Random Chance and the Paradise that is Earth (12 page)

“May we try another song? I would like to
experiment.”

Random said, “I think I’d like that. Mia,
Cubey would like to take you up on your invitation.”

“Yay!” she said, jumping to her feet.

Another ancient country and western song
came on. With the rest of the group, Mia and Random—and Hewey and
Cubey—started dancing again.

“Yes, yes …” said Cubey with the beat. “Yes
… the data is … inconclusive … but … yes … I believe I do feel
something. Random Chance, is the feeling supposed to be somewhat
positive in the sense of motivation, and is it supposed to form a
somewhat parasitic symbiosis with my consciousness?”

“Do you mean, is it catchy?” yelled Random
over the song. Mia glanced at him. She had long ago gotten used to
him talking to apparently no one at all, knowing he was addressing
Hewey or Cubey.

“Yeah, Cubey, catchy!
That’s
the
word!”

“ ‘
Catchy,’ ” said
Cubey.

“Catchy!” yelled Hewey. “C’mon, Cubistic,
let’s dance!”

“I believe I am understanding a little more.
Yes, friend Hewey, let us dance.”

~~*~~

Ian and Gelsey saw them off. “Please come
back soon. We have enjoyed your company very much.”

Gelsey hugged Mia while Ian and Random shook
hands. “That’s a promise,” said Random. “This is a great
place.”

“Here’s our SolarWeb address,” said Gelsey,
handing him a small rectangular piece of stiff paper. Random took
it, looked at it curiously. Mia joined him.

“It’s called a business card,” said Gelsey.
“That’s how they did things fifteen hundred years ago. They handed
these out.”

“Interesting …” breathed Mia, gawking at the
card, which showed a hologram of the bed and breakfast as seen from
the driveway, its name in fancy script below that, Ian and Gelsey’s
full name, and their SolarWeb address.

Random and Mia entered the
airlock causeway that would take them back to
The Pompatus of Love
. He turned once
to look back. The Polkins were making their way back to their
horse-drawn cart.

“Now there’s some top-shelf folk,” said
Hewey.

“Top shelf,” agreed Cubey, who didn’t seem
quite clear as to what he was agreeing with.

~~*~~

He looked over
The Glowing Girl
’s
mainframe, then ran a couple diagnostics. The data presented itself
on a flat screen hovering just over the top of the
console.

“Looks good,” he said.

“The little buggers reported several
critical issues at the outset,” said Hewey. “But they’ve stabilized
them: life support and a bit too much give in the APG.”

“It’ll be an adventure in there,” said
Random. “Are you sure you want to download into this old
beast?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m aces. How ‘bout you, Cubed
Ham?”

“I believe I can be of
significant and lasting service to
The
Glowing Girl
,” said Cubey. “Likewise with
its captain and crew.”

“Excellent,” said Random. “Well, here we go
…”

Mia watched intently over his shoulder, as
did Chandra and Sileen. Tony had gone off to work.

Random held two glowing green keys. He
inserted one, then the other, into ports on the old mainframe. The
system gave a single big blink, and the lights all went out at
once, then came back on.

“Whoa!” yelled Chandra. “Did you feel
that?”

“Yeah,” said Mia, concerned. “The gravity
went off for a sec! Are you sure this is okay?”

“Wheeeeeeeeeeee!”
yelled Hewey. “Here we go! It’s like fallin’ down
a big swirlin’ drain!”

“How very interesting,” commented Cubey.
“What an odd sensation.”

“It’s okay,” said Random, looking over his
shoulder at all of them. “The system reset. Hewey’s software is
considerably more advanced than even that new console I installed;
and Cubey’s …” He shook his head and shrugged.

“The boy with the gift,” said Mia in his
ear, and then kissed it softly.

Random grinned.

“Have you guys landed yet?” he said. “Gimme
an update.”

“The eagle has landed,” announced Hewey in a
dramatic voice. “It looks like the bed and breakfast in here, Rand,
swear to God!”

“That’s merely the digital representation
your consciousness chooses to manifest, friend Hewey,” said Cubey.
“An old, comfortable home just like the one friend Random and
friend Mia recently copulated repeatedly in.”

Random couldn’t help chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” demanded Mia. Chandra and
Sileen looked on, puzzled.

“Hewey? Comments?” said Random, shaking his
head and looking down at his feet.

“Sorry, boss. Cat’s grabbed the ol’ tongue.
Cube Dog, we need to talk about changing your privacy
parameters.”

“Thank you, friend Hewey. Have I said
something insensitive?”

“Don’t sweat it,” said Hewey. “We’ll gab
later. In the meantime, if you like this ‘digital representation’
we can keep it.”

“Updating files,” said Cubey. “It’s quite
lovely. It is, as they say, a ‘real fixer-upper.’ ”

“I can’t wait to get to fixin’ it! C’mon,
Cubistic, let’s get started!”

~~*~~

Automated medical units—called
“autodocs”—became common in the mid-to-late twenty-first century.
The United Nations shortly thereafter declared that they were a
human right, that for every “living unit,” i.e. homes, apartment
buildings, shelters, hostels, hotels and motels, there should be at
least one autodoc. Conservatives at the time—the degenerate roots
of the modern Oligarchy—railed against the idea that everyone on
earth should have equal access to health care, but there was
nothing they could do to stop the groundswell of demand. Primitive
autodocs weren’t all that functional, but could dispense medicine,
take vitals, and perform CPR and other emergency actions. Over time
their cost dropped precipitously at the same time that their
functional uses and precision increased exponentially. Their
success was phenomenal and revolutionized medical care while
simultaneously wiping out two of the great social cancers at the
time—insurance companies and the for-profit medical industry.

Early autodocs looked like huge, dark
coffins. As a result, few wanted anything to do with them.
Eventually designers got the hint and began producing much
friendlier and more open units. Thirty-fifth-century civilian
autodocs looked much like small, cozy bedrooms and hosted an
extensive array of functions.

Over time, fewer and fewer human doctors and
nurses were needed. Nanotechnology reduced the need for surgery
virtually to zero; even so, modern autodocs could perform surgeries
on the rare occasion it was needed. The medical profession these
days was limited to those doing research or working for companies
that produced them.

Medical care had remained free for everyone
for over thirteen hundred years. The sight of overpaid doctors
tooling around in expensive vehicles or living in mansions while
profiting by human misery had gone extinct by the early decades of
the twenty-second century. Historians pointed to these events as
the beginning of the Second Renaissance, but also the beginning of
the Oligarchy, who bitterly believed that only the “fittest”
deserved to live or have adequate care. Only those who could afford
to pay should survive and have offspring.

Random’s father used to believe in that
crap. Then he turned. He changed. Random reflected on his
conversation with Mia. Was it his powers that changed him? Why was
it so hard to accept the possibility? Was it because if it were
true, it ultimately led Jameson Samson Chance to his doom? Or was
it something else?

He didn’t like to think about
it too much. But he couldn’t help himself just now. He watched as
Mia punched the access code to
The Glowing
Girl
’s autodoc, which was located just a
door down from the kitchen. The door gave a friendly chime and
opened.

“Greetings, Mia,” said the computer. “Is
this an emergency?”

“No,” said Mia.

“There is an unidentified male accompanying
you. Unidentified male: may I have your name, please?”

“Random,” said Random.

They walked into the room. In the center of
it was a bed. Mia, looking at it, said, “That’s my
great-grandmother’s afghan; and the pillow was Mom’s. Sometimes I
sleep in here just to feel close to them.”

“It’s a great ‘doc,” said Random, looking
around. “Very comfortable. I like all the personal touches.”

“What is the nature of your visit today, Mia
and Random?”

Random reached into his pocket
and pulled out the key. Unlike the others he had used to download
Hewey and Cubey into
The
Girl
, this one was black and had a small
set of knobs at its square top. He held it up and inspected
it.

Mia looked at it too.

“Nervous?” he said.

“A little,” she answered. “Will I feel
crazy?”

“Crazy? Why would you feel crazy?”

“I’ll be hearing voices,” she said. “In my
head!”

“Real voices,” he answered, and then reached
for her hand with his free one and gave it a strong squeeze. “And
you can ask them to leave you alone. They’ll always respect your
wishes.”

“They will?”

He peered into her eyes. “They’re not
malevolent. They’re not going to harm you in any way. If you get
too uncomfortable with them, you can always come back in here and
have the ‘doc take ‘em out. Okay?”

She took a deep breath, then nodded.

“What’s your ‘doc’s name?” he asked.

“Lyle,” she said. “He sounds like a business
associate of my father named Lyle. Very friendly. So I named him
that.”

“Lyle,” said Random, “I want to introduce
some nanotech to Mia’s body. I need the port that lets me do
that.”

“Nanotech can be implanted at the port at
the head of the bed, left bedpost. You will need to exit the
premises for at least eighty-eight percent of the download time;
also, the nanotech will be sterilized and checked for corruption
before implantation.”

“I understand,” said Random. He glanced at
Mia. “Ready?”

She nodded. “Lyle,” she said, “I’m afraid I
won’t sleep. Could you give me something?”

“Yes,” said the omnipresent voice. “Please
lie on the bed and get comfortable. When you are ready, tell
me.”

This she did. “I’m ready,” she said.

A small silver tube with a needle at its end
snaked out of the low ceiling and jabbed her arm. Random watched as
it went back up and disappeared.

“He’s very gentle,” said Mia, smiling up at
him.

“Thank you, Mia,” said Lyle.

Random knelt next to the bed and kissed her,
then again. He looked up from her mouth and said, “Hewey?”

“Yeah, Rand?”

“Cubey?”

“Yes, Random Chance?”

“This girl is precious to me, just like you
two are. Do we understand each other?”

“We damn sure do, partner,” said Hewey.

“Affirmative,” said Cubey.

“You’re to take care of her like you take
care of me. All right?”

“There’s nothin’ I want more, El Capitan.
Don’t you worry: she’s gonna love hostin’ me,” said Hewey. “I’d
rather die than hurt that angel.”

“I am in full agreement,” said Cubey.
“Please assure friend Mia the angel that she is in good hands,
albeit virtual ones.”

“That I’ll do,” said Random. “And thank you,
boys. You two are aces.”

He told Mia what they said. She said
sleepily, “All right. I’m ready.”

Random stood and inserted the key into the
bedpost and turned it. He came back, gave her another kiss (she was
almost out), and then said, “Lyle, turn down the lights, dude.”

The lights of the autodoc went low.

Random left the little room. The door
swished quietly closed behind him.

Chapter
Ten
We’ll Be Together Again
~~*~~

HE COULDN’T sleep, so he rose from Mia’s bed
and dressed and went back into the CCR. He sat at the console and
watched the nano-download proceed. It was very slow, but looking at
the yellow and purple bars as they inched towards one hundred
percent relaxed him. It was quiet in here, peaceful. The computer
beeped every now and again, and the ventilator whirred above him,
sending a constant cool breeze down on his head.

“How’s it goin’ in there?” he
asked—again.

“Very well, friend Random,” said Cubey. “I
assume your third attempt at sleeping can be pronounced an
unqualified failure?”

He sighed. “That it can.”

“I recommend sleep medication.
You may enter an autodoc already treating a patient in some cases.
I have taken the liberty to speak to
The
Glowing Girl
’s autodoc, and it tells me you
may enter to receive either an injection or an oral
tablet.”

“You did that for me?” said Random. “Thank
you, Cubey.”

“Your well-being is my top priority, Random
Chance. You have been a good friend and teacher.”

Random smiled. “How is Hewson?”

“He is sleeping soundly.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“I have been concerned about you.”

“I think I’ll take your advice and take that
tablet. You go on and get some shut-eye.”

“ ‘
Shut-eye’?”

“Sleep.”

“Updating files. I believe I will. You
should take the tablet and do the same. It will increase your
short-term happiness greatly.”

“I’m sure it will,” said Random, who stood
and yawned, then left the room.

~~*~~

Mia was sound asleep. He bent and kissed her
forehead and watched as a silver line wound down out of the panel
and stuck to her arm.

“What’s her progress?” he asked, already
aware of it but hoping to hear more.