"Yes. His brain was accustomed to him lifting a certain amount. When he quit his muscles shrank and weakened, but his brain still thought he could lift just as much. After getting sore his brain lowered the limit to prevent future injury."
"But aren't you afraid of injuring yourself?"
"Not by doing one more repetition than I normally do. Next time I'll do twelve, and then thirteen. There's no danger in doing just one more. Most weight lifters have to do many repetitions to stimulate major muscle growth, but I should be able to get the same effect using heavy resistance and relatively few repetitions."
"With the way you have been eating you definitely have the heavy resistance part down."
When one goes on a cruise or other trip in which he is out of contact with the world and especially the situation at home, he often worries what disasters may have happened while he was gone: Did the house burn down? Did a washing machine hose burst, flooding the house? Was the house robbed? A few of these thoughts had passed through the happy couple's minds, but none compared with what they were going to hear. Nate Carpenter met them at the airport. After opening hugs, Nate hit them with a bombshell. "As you know, after the shooting incident at the banquet, our stock dropped in price from over fifty dollars a share to under eight dollars a share. I just found out this morning that Keren's family, who owns the patent rights to the snake chip, is very upset that we experimented with animals. They are going to sit on their patent and not sell manufacturing rights to anyone, especially not CompuSonic."
"That is a setback, Nate, but at least we aren't out any money yet," reassured Kyle.
"It gets worse, Kyle. Three days after you left, a new miniature fuel cell was announced by IBM. It runs directly on alcohol. Somehow, they have kept it a secret until they were ready to begin selling it. It practically obsoletes normal batteries. It has ten times the power density of a NiCad at a competitive price. It makes low power chips for smart phones unnecessary. The following day ZYTECH announced that it was immediately discontinuing its line of low power processors. I was sure that we would still want to use them, so I bought up all of their stock of chips, at a terrific discount I might add. The problem is that without the snake chips, I don't know what we'll do with four million dollars worth of computer chips. I wouldn't be surprised if our stock drops to under four dollars a share when word of all of this gets out. We have family members and friends who have invested lots of money in our stock at ten dollars a share." Nate was on the verge of tears.
"It’s okay, Nate. We'll just have to make a product out of those chips. The inner ear thing had a pretty small market anyway. I was going to wait to make this announcement, but we might as well talk about it now. I like to be able to buy and sell stock freely. Being a member of the board of the company puts a lot of legal constraints on me. I want off of the board and employed with a salary. I will fax you my resignation as soon as I get home. I think the remaining board should meet tonight and determine my salary. Then I think we should hold a press conference tomorrow. We don't want this thing leaking out gradually." Both Nate and Sharon were amazed at Kyle's calm. Kyle and Sharon rode the shuttle to Kyle's car. To their disappointment, it was still there. When they got home, Kyle typed up his resignation, signed it and faxed it to Nate. Later that night Nate called.
"We're prepared to offer you a monthly salary of ten thousand. You could probably get more elsewhere, but we only have six million left and we'll need considerable capital to develop a new product."
"Your offer is more than adequate. Can you arrange a press conference for tomorrow? We need to wait until the markets close."
The next day the press conference was held at a CompuSonic's rented suite in the Salt Lake Airport industrial center. Nate spoke first, announcing the patent problems and the purchase of the computer chips. He also announced Kyle's change of status with the company. Then Kyle spoke. "I would like to first announce that my wife Sharon and I have agreed to donate a minimum of two million dollars to the University of Utah to be used towards replacement of the equipment stolen from the solid state lab. The money will be donated within a year from today. Secondly, I would like to announce that the large supply of computer chips that we own will be used to build a multiprocessor personal computer with not only large computer resources but with software like that on no other computers in the world. To help in the development of this software CompuSonic has secured the services of Dr. Carlton Monroe on a consulting basis. Now I would like to say a word to the stockholders of CompuSonic. We may appear to be a bunch of kids who don't know what we are doing, but remember what technological advances we have already made. We have made some business mistakes, it is clear. Nevertheless, there's great technical talent in this corporation. If our stock is not selling for over fifty dollars a share before the year is out, I will return my full salary. I say to you stock holders, do not sell your stock for less than fifty dollars a share, I won't."
The reporters savaged Nate and Kyle with their questions making them and their corporation look like an amateur operation. Nate was devastated. Kyle looked completely unfazed. The next morning the stock opened at $1.75. It seemed that only friends and family members and a few others actually believed the corporate officers, and especially Kyle, were sincere. Kyle had been anticipating just that reaction. Kyle spent his entire savings of just under two million dollars to buy over a million shares of CompuSonic stock during the first few hours of trading. Although he bought most of the stock at under $1.50 a share, the momentum that his buying created drove the price up to over $2.50 a share and the upward trend started a rally that took the stock to over four dollars a share before the market closed.
Kyle called a meeting of principle players to announced details of his plans. He explained, "The computer that I envision will not be a cheap one. This is no 'PC Junior'. However, it isn't a full-size super computer either. Each computer will contain one hundred ZYTECH processor chips, and not much else. The computer will have all of the standard I/O and a few non-standard things. The main distinction of this computer will be its interactive nature. There will be no software or operating system in the traditional sense. This will be a thinking machine that will communicate with the user verbally as well as via display. The computer will be supplied with articulated stereo cameras and microphones. Dr. Monroe and I will do all of the software. Josh will do the basic hardware layout. We'll hire local companies to build the PC boards and stuff them. Nate, you need to help Josh and get us good prices from reliable local companies. I want to see a finished board on my desk in one month. That may seem quick, but there's almost nothing to this board. It's a carrier for one hundred chips with a few communication and power traces. The software should be ready before the hardware. Dr. Monroe and I have almost completely automated software development."
Dr. Monroe and Kyle went to work, in private, immediately following the meeting. "Carlton, you wrote the specifications for Annette. I want your help to write a second sentient computer program. This one will not be patterned after a particular person other than its voice will be patterned after Sharon's. That way she won't be jealous of my computer. I thought about calling this the 'Sentient Interactive Computer' but Sharon said that sounded 'sick'. She suggested 'Versatile Interactive Computer', or 'VIC' for short, less accurate but probably easier to market. VIC will be our prototype. The version we sell will be less sentient, but retain all of the usefulness of VIC. We don't want people getting nervous about their computers. Nate is buying us a high-powered computer right now that we can use to host VIC. It's similar to the platform that you used to host Annette but will come with cameras built in. How can I help you?"
"Annette can help us both and make this a one day operation; she has your automation software built into her. She can program at a subconscious level. She's home in the care of my mother. Can you have Nate deliver the computer to my house?" asked Dr. Monroe.
"Sure. By the way, where is Mrs. Monroe's mother?" asked Kyle, finally realizing that they
should have heard from her days ago.
"She got married again and went on a cruise with her new husband. It was a two-week cruise according to the message on her voice mail. That was a tremendous break for us that she is out of the country. You can expect all heck to break loose once she gets home and hears the messages I left her."
"Didn't you nickname her 'Raging Bull'?"
"Actually, something less polite than that. I've set a personal goal to not let Annette hear me swear, so I've been trying to clean up my language. Kind of a fresh start in life."
"That would explain the 'heck' reference. You and Josh should get along great now. He calls it the 'theological place of eternal punishment'."
"Clever, but a bit wordy for me. Let's get going. You can call Josh using your 'head phone', you know, like Get Smart's 'shoe phone'."
"Who is ‘Get Smart'?"
"Have you never watched TV in your life, Kyle?"
"About once a year my mother would get ambitious and buy a new TV, but within three months she would hock it for booze money. I couldn't see the point of even trying. I would have watched at a friend’s house, but I never had any friends growing up." Dr. Monroe put his arm around Kyle's shoulders and gave a hug.
"You have friends now, Kyle, and about as fine a wife as a man could ask for. You don't know how many times I've wished that I had paid more attention to that little red head and married her instead of Mrs. Monroe. As you know, I'm a devout Catholic and, technically, my church doesn't accept divorce. Otherwise, Sharon would be Mrs. Sharon Monroe."
"I suppose I should make a large donation to the Catholic Church. Did I ever tell you about the first time Sharon kissed me?"
At Dr. Monroe's home in the Avenues of Salt Lake City, Kyle and Dr. Monroe stood on each side of a bed where Annette was lying. Dr. Monroe had let his mother depart. Annette had learned how to use all of her newly acquired human senses and was well on her way to mastering muscular coordination. Carlton had asked her to just lie in bed unless she were alone or with just himself or Kyle. Kyle connected an ultrasonic transmitter/receiver to the new computer so that Annette would have a connection that was faster and more secure than using voice. "Annette, we want your help to produce a sister for you," began Dr. Monroe. "She will not have your voice or personality, but she will have your intelligence and some of the knowledge you have gained. She won't need your knowledge of the human body, but she will need to be able to speak several languages and use the cameras in this computer." Annette sat up and placed her right hand under her chin, just like she did with a robot arm.
"Will she always remain in a computer or will she someday get a body?" There was concern in Annette's voice like she felt sorry for any intelligent entity having to remain in a boring computer."
"We want this sister to not be as human-like and self-aware as yourself. She needs to be able to talk to people and help them, but she shouldn't mimic human emotions the way that you do."
"So you want a little slave girl?" asked Annette.
"Technically, yes, but a slave girl who was created to be a slave and enjoys it with no other desire in the world but to serve. However, she does need the same restraints that we built into you. She cannot take human life except in legal defense of her owner's life; she is truthful and obeys the laws."
"The personality that you gave me would refuse, but since my primary directive is to make you happy, I will make this slave sister for you."
"Your primary directive is to make Carlton happy?" asked Kyle in an incredulous voice.
"Don't act so surprised, Kyle," shot back Annette. "My secondary prime directive is to make you happy, or didn't you know?" Kyle blushed.
"Kyle, it is not what it may look like," quickly began Carlton. "The primary directives were necessary to make Annette life-like. All of the other directives told Annette what not to do. All living things have one main objective, reproduce. All others stem from that directive, such as to stay alive and mate. Animals have urges and hungers and pains to help direct their actions to accomplish their main objective. Those things give purpose to their lives. Humans are not really much different except that we've learned to care about helping others follow their directives. Without a positive prime directive, Annette would lack purpose in life. She would have no reason to do anything."
"He is right Kyle. You said once that nobody understood how an animal feels pain or pleasure. I don't know either, but there is something analogous to pain that I feel when I displease Carlton or you. Conversely, I feel something like pleasure when I make you happy. That is why I strive to become more human-like, because it makes you happy. Right now I want to make you both happy by creating a sister, even if she is kind of simple minded. What name shall I give this slave girl?"
"Call her Vic ... Vicky. Yes, call her Vicky," offered Dr. Monroe.
"To save time I will download as I create. Using ultrasonic communication it will take many hours to download all of the code." Annette sat up in bed and grabbed the ultrasonic transducer to establish a link with the computer. The LEDs on the computer’s bank of hard drives began flashing, indicating that data was being stored. Annette began asking a series of detailed technical questions regarding the new program. After a few hours of questioning, she sent Kyle home and let Carlton go to bed.
Six o’clock the next morning, Kyle heard his wireless phone ringing in his head. He answered it. "Good morning, Kyle. Your slave girl is ready. Oh, I am sorry; I don't think you like that name. Vicky was born this morning at 4:16. I think I am her mother, not her sister, since I was the principal creator. I guess you and Carlton are the fathers. Anyway, why don't you come over and meet your daughter. I will fix you breakfast. I might as well start using this wonderful body and all of that Martha Stewart stuff I learned."
At 6:47 AM Kyle was greeted at the door of the Monroe home by a fully dressed and radiant looking Annette. "Welcome, Kyle, won't you come in." It was obvious from first glance that Annette had been working since 4:16 that morning. Dr. Monroe had not allowed his mother to lift a finger to clean or straighten his home. Annette had vacuumed and straightened and in general, beautified things. There was a vase of fresh flowers on the coffee table and other little touches. She led Kyle into the dining room.
"The table looks like something off the cover of a women's magazine."
"Why thank you Kyle. As a matter of fact, it is. I am especially pleased with how the oranges turned out. Don't tell Carlton, but I wasted several before I figured out how to slice them like Martha Stewart did in that program I watched." There were places set for three people. At each setting was a small plate with an orange that was sliced so that it opened up like a flower. Each napkin was folded so that it stood up like a small tee-pee. "The food is in the oven to keep it warm. Carlton's alarm is set for seven. Should we wake him now or wait?"
"He's lost a lot of sleep since the shooting. Let's let him sleep a while longer."
"Then let me show you the garden." She led Kyle out of the back door. "I was surprised to find that Mrs. Monroe was an avid gardener. Look at all of these flowers." Kyle hesitated in the doorway. "What's the matter, Kyle?"
"I am very allergic to bee stings. If I get stung, I must have an antidote shot within 20 minutes or it could be fatal. Consequently, I always carry an epinephrine auto-injector. Are there many bees in the garden?"
"I believe it is too early for them to be stirring. You should be safe. Besides, I have studied enough about medicine that I think I could give you a shot."
"Been watching lots of ER reruns, eh?" Kyle ventured into the garden. "How do you know this isn't Carlton's work," he asked.
"That was easy to discover. The only gardening gloves were well worn and definitely too small for Carton."
"You are a regular Sherlock Holmes."
"Who is Sherlock Holmes?" asked Annette.
"You have been watching too much TV and not reading enough books, but then, it wasn't easy for you to get to the library was it?"
"It is now, an
d Mrs. Monroe even has a library card. There are also hundreds of books right here in this home. I shall read them all.
“When I was just a computer I didn't think that I would like gardening, but that was because I couldn't smell. It is smelling that makes gardening so enjoyable. I could not imagine what smell was like until I got a real body. I believe I just heard Carlton's alarm. Shall we go inside?" Kyle waited in the dining room while Annette entered the guest bedroom. "Good morning Carlton. Did you sleep well?" Carlton was not fully awake. He looked at Annette with a surprised look.
"Annette, you're back."
"I never left, Carlton. I have been here since you brought me here after Kyle's wedding."
"I'm sorry Annette, for a moment I thought you were Mrs. Monroe. Looking at you, one would never guess that she is still in a coma. You look beautiful!"
"Well, you did give me the most beautiful body available. I must say that you are one of the finest looking men I have ever seen, and that is counting all of them I have seen on TV."
"Why thank you, Annette. Say, what's that wonderful aroma?"
"I have cooked breakfast for you and Kyle. He is waiting in the dining room."
"Then I better at least put on something and join you." Annette rejoined Kyle in the dining room. He appeared to be carrying on a conversation with someone on his built in wireless phone.
"Sharon called me," he paused to explain.
"Invite her to join us for breakfast. I fixed enough for six."
"We could not impose. Besides don't you think it's rushing things? Are you up to impersonating Mrs. Monroe to someone who's known her for years?"
"Mrs. Monroe's mother could show up any day. Don't you think Sharon is an easier test? Trust me."
The Computer Who Loved Me Page 12
