Chapter 12
Padma
Padma was sitting at her workstation, running simulations on molecular sequences.
"Hey, girl," said Lydia walking in the door, "whatcha doing?"
Padma looked up at her friend. "I'm glad you're here. I want to discuss something with you."
"Oh?" Lydia raised an eyebrow. "You mean about last night? About having babies and all that jazz?"
Padma looked wistfully at her. "Well, sort of, but not exactly, Kei and I have been working on a project together, if successful, it will transfer knowledge, genetically, between a parent and child."
"Wow, I'm impressed," said Lydia taking the stool beside her.
"I wanted to get your thoughts on the ethical issues though."
"Even without knowing too much about it I think it's a great idea. Wouldn't it be an incredible advance for mankind?" Lydia asked. She recognized the concern on Padma's face and hesitated.
"Let's think about that...," Padma started listing her concerns.
She told Lydia about the possibility of not only general intelligence but shared personal memories too. And she expressed her concerns about ordinary human parents raising a child with the mental abilities of an AI.
"Wow, I see what you mean. But," continued Lydia, "if you think about it, the problem would only be with the first generation. The parents of future offspring would have the AI ability as well,".
"I never considered that," said Padma raising her eyebrows.
They were interrupted when the laboratory door hissed open, and Eric hurried in carrying an electronic tablet.
"Ah, my two favorite ladies!" He gave Lydia a quick hug.
"Hey sweetie," he said, pecking his wife on the cheek. "I think we solved your problem. And," raising a finger for emphasis, "without the need for a nano-mite to start the process."
He turned his tablet so they could view it, and pointed to a diagram.
"What if you replaced these Carbon atoms with Boron? The Boron atom can form polyhedral clusters and three-center, two-electron bonds."
Padma studied his diagram a moment. It showed an atom of Boron fitting into the molecular structure of her modified DNA.
"I haven't determined if it will alter the genetic coding, that's your job," he said and winked at her, "but I think it should work."
Padma looked at his diagrams with evident admiration and frowned. "But, aren't Boranes highly explosive in the Earth's atmosphere?"
"Yes, they are but, as long as we confine them within the cellular structure they are perfectly stable," he replied.
"You are a genius darling," she said standing up to hug him.
Eric tapped a few touchscreen keys to transfer his work from his tablet to her monitor and rushed out the door alluding to other responsibilities.
"Well," sighed, Padma pausing to look at Lydia, "I suppose we need to consider the ethics a little more seriously, now. This problem is solved!"
"Would you consider being a test parent?" Padma asked looking at her friend.
"No, I think this calls for volunteers, and I want my children to be normal." When she used the word "normal," she paused, thinking perhaps they did need to rethink the ethics of continuing this research.
Padma picked up on her hesitation and said pointing to the diagrams, "Right, we need to do a whole lot more research before we unleash this on mankind."
The door hissed open again, and Kei walked in flashing her brilliant smile. She reminded Lydia of a puppy wagging its tail when it greeted you. She genuinely liked people!
Lydia clasped her hands before her and asked, "Kei, how was your date?"
"It was wonderful!"
For the next ten minutes, the girls questioned Kei about her date with the Captain.
"You let him kiss you on your first date?" Padma looked surprised.
They couldn't help but giggle when Kei told them if she had not suggested it, she didn't think Captain Finley would have attempted to kiss her, and she so much wanted him to. "I don't know how to describe the sensation in here." Kei tapped her chest with a loose fist. "When I think about that kiss it makes my eyes water. I want to do it again," she said unashamedly.
Lydia smiled at her new friend's naiveté and placing a hand on her arm looked warmly into her eyes. "I think you may be feeling the first signs of love Kei."
The conversation lulled a bit. Kei sighed and asked, "What's this?" referring to the diagram displayed on Padma's monitor.
"Kei! Eric found a way to bond our helix!" Padma showed her the diagrams and ran a short simulation illustrating the substitution of Boron for some of the Carbon atoms. The change didn't seem to hurt the chemistry of their genetic coding.
"We have been discussing some ethical issues," Padma said.
They told her about their concerns and waited for her input.
Kei looked off into space, cocked her head to the side and nonchalantly declared, "That wouldn't be a concern for me, I already have the AI ability."
Lydia and Padma looked at each other stunned. They hadn't even considered Kei's mothering an AI-enhanced child. She would be a perfect test subject if the initial trials proved safe.
Kei wondered if the other AI's would consider joining with a human, like she had, to participate in this experiment.
"I will pose the proposition to them," she thought to herself.
"Oh, Padma, I almost forgot, I scheduled an appointment for Carter and me to have egg and sperm collected for 'in vitro' fertilization. I'm planning to have half the embryos stored here on the ship and the other at a secure laboratory on Earth. The medbots ensured me that it was a fast and very safe procedure."
"I'm glad you reminded me, said Padma, "I'll make an appointment for Eric and me too."
Lydia's neural implant alerted her that the Astronomy Section's new shipment of supplies had arrived. "Hey, I have to go!" Lydia gave both her friends a squeeze on the arm, "Astronomy needs me."The door hissed open, then closed, as she hurried out.
Padma used her NI to consult Eric about scheduling, and she confirmed an appointment with sick bay then turned back to Kei and their respective project. The two spent the rest of the afternoon working out the placement of gene sequences that mimicked the original machine language Kei used to modify the AI programming. It took Kei a little time to develop a subroutine that would compress the coding to fit the limited number of bonds in the triple helix, but by late afternoon they were ready to run simulations.
Several times their computer simulations failed because of incompatible machine code versus chemical bond ratios but, by the end of the day repeated simulation runs indicated they were ready for biological testing.
"I will need to order some white mice from Houston before we can start testing. Let's start a mice breeding program at the same time so the ship's lab will have a supply during our missions too." She put that at the top of her lengthy To Do list.
Kei activated her implant, "I'll take care of the order, I'll add it to another order of things needed for the bridge." She selected Sagan from her contacts list. When they were connected, she had him amend her previous order to include the lab mice. The lesser AI confirmed this with Cosmos' Houston dispatcher and asked if he could be of further service.
"No, thank you, Sagan," said Kei, and closed the connection and turned back to Padma.
"He said to expect them on the first cargo run in the morning, and he will have them page you when the mice clear decontamination."
Padma smiled to herself as she imagined what sort of little indignities Decontamination had in store for her mice.
Kei helped Padma tidy up the Biology Lab then they turned out the lights and walked the short distance down the corridor and across two skyways, to the habitat ring where their apartments were. At the skyway intersection, they parted and turned opposite directions.
The smell of grilled beef tips, stewed potatoes with carrots and onions, one of Eric's favorite meals, met her as she entered their quarters. Eric had set a romantic table complete with wine and candles before she arrived.
"Glad I gave up my Hindi ways," she thought looking at the large bowl of steaming chunks of MA prepared beef. She pondered whether or not molecularly assembled food counted as a religious taboo.
Eric wandered out of the bedroom wearing a terrycloth robe and drying his wet hair with a towel. "Hey, darling! You sneaked up on me," he said.
Padma waltzed over to him and kissed him firmly on the lips. "What's the occasion?"
"Well, I thought, since we decided to start trying, that I'd set the mood."
She smiled at him. "Give me ten minutes to shower!"
He hugged her and swatted her playfully on the bottom as she turned toward to the bathroom.
Eric busied himself selecting the right background music. He picked up the viewer remote and scrolled through the outside camera views and found a space dock camera that was focused on the moon drifting in a field of brilliant stars. "That," he thought to himself, "must be a spiral arm of the milky way."
His pretty wife stepped into the room tying the belt of a silky blue robe around her waist. She had platted her long black hair into a loose braid that fell over her left shoulder.
Eric pulled her chair out for her then sat down across from her and filled their glasses with a deep purple wine then lifted his glass to salute her.
Kei's NI alerted her to a message from the Captain. "I've missed you all day," it read, "if you'd like to have dinner with me, I'll be in my rooms by 17:30. Casual attire," he added, knowing her propensity toward fashion.
She clapped her hands and squealed with joy, and sent an acceptance back to him that said she missed him also and would be there as soon as she showered and dressed.
Kei hurried to her apartment and was tearing off her dirty uniform before her door could hiss closed. She rushed through her shower and hurried into her dressing room to stand naked before the MA menu.
Trying to select just the right casual attire that would impress, but not overpower her companion, was a daunting task. Minutes passed as she chose, first one, then another outfit. Frustrated, she finally picked a khaki short and a white button-down cotton blouse. She went through about 20 designs before she found the right pair of sandals.
She also selected lacy white lingerie, not her favorite but then black might show through her top. She sat down at her dressing table and applied just the right amount of makeup while her outfit assembled.
At 17:10 Kei was pacing back and forth in front of John's quarters when he arrived.
"Kei!" he exclaimed, surprised that she was so early.
"Hi, Captain Finley," she said beaming that brilliant smile at him.
"Kei..., someday, someone, may tell you that eagerness is unbecoming of a lady. Don't you believe them."
She smiled at him again and squeezed his free hand while he looked into the retina scanner. "Please, make yourself at home," he indicated as they walked into his empty living room. "I'll take a quick shower and be right out."
She busied herself wandering about the living room thumbing through his collection of antique CD's and admiring his taste in art. He had several original oil paintings, depicting forest scenes, but she didn't recognize the names of the artist. The shower came on, and Kei grinned to herself when she heard him singing an aria from an old Italian opera.
"How about burgers and fries?" he shouted from the back of the apartment.
"That sounds good," she called back and went to the kitchen to prepare them. She used her AI ability to query the ship's records and found just how he liked his burger and which particular soft drink he favored from previous orders he made.
John stepped out of the shower and quickly dried himself. He examined his face in the mirror and frowned at the five o'clock shadow. "Well, no time to shave," he thought and splashed on a spritz of cologne. Hurrying into his dressing room he selected faded blue denim jeans and a gray thermal shirt that that buttoned a short way down the neckline.
Picking his regular cotton briefs, he decided to make them red instead of his usual white. He wasn't superstitious, but he liked to think of red as his lucky color!
While his clothes assembled, he rushed back into the bathroom and brushed his teeth and dried and combed his hair. Kei was standing at the view screen looking out on the activity of the Space Dock when he entered the room.
"I hope I didn't take too long."
"Not at all," Kei was aware of how wonderfully masculine he smelled as he approached her.
He was amazed to find a meal prepared and waiting for them at the kitchen bar. "Wow, aren't you the domestic one?"
She grinned and sat down opposite him at the small kitchen bar. Before he knew it, they were chatting comfortably and resumed the conversation where they left it yesterday.
"The girl is so easy to talk to," he thought as he listened to her chatter.
After they ate, he had the MA produce a chilled bottle of white wine, two glasses, and a large bowl of buttered popped corn.
The two selected an old movie together, one she swore she'd never seen, although he secretly doubted her because of her AI ability, then cast it to the view screen.
They sat at one end of the plush leather couch. Kei took her sandals off and, tucking her legs under her, sat down beside him.
Near the middle of the movie, he noticed that his arm found its way around her and she had nestled herself into the sweet spot at his side. Everything about this moment seemed right to him.
Eric cleared the table and turned around to see his wife standing behind him. She was leaning against the door frame with the belt of her blue silk robe loosened. He stared at the shiny purple garter belt, no panties, and sheer black stockings. Her breasts were boosted high by a matching corset cinched with black lacings down the front.
"How do you like my outfit?"
He grinned. "I think I'll like it better all wadded up on the floor." Eric walked over and took her proffered hand, then followed as she led him into the bedroom.
"Padma?" he said as he lay with his head between her bare breasts.
"Yes?" she asked, stroking her fingers gently through his hair.
"I'm scared."
She took his face in her hands and turned his head to looked into his eyes. "Of what?" she asked concerned.
"Of becoming a father."
"Oh, darling, you'll be the best father a kid ever had," she reassured him.
"Nah," he said, "my Dad was the best father a kid ever had."
She raised her head to kiss him softly on the forehead.
"There you go, Sweetie, you learned from the best."
He smiled, then, lifting his head from her bosom, he shifted his body above hers and rested his weight on his forearms, he kissed her plump dark lips.
"I didn't take my pill this morning," he said looking earnestly into her warm brown eyes. The male form of birth control required taking a pill every twenty-four hours to be active.
She brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead and held his face in her hands once more. "I'm ready if you are," she whispered and gasped as his flesh entered hers. Afterward, he lay panting into the nape of her neck. He was confident that the sperm just deposited deep within her would grow into their first healthy child. Eric held his loving wife tighter as the emotion of the moment overwhelmed him.
John awoke when Kei stirred from her position where she had nestled beneath his arm. Sometime during the movie, they had stretched out on the couch together, and she had snuggled there and rested her head against his chest. All felt right in his world.
When the feature ended they let the credits scroll by and listened to the soundtrack until the screen went dark and silence filled the space. The dim light from the kitchen was all that lit the room.
"John?"
"Yes?"
"Kiss me again."
Much later he kissed her once more as he left her at the door to her quarters.
in my first attempt at
Science Fiction
Read Chapter One here
