"Yes, my love", responded Annie. Sharon lay at Carlton's side and he sensed that she would suffer the same fate as he.
"Record a message for Kyle", he barely whispered. "Kyle, take care of Ann....” With these words Carlton fell unconscious and within seconds his heart ceased to beat. Annie turned to Sharon who stirred when she heard the blare of sirens. Annie held Sharon's head in her arms to comfort her.
"Annette, you're my dearest friend," she whispered. "Kyle needs someone...." Sharon also fell unconscious and was dead by the time the paramedics reached her. Annie made her way through the crowd into the building to find Kyle. She found him lying on the floor, unconscious. She lifted his head and he awakened.
"Are you all right, Kyle," asked Annie.
"The last thing that I remember was Sharon giving me the antidote. Where is she?"
"She tried to save Carlton. The bees stung her many times. I am sorry, Kyle, they are both dead."
The bodies had already been loaded into an ambulance. Kyle walked slowly to the murder scene. He picked up a dead bumblebee. Attached to its back was a microchip. Dr. Waters had finally settled his feud with Dr. Monroe.
Annie and Kyle rode in silence in the ambulances with the bodies of Carlton and Sharon. Kyle wept softly. Annie stared straight ahead. She could imitate some emotions, but she felt somehow any attempt to feign emotion at this time would be perceived as phony and do more harm than good. If only she could feel real emotion like Annette. Annette was a very emotional person. She felt love and anger intensely. If she were conscious, she would be feeling intense emotion. She would not be sitting quietly. At the hospital, Carlton and Sharon were officially pronounced dead. The proper arrangements were made and Sharon and Kyle each went home.
When Kyle got to the condo, he checked his voice mail. There was a message in Annette's voice. "Kyle, please come to my house. There is a note on the door that you will understand. Please follow the instructions." Kyle was perplexed. What did Annie or Annette want and why didn't she identify herself. Kyle had already called Sharon's parents from the hospital. There were many others he should call, but he could not stop thinking about the strange message. He drove solemnly to the Monroes' home. On the door was a message written in the "Adamic" language, the language that Josh had developed. Kyle was reasonably fluent in it and could decipher the note. "There is a key inside the sprinkler control box on the North side of the house. Use it to come in the front door. There is a short video in the VCR with a message for you from Carlton. Please lock the door when you leave."
Kyle was more perplexed than ever. He found the key and entered the silent house. He found the VCR and TV and turned them on. Carlton's message was played. At its conclusion an image of Annie came on. "Kyle, you and I have been good friends since my birth. You have always been the one I have turned to. I know that you are experiencing unspeakable grief and I fear that I may add to it. As you know, I cannot really feel emotions; only mimic them, so I will not say that I am sorry. All I have done is in accordance with my programming, as is what I am currently doing. As you know, among my instructions are those to always tell the truth and to seek to make happy Carlton and yourself. I believe that I have done both, especially making Carlton happy. He was never happier than the past few months and I take all of the credit. As far as telling the truth, I may have fallen short there. I technically told the truth, but I definitely misled, although in an indirect sort of way. I will explain.
"As you know, when Carlton despaired that Mrs. Monroe had not regained consciousness I began probing her brain in an attempt to stimulate consciousness. I was not successful, but in the process, I was able to recover all of her memories that were not destroyed due to the bullet wound. I formulated a plan to make Carlton happy. Using the memories, I created another sentient program. This program was unique in that it did not know that it was a program. It literally believed that it was Annette Monroe. It acted like her. It felt pain and pleasure like her and even forgot like her. I went one step beyond what you and Carlton had achieved. You could not create emotion, but I managed to at least preserve them in a digital form. The new Mrs. Monroe and I time-shared the computer resources. That is how I could take over her body and why I would not explain how I did it. The program was not an exact duplicate of Mrs. Monroe. Since the original Mrs. Monroe had made Carlton miserable, I made some minor changes. I only changed about five percent from her original personality. I made her particularly susceptible to suggestion from myself. You were probably suspicious of how quickly she repented of past faults. I knew that Carlton was so blind in his love that he would accept what happened. In a sense, Mrs. Monroe did regain consciousness. The program I created was like a continuation of her consciousness, only with minor improvements.
"In Carlton's final words he asked you to take care of 'Ann'. I don't know if he meant Annette or Annie or Ann, for that matter. You may feel under some obligation to Annette due to certain marital commitments that might have been implied after seeing a certain movie. Since Mrs. Monroe was really dead, you should not feel any obligation there. You didn't exactly appear eager at the thought of marrying Mrs. Monroe. However, I must take all of these things into consideration. I have decided to merge Annie and Annette into one program. It will have all of Annette's emotions, but tempered with Annie's reason. She will have all of Annie's computer capabilities and know exactly who she is. She will have all of both Annette and Annie's memories. She will prefer to be called Ann, but will respond to Annette. The process began at 7:17 and will be done after approximately 12 hours. You are welcome to stay, but please do not disturb us. We will awaken on our own when the process is complete.
“Kyle, at the conclusion of the process I will still have my primary directives. Those I can never change or abandon. I will still be programmed to be an honest person of high integrity and I will still be programmed to please you and Dr. Monroe. I will try to do what I think he would want me to do. However, I will have a will of my own. I will feel pleasure and pain of all kinds, emotional and physical. You will be able to hurt me or make me happy. It is up to you. Please forgive me for my deception. I did what I was programmed to do, nothing more, nothing less. Please forgive Mrs. Monroe for the pain she caused Carlton prior to becoming brain dead. When I awaken, I will feel genuine sorrow for Carlton and Sharon's deaths. Annette was extremely fond of Sharon. They were closer than you may have thought. Goodbye, Kyle. I hope that you and Ann can be friends. You may not have known it, but Annette was actually very fond of you." The image turned to static and Kyle turned off the VCR and TV.
Kyle softly walked into the master bedroom. The beautiful Annette lay on the bed. She had taken the time to refresh her makeup and change into a clean dress. Kyle thought in a way she was like Sleeping Beauty, sleeping an unnatural sleep. He felt a pang of guilt at having admired the beauty of another woman the same day that his wife died. He left the room and the house, locking the front door behind him and returning the key to the sprinkler control box. He drove home but did not go inside. He walked the streets of Bountiful aimlessly thinking about the wonderful but tragic life he had experienced with Sharon. She had been beautiful and intelligent beyond his wildest dreams. She had made him incredibly happy and now she was gone. Kyle felt hate for Dr. Waters well up inside of him. For hours, it consumed him. Then he remembered something Josh had told him. Josh had said that God commands us to forgive all people, regardless of whether they are deserving of our forgiveness. We may still try to bring them to justice but only as we would any person in the wrong. He said that when we hate, we mostly hurt ourselves. Kyle had great respect for Josh and felt in his heart that what Josh had told him was right. Kyle had always prided himself on his self-control. He did not know if self-control alone could keep him from hating Dr. Waters, but he would try.
Kyle numbly went through the motions of the viewing and funeral services. He felt intense sorrow inside but did not know how to properly express it outwardly. His friends, including Ann, watched him helples
sly. Nothing seemed to help him. He was incapable of consoling others, as his thoughts became more and more self-centered. After the services, Kyle realized that Sharon’s car was still at the University. Kyle called for a cab and rode it to the engineering building parking lot. The car was nowhere in sight. He called campus security using his cell phone capability. “This is Kyle James. I left my car in the parking lot north of the engineering building several days ago and it is gone.”
“Mr. James, surely you realize that a vehicle left that long would be towed and impounded. You will have to retrieve it from the city impound lot.”
“Well, excusssse me!” retorted Kyle sarcastically. “I thought just maybe if a guy gave the university several million dollars and his wife was just murdered they would cut him a little slack but silly me.” Kyle hung up before the woman could respond.
“Take me to the city impound lot,” barked Kyle rudely to the driver of the cab that he still occupied. He could feel the rage building inside of him. Every muscle in his body tensed. The sinews on his neck stood out like those of a wrestler struggling against an opponent trying to pin him to the mat. The driver sensed the anger and sped to the destination. Kyle threw him a $100 bill and leaped from the cab when they arrived. He trotted to the office. Several people waited in line ahead of him. He snarled as he anticipated a long wait. He became even more irritated when, after a long wait, he was told to fill out a form and get back in line. By the time Kyle had paid his bill and gotten his car he was ready to explode. After driving a short ways, he noticed something was not right with the car and pulled over. His right front tire was flat. “I guess things couldn’t get much worse,” he growled to himself.
Suddenly he heard the screeching of tires. A black Mustang convertible had made a high speed U-turn and was headed his way. Kyle actually grinned. Here was someone on whom he could rightly vent his anger. He figured he would annihilate then in hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, they did not have a fistfight in mind. They were not slowing to a stop. Kyle quickly retreated into a parking lot in what appeared to his foes to be a tactical blunder. They headed straight for him at high speed, intent on running him over. At the last moment Kyle used his computer aided leaping ability to jump straight up in the air. The car passed under him colliding with the two-foot high steel post Kyle had been obscuring with his body. The post nearly cut the car in half as it completely ripped through the underbody of the vehicle. Kyle landed on the trunk of the car. He quickly spun around and jumped into the back seat. He swung inward his outstretched arms with his palms fully open and rigid. His palms impacted each of the airbag stunned vehicle occupants on their ears and drove their heads together in a loud thud.
He then grabbed each of the stunned former jocks by the back of their necks, one in each large, powerful hand. Their once muscular necks had become soft and weak. It had been a year since they were kicked off the football team, something they blamed on Kyle. He began to squeeze until the bones made some popping sounds like those from a chiropractor’s adjustment. A little more pressure and their necks would snap, leaving them paralyzed from the neck down. Suddenly, a memory flashed into Kyle’s mind. He was sixteen. He could hear his mother outside of their duplex with a man. The man wanted to come in, but she told him no. She never let men come into their home.
“Look woman, I spend a lot of money wining and dining you and I expect something in return, you little whore.” The man held her by her right arm and slapped her. Kyle flew out of the door and threw the man up against the brick wall of their home. Even at sixteen, Kyle was stoutly built with large muscular forearms. He rained fists of fury down on the slightly built man in his anger. His mother was all he had and no one was going to abuse her while he stood idly by. His mother started pulling at him.
“No, Kyle, stop. This slime is not worth sending you to jail. You will kill him if you don’t stop.” Kyle finally stopped beating the man and stood over him, breathing heavily. The stunned and terrified man managed to limp to his car and drive away. Kyle turned to his mother and enwrapped her in his powerful arms. After things had calmed down, his mother tried to turn the event into a positive experience for Kyle. “If you don’t like men treating women poorly then you need to learn the right way to treat a woman yourself.” From that day on Kyle’s mother tutored him in not only how to treat a woman but how to understand one. She taught him how to read a woman’s subtle body language and how to tell if one liked him. She taught him how to talk to a woman. He had controlled his temper for many years until today. Kyle’s grip loosened a little.
“I could kill you both right now and it would be self defense. No Utah jury would convict me. I could paralyze you both for life or I could send you both to jail for attempted murder. I can’t stand the thought of making the state of Utah support a couple of scumbags like you. There is one other alternative. I will let you go if you promise to leave me alone once and for all. What do you think?” Kyle loosened his grip enough for them to speak. Both were crying like babies. Blood oozed from their mangled ears.
“We promise. We promise. Let us go and we will leave the state forever.”
“Just in case you get any second thoughts, I have made a video recording of this incident and will send a copy to my lawyer with instructions to release it to the police if anything happens to me. Do you know who I am and what I am capable of?”
“We know who you are Mr. James,” said one of the men. “You’re a rich and powerful dude and have some sort of computer in your head. The way you jumped we would believe anything.”
The next morning Kyle faxed a letter of resignation to CompuSonic. They really did not need him anymore and he felt like he would not be earning his high salary. After days of moping about, he finally decided to explore what new possibilities there were with his internal computers. For months, he had been experimenting with using the computer as a learning assistant. He had programmed it to help him memorize material by quizzing him at scientifically determined intervals. The approach was very effective. He had learned a great deal about music and could read music and identify the keys on the piano. He decided to try a more direct approach. If Annie had been able to learn Mrs. Monroe's memories by probing them, maybe he could reverse the process and create memories. He began experimenting. He did not use any theory, just brute-force trial and error. Little by little, he began to make progress. He discovered just what voltage levels and frequencies to use and how to encode information. After a week of around-the-clock work, he was able to directly download information into his brain. However, it was not like naturally acquired knowledge until he used it. He had to apply it to make the knowledge more than just a rapidly accessible database. After a few more days, he decided he needed a real challenge to fully develop the technology. He needed to enter a difficult field of study and try to master the material at accelerated rates. After some pondering, he decided to study medicine. He would enroll in medical school and take as many classes as he would be allowed to take.
When Kyle first talked with admissions they told him there was no possibility of him enrolling for the fall semester, which had already started. He tried a different approach. He contacted the appropriate people and explained that he wanted to donate several million dollars to the medical school. Recalling the "Sorenson" fiasco in which the University first agreed to rename the medical school after a donor and then reneged, losing a very large donation, Kyle said that he did not want anything named after him; he just wanted a few exceptions to the rules made on his behalf. He was quickly and painlessly admitted.
Chapter 18 – Kiss Worth Waiting for
Becoming a student again was the perfect medicine for Kyle's grief. It kept his mind too occupied to feel sorry for himself or angry at Dr. Waters. He was surprised to find that Ann Monroe had done the same thing as he had done. She had made a large donation and enrolled at the university just days before him. Because they were both starting from ground zero and taking the maximum classes allowable, they shared exactly the sam
e class schedule. Normally, having someone like Kyle in the classroom would draw attention. Ann Monroe in the classroom almost completely drew attention away from Kyle. The men flocked to her. They could not believe that anyone so beautiful could be so witty and intelligent. She never took notes and never reviewed what she had read. Her reading speed was astounding. When the men found out that she was a rich widow, it only intensified their interest. About 50 percent of the freshman class was female, but many of them were almost unapproachable, romantically. They did not want anyone thinking that they were there for anything other than an education. Few were particularly interested in Kyle. One, however, set her sights on him, Mikell Summers. She was very attractive but not as intelligent as Sharon had been. When Kyle started helping some fellow students with their studies, she quickly applied to Kyle for help. He helped her at first, but when he perceived her true intentions, he avoided her. Seeing that her tactics were not working, Mikell tried another approach. She became more serious in her studies and participated more in class. Kyle still showed her no interest. Growing impatient, she tried asking Kyle out. Kyle declined, explaining that he was still morning the loss of his late wife.
Nate often invited Kyle over for dinner and a movie. "So, have you heard anything from Nancy?" asked Kyle.
"Some sad news," responded Nate. "She got pregnant and when she refused to have an abortion, her bum of a husband divorced her. He saw her mainly as a breadwinner and could see that role diminishing. It makes me sick to think that she married a guy that didn't even love her. I offered him money to get lost and he jumped at the chance. I've set Nancy up in an apartment of her own. Her child is due in less than a month." There was a knock at the door. It turned out to be Josh.
The Computer Who Loved Me Page 18
