by Greg Krojac
“Are these security staff armed?”
“Yes. Semi-automatic rifles.”
Karen was glad that SWAT was there. They could make the assault. Her head felt a lot better but it still wasn’t up to the loud cracking of gunfire and explosions.
“How many sexbots are there?”
“None.”
“But you said there were other girls there.”
“There are. Six. But they’re not gynoids.”
Karen was confused.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before, Coppélia?”
The android looked at the wasp nest again.
“You didn’t ask.”
The Detective Inspector would probably have been annoyed if anyone else had left such an important detail out, but it suddenly dawned on her that maybe Coppélia wasn’t as perfect as she appeared to be. Syber Android Industries had done an amazing job with her – she seemed to have feelings and emotions – but she was still, nevertheless, an android, and a machine always has the capacity to contain a glitch. Coppélia would occasionally be unable to infer the correct human line of thinking and resort to pure logic.
She patched the SWAT leader into her TIS.
“Commander, please be advised that – as far as we are aware – there are no androids in the building. The girls are human.”
Karen could hear the SWAT leader sigh.
“Thank you for the information, Detective Inspector. We’ll amend our assault strategy accordingly.”
He relayed the information to his teams. They would have had no qualms about destroying a few sexdroids but armed with the new information, they would have to change their tactics to avoid human casualties.
Suddenly a back room of the house was filled with a bright light and a deafening bang that bounced off the walls. A naked man jerked backwards with shock and the woman underneath him winced with discomfort as he rolled off her. He felt something burning and looked down to see the remains of a flash-bang grenade nestling on his thigh. Now that he had seen it, the burn hurt even more.
He started screaming, paying no heed to the fate of the woman, who had been temporarily blinded and deafened by the intense flash of light and thunderous explosion. Robbed of two of her most important senses, she stretched her arm out, seeking anything that could help her orientate herself. Her grasping hand recoiled in pain when it brushed against the back of the man’s leg, where the powder from the charge was still burning his skin.
Six more explosions could be heard in rapid succession and those who were having sex in the other rooms suffered similar fates to those of the first couple. The smoke clearing, the naked woman and her client blinked as their sight returned and the feeling of disorientation faded. They watched as five other couples in various stages of undress were dragged into the room and forced to stand facing the wall. The captured security staff were pushed against another wall – prostitutes, punters, and house security all under the watchful eyes of heavily-armed SWAT officers, each one more sinister in his dark combat uniform than the other, training their semi-automatic rifles on the terrified men and women. Once the building was secure, the Sexdroid team joined their fellow officers.
Karen walked up to one of the disarmed security men.
“Where’s the boss?”
No response.
“I’ll ask you nicely. Who’s in charge, please?”
Again no response.
She borrowed a revolver from the SWAT team leader and pressed it into the back of the man’s neck. He tried to move his head forward and away from the gun’s muzzle but the wall wouldn’t let him. Karen had no intention of shooting him, but he didn’t know that.
Another officer entered the room, pushing an elegantly dressed man with a neatly-coiffured beard ahead of him.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Karen swivelled on her heels and faced the new captive.
“Well, well, well. I didn’t expect to see you in this neck of the woods. Quite literally as it happens. Slumming it a bit, aren’t we?”
Rufus Clearwater tried to appear calm.
“Just checking on a few investments, Detective Inspector. You know how it is.”
Karen looked the owner of the Club Galatea directly in the eye.
“I always knew you were rotten. It was just a case of finding proof.”
Rufus suddenly noticed Coppélia at the back of the room.
“What’s she doing here?”
Karen turned to see who he was talking about but only saw Rachel and the android.
“Who? DS Foster?
“No. The android. Coppélia. What’s she doing here?”
The revelation that Rufus knew Coppélia caught Karen off guard. She nodded at Rachel and the two of them took Rufus into another room and closed the door, leaving Coppélia behind. Meanwhile, the rest of the SWAT officers, along with the remainder of the Sexdroid Unit, rounded up the captives, before sending them off to NewMet City Police HQ for processing.
Karen poked Rufus in the chest.
“You, my friend, are going to give us some answers.”
Rufus didn’t feel so secure. He’d known Karen for a few years now and thought he knew how to deal with her. But this was a different Karen. This was an angry Karen, a driven Karen, a Karen with a thumping great hangover.
Karen snarled at him.
“How do you know Coppélia?.”
Rufus shook his head.
“I can’t tell you.”
Karen grabbed him by the throat and pushed him forcefully against the wall.
“You will tell me.”
Rufus was flustered.
“But they’ll kill me.”
“Who’ll kill you? Syber Industries?”
“I don’t know no Syber Industries. I just know about a geezer in a black suit and tie.”
Karen released her grip on his neck. Rufus knew he had no choice but to talk.
“A while ago, some bloke in a black suit and tie made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He wanted me to employ Coppélia. Said it was part of her training.”
“Training for what?”
“Dunno. He just said she was training for something important. Anyway, he offered me a lot of money. I mean a lot. I’d have been daft to say no. I mean it was no skin off my nose. And she’s a step up from my normal droids.
“I knew it was a mistake to move the android from the Galatea to this house which caters solely to my VIP customers. My clients are willing to pay a ludicrous amount of money to sleep with real human girls.”
The floodgates were open, in the hope that cooperation might lead to a lighter prison sentence.
“And Coppélia is so real, nobody would realise they weren’t having sex with a real woman. It seemed a shame not to make the most of her very considerable talents.”
Karen wanted more.
“And then?”
“And then she did a runner. I didn’t see that coming. I mean, androids are supposed to do what they’re told. That’s the order of things. But she took it into her head or motherboard or whatever, to refuse to do her job and run off. I had blokes looking for her but they never found her. I never guessed she’d be with you lot.”
Her hangover almost gone – those painkillers really did act fast – she was formulating a plan.
“I’m going to offer you a deal, Rufus.”
“What kind of deal?”
“You’re looking at a lot of jail time. Probably about fifteen years. I reckon I can get that reduced by a third. Couple that with time off for good behaviour and you could be out in about five years.”
Rufus smelt a rat. Karen wasn’t doing this out of the goodness of her heart.
“What’s in it for you? What are you after?”
“Can you get in touch with this man in black?”
“He contacts me.”
“Are you expecting him to call you soon?”
“Since I lost Coppélia he’s been hassling me most days. Said there was a homing chip in h
er arm but it led them to a river and they found nothing there but a lot of water and a bunch of hungry ducks.”
12
Raef Ulfursson stepped forward to shake Karen’s hand. She allowed him to shake her hand, but not because she trusted him; how can you trust a man who has just had you kidnapped?
“I’m sorry about all the cloak and dagger stuff to bring you here, DI Chambers, but – as you will discover – it was entirely necessary.”
Karen smiled appreciation at the politeness of the Icelandic entrepreneur, investor engineer, and inventor, but she had no idea why she had been brought to Ulfursson’s lair. Rufus was supposed to be setting up a meeting with the man in black. She hadn’t expected to find herself face-to-face with the man who was now greeting her, let alone be abducted by one of his cohorts. Of course, she’d heard of the man who now stood before her, his strawberry blond hair and well-trimmed beard framing a pleasant, almost handsome face. He looked genuinely excited to see the police officer.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Miss Chambers. You certainly led us a dance whilst we tried to locate Coppélia, but I’m glad to see you both here today.”
Karen glared at the Icelander.
“You didn’t exactly give me much choice.”
“Again, I’m sorry. But it was necessary. May I call you Karen? Detective Inspector Chambers is such a mouthful.”
“Please yourself.”
Karen’s hostility wasn’t based upon the treatment that she had received since she and Coppélia were physically removed from her apartment, but was due to her feelings of vulnerability. She and Coppélia had been treated very well, but she liked to be in charge of her environment and, like it or not, Raef Ulfursson had taken that away from her. The entrepreneur’s manner and smile were disarming and it took all Karen’s willpower not to get sucked in by his charm. He beckoned Karen and Coppélia to follow him as two sliding doors swooshed open and he took the first steps down what seemed a never-ending corridor.
“Do you know where you are, Karen?”
“Syber Android Industries, I imagine.”
“Correct. Well done. This is the birthplace of both the concept of Coppélia and her assembly. But it’s far more than just that, you’ll see.”
Coppélia tapped Raef on his left shoulder.
“So you’re my creator?”
Raef beamed with pride.
“Yes. I envisioned you, I designed you, I created you.”
“Why did you create me?”
“All in good time. All will be revealed soon, Coppélia.”
It felt as if they’d walked for miles when Raef suddenly stopped.
“You probably think that Syber Android Industries just builds androids.”
Karen scoffed.
“The name kind of gives it away, don’t you think?”
“The android is part of a much bigger project, something so unique and innovative that you can’t begin to imagine the importance of it.”
Karen tried to bite her tongue but the words just came out of her mouth.
“Coppélia’s some sort of robot super-soldier isn’t she? I know how strong she is and how resistant to damage she is. Build a few thousand more of her and you have an army that’s pretty much invincible.”
Raef looked genuinely surprised.
“What on earth gave you that idea?”
“I’ve seen who your investors are – national governments – and they’re pouring money into SAI from their military budgets. What else could you be planning?”
The Icelander rolled his eyes.
“I suppose I can understand why you might think that, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the money is being siphoned off from military budgets but that’s only because the project is top secret. We will go public but only when it’s necessary. Tell me, you deal with androids every day as part of your job. Would you agree that Coppélia is different from all the other androids that you deal with?”
“Definitely.”
“And what would you say is the major difference?”
Karen thought for a second.
“She’s almost human. She appears to have emotions and desires. She makes her own choices. And she adapts to situations well. She has a personality. But that’s just your clever programming.”
Raef was pleased to hear Karen’s accurate appraisal of his android.
“Exactly. Initially, her personality was an example of superlative programming, but she’s much more than that. She continues to learn and her personality is always developing. Think of her as you might a child. When a baby is born, it can’t do much more than eat, drink, shit, and sleep, Then it starts interacting with its environment and the people in that environment. It continues to learn what it is and what its relationship is with the world around it.
“That’s what we’ve been doing with Coppélia. She’s been all over the world, mixing in different circles, working at different jobs, experiencing different cultures and different sensations –.”
“Different sensations?”
“Yes. She needs to be able to describe her sensations for what we have planned for her.”
Karen wondered if perhaps she and Rachel had been too hasty and jumped to the wrong conclusion. What Raef was saying didn’t seem to be the kind of stuff that conspiracy theories are made of. Suddenly Coppélia didn’t sound like a super-soldier.
“So she’s not a weapon?”
Raef began to laugh.
“A weapon? Good heavens no. Far from it, Karen. I think you’ve been watching too many movies. She’s going on a mission of peace.”
Karen’s interest was piqued. Raef grinned, pointing to a door on the left hand side of the corridor.
“Come into this room with me. You’ll see what this is all about.”
The door led to a large chamber with dozens of state-of-the-art computer stations, at which were sat dozens of computer operators. At least, that’s what Karen assumed they were. On the far wall was the biggest monitor screen that she had ever seen outside of a cinema multiplex. There were digital chronometers everywhere. It was very hi-tech and very impressive. Raef stood in front of the giant monitor and opened his arms wide.
“This, Karen, this is Mission Control. Take a look at the large screen.”
Raef pressed a couple of icons on a console touchscreen and the monitor burst into life. Karen tried not to look impressed.
“What am I looking at?”
“This is a map of the stars, Karen. The Great Infinity.”
He took a laser pointer from a pocket, pointing it at the screen. The red beam settled on a small circle at the bottom left of the screen.
“This is us. Planet Earth.”
He let the beam sweep across the screen until it homed in on another small circle.
“This is the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri and…”
Another tap on an icon and the image zoomed in on the star.
“…If you look closely you’ll see a planet orbiting the dwarf star. The name of that planet is Proxima b, and that is where we plan to send Coppélia. It’s the closest planet to us that’s not part of our solar system”
Karen asked the obvious question.
“Why?”
“Why? Because it’s there. To see if we can.”
Raef always enjoyed explaining how the Coppélia Project came to be.
“Have you heard of an astrophysicist from last century named Neil deGrasse Tyson?”
“Of course. Everybody knows who he is.”
“He’s a bit of a hero of mine. Anyway, I saw a video of his on YouTube and it inspired me. In fact, it’s driven me. He asked an important question, ‘are we only interested in scientific discovery?’ If we are, we can send a robot – it’s cheaper. But if we want to share in the experience, to learn of the emotional, physical, and cultural sensations, we should send a human. Each of Coppélia’s many life experiences has been geared to expanding her emotional repertoire so that she can describe wha
t she sees and feels on Proxima b in a manner that the average human can relate to.”
Karen still wasn’t convinced.
“Why can’t you send a human to this planet?”
“Proxima b is approximately 4.2 light-years away. That’s 25 trillion miles. Apart from taking over 20 of our years to reach it, even travelling at 20% of light-speed, we’d need to factor in human needs. We’d need a life-support system, food and water, waste facilities. That would add to the payload and obviously to the cost. Not to mention that the environment on the planet is entirely inhospitable for humans. Coppélia doesn’t need these luxuries. She can function in an environment that would kill any human being.”
Coppélia was pleased to at last know what her purpose was, but she wasn’t convinced that she should go.
“What if I choose not to go?”
Raef knew that this was the downside of creating such a robot; Coppélia had an ego. She could think, feel, and distinguish herself from others and had a sense of being, a sense of self-worth. A lesser robot would accept and follow instructions without question, but the whole point of Coppélia was that she should be as close to being human as possible, without actually being a human. Raef had even given the conundrum a name – the Coppélia Paradox. She needed to be able to make the choice herself, but giving her that choice could – if she refused – potentially cost billions of lost dollars and years of wasted time that had been spent getting this far. Coppélia had to go to Proxima b.
But he’d been prepared for this question.
“What brings you the greatest pleasure, Coppélia?”
The android didn’t need to think about her answer. She fired back the response almost as soon as the question had been asked.
“Learning.”
Exactly the response that Raef had expected.
“And what is the definition of learning?”
“The act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill.”
“Coppélia, no human has ever been to Proxima b. No human will go to Proxima b in the foreseeable future. You will learn about a new world, you’ll see new things, humanity will learn through your experiences. You’re the only chance for humanity to experience this new world.”