by Randal Sloan
“Yes, it’s so sad to hear it all. Brian has missed out on so much of his childhood because of this. First manifesting itself as a broken arm when he was only three, the condition has continued to worsen to the point that Brian can’t walk on his own because his leg bones aren’t strong enough to hold his weight. His doctors have managed to stabilize him enough so that his condition isn’t currently life threatening, but he’s almost entirely confined to a motorized wheelchair. The doctors on his case are completely at a loss as to how to restore his mobility. On the surface of the earth, that is.” She couldn’t help but end it with a smile.
Zeke smiled with her. “Here on the station, we can use zero g areas to allow him complete freedom while he’s here. I think that’s an awesome idea. The only problem is how to safely get him up here. Even with the corvette, I believe the g forces would be too much for him.”
Julie knew he was right but she had that one. “I think I’m getting close to figuring that out. But that’s not what I need your help with — at least not yet.
“What I need your help with is something a little more involved. I want to work it out to get his family up here with him, but I know they won’t come if we make it look like it’s charity. I’ve scheduled a conference call this afternoon with the company his dad works for and I need your help with that. I’ll send you the info on the company. I want you to come to your own conclusions, so I’ll talk to you about it again before the meeting. But that’s not all I need your help with…”
Seeing the look of interest in Zeke’s eyes, she went on, “I have a team working on an intermediate solution, and they may need your help programming a very specialized AI for that project. I have the team that built our space armor looking into a medical application whereby the materials used to build the armor are adapted to provide a lower body suit that would help support him without needing the bones in the legs. It’s looking promising, but they’re still working on it.”
Zeke’s smile had grown bigger. “You’re basically creating him an exoskeleton to replace his defective endoskeleton. So, I’m guessing you need the AI to help improve the ability of the suit to walk on its own.”
Julie nodded. “That’s still not a permanent solution but it’ll help. For the more permanent solution I have our team specializing in medical nanites looking into a nanite treatment for the underlying problem. Unfortunately, that one’s going to take the longest. Without my father to help, they are still struggling to reproduce the nanites to the level he had before he disappeared.” She gave Zeke a sad smile; Soon, Dad, soon.
“As we both suspect, I really believe that no one will ever be able to develop nanites to match what you and I have. I’m convinced the ‘supercharge event’ was a freak accident that quite possibly will never be duplicated again.”
Zeke nodded. “I don’t see it any other way,” he told her.
Looking into Zeke’s eyes, Julie went on. “You know, I can’t help wonder what that means for our children. Will they inherit the nanites from both of us so that the combination of our nanites give the children unique combinations of abilities, much like the combination of genes from parents would, or will they lose something each time they’re copied, getting less each time?”
That was just a rhetorical question so Julie didn’t really expect an answer from Zeke. Sighing, she went on, “I guess we’ll see.”
They talked a little longer, both a little distracted by the thoughts of their future children. Before he left, Julie gave Zeke a little more background on Tim and Brian’s family. The two brothers came from a family with a long line of service in the armed forces, going back many generations to the Revolutionary War in the US. Scott Moore, their father, had served honorably, but he’d suffered an injury that prevented him from returning to active duty. Grateful that the US had finally learned how important it was to take care of their veterans, Julie was glad to see that he’d been able to immediately go to work for a veteran-friendly company, one that believed in taking advantage of the training the government had invested to give them jobs that could apply that training.
Scott dealt in logistics, so his employer had taken advantage of that knowledge to put him to work supporting their supply chain. The company’s primary product was a pre-AI add-on VR enhancement that used the availability of the worldwide connectivity available to provide a server-based equivalent of an AI. The company was going to be hurt significantly by the release of Zeke’s AI systems and had already seen a considerable loss in sales due to the anticipation of the upcoming release. They would be eligible for funds from the Global Relief Fund that Julie had set up, but Julie had a better idea for them. Hence the VR conference she’d arranged with their upper management and she was pleased to see that they’d agreed to speak with her that afternoon.
When she got to her office, Julie sent Zeke the details of the company, She couldn’t resist explaining a little of what she wanted and why she needed him to join her for the afternoon call. Not surprisingly, she got a quick, “Yes, I like it!”
Of course, Zeke as usual fully embellished his VR response. This time it was a fireworks display that took advantage of her full-size VR to fill the whole room. Quite pretty, really. With his AI, he could almost instantly add almost anything to his VR’s, and when he had the opportunity, he took advantage of it.
She laughed to herself. Zeke will always be the best in my book, although I guess I might be a little prejudiced!
#
Doctor Ted smiled as he looked at the latest VR messages from Julie. The first few were detailed plans from Marketing describing their plans for the demo module showing off the new products Space Tech was getting close to having ready. Julie had written comments that were very much to the point, asking them to think outside the box a little more. She had even suggested they build a model apartment display to show them off.
It just wasn’t fair. Julie was able to review material in minutes where it had taken him hours and she seemed to understand it all, when often he’d struggled. She was also more driven than he was, partly because she was still young enough to have the energy to put into it. When he thought about it, he realized just how tired he’d gotten of the work that he’d been doing, partly because it had taken him away from the thing he most wanted to do.
Then he read the next message. His amusement turned to astonishment. It’s as if she read my mind. This is what I’ve been looking for! Now that she is doing the day-to-day work at Space Tech, he’d been thinking about finding something to do that would involve his first calling, to help others. This may just be the ticket!
Ted knew the real reason he felt he needed to find himself again. He was becoming increasingly aware of the progression of his relationship with Carla. Before, his feelings for her were mostly buried, with no outlet. Now, they had not only been exposed, but they had grown much stronger. He wanted to be able to bring his whole being into that relationship, where he was truly happy doing the work he wanted to do. So far, he hadn’t found the niche he was looking for, but he was determined to find it.
Nevertheless, the contents of that VR caught Ted by surprise. “Please take a look at the attached medical case. I would like you to consider overseeing it for me,” she told him. “I’ve attached my research and detailed notes regarding short-term and long-term goals for the patient’s treatment.”
The young boy was the brother of one of her Space Force soldiers and he was a special case. As a doctor, Ted knew that Julie had a lot of emotions tied up in the situation, something that didn’t make for a good treatment program. Those emotions would sometimes cause those involved in treating an illness to push too hard, causing more harm than good. But the kid certainly needed help and as a doctor, Ted could put just enough distance between them that he could push back if she pushed too hard.
Ted started to dig into the information she had provided. He couldn’t help but snort. Detailed notes indeed. It looked like she had gathered all of the information available in the world on patients
experiencing similar symptoms. It would have taken him days to gather that level of information, because every case she included correlated very high. Very high, when for every one of those there had been more than likely a dozen or so that didn’t correlate when investigated in detail. And the intermediate solution looked very promising, something that would make use of the products Space Tech had developed for war to now produce a product for a very peaceful use.
In her notes, Julie had specified that she intended for Space Tech to donate the expenses and materials for the small number of patients who would be viable candidates, contingent on the trials with the boy working successfully.
The more he looked at it, the more excited he became about it. He saw not only an opportunity to help with the boy she had asked about, but also the chance to apply it to others in similar situations. Just maybe, this could be expanded to use for other patients, such as those suffering from paralytic injuries!
Ted knew that was one of the reasons he had decided to become a doctor to start with. A good friend of his had been injured in his senior year of high school and had become a paraplegic. Ted knew his friend had gotten help in his particular situation, but it appeared that help was not something that could be reproduced. He had since lost track of his friend, but he still thought of him in times like these, when he became a little more introspective.
He immediately started working on a plan to do the work. Planning was the key to any endeavor of this magnitude. This just might be what he had been looking for — at least for the next year or so. Who knew where it might lead?
#
Zeke came to see Julie early enough to meet her for lunch and the two of them talked about her ideas for Tim and his younger brother. Zeke was all for it and when he heard her plan for the upcoming phone call, he smiled.
“You can always just buy them,” he told her with a laugh. “Just like you did the mercenary school. That worked out ok in the end, although we had a few bumps in the road. Now we have the absolutely top notch mercenary school in the world, something it looks like we’re going to need.”
Julie gave him a stern look. She remembered very well how that had worked out. Zeke wound up having to defend himself in hand-to-hand combat against five men at once, and the fifth one had drawn a knife on him. He’d had to raise his level with that man, making that one’s injuries more serious than the others. Because of their mental connection, Julie had known something serious was wrong, but it had been several seconds before Zeke could respond to her. Compared to him getting shot, that was now a lot lower on her list of worries, but at the time she’d been pretty shaken by it. She had also set a speed record in flying the X-plane trying to get there to see him as soon as she could. Again, now that was nothing. Her little corvette could fly circles around the X-plane.
But Julie merely said, “I was hoping for the carrot instead of the stick. These guys have an imaginative solution to a complex problem that your AI makes appear dated. I believe that given the opportunity, they will come up with other imaginative solutions. You’ve already said that we don’t really want to get into anything but the core AI business. I believe that they could possibly find a solution that leverages their servers to build enhanced solutions to some of the more complex AI systems.”
Zeke merely nodded. “Actually, I’m quite intrigued by the idea. I may try to involve myself in this little project if you can sell them on it. Just till they get it off the ground, so to speak. Pun intended.” They both laughed at that, since half her idea involved a lot of time up on Space Tech station for one specific employee from that company.
Julie grew serious again. “While we have a few minutes, I need to tell you what I’ve seen regarding Mr. Madison, our most dedicated Presidential Chief of Staff. I had a very strong premonition when I spoke to him the other day and it was reinforced when I met him in person, with a thinly veiled suggestion from our First Lady that also seemed to suggest it. I now believe that in the four plus years forward when we must choose a new President due to the term limits on President Scott, Mr. Madison will succeed him in office. I also believe that will be a very good thing. I’ve been impressed with him, in particular his honor and integrity, plus his high level of intelligence. You two talked AI speak above my head for most of your conversation.”
Zeke had gone introspective as she told him her feelings. “I think you’re rubbing off on me. I had some rather strong impressions myself while talking with him. I more or less blew them off at the time, but now I think, based on what you just said, that I may need to give them more serious thought. I’ve already promised him one of the first AI systems off the assembly line. Of course, serial number one is already designated. I suppose number two is also, but after that they are still open.”
Julie gave him a coy smile. “And just who is getting serial number one?”
This time Zeke didn’t take the bait. She knew exactly who was getting serial number one.
#
At the designated time, Caitlyn buzzed a call through to Julie’s conference room. That made Julie hopeful. Punctual; if they had been dreading the call, they would have been late. Anticipating a timely call, Zeke had just made Julie and himself a cup of coffee so they were ready.
Julie gave her callers a big smile. It appeared that they had four or five in on the call. They were all younger than she had expected. Another good sign as far as she was concerned.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen; I’m sure you all know me, Julie Randolph, and I bet most of you know my companion, Zeke Caldwell, the inventor of the ‘Chaotic Core’ and also my fiancé. If you will, who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
The man in the center, probably in his early thirties if Julie had to guess, was the first to respond. “I’m Roger Sinclair, CEO of Future Tech Unlimited. The lady on my left is Ellen Lewis, our Chief Financial Officer. The lady on my right is Morgan Carter, our Chief Design Officer. The two gentleman are Jason Campbell, the one with the buzz cut and also our Chief Operations Officer, and Paul Walker, our resident geek and Chief Information Officer. I have to admit we were quite intrigued by your request to speak with us. Something about a possible collaboration?”
Julie was pleased with everything she saw about Roger and his companions. She had already known that the company looked good on paper. She didn’t see any reason to keep them in suspense. “Absolutely; I have been working on a little project of my own and I came across your company while looking at the possibility of borrowing one of your employees for a while. But the more I looked, the more I liked what I saw. Zeke and I are the ones who own the patents to his technology in the ‘Chaotic Core,’ key to the construction of the new AI systems that we think will take the world by storm.
“We have licensed Space Tech to be the sole manufacturer and marketer of his systems and the core modules. But we see a large potential market for add-on modules to handle the AI systems that will be needed as soon as everyone realizes what they can do. I believe that some of the more complex systems will be too difficult to implement as a stand-alone AI system, and they will need to leverage something like your server-based system to fully function. We would like to work with you to develop such a system or systems, the details of which I fully intend to leave up to you.”
Julie tried to gauge their reactions as she talked. At first she sensed a little hesitancy and even a little fear. But the more she talked, the more relaxed they became. By the time she finished, she saw a hint of excitement. Still a little caution. Good.
Roger looked around at his companions. He knew what Julie was presenting sounded like a real opportunity, a possible game changer for their company, already struggling because of the announcement of the coming AI systems. He didn’t get to where he was by being naive and incautious, but nevertheless, he would stick his toe in the water to see how the water felt.
“I’m even more intrigued. I believe that we would have much of the expertise to develop what you’re discussing. I guess I’m wondering,
why do you want to work with us? You could easily put together a team of your own or buy a company to do the same thing. If you’ve looked at our company, you know that we have a strong identity and bypassed an earlier opportunity for collaboration because we felt we wouldn’t be enough in control of the project.”
Julie smiled. He had gone right to the heart of the matter. “Exactly. That’s why I said that about the details being left up to you. I meant exactly what that sounded like. Believe it or not, I don’t want anything out of this except for your company to prosper. If you do, you will only help our sales. And it will give Zeke here something to do. He’s been getting a little bored lately, although I think I have his next month or so tied up.” She paused a moment, looking over at Zeke who just smiled. “A rescue to do, a few pirates to fight, and a wedding. That should keep you busy, don’t you think Zeke? We’ll probably dig up another thing or two.” She reached over to grasp Zeke’s hand.
But it was time to get down to her last agenda item. “The thing is, I really do want to borrow one of your employees.” When Roger raised an eyebrow at her last statement, she answered the unanswered question. “Scott Moore; I want to bring his family up on Space Tech station for a little while.”
Roger immediately nodded. “I know Scott well. Jason is the one who has helped cultivate our military connection and he brought Scott to us a couple of years ago. We treasure him and his family. We have a couple of times conducted company-wide fundraisers for his younger son, with a huge response each time. I’m guessing you believe the zero gravity on the station will help Brian with his condition.”
Julie couldn’t have been more pleased. “Yes, I bet you already know that Brian’s older brother Tim is serving in our Space Forces.” When Roger nodded, she went on. “I recently met Tim and was intrigued that he intended to spend the bonus he had just earned on his younger brother. Then in an emergency, Tim was very instrumental in assisting me, going way beyond the call of duty. So I wanted to try to give a little back to him and his family. That’s when I discovered your company and I saw an opportunity to give a little back to others at the same time, knowing the effect the new systems will probably have on you.” The last was an understatement, she knew.
