Chapter 17

SHEILA - Synthetic, Humanoid, Enlightened, Inquisitive, Living, Android

Killjoy group

Ruslan (short blonde hair, 6’7’’) - Leader
Serafima (dark red head) - support/medical
Karina (blonde Hair) - Sharpshooter sniper
Timur (Dark hair 5’2’’) - computer/hacker expert
Egor- Electronics expert
Stas - Explosives expert

Pibald group

Evelyn (Auburn hair) - Leader former wife of General Gance/sniper Christine/Chris (blonde) - personal combat expert- Evelyn’s daughter Trina (red head) - Tall muscular, armed combat, Chris’s lover Betty (Dark brown hair) - Recon/explosives expert, sister of Cathy Cathy (Light brown hair) computer/Electronics/hacker expert Diane (Dark brown Hair) short, mistress of deception/assassination

I quickly pulled the unconscious body of the dark brown-haired female into the building. Looking at Sheila, I saw that she was still in shutdown status. Cursing, I propped the woman against the wall. I started to look for something to tie her up with; this place was more bare than I thought.

Finally, I found some cord that had been outside the door. Wrapping it around her arms and chest, I suddenly noticed that the woman was somewhat endowed. Shrugging it off, I continued to wrap her in a near-cocoon.

Again, I shrugged as I looked over my handiwork. I suddenly heard a whirring as Sheila sat up. “Confirming adjusted energy signature. Signature operating at 0.02 percent lower frequency. Energy output increasing. All units report.”

(Compliance secondary control. Second level attained one hour and twenty-three minutes sooner. Control has faster reflexes as per previous secondary control’s orders.) The nanomites reported.

What the hell, I thought I was already at level two? No wonder I had hit her as hard as I did.

Sheila stood up a minute later as she scanned the room and the area around. “Area secure for the moment. Doctor Gance, you have accomplished much while I was adjusting.”

I looked over to the unconscious woman as I nodded. “I thought she was here to kill me, so I hit her. I guess I did it a little too hard if she is still out.”

“No, Doctor Gance, the female is conscious. She has been for fourteen seconds.” Sheila replied as she scanned the woman’s face. “I am running facial recognition now.”

I heard the woman start to laugh after Sheila had said that. “Good luck with that, I don’t ex...”

“Betty Thomas, member of a troubleshooting group called the Pibald group for the US Government. At present, they are on a seek-and-destroy mission for both of us. Ms. Thomas is a Recon/explosives expert. She is considered one of the best. She has a sister who goes by the name of Cathy Thorndyke. Ms. Thorndyke is a computer/electronics/hacker expert.”

I was nodding as Sheila went through all of this information. Sheila suddenly stopped and turned toward me. “They are led by a woman by the name of Evelyn Tamble. She is...”

I sat up when Sheila mentioned the name, “Tamble?” When Sheila nodded, I started to curse. Both Sheila and the woman looked at me strangely for a moment. “That asshole!” I said as I shook my head.

The woman named Betty was suddenly intrigued. “Ok, you’ve piqued my curiosity. Do you know her?”

I turned toward her with a smirk on my face, “Oh yeah, I know her. Almost as well as the asshole who ordered you after me. He is my sadistic asshole of a father. She is my mother, or rather she was. Now? I don’t know anymore. That son of a bitch has her chasing me also.”

Betty did her best to hide the shock that she was feeling. She knew that the General was a hard boss, though she never thought he’d hunt his own son. Then again, she thought he was pretty sadistic at times.

“So, what are you going to do with me?” She asked as she watched me pace the room.

“If you’re afraid we’ll kill you, don’t be. I intend to let you go when I can. For now, you’ll have to stay...” I was saying.

“Warning! Warning! I am detecting several tracking devices on her.” I heard Sheila say, then she clipped Betty, knocking her out. Rapidly, she removed all of Betty’s clothes as I tried to watch without becoming aroused. Then Sheila was pulling several devices from the woman. This included two from her vagina, three from her rectum, and several just below the skin under her breasts.

I could only gawk as the pile grew. Finally, Sheila redressed the woman, rewrapping her with the cord. “I removed all but one. That one would require surgery to remove. It also might render the female sterile as it is near her uterus.”

I was nodding; that sounded about what my father would do then, I thought further. No, he would have explosives with the tracers. This didn’t really sound like mother though I hadn’t seen her in years. She just might have changed in that time.

Sheila looked over at me with a questioning look. “Doctor Gance, are you well? You seem to be experiencing pain in your lower pelvic region.”

I heard Betty moan then start to laugh. “You obviously took my clothes off. He is experiencing what is called a hardon, a boner? An erection? Ah!” Betty said when she saw Sheila’s face comprehend.

Looking at my crotch Sheila reported, “A physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, and endocrine factors, and is often associated with sexual arousal or sexual attraction, although erections can also be spontaneous. The shape, angle, and direction of an erection varies considerably in humans.”

Betty shook her head when Sheila finished. “Is she always this literal?”

“Yes, I find it refreshing that she is always learning,” I told Betty.

“Shit! Give me a few hours with her; I’ll have her up to speed in no time. So, I have to ask you, Doc, where is the robot you have that the General wants destroyed?” Betty said as she looked around the room.

I shook my head as I pointed to Sheila, “You’ve been talking to her. Please, she is an android, not a robot.”

“What!? She has emotions I...” Betty started.

I nodded as I interrupted her, “Yes, that’s why Father wants her destroyed. At the moment, she is close to total sentience.”

“Sentience?” She asked. “What exactly is that?”

Sheila spoke up, “Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively. The ability to experience sensations. It is also a metaphysical quality of all things that require respect and care. A multidimensional subjective phenomenon that refers to the depth of awareness an individual possesses about himself or herself and others. The simplest explanation is that I am self-aware; therefore, I am alive.”

Betty was gasping at all that had been said; a machine that was alive? Impossible.

“When you think about it, humans are, in fact, biological machines,” I told her.

Again, her mouth was hanging open as she was vehemently shaking her head no. “You really do need to die. Living machines? What a nutcase!”

Shaking my head, I sat a good way from her as she stared at me like I was crazy. Looking over to Sheila I stated, “We’re going to have to knock her out again if she keeps up like this. I’m not sure I can handle being ridiculed by someone who obviously knows nothing of my work.”

Betty stopped laughing a moment as she said, “I know all about your work, Doctor. You are a stellar scientist, though these theories are beyond science fiction. For her to react as she has, it would take a massive program to...”

“For your information, she has that. It took me fifteen years to write the basic emotion program. I worked on it every day. Sometimes foregoing sleep for days at a time. I will tell you though, what I created is nothing compared to what she has in her now. A far more complex massive program that I am just beginning to understand.”

Betty’s mouth was hanging open as she stared from me to Sheila, then back and forth. Looking closely at Sheila, she just shook her head. “That would require hundreds of terabytes. She doesn’t seem to have the capacity for...”

“I have many microprocessors. With them, I have managed to upgrade my system to thousands of terabytes,” Sheila informed the woman.

Still not believing, the woman could only shake her head. “If my sister were here she could confirm or,” here she looked at both of them, “deny that what you said is the truth or pure science fiction.”

A moment later, a voice came from the radio that had been on the woman. “Sister? Where in the hell are you? Leader wants us all to report in for a meeting. Sister!” There were a few moments of shuffling, then another voice came on.

“It is obvious that my team member has been captured. Know that we will take retribution for her death,” the woman leader’s voice said.

I started laughing when I pressed the send button. “A little late for that, don’t you think, mother? You are after all out to terminate me. Oh, by the way, Cathy, give it up; you won’t trace this.”

I heard a female voice in the background grunt then start to curse. “That little bastard! I’ll kill you myself!”

“Cathy, shut the hell up!” I heard my mother shout at the other voice. “So, Roger, you got a hell of a lot further than we at first thought.”