The Human Inside

Chapter 1

2135 September

A.I. Industries Conference Room

    "May I call you John, sir?"

    A young high school senior asked inquisitively. The atmosphere of the room wasn't supposed to be intimidating at all but he found it very scary to be where he was.

    "Well we'll see about that," The person he was interviewing sitting across the table was fiddling with his glasses. This man turned out to be Dr. Kendrick himself. He smiled pleasantly, "Now why don't you tell me what you're writing about? Your name is Brad, is it not?"

    "Yes sir, Dr. Kendrick... Oops!"

    Brad fumbled and dropped his pencil which fell and made a mildly loud tap on the smooth steel floor. He clambered out of his seat and bent down to the floor to pick it up. Upon retrieving his tool, he rose too quickly and smacked his head into the edge of the table.

    "Sir? Do I look that old?" Dr. Kendrick raised his right hand and examined it carefully as Brad casually took his seat again while massaging the back of his head. "Hmm, curious. I see a few wrinkles starting to show but I doubt that's a definite sign."

    Brad bowed apologetically. He wasn't sure if it was from the pain but he leaned forward and dipped his head in respect as he sat back in his seat. In his tense state however, he accidently dropped the pencil again.

    "Uh no sir. I meant..." he stammered as his eyes quickly darted under the table to see where the pencil rolled but Kendrick chuckled calmly.

    "Calm down," he said reassuringly which made Brad sit back up straight in his chair. He was still nervous but at least he had managed to stop fidgeting. Dr. Kendrick looked him over once before continuing, "There is nothing to be nervous about. Forget for a moment of what I do for a living. Treat me like you would anyone else you meet."

    As he said this, he bent over and picked up the pencil which had rolled over to him. He placed it on the table and rolled it over to Brad who pinned it down with one hand. Dr. Kendrick smiled.

    "Then you'll see how there's no need to be nervous. Take a deep breath."

    Brad took a deep breath and coughed a few times, straightened up and prepared to write.

    "Thanks Doctor."

    Dr. Kendrick looked Brad over for the second time, stood up and went over to the window that overlooked a large field.

    "Before we begin, I'd like to ask why you decided to write your essay about my work. Sure, it's flattering but not normally what someone of your age range normally is interested in. It's usually college kids who really have the levels of enthusiasm that you have displayed. Never before have I met a high-school student as passionate as you. Especially one with such entertaining and very excellent credentials."

    "Well," he fidgeted a bit more but looked at the Doctor's silhouette, "I think that your work in cybernetics is very amazing. I think that your work in cybernetics is very amazing. Not a lot of my classmates really care but I do because it's bigger than all of us and I want to be a part of that. Most of my friends just want to graduate but I was hoping to get better insight into what you do so I can show them how what you've done has helped the world they live in. Everyone knows how famous you are but they just don't know about you and the amborgs. The real inspiration to me is seeing them. Teenagers that look almost like me doing great things and I want to learn about that. It was like someone granted my wish when you agreed to let me come here. Opportunities like this are like gold but it's really making me edgy because I want to savor everything about this."