Utopia Book 2 : Astrobots: Astrobots

By Keith McNair's

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jan 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465382535

Keith McNair's

Keith McNair is a retired civil engineer who commenced the writing of novels a dozen times over a period of fifty years. It wasnt until age seventy eight that he was able to find the time to finish one. Utopia Book 1 is the first of how many? That depends on how long it takes for him to run out of ideas. He has retired to the Central Coast of New South Wales with his wife of fifty seven years. They are in frequent touch with their three happily married daughters, nine grandchildren and a growing number of greats.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Keith McNair.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011961900

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-8251-1

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-8252-8

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-8253-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-800-618-969

www.xlibris.com.au

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 1

The public address system at Austin airport arrivals hall blared out noises that would have been unintelligible to the majority of the crowd but with his hearing tuned to the voice in a crowd mode, Vincent understood the message. He was being paged.

Digby, Vincent Digby. Please come to the Delta Airlines information desk, Vincent Digby.

He had hoped that there would be someone to meet him. It is no fun arriving at a strange airport in a foreign country where the locals spoke a mixture of Mexican, Spanish and American English. His problem was complicated by being a robot that was programmed by an Italian and a number of Australians.

He located the Airline desk from overhead signs, picked up his guitar case and wheeled his trolley bag through the crowd in that direction. At the desk a stocky man dressed in Western gear from his high heeled riding boots to his high crowned Stetson hat waited for him.

The man introduced himself as George B. Jones. Call me GB, he said. I’m glad to meet you. How was your flight?

The flight was fine, Vincent replied. But my batteries are low. I need a recharge for a few hours and also some maintenance before my show.

We want you to come straight to the City Hall for a matinee. The evening show is a sell out and we are selling tickets for a matinee. It starts in an hour.

Allow me to plug into a power point for that hour and I will perform as long as I can. I am already on my auxiliary power pack. Also I need to change a couple of filters and have someone top up my fluid level and drain the waste for me.

Come with me, I have you booked into a city hotel. Do you use a normal hotel room or do you need a service station? We don’t have any information about your needs.

A normal hotel room will be fine. I usually have a cocoon that recharges my Batteries while I sleep but I can’t carry that with me. The airlines think it is a coffin. I have my maintenance done in a bathroom but I need someone to help me with that. It isn’t hard to do.

He eyed GB’s riding boots and jeans. I hope you don’t want me to ride a horse, I’m not built for that.

I have my automobile in the parking lot, GB told him.

The trip to the hotel took half an hour and booking Vincent in was delayed because the manager worried about possible oil leaks from Vincent’s joints. He expected that he would have oil stains on his carpets and bed linen and had reserved a basement area for the robot. Another ten minutes went by in argument rearranging the accommodation leaving a meagre ten minutes for maintenance and recharging. It was then time to travel to the City Hall for the matinee concert.

A stage attendant found a long extension lead to enable Vincent to work from mains power. By the time he had given two forty minute performances and a twenty minute interview, his reserves were minimal. It was necessary for him to sit quietly for half an hour recharging before a final fifteen minute bracket of western songs.

Vincent insisted that the three hour gap before his scheduled night performance be spent prone on his hotel room floor recharging from a power socket. Even so, he found it necessary to ask GB to leave his hotel room. He then shut down systems to maximise the rate of recharge for his battery pack.

Two hours later the phone rang to rouse Vincent so that he could prepare for his evening performance. Aware that their guest was a visiting concert artist, the hotel staff allowed time for a shower, dressing and a quick snack. A robot did not need a shower or a snack. Vincent did not disconnect his power input. It needed no more than ten minutes for him to check his systems, change his oxygen bottle, comb and replace his wig and dress.

GB transported him to the hall at seven fifteen after which, Vincent was obliged to meet and chat with a dozen nobodies. The main conversation was a description of his body, system and history. It was usual for him to refer to his remarkable electronic computers. There were two computers in his body to monitor and control his various systems. He was careful not to mention his cloned human brain. His listeners assumed that the two computers co-ordinated to perform the functions of a human brain.

Vincent was not slow to use his telepathic powers to plant ideas in minds in order to quell unwelcome questions.

With his batteries half charged, Vincent was able to give his usual virtuoso performance of country and western music in two one hour sessions. As a finale, he took to the piano with impressions of Liberace, Billy Joel and Elton John.

After a month on the road, he was looking forward to rejoining his family in Miami after one more engagement.

The final engagement was in Dallas two days later and entailed two night concerts. His plan was to travel up to Dallas a day early to have time to fully recharge both his main battery pack and his emergency kit. A thorough check was needed for his system. He suspected that the chemical balance of his white blood life fluid was incorrect.

To Vincent’s great relief, Amanda Annesley welcomed Vincent at the Dallas main bus terminal. While not strictly a member of the Digby family, Amanda’s husband Tim was the group’s permanent representative in U.S.A. Tim had been one of Vincent’s minders in his childhood.

Amanda had arranged private accommodation with Julia Odle a friend of the Digby family who had a property at McKinney, twenty five miles north of Dallas for the three night stopover and had hired a car to allow them to escape from the promoter of the tour. Independent transport was essential after a concert especially when the accommodation was in a private house out of town.

As a teenager, Julia spent three years in Australia with her family. She attended the same school as Tim’s mother and established a lasting friendship.

In addition to accommodation, Julia had other attributes valuable to Vincent and Amanda. She had an extensive knowledge and love for country and western music and a record library of considerable size. She also owned a fierce looking wolfhound that hated strangers, a small calibre rifle and a shotgun.

Julia used the firearms to deter the armadillos from invading her garden. The wolfhound performed the same duty and had twice been wounded by shotgun pellets in the pursuit of armadillos.

It was natural for the mischievous Tim to present Julia with a full working model of the company’s first export to America, a military spy armadillo.

That toy, minus batteries was relegated to a cupboard under the stairs because of its effect on the wolfhound. With artificial intelligence superior to the natural intelligence of the real armadillo, the toy could dodge and escape the dog for some time. It ran under its attacker causing it to trip and somersault or run in circles. Twice, Julia had returned the armadillo for repairs to damage the dog and shotgun had inflicted.

General Dwight Hynes of the US army remarked at one time that if the Taliban were as good shots as Julia, the army would have lost all of its armadillo spies in Afghanistan within the first month.

The dog and shotgun were used as deterrents for paparazzi during Vincent’s visit.

Independent transport turned out to be a mixed blessing on that visit. Vincent’s concerts coincided with other major attractions in Dallas resulting in crammed parking spaces. Amanda parked near the bus terminal and they travelled to the concert hall in a local bus.

The return journey to the parked rental car was in the Mayor’s Cadillac limousine. For the second night’s concert, a similar limousine was permitted to collect Vincent, Amanda, Julia and her mother who lived close by at Julia’s front door.

As on the first night, Vincent’s second concert was an outstanding success. Sensing that the audience favoured his piano performance over country and western, Vincent substituted classical piano for his second hour playing Chopin, Liszt and Gershwin and other classical composers.

Vincent had been continuously in residence in America for more than two years at that time and had made two previous visits with his creators and owners, Robert and Carla Digby.

On the first of those visits, he had made an appearance on local television in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The second visit brought two further appearances in Gettysburg that were bought and telecast nationally by one of the major television networks.

From that time on, Vincent was in demand internationally.

Carla was interviewed with Vincent and separately as co-owner and as a partner in the company that cloned facial muscles and skin for Vincent and his three siblings. Those telecasts, enhanced by Carla’s beauty and personality generated media frenzy to further interview the family. Initially, Carla agreed to requests for interviews but was in so much demand that Robert stepped in and arranged a series of political styled press conferences over the course of a week.

He set rules, engaged security and small venues and took the bulk of the questions. He allowed Carla, Vincent and Ursula to deliver short statements and arranged for printed pamphlets that described the two companies he and Carla controlled. The literature contained the official version of the history of the marvellous robots.

Contact with and questions concerning their two natural children, Angela and Michelle were refused. Official media representatives complied with the family prohibitions relating to the two young girls but constant invasion by paparazzi continued for many weeks.

Then the shocking news arrived that the two of their special robots remaining in Australia had gone missing. Utopia had been kidnapped and Victor was also missing. Robert and Carla immediately gathered their two daughters and two robots in the USA and flew home to Sydney.

By the time they arrived, Victor had found Utopia and taken her back to the family factory where she belonged. If Utopia was chastened by the scolding she received, first from Richard Digby then from Carla and finally from her autistic sister Ursula, she didn’t demonstrate it.

The four robots, Ursula, Victor, Vincent and Utopia had live cloned human brains, living eyes, facial muscles and facial skin. Victor had implanted hair. The others wore wigs.

The bodies were mechanical.

About twenty five years previously a research institute in Italy had commenced to clone minor body tissues for surgical applications. Minot tissues were followed by complete vital body organs for transplant.

The director of the institute became interested in research into brain injuries when his son suffered brain damage in a racing car crash.

Researchers began cloning specific brain segments for experimentation. The focus gradually changed to naturally occurring brain disorders including some of a genetic origin. Samples were obtained from patients with brain disorders with the alternative intentions of genetically excising the flaws or of transplanting whole fault free units.

Unfortunately, some patients died awaiting successful outcomes to the experiments many of the specimens did not survive or reproduced the flaws. In a few cases, notably Ursula, permission to continue with such drastic experimentation on the patient was withdrawn.

The institute continued with a number of brains that were no longer wanted by the patients. Brain sections grew into whole brains. Questions arose regarding the ethics of experimentation, maintenance and further growth or destruction of the developing brains.

The Pope had no doubt that the unattached brains did not accord with God’s intentions. He ruled that the brains were anathema and must be destroyed. Pressure was exerted on the Italian Government and the Basi Institute to eliminate the unattached brains. The Director of the institute Professor Merini succumbed to the pressure but seized the opportunity to transfer ownership of the last four cloned brains to an Australian who manufactured robots. Robert Digby planned to house the brains in robot bodies.

Robert later married the beautiful Carla Rossi, the primary carer for the four remaining unattached brains. The couple pressed forward with care and development of the robots.

Lacking the facilities for sensory input of information, the cloned brains gradually began to sense the presence of other beings. The two older brains, Ursula and Victor sensed each other and Carla. With no method of expressing their awakening intelligence, their initial response was in the form of an aura that communicated moods, feelings of pleasure or displeasure. Carla was the first person to sense the aura of each individual. Robert learned to detect the moods soon after.

Auras morphed into thought transferences and as the children learned the meanings of words, mental telepathy became the normal method of communication between them and the people who were prepared to believe that these beings were intelligent.

In order to avoid the problems Basi experienced after the existence of the cloned brains had been disclosed to the media, the Digby family restricted the awareness of the cloned brains to a small elite group. The world at large were led to believe that the four special robots had electronic artificial intelligence (AI)

The Digby family group of companies grew out of a chain of fashion stores all of which were founded and owned by Richard Digby senior. Outside the group of stores, Richard senior founded Life Like Mannequins to manufacture and market a range of mannequins from the basic static shop models to advanced autonomous robots with levels of AI to suit their individual purpose.

Richard Digby junior managed the chain of fashion stores, Life Like Mannequins and the family assets in other related companies.

The exception was the firm of Dynamic Innovations, the family company that manufactured AI, human form and non-human form robots and AI enhanced control systems for mechanical applications. Steven Frost was General Manager of Dynamic Innovations with Robert Digby as Managing Director.

Robert and Carla Digby owned R.J. Digby Medical Supplies, the company that cloned and supplied live human tissues and organs. The Australian branch of the company, managed jointly by Walter Fielder and Carla under Robert’s overall control was capable of meeting the demand for their products in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and parts of South East Asia but no more.

The demand for human tissues and organs in the United States of America enticed Robert and Carla to establish a branch in that country. They set up a laboratory outside Miami Florida with assistance from both the Federal Government and the State Government of Florida. Six American professional medical staff had been trained by Carla and one of her Australian professionals in the replication of human tissues and organs for use in transplant surgery.

In the United States branch, the company had a non-professional staff establishment of twelve when Robert engaged the services of an employment consultant to find a competent person to fill the post of General Manager. Carla insisted on retaining control of the biomedical professional activities of the laboratory even though she had her two natural daughters aged ten and eight and the autistic robot Ursula under her care. Her work load was starting to wear down her physical condition and she recognised that she needed to find a reliable and competent senior doctor to take charge in the laboratory.

To add to her worries, the family supermodel continued to misbehave. The supermodel was the third robot Utopia. Her favourite prank was to cause trouble in the marriages of company employees by making unfortunate comments or by use of her telepathic powers.

In Australia, only Victor could control Utopia but he was too valuable to be wasted as her minder.

Carla decided to bring Utopia to Miami. Between herself, Robert and Tim Annesley there were three people whom Utopia would obey. Ursula needed more attention that Carla had time to devote to her. Utopia loved to mind her sister and that occupation would help to keep both of them under control.

Robert would have liked to have Victor back with him too. He had a lot of help and comfort from Victor in his most stressful moments and Victor, with his rhymes and the latest jokes entertained Robert in the rare moments of leisure.

The Digby family company that Robert controlled had been introduced into America in response to a need to overcome a political problem. Seeking entry into international markets for the company’s electronic control and artificial intelligence systems, Robert had combined with a Florida company to tender for some defence contracts. That area had some success. The American company, Florida Electronics and Aeronautics Corporation mainly operated in the fields of recreational vehicles and equipment and found uses for the robotics and automated control systems in their own products.

Although profitable, Robert found the arrangement restrictive. He felt bound to supply to the one customer for that customer’s products. The move to Miami was meant to be a prelude to offering his company’s products and expertise to a wider market. He and his company’s permanent representative in America, Tim Annesley spent twelve months introducing the name and product range of Dynamic Innovations along the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

Starting with that campaign, by the end of the second year, they had developed business relationships with manufacturers from Florida to Maryland. They bought out a struggling chain of retail electrical appliance stores to begin marketing their own brand of domestic equipment manufactured under contract by their first customers in Baltimore, Master Industries.

Originally, their business with Master Industries was based on the manufacture of mannequins. That developed into a range of the simpler service robots, some of which were in human form.

Autonomous house and garden maintenance robots, vacuum cleaners, security systems, pool maintenance, voice controlled entertainment equipment, indoor climate control ad fifty other service units were offered. Special service robots for functions were popular with caterers and supermarkets sought out robot trolleys to assist their customers. Most of those products sold readily and profitably.

Tim had a staff of six researchers and engineers constantly upgrading the units and designing new models.

Chapter 2

On the eve of Utopia’s arrival at Los Angeles escorted by Janet Gurney, Carla had a phone call that could not be ignored. It had been her intention to meet Utopia and Janet at Los Angeles but that plan was stymied by the outcome of the phone call.

A clinic in Atlanta was one of the company’s oldest and most consistent customers for major organs. Dr. Somerville was the sole survivor of the founders and had advanced from the junior partner to Director. With its own forty bed day surgery unit and a major hospital adjacent, the clinic supported twenty surgeons experienced in major transplants. Dr. Somerville openly acknowledged that his clinic could only function as it did by using Carla’s cloned organs. As in Australia the supply of donor organs was insufficient to meet the demand.

Dr. Somerville was aware of Carla’s need for an experienced and reliable manager to relieve her work load. He wanted to introduce a possible candidate to Carla. Dr. John McKenna had worked in the clinic during its early years, had moved to his home town in a northern state for family reasons but wished to return south. There was no vacancy at the clinic. One of his options was to set up in private practice as he had done briefly in Connecticut and he was considering that but the costs involved in following that course would incur a large debt. Dr. Somerville thought that John McKenna was more comfortable in a team environment. He would be in Atlanta the following day and Dr. Somerville would be in a position to bring him to Miami if it suited Carla.

Vincent was despatched to Los Angeles to meet Janet and Utopia and Carla remained at home to meet John McKenna.

DR. McKenna was not sure how he would settle in to the other side of transplant surgery. He had been happiest with theatre work and always a little apprehensive with general practice. The position available was as much staff management as it was hands on tissue culture.

Carla asked him to delay his return to Atlanta so that Robert could interview him. He agreed but Dr. Somerville had to take the evening grasshopper flight that stopped frequently on the way up the coast.

He comes across to me as a very intelligent man who lacks self confidence, Carla told her husband. I think he would be able to do the job quite well after he works out what it is all about but he is very unsure of himself."

Has he had a failure or a setback in his life that might account for that? Robert asked.

I don’t know of anything drastic in his professional life. He didn’t admit to a major failure. His personal life is a mess at the moment. He and his wife have parted and his children don’t want to know him. Like a lot of medical men he seems to have been more like a visitor at home than a father and partner.

A lot of engineers fall into that trap. They work long hours, Robert observed. My doctor works too hard for long hours too but I have no complaints about her attitude at home.

Your doctor’s attitude is a reflection of my engineer’s attitude, she replied. He shares in my enjoyment of our children.

It doesn’t sound promising for Dr. McKenna but I’ll reserve judgement until I have talked to him. Did you arrange a time?

I didn’t want to fix you to a time without asking you first. Can you fit him in tonight or early in the morning?

Robert rang the motel where McKenna was staying and arranged a meeting in the laboratory office at nine am.

By morning, John McKenna had decided that he wanted the job. Whatever else he did, he did not want to go back to his wife. His children did not want to live with him and although he would have preferred to participate in their upbringing, he realised that it would be better for them if he kept in touch from a distance.

Nor did he relish general practice as a career. In response to Carla’s welcoming smile, McKenna told her that if he was offered a job in her organisation, he would do his utmost to earn a smile like that every morning.

Robert referred to McKenna’s unsettled history over the previous three years and his reported hesitance the previous day to commit himself to a more permanent career. He invited McKenna to comment on what seemed to be a major change of specialities every year.

The question surprised McKenna and he hesitated for a full thirty seconds before responding. I’m not sure how to answer that, he said, delaying a reply for a further moment.

"I know that you want and deserve an account of my apparent lack of commitment to any particular branch of medicine. The truth is that my problems are not closely related to my profession.

"I believe that I am not by nature impetuous and whatever branch of medicine I have practiced, I have devoted my full attention and resolve to the best outcome for my patients. Behind all that has been a consistently unsettled private life. My wife and I had a whirlwind courtship and married without giving due regard to the necessities of our professional careers. She is an architect. I served an internship at a major hospital and that involves variable and sometimes extended working hours.

"When the babies came along, she was unable to continue with her career. I pressed on with my ambition to become a surgeon. She never forgave me for continuing in my profession while she sacrificed hers.

"That isn’t the whole story but most of the arguments followed from it. We separated and tried again twice but it didn’t work out. It’s all over now.

"Each separation and reconciliation led to a resignation and a new job. All of my savings have gone in one of the separation agreements and I expect to be paying alimony after I walked out last month.

I have been depressed and have lost confidence over the years but this time I am determined to cut myself loose from an unhappy ten years. I am searching for a new start for my life. This management position in your laboratory is a relatively new branch of medical practice and if I am appointed I assure you that I will give it my best shot.

"Thank you for being frank with me. My wife is a very discerning person and suspected problems of that nature. She needs someone who is dependable, someone who is not likely to pull up stakes and head for Connecticut in six months time.

I have to talk it over with her. I won’t try to remember the details of what you have just told me but I must give her the gist of it. Do you object to me telling her that?

I didn’t want to say all that I did. I couldn’t say it yesterday but I guess Dr. Rossi has to have some explanation for my inconsistent behaviour and she suspected something like that. No, I can’t object to you saying what you know about me. It goes some way to explaining my unhappy recent years.

OK do you mind waiting for a few minutes in the ante room while I talk to her. I’ll ask Crystal to make you coffee if you like.

That arranged Robert found Carla in her own work laboratory to report the outcome of the interview.

John McKenna was offered a six months trial as Assistant Manager under Carla’s supervision after which he would either be offered the position of Assistant General Manager or offered the door.

Four days later, Dr. McKenna commenced work with R.J. Rigby Medical Supplies having flown to Atlanta, driven back to Miami and found more permanent accommodation. His immediate future looked promising. McKenna shared an office with two staff doctors whose main workplaces were the replication laboratories.

John’s big surprise on his second working day was Ursula.

Ursula was busy cleaning the staff canteen when John entered for a cup of coffee. He discovered her mopping the floor at a speed almost beyond his belief.

Hullo, he greeted her. I haven’t met you. I thought I had met everyone yesterday. I’m Dr. John McKenna.

Ursula ignored him until he approached the coffee dispenser.

Floor’s wet, Ursula told him.

I’m keeping off the wet floor. It is dry here, he said.

Floor’s wet, she repeated.

The floor isn’t wet here. It is dry in front of the coffee machine, he said, slightly annoyed.

Ursula ran the mop all around him, missing his shoes by a few centimetres.

Floor’s wet, she repeated.

Now look here, McKenna said. I am standing here in front of the coffee machine. When I have my coffee I will have to walk on the wet floor. What do you think you are doing?

Floor’s wet. Floor’s wet. I am washing the floor then you walk all over it. I have to do it again. Ursula hung her head and started to cry.

Sensing that Ursula was in trouble, Carla hurried to her rescue.

Ursula, what is wrong? Why are you crying? She asked gently.

Man walking on my clean floor, walking all over my wet floor. Now I have to wash it again. I have to do it over and over. She went back to crying.

John McKenna asked Carla why the girl was crying. He said that he hadn’t walked on the wet part of the floor but the girl had mopped all around him so that he couldn’t avoid it.

John, Carla explained. Ursula is a robot and she is autistic. Please make your coffee and go out while I calm her down.

She is a robot and she is autistic. She is crying. Robots don’t cry. He looked from Carla to Ursula noticing for the first time that Ursula’s hands and arms were a little odd. Instead of elbows, wrists and knuckles, the arms and fingers curved something like tentacles but not sinuously as with an octopus. They seemed to have multiple joints with stiffer sections between. The head and face looked human and the tears were real.

Please go out John, Carla insisted. I will explain Ursula to you in a little while. She won’t calm down until you have gone. Then she will insist on finishing this room. I will bring her to meet you properly when she is ready.

Thoroughly confused, John took his coffee back to his desk. One of the doctors who shared his office was there.

I just saw a robot crying, he said. It was crying real tears. He was still incredulous.

That must be Ursula, poor Ursula, she’s autistic you know. You’re lucky she didn’t start in on you. At times she has the vilest temper. Ursula is Carla’s special robot. She is the best cleaner you will ever meet. It is a shame she is handicapped. He resumed working at his computer.

John turned to his computer and tried to find the data he had been studying but discovered that it was no longer easy for him to concentrate.

Ten minutes later, Carla called him to her office where she described Ursula to him. She did not reveal that Ursula’s brain was human but did say that she was experimental and was useful in teaching the methods of care of autistic people. She showed him a copy of Time Magazine that featured Ursula on the cover. The headline read: Robot teaches mothers how to care for their autistic children.

Ursula walked into the office.

My work is done, Carla darling may I play now?

Thank you Ursula, you are a good girl. I have a special treat for you. Come and talk to Dr. McKenna. He works here now and you will see him when you come to the laboratory.

Ursula turned to John. Hullo Dr. McKenna. She seemed to have forgotten the incident in the canteen.

Dr. McKenna was not sure how to respond to a meeting with a robot.

Er—hullo, er—Ursula, he stammered. He turned to Carla. It—er she is very good for a machine. It behaves almost like a person.

I am… Ursula started to speak but Carla broke in. Ursula has a lot of human characteristics. Wait until you meet her brother and sister, Vincent is a well-known country and western singer. You must have seen him on television. Utopia is possibly the best known super model in Australia. She arrived in Miami late last week.

Utopia is a super model, you say. Do you mean like in fashion parades or a Cadillac?

I meant in fashion parades. She thinks she is more than a Cadillac. She regards herself as the Rolls Royce of catwalk models. She gets carried away with herself at times. We aren’t sure what we are going to do with her in America. None of us has the time to be her manager and minder at fashion parades all over the country. When Vincent goes on tour, we have to send a minder with him. There is always a worry that someone will kidnap him. Utopia would be a much greater temptation.

Something comes to mind about a lady, surely it was you. Was it you who had robots on television? It was just a couple of interviews two or three years ago, one played the piano and the other didn’t speak. Was that Ursula?

It sounds like us. Vincent prefers the piano and he shapes his performances to suit the audience, either piano impressions of past popular pianists for older people in formal clothing or country and western if he sees check shirts and riding boots. He has not long finished a tour of the mid west and southern states where country and western was more in demand.

I had better get back to work, John said. I am very happy to meet you formally Ursula.

Thank you, Doctor. I know another doctor too. Carla is a doctor. Do you know Dr. Seuss?

I was brought up on DR. Seuss. I had a lot of his books when I was young.

My favourite book is Green Eggs and Ham. You know, I am Sam. Sam I am. I like green eggs and ham."

Thank you for that Ursula, John feared that, John feared that Ursula would quote the whole book. We have that in common. Bye for now," John left the room.

That afternoon John tended a roomful of specimens under Carla’s supervision. She watched him follow the procedures as they came up on his electronic notebook.

Do these checks need to be made in this order Carla? John asked. Would it be all right if I changed the sequence?

What would you want to do? Carla asked.

I would prefer to do them in alphabetical order. That would be easier to remember.

"When you are checking the composition of the fluid the last thing to adjust must be the ph. If you change some of the other components, they could change the ph. Some might change the temperature too particularly if you have to top up the water. Check fluid temperature and ph last. The sequence of the others doesn’t matter.

You still have to tick the numbers on the record. It takes no time to do and we must keep our records perfectly. If we have a failure we must know why and when it occurred so that we can guard against a recurrence.

John adjusted the sequence on his notebook but found that the new sequence did not make the process easier. After the second run through he reverted to the original sequence. Downloading of the records in a varied order caused error messages to appear on the computer.

The next surprise came when John returned to the front office after doing a shift tending to the specimens the following morning.

He was met by a very handsome young couple. The young man was slim of medium height and relaxed posture but with absolutely no expression on his face. The girl was beautiful, the same height as the man with an outstanding figure. She met him with a wide smile.

He noted that the receptionist, Catherine, known universally as Cat, was not present.

Can I help you? He asked. Cat is around some place but not here.

We don’t need help, said the boy.

Hullo, what is your name? The girl asked.

I am Dr. McKenna, he answered.

You are the new doctor. Carla told us about you.

John realised that these two people were the other robots, Utopia and Vincent. He didn’t have a chance to respond.

Ursula told us too, poor Ursula, she doesn’t put words together very well sometimes but she does think straight for a few moments at a time if she is not flustered. Ursula said that you are nice but there was something about you, that she had met you before. Could that be right?

"Ursula almost knocked me over when she was swabbing the floor. I didn’t jump out of the way quickly enough. I’m afraid I snapped at her. I didn’t know about Ursula then.

Ten minutes later, Carla introduced us and Ursula seemed to have forgotten about it. I was glad. I don’t want to be bad friends with her. It was mainly my fault.

Vincent explained. "Ursula thinks there are two of you. There was a rude one who yelled at her when she was washing the floor and there was a nice new doctor who Carla introduced.

We should introduce ourselves Dr. McKenna. I am Vincent and this is Utopia. As Carla has told you, we are robots.

We are not just plain or bots, Utopia objected. We have human components in our heads. We are cyborgs. Vincent is too modest.

Utopia is too vain, Vincent countered.

Utopia stuck out a pretty pink tongue and Vincent laughed.

Do you know where Cat has gone? John asked.

She has gone to the sand box, like cats do, Utopia said.

Don’t be catty, Vincent laughed.

If Carla wouldn’t punish me for it, I would scratch your face Vinnie,

Miaow, Vincent teased. They both laughed.

You get on together very well, John observed.

We are as close as twins, Vincent said. We are as far as we can tell, the same age. We actually have two ages. We have a brain age that is the time when our brains were activated and we have a body age. That is the time when Robert and Carla finished our first bodies. Our first bodies were children about eight to ten years of age. These are our second bodies. Robert didn’t want us to be children for the rest of our lives."

That was very good of Robert. It’s as though he treats you as growing people.

They do that. We are not the natural born children of Robert and Carla like Angie and Mickey are nut Carla always called us her children and Robert made us as we are. We regard them as our parents. Victor thinks the same but Ursula thinks of Carla as her mother and Robert is Carla’s husband more than her father.

Has Ursula always been handicapped?

"Ursula is autistic. She wasn’t always like that. When we were babies, Ursula looked after us. Then when she was nine or ten, her brain regressed. She had been very clever like Victor is but she regressed to age two or three. Sometimes for a few minutes even now her brain clears and she is herself again.

Carla wants DR. Sam to fix her but we think he is too old now.

Dr. Sam, do you mean Dr. Seuss?

No we don’t mean DR. Seuss. We mean Dr. Sam Raconini. He made our brains and Robert bought them. Robert gave us sight and hearing and voices. Next he made our bodies so we can walk and move our heads and do a lot of the things ordinary people do, Vincent said.

Do you mean that you are the property of Robert, Carla’s husband?

Technically that is correct but Robert doesn’t treat us as possessions. He feels that we are family, like children.

Maybe I had better get back to work, John said. He wasn’t sure what he should believe about that information.

Chapter 3

This is a disaster, Joel shouted into the phone. This is the third unit to fail in a fortnight. What is going on? That processor has been very reliable for the last two years. Suddenly they start to crash. That is the same navigation unit we use in the navy tenders.

We’ve had three airboats lose automatic steering control. What happens when a navy tender goes haywire?

Calm down, Robert answered. This is the first I’ve heard of this. What has happened?

"I just told you what happened. The Mark 7 processors crashed in three new airboats. Luckily they were on open swamp and the pilots had time to switch to manual.

We thought the first one was a minor malfunction and replaced it. Since then two more shut down. We can’t analyse a problem. We need you to get Peter here to check them out. Six tenders were delivered to the navy in the last month. They haven’t sent any back yet but I expect they could all fail.

I’ll give Peter a call. He’s up in Maryland today. I’ll get him back on the double. We’ve never had trouble with the Mark 7 before. I hope we don’t have a whole batch with a fault.

Does it have to be today? Peter wanted to know. Janet has just left Miami to come up here. Her flight doesn’t land until after two o’clock. She won’t like it but I’ll turn her around and fly down first thing in the morning."

Joel’s in a flap, Robert warned him.

That’s unusual for Joel, Peter commented sarcastically. I doubt if it’s what he thinks, they’ve probably overloaded the circuit or wired it up backwards. Are those the new model airboats?

I think they are the new range but the circuitry for the auto steering is the same as the previous ones.

Don’t be too sure of that, those Cubans in the assembly plant try to invent new things all the time. I’d make them wear masks when they work on electronic gear. They breathe out pure rum fumes, overproof.

If they breathe out pure alcohol fumes that should clean the electronics,

You’re as bad as Joel. He thinks the same but they pollute their alcohol with coca cola and another kind of coke as well. They are a decadent lot.

Where did you get these navigator units? Peter demanded the following day.

You supplied them, Joel shouted.

This is not my design for the Mark 7, Peter shouted back. I didn’t put my name to this rubbish."

You can see the brand name, Dynamic Innovations on the top of the unit. It came from your works in Sydney. Where else would we get them? You supply the electronics. We build the vehicles and fit what you supply.

How many more of these are you holding in your stock? Peter asked. Don’t use any until I have examined them."

"We received a carton two or three weeks back. I don’t know how many are still there. We’ve used some in the navy vessels and some in our airboats.’

Joel rang off and started to redial but noticed that his head storeman was waiting outside the office. The man was obviously enjoying the shouting match. In the background, money was obviously exchanging hands. Wagers were being laid on the outcome. Joel was known to raise his voice at times of stress and Peter had earned a reputation of standing firm under criticism. He usually won his arguments.

The head storeman reported that the last shipment consisted of 48 Mark 7 navigation units. Seven of the previous units had been in stock and all had been used during the last fortnight. Five of the latest batch had been drawn from the store. Three had failed in the airboats. That left two that may have been installed in the navy tenders.

Find them, find who drew them and ask where the units went, Joel ordered. His volume was slightly lower than earlier.

I want to look at every unit in that carton, Peter demanded. "I want to know if they are all rubbish like this one.

Joel I promise you that we will replace all faulty units as fast as we can manufacture them. I’ll get on the phone to Steve as soon as I know the effect of the damage.

All 43 units in the carton were faulty.

Robert rang Steve to advise that the units were not in accordance with the design and to ask why. He asked who had made the mistake.

That would be Jerry Penn,