Chapter 11
CHAPTER
Hi.” Stevie Nolan came forward to greet Kendra with a warm handshake and a perfectly lovely smile.
“I’m so glad to meet you and I’m sorry that my problems have become your problems. Lynch has told me how generous you’ve been when you’ve worked with him before.
He said he expects the same dedication when you’re giving your time to me.
All I can say is that I’m grateful for your kindness.
I can’t thank you enough for going to this risk to help my father. ”
“I’m afraid I’ve walked into this with only sketchy information.” Kendra gave Lynch a poisonous glance. “Sometimes it happens like that. But I’m really here to thank you for bringing my friend Jessie. I hope you and your escort had no trouble picking her up.”
“None at all. She was very cooperative. And she’s so great on that motorcycle.
I asked her if she’d give me a few lessons.
” She turned to Jessie, who was coming into the sunroom with a cup of tea in her hand.
“Here are your friends, Jessie. I’ve been telling them I’m trying to persuade you to give me lessons. ”
Jessie nodded. “Whenever we both have the time and inclination.” She turned to Lynch.
“Hello, I’m glad to see you. You look to be in excellent shape for a dead man.
I can’t tell you how surprised I was when Stevie started to chatter about you on the drive back here.
She seems to think that you’re Superman incarnated.
” She paused. “I admit this whole setup here threw me for a loop. Particularly Stevie’s friend who drove the car.
” She glanced at Kendra. “I can’t wait to know what you think. ”
“I believe there’s a lot I still have to learn about the situation,” Kendra said dryly. “Right, Lynch?”
“We’re getting there, Kendra,” he murmured.
“Not fast enough. I should be the one to thank you, Stevie,” Kendra said. “There might have been considerable risk connected to the service you just did me. I’m surprised that Lynch would even ask you to do it. I’ll find a way to return the favor.”
“It’s my debt, Kendra,” Lynch said quietly. “Stevie knows that I’ll pay it.”
“Yes, I do.” Stevie smiled brilliantly. “We trust each other. That’s a very good thing. You’ve promised to save my father, and that’s all I could ever ask.”
Lynch chuckled. “Just listen to her, Kendra. I’m the one who should be worrying about reparations. I’d probably still be a prisoner if Stevie here hadn’t mounted her own rescue mission.”
“Wait just a minute,” Kendra said. “I thought you were here to save her.” Then she made the connection. “But she’s the daughter of Palmer Nolan, and that has everything to do with this situation, doesn’t it? Tell me what?”
“Stevie was the target,” Lynch said, “but my presence by her side had a dampening effect on Korkil’s plans.”
Stevie smiled at Lynch. “He saved me twice from Korkil’s men before they decided to change tactics. It’s no wonder I did everything I could when he was wounded and taken prisoner.” She chuckled. “I needed him around to save me again.”
Lynch nodded. “But after I was wounded, I lost quite a bit of blood and I wasn’t in a position to save anyone, not even myself.” He added, “Also I had six heavily armed guards watching my every move. I had to humbly rely on Stevie and company to get me out of there.”
Jessie turned toward Stevie. “How did you pull that off? Do you have a mercenary squad on speed dial?”
Stevie smiled. “Nah, not my crowd.”
“Well, that means either you came armed with automatic weapons and a grenade launcher, or you’re a martial arts prodigy.”
“Neither of the above.” She exchanged a glance with Lynch and then gave him a wink. “Though I did come armed with something else.”
Kendra cocked her head. “Like what?”
Lynch smiled. “You’re about to find out.”
There was rustling outside the door of the cabin. Kendra and Jessie both jumped to their feet and turned warily toward the door.
“It’s okay,” Stevie said quietly. “Don’t be alarmed.”
Kendra gave her a doubtful look, then turned back to the cabin’s entrance. The door swung open, and a tall figure in a buttoned-up trench coat, fedora hat, and ski mask stepped inside and froze when he caught sight of them.
After that first glance, Kendra just stared in disbelief.
Then she had to start over and slowly and meticulously look the figure up and down.
She stopped when she got to the feet, which seemed to be made from the same metallic material as the hand that she had found.
She looked back up toward the face, where the eyes glowed blue behind a pair of sunglasses.
She drew a deep breath “Oh, my God. It’s the freaking Terminator. ”
“Not a Terminator at all,” Lynch said quietly. “Meet Archie.”
Kendra and Jessie stared at the imposing figure for a long moment, then Stevie walked over and pulled the hat and ski mask from its head.
The cranium was also silver and metallic, but the face held smooth humanlike contours with eye sockets that indented only slightly. There was no mouth, and only a slight bump where the nose would have been.
Stevie smiled at the shocked look on their faces. “Archie, say hello to our guests.”
“Hello,” the robot said in a soothing male voice. “I am exceptionally pleased to meet you.”
Kendra looked toward Stevie. “Am I supposed to respond to this . . . thing?”
“Do whatever you want. Speak to it the same way you would speak to anyone else. He’ll understand and reply.”
Kendra nodded. “Hello, Archie. I’m Kendra.”
“I perceive a sudden increase in your pulse rate, Kendra. I apologize if my presence is causing you any anxiety.” The figure’s speech was accompanied by hand motions that were distinctly . . . human, Kendra thought.
“Anxiety isn’t quite the word for it. I don’t know if there is a word for what I’m feeling right now.” She turned to Lynch. “What the hell?”
“That was my first reaction,” Lynch said. “But he grows on you.”
“Don’t you mean ‘it’?”
“I make the same mistake all the time,” Stevie said.
“I realize it’s bad form. But I look at Archie as a friend, and I have problems calling a friend ‘it.’ It sounds kind of .
. . cold. So most of the time I just do what comes naturally.
I suggest you do the same. It works for me.
” She smiled proudly at the robot. “And after all, I’m the one who built Archie. ”
Jessie stepped forward and inspected Archie more closely.
“You built it how?”
“One piece at a time.”
“Yourself?” Kendra said, still not quite believing it.
Stevie nodded. “His brain and nervous system were based on the AI protocol I designed and patented a couple of years ago. It’s not all that different from the phone AI assistant most of us carry in our pockets, or on kitchen countertops in our homes.
They’re already pretty capable of carrying on a conversation, and mine is just an extension of that. ”
Kendra pointed to the figure standing in front of her. “You’re oversimplifying. That’s nothing like this.”
“Sure it is. People are having conversations and even therapy sessions from AI partners online that look incredibly lifelike. They’re already almost indistinguishable from humans.
Anyway, my father studies the science of human motion, and he’s helped design prosthetic arms, legs, and pretty much anything else that can go missing on the body.
I decided I wanted to take what I’ve already been doing in the virtual world and bring it to the real world. ”
Jessie smiled. “So you threw him together from parts your dad had just lying around.”
“Not quite,” Stevie said. “Archie is truly my invention. But I wouldn’t want to cheat my dad by denying that he helped wherever he could on the prosthetic level.
He’s always been very supportive in every way.
” She wrinkled her nose. “It wasn’t easy for him to have me for a daughter.
From the time I was three, I was a constant headache for him.
But he was there for me whenever he could be and he taught me to be honest with myself and the rest of the world. ”
“I’m glad for you. Was your mother supportive, too?”
“My mother divorced my father when I was four. She found me too difficult to deal with even at that age. I can’t really blame her.
That was one of the first headaches my dad had to put up with because of me.
” She shrugged. “She didn’t know how to handle a kid like me so she took it out on Dad.
After the divorce, I never saw her again, but Dad and I got along fine without her.
” She suddenly chuckled. “Though I can’t imagine how she’d react if she knew about Archie. ”
Lynch shook his head. “I don’t want to imagine contending with another family member over our friend Archie.
” He stood up. “He’s already causing me enough trouble.
What you should know, Kendra, is that Archie is far superior to any other AI I’ve even heard of.
We’ve all seen YouTube videos of robots that are almost spooky in the way that they can run, jump, and crouch like humans.
Stevie has combined that with her AI protocols to create what you see standing before you.
It’s not sci fi. These are things that were already here, just put together in a way no one has done before. ”
“Why do you call him Archie?” Kendra asked.
Stevie shrugged. “Algorithmic Response Computerized Heuristic Intelligence Experiment.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he learns and improves with the more data he collects, just like the AI assistant you probably have in your phone. But with Archie, it’s not with just the things he says, but in how he moves.
He learns specific things like balance, posture, and speed and improves with every step he takes. ”
“It’s true,” Lynch says. “He’s made amazing progress in just the short time I’ve seen him.”
Kendra shook her head in wonder. She found it difficult to take her eyes off the robot. “What can he do?”