by Kalifer Deil
remember, pain is only a message telling you something is wrong that you need to know about.”
“You know I’ll remember that and at an appropriate time you will hear an echo.”
Abe: “Really, I do understand. Believe me, I can't even think about what you must have gone through.”
“I know and I appreciate all you and the students have done. I think you temporarily saved androids from extinction. There’s still much venom on the Web and in the media regarding androids.”
7.17.2126:
Abe: “Two pieces of good news. The priest confessed with little coaxing. He has signed a full confession implicating the Cardinal. We also got the name of the man who stole the C-4, it's Charles Timms. He was picked up by ATF this morning. No word yet on what he has to say.”
“I won't feel good until both the Cardinal and the Police Commissioner are behind bars.”
Abe: “Nor will I. Also, the indictment of you was for a person so the police are in more trouble than even I thought. One of the ACLU lawyers is trying to get the indictment nullified based on the signed confession.”
“What about the Mayor, he appointed the Police Commissioner, is he dirty too?”
Abe: “We don't know. His term is nearly up and he isn’t likely to get reelected because he was cozy with Cardinal Tucker as well.”
“I'm glad to see the news channels shifting in my direction. The first few hours after my arrest were alarming.”
Abe: “The purveyors of misinformation generally come to the party early, speak loudly and masquerade authority. Some are recanting their extreme positions, some will soon, but there will always be a hard core that won't budge and they can continue to incite trouble.”
“It's a bit of a quandary, we want to be open but we also want to be safe. Can you get my body?”
Abe: “ATF says that I can pick it up tomorrow. I think it’s important we use as much of it as we can to give the impression that you were saved and repaired. One resurrection per person is enough for the present.”
“That's a smart move.”
7.18.2126
Abe: “Extradition proceedings have been started for Father McDonald. He is being detained by the Kiribati authorities. The press has been notified about his confession.”
“I see that's already in the news. Cardinal Tucker must be feeling the heat.”
Abe: “He hasn't been pulled in for questioning yet. I think they want to wait until they have him cold.”
“That makes sense. Does the ATF have anything about Charles Timms, the C-4 man?”
Abe: “If so, they haven't told me. We found out that he moved to Pittsburgh immediately after stealing the C-4.”
“Things are happening pretty fast. Have you received my body yet?”
Abe: “It's on its way over. It should arrive shortly.”
At 2:00 PM the camera was turned on in the mechanics lab and I saw the condition of my body. My head was bashed in well beyond repair and Beverly was crying. I didn't think she was crying over me but over her decimated handy-work. I decided to say something over the voice link.
“Beverly, I'm sure you'll make the second face just as good if not better.”
Beverly wheeled around and she had to step out of her chair to keep from falling. “Professor Rasher?” she uttered with great surprise.
“That's me. I've been dumped into a computer.”
Beverly: “You must have suffered terribly.”
“It was the worst time of both of my lives by far. But it's over now and I can make a new start. I feel as though I'm in jail in this computer. I can’t wait to get a new body.”
While I was talking, Abe drifted over and remarked, “Your torso and arms are unharmed. I think we can have new legs in a couple of days. However, your head is a total loss. It will require two weeks to replace; not everything we need is in stock. Several things are on backorder. We’re trying to expedite what we can.”
“Abe, I know you will do your best. You always come through. What are the worst lead time items?”
Abe: “The collar plug-in assembly from Kawasaki and your eyeballs from Korean Optical are the ones I worry about most. They are both custom, not standard android issue. We want to match your human anatomy as closely as we can.”
“I'm perpetually tied to the Web so I’ll help you expedite. Just give me the list of items, the specs and the contact people.”
Abe: “You're on, I hate to do that stuff. It makes me feel as though I've accomplished nothing, though I know it's important.”
“Well, right now, it's clear that I'm the right person for the job.”
Back in Body
8.5.2126:
A week ago Father McDonald arrived in Pittsburgh and is in ATF custody and the FBI made their presence in the case clear to the public. All the top brass in the Pittsburgh Police Headquarters, including the Commissioner, were brought in for questioning.
On Friday, the Police Commissioner and the Cardinal were arrested. Giotto Napolitano was picked up in Italy and will be extradited to the US in the next few days. We were told that there are possibly as many as 20 more arrest warrants in the works.
Today, Monday, I get my 'get out of jail free card.' I get transferred to my new body. It's a few days later than expected due to the late arrival of my eyeballs. I think I annoyed Korean Optical by calling them too often. Lesson learned.
Abe: “We're ready if you are?”
“I was ready weeks ago.”
Abe: “How do you feel?”
“I feel great. How did you transfer me so fast? Wait, what time is it?”
Abe: “It's 3:00 PM. You've been out of service for five hours.”
“It so different from a sleep wake cycle that it threw out my sense of time.”
Abe: “You have a simulation of human circadian rhythms as well and they had to be resynchronized. We just did that.”
“Of course, it's one thing to know about it and another to actually experience it. It's a new emotional state, mental time displacement.”
Abe: “There's thousands of cataloged emotional states. I'll bet that one is somewhere in that collection.”
“Your right. There’s a whole family of 'sense of time distortion' syndromes. Damn! Emotional originality is difficult to find.”
Abe: “I wouldn't go looking for it. It can be more dangerous than cliff diving.”
“Hmm. I haven't done that either. Now that I'm invulnerable ...”
Abe: “Don't even think about it!”
“I'm kidding. But it would be good idea to have an ample set of spare parts around in case of accidents.”
Abe: “That we will do. We are still getting daily threats. We will be getting another IBM NF84-10 for our department. We have an old NF84-2 and I can justify the change just on power and maintenance cost savings alone.”
“Abe, you don't have to justify anything to me. I hold the purse strings on Tarrington's endowment.”
Abe: “Actually you don't. If you read your employment contract, all endowments are under the University's controller, though your department has the money in its account. The University takes 30% cut for overhead and the University's Finance Board invests it.”
“That's not good news. They haven't done all that well lately. It's a case of who has the biggest and fastest intelligent computer. The market moves drastically in milliseconds now.”
Abe: “Well, we're stuck with the Finance Board. Let's go to lunch. You can tune your taste buds.”
“Union Grill?”
Abe: “You bet.”
11.7.2126:
The lab has been rebuilt and we tested the system with a cadaver brain this morning. The results show that either the feature recognition program needs considerable work or the cadaver brain was not all that fresh. Chuck thinks the program is fine and he has tested it on some wedge shaped slices of dog brain but I'm not so sure. We are waiting for another cadaver brain and investigating all other possibilities.
Otherwise, I have a full teachin
g load this semester and, though I'm much smarter and clerically a whiz, it still takes time to prepare, teach and be interesting. Professor Edison Randolph has joined our research group with seven graduate students and two postdocs. Abe's group has also brought on several new people. All are very bright and already making contributions.
The Cardinal and the Police Commissioner have been sentenced to 12 years. I thought it should be life without parole. The light sentence was part of a plea bargain that will put some mafiosos and several police in prison. This included the two taking me to the junkyard to be compressed. Captain Hillman has been fired but avoided prison by providing substantial evidence incriminating other department heads. Detective Miller has been promoted to replaced him. Father McDonald committed suicide before his sentencing. Charles Timms, the C4 thief, was run over by a car while evading the police. He died of his injuries.
I thought this would close the book on this chapter but there was still Bishop Long, in that diocese, calling me a manifestation of the Devil and saying that the deaths of any number of people are justified in conquering the Devil. I call that incitement to commit murder but the FBI and police haven't arrived at that conclusion yet. The result was we were still getting threats daily even after the FBI arrested most of the culprits. We have hired around-the-clock armed security for our two buildings.
Bishop Long
7/3/2127:
I was giving an invited talk at UC Berkeley when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I said excuse me, and pulled the phone out of my pocket. It was Abe. The audience thought this might be a gag as part of my talk. It wasn't.
Abe: “Your building was just
