The Human Inside

Chapter 13

2128 January: Five Days Later

A.I. Industries: Gymnasium

    "Well done, 66. But unfortunately, your reflex algorithms have deteriorated by seven percent."

    "It's not my fault! 73 and 61 surrounded me from both sides! Dealing with common enemies is simple enough. But two amborgs is a real challenge."

    66 sat up on the mats with a very angry look. He had just been the victim of being ganged up on by two other amborgs who practically wiped the floor with him. Literally and metaphorically.

    "No one is saying anyone is at fault," 4 replied. She extended a hand out and 66 grabbed it. "We need to teach you how to deal with multiple opponents at a time. Your fighting style has been primarily centered on taking down one person at a time. Your next session is with three amborgs. The equivalent to at least eighteen bad guys. This should make you fight better."

    "Aww, my joints!"

    66 got up reluctantly and walked over to the custom charging station. His next fight wouldn't be for at least twenty minutes so he spent the most of it trying to enjoy the charge. One of the technicians had set it up in the gym since many of the amborgs' activities were confined there most of the time. While the energy flowed to his reserves, he looked over at a group of Second and Third group amborgs who were performing some experiments with a rather excited technician.

    "Now everyone, pay attention," the technician was explaining, "Research just developed these gizmos and they are fun as hell to use. Physics will pay tribute to this over the centuries!"

    He threw a red orb toward some cones. A red light expanded and then with a blinding flash, the cones disappeared. The technician laughed gleefully causing all the amborgs to stare in astonishment. He stopped laughing when no one else did and casually cleared his throat.

    "Sorry. Hmm, tough crowd," he said a little put off by the quiet reception. "Watch."

    Raising his glove, the orb he threw came back and instantly landed in the padded material. He removed it with his other hand, and threw it again to some other part of the gym. Another blinding flash caused everyone to stop. Instead of empty space, the cones were back which caused a couple of Third Group amborgs nearby to jump. The amborgs observing the experiment were amazed and very impressed.

    "Wow this is really amazing," 274 from the Second Group spoke up, "Interesting. You have developed technology to miniaturize inanimate objects for convenient travel. A very efficient method for shipping supplies for instance."

    "YES!" the technician chuckled but his smile faded as a couple amborgs began examining them, "Well... that's one thing you can do with them. You can also use them for combat purposes too. A bunch of us at the lab loved figuring out how to use them like grenades. As an added feature, you can link through to it with your CPU and you can set the option to either transport, disintegrate (for opening doors or walls) or explode. Obviously, it won't stay intact with the last two options but the more stuff you keep locked up during transport mode, it actually would theoretically survive the explosion if by accident you used it in combat. I wouldn't keep your valuables in it though. You could even capture and store a person inside one of these devices too."

    Everyone's smile faded. The technician also stopped chuckling and saw all of them staring nervously at the orb. Everyone wanted to ask the question but they were afraid of what the answer might be.

    "Well. Not to sound a little doubtful," Second Group amborg 125 spoke up. "But... is it safe to capture humans with these?"

    "Well we have tested it on various animals and it's actually pretty safe," the technician nodded but then stopped to think for a second. "Well, they all come back. We actually never made it to human trials when all of this happened. So, I wouldn't advise it. But results would help on the less fortunate. Sorry, I shouldn't say stuff like that. The right way is always the moral way in science. Not to satisfy our natural curiosity."