Almost Human

HC Denham

Description

No human being is perfect. But suppose we were able to create machines which are like humans only better?Cleverer, more beautiful, more empathetic, more rational.... The Universal Robotics Corporation is busy greening the desert but empathetic humanoid robots are also indevelopment. The decision to trial them to resolve a dysfunctional marriage ends in catastrophe. When theexperiment is extended to three young, single employees it exposes their differing attitudes to relationshipsand the opposite sex. Agronomist Stella Mayfield's concerns aren't shared by the male participants. Sevenyears on, Stella is back in the UK. Humanoid robots are everywhere and a robot is caring for her elderly mother. The unease Stella felt in the desert returns. HC Denham gives a unique, often humorous insight into the attitudes of males and females to relationshipswith the opposite sex and to humanoid AI as it permeates society. But the question hangs in the air:Are we creating our own evolutionary successors?

Sujets

• Gran Londres
• Isla de Wight
• Edimburgo
• Kenia
• Speculative fiction
• Isle of Wight
• Greater London
• Edinburgh
• Île de Wight
• Grand Londres
• London
• Édimbourg
• Kenya

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838596125
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2020 HC Denham

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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To my patient and encouraging partner (in all things)
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four

“That man is best who sees the truth himself.”
Hesiod, Greek philosopher poet, 700 BC
Chapter One
“How are you both settling in?”
Derek Boyd looked past Trenhaile’s head to a vast panoramic window where a line of robots could be seen moving ant-like across a featureless plain. He was a biologist, not an engineer, and he couldn’t help finding robots slightly sinister, particularly in large numbers. He looked back at Trenhaile, who was smiling blandly at him across the coffee table. Smug , he thought. Boyd was unused to discussing personal matters with strangers – or indeed with anyone.
“Well, to be honest, Sheila’s finding it hard.” Boyd shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You see, she had a career in the UK. She was a college lecturer – and of course we had lived in Finchley for a number of years, so we had a good circle of friends. I’m out so much – well, she’s lonely, I guess – and at a bit of a loose end. I’m not very good at dealing with this sort of thing. If there was a practical solution, I could take some action, but as it is…” He trailed off.
“Of course, there aren’t many non-working partners out here – so we are a bit short on what I might term ‘extra-mural activities’, painting clubs and so forth, although we do our best here at Camp Zebra. There is the bar, and the games room.” Trenhaile smiled again. Patronising , was Boyd’s thought.
Trenhaile’s whole appearance irritated him – the stylish lightweight suit, the laundered white shirt, tieless and open at the neck, of course, just to show he was ‘modern’. Boyd himself never wore either suits or ties – his clothes were strictly functional. Ridiculous in this climate – suits. The other intensely irritating feature of Trenhaile was his flourishing head of dark hair. He can’t be much younger than me , thought Boyd, who had settled for a close crop of his remaining strands several years earlier.
“Of course, people do sometimes take a bit of time to settle in,” Trenhaile went on, “and, quite frankly, a lot of partners prefer to stay at home for the duration. That can be hard on the relationship in another way, of course.”
Boyd’s discomfort seemed to increase. “She was determined to come out here – there were reasons.” He wasn’t going to go into those with Trenhaile.
“Perhaps we could arrange for her to help out a bit with some admin – well below her capabilities, I’m sure, but it would help to fill the days, and I’m confident I could arrange something like that.” Trenhaile leaned back in his chair and fiddled with the pens on his desk, managing in the process to sneak a surreptitious look at his watch.
“I don’t think that would do it. It’s become quite a serious issue.” Boyd looked even more uncomfortable. “I think there may be a touch of actual clinical depression. She’s become quite paranoid – afraid to be alone in the house – I am away overnight quite a lot, sometimes a week at a time at the pods. She seems to have a nervousness of robots – inconvenient, considering the fact that the base is run by them!”
“Very,” said Trenhaile drily. “People have got to face it. Robots are the future. URC is based on that premise – robots and your field of activity – ‘making the desert bloom’, as you put it in your part of the prospectus.”
Was there a slight sneer in the last remark? Boyd wondered. “I know I’m privileged to be involved in this project and Sheila is right with me on that. She wants to stay, but her state of mind is quite worrying – and there are robots everywhere – so the phobia is confining her to the house. And… I’ve had to get rid of the cleanbot.” Boyd’s tone clearly demonstrated his irritation with his wife.
“Pity,” said Trenhaile, “I find mine an absolute boon.” And the bland smile again. “You don’t have to make it tea or stop to chat.”
There was no answering smile from Boyd at this remark, and Trenhaile started to feel a little sorry for the rather faded, balding little man in front of him. He was also, though, suppressing a feeling of annoyance at being confronted with the sort of personal problem that in his view would not arise if people took rational decisions. However, it was his job to ensure that personal problems did not interfere with the productivity of the workforce. He leaned forward, an expression of earnestness on his face.
“I can see that this is a serious worry for you and, of course, you’re likely to be here for some time. It’s our job in human resources to try and iron out any little problems our colleagues may have.” He paused thoughtfully. “I think I may have a possible solution. Let me run it by you.”
Chapter Two
Hughie arrived at the Boyds’ apartment a week later. Trenhaile had explained that the HU5 robots had not been designed to look human.
“We tried prototypes with humanoid features and skin and some people react badly to them – find them, I think, a little sinister. So I’m suggesting you try an HU5. They have some physical human characteristics – size, shape, a suggestion of facial features – but they’re very clearly robots. In their interactions with humans, though, the empathy and reaction to human emotions, they’re really very human – well, probably superior to most humans – super-human, you might say!” with a laugh. “They have no ego, for one thing – they have no agenda of their own, endless patience.”
Indeed, when the Boyds’ HU5 – ‘Hughie’, as he had been named by the technicians, arrived, he was so clearly a robot that it was touch and go as to whether Sheila would let him into the apartment. Boyd was with her and managed to persuade her to sit down while the handler led Hughie into the room. He had a metallic skin, but his limbs moved flexibly – rather more smoothly than most humans – and he had a face with eyes and a sketchy nose. His voice, however, when it came, seemed to come from deep inside his body, and his sculpted mouth didn’t move. His lidless eyes were back-lit a soft grey.
He took a seat opposite Sheila and introduced himself in the gentlest of voices.
Later on, while Hughie busied himself in the kitchen, Boyd followed Sheila into the bedroom to find her, as so often recently, in tears.
“I can’t stand it. You think you can fob me off with a piece of machinery.” She buried her head in her hands.
Boyd stood awkwardly beside the bed. “I don’t know what you want,” he said, with more than a hint of exasperation in his voice. “You wanted to come – you know how important my work is. This robot will take all the dull tasks off you, look after you while I’m away – and, so they say, be company if you want it. This is your chance to get on with your painting.”
She turned to him in despair. “You’ve become so distant – I just, I just want some affection… some of you . Hold me… please.”
He came over to the bed and put his arms round her, but his thoughts were already elsewhere.
“Look – I’ve got to go back to the lab. Have a rest – and then go back out and try to get to know Hughie. The guys would like a report on him. He’s a prototype – never been put in a real domestic situation before. It can be a project for you to monitor how useful he is. They’d like you to keep a diary.”
She sat up on the bed and turned away from him. With her back to him she said, dully, “OK – I’ll have a rest and then I’ll try. I don’t like robots, but he doesn’t make me feel as uneasy as some of the others. I don’t know why I’m calling him ‘he’ – he’s just a machine.”
Boyd sounded relieved. “T