"I don't want to set a new precedent, Your Honor,” said Camus. Arthur was pulling at the man's sleeve, whispering something.
"No precedents to be set, counselor. This is a hearing. We're seeking evidence to justify a trial."
Haug and Blanche had been hastily conferring, and Blanche nodded her head.
"Your Honor,” said Haug, “my client will not pursue a request for an autopsy and will drop her charges if she's satisfied with the contents of her sister's contract with Advanced Technologies."
Arthur and his attorneys conferred again, and there was obvious disagreement. Arthur slapped his hand on the table to emphasize a point. Finally, Camus cleared his throat and said, “We did not come prepared to show the contract, Your Honor, but we can have copies brought here if it's absolutely necessary. We feel it's in the interest of all parties to avoid the expense and publicity of a trial."
Judge Maxwell checked his watch. “It's nearly ten. We will resume at one. I expect Counselor Haug will have at least an hour to study the contract and formulate his questions. One way or another, I hope we're going to settle this today.” He smiled down on them all. “Coffee time,” he said, and banged his gavel lightly.
"No wonder they didn't want us to see it,” said Blanche. “This is not only outrageous, but obscene. Helen would never have agreed to this."
"You agree that's her signature?"
"Yes, it looks like it. Signatures can be forged, Randal."
"I doubt it here, Blanche. I think you'll have to accept that Helen was involved as a subject for experimentation with Advanced Technologies before her death, and what's happening now is an extension of that work."
"What work?"
"Good question. Whatever it is has to be approved by Arthur Winslow, but otherwise, ‘my body can be used in any form or for any purpose within the AINI project.’ That's both vague and specific. We have to find out what AINI means. It's the only unknown. Otherwise, Helen has allowed them to do anything they want with her after her death."
"Then they brainwashed her to get her money. This AINI thing is probably part of it."
"We can still argue for an autopsy,” said Randal, “but my bet is she died the way they said she did. And seeing the contract hasn't strengthened our case, Blanche; it's weakened it. They've documented Helen's total consent to the procedure. All we can do is try to show that consent was somehow forced out of her."
They were sitting on a bench outside the courtroom. Arthur came down the hall with his entourage behind him, and Blanche glared at him.
Arthur broke away from the group. Camus made a grab for his arm but missed. Arthur headed straight for Blanche. Randal stood up, prepared to defend her, but Arthur stopped short. His round face was flushed, and he posed angrily, hands on hips. Blanche had a sudden urge to laugh at him.
"Well, I suppose you're still not satisfied,” said Arthur.
"We might be, if you tell us what the AINI project is,” said Randal.
"That's none of your business."
"It might be if it involves coercion and fraud. Let's see what the judge thinks."
"Monster,” said Blanche, “you've been allowing experiments with the body of your own mother."
"You don't know anything," shouted Arthur. “Mother would be furious if she heard you say that!"
Camus arrived and pulled Arthur back. “You won't accomplish anything by this. They don't have a case,” he said.
"We'll see,” said Randal.
Blanche smiled, pleased by Arthur's boyish rage. “You always got away with tantrums when you didn't get your way, dear. If you'd been mine, I wouldn't have allowed it."
"How fortunate you weren't able to have children,” snarled Arthur.
"Arthur, please!" Camus pulled him away backward by both arms.
"No! This has to stop here. I'm going to have my AINI unit brought in for testimony. It'll settle everything once and for all."
"The patents, Arthur. We can't—"
"The patents are filed, and the hearing is closed. If anything leaks to the press we'll sue her for everything she has. Let me go!” Arthur twisted in Camus’ grip and broke it.
"Wait for me here. I need to make a private call.” Arthur turned to Blanche and pointed a shaking finger at her. “Now you're going to get it!"
Everyone was amazed as Arthur stormed away from them. For one instant, Randal Haug and Richard Camus were sympathetic colleagues. Randal shrugged his shoulders in dismay, and Camus said, “What can I do? The funding was his, and he has the authority. The board, of course, will blame me."
Randal shook his head sadly. Blanche was mystified by everything she's just heard.
Two hours later, she understood everything.
* * * *
"What's all this?” asked Judge Maxwell, after he'd seated himself. He gestured at a large black screen and computer console with projection system that had been set up along one wall of the courtroom. Two fish-eye cameras mounted on the console pointed outward into the room.
"My client wishes to perform a demonstration he feels will clear up this entire matter, Your Honor,” said Camus.
"Any objections to this, Counselor Haug?"
"No, Your Honor. The only questions we have regarding the contract relate to details about the AINI project, and we're told the demonstration will answer those questions."
"Good. You may proceed, Counselor Camus."
"Ah, the demonstration will be given by Arthur Winslow. He's familiar with the technology and has been using it on a regular basis since his mother's death."
Maxwell looked at Haug.
"No problem, Your Honor."
Arthur stood up, adjusted the knot on his tie, and walked to the computer, turned, cleared his throat, and folded his hands together over his stomach.
"The apparatus behind me houses what we call the AINI Model 10. By AINI we mean ‘Artificially Intelligent Neural Integration.’ It is basically a combination of a brain that stores data and a learning center that can synthesize new data from old. In other words, it's an artificial intelligence system with a solid state brain made up of rare-earth impregnated carbon nanotubes."
Arthur opened two doors at the base of the console, revealing what looked like a solid cube of silver metal. “This is the brain."
Everyone looked at him blankly, searching for understanding and relevance. “Rubbish,” muttered Blanche, and Arthur heard her.
He glared straight at her, closed the console doors behind him and softly said, “It's my mother's brain, now, and if you'll listen I'll tell you how that happened."
Blanche gasped. Randal squeezed her arm and hushed her.
Arthur blushed, and his voice quavered. “It all started with the Josephson Junction SQUID arrays to map magnetic storms in the brains of epileptics, but as resolution increased, our scientists began to see repeated neural current patterns related to specific thoughts, especially in memory recollection. We were soon down to the neuron level in resolution. Each memory, each thought, is a definite, three-dimensional current pattern in real time. It's like scanning a picture, and this is what AINI does, building up a library of memories and thoughts than can be reassembled by an AI system to satisfy any scenario."
Arthur's voice cracked. He seemed to be struggling and took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. His eyes were suddenly quite moist.
"It was my mother who came up with the idea of using AINI to store more than the body of someone you loved when they died."
Arthur choked, cleared his throat again, and blew his nose with the handkerchief. Blanche rolled her eyes and sighed.
"She was interested in many things, and she'd had a series of small strokes, little blackouts that frightened her. We were so close. She heard about the freezing process at Advanced Technologies. If something bad happened, we wanted to have hope. Medicine is advancing fast, and then the people at Advanced Tech told us about AINI. They were looking for human subjects for testing. And Mother volunteered her time and her money.
"
Arthur took two steps toward Blanche and pointed a finger at her. “While you were flitting around with your elite social functions, my mother was making major contributions to both science and technology. She funded the entire project and spent nearly five years of nights and many days under the SQUID array cap, having the neural currents of her own brain mapped and deciphered. She was still doing it the day she—she—"
Arthur paused and breathed deeply, wiped his eyes with the handkerchief.
"This is sick,” mumbled Blanche, too loudly.
Arthur gave her a look that promised pain and suffering. “Why don't we just let Mother tell you about it herself,” he said softly.
"Randal, how long do we have to hear this?” said Blanche.
"Your Honor,” began Randal, “I would like to—"
"I was about to give a demonstration relevant to this hearing, and I have the court's permission to do it,” said Arthur.
"Then do it,” said Judge Maxwell. “I don't think we need more background information at this time."
"This is company proprietary information, Your Honor,” said Camus, suddenly standing as Arthur walked back to the apparatus. “We must have a guarantee the details of the demonstration will not go in any form beyond this room."
"This hearing is closed, ladies and gentlemen. Any information given here, including this demonstration, stays here. Any information leak will prejudice all future litigation and be cause for breach of privacy. Are we clear on this?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. “Yes, Your Honor,” chorused Randal and Camus.
There was a sudden hum that quickly faded. Arthur sat at the keyboard, fingers playing over the keys. He looked like an organ player sitting there, but this organ had a monitor in front of him, and a wide black screen stretched like a sail on top of it, between two fish-eye cameras. A ball of light had begun to glow, not on the screen but in front of it. Before their eyes a three-dimensional view of a room appeared. The walls of the room were white, the floor carpeted in crimson. There was a sofa and two chairs in red leather, a glass coffee table with a vase of red roses in the foreground. Three shaggy weavings in a rainbow of colors hung on the walls.
There was an open doorway in the back of the room. Someone walked past it. A man. Blanche felt her heart skip a beat. Only a glimpse, but the face had seemed familiar.
And then a woman appeared. She was tall, draped in a red silken robe, her gray hair stylishly coifed in swirls framing her face. She could have been fifty or thirty. She walked like a model, posture erect and defiant, went to the sofa, sat down, crossed her legs, and smiled.
Blanche gasped. “Dear God, it's Helen, the way she looked years ago,” she whispered to Randal.
The woman seemed to look right at her. “Well, they say you should pick an age you like and stick with it. Hello again, Blanche. From that frown on your face I'd say we're still fighting. Are we?"
The voice was deep and husky, a voice Blanche had been jealous of for over sixty years. Men had been attracted to it like bears to honey. Blanche's mouth moved, but nothing came out.
"No? Well that's not what I hear.” The woman's eyes moved. “Hi, sweetie. I guess this is court, huh?"
"Yes, Mother,” said Arthur.
Judge Maxwell was smiling and seemed fascinated by the display. “Perhaps you should introduce us to your—ah—demonstration,” he said.
Arthur blushed crimson and seemed embarrassed by the request. “I'm not quite sure what I—"
"Never mind, dear. I'm quite capable of introducing myself,” said the woman's floating image. “Officially I'm AINI, but some of the techs like to pervert it by calling me Annie. It's cute, but inaccurate. In every way, you see, I'm Helen Winslow, based on me the person, but synthesized and evolved into my present form by the AINI system. I'd prefer you call me Helen, because that's who I am, but I'll accept Annie if you like."
"But you are an artificial intelligence system,” said Maxwell.
"Everyone in this courtroom functions like an AI, Your Honor. We store and retrieve memories, we think and learn and synthesize new ideas from old. The only difference between you and me is our computers. Yours is organic, incredibly compact, but slow. Mine is larger but very fast."
"Do you know why you've been brought to this courtroom?"
"I think so. Arthur was rather upset when he tried to explain it to me."
The woman's gaze shifted to Blanche and made eye contact. “I'd be upset, too, if someone tried to charge me with murder."
"This is a hearing, and no formal charges have been filed against anyone, Ms.—ah—” Maxwell paused.
The apparition laughed, a deep-throated laugh that Blanche remembered well. It had turned men's heads at gatherings large and small for years, without promising anything but her presence. “You don't know what to call me,” she said. “If you say Helen, you acknowledge my transfiguration and oh, my goodness, what a precedent that would set!"
She laughed again. Maxwell grinned.
"Call me Annie, then, but remember who I really am when you hear what I have to say. This whole mess is partly my fault, anyway, and I intend to clean it up."
"Very well—Annie,” said Maxwell, and turned to look at several anxiously waiting people in the room. “We're open for questions, gentlemen. Counselor Haug, would you like to begin?"
"Randal, this is absurd,” whispered Blanche, as Randal stood up.
"Are we to consider this—Annie as a viable witness, Your Honor?” asked Randal.
"You wanted to know about the AINI system,” said Maxwell, eyes twinkling in amusement. “Well, here she is."
"I really don't think a machine can be—"
"This will go nowhere, Your Honor,” said Annie. “I never could talk sense to lawyers, even you, Randal, and it won't be any different now. This is all between two sisters, anyway. It's all about the money, and everything else is smoke. Talk to me, Blanche. We can settle this in a few minutes, if you'll let it happen."
"I doubt that very much,” said Arthur, who frowned at Blanche.
"Now Arthur,” said Annie, “you promised me you'd go along with whatever I agreed to today. No pouting. Just do what Mother says. Sit down with your lawyers and let me handle this."
"I will not talk with this—this thing," said Blanche.
"Your Honor, this is a sham,” said Randal Haug. “Mister Winslow has obviously programmed the machine for this performance, and I must—"
"May I please be allowed to do something useful here?” said Annie. As she said it, a man appeared in the doorway behind her and said something softly. He wore a white bathrobe and had a toothbrush in one hand. Annie turned and said quite audibly, “Later, hon. I'm just getting warmed up here.” The man looked disappointed and went away from view.
Blanche's face flushed hotly. The man was Fred, Helen's late husband, only he looked to be in his forties or early fifties. The shock of recognition must have shown on her face, for the apparition called Annie smiled at her.
"He's such a dear, but so impatient, and I have a lot of fleshing out to do on him. So many of my memories are from when he was sick. You remember how hard that was, don't you, Blanche?"
"Yes,” said Blanche, and caught herself. “I mean—"
"I know, I know,” said Annie. “It's all so real for me, but not for you. It seems like yesterday I was old, and my joints were hurting, and I kept having these little blackouts, and then I can remember Arthur bending over me, screaming hysterically, and then—well, then there was nothing. No tunnel of light, no angels for old Helen. I was just suddenly here, still old at first, but no pain, and everything I thought, everything I remembered and wanted from the past—it just happened, when I wanted it to. Of course I also remembered all the downloading; my God, I wore that brain-sucking cap of theirs to bed for over five years! But there was no way I could really predict what it would be like until I got here."
Annie's eyes glistened wetly. “It was lonely here at first. Believe it or not, Ti
ckle, I missed you. I knew you were mad at me, and I didn't make it up to you before I left. I'm sorry."
Blanche felt something catch in her throat. She hadn't been called Tickle since the age of seven. It even softened her heart for one instant, and then she turned it into stone again. “You've been doing some research, Arthur,” she said. “It's not going to work with me."
Arthur lunged from his chair, but Camus grabbed him around the chest and held him tightly.
"Stop it, Arthur! If you want to speak to me again, you'll sit right down and be quiet. Tantrums are not excusable for a man your age. Do you want me to be ashamed?"
Arthur sat down as if struck. A tear rolled down one cheek.
Annie glared at Blanche. “You always were good at goading people, but you were a coward when it came to standing up to me, so don't try it. Yes, I want to convince you I'm what's left of Helen; I'm most of her, in fact, if you take away the physical form. I could spend hours reciting things only you and I would know, like the time you bit me when I wouldn't let you play with my dolls. We didn't even tell Mother about that. And then there was the time I caught you and your weird friend Ellen doing some interesting things with the little Waltham boy in our garage. I bet the details of that would perk things up in this hearing."
"You wouldn't dare!” shouted Blanche, standing and shaking a fist.
"I would dare, but I won't, so sit down, Blanche,” said Annie. She stood up, stepped forward, and leaned over, as if peering into a camera lens. “It would be fun to watch you squirm again. Without me around, I bet you've been running roughshod over everyone. Want to hear something funny? I'm enjoying myself right now. I've missed our fights; they're stimulating.
Blanche's eyes filled with tears. “I haven't missed them at all. I haven't missed you at all."
"Oh, that was supposed to hurt, but it didn't. You miss me plenty, Tickle. Sisters know. It's one of the reasons you're so angry. Wow, the memories are still coming. I bet I could synthesize a somewhat younger version of you, and we could fight all the time right in my living room. Fred wouldn't mind. He got used to it a long time—"
"Ladies, ladies, please!" said Judge Maxwell. “There are important questions to be answered here, and you're not answering them."
Analog SFF, March 2008 Page 19