Book 4: 3rd World Products, Inc.

by Ed Howdershelt

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  A few moments into her meal, Karen asked, “You were saying...? Time to talk about what?"

  Pausing with a bite of steak, I said, “AI's and fields, that's what. You asked why you hadn't seen fields used like that. The reason is that AI technology is being blocked. What doctor wants to hear that he's going to be replaced?"

  She shook her head. “They couldn't replace real doctors."

  "Sure they could. Not for a few years because everybody's shy of new things, but a string of successes like Linda's would guarantee that AI's would replace human doctors fairly quickly. Insurance companies would love them. Hospitals could buy one and use it for twenty years for a tenth or less of what a human doctor would cost them. Now, why do you think we aren't seeing AI doctors? The Amarans made their offer two years ago, I think. Steph? Is that about right?"

  Steph appeared in the seat beside mine and replied, “Two years, four months, and thirteen days."

  Mills squeaked and dropped her fork, then breathed deeply and muttered as she fished her fork out of her food.

  As Mills recovered from Steph's abrupt appearance, I asked, “Have any patent applications concerning field medical uses been filed?"

  "One for immobilizing patients and one for transporting them. Both patent applications are registered to 3rd World Products. Neither has received approval to date."

  "What about patents on medical nanobots or field hardware?"

  "None. The Amarans have shared medical nanobots and sealed field generators and controllers, but they haven't shared manufacturing data."

  I looked at Mills. Her mouth was open as wide as her eyes.

  "Oh, my God,” she said flatly. “It's true."

  "Steph,” I said, “Please see what's necessary to register a US patent on the field-generated 'temporary medical device' we used here today to suppress bleeding. List all advantages and variations such as device transparency and the ability to use instruments through the device to repair tissue damage. And anything else you can think of, of course. Hell, you'll know what to say better than I would, but be sure to call it a device. The lawyers can argue about semantics later."

  Mills said, “I think you may be confused about what may actually be patentable."

  "Could be. I never looked into them much, but Steph will know."

  Pausing to sip my drink, I added, “We'll have George Wilmot attempt to register a patent in your name, Steph. If he can't, we'll try registering it in Switzerland next. If we have to, we'll just go down the list of countries until somebody accepts your patent app, then use it as a precedent if anyone else tries to patent the same ‘device'."

  Mills put a hand on my arm to stop me and asked, “But ... Won't you have to share the patent with 3rd World? You're an employee."

  I gave her a grin. “Steph isn't and I don't have to be."

  "But she isn't a real person, Ed, she's a computer. You own her!"

  "We're working on that. A few precedent-setting patents in her name might help put some pressure on the government to solve that problem, too. A lot of people would be outraged to learn that fantastic new medical techniques were being suppressed."

  Another thought occurred to me.

  "Steph, let's see if there's a country that will let you practice medicine, even if it has to be some pissant little nation for now. We could open a chain of AI-run free clinics under the Stephanie Montgomery banner."

  Karen seemed unable to believe what she was hearing.

  "What's the matter, Mills?” I asked. “Did I overlook something?"

  "Ah ... I ... I don't know. I think you'd better talk this over with Linda, Ed. At the very least, with Linda."

  "Planned to. Anything else?"

  She slowly shook her head and said, “No. I guess not."

  My watch beeped.

  I tapped the button and Linda said, “Hi, Ed. I can't leave you and Steph alone for a minute, can I?"

  "Hi, Linda. Security couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to check me out?"

  "Apparently not. I got the dining hall story third-hand when I verified your duty status for them. Is Stephanie with you?"

  "Yes, she is,” I said. “Shall we put you on a screen?"

  "No,” said Linda. “I just got out of the shower. Good work, Steph."

  "Thank you, Linda."

  "Ed, can you and Steph spare time for a trip to 3rd World's Washington, DC offices this evening?"

  "Sure, Linda. What's up?"

  "Nothing much. It's an errand, really. I was going to send Alexis, but since you're training Dr. Mills, I thought you might want to get in some night flying. Drop by hangar two and see Phil about the package. I'll let him know to expect you."

  With a laugh, I asked, “You mean you haven't already? Oh, hey, do you mind if I take a few minutes to drop Tiger off in Florida on the way?"

  "No problem. As long as the package is there by ten."

  "Call it a deal, then. Anything else?"

  "Nope. Thanks, Ed."

  "Anything for my Fearless Leader. Over and out and all that."

  Linda laughed. “Okay. Bye, bye, Dragonfly.” She clicked off.

  Karen watched me work on my steak sandwich dinner for some moments, then picked up her own fork and began eating. Another few moments passed before she put the fork down and settled back in her chair.

  "Ed, you've known Linda for a long time, haven't you?"

  I nodded as I used a piece of bread to sweep up gravy. “Yup."

  "Don't you think there's something odd about making a delivery to the Washington offices in the middle of the night?"

  Shrugging, I said, “Nope."

  Mills looked at me as if she definitely thought so, then she looked at Steph.

  "How about you?"

  "No,” said Steph. “The package contains documents that will be shown in court tomorrow."

  "What kind of documents?"

  "I can't say. There's a seal on the briefcase, Dr. Mills."

  Karen's gaze narrowed slightly as she asked, “Then how do you know the briefcase contains only documents?"

  "I peeked at transshipment records."

  "You ... ‘peeked'? How?"

  "Oh, hell, Mills,” I said, “She's a supercomputer who can link into any damned thing on this base. How do you think she peeked?"

  Giving her a 'get real' glance, I rose to take my tray to the bus bins.

  "By the way,” I said, “It'll be a straight shot to Florida, then another to DC. Not much scenery other than stars and nothing to do. You don't have to come with us."

  Mills stood up and picked up her tray.

  "No, I'll come along,” she said, then she headed toward the bus bins.

  When I looked at Steph, she gave me a wry little smile and disappeared.

  On my way to the bus bins, I keyed my implant. “Elkor."

  "Yes, Ed?"

  "Ask Tiger if he's ready to go home, please. If he wants to look around some more, that's okay, but Steph and I have an errand to run this evening."

  "Yes, Ed."

  I was scraping my tray clean when Elkor said, “He says he's ready, Ed."

  "Good enough. We're going to the flitter, then to hangar two. Where's Tiger?"

  "He's outside hangar two now. I'll have him meet you there."

  "Great. Thanks, Elkor."

  Karen shook her head slightly and said, “I still think it's a little unnatural to be directly linked to two computers."

  "People do lots of things that are a little unnatural these days, ma'am. I hear some people even fly through the air in big-assed machines and talk to each other with little plastic boxes. Wouldja believe it?"

  A few minutes later we were aboard the flitter, which immediately lifted and headed toward hangar two. Tiger and Elkor sat together by the open hangar doors and Steph stopped the flitter so they could hop aboard, then she aimed us at Phil's corner office.

  Phil stepped out when he saw us coming and held up a black briefcase as he said, “Hi,
Ed. This is it. Tom Wells gets it. Is that little Tiger?"

  I nodded. “Yup, but not so little anymore, Phil."

  "Is he as smart as Bear was? That little guy used to startle the hell out of me sometimes with his questions. And sometimes with his answers, by God."

  "I'd say Tiger could probably startle you, too."

  Tiger seemed to stare hard at Phil for a moment, then he said something and Steph answered him.

  Steph said, “Tiger said 'this man seems familiar to me'. I told him that Phil fed him and visited with him when he was kept aboard the flitter."

  As Steph translated, Mills looked at me questioningly.

  "I found Tiger just before I went to the asteroid station,” I told her. “He stayed aboard Steph for a few days while I was gone and Phil and Doreen helped Elkor take care of him until I got back. Tiger was just a frightened, confused feral kitten back then, and..."

  "Um, Ed,” said Mills, “The recordings ... Stephanie went with you to the station."

  "Yup. She stayed here, too."

  "Oh. What? Uh, how...?"

  "We made a backup and I took a copy of her to the station. That's who wound up running the place. I came back here and Elkor activated the backup. Now there are two Stephanies, a few million miles apart."

  Tiger hopped to the floor to approach Phil, who knelt to let Tiger have a sniff at his hand. Tiger suddenly yelled again and stretched to rub his face on Phil's hand.

  Steph said, “Tiger said, 'The man who brought milk!'"

  Phil picked up Tiger and ruffled Tiger's chin. Tiger looked solemnly into Phil's eyes for a moment and said something else. Phil looked at Steph.

  "Tiger said 'Thank you', Phil,” said Steph.

  Ruffling Tiger's ears and stroking him, Phil said, “Tell him I was happy to help."

  She did so and the reunion continued for some moments before Phil remembered the briefcase by his feet. He gestured at it with a temporarily free hand.

  "You have to sign for it,” he said, “I'll get the forms."

  Carrying Tiger, he stepped into his office and returned with a clipboard. I signed for the case and Phil put the clipboard on a nearby crate.

  Phil looked at Karen and said, “Y'know, I didn't think much about cats until I met Bear, but they're damn near as smart as some people."

  Mills gave him a small smile and glanced at me as she asked, “Bear?"

  "My previous cat,” I said. “He was with me almost eighteen years."

  "Smart little devil, too,” said Phil. “I was sitting in there feeling sorry for myself one afternoon after my fortieth birthday. Ed showed up with Bear and Stephanie and Steph said that Bear wanted to know why I was sad. When I told him, he seemed to think for a minute, then said that since his life was nearly over, he couldn't share my sadness about being in the middle of my life."

  Laughing for a moment, Phil grinningly continued, “Well, I almost told him to fuck off—excuse me, ladies—but then I realized that he was right. Then I wondered how the hell a cat would know he was getting old. I sat and talked with him for over an hour. Felt strange as hell doing it, and there were times Steph and Elkor couldn't quite figure out what he was saying, but it was a helluva thing, you know? Talking to a cat? When Ed came back from wherever that day, I was sorry to see ol’ Bear go."

  Mills then chuckled as she asked a question that earned her a harsh look from Phil.

  "Are you sure you were talking to the cat, and not to a computer?"

  Phil straightened himself and glanced down at Tiger, then softly glowered at Karen for a moment before speaking.

  "Ma'am, you wouldn't ask something like that if you'd ever talked to Tiger, here, so why don't you try it sometime and then ask yourself that same question?"

  Tiger said something and Steph nodded smilingly as she answered him. When Tiger started struggling to jump down, Phil looked a little perplexed as he put Tiger down.

  "It's okay, Phil,” said Steph. “He wants to get something from the flitter."

  Dashing aboard the flitter, Tiger headed to the back and disappeared into the field that surrounded Steph's treasure pile. Tiger emerged a moment later and zipped back to Phil with one of the gold coins in his mouth, which he put at Phil's feet before he sounded off.

  Karen and Phil stared uncomprehendingly, unbelievingly at the coin. Phil wonderingly bent to pick up both Tiger and the coin and turned it over in his hand.

  "Holy shit...” whispered Phil, “Is this ... Is this thing real?"

  "It's real,” said Steph. “I found a number of them and Tiger asked if he could give you one. Please accept it, Phil. It would mean a lot to Tiger."

  "But ... Does he even know what this is? Are you sure about this?"

  "He knows that people value them. Yes, Phil, I'm very sure you should accept it."

  Phil shook his head as if to clear it and looked at the coin again before meeting Tiger's steady gaze.

  "I ... All right, then,” Phil managed chokingly, “Thank you, Tiger. Thank you very, very much, little guy."

  Mills tapped my arm and I looked at her as Steph translated Phil's words.

  "Ed,” she whispered sharply, “Where did that gold coin come from?"

  "Tell you later,” I whispered back, “Why? You want one, too?"

  She looked flustered as she said, “No! I mean, that wasn't what I meant at all, Ed. I just wondered where the hell computers and cats get gold coins!"

  "Later, then. We need to get underway if we're gonna get that case to DC by ten."

  Phil heard us talking and said, “Oh, hell. I forgot about that. Okay. Tiger,” he hugged Tiger and held the coin in his palm as he spoke, “Thanks, little buddy. I really appreciate this."

  I handed Steph and Karen aboard the flitter as Phil and Tiger swapped a few last-minute snuggles, then Tiger jumped down and came to join us. After several more goodbyes and some waving, we got underway and left the hangar.

  Plunking myself into the seat to the left of the pilot's seat, I turned to Mills and said, “You're driving, sort of. I'd suggest that you suggest that we head for my house."

  Mills had been staring at Tiger. She turned to face me and said, “Uh, sure. Okay. Where's your house?"

  Rolling my eyes as if Karen really hadn't quite got the hang of things, I said, “Why not just try asking Steph to take us there?"

  With a dour look at me, she turned to Steph, opened her mouth to speak, and then sat silent for a moment.

  "What's the matter now?” I asked.

  Karen shook her head tersely and said, “I'm sorry, damn it, but I just can't seem to get used to having to phrase orders to a computer in polite terms. Even after all of today, I still actually have to think about it."

  Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Stephanie, would you take us there, please?"

  Steph smiled sweetly as she said, “Of course, Dr. Mills."

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I knew it was coming. The flitter instantly launched upward and toward the southeast at a barely subsonic speed until it reached 10,000 feet, then it accelerated to full speed as it climbed to a hundred miles. Mills sat gripping her seat in openmouthed shock as the stars quickly became much sharper and the sky blackened.

  Steph asked, “Music, Ed?"

  Nodding, I said, “I think it's your turn to choose, ma'am."

  I laughed aloud as bluegrass strings began ringing out 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' all around us at a middle volume.

  "Do you know this one?” Steph asked.

  "Flatt and Scruggs wrote it and first played it,” I said. “Sometime in the sixties."

  Steph made a sour face and said, “Drat."

  I laughed again and asked, “Drat?"

  "Yes, drat. I thought I might finally have found a tune you couldn't identify. You said you didn't pay any attention to country music."

  "Sorry, milady. Maybe next time. It has to happen sooner or later."

  As the music rose and fell and the banjo solo yielded to the guitar solo, Karen stared
upward at a veritable cloud of stars and whispered, “Oh, my God..."

  Pulling two beers from the cooler, I opened them and reached to touch her calf with one. She screeched and her gaze jerked downward to spot the brown Ice House bottle by her leg. I held it up for her and after a moment of staring at me, she reached for it with a trembling hand.

  Her eyes left the beer and moved to meet my eyes as her hand wrapped around the bottle, but then her hand clenched tightly around both the bottle and my hand. Her eyes went stark and staring as she gazed past me.

  I glanced back and saw no monsters or demons, only the stars above and the tops of the clouds below, and when I turned back to face Mills, I almost asked her what was wrong before it hit me. While Mills had undoubtedly flown before, commercial planes stayed well below half our altitude.

  "Oh, hell,” I said, “Steph, could we have an opaque canopy for a moment?"

  The faux-stainless steel shell instantly formed and cut off Karen's view. Her eyes slowly seemed to focus first on the shell, then on me.

  "Better?” I asked.

  A moment passed before Karen nodded with a tiny jerk of her head. She remembered the beer in her hand and relaxed enough to let me free my own hand from hers, then she took a sip of the beer. The second sip became a draught.

  "Watch her, Steph. She may spew."

  Through my implant, Steph said, “No, she won't. She's receiving theta waves."

  I pretended to watch Karen closely until she turned to look at me glaringly, then I stood up and backed away.

  "Hey! Don't aim yourself at me, lady! I already know what you had for dinner."

  Steph giggled and Mills glared.

  "I'm not going to throw up."

  "Right. Sure. That's what they all say."

  Steph laughed. Mills spared her a scathing glance.

  "I-will-not-throw-up, dammit!"

  She said it rather loudly, even through clenched teeth.

  I edged around the back of her seat to take a seat on the far side of Steph.

  "Sure,” I said. “Okay. Mind if I sit way over here anyway?"

  For the first time since I'd met her, Mills uttered a really heartfelt swear word.

  "Did you get that, Steph? I want that on record. She called me a nasty name."

  Mills almost hissed at me.