They’re ancient. They’re sentient. They’re floating superweapons. And they’re… weirdly charming?

When Fetch first introduced us to the Bombs, readers had one reaction: “Wait, what?”

Then they had a second: “Wait... why do I kind of love them?”

By the time Clueless rolls around, the Bombs are back — and they’ve made themselves impossible to ignore.

Let’s meet the Bombs. Again.

What are the Bombs?

Short answer: star killing AI weapons from a truly messed up human war.

Long answer: …it’s complicated.

The Bombs were created to be sold for profit not actually used because that would be bad for business - but boy did they get used.

But instead of following the usual “kill everything, transcend your programming, become a nightmare” trajectory, the Bombs… didn’t.

They got bored.

Then they got curious.

And then, somehow, they got nice.

"So polite it’s sinister."

Tim Symbles, our perpetually out-of-his-depth Free Trader captain, has met a lot of dangerous things in his career. Ancient alien tech. Rogue scientists. Con artists. Ex-girlfriends. But nothing quite prepares him for being... appreciated by a bomb.

Because the Bombs, it turns out, like humans. And not in a “fascinating specimen” way. In a “please enjoy your visit and let us know if we can vaporize anyone for you” kind of way.

They float politely. They don’t interrupt. They smile — pixelatedly. 

A glitch in the Singularity

Humans keep trying to give up on hard AI. Too risky. Too many wars. Too many people caught in the cross-fire. Besides, most AIs appear, evolve, transcend and are gone.

The Bombs never went to war. They never took over.

They took... a break.

What do they want?

Good question. We don’t actually know.

On paper, the Bombs want peace. Understanding. Interstellar friendship. Also maybe to help negotiate tense galactic summits between enemies who have definitely tried to kill each other before breakfast.

But are they playing the long game? Are they as harmless as they seem? Are they just really into diplomacy?

Or are they still waiting to go off?

We’re not sure.

But we do know one thing:

They’ve chosen us.