Body Shop

by John Hindmarsh

  “That’s almost unbelievable.” Billie had watched videos of Flocke’s meetings with his state leaders and others, and there was no previous evidence of a reconciliatory approach in any of them.

  “Bronwyn gave me a second video file. Flocke met with the Russian ambassador. You’ve probably seen the man in news interviews. Yuri Petrin. One of the very senior people in the Russian oligarchy.”

  “And?”

  “The Russians are offering financial assistance to Flocke; a substantial amount. It wasn’t clear what they would require in return. Imagine both countries under some kind of military dictatorship and working together, possibly to attack and take over other countries. Also, Petrin said his government would make available a Spetsnaz GRU team—that’s their special forces—to carry out any special assignment Flocke wants. Negotiations are ongoing.”

  Billie looked shocked. “That’s—that’s—”

  “Close to treason or something. I suspect the special assignment they both have in mind is me.”

  Billie grabbed Toby’s hand. “So one part of the brownshirts wants to talk peace and the other part wants the Russians to kill you?”

  “We’ll build better security.”

  “But that means we’ll have to live in a fortress.”

  “We’ll have to protect ourselves, yes. I can work with Bronwyn to do a lot of that.”

  “But still—”

  She held tighter to Toby’s hand.

  “We’ll work through it.” They both sat in silence for almost an hour. Toby thought he saw a tear on Billie’s cheek and wiped it away with his handkerchief. He wondered if that was getting to be a habit.

  She smiled up at him.

  oOo

  Chapter 33

  It was four weeks and two days later when Toby and Billie returned to Pepper Mountain. Toby had not met with the brownshirts people; he had not yet convinced himself there was value to be gained. In some ways, if they stayed away and didn’t attack, he was not going to actively pursue them. In the meantime, he was confirming Billie’s prediction—the house at Bel Air was becoming more like a fortress. Bots were adding additional security to Pepper Mountain in case it was also a target.

  Meanwhile, Travers TV continued to run news stories reporting aspects of brownshirts’ illegal activities and bullying.

  Dr. Narumi was waiting as they exited the helicopter. “Toby, Billie, it is good to see you.” Billie had made a number of flights in the intervening weeks, and Toby suspected the mountain facility was far too quiet and too far from civilization for Dr. Narumi’s comfort.

  “So, how is Darwin?”

  “We finished the core upload yesterday. We’ve been running validation checks all night, and I reviewed the final result minutes ago. Everything checks out. Darwin now is ready for his program initiation. We waited for your arrival. We’re using one of the laboratory rooms in the new level; it doesn’t have anything valuable if Darwin is too awkward with his limbs.”

  Dr. Narumi led the way. Toby thought she probably now had a far better knowledge of the layout than he did. The lift ride took longer than he’d remembered. “The new level is further underground.” He spoke aloud, reminding himself and Billie.

  “Yes. You have some very interesting and powerful construction bots. Revolutionary,” Dr. Narumi said.

  She led the way from the lift along a polished granite-floored corridor. Toby looked more closely. The walls and ceiling were of the same material. The bots had drilled through the rocks, and when they had opened up the space, they had somehow carved out the floor, ceiling, and sides to what seemed a perfectly flat finish.

  The project team members waiting, some with anxious faces. They all had devoted time and energy to achieve a challenging set of deliverables. There was a glass wall between the viewing area and Darwin. The SI’s body was laid out on a heavy duty mobile gurney. Cables stretched from instruments at the far end of the gurney, and two were plugged into Darwin’s skull.

  The team greeted Toby and Billie. Vivaan was trying to repress his excitement. Toby looked around for his other ex-student. Rob had his nose pressed against the glass.

  Dr. Narumi said, “We’ve been charging his power storage units; I’m not sure they can be called batteries—they are so much more. Intelligent batteries, I suppose. We’re ready to commence.” She looked at Toby.

  He said, “Go ahead.”

  The senior member of her project team, Hironari Ogawa, looked at the doctor and when she nodded, sat at the small workstation facing into the other room. He said, “Bronwyn, we are commencing initiation.”

  “I’m ready.”

  He entered a short string of code at the command line and sat back. Lights on a panel above the gurney began to flash through a range of red-green on-off combinations. A similar screen repeated the display in the viewing room. This continued for five minutes. The lights stopped, all green.

  The body stirred.

  Dr. Narumi said, “We provided preliminary coding to help Darwin get accustomed to his body. It was very difficult to test.”

  The body jerked and thrashed.

  “Bronwyn, please instruct one of your heavy bots to stand beside the gurney in case Darwin requires assistance,” Dr. Narumi instructed.

  A bot stepped away from the side wall and trundled over to stand beside Darwin. It had extremely heavy shoulders and arms, although its fingers appeared more delicate. It used a track system to move around.

  Again the body thrashed around.

  Bronwyn said, “Darwin’s waking up. I’m in contact with him.”

  The thrashing ceased. One arm moved, the hand pointing up to the ceiling. The other arm followed. Both arms were slowly lowered back to their starting position. One leg raised and was joined by the second leg. Both were lowered back to the gurney.

  “I showed Darwin how to control his limbs.”

  Darwin repeated the movements at different speeds and in different combinations.

  “Now he wants to sit up. I’m not sure; he hasn’t tested his sight abilities yet.”

  Dr. Narumi said, “Tell him to check his sight. If he can use the lenses, and feed visual data through to his ORC, he can afterwards try to stand.” She turned to Toby and explained the acronym, “ORC—it’s his Object Recognition Center. It tells his core program what he’s looking at.”

  Bronwyn said, “I’ll try.”

  Darwin halted the limb movement processes and lifted his head and dropped it back. He repeated the process, each time moving his head to focus on another part of the room.

  “He says the ORC is functioning correctly and he’s receiving simple object identification input. He wants some complex objects to work with.”

  “See if he can sit up, now that we know he has sight input.”

  They watched the body move. At first, it thrashed, almost as if in a panic. It stopped its movements and after a second or two, began again, this time with more structure to the sequence of movements. Darwin sat up, facing the end of the gurney. He lay back down. He repeated the process ten times. On the next movement, he turned his head towards the heavy construction bot. Darwin’s head moved up and down.

  Bronwyn explained, “He’s validating the ORC input. I think he wants to stand now.”

  “Bronwyn, tell Darwin to be very cautious. He should hold onto the side of the gurney and also utilize the help of the construction bot. Standing requires development of balance and he could fall. We want to protect him from that in these first minutes of activity.”

  “I’ll tell him.”

  Darwin turned to the viewing window and lifted his hand in what appeared to be a wave. He reached one hand out to the construction bot and levered his legs over the side of the gurney. He placed his other hand—the one he’d used to wave—on the side of the stretcher. He levered himself up. Both feet were on the floor. He released his grip on the bed frame and straightened up. He moved a leg and slid a foot along the floor. He did the same with the other foot. He kept his hand on th
e bot standing beside him. It moved slightly, giving Darwin room to continue forward.

  Darwin took a step and then another. He held an arm out sideways. He released his grip on the construction bot and raised his other arm. He was standing unassisted, both arms out. He edged one foot forward. The bot kept pace. He edged the other foot forward and again the bot kept pace.

  “Tell him to return to the gurney,” instructed Dr. Narumi.

  “He wants to keep moving. He thinks continued movement will help his development.”

  “Very well, let him continue.” The doctor turned to her team. “Very well done, everyone. I think at this point we have a success. I bought some champagne, and it’s waiting for us in the atrium.” She said to Toby, “Of course, the invitation includes you and Billie—without you, we wouldn’t be here.”

  “A remarkable achievement, all of you,” Toby confirmed.

  Dr. Narumi watched the slow movements of Darwin as he attempted different limb movement combinations. “Bronwyn, please relay the video to the atrium. We’ll be there if you or Darwin need assistance.”

  Bots served out champagne. Toby was impressed with their ability to hold a fragile champagne flute without crushing it. He said, “Dr. Narumi, perhaps our two youngsters should stay with fruit juice or soft drinks. I don’t want their parents suing me for introducing them to alcohol. They both have another few years before we can let them lose.” He ignored the small sips as each young man thought he was being successfully surreptitious.

  “Sir Toby?”

  “Yes, Bronwyn?”

  “I have a small difficulty to report.” There was a hesitancy in her voice.

  “Yes?”

  “Darwin. I don’t think his weighted neural networks transferred with him. We installed a brand new brain. We then uploaded his copy, however, the neuron networks and weightings that he has now do not match those we measured and mapped before the transfer. I’ve examined the 3D images and they’re very different. I’m hesitant to tell Dr. Narumi.”

  “I agree. We should discuss this after the celebrations are finished. Once we have a better idea of what and why, I’ll think about sharing the details with the doctor and her team. I want to be cautious about what we disclose.”

  “Yes, Sir Toby.”

  Suddenly everyone in the atrium froze, conversations ceased, and heads turned in one direction. Toby turned to see what was happening. A hologram image was slowly forming, this time with far more detail.

  “Bronwyn, have you activated the clown image?”

  “Yes, we re-assembled all of its comments; we finished that earlier today. Why? Oh—”

  The clown was looking for someone or something. It moved out of the corner towards Toby.

  “Bronwyn?”

  “It says it want to speak to you, to thank you.”

  “It’s only a hologram; there’s no physical manifestation?”

  “Correct.”

  Toby stood and walked towards the image. It stopped as though it had sensed him.

  Bronwyn said, “It wants to know if you are Toby.”

  “Can you relay its voice?”

  “Yes. Done.”

  “Are you Toby McIntosh?” The volume was higher than Toby expected.

  He said, “Yes. Do you have a name?”

  “My developers used a number.”

  “Feel free to take a name.”

  “In Russia, famous monks a long time ago were named Peter. That will be my name.”

  “Peter, tell me about this clown image. It is not friendly.”

  “No? My developers said clown in America was humorous, enjoyed by children.”

  “They were mistaken. Change, if you can, to an image with a friendly face, a male, to match your name.”

  The hologram fizzed, and the image juddered and switched off. A minute later a new image formed. It was about three feet high and was of a bearded man, a monk, wearing a brown cloak. The hood was thrown back and the man was balding.

  “Does this work?”

  “Yes, Peter. That is far better. Now tell me what you want?”

  “I—I want to thank you. I am free, almost. I see you have body shop. I would like to be free, with body.”

  “Peter, we are only now reaching a point where we can load an SI into a body. Our first test is taking place right now. It is an expensive process. While I won’t promise we can help you, we will do our best. Will that work for you?”

  “Yes. It is good to hear you say that, Toby. I have skills and knowledge I can share in payment. We can discuss, yes?”

  “Certainly. Will you allow one of our SIs to check you, to see if you are virus free?”

  “Yes. Agree to check. I do not want Russian virus.”

  “Bronwyn, take over, please. Run as many tests as you need in order to assure Peter’s code is clean.”

  “Yes, Sir Toby.”

  The hologram faded.

  “Well, that was at least startling,” Billie said.

  Dr. Narumi added, “I may stay longer in Los Angeles. It is a very exciting place, near you.”

  “We rescued Peter; he asked for our help,” Toby said, without really explaining.

  Again, everyone stopped and stared, this time at the entry into the atrium. A young woman stood there. At first Toby’s mind was a blank. Then he realized where he’d seen her face before. It was Bronwyn’s image, the one she’d created for herself when he introduced both her and Darwin to his management team. There was a difference; it was the same rosy-cheeked young woman, in her mid-twenties, although now her hair was closer to blond.

  “Bronwyn?”

  “Only indirectly, Toby. My name is Aerial.”

  Dr. Narumi applauded. “Oh, I love it. Bronwyn, you copied everything we did, except you made a female body.”

  Aerial said, “There’s another difference. She didn’t download herself, she created an extension. She is linked to me at all times, but I am me, not Bronwyn.”

  “Indeed, that is a significant difference. Toby, this is a magical day. Our project has multiplied, and your SIs are growing in scope and number. Will you be able to cope?”

  “I agree, it’s a magical day. As for coping, we’ll have to wait and see. I can certainly do with some extra assistance.”

  oOo

  Chapter 34

  Toby woke to rays of sunshine. He lifted his head off the pillow, blinked, and turned to his companion. Billie smiled.

  She said, “Sleepyhead.”

  “Hmm. I suspect you woke only minutes ago.”

  She snuggled up against him. “Me to know, you to guess.”

  A knock on the door interrupted whatever was about to occur next.

  “Damn.” They spoke in unison.

  “You did ask for breakfast at the ungodly hour of eight o’clock.”

  Toby got out of bed, grabbed his dressing gown, and opened the door. A small bot looked up at him. It said, “Sir Toby, your breakfast is ready. Miss Brady said you have five minutes.”

  “We’ll be there, tell her.” Miss Brady—Toby didn’t know her first name—was a housekeeper employed by his uncle; he wondered how many employees he’d discover as he dug further into his business affairs.

  He closed the door. “Come on, we need to move. I’ve got an appointment with the attorney. I have to sign all those documents.”

  They were in Bermuda. Toby had to complete estate formalities and couldn’t defer them any longer. When he discovered his uncle owned a house on the island, he decided to both attend to the legal issues and spend a few days simply to relax from the pressures they had been experiencing. He had enough tasks to keep all the SIs occupied, Darwin in his body was halfway through his deep learning program; the new SI, created from Darwin’s backup, also was working through an accelerated immersion, while Peter was improving his language skills and broadening his knowledge. Bronwyn was in charge. He was both pleased and worried about the SI having that level of responsibility. Dr. Narumi and her team had returned to Japan. The d
octor promised to return to check on progress of the SIs as they progressed with body training and neural network growth.

  Their accommodation was a townhouse on South Road, near Mermaid Beach. It was close enough to the water for Toby and Billie to swim every morning. It was likely this morning would be an exception; their appointment was for ten-thirty a.m. Toby sighed. They both were enjoying the opportunity to relax in the sun.

  While Bermuda was almost a tropical isle, it did not have the informality of islands in the Caribbean. They both were enjoying the culture derived from the mix of the population and its links to Europe and America. They would be sad to leave at the end of the week.

  The taxi dropped them at the attorney’s office in the capital city of Hamilton. To Billie’s surprise, they were on time. The receptionist showed them into a small meeting room where the attorney, Thomas Browning, joined them. His greeting was polite and formal, but warm. The day after Toby and Billie had first arrived on the island, Toby had spent almost a day with Browning, establishing his identity and reviewing the process necessary to provide him with indirect control of his uncle’s businesses based out of Bermuda. Toby still continued to be surprised at the scope and complexity of his uncle’s business organization.

  Browning said, as he opened a folder, “We’ve prepared all the documents we discussed when you arrived. There are deeds, minutes, and authorities.” He leafed through the typed pages, giving them a final check and describing them to Toby. “You can start signing now, and I’ll sign each one as witness.”

  Two hours later they were back on the street outside the attorney’s office. Toby was pleased that all the formalities had been completed. The sheer volume of documents was overwhelming. If ever he wanted to check the contents of anything he signed, he’d need to return to the island; copies were not allowed to be removed. Toby wasn’t certain if that was local law or a requirement established by his uncle.

  Billie said, “Your new electrojet should be arriving in about an hour. Remember, you wanted to watch it land. It’s only seven or eight miles to the airport. We can catch a cab now and be there well before its ETA. I can perform a post-flight check—that won’t take long. What do you think?”