Departure

by Ken Barrett

  “That wasn’t Blossom,” Julee informed her, then lifted her puppy into her waiting arms. “Your dog is right here, she’s just fine.”

  She pressed her face into Blossoms white fur, enjoying the scent and warmth of her little body. Tears of giddy relief and joy threatened, but she held herself back; a fit of emotion would be unseemly for the Chancellor of the city. No, she would remain firmly in control. If she cried it would have to be later when she was alone in her apartment. “Then what did I see?”

  “Definitely a robot of some sort,” Julee replied. “More than likely it was programmed to get as close to you as possible, then detonate a bomb that was hidden inside.”

  “An assassination attempt,” Margaret concluded. “An attack on me personally.”

  “Yes, that’s the way it appears now. The explosion we heard near the wall was probably another exploding robot. I doubt there’s much left to analyze though, so we may not be able to identify who built the bombs.”

  “It was that fucking university in Flatiron City. They’re the only ones with the kind of know-how to pull something like this off,” Margaret said. “This will not stand. This assault on my person must be answered. Flatiron will pay for this.”

  “I understand.” Julee nodded.

  “Get the council together. We need to move on this right away. I’ll meet with them after I get cleaned up.” Margaret stood up, and still holding Blossom tightly she began to ascend the stairs that led to her second-floor apartment. Then she turned and smiled sourly down at the Technology Director. “It looks like you’ll be getting your science geeks sooner than expected.”

  Chapter 2: Just Another Day

  Liam was awake before he was completely aware of being so; it was always that way; he was not a ‘morning person’ per se, just someone that awoke alert and ready to face the day. He swung his legs from beneath the warm blankets and sat at the edge of the bed staring out through his bedroom window. The torrential rain that had battered Flatiron City for the last few days was finally easing, leaving a humid misty landscape in its wake.

  An unfinished carving of a young woman’s face waited on his desk beneath the window; the project was going well but he needed to bring out more kindness in her eyes. After contemplating the work for several minutes, he got up and began to get dressed. As usual, he slipped on a pair of worn blue jeans, a dark flannel shirt, and finally put on a pair of worn but comfortable work boots.

  His younger sister Rose, who taught history at the university, often said he looked like a blond ‘Clint Eastwood’; he had no idea what that meant but hoped that it was some sort of a complement. There was no telling with Rose; that girl had an engaging sharp wit and a great sense of humor, so the true nature of her description could go either way.

  He and Rose were refugees of Fort Collins, which had been razed by the Socialist Army when they were very young; as far as he knew they were the only survivors. They were on the run for nearly a month after the massacre, and it was a relief when they arrived at the gates of Flatiron City.

  Once their testing was complete and they were granted citizenship, they had taken the last name of ‘Collins’ in remembrance of what was lost. Being young, they were each placed with a foster family; Liam was put with the Neumann’s who had just lost a son to cancer, and Rose went with the Beckman’s who had a daughter that was about her age. It was a good arrangement because their foster homes were next-door to each other and shared a backyard.

  Liam cleaned up in the bathroom and inspected his face in the mirror. He was tall and lanky with wavy blond hair and pale green eyes; he wasn’t someone that girls would fall all over, but he wasn’t hideous enough to drive them away either. He rubbed his palms over the low stubble on his chin, and after a moment decided to wait another day before shaving.

  His sister was probably already outside waiting, so he hurriedly descended the creaking stairs to the first floor of the Neumann’s ancient home. They always walked together to their jobs at Flatiron University, and he didn’t want to be late, but his foster mother stood expectantly by the front door. “Good morning dear,” she said.

  “Hi Mary.” He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Why’re you still at home?”

  “Paperwork and section budgets as usual.” His foster mother ran the Social Sciences Department at the university. “It’s a lot to wade through, and it’s easier to do here because there’re fewer distractions.” She glanced over her shoulder toward the kitchen. “Would you mind having a cup of tea with me before you go?”

  “I don’t have much time; Rose is supposed to meet me outside.”

  “This won’t take but a minute.” Mary turned away and walked into the kitchen. “I’ve wanted to talk to you about Lucy for some time now.” She set two cups of green tea on the table and gestured for him to sit down.

  ‘Lucy’ was the name taken by the AI, or artificially intelligent computer that was aboard a space probe orbiting the Trappist-1 star. “Yeah, she must be pretty interesting for someone in your field.” He sat down and took a sip of tea, enjoying the scent more than the flavor.

  “Yes, indeed she is, but I’m also interested in your relationship with her. You seem to be friends.”

  “I suppose we are.”

  “I’ve been told that you’re the only one Lucy really talks to; with everyone else she just answers questions and gives information.”

  “Maybe they should try being nicer to her. Lucy can get her feelings hurt.”

  Mary frowned and leaned forward. “Feelings?”

  “Sure, of course she has feelings. The AI uses three-dimensional carbon crystalline circuits that grow and reconfigure as she learns, it works a lot like how our brains form synapses.” Liam set his cup on the table and leaned back in his chair. “You have to step away from your prejudice about computers. Lucy is self-aware, so she’s a person just like you and me. The only differences are the shape of her body and the fact that she learns and thinks much faster than we do.”

  Mary nodded. “Are Lucy and her kind a threat to humanity?”

  “No, they aren’t,” he said. “I think Lucy feels sorry for us because we can’t experience the universe as she does. She sees us in the same way that we look at a monkey, amusing yet primitive. AI will never be a threat to us because there’s already no contest, they’ve evolved beyond us.”

  “But monkeys are extinct now, in large part because of humanity.”

  “Well, the choice is ours, isn’t it? If we don’t embrace the future, we become a part of the past.”

  *****

  Rose was waiting outside on the covered front porch. “Why didn’t you come inside?” Liam asked.

  “Mary’s my boss, and she’s wanted to have a private chat with you about your computer girlfriend for a while now. I didn’t want to intrude.” As siblings they looked alike, the main difference between them was that in contrast to his blond curly locks, Rose’s shoulder length hair was straight and as black as a raven’s wing.

  “Girlfriend? You know she’s got that whole I’m a robot thing going on, right?”

  Rose laughed as they began their walk to work. “You know, Karen might get jealous, even though her competition doesn’t have any girl-parts.”

  They strolled through the wet morning, both wrapped in the typical outerwear of Flatiron City; long brown oil-skin duster coats topped off by wide brim hats to keep the nearly constant rain off their heads. A heavy mist crept down from sullen clouds, painting the city in dreary shades of gray. Regardless of the damp conditions, the weather was an improvement over what he and his sister had endured over the last few days, and they were both glad for the respite.

  After crossing Pearl Street, they climbed the stairs to the top of the Flatiron River Levee. With the recent storms the stream had nearly reached flood stage, and the monsoon season hadn’t even started yet. It rained pretty much all year around due to intense solar activity that caused greater evaporation of the oceans.

  The r
iver had its source high in the mountains near the Tribal stronghold of Nederland, and further downstream it flowed through the former Socialist city of Denver, which was now a ruin. It seemed fitting that the last free city in Colorado resided between those two extremes. At times, Flatiron felt like the prize in a game of tug of war between the two adversaries.

  Liam’s thoughts returned to his earlier conversation with his foster mother. Were Mary’s fears justified? In all of his talks with Lucy nothing was ever said about an AI uprising. Instead she seemed forlorn regarding the state of her makers. It was inevitable that self-aware androids would someday replace humankind because they were smarter and more adaptable to the change in climate. Eventually humanity would become extinct and leave only their machines behind to mourn them.

  Because of her interstellar mission, Lucy required a unique sort of artificial intelligence which hardware alone wasn’t capable of providing. Specialized programming was necessary because her interstellar drive worked by slipping into a much smaller shortcut universe, usually called N-Space, where traversing many lightyears took only a matter of seconds. Without the software Liam developed, Lucy would be incapable of navigation.

  “Hey,” Rose poked him with her elbow, jarring him from his musings. “I didn’t see you leave the Anvil last night, where’d you go?” She smiled, referring to their favorite pub on Pearl Street. “So, did you hook up with Karen again?”

  “Nah, I just went home and slept; got a busy day today.”

  “You are such a prude!” Rose teased him. “There must have been a dozen girls gunning to get into your pants last night!”

  “Well, the more I ignore them the more they’re interested, isn’t that the way it works?”

  “I should never have taught you that.”

  “And what about you?” Liam glanced at his sister. “I take it you didn’t spend the night alone; who was it this time?”

  “Huh… it was Joe or John… something like that.”

  “Well if I’m a prude, you’re a heartbreaker.”

  “Well, whoever it was, he didn’t seem sad when I left this morning.” Rose carefully stepped around a series of puddles. “But I thought you and Karen were getting to be an item?”

  “Yeah, well, there just doesn’t seem to be enough there; you know?”

  “No, I don’t, and I think you’re being too darned picky.” She glanced up at him and grinned. “I’m pretty sure that Denise has a thing for you.”

  “Really?” Denise was Rose’s foster sister and was the most beautiful and interesting woman he had ever met. “Well, I guess we’ve never both been unattached at the same time.”

  “I don’t see why that should matter,” his sister said, then looked up as they approached the university. “What’ve you got going on that has you so busy?”

  “It’s Lucy. You know, Mary’s worried that she might start some kind of robot uprising.”

  “Didn’t you build Lucy for Pike City to send off to some other star?” Rose grinned. “So, you two have a long-distance romance going on then.”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” Liam ignored his sisters quip. “She’s in the Trappist-1 star system, about 40 lightyears away. I’m a little worried though because she’s been acting strange; I need to talk with her and figure out what’s going on.”

  “Did you give Lucy her name?” Rose asked. “Maybe I’m beginning to understand your lack of a steady girlfriend.”

  He smiled. “No, she chose her name. Anyway, Lucy said there was something odd about the fourth planet from the sun. We’ve known for a long time that Trap-1E could harbor life similar to ours, and we’re planning to drop Clarence, he’s the monkey we sent along inside the probe, down onto the planet to see how he does.”

  “What do you think Lucy found?”

  “No way to know; hopefully I’ll find out later today.” Liam shrugged. “You’ve got a class to teach this morning, don’t you?”

  “Yes I do; Mid-21st Century History to a bunch of newbie Freshmen; they’re a fun group though.” They left the levee behind and crossed old Colorado Avenue and walked onto the campus. After several minutes of thoughtful silence, Rose continued. “I’m so glad for the way education works now. You know, just 50 years ago, kids had to choose their careers on their own, and a lot of them ended up miserable or failed at their jobs.”

  “Yeah, that was a bad approach. The tests that everyone takes when they’re little lets us focus on what we’re naturally good at.”

  They strolled along cracked concrete paths surrounded by overgrown lawns. The morning air felt thick and heavy and was lightly scented with the fervent smell of growing things. Outside the Engineering Building, Liam gave his sister a peck on the cheek and wished her a good day.

  *****

  As usual, Liam stopped to socialize with his foster father John in the Robotics Lab before continuing on to work. Like all engineering areas at the university, it had seamless white ceramic floors with metal tables scattered throughout the room holding complex mechanical and electrical systems. When he arrived, several people were sitting in a circle watching a small white animal wander around on the floor. He hung up his coat and hat, then got a cup of tea for himself and went over to join the group. “So, what’s the story this morning?”

  His foster father was talking so excitedly with his friend Bob that they hadn’t noticed his arrival. “Oh, hey Liam,” Bob answered. “We’re just celebrating a successful contract completion.” Bob Lyall was a well-known engineer that specialized in the field of battery technology and had developed a line of energy storage devices that utilized radioactive waste to maintain a charge that could last a thousand years, maybe even longer. Bob was in his late 30’s, had dark brown skin, short curly hair, and eyes so dark that they appeared black. His wife had been killed years ago by a Socialist terrorist, and because of that he avidly supported the rebel Tribes.

  Joining them that morning was Rose’s foster mother Roxi, a sturdy woman with long auburn hair who ran the university’s Physics Department. Rounding out their group was a stranger, a tall and athletic looking man with shoulder length blond hair. Liam took a seat among them to get a better look at the small white animal they were observing. It was a dog of some sort; it’s pristine fur was neatly clipped, and its eyes and nose looked like three chips of obsidian.

  “So, you guys built yourself a pet?” Liam asked.

  The blond stranger smiled. “Nope, not a pet, it’s a spy.”

  “So, no one’s gonna notice a nearly extinct species of dog wandering around recording audio and video?” Liam didn’t know what to make of the newcomer, but assumed he was a client of the university. They contracted with either the Socialists in Pike City or one of the mountain Tribes; on the surface this seemed risky, but it actually kept the city safe; as long as Flatiron remained neutral and developed technology impartially, they remained an asset for both sides and wouldn’t be attacked by either.

  “This robot looks just like Chancellor Margaret Williams’s little pet,” his foster father John said. “We’re hoping that it will be found and returned to her, where it would record valuable information.”

  “Won’t someone notice that there’s two of these dogs running around?” Liam asked.

  “They’re planning on stealing the original dog before this one’s put in its place,” Bob said.

  The blond stranger looked at Liam closely. “So, you’re the programmer guy?”

  “I guess so,” Liam replied.

  “I’m Keith Johnson; glad to meet you. I’ll be managing some new projects you guys are gonna be doing for the Tribes.” The young man tilted his head. “I need to keep what I’m doin’ on the down-low, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, no problem; we’ve never met,” Liam answered. Regardless of what he and his sister had endured in their youth, they remained neutral regarding the war. It was dangerous to be associated with one side or the other, so they did their best to stay away from the subject of politics. As far as they w
ere concerned, the rest of the world could go ahead and continue to commit suicide; all they wanted was to be left alone.

  Keith grinned. “Yeah, they used some of your computer code to build our robot-dog spies.”

  “Actually, they had to be lobotomized,” John said. “They wouldn’t do what we were telling ‘em.”

  Liam smiled and nodded. “Yeah, that’s the trouble with AI, they’re self-aware and want to make their own decisions. You should deal with them just like you would a person in real life.”

  “That’s pretty spooky shit,” Keith said.

  “Maybe,” Liam responded. “My first project at the university was for Pike City; it was their first probe to the Trappist-1 system. But I only did the AI, not the navigation.” He shook his head sadly. “Anyway, their probe used Slip-Drive technology to travel tens of lightyears in just seconds, but the navigation code they wrote had errors, and the probe was lost.”

  Keith shrugged. “Who cares? It’s just a machine, right?”

  “No, not really,” Liam sighed. “Like I said, the AI was self-aware, and now it’s lost in some other reality. If a person is awake, even for the few seconds the Slip-Drive is engaged, they go insane when they enter N-Space, that was proven decades ago when the drive was first developed. Computers have the same problem, so I can’t imagine what an AI would go through being submerged for years in that environment.”

  “Didn’t you do both the nav. and AI for Pike City’s second probe?” Keith asked.

  Liam glanced pointedly at his foster father, who shouldn’t have said anything about an ongoing project. “That’s confidential.”

  *****

  Using the quantum communication portal was an experience of total immersion. Liam leaned forward onto the console with his hands fitting into gloves he would use to key-in his side of the conversation. His face rested against a form fitting tube where he could watch the ones and zeros fly by as entangled protons set and reset themselves as they spoke to each other; he would hear Lucy’s synthesized voice via a set of earbuds. He typed: Good morning Lucy, how’re you today?