How It Ends: Part 1 - The Evaluation (5 page)

The Dean paused. Sidney held his breath. He
pictured the Dean like a TV cartoon with dollars signs in his
eyes.

With a deep breath—one that Sidney felt was
either the Dean coming back down to earth or resigning himself to
the fact that his only real choice was sitting before him—the Dean
went on.

“I’m evaluating the best candidate to send
to them.”

Sidney wanted to speak but knew better than
to push too hard.

The Dean gazed at the wall for a long minute
before continuing.

“Here’s what’s going to happen, Sidney. A
packet is going to come to you directly from DKI. In it will be the
technical and specs for a robotic doctor known as Kilgore. You will
read them over, then contact a man named Eric Breckenridge at DKI.
He’s a senior vice president. He will give you the specifics as to
where you are going.”

“Going?”

“Yes. You’ll be meeting and observing this
robot Kilgore in action. You will then compile your notes and
present them to DKI.”

“Is this a formal evaluation?” Sidney asked.
His heartbeat quickened.

“Yes. And the access is unprecedented.”

* * *

It arrived at his office via currier. It was
a thick package in a padded manila envelope. It sprayed gray
packing material in the air when he tore it open. He dug through
the debris with his meaty hands. His fingers rooting and then
pulling out the packet. The word CONFIDENTIAL was splashed across
every page.

He felt a tingling sensation at the ends of
his fingers and in his groin. He understood vaguely that this was
excitement. He opened the technical manuals with a deep breath, as
if he were about to jump off the high board in a diving pool. It
was a mix of trembling anticipation and stomach dropping fear.
Manuals and schematics and design documents and software diagrams
were all closely guarded secrets. To be in possession of them was
to be in a position of power. He was a knowledgeable man with a
deep understanding of robotics. But rare it was when someone had
the specs for the inner workings of the robots themselves.
Especially not working prototypes like the medical robots.

Not to mention the added bonus of being able
to write an evaluation. An evaluation. A robotic evaluation. A
document that would enter the worshipped pantheon of robotic
literature. He had dreamed about such a moment as this. He had
practiced lectures based on such fictional writings in his car or
in his shower, and sometimes in front of his bathroom mirror. He
had thanked the gathered crowd for bestowing upon him the award in
robotic literature, presented to him by way of his dashboard. He’d
dreamt of such a time as this and now it was at hand. The book he
had planned on early robotics development was thrust out of his
mind. A mental trash dump to clear space for this new project.

He placed the documents on his work desk.
He’d taken the time to clean it off before the package arrived.
Everything had to be pristine for such holy relics as robot
schematics. Everything had to be clean, readied for the sacrifice
to these metallic gods.

He placed the documents on the desk with the
cover page facing up.

He turned it over and began reading at page
one.

He pored over every word.

His fingertips tingled with the feeling of
pins and needles.

This would be exciting.

* * *

He ran into Brian later that day. Brian was
just coming back to the building.

“On your way out?” Brian asked.

“Yes. I’ve got some research to do.”

“Started your new book then?”

“No, not actually.”

“What do you have going on?”

Sidney did not answer. He considered Brian
carefully.
Should I tell him?
Dangerous. Brian was not known
for ruthlessness, but he was not above scheming to get what he
wanted. There was of course no way to know if he wanted to take
part in an evaluation or not. But he was a professor of robotics.
Who wouldn’t want that?

Brian was fond of power games. He was fond
of young women. He was dangerous.

Sidney was known for his fondness of
donuts.

“An outside project,” he said. “Nothing
special.”

“External? Nice. Research or
consultative?”

“A bit of both, I suppose.”

“Sounds interesting.”

He could be so pushy sometimes
,
Sidney thought.
He could be so insightful. Damn him. But he
hasn’t really asked me anything. How can that be pushy?

“Not really. Mainly research and
interviews.”

“With people.”

Damn him
.

“No,” said Sidney. “Well, yes and no. With
people and robots.”

“Really?”

Brian said nothing else but stared at
Sidney. Sidney began to feel uncomfortable under the younger man’s
stare. As if he were trying to stare into Sidney’s soul. Trying to
burrow into it. Trying to steal it for his own. Brian struck him as
the type of man one shouldn’t leave alone with small children. Not
because he had untoward designs toward the children but more
because Sidney suspected there was a strong chance that given the
right situation Brian might eat them. His perfect smile split his
perfect face and Sidney felt more self-conscious the longer Brian
stared at him.

“I have to be going,” he said breaking the
silence.

“Of course.”

Sidney walked down the hall only a bit
before Brian called to him. Sidney turned.

“You know,” said Brian, “I have a research
assistant who might be able to help you.”

“Help me what?”

“Help you with this project.”

“I don’t need any help with this
project.”

“Of course not. I was thinking more of the
grunt work.”

“I like grunt work.”

“Who doesn’t? But it’s so time
consuming.”

Sidney said nothing.

“Her name is Anita. She’s a student of mine.
I’d be happy to offer her to you.”

Sidney shifted feet. Something made him
uncomfortable. Something about the idea of offering a human to
Sidney. God knows what services she provided. Perhaps this was a
game. One of those games people play when they discuss one thing
but mean another. Perhaps Brian was offering her for services other
than this project. But how could he know? He couldn’t. He had to
take things at face value. Otherwise he’d drive himself insane.

“Offer her?”

“Sure. I can free her up from her current
research and you and she can embark on your research project.”

“That’s generous Brian, thanks, but I don’t
think…”

“Come on, Sidney. I’ve got nothing going on
right now. I don’t need her for research.”

Another euphemism? Are we talking about
sex?
It wouldn’t have surprised him. Brian’s reputation
preceded him.

“And she’d love the opportunity,” said
Brian. “The chance to study robots more closely? She’d love
it.”

It was hard to say no to Brian. He always
seemed to worm the conversation his way. Sidney figured that’s why
most of his student got B’s. At least the female ones.

“Okay.”

“Great. She’ll be thrilled. I’m seeing her
later. I’ll give her the news.”

“Okay.”

“How about I send her to your office
tomorrow? Good enough time to discuss things?”

“Sure.”

“Great.”

* * *

Knock knock knock at the door. As if someone
gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. Sidney looked up from
his desk to see a student in the frame. A girl. Young and very
pretty with dark hair and loose breasts.
This must be Anita
,
he thought.

“Dr. Hermann?”

“Anita?”

She nodded.

“Come in.”

She entered and took a seat opposite his
desk. She dropped her bag on the floor. It jangled the strange
melody of loose items haphazardly thrown inside.

“I’m really excited about this project,” she
said.

“Really?”

“Yes. Brian explained it a bit to me, though
he didn’t know much about the details.”

“That’s because I didn’t offer him any.” His
voice was cold and his eyes hard.

“Yeah, that’s what he said. Said it had
something to do with interacting with robots and people. Said it
sounded like an evaluation.”

Sidney’s skin prickled and his jaw clenched.
He had said hardly anything to Brian about this project. Certainly
not that it was an evaluation.
How could he have known? Is he
that damn intuitive?

“Well, we’ll see where it goes,” said
Sidney, which was all he could muster to say. He eyes flitted
nervously between Anita and the office door and his desk and back.
He did not like this girl being thrust into his affairs.

“Well, what can you tell me about it?” she
asked.

He leaned back in the wooden swivel chair
that groaned under his weight. He folded his hands and perched them
on his belly. Before he began speaking he had the experience of
seeing past his own vantage, the sudden startling revelation of
what he must have looked like to this girl before him.

He sat up and leaned forward onto his desk,
resting on his arms which were folded before him, hiding his belly
as much as he could.

He sighed. Working with this girl was going
to be problematic. She was going to be a distraction.

Focus.

Task at hand.

Focus.

“Brian is correct,” he said finally. “This
is an evaluation project. We will be visiting a robot currently in
use at the geriatric clinic of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Its
name is Kilgore.”

“Sounds great. When do we go?”

“After we do our research.” He handed her a
list several sheets long with his loopy handwriting scrawled front
and back. “Take this list and begin checking out books. We need to
research this level of robotics, which includes the history of
robotics engineering, programming modules, philosophies and ethics.
To start. We’ll visit Kilgore in a few days. In the meantime, get
started with this and take meticulous notes.”

He had hoped the length of the list would
intimidate her. Perhaps she would decide the project was not worth
this level of effort. But it had the opposite effect. Her eyes lit
up as she scanned through it. She reached into her bag and rumbled
around the contents until she came up with a highlighter. She read
through the list and highlighted a number of instances where she
couldn’t read his handwriting. She asked him to clarify the
illegible words. To his silent distress she took a pen from his
desk and wrote over his own writing to make the words clearer. When
finished she dropped the pen back on the desk and rose from her
chair, grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder while
stuffing the list in her front pocket.

“I have a bunch of these books already,” she
said. “I’ll start with those.”

Sidney nodded, completely distracted by the
motion of her trying to stuff the piece of paper into the front
pocket of her jeans. The motion drew the attention of the eye and
his eye followed it for a few moments before traveling south along
the seams of her jeans to the cleft hidden between her legs. Her
jeans were cut low and dipped well below her navel which teased him
from across the desk. His eyes followed her form up to her head,
pausing long enough to circle her breasts and mentally caress her
nipples which were just visible along the relief map of her shirt,
and continued up the contours of her body to her face. She was
looking at him.

“Be back here at seven o’clock on Thursday
morning the 15th. We’ll be taking the train in. Bring your
research. We’ll discuss it along the way.”

She nodded and left his office.

He got up from his desk and peered around
the corner of his door.

He watched the sway of her walk as she
left.

* * *

That night Sidney climbed the stairs to his
bedroom and undressed, opening his pants, letting his bulky body
escape, reached below and grabbed himself. He hadn’t seen his penis
in person in years. He cursed silently at his dickie-do. His
stomach stuck out more than his dickie- do. But he knew it was
there. He knew it was there because of urination and mirrors. He
knew it was there because tonight is ached. It hardened.

He closed his eyes and saw Anita.

He masturbated.

Sidney and Anita took the elevator from
level 3 to level 11. The smooth metal door shined their reflection.
Sidney stared at it trying not to feel self-conscious, stealing
occasional glimpses at Anita’s chest. She’d put a bra on today.

The door opened. A robot stood before them.
It stood slightly shorter than Sidney and was sharply dressed in a
pinstriped suit and tie over which was a white lab coat that
indicated a medical profession. From the collar of the shirt a
short metal neck extended upward. It was topped by an egg shaped
head that was a perfect smooth metal surface. The robot’s head
didn’t have a face. Sidney stared at the empty sphere. He could see
a funhouse mirror reflection of himself in the sphere. Anita
stepped forward looking at the sphere with fascination. From
somewhere around the base of the head came a quick flash of light.
The egg shaped head appeared to blink and shimmered to life. The
blank stainless steel faceplate was replaced by the image of an
older man with spectacles and a gray mustache in full dimensional
quality. A projected image.

Anita’s mouth dropped open.

Sidney was making mental notes.

Amazing.

“Dr. Hermann, I presume,” said the
robot.

“Yes.” Sidney stepped out of the lift and
out of habit extended his hand. He paused halfway. The robot did
not appear to notice his hesitation. It extended a hand of its own.
Sidney noted the hand was gloved in latex. Above the end of the
glove shone a sliver of metal before the rest of the arm
disappeared up the French shirt cuffed with a pair of antique
cameos depicting Athena, the goddess of both war and wisdom.