ecoSciFi "The Outpost"

       

Dr. Cooper looks into his computer screen with solid, composed expectation. He feels, for the moment, like a wild-eyed college student in the computer lounge. His reverie vanishes; it is improbable to feel curiously comfortable with Suzie--she's beautiful, soft and naive about her intelligence, a selection of new generation of computers scientists and physicists would say, She has what it takes to save the human race, she does. 
The science world already, secretly, has an odd feeling being closely involved with her brand of artificial intelligence.
Cooper looks out the window, thinks again of his college days. He does good science, by accident; he plays god with his genetics; he runs his gels, the genetic code, far from the misery, hunger, far from the everyday stresses of life. He does his work. Who cares if he is neither fast nor intelligent. "Hey," he says to Suzi. He is a little shocked at his urge to get Suzi to speak. "Yes," Suzi says. "Did you get the data? Did it come in on time?" Suzi sits perfectly still, for a moment, as if looking nowhere. She thinks to herself. She sits at her station the way one would sit in a pew during church service. She says, "I have to search the augmented reality maps (A.R.M.) for a few more days." "What happened?" "I'm not sure exactly. I have some kind of interference program." "Damn." "It's crept in, I think. My maternal codes." "What?" "My brain. I have to give myself a look." "How?" "I'm not sure---some fantasy impoverished childhood teacher interference off network (F.I.C.T.I.O.N.)code. ComTrax ordered it. I need you to stay silent on this." "OK. What did they want?" "It's only that I needed to scan it, and they need for me to tell them what I find, truthfully. It may be--what the problem has been all along. About getting the data" "Then," Cooper says. "Then they will help you get back on task." "They say they will make that decision. They say they want to hear my findings first." Cooper looks at Suzi, who does not speak again. "You're a robot. You didn't have a childhood," he says.