Habitats

by Laurence Dahners

  “Oh. Duh. I feel pretty stupid.”

  “You’re going to feel worse. We should be able to place a very small port inside your ear canal that can transmit sound right next to your eardrum. He expects nearly normal sound from that. No ear plugs hanging off your head band.”

  Ell put her palm to her forehead in dismay.

  “Another one glued to the back of a front tooth can be the microphone.”

  Ell closed her eyes and chuckled, “So I didn’t need this implant I’ve had stuck in my head?”

  “Well, as a kidnapping risk, I think you should keep it as backup and for the GPS that no one knows is in your neck. If they don’t know it’s there, they can’t find it.”

  Ell tilted her head considering, “OK, I don’t feel quite so dumb then.”

  “And I think we should st fowe shouill do implants for the inner circle and their families. Also, realize that we could go into the business of providing the audio part of what people’s AI headbands provide them. Then they could wear smaller devices, kind of like the ‘glasses’ people used to wear to correct their vision, just to provide the video part of their AI to them.”

  Ell grinned at him, “What, you aren’t proposing to implant a port into peoples’ eyeballs to record and playback video?”

  Roger squirmed squeamishly, “That seems a little scary, even to me. But the glasses can be really light weight because the camera can be back home with your AI, just peeking through a tiny port on the glasses. All the projector equipment can also be back with the AI, just sending the beam through a focal point to reflect off your HUD screens. I know modern projectors and cameras are surprisingly tiny, but this would be way smaller and lighter than even they are.”

  “Wow Roger, that’s some cool stuff. You need your own division of D5R to work on this stuff.”

  He shrugged, “Yeah, Emma and I,” he glanced down the table at his girlfriend, “have been talking about setting up a biomedical arm of D5R.”

  As they both looked at Emma, Manuel got up from his conversation with her and headed off. She got up and came down to them, “What are you two conniving over?”

  Ell said, “Roger tells me you want to take him away from me and form Quantum Biomed? I’m going to be here all by myself!”

  Emma mock glared at Roger, “I’d never leave my girlfriend! Roger might go haring off, but the most I’d do is go to occasional meetings with the drones we’d hire to build the stuff we invented here.” She turned to Ell, “Did he tell you about the Biomed student with the idea for nerve reception?”

  Bemusedly, Ell shook her head.

  “So this grad student, Ryan Keller, called here wanting to talk to you or ‘whoever did our biomed stuff.’ He got shunted to Roger, but ol’ Rog’ here, was,” Emma tilted her nose up aristocratically, “‘too busy.’ So this student wound up talking to me. Turns out he has a nanoscale system that can be attached to a nerve to pick up impulses from, and transmit impulses to, the axon fibers in the nerve. His problem has been that the wires going through the skin keep getting infected. Obviously that would be a disaster in a patient. So he wants to hook them up through a port.”

  Ell frowned, “Why would you want to pick up nerve signals electronically?”

  Emma grinned, “Sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, restoring spinal cord function. Minor things like that.”

  Ell’s eyes widened, “Holy crap! That’s great! Can we hire him?”

  “He’s pretty close to finishing his degree. I’ll ask.” Emma grinned, “By the way, he says he’s friends with someone who works here.”

  “Who?”

  “Raquel Blandon,” Emma said, eyes twinkling.

  “Oh, crap, that Ryan>ize="+0an?” Ell asked weakly.

  ***

  Carter drove home from his second visit to ET Resources. They’d called him and told him that they wanted to offer him a job but that he’d have to come in “to discuss” the exact nature of his employment. Driving out, he’d wondered what he’d do if they really were offering him a job in space. It seemed too crazy to believe, even though the test run he’d done with them suggested it.

  When he’d arrived, they’d had nondisclosure documents for him to read and sign before they’d even tell him what the job actually was.

  Finally he’d met with a guy who’d started with, “Hey, I’m John Parker.” Carter introduced himself and then John said, “What do you think you were doing when we had you in last time?”

  “You mean, with the wrench and the nut and the welder?”

  The man nodded.

  Carter wondered if he should forward his ridiculous hypothesis but decided he didn’t have anything better, “Seemed like you were wondering if I could work on things in a weightless environment.”

  John grinned, “Exactly! And you did much better than our other applicants, picking up on the challenges and adapting to them much more rapidly. Do you think you could do work like that?”

  Carter swallowed, thinking about the danger and privation of working in space. He didn’t want to appear afraid, “I thought a lot of people got sick up in space. Don’t you need to test me for that kind of stuff before you offer me a job out there?”

  John’s smile grew even wider. “The job would be exactly like what you did here. Do you know what a ‘waldo’ is?”

  Carter said, “Something my daughter searches for in a book?”

  John laughed, “Actually, it’s something from a 1942 story by a science fiction author named Robert Heinlein. He proposed having mechanical devices controlled at a distance by movements of an operator. Essentially, the same thing you did in the test. You moved your hand down here, and a mechanical hand out in space made the same motions, allowing you to move the nut from one threaded rod to another and weld a bead. Such tech is called a ‘waldo’ after Heinlein’s story.”

  “Well, it was hard but doable in the videogame test. However, if I were you I’d be worried that the fact I could do it in the test might not mean I could really do it when you actually have a set of mechanical arms out there in space.”

  “We actually do have a set of mechanical arms out in space.”

  Carter rocked his head back in surprise, “Do you want me to try doing something with them?”

  “You already did.”

  A moment passed for him to process, “No shit?” Carter breathed. “I already welded a bead in space?”

  John nodded, “Obviously, wt aObviouse’d have a lot more and varied tasks than those two. We’re building a space station. But if our little test is any indication, you handle the waldo better than anyone else…” his eyes got a little vacant, “well, barring one.”

  “You?”

  “Oh no, you’re way better than I am.”

  “Oh. Will I be working with this other guy?”

  “Gal, and, no… not really.”

  When Carter opened the door to their apartment Jenny flew across the room and tackled him, throwing her arms around his waist hugging tight. After a moment she leaned back, “Mom said you went to talk to people about the job?” she asked tentatively.

  Carter looked down at her, seeing her desperate need to know. He nodded.

  “Did you get the job?”

  He nodded again.

  “Mom!” she shrieked, “He got the job!”

  Carter looked up to see relief blossom over Abby’s face.

  He smiled at her, “How about if we go out for pizza and celebrate?”

  “Carter,” Abby said, a furrow appearing between her brows. “You know I don’t think we should be splurging when we have all this debt.”

  He shrugged, “And I agree, but pizza for dinner isn’t much more expensive than eating at home.”

  She stared at him a moment longer, then looked down at her daughter’s pleading eyes. “Oh, OK. Just this once though.”

  Jenny began bouncing joyously up and down, clapping her hands together.

  Carter reflected that their parsimonious lifestyle made even a little celebrati
on very sweet.

  ***

  Fay Kinrais heard the front door open, “Shan? Is that you?”

  “Hey Mama,” he said as he came around the corner into the great room, striding over and giving her a hug. “How are things on the home front?”

  “Good…” his mother paused as she saw a young brunette come hesitantly around the corner. Slender and pretty, taller than average she seemed very… elegant. Fay wasn’t sure just why? The girl had on very ordinary jeans and a t-shirt after all. There was just something about the way she moved… that seemed graceful and classy. “You brought a girl home, Shan?” She was pretty sure that Shan dated quite a few young women, but he’d never brought one home before! Did this mean what she hoped?

  “Yes Momma,” he said putting an arm around his mother’s shoulders. “I brought a girl home with me. This is my ‘girlfriend’ Raquel Blandon.”

  Fay stepped out from under Shan’s arm and approached Ell smiling, “Hello Ra> < “Helquel. I’m so glad to meet you. Shan’s dad should be home soon.” She glanced back and forth between the two young people, “Will you have dinner with us?”

  They went out to dinner and after they’d placed their orders Shan began talking to Malcolm, his father. Fay turned to Ell, wondering what to talk about, “So, Raquel, where did you grow up?”

  “Down at the coast, Emerald Isle.”

  “That’s near Morehead City where Ell Donsaii grew up right?”

  Ell nodded.

  “Did you know her?”

  “Some. She’s younger than I am. But I’m working at D5R where she works, so I see her nowadays.”

  “Did you know that Shan met Donsaii?”

  Working to keep her straight face, Ell nodded, “Yes, word is that she was very impressed.” She raised an eyebrow, “Shan made quite a breakthrough in the understanding of the whole dark matter and dark energy problem you know and Donsaii is publishing a paper with him on it.”

  “So I understand, though Shan plays it down. I really don’t understand anything about this multidimensional physics. I liked math in school but I haven’t done anything with it for a long time. However, I like to think that Shan got his math gene from me.”

  The men had turned their attention back to the ladies. Shan’s dad raised an eyebrow and put a hand to his chest, “Yes, and he inherited his good looks from me.”

  Ell smiled at Shan, “Well you did a good job with the looks. All my girlfriends are sooo jealous of me.” She turned back to his parents, “Though I did worry that that Donsaii girl would steal him away from me.” She glanced back at Shan and winked.

  Malcolm said, “That’s right Shan. I’d forgotten. What was it like to meet Ms. Donsaii? Is she ‘stuck up’?”

  Shan grinned and winked at Ell, “Well, you know it would just be rude to talk about her very much in front of my new girlfriend? But I can definitely say, ‘Not stuck up.’ In fact if you took her to dinner, you’d find her just as pleasant as Raquel here, not snobbish at all.”

  Fay turned to Ell, “Tell me how you met Shan?”

  “Well, I’m embarrassed to admit, but it was at a bar. I saw this handsome guy out there clogging on the dance floor. I couldn’t help myself. I just had to get out there and dance like that.”

  Fay pointed a finger at Shan, “See! I told you you’d appreciate those dance lessons one day.”

  “Yes Momma.” Slyly he said, “Maybe if I’d stuck with the lessons I could have impressed Donsaii with my dancing instead of my mind.”

  His own mother snorted and said, “Fat chance on that one…”

  dth="3em"> ***

  Farshid spoke into his link, “The spawn of Satan killed Reza!”

  “They found you?”

  “No! Well, I don’t think so. But, somehow they made our end of the port explode! They waited until we were walking into the room and then blew it up, throwing Reza across the room. It broke his neck.”

  There was a hiss from the other end of the link. “How did they do this?”

  “I don’t know! Abbas thinks they may have sent our propane back to us and then ignited it somehow.”

  After a long pause, the man on the other end of the link said, “You and Abbas will link up with another warrior against the Great Satan. A man named Basir in Washington D.C. Together you will work to understand these ports better. I suspect you will need to capture one of the workers at the manufacturing plant and milk him of information. Then, before you make another attempt to attack the Americans, you will contact me to teach me what you have learned.”

  ***

  Ryan Keller arrived at D5R’s facility wondering if he might actually see Ell Donsaii walking around. Or more likely Shan’s girl Raquel. Both of them worked here. Well Raquel worked in D5R proper and he guessed that Donsaii probably spent more time in one of the other areas, but maybe she’d be in Quantum Research today.

  To his surprise, the receptionist was the girl that he’d met the night that Shan met Raquel at Vic’s dance club. Just as she said, “Hi Ryan,” he realized with horror that he couldn’t remember her name. She said brightly, “I didn’t think that the next time I’d see you would be here at work.”

  Gratefully recognizing that she had on a nametag Ryan said, “Hey Bridget, we should go out dancing again sometime. Did you know that Raquel and my roommate Shan have really hit it off?

  “Yeah,” she grinned, “I’ve heard.”

  “I’m supposed to be meeting with a Dr. Kenner. Can you point me in the right direction?”

  “No problem,” she said, getting up, “I’ll take you there.”

  As they walked Ryan felt nervous about his meeting and wondered if Bridget would have any influence on whether Quantum Research would support his research or not. Maybe even give him a job someday? “Would you be interested in going dancing again sometime?”

  She grinned shyly up at him, “Sure, when?”

  Thinking that he’d just been asking whether she was interested, he felt like she’d put him on the spot. “Uh, how about this Thursday night? I think they have bluegrass bands on a lot of Thursdays.”

  She tilted her head, “OK, but I do like other things besides bluegrass you know.”

  “Really?.”SheReally? He tried to look flabbergasted, “Well you’ll have to tell me about them then. See you there at nine?”

  “OK,” she waved at a pretty young woman sitting at a big workbench, “This is Dr. Kenner. Emma, this is Ryan Keller, your 11 o’clock.”

  Kenner stood up and extended her hand, “You aren’t already dating our staff are you?” she grinned.

  Embarrassed about how it must have looked, Ryan shook her hand and said, “Um, sorry, Bridget and I met once before. My roommate is going out pretty steady with her friend Raquel.”

  Bridget waved and headed back out front. Kenner smiled and said, “Please sit down. Let’s hear about your nerve interface devices.”

  Nonplussed to be sitting out in the middle of a big room rather than an office, Ryan sat across from her at the big workbench. She had on jeans and t-shirt and he felt over dressed in his sport coat and tie. It wasn’t a job interview after all; he just hoped it might lead to a job if he could get them interested. He sat and said, “Thanks Dr. Kenner.”

  She said, “Just call me Emma. We aren’t very formal here.” A tall slender guy with wild black hair walked up. She indicated him, “This is Roger Emmerit. He’s been doing most of our biological interface work.”

  Ryan stood and shook Roger’s hand, “Hi, Dr. Emmerit.”

  “Like Emma said, we aren’t very formal. Call me Roger and show us what you’ve got.”

  “Uh, OK Emma, Roger.” He pulled out an envelope, opened it and slid out a wire with a large jack on one end and a clear tube full of fuzz on the other. “This is one of the nerve ‘neurotrodes’ I’ve been working on.”

  Emma picked it up and studied the fuzzy end. “‘Neurotrode’ because it connects to a nerve like an electrode, I assume. So, how’s it work?”

  �
�Well, what looks like fuzz inside the tube is actually thousands of tiny micro tubules with a cocktail of growth factors, mostly nerve growth factors, coating their insides. The base of each tubule is hooked up to a nanowire electrode.

  “We cut the nerve and put it into the tube. The growth factors induce the axons that sprout out of the end of the cut nerve to grow down into the tubes where they can activate or be activated by the nanowire electrodes. Thus we can pick up outgoing motor signals and input sensory signals. So far I’ve been able to activate reflex arcs in rats.”

  Roger said, “Reflex arcs?”

  “Yeah,” Ryan nodded, “like when a doctor thumps on your knee?”

  They nodded.

  “So what happens in that case is the thump stretches the tendon and little stretch sensors in the tendon send a signal to the spinal cord telling it that the tendon has been stretched. Then the spinal cord, without consulting the brain, sends a signal back out to the muscle to contract. Your body has this arc so that if you stumble and the knee is bent sudd. is bendenly, stretching the tendon, the muscle will be told to tighten, trying to prevent you from falling before your brain even knows about it. The good thing about the arc from our viewpoint is that we can send a signal up a sensory fiber and get back a signal on a motor fiber telling us that our equipment is working without needing to have an intelligent subject to tell us what they’re feeling.”

  Roger and Emma glanced at one another, “How many fibers are we talking about here?”

  Ryan shrugged, “It depends on the type of nerve and its diameter of course, but tens of thousands at least.”

  Emma tilted her head, “Normally, we count on being able to jack and unjack wires that pass through ports so that if we have to close the port we can unjack the wire first and re-jack it after we open the port back up.”

  Ryan nodded.

  “But you have to have that big jack to be able to accurately connect tens of thousands of wires, right?”

  “Well, yeah. I’ve been working on ways to make the jack smaller. But it’s pretty hard to get good connections with jacks this tiny.”