The Diary of Professor Gilbert Rasher

by Kalifer Deil

up!”

  “Okay.” I then lay back in the seat and asked whether Abe got video on everything. He did.

  Abe: “I've already contacted the State's Attorney General's Office. They are interested in the case and they will probably bring in the ATF and the FBI. Also, the dumpster divers already found taggets. They're from Hercules. We’re checking that out now. One of the ACLU triad and two law-school graduate students are on their way to Bikenibeu in a private jet provided by Joe Tarrington. Android rights will be a hot topic for their JD degree.”

  “I see the blogs are buzzing with this news. The junkyard videos are already getting more than ten million viewers.”

  Abe: “All I did was light the match. This whole thing went round the world in the first five minutes. Every news organization on Earth is interested. I sent out four news releases so far. Joe Tarrington says he will cover all legal and investigative costs. I got a good quotation from a Catholic priest in California. He said, 'The vessel matters not, biological or electronic, the soul carries on.'”

  “I saw a press releases on the Web. You are already accusing the Cardinal and the Police Commissioner of collusion. You are going to get some rocks thrown into your window.”

  Abe: “We’ve beefed up security everywhere including my house. My wife is pretty brave. We already got the proverbial rock with a note that says, 'YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!' It hit the front door. No damage done. All the neighbors are recording license numbers and several surveillance cams have been deployed. The Attorney General is giving this case highest priority. He has an A4 android maid that I think is more than a maid.”

  “Have the Attorney General authorize you to record and trace all phone calls. I’m sure the establishment will be contacting you soon with threatening messages. We're back at the police station now and it is also surrounded by kids. Put me back on record.”

  Abe: “I never took you off record.”

  Driver: “What the fuck are all these kids doing here?”

  Other man: “I'll call dispatch and have them cleared out of the way. Jim, this is Vinny. Clear these kids out of the way so we can get into the parking garage.”

  Soon the entire precinct shift poured out of the building with clubs and proceeded to poke the kids out of the way. If they resisted or said anything, they got a crack on the head. I was startled at the blatant cruelty of the police.

  “Jesus Christ! You are supposed to be protecting and serving. Is that what you call this?” In seconds, the press and ambulances were there.

  Driver: “Shut your goddamn mouth!”

  We were inside the building parking lot. I was escorted up to the Police chief's office.

  Police Chief: “You are causing us a lot of trouble.”

  “You are causing yourself a lot of trouble. You are protecting a Catholic prelate who’s a murderer of two other Catholics.”

  Police Chief: “No one was supposed to get hurt.”

  “I'm quite convinced otherwise. Marcie, I'm certain, was supposed to die. She knew too much and would not have held up during questioning. Father McDonald with Marcie visited with Gordon and had a friendly talk. Gordon was called away by the phone call from Cardinal Tucker, he said write down my name and probably kept the conversation going with small talk. The delay was to give the priest time to set the satchel charge and leave the building. He then told Marcie that he forgot his satchel and she volunteered to get it. She was very naive and would have done anything the priest asked of her. The Cardinal waited until he was sure of Marcie's position from her cell phone then told Gordon to go and check whether there was a satchel and stop her from picking it up. He succeeded, then the charge was set off by radio or cell phone.”

  Police Chief: “What makes you think that's the case?”

  “The position of the body outlines relative to the charge. The CSI person who drew the outlines traced the fingers and thumbs which told me they were face down toward the door. They were running away.”

  Police Chief: “I guess we will have to make you disappear before you can tell anyone else.”

  “I suspect the world already knows what you wanted to do with me.”

  Police Chief: “You are seized property. We can dispose of you any way we want to.”

  “You’re wrong on several grounds. First, I contain a nuclear power source, so you have to contact the EPA for proper disposal. Second, I was illegally seized on trumped up charges. And third, on moral grounds, you are destroying a sentient being who has all the feelings, intelligence and memories of a human.”

  While I had the floor I continued, “A priest recently said, 'The vessel matters not, biological or electronic, the soul carries on.' In my case and in the cases of a few others, I helped make this transition. I really feel the priest’s quotation to be true.”

  Police Chief: “That priest will probably get excommunicated soon. Besides, what I think no longer matters. You're going to be disassembled. I'm really sorry about this.”

  “Not as sorry as I am. I feel pain and I don't want to die. In civilized society, when people can't trust their police force, crimes don't get reported and the city becomes more and more lawless.”

  Police Chief: “I have a wife and two children who will be in danger if I don't do this. You could be Jesus Christ and it wouldn't matter; my family comes first.”

  “I don't understand? You're the Chief of Police.”

  Police Chief: “In name only. All employees, sergeant and above are 'at-will' and the Commissioner has fired several employees out from under me for things as small as not smiling. One officer he didn't like just disappeared. We all know he has Mafia connections. He is someone you don't mess with if you don't want to bring either yourself or your family to grief.”

  “The Mafia still exists?”

  Police Chief: “Yes. I've delayed this too long. I have to deliver you or I will be in serious trouble.”

  I was then bound and stuffed in the trunk of a car and a half hour later carted into an old warehouse. These guys were obviously thugs so I thought it was now time to fight back. I was supposed to have twice the strength of the typical human. I tried to break loose from my binding without success while they were carrying me to a large log. I did succeed in getting them to drop me and I scraped off my gag on the concrete floor. These gorillas were far stronger than the typical human and easily overpowered me and tied me firmly to the log. At once I understood why. I caught a glimpse of two giant logging chain saws. I was going to be sliced up.

  “Abe, how are you going to get me out of this one?”

  Abe: “I gave the feds your coordinates and they are on their way. So are a bunch of students.”

  “These guys are well armed thugs. Tell the students to stay clear.“

  Abe: “The ATF will be going in there with flak jackets. The students are just going to record the action at a distance.”

  “They’d better hurry! They used filament packing tape to secure me to this log and they are about to start the chain saws. Tell me how to turn off the pain sensors.”

  “You can't turn off the pain sensors, you can only reduce them somewhat.”

  “I did that and I still feel pain from the tight binding. Oh shit! One of the chain saws has started. They're going to cut off my feet!”

  Even the reduced pain was intense as they cut through my ankles and I screamed so loud that I must have made their ears ring. One of them made the mistake of putting his hand over my mouth and I bit it with vengeance. He was bleeding profusely and swearing. I continued to scream. They put a ball of tape in my mouth and taped it in. That succeeded in muffling some of my screams and they seemed to enjoy listening to the muffled version of the screams.

  The tape and the Spidercraft underskin gummed up their chain saw before they cut clear through while created much smoke, searing heat and pain. The second chain saw finished severing my feet. As I was lying there in agony, they debated where to make the next cut while cleaning the blades. They decided that the knees were next. The mouth binding
came loose and I spit out the ball of tape. The one I bit picked up a sledgehammer and after five strong blows to the head I was gone. A minute later the ATF came charging in and took them by surprise.

  I was brought back to consciousness in the IBM NF85-10 including my memories clear up to the first bash in the head. I could have done nicely without those memories but I was glad to be alive even though I was now without a body. The lab was getting threats daily so my periodically updated backup was sent to a reliable cloud.

  That evening the news was dominated by the ATF arrests, the student videos of the building and my disturbing screams and my body, severed at the ankles, partially severed at the knees and my head smashed. Some students were crying. I thought, 'Here's a day that will go down in history.'

  7.16.2126:

  Abe: The C-4 was purchased by Highpoint Mining and they reported that some of their stock was missing. They are investigating and are sure they know who did it because a person who had access quit the day after the C-4 was missing. We don't have a name yet.”

  “What about the Priest?”

  Abe: “The legal team arrived in Bikenibeu. They haven't done anything other than rent a car and check in at the hotel. In other news, the feds have brought in Detective Miller for questioning and a local Mafia figure, Giotto Napolitano, has vanished.”

  “The memory of the pain is intense. In the future I want to turn the pain off.”

  Abe: “That's easy to do but