Behind the Green Door

…

So you think you know robots

To be honest, my idea of robots, at least from a TV and movie aspect, comes down to Data in Star Trek – the next generation, Johnny five is alive, and I Robot.

Then I started reading about robots and found there are a host of mechanical devices that do everything we can, including building cars.

And, hang on, I saw Blade Runner, and then things started to get a little more interesting. What were they, Nexus 6 or something, sent off-world to fight battles or do other demeaning jobs.

Yes, let’s create robot soldiers, read indestructible.

Of course, let’s take a device that could be used for good and turn it into a weapon. It says a lot about mankind, doesn’t it.

Then we’re back in reality and going to Japan, where they now have a host of lifelike robots running a hotel. Only they look lifelike, but we can tell they’re robots.

So…

There’s one last reference, Terminator

And, this is where Artificial Intelligence comes along and tries to kill us all. Of course, humans are superfluous to requirements, and like the Daleks, they’re screaming, “Exterminate” repeatedly.

This is what we are most scared of, if we make them too lifelike, it will come back and bite us.

Well, it’s too late.

In this story, the robots are lifelike, so much so that ordinary people can not tell the difference.

This one is called Miranda, and she is very special.

Ans she happens to be Michael’s guidance counsellor for his last week. This is not a coincidence.

Why?

You’ll have to read the story to find out.

…

Word written today 1,190, making a total of 6,311 words

Behind the Green Door

…

So you think you know robots

To be honest, my idea of robots, at least from a TV and movie aspect, comes down to Data in Star Trek – the next generation, Johnny five is alive, and I Robot.

Then I started reading about robots and found there are a host of mechanical devices that do everything we can, including building cars.

And, hang on, I saw Blade Runner, and then things started to get a little more interesting. What were they, Nexus 6 or something, sent off-world to fight battles or do other demeaning jobs.

Yes, let’s create robot soldiers, read indestructible.

Of course, let’s take a device that could be used for good and turn it into a weapon. It says a lot about mankind, doesn’t it.

Then we’re back in reality and going to Japan, where they now have a host of lifelike robots running a hotel. Only they look lifelike, but we can tell they’re robots.

So…

There’s one last reference, Terminator

And, this is where Artificial Intelligence comes along and tries to kill us all. Of course, humans are superfluous to requirements, and like the Daleks, they’re screaming, “Exterminate” repeatedly.

This is what we are most scared of, if we make them too lifelike, it will come back and bite us.

Well, it’s too late.

In this story, the robots are lifelike, so much so that ordinary people can not tell the difference.

This one is called Miranda, and she is very special.

Ans she happens to be Michael’s guidance counsellor for his last week. This is not a coincidence.

Why?

You’ll have to read the story to find out.

…

Word written today 1,190, making a total of 6,311 words

Behind the Green Door

…

Memories are being disturbed.

It’s been ten years since the death, albeit in rather questionable circumstances, of Michael’s wife Elsie.

Even the circumstances of how they met, dated, and eventually married, if he thought about it long enough, was a mystery.

But…

In the new, well, now not-so-new world order, the matter of marriage is highly regulated. Because they are living in a confined space with a finite number of people, and the possibility that there would eventually be relations marrying, it was a requirement that brides or grooms came from different facilities.

This was a new world made up of a large number of these underground facilities that could house up to 50,000 people, no more, hence a rule called Rule 71. Basically, that meant when people reached the age of 65, they retired and died. It was deemed the age, which, when also births were regulated to match deaths, populations were maintained at manageable levels.

And, after nearly 200 years, people had begun to question Rule 71. Some even tried to avoid it.

It’s an interesting scenario that will undoubtedly play out in many ways as the story is written.

But, the relevance?

Michael’s wife, Elsie, comes from another facility. She came with her mother, who was marrying someone in his facility.

Her impact on everything that happens to Michael, and the eventual ending is immeasurable, even from the grave.

The fact is, no one, except one man, knew what that impact was, and that one man wasn’t her husband.

Intrigued?

So am I…

…

Word written today 2,011, making a total of 5,121 words

Behind the Green Door

…

Michael has stepped through the ‘portal’ that takes him on the final journey.

He meets his guidance counsellor, a woman nearing middle age, and a surprising choice.

Or not.

He has secrets, and the ubiquitous group that calls itself Management wants to learn those secrets.

Is she simply a guidance counsellor, or is she one of Management’s secret service agents or, worse, an interrogator?

From what he had learned over the years of Management practices, it would be just like them to wrap something so deadly as an interrogator in such an attractive and charming package.

And there is something else about her that reminds him of a case in the not-too-distant past.

Where he will be staying in a bungalow, similar to one at a seaside resort, of course, without the seaside. His counsellor will be staying with him, and the rules do not allow him to go anywhere or see anyone without her.

And, she tells him, they will be discussing cases and creating a teaching course in detection based on a number of his cases.

Of course…

Why waste an interrogator at the start when the job might just as easily be done by charm and polite questioning.

That first night, he ponders which cases they will cover, believing they will be those where his reports were less than informative.

For a reason…

…

Word written today 1,610, making a total of 3,110 words

Behind the Green Door

…

Michael has stepped through the ‘portal’ that takes him on the final journey.

He meets his guidance counsellor, a woman nearing middle age, and a surprising choice.

Or not.

He has secrets, and the ubiquitous group that calls itself Management wants to learn those secrets.

Is she simply a guidance counsellor, or is she one of Management’s secret service agents or, worse, an interrogator?

From what he had learned over the years of Management practices, it would be just like them to wrap something so deadly as an interrogator in such an attractive and charming package.

And there is something else about her that reminds him of a case in the not-too-distant past.

Where he will be staying in a bungalow, similar to one at a seaside resort, of course, without the seaside. His counsellor will be staying with him, and the rules do not allow him to go anywhere or see anyone without her.

And, she tells him, they will be discussing cases and creating a teaching course in detection based on a number of his cases.

Of course…

Why waste an interrogator at the start when the job might just as easily be done by charm and polite questioning.

That first night, he ponders which cases they will cover, believing they will be those where his reports were less than informative.

For a reason…

…

Word written today 1,610, making a total of 3,110 words