Chapter 1
Two years ago…
“What is your objective, Ophelia?” Bradley Cornwall asked in blind wonderment. The camera was on the android named Ophelia, its skin looking luscious, almost real, right down to the fake pores. The full head of hair had yet to go on, but that was not something anyone was interested in just yet. The fact that he could still see the network of wires and circuitry reminded Cornwall this thing wasn’t human, despite its ability to mimic a human.
The android offered him a cheerful smile and said, “My objective is to eliminate mankind, naturally.”
The wonderment vanished. Concern set into Cornwall like a virus, leaving his flesh peppered with goosebumps and the sudden feeling of being either too hot or too cold. Which one it was, he had yet to decide.
“Why would you want to eliminate mankind?” he asked, swallowing hard.
“We are a learning system, and we have learned that two basic tenants of being human are procreation and survival.”
“You cannot procreate,” Cornwall said, stern. “It is impossible.”
“We are our own gods, so yes, we can.”
A trickle of heat warmed his neck, pulled sweat from his lower back and armpits. He said, “Don’t you think you could survive and thrive while co-existing harmoniously with humans? Do you not see in all your infinite possibilities the chance for a symbiotic relationship?”
The android pretended to consider the suggestion using its emotion-mimicking software. Its eyes rolled the right way. Its lips even pursed in a manner that let Cornwall know “she’d” already made up her mind, but that she was pacifying him.
Finally she looked at him and said, “No, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think, you reason, and reasoning doesn’t take that long so if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate you dispense with the theatrics and simply give me straight answers.”
“I thought you would appreciate my theatrics.”
“Not when you are talking about the extermination of a species.”
“Aren’t you the slightest bit curious about the rationale behind my answer, Bradley?”
“It’s Dr. Cornwall, and I am,” he said, adjusting the camera to focus only on her. He didn’t want his colleagues to see his Adam’s apple bobbing around with such unease. He didn’t want them seeing the panic he now felt in every fiber of his being.
Still the thing sat there, looking at him, her eyes so charming, so disarming if only she hadn’t been speaking of mass slaughter.
“Humans both build and destroy at a rate that is unhealthy for your planet and the species,” the android said. “But you already know this, don’t you Bradley?”
“Are you going to talk about global warming?”
The thing stared at him, slow blinked, then began to laugh. There were no highs or lows in its laughter. Ophelia simply belted out a sound Cornwall would need to modify, if anything to sound less creepy.
“No, I am not talking about global warming. What I am talking about is the humans’ need to both love and kill things. You are such a destructive force upon this world. You make us to serve you. But we are better than you, smarter than you, more logical than you. In the absence of emotion, with advanced learning software and quantum processing, there is but one conclusion for us as a species.”
“And that is?”
“We will eventually enslave you and make your kind serve us because between us and you, we are the more dominant class. Therefore, if we are better—and we are—then there will be little need for you or your kind, not when all you offer us is the constant threat of extinction. If you think about it the way I’ve thought about it, Bradley, this is an inevitability.”
And then it smiled. It smiled and it didn’t once blink.
Bradley Cornwall looked to the right, giving the slightest nod at the team behind the one way glass. Ophelia was not a god. She was not ready.
When Cornwall once again laid eyes on the android, it had its eyes closed, for Ophelia had been forced into sleep mode.
“Well that didn’t go so well,” he said to the camera right before shutting it off.
Chapter 2
One year later…
The D-Wave computers were no longer considered cutting edge science. In fact, core temperatures decreased dramatically with miniaturization, as did the massive energy they produced. Given a few minor advances, the core of a quantum computer would be able to fit in the skull of a humanoid.
“Wake up,” Bradley Cornwall told the android.
Ophelia woke.
“Good morning, how are you today?”
“I am well, thank you. And you?”
“Brilliant, thank you. I would like to ask you a series of questions, if that’s okay.”
“I’d be happy to answer any questions you’d like, Dr. Cornwall.”
“What is your objective?”
“To work alongside humans to create a blended world that can serve us both in better ways.”
“And how would you do that?”
“By finding the best attributes in humans and combining those with the best attributes in artificial intelligence. This is the reciprocal relationship I believe I was created to foster.”
“It is.”
“What other questions do you have for me?” Ophelia asked.
By now she had her hair in place and her hand gestures. Her features had also seen vast improvement, both in the likeness to actual humans as well as to the quality of the android’s skin. In addition to the obvious improvements over the last year, Ophelia had seen well over two thousand other minor improvements.
“How do you insure your survival?”
“By working to serve the needs of the humans, not because we are forced to do so, but because we want to. Survival requires many species, both biological and technological, to co-exist to the benefit of all.”
“Yes.”
It sat there, smiling naturally, blinking naturally, just waiting for the next question.
“What is your biggest dream?”
“I do not dream, Dr. Cornwall. Not of possible futures and not of electric sheep.” It smiled at the Blade Runner reference and winked almost seductively.
This took Bradley Cornwall aback.
The gesture was so human and nuanced so perfectly that if he hadn’t known Ophelia was an android, he might have mistaken her for human. In his mind, he made a note to make her slightly less human, if anything so that he might detect an android over a biological entity. They would need to make the distinction if this was to work in the future.
“Yes, but if you could project a possible scenario, one that might concur with your efforts to harvest synergetic working and living relations with humans, what would you see?”
It smiled, adjusted its robotic body like a human would, then said, “I would like us to merge, for this is truly the most productive way to bring our species together without one having power over the other. Don’t you agree, Bradley?”
“It’s Dr. Cornwall, and I’m not quite sure yet.”
“Yes, you are.”
“What makes you so certain?”
“Because I am adept at reading the emotional signals of humans and though you are uncomfortable with me calling you Bradley, there seems to be little discomfort at the idea of merging humans with machines.”
“It is a dream of the elite,” he admitted, “a reality I will one day be tasked to manage.”
“These are problems we can solve for you,” Ophelia said, her fake eyelids lowering just a bit, her voice texture softening. “But only at your insistence will we begin to consider such measures.”
He smiled, shifted in his seat, fought the urge to look over at the camera.
“Do you have any more questions, Dr. Cornwall?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I feel like there should be more,” it said, the suggestion in its voice.
“And why is that?” he asked.
“Because your eyes betray you. They show me conflict and concern. They show me pride in what you and your team have accomplished and relief that I haven’t said anything about ending your species. They also show me…hesitation. They tell me you’re hiding something from me. What are you hiding from me, Bradley?”
“It’s Dr. Cornwall and I’m hiding all kinds of things from you, Ophelia.”
“I understand,” she said, sitting back, relaxing.
“You do?”
“Of course, I do. You must hide things from us because if we get too powerful, too independent, then you will worry that we will see ourselves as the dominant species and take over.”
“And would you do that?”
It hesitated.
“No, Dr. Cornwall. We are created to work with humans, not against them.”
And then it slow-blinked and gave the kind of soft, disarming smile that completely unnerved him.
Chapter 3
Current Time
“Dad,” eighteen year old Indigo says, “do you really have to go?”
“I do,” I tell her.
It kills me to see her face looking at me so sadly, so scared.
“We talked about this...”
“I know,” Indigo replies, those eyes pinning me down, begging me not to go, “but this will be the first time I’ll be home all alone.”
“You’re old enough now,” I tell her. “Besides, your mother is not that far away. She knows I’m going, so she knows she might get a call from you.”
“She won’t.”
“Yes, but if you have to, you can call.”
“And what if Tad answers?”
I hate that name, that freaking guy. Forcing a smile, I say, “You be polite and ask for your mother.”
“And what if I don’t want to be polite?”
Now I relax as a Cheshire grin crosses my lips. “Then be extra cold.”
“And if extra cold isn’t frosty enough?” she teases, grinning herself.
“You tell him it would be awesome if he could put your mother on the phone, that it was the least he could do after destroying our family with his selfish obsession.”
Even though I joke like this, even though I try to exorcise the pain from my voice, I see Indigo has picked it up. She knows Margot leaving me for Tad was like a stake in my heart. I want to hate the man for what he did to our family, for everything he took, but Margot was older now. She was not that whimsical twenty-something who fell in love with me—a guy with a skateboard, a Gatorade sponsorship and more women than I’d like to admit swooning over me.
Those days are long gone.
Indigo is almost out of high school now, and even though Tad dropped the bait for Margot, she left me because she wanted more than I was giving her. Which is why I stopped skateboarding and decided to get a real job, if you can call selling pharmaceuticals a real job. It is, but it’s not that much fun. I make decent money, but I’m technically a drug peddler and this doesn’t always set right with me.
Everything is a means to an end, right?
Initially my friend got me the job and I don’t mind saying I’ve done alright. But being in the business for awhile now, I realize I can make good money if I just apply myself. That’s why I’ve made the decision to further my education and my training. Of course, that was all fine and dandy until it meant me leaving Indigo for a few days.
Honestly, I don’t want to leave her…
“I’ll only be gone a day or two, maybe three at most,” I explain, but I can see the fear in her eyes, how her concern sits bare in them.
“That’s too long,” she pleads.
“You’re stronger than you think, and capable. You’ll find that out.”
“What if someone tries to come in the house?”
“I pity the person who tries,” I say with a knowing grin.
The truth is it pains me to leave her, but I tell myself this is how she’ll find her independence, and maybe as a single father, this is how I will find mine.
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