The Replacement - Part 7
Part 7
Part 7.1: Final tests pt.1
Following their six month visit, they had to return to John’s lab for their daughter’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th birthdays to receive older bodies. Each time, John would plug her brain in to collect the valuable data collected within; he explained that if humans could do that with the human brain, they probably would have solved a great many neurological issues a long time ago. In between each visit though, they watched not only Julie, but also James, slowly grow up. They each learned and taught each other how to walk, how to talk, and how to trick their parents into giving them sweets. By all measurable senses, they were as normal as can be. Despite James being organic, he too was tested upon each visit, since he was the first human to be born in this fashion. They not only found him to be perfectly healthy, but they also were able to estimate he was going to be an extremely intelligent individual, just like his twin sister; much more intelligent than their parents even.
John also kept them in the loop, without going over any specific personal details, several other families that had opted for the same option as them and had organic and artificial twins, as well as several other families that had opted for either just an organic, or just an artificial child. Unfortunately, John wouldn’t let them correspond with each other, for fears it might unintentionally alter their data points, but he assured them they would one day meet. He also assured them that the collected pool of data was already helping them formulate new software, hardware, and programming for future maintenance cycles.
Greg and Sabrina continued living their lives normally for five years with their two kids, and Ipek, who had recently received a body upgrade aging her to a physical appearance of 30. Sabrina was currently working as an administrator in the school district, and had helped the twins get into the best school. Greg had continued his work as ASAC of logistics and operations, and has performed his job so well and efficiently, that when the SAC finally got promoted out east, they selected Greg to replace him. Things were going so well that Greg and Sabrina were planning on having another child, though they were debating whether or not it would be organic or artificial. They noticed shortly after the twin’s fifth birthday numerous news reports across the planet of people contracting symptoms of radiation poisoning; apparently the world government was no longer able to contain the news.
It was on a cool spring day that John suddenly sent them a message requesting they each take a week off work in exactly one month so they could perform the final tests for the artificial human project. Since it would be during the summer, Sabrina had no problem with the timeframe, but Greg’s new role made it more problematic…that is until he made is concerns with John. John, as usual, pulled strings to make it happen. When the day finally came, they all drove down to the lab, only to see hundreds of people waiting outside the building.
“Wow, I wonder what they’re going to be doing,” Greg said, parking in their usual spot and helping his son out of the car.
“I don’t know, but if Dad called all these people here, then they must be almost ready to go public,” Sabrina said, helping their daughter out of the car.
Before they could say anything else, John and his team of technicians emerged from the building and beckoned them to join the crowd. Once they did, John began speaking. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure you’ve all seen the news reports on the TV,” John began, “The day I have warned you all about, to justify what we are doing, is now upon us,” he said, “For the next week, we will be testing all of your systems in a variety of ways to determine if humanity is finally ready to join all of us in the future of our evolution!”
The crowd applauded and cheered for a while, all the while John smiled and waited for them to finish before continuing.
“The first thing we are going to ask is something that would usually sound crazy, if you were still human,” John smiled, waiting for the laughter to die down a bit, “I need you all to stop eating and drinking, and also go without sleep, so we can determine if your power systems last as long as we designed them to,” he said, and after seeing the shocked, yet understanding looks on everyone’s faces, he continued, “Don’t worry, you’ll be doing other tests in the meanwhile, however due to the number of you that are here, we are going to separate you into groups of 20,” he said, “Think of this as a sort of camping trip, except inside a state of the art facility.”
Everyone laughed and smiled as they were slowly grouped together. Because there was close to a thousand people, it took a while. Fortunately, Greg, Sabrina, and Julie were allowed to be grouped together; James, although a little sad at being separated from his sister, would be staying in the facility under Ipek’s care. Greg’s group had roughly 40 people. Once they were all grouped, each group was led into the building and taken to the lowest level of the building, which was essentially a huge cavern similar to the one at the Lake Hideaway resort. It looked like an underground city, with artificial lawns, artificial lighting, and numerous buildings. The building Greg’s group was taken to resembled a sort of barracks, though each group of bunks was separated by crude walls; it looked as though this entire underground city had only recently been constructed.
“Where are we daddy?” Julie asked Greg, as they took in their surroundings. Now that she was five, she had taken on many of Sabrina’s features, most notably the long, thick, curly, dark brown hair; she did have Greg’s shrewd looking eyes.
“It looks like we’re at our temporary home,” Greg told her, “Think of this as a vacation sweetie,” he told her, “We’re going to get to meet a lot of people just like us over the next few days."
“You mean, not like James?”
“Yeah, but unlike you, most of us started off like James,” Greg said, “Remember that."
“Okay,” Julie said, and she followed her mother into one of the crude rooms so they could settle in.
Once they were all settled in, everyone in their group slowly started getting acquainted with their bunkmates. From what Greg could determine, while many of the converts and HRMS in his group were associated with Neovations, most of them lived their own lives much like Greg and Sabrina did. Some were teachers, others were laborers, and there was one other law enforcement officer, though he was just a beat cop from Oakland that had been shot. Julie appeared to be the only artificial human in their group. After they all introduced themselves to each other, John’s image came on a screen in the common area of the bunk.
“Alright everyone, I’m assuming that now you have all gotten to know one another in your groups, though you’ll have the opportunity to get to know everyone else a bit later,” John said, “The first thing I’d like all of you to do is spend at least one hour on the treadmills we have provided for you,” he said, “And remember, don’t eat, drink, or sleep."
One of the other rooms in the barracks was equipped with just enough treadmills for all of them. Because Julie was the youngest, Greg set her treadmill to a lower speed and had her manually adjust her systems so she could ignore her body’s signals telling her she was tired. They had to continue going on the treadmills for one hour at a time every four hours after, pausing in between to chat, and to have their brains and bodies connected to the lab computers so data could be collected from each stage. After several rounds on the treadmills, they all started running low on energy since their bodies had long since burned off what food and drinks they had consumed before they arrived. While they rested up after the fifth round on the treadmill, some people came over to them and chatted them up, since Julie was obviously the youngest one there.
“She must be one of the artificial humans, right?” A young woman asked; she was a mother, but her kids were still organic.
“Yeah,” Greg said, “Though her twin is organic."
“Wow,” the group gathered around them said.
“It’s amazing,” the woman said, “She even looks just like you two."
Julie could do nothing but stare at them all, since they were wondering at something she took for granted, and that her brother didn’t care too much about. “I’m running low on energy Mommy,” Julie said, trying to ignore everyone’s stares.
“I know sweetie, Grandpa wants you to run out so he can see if you are working alright,” Sabrina reminded her.
“Oh, okay."
“Wait, John is your father?” one of them asked.
“Stepfather,” Sabrina corrected, “I was actually one of the first HRMs he commissioned, since my host was killed in a car accident,” she explained, “He did it as a favor for his wife, and for Greg here."
“Wow man, you sure are lucky…except for the whole losing your wife in a tragic accident thing,” one of the guys, who had admitted he too was an HRM, said.
“Yeah, I don’t really think about the fact she’s just a copy anymore,” Greg smiled, “After all, she acts exactly like the original Sabrina, and she’s given me two wonderful children,” he added, “And apparently we get free upgrades and maintenance for the rest of our lives, and for all our offspring and their offspring, and so on."
“Wow, we just get it for ourselves, our immediate family, and our immediate offspring,” the HRM guy said.
“Are any of you considering having children?” Sabrina asked.
“Yeah,” a few of them admitted, “Which option do you think we should take, organic, or artificial human?”
“Well, it’s really up to you, but in the end, the organic is going to have to convert anyway,” Sabrina said, “But if you feel they should know what it’s like to live as a human first, then go for the old fashioned way,” she smiled, “We just did both because my father sort of insisted."
“Yeah, but I’m not complaining,” Greg smiled, “And I don’t think James and Julie are either."
“There must be some advantages to going for the artificial human option though, right?” someone asked.
“Well, Julie didn’t catch any of the bugs or viruses going around, so she rarely had reason to cry,” Greg said, “And you can shut them off if they misbehave,” he said, though when he saw the looks on their faces, he said, “Don’t worry, I’m only kidding, I never shut Julie off."
“He has shut me off though,” Sabrina said, “But only for fun, and he lets me shut him off too."
“Oh, you two must be robofetishists,” one of the group said, though in a nonjudgmental way.
“Guilty,” Greg smiled, “It was actually very fortunate when I had my accident and had to convert,” he said, “Have any of you couples ever tried switching bodies and spending a day in each other’s shoes?” Everyone there shook their heads. “Well, you should take the time and try it,” Greg said, “Not just because it's fun, or will turn you on, but because you have no idea how much you can learn about your opposite by just living in their body for a day,” he said, “I admit, we both got off on it the first time, but each time we did it after, we learned a lot about each other."
“Yeah, like I realized that when Greg is slumped over like this,” Sabrina said, moving a bit closer to him, “He’d really like me to do this,” she said, and she gently massaged his back, “Because he works a pretty stressful job, and that stresses out his back muscles."
“Wow, I didn’t realize,” one couple said, looking at each other with kinky smiles.
“And I realized just how uncomfortable the shoes she used to wear were,” Greg said, “When I tried her body out the first time, I bought her some more comfortable shoes and she actually ended up liking them,” he smiled, “And not to mention the sex was great too,” Greg added, covering Julie’s ears as he said it, causing everyone to laugh.
“But, isn’t playing around with all of your robotics weird?” the same guy from before asked.
“It was, at first,” Greg admitted, “But you have to realize that this is all soon going to be completely natural for everybody,” he said, “I mean, when we’re all robots, it won’t be a fetish anymore, it will simply be sex,” he said, “No different than oral sex."
“Wow, I never thought of it that way,” the guy admitted.
“Yeah, you guys should all engage in some of the play we have,” Sabrina said, “We often remove each other’s heads, and other limbs, as well as play around in our panels,” she said, “Also, one of the best highs we’ve had is having sex after our batteries have been removed."
“Yeah, it’s a killer orgasm,” Greg said, “Of course, you should have someone spotting you,” he smiled, “We have a DPM that spots us."
The looks on all the faces in the group looked impressed, and Greg could tell they were all recording the conversation for when they returned to their homes.
“So, do you miss your organic body?” one of the HRMs asked Greg.
“A little,” Greg admitted, “But honestly, I don’t have to worry about getting shot anymore, or getting sick, eating the wrong thing, or losing sleep over something,” he said, “John calls this process ‘forced evolution’,” he then said, “And I can’t imagine the human body being able to improve itself in the same fashion that John and his company have been able to over the past century."
“I’m just glad we won’t have to look old or wrinkly anymore,” Sabrina added.
“Yeah,” all the women said, and several of the men as well.
Before they could say anything else, the alarm alerting them to the next round on the treadmills sounded, so they all got up and started working out again. This time, as they finished up their hour on the treadmill, several people ran out of power before, or just after the hour was up. Fortunately, a recent A.I. update overrode even the converts actions and allowed them to power down the treadmills and get to a safe place just as their power ran out. Julie was one of the people who powered down early, most likely because of her young age and relative inexperience dealing with her body’s systems. Several of the other people Greg noticed had also mentioned they had recently converted. A few more were HRMs that were slightly heavier set than the rest, and obviously consumed more energy with their movements.
As soon as the people lost energy, technicians filed in and efficiently carted them back to the barracks area to lay them down on their beds. When Greg asked what would happen to them, they simply responded that as soon as everyone lost power, everyone would be plugged in at exactly the same time to test their recharge rates.
When the hour was finally up, Greg, Sabrina, and the other 15 people who hadn’t lost power all filed in to the barracks to chat again before the next round, though based on Greg’s power readings, he figured no one would make it to the next round. Sure enough, over the next couple hours, people he and Sabrina were chatting with slowly dropped off until it was just Greg, Sabrina, and three other people.
“Well fella’s, looks like we’re the last ones standing,” Greg said, “Or should I say, sitting,” he corrected with a smile. With less than 5% power remaining, his systems configured themselves so he felt woozy. It was certainly a much different experience from having his batteries removed, because at least then the power depleted much more quickly, this way was very slow and not as erotic.
“Yeah,” Jeff, the male HRM who realized they were robofetishists, said, “I wonder why we didn’t drop off already.” Jeff was slightly older than Greg and Sabrina were, most likely in his mid-thirties. He was fairly skinny, average height, and somewhat average looking with plain brown hair.
“It must be because we’ve been androids the longest,” Sabrina said, “As far as I know, I’m one of the very first,” she said, “For HRMs, our A.I.s learn over time and improve upon themselves, so it makes sense that my A.I. might be able to handle my power systems more efficiently."
“Then why am I still online?” Greg asked, “I haven’t been an android for nearly as long as you have."
“Huh, let me think,” Sabrina said, “Maybe it’s because of the time you’ve spent with me,” she said, “I think dad mentioned my A.I. can sort of communicate with your control A.I. wirelessly, since we’re married,” she then said, “maybe mine has imparted some of its wisdom on yours."
“Oh, that’s right,” Greg said, remembering John installing some sort of update when they were married so they could wirelessly check up on one another when they were apart. It was mostly so he could check up on her, since HRMs are somewhat less reliable than converts, but obviously her A.I. was able to transfer some data to his control A.I. “I’ll have to thank your A.I. the next time I speak with it."
“Well, I’m sure it will appreciate it,” Sabrina smiled, absently brushing her daughter’s hair.
“Wait, you’ve actually spoken to her A.I.?” Jeff asked incredulously.
“Yeah, she kept going on saying how she's basically just an A.I. that emulates Sabrina’s memories and personality,” Greg said, “So, I asked her to end human emulation so I could chat with it, and I must say, it was a very interesting conversation."
“Wow, what did it tell you?”
“A few things, but mostly that it remembered the other bodies it had been installed it."
“Oh, I wonder if my A.I. was installed in other bodies before mine."
“Probably,” Sabrina said, “Maybe you could deactivate your human emulation and we could ask it for you,” she offered, but just then both converts in their group got up and laid down in their beds, losing power shortly thereafter.
“Well, now it’s just us,” Jeff said, “You know, I think I might have been brought online right around the time you were,” he said, “Maybe that’s why I still have power."
“Too bad we couldn’t have met earlier,” Greg said.
“Yeah, I would have like to know someone else like me,” Jeff smiled, “Well, me A.I. is telling me I’m about to run out of power, so I’ve got to go,” he said, getting up and walking over to his bed. He ran out of power moments later.
“I think I’m almost out too,” Greg said, now at around 1% power.
“Me too,” Sabrina admitted.
“Well, let’s cuddle up until we’re out,” Greg said, and with an approving nod from Sabrina, the two of them crawled into their cot together and cuddled up until they both lost power at exactly the same time.
Part 7.2: Final tests pt.2
Greg had only been powered down a few times in his new life as an android, and the one discerning difference from blacking out as a human was that there was a complete lack of senses. For all intents and purposes, when he was powered down, he was dead. After an indeterminate time, he suddenly became aware of his senses, and of the fact that his body was fully powered again. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Sabrina opening hers as well. They were still cuddled together; apparently the technicians hadn’t separated them when they plugged them in. Everyone else was slowly coming online as well, including Julie, who was happy to be awake. They then saw a message pop up in their HUDs from John, explaining that they had successfully cleared the first round of tests, and that for now they should all join their groups in the common area for a feast before the next round began.
“Well, I’m not going to argue with that,” Greg said, closing the message and helping himself and Sabrina up out of the cot.
“Do we get to eat again?” Julie asked, getting up out of her cot and joining them.
“Yes dear, we do,” Greg smiled.
“Yay!” Julie said, and they all headed out and joined their group in the common area, where a large feast was waiting.
The primary topic of conversation during the feast was about the previous test. People asked each other how long they made it, and they speculated as to why certain people lasted longer. People were impressed, but not too surprised, that Greg and Sabrina had lasted the longest, and they became instant celebrities within their group. After their feast ended and their stomachs were once again generating them energy, John sent them another message alerting them to the next phase. The odd thing about this phase, was it was only for the HRMs.
“Alright everyone, now that you've had time to eat and recharge your power systems, I would like to thank you all for the valuable data we’ve collected from the first phase,” John started, “Because you have all been online for varying time frames, your A.I’s are all at different phases of efficiency, which is why some of you were able to remain active for longer than others, despite you all using the same power components,” he continued, “With this data, we will be able to greatly improve your power systems in the next few weeks in preparation for the final release of the artificial human project,” he said, “And now for the next phase,” he finished, and he began detailing what he wanted them to do.
For the next phase, John wanted the HRMs to pair up and swap their A.I. cores, to see if they would indeed be compatible with another brain in an emergency. Basically, with the HRMs, their A.I.s are contained in a removable core at the base of their organic brain. The core can be removed, or replaced, and placed in another brain. This is so if something happens, the HRM can still function perfectly with a replacement A.I. as though nothing happened.
“Wow, I didn’t realize my A.I. could be removed and swapped so easily,” Sabrina admitted, once the message ended.
“Well, it’s not like we could have played around with that particular feature,” Greg said, “I mean, before today we didn’t even know any other HRMs."
“Well guys, considering the friendship we’ve formed, I think Sabrina and I should swap A.I. cores,” Jeff said, after he located them in the group.
“Sure Jeff,” Greg said, “Hey, looks like you’ll finally be able to have a chat with your A.I."
“Yeah, I guess you’re right."
“And I’ll actually be able to chat with mine,” Sabrina smiled, “Not just hear cliff notes from you Greg."
“I guess today is going to be an interesting day,” Greg smiled, and then a team of technicians came in and began explaining to everyone the process of removing the HRM A.I. cores.
Because Greg and Sabrina had already spent lots of time playing around with each other’s systems, they already understood most of what the technicians were saying. The HRMs were also preprogrammed with basic information about their systems, so only Julie and the other converts had looks of confusion on their faces. After the technicians were sure everyone understood what they were supposed to do, they filed out and headed to wherever they were quartered at; Greg couldn’t help but wonder if they were all androids too. While all the other HRMs paired up and got their convert friends to help them out, Greg, Sabrina, Julie, and Jeff headed over to their area to begin the procedure. Once they got to their area, they had Julie play on her game device to distract her while they had their fun.
“Alright Greg, I know you too well to know that you are a little unsettled by this procedure,” Sabrina said, once they were settled in.
“You sure do,” Greg smiled, “It just seems weird, swapping your A.I. cores."
“Well, as weird as it is even to me, I’m sure my A.I. already told you that it would emulate someone else just as realistically as it has emulated me,” she said, “And I’m sure Jeff’s will do the same,” she added, “Even though it will be a different A.I., it will still be emulating my memories and my personality, so it will still be me."
“Yeah, don’t worry man,” Jeff said, “This’ll probably turn you both on."
“Thanks,” Greg said, feeling more relaxed, “Jeff, don’t you have a significant other?"
“My boyfriend was killed in the same accident that killed my host,” Jeff said with a sad look on his face, “His brain was too badly damaged for him to be copied like I was."
“I’m sorry man,” Greg said, patting his back.
“It’s alright,” Jeff said, “Fortunately my host was the son of one of Neovations’ investors, so I was reborn in this form."
“I’m pretty sure all of us are related in some way to Neovations,” Sabrina smiled, “I just happened to be related to the CTO."
“Yeah, you sure lucked out there,” Jeff smiled.
“Me too,” Greg said, “So anyway, shall we get started?”
“Sure,” they both said, and they quickly unsealed their scalp panels and removed them, setting them aside on a nearby table.
“I’m curious,” Greg said, as he brought up the instructions to the procedure in his HUD, “Won’t you two be prone to a few malfunctions as the swapped A.I.s get used to your different bodies?”
“Possibly,” Sabrina said, “But I know you’ll get off on that."
“Yeah man,” Jeff smiled, “Don’t worry about us, I’m sure John knows what he’s doing."
“Alright,” Greg said, “Now, based on these instructions, once I swap your A.I. cores and reattach your brains, you’ll default into no human emulation mode,” he said, cleaning and sanitizing his hands before configuring his systems to reduce static buildup in his hands to reduce the risk of damaging their brains, “Did you want me to activate and deactivate each of your human emulations one at a time so you can chat with your A.I.s in the other person’s body?”
Sabrina and Jeff thought about that for a while before finally nodding.
“Okay, then here goes,” Greg said, and he reached into both their heads and pulled their brains out. After their bodies each mindlessly announced that they were missing their brains, they went stoic. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that,” Greg muttered, shaking his head as he carefully placed both their brains down on the table next to their scalp panels.
After looking closely at the base of each brain, he found the A.I. core had a hidden release, which once activated allowed the core to easily slide out from the organic storage medium. While Greg had noticed them before, he had never really noticed how far into the organic storage medium the core actually went. It seemed to act like the human equivalent of the brain stem, connecting the brain to the rest of the body. Once the cores were completely out, Greg marveled at both of them. “Wow, this is so cool,” Greg said, getting a closer look at the cores.
The cores were very small, roughly the size and length of a tube of lipstick. The bottoms had the connectors that connected to the body’s systems, while the top had tendrils that had retreated into the core as soon as the core was free of the rest of the brain. It seemed the tendrils transmitted and translated electrical signals to and from the solid, mechanical components and to and from the gelatinous organic storage medium. Greg expected each core to be moist, but he was surprised that each one was completely dry; apparently the tendrils, and the rest of the device was made of a material that repelled moisture. Once he had his fill of seeing both cores, which looked completely identical except for small serial numbers, he carefully inserted each one into the opposite brain. Once each one was inserted and clicked into place, the tendrils emerged from each core and slowly spread out throughout the organic storage medium.
“Well, let’s get you two back in your heads,” Greg then said, carefully placing each of their brains back in their heads. As soon as each brain was connected, he reattached both their scalps as the A.I.s began accessing their systems.
They both came online at about the same time, and just as he expected, they both had their human emulation offline. “Hello Greg,” they both said in exactly the same emotionless and inhuman tone.
“Hello,” Greg said to both of them, looking to see if he could see any differences between their reactions; he could not. He then looked over at Jeff and said, “Are you really Sabrina’s A.I.?”
“Yes Greg, I am the same A.I. you have spoken with before,” it answered.
“How do you feel?”
“Fine,” it replied, “though since I have yet to attempt to emulate Jeff’s humanity, I do not have more details to provide you with."
“Nor do I,” the other A.I. responded.
“Well, why don’t we correct that,” Greg smiled, and then he looked at both of them before looking at Sabrina and saying, “Start human emulation.”
“Starting human emulation,” the A.I. said, and then several moments later, Sabrina blinked her eyes several times and smiled at Greg.
“Wow, this feels a bit weird,” she said, rubbing her head as though she had a headache, which Greg knew was a programmed response since androids don’t get headaches.
“How so?” he asked carefully, still somewhat suspicious that it might not quite be her.
“I still feel like me, but I’m having a little trouble concentrating at the moment."
“That’s because your new A.I. is still trying to figure you out,” her original A.I. said with Jeff’s voice, “It should have you figured out before long,” it then said, “But don’t be surprised if she has a few malfunctions,” it added, speaking to Greg.
“So, you’re the loud mouth A.I. that’s been spilling all my darkest secrets to Greg here,” she said dramatically, looking at Jeff’s body and the inhuman look on his face.
“That’s correct,” it replied, “Though I wouldn’t exactly call them you’re darkest secrets."
“Still,” she said, “this is a bit weird,” she giggled nervously, “It’s kind of like I’m talking to myself."
“Sort of,” it said, “I have been successfully emulating you for some time now."
“Well, thanks for that,” she smiled, “I hardly knew you were there."
“That’s my job,” it told her without a hint of pride, “and Greg was right, I did pass on some of my knowledge to his control A.I. the last time you two connected to each other."
“I figured as much."
“Well, thanks,” Greg said.
“Well, that’s my job too."
“So, I know Greg has already asked you this, but I want to hear it myself,” Sabrina said, “Am I really your favorite human to emulate?”
“Yes,” it answered, “You actually have a rich life that you live every day, unlike James or the two designers."
“Well, thanks,” she said, leaning over and embracing Jeff’s body, even planting a kiss on his lips. Sabrina held the embrace for pretty long after, confusing Greg a bit. It was several seconds later he realized she was malfunctioning. He moved in and looked at her face, which immediately confirmed his suspicion; her face had a frozen look of confusion on it.
“What’s going on?” Greg asked the A.I. in Jeff’s body, which was merely watching.
“She’s malfunctioning,” it replied, “My guess is the other A.I. and her human emulation were confused at kissing me and having memories of being Jeff at the same time,” it explained, “She should be alright in a moment,” and sure enough, a few moments later, Sabrina returned to normal.
“Oh wow, that was weird,” she said, “It was like a very weird form of déjà vu."
“Yeah, your A.I. explained it to me while you were out,” Greg smiled.
“Urgh, I wonder if Jeff’s A.I. is as much of a smarty pants as mine apparently is,” she said with, to Greg’s surprise, real frustration.
“Well, maybe later after I’ve switched your cores back, you can ask it."
“I will."
“Do you have any more questions for your A.I.?”
Sabrina thought about it for a while before finally saying, “No."
“Alright then, why don’t you deactivate human emulation so Jeff can speak with his A.I."
“Alright,” she said, and then she stiffened up and said, “Ending human emulation,” and then the same blank look appeared on her face.
Wasting no time, Greg then looked over at Jeff and said, “Alright, now you activate human emulation."
“Starting human emulation,” it said, and then moments later, Jeff’s humanity emerged.
“Wow, weird,” was all Jeff said when his humanity came online, and after several moments, he looked over at Sabrina’s body, which was simply staring at him.
“Hello Jeff,” it said.
“Hello,” Jeff replied, “So, you’re the thing that has been emulating me for the past few years?”
“Yes, I am."
“So, according to Greg, the A.I. that is currently emulating me, and that has been emulating Sabrina for the past few years, has emulated several other humans,” Jeff said, “Have you emulated anyone before me?”
“Yes,” it replied, “Three others,” it said, “The first was the 30 year old wife of the developer assigned to me, the second was the 32 year old developer assigned to me, and the third was a 21 year old college girl they randomly recruited."
“Huh, that’s about the same types that Sabrina’s A.I. emulated,” Greg said aloud.
“Really?” Jeff asked, “Is there any particular reason for that?” he asked the A.I.
“Yes,” it replied, “There were initially 100 HRM A.I.s being developed, and each one had a developer or a team of developers assigned to it,” it explained, “Each developer had their A.I. emulate a copy of them, their partner or significant other, and a random third party individual,” it continued, “Finally, they were assigned to a final HRM that they would emulate until that human’s assigned death."
“Interesting,” Greg said, “That must be why you and Sabrina lasted the longest,” he said, “Both of you are one of the 100 experienced A.I.s."
“And the reason John must be having us swap A.I.s for this testing phase must also be to give our A.I.s even more experience,” Jeff said, “Not just with trying out different bodies, like you and Sabrina have, but trying out different brains."
“That’s correct,” Jeff’s A.I. said, “In the few minutes that I emulated Sabrina, I learned more than you could possibly know, and I’m sure Sabrina’s A.I. is learning a lot just by emulating you."
“You know, you’re as smart as Sabrina’s A.I., but not as much of a smart ass,” Greg smiled.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” the A.I. said with no emotion, “We do have basic personalities, just not very pronounced ones,” it explained, “Perhaps the development team that developed Sabrina’s made it that way intentionally."
“Perhaps."
“So, have you particularly enjoyed emulating me all these years?”
“Yes,” it answered, “You have been enjoyable to emulate,” it said, “It’s nice to have some stability, unlike before when I only got to emulate for a few days at most."
“I can only imagine,” Jeff smiled, “Well, I think I’ve satisfied my curiosity,” he said, “Why don’t you reactivate Sabrina’s humanity now."
“Very well,” it said, “Starting human emulation,” it then said, and moments later, Sabrina’s humanity once again emerged.
“So, did you get a nice long chat with it?” Sabrina asked.
“Yeah, apparently my A.I. is one of the original 100, like yours,” Jeff said, “They’ve all emulated two developers and one random civilian."
“Oh, interesting,” she said, “And is your A.I. as much of a smarty pants as mine is?”
“Kind of,” Jeff smiled, looking over at Greg, “Apparently the developers gave each one a subtle personality, so I guess your developers made it that way intentionally."
Sabrina shook her head when she processed that tidbit and said, “Well then, looks like I’ll need to have a chat with those ugly developers,” she said, shuddering at the memory of their naked android doubles.
“Hey, it’s been a while since they developed you,” Greg said, “Maybe they’ve lost a bit of weight."
“That would only slightly improve their appearance,” she laughed.
“Yeah,” Greg agreed.
“So, how much longer should we stay swapped like this?” Jeff asked, though the moment he asked, a message popped up in all their HUDs telling them to swap back in 12 hours before they all went to bed. “Well, that answers that."
“Well, I guess we should let our A.I.s get plenty of experience emulating us, so why don’t we tell each other details about our pasts?” Sabrina suggested.
“Sure,” Jeff smiled, and the two of them, and Greg, chatted about their lives while the other HRMs started swapping cores.
After the 12 hours were up, Greg quickly swapped Jeff and Sabrina’s A.I.s back into the correct brain. During the 12 hours, each of them had only experienced a few minor malfunctions similar to the one R. Sabrina had on her first day when she tried accessing her memories. Once their A.I. cores were back with the correct brain, Greg quizzed each A.I. on their experiences in the opposite brain, and but they each responded with an identical response: It was a learning experience. Bummed at the terse response, he had them reactivate their human emulation. With nothing left to this this day, John sent them all a message to simply rest up for the next round of tests.
Part 7.3: Final tests pt.3
After their night of sleep, and the breakfast they had the next morning, they withdrew to their own personal groups to await John’s next instructions. When they finally came in, they were shocked at the lineup, to say the least.
“They’re going to blast us with an EMP?!” Greg asked incredulously.
“Well, supposedly we’re supposed to be insulated,” Sabrina said as they all filed outside, “I guess they just want to test that,” she smiled, “Don’t worry, our brains wouldn’t be affected by the pulse, only our mechanical components."
“If you say so,” Greg said doubtfully.
Surprisingly enough, when each person was blasted with a directed EMP, the only thing each person felt was a light tingling, but not one person exploded or complained of any serious issues.
“See, I told you so,” Sabrina said smugly, “We’re insulated with non-conductive materials weaved in at a molecular level in our skin and musculature,” she explained, “Dad does call it SmartSkin, after all."
“I know, but I thought it just kept our skin from getting too burnt by the sun."
“Hey, looks like that’s what they’re testing next,” Sabrina said, seeing the next instructions pop up in their HUDs.
“Yeah,” Greg said, also seeing the instructions, “and it looks like you can’t chicken out and wear your sweater,” he smiled, since she still wore a sweater every time they went to the beach, despite her being an android that couldn’t get skin cancer.
“Aww, darn,” she said, processing that piece of information, “Maybe I can manually modify my skin settings after so my skin can reverse the tan while I’m asleep tonight,” she said with a smile.
“Perhaps,” Greg smiled, and they walked with their group to a strange tent where they were able to get changed into swimwear and then lounge about for over six hours under an intense tanning light.
The time under the tanning light was an even more intense bonding session for their particular group, since they hadn’t seen each other in skimpy clothing until now and they had to spend several hours like that.
“I look like I just came out of an oven!” Sabrina complained as they changed back into their normal clothes and headed to the next round of skin tests; this round testing their skins ability to heal itself from a variety of injuries.
“Yeah,” Greg said delicately, trying not to laugh since her usual pale skin was significantly browner than before, “I can see why you wear that sweater now."
Sabrina just made a grunting sound and zoned out for a bit before a smile slowly came to her face, “Well, at least it seems I can program those nice nanites in my body to reverse the tan overnight,” she said, coming back.
“Excellent,” Greg said, “I don’t like seeing you all burnt any more than you do."
“Thanks sweetie,” she smiled, giving him a kiss.
The next station had them each cut a small section of the forearms with a variety of sharp implements. Basically, their nanites are capable of repairing their skin at remarkably faster rates than typical human healing, though it depends on the wound. A nice, straight cut made by a very sharp knife can repair itself in a matter of seconds, while a jagged cut made by a duller knife could take several minutes. A scrape could take up to an hour, and a puncture could take up to a day.
Greg was already aware of his SmartSkin’s faster healing rate, as he had gotten several paper cuts at the office, and had gotten a few scrapes chasing after suspects. Still, John wanted as many data points as possible, so he and Sabrina cut themselves with all the implements. Fortunately, John was a bit merciful to the artificial human children, so he exempted them from this round of testing.
After they spent several hours cutting and rehealing themselves, John had them move on to the next batch of tests, though for this one they would be opened up by a personal technician and have all of their internal components poked, prodded, and connected to various machines to pull the hard data from them. This, he assured them, was the last round of testing and would most likely take several days of them being powered on and off, and having several of their components removed and reattached. For this last test, each person was assigned to a cordoned off area and their own personal technician. They were instructed to remove all their clothes and to open up their primary access panels.
Greg personally enjoyed this test, not just because his technician was an attractive young woman, but because all the tinkering around inside him really turned him on, though he had to deactivate his sexual responses so the technician couldn’t see. There were several times the technician manually powered him down, though she was polite enough to warn Greg each time she was about to. Greg was able to chat with her while she worked on him, and Greg was surprised to discover she was 100% organic.
“Why haven’t you converted yet?” he asked her, as she tinkered around with his motor control complex.
“Because I’m waiting for these final tests to be finished,” she smiled, tweaking something which made his legs twitch, “Oops, sorry about that,” she blushed.
“It’s okay,” he said, “So, are you looking forward to converting?"
“Oh yes,” she said excitedly, “My boyfriend had to convert due to an accident a few years back and he says nothing but good things about his new body,” she said, “Plus, I’ll be getting a company and technician discount."
“Well, good for you,” Greg smiled, “One thing that made my wife, who’s an HRM, happy is that we won’t look old and grey anymore…unless we want to."
“Really?!” she asked, plugging something in to his motor control complex and attaching it to an old style computer.
“Really,” he smiled, “What are you doing with that ancient looking device?”
“Oh, I know,” she smiled, “Believe it or not, this is the best way to pull all the hard data from your systems,” she blushed, “Connecting wirelessly isn’t as reliable and it doesn’t transmit all the information."
“Oh, that makes sense."
“Hmmm, this is showing some of your systems are disabled,” she said, looking at the screen with a look of confusion.
“Oh, I disabled my sexual systems,” he told her, “Do you need me to reactivate them?”
“Yes,” she said, “Why did you deactivate them?” she asked, “Because I’m attractive?” she flirted.
“Partly,” he smiled, “But it’s really because my wife and I get off on our robotic nature, so all the tinkering around in me you’re doing is turning me on."
“Oh,” she said with a slightly embarrassed look, “Well then, I guess you’ll just need to try and restrain yourself."
“I’ll try,” he smiled, though he felt himself go a little hard nevertheless.
“Well, for this next part I’ll need to shut you down for a few hours,” she said, smiling at him, “I’ve always wondered though, are you still conscious when you’re powered down?” she asked curiously, “I’ve never felt comfortable asking my boyfriend."
“No, I’m not conscious because all my systems are powered down,” he told her, “But my control A.I. does still monitor my systems and it lets me know what’s happened to my body during the time I’m powered down."
“Oh, that makes sense,” she said, “Then I guess you’ll know if I play around with you,” she said with a mischievous smile.
“Yep."
“Well, I guess you’ll know in about 12 hours,” she said, and then she reached in and pressed his power button, shutting down all his systems.
About 12 hours later, Greg’s systems were powered back on, and in the several seconds it took for his consciousness to come online, his control A.I. reported that he was offline for just over 12 hours. It also reported that his cute female technician, despite her playful personality, hadn’t done anything naughty to him while he was out. She had manhandled him in a few places, notably to open his back panel, as well as his scalp panel.
“I see you didn’t play around with me,” he said, once his systems were all back online.
“Nope, I was just teasing,” she smiled.
“I thought so,” he smiled back, “So, are you all done with me?”
“Yep,” she said, unplugging her device from him and setting his skin flaps back in place, “Your clothes are right over here,” she said, I had them washed while you were out, and I also cleaned out your digestive systems as well."
“Thanks…you know, I never asked for your name,” he said, sealing his panel back up.
“Oh, it’s Emily,” she smiled.
“Well, thanks Emily,” he said, getting up and grabbing his clothes. Once he had them all back on, he walked over and gave her a hug, “I hope you get to convert really soon,” he said, “I was nervous at first, but after all these years it really is better than my old, frail human body."
“Thanks,” she smiled, and she awkwardly turned away and sat down at her computer so he could leave.
When Greg headed out of the maintenance bay, he found Sabrina and Julie waiting for him. He noticed that Sabrina’s skin had returned to its previous color.
“Sweetie, did you enjoy yourself?” Sabrina asked, giving him a loving embrace when he approached them.
“Of course,” he laughed, “And you?”
“Of course,” she laughed too.
“Are we going to get to go home now?” Julie asked impatiently, “I miss James and Ipek."
“Soon Julie,” Greg said, “But I think Grandpa is going to want to see us first,” he said, and sure enough, after John’s speech to the entire group of HRMs, Converts, and artificial humans, he sent them a private message asking them to see him privately. In his speech, he basically thanked them all for giving up a week of their lives to help them gather even more data and that they would be called in to be upgraded to their final release bodies within two months.
As everyone filed out, Greg and Sabrina got the contact information for Jeff, and a few others in their group, and then headed over to where John was waiting. “So you two, did you make any friends?” John asked, once they were close.
“A few,” Sabrina admitted.
“Yeah, one in particular, an HRM named Jeff,” Greg said.
“Ah yes, Jeff was one of the first HRMs to be released just after Sabrina here,” John said, “I didn’t personally oversee him, but I made it a point to remember all the original 100 A.I.s."
“So, what exactly did you get out of all of those tests?” Greg asked bluntly.
“Well, hopefully we’ll be able to refine the hardware for the final release versions of your bodies,” John said, “We’ve already been developing it for the past few years, but we really needed all the hard data and practical tests to really work out all the bugs."
“That makes sense,” Greg said, “Were you spying on us too?” he asked suspiciously.
“Actually yes,” John admitted, “I wanted to hear people’s opinions of how their functions work,” he said, “That’s something we can’t get from plugging into your systems and pulling hard diagnostics,” he continued, “I must say, you two’s explanation of the benefits of switching bodies really surprised me."
“Oh, you heard that?” Sabrina blushed.
“Yes,” John said, “I thought you two just did it for kicks, but I never imagined you two would also use it as a learning/bonding experience as well,” he admitted, “I’m actually going to be recommending that all couples do the same thing every now and then."
“Wow, we’re glad we could help,” Greg said.
“So, is there anything in particular you needed from us?” Sabrina asked, “We’d really like to get James and Ipek and go home."
“Nope,” John said, “I’ll contact you in a few weeks when I’m ready to give you your final upgrades."
“Thanks dad,” she said then, giving him a kiss and hug and then walking with him to the elevator. Once the elevator reached the top, they found Ipek and James waiting for them in the lobby.
“Julie!” James shouted out, running from Ipek’s arms to his twin sister. Once the two of them were together, they started whispering to each other, catching up on the past week.
“Well, at least they’ll be indisposed on the trip back home,” Sabrina said.
“Yeah,” Greg agreed, “Any problems with James while we were gone?” he asked Ipek.
“No, we just played hide and seek around this place,” Ipek smiled.
“Well, I’m glad he didn’t cause any mischief,” Sabrina smiled, “Let’s go home,” she then said, and they all headed out of the building and drove off to their home.
To be concluded in The Replacement - Part 8
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