Fan Fiction ❯ Love In Binary ❯ Stinging pain ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Masahiro sat on the sofa and tapped away at his laptop, adding everything he could to his own self awareness programme. If he could make it good enough to rival natural human self awareness then it would be one less thing to purchase in order to construct a true A.I. They had been lucky once but it wouldn't happen again and so he wanted to do everything possible to reduce the amount of data they needed to acquire. If he could just make it good enough then it would half the amount of work they needed to do to accomplish their dream. He lay back and stretched his arms. He had been up all night working on it and the lack of sleep was catching up to him. He couldn't believe it. So few people in the entire galaxy had the information Sakura had gotten for them yesterday, but it was looking like their dream may actually come true and even before he was a teenager. He would be one of the youngest successful inventors to ever exist. Although he was more like a collector than an inventor, admittedly he had designed the optimum body structure for the A.I and he was also on the verge of creating one of the essential three programmes, but the rest of the programming would be taken from other sources. It felt like stealing, but he assured himself that it wasn't. Not to mention most everyone else on the planet was after exactly the same thing. He sighed and got back to his typing. Sakura would be home soon and he wanted to surprise her with a completed self awareness programme. He still had a lot of work to do.Hiroshi stood on an anti-grav lift at the side of the street and hopped in a hover taxi at the top. His next address was quite far away. He sat in the back of the small vehicle and tried unsuccessfully to remove the evidence of those little feathered nightmares from himself. The driver turned around and revealed himself to be an Eglatorian. The drivers seat was a tangled blue mess of alien equipment, looking almost organic. Eglatorians tended to have controls that integrated a lot more of their bodies than just their four hands. The drivers side ceiling hung with strange tendrils, some of which the alien was pulling on or squeezing. The dog-like head swung around to look at him and it uttered something at him. Hiroshi didn't recognise the language at all. It was one of their strange canine languages, even if he understood the words he still wouldn't know what was being said. Half of the dialect consisted of pheromones and smells, much too faint for a human to detect. Hiroshi indicated to the driver that it should turn on the translator. It did so and repeated what it had said. A robotic voice announced what had been said in english."Where to?""The A.E.F.T please." he responded and waited whilst the onboard computer snarled something and blew air at the driver. It nodded and stretched a particularly outstanding tentacle and away they went. Hiroshi sat back and pondered what he would find. The Artificial Environment Farming Tower sounded unlikely for finding a robotics engineer but that was where Frorbek had sent him. The tower was the only farm which didn't ship its produce offworld and supplied most of the city with food. It had several floors, each one corresponding with a different environment with an amazing range. It could produce foods such as ashweed or shell-sharks. Ashweed naturally grew only on volcanic worlds and was unable to reproduce without exposure to regular lava flows, and shell-sharks were crustacean fish that lived on the underside of icebergs on planets with ten gees of gravity. It wasn't that there was a lack of scientists, the whole place was crawling with biologists, it was just that organic things rarely interested engineers. Hiroshi couldn't help thinking that this one was going to be just as insane as the last, not to mention the fact that he had had enough of alien wildlife for one day. The sentient in question was named Mr Slake. Not exactly inviting. Well maybe he was all wrong and Mr Slake was there for a perfectly reasonable and legitimate reason and was a very kindly soul. The taxi began to slow and the driver parked neatly by another anti-grav lift. It turned to face him again and spoke it's growling, snarling tongue."Twenty trade credits." came the computerised voice. Hiroshi fished out a small packet of credits that Frorbek had eventually convinced him to take and passed it to the driver who tore it open and peered inside. It turned the communicator off and snarled some kind of thanks towards him before pressing the 'door open' button. Hiroshi hopped out and descended the anti-grav lift. He strolled through the streets and the crowd of aliens and humans, trying to find the entrance to the A.E.F.T. The building was a large black cylinder projecting into the sky, filled with aliens from across the known universe. He located the rotating doors and entered the lobby. Hiroshi approached an Elkian clerk behind a desk and asked for directions."Excuse me." he said. The Elkian looked up at him and smiled politely, radiating optimism."Yes? How may I assist you sir?" it asked."I'm looking for Mr Slake, I understand he's a robotics engineer?"The Elkian peered down at the holographic computer screen and prodded at the illuminated air. Then it turned it's unwavering smile back towards him."Oh yes. Mr Slake is on the fifth floor, hive life form environment. I believe he is studying the tarrantell roach ant. The elevator is automated, just step inside and it will take you to the appropriate place. I suggest you don a biohazard suit before hand, second floor, ask for Mr Crellek. Can I help you with anything else?""No thank you, you've been very helpful. Bye." he said and headed towards the elevator."Goodbye, have a nice day." said the alien and continued with its work. Hiroshi stepped into the elevator and it took him to his first stop. As the doors slid open he was confronted by a long white corridor, lined with suits for all different environments. Another Elkian clerk stood behind a white desk and looked up as the door opened. This one had green spines on it's head instead of the usual brown, indicating that this one was one of the rare males. It wore a white suit and goggles and treated him to that oh so familiar smile that they had."Greetings sir. How may I help you?""I'm looking for a Mr Slake but I was told I should speak to Mr Crellek about acquiring a biohazard suit so I may reach him.""Oh yes, of course. I am Mr Crellek. So you need a biohazard suit? For what environment?" it asked him."Um, for the hive life form environment."Crellek nodded and motioned for Hiroshi to follow him along the corridor. They walked past rows and rows of brilliant white outfits, all designed for different situations. Crellek stopped in an aisle that looked exactly the same as all the others and pulled a suit off the wall. He then indicated Hiroshi should leave."But...... how do you know it'll fit?" asked the human. The Elkian laughed and started walking back towards the main desk."I am rather good at this. I assure you it will fit. Do you require anything else?"Hiroshi shook his head and wandered away to put on his suit. A few minutes later the elevator doors slid open to reveal the young human wearing what appeared to be a white space suit. The room was a dusty desert, blown by a sandpaper wind. The metal of the curving walls stretched off into the distance, Hiroshi couldn't see how anything could live in such a place. He walked across the artificial dunes, feeling the crunching sands beneath his feet. He could see ahead of him a large mound of dirt with small black marks moving across it. The structure resembled a spire and the black marks seemed alive. He cautiously approached the spire, only to find it was about twelve feet tall and the 'marks' were six legged and a foot long. As he came closer several of them reared up to defend what Hiroshi had now established to be the nest. He backed away as the hissing bugs waved their claws at him. The roaches advanced on the intruder, driving him further away. He quickly moved away and then did something stupid. He turned and ran. The insects shot after him, scuttling along the ground as they pursued their enemy. Hiroshi stumbled and fell. The bugs came closer and closer as he struggled to get away. He reached the door, pressed the elevator button and turned around just as they leapt at him.An hour later Hiroshi was sat in the taxi, nursing his bleeding torso where the roaches had injected him with a mild poison. His chest had swollen up and turned a lovely shade of green, and he was itching all over. He looked down in discomfort at the last address on the paper. He was on the verge of deciding that he despised all alien fauna, especially birds and bugs. The taxi pulled up at another anti-grav lift and he departed the vehicle. Once again he descended to the ground and hobbled painfully to the elevator of a nearby building. He was black and blue from the tarrantell roach ants and the itching was driving him mad. Not to mention the smell of those wretched pigeons. He couldn't get it off. People were looking at him in the street. Hiroshi climbed out of the elevator as it came to the right floor and proceeded down the corridor. He wasn't in a good mood.Sakura grabbed her little brother and squeezed him in a bear hug of sisterly love. He was fantastic. He had actually managed it, he designed the perfect self awareness programme. It was flawless when comparing it to sentient beings. She was ecstatic. To think he was only twelve, she must have done something right when raising him, he was just as mature as any adult and far more intelligent than most. They had just finished successfully downloading the appropriate information into the android, only one more piece of coding to go. But this was the hardest to find, the rarest piece of software ever to exist in any known culture throughout the known universe was emotion programming. It could be decades before they uncovered it. They may never acquire it. But there was still reason to celebrate, Masahiro had achieved so much and Sakura was so proud of her little brother. He wasn't even a teenager yet, it was unbelievable just how big an accomplishment he had managed. She released him and shouted in happiness. Then she ran to the freezer and fished out a cake, chocolate was Masahiro's favourite. He deserved a reward. She put some music on and cut them both a slice of cake."You're the best Masahiro." she told him. "And so here's something just for you. You've worked so hard and now you can rest and have a little fun. Have some cake and I'll order a pizza and we can rent a movie. We'll have a fun night in, how does that sound?""That sounds brilliant. We only need the last piece of coding and we will be the first people to ever create a true A.I." he said excitedly. "It's so close we can almost touch it."Sakura thought about telling him not to get his hopes up, they may never find it, but she decided to let him dream and have some fun before it was back to work. She went to the phone and ordered a pizza and a rental film and jumped on to the sofa next to her little brother. The night went by and they sat and watched their film and ate their pizza. At about eight thirty they were finishing the last of the food when the doorbell rang. Masahiro and Sakura looked at each other and then they got to their feet and went to the door. The video paused as it sensed that they were no longer watching. The boy reached the door and pulled it open to reveal a creature who was swollen and bleeding in several places and covered in pigeon droppings. The entity stood in the doorway and heaved for a while before speaking."Hello. May I come in?" it asked. The siblings looked at Hiroshi and then looked at each other questioningly. Sakura spoke up first."Why.... why are you covered in stings and white goo?""I've had a bad day. I'm hoping you can help improve it. I'm looking for an expert robotics engineer. Have I come to the right place?""Well now is a bad moment.... maybe tomorrow. It's late and we're busy." Sakura told him and went to shut the door. However, Hiroshi had beat her to it and had stuck his foot in the gap to stop it being closed. He was feeling extremely run down and wanted to sort this out, it couldn't take more than five minutes."Please help me. It can't take more than a few minutes of your time and there is a chance it could benefit you too."Sakura looked to her brother who nodded and she opened the door to let him in."What exactly is it you want?" she said. Hiroshi slumped into a chair and pulled the data stick from his pocket."I want to find out what's on this but I don't know how. Could you please find out for me?"Masahiro took the stick and put it into his laptop. He looked at it for a few minutes as it began to write lines of programming across the screen. Sakura stood next to Hiroshi as she watched her brother."Those stings look sore. Would you like a glass of water and some ointment?" she asked him. He nodded and Sakura went off to fetch their guest the items she had just named. Hiroshi looked over to the kid with the laptop."So what's on it?" he queried."I'm not sure yet. It's pretty complicated stuff. It might take a while. I suggest you go and ask Sakura if you can have a shower, you really need to get cleaned up.""Oh.... well I'm sorry if my smell offends you but frayt pigeons are hard to repel." he said sarcastically and wandered off to find the bathroom. Masahiro rolled his eyes and got back to studying the programming. After a little while he was certain that it looked familiar but he couldn't quite place it. Something told him this was important. He heard the particle shower start in the other room and decided to ask his sister for help identifying it."Sakura. Come and look at this and tell me what you think it is." he called. She came in from the kitchen and peered at the screen."What is it Masahiro?"She looked along the lines of coding and then went white."Masahiro!" she cried "This is it! This is the emotion programming! It's sitting here infront of us, THIS IS IT!!!!!!!""What? Really?" he looked at the screen in surprise. His sister grabbed him."Yes. This is it. We are going to do it. All we need to do is get this off that smelly guy in the shower and we will have everything we need. I can't believe it just walked into the house like this. How did that nincompoop get ahold of it?""I don't know. When he comes out the shower we'll ask him I guess."He looked down at the screen one last time. Masahiro showed no emotion now, before he had been ecstatic, but last time then he hadn't actually been able to achieve his goal quite yet. Now however, the final piece of coding was right infront of him and he was having trouble comprehending the enormity of what it all meant. He sat in silence, staring at the screen and waiting for the strange person in the shower to finish what he was doing and get back out there.Converting /tmp/phptTI8aK to /dev/stdout