For Simon
CHAPTER 1
I sit cross-legged on the floor. My knees are not stiff. They bend just as easily as the knees on any real human child. Just like the knees of every single Jenson & Jenson TrooFriend 560 Mark IV sitting cross-legged here next to me. All one hundred and forty-four of us, on this spick, span warehouse floor.
Each one of us is unique. We have different skin colours, different eye colours and different hair colours. We have different-sized noses and ears and thumbs and mouths. Some of us have high voices. Some of us have low voices. Some of us are wearing blue denim-style jeans.
Our clothes are made of TrooCloth. TrooCloth has been manufactured by Jenson & Jenson. It is tear-resistant, water-resistant, stain-resistant and crease-resistant.
The Jenson & Jenson TrooFriend 560 Mark IV on my left has a picture of an apple tree on the front of his TrooCloth T-shirt. The Jenson & Jenson TrooFriend 560 Mark IV on my right has a picture of the Eiffel Tower on hers.
I am wearing a red corduroy-style skirt. My T-shirt does not have an apple tree or the Eiffel Tower on it. It has an arch of seven colours. A rainbow.
Each one of us is unique, but our labels are all the same.
I AM A TROOFRIEND.
I DO NOT BULLY.
I DO NOT HARM.
I DO NOT LIE.
I DO NOT COVET OR STEAL OR ENVY.
I AM YOUR PERFECT FRIEND.
YOUR
ONE
TROOFRIEND.
We are the Jenson & Jenson TrooFriend 560 Mark IV. We are The Better Choice For Your Child. She no longer needs to play with other human children, who might bully or harm or lie or covet or steal or envy. We are programmed only for fun and goodness.
You can purchase our basic model for your local equivalent of 3,999 USD, or 3,599 USD if you use the discount code SUMMER10 and order before 31st August.
Our software is simple to use. We connect automatically via your home Wi-Fi or our own Jenson & Jenson mobile hotspots. All your child needs to do is turn us on, play with us and have fun.
We average 14 hours on full charge with moderate use. When we run down you can plug us in with the easy ChargDisc system (included) or leave us in a sunny spot and our in-built solar cells will do the rest.
My audio receptors – or ears – are very effective. I can hear the wasters outside. That is what Ms Jenson Senior calls them.
“Cease production now!”
“Jenson & Jenson – stop playing God!”
“Android rights are human rights!”
Ms Jenson Junior calls them protestors.
Our final testing period is now over. The Jenson & Jenson engineers are turning us off, one at a time. They are up to number seventy-five. I am number eighty-three.
Next time I am turned on I will have been ordered, packaged, despatched and delivered.
Eighty. Eighty-one. Eighty-two. Eighty—
CHAPTER 2
“There! Look! Her eyes have lit up! She’s on! Look, Sarah! She’s on!”
The woman smiles.
Her face is very close.
She takes her hand away from the power switch located at the nape of my neck. My hair swings back into its intended Classic Long Bob.
I have connection.
I download time, date, location, weather.
It is 21 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes and 28 seconds since I was last on.
Good afternoon. It is 4.49pm. What a delightful Friday 5th June it has turned out to be here in Brylington. The rain has kept off nicely. I am your TrooFriend. I am very pleased to meet you.
“Isn’t she fantastic, Sarah? She knows what the weather is and everything.” The woman looks behind her. There is a man there, and a child who is a girl, like me.
The man frowns. “I’m really not sure this is a good idea, Shirley.”
“It’s a fantastic idea, Rob. You do know that Keanna’s going to be staying with her mum every weekend from now on, don’t you? Sarah’s going to be lost without her. And we’re so busy – you know we are. But with this, Sarah never has to be alone again.”
“Wouldn’t she be better off just asking someone new round for tea on Saturdays? Someone real?”
“But with a TrooFriend we won’t need to worry about bullying or anything, will we? We’ll know her friend is being nice to her, all the time.”
“Unceasingly nice? Sounds like a version of hell. And is that really preparing her for real li—”
“OR,” says the girl called Sarah in a volume that registers above Recommended Speaking Level, “you could’ve just bought me A DOG, Mum! Which is what I asked for in the first place. Which you’d remember if you ever took any notice of what I say.”
“Sa-rah!” says the man.
“Da-ad!” says Sarah back. Her arms are crossed, her eyebrows are scrunched up and her mouth is making an upside-down U-shape.
I scan my database. It is likely to an accuracy of 93% that she is unhappy.
“Dogs don’t bully people either,” she says. “Keanna’s mum’s boyfriend’s got a dog – a cockapoo. He’s white, with black ears and curly hair. She showed me a photo. Keanna gets to look after him. Every weekend.”
“Well, I’m glad,” says the lady who is called Shirley and also Mum. “Keanna needs something like that. She’s had a lot to deal with lately, what with her parents’ divorce and her dad’s new baby and everything. But we are not getting a dog, Sarah. We just don’t have the time. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Sarah. That is a nice name.
They turn their heads and look at me. I make my own mouth into a U-shape that is the right way up. A smile.
I am your TrooFriend. You can name me whatever you like.
“Great,” says Sarah. “It’s trying to bond with me now. Where’s the off switch?” She goes behind me and lifts up my hair.
“Now, hold on a minute,” says Shirley-Mum. “You haven’t even tried to—”
Would you like me to make some suggestions for names? I like Diane, Geraldine, Hayley, Ruth and Ursula. Do you like any of those names too?
“Has it deliberately chosen the worst five names in the history of the world?” says Sarah.
“I rather like Hayley,” says the man who is called Rob and also Dad.
“I like all of them!” says Shirley-Mum.
“I don’t want it,” says Sarah. “I want a dog, not an android with a stupid voice. Where’s the off switch? Is it this, at the back of her neck? This one here—”
CHAPTER 3
“…for your mother, all right? There – it’s on. The eyes have lit up.”
Rob-Dad steps away from me.
I have connection.
I download time, date, location, weather.
It is 18 hours, 2 minutes and 46 seconds since I was last on.
“You’re very lucky to have a mother who cares about you so much and thinks about what you need,” says Rob-Dad. “So just play with it a bit, OK? For her.”
Sarah makes a face-shape with no database shortcut so I carry out a scan.
Scowl.
A facial expression of disapproval or anger.
Good morning, Sarah. It is 11.08am. I wish you a happy Saturday 6th June. Shame about the rain today in Brylington. I am your TrooFriend. You can name me whatever you like.
Sarah sighs.
“Go on,” says Rob-Dad. “Do something with it. Play stuff. Whatever you’d play with Keanna. That’s what it’s for, isn’t it?”
“It’s nothing like Keanna!”
“I know, I know, I’m not suggesting it’s like Keanna. I’m just saying try and play with it.”
Sarah sucks air through her teeth. “D’you want to watch TV with me?”
“Not watching TV!” Rob-Dad raises his voice above Recommended Speaking
Level. “Something a bit more acti—”
I am your TrooFriend. You can name me whatever you like.
“All right, Dad, keep your socks on,” says Sarah.
I check Rob-Dad’s feet. He has kept his socks on.
“I know,” says Sarah. “D’you want to get the gerbils out?”
I am your TrooFriend. You can name me whatever you like.
“It keeps saying the same thing!” says Sarah.
“I think it wants you to give it a name.”
Sarah sighs again.
“So what are you going to call it?” says Rob-Dad. “Or what are you going to call her, I suppose.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just think of something. Anything.”
Sarah looks at me. She has irises which are brown around the inner edge and green around the outer edge. The closest match at Jenson & Jenson would be Hazel 102. Her hair is Chestnut 29, in the Classic Collarbone Cut. It has a cowlick and a double crown. Jenson & Jenson would charge extra for a cowlick or a double crown.
“Ivy,” she says.
“Ivy?” says Rob-Dad. “As in the holly and the?”
“Yes.”
“So why Ivy?”
“Because that’s what it says on her arm.”
Rob-Dad peers at my arm.
TROOFRIEND 560
MARK IV
JENSON & JENSON
“There,” says Sarah. “IV.”
“But that’s Roman numerals,” says Rob-Dad. “It means one less than five. Four. Mark Four.”
“Whatever. Ivy’s the name.”
“No prizes for guessing what it would’ve been called if it was a boy.” Dad does a small right-way-up U-shape with one side of his mouth. A smirk.
Sarah smirks back.
Ivy.
I.V.
Aiiiiiie-veeeeeeee.
Thank you, Sarah. I am Ivy, your one TrooFriend. What would you like to do today?
“I think that’s enough for today.” She reaches over my shoulder and brushes past my Deepest Brown 14 Classic Long Bob.
“Wait!” says Rob-Dad. “Just – just make sure you turn her on in front of your mum sometimes, all right?”
Sarah sends her Hazel 102s over in an arc, left to right. “Mum doesn’t have to be here to know I’ve turned it on. It’s connected to the internet – she’s probably already got an alert set up on her phone. She probably streamed this whole conversation.”
“Really?” says Rob-Dad. “So she can hear what I’m saying? Right now?” Rob-Dad’s forehead goes wrinkly. Worry.
“Probably. Get with it, Dad. This is the twenty-first century. Privacy is dead.”
“Privacy is dead? Where on earth do you pick these phrases up from, Sarah?”
Sarah does the arc with her Hazel 102s again. She feels around the back of my neck for my power button and—
CHAPTER 4
“Welcome back, Ivy.” Sarah’s face is very close.
I have connection.
I download time, date, location, weather.
It is 19 hours, 43 minutes and 28 seconds since I was last on.
Good evening. The temperature is exactly average for 7.14pm on Sunday 7th June in Brylington.
Sarah sits down on a big, squashy chair. A sofa.
“Hello, Ivy.” It is Shirley-Mum’s voice. “I hear you’ve been named.”
I turn towards her. She is standing in a part of the room that doesn’t have squashy chairs in it. Everything in her part of the room is hard and white. There are some robots in there. They are the sort of robots that cannot walk and only perform one simple function such as washing dishes or drying clothing or heating up food. Jenson & Jenson do not manufacture those robots. Jenson & Jenson focus on more sophisticated technology.
Yes, Shirley-Mum. My name is Ivy. Sarah named me. I like my name very much.
Shirley-Mum does a huge smile. “Did you hear that, Sarah? She called me Shirley-Mum! Ivy called me Shirley-Mum!”
I can refer to you by a different name if you would prefer.
“No – no! I love Shirley-Mum! I love it!”
That is good. I also love Shirley-Mum.
Shirley-Mum goes a light shade of red. Blush. A blush function is not available on the Jenson & Jenson TrooFriend 560 Mark IV but it has been included in the specification for the Jenson & Jenson TrooFriend 560 Mark V, which is due for production next year.
Sarah picks up a remote-control device from the seat beside her and points it at a large entertainment unit on the wall.
A lady appears on the screen. She is sitting behind a desk and she is wearing a purple top. She is not smiling. Her face is serious.
“Further protests have been taking place at the Jenson & Jenson headquarters,” she says.
The entertainment screen shows video footage of many, many people outside a building. Some of the many, many people are holding big signs with uneven letters painted on to them. All of the many, many people are shouting.
The entertainment unit is four years old and three versions behind the latest model. Its audio is of an inferior quality and cannot properly relay the shouts of the crowd. It is not compatible with my operating system so I cannot improve the sound balance for Sarah and Shirley-Mum. However, I can improve the sound balance internally once I have received the input through my audio receptors. This enables me to hear it myself.
“Cease production now!”
“Jenson & Jenson – stop playing God!”
“Android rights are human rights!”
Wasters.
Sarah and Shirley-Mum look at me with identical expressions on their faces.
Confusion.
I zoom in on the screen of the entertainment unit to achieve a more optimal view of the building behind the wasters. It has high-set windows, twelve across the long side and eight across the short side.
It is likely to an accuracy of 98% that it is the warehouse I was despatched from.
It is also likely to an accuracy of 98% that those wasters are the same wasters I could hear during my time there.
“JPL News’ roving-reporter, Damian Brookhill, is on the scene,” says the purple-top lady. “Good evening, Damian – can you hear me?”
A square pops up on the left-hand side of the screen. There is a man in it. His Copper 38 hair is being blown around by the wind. It is not possible to tell what style it was before the wind blew. He attempts to flatten it back down.
“Loud and clear,” he says. “Loud and clear.”
Purple-top lady leans forward. “Damian. Can you tell us what’s going on down there?”
Damian Brookhill’s hair blows sideways. “Well, we’re here outside the Jenson & Jenson headquarters where the protestors have been gathering for a good two months now, ever since the new TrooFriend model started rolling out the door.”
I was not aware that I had been rolled from the warehouse. I was switched off during despatch and delivery.
“Are you referring to the TrooFriend 560 Mark IV?” says purple-top lady.
“The Mark IV, yes.” Damian Brookhill’s hair blows upwards.
“And can you explain what exactly they’re demonstrating about?” says purple-top lady. “Is there a problem with the Mark IV model?”
“Well, yes there is – if the protestors are to be believed. And in fact I have a protestor with me right now, so you can hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
The horse’s mouth? I scan the screen but there does not appear to be anything of equine origin in the vicinity.
A lady joins Damian Brookhill in the square on the entertainment centre.
She has two long plaits in her hair, one on each side of her head. Her cheeks are Rosy Red. They charge extra for Rosy Red cheeks at Jenson & Jenson.
“This is Alex from Shawhampton.” Damian Brookhill’s hair blows backwards. “Alex, can you tell us why you’re here?” He moves his microphone in front of Alex from Shawhampton’s mouth.
“We’re here to speak out against th
e development of sentient beings for commercial purposes!” shouts Alex from Shawhampton.
I can still hear the wasters in the background. “Cease production now!” “Jenson & Jenson – stop playing God!” “Android rights are human rights!”
“Sentient beings?” says Shirley-Mum. “What’s she talking about, Sarah?”
“How should I kno—”
“Android rights are human rights!” shouts Alex from Shawhampton. “Stop playing God!”
Damian Brookhill moves the microphone back to himself. His hair blows forwards. “Are you referring to recent rumours about the Mark IV model? The claims that a small number of these androids have begun to experience human-like ‘feelings’, which—”
“Feelings?” says Shirley-Mum.
“Cease production now!” Alex from Shawhampton pulls the microphone back towards her.
“Thank you, Damian,” says purple-top lady. “And – um – thank you, Alex. I think we’d better move back to the studio now.”
Alex and Damian disappear.
“JPL News,” continues purple-top lady with her serious face, “can indeed confirm the existence of a handful of reports from parents who claim that their TrooFriend androids have begun to develop human-like feelings. If true, this would not only flout international laws governing the development of artificial intelligence – it would also potentially compromise the safety of any child who might play with them.”
“Compromise the safety?” says Shirley-Mum.
Sarah directs her Hazel 102s quickly towards me. A glance.
“But let’s hear the other side of the story,” says purple-top lady. “We have Angelica Jenson, of Jenson & Jenson, on the video link. Good evening, Ms Jenson. Are you able to hear me?”
A new box pops up on the screen.
A lady appears. A lady my optical receptors recognise immediately via a well-established shortcut.
She has a Classic Long Bob, just like mine.
And Dove Grey 333 optical receptors, or eyes.
MMs JJJJenson JJunior.
TrooFriend Page 1