The Time Bubble Box Set 2
1950s concrete block but all gleaming glass and metal that exuded wealth,confidence and technology.The cherry trees lining the path leading up to the entrancewere in full blossom, birds were singing in the trees and the sun was beatingdown on Josh’s face. It was every bit like a sunny April day back home, buthere of course, the seasons were reversed.
“This place looks mighty impressive,” remarked Alice,echoing what Josh was thinking.
“I should think so with the amount of money they’ve spent onit,” replied Josh. “From what Henry tells me there’s no shortage of cash fromthe government for research, and that’s on top of Henry and Vanessa’s personalwealth. They get more in funding in a year than we get in a decade at Oxford,and we’re hardly poor. It seems like Canberra is deadly serious about becomingthe technological capital of the world.”
“The city has certainly changed a lot since my backpackingdays,” remarked Alice. “I spent a whole summer travelling around Australia theyear before I met you.”
As they approached the entrance the double glass doors movedswiftly and silently aside, leading into a large, circular foyer. It had aspotless, white marble floor, a ceiling supported by several thick, whitepillars and the surrounding curved walls were covered in screens showingcorporate videos of the institute’s work. A grand, wide staircase led up to abalcony at the back of the room, presumably leading deeper into the institute.
What was notably absent was any sort of desk or humanreceptionist. Instead, one of the most lifelike androids Josh and Alice hadever seen walked smoothly towards them. Indeed, neither of them even realisedit was a robot at first. It was only when it spoke that they realised it wasn’ta bona fide flesh and blood woman.
Alice was never quite comfortable affording gender to arobot. Somehow continuing to refer to them as “it” helped to remind her thatthese were machines – not people.
Many disagreed and a substantial robot rights movement wasspringing up around the world, led primarily by humans who were more concernedabout the exploitation and rights of these androids than the androids werethemselves.
In the case of this female android, with a stunning figure,perfect complexion and immaculate, white, one-piece business suit, it wasimpossible not to see her as a woman.
“Hello. My name is Dani,” said their host.
Dani paused briefly, looking first Josh and then Aliceintensely in the eyes.
“Retina patterns confirmed. Welcome, Josh and Alice Gardner.You are meeting with Henry Jones.”
Up close, both visitors now recognised Dani’s true nature.She was a little too perfect, with none of the minor imperfections that everyhuman has. The retina scan and the slightly robotic nature of her voice werealso a giveaway. The subtle nuances of human conversation and use of slang termsstill hadn’t been fully cracked by artificial intelligence.
Despite Dani giving herself away, she was still a majoradvance on any robot they had seen before. How much longer would it be untilthey would be indistinguishable from humans, and what would be the implicationsof that?
“I must say you are very lifelike, Dani,” said Alice. “Isn’tshe, Josh?”
“I’ll say,” replied Josh, trying not to make it too obviousthat, as well as being impressed by the android, he couldn’t help noticing howattractive she was. This wasn’t unusual for female androids, particularly inthe Far East where a roaring trade in sex robots had sprung up, leading to anoutcry, not just from the moral objectors, but also from human sex workers whowere finding clients increasingly hard to come by.
“Thank you,” said Dani. “My creator has designed me to mimichuman activity in every possible way.”
“Isn’t she a beauty?” said a voice with a strong Australianaccent from the top of the staircase. “I designed her myself.”
“Henry!” exclaimed Josh, recognising the flamboyantcharacter now bounding down the stairs towards him. Despite having chatted faceto face online with Henry many times, seeing him in the flesh for the firsttime was still quite a shock.
With his ample girth, Henry looked to have reached apinnacle of non-fitness, yet here he was racing down the stairs with the energyof an Olympic athlete.
His mop of wild, curly, red hair sat atop a similarly ruddycomplexion. He didn’t have the slightest fleck of grey, which was impressivefor a man in his late-fifties. By far the most stunning thing about him was hisshirt – which would be considered loud even in Hawaii. It featured a bright,sky-blue background covered in pineapples.
“Are you going to a party?” asked Alice, as this large,hairy pineapple-clad figure bore down on them.
“Only if you’re inviting me, my dear,” replied Henry,exuding charm as he reached for Alice’s hand and subsequently kissed it. “It’sa real pleasure to meet you.”
Next he turned to Josh and vigorously pumped his hand.
“And it’s an absolute delight to meet you at last, my dearfellow,” added Henry.
Despite Henry’s old-fashioned mannerisms, Alice couldn’thelp but like him – he radiated warmth and friendliness.
“The feeling is more than mutual,” replied Josh, beforeturning to Alice and adding. “Don’t be overwhelmed by his attire – this isquite normal for him!”
“Larger than life, that’s me!” remarked Henry.
“I must say, you are doing a grand job of cultivating youreccentric professor look,” said Josh. “When did you last have a haircut?”
“Oh, sometime around the end of the last decade, I think,”replied Henry, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “It’s growing ratherwell, don’t you think? I’d like to claim it’s because of my strong genes andclean-living lifestyle, but I have to confess it’s all down to cellularregeneration, a little sideline of mine. You won’t see a bald head or a greyhair around this place.”
During this exchange, Dani had stood almost motionless andalmost unnoticed, having been shunted out of the limelight by Henry’simpressive entrance. Now she spoke up.
“Can I offer you some coffee?”
“Let’s all have some coffee!” announced Henry,enthusiastically. “You do drink coffee, don’t you, Alice? Proper coffee, thatis, none of this decaffeinated nonsense?”
“Of course,” said Alice. “Where would we scientists bewithout it? Something’s got to keep us going during all those late nightsburning the midnight oil.”
“Splendid!” replied Henry. “Well, Dani here makes a fine potof coffee, among her many other talents. Let’s go upstairs and you can meetVanessa. I’ve told