The Diary of Professor Gilbert Rasher
Page 7
streaming down Isolde's cheek. “My God! I can cry! Don't worry, I'm crying for joy!”
Tristan: “Professor Rasher, you present a very convincing argument. I'd be a complete fool to say no.”
“Take the rest of the day with your parents. After today, you both will be very busy.”
5.13.2126:
The Tarringtons and the Schumers left this morning and Isolde reported to Abe and Tristan to me, both were eager to get started.
6.1.2126:
The new automated positioner and slicer is complete and has been tested on a cadaver brain. The error rate was the same as with the prior apparatus but it was twice as fast. We reprocessed the data with a new algorithm developed by Tristan and the error rate was cut by thirty percent. What was more significant, all but a few remaining errors were from plaques, calcium deposits and other irrelevant structures. I felt the system was ready for me and I was ready to die and be resurrected. Tomorrow was going to be the day.
Diary of an Android
6.2.2126:
Gordon, also an MD, was going to administer a series of drugs that would stop ischemia and ultimately stop my heart. I was on a gurney ready to go. Marcie came over to me in tears and said, “You’re going to die and I live for you. I’ll be left alone.”
I was startled. She had a crush on me I was totally unaware of. I responded, “In less than eight hours I’ll be right back.”
Marcie: “You will be a soulless android, a blasphemy on God's Earth.”
“Marcie, why are you here today? It's Sunday. Could you please get Gordon over here?”
Marcie: “I can't let this happen to you. I have to stop it somehow.”
I glimpsed Tristan out of the corner of my eye. “Tristan, please come over here!”
Tristan came right over. “Tristan please escort Marcie out and Marcie, take Monday and Tuesday off. You will be paid for those days and it is not optional. Provide Tristan with your key. I’ll return it to you on Wednesday. Marcie started bawling as Tristan pulled her toward the door.
Tristan: “Marcie, I don't know what your problem is but it's clear that it is probably better for you not to be here while Professor Rasher goes through this transition.”
Marcie: “You wouldn't understand because you’re a damned machine.”
Tristan: “We are all machines, you are a biological machine and I'm a solid-state machine. The human soul doesn't care which vessel it is in. I'm still me, my feelings for others are still the same.”
Marcie: “How do you even know? Half your memories are gone.”
Tristan: “How do you explain that when I became conscious in my new form and saw Isolde I knew I loved her. She didn't even look like she originally looked. She had the same response to me.”
Marcie: “He may not know who I am when I come back on Wednesday.”
Tristan: “I'm sure he will. He sees you as a good and reliable friend and I'm sure he still will.”
Marcie started bawling again, “I wanted more than that.”
Tristan: “I can see that but I don't think it even occurred to Gill. He likes you but regards you like a sister. You are spoiling your life by focusing your desire on him. Once there was a study made claiming, for each individual, there was at least 800 people they could fall in love with in the United States. You still have 799 to go.”
Marcie laughed while still sobbing, “only 798, there was one other years ago. He died mountain climbing. I used to see movies of him hanging under the lip of a cliff. It gave me nightmares. A piton failed when he slipped and the rest of the pitons came out like a zipper. One of the other climbers had a movie of the whole thing. I never could watch it.”
Tristan: “You know that Gill's pitons, figuratively speaking, are now failing like a zipper and if we don't do this soon there will be no more Gill.
Marcie: “I don't want him to go to Hell. The Father at my church says that androids are a blasphemy against God.”
Tristan: “Even if you trust a person, don't necessarily believe everything that person tells you. Even honest, well-meaning people can be very wrong. Think about your idea of God for a moment. He is supposed to be all merciful so why would he send someone to Hell for wanting to live on and do useful work. That would be a nasty thing to do don't you think?”
Marcie: “You're confusing me.”
Tristan: “Confusion is good. It usually precedes a deeper understanding. You have much to think about. Use the next two days well.”
Marcie: “I will.”
Tristan and Gordon returned to my side and asked me whether I was ready. I replied, “I was ready two weeks ago.”
Consciousness faded and later that evening I awoke in my new android body. “This body is so much better than I expected. I feel like a young man and for the first time in a very long time I have no pain.”
I looked at my diary and was surprised at how clear my memory was. Not only did I remember everything I had in the diary but much that I didn't put in the diary. I flexed every joint and after a few discretionary wiring changes everything worked perfectly. Vision and hearing were self-correcting so images, at first fuzzy, improved in clarity until my vision was way beyond what it was as a human. I even had some infrared and ultraviolet vision that I could turn on and off. I was pleased.
Tristan then said in a deep monotone voice, “Welcome to the universe of the living dead!”
“Jesus Christ, Tristan! You just gave me chills.”
Tristan: “Sorry, after the Marcie thing I think we are going to be visited by her priest and he will sprinkle holy water on us.”
“If that's all that happens, I will take the holy water with grace. I'm really worried about her.”
Tristan: “I talked to her before she left. I succeeded in confusing her and I think that’s a hopeful sign.”
“I'll let you know. You and Isolde have a plane to catch so let me know how wonderful La Jolla is so I can be jealous as hell.”
Tristan: “Thanks for everything and keep a close eye on Marcie. She could be serious trouble.”
“She been a good and reliable worker but yesterday showed me another side of her so I will stay vigilant.”
Tristan: “Also keep a backup ... of yourself. You're more likely to be a target than we are.”
“I’m keeping that in mind. Starting tomorrow, there will be an armed plainclothes security guard on duty during the day. I may be over reacting but this facility is probably more a target than any one person.”
Tristan: “The limo driver and Isolde are in the lobby. Time to go.”
“Good luck to the two of you. I'll miss having you around.”
Marcie and the Cardinal
6.5.2126:
Marcie has returned and she avoids eye contact with me. She is also looking nervously at the guard. Something is going on but what? The answer came at 10:00 AM when we got a visit from Cardinal Tucker.
“What can I do for you?”
Cardinal Tucker: “Marcie claims you kill people then put their brains into androids.”
“More correctly, we take the brains of dead people, map their neural interconnections then emulate that network. If this is done faithfully, you have the same person back again.”
Cardinal Tucker: “How many times have you done this?”
“Four times with some success.”
Cardinal Tucker: “What do you mean by some success?”
“The first one had no memory of her past. The second two had partial memory of their past and the last was completely successful.”
Cardinal Tucker: “Who was the last one.”
“You're looking at him.”
The Cardinal face ignited with surprise and fear. “I, I wasn't told that. You look human.”
“I feel human as well. I feel as I felt when I was a healthy human. My emotions are as I remember them and my memories are even clearer than when I was a human.”
Cardinal Tucker: “You can't reproduce.”
I couldn't resist this opener and smiled, �
�Well, neither can you.”
While talking to the Cardinal, I was mentally searching the net to see what I could learn about him. He was an archconservative, extremely against the right to die no matter the circumstances. He also believed that suffering purified the soul.
The right to die had been a political controversy in Pennsylvania for almost 200 years. It has alternated between being legal and illegal several times and is currently legal under fairly restrictive circumstances. We technically didn't quite meet those circumstances.
Cardinal Tucker: “How did you die?”
“I had a very aggressive form of cancer that couldn't be treated. It had metastasized virtually everywhere.”
Cardinal Tucker: “That's not what I asked.”
“I think we differ on the definition of dying. As you can see, I’m very much alive.”
Cardinal Tucker: “You are an obscenity, a manifestation of the Devil!”
I called to the security person, “Ted, could you escort the Cardinal out the door.”
Ted was watching the proceeding and understood immediately. The Cardinal was barely touching the ground with his feet as he was shown the door. Marcie was in tears and ran out the door after the Cardinal.
Fifteen minutes later Marcie returned and I immediately brought her to my office and talked to her softly. “Marcie, if you don't like what we do, why do you work here?”
She burst out into tears again and I waited patiently for her to recover her composure.
Marcie was looking at the ground. “I liked Professor Rasher, he was a nice man. I guess I never took what he did seriously till now.”
“Marcie, look at me when you talk. I'm the same person except now I'm not at death's threshold. I