The Time Bubble Box Set 2
of death. What’s not to like about that?”“And emotion? Has that been replicated, too? For example, doyou still feel love towards Vanessa here?”
The original Henry snorted with laughter at Alice’s questionand said, “Maybe that isn’t the best question to ask him.”
“Perhaps not,” said Alice, realising that if the originalHenry didn’t have much affection for his wife anymore, the robot’s algorithmswere hardly going to be pulsing with romantic overtures for her either. Thenshe thought about what the android had said earlier about having no tongue,which brought to mind a far more intriguing question.
“Tell me, Henry Mark IV,” she said. “How much are youenjoying looking forward to that big steak tonight at Madison’s?”
Henry IV’s LCD blue eyes seemed to glow more brightly for amoment and he sat up enthusiastically on the couch and said, “Mmm…can’t wait!Their onion rings are the best in Australia.”
“But you’re an android now,” said Alice. “You can’t eat,surely? You’ve got no tongue. But the original Henry can.”
“Oh,” replied Henry IV. “I hadn’t thought of that.” Althoughit was only a shell without the original Henry’s face or voice, it was stillpossible to sense the disappointment in the android’s speech.
“How does that make you feel?” asked Josh.
“Pretty lousy,” said Henry IV. “I’ll never eat steak again,will I?”
“You’ll never eat anything again,” said Josh.
“That’s really depressing,” said Henry IV, and he slumpedback down onto the couch.
“You can’t feel hunger, though, can you?” asked Alice. “Youdon’t have a stomach. Why would you still even want a steak?”
“Because I can remember the pleasure of what it tasteslike,” said Henry IV.
“Yes, he would feel like that,” said the original Henry.“And I should know. This is one of the big problems we haven’t overcome yet. Ina way we’ve almost done too good a job of replicating the human psyche. He’sgot all the emotions and feelings I’ve always had, but without the capacity toenjoy life to the full – at least not in that body. There is much work still todo.”
“I want a steak,” said Henry IV grumpily, sitting up again.
“OK, I think we had better deactivate you now,” saidVanessa.
“I don’t want to be deactivated,” said Henry IV. “You onlycreated me five minutes ago and now you want to kill me? Yeah, you’d enjoythat, wouldn’t you? Look, just forget about the steak, it’s no big deal. Iwon’t even mention it again.”
“Computer, deactivate Henry Mark IV,” said Vanessa.
The android’s eyes went out and it flopped back onto thecouch before it could protest any further.
“Looks like you’ve got more than a few teething problemsthere,” remarked Alice.
“He was alright until you had to go and mention that steak,”retorted Vanessa.
“I really thought he was going to be OK this time,” saidHenry. “Vanessa and I have already had some difficulties along these lines andthought we had made sufficient changes to the algorithms to iron them out. Butit seems the algorithms can’t override a sentient creature’s basic desires.”
“On the plus side, you’ve certainly achieved one thing – youhave indeed created, or at least re-created what I would define as life,” saidJosh.
“Did you notice how he didn’t want to be switched off?” saidAlice.
“An overriding desire of any living creature,” said Josh.“The desire to survive.”
“That would concern me,” said Alice. “What if he had foundsome way of stopping you switching him off and had gone rogue?”
“It was just a trial. This version was never intended to bepermanent,” said Vanessa. “We did say we had more work to do.”
“But that’s not the point,” replied Alice. “As soon as youmade that copy you created a real conscious being, even if it wasn’t made fromflesh and blood. You’ve clearly mastered the transfer of emotion which is to becommended, but with that power comes responsibility. You could see how much thecopy wanted to cling onto life by the way he reacted when you mentioneddeactivation. But you turned him off as casually as if you were flicking offthe switch on a life-support machine.”
“We’re scientists. People used to do a hell of a lot worseexperimenting on animals in the past,” said Vanessa.
“That’s no defence,” said Alice angrily. She was taking adistinct dislike to Vanessa’s cold, detached approach to all of this.
“This is all getting a bit heated,” interjected Josh. “Whydon’t we go and look around some of the rest of the institute and we can talkabout it all again tonight over dinner when we’ve all calmed down?”
“It’s a pity Henry Mark IV can’t join us,” said Alice. “Butthen he wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it anyway, would he? Come on, Josh.”
She turned on her heel and headed for the lab door.
“You’ll still be there tonight, won’t you?” asked Henry.“8pm at Madison’s?”
“We’ll be there,” replied Josh, hoping he could win Alicearound. He was fascinated by what he had just witnessed, and his mind was alivewith the possibilities it might bring.
It could herald the beginning of a whole new chapter ofadventures.
Chapter Three
September 2055
“What did you think of those two?” asked Alice, as she andJosh strolled along a picturesque, tree-lined avenue towards the restaurant.
The sun had just set and there was a glorious red sky out tothe west on a spring evening which was still pleasantly warm.
“Yes, they’re an odd pair, aren’t they?” said Josh. “Youcan’t help but admire their scientific achievements, but as for the rest oftheir relationship...well, frosty doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
“I’d go so far as to say they can’t stand each other,” saidAlice.
“And they are pretty immature about it, too,” replied Josh.
“They are. And they made little effort to hide it from useither, which suggests to me they are both past caring.”
“Perhaps it’s all those years of working together soclosely. They’ve been so obsessed with their work for so long that they’veforgotten what brought them together in the first place,” suggested Josh.
“Maybe – but then we’re in a similar position and we’restill OK, aren’t we?”
“Of course,” said Josh which he meant now more than ever. Hehad almost lost her when he’d been stranded in the past for well over a yearrecently. He hadn’t told her the full extent of what had gone on during thattime, much