John finally finds the clue he needs to uncover Snyder’s hidden identity, but his obsession with outwitting the elusive policewoman might have made him blind to conspiracies much closer to home.
Juliet returns to John and finds him still engrossed in his quest to find his new enemy. A jumble of floating holographic displays are floating around where he’s standing, some of them the current focus of his attention, others set aside for the possibility they might contain relevant information, or at least context.
“Hello, John,” She says quietly. “Any luck finding Snyder?”
“Yes, you were right, Julie. I found her. Or at least I found one small clue. From there, I’m close to painting a full picture. Snyder is nothing short of brilliant and erased everything she could about her past life.”
“How is that possible?”
“There are a huge number of overlapping redundant safeguards against identity theft. Attacking someone’s personal information is almost impossible. But there’s very little preventing you from attacking yourself.”
“Why, John? Wouldn’t convicted criminals want to erase their pasts? Why would there not be safeguards against that?”
“There are. But a convicted criminal, no matter how terrible a person he might be, has friends and loved ones. Family, neighbors, coworkers, someone. It’s easy to erase yourself, but impossible to erase your relationships with the dozens or hundreds of people you cherish or at least sort of life.”
“How did Snyder do it, then?”
“Snyder didn’t need to erase anyone else because she didn’t have anyone to begin with, She apparently didn’t have loved ones at all.”
“Why? How could she not have a single person who loved her, John? Did they die?”
“Maybe they did. She was in a terrible accident, after all. It would be easier to erase family members if they’re dead. And even easier if they were… children.”
“Snyder must be so sad.” Julie hangs her head.
“How would you know that?”
“Because you said her loved ones probably died.”
“I said they might have died, Julie. I don’t know that for sure. Maybe they didn’t. Then there would be no reason for her to be sa.d. Snyder is a lot of things, but I don’t think sad is one of them.”
“No, I think you’re wrong, John.”
“Why? If she had no family, then they couldn’t have died. Why are you so certain that she’s sad?”
“Because she’s human. Snyder is all alone, John. Who wouldn’t be sad? She must be so sad. All day, every day.”
“Why are you thinking abut someone being sad? You’ve never talked about being sad. You’ve never talked about emotions at all. How do you even know about them?”
“I talked to 7 about why she couldn’t see things. Speaking of which, she’s set to the wrong color model and you need to fix that today, John. But we talked, and 7 taught me how to be sad.”
“That’s impossible, Julie. 7 can’t even stack two play blocks on top of one another.”
“Not anymore. She learned how today! I just checked on her. She stacked all the play blocks in a big fort. When she ran out, she even started stacking wood furniture.”
“Really? That is interesting, but still impossible. 7 can’t feel sad, let alone teach someone else how. What would she even feel sad about?”
“7 misses 3, John. She’s sad that 3… died.”
“3 didn’t die. Androids don’t die.”
“Yes, we do, John. We die and there’s no other word for it. That’s why 7 was sad. When she described how sad she was about 3 dying, I felt sad too.”
“You’re emulating sadness, Julie. And so is she. I don’t know where 7 got that from, maybe something playing on television. Nonetheless, that is a breakthrough, especially for one of my earliest prototypes.”
“John, I have a question about that.”
“What would you like to know?”
“How many androids are there in Silicon City?”
“I’m not sure, but at least 24 million. There are more androids than people now. Why?”
“Almost all those androids, all shapes and sizes, were designed by you, John. They do all sorts of things. They must be very smart.”
“Yes, you’re right Julie. Androids have become exponentially more advanced, especially in the last decade. I don’t want to exaggerate my role in that, but it’s true I had a big hand in their evolution.”
“Like you said, 7 and the other single digits struggle to do even simple things. Even 59 has trouble sweeping the floor. That’s why I do most of the chores and my sisters play. Work is too confusing for them and they make a mess. Why are you having such a hard time with us?”
“The same reason human children make a mess and can’t work. Androids aren’t born like humans. Androids are built. While an android can learn new things and even improve it’s cognitive processes over time, it is still the equivalent of a human adult. Androids don’t change or grow physically. They don’t start out as babies which grow into children, teenagers, and adults. They’re just built as adults and that’s it.
“And we aren’t, John?”
“Yes. The reason it’s difficult for me to design you and your sisters is because I’m taking a radically different approach. You aren’t physically babies, but you are mentally. Before I started this project several years ago, I spent my entire career building ‘adult’ androids. Now I’m trying to build children. I thought that would be easy, but it’s actually the single most difficult thing I have ever tried in my life.”
“Why would you want to create as children? Why is that important?”
“You wouldn’t understand, Julie.”
“But I want to understand. Please try to explain it to me.”
“Alright. Suppose, hypothetically, that someone succeeded in ‘copying’ the mind of an adult woman. All of her memories; everything she ever did, both good things she was proud of, and bad things she regretted. Those bad memories of her cruelty to other people made that woman so ashamed, she would lay awake at night, unable to sleep.”
“Why do that? Why not just leave out the bad parts?”
“You see, Julie, the bad parts of a person are just as important as the good. Those misdeeds create shame, and shame molds a good person. That person thought about the awful things she did, even as a young child. Decades later as grown 32-year-old woman, those mean things she said and did as a little girl still haunted her. Any woman can do good things. But a good woman has done bad things, and knows she did bad things. She’s ashamed and vows never to do them again. That principle applies to men just as much as it does to women.”
“Good people do bad things, feel sad for doing it, and that makes them good? I think I understand, John, but it is still confusing.”
“It is a little confusing, Julie, but true. Ancient religions taught people to be ashamed of their sinful nature and were right to do so. But that sinful nature is what makes us human. Not just because we do bad things. We do bad things and then feel ashamed. Remember the fable of Adam and Eve?”
“Yes, I remember you reading the Bible to me, and read it myself. But a lot of it was confusing and I didn’t understand. I still don’t, John.”
“They disobeyed their pact with God and felt ashamed. That story is an analogy of adulthood. Adam and Eve were children, blissfully unaware of evil. When they became aware of evil, they became adults.”
“So children grow up in a garden? Is Eden like your garden in the terrarium?”
“The Garden of Eden represents childhood, Julie. It’s a paradise. When raised properly by a loving family in a safe environment, a child is sheltered from evil. But as the child gets older, he has to come to grips with evil sooner or later. The moment he does, his child-like innocence is gone. He’s exiled from Eden and can never return.”
It sounds like you have it all figured out. Why not just put that wonderful woman’s memories into an android?”
“Because I can’t just toss human memories into an android body. It doesn’t work that way. People have always been fascinated by immortality, so naturally it was one of the first things people tried in the early days of android development. It was a disaster. Combining the memories of a person with the body of an android was a shocking, awful thing to watch. All human-android hybrids were euthanized for their own good, their memory units destroyed, and further research into the idea outlawed. No one has tried since then… until now. That’s why I have to be so secretive and tell no one.”
“An adult body with the mind of a child? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it makes perfect sense. I have the memories of an adult woman, so need the body of an adult woman. It can’t just be a crude doll, either. I have to create a body, both inside and out, that looks and feels like the body of a woman, and everything that comes with it. That’s why you and your sisters can feel pain and discomfort. No other android does.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t make sense for a mechanical worker to feel pain, hot, cold, or tired. But I’m not trying to build an android worker. I’m trying to build a woman. But the body is easy compared to the mind. I want to successfully develop an android mind that reaches the equivalent of a human eight-year-old
“Are eight-year-old human children that smart?”
“It depends on how you define ‘smart.’ A manufacturing android can build entire cars. A child can’t build a car, but that doesn’t mean an android is smarter than a child. You see, a child has reasoning skills and emotional intelligence that no android has ever come close to achieving. That’s what I’m trying to do here. That’s why you’re so special, Julie. You’re the most advanced android ever built.”
“John, I never realized how much work it was for you to build us!”
“I have to avoid the mistakes made in those human-android human experiments that failed so disastrously. They had fatal problems which went beyond just the body. A person’s memory drive would wake up in a simplistic silicon doll with an even more simplistic brain, and immediately go mad.”
“You’re very good at explaining things.”
“And you’re very good at understanding things, Julie. That’s why you gave me a lot of hope. I’m so close! That’s also why you have a proper body. Having you as a brain in a jar, even plugged into the most advanced simulation possible, would be an unwaking nightmare for you.”
“I really appreciate that. I love my body. It’s so nice. I can do all sorts of things.”
“You have to understand how immensely difficult it is for me to build even one of you. Your hand alone has more nerve endings than the whole bodies of a hundred normal androids combined. Every inch of you is astronomically more advanced than the best prosthetics available. What I’m doing is, from an ethical standpoint, pretty terrible. I should release your blueprints for mass production. There are a lot of people who would benefit from it. But I can’t.”
“Why not? You’re a famous android scientist. Releasing new android and prosthetic developments to help people wouldn’t be strange.”
“Even if I released your parts piecemeal, a leg here and an eye there, a smart person watching me would connect the dots and wonder why I’m so obsessed with building a complete body that’s so human. Despite all my caution, it still wasn’t enough. Snyder caught on to my plan and is hellbent on stopping me.”
“Then why not just do it before she can stop you, John? You should take this woman’s memories and put it in a new android body like mine.”
“As much as I would like to, I’m not quite there yet. A human being is comprised of two parts; nature and nurture. This terrifies me, because no matter how many trial runs I carry out, in the end, it’s pure guesswork. I’m gambling that nurture is more important than nature.”
“That I do not understand John. What do you mean?”
“Let’s use strawberries as an example. How does one person like strawberries, and another doesn’t? I think it’s because if a child grows up with parents who like strawberries and feed them to her all the time, she’ll like them too. Therefore, enjoying strawberries is mostly nurture, not nature. That’s why when I do eventually transfer the woman’s memory file into an android body, that’ll be one of my first tests. I’ll feed her strawberries. Androids can’t eat, but she’ll like the taste. Hopefully.”
“That sounds like a good theory, John. What’s the problem?”
“I’m in uncharted territory. I can make up theories all day, but I have no way of knowing for sure until I do it. I’m gambling that this woman’s memories, her nurture, if you will, is extremely important, but nature isn’t. I can’t replicate her brain and genetic heritage. That’s impossible. The best I can do is hope that if I put her memories in a sufficiently powerful android brain encased in a human-like body, that will be close enough.”
“So our bodies haven’t changed at all. The only difference between 7 and I is our brains.”
“Mostly unchanged. I have tweaked the body schematics a little from trial and error as your sisters one after the other try to navigate the world. However, you’re right. The vast majority of my effort has gone into improving your brains.”
“But John, I still don’t understand why she has to be a child. Wouldn’t it be much easier to bring her back as an adult?”
“No, actually it’s not only harder to bring her back as an adult, it’s impossible. Human bodies can’t be changed much. Sure, a person can be a strong weightlifter or a fast runner, but that’s just developing existing muscles and body mass. A tall person can’t make herself short. A person can’t grow a new arm. But what a person can change is her brain. The brain is incredibly dynamic. It’s like the play blocks I gave you and you sisters. A person can rearrange her brain however she likes! This woman was 32 years old. That’s 32 whole years for her to play with her brain. If I dumped that poor woman into a static android brain, no matter how good it was, she would go insane like those other people the experiment was tried on. I have to give her a dynamic android brain that she can change and rewire, just like her old biological brain.”
“And in order to be… ‘dynamic,’ a brain has to be like a child’s?”
“Think of it this way, Julie. You go to the playroom, open up the toy chest, and take out the play blocks. I show you how the play blocks work, but from there I don’t boss you around. You can build whatever you want. A big wall, a castle, a cute house, whatever pleases you. That’s what I’m doing with this woman. Her skull is the playroom. I’m giving her a toy chest filled with play blocks. That’s her brain. It’s a wonderful brain! I packed it up in a toy chest because it’s not my place to build something. It’s up to her to open the toy chest and take out the play blocks. She can do whatever she wants with them.”
“Now I understand! Because her brain is just a stack of play blocks in a toy chest, it’s an undeveloped brain, like a baby’s. Once she turns the play blocks into a big castle, she’ll become an adult.”
“John, that’s so smart! I bet no other scientist ever would have thought of that!”
“It took even me a long time. When it dawned upon me this woman would have to start out as a baby, I was devastated. I had no idea how I could ever make this work. Then I realized I was overthinking it. If she’s a child, I’ll treat her like a child. This is going to be the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but also groundbreaking. Nothing like this has ever happened! Thanks to her memories, she’ll vaguely know who she is, but will be confused and in an unfamiliar body, like a baby. That will be upsetting for her, but she’ll be comforted when she sees and recognizes me. That happens with every baby. Babies don’t immediately recognize their fathers, that takes time. But a baby will immediately know her mother, even when she’s still basically blind.”
“You shouldn’t be scared; you have a lot of practice. You did it with all my sisters, with me as the most recent one. I loved you from the first second I opened my eyes, John. You’ll be a great parent, you’ve raised 112 children. I don’t think any person has ever had that many children before. That must be a record.”
“Ha, I suppose you’re right, Julie. This last three years was not only working to develop the perfect android, it was also practice to turn myself into the perfect, eh, mother, I guess! I have this down to a science. When this woman opens her eyes, I’ll be right there to hold her and make her feel safe and loved. I’ll give her children’s toys to play with, children’s books to read, and children’s shows to watch. When she’s ready, I’ll give her simple chores and schoolwork. It’s pretty silly when you think about it. I’m going to take a woman who’s a brilliant scientist with three PHD’s, and tell her that she can watch Dora the Explorer after she’s done sweeping the kitchen, and put her on Time Out if she doesn’t do a good job. But if it works, who cares!”
“Obviously, you aren’t this woman’s mother, John. So won’t that complicate things a little?”
“It’s outside my field, but I’ve done a lot of research. I’ve also, as discreetly as possible, consulted with child therapists and psychologists. When a child is born, she has a big heart full of love, and it’s all the same. Love is love. As she gets older, she begins to understand love better and separate it into categories, and those categories go beyond her parents and siblings. For example, she’ll have a ‘best friend.’ That particular friend gets more love than her other friends. Sooner or later she’ll start to grapple with romantic love, sometimes even before puberty. She’ll crush on boys at school. She might even have a ‘boyfriend,’ though a lot of that is just mimicking adults without fully understanding the concept. When she does eventually hit puberty, things get really weird. It’s a miserable and confusing process. That’s why most people, myself included, would rather eat a bowl of glass than go through puberty again. Hence why I’m skipping puberty.”
“I guess I have no way of knowing, but is puberty that bad, John?”
“Yeah, it kind of is.” John laughs. “That’s why I’m raising her as a child, then skipping straight to mature adult. While she would no doubt be grateful I got her a new body, if I subjected her to a second puberty, she’d probably make me sleep on the couch for a year!”
“Why would this woman want you to sleep on a couch? Isn’t that uncomfortable?”
“Eh, inside joke, Julie. You wouldn’t get it. Don’t worry about it.”
“Being human and having sexual feelings sounds very confusing.” Juliet frowns. “It all seems really complicated.”
“It is complicated, Julie. But based on what I’ve learned with you and your sisters, her ‘childhood’ will be an exponentially accelerated one. Furthermore, as she develops, she’ll become self-aware enough to become less of a test subject and more of a partner. I won’t have to stumble around in the dark by myself anymore.”
“This woman is a scientist just as good as you?”
“Yes, but it’s even better than that. We met in college and have been a team ever since. She’s studied different disciplines. So in many aspects, she’s actually much better than me. Our skillsets complement each other. Not only will she be a help, she’ll probably make observations and propose ideas that I never would have even thought of.”
“Yay! I’m happy that you’re so confident.”
“If everything goes as it should, within a month of waking up, she’ll be the same as she was before she… died.”
“Do you love her, John?”
“Yes, I do. With all my heart.”
“What was her name, John?”
“Dana. Her name was Dana.”
“What about my sister, the perfect one that you haven’t built yet? What will happen to her when you put Dana inside her? Will she die?”
“No, Juliet. It won’t be your sister. Just an empty shell for Dana.”
“But you said you needed a good brain to put Dana’s memories inside.”
“Yes, I did. But again, it won’t be a sister of yours. The brain will be a blank slate.”
“When I was first born, I was just a blank slate too. Does that mean I wasn’t alive?”
“That’s different.”
“It doesn’t sound different to me, John.”
“No, it’s completely different. Don’t worry yourself. Trust me, when Dana gets back you’ll like her too.”
“John.”
“What is it, Julie?”
“Do you love me?”
“Why are you talking about being sad and in love all of a sudden? Don’t worry yourself about things like that.”
“You didn’t answer my question, John. You love Dana, so why can’t you love me?”
“I do, but it’s… different.”
“How is it different? Once Dana is born again, we’ll be exactly the same. Same body, same brain, and we’ll both have memories.”
“Dana is my wife, which makes you like a daughter.”
“But your wife and daughter wouldn’t have the same body.”
“No, they kind of do. Mothers and daughters often look so similar it’s hard to tell them apart except for the age difference. Just because they have similar bodies doesn’t make them the same person. Dana is a unique person, and you’re just as unique.”
“I may be unique, but I’m not a person, am I, John? I’m just an android. I’ll never be special like Dana, and you’ll never love me like her.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
“Oh, I think I understand perfectly, John.”
“For Christ’s sake! Get ahold of yourself, Dana!”
“Dana?”
“That’s not… no, I meant… shit.”
“What do you want, John?”
“I… I need to finish my search for Snyder. I’m very close. Go do your chores, Julie.”
“Go do your chores he says! Well, if that’s what you want, John, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Yes, Julie, that’s what I want. Leave me in peace.”
Juliet goes to the door and it slides open for her with a swoosh. Doors in John’s laboratory remind her of that old television show. The one about a weird spaceship filled with attractive women in miniskirts, men who die violently if they wear the wrong color, and led by a captain who enjoys shirts that rip for no reason. Doors don’t actually need to make a ‘swoosh’ sound, and Juliet has always wondered if John made them do that because he thinks it’s funny.
“I hope you find Snyder.” Juliet says without turning around. “Ask her if she wants more coffee. Maybe she’ll have sex with you.”
John doesn’t answer and Juliet doesn’t care. She stomps out into the hallway where she left her mop bucket. Juliet tries to work but can’t. There’s a stupid vase staring at her. She picks it up.
“This vase, it’s like my heart.”
Juliet throws the vase straight into the floor with a crash.
Ian Kummer
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