January 3rd 003 SDE:
Williams stepped into the lab feeling a little uncomfortable. She tended to avoid the science decks, but she did have someone she wanted to meet. A researcher she had contacted the other day to look into the feasibility of her cloning plans. They needed new blood to replace their numbers and she didn’t believe the breeding program would produce quick enough results. Pregnancies were at an all-time high and there were plenty of newborns on the ship. Many of their resources were even going into providing equipment to provide for the young, from special cribs with integrated inertial dampers and self-contained environmental controls to insure the infant would be safe resting there even in combat. Each one had numerous monitoring controls and emergency systems to further ensure an infant's safety. It was a lot of machines and quite the drain on their supplies.
Cloning however would greatly accelerate their recovery. At current growth rates, projections indicated they would have a population in the low millions in about fifty years. Of course the projections expected the current rate of growth to continue over that period and a near total survival rate for the kids. The math was reasonable and outside of accidents it was likely right, especially with the actions in place meant to encourage growth. Pregnancy rates were high right now, surveys indicated that most women who could were planning to have at least five kids. No surprise there, the cost of childcare was low right now and the ration credit system was geared to encourage people to have kids. Yet the current numbers which were already showing record highs were not large enough for her. A few million was still far too low and they were projected to take half a century to get there. Half a century!
Cloning would allow them to bypass the limitations of natural growth and get there in a quarter of the time, maybe even faster. She put on a smile, as another woman came out from behind a console. Williams couldn’t help but notice the bulge of her stomach. Given they had previously corresponded via email, she had been unaware that her contact was pregnant.
The woman with a pad in hand, smiled, “Ah Commander Williams glad you could make it on time.”
“Yes well this is important, what do you think of the plan?”
“It’s not outside of our scope but depends on what you want. Mature clones would take longer, but cloning infants wouldn’t be too hard. Finding someone to watch and raise them might prove a problem if we clone too many.”
Infants? Why the fuck would she want infant clones!? “How long for a mature clone?”
“Well assuming we can get the facilities sorted and find subjects with suitable genes? Each clone batch would take ten years from start to finish and would emerge at an approximate age of 15 years.”
“A decade? Why so long?”
“Accelerated growth rates compromise the long-term viability of a clone. Based on your requirements we aren’t looking for disposable clones, but a supplement to our overall numbers as a species. It’s possible to accelerate it to a year, but they will age very fast after emerging. Nano-cellular treatments can keep that in check to a degree. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only issue, rapid growth can lead to numerous defects and health issues which continue to severely compromise the clone’s long-term viability. In most cases we can expect such clones to live between twenty to forty years and cost more than seven times what your average human does to maintain. These clones would also suffer from fertility issues and likely be unable to bear children of their own.”
“Damn, I’d like them faster than ten years, but that... that...”
“Is rather cruel I know. I can send you the data and math for you if you would like to read it, but ten years really is the best we can do. The resulting clones would be far more stable, and have a comparable lifespan to our own with no adverse health issues caused by a rapid cloning process. For all intents and purposes, they would be no different from the average human.”
“Unfortunate, but I guess acceptable. How about training and what did you mean about suitable genes?”
“Cloning is a delicate procedure, and not everyone is suitable for mass cloning. We need to select subjects with desirable genes that are less likely to degrade or mutate. Such specimens tend to be superior in general to the average human. As for training, we can use VR systems to teach the clones as they mature.”
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Countryman stepped into Ruri’s lab and froze for a moment. He had come down here at her request, but what he saw before him wasn’t what he was expecting. Right in the middle of the lab and currently facing him was what looked to be a young girl. Shoulder-length black hair framed a childlike face, she had a slim figure with some muscle on her. What was most shocking was her complete lack of clothes allowing him to see her modest breasts and slim vagina. Her overall appearance was quite life-like and it was easy to mistake her for a real girl, but Countryman knew she wasn’t. Aside from the lack of breathing, he could pick up several small details that gave away her true nature as a construct.
“So, um Ruri? What’s with the anatomically accurate...”
Ruri bounded out of her little office all excited before he could finish, “You like her!!!? It took hours to get her right.”
“Why is she in your lab?”
“Well our talk the other day got me thinking, the reason we can’t care for a child is that we are too busy. A babysitter was the obvious answer, but we couldn’t think of who. So I figured why not make one?”
“I see, but why did she have to be a young naked girl and anatomically accurate?”
Ruri gestured at her console, which had a number of files open and several videos. “I did some research, most babysitters tend to be young girls between the ages of nine and fifteen. I figured nine would be a little young, so I picked a more reasonable age...”
Countryman listened with half an ear while he checked her research and sighed. “I see, none of this explains why you gave her genitals.”
“Cause she would look weird without them. Besides what if she took a bath with the kids?”
He didn’t think that would be much of an issue, but he wasn’t going to press it. “Fine, so I guess you just wanted to show me your babysitter android?”
“Actually I needed your help with the programming. I’ve got what I want figured out, I’ve based it on the same root code I am using for the AGI program. I’ll show you what I have so far and with your help we can create a rudimentary AGI optimized for childcare.”
Honestly making a babysitter wasn’t a bad idea. If they had enough of them it would help a lot with long term childcare. Implementation shouldn’t be too hard, they just needed an adaptive program capable of handling the requirements. There were a few, but nothing all that complicated. He also knew that the root code she was using was his own, but if she wanted something capable of childcare? He knew a short cut to creating a suitable matrix. “Give me a moment than and I’ll get started. In the meantime, why don’t you get the young lady a uniform?”
Ruri smiled, “Sure.” before running off.
With her gone, he took her notes and started pouring over them and what code she had done. There were gaps of course, but he didn’t blame Ruri for that. As smart as she was, she didn’t think in cybernetic. He’d been terrible at programming when he was young, but after being bonded with a computer it started to come to him increasingly well. Nowadays, he could easily write code in the organic code base used for cybernetic systems. Half his thoughts were in code in fact, the machine half of his brain thought in cybernetic and over the years his organic half adapted and started thinking in the same language.
Countryman proceeded to plug into the console and consequently, the machine girl mounted in the middle of the lab. Minds linked, he started to copy elements of his code and used it to form the core kernel. While he was at it, he copied his own experiences with childcare, as an older brother he’d been there for his sister a lot and later he had been there for his sibling's kids. He didn’t just add his own experiences though, he copied books he knew would be good. Using them to form a databank. Before long a new core matrix had formed, but it was young with no real experiences. He taught her, in a time-lapse link that only a cyborg like himself could experience with a computer. He increased the speed to as high as the girl and himself could manage without issue. It occurred to him that all of her core experiences and knowledge were sourced from him and given her form that might lead to issues, with that in mind he changed his frame of mind. He accessed the computer while he was at it and searched for new references, and new behavior codes. As he worked to create her personality matrix a vision of the girl he wanted was already in mind. Flashes of the daughter he dreamed of came to mind. She needed to be bright, happy, and importantly cute, but also trustworthy. A natural big sister the kids would like.
She also needed a name, something other than her designation of BG-001. Ruri’s designation was alright for a prototype but the kids would need something to call her by. Calling her a couple of letters and a number would be awkward. His mind flashed to his sister and he decided to give the robot her name, not the first but her middle name. He decided to name her... Rose.