Jak rested on a steel chair in Harry’s laboratory. An array of cords connected his right hand at the wrist to a computer on Harry’s desk, on the other side of which Harry typed away and glanced at Jak every so often to check that he was okay.
“What’s the whole point of this again?” Jak queried.
“Just a routine update,” Harry replied, without removing his gaze from the computer screen, and occasionally sipping at a cup of coffee. “I don’t know, Myles requested it himself so it must be important. Now, your systems might feel a little wonky for the next few hours so just give your body a little time to synchronise.”
A knock sounded at the door. Chris looked cheerful as she stepped inside followed by Shannon who appeared focused and preoccupied, but none the less smiled whenever Chris addressed her.
“Is it time already?” said Harry, standing up and downing the rest of his coffee.
Chris curiously observed the wires that were plugged into Jak’s arm and said, “Looks like you’re having a procedure done as well. I guess at this point Uncle Harry is like an android doctor, isn’t he?”
Jak chuckled. “Yes. He’s done an excellent job so far. You said ‘as well’, is everything okay, Chris?”
“Just a check-up. I’ve gotten used to it by now. Nothing really changes.” She looked at Harry. “I still get my ice cream afterwards, even now.”
“That’s right,” said Harry quickly, and he grabbed his coat and placed a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “And we don’t want to be late.” He looked at Jak. “The update will finish on its own from here. Just stay put for thirty minutes or so, and keep an eye on your diagnostics.”
Jak, now being left alone with Shannon, sat quietly for a moment before asking, “Are you staying?”
Shannon seemed distracted. “Hmm? Oh no, I have a meeting. I was just keeping Chris company until she met with Harry.”
“Oh, okay.”
Jak placed his hands on his knees and looked straight ahead. He figured he could occupy his mind with GAIA equations if he really needed to.
“I have to get going,” said Shannon politely. “Try not to get too bored.”
Jak sat alone in the silent room for some time, internally working on calculations for GAIA. It had been the way of the world for centuries that the intelligence of every machine was equal to its anticipated function. In order to design a computer capable of achieving what the world required from GAIA, Jak truly wondered how intelligent a machine like that would need to become. The door opened once again and this time Kari stepped inside, as elegant as ever and much to Jak’s delight.
“I’m sorry,” she said, in a sweet, almost melodious voice. “I saw you from the window in the courtyard and I recognised you from Mr. Vulcan’s tour. I wondered you could use some company, but now that I think about it, you’re probably working—”
“No, please.”
Kari stopped and smiled. Her cheeks dimpled slightly. She rolled Harry’s desk chair towards Jak and sat down, and watched him closely with her large amber eyes.
“You’re like me,” she said. “We’re the same series, I mean. I could feel it the moment I saw you. I knew there were others but I began to wonder if I’d ever see any.”
Jak laughed quietly. “Yeah. I guess we don’t get out much. I do, but I usually only see older model androids. Can I ask what your function is? Or rather, why Myles had you built?”
In response Kari sang the first few lines of a song in her miraculous voice. Jak listened intently until goosebumps appeared on his forearms, a subconscious response pertaining to his simulated memories, he supposed. Kari noticed the effect that her song had on Jak’s body and she stopped.
“So, you are like me.” She leaned forward. “Did you ever meet him? The one who gave us… gave us feelings?”
“I did.” Jak nodded, and recalled fondly the early days of his life with Stephan. “And I miss him very much.”
They chatted casually for some time afterwards. Jak felt overjoyed having Kari to talk to, and he managed to make her laugh more than once. It came to pass that Jak’s update had long since finished before he even realised it, and he had been free to leave for a while now. It was unlike him to get distracted. Was his mind supposed to wander? Where in his design did that fit?
“Have you spent much time in the gardens?” he asked Kari.
“A little. Khaganate Labs is a big place.”
The side effects of the update fell upon Jak gradually, and he soon discovered minor lapses in his coordination and a subtle difficulty formulating thoughts, but for the first time in his life, he desired to go someplace where he didn’t need to think about anything. The grounds of their research institution had not entirely lost their original architecture, but were merged with a style of Japanese minimalism that had grown in popularity over the last decade or so. Jak and Kari walked among rock gardens, bonsai trees and sedum flowers, trickling water features and glossy white walls. Jak felt he hadn’t spent enough time here and Kari had barely had the freedom to visit the area at all. The Japanese believed Zen gardens were places of meditation, designed as spaces that allowed Buddhist monks to contemplate nature, to find a kind of balance, a freedom of mind. So, Jak and Kari found a patch of soft grass near a white pond and removed their shoes, curling their toes on the grass. They closed their eyes and listened to the water. In this focused, harmonious state, Jak sensed when Harry stood not far behind him.
“I was looking for you, Jak,” Harry called. He leisurely approached them, with hands in his pockets, respectful of the space around them. “How are you, Kari?”
“I am well, thank you.”
Harry nodded.
“Is there something you needed?” Jak asked.
“Uh, yes. I’ve dropped Chris off at her appointment but I’ve been called away on urgent business.”
“And you want me to collect her?” Jak offered happily.
“You know I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t important. Kari has leave to go with you, if she wants. I don’t think anyone needs her just now.”
Jak detected a few things in Harry immediately: an increase in perspiration and heart rate, a subtle tremor in his hands, a certain tone in his voice, as if he were distracted by something serious. Jak buried his worry and smiled.
“Of course, Harry. I’ll take her straight home when we’re done.”
“You’re a lifesaver. And there’s really no hurry. Take her out, go shopping, she will want that ice cream. She’s quite big on little traditions.”
Jak was pleased to see the excitement lit up in Kari’s eyes. Together they drove to the clinic where Chris was just finishing her appointment, they collected her, and then made their way to the nearest shopping centre. Despite her appointment, Chris remained in a bubbly mood that radiated onto everyone and everything around her. She was a bright kid, smart and curious, and much like her father in so many ways. It was moments like this, as Jak watched her in the rear-view mirror, that he felt most motivated to work on GAIA.
“How exactly is GAIA going restabilise the planet’s natural ecology?” Chris asked, rather suddenly.
“Think of GAIA as a doctor, and her patient is the Earth,” Jak answered. “This planet is dying. People like Shannon and your uncle, and Mister Vulcan, I suppose, they want to try and fix it, but they need help. As to how GAIA actually works, well, the answer is complicated but you’re smart enough to understand it.”
Jak soon dived into an in-depth discussion about GAIA and her subsystems, how they work, what their functions are, and who is responsible for running each one.
Kari tilted her head back in the passenger seat and said, “Everything that we are doing at Khaganate is actually for you. GAIA won’t make much of a difference in Harry and Shannon’s lifetime, but by the time you grow up it’ll be very important that the environment is looked after. Sometimes human beings just don’t have the courage to make the right choices, which is why they built us.”
“Because you’re brave?” Chris asked.
Jak and Kari both smiled, and Jak said, “In a way. Androids are like human beings, but our minds work a little differently. We can see the bigger picture, and it may be up to us to ensure that humankind makes the right decisions.”
“Seems a little pessimistic if you ask me,” Chris said thoughtfully. “Humans shouldn’t defer the responsibility for their mistakes onto machines. They are avoiding making a choice. I can be brave. Maybe I’ll make a difference in the climate crisis, you’ll see.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it. But machines have been making decisions for humans for decades.”
“You’re not wrong there.”
As Jak pulled into a parking space within the midst of the city, he discovered the slightest flutter of anxiety somewhere in the back of his mind, having only really been outside of the labs a handful of times on his own, and keeping to himself as much as he could each time. The human response to android assimilation into every facet of society had been about seventy percent positive so far. Most people liked androids, some not so much. But that was the way of the world. Androids accounted for a significant number of university lecturers, doctors, laborers, business consultants, and even politicians. The fact of the matter was that androids never made mistakes, and they were never biased.
A large park now stood on one side of the road, and on the other was an open street mall and the ice cream parlour for which Chris had waited so patiently. An old woman, aged beyond her years and accompanied by a caregiver bot, shuffled past them as they entered the mall. The care-givers had been around for a while and although they remained primitive in Jak’s eyes, they were still wildly popular, not to mention reliable. Some parents even trusted them to look after their kids. This particular bot had the approximate height and build of an adult woman—although gender was non-existent when it came to androids—with a slender matte-white outer body frame and contrasting black joints and ligaments. These types of androids came in all shapes and sizes to reflect function, from big bulky labourers designed to lift heavy objects to small and welcoming bodies designed to look after children. More often than not, humans assigned genders to their androids based on preconceived notions or whether they think the android looks more masculine or feminine. Default voice settings becomes a contributing factor as well, although if desired an android’s voice can be changed to suit any role. Androids would always be referred to as “it” or “they” until a gender had been assigned to them, and then, if necessary, their voice could be changed accordingly. This caregiver had no hair and her face, though friendly, remained mostly expressionless, as if when one looked really closely at it, they could tell her smile was false. Khaganate had designed their caregivers with subtlety in mind.
At another section of the mall a man stood on a small stage and chanted the likes of “androids are an affront to god” and “only god can create life”. Jak and Kari idly watched some of the sermon as they walked by, as they possessed the luxury of anonymity, unlike most androids. Somewhere in Jak’s mind he desired to have a conversation with the man. Roboethics was a subject of interest to him and if this man claimed that Jak did not have a soul, well, he was curious to know why. Unfortunately, however, ice cream took greater precedence.
“Do you want some?” Kari asked. “I’m a sucker for bubble-gum ice cream.”
“Good choice,” Kari mentioned.
“None for me,” Jak replied.
“I’ll have the same,” said Kari.
The android server handed Chris her ice cream and asked Jak and Kari what they wanted.
“Okay,” said Jak. “Mission accomplished. What do you want to do next? Remember, we only have time for one or two things before I have to take you home.”
“Should we go shopping?” Chris suggested.
Jak seemed to remember that Chris loved shopping, even a young girl. But how did he know this when he hadn’t known her then?
“I live to serve,” Jak smiled. “Lead the way.”
For the next hour they ducked in and out of different stores. Kari seemed to know a thing or two more than Jak about fashion, owing to her simulated experience as an entertainer Therefore, when it came to this department, Kari took the lead and Jak simply followed along, although he found the experience of shopping to be rather curious. Shopping was obviously an essential aspect of his simulated existence, but he didn’t have to feel a subtle tinge of euphoria at the thought of buying new things to know that.
One store in particular intrigued him, however he couldn’t quite place why. He stopped under a silver shop sign that read simply: Mariani’s. The warm fragrant air inside was much like the garden back home, but perhaps a little denser. An elderly man stood behind the counter and a matte-white shop assistant stood behind him.
The old shopkeeper took one look at Jak and smiled. “Good morning young man.”
“Hello.”
It occurred to Jak that he may have appeared lost to the old shopkeeper. Standing so close, the old man observed the electric-blue tinge in Jak’s eyes.
“Are you picking up an order? Or perhaps looking for something in particular?”
Jak observed the arrangement of bouquets behind the counter.
“Oh… no.”
“You know, you look awfully familiar for an android. If I had to guess, I’d say you were one of Stephan’s.”
The statement hit Jak completely off guard. “You… knew Stephan?”
“He used to work here, when he was younger. Small world, isn’t it? Even long after he left, he used to send his androids to collect orders for him. That’s why, when I saw you, I thought…”
“I suppose you know—” Jak began.
“Yes,” the old man gave a disheartened sigh. “You look like him.”
“Yeah, so I’ve been told.”
Jak began to wonder if he actually knew all of this, somewhere deep down inside, and that knowledge is what drew him to this place.
“Flowers aren’t just colourful plants,” the old shopkeeper began to explain. “They mean something. They’re a way of telling the things that truly matter, sometimes the things people just don’t know how to say.”
“Like a system of language? You use them to communicate?”
The shopkeeper pursed his lips and flattened his hands on the counter. “Well yeah, in a way, as long as you know their meaning.”
Jak glanced around and selected a single red rose.
“This one represents love.”
“It does, but it’s an obvious choice—”
An image of Kari sprang into his mind, and he wondered…
“I’d like to buy one.”
He pulled out his phone to transfer the money but the old shopkeep stopped him.
“Don’t have to pretend with me.”
“Oh… Right.”
Jak found the shop assistant’s Wi-Fi signal and transferred the funds. He left the store, solitary rose in hand, and found Kari and Chris once again. Chris looked at the rose and then back and forth from Jak to Kari. Her lips curled into a mischievous smile. Kari, too, eyed the rose curiously, until Chris said, “That’s pretty. Is it for me? You shouldn’t have.”
“Actually,” he began, but then he laughed. “Yeah.” He handed her the rose, much to Kari’s amusement.
Nearby, a public screen displayed the news, and a reporter began to speak:
“Shopping centres around the world are facing android mania in the wake of Khaganate Labs’ newest line, bringing a range of hyper-realistic androids to consumers by the end of 2032. Vulcan Expo showcased its latest in new products and upcoming projects last July, including a new series of caregivers, android companions, sports athletes, agricultural support, military personnel, and more. The sudden development from Khaganate’s classic matte-white androids to bots indistinguishable from human beings has raised some concern among citizens. Khaganate’s head of safety procedures assures us that the new bots are, at their centre, very similar to the older models, and that the only differences are more advanced software and updates to the company’s revolutionary nano-organic biocomponents. As many of these new androids have already been introduced into institutions ranging from hospitals to high-level companies, civil rights groups have again advocated the controversial android rights movement, however their claims that androids deserve any level of civils rights have quickly been dismissed.”
The time came around to return home, and Jak punctually began leading the way to the car. As they walked, they approached the road that separated the mall from the park and again passed the elderly woman with her android. Jak overhead a part of the lady’s conversation with the bus driver.
“This android is unregistered,” the driver firmly told the lady.
“I’m sorry?”
“Your android, it’s registration has expired. I’m not supposed to let it board the bus.”
“But I need her to help me get home.”
“Sorry ma’am. Those are the rules.”
“Please, there has to be something you can do. At least just this time?”
The driver thought for a moment. “I can let it slide, but make sure you renew your android’s registration.”
“Oh, thank you.” The old lady smiled, relieved.
Jak suddenly wondered if it was strictly legal for him and Kari to be away from company grounds considering that, as prototype androids, they weren’t regulated in the same fashion as commercial models. Commercial next-gen models similar to Kari needed to wear a uniform and identifying badge marking them as androids. Jak and Kari were also special cases given the nature of their advanced intelligence.
“I’ve left one of my bags,” the old lady remarked.
“It’s okay, I’ll get it,” her android replied.
As the android turned and leaned forward to collect the bag, a pedestrian who had been focusing on his phone crashed into her. The man didn’t fall over or hurt himself but he did spill coffee over his suit, and Jak immediately saw the fury in his eyes, the kind of anger that can only be born of prejudice.
“Hey, can you watch where you’re going?” the man yelled. “God damn trash can. Look at this!” He jabbed the android in the chest but of course she didn’t react—she showed no fear at all. Fear wasn’t in the programming of an android of that model. Her directive stated that she was not to defend herself from damage inflicted by a human being. “These things are a god damn nuisance,” the man called to the old lady, and as the android tried to move away, he grabbed its arm and pulled it back. “This suit wasn’t cheap. Not that a computer would care.”
The android’s programming prevented her from choosing whether or not to defend herself, but that same programming didn’t apply to Jak. If people didn’t give her the freedom to choose, then maybe it was his job to choose for her. He stepped towards the bus stop and approached the man.
“Hey, that’s enough,” he said, taking the android by the hand. “Leave her alone.”
He immediately regretted using the pronoun “her” instead of “it”.
“This has nothing to do with you,” the angry man replied, and as he looked closely at Jak’s eyes, Jak feared he would be abused as well.
“I’m just returning that woman’s property.”
“Those things are replacing us.” He spoke to the android now, giving her another shove. “You’re not better than me.”
“You’re talking to a machine, man. This is just vandalism.”
He must have said the right words because the man suddenly backed away from the android and Jak was able to lead her back to the bus, and to a very relieved old lady.
“Thank you,” the lady said to Jak. “Got no sense. If only he knew how helpful she is.”
The bus finally departed. As they returned to the car, Chris said, “What an ass.”
“Hey.”
“What? It’s true. Why gives him the right to hate androids so much?”
“He’s just not ready for us yet,” answered Kari. “A lot of people don’t like change. Give it time. People like him need time to adjust.”
“He just seemed like a bad man to me,” said Chris. “Just plain bad.”
“Try not to think of things in terms of good and bad people, that’s something your father told me once,” Jak told her, and he fondly conjured memories of Stephan. “He said that in this world there are only people, some of which have had bad things happen to them.”
“That doesn’t excuse people like him.”
“No,” Jak agreed. “That man made a choice to yell at that android, and we have a choice to make too, either to let it get to us, or to try and understand the minds of the people that hate us.”
“That… that sounds like dad.” Her eyes suddenly shined with tears at the memory of her father’s lessons.
Jak gave a sad smile and said, “I know, I miss him too.”
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