* * * * *
“Lift your arm,” Al McKnight said.
Anand and McKnight were seated inside the surgery recovery room of the medical building. They were watching the first true organic robot.
Christopher Mark was across the room inside a Synapse Suit. The Synapse Suit was connected directly to the Synaptic Interface recently implanted into the cadaver via a black data cable. The cable tracked along the white tile floor and then up and onto the crisp bed linen. The cable entered directly into the top of the organic robots head.
Anand felt a chill. He wondered if it was an after effect from the high dose of Somnambutol or if he was catching a fever. The operation was a success and McKnight was anxious to see the organic robot perform some basic tests. General Mueller was expected back at the end of the week to see results. There was little time left to improve the process if there were any problems.
Mark used the Synapse Suit to remotely lift the arm. As the arm lifted off of the bed, McKnight clapped his hands together.
“Ha Ha,” He said, “Very nice!”
“Now,” McKnight continued, “Can you stand?”
The organic robot lifted its head and torso and sat up in the bed. The black data cable danced about and the head lolled to one side, then lifted, then fell again.
McKnight said, “Stand.”
The motion of the organic robot was stiff and jerky. His right arm spastically flailed about before coming to rest on the bed rail. Then the legs swung out and contacted with the white tile floor.
“Can you smooth it out?” McKnight called out to Mark across the room. Mark could not respond as he was engulfed by the Synapse Suit.
“I am not sure what is happening,” Anand offered.
Anand activated a vid-screen on a nearby workstation and began accessing the communications data that was moving between the organic robot and the Synaptic Suit. The organic robot pushed with both hands and was off of the bed and on its feet. It teetered for a moment on stiff legs. Then, swinging both arms uncontrollably, it fell forward and slapped face first onto floor. It sounded like wet meat hitting the tile. Clear spinal fluid began to form a pool around the top of its head, leaking from the entry point of the black data cable.
“What the hell is going on?” McKnight demanded.
“It looks like the communications network,” Anand said, enlarging a window on the vid-screen so McKnight could see his analysis.
“We are overwhelming the Synaptic Interface with data from the Synapse Suit, the device cannot process the volume of information,” Anand explained.
Christopher Mark emerged from behind the Synapse Suit. He was busy drying his upper body with a towel.
Mark said, “This does not make sense. We have a direct cable connection. We should have more bandwidth, not less.”
“Quite, quite right…” Anand agreed, “But normally, the host is alive. Even under the influence of Somnambutol the host’s subconscious is still providing the majority of the body’s muscular control. The Synaptic Interface is usually only used to transmit conscious commands.”
“I see what you are saying,” Mark continued, “With a dead body, the Synaptic Interface becomes overwhelmed because the remote user needs to actively manage all of the bodies muscles, all of the time… balance… motor control…”
“So how do we fix it?” McKnight asked guardedly.
Anand looked at Christopher Mark for an answer, because he did not have one.
“Gentlemen,” McKnight continued, “We need to fix this.”
Anand was happy Mark was in charge. Anand felt tired, and he was chilled, maybe even feverish. He was ready for this to end. He thought about his walk this morning and the pull of the open desert beyond the compound fence. He was ready to walk outside and never look back.
Anand was dismayed when Mark said, “The old system relied on biology for subconscious body control. We had a living brain to help us. In this new system, biology is not an option. The dead host gives us form and function, but it does not help us with command and control. Therefore the only answer is technology. We need to introduce a computer system into the body that will manage the autonomic muscle controls and replace the subconscious mind.”
“An artificial intelligence?” McKnight asked.
“Of a sort,” Chris Mark answered, “It would definitely be a learning system.”
“Is it do-able?” McKnight asked looking at Anand.
Anand equivocated, “I’m not sure, in theory yes… but to build it and connect it.”
“The interface is already done,” Mark interjected, “You can connect into the existing Synaptic device. At this point, all we need is a program that can learn motor control and manage the subconscious body movements.”
“It will need a large processor,” Anand said, “and a hard drive. There is no room left in the neck to install it even if we could build it.”
“Take out the pre-frontal lobe,” Mark said, “We’re not using the brain for anything now.”
McKnight pressed the point, “Can you do it?”
Anand would not commit, “Maybe.” he said.
“Well,” McKnight stood up to leave, “You have three days to figure it out.”
Over the next three days Anand together with his new combined technology and biology team worked non-stop to design, build, and install a computer program that could simulate the autonomic functions of the human brain. Computer technicians and bio-engineers worked side by side, until the biologists were comfortable handling complex computer components and the technicians were comfortable with gross anatomy. The technicians began working on organic chores, replacing the work that might previously have been done by Dr. Singh.
As he watched a technician preparing a cadaver, Anand participated in a surreal conversation.
“I think we might be better off without the eyes,” Anand said.
“How so?” the technician was focused on cutting and then lifting the skin that covered the forehead.
“The visual integration requires a lot of data. I can replace the eyes with a simple video lens and interface directly to the Synaptic device,” Anand said.
The tech picked up the electric bone saw and went to work on the exposed skull across the forehead. The cutting made a loud whirring noise punctuated by wet gurgling when the tech cut too deep.
Anand waited till he was done with the saw and then continued, “If we can bypass the optic integration altogether, it will simplify things.”
“Makes sense,” the tech said.
Using the edge of a scalpel he lifted the freshly cut forehead bone and set it gingerly on the dissection table. Then he used the scalpel to open the dura mater exposing the pre-frontal lobe.
“Yes,” Anand continued, “Quite right, go ahead and remove all of the olfactory organs as well, the nose, the sinuses, everything. I can do the same thing… in fact, go ahead and take off the entire face.”
“Not a problem,” the tech said. He was busy cutting the pre-frontal lobe free. When he was ready, he lifted it high to allow the strands of viscous fluid still clinging to the bone to clear, and then he placed it on the dissection table next to the forehead bone.
“Do you want to leave the tongue?” the technician asked.
“No,” Anand said, “Take it out. Take out the whole face.”
The technician worked quietly. Slowly he filled the dissection table with bone, brain, eyes, nose, tongue, bone, and teeth. When he was done, the face and brain were removed from the lower jaw to the mid-forehead. The empty cranial cavity looked larger than Anand had expected. Using a small light he could clearly see the brain stem where they had connected the Synaptic Derivation device. Spinal fluid seeped from the brain stem and mixed with residual blood that oozed from the grey flesh causing a pink pool of thick liquid to form in the back of the cranial cavity.
“There is plenty of room for a hard drive now,” Anand commented.
An
and stepped away from the cadaver and surveyed the scene as the technician collected the dissected bone and tissue, and then exited.
The body was lying on a table hooked up to multiple machines. The face, now removed, exposed a yawning cavity in the head. In the hours since McKnight had exited, a steady stream of technicians and medics brought essential equipment into the room including both Bio systems and technology systems. These machines were clustered around the lifeless body, measuring, maintaining, beeping, buzzing, humming, and dripping.
“I am Dr. Frankenstein” Anand said out loud.