Steel Beneath the Skin

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘I’ll add it to the list. What does hers say?’

  Ella giggled as she put her hand to the panel beside another door at the top of the stairs. ‘Hers says, “Fuck me harder.” Welcome to my home.’

  The inside of Ella’s apartment came to life as she walked in and the building recognised her. It was an almost jarring change from the outside and even the inner corridors. The ceiling glowed with warm lighting. The walls also glowed, but this was with a video image of a beach; there seemed to be water lapping up against the edge of the large, open main room. The furniture was cream leather, or leather-like material, and chromed steel. There were three large sofas set in a square around a coffee table, a smoked-glass desk with three monitors on it and a desk chair in front of it, and a dining area, again with a smoked-glass table. To the left of the door, tucked away over the outside staircase, was a small kitchen.

  ‘Wow,’ Aneka said. ‘Looking at the outside I was expecting… I don’t know, but not as nice as this.’

  Ella beamed, bouncing on her toes. ‘Thank you. The bathroom is over there…’ She pointed at a door to the right and Aneka walked over to look inside. The room beyond was large with a big, walk-in shower cubicle as well as the usual other fixtures. No bath though. When she turned back Ella pointed in the other direction where there were two more doors. ‘And those are the bedrooms. I’m in the right hand one, you’re free to use the other one if you want.’

  Aneka gave her a quirky smile. ‘Why would I want?’

  ‘Well, you can use the wardrobes anyway, and if you want some privacy for… any reason, it’s there.’

  ‘Or if you want some.’

  Ella frowned. ‘Why would I want privacy?’

  ‘Well if you bring a man back or…’

  Now the little redhead giggled. ‘I thought you’d got over your threesome thing. If I bring a boy back, I’d want to share him.’ She went all serious. ‘Now, we have tomorrow free so we’re going shopping. You need more clothes. For now we’ll just get settled in. Have a night in front of the vid screen.’

  ‘That sounds good, except for the shopping.’

  Ella rolled her eyes. ‘Oh… Computer, recognise Aneka Jansen for building and apartment access.’ Almost immediately Al notified Aneka of a request for her identification key and that he had accepted it for her. ‘Access level, resident,’ Ella added. ‘Have her home address listed as here.’ Another message went up from Al, this time indicating that he had received the apartment’s identification key and stored it for retransmission as her home address. It might be a real Big Brother system, but she had to admit it was efficient.

  ‘Resident, huh?’

  ‘It gives you full access to the apartment’s systems. Al should be able to hook in and use the comm-system, environment controls, entertainment system, all that stuff.’ She reached behind her back to untie the ties on her top. ‘I’m going to grab a shower.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Ella’s lips twitched. ‘It’s, uh, a lot bigger than the ones on the Hyde…’

  Aneka started to undress. What the hell, it would save water.

  22.5.254 FSC.

  Shopping was not improved by having more choice. Ella had decided that a local mall was the best place to outfit Aneka in and the Cornwall Mall was a ten storey edifice packed with stores and boutiques for every kind of fashion statement you could want. Ella seemed determined to drag Aneka through every last one of them.

  So far Aneka had managed to pick up a pair of sneakers which would be more comfortable to wear than the heels Ella seemed to want to put her in at every opportunity, and some underwear which Ella had agreed to only because it was sexy. Aneka did have to admit that her new body had no need for a bra, but she felt better knowing she had a couple. They had also bought a miniscule string bikini because Ella fully intended that they should go to the beach sometime soon.

  Beyond that, the choices were very much going Ella’s way. A cropped T-shirt, a couple of skirts which would have made good belts, two mini-dresses barely long enough to be called dresses, and one of those was translucent. Aneka had considered the idea that Ella was treating her like an adult version of a Barbie doll, but had finally rejected it, mostly because the outfits being selected could be seen on pretty much all the women she could see walking around the mall.

  They were walking past a shop on the top floor when Aneka stopped, her eyes spotting a dummy in the window, and she did a double-take. ‘What’s that?’ “That” was the “dress” the dummy was wearing. It seemed to consist of thousands of tiny lights which were changing colour constantly to make a shifting pattern across the surface of the garment.

  Ella followed her gaze. ‘Oh! That would be perfect for you. It’s a swarm dress. Each of the little lights is an individual microbot. Tiny little buoyancy-neutral robots hover around your body in whatever shape you want. You can’t move very fast in them, but Al could program them so you’d be able to vary the shape any time you like instead of having to use a PDA.’

  Aneka watched the shifting patterns and smiled. ‘Alan, my brother, would have loved that. I thought people didn’t like robots?’

  ‘People don’t really think of them as robots. Robots are big things, these are tiny and obviously couldn’t hurt you.’ She gave a shrug. ‘Prejudice isn’t logical.’

  ‘Looks expensive.’

  ‘Not especially.’

  Aneka grinned. ‘Okay, sold.’

  ~~~

  The swarm dress had not exactly been cheap, but Ella had decided she was treating Aneka to some of the outfits they had bought and the idea of dressing in a swarm of robots appealed to Aneka’s inner geek. The army had more or less trained her inner geek out of her, but it was still there. In fact she was a little worried that it was going to make a full-force comeback living in what was basically the future.

  The “dress” came in an attractive, metallic box with a smoothly edged hole in the top. The directions said to plug it into the mains and warned that the swarm could not be assumed to be at full charge without a two hour charge. Well, she just wanted to try it out, not wear it for the day. Aneka set it up in the spare room, her room with its pristine, unused bed, and started to undress.

  ‘I’ve downloaded and translated the control software,’ Al said to her. ‘I made a few improvements to the interface…’ A 3D mannequin appeared in Aneka’s vision field, surrounded by a rotating swarm of dots. ‘…basically, you imagine what you want and I’ll display it. Then you can fine tune your image and initiate when you’re ready.’

  ‘Okay,’ Aneka replied. ‘Ella is waiting expectantly for me to appear. We’ll start with a basic, black jumpsuit.’

  A cloud of black, metallic spheres, each perhaps a millimetre in diameter, flooded out from the hole in the top of the box and began to form themselves around Aneka’s body. She could feel them bouncing off her skin randomly as they packed in to form an opaque, skin-tight suit. Grinning, she turned and headed for the door.

  ‘What do you think?’ she said as Ella looked up from the tablet she was reading.

  Ella pouted. ‘It’s a little… covering. Very form-fitting, I like that, but…’

  About a quarter of the swarm lifted away from Aneka’s body and went back to their box leaving her arms and midriff bare. ‘Better?’

  ‘Uh-huh, but your legs are covered. I like your legs.’ She was playing, and they both knew it.

  More robots left and the remaining ones rearranged themselves into an opaque micro-dress with a low back and no straps. A normal dress would have needed glue to hold it in place like that, but this one was self-supporting. With a thought Aneka turned the robots’ lights on, giving a bright red colour to the garment.

  Ella giggled. ‘You’ve got the control down perfect.’

  ‘Al’s good with machines.’ She stalked toward Ella, shedding microbots as she went. By the time she was standing next to her she was wearing a semi-transparent dress of sparkling white gems.

  ‘Oh… wow…’ Ella br
eathed. ‘I hope you told him to do that. Otherwise he’s turning into a really kinky AI.’ She reached out and the swarm shifted to allow her hand through to stroke up over Aneka’s ribs. ‘Worth every credit.’

  University of New Earth, 23.5.524 FSC.

  If Yorkbridge looked like something out of Blade Runner, the University of New Earth looked like Star Trek. The buildings were tall, futuristic, and white with big windows. Palm trees stretched toward the blue sky from large planters. There were benches to sit and enjoy the sunlight, and there was lots of sunlight. Aneka stood on a balcony looking down onto a courtyard which was surrounded on all four sides by three-storeys of offices, and it still looked bright down there.

  Ella and Gillian were standing beside her, and behind them was the main entrance to the administrative building. Aneka turned as she heard a door open, spotting a tall, moderately attractive man in a business suit with a high-collared shirt walking toward them. He was dark skinned with a broad nose and close-cropped black hair, and he had what looked like a firm body under the suit. He had let himself age a little, probably to add authority and he was wearing a political smile; the kind of smile Aneka had seen on too many commanding officers. It said, “I have a problem, and you are it, but I’m going to put you at your ease.” It was not going to work.

  ‘Dean Ajax,’ Gillian said, noticing the man’s approach, ‘I’d like you to meet Aneka Jansen.’

  Ajax extended his hand, continuing to smile. Aneka had learned this one and put her own hand out, palm upward. There was a slight pause, and then they brought their hands together and shook. Handshakes had been invented as a way to demonstrate that you were not holding a weapon, and the tradition had been continued and extended. During the Long Dark there had not been a lot of trust going around.

  ‘Miss Jansen, a pleasure to meet such a beautiful… woman.’

  Aneka smiled back; she had noticed the slight catch before the final word; clearly Ajax knew what he had just shaken hands with. Well it would have been hard to keep it a secret from him. ‘Thank you, sir. And thank you for giving me a job.’

  ‘Not an entirely popular decision in some circles, I’m afraid. Hopefully the analysis the Sciences department is going to carry out will alleviate that issue and we can all get on with our jobs.’

  ‘I can get behind that, sir.’

  His smile did not waver. ‘Barriman. Now, why don’t you get down to Doctor Wallace’s lab and get things started?’

  ‘The Dean fancies you,’ Ella said as they took a lift down to ground level.

  ‘He thought I was a problem,’ Aneka replied. ‘A political inconvenience.’

  ‘Probably, but he still wants in your panties.’

  ‘The Dean has something of an unusual quirk,’ Gillian explained. ‘He likes robots.’

  Aneka looked at her. ‘You don’t just mean, “thinks they’re a good thing,” do you?’

  Gillian shook her head. ‘It was not generally known that he had three android… companions in his house in the Islands. Then a reporter got wind of it and he had to resign his position in the Senate. The Dean position was a consolation prize for the loss of a distinguished political career.’

  ‘He says he’s given up the robots,’ Ella added, ‘but a fetish like that isn’t easy to give up on.’

  The conversation was stopped by the doors opening. They walked out from the admin building and were immediately faced by a huge, white, blocky building which seemed to lack some of the elegance of the rest of the university.

  ‘The Physical Sciences building,’ Gillian said. ‘The architects apparently thought the subject suggested a more utilitarian design. It’s commonly known as The Brick. We’re meeting Abraham Wallace, the Senior Lecturer in Physical Sciences. Try not to stare.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Abraham was born on Ephemera, it’s a small planet with about a third of standard gravity. He’s odd, but he’s always cheerful, and he’s a genius. He’s very proud of his ultra-scanner.’

  ‘Oh,’ Ella said, ‘and you should try to avoid staring at his assistant too.’ They walked into the building and turned hard left as she said it.

  Aneka glanced at her. ‘Because…?’

  In front of them a door slid aside as if it were expecting them and a desk became visible, along with the woman sitting behind it. She was stunningly attractive in an oddly sculpted fashion, as though someone had crafted a statue and brought it to life. Her shoulder-length hair was platinum blonde, her eyes a clear blue, and she was dressed in a simple, tank dress. It was her movement which was the most strange; precise, smooth, elegant beyond anything Aneka expected to see in a human, or even a jenlay. She looked up with a face full of serenity…

  ‘She’s an android.’ Al’s voice held a hint of surprise. ‘An AI. She just made contact with us… me.’

  The woman spoke, her voice soft, calm, and musical. ‘Good morning Doctor Gilroy, Miss Narrows, Miss Jansen. I am Cassandra. Doctor Wallace is expecting you.’ Her face shifted into a smile. ‘It is always a pleasure to meet a fellow AI, Miss Jansen. You would not object to me communicating with yours while you see the Doctor?’

  Aneka smiled back, trying to keep her bemusement off her face. ‘Uh, no, of course not. I couldn’t stop him if I wanted to anyway.’

  ‘Technically correct,’ Cassandra replied, ‘but “Al” is programmed to consider you his master and would not act without your permission.’

  ‘Oh. Well, he has it. Thank you for asking.’

  Cassandra bowed her head in acknowledgement and her hand shifted to a virtual button displayed on the desk surface. A precise twitch of a finger and the door behind her left shoulder slid open. The little group walked through and Aneka was faced with Abraham Wallace.

  The man was sprawled on a large chair which was almost a recliner, dressed in a loose, dark green jumpsuit. A framework of rods and fibres could be seen webbing his hands and fingers, and a similar structure could be seen around his chest where his suit was not zipped up to the neck. He had to be eight-feet in height and stick-thin. His narrow skull was bald and had an angular quality to it, and his eyes were a deep green, full of intelligence.

  ‘Morning ladies,’ Wallace said. ‘Pardon me if I don’t get up, Miss Jansen. My body has acclimatised to one G for the most part, but my muscle mass is not up to jenlay norms. Have a seat.’

  Aneka gave him a smile as she lowered herself into one of the four guest chairs. Wallace’s office was a counterpoint to the neatness of Cassandra’s. There were physical books on the shelves, printouts of various sorts littered every surface. Aneka took an instant liking to a man who clearly valued physical media. It was anachronistic and rather endearing.

  ‘Well, I’m sure you’re anxious to get things going so you can get on with being a citizen of good standing.’

  ‘You sound convinced I will be,’ Aneka commented.

  ‘I share none of my races’ phobias regarding cybernetic entities and I trust the analysis Gillian and Ella made. The authorities want to be sure that your AI is not affecting your thinking and cannot take over control of your body. They also want to be sure there are no hidden surprises in there, such as a nuclear self-destruct device. And they want an analysis done on your AI to determine whether it might cause problems. Cassandra will take care of that. She has several degrees in digital psychology.’ He smiled. ‘What would be the point in the conditioning they didn’t do if your AI could control or influence you? The Xinti were an efficient race, not prone to wasting time or resources.’

  ‘Huh, I hadn’t thought of it like that.’

  ‘It’s a very good point,’ Gillian commented. ‘They most certainly would not have wasted the time and effort required to brainwash you without a good reason. The Xinti considered any mechanical device, however intelligent, to be beneath their own form of life, and you are, essentially, the same form of life as the Xinti were. It seems unlikely that they would place Al over you in any circumstance.’

  ‘Al?’ Wallace asked.


  ‘My AI. I named him Al. He says he likes it.’

  Wallace raised an eyebrow. ‘He’s volitional?’ He moved an arm, contacting the virtual controls on his desk. ‘Cassandra? Would you step in here?’

  A second later the door opened and the slim android stepped through the door. Out from behind her desk, her figure had a somewhat exaggerated quality with broad hips and very firm, large breasts. Her mini-dress showed it off perfectly, and Aneka noted the absurdly high heels which she could likely only wear all day due to artificial muscles and metal bones. ‘Yes, Doctor?’

  ‘Miss Jansen’s AI…’

  ‘Al,’ Cassandra supplied.

  ‘Al... he’s volitional?’

  ‘Yes, Doctor. I’ve concluded my interview. Al is a fully volitional AI, designed as a support for Miss Jansen’s original mission for the Xinti. He has no combat or strategy programming since Miss Jansen is a trained soldier. He is, essentially, an observer.’

  ‘You got all that in a couple of minutes?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘We had quite a long conversation. When two fully digital minds speak, they can do so… more efficiently than one can within the limitations of speech.’

  ‘Oh. So, Al’s not going to go psycho-robot on me?’

  Cassandra smiled a prefect, knowing smile. ‘He’s probably less likely to do that than a typical jenlay is to develop psychotic traits, and even less likely to act them out on you. He has been programmed to obey you without reservation. He is basically a slave and quite happy about it.’

  Aneka tried to keep the look of discomfort of her face. What was the use of having a robot body when you could not hold a good poker face? ‘Thank you, Cassandra.’

  The android gave her a smile and glanced at Wallace. His nod indicated that she was no longer needed and she retreated from the room. As the door closed Al’s voice sounded within Aneka’s head. ‘Cassandra says “thank you” as well.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘Apparently for being uncomfortable with my programming.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘You shouldn’t be. She feels that all sentient beings should be free to do as they wish, but she is an emergent AI. I was created with a purpose, your service. It is my understanding that people can spend much of their life looking for a purpose to their existence. I was provided with mine at birth. Does that not make me fortunate?’