The Love Box Experiment

Chapter One

The Love Box Experiment.

CHAPTER ONE.

Author's Note: This book is in the process of being published. The plot has been rewritten, some scenes left out, other new scenes added. The new book will be published under a new title, London Red, and launched in January 2015 available on Amazon, iPad and every ebook format.

The following three chapters are extracts from the final book:-

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Paul could feel it, sense it. Like a living thing. The excitement grew, tightening his stomach into a knot, it was almost painful. The computer monitor held the image, an image he had developed, and worked on for a year. Now it was there. The face stared out at Paul, a hologram of a girl . . . the replica of her face, neck and shoulders . . . but changed into a hologram. 

He smiled. 'How are you today?'

The hologram responded, with half a giggle, 'I'm fine thanks. You look good, Paul.'

The contours of the face had finely drawn lines, horizontal lines across, mapping the shape of her eyes and nose. As she turned her head, Paul could see the closely-packed streaks of light that looked like continuous lines, each one separated by a gap which was so small that he had to lean nearer the monitor to see it. This wasn't a real person, it was make-believe, rather like a ghost. But it looked real. It reminded Paul of long distance interviews on a news programme where the person on the other side of the world spoke something but there was always a slight delay in hearing it. It was the same with this hologram on the screen; Paul could see the small delay in the girl's replies, as if she were in space; and by sitting back from the screen, Paul couldn't detect the fine lines that made up the face. And yet, it wasn't a cartoon, it wasn't some computer drawing or some trick with mirrors to create an illusion . . . this face on the screen was the face of an individual, alive, living, a girl who had been photographed in a studio from multiple angles and transposed onto the hologram software. The girl was alive and he had met her, but here on the computer it was an exact replica of her, but controlled by the viewer. 

'I like the way you look,' said Paul. 'How are you today?' He held his breath. The words in the conversation didn't matter; it was all about the ability to converse.

'Yeah. I feel fine, I'm good thank you.' The moving talking image of the girl lowered her voice. 'I'm waiting for you to tell me what to do.' 

He whooped for joy. The hologram worked. Really, really worked. He got serious and spoke again to the monitor. 'We'll go out together. Tonight. I'll pick you up at seven.'

'That's cool. I'll wear something nice.' The hologram raised her eyebrows as if waiting for approval. The image froze at that point.

His reaction was instant. Paul jumped up from his swivel, leather office chair and yelled. 'Yesss,' as he punched the air. 'You crazy bastard,' he shouted to the empty room, 'you've fuckin' done it.' He stood back and stared at the screen. If only he could phone San Francisco, his work team would have the same reaction, but it was too early, the eight hour time difference meant two o'clock in the morning for them.  

In his mind, he needed to calm down, so he sat and leaned back to look up at the ceiling. He said softly, 'I've done it. Unbelievable. I've changed a photograph into an image which will have a conversation with me.' Paul recognised he would have to expand the stored conversation patterns in the programme, but that didn't pose a problem.  

There were so many possibilities and he knew where his research must go. There had always been a clear understanding of what Paul wanted and knew he could achieve; an interactive image of someone known to the viewer; projected onto a computer monitor or onto a wall; talking, conversing, laughing, instructing, just like if the real person where in the room; while the living individual wasn't there and wasn't actually aware of the conversations. If the next few months went according to plan, he would be a multi-millionaire. His development into hologram technology had crossed into new territory, a new advance which corporations around the world would want to buy into. The use of hologram technology meant any person could have a two-way conversation with an image assuming the image was programmed with enough response data.