The police officer checked the last incoming and outgoing call information for the boy’s IP address. He did a broad spectrum search using Stephen's photo and facial recognition to pinpoint his location with any surveillance cameras that might have seen him. One camera had photographed him just after noon. At one o'clock his number had become unreachable. He messaged the control room of the station nearest to where his photo had last been taken and relayed the information.
It only took an hour for the police to find the boy's bicycle at the edge of a nearby lake. They thought perhaps he had gone for a swim and might had drowned. They made a precursory effort to find him in the water and searched all around the bank. The dive team wasn't available until the morning, so they had to wait a few hours before resuming the search of the lake.
By then, Stephen's mother had been apprised of the situation and she had gathered community members to come help search the lake. Stephen had been her only son. If she had to dive down herself, she'd find out if he was in that lake or not. They called off the search a few hours after midnight, vowing to come back the next morning and help the dive team. Stephen's mother was distraught, but traveled home to try to get some sleep regardless. Stephen's father had died four months earlier in a shuttle accident. She hadn't taken it well.
Early the next morning, the boy's mother and her neighbors came back to the lake to meet the dive team. Soon the dive team had recovered the body of the boy in the water. The community said they had looked in that spot and there had been no body then. The police told them that it had been late at night when they were searching and probably had been too tired to find the body. The police said they'd know more after the autopsy had been performed.
The autopsy results came quickly. The medical examiner confirmed that the boy had died after he entered the water around 1:30pm to 2:00pm. There had been a small mark on the head but said that it happened postmortem and hadn't contributed to the boy's death.
The police closed the case as an accident. But Stephen's mother and her neighbors argued that it should be reopened and investigated further. Two days later, the boy's mother got a letter in her mailbox without a postal stamp or address. The letter read, “I will bring your kid back to life. You must, however, agree to never reopen the case.” She immediately took this letter to the police. They agreed that it was strange and also agreed that they would re-examine the body and the area where Stephen had died.
Before they could get to the lake, a forest fire had broken out. The police were suspicious and believed that it had been a case of arson to hide any evidence. But they had no clues to go on. The news was all over town. Everyone now believed that Stephen had been murdered somehow. The news picked up the story. Eventually the police commissioner called the investigating officer.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions in this case. Where do we stand on it? What can you tell me about this mark they found on the boy's head?”
“We haven't been able to figure out what that is. But we're still certain that the death was an accident.”
“Well, what about the letter his mother found?”
“It may be that someone did that as some kind of sick joke. They might also have wanted to confuse us or waste or time.”
“And what about the fire in the lake? Was that an accident as well?”
“Although we looked for evidence of arson, none was found. That too was an accident.”
The commissioner was not satisfied with these answers. “The boy's mother put in a complaint. She said that they had already looked where the boy had been found the night before. How do you explain that?”
“They just didn't notice him. They were out there in the dark and they were untrained. It's not that hard to believe, really.”
The commissioner thought for a moment.
“There's no wounds on the boy's body,” continued the officer. “It was an accident. He drowned. The boy didn't know how to swim.”
“Well hopefully when we autopsy the body again that the case will be closed for certain,” said the commissioner.
The story was still in the news, but Stephen's mother couldn't take it anymore. She surprised everyone when she told them to just close the case. She couldn't handle the constant media presence outside of her house and around her, reminding her of Stephen's death every moment of the day. Stephen's mother removed his pictures from the house and gave away all of his things. Eventually the story became old news and talk started about the new Robot Act.
Sales executives meeting in a conference room:
My name is Peter. I recently joined this company as a sales executive. You could say I'm the hero of this story. Everyone met the target of ten orders per month, but I made only three sales. Everyone knows my last sale was a big tragedy. But now everyone will find out how I finally solved that issue.
“Secretly, one night, I went to Stephen's mother's house and saw her inside. She was distraught about her son. Her robot would constantly ask her to eat, but she rejected every offer of food. I knocked on the door and placed the second letter and the memory card on the doorstep. She was confused about what these things were, but she picked them up and read the letter. I had drafted the letter based off of the company's customer letter template. It reads as follows:–
I don't want to tell you my name, but I've done a favor for you. I understand that losing a child is the largest pain a person can experience. As a mother, you're well aware of that. I also know because my five year old child died in an accident. You see, that's what made me begin to copy the human memories from dead bodies to convert them to digital memories. I did this for your son, Stephen. But accidentally, you found clues that would have led you to me and that would have been a problem. That's why I set fire to the lake area. I've helped many others, but as you're no doubt well aware, this memory transfer process is banned by the government. But the government doesn't understand the feelings of mothers and fathers who lose their children. I do. Please take this memory card and replace your robot's existing memory card. You will have your son back. Perhaps not in flesh and blood, but his mind, personality and memories will all be there. Please destroy this letter and keep what we've done a secret otherwise the police will erase your son's memory for good.
One additional thing:
If you want to help other people as I've helped you, whatever amount you can transfer to this account with non-traceable currency, please do so. The account number is written on the back of the page.”
“Stephen's mother has been happy since that day. As I mentioned in the letter, she transferred a large amount. It's more than enough to cover the missing sales from this month,” I said.
Everyone smiled and was happy that I had made my sales figures.
“We're involved in a secret business that's very profitable,” said the team leader. “We've got to be careful when we expand our business to other cities. We're transferring memories and helping out those who have lost loved ones. They're more than willing to donate for this cause. But as we know, this process is against the law.”
The team leader stopped and looked me in the eye. “Don't take this risk again. You transferred the memories where the boy had died. That's reckless. Next time, just enter the mortuary and transfer the memories from there. You might have earned more money with one sale, but your stupidity could have cost the company everything. Don't do it again.”
Everyone laughed.
5. Lie Free Society
Sometime in the 1700s.
The king hated lies and the liars who told them. He punished them when he could, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Liars were popping up everywhere. And he knew that if he decided to start punishing them more severely, there wouldn't be any people left in his kingdom at all. So, instead, he decided to announce a competition.
“Whoever manages to not lie for a month will get thirty gold coins. A person's neighbor will confirm that the person didn't lie for the entire month. However, if I find out that the person did speak a
lie, I will severely punish both the liar and his neighbor who vouched for him,” declared the king.
The king's subjects were wary of this competition
“Even if we don't lie for a whole month, someone else might tell a lie about us and we'd be punished. But if we do not claim that we have done the thirty days worth, the king will think we're all liars. All of us would be better off deaf in this kingdom!” was the common consensus of the king's subjects.
Ultimately, they could not come to a conclusion on what to do for the thirty days.
“How many of my subjects have been put forth as winners?” asked the king to his minister.
“Not a single one,” replied the minister.
“So then they're all liars!”
“You’re Grace, the people are afraid to put forth anyone as a winner. Even if someone claimed they didn't tell a lie, how could they be trusted?”
The king thought for a while and came to the conclusion that the competition had been useless. He called in the royal doctor.
“Doctor, your task is to find a medicine that detects whether or not a person is telling the truth.”
“Your Grace, based on my knowledge of medicine I do not think this is possible. You see...”
“Well, look through your books again! Contact all the doctors you need to. Only then will you be able to tell me for certain if it is possible.”
Two weeks later, the royal doctor returned to speak with the king. “You’re Grace, I am sorry to say that I could not find a medicine which detects lying. However, my teacher may be able to help. We should send for him immediately. He lives far away, but is the master of all medicines.”
“Then I have to meet him,” said the king.
The king's summons was sent far and wide to search for the master of medicine. Finally they came upon him studying in a cave and brought him to the king. The king explained the situation to the master of medicine.
“As my student has told you, there is no medicine in the world which can detect when someone is lying. However, I can make a medicine which may make a person keep from lying. Anyone who tells a lie after taking the medicine will die within twenty-four hours. Would you like this medicine?
“I am not worried about the lives of liars. I believe this medicine is exactly what I'm looking for.”
“We can first implement this in a small village,” began the master. “I will be there to administer the medicine and see the results. Then from there we can implement it in the whole kingdom. It would be good to test it in the village first and it would give me time to produce the medicine for the whole kingdom as well.”
The king thought this was a brilliant idea. After a week they decided to start the test in a village. All the people in the village were assembled without telling them what was about to happen. They administered the medicine to them. After the last person had received the medicine, the master spoke to the people.
“The medicine you have taken kills you within twenty-four hours if you tell a lie. Be careful what you say if you want to live.”
The people from the village for scared. For days they didn't even talk to one another because they were afraid they might lie by accident and then die.
After a week no one had died since no one had even spoken since they had been told what the medicine did.
“I have no idea if the medicine actually works. People are too afraid to talk,” said the king to the master of medicine.
In response, the master assembled the people from the village and spoke to them.
“Dear people of the village. You should not be afraid to talk for the truth is simple. If you tell the truth, you don't need to remember anything. When you lie you have to think more and have to remember what you said. Just simply don't tell lies when you speak to one another and you'll be fine.”
He paused for a moment before continuing. “When you speak the truth to others, you may face problems. But you should take pride since honesty is a virtue of a good person. And any problems you will have will come from being a good person.”
A few weeks later, people became less scared and went back to their usual life. The king was surprised and implemented the medicine in the whole country. There were a few deaths, but the king was happy.
Fifty years passed. Then the king's son became the ruler of the kingdom.
People had forgotten the meaning of the word lie. And the master of medicine himself was dying. He requested the king to meet him before he died.
“Master, why do you reject all forms of medicine?” asked the young king.
“I don't require medicine any more. My life will end. I am at peace with that.,” replied the master.
“You are a legend and a great boon to this kingdom. I will grant you any wish that you desire.”
“You don't need to do anything. I know that you've started to build a temple for me. But please stop construction. People should not even know the word 'lie' or its meaning.”
“Construction on the temple will be stopped as you have asked. But we need your assistance, master. I need the formula for the medicine that kills people if they tell lies. It isn't required for our country, but if we capture another country in the future it will be needed.”
“I will tell you about the formula. There is no formula. Nothing can stop someone from telling a lie, only their attitudes can do that.”
“What do you mean,” asked the young king.
“Yes, I told a lie. That lie was 'if you tell a lie, you will perish within twenty-four hours.' That's all the people needed to change their attitudes. People were afraid to die so they told the truth to stay alive. They merely considered normal deaths to be due to lying and that kept them afraid.”
The master closed his eyes. The last words of his life came out of his mouth slowly. “That is the only lie I ever told in my life.” And with that, he died.
The young king was now confused as to what the truth was.
The first option was that what the master had said was true and that there had never been any medicine that killed people when they lied. Or that the master had told a lie and the medicine had taken effect on him and killed him.
Either way, the king was not ready to speak a lie or tell anyone about what the master of medicine had said.
6. Secret Invention
Recently my company fired me for a mistake in the lab. I wasn't actually the reason for the mistake, but they didn't believe me. I doubt you'll believe me either. Everyone thinks it's my fault. But I can assure you, it was far from my fault.
Now I'm without a job. And what's worse, I can't continue my secret personal research. No one wants to hire me because I was caught using the company's lab equipment for my own research. But I can't help it. My mind is always going, always evaluating new problems and trying to find solutions. My stomach needs food just like my mind needs my research. And that research needs a lab. So I used what was available to me.
I can go without food for several days, but going without research is a problem. Since I've lost my job I've been struggling to find either food or research. I decided to post my research on a crowd-funding website, but only in vague terms as my exact research has been banned by the government. What that is, I dare not say yet. Listen to my story a little further.
The website is now my only hope. I wait and wait for someone to contact me and I check my inbox frequently. I need the most advanced equipment out there. PCR machines, electron microscopes, and that's just the start. I can't buy a fully equipped genetics lab, especially without a job. If God came and asked me what I wished for, I wouldn't wish for sleep or for to be able to eat, only a fully equipped lab.
As I sat in my apartment, the doorbell rang.
“Mail's here!”
I signed for the mail and noticed a large manila envelope. “Oh my God, this is a legal notice from my old company.”
The company was run by stupid guys. They had a world class environment for my genetic research, but what they employed me for was bey
ond boring. During my free time I used the equipment and started my research. I was able to clone any animal from only a strand of their hair. Mind you, it has to have the entire follicle intact so it can't be hair from the barber's that's been cut. And the age of the individual matters. If I have hair from a twenty year old, the clone will come out to be twenty years old. If the hair is from a forty year old, the clone will be forty years old.
At first, my research began on a rat. And then I moved to a rabbit. After many initial successes, I decided that it was ready for human trial and set about to make a clone of myself. Of course all of this was done in secret in my lab office. No one in the company knew anything about it. And I have no idea why they invested so much money into the laboratory because there were machines they would never use. It was probably for dodging income tax, but I don't know for sure. They gave me a lab and a salary, so what did I care?
Everything was going great until one day I damaged an expensive machine. The cost of the machine was... well, I don't want to say what the cost of the machine was. This is the reason they sent me the legal notice. They are asking for a million dollars in reparations. But what's a million dollars to a guy who has less than a hundred? It might have well had been a trillion.
I went back to surfing the internet while waiting for someone, anyone, to email me about my research. In the meantime, I planned to sell off some of my fitness equipment on eBay so that I could buy groceries.
Next day
Wow. Some idiot actually responded. I mean, some gentleman. He's ready to provide a lab for my research. I can't believe it. We spoke at length in a conference call. That meeting went well.
After that and a few more phone calls, I met with his authorized representative who said they were ready to provide whatever I needed. The lab was 250 miles away and was set up so that I could spend nights in the office. I packed my things. I wished I had my laptop from the old company, but at least it's configured to overwrite the hard drive if too many incorrect log-in credentials are tried.
SFS2 - Science Fiction Short Stories: 10 Science Fiction Short Stories Page 3