on a backup machine.
Purge Omni!
Yes! It’s hard to believe, but the captain and Rollins actually pulled it off. Omni, needless to say, hasn’t appreciated that stunt one bit; neither has Adrienne.
I still say it’s crazy. Here we are light years from home, and the captain is ordering massive computer surgery. What if Omni didn’t come back at all?
Then Rollins convinces the captain that the base should be built underground, camouflaged, and used for building more than probes.
There are plans for a separate computer system, Somni, to run the base. Somni will have no direct contact with either the planet monitors or Omni. In addition, there’ll be a large uranium extraction facility.
Omni and Adrienne aren’t the only ones unhappy. Mark is quite upset, too. He’s planned on being the first human to land on a civilized alien world, but that day keeps looking further and further away.