So the simulations had proved right. But as ever, incomplete.
MC355 peered at the shambling, adamant band assembled in the hospital bay, and pondered how many of them might be elsewhere.
Perhaps many. Perhaps few.
It all depended on data MC355 did not have, could not easily find. The satellite worlds swinging above could get no accurate count in the U.S. or the USSR.
Still-looking at them, MC355 could not doubt that there were many. They were simply too brimming with life, too hard to kill. All the calculations in the world could not stop these creatures.
The humans shuffled out, leaving the T-Isolate with the woman who had never left its side. They were going.
MC355 called after them. They nodded, understanding, but did not stop.
MC355 let them go.
There was much to do.
New antennas, new sensors, new worlds.