The Replacement - Part 3

Part 3.1 - How it's made

With Ipek in their lives, they were able to live much more comfortably. She cooked and cleaned for them, and entertained each of them when the other was tied up at work or school. On a few rare occasions, she even had to perform some emergency repairs on Sabrina…nothing serious though.

When the two year anniversary of R. Sabrina’s activation passed, about a week before her 25th birthday, John suddenly contacted them and requested that they accompany him to his lab for Sabrina’s body upgrade…a body that would allow her to function from age 25 through to age 30. He also had them bring all of her spare parts.

They requested the day off John gave them from work and followed him in their car to the lab he worked at, over an hour outside of town in a very remote and secluded location. Ipek decided to remain at their apartment, since there was nothing being done with her.

“Well you two, what do you think of the place?” John asked, once they were all out of their cars.

“Well, the place is remote,” Greg said, staring around at their surroundings.

“And big,” Sabrina added, looking at the massive facility which was built right into the side of a mountain and looked as though it could close to a million people inside.

“Yeah, we wanted to make sure we had privacy as well as a lot of space to do stuff,” he said, leading them into a lobby and handing them visitor badges.

“So, how long are we going to be here?” Greg asked, walking pretty close to Sabrina as they followed John into an elevator. The elevator showed over 20 above ground levels, and about the same amount of below ground levels.

“Probably a few hours,” he answered, “That reminds me, Sabrina, you are going to need to install a massive update for your A.I., which will also include compatibility updates you will need for all the new hardware we put in your new body,” he said.

“Okay, should I try and access it now?” she asked.

“Yes, it will probably take you about ten minutes to download it, so get started now,” he told her.

“Okay,” she said, and then she got the slightly distracted look on her face that Greg usually saw when she was downloading an update.

When the elevator stopped at the 8th underground level, they stepped off and followed John down the hall and then into a side room.

“Well guys, this is Sabrina’s personal construction and repair bay,” he announced, once they were in, “It’s also where her particular A.I. was developed, as well as her A.I.’s previous hosts,” he added.

“Cool,” Greg said, since Sabrina was still distracted by her download.

Greg recognized the room from the video Sabrina showed him two years earlier. The room was fairly large, and had a few antechambers attached to it. The large room they were in had an examination table, as well as several large machines, the largest of which was currently running.

“What does all this stuff do?” Greg asked, walking around and looking at it all.

“I’ll tell you in a little bit while Sabrina is installing her update,” John replied, and a few moments later, Sabrina lost the distracted look on her face.

“Alright Dad, I’ve finished downloading it,” she said, “Do you want me to start installing it?”

“Not quite,” he said, “First I need you to undress,” he said.

“Alright, why?” she asked, sitting down and taking off her shoes.

“Because you won’t be walking out of here in that body,” he said, “and I’m sure you’ll want to be wearing something when you leave in your new body,” he smiled.

“Oh, of course,” she said with a slightly embarrassed look on her face as she started taking the rest of her clothes off and folding them neatly on a nearby table.

“It’s okay,” he smiled back, watching as his stepdaughter got undressed, “And we will put those in the hyper cleaner so they’ll be fresh for you by the time you enter your new body,” he said.

“Alright,” she said, and once she was naked she said, “About how long will this update take to install?” she asked.

“Probably between 20-30 minutes,” he told her.

“And where’s my new body at?” she asked, looking around.

“It’s still in there,” he said, gesturing at the large machine that was currently active.

“Oh, I see,” she said with a knowing nod, “Well, I’m going to start the update now then,” she said, and then she straightened up and got a blank look on her face.

“Well then, I know you have had many questions as to how we built Sabrina here,” John said, “And now I am going to answer them,”

“Good,” Greg said, “I’ve been very curious,”

“I figured,” John smiled, “So I think I’ll start at the very beginning,” he said, “the beginning of this company,”

“Okay,” Greg said, and he listened as John started telling him the history of the company.

“We got started back in the late 20th century working for video game developers,” he started, “Specifically, with motion capture,” he added, “over the years, we eventually got so good and had captured so many different motions that we were able to create a very complex algorithm that, even the basic A.I.s we were able to develop back then could use to generate motions without having to capture them from a real person,”

“That’s cool,” Greg said, “But what does that have to do with androids?”

“Relax Greg, I need to go over a century of history with you,” John said, “That’s why I waited until Sabrina was running her update, because she already knows all this,”

“She knows?” Greg asked, “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Because not only did I ask her not to, I programmed her A.I. not to tell you or to let her tell you, since this is all still top secret,” John explained.

“Wow, then I guess I can’t feel bad about her keeping it a secret,” Greg said.

“Exactly, she had no choice,” John said, “Anyway, that motion capture algorithm is the basis for what allows her motor control complex to work,”

“Oh, now this is making sense,” Greg said.

“Exactly,” John smiled, “Obviously it’s gone through several hundred iterations since then, but even back then the people who created it and who ran the company realized that it might be used to create much more realistic motions in an android, though they knew with just the algorithm, they couldn’t create an android, so they started looking around,” he said, “They also realized they would need resources, so they invested in a company called Spacex, which was beginning plans for asteroid mining. The plan worked and they came back with an unlimited supply of minerals we needed to build a vast computer array to begin working on the A.I. and other computer systems we knew an android would need to function properly,” he said, “Also, the monetary return we got back from our investment gave us more than enough capital to start acquiring things,” he added.

“Wow, whoever ran your company was very smart,” Greg said.

“Yes, and forward thinking,” John added, “Anyway, with the vast return on their investment, our company was able to purchase an upstart 3D printing company, as well as a company that was developing a protein re-sequencing device,” he said, “We then had the two teams collaborate and create what we call a body printer, though, for the last few decades, we’ve actually been using it to create fully functional replacement organs for the medical field,”

“Wait, you guys helped invent that?” Greg asked.

“Yes, though the true purpose of that machine was to create fully realistic skin and musculature for the android bodies,” John said.

“Why did you need such a complicated device?” Greg asked.

“For enhanced realism,” John answered, walking over to Sabrina’s dormant body and calmly grabbing one of her arms and gently manipulating it, “See how realistically I can move her arm, and how it reacts to my touches?” he asked, emphasizing some of the movements so Sabrina’s musculature showed.

“Yeah,” Greg said, feeling a little uncomfortable seeing John play around with his stepdaughter’s naked body.

“There were several people and companies attempting to develop androids over the years, but the reason they all failed was because they made their androids move using the skeletal structure via the use of servos and pumps,” John said, “But that’s not the way the human body moves,”

“No, it moves because the brain sends electrical signals to the muscles, which move the body,” Greg said, remembering his basic human anatomy lessons.

“Exactly!,” John applauded, “All the androids they created were able to look and act fairly human, but they did not move the same way a human does,” he said, “We knew the only way to make a truly realistic android was to make synthetic skin and muscles that would move a metallic skeleton, in the same way as a human body,”

“Is that what that machine is?” Greg asked, looking at the active machine, which sounded a lot like a printer.

“Yes, did you want to take a look?” John asked, “The body should be nearly finished,” he said.

“Sure,” Greg said, and walked with John over to the machine, where John pressed a button that made the smooth white top suddenly become transparent.

Greg was speechless at what lay inside. Suspended in some sort of energy field was an exact copy of Sabrina…from the neck down. The metallic skull, with the teeth and realistic eyeballs was still visible, though a series of lasers that were currently just below the chin were literally printing musculature, skin, and even tiny hairs onto the skeletal structure. He could see the seam surrounding the crown of the head, which he assumed was the scalp panel. Where the ears were supposed to be were a series of very complex sound capturing equipment, and there was a small bump with two holes where her nose was supposed to be.

“With this machine, it takes inert organic material, which in this case is denatured animal proteins, and runs them through a filter which re-sequences it into musculature and skin, using actual samples taken from the original Sabrina’s body,” John said, “It then prints them onto the skeletal structure we insert, and links all the nerve endings to the motor systems, the sweat glands to all the appropriate areas, and the veins and capillaries that transfer the blood like substance throughout her body,”

“Sabrina told me that her skin and muscles are roughly 90% equivalent to real human skin and musculature,” Greg said, “What’s the other 10%?”

“Just some artificial bits that keep the skin from decomposing when there is no energy running through the body, as well to keep the skin from getting burnt by UV rays, amongst other things,” John said.

“But I’ve seen Sabrina’s skin develop a tan when we’ve been on the beach,” Greg said, “She still has to wear long sleeves because her pale skin burns easily,”

“Well, the skin is programmed to get a little tan if exposed to the sun, but it won’t go so far as to get an actual burn,” John said, “I like to think of our artificial mix as smart skin,”

“Oh,” Greg said, “I guess she just doesn’t want to look too tan then,” he laughed.

“Yeah, she loves going to the beach, but doesn’t like getting tan,” John agreed.

“So, if you use her actual skin cells as a template for this printer, does that mean you still have her body stored here somewhere?” Greg asked.

“Yes, in cold storage,” John said, “That’s also so we can keep her eggs on ice for when the two of you want to have kids,”

“I see,” Greg said, “Could I see it?”

“If you like,” John said, and they left the printer and headed into one of the antechambers. He pressed his palm on a biometric lock, there was a hiss as a wave of cold air escaped and then a table slid out of the wall with the corpse of the original Sabrina.

Greg thought that after two years he was over it, but he found that when he saw the original Sabrina laying there dead on that table, he nearly broke down.

“Are you okay son?” John asked, watching Greg solemnly look down at the corpse.

“Yeah,” Greg said, “I just never thought I’d see her like this again,”

“You probably shouldn’t be seeing her like this,” John said, and he sent the table back into the wall.

“Thanks for letting me see her,” Greg said, walking back out in the main room where R. Sabrina was still passively standing while performing an update.

“Don’t mention it,” John said, “So by my estimate, Sabrina still has about another 10-15 minutes left, so why don’t I continue?”

“Sure,” Greg said.

“Well, in addition to making the body look and act realistically, we needed to come up with components that could mimic certain bodily functions, such as digestion, respiratory systems, and a circulatory system,” John said, “We simply purchased a few more companies and were able to create yet another piece to the complicated puzzle we were working on,”

“The circulatory system always seemed a little fascinating to me, but Sabrina never seemed to be able to go over it in too much detail,” Greg said.

“It certainly is,” John agreed, “It basically is blood,” he said, “It transfers tiny little nanorobots all throughout her body to repair any damage to her skin, musculature, and skeletal structure,” he said, “It also makes her appear more realistic when the stuff bleeds out of a flesh wound,”

“I see,” Greg said, “It sounds like you were able to create most of the technology here a few decades ago,” Greg said, “Why did it take you so long to actually make an android like Sabrina here?”

“Because the key piece of the puzzle was creating an A.I. that could either emulate a human’s memories, or basically become a new human,” John said, “We struggled to make a sophisticated A.I., but we had the same problem our competition did…how to fit a computer that complex in the body,” he said.

“And I take it you solved that problem with the de-centralized computer systems?” Greg guessed.

“Partly,” John said, “It certainly made things easier, but we still needed a storage medium to store all the memories that the android would be programmed with, and that it would create during its lifespan,” he said, “We finally decided that organic computing would be our best bet, so a few decades ago we invested in and finally bought a key player in the organic computing industry and had them develop the ‘brain’ that you and Sabrina are now familiar with,” John continued,

“Then it was just a matter of the last decade or so to begin creating and programming an A.I. which could realistically emulate a human’s memories and personality,” he said, “As well as developing the technology to copy a human’s memories into an artificial brain,”

“What about creating a truly original personality?” Greg asked, “As well as the technology to completely transfer a human’s soul from their body,” he added.

“That is still one of our goals, but we determined that we could collect more data on creating one by having a bunch of A.I.s emulate human beings first,” John said, “As for the soul transfer, we have actually managed to successfully transfer a few people, though the machine still has a few kinks to work out before we feel safe using it more often,”

“So, does that mean that Sabrina’s A.I. isn’t the only one you guys created?” Greg asked.

“No, but hers was the first,” John said, “Since I’m in charge of this division, I made sure she got the best and most experienced one,” he said, “That being said, after hers, we created 99 more and have had them emulating other people who suffered similar fates for the past few years,” he said.

“Wow, I can’t believe all the work that went into creating her,” Greg said, walking over to where Sabrina was standing and looking upon her body with more awe and understanding.

“Yeah, they say humanity is a work of art,” John said, “These androids are no different,”

“I am curious of one thing,” Greg said.

“What is it?” John asked.

“I can see why they have to look, move and act realistically, but why do they have to smell realistic too?” Greg asked, lifting her right arm and smelling her armpit.

“Well, first, I should say that the realistic scent is an option,” John said, “The androids do need to perspire for cooling purposes, so people can have their androids sweat out a harmless saline solution instead,” he explained, “However I should point out that as smart as we are, us humans are still basically animals and we do respond sexually to certain scents that a potential mate emits from their body,” he continued, “That’s why you feel so comfortable around R. Sabrina here, because you are detecting her actual pheromones synthesized from the stuff she eats and emitted from her sweat glands,” he finished.

“Wow, it’s like you guys were planning on everyone becoming androids or something,” Greg laughed.

“You have no idea,” John said cryptically, though Greg didn’t notice.

“What was the easiest part of the androids to create?” Greg asked.

“The power systems,” John answered quickly, “The hard part was inventing a portable digestive system that could convert energy from food and drinks into useable energy. Otherwise we were simply going to green light them in a form where they would have to plug themselves in each night,” he said.

“Oh,” Greg said, “It was pretty ingenious putting the batteries in the spine,”

“Yeah,” John said, and before he could say anything else, Sabrina suddenly came back to life.

“A.I. update complete, rebooting to complete installation,” she said in a clipped tone, then her head slumped down slightly. A few moments later, her head rose back up and she smiled, “That took a while, but the update is complete,”

“That’s good to hear,” John said.

“What have you two been doing the last 22 minutes?” she asked.

“I’ve just been giving Greg a history lesson, and explaining how you’re built,” John said.

“Oh, I really am sorry I couldn’t tell you,” she apologized to Greg.

“Don’t worry, I understand,” Greg replied sincerely.

“So, is my new body almost done?” Sabrina asked, walking over to the body printer.

“Nearly,” John said, making the top transparent again. Her new body now had a face, but was still missing a few inches of the top of its head.

“Man, that is a little disturbing,” Sabrina said, shuddering a little. Greg also noticed goose bumps appearing on her skin…something he’d never noticed before since she was usually clothed when she had them.

“Yeah,” John agreed, “Once it’s finished, we’ll need about an hour to charge it up and install and program the fluids inside,”

“Oh, then what will we do while we’re waiting?” Sabrina asked.

“Well, I’m sure your A.I. has already said it had three hosts before,” John said, “Maybe you could inhabit one or more of them while you wait for your new body to be ready,” he suggested.

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Sabrina said, “What do you think Greg?”

“I think so too,” Greg said, eager in particular to see what the 18 year old boy looked like, “But what is going to happen to Sabrina’s current body after she transfers to the new one?” he asked.

“Well, we’ll clean it up and out and then we put it into storage until she gets her next body upgrade…then, this body will get stripped and recycled to make her next body,” John explained.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Sabrina said, “What if we wanted a room with a nice hall of former Sabrina’s?” she asked.

“Why would you want that?” John asked with a confused look.

“I’m just messing with you dad,” Sabrina smiled, laughing and giving his confused face a kiss.

“Oh, you and your sense of humor,” John smiled, and then there was a pinging sound from the body printer, “Well, it looks like your new body is ready,” he said, walking over to the machine and pressing a button.

A few moments later, a few technicians entered the room and approached the printer, opening it up and lifting the freshly printed body out, placing it on the examination table nearby. They then stood back and nodded at John.

“Well Sabrina, they need to get started pretty soon, why don’t we head into the other antechamber so we can decide which of your A.I.’s previous hosts you want to try out?” John suggested.

“Is there anything they need from me?” she asked.

“Yes, actually, your jewelry,” he said, noticing her nose and ear piercings.

“Oh, okay,” she said, and she quickly removed all the piercings and placed them in a metal tray the technicians had given to her, “Alright,” she said.

“Good,” John said, “let’s head to the other room,”

“Sure Dad,” she smiled, and they all filed into the other antechamber.

Part 3.3 - Upgrade

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Continued in The Replacement - Part 4

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