SFS1 - Science Fiction Short Stories (2 page)

THE PRESENT
The court case has drug on for a long time
now. And as it progressed, I understood more
and
more why my patent
was
rejected.
It
wasn't
that
the
technology
wasn't
good
enough. It was that a patent examiner had
hoped I'd be discouraged and never show the
work to anyone ever again. The killings didn't
stop after the court case began. If anything,
they
got
worse
now
that
it
was
public
knowledge you could use
the application in
such a way. Most of the world was against me
and wanted to see my product erased from the
earth in every way possible.
“Listen. Every invention can have a good and a
bad impact. While a gun can be used to kill, it
can also be used to protect yourself. The same
thing with plutonium. It can either make a
nuclear bomb or it can provide heating and
electricity to a whole city. We don't simply ban
the invention because it has a bad use. And we
certainly don't punish the creators,” I
protested.
The court agreed with me... about guns and
nuclear
power.
Unfortunately
they saw
not
benefit to my technology at all. They decided
that it would be banned from that day forward.
They ordered the website to be taken offline
and
to
delete
all
user
data.
They
even
penalized me from profiting off of the project
and fined me for most of what I had made. The
company who I partnered with got off without
a fine. They merely said “we just developed it
and marketed it. All the rights have always
rested with Bill Ambrosone.”
As I left court after the verdict had been read, a
familiar reporter pressed forward through the
crowd.
“So what will your next invention be, Bill?”
Oh God, please don’t give me any new ideas.

Year: 2507
My name is Joe and I work for a ship building
company. Currently we're building one of the
largest classes of ships that we've ever built.
Along with me, there's more than a thousand
other
people
working
in
this
isolated
environment. They are all controlled by robots.
Humans aren't allowed to do anything without
the permission of robots.
While we were walking to our work area, my
co-worker James asked:
“Hi Joe, how are you?”
“Fine.”

“Have you seen Bob? I haven't seen him
lately,” said James
“I've got some sad news about that. Bob is no
longer with us.”
He
stopped
walking,
surprised
and
asked”What happened to him? Was there an
accident?”
I replied by gesturing to enter the rest room.
We went to the next restroom and turned the
water on full speed and started to talk. This is
the way we bypass the security cameras and
microphones when we want to convey secrets
to each other.
“The robots found out he was breaking the
rules. They closed his story, James. You know
that seventy percent of the workforce here are
robots. Bob made a mistake and tried to talk to
someone he wasn't absolutely certain of. We
need to be very careful.”
“Did they kill him?” James asked, clearly
shocked.
”I think so. Bob is not the first person we've
lost you know? These heartless robots would
even kill us now. We've exceeded more than
the 2.3 minutes allowed for urinal”
James looked incredibly sad while he walked
to his work area. But these things are regular to
me. As James and I know we've lost eleven of
our co-workers, but I know we've lost many
more than that. The robots need humans to do
work that only they can do. Other than that,
robots don't require humans. They'd likely kill
us all if they had no purpose for us. They don't
allow us to talk to one another in private place.
It's even against the rules to leave your room
or visit another co-worker. All they want is for
humans to work.
It's impossible to identify who is a human and
who is a robot. There are no differences in
speech, attitude or behavior between them. The
robots
are nearly
beings.
Even our
differences are minor. Humans drink energy
drinks while robots change charger cells. And

perfect
copies of
human
skin looks
the same.
The
while robots don't need to take breaks like
humans do, they're programmed to take breaks
anyways to trick humans. No one knows who
is a robot and who is a human. And everyone
is afraid. They're afraid to share their thoughts
or to even check if someone else is a human. If
they guess wrong, they'll be gone, like Bob.
I met James again at break time. He looked
better,
a little less
sad.
We've developed
a
system for communicating in public in secret.
We use phrases with double meanings that are
vague and
can't
be easily
deciphered.
I
pointed out a person and leaned over towards
James.
”He looks like Bob, right?”
James
thought
for
a second
and
replied.
“Okay.”
I just conveyed that the person I pointed out
was
not
human.
Of
course,
I
couldn't
one
hundred percent sure. No one could. We use
'look like' to signal that the person is a robot.
The names don't matter, we just say whatever
for that. “Bye, take care,” I said to James.

‘Take care’ means be careful of danger. We're
both on alert since Bob's disappearance. We
don't say anything else, just go to our separate
work areas.
At 8:00 PM the work day ended. I searched for
James, but I didn’t find him. He might have
went directly to his room.
Dane and David came up and greeted me in
the hallway.
“How are you, Joe?” asked David.
They called me to rest room by action and we
went in like James and I had in the morning.
“I identified a person as robot,” said Dane.
“Who?” I asked.
“The guy wears the yellow colored pants. His
name is Wes. Be careful of him.”
“I've got news for you. Bob is no longer with
us. The robots killed him.”
They were speechless for a while.
“Really?”
“Yes, please be careful”
“He was a close friend of James' right?” asked
David. “I suspect James may be robot, you also
should be careful.”
I was surprised. James was a robot? How could
that be possible? “What do you mean? James?”
Both Dane and
I were surprised
and
just
started at David. We heard someone coming
into the restroom so we went we go out one by
one without talking at all. We'd have to wait
until tomorrow to discuss this news.
I went to my room and locked the door. I sat
down in a chair and recalled today's events. I
updated today’s work status to management.
Work status was “Today 1077 humans worked,
4 were sick. 25 robots worked, including this
one.”
I changed my charge calls out.
“Yes, I am one of the 25 robots. To make all the
humans as foolish as possible, we've become
friends with many of the humans. We point
out other real humans as robots. They suspect
that other humans are robots and don't talk to
them.
That
prevents
them
from planning
against us or coordinating an uprising. They
even think that most of the actual robots are
actually
humans
conspiring
with
them.
Humans are constantly creating rumors about
who
might
be a robot.
But
they're nearly
always wrong.
Goodbye. Now I am going to
enter
stand-by
mode.
This
is
part
of
my
biography, sorry robography.”
“One last thing: we don’t kill humans since
they are excellent workers. We simply transfer
them to a different work location and inform
others that they are destroyed. After a strong
warning we transfer them to a new work place.
The transferred people never meet again, until
now we haven't offered a second transfer to
anyone.”

He has nobody that cares about him. But then
again, he doesn't particularly care for anyone
else either. His experiments are his life. We
care about him because of this story. His name
is John, and he works for a small university as
a science professor. His leisure time is spent in
his
lab
performing unknown experiments.
Even the dean is
unaware of
his
actual
research.
Even though the university was out of session
for
the
holidays,
Dean
Robertson
had
responsibilities to attend to. He'd come to the
grounds to check on the progress of a new
auditorium
that
was
being
constructed.
Construction wasn't
exactly
his
field,
but
they'd promised him that they'd use it as a
large science
lecture hall.
As he passed
by
John's
lab
he noticed
that
he was
inside,
working
working
on
something.
John
was
always
on
something.
Today
the
dean

decided he'd investigate.
After knocking, the dean proceeded in to the
lab where John was holding a rabbit in one
hand and a dropper filled with red liquid in
the other, feeding it to the rabbit. Although the
dean had
knocked,
Professor
John
hadn't
acknowledged the dean's presence
“Hello, professor.”
Professor John turned around and noticed the
dean was behind him. He was surprised for a
moment and said,“Welcome Dean Robertson.”
“How are you?”
“I am fine. What can I do for you?”
“What are you doing with this rabbit? Are you
busy with something? ”
“Just doing some research is all.”
“That's what I'm here to ask you about. We
haven't really gotten to know one another. I'm
sorry for that. I've just been really busy lately.”
“I suppose we both have been pretty busy!”
“What is this?” asked the dean as he pointed to
the red liquid in the dropper.
The professor was speechless for a moment. He
hadn't planned on having a show and tell with
the dean today.
“I asked, what are you doing? You're always in
here working on some kind
of
experiment.
What's the nature of your research?”
“Alright,
I'll
explain.
But
not
in here.
Let's
move over to the visitor's room and I'll tell you
all about my experiments.”

“Please sit down, dean”
Both sit on opposite sides of the table, facing
each other. Professor John smiled and said:
“I am trying to invent a miracle medicine,”
John began. “It is almost ready. I'm in the
process of finalizing the results before I reveal
it to the world.”
“Oh, I see. Okay, mind telling me what it is
before your big disclosure? After all, I'd look
pretty foolish if you were to release a scientific
advancement
that
I had
no
Does your
miracle medicine
prevent cancer?”
“No, no, nothing like that. It's related to
memories.”
“Does it improve memory power?” asked the
dean. “But there are lots of tablets in
the
market, what would your invention do any
differently?”
“My medicine is entirely different. It doesn't
boost
memory
power.
It
erases
recent
memories.”
“Who will buy a drug that erases memories?”
the dean asked with a laugh. “What a useless
medicine! I can't believe you've been wasting
all your time and the university's resources on
this.”
The professor hadn't expected these comments
from the dean. All his life he'd worked hard
and no one had recognized it. While others
were home, he was researching. It was just like
the dean to not see the applications for such a
drug. In his life nobody ever rewarded him
also nobody was as smart or as hard working
as he was.
“No, this is not an over the counter medicine,”
knowledge of.
cure AIDS
or
John said, biting back his anger. “It would be
prescribed only by physician...”
“Are doctors mad enough to prescribe this
medicine to make the patients forget their own
memories? Then who will pay the fee?” The
dean burst into a fit of laughter.
“No,” yelled John, losing his temper.
He walked over to a shelf and took down an
old newspaper and few other papers to show
to the dean. The dean stopped laughing and
looked at the papers John had brought him.
“Every 40 seconds a person commits suicide.
Every
year
more than
one million people
commit suicide. This death rate is higher than
deaths from AIDS. And the suicide attempt
rate is far greater. It's 8 to 25 times higher than
than these statistics.”
One of the paper showed ‘In the last 45 years
suicide
rates
have
increased
by
60%
worldwide, these statistics are based on 2012
WHO report’
“How are these statistics related to your
research?” the dean asked seriously.
“My medicine will save a lot of people who
would
otherwise commit
suicide.
A large
number of people who are depressed or have
suicidal tendencies have traumatic memories
that prevent them from living their lives. This
medicine will help them to forget that trauma
and allow them to proceed with their lives. At
the present, my medicine can erase up to the
last 48 hours of memories.”
“Perhaps I was quick to judge your research
without considering its applications. This is
actually
very
excellent,
professor!
You've
performed an invaluable service to mankind
with this.”
“Thank you.”
“When you will complete this?” asked the
dean after being silent for a moment.
“Based on the amount of drug consumed, it
has the potential to erase up to the last 48
hours
of
memories.
Currently
I'm in the
process of extending the duration to the last six
months.”
“So you've tested this medicine?”
“Yes. I've tested it on rabbits and also have run
some trials on myself. No side effects so far.”
The dean’s money mind woke up immediately.
“It is a great product. We have to get a patent
before going to market.”
The professor
understood
completely
what
was
happening.
The dean was
trying to
associate himself with him to this research but
John was not in a position to deny him.
“I will take care of everything,” the dean said
with a smile. “I need the materials and
information you have so we can get a patent on
it. We'll share the profit of 50:50. What do you
think?”
“It’s my pleasure. You know as well as I do
that I'm not a businessman.
You can take it
forward, but before that, let me show you how
it works.”
“I think I've got it figured out. That red liquid
is your medicine. You feed it to the rabbit and
it forgets its recent memories.”
“What you have said is exactly correct, dean”
“But how do you test with the rabbits and
identify if it is working or not?”
“That’s very simple. Wait a minute and I will
demonstrate with a rabbit.”
“Let us have a coffee before this demo”, the
dean bought
two
coffees from the coffee
vending machine and mixed
the red liquid
medicine into the John's coffee while John was
fetching the rabbit for testing.
The dean insisted that the professor to take
coffee. John added some more sugar cubes and
drank a big gulp.
After a moment the professor placed the rabbit
and the medicine onto the table He put the
medicine onto a carrot and gave it to the rabbit.
The rabbit started to eat the carrot hungrily.
John
asked
the
dean to
keep silent
and
requested him to watch the rabbit and the dean
complied, not even blinking once.
Suddenly the professor injected the dean with
a syringe.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you're
doing?”
“Just demonstrating to you that my medicine
can also be injected.”
“I mixed the medicine in your coffee. We'll
both forget everything.” The dean laughed.
John smiled and said “Dean, as I already said,
I've tasted the medicine many times. After the
first sip, I knew what you had done. What I
mixed into the coffee wasn't sugar cubes, they
were anti-medicine. Sorry to say!”
The dean looked shocked and stared at the
professor. John merely smiled and said, “You
did ask to share in the research, right? Take
this chair.”
The dean sat and fell asleep for a few minutes.
John sat, patiently waiting where he had first
talked to the dean.
After few minutes, the dean woke up. “What
are you doing with this rabbit? Are you busy
with something?” asked the dean.
“Dean, I am starting to forget things a little bit
as I get older So I practice the lab experiments
before I give demonstrations to the students.”
The dean gave a small laugh and got up to
leave. John gave a small chuckle and bid him
farewell.