THERE'S NO NEWS
By Beryl Stott
The white coated figure moved towards her. It seemed as if he was walking in slow motion. There had been no news for hours and now Gabe Fuller, head of the whole Futureassured project had obviously been called in. This was not a good sign. It suddenly felt as if someone had turned the heating to full blast and fine perspiration beaded on her forehead.
Gabe’s lips were moving and Blade forced herself to focus. The thick carpet and deep cushioning on the floating chairs absorbed his voice and made it sound almost soothing.
‘Have you had a breakthrough?’ she cut in, tucking a strand of long black hair behind her ear.
‘Blade, we realize this is extremely stressful for you, but an important point of the crossover is that it has to be done quickly, so no-one will suspect anything. I know this has hardly given you time to realize Slater has gone, let alone grieve, but the transition with the Humanoid has to be seamless, so as not to attract attention.’
Her mind drifted back to the shock and horror of two days ago.
They had just come back from a holiday in one of their properties abroad. Slater had said he was tired which was a bit unusual, but still they had had an event- filled holiday and she was glad she had forced him to finally take the two weeks off. He hadn’t looked well just before that but had refused to have a check-up, aggressively reminding her he didn’t have time while trying to finish the twenty million dollar Rajah deal before they left.
Now she was glad she had carried out all the paperwork and procedural training with Futureassured, even though she hadn’t thought she would need it for years. Quite a deal of cunning had been required as she knew Slater would never willingly agree, but she didn’t care, she had to look after her future. Discovering the clauses he had added after she had signed the pre-nup, was certainly an eye-opener.
It had been relatively easy to convince him it was part of one of the fantastic high-tech adventures you could go on in the Technaquarium theme park. Just lay back in an extremely comfortable chair with all the appropriate wires attached to your head and be shown highlights of your life story on the big screen in front of you. A laugh really, but what Slater didn’t know was the secret code that she had activated ensured that all his memories were actually being retrieved and recorded.
It had been late when they had arrived back. The e-chopper had landed on the helipad above their apartment. Face recognition had swung open the main door and Slater picked up their two overnight bags and just made it inside when he gasped, turned to her and said something quite garbled, then dropped to the floor. She fought the panic as she ran to him and tried cpr, but finally had to admit he was quite dead.
Amid the rising anxiety, the protocol dropped into her brain like a number clicking over to the next item. She took a deep breath and pushing through the fog of confusion and panic, she remembered ‘Dial the number immediately!’ She found her phone with shaking fingers.
Within minutes Futureassured’s E12 Stealth jet helicopter had arrived and Slater was wrapped up and hurried on board. Blade felt a moment of regret as she realized she hadn’t really said goodbye to him. Yes, he could be hard to live with, at times quite emotionally cruel, but she was used to him, and to be truthful, she had put up with his personality in return for the fantastic life they lived.
‘Please make yourself comfortable while I explain the situation a bit more fully,’ Gabe was saying. ‘At the original meeting the inputting staff did explain that this was still an experimental procedure.’
‘Yes, yes, I know all that, get on with it, what is happening?’
‘As we said a few hours ago, there was a glitch with the procedure and we had some concern about the transference of data.’
‘Get to the point and tell me what is going on.’ Blade’s frustration was beginning to show.
‘We think there may have been selective transmission into the android.’
‘What does that mean exactly?’
‘Well, everyone has different aspects of their personality. Maybe they are quiet at home, but become the life of the party when they have had a few drinks. Or they may have a vibrant personality but can be quite philosophical, or even have a fairly violent side that’s not apparent to outsiders,’ Gabe took a deep breath, ‘so we think that only one aspect of Slater’s personality has been transferred, and the rest of the data has been lost in transmission.’
A white coated assistant entered the room and whispered something into Gabe’s ear.
Taking Blade’s hand, Gabe said gently, ‘We’re ready now. Slater has been activated and preliminary tests indicate he is ready and stable enough to leave.’
Blade could see through the glass doors, Slater was walking down the aisle. She marvelled at how natural he looked. He was covered in extremely realistic silicone skin and tiny transistors under the skin moved muscles in the face to replicate facial expressions. And, the eyes, that was where the real artistry was, they were absolutely lifelike.
She stood up, clutching Gabe’s hand for emotional support as she recognized the cold steel expression of Slater’s worst mood.
With a cursory glance at Blade, Slater’s most malicious voice addressed Gabe. ‘What are doing here Fuller?’ he said, ‘get your hands off my wife.’
Then, as Blade’s stomach started to churn, he turned on her. ‘Geez, you really look rough Babe, maybe I should trade you in for a younger model’.