The Bridge | Bots 'R Us

Chapter 15 | Think Outside the Box

BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII
30 APRIL 634

Imagine waking up as if someone had flipped a switch, and you could only see the world through the lens of a camera. It's a pretty claustrophobic feeling no one should experience. That's how my first day at the Hawaii Humanist Headquarters (H3) started, my orientation day. It began with realizing that they had tucked my orb into a small metal case equipped with vision, hearing, voice, and a few other practical sensors. "It's very temporary," Diana assured me. "We're getting our lab ready for your back transfer." This last bit of information raised new questions in me, but it wasn't time for answers. Before I could sort out my concerns, we were already zipping along the complex's hallways, Leahi—my guide, a rolling cart, and me.

Leahi, a classic wahine, reminded me of a Miss Hula from my childhood. Miss Hula was a title bestowed on the most remarkable young Hawaiian dancer of the year at the occasion of Merry Monarch, the worldwide competition held annually around Easter time at Kamehameha Arena in Hilo Bay. My fathers and I would never miss the event. For an entire week, the whole city was living and breathing hula. One summer, I even dated a Miss Hula! Young and tanned, we looked so good together. When I saw my reflection with Leahi pushing my stupid, practical box strapped to a maintenance cart, my charmer side quickly deflated. This last version of me looked pathetic and sounded even worse.

I had tried "Aloha e, Leahi!" to salute her with my remnants of Hawaiian language. But, adding insult to injury, every word coming out of my little box trumpeted in a loud and distorted metallic voice. A far cry from the suave David Hawthorne velvet tones that had swooned the CS for centuries—or so I thought.

"Why can't I have my own wheels?" I asked out of desperation.

"We enforce a robot-free environment here, David," Leahi answered with a giggle. "Soon, you won't need any of this anyway," she added with a smile. She was probably alluding to that back transfer Diana had talked about. But how? They didn't have my DNA—or did they? It didn't make sense. Why would they have grown a body for me? I was getting confused.

So I chose to focus instead on Leahi's briefing on finding one's bearings in the vast underground complex that was H3. I was stunned something so sophisticated could exist only a stone's throw away from the CS Sanctuary's installations.

Diana's Humanists had named their group Kanaka Akaka—the People of Akaka in Hawaiian, after the legendary Akaka Falls nearby and their convenient lava tubes. They developed H3 by connecting natural caves and lava tubes and expanding that underground township over time. The surroundings matched my VR visit with Tomiko-the-fox, with added life and logical transitions.

Above ground, AHI, the Akaka Humanist Institute, interestingly reminding us of the seminal Act for Human Integrity, worked as a modest facade for this extensive operation. I had visited it once, naively thinking this was all there was left of Sarah's work.

As Leahi and I were moving around from one cave agora to the next, a spirited young woman—a redhead with a short haircut dressed like a ranger, came to fetch us, looking concerned:

"Leahi, let's quickly roll David to Agora 12; we are watching new developments happening live in Northeastern Europe."

"We follow you, Tomiko," Leahi said.

"Are you..." I started to ask.

"Yes, we met in VR!" Tomiko quickly turned her head to give me a wink and continued at her fast pace. Soon, we arrived at Agora 12, a cave-amphitheater. A flat back wall worked as a giant display where a live news event was streaming from Cape Dezhnev—the north-easternmost end of the European continent. We joined a large group spread on bleachers in front of the wall. Diana signed Leahi to bring me to her side. Tomiko brought a prop-up box she set next to Diana, so Leahi could set me up on top of it to give me a good line of sight. Trapped in my digital box, I felt like a paralyzed kid stuck between giant women. But I could look around and follow with everybody the news unfolding in front of us.