“Ready for another session?” asked Carol.
“Not really, but one does what one must.”
Carol paused holding the IV. “What’s up, you’re normally pumped to get into Ashley’s head?”
“Got a dear John last night. My girlfriend from collage dumped me to take up with some 4 F draft dodger.”
“You never mentioned you had a girl back home.”
“I…I’m kinda private about things like that. I…My parents weren’t the most supportive. They teased, a lot, anytime I had a girlfriend, so I just stopped talking about them.”
“Most parents tease.” Carol started the IV and began checking the monitors beside the couch.
“Not like mine. Trust me on this one.”
“I’m sorry about your girlfriend.”
“Me too, but hey, it could be worse.” Ben shrugged.
“How?”
“It could have been me writing the letter. I…I kinda’ have my eye on someone. I couldn’t do anything about it as long as Susan and I were together.”
“Ashley is just a cyber ghost, Ben.” Carol shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“It’s not Ashley. She’s a fantasy, not a reality. No, the girl I’m looking at is very real. Now I just have to build up the courage to ask her out.”
“She’d be crazy to say no!” Carol looked dejected as she finished checking the equipment.
Ben smiled. “Good. How about dinner this Friday?”
“Really? I’m not crazy.” Carol smiled back at him.
“Good, now to work.” Ben activated the cyber feed.
* * * *
Upload monitoring/ Ashley Hinkly /Index 23:35/ 4/11/2033
* * * *
Ashley sighed as Richard rubbed her shoulders. She sat in front of the microscope. “I suspected as much. Tannal said the yellow color was natural, but I never believed him. Oh you could do that forever.” She scanned the compact but efficient lab. She didn’t even know which part of the country the facility was in. Lights blinked on pieces of equipment around the room and a computer screen glowed on the other work table.
“It is comforting that the viral implant they used to give immunity didn’t stick,” agreed Richard.
“Certainly means Earth won’t be overrun with alien life forms. Oh, hmm, work the latisimus dorsi a bit more please?”
“Of course, love. Such a common mold. The only place they wouldn’t have to deal with it is the poles.”
“Hmm. How did they get the samples anyway?”
“Green Peace. Some of the protesters are agents. They raided the facility a few hours ago. Spray painted slogans on the building, that sort of thing. While they were in the compound the agents snatched the samples. It’s a perfect cover.”
“Betty will be pissed if she ever finds out.”
“So what! Frankly, I’ve had just about enough of my daughter. I worked hard to give her a decent life, and all she does is insult me. I feel like I’ve lost her.”
“You haven’t. She’ll come around. It’s just she believes in things and is an extremist.” Ashley caught his hands in hers.
“Perhaps. You know that is something we haven’t discussed.”
“What?”
“Children.”
“Richard you know about my uncle.” Ashley stared sadly at the counter top in front of her.
“I checked the DNA of the identification sample you gave. You don’t have the recessive gene. There is no chance of you passing on the condition.”
Ashley sighed and smiled then an annoyed expression crossed her face and she swiveled her chair to face her lover. “You should have asked my permission!”
Richard smiled. “Why make you sweat and worry about what the tests might say? This way you get the good news without the stress.”
Ashley grinned. “I’m too tired to ball you out right now, Mister God complex.”
Richard stood back in mock offence. “I do not have a God complex. I haven’t tried to control the lightning in weeks!” He smiled, pushed Ashley’s chair around and returned to rubbing her shoulders. “So what about them?”
“What?”
“Children?”
“I think it might be nice, someday.”
“Good, I’ll enjoy the process of bringing that about.”
Ashley caught his hand pulled it forward and kissed it.
* * * *
Upload monitoring/ Ashley Hinkly /Index 20:43/ 21/11/2033
* * * *
Ashley nestled into Richard’s side, his arm around her shoulders. They sat on his battered couch and each held a file folder.
“No!” said Richard.
“All the animal studies came back positive.”
“Ashley, you are not Doctor Jekyll. We do not experiment on ourselves.”
“Richard, we need to do this. The Darmuks are pulling farther and farther ahead. You said yourself that you can’t reverse engineer as quickly as they create. The anomalies in their actions are getting worrisome. The only hope we have of keeping up is if we can interface human and machine intelligence.”
“We’ll get a volunteer.” Richard pulled away to look her in her eye. “I…I don’t want to lose you, Ash. I love you. The procedure is untried. Let’s find someone who will die without it, like we did with the cancer cure.”
Ashley cupped his cheek in her hand. “You know the system will only work with a person trained in mental discipline. Long-term mediators, creative visualizers. Us Pagan types fit the bill.”
“Still—”
“Whoever does it needs a background in biology if they’re going to help catch us up to the Darmuks.”
“I can’t disagree. Okay, when do I go under the knife?”
Ashley felt a chill run through her. “Richard. No!! It’s my research.”
“I’m your facility advisor. I got you involved with the committee. Ash, you know the interface better than I do. If anything goes wrong, who’s better qualified to deal with the problems?”
“Richard, I don’t want to lose you either.” Her voice was small.
“Then be sure your implant works.” He kissed her brow.
* * * *
Upload monitoring/ Ashley Hinkly /Index 10:02/ 02/12/2033
* * * *
Ashley watched as Richard opened his eyes. He lay on a gurney at the committee facility, connected by a wire that snaked from behind his right ear into a computer.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Like someone shoved a bunch of wires through my skull,” he replied.
“All the preliminary tests show green. Close your eyes and focus as if you were trancing out at one of Doctor Godfrey’s lectures.”
“I only did that once.”
“Richard!” Ashley looked stern.
“Okay, I always do it. The man is as interesting as porridge.” Richard smiled.
Ashley grinned then her expression became serious. “Try it.”
Richard closed his eyes. A second passed then the computer screen lit up with letters. “How’s this?”
“Excellent,” said Ashley.
Richard’s brow wrinkled. The screen blanked then slowly colors and lines pulled together. After several minutes a perfect nude of Ashley lying on a sheepskin filled the screen.
“Magnificent, in every sense of the word,” remarked Andrew’s voice.
“Richard, we aren’t alone.” Ashley blushed crimson.
“Oops.” Richard allowed the image on the screen to dissolve into random pixels.
“Impressive,” remarked General Flanders.
“It’s not as easy as it looks. It’s similar to blocking physical pain, but far more detailed. I’m sorry, Ash.”
“Don’t worry, Richard. I’m sure I’ll be implanted soon. ‘Rubber Ducky you’re the one, makes my testing so much fun’.” Ashley sang the altered children’s song.
“Oh, Bloody hell, you will too won’t you?”
“Doctor, Ashley, while it is delightful to see the interaction between the two of you. We have work to do,” said Andrew.
“Of course, general.” Ashley checked several read-outs at the head of Richard’s cot. “Vitals look good. Richard, try the data retrieval. It should be similar to a memory enhancement trance.”
“On it.” Richard closed his eyes. The EEG showed an alpha rhythm. He looked peaceful for a second then screamed.
“Richard, can you hear me?” demanded Ashley as she disconnected the interface.
“Oh, g…g…gods,” he groaned, tears streaming from his eyes.
“What happened?” General Flanders moved to Ashley’s side.
“I don’t know,” she said.
The door flew open and a middle-aged woman burst in. “His EEG went mad. His electrolyte mix is plummeting. IV. Lactated Ringers. Blood sugar is falling like a rock. 300 milliliters d fifty w IV push. Start a second line D5W.”
Richard opened his eyes and whispered. “Bohr, Aage Niels, Danish physicist and Nobel laureate, born in Copenhagen. The son of Niels Bohr, he assisted his father on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II.”
“What?” Ashley bent close to hear. She turned to her computer screen. “Goddess,” she swore. “Give him any brain chemicals in stock. Pump up his blood sugar.”
“What?” demanded the female doctor.
“Every file on the computer’s been opened and copied. His brain is exhausted.”
* * * *
Upload monitoring/ Ashley Hinkly /Index 09:04/ 4/12/2033
* * * *
“Zulu, Bantu-speaking people of southern Africa living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. In the past their economy was based on cultivating millet and raising cattle. Traditionally the Zulu lived in beehive-shaped huts grouped in a circular compound, or kraal. Today most Zulu are dependent on wage labor from farms and mines.” Richard quoted from memory.
“Richard, that’s amazing.” Ashley sat across from him at a table in a sealed examination room.
“It’s strange. I have the knowledge if I reach for it, but it has no context. I can’t picture a krall but I know the statement,” he replied.
“So, Ashley, what has happened to him?” asked General Flanders.
“He absorbed every piece of data in the computer. The entire encyclopedia. I’d thought maybe he’d take the information on the ram., but he accessed the disk drive. I just thank the Gods I kept the files on the machine low. Any more would have killed him. Richard, I’m so sorry.”
“Ash, I insisted, remember? Besides I always wanted encyclopedic information. Now I have it.”
“Will it last and what good is it,” demanded the general.
“I don’t know and incalculable, in that order,” answered Ashley.
“General, imagine being able to copy the experience of a top fighter pilot, who’s aged past his prime, and download it into a up and comer,” explained Richard.
“You can do that?”
“Give us four or five years. For now. I think we need to work out a buffer to keep the brain from over loading.”
“Darn tootin’! I’m not losing you,” said Ashley.
* * * *
Upload monitoring/ Ashley Hinkly /Index 23:35/ 7/2/2034
* * * *
“We’re finally gaining ground on their technology,” observed Richard. Ashley felt him staring into her computer screen over her shoulder.
“Slowly. Zane’s work is going well,” she remarked.
“He’s good, but nowhere near your level.” Richard placed a hand on her shoulder. She leaned her cheek against it.
“He’s better.”
“No one’s better. Are you ready for your Doctoral presentation?”
“Almost. I’ve modified the implant to get around some of the feed rate problems. I just need to test it.”
“On who?”
Ashley swiveled her chair around. “Richard, I can’t keep up with you and Zane for the research anymore. It has to be me.”
“No,” ordered Richard.
Ashley took his hands. “The technology is safe, you proved that. Richard, I love you, but it is so disconcerting to be with someone who can quote the encyclopedia on any topic. It makes me feel stupid.”
“Ash, I never meant to. It’s knowledge, not intellect.” Richard looked stricken.
“I know that, up here.” she tapped her head. “But here,” she tapped her chest. “It’s like when my mother would grill me and make me feel dumb when I got the answers wrong.”
“I love you, Ash. I…”
She placed a finger over his lips. “Then let me do this. Besides the Doctoral presentation will be much better if I can show duplicable results.”
Richard closed his eyes. “Ash, do what you have to, but never forget its hearts that make us, not minds. Knowledge is a tool, nothing more.”
* * * *
Upload monitoring/ Ashley Hinkly /Index 13:35/ 21/2/2034
* * * *
Ash interfaced with the computer and examined the latest Darmuk symbiont.
“Enough.” The voice intruded through her regular senses.
Reluctantly she slipped her consciousness away from the machine.
“Richard, I’m not tired.” Ashley pulled the jack from the port behind her ear. A wave of dizziness struck her as she tried to sit up. She sank back into the interface couch.
“You never are until you stop. Then you turn into a jelly fish.” Richard moved to her side and increased the feed of sugars and brain chemicals into her IV.
“I feel like someone took my brain out and sandpapered it.” She stared at the white institutional ceiling.
“Joys of modern technology.” Richard brushed his hand against her brow and lovingly caressed the side of her face. He glanced at the EEG that was mounted into one of the wall consoles. The pattern was returning to normal.”
“That symbiont is complex. Tannal said they would present us with it in time. A bio to bio interface.”
“It worries me.”
“Tell me about it. They could program people like machines with something like that.”
“Or use people as machines.”
“You mean utilize humans like ram chips in a mother board?”
“That was my conclusion.”
“Richard, I know you don’t like the Darmuks but—”
“Ash, did you see the reports of increased pollutants in the ocean during the time the Darmuks were putting in their power facility.”
“Not really, I was busy with my research.”
“I think they were dumping soluble minerals. The grit they carted off in trucks all had one thing in common.”
“What?”
“Insoluble in water. I think they put in a lot more tunnels than they owned up to.”
“Why?”
“That’s the billion dollar question.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Traitor
Zane held Janis for what he knew would be the last time. There were no tears.
“I love you.” Janis looked into his face. His one eye stared back at her, telling her more than his words ever could.
“I love you too. I have to believe there’s more to life than this. I don’t know how, when, or where, but I swear, I’ll see you again.”
Janis smiled and kissed him.
“We should go,” said Richard. He stood by the back door, his battle armor hidden under a collaborator’s coverall, a
battered briefcase in each hand.
“Maybe if we meet again we can have that bubble bath.” Janis’s lower lip trembled.
“With champagne and strawberries.” Zane kissed her. “I love you.” he kissed her again then moved to the door.
“I love you too. God, why is it like this?” she asked as the door closed behind him.
* * * *
“Focused?” whispered Richard as they shuffled along the street.
“I’ll do the job. At least it won’t hurt too long.” Zane shifted uncomfortably in the coverall that hid his armour.
“Odd the things we come to hope for.”
At the corner a Darmuk with the face of an ostrich stopped them. Richard showed it the papers he carried and with a snort the beast let them pass.
They were stopped three more times on the way to city hall, but each time the travel papers held out. Finally, Richard shuffled up the front steps of the building, Zane at his side.
A thin woman dressed in a short skirt and halter sat by the entrance. There was a pile of papers on her desk. She worked frantically entering the data into a computer.
“We have an appointment with the mayor,” rasped Zane, making no attempt to soften his voice.
“Papers,” snapped the woman. She swiveled the threadbare office chair so she could look at them.
Richard passed her the forms. She glanced at them.
“Third door on the left for weapons check,” she ordered.
Richard and Zane glanced at each other.
“We’re unarmed,” grated Zane.
The woman turned back to her work. “Who cares? Go to weapons check.”
Richard gripped Zane’s arm and sank his hand into his pocket. Zane did the same thing and they moved to the third door. They opened it and stepped in. A desk ran across the room.
“Strip and bend.” ordered the man sitting behind the counter. The guard wore a collaborator’s coverall and an old, police side-arm.
“Doug, you slimy, little weasel. Should have known you’d be a collaborator,” growled Zane.
“Crap, it’s you. What happened to the face?”
“How can you help them?”
“Gotta survive. You though. I thought you got away, became a big shot.”
“Who is this man?” asked Richard.
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