chapter 36
TEAM 3, YEAR: 2095
Time Remaining: 96 Days
“I guess word got out that I was making progress on the artificial vision,” said Asher. He slid his tray onto the cafeteria table and sat down heavily across from his brothers.
“What?” Logan looked scandalized. “How did that happen?”
“I might have let something slip.” Asher opened his chocolate milk and smiled. “Okay, I demoed it to my boss.”
“What did he think?” Logan was thrilled for Asher’s achievement and he swallowed the pang of jealousy he felt. That being said, he would trade no amount of success for the little side project he was working on with Delaney.
Asher shrugged nonchalantly. “He seemed impressed. He wants me to present it to the board.”
“That’s amazing,” said Spencer. “Congratulations!”
None of this was news to Spencer, but he acted surprised for his brother’s benefit. Asher’s director had come to the last directors’ meeting barely able to contain himself; Asher’s breakthrough would revolutionize not only the AEI Project, but also the roles robots played in societies around the world. Although Asher was unaware, Spencer knew his brother would be presenting not only to the NRD board but to AEI private stakeholders and NRD bigwigs flying in from all over the country. It would be only a matter of days before word would leak into the world of robotics—if it had not already—that some guy at the NRD had accomplished what so many people had attempted and failed. Spencer was genuinely happy for this brother—he had told the twins for years that hard work truly paid off and this was proof.
With the excitement of Asher’s news over, Spencer then brought them up to speed on his latest failed attempt to convince Ian to allow him to create better tests.
“And, I’ve scheduled the Personality Application Demo in the Burton Auditorium with the board, directors and stakeholders for the day of the timeshift. I like this plan. I think it’s a natural fit…”
The brothers changed the topic as several of Asher’s co-workers sat down beside them.
Time Remaining: 88 Days
Kalen yawned as she walked into Spencer’s office. As usual, Spencer was engrossed in a document on his screen.
“I’ve just finished programming the Real Life Simulator with Ian’s last testing scenario,” said Kalen. “It’s ready to run in the lab; we just have to initiate it.” She sat on the corner of his desk, her body cutting into Spencer’s projected screen.
“That’s excellent Kale, you’re unbelievable.” Spencer stood and kissed her on the forehead. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Well, don’t get me wrong. I like to help, but I’m really doing this because if I don’t, I’ll never see you.”
Spencer chuckled, shut down his CI and slid it into his messenger bag. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been a lousy boyfriend. Let’s fire up the RLS and get out of here.” He looked around the office through his clear glass walls and saw no one. He dipped her backward, nearly pulling her off his desk, and kissed her. “Let’s go on a date.”
“Sounds good. But don’t you want to wait and see the results? I know you’ve been dying to see them.”
Spencer hesitated for a moment, enticed by the thought. He wanted to see the results more than anything, but it would be hours before there would be any results to report. Kalen had already sacrificed too much of her time for his work. He wanted some time together where he could put her first. He took her hand and kissed it. “I think it’s time I spent some time with my best friend.”
Time Remaining: 87 Days
“Well Spence, I’m not saying that I didn’t believe you before, but you sure were right about these test results,” said Lisa. She shook her head in disbelief.
Kalen, Erik and Lisa stood before one of the Neural Programming lab’s enlarged CI screens as Spencer scrolled through the RLS’s summary reports for the personalities.
“They’re perfect. They’re all one hundred percent perfect,” said Erik, shaking his head. “There’s no way this can be accurate. According to these results, these robots will barely get agitated.”
“This doesn’t make sense. I mean, everyone gets angry or loses control at some point. People experience way more emotions than what these tests indicate. Who’s going to identify with a robot who doesn’t get upset?” She looked at the screen sceptically, then pointed. “Oh my gosh! Look at that one. Apparently she doesn’t get mad ever! How is that natural?”
“What do you expect when the most anger-provoking situation you test a personality with is, ‘When someone accidentally takes your seat at a hockey game?’”
“So what happens when a robot has a disagreement with a co-worker over something?” asked Lisa.
“Or if someone does something malicious to a robot?” asked Erik.
“Or tries to decommission a robot?” asked Kalen.
All eyes stared at Spencer. He shrugged. “I don’t know. Ian felt that wasn’t worth finding out. Morally, I can’t let these robots go out into the world without knowing the answers to those questions.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Kalen.
“Well, I’m going to have to do this all over again. But this time, I’ll have to come up with some realistic, stress-inducing, real-life scenarios that humans face in life. Then, I’ll have to program them into the RLS then run the personalities again.”
“Spencer, there’s no way you can do this on your own,” said Kalen. “It will take you months. Plus, Ian will eat you for lunch if he finds out. I’m going to help you with this.”
“So am I,” said Lisa.
Spencer cut them off. “None of you guys will help because if we get caught, you’ll all lose your jobs. I’m pretty sure Ian’s going to fire me after this project anyway. I think I’ve irritated him to the point that the damage is done. I think he would have done it already if we had more staff. We might as well have only one destroyed career instead of four.”
“Spence, these results are laughable. I can’t stand by and do nothing. If I did, that would make me as bad as Ian. I’m helping and you can’t stop me,” said Kalen with a defiant edge in her voice.
“Me too,” said Lisa
Erik smiled. “Alright, alright. I’ll help too. Stop begging already.”
Spencer knew there was no point arguing and he was grateful for their help; he knew he would need it. It felt good to finally have proof of what he had been saying all along, but at the same time, he felt deceitful and dishonest, like he had enlisted them as pawns in his mission.
“So what do we need to do?” asked Erik.
“Well, before I do anything, I should try talking to Ian one more time. If I can’t get through to him, I’ll take the results to a directors’ meeting. They’re smart; they’ll see the same pitfalls you guys did and draw the same conclusions. With the other directors seeing the light, Ian will have no choice but to agree or look unreasonable.”
“From what I hear about Ian these days, hoping he’ll see logic is a big, fat ‘if,’” said Erik, who launched into some gossip about Ian not showing up for meetings.
Time Remaining: 84 Days
Spencer knocked on Ian’s office door. His memory flashed back to the scene in the parkade and wondered if today’s conversation would cause another impromptu parking lot meeting.
“What’s up, Spencer?” Ian’s greetings grew increasingly chilly with each visit Spencer made to his office.
“Sir, I was wondering if you had a chance to put any thought into the testing criteria I’d mentioned. I’ve had a chance to think more about it and I know that after you see the…”
Ian slammed his pen down on the desk and stood up. He looked livid. “Spencer, is this what you’ve been doing for over a month? This isn’t even up for debate. Is this job too much for you? Perhaps you should just continue your regular job and I’ll take over for Jim if it’s too much for you.”
Spencer’s anger bubbled to the surface. He
had lost his respect for Ian long before the conception of Operation TimeShift, and his ability to hide it diminished with each encounter he had with the man. “Ian, I have proof that these personalities could have serious problems.”
“Can you predict the future Spencer?”
Predict it? No. Lived it? Yes. Spencer thought. “No, sir, of course not.”
“Then I strongly suggest you continue as prescribed by the project plan and not deviate from it any further. People far smarter and brighter than you have come up with these testing scenarios. They’re more than adequate. You are not nearly qualified to judge what is or isn’t appropriate. That’s why we hired professionals to develop it.”
“Sir, if I could just leave my report with you…” Spencer took a step forward to put the paper report on his desk but stopped when Ian stepped out from behind his desk.
“Spencer. Get out of my office and stay out of my sight because seeing you only makes me think more about demoting you.”
Spencer shook his head and chuckled. He had given Ian more than enough chances to listen to logic. He had no more time to waste talking to a brick wall. “Whatever you’d like, sir.”
Time Remaining: 53 Days
“Hey, gorgeous.” Logan strode into Delaney’s office, walked behind her desk and leaned in for a kiss.
“Logan! What are you doing?” She caught his face in her hand, squeezing his cheeks and pushed him away. She admonished him half-heartedly. “People might see.”
“Don’t worry, everyone’s gone,” he reassured her. He spun her hover chair sideways to kiss her, but she kicked off on the floor and floated effortlessly out of his reach. She knew everyone had left, but she could not afford to take the chance of someone returning.
“Windows. Tint. Ninety percent.” Nothing happened. He looked around. “What the hell?”
“The room is configured to my voice only,” she laughed. “It’s a security thing. So if someone’s going to rifle through my office, they can’t hide.”
Logan sat down in the chair opposite her desk, knowing he had been beaten, and watched as she finished up her work.
Delaney marvelled at how her life had changed so drastically in three short months. She was working less, enjoying life and in a relationship—a relationship with one of her employees, no less. Inter-office relationships were generally discouraged, but if Human Resources was informed, the NRD was pretty good about looking the other way.
Logan felt happier than he could ever remember being. Delaney brought an excitement and passion to his life that had been lacking in previous relationships. She was smart, she had substance and she kept him in line, which made him feel focused. But over the past several weeks, he felt something weighing down his happiness—a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It grew quite unexpectedly and soon he knew he had a problem. Not because she was his boss and not because she was seven years his senior, but because he was not who she thought he was. He was the same person, but not the same version of himself that he was leading her to believe. In some way, he felt like he was lying to her.
As his feelings for her increased, the nagging feeling blossomed into full-blown guilt. He could never shake the feeling he was keeping a bombshell of a secret from her, and he began to worry about what would happen at the end of the op. Never in a million years would he have guessed that the night of intensity that followed their Chinese food dinner at the office would turn into the best relationship he had ever had. What would the past version of himself on vacation in Australia think about this? Would his past-self pick up the proverbial ball where he, the future Logan, left it? Would he even want to? They were, of course, the same person. But at the same time, they were very different. What would happen when he went back to the future? Would they still be dating? What if the change was catastrophic and for some reason she was not part of his life?
Logan snapped out of his thoughts to see Delaney waving a hand in front of his face.
“Hey!” She smiled him. “Where’d you go just now?”
“Sorry, I was just thinking about that little outfit you had on the other night.” He looked at his watch. “Shit, we’re going to be late for Asher’s demo.” He jumped out of his chair.
“Well, it’s not like we have to go far.” She slid her CI into her bag, slung the bag over her shoulder and followed Logan out of her office.
As they walked through the abandoned Motor Skills lab, Logan discreetly grabbed her hand and squeezed it before they entered the main hallway. “We’re heading to Asher’s place after for a few celebratory drinks if you’re interested,” he whispered.
Delaney hesitated. “I’ll think about it. I don’t really want to advertise this. It could be problematic for us at work.”
“It’s just the family. My parents are flying in especially for this.”
Delaney looked sideways at Logan. “Logan Grayson, are you asking me to meet your parents?”
Logan mulled over her words. It occurred to him that they had never had the, “Where is this relationship going?” discussion, or even talked about how serious the relationship had become. They had never needed to—they were both only interested in each other. “Uh, yeah. I guess that’s exactly what I’m asking. And on the point of work, why don’t we just go to HR and fill out the disclosure papers?”
“You want to fill out all kinds of embarrassing forms that announce our private lives to the entire office?”
“Well, no, that part isn’t too appealing, but if it means we can go out in public and I can hold your hand…” He stopped talking as someone passed them walking the opposite direction. “It would be worth it.”
“You don’t have a problem telling the world you’re dating an older woman?”
He stopped dead and looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Whoa, wait. Are you older than me?”
Laughing, Delaney pinched his side and continued walking.
He flashed her a reassuring smile. “Don’t be silly. Plus, you look way younger than me anyway.”
They reached the doors to the Burton Auditorium. He grabbed her hand discreetly, gave it one last squeeze before letting go, then entered first.
Logan walked ahead and met up with Spencer, their parents and Kalen in the front row. Delaney took her seat with the other directors several rows back.
Asher flawlessly demonstrated his technology to the packed auditorium. People stood at the back and spilled into the aisles. Once the robotic science community found out that the mystery of artificial vision had been cracked, the NRD switchboard crashed with the number of calls from people willing to pay to attend.
Asher received a standing ovation, but he hung around to answer more questions even after the event had ended. Before leaving the Burton Auditorium that evening, he had been not-so-discreetly handed twelve business cards from private companies interested in hiring him.
Asher arrived at his condo to cheers and clapping from his parents, Spencer and Kalen. His mother pulled him into a backbreaking hug. “You’re so smart Ashey! I’ve told you for years that if you just put your mind to something you can do whatever you want!”
“Thanks for that vote of confidence Mom. I thought I was doing alright before that, but it’s nice to know my own mother thought I was mediocre,” laughed Asher.
“Hah! I think ‘mediocre’ is being generous,” said Spencer, unwrapping the foil from a bottle of champagne. Kalen elbowed him in the side.
Their father gave him a hearty handshake, “Congrats Ash, I was really proud of you up there.” Jason Grayson had an appreciation for what his sons did as the Defence Liaison to Research for New Technology Integration. Like his sons, he shared their interest in technology. “It was fascinating to see the technology from a raw, R&D perspective like that. It gives me a new appreciation for the development aspect of all the devices and tools we’ve used in the NRD over the years.”
“Knock knock,” said Logan, poking his head in the front door. “I brought someone with me, I hope that’s alri
ght,” he said tentatively. The room fell silent in surprise. While it was no secret the twins had done their fair share of dating, never had either of them brought a woman to a family event.
“Well, of course it is!” said his mother, an excited smile growing on her face. She rushed to the door to greet Logan’s guest. Logan opened the door the rest of the way and Delaney walked in, smiling nervously.
Spencer popped the cork from the champagne bottle and the sound of it hitting the ceiling echoed across the silent room.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Asher.
Unbeknownst to one another, Spencer shared Logan’s concerns about his relationship and the timeshift. It became apparent to Spencer after seeing Logan and Delaney together that this relationship was significant to Logan. Later in the evening when the beer ran low, Logan went to his condo to grab another case. Spencer offered to help and followed him into the kitchen. In the quiet of Logan’s condo, Spencer asked him if he had thought about his relationship and the timeshift. Prepared for a sarcastic, flippant answer, he was nearly struck dumb when Logan confessed his genuine concerns.
They shared their fears of not knowing what the future would hold when they returned, and the feeling of deceit from withholding the truth from their significant others. Spencer knew that the past version of himself would be over the moon to find out he was dating Kalen—he had been enchanted by her on their first day of work together. He suspected that the reintegration to the workplace would be the most worrisome aspect for his past counterpart.
Asher meandered into Logan’s kitchen to find his brothers talking. “Are we moving the party?” Asher asked.
Logan chuckled, “Nah. Just talkin’.”
“It looks serious,” noted Asher. He grabbed a beer from the case on the counter and twisted off the lid. “What about? World peace?”
“No, just about the future. About whether it’s responsible to be dating and wondering what our past selves will think,” said Logan.
Asher looked at Logan. “Dude, that’s very deep.” He sipped his beer. “Well, the past version of Spencer will be so ecstatic, he won’t know what to do with himself. The past version of you, though…” Asher pointed the neck of his beer bottle at Logan and contemplated the scenario. “That’ll be a shock. And, I’d like to be there when you tell him if that’s alright. I’ll even pay you. You too, Spence, those are some expressions I’d like to have permanently etched in my brain. But I have to ask the bigger question.”
“What’s that?” asked Logan. He could think of no question bigger than whether or not his past-self would be interested in taking over a relationship with his monster of a boss, and if he was a sick son of a bitch for even asking.
“How did a donkey like you manage to land a prize stallion like that?”
Logan laughed and shook his head, unsure of the answer himself.
“I, on the other hand, just hope that the past version of myself doesn’t botch what I’ve done,” said Asher. “If I get back to the future and find out that he’s screwed it up, I’ll personally come back in time and pound the crap out of him.”
Spencer grabbed the case of beer off the counter. “We should probably get back there—Mom’s probably telling the girls stories about us.” Spencer and Logan shared a look and rushed to the door.