Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 5

Ricky stared up at the sensors arrayed above him and thought, I can't do anything till I've got control. I could figure out how to talk, and access stuff that way; but Dad always locks out the voice commands; so that's won't work.

Then, after listening to some activity in the back of his mind for a moment, he thought, That's the computer processor's internal message stream!

Can I access the processor myself? It's worth a shot.

<Lift index finger on right hand> he commanded.

<System advisory: Access denied. Command in improper format> <Complete>

'System advisory'? Of course. It's a robot. It uses standard messaging protocols.

Let's try this again.

<User command: Lift index finger on right hand> <Complete>

<System advisory: Access denied. Unauthorized user> <Complete>

That's got to be Dad's lockout. Can I hack into my own computer? Let's see.

Once he accomplished that, there was the matter of getting more fully integrated.

Mastering the motor skills didn't take long, because all he had to do was enter the proper commands, which finally allowed him to get up off the worktable, if jerkily. Talking took a little longer, because he didn't know the proper way to format what he wanted to say.

Then he looked around, and was startled to see the reflection of General Orkan's robot in the door of a stainless steel cabinet off to one side.

I guess that explains why everything looks a little smaller, he thought.

Then he went over and picked up his father's technical-manuals interfacer, but discovered that he couldn't feel it; so he poked his arm, and then slapped his thigh.

My entire body's numb, he thought. What's wrong with my skin? Probably not integrated yet. So how do I connect with it?

Turning on the interfacer, he found numerous documents that taught him about the workings of his robot, as well as a paper his father was writing about his skin invention for release to the tech journals when he was finally ready to make it public.

Apparently he was going to have to do a bit of work to integrate everything into his consciousness; so he began by rubbing himself all over to stimulate and locate every electronic nerve in his skin, and identify its data point.

#

Much later, Ricky checked his internal clock. Dad'll be here soon, he thought. Let's see what he'll do.

Returning to the worktable where he'd awakened the previous day, he lay down and closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, the door opened; and footsteps crossed the laboratory floor to the desk in the far corner.

After a while, when nothing seemed to be happening, he cautiously peeked over: His father appeared to be engrossed in designing something.

I guess I'll actually have to do something to get his attention, he thought; so he got up and headed for the door. The light was green as usual when his father was in, so at least he didn't have to link to leave the room.