by Peter Wood
‘It would be too complicated. I’d have to set a program to follow you everywhere, and then there’d have to be another one that knew how to control every type of vehicle you used, and another one to make sure security was happy with what I was doing.’
‘But you could do it if you really wanted to couldn’t you?’
‘Um … maybe. I’d have to learn more about how security works first. Why?’
‘Just wondering … I’ve got a good idea for where we could take Sonic for an activity day.’
‘Where?’
Sonic liked to know about everything they were doing and after their latest venture to one of the major fauna parks scattered throughout Attunga he’d surprised them by saying he’d like to go with them on one of their activity days. That would be great, except that he’d be confined to a transport module.
‘Well it has to be water-based so he can join in, and I thought we could go to a zero-G swimming pool. It would be interesting for him and I’ve never heard of him being in zero-G.’
‘Thom, that’s brilliant. We could go to the one we missed the day we met him. Is it the biggest one on Attunga? There’d need to be plenty of room for him.’
‘I don’t know about the biggest. All I can remember is that it was a 30 metre sphere. Check it out.’
Wirrin was surprised to find thirty-five zero-G pools spread round Attunga, and three 50 metre pools. Most of them were spheres but one was a torus.
‘A torus? Show me.’
Wirrin imported the holo image from the pool site.
‘How do they do that?’
‘It says they use a complicated set of grav-fields.’
‘A sphere would be better for Sonic. There’s a lot more room to move.’
‘How will he breathe? He won’t be able to use his blowhole properly in zero-G. He’ll get water in his lungs.’
‘Burilda will sort something out.’
‘What about gravity sickness? First time could be a nightmare without proper training.’
‘I don’t know, Thom. I think it mightn’t matter so much for dolphins. Living in water is a bit like zero gravity anyway.’
Burilda would know all that and she’d quickly tell them whether this was a feasible idea. It wasn’t too late to contact her but it would have to wait till they discussed it with Calen. Wirrin and Thom grinned at each other and resisted the urge to wake Calen immediately and tell him.
***
‘Hello, Wirrin. Are you ready for a lube and full-service?’
What was he talking about? Wirrin looked blankly at the doctor.
‘A lube means lubrication with oil and grease, and servicing means checking all your parts are working well. I saw it on an old Earth movie I watched recently. It’s what they used to do to maintain the personal transport vehicles on old Earth.’
‘Does that mean my parts need fixing?’
‘No, not at all. We’ve been asked to watch you extra closely and give you any help we can.’
This doctor was very friendly and Wirrin tried for more information.
‘Asked? Do you know who it was?’
‘Not really, but you’ve certainly impressed someone because you are now a priority case.’
‘I am? What does that mean?’
‘For us, not a lot. A few extra people to work with and more frequent visits like this, and we’ll have you on a tri-weekly schedule from now on if you can manage it. Climb on the bench and we’ll get these tests started.’
Most of the tests were familiar but there were several new ones that had to be done in different areas of the facility. It was all interesting and pleasant to hear from different doctors and technicians that his implants were functioning perfectly and that his skills were developing faster than expected. There was particular interest in his ability to use transparency mode in retinal imaging without any sign of disorientation or dizziness, and some surprise when he informed them he could use it indefinitely without trouble. Several hours later Wirrin was once again sitting with his overseeing doctor.
‘All your parts are humming like a Swiss watch.’
He looked expectantly at Wirrin and said, ‘Look up the reference in retinal mode.’ Wirrin knew from the context it meant everything was going well, he’d heard that all morning, but he checked anyway.
‘It comes from a small country that was famous three hundred years ago for its precision engineering and it means my implants are functioning extra well.’
‘Not just your implants, Wirrin. We are particularly pleased with the way your associated skills have developed and we want you to apply them in a number of new areas.’
He paused, as if expecting a query, then continued when Wirrin didn’t say anything.
‘There are two things to concentrate on between now and your next visit. The first is quite straightforward and you will quickly reap the benefits. Your study involves gathering information, and the faster you can assimilate it the better, so I want you to retake the speed reading unit you did four years ago with EdCom. I called up the records and I see you rate at nearly two thousand words per minute. With your memory enhancement you should be able to increase that considerably. Doubling should be the minimum, but with your skills and ability I’m expecting you can at least triple that rate.’
‘Triple? In only three weeks?’
‘It’s a good unit. Last time you went from 750 words per minute to two thousand in four weeks. You know how it works. An hour a day for the first week and a concentrated half hour a day from then on. EdCom is being informed this morning and your courses rearranged to suit.’
Wirrin was already pleased with the rate at which he could absorb information, and the idea of tripling it was hard to imagine. Still, he did remember thinking the same four years ago when he’d first done the unit. Thom and Calen would be calling him a brainiac. But why couldn’t they do the unit? They’d had similar memory enhancements.
‘What about Thom and Calen? Couldn’t we do the unit together?’
‘Let’s have a look. Everyone does the reading unit as a matter of course after a memory enhancement, but it’s usually another six months down the track.’
He called up information on his holo screen, started looking through it, and when he saw Wirrin’s interest, rearranged the screen so they could both examine it. It didn’t mean a lot to Wirrin as it was all specialised information.
‘Thom and Calen could both take the reading unit now, but they should reach their optimal effective readiness in just under two months so it’s best to wait … And there’s some kind of hold on Calen which prevents him anyway.’
‘A hold? Is everything all right with him?’
‘Yes, it’s some sort of administrative thing … Here it is … This is very interesting. It’s a time constraint. His time is so valuable for the next few weeks that no demands can be made on it unless it’s important for his wellbeing. I don’t see this very often. What’s he doing?’
‘He works with Sonic, the special dolphin, and for the last two weeks he’s had Calen doing so much he comes home exhausted every day.’
‘The dolphin tells Calen what to do? I don’t understand. I know the work we did with him was to help with dolphin communication, but you sound as if the dolphin makes the decisions?’
Sometimes it was exasperating and sometimes funny that people could know so little about the Attunga dolphins, but as Calen liked to point out, Wirrin and Thom had been no different till the day they’d visited the dolphinarium. This doctor was likeable and thoughtful and Wirrin would enjoy letting him know what the real situation was.
‘He does, and everyone follows his decisions. He’s more intelligent than we are.’
The doctor realised Wirrin was being deliberately challenging. ‘That’s difficult to believe, but I can see you’re eager to persuade me.’
Wirrin spent some time describing Sonic and discussing his accomplishments and character and finally he described the meeting with Akama.
‘Have
you got a record of that? I’d like to see it.’
Wirrin didn’t, but he connected to the dolphinarium and found multiple versions of the event. He picked one at random and was delighted to see the doctor’s fascination.
‘I can’t understand how I haven’t heard about this. It’s very much my area of expertise and I make a point of keeping up with new developments. There’s no restriction on this knowledge is there? There can’t be if you can tell me openly like this.’
Wirrin hesitated. That’s how it looked, but in reality he was using retinal mode and subvocal commands to ask Turaku if it was all right to talk about the Earth attacks.
‘Turaku says I can tell you, but it’s First Level security.’
‘Who’s Turaku?’
‘He’s the AI who works with the dolphins.’
‘You speak to an AI?’
The doctor’s amazement reminded Wirrin how unusual that was.
‘Yes, but only because my trio is connected with Sonic.’
‘You did it while we were speaking? I didn’t see any signs you were concentrating.’
Wirrin nodded and then went on, ‘They have been keeping quiet about Sonic and there’s a huge security barrier to keep external habitats from finding out about him, but it’s not a secret on Attunga. I know it can’t be because Akama is introducing him to the habitat in two weeks.’
‘Akama? Well, people will certainly be watching that. But why are we keeping it from the other habitats? Knowledge should be shared.’
‘The directed habitats don’t want anyone except humans to be clever. They killed a hundred Earth dolphins when they found out about the enhanced ones on Freedom.’
‘Killed? That can’t be right. No-one would do that … Are you sure it’s not one of those conspiracy theories that come from Earth?’
‘They tried to kill a lot more at Monkey Mia. Turaku stopped them but he says they’ll try again when they work out how to get past the new defences.’
In a few seconds the images of the two groups of dead dolphins were displayed before the horrified eyes of the doctor, and another quarter of an hour passed while Wirrin recounted the events at Monkey Mia. The doctor was particularly disgusted that seven hundred dolphins would have been sacrificed to get at the smaller group associated with the marine research station.
‘Back to the business at hand,’ he said at last, collecting himself. ‘How much of your implanted data storage have you used?’
He had that information at his fingertips, after all the tests that had just been done, but Wirrin did the check and saw how closely the doctor was watching. So, he was looking again for signs of concentration. He wouldn’t see any. Even Thom and Calen couldn’t.
‘I’ve hardly used any … It’s less than one hundredth of a per cent.’
‘Hopefully we’ll have you using it much more. For the next minute I want you to store everything you see.’
Wirrin was completely bewildered. He might as well have been told to start flying.
‘I can’t do that.’
‘Yes you can. Look up personal memory in your implant command set.’
Still using retinal mode Wirrin did so, and a whole sub-menu of commands flicked into view.
‘Have you found it?’
‘Yes, but I didn’t know it was there.’
‘It wasn’t till we gave you access about an hour ago. It’s an important implant function which is usually only accessed as part of your monthly health check. The indicators show that you might be one of the rare people who can cope with using it consciously and the only certain way to know is for you to try.’
He explained how tiny picobots intercepted and interpreted the messages being received by nerve endings as part of the routine used to check their health, then detailed the use of the new set of commands. Most of it was self-evident.
‘I can’t do this myself, Wirrin. I’ve tried, but after about ten seconds my brain gets confused. You may be the same, but we’ll soon know. Nothing can go wrong while we’re monitoring and the worst you’ll feel if it doesn’t work is that slight dizziness everyone has during their health check, and you’ll be out of it in fifteen seconds.’
‘And if it does work?’
‘Then it may be very uncomfortable, but if that’s the case you can switch out of it yourself and we’ll decide what to do next.’
He talked till Wirrin, rather nervous, said he was ready. The commands were simple but Wirrin concentrated on the switch-off one, making it as strong as he could in his mind before he subvocalised the start. It was awful. The doctor’s face kept disappearing and reappearing in a kaleidoscope of confusing images and sensations that sent his mind reeling till he was begging for it to end.
Stop! Stop! No, that wasn’t it … Switch off!
The doctor’s features snapped immediately into clear view.
‘What happened?’
‘It didn’t work. My brain got confused like you said it might.’
‘It did work, Wirrin. That was twenty-three seconds from start to finish and you switched out of it yourself, which means you were thinking consciously. Could you see anything?’
‘Sort of.’ Wirrin thought about what he’d just experienced. ‘It was really strange. I felt like my eyes were seeing all right but my brain was mixed up about it. I could see you and then I couldn’t and I was so overwhelmed I had to stop.’
‘You saw me? Excellent. Was it too distressing to cope with?’
‘Almost … no, not really. It was just so different.’
The doctor nodded with a pleased and expectant look.
‘As soon as you’re ready we’ll try again. You know what to expect, so this time I want you to push the strangeness into the background, focus your mind on something else, and then see if you can hold any images steady.’
Wirrin thought about it, tried, and for a short while managed to watch the doctor before the need to switch off became too strong.
‘That was thirty-seven seconds. Any other progress?’
‘Yes, I held you in view for a short while.’
‘Have another go.’
After three more tries something clicked into place and Wirrin found he was watching the doctor quite normally.
‘I think I’ve got it. It’s hard and I can’t keep going for long, but I can push the confusion away.’
‘Wonderful. Now play that last effort back from your memory storage.’
That was easy and Wirrin laughed.
‘What’s up.’
‘Nothing. It worked perfectly but it’s confusing because I’m seeing you in transparency mode and naturally at the same time.’
‘Switch to holo and show me.’
That done, the doctor said it was time for a drink and a snack before trying the commands for sound recording. An hour later Wirrin was feeling very pleased that he could simultaneously store everything he was seeing and hearing for a period of almost two minutes before losing concentration. The doctor was excited and set guidelines for practice, and daily holo contact time to confer about progress or any other issues.
***
‘We always knew there was something weird about your brain.’
Thom and Calen were listening, intrigued, to Wirrin’s report about his day’s activities and acting indignant that they had to wait two months before doing the speed reading themselves. Underneath all the carry-on about him being a super brain and computer head they were really proud of him.
‘You won’t get away with anything from now on, Thom. We’ll always have proof of when you try any sneaky tricks.’
‘No you won’t. I’ll just turn the lights off and he won’t be able to see.’
‘Won’t make any difference. He uses infra-red vision instead.’
‘What?’
He swivelled to look at Wirrin.
‘You can’t do that can you?’
‘Of course I can.’
He couldn’t, but the moment of surprise before Thom realised they were having hi
m on was worth it. Thom leapt at Calen and started wrestling him, but as Calen had had his evening rest that was hopeless and Wirrin joined in.
‘Show us how it works.’
‘All right. Make Calen laugh.’
‘He doesn’t know how.’
‘Teach him then.’
With his happy disposition Calen was easy to set laughing and if you couldn’t think of anything silly then tickling was a perfect fallback. Thom tried but Calen turned the tables. They stopped abruptly to watch themselves for a moment on the holo.
‘Wow! Just like that. You look at it and it’s recorded. It must be hard because you go all still and look dopey when you’re doing it.’
That made Calen laugh genuinely, not just tickle laugh.
‘Wombat-head.’ He turned to Wirrin. ‘It’s just the look you have that tells us you’re thinking really hard. How much are you meant to practise?’
‘I don’t know. As much as I can without making myself tired for other things. I have to work it out for myself.’
‘Did that bit you just did make you tired?’
‘That was as long as I can last.’
‘Well I reckon you’ve done enough for today. You look worn out. Guess where we’re going on our activity day?’
‘The zero-G pool?’
‘Sonic loves the idea so he’s taking a day off and Burilda’s got everything organised.’
‘A day off? What from?’
‘Can’t tell you. It’s a surprise.’
That meant it was Sonic’s meeting with the rest of Attunga, and since Calen was enjoying the opportunity to tease their curiosity so much, it warranted action.
‘You’ve had it.’
***
Travelling with Sonic like this was a real experience. At his request the transport module had been redesigned so he could either control it himself or let TransCom take over, and he was thoroughly enjoying his new type of mobility. At the moment they were stopped at a water fountain in the gathering area of the first big TransCom transfer station they’d reached and Sonic was watching the jets of water as they leapt in an ever-changing display of shapes and colours. Wirrin looked to Calen.
‘It’s the first time he’s seen a fountain, and pushing water into different shapes is a new idea for him. He also wants to look at the people. He’s never been close to so many before.’