Scott Carter: The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android

“It’s just Duff,” I said. “I would have been happy to talk to you over the vid, you know.”

“Yes, that would have certainly been more convenient,” he said, “but I felt it was necessary to talk to you in person.” He froze for a second, and it was like watching a hiccup in a vid feed. “Yes, yes, quite right. Most unusual.”

“I’m sorry?” I said.

“Hmm?”

“What’s unusual?”

“What do you mean?”

It was like he didn’t know what he’d just said. Some form of schizophrenia or stepdock madness? I’d also never heard a Dulnari speak in such an articulate manner, especially in Unity Worlds Prime. He motioned to one of the two seats across from him. It was then, when he slightly cocked his head to the side, that I noticed something black and electronic behind his ears, tiny lights flashing red and blue.

“You have an implant,” I said.

“Yes,” he said, showing no sign of offense. “The ones I make now are much less crude, completely internal, but mine is now so integrated into my biological processes that it would extremely problematic to remove it.”

“Is that why you’re…” I began, not knowing quite how to phrase the question.

“Smarter than your average individual Dulnari?” he finished for me. “Yes. My implant contains a hundred mature Dulnari intelligences. All AIs, of course, but my mind sees them no differently than the real thing… The flaring is quite unusual this time of year.”

“Excuse me?”

He blinked a few times. “Hmm?”

“You said something about the flaring being unusual this time of year.”

“I did? Oh, yes. The side effects. You see, though the implant gives me the intelligence of a small Dulnari group mind, I have not yet perfected the natural filter process that works with a real group mind. So I may occasionally say things not intended for you. I apologize for this in advance. Please, be seated.”

I did, and so did he. The three windows behind him displayed a gorgeous view of the city’s skyline, but everything else about the room was absolutely sterile: a desk with a built-in monitor and keyboard, three chairs, and nothing else. Not even a couple of holovids on the walls.

“I never intended to spend much time here,” he explained.

“I’m sorry?” I said.

“This room, I see the way you’re looking at it. But I always intended it to be mostly for show. I’m a lab rat, Duff. That’s where I’d like to spend most of my time, and where I did spend most of my time until my company was bought out. Then the new owners made certain changes that forced me into more of a… diplomatic role.” He said the last two words with a sneer, and for just a moment I thought of the wolf in the Red Riding Hood fairy tale, dressed up in human clothes and pretending to be something he wasn’t.

“Hobnobbing with senators, you mean?” I said.

“Exactly. It’s dreadfully boring… Multivids are on sale in Setifine… But you don’t care about any of that. Let me tell you why we had to meet in person. When Ginger Daughn first questioned me about all of this, I was absolutely convinced that her husband’s disappearance had nothing at all to do with his procedure—or at least, that nothing in his procedure directly caused it. It went perfectly. Every test confirmed it… the low-g yoga is best after breakfast… If he disappeared, it was either his own choice or because he was abducted, not because there was some defect in the transference that modified his personality.” He shook his head. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

His non-sequiturs were annoying, but I was getting better at ignoring them. “What do you mean?”

He clasped his slender hands and leaned his long snout on them, closing his eyes for a moment before answering. “Our equipment has been tampered with.”

“What?”

He opened his eyes and looked at me. “It’s why I had to have you come here in person. I don’t know who to trust… The headaches go away in a few days, Kylor tells me.”

I pretended he hadn’t made the headache comment. “You sound like Ginger,” I said. “She didn’t know who to trust either.”

“Honestly, I’m not even sure I can trust you, Duff. However, one of the reasons you were kept waiting was that we were performing scans of your responses to our questioning. There is every indication that you are truly here investigating Vergon Daughn’s death.”

“You gave me a lie detector test?”

He nodded. “Three of them, in fact. I’m sorry about that, but I had to be sure… A hangover is no cure for happiness.”

“Who tampered with the equipment?”

“If I knew that,” he said, “I probably wouldn’t need your help.”

“What was done?”

He clicked his fingernails on the desk. Dulnari fingernails had the same look and texture as volcanic glass, so the clicking sounded vaguely like tinging wine goblets. “It’s hard to say. It turned up on a deep diagnostic, meaning it was somebody who really knew what they were doing… I don’t play MateMax at the Laztor, no.”

“What happened to the human body?”

“It was disposed of. I personally attended to its incineration.”

“You… killed him?”

“Oh, no. That would be murder according to Unity Worlds law, even if that’s not technically what it is. No, he committed suicide, which is entirely legal here on Jellon. He had several witnesses from the press there. He wanted absolutely no doubt that the new android Vergon Daughn was the only Vergon Daughn. Otherwise there could be sticky legal issues… I see that this idea makes you uncomfortable, Mr. Duff.”

“Well, yeah,” I said. “I mean, to the human Vergon Daughn, it was still like dying wasn’t it?”

“No,” he said. “It wasn’t. To you, to most biosens, even to me to a minor extent, a reverse BIP would seem like death… I hear the fruit is quite delicious… Few humans would be willing to do it. But to an android, a perfect copy is a perfect copy, indistinguishable from the original in every sense.”

“If you say so,” I said. “Who bought you out? The company, I mean.”

“Oh, just one of those intergalactic corporations that owns a little bit of everything. They’re called Granger Holdings. I’m sure you’ve never heard of them.”

“No, actually, I have,” I said, trying to hide my surprise. “And they bought you out before you turned Vergon back into an android?”

“Yes. It was between when I performed his BIP and when he came back for his reversal. I explained to him that I was no longer allowed to perform the operation myself, that it all had to be automated by robots because Granger wanted to roll out the process for mass production, but he said that if I at least oversaw the operation, that would be enough… why, are you allergic to peanuts?”

“Could somebody have altered the new Vergon android in some way?”

He nodded. “That is quite possible. In fact, that is what I fear most… Shakespeare was not bad writer, for a human… I fear Vergon has gone a bit insane, or his memories have been tampered with in some way, and if you do find him and it is proven correct, then Mind-Body Technologies will be blamed for it rather than whoever tampered with the equipment.”

“Ah,” I said, “I’m beginning to understand.”

He looked at me with his dark, penetrating eyes. “Do you? I’m asking you to be discreet in your investigation, Duff. And of course, I’m willing to pay you handsomely for your discretion.”

“In other words, if I find him, and he’s out of his mind, you want me to lie.”

“Oh, no. Not lie. That would be unethical. Just delay the truth until we can make certain that we have enough evidence to present what actually happened. We’re doing more diagnostics, but it could take a while… Dulnaris have no need for shampoo… How much credit would you require?”