Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 141

Mathison squinted beneath his glasses, pressing a few buttons and tapping some keys. "That should be it. Are you awake?"

"Yep," said Marvin.

"How did it feel this time? Were you aware of the progression of time?"

"A little," said Marvin.

The room was darker than need be, littered with blinking lights and coloured displays, animating in superfluous designs, purely for cinematic reasons. How else can it look like a modern high-tech lab? Oh, and don't forget the tape reels revolving slowly in those oversized vacuum tube-run machines. A cannister on Mathison's desk was filled with yellow daffodils, hit by a shard of light.

"Did you think about what I said?"

"Yep," said Marvin. "I played some Nazis versus aliens on the standard map."

"And how many of those did you get through?"

"Five," said Marvin. "I'm not very good." He was still only a head, as per his own request, and sat at the edge of the desk.

"Hmm," said Mathison. "We've definitely cut down your conscious awareness significantly, but not enough for the extended periods required."

"That sucks."

"No, no, it's progress. You're providing vital data, Marvin. I couldn't do this without you."

"Thanks!" said Marvin. "It's just nice to be needed."

The door slowly squeaked open, revealing the shadowed form of Josef Hydan. It gave Mathison a jump. Somehow the light brightened, and Adelaide crawled out from behind what was clearly a robot.

"What do you think?" she said.

"It's hideous," said Mathison, avoiding its piercing gaze.

"We're trying out designs for our clients' physical looks, and Josef -- the other one -- wanted a single version with his son's face. No, don't ask."

Mathison withdrew his raised hand. "We're running a little behind on deactivating the consciousness," he said. "I wouldn't feel comfortable, ethically speaking, creating snapshots of a person's mind and have it live on digitally while waiting for another person to eventually pass away." He pressed his glasses up a strained face. "The deadline, it's way too early given--"

"Hey, hey," said Adelaide. "Don't stress. I'll pass along the update. This isn't Josef Junior, remember. Senior is more concerned with the process' effectiveness, not an artificial timeline."

"Oh, quite," said Mathison, gently caressing the tip of a daffodil's petal. He nodded. "You can guarantee he'll have his gift of immortality as he calls it. It's just a matter of when, not if."

She nodded, nonplussed. Behind her the static robotic Josef Hydan Jr stared at Mathison.

"Are you still getting questions?" he said.

"Surprisingly no," said Adelaide. "After we fired the 'bad apple'" -- she nodded toward Josef -- "the general public lost interest pretty quickly, especially after that actress...whatever her name was...got caught giving a homeless man only ten dollars. The reporters dried up soon after. If it doesn't sell, they don't care."

Mathison had made his way closer to the robot. "And how is he, now?"

"I don't particularly care," said Adelaide, bringing forth some of her controlled vengeance. "But his daughter seems happy."