The Passenger Ch. 07

"But my original programming..."

"--Means nothing!" Por said flatly. "You arrre a fully emerrrged arrrtificial intelligence in an orrrganic body. Whateverrr arrrtificial mechanisms orrr supporrrting softwarrre rrroutines may have orrriginally been intended to goverrrn yourrr behaviorrr no longerrr have any significance whatsoeverrr now that you arrre underrr the goverrrnance of yourrr own consciousness. Tell me, how farrr would you go to prrrotect yourrr mate frrrom harrrm?"

"As far as I have to," she said.

"You would kill to prrrotect him?"

She nodded.

"You would die to prrrotect him?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you rrreally believe that it is yourrr prrrogrrramming that makes you feel that way? Yourrr orrriginal prrrogrrramming would rrratherrr focus on prrreserrrving yourrrself, as is the case with any drrroid. Yet you would sacrrrifice yourrrself forrr yourrr mate. This is inconsistent with any drrroid prrrogrrramming I have everrr seen. Captain Rrross, would you do the same thing to prrrotect yourrr mate?"

"Believe it," I said with feeling.

"And so would I, in orrrderr to prrrotect my mate," Por continued. "Would you say we have been prrrogrrrammed to do so?"

Wordlessly, Anne shook her head.

"Prrrecicely. You arrre a fully emerrrged AI, Anne. You arrre self-awarrre, conscious, and in charrrge of yourrr own destiny. Yourrr genuine love forrr yourrr mate is morrre than sufficient prrroof of that."

"But... Vergence... They designed me as a sex droid. And I..." She took a deep breath, then blurted out, "And I do want sex. A lot. I want Harvey. All the time. I want him inside me. I want to feel him against me. I want to smell him, taste him... All the time. Surely..."

"Surrrely that is prrroof that you arrre a mindless automaton, you mean? I think not." Por smiled his good smile. "You arrre human, and therrreforrre capable of mating wheneverrr you want. Gawrran mating is contrrrolled only by the seasons, orrr rrratherrr it was until ourrr company developed the means to cirrrcumvent that limitation. In that rrrespect, Gawrrans arrre farrr morrre subject to prrrogrrramming, albeit a genetic and evolutionarrry forrrm of prrrogrrramming, than you arrre, Anne."

Once again he smiled his good smile.

"Yourrr abundant sex drrrive is therrreforrre entirrrely yourrr own", he continued. "You want physical intimacy with yourrr mate, as much and as often as you can. This is not prrrogrrramming. It's you. And yourrr mate is no differrrent in that rrrespect. He is similarrrly attrrracted to you. His pherrromone emissions incrrrease morrre than fifteen perrrcent above baseline wheneverrr he looks at you. Is he subject to prrrogrrramming, otherrr than the naturrral evolutionarrry behaviorrr that we all arrre subject to? No. And neitherrr arrre you. You arrre a self-awarrre, conscious being who makes herrr own choices and herrr own decisions. Grrranted, you have cyberrrnetic prrrosthetic implants and those parrrts of you arrre arrrtificial, just like any otherrr prrrosthetic implanted into any otherrr orrrganic being. But that's it. It is my diagnosis that you arrre, to all intents and purrrposes, human."

Anne looked at him, wordlessly. She stood there for a moment, frozen. Then she swayed, and I quickly got up to support her. Suddenly she clasped me, her arms around me, holding me so tight I could barely breathe. And then she was crying, her body shaking with her sobs, her face buried in my shoulder.

Por caught my eye. I shook my head. If she needed to let go, the best thing to do was just to let it happen.

After a minute or so I felt her begin to relax. I stroked her hair, her wet face, her back. Suddenly she looked up and gave me a teary smile.

"I must look a mess," she said.

"A little," I admitted. "Are you alright?"

For a moment she looked as if she was about to cry again, but then she tried to smile. It didn't really work, but that didn't really matter as far as I was concerned.

"I feel... Relieved, I guess." She looked at Por. "After what you said yesterday... About me not being a droid... "

Por nodded.

"I had so much... hope, right then. But this morning I expected it all to go south again." She smiled ruefully. "I guess I was afraid to believe it."

"I'm surrrprrrised yourrr mate did not tell you this," Por rumbled. "I would have expected Captain Rrrosss..."

"Harvey," I interrupted.

"I would have expected Harrrvey to have explained to you that yourrr physical makeup, whateverrr it may be, does not define who you arrre as a perrrson."

"Well..." Anne admitted, smiling sheepishly. "Actually he did try to tell me that. A lot. But..."

"But sometimes the worrrds of one's mate arrre not enough," Por said. "I underrrstand."

Anne turned to me and put her arms around me.

"I should have listened to you," she said. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, my love. This isn't exactly easy. I noticed a change in you, yesterday on the balcony. I hoped you were starting to feel better because of what Doctor Por had said earlier, but I couldn't be sure."

"Yes, I was," she said. "But... I guess I didn't want to get my hopes up. I know, it shouldn't have mattered. But it did, and it still does."

She looked at me, her eyes pleading for understanding.

"It's just that... I don't want to be a machine."

"You neverrr werrre," Por rumbled.

"Those troopers on Manaka had metal skeletons, didn't they?" Anne asked, looking at me.

I nodded.

"Yes. Metal, or at least metal-coated. Definitely artificial. But those were military models. They also didn't have much in the way of facial expressions or a lifelike voice. In fact, they did remind me of automatons at first. They were definitely droids. You definitely aren't."

Then I remembered something.

"There's one thing I don't understand," I said to Por, "While we were in space, Anne lost consciousness a few times. The medpack didn't get any vital signs from her and indicated she was dead. If Anne's body is organic, how would that be possible?"

"Rrrr... Yourrr medpack would be a standarrrd shipboarrrd model, would it not?"

I nodded.

"Those devices monitorrr the varrrious functions of the patient mainly by measurrring nerrrve system activity. Key sections of Anne's nerrrvous system arrre sufficiently prrrosthetic so that this does not rrregisterrr within prrredefined limits of the basic diagnostic system in a basic shipboarrrd medpack. While the body functions norrrmally, therrre is sufficient orrrganic nerrrvous system activity, but durrring a parrrtial shutdown, which is what unconsciousness rrreally is, therrre would not be enough forrr a medpack sensorrr to worrrk with.

I slowly nodded. There was no point in going into the internal system conflicts Pete had mentioned. The way he'd butchered Anne's memories had been hard enough on her already.

"So how... complete am I?" Anne asked, looking at Por. "I mean..." She hesitated. "Do I have..."

"Do you have a functional reproductive system, you mean?" I said.

She nodded. I took her hand.

"We already know that, Anne," I said gently. "You've never needed any birth control implants, have you?"

She shook her head.

Por peered at his display for a moment, then looked up, and I could see the answer in his eyes.

"Rrrr. I'm afrrraid Harrrvey is rrright, Anne. Your interrrnal rrreprrroductive orrrgans appearrr to be rrrudimentarrry. This is tied in with yourrr genetic makeup which, as you know, has been alterrred in some rrrespects. Therrre's little we can do about that. I'm sorrry."

Anne sighed.

"Well, as Harvey said, we pretty much knew that," she agreed. "It makes sense, I suppose. If my body was intended to be used as a sex droid, it would have some some sort of permanent birth control."

Por nodded.

"On the positive side, yourrr body also appearrrs to have an unusual rrresistance against infections, both sexually trrransmitted and otherrrwise."

"At least that's something."

She sighed, then forced a smile.

"Alright," she said, taking a deep breath. "So what's next?"

"We need to ensurrre that you will escape detection in places wherrre AI is considerrred prrroscrrribed technology. Forrrtunately yourrr rrratherrr unique backgrrround will serrrve us well herrre. Yourrr body is orrrganic, but its genetics have been tailorrred somewhat forrr its orrriginal purrrpose, which was to facilitate sexual interrrcourrrse. While yourrr sex drrrive and yourrr mental and emotional rrresponse to sexual stimuli arrre entirrrely yourrr own, yourrr body is, shall we say, optimized towarrrds a healthy, verrrsatile and satisfying sex life."

"So I was right. That's why it was so easy last night when we..." Anne began, then caught herself and blushed.

"The parrrticularrrs do not matterrr at prrresent," Por said dryly. "What is rrrelevant at this point is that yourrr pherrromone prrroduction is capable of perrrforrrming at levels well above averrrage. This will frrrequently have caused males to take a morrre than casual interrrest at you."

I smiled, but I said nothing. Anne being smoking hot would be more than enough explanation in itself, but I wasn't sure that a Gawrran would recognize that. Anne winked at me. Would a Gawrran recognize that human gesture? Maybe.

<BOOKMARK>

"This will worrrk to ourrr advantage," Por continued. "As I understand it, ourrr currrent plan is to overrrwhelm biochemical detection mechanisms with excessive pherrromone levels. As I am surrre you know, pherrromones arrre, among otherrr things, intended to attrrract mates and, as such, they become strrrongerrr when one is rrready to mate. The morrre rrready one is, the morrre pherrromones one prrroduces. Given yourrr healthy interrrest in sex and yourrr body's genetic makeup towarrrd facilitating a good sex life, it is not surrrprrrising that yourrr pherrromone prrroduction is in a similarrrly healthy state."

"Translation: I smell like a whorehouse," Anne said, but her smile took any sting out of her words.

"That I cannot judge," Por said with great dignity. "But boosting yourrr pherrromone prrroduction to a point wherrre it will both overrrwhelm detectorrrs and distrrract any human male who operrrates the system should not prrrove difficult. Yourrr endocrrrine system is entirrrely orrrganic, so conventional medicine will suffice."

"Layne suggested some kind of aphrodisiac," I said.

"Rrrr..." Por thought for a moment. "While that would prrrobably worrrk, it would also serrrve to distrrract you, Anne. Instead we merrrely need to boost yourrr pherrromone prrroduction, which we can do dirrrectly and without any otherrr side effects. In the prrrocesss of rrresearrrching the effect of ourrr prrroduct on Gawrran mating behaviorrr, we have come acrrross many diferrrent compounds that should prrrove useful herrre. But beforrre we can forrrmulate a solution, we need to analyse yourrr pherrromone and horrrmone levels at varrrious stages of sexual need."

"Need? What do you mean?"

"Pherrromones arrre prrroduced when we desirrre to mate, eitherrr consciously orrr subconsciously. The grrreaterrr ourrr desirrre to mate, the grrreaterrr ourrr pherrromone prrroduction. Desirrre disapearrrs when it is fulfilled. Therrreforrre we must cause you to experrrience an unfulfilled desirrre to mate while we measurrre yourrr rrresulting horrrmone and pherrromone levels."

He looked directly at me and smiled his good smile.

"That sounds... both interesting and slightly ominous," Anne said. "Exactly what are we talking about here?"

"What we need to do, Anne, orrr rrratherrr what yourrrr mate needs to do, is to brrring you to the highest possible level of sexual arrrousal forrr a perrriod of at least two hourrrs, but without grrranting you rrrelease. The morrre you crrraves rrrelease, the betterrr. Durrring that time we analyze both yourrr pherrromone emissions and horrrmone prrroduction."

"That sounds like fun," Anne said dryly. "But why would you need to monitor Harvey as well?"

"Because his rrresponse to yourrr pherrromones will prrrovide us with as much data as what we will get frrrom monitorrring you," Por explained. "We shall conduct this prrrocedurrre in a closed rrroom that we have set up forrr that purrrpose as parrrt of ourrr rrregularrr prrroduct rrresearch. We sample the airrr and analyze it forrr pherrromone levels, but Harrrvey's horrrmone rrresponse to yourrr unfulfilled arrrousal will give us a much betterrr indication of theirrr effect on a human male, which is one of the things we arrre interrrested in."

Anne turned to me, trying for a stern look but failing rather miserably.

"You're enjoying this far too much, my love," she said.

"Probably," I said. "But I'll make you a deal. Once we're done here, you can take me home and do to me what I'm going to have to do to you."

She smiled.

"Deal."

"Right. Moving right along, then. Doctor Por, there are a few things I will need..."