ANA Reborn by Carl Facciponte - HTML preview
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Chapter 3
he Lab Director summoned Ana and Martha.
T “Hello, Ana,” Francine said as Ana and Martha walked into the Director’s corner office.
Francine’s office was not luxurious but very modern and comfortable. Light from the ceiling to knee-height windows flooded across the room.
White sheer drapes filtered the sun and blocked prying eyes from the area buildings. The polished mahogany desk with a black-and-gray slate work area sat alone in the middle of the office. Her white leather chair fits neatly underneath when she is out of the office. Blue-gray carpeting covered the floor. The walls were devoid of any decoration.
“Ana, firstly, I want to congratulate you on how quickly you are adapting to our language.
Your speech approximates ours particularly close now.”
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“Thank you, Francine. I’ve been trying to mimic how everyone talks during these past couple of days. Martha has done a good job with me.”
Francine nodded toward Martha, then continued, “I just wanted to touch base with you to see how things are going. It’s only been two days, but the brain scans tell me you are learning at an amazing rate. Therefore, we will assign you to continue Gabriella’s work with the Skin Development project. How do you feel about that?” Asked Francine, raising her clipboard from her side to a writing position.
“Very good,” Ana responded. “I will begin where Gabriella left off and make some improvements to her design and chemistry. I’ve reviewed Gabriella’s notes, and I have to say she certainly did an outstanding job with her skin formulas. Is that where my skin originated?”
Francine smiled, “Yes, it is. Gabriella was brilliant and,” hesitation, “very unique.”
“Unique? How is that?”
“Well, although she proved to be a brilliant scientist, she spent a lot of time talking to a pastor about God. She never quite understood that God 18
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and science don’t fit together very well. It didn’t seem to affect her work, in any case. I guess I’m just uneasy around people, or androids for that matter, that believe in all that magical superstitious stuff. There’s no place for it in our world of facts.”
“That sounds like she was quite a complex person,” Ana said with a slight flinch, hiding the irritation in her voice as much as possible. “How did she get along with the rest of the staff? Did her religious beliefs cause any rifts?”
“No, it didn’t seem to. Everyone loved her.
But she talked to our former Lab Director, Jim, quite a bit about morals and such nonsense. I have no proof, but I think that’s what caused Jim’s wife to tip over the edge and,” more hesitation, “do what she did.” Her voice choked as she spoke the words. Francine continued, holding her clipboard tighter to her chest. “I guess I would rather not talk about that right now. It’s just a little too fresh in my mind, and Jim was a very special friend to me.”
“Francine, it sounds like there’s quite a story in there. I would like it if you and I had lunch sometime. You could fill me in on some of the 19
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details. It helps me to understand the people I’m working with.”
“Sure,” said Francine. “I’d be happy to, but you would get more information talking to Martha. Out of all of us, she is the one that spent the most time with Gabriella. She knew her the best since she’s the psychologist in the group that studied her.”
“Okay, I’ll set something up more time with Martha. Thanks for the tip. Now, about Rhett’s animation schedule. It looks like we are on track to turn him on in two days,” she said with a slight smile. “That’s going to be exciting. I’ve never met a sentient android. I wonder if it will be like having a brother?”
Francine laughed. “A brother? I had never thought of it that way. That’s quite a human term.”
Ana’s eyes and body language betrayed only a flash of irritation at the implication Francine didn’t include her in the human pool. Francine didn’t notice my shift in body position. She’s too self-centered to pick up on others’ expressions and body language tips. “Well, if Rhett and I are to pass for humans, we should adopt human terms. Right?”
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she questioned, nodding her head to entice Francine to agree with her.
“Good point, Ana. You are correct. He can be your brother, but wouldn’t you want him to be a cousin instead?” Francine’s body relaxed from its formal and tense stance. She seemed more approachable.
“Cousin? Why would I want him to be a cousin? I don’t understand.” Ana mimicked Francine’s relaxed body position and raised her hands, palm up, to shoulder height in feigned innocence.
Francine’s eyes smiled. “Hmmm… that’s right, you are only a few days old. It’s easy to forget that. We have a nice little phrase that may apply, ‘kissing cousins.’ I just thought you would like to have something more, ah, familiar than a brother. It could just be me, I guess,” she said with a full smile.
Did she rock her hips just now?
“Okay, I get it now, Francine. I was a little slow on the uptake. Sorry. Let’s see if Rhett and I even like each other first before we label ourselves as anything.”
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Francine’s humorous expression turned into a concerned frown. She pressed her clipboard to her chest again. “Do you mean there’s a chance you might not like each other? Is the implication that it would be difficult for the two of you to work on projects side-by-side?” She started to say more but then stopped, waiting for the answer.
“Oh, no. Not at all. I was just alluding to the remote possibility that the two of us might not get along. There’s no evidence that we would not be compatible in the programming. It’s nice to look at situations from every side, that’s all. I’m sure we’ll get along famously.” I can keep you on your toes, too, lady. I’ll show you how not human I am!
Francine’s eyebrows, retreating from their march towards each other, fell back to their regular positions. “Good, that scared me. You know that the Army commissioned the two of you so you could work together to support their projects.”
“Indeed, Francine, there will be no problem with working with Rhett. But can you tell me more about some of these projects? Is it more lab work, or what?”
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“I can’t comment right now. Besides, I don’t know. The military is being tight-lipped with any information. It seems like everything in their universe is “need to know” only. I guess we don’t need to know when it comes right down to it.
We’re only delivering a product.”
Ana flinched again and said, “We will find out at some point. That’s okay. I’m just excited that Rhett is going to be animated soon. It almost gives me the creeps to look at him lying on the animation table. I can’t quite decide if he looks like he’s sleeping or dead. It’ll be nice to see him move and talk like I do. Can’t wait.”
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