“Noah, Lin! It is good to see you!” Max greets us with his light German accent. His small, round spectacles shine as he ushers us into Louise’s lab in the Research Center. According to my index, Max has mostly been holed up in this weird combination of workshop, hospital operating room, and electronics lab for most of the last several months.
“Good to see you too, Max,” I say, taking one of the several seats set up for us. Lin settles in next to me. “So you and Louise are finally ready to unveil the big project you’ve been working on?”
“Indeed, my friend,” he says, smiling. “We are very excited. But you must give credit to more than just Louise and I though. Evan has been essential in this final stretch, as have Jen, Becky, and Erik when they have been able to slip away from their geological endeavors.”
I had a vague awareness of all their involvement based on which of my siblings I’d felt going in and out of the lab. I nod in acknowledgment. We’re the first ones here, but I feel the rest of them on their way from the cafeteria. Max greets each of them as they trickle in.
Marc is the next to arrive, followed immediately by several of the Geologists. Stan and Phil come in with Andrea, then Evan and Louise complete the group. Max walks with Louise as she comes in, running through some final checks with her. His tall lanky figure stands in stark contrast to her petite frame. They’re so mismatched it’s almost cartoonish, but they really seem to work well together. And by work, I mean work. They’re not a couple or anything like that. Once they’re done going through some kind of checklist, Max takes his seat again and Louise steps up in front of all of us.
“Thank you all for taking time out of your schedules and coming this morning,” she says. “Most of you know that Max and I have been working on something for the last several months, and I’d like to show you what we’ve done so far and get everyone’s approval to continue moving forward with it.”
I feel Valerie’s familiar presence approach the door to the lab. She waits outside as Louise talks. I’m tempted to go see if she needs something, but from her posture it seems like she’s waiting intentionally.
“Some context for this project,” Louise says. “We have licensing agreements with Antonio Campos now that provide a simplified, limited interface to our nanotechnology using virtual reality headsets.” She indicates one of the demo headsets sitting on the longest of the lab benches. “Our dev team in the SynTech offices worked hard to get that all delivered, and it’s already been very useful in several significant projects that are aligned to our larger goals of preserving life, ending suffering, and elevating humanity.”
She gestures to the air next to her and images of solar installations, fields of grain, and water treatment facilities appear. The partnership with Antonio appears to have been very fruitful, and will probably only get more so once we start making good on our additional promises we made to him.
“The VR headset interface solves a lot of the problems of our implant interface,” Louise continues, “including the very labor intensive installation process, the high potential for misuse, and the risk of brain injury in the event of a failure.”
I glance at Andrea, the victim of the worst of those failures in the earlier version of the implant hardware. She’s paying close attention and nodding as Louise speaks. I notice Evan looking my way. Of course he is. I’m the other big victim of implant-induced brain failure.
“There are, however, very significant limitations to the headsets. The feedback is extremely limited, and the controls leave a lot to be desired. For what we license them for, that’s fine. They can allow anyone with some minimal training to do nanotech construction projects easily. But they lack the flexibility that makes our family’s technology so powerful and essential.”
I nod. The headsets are fine, but they’re just kids’ toys compared to the full suite of capabilities that the implant allows.
“So Max and I—with the help of some of you, the dev team, and the SynTech learning supercomputer—have come up with something new that I believe represents a significant breakthrough. We’ve developed a new interface that’s safer and simpler to install than the brain implant, but more powerful than the virtual reality interface. It uses a new variant of the medical nanobots to create customized contact lenses that replace the old optical nerve bypass. Tiny speakers embed themselves into the ear cavity allowing auditory feedback. A mesh of specialized bots embed themselves just under the skin of the hands allowing tactile feedback. And very significantly, the processing component can run on standard off-the-shelf commercially available SynTech phones using a standard wireless connection.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Three dimensional projections of each of the components with animations showing their installation and operation appear in the air and rotate for us to see. It’s brilliant, but I’d expect no less from Louise.
“I call it the contact interface, both for the contacts lenses and the actual contact feedback from the skin implants. This version of the interface can be used as a training stage for people that will eventually get the brain implant, easing the transition in many ways, or can be a final state for people that are satisfied with the subset of capabilities that the new interface provides. It’s a powerful middle ground between the implant and the VR interface.”
The sibs who worked on the project are all smiling as they see the rest of us nodding in acceptance of the new technology.
“We have identified a test subject that we feel is the right one to be the first to experience this new interface,” Louise says, stepping towards the lab door. “I have asked her to test the installation for us, and she has accepted the invitation. With your permission, brothers and sisters, I’d like to make Valerie Gil the first to receive the new interface.”
She opens the door and escorts Valerie into the room.
“Valerie has proven not only her intelligence and character, but also her loyalty to our family and its mission,” Louise proclaims. “She has been an essential part of our operations for the last several years since she started working in our medical facility, and I can’t think of anyone who deserves this honor more. And she is my best friend and practically another sister in the family.”
Valerie blushes a little as we all applaud her.
“Does anyone object to going forward with the installation?”
Of course no one does.
“Then we’ll proceed,” Louise says, smiling. “Val, you have the app installed?”
“Yeah, my phone is ready,”
“And you’re sure that you are ready?” Louise confirms.
“I trust you,” Valerie giggles nervously.
“Then here we go.”
Louise opens a box like the ones we keep medical bots in and my overlay shows them rushing towards Valerie. They swarm around her eyes, ears, and hands, giving them an unnatural red glow. I turn off the detection overlay glow and then everything looks fine. The bots forming the new interface aren’t visible to my standard human vision. Valerie smiles as her phone emits a happy little ding.
“And now,” Louise announces. “Your own set of Butler nanobots!”
She detaches a small contingent of her cloud and settles them on the floor in front of Valerie before disconnecting them from her processor. Valerie holds out her phone, and with a push of a button pairs the new cloud to her device. Evan looks a little nervous, but the rest of us are raptly attentive.
“How does everything look?” Louise asks.
“So far so good,” Valerie reports. “I can see them now, the bots. And I can feel them. Like little grains of sand against my skin. That is so weird. You guys have this going on all the time?”
“It’s a little different through our interface, but yeah, something close to that,” Louise answers. “Give the hand interface a try.”
“What do I do?”
“Use your eyes to enable it, you should see a menu for it in the console in your contacts. Or you can use a voice command to turn it on.”
“OK, I think I got it through the eye thing,” Valerie says. “Yes, there’s a glowing hand that I can see now.”
“Good, steer it with your real hand and pick something up.”
Valerie makes some tentative motions with her right hand, then seems to grow a little more confident. She makes a grasping motion in the direction of a coffee mug sitting on one of the tables across the room and gasps.
“I can feel that!”
“Good,” Louise says, her smile growing even broader. “Now, pick it up.”
Valerie closes her hand and lifts it, causing the mug to lift. She breaks out laughing.
“This is so cool!”
“I want one of those!” Lin whispers to me urgently.
Evan visibly relaxes a little, but still seems tense.
“Valerie,” he says. “There’s a white box on the far end of that table. See if you can pick it up and open it.”
“OK, I’ll try,” she says. She looks down at both hands quizzically, then makes some gestures with them. The box pops open and spills sideways. A smaller square box falls out. A jewelry box.
To Evan: You didn’t tell me! How could you not tell me first!
Valerie puts one hand over her mouth as the other pulls the small box through the air towards her. Evan stands and catches it just before it reaches her then gets down on one knee.
“Will you?” he asks, popping the box open to reveal a small ring with a large diamond and proffering it to her.
She pulls herself into him. With him on his knee they're nearly the same height. She plants a long kiss squarely on his mouth. All the sibs along with Lin and Max applaud as she takes the ring from the box and puts it on. The room erupts in cheers.
“I want one of those!” Lin whispers to me even more urgently.
So I give her a kiss too.
“That’s not what I meant,” she protests, but she smiles anyway.