flash fiction jungleSciFi "The Outpost"

The Wanting

  

     "The inside is built for perfect maneuverability, and she has free run of the place. She has the creativity now for her own virtual ecosystem, to run with, interact. She's not moving with you, only her perception of you. And it's isolated here, out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  But the most important part is you.  You are the world's foremost expert on primeval genetics," says Dr Jenna.

     "But Suzie is a robot. Artificial intelligence from toe to nose."  Dr. Cooper continues acting uninformed.  

     "She's not pure data base.Her new intelligence includes new criteria."

     "Such as?" 

     "Wanting," Jenna answers.

     "What does she want?  What could the finest artificial intelligence program on the planet possibly want?"

     "More intelligence."

     "What do I have to do with any of this?"

     "Because you are you."

     "Excuse me?"

     "When your complete profile was programmed into the data base, she took this new data and wrote her own computer virus."  

     "What?"

     "You are a free thinking scientist. To a robot, that computes into intelligence, intelligence Suzie wants."

     "But I'm human. Suzie could get more data from ComTrax even from here at the Outpost."

     "Getting data is one thing, but gaining data from a human scientist without his knowledge and getting him to fall in love with her--that would be the ultimate thrill, machine or human.."

     "I can't believe that."

     "Can't or won't?" Jenna doesn't let Cooper's unexpressed denial bother her. "You wanted a few things explained to you, and that's all I'm doing. And getting to the bottom of what Suzie wants is all part of this."  

     Cooper's eyes are staring at the ocean now. He had been looking at the whole picture, but now he is looking at the smaller pieces. In the bright sun, he seems to notice Jenna for the first time.  Her hair golden brown, small lips and big eyes were what attracted him to her when they first met. He notices her smooth long neck and how it seems to connect to the first hint of the top of her breast. Coop had always respected Jenna's mind and that alone kept his eyes from wandering further down.  

     "From what I know so far, everything points to you and the effect you have on her.  You have a close relationship with her, and that continues every day.  She has no association with any of the other human scientists at the Outpost."

     Cooper leans forward on his chair. He runs his fingers through his hair, throws his head back as if to look at the sun through his sun glasses. He stays silent. He knows Jenna was about to say something he wanted to hear.

     "Suzie has got to want more than accessing all the hidden data this primeval jungle holds just to fill her own agenda. Perhaps the thrill of having a human scientist fall in love with her, actually having you near, while all this reprogramming happens. This has to be what she's doing."

     Elizabeth looks at Cooper as if she'd just woken up to a beautiful place. The ocean suddenly looks bluer. Her voice sounds softer. 

     "How can Suzie want this?  She's a robot," Cooper says.

     "I can't answer that.  I'm not sure anyone can.    

     "But you built her."

     "That's the point. She's not following her program," says Elizabeth.

     Cooper stares out at the ocean,all of a sudden, wanting to know more.