"You think my arm's going to try to choke me in my sleep?" Rebecca asked. "I'm stronger and faster today because of this technology, and if I wasn't I'd get my money back."
"If your right hand causest thou to sin, shall you not cut it off?" Crow recited.
"Now you're a religious nut too?"
"Benefits of a classical education." Crow said. He looked at her with a queasy grin. "Look, let's just forget about it." His gaze could not help but drift down to her hands, now gripping the cup of coffee with knuckles that did not whiten with the pressure because their blood flow worked differently than the original models.
"I'd rather not." Rebecca said. She gathered up her purse and stood, slipping the strap over her shoulder. Crow wondered how much of her was even left as natural. Certainly, her head at the very least. The brain itself at least, he amended to himself. It was technically possible to replace the entire skull if necessary, although the ethics of doing that to a healthy skull surely would stop even the depraved doctor she had found to butcher her arms. Rebecca started to walk away but Crow called her name to stop her. She paused and glanced back over her shoulder.
"Do you know what the last invention of man will be, Rebecca?" Crow asked. She waited in silence so he answered his own question. "Artificial intelligence. After that, all innovation will spring from the electrical minds of our mechanical offspring. Humanity itself will fade away. Is that really the world we want?"
"If it's to pass as you say, and I'll not argue for or against it here, you need remember that you more than anyone else brought it to pass." Rebecca said. "If the sentis are our children and destined to inherit the world from us, then you are their father." A cold and sharp smile broke across her face. "You're supposed to be proud of your kids no matter what, you know."
Rebecca strode out and Crow stared at the table, wishing that Robertson had given him Irish coffee instead. He pressed his fingers against the table and studied the whorls of fingerprints they left behind on the glossy surface. Nothing marked the table where Rebecca had tapped her fingers, the artificial flesh remarkably realistic, but lacking oil glands.
Crow ordered another round more suitable to his mood and settled into a thoughtful contemplation as his sobriety declined with steady sips. Sometime late in the evening, he noticed a senti stride by pushing a cart with a trio of kegs stacked up. Crow started and noted that it was a model noted for full sentience, not intended for its current task in the least. The intelligence needed for unloading kegs into a bar was on par with a forklift and cost a small fortune less than this model, which was one of the more sophisticated models constructed for translation duties. It made no pretensions of outward humanity below the neck, being a classical construct of dull metal and cables. Above the neck, the front half of its head looked human, with a sophisticated overlay of fine facial structure, musculature and skin. The skin ended abruptly behind the strictly cosmetic ears, tucked into a seam in the metal shell that formed the back of its skull. The face allowed it to answer vid-phones as necessary in its designed role, but the vast expense of full body work had not been wasted.
"If your right hand causest thou to sin, shall you not cut it off?" Crow recited.
"Now you're a religious nut too?"
"Benefits of a classical education." Crow said. He looked at her with a queasy grin. "Look, let's just forget about it." His gaze could not help but drift down to her hands, now gripping the cup of coffee with knuckles that did not whiten with the pressure because their blood flow worked differently than the original models.
"I'd rather not." Rebecca said. She gathered up her purse and stood, slipping the strap over her shoulder. Crow wondered how much of her was even left as natural. Certainly, her head at the very least. The brain itself at least, he amended to himself. It was technically possible to replace the entire skull if necessary, although the ethics of doing that to a healthy skull surely would stop even the depraved doctor she had found to butcher her arms. Rebecca started to walk away but Crow called her name to stop her. She paused and glanced back over her shoulder.
"Do you know what the last invention of man will be, Rebecca?" Crow asked. She waited in silence so he answered his own question. "Artificial intelligence. After that, all innovation will spring from the electrical minds of our mechanical offspring. Humanity itself will fade away. Is that really the world we want?"
"If it's to pass as you say, and I'll not argue for or against it here, you need remember that you more than anyone else brought it to pass." Rebecca said. "If the sentis are our children and destined to inherit the world from us, then you are their father." A cold and sharp smile broke across her face. "You're supposed to be proud of your kids no matter what, you know."
Rebecca strode out and Crow stared at the table, wishing that Robertson had given him Irish coffee instead. He pressed his fingers against the table and studied the whorls of fingerprints they left behind on the glossy surface. Nothing marked the table where Rebecca had tapped her fingers, the artificial flesh remarkably realistic, but lacking oil glands.
Crow ordered another round more suitable to his mood and settled into a thoughtful contemplation as his sobriety declined with steady sips. Sometime late in the evening, he noticed a senti stride by pushing a cart with a trio of kegs stacked up. Crow started and noted that it was a model noted for full sentience, not intended for its current task in the least. The intelligence needed for unloading kegs into a bar was on par with a forklift and cost a small fortune less than this model, which was one of the more sophisticated models constructed for translation duties. It made no pretensions of outward humanity below the neck, being a classical construct of dull metal and cables. Above the neck, the front half of its head looked human, with a sophisticated overlay of fine facial structure, musculature and skin. The skin ended abruptly behind the strictly cosmetic ears, tucked into a seam in the metal shell that formed the back of its skull. The face allowed it to answer vid-phones as necessary in its designed role, but the vast expense of full body work had not been wasted.
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