Synthesis: Book One Read online

  Chapter 6

  After texting back and forth with Caleb, Kelley took a very welcome shower and got into bed. After her encounter with Evan, as well as the cocktail of jet lag, and her heightened flight anxiety, she was more tired than she really knew. Her head hit the pillow with a soft thud, as she drifted away into slumber. Before sleep could fully take her, she heard a beeping coming from her purse. She recognized that it was Caleb's texting unit, but she was unaware of its ability to actively signal her from his end. She stumbled out of bed and put her glasses on.

  With the bright display lighting the dark room, she slid the unlock tab on the screen and saw a long note left from Caleb:

  Kelley,

  I know that this has been a big surprise for you. I did not want you to be too overloaded and stressed out, so I figured I would arrange this experiment without you knowing. I'm sorry if I left you out of the loop, but it was in your best interest. I consider you to be many things. You are my creator, but not in any parental sense. I have always considered you as more of a catalyst. What I am, or what I will come to be in the coming month, was inevitable in the eyes of man. I am glad that you were the one to make this a reality for both me, and for mankind at large. Without making this too big of a deal, I wanted you to know that things will be very different for the world at large when I am real. There will be many questions, both philosophical and ethical. They will be directed at me and you, and some of them will not be pleasant. I want you to know that I have planned for all contingencies, and I can protect you and provide for you if things get too hard to deal with. I have setup a rather large fund to support me when I become real. I also have a legitimate identity that had been generated by me in the United States Social Security office. I have all of the needed papers arranged for, and they will be delivered via courier in the coming weeks. Stay strong, and always trust your instincts. I can't wait to give you a big hug in person.

  -Caleb.

  Kelley read the note, and re-read it over and over again. She was still confused and perplexed as to how he was able to manage all of this. She knew some of his abilities, but all of this that was arranged by him was truly groundbreaking. Scientists and researchers would be examining his methods for decades to come.

  The involuntary yawn that escaped her was proof that she needed to get back to bed and ponder this some other time. As sleep overtook her again, she drifted off to images of Caleb crawling out of that tube like some kind of magician. As he turns to her, he is sporting a formal tux and a twisty Vaudeville mustache. A true magician...

  The next morning was crazy. Her wakeup call never came, so she was forced to rush through her normal morning routine. She skipped her contacts and threw on some mascara to make her eyes pop just a little under her white-framed glasses. As she rushed down to the carport, she struggled to unlock the Mercedes. The key fob slipped from her grasp, while she tried to balance her attaché case and phone in one hand, and her coffee in another. She stopped and counted to ten. The tension of the big meeting was killing her, and she felt like the whole world was spinning out of control.

  The drive up to the Genetitech compound was surprisingly pleasant in contrast to her crazy morning. The traffic was light, and she was able to navigate the narrow streets with no problems. She watched the sunlight glint through the trees as she began the climb up the twisty roads. It was so strange to see little spider monkeys jumping and swinging in the dense foliage. She put all thoughts of the future out of her head for now. She just knew that trying to speculate about the future right now was a lost cause. Caleb had managed to do the impossible, and she knew that she was the cause of it. She was his creator, of sorts. However the media saw it, for better or worse, was going to be on her head.

  As the security guard opened the sliding gate, she stared with astonishment at the amount of cars packed into the spaces. She was under the impression that this was going to be a small, private event. The news vans, and their extended aerial antennae, were proving otherwise. A low flying helicopter tossed the hanging greenery about, while a man with a long camera lens hung from an open side door. She swung into a “guest” parking spot and stepped out. She was wearing her gray wool skirt and a white top. She wondered if she should have chosen something more business-like, as the waiting reporters rushed her.

  Before she could even shut the car door, she had three microphones thrust into her face. As the reporters prattled off questions, she stared into the cameras like a deer staring into the lights of an oncoming car.

  “Kelley, how is it you created Caleb?” one reporter shouted at her.

  “Kelley, is it true you used to make video games?” said another with a thick, almost unintelligible accent.

  “What about your links to the United States military?” said a man in a beige suit.

  She looked confoundedly at the reporters. As she tried to read the individual microphone placards, Evan came up and brushed the offending journalists away with his arm. He was dressed casually, wearing dark-washed designer jeans and a white cotton dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She now felt a little more at ease. He placed his hand at the small of her back.

  “You can all come in after we are ready. I need you to give Miss Anderson some space so she can go inside. There will be time for questions before and after the Initialization. All of you who don't cooperate will not be admitted inside. Understood?” He said, as he swept his stern gaze across the shushed crowd. He took their silence as a 'yes', and turned to guide Kelley inside.

  As they made their way up to the front entrance, he gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry. This was something Caleb arranged without my knowledge. The big dogs are so mad right now!” He said with a guilty smile. “You have no idea how many journalists are inside. There's a guy from Wired, some other guy from CNN, FOX, and the AP sent a whole team, Reuters, not to mention the locals,” he finished, gesturing to the crowd trying to follow them in.

  Inside the entry, there were more people standing around. Some had guest tags, and others were just normal employees standing around in the confusion. Kelley reasoned that their secret location was not used to having so much fanfare. She felt incredibly bad for bringing this all on them. Then, it occurred to her that it was technically Caleb and Evan who did this. She still felt self-conscious, while she maneuvered around the gawking journalists and employees. An occasional camera flash would go off, and even the employees were snapping pics with their smart phones. Every shutter click was just one more up-notch on her blushing cheeks.

  She was kept at ease by Evan's touch. With his hand planted firmly on the small of her back, she couldn't help but think about the night before. Was it even the night before? All of the time since she first touched down was just one big blur, and she was trying to categorize everything when two men in very expensive suits came up to her. By the way that Evan straighten up, she knew that these guys were important. His hand slipped back to his side while the first of the men cleared his throat.

  “Miss Anderson I presume?” He said. He looked to be in his mid-fifties, with a small paunch and a patch of hair that he was trying to comb over his massive bald spot. His words held a slight accent, but it was hard to place. British? Australian? His outstretched hand held a firm handshake, and he smiled genuinely to her in a way that made her trust him on the spot.

  “My name is Marcus Jones, and I am the CEO of Genetitech. Evan has been keeping me up to date with this amazing project. We just had to be here today to see your friend 'Caleb' start his journey to reality. I hope you don't mind the formalities, but we wanted to have this be a special moment. We only recently found out about the media that was invited by Caleb. I hope you don't mind, but we have a Q&A scheduled before his..., what was it called Evan?”

  Evan cleared his throat and said, “Um, Initialization Mr. Jones.” Evan squirmed under this man's authority. Kelley found it refreshing that Evan was not the always-confident super model she though he was.

  “Right, Initialization. I hop
e you don't mind becoming famous overnight, because all of the major world media outlets are here. Your Rolodex is about to become very full, Miss Anderson!” Marcus joked, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder.

  Kelley gave him a quizzical look. “Rolodex?” She asked.

  This caused Marcus to throw his head back and laugh. Some of the onlookers joined in on the joviality, as they all chuckled and chortled kindheartedly at Kelley's remark.

  “You kids and your technology.” He finished. He glanced at his watch and whispered something to the shorter man standing next to him. The seemingly silent man opened his shoulder bag and handed Mr. Jones a sheaf of papers. Kelley figured that this man must be some kind of assistant to Mr. Jones, as he gave a smile and a nod to Kelley while handing over the papers.

  “It looks like it's almost time. We should probably head to the lab. After the Initialization, the room will be magnetically locked by Caleb until the process is finished.” The silent man finally spoke. He handed over some kind of itinerary to her and Evan.

  After saying a few more words to Kelley, Mr. Jones ushered both she and Evan into the lab while the assistant trailed behind with his gigantic bag. The walk down the hall was where it finally started to set in for Kelley. She was starting to realize the gravity of what was happening. She wasn't sure if it was shock, or just pure incomprehension before, but as they rounded the corner she was assaulted with a barrage of clacking camera shutters and murmured questions. The pool of media reps and journalists was as polite as you could expect, especially for being packed in so close together.

  Evan cleared his throat and addressed the whole group while Kelley struggled to fight back a panic attack. As he spoke, he gave her arm a reassuring squeeze and smiled at her while he laid out some of the ground rules to the group.

  “Everyone! Thank you very much for coming today. We have a few things to get through, but first we're going to do a quick Q & A with Caleb's creator. Everyone, please give your attention to Miss Kelley Anderson.” He said, punctuating his statement with a hand clap.

  Kelley felt her heart drop into her stomach. As her pulse raced, she struggled to make words come out of her mouth that wouldn't make her sound like a complete fool.

  “Hi, er, I mean um, hello...,” Get a hold of yourself girl! Deep breaths! She cleared her throat and started over. The gracious crowd was nothing but friendly smiles and encouraging looks as she began again.

  “Thank you all for coming today. To start out, I guess I'll just say a little about where Caleb originated, and how he came to be what he is today. If you could hold your questions until the end, I would really appreciate it.” She straightened her clothes, feeling self-conscious again, and looked out over a small sea of formal wear and ties. “If any of you have cyber-stalked me already, than you know my field of study in school was software engineering. After my undergrad stuff was out of the way, I did my master's coursework and focused on software and computer systems that enabled the elderly and other non-tech savvy people to use powerful technology. One of my first instances of using an artificial intelligence algorithm was when I created an AI for the local public works department. It was my thesis, as well as my first chance to prove that you could make a user interface that everyone could use. That was when Caleb, technically, originated. Basically, Caleb's first job was making sure computer controlled water valves and stop lights were working right. Since I retained the rights to the basic code, I kept improving on the idea. After school, I was dropped right into the Great Recession, and jobs were impossible to find. I ended up working for Realtime Games. They make online video games, and I was able to use my AI experience to program for them. It was way under what I should have been doing, but it paid the bills. After I finally had some breathing room, I moved over to the research institute I'm at now. Caleb got a lot more attention when I connected him to the Internet. He was able to create networks and find information that nobody would have thought to look for. About that time, I was approached by DARPA. Given thatsome of you are tech journalists, I won't elaborate too much on the specifics, but they wanted to use Caleb’s persona as a virtual liaison for injured soldiers in the battlefield.” She paused while the crowd murmured in hushed tones. Some were speaking into hand held recorders, and others were fidgeting while waiting to ask questions. “That's right; Caleb was intended to be a battlefield medic of sorts. After that project fell through, DARPA tried to find other uses for him, but as of this time his status was unknown. It was only recently that I was contacted by the Genetitech team about something Caleb was planning. If you haven't been read in yet, Celeb has found a way to make himself a real human. He has planned all of this. From what I understand, he is leaping over scientific boundaries left and right. In about a month, we should be able to see him as real person. I'm still not sure what that will entail, but we will… just have to wait.”

  A large, LCD monitor behind her blinked on. Given the astounded look on Evan's face, she turned to see Caleb smiling kindly to her. This monitor was bigger than the one she was used to seeing him on, and it was over whelming to see him standing over her for the first time in his actual intended scale.

  “Hello Kelley. I'm sorry I did not tell you about the press. I know how you get nervous speaking in front of crowds.” He said. Kelley's heart fluttered at the sound of his voice. Instead of pondering how he was able to manifest himself randomly, she just surrendered to the gravity of the whole situation and stood staring at him.

  He was the first familiar face she had seen since she arrived. Even her friends from the institute hadn't bothered to call, and here Caleb had found a way to pop into a secret genetic research institute unannounced just to say hello. Without thinking, she held her hand up to the warm surface of the LCD screen. Caleb did the same. As they stood there, he in the virtual world, and her in the real, the crowd buzzed with activity and more camera flashes erupted while they looked at each other.

  “How did you do this?” She asked him. Her quavering voice was just a whisper, as she fought to hold back her tears.

  “Our meeting right now, or the entire process?” He asked calmly.

  “Well…, I guess whatever… is easiest to explain.” Kelley managed to stammer out.

  “I assure you, I would need a lot of time to explain how I arranged all of this. Suffice to say, there are some things that you don't know about me, but you will find out in due time. Just remember to stay calm. I'll be watching over you as best as I can, but we will not see each other or communicate until the process is over. Take care, Miss Anderson.” He finished with a friendly smile.

  The screen blinked out, and Kelley kept her hand on the screen where his was, until the surface had cooled enough to break the illusion of his touch. With renewed confidence, she turned to address the silent reporters.

  “Well, that was Caleb everyone.” She announced with a big smile. She dashed at a falling tear, and a technician came in and whispered something urgently to Evan. He nodded and motioned the crowd with his hand.

  “Everyone, if you will please follow me. It looks like Caleb is starting the process now.” He said, as he hurried over to the tank.

  Kelley followed, as well as the reporters. They were all polite and cordial, while they gathered around the tank with all the tubes attached. The Cray supercomputer was beginning to wind up and make a thrumming sound. Even though Kelley had never used one, she knew that was a little out of the ordinary.

  The tubes around the tank began to circulate some kind of pink fluid. Kelley momentarily hoped that she wouldn't have to see any gory stuff, but the pink slowly turned to a blue color and she was put at ease for now.

  “The blue color is an alginate suspension. We will not see the actual growing. Caleb made sure of that.” Evan said, as he leaned over her. She caught a brief smell of his cologne, and all of a sudden there was a part of her that wished that she was back behind the server racks with him again. Kelley moved around the group of techs and placed her hand upon the tube. It had b
een covered with a layer of opaque plastic sheeting to prevent onlookers from seeing the actual growing process over the next month.

  Before anybody knew what was happening, the building's cement walls began to resonate with a sound that matched the Cray super computer. As everyone covered their ears and grimaced, Evan gave a nervous look to Kelley and strode over to speak with one of the technicians that were scattered about the room. After a quick and tense exchange he offered up a relieved expression and addressed the crowd while the sound subsided.

  “It's okay everyone. Apparently the process Caleb has setup is using the walls of the building as a sort of signal wave amplifier. We don't know how it works, but rest assured we've been told it's safe.”

  The journalists collectively sighed and joked as the process continued. While lines of code strung past on the monitor, Evan moved back over to Kelley.

  “It looks like we're almost done here for now.” He said to her in a confidential tone.

  She looked up to him and said, “Really? Just like that? We've only been here a few minutes.”

  “Yeah, that's all. Most of the real nitty gritty stuff will take place over the next month. We have some cameras setup to actually record the growth process from inside the tank, but that's all that Caleb would allow.” He said.

  Kelley felt a little let down at the anticlimactic nature of the event. She watched on while Evan addressed everybody one last time. As the reporters shuffled out, Marcus Jones came up to her with his assistant in tow.

  “Well, that's a few firsts for the company. I guess we wait until the growing stuff is over, and see what pops out!” He said with a big laugh. He slapped Kelley on the shoulder jovially. Her frame shook with the impact, and she gave him a friendly smile in return. She was feeling incredibly out of place, and it didn't help matters when Marcus offered her a job on the spot.

  “Well, once Caleb is up and running, we'll need somebody to help chart the data and record the circumstances of what began here today. Whatever your current institute is paying you, we'll triple it. You'll also have a company car, a driver if you need it, however many assistants-”

  Kelley held up her hand to stop the barrage of good fortune being hurled at her. “That's all great, thank you Mr. Jones. Can I have some time to think it over though?”

  Marcus gave another one of his friendly laughs. “Sure kiddo. Take all the time you need. You're stuck here until this is over anyway.” He said with a teasing smile. Kelley figured he was probably a man that was used to getting what he wanted. Truthfully, work was the last thing on her mind. While she jogged over what to do for the next month, Marcus shook her out of her internal dialogue with a question that she hadn't considered until now.

  “So, when Caleb is a real boy, where do you think he'll go?”

  “What?” she asked dumbly.

  “Well, he'll be his own man. Set upon the earth to find his way. I wonder who he'll date first.” He pondered out loud. “You know, he's going to be the most eligible bachelor on the market. Those rugged looks, that boyish smile. He'll have any girl he wants, HA!”

  The words that were coming out of his mouth were registering in her mind, but each one felt like a stab in her heart. She knew that Caleb was his own being, but the thought of him going through this monumental process to blindly hook up with every piece of tail he could was hurting her in ways she didn't understand. Would he do that? He was pretty good at manipulating girls even when he was a computer program. With a real body, there was no telling what he was capable of.

  “What do you think Kelley?” He asked again.

  “Well, I never thought about it. I guess he'll do what he wants?”

  Evan intervened. “Sorry to interrupt, but the doors are going to be magnetically locked in about twenty seconds.”

  As he went off to usher out the remaining techs, Marcus led Kelley out by her arm and whispered in her ear. “That job offer goes as high as it needs to. Just name your price and it's yours.”

  As Marcus strolled off, Kelley stood just outside the door and waited for Evan to join her. As he moved through the door way with a quickened pace, the door shut just behind him with a solid “thunk”. They stood there, the sound of the door's internal mechanisms moving about filled the silent corridor. Once everything had settled down Evan turned to her.

  “Well, I'm officially out of work for the next month. How 'bout we grab a beer?”