Star Minds Third Generation Snippets

by Barbara G. Tarn

  "Malik!" Nat called excitedly midway down the corridor. "Look!"

  "You found the house robot?" he asked, hopeful.

  "Not really, I mean... look at that!"

  Malik joined her and looked over her shoulder. The room was a deposit of robots of various sizes and shapes – including a tall, handsome young man that stood too still to be alive. In fact Malik had been wondering what that painted statue was doing there when Nat elbowed him and winked.

  "Is that...?" He stared wide-eyed at the still young man.

  "A B.O.B.!" Nat burst out laughing. "Can you believe it! Spoiled rich girl has an expensive sex toy!"

  "A battery-operated boyfriend..." Malik repeated, incredulous. Then he narrowed his eyes and stared at his twin. "How do you know so much about BOBs?"

  "I think they're cute." She giggled. "I wouldn't mind trying one!"

  He rolled his eyes, but then stared at the robot again. So lifelike! Dark brown curls and gray-blue eyes and a perfectly toned body with no need to exercise to keep it fit... Malik almost sighed. He knew that by the time he was his father's age he'd have to struggle with fatness. Even Nat's new body tended to be plump if she spent too much time with her beloved computers.

  "Malik," she said. "I think we found our dream project..."

  He glared at her. But she was right. He loved cybernetics and she was a hacker. They could toy with a robot and make it better. Not just a house robot, a battery-operated boyfriend!

  "You work on it and I'll try it for you," she suggested with an impish smile. "And then maybe, if she asks nicely, we'll give it back to Sherise!"

  He scoffed. "She can always ask her father to buy her another..." He looked at the robot again. "How do we carry him out?"

  "We activate it." She winked. "He can walk on his own."

  "And won't he be surprised to see us?"

  "Mal, it's a robot. You're giving him human feelings, but it's just a sex doll."

  "Oh. Well, you wake him up."

  Malik crossed his arms over his chest and waited. Nat lightly walked to the android and searched with her hand for some switch button. The robot stiffly came alive.

  "R0W4N at your service. How can I please you?" His voice sounded slightly metallic and Nat frowned.

  "We'll have to work on that," she grumbled. "Come on, Rowan, we need you."

  "Wait a minute, this is Rowan?" Malik asked, incredulous. "The fabled summer boyfriend Sherise likes to boast about?"

  Nat chuckled. "Obviously... and he is good-looking! I look forward to trying him."

  Malik glanced at Rowan's impassive face. Relief flooded him. His "rival" was just a machine. Maybe he'd teach more than one lesson to Haughty Sherise.

  Malik grinned as the robot followed them outside of the mansion without blinking. They made him sit in the flying car, then Nat went back in to delete the security cameras' recordings.

  "They might find out someone broke in, but not today," she said cheerfully, sitting again in the passenger seat.

  Malik turned on the ignition and put the flying car in motion. Mission accomplished.

  ***

  Malik and Mitri Megnaghy had been born identical twins twenty years earlier in a middle-class family on the Humanoid planet called Serenaide. The two little boys soon developed distinct personalities and by age three Mitri started asking his mother when he would become a girl.

  By age nine, he didn't answer to the name Mitri anymore and wanted to be called Natalya. At age fifteen, the sex change happened. Identical boys became a boy and a girl, still identical in general looks – black curly hair, fair skin, stocky figure – but Nat kept her hair long and Malik tended to forget to shave.

  Being twins, they remained very close and did everything together, including mischief. Like breaking into a rich girl's summer house during spring break and heading back for the university with a BOB in their back seat.

  The campus at the edge of the city was almost empty. Most of the students had gone home for a few days, but the twins lived on the other side of the planet, too far to go back for just a few days. They only went home during summer and didn't mind spending shorter breaks at the university compound, when the labs and computers were at their disposal with almost no supervision.

  Malik let off Nat and the BOB in front of the labs building and took back the rental car. Then he joined his twin and the robot in the lab where she had ordered it to sit down and wait for orders. The room was full of workstations, desks and chairs and the robot looked conspicuous in a student's chair.

  Malik wrinkled his nose at the blank stare of the BOB. Nat studied its software from a nearby computer, frowning in concentration.

  "I wonder why Sherise would use a battery-operated boyfriend when she could have all the guys she want," he said.

  "I thought you liked BOGs," Nat teased. "I'd gift you one if I had the money!"

  He scowled. "I'd rather have a flesh-and-blood girlfriend, thank you. Sex dolls are just that – battery-operated girlfriends with no feelings. Unless one can upgrade their AI and make them more lifelike."

  "Well, you have Rowan to experiment with now." She turned to look at him and relaxed in the wheeled chair. "From what I figured out, these battery-operated sex toys are programmed only for sex. They are not fine-tuned to their owner, in fact there are series of them."

  Malik leaned on a table and raised his eyebrows, staring at his twin.

  "So, besides the Dinah, Jacki, Milka, Rikka, Beria, Tigra and Zofie, how many boyfriends?"

  "Seven as well. Boris, Mirko, Rowan, Simon, Oscar, Gavin and Marin."

  "And that's a Rowan."

  She nodded. "Let's turn him into something else." She smiled impishly. "Let's make the next generation battery-operated boyfriend!"

  "All right." Malik pursed his lip. "Where do we start from?"

  "We need to figure out what he can or can't do. Hope you're up with some experiments."

  His mischievous smile matched hers. "I'd have preferred Milka or Tigra, but I'm game."

  He had built his first robot at nine. He repaired all the broken robots of the building he lived in by age twelve. He had won the scholarship because of his cybernetics genius. He tackled the hardware, Nat the software. They were a perfect team.

  He rubbed his hands in anticipation and headed for the still robot.

  ***

  By the end of the spring break, the twins had found out that the BOBs had no initiative and needed to be told what the human lover wanted before they could perform. And their charge lasted only twenty-four hours, so they weren't much better than humans for sex marathons.

  The metallic voice became smoother and more natural after being used – the Rowan had been locked up in storage for months when they'd taken it – but the AI was very basic.

  Students started flooding back to class and the twins moved the robot to their den in the students' dormitory building. The mini apartment had two small bedrooms with common bathroom and a slightly larger room for the desks, computers and bookshelves to study. Rowan became a permanent fixture in their mess.

  A month later in the canteen they heard Sherise complain that someone had broken into her summer house and stolen her most precious possession, but she wouldn't tell what it was.

  The twins exchanged a glance and sniggered among themselves. They sat at a nearby table, listening in as she "held court" with her friends and admirers at the end of the meal.

  "Would you like me to check your house's security?" Nat suggested suavely. "Were there really no traces of the intruder?"

  "He must have been a very good hacker, because he deleted all traces of his passage," Sherise replied, frowning under her blond bangs.

  She always wore the latest fashion and perfect makeup. She was the most glamorous girl of the campus and looked down on Nat's much simpler look and lack of makeup.

  She narrowed her blue eyes, staring at Nat. "Actually, it might have been a she... could you trace her, Deviant Eve?" She spat out Nat's hacker handle with obvi
ous contempt.

  "Well, maybe, if you give me access to your mainframe," Nat replied with a shrug.

  Sherise snorted. "I bet you already broke in more than once! Actually, you and your creepy twin could be able to break in anywhere, now that I think about it." She scowled at both.

  "I think my creepy twin could give a lesson or two to your summer boyfriend," Nat said with her most innocent grin.

  Malik kicked her under the table, but she kicked him back and ignored him.

  "You know, Neural Rogue is turning a Tigra into a real girlfriend," she continued.

  Malik looked away and snorted. What did Nat have in mind? He was working on a darn Rowan, not a beautiful Tigra! They were almost done with the BOB, was Nat really going to give it back to the owner? At least they should ask for a Tigra in return, so he could have some fun too!

  Sherise scoffed and said nothing, but after the lunch break she approached him in the corridors. Nat wandered away, humming to herself, leaving him alone with their rich victim.

  "Are you really working on a BOG?" she asked him.

  "I'm improving a sex toy's performance, but it's not a BOG," he replied.

  "Is it a BOB, then? Maybe a Rowan?" She pulled him closer. She smelled of expensive perfume and shampoo. "Did you break into my summer house and steal my Rowan, Malik?" she whispered, her red lips so close to his he could feel her warm breath. Not to mention her boobs pressed against his chest.

  He gulped down his sudden urge. "I-I... I'm making it better."

  "Really? Then show me how better you made him."

  He pulled away from her and managed to control himself.

  "It. It's a robot," he snapped. "It doesn't have feelings. It's just a machine."

  She stepped forward. "Well, let me try it and I might not send you and your crazy sister to jail." Her low voice was filled with threat.

  He glanced behind her and saw that Nat had stopped at the end of the corridor. Everybody was inside the rooms, attending afternoon lessons and lectures, leaving only the three of them out there.

  Nat shrugged. "Let's go," she said.

  Sherise swirled around and glared at her. "Still here?"

  "Of course." Nat grinned. "Come, we're ready to show you the improvements."

  "No we're not!" Malik protested. "I mean, there's still something that needs fixing..."

  "I'm sure Rowan will learn quicker if he has some live example to follow..."

  Sherise scowled at both, but followed them out of the building and to the dormitories.

  ***

  "You changed him even physically!" Sherise stopped walking around Rowan who stood at the center of the twins' living room.

  The twins sat on their wheeled chairs and observed her with identical brown eyes and lack of expression. She compared the stubble on Malik's face with the stubble on Rowan's face and touched it, amazed. The BOB was still tall and handsome and well-toned, but he looked even more real that before.

  She opened its shirt and checked – yes, the torso had hair now and the nipples were more defined.

  "You like what you see?" Its voice startled her. It was softer than before, smoother, sexier.

  "Yes, I like it very much." She stepped back to give it the once-over. "Do you know who I am?"

  "You are my owner," Rowan answered, looking her in the eyes. Even that looked more real. She could almost see him breathe.

  She turned to look at the twins. "I think I should take it to the Serenaide Labs," she said, determined. "To understand what damage or improvements were done to it. I am no expert, unlike you two."

  "Take it." Nat shrugged. "We've done what we wanted with it."

  "And if you're happy with the work we've done, please, gift us a Tigra or a Milka, so we can work on her too," Malik added.

  "I thought you were already working on one," Sherise said.

  "Rowan was the only one we could put our hands on, although we didn't know it was there," Malik said.

  She remembered they had broken into her summer house and frowned. "Do you do that often? Stealing from other people's houses?"

  "Only when we can't afford to buy material for our projects," Nat answered. "You wouldn't have missed it until the summer anyway..."

  "So you always planned to return it."

  "Of course. I have no use for a BOB and neither has Mal."

  "But he wants a BOG."

  "He wants to work on a BOG. He'd rather have a flesh-and-blood girlfriend."

  Sherise stared at Malik, but he looked away. She had never considered him handsome. He was just another geek, one of the few who didn't drool over her. He probably wasn't interested in her money either.

  "I'll check what you did to Rowan and get back to you," she promised. "Come, Rowan, let's go."

  ***

  "Did we do the right thing?" Malik asked that night before they both headed for bed. The room felt empty now that the BOB was gone. "We should have shown it to the professor first!"

  "In front of the whole class?" Nat scoffed. "Don't be silly, Sherise had to be told first."

  "Right. Do you think she'll go to the police?" He frowned in worry.

  "If she likes what it learned, she'll come back and ask you to be her boyfriend," Nat answered. "And after we work on a BOG, I'm sure I'll be able to find a flesh-and-blood boyfriend too..."

  "What did we create, Nat?"

  "Mm... a custom-made BOB? The first of the second series? We won't know until she gets back to us."

  "Maybe we should have taken it to the Serenaide Labs ourselves."

  "Let the owner be the judge." She chuckled. "Good night, Mal."

  She leaned in to kiss him good night and headed for her bed. Malik stayed up a little longer, but he was tired – emotionally, mostly. He doubted his crush on Sherise would end well after their stunt.

  They shouldn't have broken into the summer house. He lay down on his cot and wondered if Sherise would send them to jail or not. The haughty rich girl couldn't possibly return his feelings...

  ***

  Three days later their Cybernetics Professor took them to the Serenaide Labs for a lesson. Sherise hadn't shown up on campus for three days and the twins were almost worried. Almost, since the excitement of visiting the Serenaide Labs was great.

  The Labs took five floors at the top of a skyscraper in the capital city of Serenaide. The lobby opened on a glass wall with view on the main spaceport, but no sound came through when starships landed or left.

  The professor led them through cubicles of employees and into the cybernetics lab, where dozens of robots in various stages were being studied and programmed. That was where most of the common models were created and where the wealthy could request custom-made androids.

  Malik and Nat stared goggle-eyed at the various machines. Near the main door were the simplest ones, used to perform house works, medical or industrial tasks, mostly non-human shapes designed for utility.

  The more they went down the long rectangular room with no windows that reminded the twins the warehouse under the House of the Sun, the more sophisticated and human-like the robots became.

  "This is heaven!" Malik said in a low voice. "Can you imagine working here?"

  Nat nodded eagerly, her eyes shining with excitement. It was probably the first time in their life that words failed her.

  The BOBs and BOGs were at the end of the room.

  "Malik, look!" Nat whispered, excited, like in Sherise's summer house.

  There was their Rowan, and Sherise, and a technician who looked up as the group of students approached.

  "Good morning, Sherise," the professor greeted.

  She smiled at him and looked beaming at the students, obviously looking for someone in the small crowd.

  "Mal, Nat, come forward," she called with her musical voice. She wasn't being a bitch today.

  The twins exchanged a relieved glance and went to stand on the two sides of the professor.

  "I will let Doctor Karpova give the technical explanations, b
ut let me introduce you to Roshan, the next generation BOB," Sherise continued. "It is the work of the Megnaghy twins who... borrowed my Rowan and turned him into something so much better!"

  "My name is R0SH4N, how can I help?" The BOB moved smoothly, filling the twins with pride. All the clunky bits of the previous version were definitely gone.

  "Roshan can be fine-tuned to your needs and his battery lasts forty-eight hours," Sherise said. "I think we'll soon have a second series of much better BOBs."

  The professor looked impressed. Malik and Nat found themselves blushing under their fellow students' stares as the two experts discussed their work in front of the class. Apparently they had succeeded in their update in ways nobody had thought of yet.

  Then the technician, Doctor Karpova, asked them questions. It was the longest and funniest lesson they ever attended. It felt also like an exam, but they thought they passed it with flying colors.

  Doctor Karpova gave them passes so they could come and work on one of the BOGs of their choice, to see if they could improve those as well. He mentioned the head of cybernetics wanted to meet them, so they should come back soon.

  As they headed back to campus on the university bus with Sherise in tow, the professor said, "I think Malik and Natalya will soon find work at the labs after this feat. You are obviously as talented as your great-uncle Tyro, who moved to Marc'harid and worked at the Vaurabi Labs even when the Emperor was still alive."

  Malik and Nat felt exhilarated. The Vaurabi Labs were no more and their head of cybernetics had survived the destruction of Marc'harid and moved to the Serenaide Labs. They'd soon meet the man who had studied and lived with their great-uncle for almost half a century and came from the most advanced lab of the galaxy.

  Maybe he'd tell them the secret of surviving a catastrophe like the deep impact that had wiped out life from Marc'harid, and also what had actually happened to their great-uncle who would be in his nineties if he still lived.

  The twins were certain they'd find a place at the Serenaide Labs with the new head, and not just because they were the offspring of Tyro Megnaghy, namesake nephew of the great scientist. Dreams of scientific and technological glory floated in their minds throughout the trip back to campus.