The Kraken Project by Douglas Preston

Author:Douglas Preston [Preston, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Thriller
ISBN: 9780765317698
Amazon: B00GVQZR3C
Barnesnoble: B00GVQZR3C
Goodreads: 18665948
Publisher: Forge Books
Published: 2014-05-13T05:00:00+00:00

32

Jacob followed his father into his workshop. He wished he hadn’t agreed to help reprogram Charlie. This was turning into a real pain in the butt. As a kid, he remembered how much he had loved this workshop, the smell of warm electronics, the long tables and metal racks covered with computer equipment and circuit boards, the pegboard hung with antique woodworking tools, the Beach Boys or the Carpenters playing low in the background. He had thought of his father as a genius like Steve Jobs and fully expected that one of his inventions would make them rich and famous.

But around the time Jacob had turned twelve, he’d begun to see his father in a different light. They hadn’t gotten rich. Instead, they were getting poorer. He noticed that his father often talked too much and got too enthusiastic describing his projects with people he didn’t know well. Sometimes he saw people rolling their eyes when his father went on too long about his robots.

That was when he began to realize that his father wasn’t a genius after all. He never would invent some amazing new thing that would make them rich and famous. It started to look like things would continue as they had, with his father making things in his garage, always looking for investors, occasionally doing consulting work, and his mother always worrying and talking about money.

As a result, Jacob no longer loved going into his father’s workshop with him. Instead, he avoided the place. A visit there became a source of anxiety. This time was no different.

His father was very excited, talking a mile a minute. He had reprogrammed Charlie, according to the “great” advice Jacob had given him. He talked about how valuable a partner Jacob was, laying it on thick, even though Jacob knew it wasn’t true. This was just the first trial, but he wanted Jacob, his “pard,” to take Charlie for a “test drive.”

Charlie stood on the worktable, looking exactly the same. Near him stood a Charlie-sized rocking chair tucked into a miniature card table, with a piece of paper on it and a crayon.

“All right,” his father was saying. “All right. Here we go.” He rubbed his hands together in a funny way. “You ready? I’ll talk to Charlie first, ask him to do a few things, and then you take over. Ready, pard?”

“I’m ready, Dad.”

More hand rubbing. “Charlie?”

“Yes, Dan?” Charlie’s head turned toward his father, his funny, saucerlike eyes blinking. That was new. It made him look creepy, like Slappy the Dummy in the Goosebumps books Jacob had once devoured. At least the voice wasn’t so squeaky.

“Charlie, sit down at the table.”

The robot walked over to the rocking chair, placed its hands on the back of it, pulled it out, walked around it, and awkwardly sat down.

His father looked at Jacob expectantly.

“Cool,” said Jacob. “Really cool.”

“Charlie? Pick up the crayon.”

The robot fumbled a bit and managed to pick up the crayon.

“Draw a circle.”

Charlie drew a circle.

“Make it into a smiley face.

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