by Gary Starta
To the relief of Mercer, Turner arrived on time at the Star View as instructed. This was a good sign that Turner would follow instructions carefully, Mercer told himself.
As Turner seated himself, Mercer launched abruptly into the “offer.”
“I have some very rewarding part-time work for you if you’re capable of cleaning up unsightly messes,” Mercer said while shooting a wink at Jeff who nodded his head.
“Since we’re on the same page now, I have two former employees who need to be terminated.”
“I have never handled a termination before but I consider myself a jack of all trades. How much is the pay check?”
“I will give you several allotments in the form of digitally-encoded credit chips. You should deposit these under several different bank accounts so as not to draw suspicion,” Mercer suggested.
“Yeah. I’ve done that before. Just tell me how much I’ll earn.”
“I have 100 million dollars invested in this project, Jeff. To earn it all you will have to make it appear that two of my employees got into a fatal scuffle. You get 10 million dollars upfront in encoded deposit chips and the remainder will be paid out in cash once the job is completed. I need this done as soon as possible before the employees can leak any information to the press. I want this job to be done in such a manner that no follow up investigations will be necessary. In other words, I just don’t want these people to disappear as this will only draw heat from the police and the public. Investigators should be able to walk away from the crime scene with the case solved. To ensure your success, I have had my lab create replicated DNA samples of the two soon to be victims. You will place hair follicles and skin cells from these samples onto the bodies to make it appear that they both murdered each other. To clarify, you will put one victim’s hair sample onto another to verify a physical exchange between the two had taken place. I hope you understand that while you have to commit these acts as discreetly as possible, you also need to manufacture a scene that convinces police an intense struggle had occurred. It is up to you to create this scenario. I only ask that you keep a low profile by not using any company coaches. I don’t want any witnesses identifying vehicles.”
“Just give me their names and consider your problem solved, Mr. Mercer. I appreciate your generous offer.”
The two men then finished a meal for appearance sake and went their separate ways by 10 o’clock.
The next morning the cocky delivery man notified his boss he would be late for work. Turner knew he would only need the courier job as a front for a few more weeks. He felt he had graduated to the big time with Mercer’s offer. Turner scoffed at his parents for pressuring him to become a doctor. “If they could only see my paycheck now,” he boasted to himself.
Turner planned to kill Schmitt at his residence in Reston and transport him to Paterson’s house in Richmond. He would shave his beard after taking care of Schmitt so any witnesses would be confused if he was spotted by neighbors in either town. As Turner sat down to a breakfast of eggs and bacon, the wheels of his greedy mind would not spare him a moment’s peace regarding the deposit chips he had acquired. The chips seemed to be “burning a hole in his pockets” as the old saying goes. Jeff knew it would be prudent to hold onto the chips for a few weeks before depositing them as maintaining a low profile was one of the first despicable skills he had learned as a thief. After taking another bite of bacon, Turner got up to dump the contents of the dish into a trash converter. The device reminded him of his desire to convert his chips into some cold hard cash.
By the time the converter had processed his trash, Turner had became a hostage to his desires. Despite his apprehensions, he found himself navigating his air coach to a local bank. Jeff entered the branch to be greeted by an automated teller. The teller did not possess a body but had a simulated face that was supposed to represent the bank’s president. “And just how can Freedom Bank help you today, Mr. Turner?” The bank machine was able to verify Turner’s account by matching a visual record in its data file. “Please place your hand on the screen and I will cash your chips,” the teller said with an exaggerated grin.
“And Mr. Turner, may Freedom Bank interest you in the purchase of some Ceres stock today? Our investment analysts promise a healthy return on your investment.”
Chapter 12: Socially Challenged
“I know you’re busy Adrian, but I’ve just got to talk to you,” Joyce Starkman pleaded into the view screen positioned outside the doctor’s house. “I am not leaving this doorway until I get some assurances about the procedures you will subjecting us to.”
McElroy momentarily stepped away from the communication screen’s camera and took a deep sigh. “Alright, I will give you half an hour—no more, Joyce.” Adrian knew that there would be a price to pay the day he implemented his plan to create the world’s most advanced android. Diplomacy was a necessary evil the scientific community needed to master to get both the public and financial sponsors to rally around their cause. The irony of this situation was that scientists of today and those of five hundred years ago never bothered to sharpen their skills in this area. Many socially-challenged geniuses often sacrificed their entire lives to invent a device or refine a formula only to find that the most crucial test of their work would be gaining public approval to utilize it. McElroy was no exception to this stereotype as was his father, Robert.
Robert McElroy had failed to sway government officials to continue his cybernetic work on the grounds that it presented a threat to the public. The senior McElroy could enthusiastically explain why his programming advances were beneficial to the robot; however, he could not convince the politicians why the public needed this advanced technology. As long as robots could perform their tasks efficiently, lawmakers did not care if the machines recognized themselves as individuals or not. The politicians then concluded that robots should not be manufactured to resemble the image of humans so no sympathetic bonds could be created between man and machine. Humans were long known to create bonds with their newborns as well as animals on an instinctive basis. Even when no tangible proof of communication could be measured, humans still believed they could interact with a baby or animal that could not form speech. Federation governments did not want to deal with infringing upon the freedoms of an artificial intelligence and therefore had striven to keep the publics treatment of them confined to the way one would feel about a primitive device known as a toaster. “A machine is a machine is a machine,” quoted one California senator before a panel of cybernetic supporters.
Adrian McElroy was now developing AI programming that was light years ahead of his father’s software. He expected even a stronger wave of objections than his father could ever imagine. Adrian was not only breaking federation law but a number of moral and religious codes with his hybrid procedure. The issue of prolonging human life by storing it into an AI would be just as controversial as cloning which has been banned by all Earth governments.
The continuance of a life in an altered form would of course be rejected by those who subscribed to the creationist theory. The doctor might be able to sway believers in the evolution theory; but members of that community would probably be equally disenchanted that humans could adapt to live in a machine just as they once lived in the body of an ape.
Building the androids in the image of man was already a hot topic for debate. The creation of an android that could believe it was a specific person would certainly fan the flames of controversy to another degree.
McElroy explained to Joyce that he never intended to merge human engrams with robotic circuitry.
“The situation we unfortunately encountered called for extreme measures if we were to make the civilian’s pilgrimage worthwhile. I would have much rather preferred to manufacture entities which would co-exist with humans but be totally independent from them. I know my work must present you with a myriad of religious concerns Joyce; but why else do you feel so troubled with my procedure?”
“I am concerned about my son
, first and foremost, doctor. I was at first skeptical that you could put my child’s essence into a machine as you already know. The last few months with James has allowed me to enjoy his spirit despite my religious objections. The fact that I can look upon a machine with the same regard I feel for beings made of flesh and bones is astonishing to me. In the past, I would loosely apply the term “living thing” to the beautiful flowers I grew; but I felt they were living because they were created by a higher being. I now have come to respect the machine you provided me with as a living being. As a mother, I instinctively want to see my child live and evolve. I could not readily embrace this feeling the way my husband Aaron did. You were right that an allowance of time would allow me to love this machine as much as I loved James. In effect, the fruition of this prediction is exactly why I had to speak with you today as both a mother and a fellow scientist.”
“Please let me get you some tea, Joyce,” McElroy offered. “I don’t know if my theories will soothe your mind, but I can guarantee you my tea will.”
“Let me help you,” Joyce suggested. McElroy then programmed the holo-room to simulate a kitchen setting.
As the two scientists prepared their drink, McElroy attempted to carefully word a response to Joyce’s concerns that would help explain why he could not provide the assurances she was seeking.
“Let me try to give you a little analogy on why my procedure calls for a leap of faith. This tea is tangible so we can prove it soothes your nerves. My theory on creating the perfect android is still right now just a theory. I believe I can make androids that will expertly mimic the most intricate nuances of human behavior. These creations will also be able to complete complex physical tasks just as well as their human counterparts. I believe the android James is “living proof” of this to coin a phrase. His android circuitry is able to learn how to respond to questions in a unique manner—a technological advancement that was often lacking in most AI’s. The machine is working in tandem with your son’s engrams to achieve this. A very fine line would have to be drawn to distinguish the artificial mind from your boy’s natural intelligence. So I ask that just as you have faith in your religion—you also find it in your heart to have faith in my work.”
“Well, that leap of faith does present some problems for me, Adrian. Since I see you as the creator of this machine, I do have to question if the “life” you granted is morally acceptable. I believe you are a good person—especially when I measure you against the likes of Mikola Petrovsky. However, people who made some of history’s biggest blunders have often defended their actions by claiming their intent was good. The assurance I want from you is that the essence of my son will not be replaced by the machine’s programming. I have cause to be concerned as I witnessed him performing a super human feat the day he defended me against Petrovsky. James was able to leap more than three meters from a still position in order to knock him down. Lately, his speech pattern has become peculiarly formal around me. So I have to wonder if my son’s individuality is becoming lost in the machine.”
“My efforts to build a superior being is clearly based upon the human condition, Joyce. We all may evolve and change as we grow. I purposely have allowed this aging process to occur because I do not want to build androids which are infallible or immortal. I want to give my creations the same free will our creator supposedly gave us. Once the android’s neural circuitry is taught how to perform complex acts of thinking it may also become independent of its teacher—the human engrams. I simply cannot remove and re-install the engrams like we do with other computer software. As a result—and I have to be honest with you Joyce—I cannot distinguish the thought patterns initiated by your son from the computer’s. The androids are similar to us in that our minds are dependent upon our bodies to learn. But for them, the situation is reversed as the body is dependent upon the mind to learn. As adults we engage ourselves in the act of walking without having our minds analyze how we take each and every step. However, a baby’s first attempts to walk are certainly far from perfection since its body literally improvises the movements necessary for forward projection. I like to think that the human contribution to the machinery is providing numerous training courses for the android. One day the machinery will be less dependent upon it’s human mind and will be able to manufacture thoughts just as easily as the toddler masters walking. However, I did not design my circuitry to purposely overshadow its human elements. In other words, the artificial circuitry will desire to evolve but not at the expense of the human engrams. Your android host body would simply not be in competition with your engrams, Joyce.”
“I guess I will have to take a leap of faith with you, Adrian. I respect the fact that you have not tried to conjure up explanations just to quell my concerns. I know I was drawn to scientific study because all theories must be factually based and I believe you were as well. Now I see that you don’t jump to conclusions to argue your point. I will also try not to jump to conclusions to defend my doubts and concerns.”
Joyce paused before exiting McElroy’s dwelling. “Just one more thing, doctor. Please don’t equate my concerns with a lack of gratitude for what you’ve done. I believe laws prohibiting your work would be amended if the public could spend just an afternoon with my boy. Maybe it will take the construction of a whole new world to overcome the doubts of the former.”
“And yes,” Joyce confessed, “I did count myself as belonging to that former world. I do hope your work—be it intentional or not—will conquer the fears of the narrow minded.”
Chapter 13: Filling in the Blanks
Coming out of stasis can be compared to the butterfly exiting the chrysalis or the bear leaving its winter cave. The awakened parties often feel disoriented and weak from their frozen sleep. That was the way Terry and Dr. Jon Sanderson felt after Linda Dougherty programmed their stasis chamber to return their bodies back to their normal body temperatures. After a day of allowing the bodies to warm up to normal room temperature, an injection is administered which slowly instructs the mind to awaken its body. Since the sleep is artificially induced with the help of a naturally-based chamomile drink, many of the awakened occupants remember sipping the beverage and little else thereafter. They then awake believing they have only been asleep one day instead of six or nine months. The problem with the induced sleep is that it is very disorienting to the mind as the Rip Van Winkle effect takes over. Researchers dubbed the name of this side effect after a folk lore legend written nearly 700 years ago. The subject of the story falls asleep for a century and then awakens to find everything has changed although he swears he only took a short nap. The moral of the story is that one must be adaptable to change or suffer the consequences of being left behind. So when Terry Sanderson awoke she instinctively tried to dismount her bed and found herself flopping onto the floor like a rag doll. Linda rushed to pull Terry up from the floor and placed her back into the chamber. After a few minutes, Terry was coerced to realize that she had just woken from her hibernation and would be quite weak. Jon Sanderson awoke a few minutes after Terry and also was quite confused.
Upon realizing they had been asleep for several months, the pair felt as though they had time traveled because they had no point of reference to draw upon. Psychologists found that a mind will not be able to resume normal thought patterns until the missing blanks of memory are replenished. No recollection of dreams by any stasis occupants had ever been recorded by researchers. The artificial hibernation process often drew the criticism of the medical profession as it is most comparable to a comatose state.
The next day the Sanderson’s were fitted with electrodes to begin muscle stimulation. The process was necessary to prevent atrophy. After a few days of this treatment, their muscles and limbs returned to their natural flexible state.
The Sanderson’s were then encouraged to watch the ship’s computer recordings to learn about everything that had gone on during their sleep. It would still be a few weeks before their minds would stop trying to question why they co
uld not recall any events from the past six months. Linda was delighted to find that Terry had started to focus on the two contests she had created. However, Jon was baffled as to why Linda was in charge of the ship in place of her husband Matt. Jon was also trying to come to grips with the reality that he was on a trip to colonize a new planet. Researchers diagnosed Jon’s problem as day dreamer’s complex. The subjects of the studies often believe the reality they awake to is a dream and vice versa. Linda encouraged Jon to talk as much as possible to combat his confusion.
In three days, Jon appeared to be recovering just fine when he asked if his favorite baseball team had won the championship. Linda suggested she could show transmission recordings of the Globe Series of Baseball but Jon complained it would never be as good as being there. Terry was encouraged by her husband’s complaints as a sign he was returning to his normal self.
“If I find the Tokyo Dragons have swept one more series I will volunteer for extended stasis time,” Jon joked.
“Well, just think of stasis and space travel as a means to save you the aggravation you would feel if you were still on Earth,” Terry said facetiously as she leisurely strolled around the holographic creation of a running track.
“Oh, yes dear. I would trade the rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins for a cloudy mind state any day. How about we get some sleep when we reach Ceres, Te?” Jon often referred to his wife as “Te” to remind her that his sarcastic rantings were not to be taken to heart.
“Be lucky my love that your body did not go through six menstrual cycles while you were asleep,” Terry countered.