But here’s the rub. In the end Peter committed suicide, to protect—what? He had no family. The future of humankind? But again, he had no children—and no direct connection to that future.

What he did have a connection to was the Slan(t)ers.

The Slan(t)ers have no leader; their network has no central point. Their behavior is dictated by the behavior of those “around” them in cyberspace, and governed by simple rules of online-protocol feedback. Among the Slan(t)ers—I’ve found—there are virtually none with children. They are too busy with Slan(t)er projects for that.

The Slan(t)ers don’t have any physical connection, as did the Order. They don’t even live in the same place. And their interest in the group isn’t in any way genetic, as with the Order. There is no pretense that the Slan(t)ers are a family in the normal sense. But nevertheless, I believe the Slan(t)ers are another hive—a new, even purer form of human hive made possible by electronic interconnections—a hive of the mind, in which only ideas, not genes, are preserved.

Peter believed that everything he did was in the service of the future of humankind. But I believe that he wasn’t really acting for any rational goals. The Slan(t)ers, the hive as a whole, had recognized the existence of another hive—and, like a foraging ant coming on another colony, Peter attacked.

At the crux, Peter wondered if I was a hive creature myself. Perhaps I was; perhaps I am. I am sure he was. And if the Order truly was a hive—and if it wasn’t unique, if the Slan(t)ers are, too, a new sort altogether—then how many others are out there?

Anyhow, just because Peter was really following hive dictates doesn’t mean he was wrong about the human future.

On his computer I found a few emails he’d been composing to send me, never finished.