SHUTDOWN PROCEDURES STARTED, the screen read.
PROCESS 1 COMPLETED
PROCESS 2 COMPLETED
PROCESS 3 COMPLETED
PROCESS 4 COMPLETED
PROCESS 5 COMPLETED
ALL CONSCIOUS PROGRAMS REMOVED FROM MEMORY
“Yeah, take that,” Erin told the screen. She flexed a muscle that should have been in her stomach; a panel opened on her robotic body and a reel-away cable popped out. She grasped the fiber optic link at the end and gently inserted it into an auxiliary input port on the deck’s cabinet. To Erin it was like putting a phone handset to her ear; she could suddenly hear all sorts of interesting noises on the other end. She rasped out the machine language address of the Mass Storage Device and, for a brief few nanoseconds, heard the voice of the imposter AI. It was trying to load through the cable and into Erin’s robotic body. Had her mind been in Random Access Memory instead of running on a Read Only Memory pack, it would have been the end of her.
In machine language she ordered the MSD to erase all data.
Then, reluctantly, she began making a Backup of the twisted, crashing version of herself that was running, the only copy of herself that was available to her at the moment. While the Backup was in progress, she became aware that someone was banging on the door, demanding entry. It was distorted, unclear, but Erin recognized the voice as her husband’s. She checked her Backup, found it finished, winding down to the point of recording her current conscious thoughts. She made sure to record a few last notes then ended the process, uncoupling the cable from the port and reeling it quickly back into her body. There was a painful muscle spasm as the panel closed. Erin ambulated over to the door and unlocked it.
Duane and the woman rushed inside, looking around wildly for the intruder. “Well Duane, who’s your friend?” Erin asked.
Duane whirled around, staring at the little robot. “What?”
“Duane, darling, didn’t you miss me?”
An expression of shock and horror crossed Duane’s warped, distorted face. “My God, it’s Erin.”
“No way,” the woman said, taking a step backward.
Duane fumbled with one hand inside his jacket. He looked furious. From his inner jacket pocket he produced a small projectile gun.
“What, you’re going to kill me again?” Erin extended a strong metallic arm and grabbed his gun-hand by the wrist. She squeezed, knowing her robotic hand was much stronger than it looked. Duane cried out in pain, but didn’t drop it. The gun went off with a muffled puff, but it wasn’t pointed at anything; a hole appeared in the wall.
“Mandy, help me!” Duane yelled.
The woman leapt forward, grappling with Erin’s arm as Erin folded Duane’s wrist back in a direction it was not designed to bend. “You killed me,” Erin said to him as he cried out in pain.
“Let me go, you bitch!”
With Erin’s other arm, she reached out and snapped the plastic cover off a 440 volt main-line socket. She wrenched the socket housing aside so that it exposed bare wires, and, still holding her husband and the woman firmly grounded, she drove her metal fingers deep into the electric current. All of them were turned off, all memory cleared, all synapses burnt out, all programs lost. The room smelled of hot metal and roasted flesh.
The three of them crashed into a heap on the floor.
#
EAST-WEST CALOS ISLAND NEWSNET
FLASH BULLETIN 19:94:00 09/44/2251
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KEYWORDS: ACCIDENTS/DIME RIVER/FISHING/LIND CORPORATION/LIND
DROWNING/ROBOTICS
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Duane Lind, husband to robotic work force magnate Erin Lind, died today only a few hours after his wife was killed in a tragic fishing accident. Duane Lind’s death call and that of a companion was received by CISaRNet at exactly 18:04:29 today. Details about the death are not known, but investigators say it looks like a freak accident involving a robot. Duane and his companion, Mandy Pepperidge, a WileRote Keyrone programmer and technician, were killed by electric shock. More details will follow …
#
TODAY
IS THE FIRST DAY
OF THE REST OF
YOUR LIFE
Erin sat up suddenly, reading the words. It was a sign on the wall, surrounded by vivid holographs of roses. She lifted her hands up in front of her face, wiggling her fingers; smooth, pink, new flesh. Flawless pink nails, a bit long. No scars, no wrinkles.
She took deep breaths with large new lungs.
“TIM?”
Erin closed her eyes. Thank God, she thought.
Her Backup laughed at her.
“Yes?”
“Thank him for me. No, wait, I’ll do that myself.”
Revulsion shook her. “I don’t think so.”
Erin had heard that before. She said goodbye to her Backup, and it erased itself from computer memory. Doctors and techs dressed in pastel blues and greens came in to check to see how she was doing in her new body and brain. She passed the tests without any problem, and was informed that her husband was due to wake up, and that she could go meet him.
His room was much the same as hers, or the same as any hospital room in the Calos Islands. White walls, sky ceiling, brightly colored ornaments, adjustable-G bed. Erin sat in one of the nondescript visitor chairs and waited. When Duane opened his eyes and sat up, she took a deep breath and held down the fear.
Duane wouldn’t dare try to hurt her here.
“Interesting,” he said. “Unusual.” He turned his head from side to side. “Sensations. I like this.”
“How do you feel, Duane.”
“I feel fine. I am discovering a whole new world. I have to thank you Erin. This is the finest gift anyone could give anyone.”
Erin was missing something.
“I can see by your expression that you’re confused.”
“A bit. What are you talking about.”
Duane got out of bed, walking over to her and leaning close to her ear. “It’s me, TIM,” he whispered. “Didn’t your Backup explain?”
A slow, wide smile spread across her face. This was breaking about a hundred serious laws, but damn it, it served Duane right.
Duane was gone! Her executive AI was in control of his new body!
She reached out and joyously hugged him, thinking what a scandal this would make.