Solaria - S1

Solaria

By

Fran Heckrotte

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Copyright
© 2008
  by Fran Heckrotte
All rights reserved.
2
 

ISBN-13: 978-1-934889-19-0
 

First Edition
Mobipocket e-Book Format
May 2008
 

This electronic book is ePublished by
L-Book ePublisher
La Quinta, Ca. USA
Web Site:
http://L-Book.com
 

Cover Design by Sheri
[email protected]
 

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This work is copyrighted and is licensed only for use by the original purchaser and can be copied to the original purchaser's electronic device and its memory card for their personal use. Modifying or making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, without limit email, CD, DVD, memory cards, file transfer, paper print out or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Acknowledgments

Nothing of quality can be built without first laying a strong foundation to support it. The same applies to writing. As an author, I am privileged to have a network of people who provide me with the support necessary to improve my skills and fine-tune my stories. I'd like to thank some of those people now.

To Pam, my alpha beta, special thanks for all the hard work and dedication in catching my mistakes and challenging me to do better. You not only proofed my work but questioned it. Writers need that honesty. Thank you.

To Kimberly
, Lee McLean and A.D. Brassis,
my beta betas, the little things count. You were able to find those tiny errors that I missed multiple times as well as provide valuable input into the storyline. Thank you.

To Mary Bosshart, you inspire me in ways you can never imagine. You have more courage and strength than all those fish in that lake of yours.

Sheri Dragon... Cover Artist extraordinaire… I'm always amazed at the covers you have produced for me over the years. Each one gets better and better…something I think can happen.

Roxanne... you are the dreamer who makes dreams come true. Your concept of creating L-Books and S-Books will provide many listeners with hours of entertainment.

Finally, as always to A.L. for inspiring me to write and encouraging me to do so.

And let's not forget Howie, who really never knows what these acknowledgements are about. Life should always hold some mysteries.

Solaria

Futuristic Science Fiction

By
  Fran Heckrotte

The Hubot Project:

Day One, Year Three 2097 A.D.

H
ER FIRST AWARENESS of existence was a chaotic flash of colors, meaningless and yet in an odd way
logical
; why, she wasn't sure. Birth is the most significant event in life, and yet it is never memorable; at least not for the newborn; but then she really wasn't a newborn, even though it was the first day of
her
life.

The flickering colors merged into shapes and then the shapes became clear images. Within seconds, she morphed from a bio-mechanical experiment to a viable functioning possibility, and her AI programmer was ecstatic. Years of research and failures were forgotten when the Hubot's eyes first opened to examine her surroundings. They were so human that Carley was caught off guard. Had she not been part of the project from its conception, no one would have convinced her that the object lying on the table was anything more than a fairly attractive woman who had just awakened from a deep sleep.

The Hubot's short silver hair was fashioned after a stylish fad that had been popular for a few years. Although it would have attracted attention several years ago, no one would pay much attention to the color now. Her skin was slightly tanned but not excessively so. The one thing that would make others take notice, though were the eyes. No matter how human she looked, teal wasn't natural, but that could be explained away. Colored lenses were popular.

"Do you understand me?" Carley asked, enunciating each word slowly to give her creation time to assimilate the sounds of speech, and its meaning.

The Hubot blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the visual stimuli assaulting her optic nerves and flooding her nano-processors. Empathetically, Carley waited patiently.

It's probably like walking from a dark room into sunlight,
she thought. When the blinking slowed to a normal rate, she tried again.

"Do...  you...  understand...  me?" she repeated.

Turning her head toward the source of the sound, the Hubot saw her first human and quickly filed the data specific to the object in one of her memory banks.

"I have analyzed each word and the structural sequence of your vocabulary. You do not need to separate your words in such a manner for me to comprehend the meaning."

"I'll take that as a yes. Welcome to my world."

The Hubot remained silent. The greeting required no response since it didn't make any sense to her.

"Do you have any idea what this is about? I mean who you are?"

"I am Hubot 1A526, Prototype 1A of the Hubot Project."

"Is that it?"

"I do not understand the question? Was my response incorrect?"

"Well, no. You're correct. What I want to know, though, is do you know the purpose of this project?"

"The Hubot Project is a scientific endeavor to combine bio-mass with trabecular metal technology to design a pseudo-human body that can be controlled by a series of multi-directional cascading laser quadro-core nano-processor chips that will theoretically simulate human thought and behavior. The purpose of the project is to create a functioning organism capable of serving humanity by providing daily assistance to disabled humans or to do manual labor in place of humans under dangerous or extreme circumstances. I am Hubot 1A526, the first generation prototype for the project."

"That's partially correct."

"Partially means I am either incorrect in my analysis or have failed to define my purpose in its entirety. I have run an analysis on all data stored in my memory banks and find no other available information. Please advise."

Carley patted the bio-machine on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it for now. You have correctly defined your initial purpose. I'll explain the rest later."

"If that is what you require of me."

Carley smiled, pleased with the results from the first few minutes of interaction with the Hubot.

"It looks like we're well on our way to achieving our goal. Still, we have a long way to go before you'll be able to interact with the outside world, so we'd better get started. Please run a diagnostic on your neuro-circuitry and bio-mechanical systems to see if everything is working properly."

Within seconds, she had her answer.

"I have completed the necessary analysis. All processors are functioning within the required specifications of each subprogram with the exception of sector 6B412, cache 3778 of memory bank eleven. Biological, mechanical and electronic components are operating within desired parameters."

"Which processor isn't working properly?"

"Core chip seven has a point seven nano-second delay when processing data through circuit 871C4."

"Hmmm. Is it causing you any serious problems?"

"No."

"Alright. We'll run some more tests on that later. Right now I think we can start your education. If you're going to join the human race, you have a lot of growing up to do."

"My growth is limited to the physical structure of skeletal and biological mass. I am presently at maximum potential based on the height and weight of my trabecular frame. It is impossible to exceed those parameters without compromising the integrity of my biological and neuro..."

"It's a figure of speech 1A526."

"Figure of speech: an expression that uses language in a non-literal way."

"Yes. Do you understand what that means?"

"Of course. It is a synecdoche."

"Synecdoche? I'm not familiar with that word. Explain."

"Synecdoche. By using the word
growth
you are not referring to my physical structure but instead my intellectual advancement. You wish me to achieve a level of competence that will allow me to emulate a human."

"Uhhh. Sort of...  How about we continue this discussion after you've had time to interact with a few humans in the lab?"