The Dolls by James Patterson & Kecia Bal

Author:James Patterson & Kecia Bal
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: BookShots
Published: 2017-07-31T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

We moved through a maze of rooms—each dedicated to a set of body parts and functions, Elliott explained, though he said nothing about the closed doors we passed. I wanted to push him for insights on the murdered men, but something about the basement, and the stare of the female bodies suspended from the walls, made me hesitate.

“Back to the idea of steps,” he said, switching on fluorescent lights in one room and pointing to a shelf of bald heads and then a base of metal beneath them. “Ball bearings over notched magnetic plates. Impressive design, in itself, but it’s the software architecture that goes inside that’s most stunning. What I—we—are doing is leaping ahead to the capabilities not considered possible, and building the technology to allow for, essentially, evolution of the skipped steps.”

I flipped my notebook open and sneaked a glance behind us. I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, with so many eyes all around, and it felt grounding to have something to do with my hands.

“How do you do that? The evolution?”

“Rather than designing better robotic, emotive companions ourselves, we are creating the framework for them to evolve and adapt.” He picked up one of the heads, examined it, and set it back down. “The robots are provided rewards—if you will—for being like people, for having human feelings, and for getting people to like them. That’s what they are programmed to want most. That is the top of the steps. They have to figure out how to get there, to create their own emotion.”

I scribbled notes, and we kept walking. We passed a monitor-filled room, dedicated to programming, he said, before he locked it from the inside handle and pulled it closed.

“Last, beyond here, is the studio—for testing and development, a creative space where we get to see the beginnings and, eventually, the outcomes,” he said. “You know, we are also working on male versions of the robotic companions. If that’s what you’re into.” He waited for my response, but I wasn’t sure what he was asking. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“That’s the next step, after such a warm reception to our girls.” He filled the uncomfortable silence. “It would take some brilliant engineering, but that is what we do—the unexpected.”

Thankfully, his phone beeped before I could shape a response.

“Ted.” He answered the phone, putting a finger up and whispering to me, “I’ll be quick.”

He tried to keep his discussion low, but failed.

“How the hell have we not found it?” he said urgently, walking away from me. “What about the tracking? Yes, we need to figure out why the fuck it’s not working. Why are you even asking me that?”

As he walked farther out of earshot, I wandered quietly back to the last room, the darkened studio, bracing myself. I wasn’t sure I could handle another eyes-wide-open doll. A flash of relief came when I found the light switch—no dolls and no body parts.

All I found were whiteboards mounted on walls surrounding filing cabinets to the left, a set of cubicles to the right, and a long couch in the center.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.