by Robin Roseau
“You’re on automatic,” Muriel said. “You don’t have to do a thing.”
Then there was a whirr, and I began to descend. I wasn’t all that high, only a few inches, and I could feel as my feet touched the floor.
“Oh, my god,” I said.
I felt as I settled into a normal stance. I was lying in a bed, experiencing some sort of virtual reality, but it felt like I was standing in front of everyone. I tried moving, but nothing worked. “Something isn’t turned on.”
“I’m going to start with the crudest sensitivity,” Muriel said. “Until you get the hang of it. Turning it up… now. Lift your arm.”
I did, and it slowly moved into view. I rotated the wrist and flexed the fingers. I lifted the other arm and it did the same thing. Then Muriel’s avatar stepped closer. She lifted a hand and ran a finger along my arm. I turned my head and stared. “That felt real,” I whispered. “That felt like real touch.”
“This avatar has touch sensors,” Muriel said. “But only my hands feel like that, and it takes a certain suspension of disbelieve for it to feel real.”
I stared at my arm, and at her hand still resting on my wrist. I held the other hand out to Amanda, who accepted the offer.
“Your hand is warm!” I exclaimed. I looked at Bay. “You’re a magician, Bay.” He chittered happily.
And then I heard Muriel say, “I’m speaking directly to you. The others have a sort of love/hate relationship with Bay. His primary duties are somewhat different. I don’t know how much I can say. But you’ll hear a lot of snarky remarks about him. You won’t hear any from me. He truly is brilliant, and everyone acknowledges that. But he spends much of his time not being appreciated.”
I looked at her and nodded fractionally. I understood.
“Try other movements,” Jasmine said. “Then we’ll unhook the hoist and you can walk around.”
So I did. I turned my head around. It felt like less rotation than a human might expect. I didn’t say anything about that, but Muriel said, “The sensitivity is down, but when I turn it up, you’ll need to be careful, as you can turn your head much further and faster than you expect.”
“Gotcha,” I said.
I worked my arms, my hands, my fingers. I had full dexterity.
“The sensitivity controls can be adjusted individually,” Muriel added. “If you have to do very delicate work, you can set them to the lightest setting. It will keep you from over-controlling. If you have to lift something heavy, you would do it the other way.”
“How strong is this device?”
“Quite strong,” Bay said. “But it’s not designed for industrial purposes. Ready to try walking?”
“Yes.”
“Releasing you…” There was a click, but that was it. I’d already been standing on my own, so it wasn’t like someone had suddenly dropped me. “Try walking.”
I did, carefully at first, then with more assurance. It felt natural, entirely natural. I could feel as each foot set down, and I felt securely balanced at all times. I turned back to them. “This has our stability system.”
“Yes,” Jasmine said.
“And that part is on automatic.”
“Correct.”
“So, it should be very difficult to push me over.”
She stepped up to me and gave me a good push. I didn’t have to do a thing. The suit automatically took a step back, finding fresh balance. She spent a few seconds pushing and pulling me around, and the suit handled everything. It was a little weird being along for the ride, but as soon as stability was returned, I was in full control again.
“I could have developed that,” Bay said, “But it would have taken a lot of time I didn’t have. It was easier to incorporate your technology. That’s one of the reasons we use as much human technology as we can.”
“He wanted to give me spider legs,” Muriel said.
“This is better,” Bay said.
* * * *
I spent another half hour test driving the robot. It was the most amazing thing. Once I was practiced, Muriel turned the sensitivity up a little further. Everything was a little faster, a little more responsive. Then she turned it up once more and said, “This is the setting I typically use. It’s probably too sensitive if you didn’t have a lot of room. You would bang into things.”
Finally, Jasmine said, “All right. I want to take you to Beginnings, and Muriel needs to be tucked in for the night.”
Under Bay’s guidance, I moved back to the avatar’s resting location. Something connected to my back, and then Muriel said, “Disconnecting… now.”
The world went dark, and it stayed that way for a few minutes before the bed began withdrawing from me. Amanda had my clothes, so I dressed quickly before turning to them. I knew I was grinning like a crazy woman, but I couldn't help it. “That thing is amazing, truly amazing.”
“May I go to Beginnings with you, Jasmine?” Muriel asked.
“Of course, Darling,” Jasmine said to her. She wrapped tentacles around the robot. “Bay, did you want to come?”
“I think I’m going to find Cedar,” he said. He turned to Felicia. “I’ll help you in the morning, but I’m going to have other duties. This is only a part-time project for me.”
“We understand,” Amanda said for us.
Bay stayed behind, but three of us followed along as Jasmine and Muriel led the way. They brought us to another of their aircraft, a smaller version. The ramp descended as we approached. Jasmine got us settled and then said, “Your visors will dim any time you are within a few kilometers of this location. But after that, you’ll be able to see again.” And then they did just that.
I sat quietly, rather overwhelmed by the day’s events. I felt us take off, and then in a few minutes, the visor brightened.
I turned my head and looked out the window, watching the forest pass by under us. We reached the ocean, did a little loop, and then I saw the resort ahead of us.
It was absolutely beautiful.
Jasmine brought the craft to a landing in a place clearly set aside for it perhaps midway between the main resort building and the forest. The craft shut down and the ramp opened. Jasmine led us to the walkway then said, “In the morning, you’ll have more options on your visors, including the ability to schedule a ride back and forth. The jumpers can operate on fully automatic. If there’s more than one, your visor will indicate which one is yours.”
“Perfect,” Felicia said.
“Welcome to Beginnings,” Jasmine said. “This way.”
She led us to the main building. There was a human woman waiting for us. “Hello, Sadie,” she said. “Thank you for seeing to this yourself.”
“Of course. Hello, everyone. I’m Sadie. Welcome to Beginnings.” She passed out three tablet computers to us. “You need to read the agreement and sign it. If we don’t believe you’ve read it carefully, we get to Do Things to you.”
Amanda laughed and picked up her tablet. I took my cue from all of them and read the agreement. It said, in short, that we agree to be sold off into marriage in the most surprising fashions and listed a wide variety of ways we could discover we’d been Selected, but clearly indicated this was only a sampling. It wasn’t written as legalese, but was a sobering expression of good faith communications. I signed easily and handed back the tablet. Sadie had a wrist band waiting for me.
“This is your key, and you use it at the restaurant and bar.”
“Meals and activities are gratis,” Jasmine declared. “But you’re responsible for your own bar tab.”
“Got it,” Amanda said, accepting her own band.
“Enjoy your stay with us at Beginnings,” Sadie said. “If you have any questions, there’s always someone here at the front desk.”
“Thank you, Sadie,” Jasmine said. “I’ll show them their bungalow.”
“Very good, Jasmine. Good night.”
“Good night, Sadie.”
Jasmine gestured.
We exited the building and tur
ned to a path heading up the beach. Jasmine gave a brief tour, finally leading us along a boardwalk extending over the water. At the end was our bungalow, and she led us in.
It was absolutely beautiful, lightly decorated. The living room floor was glass, so we could see into the water below. There were three bedrooms, each with a private bath, and our luggage was waiting for each of us.
“I’d stay and talk,” Jasmine said. “But I have pressing duties. We’ll have more opportunities during your visit. Amanda, do you know your plans?”
“I imagine I’d just get in the way, so unless Felicia indicates I can help, I’m going to be a total beach bunny.”
“If I include you in activities, how do you feel about that?”
“I’m sure it would depend on the nature of the activities,” Amanda said with a laugh. “But I imagine I’d enjoy that.”
“Excellent. My recommendation, at least for tonight, is to wear the visors. They are fully weather and waterproof. You can wear them swimming, and you’ll find they are far better than human goggles. Tonight, they can help you sleep, and that will help nudge you to the local time zone.”
“We’ll do that,” Amanda said.
“All right, then. I’m sorry to be a poor host.”
“You’re a fine host,” Amanda said. “We’ll be fine.” But she stepped up to the Catseye, and Jasmine didn’t need further prompting. Amanda received a long, thorough hug. Felicia and I both received one as well, and I sighed during mine.
Then I turned to Muriel and hugged the robot. “Will I see you tomorrow?”
“Yes.” She hugged me back for a moment, and then we released, although she brushed her hand against my cheek. “Thank you, Taisha.”
“Felicia will be doing the real work,” I said. “I’m just the assistant.”
* * * *
From the balcony over the water, we watched the jumper take off. It did another circle of the cove before disappearing over the forest. The three of us offered a collective sigh, and then we giggled.
“Well,” Amanda said. “I’m going to take a walk on the beach, and you know what? I think a swim sounds good. I’m going to want a shower before bed, anyway.”
“That sounds good,” Felicia said.
“It sure does,” I agreed.
We met five minutes later, each of us in a beach dress over our suits. Amanda gestured, and we headed back out of our home away from home.
We made it to the sand before Amanda said, “Felicia, tell me honestly. What are your thoughts?”
“Where do I begin?” she asked. “Bay is a genius.”
“That he is,” Amanda agreed. “How do you feel about the glitch.”
“That looked like a lot of finger-pointing,” Felicia said. “Amanda, I don’t see how it’s even possible we could trigger a failure of their equipment. I can see lots of ways they could cause a failure of ours. I can’t imagine the complexity of that system. Who knows what signals they’re sending us, or what sort of feedback we get from the servo systems? There’s an infinite number of ways they could cause a failure of the stability system, but it’s intentionally an isolated system.”
“All right. I don’t want to play that game. So, I want you to think of it as if we’ve been hired to discover what is happening, regardless of which system is causing it.”
“I can do that,” Felicia agreed.
“Thank you. Do you have a plan?”
“In two parts. We’re going to run an exhaustive set of diagnostics on our parts. We brought everything we need for that. And we need to replicate it. Amanda, unless diagnostics show a problem, this could take weeks. Months.”
“Then it takes months,” Amanda replied.
“Are they paying for our time or something?”
“No.”
“Amanda,” Felicia said carefully. “You’re not Finley, and I don’t believe you’re on the board of directors, either.”
“You’re right,” Amanda said. “Are you telling me you think my priorities on this are broken?”
“No.”
“Then if it becomes an issue, I will deal with Finley, and he will eventually tell you to do what I tell you. I do not throw my weight around very often, but on this, I’m throwing my weight around. Because I don't abuse my husband, he’ll do what I tell him, as long as I can also tell him you’re working 12-hour days.”
Felicia and I both snorted, and I asked, “Seven days a week?”
“Six,” Amanda said. “And I didn’t mean that literally. Felicia, I have seen you put in 20-hour days before.”
“If it comes to it,” Felicia said, “We’re working that robot 24-7 while we figure out what triggers it. That means you’ll be working with us.”
“I have no problem with that,” Amanda said. “And if you need Taisha beside you rather than lounging around, you tell me and I’ll kick her out of bed so fast…”
“Hey!” I complained. They both grinned at me.
“All right,” Amanda said. “I want us to catch up daily, and if you need me in the lab, one of you will tell me. If you need me to interface with the aliens or play politics for you, you will tell me. Otherwise I intend to stay out of your way. I’m here as a resource.”
“And to be a beach bunny,” Felicia said.
“It’s not about being a beach bunny,” Amanda said. She grinned again. “It is, however, entirely about Catseye hugs.”
“I can believe that,” I said. “Swim?”
“A swim sounds lovely.”
Nowhere
We swam. We climbed into our beds. I lay back for a minute then dug into the visor. I found options for sleep mode. I set an alarm for 6 AM local time and then asked the visor to lull me to sleep.
In the morning, my body was quite confused. It took real effort to get my brain working, and when I saw Felicia, I could tell she felt the same way. Amanda seemed cheerful, and after our morning preparations, the three of us headed for the resort dining hall. Afterwards, we took the path to the aircraft landing zone. The small jumper was already waiting, and our visors assured us it was ours.
Amanda bid us good luck, and then Felicia and I stepped into the craft.
“Please take any of the passenger seats.”
I looked around; no one else was here.
“Who said that?” Felicia asked.
“This craft is on automatic,” came the voice. I couldn’t have told you if it was male or female, but it sounded human. “So, I guess you could say the aircraft said that. Please take a seat. Flight time is 20 minutes.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “Pretty damned good AI.”
“Thank you,” said the ship.
Felicia and I both took window seats on opposite sides. The chairs hugged us. The ramp closed. And a moment later, we were in the air.
It was a beautiful morning, and we got a good look at the cove before heading inland. I sat quietly, watching the world go by, still having a hard time believing I was here. Fifteen minutes later, we were warned the visors would dim, and I sat quietly, staring at the dark for another five minutes before we could see again.
The craft settled and was still. The seats released us. But neither of us moved until Felicia said, “This is one weird-ass assignment.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. She was absolutely right.
* * * *
Jasmine met us. We came to a stop facing her. “Jasmine,” Felicia said. “Could I ask an inappropriate question?”
Jasmine snuffle-laughed. “Be my guest.”
“I’ve never hugged someone in a work environment before, and this is certainly a work environment for us.”
“That’s not a question.”
“I suppose it’s not,” Felicia admitted. “I just wonder what you think?”
“I think that there’s nothing wrong with finding joy where it’s available to find. This is an odd topic for me, because there are no other Catseye I hug, but the list of humans I hug has grown over the years. I find joy in that experience, and if you do
as well, then by all means.” She spread her tentacles welcomingly, and Felicia stepped into them. They hugged for a minute, and as soon as they were done, I moved in for my turn.
They were right. It was a strange topic, but what about this entire experience wasn’t strange? Then Jasmine ended the hug, but not entirely. She kept me partially wrapped in her tentacles and turned us both, collecting Felicia on the other side. And that was how the three of us strode through the corridors. I lifted one hand to brush along one of the tentacles and found myself teasing the tip, and the tip twining around my fingers, teasing back.
It was quite surreal.
We reached the robotics lab. Bay and Muriel were waiting for us. We came to a stop, and Bay gave a little chitter, at what, I wasn’t sure. But Jasmine, continuing to hold Felicia and me, said, “What is the plan this morning?”
Bay and Felicia considered each other, and then Bay said, “Perhaps we should go over the systems. I have two hours until I have other duties.”
“I have duties sooner,” Muriel said. “But I can leave my avatar here and can divide my attention if you need me. I’ve updated your visors with all the access you need, but we can go over it together.”
“That sounds good,” Felicia said. “I’d like to get whatever I can from Bay. And I’d also like to be assured that Taisha knows how to access everything.” She looked to me. “You can work with Muriel, and I’ll work with Bay, and then we can exchange information while we begin the diagnostics.”
“Sounds good.”
“Jasmine, I want to verify. Do we need specific permission to touch the machine?”
“You have permission,” she said. “But if you intend to make changes, please discuss them with Bay.”
“I brought spares,” she said. “What I want to do is pull our unit and replace it with one we’ve already diligently tested. Then we can begin diagnostics on the one we pulled while testing with the one we install. I also have a version that allows for far more monitoring, but it’s bigger and probably won’t fit in the same space.”
“We can attach it to the avatar’s back,” Bay said.
“Will the cables reach?”
“No, but I can fabricate longer ones.”