Chapter 18

As a result of the congressional interviews the military took a serious interest in our androids.

Amy flagged a new email that came in from a Gunnery Sergeant. It read ‘Is Amy ready to join the marines yet???’

I chuckled remembering that marine when Jives pointed it out to me. Then responded to it ‘Please bring one high muckety muck to a briefing. I am sure he may have an interest in it. And Amy wants to see you again, so you are requested to attend.’ I included our address and hours Monday thru Friday. The plant ran 24/7 however we were only present for so many hours a day.

A response came back ‘Can we include some experts?’

Well, the conference table could handle 20 but I really didn’t want to deal with that many. I responded, ‘How many were you thinking?’

‘Myself as Amy has requested, an Admiral to represent the Marines and Navy. Someone from the Space Force to represent them and the Air force. One from the Army and one from DARPA.’

Did I mention the original Amy was still the receptionist?

Okay five of them I was sure I could handle. So, I sent an approval. The meeting was set up for 5 days later.

The five of them showed up at exactly 0900.

Amy greeted each of them and told the gunny, she can now flip him off herself. If it’s needed. The admiral and gunny chuckled at this; the others didn’t have a clue. So, she led them through to our conference room and told them I should be along shortly.

I ran into her on her way out of the room. “Did you offer them refreshments?”

“No Jives did turn on the coffee pot in there however.”

“Somehow I don’t think she likes the military yet.” I said as I entered. The Gunny and Admiral chuckled at this.

Okay introduction time. So, I started. “I am Tim Rainer, and I am already acquainted with Gunny here.” I pointed and shook hands with him.

“Admiral Johnson USMC, Colonel Davenport Army, Lieutenant Colonel Yuko Space Force and Mr. Cumin from DARPA.” The Admiral pointed out and we shook hands in return. “I am of the understanding you have a briefing ready for us?”

“That we do have gentlemen. Understand we have not developed our androids with the military in mind. However, with the development of Plastic steel the possibilities of a military android become an option. Jives, please present the PECA briefing to the gentleman with me.”

“Very good sir.” And the lights dimmed as the wall screen came on.

What followed was the briefing on the Personal Enhanced Combat Android or PECA for short. From the plastic steel skeleton to the fact that it could kill given the orders to do so. Then the questions started.

“So, you’re saying each android requires a human mind controlling it. Why is that?”

“Have you ever seen the movie Terminator? We would like to avoid that possibility at all costs.”

“Is that a possibility?”

“I can’t speak for AI systems developed by others only that ours is hard wired to not be able to kill. Other people’s AI’s scare me.”

“So, then that’s why you need a human mind in one of them to be able to kill?”

“Yes. That and all the skills that soldier possesses are now part of the android.”

“In short, what are the positives you see?”

“Well, the android will not be affected by chemical or biological weapons. They are extremely hard to kill and would be 6 times as strong as a normal human. And you can have the same solder operating multiple units at the same time. Remember you will be downloading a soldier’s skill set along with his mental abilities to make decisions. So, they can use any weapons that the operator knows how to use. And unlike the Amy Model the gunny is familiar with, if you drop them off in water over their head they will just walk to the beach. As for hardening them against an EMP that would not be possible. Oh, the android would survive the plastic steel would insure that however it would be blind, deaf and mute. We have no way to harden sensors that by necessity are in the open.”

“Seems like they would be a negative asset. So bottom line per unit cost?”

“You’re looking at 100,000 a unit as about 80% of that is material cost you can see we are not gouging the government. That’s if we are the ones building them. If you want to license the process, we could do that at 20,000 each unit produces. That would include the main chip as the process to make them would run you about a trillion. Other than that the rest of the technology is pretty much off the shelf with a few modifications of course.”