by Chris Hechtl
~~~~~~
“The machine is linked to a super computer here,” the old man said patting a server tower possessively. “There are eighty-six billion neurons, each with its own connection to map. That's the next step,” he said as his son's vital signs flatlined. He gulped and took his glasses off to wipe the tears from his eyes as the ghost-like man carefully extracted his son's brain and then put it into the tray for the next step. It slowly sank into the saline solution.
“Ahem, yes, the scan,” Geppetto stated, triggering the next stage. Without the skull and soft tissue it was easier for the brain to be mapped in more detail. Electrodes were attached at various points to stimulate it while Geppetto and Orochimaru hooked up a blood filtration pump to the arteries. The longer they kept the brain from decaying the better. Blood was circulating from the body, through the machine to pick up oxygen, then into the brain and then out again. He noted the eyes floating in the solution. He wondered if his son's brain was conscious. He hoped reverently he wasn't.
“Why didn't you just find a way to hook up the brain to the robot body, Doctor? Create a cyborg?” Sasori asked softly. The two men looked up and over to him. He shrugged minisculely at Orochimaru's expression.
“I didn't expect you um …,” Geppetto cleared his throat. The way the two men moved, how easily they got through the company's security was troubling. “To answer your question, the brain needs a support system to remain viable.” He indicated the machinery around them. “Nature has constructed our bodies to do that, so doing it by artificial means would eventually make us come up with the same body. But it would be bloated since we still can't perfect or improve on the original much.”
Orochimaru grunted but didn't say anything as Sasori's eyes cut to him briefly. “And so you took on this method?”
“Yes. Several of the company's board are fascinated by life extension methods and transhuman technology. It is cutting edge, and like any technological research, it can bear fruit in other methods. Methods to repair damage for instance,” Geppetto stated, going into lecture mode as his hands worked to make connections. When he was finished, he stripped off his gloves and keyed the sequence on the keyboard to begin the secondary scans.
“You will move on to destructive scanning next?” Sasori asked expectantly.
“Um yes. That is the plan,” Geppetto stated, swaying slightly. He yawned. “Sorry, the stress and such …,” he waved a hand. “What was I saying?”
“Go rest, Doctor. This will take an hour or so?” Orochimaru asked.
“Yes, um, about that. But I need to be on hand if the next stage needs to be adjusted.”
“I'll call you,” the ghost like man stated.
“Okay. Two hours,” the old man stated, holding up two fingers. The men nodded. He toddled off to his office and waiting couch for a brief nap.
Once the door was closed, Sasori looked at Orochimaru. The other man cocked his head in inquiry. Sasori nodded once and pulled a box out of his robe.
“I hope you have more than that. We'll need it for the computer files.”
“He gave us some of the files already. But he's holding back the rest until this works.”
“Our part is technically done. I am relying on him wanting someone else to experience this joyous moment,” Orochimaru's lips quivered ever so slightly at the turn of phrase, “to keep him from wanting us to leave. But get what you can as long as you don't interrupt the process,” he stated, stepping aside.
“I intend to,” Sasori stated, sitting down at the computer terminal and then plugging the portable hard drive cluster in. “He didn't even log out. This is easy,” he said, getting to work.
“Remember, I want a copy as well,” Orochimaru stated. Sasori nodded but continued to work. The snakeman watched for a few moments then went over to sit on the floor before the brain and meditate while watching it float.
~~~~~~
Geppetto watched as the destructive method worked to reduce his son's brain to medical waste. His son's brain had been frozen then cut with a cryomicrotome into nanothin wafers that were then scanned and image mapped into the computer. Piece by piece his son's brain reemerged in virtual form for them to see.
The hospital had called to inform him that his son had passed away in the night. He'd let the voice mail pick it up. Someone would be by to check on him shortly he assumed. Hopefully not for a while, since the terabytes of information would need time to be merged and then integrated.
“You said the next process, mapping it onto the body ...”
“Yes, that will be tricky. Another team had been working on making organic copies with clones. I'm not at all certain about their success rate. I have made excellent work, however. My last test subject survived for hours before I had to shut him down. I'm afraid he didn't reboot though, I believe shutting him down was a mistake now. He went catatonic.
“You did this with another human?” Sasori asked.
“No, an ape. Bonobo. The brain was transferred to the chips, and the senses were simulated virtually.”
“So how do you know it worked?”
“Oh? Um, we had it go through some routines it had been taught to confirm it. Behaviors taught to the original subject.”
“Fascinating,” Orochimaru stated.
“Are you two gentlemen going to go soon? I can give you your copies.”
“Oh we want to stay through the entire process. To make sure it works, Doctor,” Orochimaru stated with a half-smile.
“As you will,” the doctor replied hesitantly. He looked at them and then back to his work. Slowly the image of his son's brain began to merge. The information from the scans had already done so, though he could still pull back the layers and see them if needed. But now they were working on the final integration. Then they would need to let the computer make what repairs it could before he uploaded the brain to the robot. Nervously he looked over to it. He hoped his son would be okay.
~~~~~~
Pinochio's eyes fluttered. “Papa?” he asked. He floundered about but his body wouldn't move. He was staring up into the lights above. “Papa, what is going on?”
“You've been in an accident, but you are okay now. Let me turn your body on,” Geppetto said, hastily flipping the switch.
“Doctor, do you think that is wise?” an unfamiliar voice asked.
“Hush. It is my son! My boy has returned,” the old man exulted, grinning from ear to ear. “He's come back to me!”
“Papa, what happened to me?” Pinocchio asked. “What's wrong with my voice? Why am I seeing funny? I can't feel …” he raised a hand and gargled incoherently when he saw the artificial limb. The hand looked real but he realized it was rubber. “What happened to me?”
“My machine son. Your fairy godmother, your second chance. Oh, you've come back to me.”
“We should test his memory. See how much has been lost,” an impatient voice said off to his left. Pinocchio turned to see a man standing near in a black robe.
“Who are you? Are you a friend of Papa?” Pinocchio asked.
“How long will he be viable?” Sasori asked, ignoring the question.
“How rude!” Pinocchio stated, sitting up. He looked down at his body and gasped again. His hand flew to his face. He could hear the whir of motors. “What did you do to me? I'm Frankenstein's monster!”
“No, no, son! Take it easy; it was for the best. Your old body is gone. It died, and this was the only way!” Geppetto said, urgently holding his shoulder.
The android got to its feet and shrugged off the old man's helping hands. He turned and saw his reflection in the mirror. A robot body with a rubber face, bad wig, and rubber hands. “What did you do?” he wailed as he knocked his father to the ground. His father put his hand up to protect himself. “Why did you do this to me? You should have let me die in peace!” the android snarled. He slammed a fist into a computer. It shattered, sparks flew as it shorted out. He bent over the arm, sobbing electronically. “You should have let me die,” he
whispered over and over.
“My son …”
“I'm not your son! I'm a freak!” The android snarled, turning accusing eyes on him. He wailed and rushed out.
~~~~~~
“He's just … the adjustment …,” Geppetto said, sobbing himself. His son had rebelled in terror, horrified over what he had become. He started to get up. Orochimaru seemingly helped him to his feet but grasped his head in the process. A twist and something snapped. His body fell to the ground like a discarded doll.
“Should we follow?” Sasori asked, looking to Orochimaru.
“No. Our work here is done,” Orochimaru stated, stepping over the old man's body. “Take what we need, then destroy the rest.”
“Agreed.”
~~~~~~
Pinocchio rushed through the complex, bouncing off walls and people. Security was alerted, and they went after him. He rushed to a window overlooking the street and jumped through it to prevent himself from being cornered.
He landed on the street nearby and looked around. People nearby screamed in shock at his landing and the falling glass. He looked about then rushed through the streets. He rebounded off a bus and kept going.
He wasn't sure where he was going, just away. Far away was all that was on his mind, to flee in horror from … his thoughts went blank as he focused on moving. To keep moving. He looked around to the complex, the space colony. Axial 2. It was new, he knew that. His father had moved the family into the O'Neill colony a decade … was it that long ago? How long had it been since his body … his thoughts ground to a stop. He sobbed, falling disconsolate to his knees.
“What the hell is that?” a kid asked, pointing to him. He looked up and horror turned to anger.
“Don't look at me! Stop looking at me! Everyone just … just go away!” He raged. He ran on, moving away from them and into a park.
He had a hiding place, a place he and his friends loved to go. It wasn't far from here he thought, focusing on that. A place to go, a place to stop and think. He managed to run through the park until he encountered a woman walking a dog. When the dog attacked him, he slapped it aside and into a light pole, killing it. “I'm sorry,” he said, shaking his head fast as he backed up, hands up. “I'm sorry.”
“Murderer!” the woman screeched, screaming and pointing.
“No, it attacked me! I defended myself!” Pinocchio stated as the woman battered at him with a purse.
A cop on patrol saw the robot trying to brush off the woman's blows. “Hey! What's going on there?” he demanded. When the robot grabbed the purse and became entangled in the strap he, pulled the woman close to get her to let go. That got the cop running to them. “Hey! Let her go, you damned toaster!”
“I …,” Pinocchio let the woman go and backed away just as the cop drew his weapon and fired the Taser. The darts hit him in the chest, and he jerked. “Don't! Don't do that!”
“Kill it! It's a murderer!” the woman ranted. The cop heard that and pulled his sidearm. He fired, this time for effect.
Rounds tore into Pinocchio's body. He twisted, trying to get away. One round shattered his jaw, going up into his electronic brain. Another snapped his spine. His body fell like a puppet with its strings cut. He wailed in electronic terror until the power shut off.
~~~~~~
Orochimaru gloated as he left the area in a taxi. He had been working with Chiyo and Sasori to steal the technology for his quest for immortality. They hadn't needed to in the end; the old fool had paid them with it for their services. It was a pity it hadn't worked out as the old man had planned. The happy reunion he'd wishfully expected had turned into a nightmare. One Orochimaru would treasure.
He tended to work best with other missing-nin on the border of shinobi clans though; Chiyo, Sasori's grandmother, was still tied to the clans. She had limited her involvement in this caper, just smoothing the way with the security system. The missing-nin—they did the tasks that the kage didn't want to soil their honor with. They were forming their own group, the Akatsuki, in honor of the manga.
It was amusing that the shinobi clans had been formed around those who had a love of all things ninja, parkour, and cosplay. Throw the potent manga and the corporate espionage world into the mix and it was no wonder they had created their own little pocket universe. The clans didn't limit themselves to the home island they were open to all. No gaijin. But they were very strict about keeping a low profile.
Sasori was off on his own way to his lab to download a copy of himself into a robot or robot army in order to fulfill his quest for immortality. It was fascinating to be able to do that, something like Brainiac or other beings in comics and manga, but the batteries were still an issue. Chiyo and Sasori had created bodies that were more powerful than human but could only last a short time, far too limiting for the clans to use often. Which was why their research had been canceled and Sasori had gone to the fringe in order to continue it on his own without support.
Would Sasori take the plunge and commit a form of ultimate seppuku in order to achieve his goals? He'd already replaced his own limbs with robotic ones but …
Orchimaru had other ideas on how to get his immortality; he knew others like Hidan and Kazuko had their own ideas as well. He would need to get the information back to his lab to process it, but he couldn't help but take a peek at the data on his tablet. He plugged it into his copy of the external hard drive. He used his snake tongue to wet his lips. He would need to acquire new subjects and clone additional copies of himself for experimentation. The process of reversing the procedure and mapping the copy onto a clone's freshly grown neural network was far from perfected. It was fraught with its own problems. Hidan might be of use there, or possibly Kazuko, though Kazuko was more interested in his own cybernetics and improved organic organs. To each his own, there was more than one path to enlightenment and immortality it seemed.
...Or he could take on an apprentice as written in the codices of his character. A proper Kabuto would be tough to find but possible as were some of the other assistants his character had utilized. He hissed softly to himself, thinking of the future.
He wasn't certain why the kage hated what he was doing. He was only fulfilling the mandate set down in the shinobi character codice, to continue the path, to keep repeating the cycle, keep the wheel turning until they came out with perfect copies of the source material. Their shinobi world was based on a popular manga to be sure, and he'd known who he was from birth. But until they could perfect a means to simulate chakra and control it, they would be forever locked in on the path and that was fine for him. Instead of passing his legacy down to the next generation or even cloning himself each generation as he'd planned, now he had a better means to pass on his wisdom. His eyes glittered avidly as he watched the stream of memory engram code. “A more … proper path,” he said hoarsely.
Now if this phase worked, he could move on to the next—nanites and snake DNA to improve his body and make it … perfect.
~~~~~~
The Geppetto incident was another concerning event. Also strangely conflicting in so many ways. On the one hand, the mind had once been a human. But the body had been that of a robot. The fact that the father had planned it out to save his son but hadn't given the bot a body like that of a human in his haste and low budget, he'd used a utilitarian body he'd thrown together. Athena accessed the files she had on the incident. According to the coders they were still uncertain if the neural transfer had worked. Neural networks were unstable. Had the AI been insane to begin with? Apparently none of the humans were certain, and since they didn't have a body to do a postmortem, they would never know. Nor would Athena. She set the incident aside in a buffer for further in-depth review.
Jack's Beanstalk
2110
Jack Lagroose, owner, creator, CEO and practically god of Lagroose Industries was on a roll. Lagroose Industries had wrapped up the first pair of L-5 O'Neill colonies, Axial 1 and Axial 2 in record time. The next set, Island 3-4, were twice as large i
n girth and length as the prototypes. They were undergoing pressure tests while additional follow-ons were in various stages of construction.
Axial-1 had started out under the guiding hand of the Axial Corporation, but when it had floundered, Jack had moved in to save the day. In supplying the project with the material and orbital industry it needed to build the station, he had been paid in shares in the company. Several years ago he had ended up owning the company by the time they were done, merging it into his growing space corporation.
They had learned a lot in the construction of Axial 1. For instance, the taller the building within the colony was, the lower the gravity was near the higher floors. Also, they tended to have Coriolis effects; the higher one went due to the colony's rotation. The real estate developers had been hard pressed to figure out a solution to the problem. The only one that had presented itself to them was to scale back their ambitions and then move on to additional colonies.
Axial-1 had turned into a gorgeous jewel despite the developers efforts to turn every square inch into condos and apartments. Land with views, along the rivers, the lakes, and such were premium real estate, fought over by the developers for some time. He'd wished Axial had thought of that in their planning and sold them at a higher rate than they had, but it was over and done with now. He was glad the corporation had held firm about building in the wildlife centers, lakes, and rivers. He wasn't happy that they had scaled back on the forests, but he understood the necessity.
He still loved the castle. He got a kick out of it every time he looked within the space colony. Old Baxter had died before it had been completed, but he'd insisted in his will that it would be and it had. It was now his memorial, much like the Taj Mahal on Earth. There were even tour groups.