Selfie: Device Kids Book One

by D. S. Murphy

  Every trial since had gone flawlessly. Each test was a minor variation of factors in the preceding test. Once we’d successfully duplicated the results, David converted the data to correlating human dimensions, and Brad connected the resulting instruction sets with the app we’d made. It worked the same way as Brad’s version did, with the little attaching shocker dongle coming out of the phone, but instead of mostly code, our user interface was cute and simple to use. The only problem was, we couldn’t be sure it really worked, until we tested it. Playing around with the app and testing out features, without actually being able to implement them, was getting old fast.

  “We need a name for it,” Amy said, updating her digital avatar for the hundredth time.

  “For the app?” Brad asked.

  “Something fun and cool,” Amy said.

  “SelfX,” I said immediately. I’d spent hours coming up with the name, but hadn’t had a chance to tell the others. “The X makes it sound medical, like RX. More credible.”

  “I like it,” Greg said. “Sounds like success.”

  “And the X could mean anything you want,” Brad said. “Like, it’s you, times whatever you want to improve. Unlimited self-adjustment, without yoga, meditation, surgery or diet.”

  “Sweet,” Amy said. “I’ll start working on a logo.”

  “Are we ready to start human trials?” I asked. It had been at least a few days since I’d asked, and this felt like a good time.

  “No,” David said quickly. “I need another month, at least.”

  “Nothing’s gone wrong at all since the first test. Near 100% success rate, that’s incredible, right?”

  “But we can’t say for sure whether our conversion calculations are right. What works on the mice could seriously mess someone up. You can’t risk that.”

  “The government was running human trials ten years ago,” Brad said.

  “Ten years?” Amy asked.

  I kicked Brad under the table. We couldn’t discuss anything from the files we stole.

  “Um, yeah,” Brad said. “I read it somewhere. I have no idea how they were able to keep in under wraps with so many people involved.”

  “It kind of makes you wonder what they’re doing now if they started that far back,” Greg said. “I mean, they limited the application to basic health care, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own closets full of mutant rats.”

  “It’s still too dangerous,” David said.

  “I’m willing to risk it,” I said. “And it’s my choice.”

  “No, it isn’t,” David said. “You’re asking me to conduct unsupervised genetic testing. In a high school. It’s my choice.”

  “It’s all of our choice,” Brad said. “We should vote.”

  “This isn’t a democracy,” David said. “The majority is rarely right.”

  “Spoken like a true tyrant,” Brad said.

  “We should operate like a court of law,” Greg said. “No decisions unless they are unanimous. One dissension means no.”

  David nodded and smiled.

  “I vote with Bree,” Brad said.

  “Me too,” said Greg. David looked at him in surprise.

  “It seems like the reversion process always works perfectly,” he said with a shrug. “So even if she gets weird, it should go back to normal in twenty-four hours.”

  “Don’t forget the mouse that died,” Amy said. “She could have a one-in-ten chance of even surviving.”

  “I don’t think that will happen again,” David said.

  “Excuse me if I don’t take your word for it,” Amy said. “I mean you’re smart, but you’re not a genius. I’m not risking my best friend for this.”

  “I trust David, and we’ve seen the results so far,” I said. “David fixed the problems with the code and everything works perfectly now. All that could go wrong is the calculations, right? And they’ll only last for twenty-four hours.”

  “We’d have to supervise you the whole time,” Greg said.

  “And not let anybody else see the monster you’ve become,” Brad added, smirking.

  Hope flared in my chest as David seemed to be actually considering it, but then he looked up and smiled.

  “Only one problem,” he said smugly. “We’re out of nanobots. We used them all on the mice.”

  “Oh, you mean these?” I asked innocently, pulling a small glass vial from my pocket.

  ***

  “Where did you get that?” David said, his eyes narrowing at the blue, glittery substance in the vial.

  “From Megan’s second treatment. This time I collected urine for a full week, and got twice as many bots.” Actually, I’d mixed in some of the pure therabots I’d stolen from the hospital, but they didn’t need to know that.

  “Brianna come on,” Amy said, with a look of exasperation. “How can things possibly have gone from a dead test subject to considering a human trial so quickly?”

  “If David thinks it’s safe, I trust him.”

  “But we’re just kids,” Amy protested. “We don’t even know what we’re doing.”

  “Look at everything we’ve already accomplished,” Brad said. “This is amazing, Amy. Aren’t you excited to share it? To use your app for real?”

  Amy bit her lip, and I knew she was faltering. Way to go, Brad.

  “I won’t change anything drastic at first. This is 5ml,” I said, setting the glass container down carefully on the table. He was giving my sister one of these each treatment.”

  “5ml?” David said, “That’s a lot. Most standard immunizations are just 1 ml.”

  “He used a bigger syringe than the ones we’ve got.”

  “Wait, hold on, I thought we weren’t doing this,” Amy said. “David said he needs a month.”

  “That’s just because he’s a perfectionist. I’m not.”

  “So you’re just going to try something and see what happens?”

  I smiled at her and shrugged.

  “Of course you are. That’s exactly what you would do.”

  “It doesn’t have to be you,” David said.

  “I need to do this,” I said. “I can’t explain why. Maybe for my mom. Maybe for Megan. Or because I’m bored and reckless, and tired of watching people I love die, and this is the only thing that gives me any sense of hope or purpose.”

  Amy was out of objections. Greg and Brad were already on board. I looked at David. He studied me for a moment, then nodded. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding, and felt a thrill run up my spine. This was actually going to happen.

  “We do it after school,” Brad said. “If she did it now, she might show up to school tomorrow one way and leave another.”

  “She shouldn’t be at school at all,” David said.

  “But we have to watch her,” Amy said. “In case something goes wrong. And we can’t all skip school on the same day.”

  “So what,” Brad asked, “she comes here but hides all day?”

  “You guys are overthinking this,” I said. “We do something small. The least risky thing.”

  “Hair color,” Brad said. “The hair color has always been right, every time. And how wrong can something go – it’s hair. It’s mostly dead skin and cells anyway.”

  Amy nodded. “That seems safest,” she said. “But I’m still spending the night tonight to watch over you. Who knows, you might look good bald,” she smiled wickedly. I stuck my tongue out at her.

  “There’s one more thing,” David said, pushing up his glasses. “But it’s going to sound bad.”

  We all turned and looked at him.

  “We’ve got to document everything. Especially for human trials. We should take before and after photos.”

  “Of what, of me?” I asked, paling.

  “You mean of her head, her hair, right?” Amy said. Brad was sniggering, and David’s cheeks were turning red. “Really, everything should be, uh, documented. We need to check the whole body for any unexpected changes.”

  “You
want me to take nude photos?” I asked. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

  Greg was smiling now and I wanted to die. I was in a room with three boys picturing me naked.

  “You don’t have to show them to anybody,” David said. “You can take them yourself and keep them safe. Nobody ever has to see them. But when we finish everything, people may start looking into our process, and we should look more like serious students than kids just playing around with government tech and DNA hacking.”

  “Nude photos?” I said again, putting my hands on my hips. The top of David’s ears were turning red now. He was really embarrassed by this.

  “It’s not like I’m asking to see them,” he said, frowning, and looking at Greg and Brad for support. They waved him off, laughing.

  “This is all you,” Brad said.

  “Yeah, you got this, David,” Greg said.

  “It’s the right thing to do,” David said, insistently. “It’s a small thing that could become really important later. Especially in the testing phase. Document everything.”

  Such a geek, I thought. But I was tired of arguing, and sick of waiting. I’d already won the battle. Why argue about the details?

  “Fine,” I said, rolling up my sleeve. “Bot me.”

  “We’ve only got the 1ml syringes,” David said, in a final protest.

  “Then I guess you’re going to have to stick it in me five times.”

  12

  The rest of the day passed quickly. I kept expecting to feel sick, and I couldn’t get the image of the dead mousezilla out of my mind. I checked the back of my hands constantly, looking for scales or fur. But that was ridiculous—I hadn’t even used the app yet. We were waiting until after school. My skin felt like it was crawling, and I’m pretty sure my heart was beating faster than before, but that was probably just nerves.

  I met Amy by the bike racks after school.

  “You sure about this?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “Thanks,” I said. “For being with me.”

  “Are you kidding?” she said. “Otherwise I’d have nightmares about some grotesque form of you rampaging through the city.”

  “We can make it fun. We’ll download some movies and make popcorn.”

  “Sounds good. What’ll you tell your dad?”

  “You kidding?” I asked. “He’ll be thrilled to see you.”

  When we got home, we made some mini pizzas with Megan before she went off to do her homework.

  “Did you see the Brieker interview about therabots?” Amy said, finishing her pizza and helping herself to a glass of milk.

  “Which one?” I asked. Todd Brieker, founder of Arcana and CEO, was practically a god in tech circles, but in the last few years the only public appearances he made were for product launches, and they were rarely more exciting than a slightly updated version of the aPhone.

  “aPhone V7 release at DiscWorld Singapore.”

  I pulled up the video on my phone and set it down on the counter so I could grab some raspberry sorbet from the freezer. I was used to seeing Brieker on a huge stage, in front of thousands of viewers, but this was far more casual. Brieker was in jeans and a hoodie. It looked like it was filmed in a hotel lobby after hours, and maybe after a few drinks.

  “Gloria,” I said, pressing my fingers together, “search video for therabots.” The video skipped forward a few minutes, then started playing again.

  “Money is just a symbol of value,” Brieker was saying. “Of how much you’re helping people.”

  “But are you really helping people if you charge for it?”

  “You’re assuming philanthropy is without strings, but it rarely is. Take the new therabot program in the states. I’m not saying it isn’t incredible technology. It is. But here you’ve got a government that spies on its own citizens; that suppresses votes to influence elections; that sells information to the highest bidder. And also one, incidentally, who has never been interested in national health care. Because they couldn’t control it. Because they couldn’t profit from it. And now suddenly, they introduce this new program and put information gathering robots inside your body? What kind of information are they collecting on you? If you have low blood pressure, will they put you on a list and sell it to a supplements company? The money is coming from somewhere. If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold. At least at Arcana, we’re up front about what we do. Cash is cleaner than philanthropy. You pay for something, you get the service or product, you’re done. When you accept a gift, when someone helps you, you owe them a favor. You’re allowing them to have power over you, control. You’re giving up your personal freedom and autonomy.”

  “Are you saying the US government will use therabots to control and keep track of citizens?”

  “You’re not listening,” Brieker said, frowning. “Don’t try to twist my words. This is all theoretical. This is all just a conversation. But it’s an important conversation to have, because we are at the brink of enormous changes, I mean, as a species, we’ve never been humans like this before. We’ve never been here before. What we do next, who controls the technology and what they do with it, it’s going to matter. A lot.”

  “Sounds like he’s on our side,” I said. “I mean, taking control, personal autonomy, freedom of invention, isn’t that what we’re doing?”

  “He’s getting a lot of criticism for it though, people are saying it’s anti-American rhetoric. Arcana’s stock dropped 3% after that video.”

  “Ouch,” I said. “I wonder how many billions that is.”

  Amy and I went up to my room and closed the door. It was time.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “I should take the photos first,” I said.

  “Oh yeah,” Amy said smirking. “Want me to take them for you?”

  “I’ll manage,” I said.

  “Come’on, how many chances am I gonna get to do a boudoir photo shoot? How about some mood lighting?” Amy asked with a suggestive arch of her eyebrow.

  “Don’t make this weirder than it already is,” I said, pulling off my shirt and grabbing my phone. I went into the bathroom and locked the door. Then I slid my jeans off and stepped out of my underwear.

  “Imagine explaining this to Megan,” Amy said through the door. “So what, take a shot from the front, back, and one on each side?”

  “Yeah I guess,” I said, fighting the urge to cover my breasts. “It’s not very flattering.”

  “Just remind yourself it’s for science, not the cover of Teen Vogue. Nobody else has to see it. Why not have some fun with it?”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, make funny faces or poses or something.”

  I laughed, and relaxed. I stuck out my tongue and took a few more photos.

  “Work it, baby, make love to the camera,” Amy said.

  “What are you guys doing?” I heard Megan say.

  Amy and I completely broke down with laughter. I got dressed quickly and stuffed my phone into my jeans pocket.

  “Just something for school,” I said, opening the door.

  “Yeah right,” Megan said, crossing her arms.

  “I’m serious,” I said.

  “School must get a lot more fun as you get older,” Megan said, before rolling her eyes and sulking off. Back in my room, I pulled up the app and plugged in the little device that would program the bots. We’d started calling it a zapper at school.

  “See you on the other side,” I said. I selected hair color, but limited it to just one side. Then I held the metal attachment against my wrist and pressed the button. I was expecting a shock, but instead I just felt a warm current, like a gentle buzzing. I held it for a few more seconds.

  “Did it work?” Amy asked.

  “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” I said.

  “Great,” Amy flopped down on the bed. “Enough science. Now we can talk about the dance.”

  “What about it?” I asked. Last yea
r Amy invented an environmental protection club dedicated to tree frogs and voted herself president. Even though it didn’t officially have any other members, and it was just something to spice up her college applications, as a club president she had to attend student council meetings and help with school-wide activities.

  “Well, it’s Halloween, but we need a theme. Something cool.”

  We played around with ideas, getting more and more creative with elaborate and impractical decorations. We were giggling so much that Megan stopped in again. This time we let her hang out with us while she finished her homework.

  When I went downstairs for snacks, Dad was watching the news. He must have come home late. I wondered if he’d started taking double shifts again. He gave me a big smile from the living room.

  “What?” I asked, my eyes widening. For a second I thought my face was covered in hair or something terrible.

  “Nothing,” he said. “It’s just nice to see you happy. It’s been a while since I’ve heard laughter in this house.”

  “Want to join us?” I asked. “We can paint your toenails.”

  “No thanks,” Dad chuckled. “What are you girls working on up there?”

  “The Halloween dance,” I said.

  “Wait, a dance? With a dress and everything?”

  “I didn’t say I was going,” I said. “And if I did, I’d wear a costume.”

  I kissed him on the cheek and headed back upstairs.

  We turned the lights off and projected a movie against the wall. It was something Megan picked out with cowboys and unicorns. As I curled up with Amy on one side of me, and Megan on the other, I felt nervous, but excited. I was doing something to help Megan. Something revolutionary. I was a pioneer.

  I kept checking the back of my hands for changes, but after the movie ended it was too dark to see anyway. The only light in the room came from the dragon screensaver on my desktop. Just as I was starting to doze off, I saw the mouse cursor on my computer move by itself. Then I heard a woman giggle. It sounded a lot like my mom.