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"To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage, single-handed, in an unprecedented duel with nature—could one dream of anything more?"
Yuri Gagarin, Russian Cosmonaut
Noah set to assembling the lego he got for his 8th birthday. His grandad had given him a cool rocket ship and he was itching to start it.
"Hey grandad! Do you want to help me build the rocket ship? You always talked about the epic stuff you made at your work!"
His grandad chuckled "Indeed I did." He gets out of his chair with a groan, his back wasn't like it used to be, and sat down beside Noah. "We were pioneers, the first of a kind, at the forefront of AI technology." Rip, went the packets, lego spilling all over the floor.
Noah nodded solemnly. "What is an AI grandad?" Click. The first thruster done.
"It stands for Artificial Intelligence. We replicated brains like yours and gave them to robots! They became almost human but with none of the downsides, they didn't need to eat and were as strong as an ox." The lego nose cone started to take shape.
"Woah, did you ever have robot fights?" Another thruster finished.
"Hahaha, we definitely should have had them, could have kept young rascals like you busy for a bit." He ruffled Noahs messy hair. Alas, we fell behind, competition became fierce and we were outperformed by cheaper firms from China and Japan." Noah reverently clipped all the parts together.
"So what happened! Did you fight the other companies for the rights to sell the best robot?" The plane flew around the room, carried by his imagination.
"We fell, we couldn't keep up. We failed…"
Noah's mum bustled in, "I think it is time for a nap, you seem to be rather tired," she said pointedly at his grandad.
With a slight groan, he got back into his chair, downing the pills offered by Noah's mum.
As his grandad started snoring, a young Noah looked at the poster above the fireplace. A picture of a smiling robot captioned by the phrase "More than Human" signed by Anderson himself. It was a company at the height of its success, with his grandpa at the helm:
Anderson Robotics.
Noah blinked himself back into reality, looking away from the giant logo that hung above him, the blue falcon logo looking down on him sternly. He looked around to distract himself from the memory. The lights in the reception flickered on and off again like they were slowly dying before a loud shout from far away can be heard. He turned slowly in his suit to see a woman in a dark blue business suit walk down to him with a clipboard in her hand. Her hair was tucked into a bun at the back with a hair clip to keep it in place.
"Noah," she said in a bored tone. "The oxygen machine is working wonderfully here. Should be ab— why are you wearing a spacesuit? I told you the air in here is clean."
"What?" Noah yelled from inside his suit. "You gotta use your comm link! I can't hear you!"
She looked him up and down in that same bored gaze and removed his helmet. "I said the station is good sir. Please take this seriously, we are in a historical area."
"Sam," Noah said, shaking his head with a smile on his face. "We are exploring! At least have a bit of fun with this! For all we know, the air could have been poisoned, or a zombie virus could have got on here! We don't know if this is safe!"
Sam looked at Noah and rolled her eyes. He looked up again to see the lights come on properly as the logo loomed over them. The one piercing eye stared down on them as the bird looked like it was about to take flight. He turned back to Sam, who then looked up and then back at him, same bored expression on her face.
"Er… Sorry, Sam. Shall we go in?"
Noah looked beyond the reception into a corridor as it flickered to life. He walked down the corridor, looking through the different windows embedded in the doors. Sam's heels clacked on the metal floor and she shook her head whenever Noah stopped to peer into the next door. The corridor was spotless, little more than stale air was in the station. The further they got, however, the more dim the lights were. Noah turned on his suit's light to add more visibility, while Sam continued on with her clipboard in hand.
As Noah peered into another door, it suddenly opened with an empty shell of a Peregrine model falling on top of him. He let out a small yelp as it fell, causing Sam to turn her head. She dropped her clipboard and walked over to him. She shook her head and grabbed the model off of him.
"For Vince's sake, get back sir. I'll check this room for dangers."
She moved in and pulled out her pistol while Noah moved further back, breathing heavily. He sat there and looked into the dead white eyes of the soulless machine on the floor. His heart rate slowly calmed down as he closed his eyes. He pondered to himself, in that dimly lit corridor, what it felt like to be more than human. But also more than just a sapient machine….
"Sam? Sam, where are you?"
Noah shouted out loud as he walked around the house. He was anxious about his friend since the fight that another kid started. Noah's name was being mocked and joked about around behind his back, which he only discovered when Sam brought it up with him.. In that short time frame, Noah had experienced what it was like to be on the short end of Sam's wrath that was wrought onto the school.
She marched right up to the kid and demanded that an apology was made. He, of course, denied this. Sam had let her anger out on the poor kid, unleashing some kind of primal rage. Noah didn't want to see his friend hurt and rushed in front of the two to break them up. She stopped hitting this kid when Noah stepped in.
Humans, however, are creatures that know an advantage when they see it. Kids know this very well when they see or hear something that allows them to gain and abuse that advantage. When Sam stopped, the kid pushed Noah in front of him and punched Sam in her jaw. A quick and easy win for the kid.
She ran from the school. Instead of chasing after her, he was sent to detention for starting that fight. When he left the school, he ran straight back to home, thinking that if anyone would know what was going on, it was granddad Phineas. He'd know what to do.
Noah looked around the whole house, from bottom to top, left side to right side, and behind every nook and cranny he can find. Nowhere. Noah kept shouting for her when he noticed that he hadn't checked the workshop. He descended down the stairs, his voice getting quieter as he heard his granddad Phineas and his mother talking in the workshop. He peeked into the room to see what was going on.
"I don't understand," said his mother, pacing around the room. "How did this happen? I thought they couldn't be hurt."
"According to what I can access," wheezed Phineas, as he struggled to move stuff on his counter top. "She moved to what she was ordered to do: keep Noah safe."
"Not like this dad… does he even know? Know that she was made to be his friend during middle school?"
Phineas shifted in his chair, his mechanical limbs whirred and ticked as he did. "He doesn't exactly know. I did say that she is allowed to do what ever it took to keep Noah out of harm's way, so her identity being kept secret was up to her."
What if we scarred Noah? What if he hates machines… I am not raising a Sarkic in this household, dad!"
"Well, I guess we'd have to remove the memories from her and do a fresh res-"
Noah came bursting out from the doorway, tears streaming down his eyes. His mother held him in her embrace, not wanting to let go.
"Please, don't let her go! She is my friend!"
Phineas stroked his goatee for a few seconds before nodding. He pulls out a laptop and begins to type on it with a speed that neither Noah or his mother had seen him move before. He stops and brings the screen in front of Noah, who wipes his tears on his mother's blouse.
"Up to you kiddo," Phineas said sadly, sounding just as old as he did before. "I can keep her memories but I'd have to change her emotions. Make her more of a parental guardian for you, seeing as how that's what got her here in the first place. Or we can not do that and keep her here, in the workshop, with the rest of these fossils."
He looked around the workshop sadly, perhaps feeling old for the first time. He saw some old projects and photos of Anderson Robotics, like the photo of him and Vincent unveiling the first Peregrine in Three Portlands with the acquisition of their new headquarters. Times changed since then, as Phineas looked like he was about to weep.
Noah, taunted by the blinking cursor in front of him, looked up at his mother. She merely stroked his head and smiled.
"It's up to you Noah," she spoke sweetly. "Whatever you choose, we will support it. Right, dad?"
"Huh?" Phineas looked back at Noah and the laptop. "Yeah, I'd support it."
Noah looked at his grandad thoughtfully, he slowly nodded. One click, and it was done…
The computer miraculously booted up. Noah reverently brushed the dust off the worn, black keyboard. A logo flashed up followed by a login screen with the phrase "Anderson Research Center" being displayed.
Noah paused. He hadn't expected a password lock. Sam seemed to have disappeared off somewhere and the old robot would be no help, he sighed. Might as well try the obvious one, he knew the company was formed around 1990, but not quite when.
Maybe 12062025, the first official Anderson outer earth orbit station was launched, he remembered his grandad telling him all about it.
Bingo!
He was in, with a few clicks he had navigated to the documents folder of the computer. He was about to open the blueprints file— when he saw another folder right at the bottom of the list, "Expansion." While he was here, he might as well take a look.
Gasping, he read through the folder, blueprints for AI and machines that hadn't seen the light of day. Ideas for ship AI that never came to fruition. He eagerly scanned through the remaining documents, his eyes glowing and his mind abuzz with potential. Too soon he reached the end, the final document displayed the name "Nanites," it didn't seem to be a blueprint, rather a transcript of a kind, he eagerly opened it.
Subject: Noah Frostman
Subject Age: 6
Version 3.0.7 nanites have successfully integrated with subjects bloodstream, no adverse effects discovered. The procedure went smoothly, the subject is scheduled to come out of surgery within 24 hours. All additional modifications have interfaced with the nanites, no system errors detected.
Transfer: Successful
Update Log - 14. Age-7
Subject is displaying heightened movement levels for a child its age, the nanites seem to be correctly enhancing existing muscles causing greater mobility.
Update Log - 59. Age-12
The upgraded 3.1.8 nanites have been inserted into subjects bloodstream. However, complications during the procedure were discovered. It seems that the older the child is the harder the integration process is as the body started to reject the nanites. The subject is currently stabilised and being held in stasis.
Transfer: Partial failure
Update Log - 60. Age-12
The subject has been removed from stasis, no further adverse effects have been detected.
Transfer: Successful
Update Log - 102. Age-15
Subject has displayed extremely high mental and physical aptitude. A brief checkup was performed and the body seems to have completely assimilated the nanites as its own.
Noah if you ever find this, I am sorry. In the downfall of Anderson Robotics as a company, we tried one last huge experiment…
You have… augmentations. Watching you grow up filled me with joy and pride, the machines didn't change anything. As Vince said, You aren't fully human, but you are very much more than a machine.- Grandad Phineas.
Quote found here: http://www.seasky.org/quotes/space-quotes-space-travel.html
