Prologue
“Is this a joke?” The man readjusted
his glasses and stared down at the young girl with a frown.
“You used a child. This is
unacceptable.” He reached for the documents to sign for cancellation, but the
lady refused to let go of the paperwork.
“She’s not human,” a middle-aged man
in a long white coat entered the brightly lit room. All attention averted to
him. He closed the distance between him and the girl resting on the flat table.
“She is the prototype of our latest Cybot
model, CY0330, and she has the ability to learn without being programmed –
built on a self-adapting, multiple language integrated code,” he continued. “In
other words, she responds to things according to past experiences and can thus
learn new skills and behaviors. Due to this learning ability, she can make
associations by herself. She can speak, understand, read and write in 21
languages including certain technological languages. We’ve used an ADm7 fusion
voice card equipped with a tone that matches her age and gender. She does not need
to recharge manually, because of a cold fission power supply that allows her to
draw power from photons – both natural and artificial. Her 100 petabytes
internal memory can store information as if it was a photographic mind that never forgets. In short, she might be the breakthrough
the company needs. The only setbacks are that she cannot be reprogrammed once
activated unless the wanted behavior is learned, and she cannot be shut down
like a normal Cybot.” The engineer smiled proudly, meeting the production CEO's
impressed gaze.
“Never mind that,” the man with the black-framed glasses added, “This prototype could become a spy unit for
government purposes or even make history if it proves to be a success. What is
the model number?”
“CY0330, sir.”
“Good,” he approved and signed the
documents. “Nobody would ever suspect a little girl.”
With that, he left the room, leaving
the engineer and his assistant alone with the prototype.
“I don’t like him, sir,” the lady
stated bluntly, reaching for the Cybot’s hand. Its skin was soft like that of a
baby’s. “She’s more human than he thinks.”
“I know, Miss Kim,” he said, pressing
his lips together in slight concern.
“She has a defense mechanism
installed, so she should be fine,” he reassured her with a smile after a few quiet
moments.
“Shall we activate her?” the lady suggested
enthusiastically.
“Yes,” the engineer scurried around
for a while, gathering a few utensils. He then turned the cybot prototype
CY0330 around and pressed the remaining wires intact, burning them together and
sealing the surface.
They stood back, observing their
masterpiece in silence.
“Cybot Model CY0330 prototype, Milu,
activate.”
The cybot’s eyes moved under her eyelids.
Her nose wiggled as she took in the sterilized smell of the lab.
Her tongue wet the inner border of
her lips sneakily.
Then she got up, clumsily as if she was really
human, and met the gazes of her creators with an innocent smile.
Objective Prologue © Copyrighted by Angelique
Roux
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