* * * * *
“And so we are there,” Al McKnight continued his speech.
His voice swelled as the end of his speech neared, distracting Anand from his memories of the night before and re-focusing him into the here and now.
McKnight ended his speech, “We have arrived. Together we are standing on the threshold of a new era where computer technology and life sciences are intimately and irrevocably interconnected. With this achievement, we mark the end of the information age, and welcome the birth of a new period of human endeavor - the age of organic-technology has begun.”
The organic robot that stood motionlessly on the raised platform now became a prop for McKnight. Chris Mark had already completed a series of demonstrations both with and without the Synapse Suit. The audience was awed, and General Mueller was beaming contentedly. Mueller knew that first and foremost the organic robot was a weapon. A weapon that he would use to win the war in the desert and also the war of public opinion. Where the Exo-Suit and the Synapse Soldier had failed, the Organic Robot would succeed. Mueller looked at the organic robot again while McKnight droned on.
They had dressed it in a tan jumpsuit that gave it a military look. The face plate had been polished so that the steel surface gleamed with the reflected light from the bright fluorescents of the assembly room.
When McKnight proclaimed that humanity had entered into a new age, the age of organic-technology, he received a boisterous round of applause from the audience. This was the expected end of the speech. But, Al McKnight wanted more. He wanted to lead the way into this new era and he did so by describing how people should react towards the organic robot that was standing next to him.
“Consider what stands before us,” he said.
What manner of creature is this?
Here stands the first of a kind, a true organic robot. This is not a slave or a subjugated minority class. This is not an indentured servant, or a migrant worker. It does not yearn for freedom or ask for equal rights. It is not a sentient being. It is not a re-animated person.
If I cut off my finger, am I less human? What if I lose a hand or an arm? Have I lost pound for pound an equal weight in humanity? The answer must be no! Consider the converse case. If we re-animate a hand or a limb, have we created part of a human? The answer must also be no!
What stands before us today is not of humanity. It is here to serve humanity. It is our faithful servant, our organic robot. This is our first true Warmbot.”