Episode 9 Double Trouble * 2

Summary of the week before: Zach has arrived at ExShell and met BB Star. The meeting continues...

BB turned away from the holographic image of herself that shimmered before us.

"Is she your clone?" I asked.

"If only it were that simple," she said and there was hatred in her voice.

"It is a droid."

"You're aware, of course that it's a capitol offense to construct a droid with human skin tones?"

"Hence my great need for secrecy."

"Is she, I don't know, some sort of homage to yourself?"

"It was meant to be used as a spy!" she said.

"An android spy that looks exactly like you," I said, mulling over the concept, "and you thought that this would be effective? That maybe your competitors would give trade secrets away to someone who they thought was you?"

BB did not see the humor in the situation. "This was a project of my late husband," she said, trying this time to hide the hatred in her voice (but only partially succeeding). "I did not find out about it until after his death.

BS was a very rich, and very eccentric, man. He originally designed the droid for purposes of industrial espionage but changed the specs after he and I met."

"Engineers hate it when that happens."

"BS decided that the droid should be a copy of me, an improved copy. He secretly recorded my brain patterns while I was sleeping in order to give the droid my personality, or at least the aspects of my personality of which he approved.

"I am certain that he was planning to replace me with the droid. This way he would have his beautiful blonde trophy always at his side, a trophy who would obey his every whim and fulfill his every desire. It was also designed to serve as his bodyguard."

"So she..."

"It!"

"It isn't your average android?"

"Hardly," BB replied. "For starters, it is nuclear powered."

"A nuclear powered android. How quaint."

"My late husband had a tendency to overdo things," she said. "He was rich and powerful and he wanted the entire universe to know it, even when he was spending credits on something very few beings would or could ever know about."

"Exactly how powerful is sh...It?"

"Computer, BB-2 specs," BB ordered.

The hologram of the android split open to reveal its anatomy. Computer generated arrows pointed to various features and add-ons as the computer explained the basic structure."

"BB-2 is constructed from artificial carbon alloy simulating human skin and organs in every manner save for performance where it far surpasses the original. BB-2 is approximately 150.1723 times stronger and 176.777 times more durable than normal carbon-based human beings. This measurement is based on a calculation derived from a core sampling of 1000 humans..."

"Computer, just cut to the chase!" I interrupted.

"I do not understand the command. There is no chase to cut," the computer replied.

"Give me the condensed version, just the facts," I said. "I need the figures not how you came up with them."

"Fine," the computer responded, slightly perturbed. "Subject's reflexes are 200.2343 times faster than those of an average human. Subject's senses are far more extensive as well. Visual sense spans the entire light spectrum.

"Olfactory sense can detect and analyze airborne substances as minute as .001 microns. Auditory sensors can detect sounds as faint as .001 decibels. Subject also has the ability, through auditory and visual stimulation, to psionically dominate the minds of humans, even those possessing natural psionic abilities."

"I get the point," I interrupted again. "You don't want to make her...It mad."

"It also possesses extensive and extendible databases in its memory," BB said. "It has information on everything from the gross profits of all the corporations to a list of all ExShell employees past and present."

"Which is why you can't send any of your own people after her...it," I interjected.

"Yes, it would identify and kill them instantaneously."

"What about me?" I asked. "Being a pseudo-famous person, it's bound to notice me, and put two and two together."

"True," BB agreed. "But I think it would consider several other possibilities of your existence before it came to the conclusion that your were working for me, therefore you will have a window of opportunity in which to capture it."

"What if word leaks out that I was here?"

"I have taken care of that already."

"Why doesn't that make me feel better?"

"I apologize, Mr. Johnson, but for thirty-five thousand credits a day you cannot expect an assignment that leaves you feeling all warm and tingly," BB said coldly. "So, you will start work now?" (it was more of an order than a question).

"When did it escape?" I asked.

"It killed two guards yesterday, destroyed a guardbot and reduced two of my most expensive scientists to infant level mentality. It is an angry and bitter machine. It does not like being a copy of me, especially since it considers itself my superior. There is no telling the extent of the damage it will do if it is not immediately stopped."

BB paused for a moment, as if uncertain as to whether she wanted to say more. "Our profilers tell me that if it gets angry or severely agitated it could turn psychotic and simply go on a killing spree."

"An android like that could kill hundreds of people before it was stopped," I said, alarmed (yet professional).

"Worse still, I am certain that it is devious enough to tell the media that it was created by ExShell. That would cost us trillions in lawsuits."

"You're all heart, BB," I said. "I assume you'll give me and my computer complete access to your records?"

The lawyer became a little nervous at this and whispered something into BB's ear. BB listened and nodded.

"We will give you fairly complete access," she said at last.

"In that case I'll give you fairly complete service."

"All right," she sighed. "We will give you complete access. However," her voice taking on a definite 'don't-screw-with-me' tone, "if news of this leaks out, we will sue you for more than you could ever dream of being worth. Your ancestors will be paying my company until the turn of the next millennium."

"Fair enough," I said.

Suddenly, my vision became blurry and my head started to spin. The word "Morph" in bright red letters flashed in front of me. It was a message from HARV. It took me a second or two (as always) to figure out what he meant.

This inside-the-head communication was going to take some getting used to.

"Does BB-2 have morphing ability?" I asked.

The lawyer again whispered into BB's ear.

"It has limited morphing abilities," BB said. "an ability left over from its original industrial espionage spec. It can change its facial features and hair color to a certain degree. Although, it would never change its hair color. I love being a blonde."

"Is it safe to assume, then, that it still resembles you?" I asked.

The lawyer whispered again to BB. This was really starting to annoy me.

"It is safe to assume that," she said.

"What happens when I find it?" I asked. "Do you want it destroyed?"

"I would prefer if you did not destroy it. BB-2 represents a major investment for this company. I would like to recoup that investment by dismantling the droid and selling it for parts."

"Just as well," I said. "I'm not fond of killing things, even things that aren't technically alive. But I take it that you have something else in mind then? A weakness or a flaw I can exploit."

BB snapped her fingers and the lawyer handed me a round wafer-thin chip barely the size of an old fashioned quarter. It certainly didn't look like much, but chips hardly ever do.

"I'm hoping that this is something really special," I said.

"It is a neuro-neutralizer," the lawyer said. (Hearing technical jargon from a lawyer gave me the creeps) "I was a robotics major as an under-grad," he informed me proudly. "The NN is attuned to BB-2's electronic brain pattern. Stick that on the droid's body and it will be helpless."

"My guess is that this will be easier said than done."

"Most things that cost 35,000 credits a day usually are," BB said. "So, you will start now?"

I sighed and then nodded. "I'll need to review BB-2's background and I'd like a copy of the specs down-loaded to my computer."

"Agreed," BB said. "I will make sure your computer has access to all it needs."

"Then we're set."

"You will report in hourly?" it wasn't really a question.

"I will report in," I answered, "when I have something to report or when I need something from you." BB didn't like my defiance but she accepted it.

I crossed the bridge over the river, hiked through the field to the tele-pad and ported out of the office, numerous questions churning in my gray matter every step of the way.

I needed some planning before I started the actual hunt, that was for certain.

A little planning can save a lot of wasted energy (and occasionally a life or two).

One thing was obvious, though. BB was not telling me the whole truth just yet. It was also clear that, for all her coolness and bravado, BB was scared -- or at least as scared as BB Star gets -- and her fear went way beyond the threat of potential litigation.

It occurred to me then that perhaps she feared that BB-2 might actually be coming after her. It made sense after all, since the droid was originally designed to replace her and, if that were the case, I couldn't blame BB for being frightened. The droid certainly had the firepower to take out its role model.

It was up to me to make sure that didn't happen. After all dead clients usually don't give referrals and they look really bad on a resume.