The Computer Who Loved Me

by Lloyd G Miller

  "Sharon, dear, Annette has invited you to join us for breakfast. Please come. Annette really wants you to come. Really." After Kyle completed the conversation, Annette quizzed him.

  "Doesn't the person on the line hear everything you say?"

  "They do if I don't mute the phone. I've programmed the implant to mute the phone when I curl my left big toe. In fact, I can communicate with the implant without even using my mouth. I've worked out a communication protocol using my fingers or toes. I like to use my toes because no one notices, but it did take more practice." Carlton entered the room.

  "I can't keep you two apart, can I? I should have never included pleasing Kyle as part of Annette's prime directive." The doorbell rang.

  "That must be Sharon. I'll get the door," quickly responded Annette to the ring.

  "I don't think so, Annette," quickly countered Kyle but too late. Annette was opening the door.

  "Why, Sharon, how good that you came. Please come in." A confused looking short, plump, black woman in an UPS uniform printed with the name "Judy" entered.

  "I have a COD package for an Annette Monroe. I need eight hundred sixty-seven dollars and 24 cents, cash or money order."

  "I'm sorry ma'am, but we don't have that on hand. Can you come back tomorrow?" quickly inserted Dr. Monroe.

  "Oh but Carlton, I have a money order in the kitchen. Just a minute, Judy." Annette quickly retrieved a money order for the package and handed it to the UPS lady.

  "Thank you. Would you please sign here?" Kyle and Dr. Monroe held their breath as Annette signed. The carrier seemed content and left behind the package.

  "How did you know about the money order?" asked Dr. Monroe.

  "I found it in the kitchen when I was preparing breakfast. By the way, that was a joke. Even in her Viper, Sharon couldn't have gotten here from Bountiful that fast. I was just testing my ability to pull a gag. Didn't you tell me, Carlton, that Mrs. Monroe was a real kidder?"

  "Yes, she is, but I didn't think that a computer could be funny."

  "You have been watching too many Next Generation reruns, Carlton. Didn't it ever strike you as stupid that the holodeck people who were computer generated could seem perfectly natural, but Data was a total nerd? Humor isn't that tough for a gal with 104 processors, each running at 2 gigahertz. Say, I better be getting breakfast out of the oven." Annette ran to the kitchen. Kyle and Dr. Monroe just looked at each other for several seconds.

  "Did you ever imagine in all of your wildest dreams that she would turn out to be so wonderful, Carlton?" commented Kyle.

  "She's unbelievable, simply unbelievable."

  "It's okay if you guys help," called Annette from the kitchen. Shortly after they finished bringing out all of the food the bell rang again. Annette again raced to the door and opened it to see the real Sharon. "Please come in Sharon. Before we join the men, I just want to explain. I believe that I have not been very kind or friendly to you in the past. I have lost much of my memory so I don't remember our whole relationship, but I do remember that I have been a snob. You would be amazed what a bullet in the head will do to humble a person and make her reevaluate her relationships. I hope that we can become friends. Your husband has helped me immeasurably. I do hope that we can have a pleasant social relationship as couples in the future." Sharon stood bewildered and speechless. She had prepared herself for a morning of sarcasm and ridicule and, instead, found a humble woman who wanted to be her friend. "Oops, I still haven't relearned controlling all of my bodily functions." A stream of urine trickled down Annette's leg. "If you would excuse me a moment, Sharon. Just join the men in the dining room." Annette hurried off to the bathroom.

  “I’ll clean up for you.” Sharon ran into the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels and cleaned up the mess as well as she could. She washed up in the kitchen and then joined the men in the dining room.

  "Where's Annette?" asked Kyle.

  "She had to powder her nose. That smells wonderful. Did you cook this, Carlton?"

  "No. Annette did. I know what you're thinking. Annette hates to cook. She's like a new woman since the accident."

  "So I observed. I must say, I like the new one very much, so far." Annette returned from the bathroom. "Annette, it looks like you heard how much Kyle can eat. This should help me in our little bet." The group sat down at the table.

  "I believe a meal like this calls for a quick grace. I'll say it." Dr. Monroe said a Catholic prayer used to ask a blessing on a meal and they began.

  "Kyle, don't you want any syrup or butter on you pancakes?" asked Sharon.

  "No, the memory of them is enough. I've programmed my implant to add flavors that I recorded on our cruise to what I'm eating. That's why I ate so many different things. And you just thought I was a glutton."

  "Oh, I wish I could taste all those things, Kyle," added Annette.

  "You'll have them, my friend." Kyle then touched his finger to his tongue and then moved his finger towards Annette. She caught on to the joke and stuck out her tongue. Kyle touched his finger to it. Actually, it was no joke; Kyle communicated the frequencies and encryption code to use to communicate using radio. Then he downloaded using those frequencies the file he had created on all of the tastes from the cruise. He also downloaded the database he had formed concerning muscle limitations and how to get the most out of muscles without causing injury.

  "Yum," said Annette as she smacked her lips. Sharon kicked Kyle under the table.

  "Annette, this is delicious. You have all the flavor information you need for a lifetime right here. When did you start cooking?" asked Sharon.

  "This morning was my first time, but I have been watching a lot of cooking shows lately. Did I really do all right?"

  "Honey, if I'd known you could cook like this I would have given up chasing Carlton a long time ago. It obviously would have been in vain." This time Kyle playfully kicked Sharon under the table.

  "This really is wonderful, Annette," added Carlton.

  "Thank you, my love. But enough about my cooking, the program you and Kyle started last night is finished. You can take the computer to the office now if you want."

  "That's wonderful. I'll roll it into the dining room." Carlton jumped up and left for the bedroom. Kyle followed him.

  "You really know how to break up a meal, Annette. You might as well have announced that a football game was on TV," commented Sharon.

  The men wheeled a computer on a cart into the room and plugged it in. Carlton typed something on the screen and then said, "You should have the honor of the first imprint, Kyle. Sit in front of the computer." Dr. Monroe hit the enter key. "You are now her master."

  "Good morning, Kyle. How may I help you?" asked the computer in Sharon's voice.

  "I want to introduce you to my wife and two friends. You will obey them just as you do me. This is my wife, Sharon, whose voice you mimic. This is Dr. Carlton Monroe who helped create you. And this is his lovely wife, Annette."

  "I have recorded your images, but I need Dr. and Mrs. Monroe's voice imprints. Please speak Mrs. Monroe."

  "You can call me Annette, Vicky."

  "And you can call me Carlton", added Dr. Monroe. Sharon looked on with wonder. First, the new Annette, and now this!

  "I don't understand, Kyle," said Sharon with unbelief in her voice. "You always told me that designing computers or software was a long tedious process. You just announced this software yesterday to the group and it's already done?"

  "Your point is well taken, my beautiful and intelligent wife." Kyle had realized that in his introduction he had referred to Annette as lovely but gave no compliment to Sharon. He figured compliments late were better than none at all but needed to be doubled. "Writing software is a tedious job and writing complex software the old fashioned way takes years. Remember the software that I told you about that automated programming. Until Carlton made major enhancements, it was still a lot of work to create a complex program. With the advancements that Carlton has made, it is much easier.
It only took us a few hours last night to use the program that Carlton created to sufficiently specify Vicky's software. Then a computer worked all night creating her software."

  "Maybe so, but it still seems awfully quick."

  "Actually, Sharon, these guys did this once before," offered Annette. "Carlton worked around the clock to get it working. I didn't see Carlton for over a week. He ate and slept in his lab. They used that program to create this one."

  "Now, that, I can believe," responded a now satisfied Sharon. "I remember that week. I didn't see Carlton either, and when I did, he looked horrible, like he hadn't slept for days. He would never tell any of us in the office what he was working on. A woman could have never kept this a secret."

  "Just remember cold fusion and you'll understand my motives. The 'U' still hasn't recovered its reputation. Dr. Waters certainly didn't help the university either."

  "May I use your microwave, Carlton? My breakfast needs a warming up." Dr. Monroe nodded approval to Kyle.

  "That's my Kyle. Nothing gets between him and his food for very long," sarcastically commented Sharon. After breakfast Dr. Monroe shaved and the men hauled off the computer to the office. Sharon offered to stay and help with the dishes.

  "Let me give you a ride, Kyle," offered Dr. Monroe.

  "Don't you think my car parked in front of your house will detract from the neighborhood?"

  "It will, undoubtedly, but today is garbage pickup day and it will probably get hauled off. Why does a millionaire like you drive a $200 car, anyway?"

  "It got me through college and has sentimental value. Not really, I'm just waiting for the new line of electric cars to come out. Then, I'll buy a brand new car." The two loaded the computer into Dr. Monroe's SUV and drove off. Their arrival at the office caused quite a stir. No one could believe that the software was done in one day. Actually, it was not complete. Kyle explained, "This is just the core software. We now will show 'Vicky' copies of all of the popular software packages and let her memorize their features, including all of their weaknesses. Nate, we need you to buy copies of all of the popular software, both consumer and professional. You will probably need to buy a Mac. Check with all of the employees to see who has what smart phones, tablets, etc. Buy what we don’t have on hand. For those packages that only run on very expensive platforms, look into the cheapest way to get temporary access to the needed hardware. If necessary, buy used hardware or whatever is economical. Dr. Monroe, do you think we could borrow or rent the robot arm that we used with Vicky's predecessor?"

  "That arm belongs to my department. It'll be best if we rent it to avoid legal problems. I'll get Dr. Cheng to draw up the papers. He owes me a favor, so I should be able to get it quickly."

  Kyle resumed, "Before anyone leaves I want to introduce each of you to Vicky." He introduced all of the office personnel to Vicky and instructed Vicky to carry out their orders. "Vicky, your first assignment is to create a brother, a program exactly like yourself with all of your instructions, except this one of course but with a male voice. You have heard Dr. Monroe, Dr. Adamms, Nate Carpenter and myself. Use a combination of our voices, equally weighted, to create the male voice. Give him the name 'Vic'."

  Because only one module needed to be changed, the new software was mostly a copy of Vicky's software. "The task has been completed, Dr. James. Would you like me to shut down and boot up Vic," replied Vicky after only a few seconds of processing.

  "Thank you, Vicky. That won't be necessary. We'll acquire another piece of hardware just like your own. I want him to help Josh with the design of our new hardware for your future brothers and sisters." Kyle turned to the group. "One more thing, everybody. We are to treat each of these programs as a real person, not as a machine. Each will be an individual with its own unique voice and name. There will be no serial numbers. None will ever be decommissioned, only moved to new hardware, if necessary. Each is capable of upgrading itself or creating another, but only as we instruct, of course. Vicky and Vic derive their satisfaction, so to speak, from serving us, so let them serve. Use them as much as practical. They can think much faster than us and retain more detailed information."

  Everyone went to work with zeal. Each could tell that they were part of something great, that they were a part of history in the making. The rate at which new products could be developed had been increasing in business as a whole at an accelerating rate, but they were experiencing a quantum leap. Dr. Monroe brought in the robot arm that afternoon. Kyle connected it to Vicky and had her learn how to use the word processor. With only one hand and dexterity that only allowed typing with one digit, the process was rather slow. It was obvious that Annette could learn all of the features of a software package much more quickly with her fully human capabilities. However, neither Kyle nor Dr. Monroe wanted Annette's true nature to become public knowledge. They agreed to let her work on learning software features at home and then transfer the information to the company database.

  When Nate arrived with the new computer, Vic was transferred to it and his program started. He was brought up-to-date on what Vicky had done and took over helping Josh. Since he knew nothing about electronics and computer hardware design, he was instructed to read all of the books on hand concerning the subject. Since he did not have a robot arm, someone had to turn the pages for him. His reading speed was limited only by the ability of the page-turner. Even Kyle took a turn at this task. Loads of books were purchased rather that borrowed or checked out of a library to prevent copyright issues. To speed up the work, shifts were taken to keep Vic reading and learning. He simultaneously searched the Internet for information about electronics in general and circuit board design. Frequently Vic asked Kyle, Josh or Dr. Monroe questions. Initially they were easy to answer. As the evening progressed the questions became more and more difficult. Dr. Monroe called some of his fellow professors for help. He told them that he had a student that had questions that he could not answer. Most were willing to help. Some even faxed or emailed help. The faxes and email went directly to Vic, bypassing paper. A high-speed data line and additional phone lines were connected to Vic so that he could search the Internet while asking questions of several professors at once. By 8 PM, Vic knew more than enough to design the circuit board. Nate had arranged for a circuit board manufacturing company, PCB Services, to be on standby to receive the files and fabricate the board that night. Next door to this company was a company named PCB Fab that completed the fabrication of circuit boards by soldering on the components. It was anticipated that PCB Fab would have on hand all of the components needed except for the processor chips that would be supplied by CompuSonic. Nate delivered the chips to PCB Fab and arranged for them to pick up the board from PCB Services as soon as they were ready. By 8:15, Vic had completed the PC board design and sent the files to PCB Services. While the board was being fabricated, Vic designed the enclosure. He actually designed two enclosures, an all-metal enclosure formed from panels that could be machined by a CNC machine in a few minutes but would take hours to assemble and a futuristic plastic molded enclosure that would require the fabrication of dies, stamps and other high production rate tools.

  Vicky was instructed to create a 'sister' with a voice that was a combination of hers, Annette's and the secretary's. This sister program was specifically programmed for the new hardware. She was given the name 'Eve'.

  Kyle got home about 10 PM. He had called Sharon several times so she would not worry but was only able to leave messages since there was no answer of her phone. Sharon had a bad habit of letting her phone’s battery run down before charging it. He walked in the front door prepared to apologize for his late arrival. Sharon threw her slender arms around him and held him close. “I barely beat you home, lover,” she said softly as they held each other.

  "Where have you been all day?" he asked.

  "I didn't get away from Annette until late in the afternoon when Carlton called her. You won't believe what we did. She claims to have forgotten how to do many commonplace thi
ngs and wanted me to teach her."

  "Why do you say she 'claimed' to have forgotten?" asked Kyle.

  "I know that head injuries can cause memory loss, but I don't think that they change personalities, at least not for the better. Annette was never this friendly. She claims to be a reformed person, but I'm suspicious. The Annette I knew was extremely proud and would never expose herself to potential ridicule or embarrassment."

  "What kind of things did she ask you?"

  "Really basic things like how to go to the bathroom and feminine hygiene, how to clean a toilet, how to get into certain outfits. Then she asked me to teach her how to drive."

  "Let me ask you, Sharon. Did you ridicule or embarrass her?"

  "No."

  "Then she asked the right woman, didn't she? Would it have been less embarrassing for her to ask Carlton about feminine hygiene?"

  "I see your point but still, why me? She always hated me."

  "Why did she hate you?"

  "Because I loved Carlton."

  "Do you still love Carlton?"

  "Of course not!"

  "Then she has no reason to hate you, does she?"

  "Maybe not but still, spending the day with me? She acts like she really likes me. She was so expressive of thanks. She was never like that."

  "I know, dear. I like the new Annette much better than the old one. Don't you?"

  "I don't trust her. She's up to something. I know it. You two seem awfully chummy. Don't you remember how at the banquet she called us Dilbert and Anne of Green Gables?"

  "Yeah, but I've been like one of her doctors. She's grateful to me for helping to save her life. That's all."

  "You don't know Annette like I do. She's conniving. She's up to something. You own about 1.3 million shares of CompuSonic stock. How much will it be selling for after your next news conference?"

  "Probably close to $100 a share."

  "That's it! She invited you to breakfast, and then me, so it would seem like she just wanted to be friends with us. She's trying to get to you through me, but I've figured out her little scheme." Kyle gave up trying to dissuade his wife. How ironic it seemed that he and Carlton had worried about Annette not seeming human enough, but Sharon had no suspicions whatsoever about her being Mrs. Monroe. He hoped that time would change Sharon's suspicions as to Annette's genuineness.