Synthetics

by B. Wulf

  No one laughed. Tough crowd.

  “But,” said Sasha, I saw his index finger rise above the chair, “To sooth any tortured fears, let me introduce you to someone. Frederick, are you there?”

  A previously unlit screen flashed to life accompanied by a chorus of gasps. It was a man... I assumed. The hairs on my neck gave the figure a standing ovation. He looked like a statue from Pompeii. Except instead of cooled magma he was metal.

  “This, my colleagues, is Frederick. How do you feel Frederick?”

  “I feel fine.”

  “I’m pleased to hear that Frederick. Now friends,” Sasha paused, “Is this satisfactory?”

  “What's he made of?” asked one chubby man in the mid left.

  He was frowning furiously. At least I think it was frowning; it may just have been the weight of his double chin pulling the edges of his mouth down.

  “A beta phase titanium alloy mainly. We had weight restrictions so titanium was the natural choice. Nano-composites were considered but did not prove feasible...”

  “So it's strong?”

  “Ask a fighter pilot, he's flying around in a great big chunk of it.”

  “I want it to be strong,” mumbled the man, quieting down.

  He sat back in his chair, his chin wobbling like jelly.

  “We can start the procedure as soon as suits,” offered Sasha.

  The chubby man was screwing up his nose and sniffing loudly.

  “Our investment better have been used wisely Doctor Neumann,” he said.

  Sasha seemed to be losing his patience, “What you are getting is immortality, eternal vigor, and a chance to change the world, Mister Lieckerman. Do you count that as a wise investment?”

  Lieckerman finally shut up.

  “Thank you ladies and gentlemen,” said Sasha, his good cheer returning, “We shall be in contact.”

  The screens then went blank and Sasha eased himself out of his chair and stretched like a Persian cat. Shaking his shoulders he shuffled over to us.

  “Follow me,” he said simply, “We need to talk.”

  We followed. I felt nauseous, like I'd been on a boat.

  ***

  “What the hell was that?” whispered Stuart into my ear as we followed Sasha and Cole down a corridor.

  “Some kind of robot?” I asked, “The Japanese have talking robots.”

  “It sounded human,” said Kate. She appeared oddly calm. I was freaking out and so was Stuart apparently.

  “I didn’t sign up for this,” said Stuart.

  “Yes you did,” said Kate, “This is CANA. What did you expect?”

  Perhaps I should have done my research better before I applied, but then I met Kate. So it’s all good, kind of evens out.

  “There must be an entirely rational explanation for what we saw,” said Stuart frantically.

  “This is CANA, Stuart. When science progresses far enough, it starts to look like fantasy to any normal person.”

  “This is CANA, this is CANA,” whined Stuart, mockingly. He started kicking the air and looked on the edge of hyperventilation.

  “Let’s all just shut up and wait for Sasha to explain,” I said.

  I was surprised to hear my own voice sound so authoritative. My limp wasn’t even that noticeable at the moment. My cane was definitely noticeable, however. Kate smiled appreciatively at me.

  “We are in this together,” I added.

  Stuart blinked hard, shook his head, and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll cool it. I’m sorry Kate, I just wasn’t prepared for that.”

  “I don’t think any of us were,” I said.

  Kate looked at me, eyes brimming with curiosity. It was like her gaze was saying ‘I was’. Or was it just my imagination? Was it just an innocent look? She must have seen my worried expression because she quickly shifted her focus to the floor.

  ***

  I sat myself down on a lounge-suite in Sasha’s office, which was on the top floor of CANA. I was too busy trying not to vomit to look at the furnishings but I did notice a little vase that was quite nice. It had lavenders in it. I like lavenders. Sasha and Cole sat opposite us in separate armchairs while all three interns sat on the couch.

  “I apologize for not giving you any advance warning,” said Sasha. Concern made his brow even wrinklier.

  We stayed silent. None of us knew what to say.

  “What is wrong with this world?” asked Sasha. He saw our confused looks and said, “Just say the first thing that comes into your head.”

  “Greed,” said Kate firmly.

  “War?” I said tentatively.

  Stuart kept quiet. This was one of those questions where the only answer that matters is the one that the person posing the question wants. He didn’t appear to want to play the game.

  “Stuart?” said Sasha softly, “What is wrong with this world?”

  He looked determined not to answer but Sasha just kept waiting. Finally he caved.

  “Death,” he said simply.

  “Really?” said Sasha, raising an eyebrow. Stuart started fidgeting and gripping the cushions. “Could you perhaps be more specific?”

  Stuart shook his head. “No, just death,” he said, his voice trailing off.

  “Well yes,” said Sasha, “I would tend to agree.”

  I was lost. There was a whole extra level to this little exchange that I was missing.

  “Now what do the murderer, the extortionist, the rapist, and the thief all have in common?”

  I was getting bored of questions.

  Sasha proceeded to answer the question. “They all fear death. This life is all they have so when something is denied from them, they go to whatever lengths necessary to attain it. Life is too short and you only live once. Death drives men to commit atrocious acts.”

  “What was that thing?” I asked, cutting off his lecture. I felt a bit bad but I needed to know.

  “That thing is a person, and his name is Frederick,” replied Sasha.

  “So you created a robot with a personality?” I asked, hopeful that this was the case.

  “No,” said Sasha, “We have created a shell. Frederick merely inhabits that shell as you inhabit your own body. They are called Synthetics, the merging of man and machine.”

  Synthetics? I stopped asking questions. I no longer wanted to know. I was out of my depth and wanted to go home. What the hell was going on?

  “So he used to be like us?” asked Kate.

  Stuart was in his own little world and didn’t seem to care about the conversation.

  “He is still like us; a central and peripheral nervous system controlling a body. His body is just… different.”

  “Why?” I asked. “What is the point of creating Mr Frankenstein?”

  Sasha winced and I automatically felt bad.

  “Frederick is an old friend of mine Fletcher. I would appreciate it if you refrained from such flippant remarks.”

  I shrank back. “I’m sorry.”

  “You give a man a gun,” Sasha continued, “and he can defend himself. You make a man bulletproof and he no longer needs to defend himself. It is time for humanity to take control of their own development. Natural selection only produces selfish animals. We can make something better. Sentient beings with no need, nor desire to exploit one another.”

  “Synthetics?” I asked.

  Sasha nodded, “Exactly.”

  I closed my eyes as I realized that my life had just gotten incredibly complicated. I swore under my breath.

  “I know that this is a lot to process, so you have all been given the rest of the day off. You may go.” As an afterthought he added, “And remember, you are free to leave this internship for whatever reason, whenever you so wish. We will not stop you. It is completely up to you.”

  Kate stood up to leave the room and said, “You are assuming that when we lack the ability to exploit one another, we will lose the desire to exploit one another.”

  Sasha nodded. “I doubt anyone would be stu
pid enough to try exploit Frederick. This project will liberate billions Kate. It will be a global emancipation. I thought you, of all people, would agree.”

  You, of all people? What was that supposed to mean. Who was Kate?

  “Maybe I do,” she said, “I just need time to think.”

  “Same,” I said, and followed her out of the office, leaving Stuart behind with Sasha and Cole. Cole hadn’t said a word the entire meeting, but had been scribbling furiously in a notepad for most of it. I wondered why Stuart hadn’t followed us out. Odd kid, that one.

  ***

  I was kept awake that night by a single question- why show us interns something like that? We’re just interns. Aren’t we? After tossing and turning in my bed for an hour I decided to head up to the roof for a swim. I needed a distraction. As I crept down the hall I noticed that Sasha’s office door was slightly ajar and a light was on inside. As I limped by, I glanced in and noticed three figures engaged in a heated discussion. I recognized Sasha and Cole, but the third was facing away from me. The sad thing was that I could recognize her by the colour of her hair. It was Kate. I quickly hurried on, lest I get caught with just my togs, towel and a guilty expression. It seemed that everyone had secrets around here. Not me however, I had no secrets, just insecurities.

  Chapter 4

  The next day Sasha told us to go and get some fresh air. He said we needed to take some time to relax, to process recent events.

  And so we found ourselves in a nice little park, three blocks down from CANA. It was an odd experience being in a park but surrounded on all sides by high-rise apartments. It was nothing like home, where if you looked over the city it almost looked like a forest, just with the odd roof poking through the canopy.

  We sat on the grass, enjoying the sun and eating ice cream that we had bought from a cart down the road. It was good to forget about the past day and just enjoy the present. But no matter how good my ice cream was, I couldn’t help wondering what the hell was going on.

  “So who are you?” I asked Kate.

  Stuart stopped slouching on the ground and sat cross-legged. We were both just as curious.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, “I’m Kate.”

  “Yeah,” said Stuart butting in, “But how come you are so cozy with Sasha and Cole? It’s kind of weird.”

  She smiled. “I guess there’s no reason why you guys shouldn’t know. Sasha is my mother’s uncle… So I guess that makes him my great uncle.”

  “And Cole?” I asked.

  I tried not to sound like I was interrogating her. I was just incredibly curious.

  “He is the closest thing Sasha has to a son. He is pretty much family.”

  “So you got the internship because you had connections?” said Stuart coldly.

  He had been acting strange all day. We all had been.

  “No,” said Kate, “I got the internship because I applied and aced the test. But do you want to know a secret?”

  So many secrets. I was tempted to say no and go back to enjoying my ice cream, but Stuart nodded.

  “Out of the twenty five thousand or so people that applied for this internship, over one hundred people aced the test just like us.”

  “So how did they narrow it down to us three?” I asked.

  “We were mostly selected arbitrarily, but also picked because of certain characteristics and traits that made us more suitable than the rest of them.”

  “Characteristics like?” asked Stuart.

  “I don’t know,” replied Kate.

  She was obviously lying but Stuart gave up pressing her and went back to his ice cream.

  Had CANA been watching us? Profiling us? Why was I selected? What made me different to the rest of the applicants who aced the test? I’m not exactly special. It must be my good looks. Limps can be sexy.

  “So, who were those men on the screens?” I asked.

  “The CANA board, I would imagine,” said Kate, “I honestly don’t know. I’m as much in the dark about the whole thing as you. All I knew before coming to CANA, was that Sasha was planning to unveil his big project which was going to be world changing.”

  “It changed my world,” I joked.

  No one laughed. I guess the situation was a bit too serious for any humor to be appreciated. Well, not my fail humor anyhow.

  “So Stuart,” I started, “What is up with how Sasha was talking to you in…”

  I stopped abruptly when I saw a man in aviators sitting on a bench across the grass from us. “That’s him,” I whispered, “The man at the bench. That’s the guy who was following me and Kate the other day.” Stuart turned to look. “No don’t look. You're too obvious.”

  Kate started laughing. “I think we are all getting a bit paranoid Fletch.”

  “But I swear that is the guy.”

  “Well even if he is following us,” she replied, “There isn’t much we can do about it. He’s probably an employee from CANA checking on us. No biggie.”

  “I guess your right.”

  The way she laughed made my heart slow down. I felt calm. She was right. She must be right.

  ***

  “Hey Stuart, how’s it going?”

  I sat myself down at his side. Three days had passed since the meeting and some of my initial horror had worn off to be replaced by comparatively mild unease. I hadn’t phoned home in days. This was beginning to become my world.

  Both of us wore lab coats. Stuart was staring at a screen with his chin in his hands.

  “Staggers man,” he said without taking his eyes off the screen, “I’m alright aye. How about you?”

  “I’m as good as I can be,” I replied, “Still feeling a bit unsure about this whole thing. What have you got there? Is this your assignment?”

  Each of us three interns had been assigned to a different lab to become acquainted with CANA practices. We were to rotate every month and hopefully, by the end of the internship, have a broad understanding of the different projects that were on the go. I was assigned to a lab that was experimenting with new coolant systems, but Stuart appeared to have lucked out and gotten attached to a cybernetics department.

  “Yeah man,” replied Stuart. He pointed to the monitor, which showed a three-dimensional rendering of two mice on a tropical island. “This is Archie,” he said pointing to a brown mouse, then to a white mouse, “and this is Ingrid.” He looked away from the screen to me. “And they are in love.”

  I nodded slowly. He had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

  “It looks like they are both males though,” I pointed out.

  Stuart squinted at me, eyes full of suspicion, and then started peering at the monitor again.

  “It does not matter,” he said after further scrutiny, “Their love is transcendent.”

  I laughed. “That’s the best kind,” I motioned around the room, “So what is this?”

  Stuart stretched and yawned. “Well,” he said, “I don’t really have a clue. My job is just to watch the mice and note down any peculiar behaviors and map their routines. But…” He pointed to a box like machine in the corner. “I do know that Archie and Ingrid are actually real mice.”

  My eyes widened.

  “Nice crazy eyes bro,” said Stuart before continuing, “Inside that machine is two mice who have been stripped down to only a nervous system and a brain.”

  “Sounds twisted,” I said.

  “Hell yeah, but pretty normal considering this is CANA.” He laughed. “Okay, so those mice are then hooked up to monitors and lots of different doohickeys, which allow them to interact in a virtual reality and also, for that virtual reality to interact with them.”

  “So they couldn’t do that with an unmutilated mouse?”

  “Nah, this ain’t the matrix. You got to be able to access every sensory receptor. All the muscle and crap just gets in the way.”

  “Oh,” I replied, “That’s disgusting.”

  “The idea takes some getting used to I know. I used to feel bad
for the mouse, but after watching them…” He looked back to the monitor. “After watching them I realized that they seem to be enjoying themselves. It’s real for them. Watch this.”

  He pressed a button and a giant block of holey cheese appeared. The two mice sniffed the air, watched the cheese and then dashed inside one of the holes.

  “Now they have a house made of cheese,” said Stuart, “Must be heaven for them. Took me nearly two days to code that thing.”

  “The cheese? Two days to make a piece of cheese?”

  “Yup,” replied Stuart, “Two whole days, with my supervisor’s help. You have to code for the shape, colour, texture, taste, the smell; every little thing that will make the mice think it’s real. It’s all about signals interacting with the appropriate receptors in their nervous system. It’s pretty similar to regular computer programming to be honest.”

  I watched as a mouse emerged from the cheese. It waddled now.

  “So you hook them into a body and they would be just like the guy we saw.”

  “Synthetics,” nodded Stuart.

  “This must have been how it all started out,” I said, “Getting bigger and more complex until they did it to a human.”

  “They do look happy though,” pointed out Stuart, “Just normal mice.”

  “But in a computer.”

  Stuart shrugged, “We can access the sum of human knowledge from a device that fits in our pockets. Try telling that to someone fifty years ago. What is unnatural today could be natural tomorrow.”

  “I guess you are right. But it doesn’t change the fact that it is not tomorrow, and today I still find it unnatural.”

  Stuart smiled, “Stop insulting my mice.”

  ***

  That night I had dinner with just Kate. Usually all three of us would have dinner together at CANA’s staff cafeteria, which was conveniently free for us, but Stuart had pulled a sickie. He didn’t look sick to me. Maybe a little tired. Not that I was complaining, though. Anyway, he had winked at me when he told me he couldn’t make it. He wasn’t sick.

  “So how are you holding up Fletch?” asked Kate, “It’s been pretty intense lately huh?”