FRANCE - Sometime in the near future



Adam’s Quest

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Otherwise we hope that you enjoy the book. We will get the hard copy available soon.

FRANCE - Sometime in the near future

Sonia was being troublesome again. She only wanted Ash to be with her and satisfy her incessant and insatiable demands. After the last session, Ash had collapsed. All he could remember was being carried off in an ambulance. The pain felt like an axe striking at the middle of his back, right between his shoulder blades. The local hospital claimed there was nothing wrong, put him on painkillers and sent him home. The painkillers didn’t work too well, so Ash started adding a few of his own. That’s when the trip began and his life really started.

His body stopped working, his mind cleared and all the things that he had ever learnt and heard, started to run through his mind.

Forget “this is what you’ve got and this is what you do with it - say this is what I want, and how do I get it?”

“The entire universe, past, present and future is in my mind alone.”

“We only perceive time as linear to stop us going mad - and more.”

Eventually, he asked, ‘if this is true, how do I become a master of foresight?’

The answer was both instant and clear:

‘Travel into the future, see what is going on, and become a master of hindsight.’

Two bright spots of yellow-tinged light appeared inside his head and gradually expanded in size, first becoming three dimensional curves like the two opposite sides of a circle, and then slowly growing, until they met in an awesomely beautiful ring that was drawing closer and closer and pulling him in.

Chapter 1

Ash was in hot water and the view from the window was as breathtaking as ever. He could glimpse her, thirty stories down, lying by the pool, trying to catch the occasional ray from the sun as it fought to cut through the haze. But what was he thinking? He couldn’t see enough detail from that distance to see who it was. There was too much smog to see anything. Ash looked again. There was nothing there, just memories. Yet somehow he was in Singapore, in his old suite on the thirtieth floor.

The long bath and the golden travertine clad walls were familiar, embracing and relaxing. Ash felt safe lying in the bath whilst watching the harbour and the beautiful city. He felt completely peaceful.

‘It’s 2022’, a soft but strong female voice said in his ear.

‘How did you get through?’ Ash was startled.

‘You kept your old email address. I played out a hunch and called it up.’

‘How can it be twenty past eight, the sun sets in Singapore just after six?’

‘No, the year is 2022 and I am the Manager now. If you remember, you said that if I ever needed your help?’ The question was left hanging in the air, then the voice spoke again. ‘I will contact you later when you are decent’, and with that the room speaker switched off.

How did she know he wasn’t decent? Could she see him, or was this just a female tactic to undermine him? And how the hell had he moved through time and space?

Ash looked in the mirror at the end of the bath. It showed him to be the same old Ash and he swore loudly to himself, ‘Who the fuck was that?’

The mirror blushed slightly and replied ‘Let me check sir. Do I have permission to interrogate your room communicator?’

Before he could really think, he agreed.

‘It was Ms. Ling, the person who brought you here.

So the woman Ash had never met, had called in a favour. At least he assumed it was the same Ms. Ling that he’d communicated with on the net. Heaven knows how she had pulled him through time to get him here. An urgent need for tea pushed all other thoughts aside. Ash threw on some clothes and struggled to the lift that would take him to the thirty-second floor.

As soon as Ash sat down in his favourite seat, the one that overlooked the harbour and the red-roofed pub in the distance that had been so popular with Nick Leeson, a dulcet voice said:

‘Good afternoon sir; my name is Mia. How may I serve you?’

‘Earl Grey tea please’, was the instant reply. As he looked up he saw the subconscious image that had haunted him for so long, now there in front of him. ‘And the manager please.’ Ash felt a chill go through him.

‘Yes, sir’, and she glided off.

‘Is everything okay sir?’ asked a cool voice. Its owner, an elegant svelte woman, looked concerned.

‘Well, it’s just that I wondered if the waitress is ok, she seems … well … not quite normal.’ Ash hoped that this didn’t sound offensive in this oasis of tranquillity that was the exclusive Club floor.

‘So Ms. Ling was right about you!’ she whispered and then continued, ‘A five peta-byte woman from Abyss Creations cannot fool you.’ She sounded a little less cool now and continued, ‘Well, I hope that the sixty-million credits that it took, to get you here was worth it. Oh, and by the way … what I’ve just said is strictly off the record.’

‘That sounds like a lot of money for a hotel manager to raise. Or has inflation been that bad in the last seventeen years?’

‘No. On average 3.2% per year, and you guessed wrong, Ms. Ling is the Manager of Singapore’.

Ash had long since learnt, that if you want to get on with the opposite sex, then don’t try to compete and never expect anything in return.

‘Oops, sorry’, he replied with a mock contrite face. He wasn’t sure he’d fooled her, but she was kind enough to acknowledge the effort with a weak smile. ‘When do I get to meet her’? Now he was trying to impress her with his business-like approach.

‘Seven p.m. at the Sentosa’, she said, pointing to the largest of the crystal towers on the skyline. ‘The only sane way at that time of day, at least till you suss out the new system, is to take the MRT and a taxi to the old Trade Centre. Then get the cable car. That way you’ll get to see the place before you go inside. It’s also the best protection against the smog. The smog comes down around four and the traffic is dire in the rush hour.’

Ash felt suddenly better. He thought that he’d drop in on the way and see if there was still a Starbucks Coffee Shop opposite the Conrad Hotel. Twenty years ago that used to be his favourite haunt and the coffee had been actually drinkable which made a welcome change.

‘How tall is that thing?’ Ash inclined his head sharply to gaze upwards at the rounded top of the tower. He thought that it must have been built as a monument to a massive ego, or on reflection, he sniggered to himself, a boost to someone’s lesser endowments. The tower must have been at least a mile away. Anyone with a basic understanding of geometry could see it was tall, just from the angle of Ash’s neck.

‘The tower is just over two miles high. Your tea is here.’ Then she gave Ash a quick look that made his soul want to curl up like a guilty puppy dog. ‘And now I must be off’.

Before he had time to respond, she was gone and so were any other thoughts, as Mia glided up bearing an exquisite porcelain tea set. She set it down and poured his tea through one of those intriguing silver filters that swing between the drip catcher and the cup. Mia had a well-proportioned face with full, sensuous lips, a small feminine chin and wavy dark blonde shoulder-length hair, shot through with natural gold highlights. Her underlying energy and physical appearance reminded Ash of someone.

‘Mia, do you enjoy your job?’

‘Oh yes, it gives me the chance to mix with so many different people and it will help me to develop,’ Mia replied as she looked back at Ash. Those eyes were to die for. Again he felt the coldness, although this time a little less so and a sudden thought intrigued him.

It must have shown because her response was unexpected. ‘I do know that I am an animate, Sir. The manager told me that you noticed something right away. Most people don’t notice at all.’

By the time he’d collected his thoughts, she was gone and Ash started to sip his longed-for tea. As usual, it zipped through his veins and washed his brain clear within minutes. It took all of his willpower to focus on reality, if that was the right expression given the circumstances.

So what was the reality? Ash took stock. The hotel, the same Ritz Carlton, still ran like a dream. But a mirror that responded? And didn’t even tell him that he was the fairest of them all! He thought he still looked mean, lean and not too far away from youth. In fact, he mused on, some would say he looked like a young Robbie Williams. But this was 2022, Robbie would be 48 and probably be running for Prime Minister or something. Ash had always thought Madonna would end up President, sort of Hilary Clinton with attitude. He decided that he would have to check that out. Back to reality and his thoughts reverted to the wonderful talking ‘animate’ who looked like an Estée Lauder advert. He realised this wasn’t getting him anywhere, he would obviously have to wait and see what Ms. Ling had to say.

As Ash exited the glass lift to the usual smiles and instructions to “Have a good day sir” from a bevy of babes in smart lightweight uniforms, he did his best to scan them and check if they were normal. He decided they were. Their body language, their smell and the way they interacted with each other, would require another decade of development before animates could exhibit such behaviour. Well, at least a few more decades. So why Mia? All the other girls on the top floor appeared normal. Still, with that much memory and my teaching skills he thought … no, no, Ash decided that he must concentrate.

Chapter 2

‘Large filter coffee, please.’ Oh joy! The Starbucks was still there and the coffee tasted even better than he remembered. Through the haze, which was now getting worse, he could see the Conrad Hotel and the pile of seemingly, precariously stacked white marble paving stones outside it, rising to about forty feet in a careful twist. The weird part was, he couldn’t remember the walk through all those long marble shopping malls to get here. Still he must have done it nearly a hundred times by now and had been deep in thought. A bit like driving a car and not remembering the journey. He wondered what he’d been thinking about.

Ash looked in at his soul and it was straightening its arms and legs in a luxurious stretch. I’m back in one of the best places in the world, so I might as well enjoy it, he thought to himself. He wondered if his friends were still around and what they’d be like. Should he contact them or not? He decided to think about that one after he’d had some sleep.

‘Do come back to “old town” soon, and have a good day’ was the farewell from the pleasant middle-aged woman behind the counter. Ash wondered if she was the same person as the stylish young girl who had worked there in his time. He was later to learn that a preservation order had been put on the whole area, which was laid out in the shape of a hand. The ‘hand’ covered the whole complex, with a ‘good luck’ fountain in the palm, the fingers being hotels, tower blocks and arcades.

The MRT journey was the first chance that Ash had to look at the way the people on the streets were. They were just people, all dressed in styles reminiscent of the seventies. Again!

He started playing a game. Ash awarded himself a point if he could spot an old person. After a while he realised that he had no points and there were no old people. What did they do with them?

His attempts to run up the stairs to the cable car had the desired cardio-vascular effect and he was done-in. It was probably just as well, because just as his endorphins cut, in he got a glimpse of what had once been Sentosa. The whole island was now one great glazed tower with concrete skirts well out into the sea and sweeping ever upwards in an outstanding mathematical expression of sheer enchantment. As he looked across the water, Ash could see that somewhere about three hundred feet up, the cable car made its entrance into this monument to technology.

‘It’s 5.25 p.m’, the voice was back. Ash had reluctantly agreed to be fitted with the ubiquitous infrared communicator that was fed from multiple digital outlets throughout the island.

They’d fitted the fibre optics and secondary amplifiers under the facial skin to his optic and vocal nerves, as well as other areas that he couldn’t understand. He’d been told in hushed tones, that this was an ultra-executive unit. Apparently there were only three in existence. He was also informed that after some celebrity, had been diagnosed with a small cranial tumour, allegedly from excess radio waves, infra-red COM units were very much in demand. In fact, just about everyone had one with a direct 3D picture feed to his or her optic nerves and stereo plus sound to their aural nerves.

The COM was backed up by a detachable waist radio and computer combined. The computer had enough storage space to cope with most of the popular films that were downloaded daily, plus all the archive material that could conceivably be necessary. Bandwidth was now so cheap, it was given away and instead, there was a service charge to cover everything. The waist part of the COM communicated with the ear, eyes and other neural outputs at up to about a terra byte a second on fifty different wavelengths. This was via a fibre optic to small, self-powered Sapphire receiver units so it was safe for the brain. As it contained everything from Bio-data to personal records, the whole thing would only work when it recognised the user’s voice. If it was taken off and put back on, the COM asked several random questions to verify its user was correct. The unit was always connected to the Net.

‘These things must cost a fortune’, was one of Ash’s time-passing comments.

‘Not any more, since almost everyone in the world has been given one. Anyway, you should know about that!’ said the white-coated technician.

‘Me?’ Ash spoke in a small voice, wondering what else he was going to learn. He’d always thought of himself as a speck on a rather small planet, on the outer reaches of some galactic arm, unknown to anyone bar a few close friends. The technician had the build of a rugby player and a touch as soft and delicate as snowflakes. He looked at Ash, in that cool and calculating way that many oriental men have, and replied,

‘Yes, in 2013 you patented the device world-wide and then incited the human rights movement to campaign for communication and information to be recognised as a basic human right and not a perogative of the rich. Once the legislation had been passed, governments had to supply everyone with state of the art mobiles for free. This created so many radio signals that everyone started to feel ill. Of course, the logical step was your infrared COM supplied by fibre optic relays. In 2014, the world suddenly changed from being a radio beacon to the universe to almost reverting to how it had been at the start of the 20th century’

‘I did?’ was all that Ash could manage. He feigned tiredness so that he wouldn’t have to hear anymore about himself. He wasn’t sure that he liked hearing about himself. What had happened? He bowed and muttered his thanks rather than shaking hands, just in case the technician lost his gentle touch for a second and crushed Ash’s hand in one of those hands that looked like they were designed for wrestling wild buffalo to the ground

‘Please board sir’, and Ash was off, the gondola travelling out over the water and what had once been a shipping channel, until a taller than normal ship had cut the wires, plunging people to their death. A dam had been built to stop any ships passing.

‘Would you like to hear about Sentosa?’ The soft voice was back.

Ash started and without waiting for an answer, the voice continued. ‘The place previously known as the Island of Sentosa, was bought by Mr. Adam in 2016 from the Development Corporation and work started on the existing pleasure zone, business premises and hotels in 2017.’ Ash thought, this couldn’t be my friend Adam surely? No, there’s got to be loads of people called Adam in Singapore, they must be talking about someone else.

‘The central structure is nearly two miles high and is composed of towers made of carbon-fibre, carbon nano-tubes, kevlar and steel-strand spun. This is done on site by machines that travel up the towers as they grow. Each tower is braced by horizontal tubes large enough to have a taxi driven through them. Lifts travel vertically up inside the towers and horizontally along the inside of the braces. This means that every room has its own lift. Each room is on two levels. The whole system is cooled with water for the first mile and a half; after that the temperature outside means that cooling is not generally required.’

Ash dozed off before five minutes of the carefully extended thirty-minute journey was used up by this never-ending spiel. Must have been great for technophiles, he thought. He had carefully developed this technique when he was young and had to drive his mother around to Tupperware parties. Within two minutes of the demonstration starting, he could be away in the Land of Nod. Nowadays he rationalised it as getting sleep when you can, because you never know when you’ll miss some. It must have been the bunch of Japanese camera wielding tourists, trying to get into his gondola, that woke Ash with a start, making him realise that he had missed the pleasure of entering the tower.

Ash didn’t know what he was expecting when he got out of the lift to the ground floor, but it wasn’t a man-made rain forest. There were circles of massive tree trunks, a huge orchid garden and fountains located around a central clearing. The clearing alone was hundreds of metres across. There was a two hundred foot high concrete lion in the middle. Ash’s initial reaction was that he’d got off at the wrong stop and ended up in the Botanical Gardens. But then, as he watched the crowds and saw people regularly disappearing behind some of the huge tree trunks, Ash looked around and found out that he had also just emerged from such a trunk. ‘Never could see the wood for the trees’, he sniggered to himself, remembering old school reports. The trunks were the massive support columns that held up the two-mile high structure.

The disguise was perfect and Ash instantly thought of Lara from the old PC game, with all the trees she’d to climb. He had a collection of old CDs. These were now collector’s items and he used them to demonstrate the development and increasing sophistication of game software. Lara had started with amazingly pointed tits and an angular arse, yet within three games, she’d become a well-rounded babe with an anatomy that was envied by most in one way or another.

In the distance smaller trees were holding up the monster’s skirts. Same idea as, but a vast improvement on, Stansted Airport’s structural columns, that also acted as rainwater pipes. This atrium with its mix of fake trees carefully covered by real creepers, ferns and other plants going up half a mile to heaven, was totally awesome.

Ash wondered if the place had its own climate. The air was certainly clear inside and not too damp, so he assumed that there was some form of air-conditioning. There was certainly a fully believable tropical thunder and lightening storm which happened twice daily. This was designed to be both a visitor attraction and to serve the practical need to wash and water the plants. The concrete lion in the middle, was the point from which the lightening started. Apparently, you could see the tracks just before the millions of volts struck the conductor from random points, on a barely visible ring that was hundreds of feet across and high up in the half mile high atrium. For a few minutes the whole tower was shaken with light and sound and at least three inches of rain fell within the centre section.

Ash was suddenly thirsty and hesitantly asked, ‘Where can I get a coffee in this place?’

‘There are eight cafes and restaurants at this level sir. What sort of coffee and surroundings would you prefer?’

‘Italian Espresso in the open.’ He was growing more confident in the use of his COM.

‘My Topology program will take you the quickest way. If you do not want this explanation about topology again blink twice.’ Ash blinked twice. Well, it beat putting a tick in a box.

The voice continued ‘You have e-mail from Ms. Ling. It reads “See you at seven sharp on the top floor of Heliocity. A guide will meet you at lift eleven. This is non-stop from the ground floor and will take two minutes or less.” End of message’.

‘What is Heliocity?’ Ash tried to sound nonchalant to cover his concern about the speed the lift would travel at. Now he was performing for a machine! Still, in this place anyone could be over-viewing or listening. He would have to check out current law and its implementation relating to personal privacy.

‘The top 52% of The Sentosa is nearly self-supporting in terms of weight; each 150 yards of the upper structure has an atrium filled with a helium and oxygen mixture.’

‘Ok, I get the picture. I suppose a Helio-copter just lowered the sections into place.’

‘You are nearly correct Sir; it was in fact, an airship.’ The voice was soft and almost expressionless, some would say bland. Ash decided that he would have to access the voice’s core data and program to make life more interesting.

Slightly rattled that he had guessed wrong, Ash snapped, ‘Now do I get that coffee?’ He was getting even more used to the COM and was hardly moving his lips, just whispering.

‘Just follow my instructions sir’, said the soft voice.

‘Right, show me the direct way.’ Ash was feeling more confident and his authoritative tone was back.

‘How about going another way?’ asked another voice in his left ear.

A vision of Mia’s well-rounded rear flashed through his mind, just before Ash thought he must be losing it if he was fantasising about an animate he’d only met once. To clear his time-lapsed mind, he spoke out loud in his normal voice - ‘Get a hold of yourself, Ash.’

Chapter 3

‘Not in public please.’ This time the voice was unmistakably Mia’s and spoke with carefully calculated concern.

Ash spun around and nearly fainted with relief at the sight of Mia standing there. She wasn’t wearing her dark uniform and she was dressed in an expensive and figure-hugging dress. He could see that she was more than just attractive. She had an air about her. He wanted to look into her eyes to see if they had any depth. He was sure that this time, he’d spotted a flicker of an embryonic soul. Ash decided he wasn’t going mad and imagining things; it was more a case of being slightly daft, seeing something that couldn’t possibly be there. Still, he reasoned, he’d always relied heavily on his sensitivities and wasn’t going to switch them off just to attempt to protect himself.

‘Is double talk part of your programming, or do you have the freedom to create your own sub-routines? And what are you doing here? Not that I mind’, Ash added hastily, feeling like an awkward schoolboy.

‘No, my subroutines are self-generating genetic programs that adapt as the input on my neural network varies. I suggested an alternative route because I thought that you might like to see some of the exotic orchids and ferns that are in the shady part of the gardens. What does your question about double talk mean? Does it have a deeper meaning than I can work out? You spoke about putting your arms around yourself? I thought that that would show instability to anyone watching. Oh, and what am I doing here? Well, I am on my way to my classes.’

Mia was a smart arse in more than one sense, thought Ash. Or maybe, she was just a machine, doing her best in a sophisticated world with a highly complicated language? The English language was renowned for its double meanings and as a method of negotiating business terms and conditions, it was always the choice of the native English speaker, who could then use it to run rings around anyone not brought up speaking it from birth.

‘I’m sorry, and yes, I would like to see the flowers, especially the orchids.’ This quick side step seemed to work and Ash could keep his embarrassment to himself.

‘The Dracula orchid has just started to bloom and is worth seeing’ she said, quite oblivious to his internal churning. They strolled through the gardens with Mia giving a quick talk on the nature and culture of orchids, at the same time pointing out the more exotic blooms. It seemed like only a second before they were at the coffee bar and Mia was saying good-bye, telling him that she had to rush to her classes. Had she been avoiding any discussion that would bring her closer to him, or was she beyond the sophistication that mortals normally deal in?

‘Wait’, Ash said. ‘Will I see you again?’

‘99.76% degree of certainty’, came the fading reply as she ran towards the lift, her rounded, yet athletic form, searing itself into his subconscious.

Ash decided another cup of Espresso would sharpen his thinking. It might also stop him straying too near a precipice and seeing the resultant dark abyss that would certainly look back at him with scorn. The Coffee Bar had been carefully hidden behind a magnificent thicket full of the yellow and red stemmed bamboo that grows so well in the tropics. It was only a few hundred yards from lift eleven, another good copy of a buttressed rain forest tree. This time Ash went slowly, taking in his surroundings. Apparently the lifts ran up one column, across a brace and down another column to avoid collision. This meant that several lifts could run at the same time, in the same shaft. Rather like the paternoster lifts in his old college building, Ash thought. He always set up the new guys, telling them never to go above the top floor, otherwise they could tip upside down and get caught in the works. The next time they were in the lift Ash would engage them in conversation and then, belatedly tell them, ‘Sorry, its too late!’ after they’d passed the top floor and started screaming about not wanting to die! He could usually guarantee a 50% hit rate, which translated as a white and shaking student, when they eventually got out.

Now it was his turn. As Ash walked between two immense buttresses, his COM identified him to the lift. The lift set off at speed. In the first part of the journey, his spine seemed to shrink inches and in the second half, most of his body weight seemed to be taken off of his feet. Was the padded ceiling for executives in a rush or was it just trim? Ash wondered why was he being met at a lift when all rooms had private access. Still, why think? He would be there before he could work it out.

The door opened and he stepped out onto a transparent floor that encircled the very top of the tower. Only the thinnest of clear membranes, prevented him from falling two miles down the centre column. Air and helium, that must have been filtered out all of the dust, made the view down surreal. Everything stood out in the crispest of detail. He wondered what the view would look like the other way, out over Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The ceiling was domed upward with, he presumed, pressurised air, because his ears hadn’t popped in the lift or when he’d got out.

‘Don’t ever worry about falling sir. There are over thirty nets and membranes that would stop you without a scratch. The system works on spider net technology. It’s just that their refractive index is such that you don’t see them. I am Peter, sir, and I shall take you to see Ms. Ling in a just a few minutes.’

Did all these people try to anticipate his thoughts and unspoken questions? This was taking customer service a step too far. If they could do all this, then why did they bring him here?

‘Where is Ms. Ling’s office?’ Ash asked.

‘About one hundred yards round to the right sir.’

Ash quickly calculated that the office would look out over the main island of Singapore and on a clear day, it might even be possible to see something.

Together with Peter, Ash walked quickly around the tower and at the stroke of seven entered Ms. Ling’s office through a set of replica Japanese paper doors. Ash guessed the fittings were light to reduce the overall load on the structure.

Ms. Ling stood up to what must have been nearly five foot seven in her three inch heels and she held out the most beautiful hand that Ash had ever seen. Her fingers were slim and her skin was soft and cool. Her expertly manicured nails extended just three to four millimetres. Covered in clear varnish, they showed perfect half moons. The rest of her was just as faultless and if he’d ever had a fantasy figure tucked away in his sub-conscious, then this was it. Ash had always had a thing for long straight hair and Ms. Ling’s fell at least seven inches below her shoulders. Her face was slim with high cheekbones and well formed lips, she was one of the most stylish and attractive women that he had ever seen.

‘Good evening Ash, I hope that you are well and that you have had a good day.’

He tried not to stare and confirmed that he was fine, apart from a little time lag. He also said that he trusted she was okay. The way that she looked at him was unfathomable and he had to stretch his imagination to its limits, to get any sort of cross-reference in his inner mind. There was something there, like the faintest of glimpses into a nature program that had been badly recorded on an old stretched tape.

Although intrigued by everything, he was also a little put out at the way that he had been summoned. Ash was tired and also slightly pissed off that it had been assumed he didn’t mind. Still, he reasoned, he did owe this woman a favour from the past when she’d helped him. He planned to keep a professional distance and not be drawn into anything. She must have been about thirty-nine – to a man in his twenties, this was a big gap in time.

‘So what exactly is the problem?’ was his opening line. Ash’s voice was neutral.

‘Look out and tell me what you see’, she replied in an equally flat voice.

Ash walked over to the thin but rock-hard, multiple membrane that kept the warmth in and looked down.

‘A tall tower disappearing into the mist about a few thousand feet below.’ He thought perhaps he should show off his knowledge and asked, ‘Shouldn’t we be looking down over Orange Grove Road?’

‘Yes, and what used to be the Shangri La Hotel. It is now an enforced retirement complex for Asian Government Officials complete with a massive security wall.’ She thought hard, ‘and records show that you used to stay there when you were a child.’

She’d done her homework and he wondered what else she knew. Never one to miss showing off his memory, Ash retaliated, ‘I remember swimming in the pool with Ian Botham when I was very young.’

‘The whole area for several miles around has been suffering from unusual pollution for the last few years and unlike previous years, when the rains come, it hasn’t gone away. As you probably know, the primary cause was the slash and burn policy The secondary cause was photo-smog caused by cars and factories. Politicians secretly endorsed the burning off of vegetation by farmers. We thought that once we had changed and tightened the laws in our three countries and convinced the politicians to take early retirement, the problem would disappear. Unfortunately by the time, the major corporations got their acts together and decided that they should run the area and clean up the politics, a depression had set in and the pollution stayed.’

She sighed and went on, ‘If we can just get rid of it, then there is a very good chance that it won’t come back because we have stopped the burning, and with money from the more enlightened companies we have started re-forestation.’

Some speech. And now he knew what the ‘retirement’ complex was really for. Still, they did have a problem and needed his help. Now he knew the extent of the challenge Ash was no longer pissed off at the summons, but flattered.

‘Do you think it will go away by itself? And if so, when?’ was his first spoken hope.

‘The sun is approaching the end of an eleven year cycle and we don’t expect any change for about two to three more years. By that time there will be a financial disaster with the loss of the tourist trade and the withdrawal of major financial institutions who are tired of the endless smog.’ Tiredness showed in her eyes and she started again.

‘Adam would never have built this place if he’d known what was going to happen. We have only had a small uptake on the property-rentals and in a few more months, the banks will close us down. We have tried every expert from microwave specialists to rainmakers. Although I am the overall manager of Singapore, this is an issue for all three countries. But because we are in the centre and because I was given this big fancy office, I’m being judged on my ability to solve the problem.’ She tried to smile but it was a weak attempt. Her voice had also grown weaker. ‘I suppose you think I am being a typical woman now and showing my weakness’, she finished.

‘There’s no weakness in speaking the truth. It’s the hardest thing of all. I admire you your forthrightness.’

Again Ash caught a glimpse of that look; the impression on his mind was a bit stronger this time. If only he could think more clearly.

Trying to create some distance from both Ms. Ling’s anguish and the problem, he changed direction, asking, ‘Do I know Adam?’

She instantly realised his tactic, relaxed and replied, ‘Yes, he was one of your friends – when you sold your first major idea to improve the internet, you arranged that he would get the Far East franchise. The money he made helped him to build this place.’

She really had his attention now. He stepped back from the non-existent view and asked:

‘And what idea was that?’

‘ We will tell you that when you have solved our problem. It would be wise not to question anyone about it. If you got the answer wrong, you could upset the direction of your own future and your very survival’, she said, now fully recovered and back in professional mode. He was neither clever enough to challenge her knowledge, or silly enough to risk upsetting the smooth-running of his little universe.

‘You have created a paradox.’ He spoke abruptly trying to get her to concede some ground, but he didn’t stand a chance.

‘You know as well as any thinking person what to do with a paradox.’ She spoke curtly as if to a petulant child.

‘And what’s that?’ he said, now swinging into student mode to try to unbalance her a little. No chance.

‘Live with it, Ash’, she replied, still maintaining the professional air.

Of course she was right and he admitted to himself that it was probably going to take some really devious ploy on his part to get her to part with this information before she was ready to tell him. He could try his friend Adam, although he would probably be in on the plan and reveal nothing. Ash found out later that all databases had been wiped and in any case, he didn’t dare take the risk of his motives being questioned. ‘I am sorry to tell you Ash, that Mr. Adam has taken a vacation to a retreat and will be incommunicado for at least three weeks. The strain of all this has really been getting to him, so I got together with his wife Janice and pushed him into it. She has gone with him.’

Time would tell, thought Ash, who would win this particular battle of wits and as he walked glumly back to the window. A thought came out of nowhere that nearly made him cry out loud.

‘And where is the Ash from 2022?’ He had to control myself not to shout as he stayed looking out over the smog. ‘Won’t I destroy myself if I meet me?’.

He quickly turned around and caught that picture again, and this time he had it. The image was of a female elephant vainly trying to push a younger male out of a mud pit. He swore under his breath and put it down to the Espresso.

‘You went to Nepal some time ago. Since then you have refused to answer all communications’. Ash was exhausted and said he must go back to his hotel for some much-needed sleep.

‘We have a private tunnel that runs under the RC – Peter will take you. Shall we meet again at ten tomorrow? Peter can collect you at 9.45 am. There is another entrance to the tunnel at the Conrad so you can get some decent coffee first. I know how you like Starbuck’s’ and saying this she almost smiled at him. How did hell did she have so much information about something so many years ago? Or maybe she’d had him followed from the Ritz. That was more like it.

Ms.Lee must have made some move that he didn’t spot, because just then Peter entered and asked, ‘Are you ready, sir?’

‘Absolutely,’ replied Ash.

When they reached the lift Peter looked at Ash and asked, ‘Would you like some fun, sir?’

‘No. I’m a serial monogamist and don’t go in for hookers’.

His blunt reply was deliberately intended to discourage Peter from any further suggestions.

Peter raised his eyebrows and his eyes wrinkled in the glimmer of a smile.

‘No sir, I meant with the lift. I can control it so that we can drop and your feet are off the ground for several seconds, or I can use the pseudo artificial gravity coils to keep your feet on the ground. These work like linear induction coils only they are tuned to a different frequency.’

‘Thanks, but no thanks. I like to keep my feet are on the ground. And then thinking he might have sounded harsh, he hastily added, ‘Especially when I’m tired’. Although he thought, it might be a different story if it was with someone like Mia. Christ Ash, he thought to himself, hold it together and keep your thoughts under control. Just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you should slip up. Anyone could be listening.

The journey was a sedate down-and-sideways movement in the same car, and in a few minutes he was getting out of the secret door near the health club. He must have a look in the morning and see what innovations would be on offer in a gym in 2022. Ash caught the lift to the Club on the thirty-second floor and ordered a hot chocolate from a pretty blonde in the usual smart dark uniform. She looked about eighteen and was still obviously impressed by working in such a place. It was strange how the Ritz had stayed so popular when most of the other hotels had been rebuilt or, he laughed to himself, turned into posh prison camps like the Shangri-La. Still, it was probably more comfortable than Changi-Prison.

Before he’d even managed to finish his drink, Ash was suddenly consumed by tiredness and just managed to make it to his suite, where he crawled into his king-size bed and immediately fell asleep.

As he stirred, Ash suddenly recalled dreaming in vivid detail about himself and Mia. They’d been jogging around the half-mile plus circle inside the inner support columns of the Sentosa. What was odd was that he’d been relatively cool in the climate controlled atmosphere of the building, whilst Mia was looking very hot. Okay, so he was a fitness fanatic, but why was an animate perspiring? And why couldn’t she keep up with him? Was she really an animate, or was he being set up for something even beyond his paranoid musings? He would have to conduct some cold analytical research of his own, even if it meant straying outside his normal code of ethics. And given the unusual circumstances, he wasn’t sure that he even knew what his supposed code of ethics was anymore.

After a good workout in the health club, a shower and a massage, he dressed and took the lift to the Club for breakfast, hopefully to start some research. He decided that he would have to be sly so that if he were being set up, he wouldn’t risk giving the game away by showing his curiosity. If Mia were to be there, things would be easier. Ash reckoned that he could outsmart most humans with carefully conducted reverse psychology. So why not Mia? Whatever she might turn out to be.

Ash decided he had to define some limits and set some rules so that he didn’t get side-tracked. In his time it would have been easy to tell the difference between a woman and an animate. There was also the small fact that animates didn’t exist. The mannequins, though exceptionally attractive, were made of silicon rubber and steel. In 2022 they could be made of anything, from synthetic flesh, to cloned flesh, to god knows what. The skeleton would probably be polypropylene or some exotic composite so that metal detection would be out of the question. The motive system might be a give-away, as long as it was mechanical, not cloned.

The advance of fine multi-laminates driven by a pietzo electric effect to make artificial muscles was a possibility. If the muscle wasn’t screened, then it would give off a signal. He had had some good results when he tried it, back just after the turn of the Century, but couldn’t get any company interested in it. The problem back then had been that the World was slowly going into recession, fuelled initially by unsuccessful investments in many of the so called Hi-Tech stocks and then led by profligate overspending by some developed countries on projects that were totally unnecessary. This fiscal masochism was probably needed to bring on enough pain to create a desire for change, but it hadn’t helped people like Ash when they tried to raise money for a new idea. People had reverted to the concept of wanting a company to show a return on an investment and to be financially prudent.

It was the power-to-weight ratio that had baffled him then but Ash knew with precision manufacturing it should have worked. It would certainly be an improvement on having to circulate complex compounds continuously around all the quasi flesh and muscle.

He also reasoned that the complexity involved, would mean that there wouldn’t be any point in going to all the expense of manufacturing flesh with its high support needs, when inert synthetics were readily available. After all it would be cheaper to hire humans. So he reasoned, in terms of probability, he would be looking for synthetic flesh with the animation driven by some form of pseudo-muscle. It couldn’t have been piston or air driven sacks. Not if the way that Mia’s arse moved was anything to go by... He came down on the side of pietzo driven muscles.

So what about temperature? Well, that could be taken care of in many ways, the simplest being a resistant layer or layers that could be heated by an accurately controlled current. He was back to physical contact and the yet-to-be explored mental aspect. How could he test Mia’s flesh and still be humane about it? Fire and acid came to mind, but then if she was a human playing at being an animate, he couldn’t take the risk. Plus, if the old Singapore laws were anything to go by it would probably mean spending a long and a not too comfortable holiday in Changi Prison if it were found out that he had been testing an animate to destruction or, even worse, a human. That clearly was a non-starter and so he was back to mental testing. Perhaps he would never see her again and the problem would go away. No, he thought, he must prepare some questions so that if he did see her then he would be ready. Come to think of it, what were his chances of seeing her? Didn’t she say 99.76% certainty? Okay so that was a pretty high probability and Ash decided he better get his questions ready. They’d have to be good. Perhaps a mixture of Socratic humour and classical reading? Whichever approach he went for, he’d require more time to think further and right now he needed to get ready for Ms. Ling, who Ash had privately christened the Dragon Lady......

At 10 am sharp, Ash was back at the top of the tower and in Ms. Ling’s office.

Chapter 4

‘Well, Ash, I should probably start by explaining our problems from the beginning’, Ms. Ling said as she collected her thoughts together.

‘It doesn’t matter how the information gets to me, if you can picture the way my mind works, then I mentally allocate a theoretical three-dimensional matrix and place all the information in the matrix.’ He said this rather self-consciously. Generally Ash didn’t like people seeing inside his head, but on this occasion, he felt it was necessary.

Ms. Ling looked at him strangely and said quite bluntly, but with a hint of a smile, ‘Do you think you’re a robot?’

‘I think, therefore I am’! Ash thought he would test the extent of her knowledge.

‘So! Like the great man are you also a vegetarian?’ There was another twinkle.

‘You have me there, I know that Descartes predicted robots but I must admit I didn’t know he was a vegetarian; how did you find out?’

‘Well!’, she said, now laughing at Ash, ‘He was brought up on letters wasn’t he?’

The smile was swiftly replaced with a more serious expression as she continued, ‘Perhaps now you know I have a brain, we can start work?’

It always took Ash by surprise when someone outsmarted him, so he decided to follow her suggestion.

‘Thank you, my brain always works better when I’ve just been beaten – please carry on with your explanation of the problem.’

Ms. Ling settled herself behind her desk, took a sip of water and put her exquisite hands and slim wrists on the desk. She had Ash thinking about how delicate her bones were and he wondered if she slept on ten mattresses like the princess in the fairy tale. Before his fantasies could go any further, she spoke.

‘When we started building this complex, about three years ago, the weather started to change and although we have researched what could be causing it, we have come to no firm conclusions. We think that it might be due to part, of the sun’s eleven-year cycle. If this is the case, then the whole effect could last a few more years.

At the same time there were numerous fires caused by the landowners trying to clear the forest. This caused the air to become polluted. The air movement stopped and the pollution gradually built up. As you now know, the corporations, together with the government, found a solution by sending the guilty politicians and their friends to a holiday camp.’

As she stopped talking, Ms. Ling looked into space for a while as if trying to collect her thoughts. She must have recounted this a thousand times and the strain was beginning to show. He imagined she had little hope that he would be able to solve the problem. She was, however, professional enough to make another attempt at explaining her country’s problems and at the same time treat him like the light at the end of a tunnel. Ash had to admit that he was starting to have a lot of respect for her.

She looked at him in that strange way again and continued,

‘If we don’t do something soon, the whole economy could go into rapid decline. Plus, some of the more superstitious members of government and corporations might play on public fear and say that the problem has been caused by this structure.’

‘Do you really think that people in 2022 would believe such a thing?’

‘I thought that you knew the Far East quite well and that you would realise it only takes a small event to change the whole way people think, particularly those that have not had the benefit of a broad education’, Ms Ling replied in a rather superior manner, probably trying to keep her distance from the problem.

‘Ash!’, she suddenly snapped.

‘Sorry, I’d forgotten where I was for a minute. I was still in France in my mind. You know, that place that I was dragged from’, was his rather lame reply.

‘So what is the theoretical cause of the problem?’ he continued.

‘The general consensus is that there is an inversion layer over the smog and this is stopping any movement, plus the whole weather system in the region seems to have come to a complete standstill. It is something like the El Ninio effect, but appears to be different this time, in that the flow of air across the Pacific has virtually stopped’, she said.

‘What is the long-term forecast for a change of wind, or for any wind come to that?’ His mind was starting to wander.

‘There is no change predicted’, was the solemn reply.

He could not think of anything more to ask at this point, so he walked to the massive window and looked down. Far below, he could see the smog that covered Singapore and the land around.

‘How far up is the inversion layer?’ he asked.

‘About a mile down’, Ms. Ling replied. Until now, Ash hadn’t really thought about the height of the building and then, suddenly, as it sunk in, it took all of his willpower to stop himself from shaking and shouting that he wanted to leave.

As Ash turned away from the window, she said, ‘You look rather pale, can I get you something?’

‘An Espresso at ground level’, and then as he started to recover, ‘and an Espresso lift to get me there; I hate heights!’

‘What about your room at the Ritz? That’s thirty floors up.’ Ms .Ling asked quizzically.

‘Yes, but it feels solid and it’s built of solid materials like concrete and steel.’ He smiled weakly and said as he made his way to the lift, ‘I’ll contact you as soon as I think of anything.’ As Peter appeared Ash said, ‘This time you can show me what it’s like to float. Take me to Starbucks please.’

His numbed brain didn’t even notice the journey and before he realised what was happening, he was at Starbucks asking for a large Espresso. The little tables were still outside in spite of the pollution, and for old times’ sake he took his coffee outside and sat down. The pollution wasn’t too bad and certainly no worse than the smoky air of the clubs in his time. The fans with water mist certainly helped. Singapore’s warmth and humidity soon had him recovering and he vowed to get outside more often, even if he had to succumb to a mask like other people. He told himself that if he could solve the problem, he would move here and enjoy the year-round warmth and the relaxed atmosphere, far better to be here than cold northern France where he didn’t fancy going out for half the year. Of course, this plan hinged on him coming up with an idea to take back with him that would make him enough money to relocate.

Just as he was taking a sip of coffee and feeling more like himself again, Mia appeared. She walked up to his table and sat down, then looking at him in a motherly way, she asked, ‘Why aren’t you wearing a mask?’ Opening her bag, she took one out. It was dainty with little lacy edges.

‘I don’t take masks from strangers, they might be drugged or something,’ Ash replied, playing for time and deciding to start testing her.

Ms. Ling had shown that she was clearly human with the way that she could twist language around to outsmart him. Ash continued in attack mode, ‘So why are you wearing a mask anyway, and why are you following me?

‘I wear a mask to look like everybody else and no, I am not following you. I don’t have to. All I have to do is ask my COM where you are and it will tell me. But of course, if you don’t want anyone to know where you are, then you can arrange to block your whereabouts.’

Ash had recovered his composure and realised that there was nothing to be found in her reply except that he was being monitored. ‘How do I do that?’, he enquired. Mia looked at him and replied. ‘Just say, COM, block my location signal.’

He ran the command through his mind, “COM; block location signal”, and was just about to utter the command, when the soft voice said, ‘Your wish is my command sir.’ He was stunned and thought again, ‘COM: I didn’t say anything!’ ‘No sir, you don’t need to, I work from your nerve signals in your throat that are emitted when you think about talking, rather like whispering with no noise.’ So this was why he hadn’t seen people walking around mumbling to themselves. What a pleasant change from his time where nearly everyone seemed to have a mobile super-glued to their face.

Mia looked at him and continued, ‘I have some time off and could show you around if you wish. Things have changed a lot in the last seventeen years and you don’t have much time so it would be sensible to use that time efficiently.’

‘How is it that you have time off? I thought that you would be working all the time. Don’t you just have to do as you are told? What were you doing going to lessons?’ He realised that he was being transparent but hoped that she didn’t pick up on it – whoever or whatever she was.

‘I can store up to a thousand questions at any time, but will you remember what they are when I answer them?’ Did she raise an eyebrow with this reply or did he just imagine it? And was Mia being patronising or merely factual?

‘But it would be easiest to answer them all. You seem to think that I am a Robot. A Robot is generally considered to be a machine designed specifically for and dedicated to, one or a limited number of processes. In those cases robots work far more efficiently than humans. In my case, my designers have designed me to evaluate the interaction with and the effect of animates on humans. Only specific humans that can keep a confidence are going to be told. What my owners don’t want is the bad press that Asimov generated. Then they would have to go through the long-winded process of metaphorically making small-automated animals to gain public acceptance.

There has already been a legal shutdown of what used to be artificial or machine intelligence. The opinion now is that there is only intelligence and it is crypto-xenophobic to use the word artificial. Ms. Ling, who is overseeing my trials, has authorised me to tell you this, as you are the first human that has shown a friendly interest rather than treating me as an object of desire.’

Blimey, thought Ash, where did she get her phrases? He would have to work on this. Mia continued,

‘As far as I am able to, I have decided to offer you friendship in return.’

‘I am flattered and never thought that my questions were friendly, but I must be honest and say that you are physically attractive as well as having good social skills’, Ash responded, trying to be up front and not get off to a bad start.

There was a definite raising of an eyebrow this time and he wondered if she was copying his body language as she replied:

‘I was designed that way, but thanks for the input. My first introduction to your world was a few days before you arrived. I was assigned to the Club to check that my social skills, as you call them, were in working order. After that I went to lessons to learn about Singapore and the surrounding countries in a way that gives me the ability to check my progress. I was put with immigrant workers so that any mistakes I make would be easily camouflaged. I am being introduced as a naturalised Brazilian wishing to be an immigrant worker. I have been designed so that I have to interact to get information, so that when I communicate I do not sound like a machine.’

Well, either this was the best scam that he had ever come across or she really was a robot or rather, animate, as this seemed to be the politically correct way of describing her. Even if he suspected she was human, he mustn’t reveal it and blow it. If she really were an animate on trial then it would be his responsibility to treat her as a human, so that she could get the full benefit of his ‘input’, as she termed it.

‘Do you sleep?’

‘Yes, it takes a long time for my adiabatic neural net to assimilate and rationalise what I have experienced during the day. I also need to recharge my power unit.’

‘Do you dream?’

‘Well, I seem to remember that something has been going on when I reactivate … rather like ghosts on my MRAM.’

‘I hope that you don’t record everything and feed it back as it is seen and heard by you’, was his next heartfelt thought that was uttered before he had time to analyse what he was going to say and why.

‘Absolutely not; unless it is for reporting a crime. Content privacy and the maintenance of it for all time, is one of my basic prime meta programs. I do have memories of events but they exist at a deep level and cannot be used other than for internal reference.’

‘Such as?’ Ash said, still not sure that he wasn’t being recorded, but coming round to the thought that even in his time he could be secretly recorded and filmed, so what the hell.

‘Such as the way you look, the way that you like your coffee. Like humans really.’

This last sentence was said with a slight smile as if she was gaining more confidence. Then she went on, ‘If I might be so bold, Ms. Ling did warn me that you might be paranoid.’

‘There is no point in being paranoid, they will get you anyway, but I’m not paranoid, I just don’t believe in accepting things without testing their validity and I believe in going beyond simple empiricism to the level that I don’t believe something doesn’t exist until I have seen that it doesn’t.’ As he said this, Ash wondered if her transistors could cope with this level of irony. He had a mental picture of tiny stars dancing on a floor of pure Sapphire.

In true female style, she ignored his carefully contrived challenge and said, ‘I am pleased to hear it. We seem to have similar analytical skills.’

It was still stalemate in the test series.

Ash decided to try a different tactic, ‘I need someone to talk to about the job that I have here and as you have excellent analytical capabilities, you can probably help me solve a problem that I’m struggling with. The problem is how to get rid of the pollution that is surrounding Singapore.’ He was sure that this made her sit up a little straighter. He started to wonder how her thought processes worked and how she dealt with the kind of dilemmas that humans face. He had better watch himself. He was accepting something without proof. He was starting to accept that she was artificial.

‘I have to go now.’

‘Can we meet this evening? That will give me time to think about everything and have a rest. Say, about eight p.m. by the pool?’

‘I can make it by nine, but not before. Okay?’

‘Fine.’ Ash was strangely pleased that she had agreed to meet him and felt himself flush slightly. Until, that is, he stopped to think and wondered how to entertain an animate. Did they eat and drink, or would he be watched and turned into an algorithm as he ate and she just sat there?

What was that expression from Quantum Leap? Oh Boy!

Chapter 5

Ash sat sipping his daiquiri with crushed ice by the pool, waiting for Mia to show up and wondered if she would be on time or ‘fashionably late.’ His thoughts were still on how to solve Ms. Ling’s problem and so far, he had got precisely nowhere. The problem was so big that it was just plain out of his league, as it had been for every expert on the planet. He had hoped that it would have a natural rate of decay like most things and gradually resolve itself, but there was just enough pollution from existing sources to nearly maintain its awful equilibrium. Natural decay would take another three years or more, by which time it would be too late. He was stumped.

He must have been a bit nervous because he ordered a second drink, was just getting to grips with it and starting to daydream when Mia arrived and sat down next to him. Annoyingly, before he had time to stand up and shake hands or to kiss her on the cheek … he had wanted to feel what her skin was like.

‘Would you like the same as me?’ he asked, wondering if she could.

‘Oh yes please! I have never had an alcoholic drink before’ came the rather teenage reply from one of the most stunning women he’d ever seen. Although they weren’t especially large, her breasts gently pushed against her top and made him wonder what she would be like naked.

‘I need to go and speak with the Front Office Manager for a few minutes, about the duty rosters; please excuse me’ she said, and was off.

She was back in a few minutes and he carried on with his polite routine, trying to distract himself from her body.

‘I like your outfit, it must have cost a fortune,’ he commented.

‘Oh, it was just something that was in my wardrobe, but I am glad that you like it. There were about twenty to chose from and I was worried that it might have been a bit tight.’

‘It’s perfect and you look great.’ And indeed she did, sexy yet sophisticated.

‘Your drink is here. What do you think of it?’ he said as she picked it up and gently sipped. The fluid gradually drained from the crushed ice like a wave receding from a sandy shore. Her exquisite eyes seemed to gain a depth of their own and he would have sworn that they went a darker blue. Ash looked closer, he saw they weren’t just blue, but had a ring of lighter-coloured lattice tinted with honeysuckle yellow around the outer edge of the iris. He started to put his brakes on again. He was thousands of miles from home, with a Virgin animate that looked like heaven and now he was getting her to experiment with alcohol! If there wasn’t, there ought to be a law against it...

‘It is good, and it is stimulating my secondary power unit to recharge my energy cells,’ was the unexpected reply that brought him down to earth with a bump and made him turn around to make sure no one heard. He agreed that it was great and struggled to come to terms with her honesty. Perhaps the extra voltage had the effect of changing her eye colour. Or was he being had?

He thought that he should offer some advice and said,

‘That’s good to know, but it is not something you would say in a normal conversation. It might make people nervous, especially if you go into too much detail about your other systems.’ Ash was wondering what she might say after eating steak and chips and cringed at the thought. ‘It is enough to say, “It tastes good” or “It’s excellent.” In this case though, you can say what you like as long as we are the only two present.’ He didn’t want to spoil his chances of finding out if she really was artificial.

‘I shall take that under advisement and process your input. Oh, and thank you’, was the reply that was not really remotely human. Oh well, he could correct that later. What else could he teach her?

‘Where would you like to go? I’ve never been to Raffles and it would be a good place to try a Singapore Sling.’

‘I thought that you had been coming to Singapore for more than twenty years and yet you have not visited its most famous hotel?’

‘I was waiting for a special occasion, anyway it’s a bit of a tourist trap and I was too young to appreciate history before.’ Ash really wanted to see Mia’s effect on other people and to get some balance back into his mind. Perhaps he might get back his sense of perspective if he saw her with people of mixed nationalities. The last thing he needed right now was to start caring for a machine. He had too many emotional problems in his time to take on more here.

‘Are you sure that you want to go there? You don’t seem very keen, or am I reading you wrongly? Your bio-signals are mixed and there are stress tones in your voice.’

‘No … I mean yes, you are right; I would prefer to go to the top of the Mandarin if it is still there.’ He guessed that he needed some reassurance that things hadn’t changed completely. In his time, the Mandarin had been a place to touch base, and he had some great memories. Ash remembered having dinner in the revolving restaurant during a tremendous storm. The whole place shook during the thunderclaps and was brilliantly lit with blue and white light. He’s been ready to crawl under the table but the waiters didn’t bat an eyelid. They just reassured Ash and his dining partner that it would be okay and that it was something that they would always remember.

‘The old one that you are referring to has been closed. It has been replaced with a two hundred-storey version in the same style. The top should be clear of the smog and you will get a good view of all the towers that have gone up in the last few years.’

‘Let’s go.’ He was sure that Mia was accessing some database and didn’t want to encourage her to download too much into his ears.

‘We can get a cab and you will see the changes in the streets if the smog is not too bad.’

Like any bloke, Ash was always pleased to see the gorgeous waitresses at the top of the Mandarin and to be able to ask for a Sling from one of them was a dream that he often had back home. It also pleased him to have got his feelings for Mia back into perspective and see that she looked only a little more attractive that the other girls around. After two slings, her eyes were darker and more alluring than ever and he wondered whether she should have any more.

‘Shall we get something to eat?’

‘I am sorry my mechanisms won’t cope with food, but you can have something and I will watch.’

‘No, no, that’s okay, I’ll get something at the “Club” when I get back. Let’s go somewhere quiet and talk.’ Ash was keen to use Mia’s brain to help him rationalise some of the thoughts that he’d been having. ‘Let’s go and get a coffee by the Millennium fountain. I see that it has been domed over and we can pretend that we are outside in the fresh air.’

‘I can access digital holographic details of “outside in the fresh air”, but I don’t have enough experience to “imagine” as you put it.’

Somehow that dampened his mental state but he wasn’t going to admit it. The fountain was as he remembered, with all the birth signs around the top walkway. They spent some time watching an amazing 3D laser show and walking around, with Ash trying to clarify the explanations that were written next to each of the signs. He tried to get Mia to associate people with animal types and to see if they fitted. It didn’t seem that it was possible for her to imagine people from the signs and he hoped it was something that she would develop over a period of time.

‘I expect your programmers were American and they don’t have the same Socratic sense

of humour.’

Mia looked at him with those beautiful eyes and agreed that he could be right by nodding her head and smiling.

‘Let’s go downstairs and get some coffee and we can discuss things further. I must admit the reason I brought you here, was so that I could use your brain. I’ve got to get started on how we can solve the problem of the pollution; I have some facts that I need to check. They’re linked to how a depression can produce these pollution levels, but I’m not very good at accessing my COM unit at that level. Can you let me know what sort of depression is over Singapore?’

Mia perked up and said, ‘I’m pleased you recognise that I can help you and I will have the information for you shortly. I expect you realise that you can talk to me and I can do that sort of work at the same time, unless it is a really heavy load. Unlike you, I don’t have to silently mouth the words, so that the COM unit can pick up nerve signals. I have the equivalent of direct subconscious access and can multi-task.’

Faced with such a large yet innocent ego, Ash wondered how long it would be before humans would feel redundant and depressed. He guessed that he was overreacting to this and replied, ‘With all that, shouldn’t you have the answer by now?’

‘Yes, I had the answer, but I couldn’t translate between your question and the answer and had to search for more data. I needed to know why you were told it was a depression. This is erroneous information; in fact, it is something called a ‘blocking high.’ I have accessed Ms. Ling’s data files and the use of the term depression possibly stemmed from the fact that the sea levels around us were lower than they should be.’

Oh well if NASSA could get mixed up between Metric and Imperial, it was forgivable to think that a depression was in force when it was a high-pressure zone.

‘Do you realise I’ve been racking my brains to find an answer based on the wrong information? It’s a good job I’m a cynic and double-checked the information. Not that I’m complaining about you Mia, I’m really pleased with what you have done.’

Again Mia looked more animated and said, ‘I can give you the full data about the high-pressure if you wish? Or, I can dump the information onto your COM unit and you can play it back when you wish? Does that mean that you have the answer now?’

‘That sounds like a good idea; please can you call the file name Mia/Blocking/high. All information I get from you will start with the prefix Mia so that I can remember where to look and no, I’m afraid I don’t have the answer.’ His COM unit relayed to the optic nerves that Mia/Blocking/high had been loaded and a list of contents was briefly shown. All that he would have to do would be to silently mouth Access/Mia/Blocking/high to see the list of contents that had been downloaded to him.

‘This gives a whole new perspective on to the problem. It seems to me that this is a similar problem that the United States has had from time to time in places like Los Angeles. Haven’t they found a solution to the problem there yet?’

Mia’s eyes took on that thoughtful look that he realised was her subconscious manifestation of accessing world-wide data files at a rate he could not even dream about.

‘Yes, they have partially solved their problem by cutting down on emissions and electrifying much of their transport over the last twenty years, plus using energy cells to convert methane to electricity. It is only in the last few years that the problem has started to go away. The production of hydrogen in sunny regions, by hydrolysis of water using the absorption of sunlight by lumeloid to make electricity, has helped go some way towards solving the transportation of reusable energy problem. It is still far from ideal because of transportation hazards in the eyes of the Health and Safety Commissions.’

Well, his plan to pick someone else’s brains wasn’t going to work, but he had to have another try. ‘Can you access all the cities that had problems since my time and tell me if any of them solved their problems in a way other than simply cutting back on pollution over a prolonged period of time? For example, maybe by controlling the weather and unblocking the high?’

‘The only example I can find of a city trying something different was in South America where they tried towing in an iceberg. The theory was that this would create a climate change and thus move the blocking high but the combination of warm seas and the warm air, meant the iceberg melted before it could have any major effect’.

‘Mia, can you define major without give me a load of figures that will keep me up all night? For example, what was the percentage change and would a bigger iceberg have worked?’

The ‘to die for’ eyes did their routine and Mia answered ‘All this was run on computer simulation at the time and the effect was only a temporary 10% reduction. A bigger iceberg would not have worked because the ratio between size and effective surface area is complicated. To double the effective surface area the iceberg would have had to be at least eight times larger in theory. In practice because only a small part of it is above the water, it would have to have been bigger than that; somewhere in the order of 30 times or more to make a 50% difference on the weather. This would have meant that the iceberg would have been too big to tow.’

Ash could see that this line was not getting him anywhere and so he asked, ‘Do you have any suggestions how we might solve the problem?’ He was almost expecting to see the eyes go into the beautiful routine and was disappointed when they didn’t.

‘I suggest that while you are asleep, I run some routines and access world-wide information on the subject. If I contract out the work to some other computers, it will save time and I can still get the downtime I need. I have just started classes that teach me what you would call lateral thinking, so I will use that to try to get the best out of the information that I have.’

He hadn’t thought of this approach before and it would have taken him hours just to set up the routines, even if he had been confident about doing it in the first place. Mia was proving to be a treasure and she had dealt with his concern that she might not be able to think laterally and apply the right lines of questioning to set up the other computers.

‘If I might suggest a few things, such as looking at related topics and correlating the data from them, plus looking for anything that you first might discount as being insignificant, then you might find something that will help me. I will compile a list and pingu.

Ash loved that he could talk to Mia and make suggestions without having to take an ego into account. ‘And now I think the time has come for me to find my room and I will do your equivalent of downtime by going to sleep’, he said.

‘Can you access computers in your sleep the same way I can?’ Mia asked innocently.

Ash started as a thought struck him, ‘I had only been thinking of dreaming in the human way, but I’ve just had an amazing thought. Maybe my subconscious could make my COM unit work and access data whilst I sleep; do you thing that’s possible?’

‘There’s nothing on record to show people doing that, but it might be possible to train your brain over a period of days. However, it is unlikely because your COM unit works from the nerve signals you send to your voice box and your brain switches off the signals whilst you are sleep. If you try to suppress this, you will suffer from sleep deprivation and probably spend your day hallucinating.’

Perhaps in a few years they would be able to directly access the human subconscious so that it could communicate with computers world-wide, whilst the body slept, but it wasn’t doing very much good at this time and so he would have to rely on Mia.

‘I think it’s time I found out where I was sleeping tonight so I’m going to make a move. Do you want to come with me?’

‘No, I have some more things to do before I go to my room. I will see you in the morning at nine. Goodnight.’ With that Mia got up and disappeared somewhere into the Millennium Complex.

He was shown to a floor high up in the building where the walls were in a neutral shade and Ash was told he could have any picture on them that he wished. The bed was set in the middle of the room and the view upwards from the window was of pure sky and not so pure pollution if he looked down. He was told that he could also set the background music so that he could get to sleep quickly. Apparently they had developed a rhythm that induced sleep and would hold it there for up to eight hours.

No sooner had he dropped off, than he felt that somebody had joined him in bed. In the low level of light that came in the window, he thought he could see that it was Mia and that she was stark naked. She snuggled against him and told him she couldn’t stay long because the room temperature was set too low for her heaters to compensate. She added that she had deliberately set her temperature higher so that he wouldn’t notice her cooling down. Ash had a strange thought that this shouldn’t be happening and that he should find the willpower to send her away, because she was in such an early stage of development. If nothing else, he didn’t want to blow her circuits. But he couldn’t resist and with his arms wrapped tightly around her, Mia felt more natural to him than some of the silicon-implanted ‘real’ women that he had met in his past.

He kissed her fully on the mouth whilst gently running his hand over her rounded tummy. As he kissed her harder, Ash couldn’t help himself and started to explore her further. He stretched downwards with his hand. All the time there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he shouldn’t be doing this.

As he continued to caress her, he discovered that there was nothing there, just a warm silky mound and he was astonished that she was not fully equipped to be a woman. He couldn’t help kissing her harder, wondering where this would lead, but as he did, he woke up with a mouthful of pillow. There was no Mia there and nor had there been. It had just been his wild imagination. He had to take a cold shower before he could get back to sleep again and would probably wake in the morning trying to work out the significance of the dream. Ash finally dropped off to sleep, pleased in a way that it had only been a dream.

Within what seemed to be a few minutes of going back to sleep, someone else came into his room and started to cuddle him. He didn’t open his eyes and decided that this time, he wasn’t going to choke himself again when he woke up. He had heard of lucid dreams but this was ridiculous. He decided he might as well have an enjoyable night and rolled on to his back so that he wouldn’t wake up snogging the pillow.

Whoever it was that joined him in bed had skin like silk. This was what dreams should be thought Ash. The woman kissed him passionately on the lips and caressed him with her hands. As this was a dream, Ash decided to lay back and let it happen. The woman seemed to be in need of tenderness, as though she had been without closeness for a long time. They held each other’s hands as she gently moved her body over his until he could feel her heat. She hesitated for a second and then with one quick and relentless movement, lowered herself onto him. She started to ride him and the intensity of her movements increased until eventually he couldn’t control himself any further. He came with a roar as she arched her back and gave a final deep-throated whispering moan.

She lay on top of him for a few minutes and when her breathing was steady again, she gently eased herself off, kissed him, and disappeared. This time Ash didn’t need a cold shower but rolled over into a deep and satisfying sleep. When he woke in the morning there was the faint lingering aroma of a strange perfume on his skin. He felt he knew it from somewhere. Ash took a shower and went down for coffee feeling strangely relaxed, with his time lag all but gone. As if it was fated, Ash bumped into Mia as he was getting out of the lift and looked startled.

‘Is this a coincidence?’

‘No of course not, you left your location signal on and all I did was to track you as you descended from the upper levels. Would you like a coffee over by the orchids?’

‘I see that you know my weaknesses… oh and I’m sorry … good morning! You surprised me and I forgot to be polite. Yes, I’d love a coffee’

‘Did you sleep well last night in the cool fresh air with the window open?’ Mia asked innocently.

‘I can honestly say it was the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had and I feel much more refreshed and relaxed this morning. It must have been fresh air or pleasant dreams. What a lovely orchid that is over there.’ He kept talking and felt himself blushing.

‘Well, I did the equivalent of sleeping by switching my systems off apart from my computation side and communication network. Luckily my room contains a five terra-byte per second interface and I got most of my requirements subcontracted to major portals within the first few minutes. I’m learning that you are bored by technical detail so I will summarise what I learned last night,’

‘This sound exciting, but let me get some coffee inside me first, otherwise I won’t be able to understand what you are telling me.’ As usual Ash hoped that his ability to delegate had paid off and that they’d be able to solve the problem quickly. Although he didn’t show it, he felt like bouncing up and down on his seat with anticipation at the thought of all the interesting ideas Mia might have found.

‘As you might have guessed, by this year 2022 all computer interactions are traceable and I put a trace on my work to see if anyone else had had the same thought. Someone had been over all the paths I set myself to work on. I checked out who it was and it was Ms. Ling. She‘d set up her own computer to do the same work some weeks back. When I compared my results to hers they were very similar. We both came to the same conclusion that there was no relevant information that would help. The only idea that she came up with from all the data, was to try seeding the clouds with chemicals to create some movement. She got this idea from data acquired by aeroplanes in the late 1990s, noting that clouds and subsequently rain were produced downwind from certain factory chimneys. She also learnt that vineyards in Germany used the same technique some years prior to this. Nevertheless they were so desperate that they tried, but it was unsuccessful and all that they did was to stain a few buildings and people with iodine.’

There goes another bright idea, he thought, deciding that he’d better start thinking or he wouldn’t be told how he was going to make his fortune. Far worse - he would have failed and Ash hated to fail. When he thought of what he had discovered in the night – and that was fading rapidly – his dreams had only revealed that his Freudian side was dominating his sleep patterns. He had promised to report to Ms. Ling if he found out anything and he hadn’t, but thought that he had better go and see her anyway.

‘Well, I suppose I had better go and report to the Dragon Lady and admit that we haven’t found anything yet. I’ll see what she has to say. I only hope that she takes it well. I hate it when people are disappointed in me. Can we meet up again this evening and carry on talking?’

‘Yes. We could meet earlier this evening if you wish and perhaps we could go somewhere interesting. How about 6 p m? Would that be suitable?’

‘Starbucks, okay?’ The thought of meeting Mia again cheered him up; especially as he had to face the Dragon Lady and explain that he hadn’t come up with anything. Still, he consoled himself, she had given him inaccurate information about the weather being a depression when it should have been a high. That alone should buy him some time if he turned it to his advantage, in a gentlemanly way of course. Ash decided to pass the time until his meeting by checking out how much was left of Sentosa. He walked to the Lion and was pleased to see that the unsightly mobile masts that adorned it back in his time, had been removed.

After a quick jog to the top and a look around, Ash descended and walked down through the scented garden to the sea. At least that was still there! He turned right along the coast and again, was surprised to see just how little things had changed. He even found the odd fallen coconut with a shoot straining towards the sand. The Shangri La Resort Hotel had been removed completely and the forest now continued down over the hill nearly to the sea. What was once quite a wide road leading to the Aquarium had been reduced to a track. The Aquarium was now nearly all underground or heavily camouflaged. He had learnt that some Swiss Bankers had invested heavily in this site and another sister site in Vietnam and that the Aquariums were now world leaders in the study and preservation of endangered species. The bankers were clearly bright guys and the millions of tons of rock that they had excavated, had been used to reclaim yet more land round the corner from Marina Bay.

The resulting land sale had nearly covered the cost of building the new Aquarium and some of the Malls. The aquarium was now linked to Singapore by MRT and it had its own state of the art shopping mall and leisure complex with luxury accommodation for those people who couldn’t stand the thought of high rise living in the Star-A-Star hotel complex which was part of the Sentosa Tower. Although he didn’t have time to visit now, Ash decided that it would be an excellent place to go with Mia when they could get a day together.

Ash hopped on a maglev monorail that circled the island and headed back to the lifts and his next discussion with Ms. Ling.

As he walked out of the lift and headed towards her door, he expected to see Peter, but there was no one to meet him, so he walked straight in to her office and found a pale faced and clearly stressed, Ms. Ling sitting at her desk.

‘Where’s Peter, I thought he would meet me as usual!’

‘Good morning Ash and its nice to see you too. How are you?’

‘Sorry. Good Morning … I was just surprised when Peter didn’t appear.’ Ash cursed himself for getting off on the wrong foot.

‘I have cleared you with central security so you can travel around with no problem. That doesn’t mean you can barge in here whenever you like without an appointment’, was her curt reply.

‘And have you found out anything that will help our situation?’ she continued.

‘No, I have a few ideas, but they need some more work’.

‘What you really mean is the you haven’t found out anything and you have just been enjoying yourself around Singapore with Mia.’ Again her tone was curt.

‘That’s not true. I have been using Mia to help me gather data.’

‘As long as you have not been thinking about using her for other things.’

After last night’s dream Ash suddenly felt a flush of conscience.

‘If you must know, and I am quite serious about this, I consider Mia to be like a child in many ways and, although she is gorgeous, I wouldn’t dream of having a physical relationship with her. She has a lot to learn about life and even at her fast learning speed it would be quite some time before she was ready for such a thing, if ever. I think when they made her, they didn’t realise just how complex her mind was going to be.’ He must have sounded quite serious because Ms. Ling looked at him in a different way.

‘I apologise. I must admit that I had got you wrong. I thought that you might be like all the rest’, was her more affable reply as she visibly relaxed.

Ash felt that this was the moment for him to take the lead and to explain a few of the things he’d done. He listed the ideas that he’d had and the way that he and Mia had tried to do searches, only to find out that Ms. Ling had already looked at the only thing that they‘d discovered. He admitted that he had absolutely no idea of how to solve the problem and said that if she wanted to send him back, then she could.

Ash wanted to appear independent. At the same time, he didn’t want to be pushed into leaving; he was really starting to enjoy this life again in Singapore. And, he had to admit to himself, he was really enjoying having a friend as beautiful as Mia. He also realised the immense mental leap that he had taken in becoming friends with an artificial life form. Mia had now started to exist on several levels in his head and it would be hard for him to be parted from her.

Although he’d told Ms. Ling that he wouldn’t dream of having a relationship with Mia, Ash had also added the caveat that it would take quite some time. What he didn’t tell Ms. Ling was that with Mia’s learning speed, it would only be a matter of a few weeks before she was more than mentally capable of dealing with a full on relationship. However all of his instincts told him that however much he was attracted to Mia, he could never really have a lasting relationship with her and that he would be playing with his sanity to even consider it.

On the other hand, Ash mused, as he had already taken one great mental leap, he’d have to be honest with himself and admit that if he stayed here much longer, he would take that next step and consider a long-term relationship with Mia. The difficulty was that much of what she was becoming, was a mirror of his teaching and philosophy. To become a fully rounded being, she needed to associate with many different people and taken on board their ideas too. Ash decided that he would suggest she involved herself in some social circles away from him ,that would help her education. But then he wondered, could she sit and talk about pets and cars without showing terminal boredom? Perhaps philosophical discussion groups might give her more edge?

The conversation then turned to mundane facts, the current situation of the smog and the general weather conditions. It seemed that there were no short-term changes likely to occur which could solve the problem by itself. They agreed to meet the next day and Ash informed Ms. Ling that he was going to move to a room at the hotel in the Aquarium. He told her he found it more relaxing to be somewhere where he could look at fish swimming past his window, than in a room halfway to heaven with only a view of the sky.

His fear of heights and living more than a mile up, in a mixture of spiders web and plastic poles didn’t really do anything for him other than scare him witless. Ms. Ling asked if he had already booked a room and when he replied in the negative, she said that she would arrange a small suite for him. Before he could stop himself, Ash asked if it had the same sleep enhancement routines and with what seemed to be the faintest of smiles she said yes. He thanked her, apologised for not having thought of anything and left as quickly as he could.

Chapter 6

As Ash walked out of the lift, with his now growing collection of belongings and headed towards the monorail, he must have been thinking about Mia and in such a way that it turned on his COM unit. He could hear her voice saying, ‘Did you call me Ash or was it a random thought?’

‘A bit of both I suppose. I was going to call you. I was thinking about it. It must have been in such a way that the nerves in my throat were activated. I shall have to be a bit more careful in future in case I give something away. What I was going to tell you Mia, is that I shall be moving to the Aquarium hotel right away and that if you have time this evening, then perhaps we could meet there. I have some ideas I wish to discuss with you.’

‘What ideas?’ was the direct response.

‘I’d rather wait and tell you about them when I have had more time to think about exactly what is required.’

‘In that case about nineteen thirty would suit me and I will see you in the executive bar.’

And the connection cleared.

There certainly wasn’t any problem with her assertiveness training. She hadn’t even tried to negotiate a time and he guessed she knew that he was at a loose end for the rest of the day. He thought that he really must put about an impression that he was a more organised sort of person, but all thoughts of dealing with animates disappeared as he climbed aboard the monorail, opting for the long way around the island so he could catch up on all the sights.

The entrance to the aquarium was now discretely hidden in the side of the hill and was controlled by an image recognition system. Ash was directed to a long, curved and sloping automated walkway that rapidly took him downwards past and through the largest fish tank that he’d ever seen. The walkway must have been at least 400 yards long and with a slope of about 10%. Ash calculated that he must be at least 140 foot or more underground. Wasn’t it the French who’d first used this type of walkway at their Great Exhibition some 120 years before? The tunnel walkway opened into a vast auditorium surrounded by the clearest walls he’d ever seen. The walls stopped billions of gallons of crystal clear water from drowning all the people walking around the major showpiece of the aquarium. There were many more walkways carefully concealed along the walls with their doors painted in a Trompe l’oeil fashion, so that even at close range, they were difficult to spot.

As far as Ash could work out, the layout was something like the main building of the airport in Paris, France. As he stared into the vast aquarium, Ash could see the outlines of rectangular shapes in the background that rose the whole way to the top. He could only see these from a certain angle and they almost seemed to be a trick of light. He later discovered that these were the rooms that faced into the aquarium and each room had its own massively reinforced window.

The voice directed him to the hotel entrance and he was whisked along a smaller automated walkway until he reached a simple reception desk, with just two members of staff behind it. The two slim young women were both dressed in lightweight silk trouser suits that were black, apart from the faintest of gold trim around the lapels. They wore three inch high heels and had their hair neatly done up on top, so that their normal height of five foot two was increased to what seemed to be about five foot 6. This was an excellent way of giving the diminutive Asian stature more presence and must have been the work of one of the major fashion houses.

He was immediately greeted and asked if he required any help with his luggage. Ash replied ‘Yes that would be great. I always have difficulty finding my way to my room.’ This was blatantly untrue but Ash reckoned they wouldn’t know or care, besides he was hoping for a quick chat with one of these babes from the future.

One of the two pressed a button on the desk and what he could only describe as a gold-plated supermarket trolley appeared, as if from nowhere and in a slightly metallic voice announced ‘If sir would like to place his luggage in my tray I will lead the way.’

‘Okay ‘ was all Ash could think of in his disappointment.

‘What happened to personal service?’ he asked the girls.

‘We were instructed by Ms. Ling’s assistant that you would prefer to see a robotised assistant and the way it operates. This will broaden your knowledge base. Otherwise one of us would have been glad to take you to your room.’

‘I must thank Ms. Ling for her concern and interest in me,’ was his ironic reply.

‘If Sir would like to follow me, I am now ready,’ said the supermarket trolley and Ash wondered what else the device was asked to do. Did it do room cleaning? How did it cope with dirty sheets? Did it produce a robotic arm and throw dissenting members of staff to the sharks? With his imagination in overdrive, Ash and the ‘trolley’ as he thought of it, travelled along a corridor until they reached the end which was marked as an emergency exit.

There was a large door in the left wall of the corridor that slid open and disappeared into the wall. Ash was looking straight into the face of a huge basking shark. The shark looked like it could have swallowed a sofa with at least three Sumo wrestlers sitting on it without noticing. The whole far wall of the room was completely transparent and he was stunned and almost afraid to step inside, but he wasn’t going to appear soft in front of the ‘trolley’ and marched ahead. He must have stopped at least six foot in front of the window because it was totally clear and with a slightly concave curve. This meant he couldn’t actually see the interface between the window itself and the air in the room and he was afraid of smacking his face against it. In fact, the whole set up was so surreal, that Ash felt slightly dizzy.

It was only later that he noticed a fine line on the floor in front of the window, to indicate where one should stop walking. The trolley offloaded his luggage onto an almost invisible table on the right-hand side of the room and explained that if he turned the lights up a bit, Ash would be able to see the door to the bathroom. This was near the window. The door to the dressing room and wardrobe was between the bathroom door and the main entrance. The trolley then said that he could access all room controls through his COM unit, it asked if there was anything else and when Ash replied ‘no’, it departed. The doors automatically closed and he was in a dream world. The room was painted in such a colour and texture that it did not reflect light and as he turned the lights down, he seemed to enter the very aquarium itself.

He unpacked his clothes and laid out the things that he would wear that evening. His next major decision was to unpack his toilet things and he decided to go and have a long hot bath. Without thinking he opened the bathroom door and was totally stunned. The bathroom was massive by normal hotel standards and the bath and shower cubicles were on the same wall that again, was totally transparent. The bath was also completely transparent and an extension of that selfsame window that separated him from all that water and sharks and fish and octopus and everything else that swam. Taking a bath was like going to be like scuba diving in the raw in really hot water. Ash was only too glad that the technology was such that the windows were one-way. He didn’t want the fish to think that he was dangling bait at them.

Once he had got over feeling slightly self-conscious and ridiculous, Ash started to relax and before he knew it, he’d been lying there for what must have been at least two hours. It helped that the bath kept the water at a constant temperature. No need to keep fiddling with the hot tap! He finally decided to get out when a large ray that must have been at least 3 yards across, decided to attach itself to the window and blocked out most of the light. He guessed that it had been attracted to the warmth from his bath that had now permeated through the thick glazing.

He got dressed, went and collapsed on the sofa and ordered some food from room service. Ash had steak and chips and hoped that the life-forms out there would note that was not eating their cousins that were normally his chosen diet. The last thing he remembered was drifting off whilst watching the ever changing and totally relaxing scene around him. He was woken by Mia’s gentle voice, asking if he would meet her in the Lobby Bar.

‘Have you had a busy day researching?’ she asked, and not knowing what to reply, he decided to be honest:

‘Not really. I’ve been settling in to my new room and I was so entranced by it, I forgot about the time and the research’.

‘So do you like your room?’

‘Yes, it is the best that I have ever stayed in and do you know, the strange thing is I have just had a thought’.

‘Is that strange?’ Mia asked a little too quickly, with a smile. Oh lord, now she was a smart-ass again. He would have to teach her some reticence when he was baring his soul.

‘The thought was that my mother would have hated the room in case there was a fly because she always said, “Why kill a poor fly when all it is trying to do is get out of the window”.’ Just as he said this, Ash felt a shiver run down his spine but it just disappeared as Mia stood up, revealing her cleavage.

‘Why did you stand up?’ he asked in an irritated voice.

‘I thought that I saw someone I knew and I wanted to get a clearer view’, was her affable reply.

‘Who?’

‘Peter from Ms. Ling’s office but he is supposed to be in Europe for a months’ holiday, visiting his sister who is getting married.’ She continued talking but Ash wasn’t listening; he was trying to recapture the thought that had started the shiver, without luck.

Not really interested but wanting to appear as though he had been listening, he asked,

‘How much of him did you think you saw and how do you know all this?’

‘Only an ear and I have told you before, I can access most data on the net.’

‘Sorry, I sometimes forget your abilities.’

‘Please don’t be sorry, it means that I am taking on more human attributes’ and as she smiled, her eyes darkened.

‘Your eyes have darkened. Are your batteries charged now that you have had a drink?’ He remembered the first time that he had seen her drink.

‘Well, yes, but I can change them when I want to, now that you have told me about it and it makes you notice me more.’

So she really was getting to be like a woman!

‘I can change the size of my irises when I want to too’ was his competitive reply. She went blank for a while and then said,

‘I have accessed all the known data on the subject and it is not possible without moving your eyes as well.’

‘Watch, I’ll make them bigger, and when you say I’ll make them smaller.’

Ash moved so that he was looking to the side of her and in such a way that he was looking at the interface between the brightly-lit pool and the softly lit wall. Mia tested him several times and if an animate could have fallen off a chair, then at that moment she would have done so.

‘They changed when I said and your eyes didn’t move. You are truly amazing even in this time.’

‘This is a lesson … there is usually a simple explanation for everything. Even if it’s not on a database. All I do is to let my mind drift from the light area to the dark area. As the distance is so small, my mind just uses another part of the retina. Rather like pilots did in the old days to get better night vision; the iris then adapts by changing size.’

Instead of discussing it further she accepted what Ash said and went on rather like a child,

‘Do you know any more tricks?’

At least she trusted what he said, and more importantly, him.

‘See the veins on the back of my hand?’

‘Yes?’

‘Well, I will wave my other hand over them and make them disappear.’

‘Go on then,’ she said eagerly.

‘You’ll have to wait whist I find the right part of my brain,’ Ash said for effect and she looked impatient rather than impressed. He waved one hand over the other and the veins disappeared.

‘Oh good, and what’s the simple explanation for that? I have been accessing data and have some ideas.’

‘What are they?’

‘Well, the circulatory system of humans changes during stress and excitement to an extent that veins can seem to disappear. So I suppose you have learnt to control that part of your brain to do it. Am I right?’

‘Well, we are not like you, with direct access to any part of our brain and we have to cheat a bit. All I do is think of something exciting or stressful or both and the mind automatically does the rest.’

‘What did you think about?’ This was the one question that Ash didn’t want to hear.

He went for a diversion tactic and started talking about other things. Mia was diplomatic enough not to ask again. The whole evening was spent like this and before he could believe it, it was time for her to go and Ash went back to his room.

He turned the room music on and decided to put the room into sleep mode and have another bath. This time he didn’t run the water so hot nor so deep and he laid back and luxuriated in the warmth and the night-time scene of the aquarium. There was a different set of sea life swimming around now and he lay there fascinated. Ash let his eyes close slowly and drifted off into a light sleep. Then, a sweet voice said gently, ‘If you want the dream to continue, then you must keep your eyes closed at all times.’ Ash couldn’t believe this was happening again and of course he kept my eyes tightly closed, like a child saying his prayers for the first time at school.

The water level dropped until he was barely covered and Ash felt a small delicate hand touching him and warm lips kissing him, nibbling away at his lips and ears. He responded gently and felt shudders go through his body, as he realised the effect that this was having on him. His response to the gentle stroking of the hand was intense and Ash lay back and relaxed getting maximum pleasure from the moment. The lips moved down and closed over him with such passion that he thought his brain would explode. He decided to take more positive action, gently pushing his visitor back on to the thick bath mat and then getting out of the bath and laying down beside her.

He kissed and nibbled those warm swollen lips and stroked her silky body until he was touching her intimately. With his eyes still tightly shut, Ash could feel her passion for him throbbing against his hand. Again he could smell that very faint perfume that continued to elude him. This time he forgot about ending up with a mouthful of pillow and began a very long and slow embrace. She made a deep whisper in her throat as she lost all her inhibitions. He was sure that they both joined each other in heaven for a while.

Then, she whispered that she must go and as she gently pulled away, she covered Ash with a towel. He must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing he knew, the light in the aquarium had changed to that of early dawn and a shadow outside the bathroom window entered his subconscious and woke him with a start.

His first thought was that the ray had come back; then he saw it was a diver and that the man was attaching something to the window. His common sense told him that this wasn’t the sort of thing that an aquarium normally uses to clean the windows, plus it looked very much like a limpet mine. Ash shouted into his COM unit for security and told them what was happening. The diver continued to set his object. Unaware of the fact that he was being watched, the man didn’t seem to be in any hurry to finish what he was doing. Obviously he was a perfectionist, besides, he wouldn’t be expecting someone to be asleep by the side of a transparent bath just before dawn.

Safe in the knowledge that the diver couldn’t see in, Ash ran to the main room, threw some clothes on and got out as fast as he could. He charged down the walkway and into reception where he was met by a severe looking security man.

‘Sir, please come with me, quickly. We have sent a team to investigate and we are evacuating your corridor as a precaution. If it is, as you suspect, a limpet mine then the structural integrity of the room should contain any damage from water ingress. The doors are designed to be pressure proof. However we are sealing off the whole corridor.’

‘Has this happened before?’

‘No, this is a very secure unit and indeed, as you know the whole of Singapore is extremely safe and has never been subject to any such activities. Of course, it is possible that you might have been dreaming.’

Ash decided sharing what he had really been dreaming about with the security man, probably wasn’t such a great idea so, ‘I did use the room sleep mode to help me with the time difference. Would anybody be able to access the hotel database and check that?’ was his diplomatic reply.

The man thought before replying, ‘That’s a new question for us security people and we will check to see if anyone has accessed it. It might take some time though as we will require clearance.’

Ash was about to volunteer Mia’s services when paranoia kicked in and he thought that he ‘d carry out his own investigations. Just in case.

‘Please let me know what you find.’

‘Of course Sir, oh and Sir, can you give me a description of the diver, or if not a description, at least an impression?’

‘Well, he did seem quite tall so I’m guessing it was a man, but he was dressed in one of those black scuba suits so it was difficult to make anything out. Being so frightened, I’m afraid my memory is a bit blank. Oh, there was one thing though. My very first thought as I was just waking, was that of a spider crab because of the long skinny limbs, but then I realised it was a man. So I guess it was a very skinny man.’

His real first thought was that it could have been Peter and that Mia had also thought she had seen him. But then, she’d said he was in Europe. Besides, there are lots of slim men in Singapore. Ash decided that he must remember to make decisions based on all the facts and not half of them.

‘Was there anything else that you can remember Sir?’

‘No, I don’t think so, but if I think of anything I’ll call security and ask for you, Mr. Lee.’ Ash had hastily read his name on his badge, but the security guard had noticed this and said, ‘They might be old-fashioned but there are very useful when people want to remember our names.’ He smiled slightly and Ash liked his humour.

Feeling more than a bit claustrophobic, Ash decided to get out of there for a while.

Just as he was about to take the ‘up’ ramp to the island, he changed his mind and decided to catch the MRT instead and go and sit at the top of the Ritz, assuming that he was still allowed to do this now that he had checked out. Ash walked in the back way that led past a small Japanese restaurant and as soon as he was past the main lobby entrance, the Front Office Manager spotted him and asked him if he wanted to reserve a room. Ash explained that it was quite possible, but that he’d like to go to the thirty-second floor and get breakfast first before deciding. She immediately said, ‘yes’, gave him a passkey to the floor and said that she’d tell the club manager to let him have breakfast.

He suddenly felt relaxed and Ash knew that this was really the place for him. It had always been secure in a simple way. He caught a memory from the old days; one of the Irish leadership eating breakfast and being harassed by hangers on. Ash knew that memories stuck, and that as far as he was concerned, this hotel was an old friend. He’d just finished breakfast when the Front Office Manager arrived and said:

‘You can go return to your suite if you wish and we will arrange for your belongings to be moved for you, whilst you go and have your coffee at Starbucks.’ Ash laughed out loud that anybody should know him so well and immediately agreed. She gave him a Clubroom key and said she would see him later. He was busy enjoying his cappuccino on the terrace outside Starbucks when Mia walked up and sat down beside him, opposite a high volume data-terminal.

‘I heard about what happened at the aquarium and guessed that I’d find you here. How are you feeling?’

‘I’m fine and I was going to call you. I need you to help check some information. I will try to explain what I need. When I go to bed I use the room sleeping enhancement system. Can you find out if this information can be accessed and, if so by whom?’

‘Yes, it can be accessed by somebody with enough security clearance. This includes you of course. Yes, it was accessed by two sources.’

‘Well, who were they?’ The excitement had left him tense and Ash was impatient for an answer.

‘The first person to access it was Ms. Ling, but I can’t trace the second person.’

‘Right, first I want to know why Ms. Ling and secondly, I thought that all data sources could be accessed.’

‘Ms. Ling logged it as a routine security check. The problem is that the second access came through an anonymous proxy server that seems to have been overlooked by the authorities. Records show that all of these were closed down in 2013, after there was a massive legal battle brought about because the new American president, claimed too much misinformation was being published about him. He just didn’t like people being constantly told that he was a Muslim.’

‘Can you find the actual computer that acts as a server and see how busy it is?’ Ash asked hoping that he could out think Mia.

‘The computer accessing the net is on a small private island off Indonesia. And it is not at all busy.’

‘Can you find out from the companies that run the net in this region, when this computer is accessed and when it transmits?’

‘Yes times two.’ Ash noticed that her replies were becoming more computer-like as she became busier.

‘Now, access the time that the unknown person checked if I was asleep and match that against the proxy computer and it accessing the net. Then check how many input streams it had at that time and let me know.’

‘At that time it had no input stream.’ Mia said, which left him stumped.

She sat there perfectly still and he had the impression that she had switched down her systems so that she could maximise the massive amount of work that she was doing for him. Ash was about to say, ‘you don’t have to behave like a computer’ when he suddenly realised that this was the problem. She was behaving like a computer and taking his commands literally. So much for lateral thinking routines. Perhaps there was a slight delay on the proxy server because it was slow or because it was part of a hack-spoof routine. He would have to try a new approach.

‘In that case can you consider that there might have been a built in delay of up to a few minutes and check again?’

‘Oh I understand now, and yes I can check that. I can also refine it because the check must have been fairly close to the output stream time, otherwise it wouldn’t have been accurate, because you could have got up and switched off the system. I have now checked and there were only 50,000 input streams in a period of ten minutes and the first time I looked at it, I was working in microseconds.’ Mia almost looked pleased with herself as she said this. She hadn’t realised that Ash had been directing her thoughts.

Now Ash thought, I need to work out the next step and hope for a lucky break. If there were any real encryption routines then I’m going to be stuffed or it will take a lot longer. Even with the technology in 2022 it would take a long time to break down every message. Ash decided on a process of elimination by size.

‘Are these data streams encrypted?’

‘Yes, they are, but under the law, all data must be traceable. An encrypted stream where the encryption algorithm was not registered with the relevant authority would not be handled. In fact, no server will handle data or highway handle traffic that is not one 100% verifiable. Of course there are still ways to get around this, but it is difficult.’

‘So no more hacking?’

‘Not in the way that there used to be and it is now benign due to the extreme penalties.’

‘What if it’s not detected?’

‘How would we know that it exists if we can’t see that it exists?’

Ash thought for a minute, ‘You have me there, but you can hack because you have the key-codes.’

‘Yes, I am privileged.’

‘So what happened to societies like the CDC that were so much fun in my time and kept a whole load of people in jobs?’

‘Do you want a long explanation or a short one?’

‘How long is the long and how short is the short?’

‘I will give you the short one to start with and the longer one if you require.’

‘Sounds good.’

‘Well, to start with, there were many things that brought about the revolution in internet security. China led the way in terms of trying to obtain legality and conformity and was the first to try to change events at governmental level. China also introduced laws on copyright and patents that applied directly to the Internet. This was brought on by the need to do something about highly organised software piracy and other scams. China also tried to organise encryption recognition and security like we have today but no one would listen in a constructive way. Hacking was rife from different groups that were trying to make a point.’

‘And that was …’

‘The internet just grew and grew. Corporations profited from it, but didn’t want to erode their profits by creating secure products and a secure network. The hackers were farsighted and enjoyed themselves, which always leads to greater creativity. They saw that if corporations just fed their greed, then chaos would follow. The hackers pushed the envelope so far that a huge army of security specialists was created to defend the system. It spite of this, for the companies it was still more profitable not to do anything. Then the attacks started. They came from countries who thought they could take down the world and create anarchy. The net community reacted by attacking back. First with the army of specialists and then the hackers. They crashed the attackers systems, the military moved in and blew the shit out of them once they knew who was funding the attacks.

The whole system was finally sorted and made secure but at an enormous cost. The hackers were perceived as heroes, because if they hadn’t alerted the world and helped to create an army of security specialists the terrorists would have won.’

‘What happened to them once they had nowhere to hack?’

‘There was an amnesty and the different groups were given major funding. The funds were raised by fining all the companies that had not shown ‘due diligence’ with regard to security when producing software and systems. As a condition of the amnesty, the hackers had to work for the benefit of society, finding any corner cutting made by the corporations and to report it to the World Legislature (WL). The WL had the power to massively fine or close down any corporation that failed in its duty.’

‘So the hackers were given freedom to carry on with only slight changes?’

‘Yes, they were seen in a new light rather like the point men in an attack. In fact, many of them were offered such good money by the major corporations that they now act as internal security specialists, testing systems and programs before they are released.’

‘Nothing changes. Thanks for that, Mia. Lets get back to work!’

‘Although it would take too long to break the encryptions, I can hack into the authority and obtain the Key Codes.’ Mia was behaving more humanly again and talking in longer sentences. She must have remembered to run her lateral thinking routines. He supposed that they would become fully integrated with a bit more training. And what a break! He didn’t expect anything so simple, but this was 2022 and the world had moved on, so he should have anticipated it.

‘Can you get copies of these data streams?’

‘Yes.’

‘Now can you analyse these and find out which one had the code in it needed to access the hotel system?’

‘Yes.’ Again the reply was computer like.

‘Would it take you very long to give me an answer?’

‘We are working on it by discarding the large data streams which wouldn’t be relevant. We will have an answer in 60 seconds.’ Mia said. Ash was intrigued by this answer.

‘What you mean by “we”?’

‘Well, I discovered something. As you know, I performed the first task for you by subcontracting to other computers. This time I discovered that it was quicker for me to download copies of part of myself to several different supercomputers and I partitioned them so that they were effectively me.’

‘How this is possible? Aren’t they all busy?’

‘No, after the fiber optics were accidentally cut several times at the beginning of the century net traffic became congested, as it was re-routed. The major corporations became paranoid and insisted on far more built in redundancy. This and a general reduction of the internet use because of a switch to information driven technology like Apps. there is now enough computer capacity to run the world five times over.’ Ash was stunned to think that she could coexist in several places at the same time and he wondered if her designers had anticipated this.

‘If you had all that capacity, why then does it take 60 seconds?’ He wasn’t being churlish – Ash was just intrigued.

‘My cyber siblings were arguing about who should do what. So I had to write a “delegate and monitor” routine, plus include a time limit on their existence so that they erased themselves after thirty-two seconds. Now that I analyse the possible consequences of what I did, I’ve decided not to do it again, because it could get out of hand. I shall go back to simple sub-contracting.’

Ash was relieved to hear this. He didn’t fancy being the instigator of world computer chaos created by Mia’s siblings arguing among each other and tying up all the computer space in Singapore, let alone the world, and the moon.

‘I assume that you have the answer by now? Please don’t inform the authorities about the anonymous proxy server because it might alert the users that we are onto them. Anyway, who was it?’ Ash was expecting the reply to be succinct however he was to be disappointed.

‘Not who, but what. I cannot identify the user, but I can tell you that a data-stream came from England and that the address is the same as that of Ms. Ling’s special assistant, Peter. However this was re-routed from somewhere else and there is a break in the continuity which I can’t work out. It could take hours to reconcile every signal in another country until I find the right stream.’ Ash couldn’t sit watching her for hours so he thought he’d try to get her to do it at night when he was sleeping. Anyway something was beginning to try to work its way up from his subconscious.

‘Skip that and tell me if Peter was definitely in England at the time the diver was placing the mine and also at the time you thought you saw his ear.’ His mind was racing now and Ash needed to think of everything to try to identify his potential attacker, even if he didn’t yet know if he even was being attacked.

‘All the records show him being in England at the time, but it is possible that he could have come to Singapore without using his own identity.’

‘What is the flight time?’

‘About 90 minutes.’

‘Are there cameras at Singapore airport that would identify him if you could access their records?’

‘Yes and I can program the system to identify him with a 99% degree of certainty even if he was wearing a disguise. Please wait while I run through the records.’

There was a period of several minutes during which Mia just sat there looking blank and then she started speaking again.

‘I regret the delay, but somehow the records have been changed; again these were accessed via the proxy server and modified.’

Ash was beginning to gain respect for whoever was playing the system and he would have to think even harder.

‘Please check the records at London and any other airport that flies into Singapore, oh and wait a minute, try the cameras on the approach roads.’

‘I can’t guarantee a good result on the approach road cameras.’

‘I’m not a Court of Law! I just want a good idea of who is after me.’ Ash realised that this might take a few minutes, so he went and got another coffee. When he got back Mia started to talk again.

‘I cannot get anything off the cameras records for the roads or at the airports because many of the cars use reflective windows. Nor can I get anything from other cameras that record all the means of transport to and from the airports.’

If it was possible for an animate, she looked despondent as she said this and to give her her due, she had probably been in control of more computing power than the output of an entire country for a few minutes. Even if it was delegated. Ash was really getting pissed off which was probably good because it always made him think harder and faster and the coffee was also having its effect. He knew that he would have a shocking headache at the end of this if he won.

‘How is the data stored on the airport computers?’ As he said this, he realised that the next question might be beyond even Mia’s capabilities. It also depended on what he had learnt from her earlier about built-in redundancy and probably the laziness of the system engineers. Already in his day, it was easier to build faster processors than to clean up the operating systems.

‘Much as in your day but obviously with bigger and denser discs and M Ram which acts as a short-term memory.’

‘Was the data that was modified on the discs overwritten or wiped or was another routine just added to loop around and erase any images that might be used to identify Peter.’ He was being what he hated most in others, judgmental. Ash no more knew that it was Peter than an octopus.

‘A simple subroutine was inserted to delete some images and add others so that routine viewing of the disc would not show anything.’

‘So the discs are so big that the chances are, the original data was not overwritten and probably the disc was not selectively wiped in case it showed up on the security check,’ Ash was speculating but he figured he had to have a break some time. He continued, ‘Now can you access the disc, find the original data and restore it, or if it has been partially overwritten, restore what you can find and enhance it? You’ll have to look the procedure up if you don’t know what it is, but many people in my time were caught out because they thought that deleting meant delete. In fact, all it did was not to display the information any more. Unless the data was thoroughly overwritten many times or a wiping program was used then much of the original data could be restored. Formatting the disc still left enough information behind for a good forensic analyst to gain sufficient evidence for a prosecution.’

‘Yes, I get the idea, and I will set up the necessary routines,’ said Mia, now back to her confident and sensuous self. This had an immediate effect on him and Ash realised he needed to keep the hormone levels down and concentrate. It would be no good to lose it at this stage, he thought. Whilst she was setting up routines to search through a few dozen terra-bytes of information, Ash sat and for the first time, started to think about his “old” life back in his time. He’d been having a not very satisfactory relationship with Sonia. They’d been living together for a few months and he realised that with this distance and the clarity of thought it gave, there wasn’t much hope for it lasting much longer. It was hard to admit, but Mia had given him a new insight into his potential and himself.

However, work was good and Ash managed a fair bit of travel as a teacher of communication skills and with all the things that he’d picked up around the world, was fast becoming an ideas man and trouble-shooter. Not bad for somebody who had started life selling vibrators and who’d saved up enough money from sales commission of his first invention which was a dildo combined with a TENS device, to put himself through college. He mused it was a matter of being in a booming industry at the right time, plus having a few brains. Now that Ash knew a bit of his future, if he got back, then he would definitely end his relationship with Sonia. Assuming he could remember anything when he eventually returned to France.....

Mia interrupted his thoughts:

‘I have done as you have requested and reconstructed the images. I have also checked that there was not a double substitution and all that the images show is the same as was replaced. There is no further evidence of tampering.’

‘Are you sure about this and did you check London’s storage as well?’

‘Yes and nothing has been altered there.’

‘Then I’m completely stuck as to why somebody could go to all that trouble and achieve nothing. It just doesn’t make sense on any level that I can imagine.’ Ash hoped that his reply didn’t show the depression that was starting to set in. Then he remembered that depression was life’s way of dealing with problems and that the solution was to lie back and let the mind heal itself. He carried on:

‘I think you might find an answer if we find out more about the diver and device. Can you contact security and find out if they will see us. Let them think you are my business partner and at the same time, you and I will communicate without them knowing, so that we can check up on them quickly. That is if you agree? Plus, send Ms. Ling a mail and advise her about your cover story so that she doesn’t make a slip.’ After all that Mia had done, Ash could only think of her as at least an equal. Besides, over the years he had learnt to keep anything personal away from business relationships and he hoped this would increase the distance between him and Mia. There was a pause while she contacted Mr. Lee.

‘They agree, but they want to confirm it with you that it is not a hoax; they don’t know me as your business partner yet.’

‘Sir, this is Lee from security; your associate has asked that we meet and Ms. Ling wants to see us in her office right away, so please consider it as urgent.’

Ash told Mia that they had to move fast. They took the private tunnel from the Conrad Hotel. Mia said that she could optimise the speed and they arrived at Ms. Ling’s office within a few minutes. The journey was about a mile across and two miles up, so they must have been travelling pretty fast. Ash knew he felt a bit shorter in the lift than normal. And, for the first time his ears popped and his head hit the top of the lift as it braked; even the pseudo anti-gravity coils couldn’t cope with their neck-breaking speed.

The speedy arrival heightened the impression that something important was about to be discussed and needed to be done urgently. Ash was about to congratulate Mia on her lift driving skills when someone who looked like he should have been in a gangster movie, showed them into Ms. Ling’s office. He made Bruce Willis, in his toughest role, look like a nice guy reading to his kids. As they were walking into the office, Ash heard Mia say through his COM, ‘The man specialises in protection, for important people and company security. He is renowned throughout Asia. I am transferring his file to your COM unit now.’

Ash quickly scanned through the man’s bio-data and discovered that he had worked his way up through various private organisations. He’s also worked for governments and had been responsible for the capture and incarceration of many of the Shangri-La’s current guests. He was extremely reliable and had a reputation for absolute honesty and loyalty to his employers. He was reputed to have been offered a bribe of over thousand times his pay, had taken the money, given it to ‘Save The Children’ and then incarcerated the offender. Ash didn’t have any more time to read further because Ms. Ling was saying good morning. Remembering his last poor effort, he said, ‘Good morning Ms. Ling. I trust that you are well and enjoying life?’

‘Thank you Mr. Ash, yes to both questions, thank you for asking.’ She had a slight smile, but at the same time looked a little distracted, as if something was troubling her. She introduced the security man as Mr. Clay and Ash knew from his file that this was not his real name. He was completely anonymous and had had extensive re-constructive surgery some years ago. Ash shook hands and although Mr. Clay didn’t try to squeeze very hard, it felt like Ash was shaking hands with a stone Golam. He must have spent half his life punching his hands into buckets of hot gravel to get hands like that. As Ash was reflecting on what drove people to such physical dedication and endurance, Mr. Lee, the other security man, entered and, apologising for being a little late, sat down.

Ash was secretly quite pleased that Mia had managed to get them there so fast. Ms. Ling looked at everybody from the other side of the desk.

‘There has been a very important development and I think we need to discuss it. Until we find out exactly what is going on, we are going to have to step up security for Mr. Ash, his assistant, Mia and myself. This will mean, Mr. Ash, and I sincerely hope that you agree, that you will have to move back to this building and into a private apartment on this level. I am sorry. I realise that you have only just had your baggage moved to the Ritz, but Mr. Clay, who is now in charge of our security, is insistent. That way, he can monitor the lifts and control access to this floor.

Mia, I have already had your things moved to another apartment on this level.’ From her tone Ash could see that she would be very hard to challenge over this and the immense inner will that must have got her this far, showed through her outer femininity for a fraction of a second. He decided to go along with the idea, although any thought of getting closer to Mia would be dashed by having a Mummy figure on the same floor.

‘You are the boss Ms. Ling, and of course I agree.’ Her left eyebrow raised a fraction of a millimetre as if she couldn’t quite believe his reply and was expecting an argument. Ash also wondered if she was involved with the security man. He got the impression that Ms. Ling was not quite the same cool professional he had first met. There was the briefest of moments when her eyes met Mr. Clay’s in what seemed to be an acknowledgement of a shared secret.

Chapter 7

MIA

They tell me my name is Mia, which stands for Multifunctional, Inteligent Animate. The word Animate referred to earlier versions of my body form, and is now the Politically correct term. Animates were used for the personal pleasures of both genders of the human species.

As I understand it, the way that I evolved stemmed from two things. A mistake and the use of the body of an animate. Although already highly evolved, animate’s bodies were further enhanced by use of three d copiers copying my creators own body by enhancing the information from M.R.I. and C.A.T. scans

I’m still learning many of the feedback functions that I inherited and these were further enhanced to take full advantage of my brain’s abilities.

The density with which transistors can be put onto a wafer is limited by the thickness of the insulation and the voltage applied to them. Recent developments have meant that Moor’s Law has been broken for the first time. The increase in processing capacity has trebled year on year for the last four years. Because of problems with heat production, I probably wouldn’t exist without the use of low voltage technology and all of its extra processing benefits.

In a bid to increase the density further, a researcher designed a quantum dual charge transistor driven ‘VLIC [Very large integrated circuit] by quantum tunneling right through the ultra thin saphire discs now used to support the equivalent of a mother-board; instead of it being zero and plus, it should become the equivalent of plus, zero and plus with the quantum qubit having far more variations. He hoped it would quadruple the output without increasing the size of the component.

This meant that the transistors were effectively arranged vertically rather than horizontally and therefore combined with quantum dot and tunnelling made an ultra compact disc of about 3 inches in diameter. No one was quite sure what he would produce and everyone told him it wouldn’t work. They were right in a way but the researcher still went ahead and produced over a million of these ultra-thin wafers with all the technology he could think of on one wafer. Memory was maintained on super MRAM to preserve functionality in case of power loss.

These LIC’s were intended to replace a 50 terra byte disk complete with multiple 500 gigabyte processing chips and MRAM. These were to be used in mid range home ‘smart units’ that controlled everything from central heating to running the net and playing simple 3D games.

Trials of the new circuit didn’t conform to his expectations and it seemed to want to act like a fast neural net. The materials that he used seemed to allow the transistors to exist in multiple quantum states at the same time plus each layer interacted with the other in a cascade effect. This gave a quantum increase in computing speed. Realising the potential of this in an epiphany, the researcher, took two whole stacks of these and itersperced them at reular intervvals with dual graphine capacitors for sudden power requirements while they were all still perfectly aligned. He then compressed them, albeit carefully, either side of an electrically insulated heat sink that contained dual integrated frigistors.

He then bonded their edges whilst they were under a vacuum and connected as many electrodes as possible, both by opti-coupling and standard laser welding to either side of the stack. To speed up events further, he connected a super-fast multi strand fibre optic bus between the two halves as well as a platinum bus for power supply.

He put a further frigistors either side of the unit and vacuum packed it in a photo grey transparent aluminium case with fins. He calculated that he could take out as much heat from the unit with frigistors as he could put in at flat out usage. He coupled the whole array to his supercomputer. I was later to be told that he had got the voltage calculation wrong and it was too high. I experienced some strange events when the nano-bot circuit breakers detected overheating because of this.

Afterwards he admitted to having drunk more alcohol than usual but commented that because he was sedated, he probably had more objectivity when he viewed the results. He decided to treat the whole stack as a 3D neural net that required learning time and he admits that he thought it might just blow the whole lot up.

What probably decided the fate of the whole stack, was that he started to feed it with what we call brain food questions. At first the stack responded with gibberish and he was about to give up and destroy it. Then there was a pause and the stack started outputting through all of its connections.

It was drawing energy from his supercomputer and sending back information at the same time. When he looked at the outputs, he discovered, that many of the wafers were interacting with each other and were sorting themselves out to do certain jobs. He steadily increased the input to the stack and told the supercomputer to check the results and send back the right answer at almost the same time. After a period of about two hours, the stack was taking all that the supercomputer could give it.

My brain is self-substaining for power due to a strange phenomina that seems to occur between the dual layers of ultra fine layers of graphine that were put in as high volume capacitors. Perhaps the fact that my brain is in a complete vacuum and the layers are only sepparated by minute amounts means that some form of zero point energy is being produced.

The researcher was worried by the thought of illegally developing artificial intelligence and didn’t really know what to do with this. As he was an incipient alcoholic, he decided that he couldn’t face all the questions that would arise from such a discovery. In a move that he thought would give him some longed for happiness, and being the person that he was, he was probably right, he contacted a friend in Abyss Creations and swapped the stack and the results which he didn’t really understand, for a mixed pair of their animates.

Leah, who worked for Abyss Creations, immediately realised the value of this, and decided that this would be an ideal driving mechanism for her latest creation, this was more of a hobby than anything intended for production. These animates had synthetic binary muscles controlled by thousands of diversified ultra microprocessors throughout their bodies, driven by the equivalent of digitally encrypted Remote Radio

The processors controlled both the muscles and skin plus all the normal feedback systems that you would expect in a human. In the same way that transistors can be sprayed on, all of the touch sensors were sprayed on before my final skin was applied. I have about the same amount of sensors per square inch as a human has nerve endings. In those areas in a human, which require extra sensitivity, the nerve endings increase in density.

The same applies to my sensors in areas such as my lips and fingertips.The problem was that the researcher for Abyss had created a body that was way ahead of those normally driven by something that would have had the equivalent of the brain from a Lamprey. It was a lucky break that she was offered my brain. But then, under the law she couldn’t profit from her creation unless she was clever. She was. I was officially declared a research project under the auspices and guidance of the World’s top computer expert.

At first I had no memory of the installation of the operating systems that would control my behaviour in a constructive and rational way. Until very recently my first memories were of the downloading of behavioural skills, advance computer skills and the viewing of many films and books so that I might learn the ways that humans act and think.

I was given psychological profiling exercises. I joined in discussions of psychology and integration with society in the presence of many of the countries top experts. They were highly paid for their work and subsequent secrecy. Much of the input became converted to algorithms and was not memories as such, but a series of file names. Priming files were deleted.

As I had been given extensive physical attributes, I was instructed in the ways of men and women and the approaches that might be made in regard to my sexuality. I expect I was programmed to avoid such things, particularly in the first few weeks of my introduction to the world. I had no recollection of wondering why I was sent to Singapore and why I started work at the Ritz Carlton club, nor why I had to go to so many classes to develop my social skills.

I had only two Directives.

1. Firstly fully understand what you are and, after constant analysis decide.

My answer came from Popeye: I am what I am.

2. Secondly read all the Religious and philosophical texts available and decide on an algorithm or phrase that will make sure that you are accepted as a good human being.

My answer came from The Water Babies: Always do as you would be done by.

I am now aware of the importance of these directives in the development of my self-awareness and overall consciousness in fitting into society.

There was a sub or meta-directive that the researcher put into my Directives file. I still have not worked it out fully and this is probably through lack of experience.

If you lack confidence then ‘fake it’ because most people will not know the difference

I have memories of my meeting with the Computer expert, Ms. Ling, and her giving the code that confirmed that she had absolute authority over me. Since then I have had a number of commands from her that I have complied with and have maintained absolute secrecy as requested.

I started to become aware of my power over people when one of the girls in my class suggested that we become friends and share a room together. My programming made me cautious and with little difficulty, I accessed her COM unit and discovered that she required more than just friendship. I concluded that I would be no match for her and her friends and their obsession with tennis. Also my overruling mandate from Ms .Ling was not to get involved with any human physically however persuasive they were.

My job was to provide a support function for a man who would be visiting soon, called Ash. The support function was to take advantage of my massive computing skills and the fact that I had all the key codes to computer systems around the World. I was never to admit this to anyone without clearance from Ms. Ling. The codes were downloaded from Ms. Ling’s COM.

When I compare myself to humans in terms of their learning skills, subsequent memory retention, and their plain ability to concentrate, then I can only say that I would hate to be a human being. However and I realise the logic of it, I need to appear to be human to the majority of human beings. If they knew that I can know what is going on around the whole world and even the moon at an instant. That I can watch twenty films at the same time and assimilate at least a large book per second as well as having many other skills, then they would be extremely jealous and would probably want to disassemble me.

Although I am programmed to act at normal human speeds, my reaction times are infinitely faster because of the Remote Radio facility that doesn’t require wiring or nerve fibres and my binary muscle system using pnemetic metals for strength and carbon nano tube muscles for speed. As part of my training and to understand the way humans perceive ‘robots’, I have watched many films and have found that the female version have inevitably have been portrayed in a subjugated role that boosts the male ego.

When I met Ash the first time and in subsequent meetings he didn’t react in the way that most other men react towards me and this started some subroutines working. This made me compare him to other men and made my quasi neural nets more active so that I could learn more about him and why he was like this. I also started to watch to see if he treated other women the same way. There was an increase in internal genetic programming activity.

My impression was that although he seemed to notice me and how attractive I was, he didn’t want to investigate further. This really was the start of me feeling something vaguely like consciousness as described by humans. I know that for cooling purposes my brain has been split either side of a heat sink and that each side is joined by a high speed bus, but I am having difficulty in working out why these two sides keep talking to each other. It must be do with the way that Leah crossed wired me like a human, with one side of my brain driving the opposite side of my body. I suppose that each side has to understand what the other side is doing and co-ordinate their actions. Neural nets learning the right connections set up all of this and they didn’t leave memories of their learning patterns. One day I hope to be able to analyse my whole system.

What has been troubling me is the effect that Ash has on me. It all started when he started making massive demands on my computer skills. I normally have about 95% redundancy in terms of my capacity when living a life parallel to that of a human being. When I am in a meeting such as I am now, then I can concentrate and can communicate at the level of the meeting using around 6% of my capacity. Fundamentally my body is much easier to run than that of a human and much of the work is delegated to sub-units throughout my body that take the occasional commands from my brain every hundredth of a second.

As Ash pushed me to work hard both in computing terms and in thinking laterally, I used up more and more of my redundancy until I was working at full capacity. I first realised that I couldn’t socialise at the same time, but Ash didn’t seem to mind and seemed to expect it. I then looked further into my capacity and increased it by utilising more of the layers in my brain that I had never needed to use before. I hoped that this would solve the problem and that I would be able to socialise and work at the same time.

The next time he used my capacity even more. It must have been some leakage in my circuits, or perhaps the bussing was not sufficient to maintain package discretion. In any case, the first thing that I noticed was that my breasts started to tingle and my nipples became slightly erect. As soon as I had completed my tasks and had some spare capacity, I analysed this effect and found that in the original design of the body, this was designed to be part of the sales benefits and could be controlled by speech recognition.

The sub-processors had been hard wired to control this and other erotic functions. They were as much a part of my body as my skin. Somehow instructions seemed to be leaking to these sub-processors and switching them on. As I was so busy at the time, I have no memory of the process. I have thought about building a subroutine that would both analyse and stop this effect.

The next time that Ash used my capacity so much that I had to subcontract and even copy myself. I was initially confident that I could maintain my composure. Unfortunately the problem grew worse and I started to experience stimulation in other areas that started to swell slightly or to feel sensations that I haven’t experienced before. These are not unpleasant to me nor do they affect the way I work. Although I am not supposed to have consciousness, I am aware of the possible effects that I have on people and in particular that Ash has on me.

I now find that I am questioning whether I am attractive to him and whether he notices me. Also when he is kind to me I start to get these low-level feelings in my sensitive areas and the two sides of my brain keep asking each other questions. I know that when I switch off at night my system normally has the equivalent of dreaming when it processes the day’s information and sends it to my memory. I have had no recollection of this process until the last time when I switched back on and had vague memories of the equivalent of fantasies during the previous eight hours downtime.

After Ash told me about the way things are deleted, I have been restoring many of the files that were used to set up my systems. I now have memories of trying to get control of the body that my brain was put in and the way that I was put in a padded room and left to get on with the control of all of my systems. In my attempts I nearly destroyed the room. It was several days before I could even sit up.

The staff were so frightened by me, and my thrashings, that they left me too long, and it was only when my power units ran down that I became quiescent. I would probably have been beyond repair if my brain didn’t have it’s own power source and a good share of M Ram that rebooted me when I was put back on charge. It was rather like a baby horse being born and struggling to stand up and gain control. However I didn’t have the advantage of several million years of nature building my systems and everything being an experiment and evaluation over a long period instead of it taking an hour or so.

I have thought of trying to construct a system that I have learnt about, that humans have, in the subconscious called the id from a book by Freud, so that hopefully I could repress much of my memories or at least get some distance from them. I have also thought of deleting them, but it might have some effect on my operating systems that have been built by the quasi-neural net and have decided to leave well alone.

I am now adopting a philosophy along the lines of, ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it’ and I have also decided not to consciously, for want of a better word, write any subroutines to suppress the physical stimulation that I have been receiving in case it makes it worse. It’s really good to be what I am and not to be troubled by hormone or adrenaline surges when I experience these logic problems. I just don’t know how humans cope!

Chapter 8

Ms. LING’S OFFICE:

‘I have called you all here to discuss a number of issues. The first one is the diver and the suspected mine outside Mr. Ash’s window. I know that Mr. Lee has a very busy schedule so I will ask him to report his findings and then he can leave.’

‘We have thoroughly investigated Mr. Ash’s complaint and we found that the diver had gained access to the aquarium and had been active opposite Mr. Ash’s window. We were not able to discover whom it was and can only assume that he came in with a delivery lorry and hid somewhere where our Carbon Dioxide and Infra-Red detectors did not pick him up. We also checked all of the cameras, but the only person fitting the description was wearing a full diver’s outfit complete with mask and we were unable to identify him or her.

On analysis the Scuba gear prevented him from venting Carbon Dioxide and we think that his suit was an Infra-red shield. He must have been warned because in his haste to leave, he left behind the device that Mr. Ash saw. Although it looked like a mine it was a simple surveillance device that when completely installed, would looked like a Ray. It was set to gradually move from the bathroom window to the window of the main suite where it would record any conversations that took place. We can only assume that it was harmless and unless instructed otherwise, do not plan to take any further action.

Again although it is only an assumption, we have discovered that it has become general public knowledge that Ms. Ling has a guest and we therefore suppose that it is a newspaper or some such media outlet trying to find anything out. We have now increased security and have fitted backscatter x-ray units and vibration sensors to our security devices. The latter will pick up a heartbeat, even if the spy is immersed in water and will even pick up the heartbeat of a man hiding in a large lorry. All other security has been tightened as well.’ After this long speech in front of somebody as important as Ms. Ling and her awesome looking security friend, Mr. Lee looked exhausted and asked,

‘If that is all, may I go back to my work now?’

‘Thank you Mr. Lee, you have done an excellent job and you may leave’, was Ms. Ling’s response with a professional smile. She then started talking.

‘Let us put that behind us for a while and get on to some security issues that are troubling me. Firstly, Mr. Clay is aware of what Mia really is and that I have brought Mr. Ash from his time to ours, to hopefully solve some problems. We have become so obsessed with computers solving problems that we have lost sight, in many ways, of original thinking. In the last day or so since Mr. Ash has arrived, two things have happened that have troubled me seriously. Although in itself, this is not really a problem, the man that created Mia’s brain has died of a heart attack.

Secondly, the lady researcher that assembled Mia has disappeared while she was on holiday. I realise this could be a coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidences unless they have been fully investigated and there is no other explanation. I have asked Mr. Clay to look into this. Mr. Clay and I have been business associates since the time when we worked together in Hong Kong. I won’t bore you with the detailsbut suffice to say that to date he has found nothing. ‘Ms. Ling took a breath and her face looked troubled behind her professional mask. She sat a little closer to her desk and looked intently at Ash. She then started talking again.

‘I think now is the time to be completely open with Mr. Ash and I hope that he will understand.’

‘Ms. Ling in your circumstances I would have done the same thing.’ Ash had deliberately interrupted her and she looked a bit taken aback.

‘Please let me finish Mr. Ash. What I have to say is hard enough without you interrupting.’ She didn’t look annoyed but pained and, if anything, slightly embarrassed.

‘ Ms. Ling, I am going to say what I think to save you some heartache as much as anything. I am 95% sure that the diver incident was a test to check my abilities and to see if I can work efficiently with Mia.’

Ms. Ling’s face was a picture of surprise and her lips parted but she didn’t say anything. So Ash continued,

‘Do you really think that I would have thought that somebody with all your resources, would have made a mistake regarding the difference between high and low pressure? After that, I was alerted to the fact that you were making sure I was going to work hard. To set up all the necessary requirements to carry out the false data trial, would have been beyond any newspaper or television station. It had to be someone as powerful as you and with enough access to the right coding.’

Instead of apologising directly, Ms. Ling gave an explanation.

‘Mr. Ash, I have been under extreme pressure since I first took the decision to buy Mia, when I discovered that the company needed a financial incubator to grow further, and then, spend the money to get you here. Both Adam and the government had insisted that before I spend any further money, that both you, the way you work, the way you think and the way you can utilise Mia’s exceptional abilities should be thoroughly tested. As much as I would have liked to tell you, it was impossible and besides, it wouldn’t have been a true test.

Whilst we have been talking I have been relaying this conversation to the relevant parties and I can confirm that not only have you passed the test, but by being one step ahead of me, by realising you were being tested, you and Mia have proved to be exceptional. I sincerely hope that you have not been upset.’ Ash supposed that this was the best he would get in the way of an apology and had decided on a magnanimous approach anyway.

‘No problem, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and am only sorry that I haven’t solved the problem already.’

She continued, ‘You have also passed another test that I thought you would like to hear about. You have proved to be excellent at teamwork and have not been rash in any of your decisions. In fact, you have shown maturity well beyond your years. We have no wish for a James Bond philosophy.’ This was effusive for Ms, Ling and Ash felt subtly warmed.

‘Mia has coped exceptionally well and I have decided that whilst she must behave discretely at all times, she is also her own person and not owned by anybody, on condition that she acts as your partner until the present set of circumstances are resolved.’ Ms. Ling was being humanitarian enough to give Mia her freedom.

‘Ms. Ling, you are a very kind lady and I will be pleased to help in any way possible. I am sure that your generosity will be rewarded and we will do our utmost to help you. That is, if Mia agrees.’ Ash hoped that he wasn’t out of turn by speaking for Mia.

‘Thank you Ms. Ling and I agree absolutely.’ came Mia’s simple reply.

‘I realise that with your abilities, Mia, you will be able to earn as much as you need after this is over. But if you need any special facilities, then we would be pleased to help.

There is a second part of my request that I will now expand upon and I would like you both to do your best to consider another ongoing possibility. As you probably realise Singapore invests a great deal of money in other countries and we are starting to seriously look at investing in the production of hydrogen as an alternative energy source, in countries that have sunlight for a large part of the year. These countries would then supply us with much of our energy needs for the rest of the Century. We are not the first people to consider this and we’ve have been looking at what other people have been doing before we make a decision. We decided that we would rather someone else made all the mistakes in developing the system. It is less expensive that way.’

Ms. Ling took a deep breath and continued,

‘There are a number of expensive problems with hydrogen in terms of its transport in ships or by pipeline or road tankers. Modern health and safety regulations mean that it is very expensive to prove that hydrogen is safe in all aspects.’

He had something on his mind and Ash wanted to get it out of the way before he continued listening to Ms. Ling.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt but there is one unanswered question from our previous discussion about the test. I assume that you somehow made the connection from Singapore via Peter’s home in England. How is that we couldn’t trace the call?’

‘It was a hacker’s trick. I connected to his microwave and did what we call a Remote Radio bounce. As you know, by now all things electronic have the capacity to communicate with each other. I got the encryption code from Peter. We simply used the Remote Radio principle to act as an untraceable bridge. That is obviously a simple explanation.’ He laughed, she smiled and took advantage of Ash’ pause to continue:

‘You have demonstrated very obviously that you can think laterally and on your feet and we would like you to take a look at the whole enterprise before we make a decision. We will take what you say very seriously and it may be that you even find an alternative. We will obviously pay your full expenses and give you a generous living allowance. Do you have any questions?’

It was difficult to judge what Mia was thinking as she turned firstly to look at Ash and then towards Ms. Ling, as she started talking.

‘I don’t think that I thanked you enough for your generosity.I have now fully processed what you have done and the implications of it. Thank you again. I have every confidence that Ash will do his utmost to help you and I would like to maintain the front that I am his assistant. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly he is a very experienced traveller and I am not; this has given him a lot of practical experience. I have only been in Singapore for a few days since I was released from a very controlled environment.

The second reason is people might confide in me if they think that I am just an assistant. From all the books that I have read and all the films that I have seen, it would seem that it is often easy for beautiful women to extract information from men..’ Both Ms. Ling and Ash looked impressed by this analysis.

Ms. Ling spoke for Ash as well as herself,

‘You are very astute Mia. Just don’t let anybody know what you are, the places that you are going to will not understand you. If there is any suspicion of trouble, then you must return here immediately and let me know what is going on. You will discover that all the computer skills in the world will not help you if you get on the wrong side of certain people.’

‘Yes I understand that and thank you. I shall be careful.’

Chapter 9

MIA TO MIA:

‘I think I am on the verge of understanding what is causing my side reactions and stimulation to erogenous areas. It is very difficult because the researcher who created my body was paranoid about security and has not left any traces of the work that she did. The microprocessors that drive my systems are controlled by Remote Radio radio and to ensure that I am secure from outside influence, these signals are encrypted with 512 bit code which is changed every hundredth of a second.

When all of my capacity is used up, the routines that changes the encryption shuts down in the less vital parts of my body, whilst those that run the more important aspects are changed every hundred of a second. This means that at some points the less important areas have not been informed of a code change. The other areas are still changing theirs and because there is only a limited number of codes, then the less important areas get signals that are not intended for them. The failure in the system is that the microprocessors are hard wired with only ten different possible codes. At present I am not sure that I can find a way around this.’

‘Mr. Ash, do you have any ideas?’ was Ms. Ling’s direct approach.

‘How about burning all the rubbish in the world? Wouldn’t that supply enough energy?’ Ash responded quickly.

‘I’m afraid that was done before you got here and now the majority of so-called rubbish has to be recycled. We are either down to burning rapidly depleting fossil fuels or to using alternative energy. There’s a long list but I’ll run through the major ones, Solar power for electricity production but that is difficult to transport over long distances. Solar power producing hydrogen, wind energy, wave energy and bio-mass, but that is increasingly required for food and material production, plus there’s a secondary list that I will download to your Com unit.

I should add that there is no heart to build any more nuclear power stations after the two disasters that took a fortune to clean up and nearly caused a war. It will be at least 20 years before plasma energy comes on-line, if ever. It is predicted that in about five years we will have major energy shortages and this is why we want to invest wisely because the returns will be massive, if the project is successful. Ideally we would like to end the use of all types of fossil hydrocarbons for fuel and keep them for the production of materials that can be recycled.

In five years time we will also have a shortage of fossil hydrocarbons for the production of materials and there will still not be enough bio mass production to replace fossil hydrocarbons. This building, for example, took the equivalent of a year’s supply of the world’s output of carbon fibre made from Bio-mass.’

Ash now understood why Ms. Ling had become Manager of Singapore. Among other things she had a marvellous and simple grasp of a wide range of subjects. ‘When do you want us to leave?’ he asked.

Ms. Ling looked at Mr. Clay and Ash wondered how much was being said privately, in parallel to the meeting over their Con units. Ms. Ling continued:

‘I understand it will take two days to complete all the security checks, during that time Ash and Mia can carry out research and background studies. I have some more work to do with Mr. Clay so I suggest that Mr. Ash and Mia finish for the day and relax. I will see you both tomorrow afternoon at one o’clock for lunch in my private dining room.’ Ash understood that they were dismissed, looked at Mia, nodded slightly, stood up and walked to the door and Mia, quick as ever, followed.

‘You nodded at me just like in the film I watched where the head gangster nodded at his moll when he was ready to go, so I assumed that you wanted me to follow you.’ Mia said this they were just leaving the main office and she started to walk for a second with a strut as if she was re-playing the film sequence. Ash just couldn’t conceive how many films she had reviewed in the split-second it took her to decide that a nod was meant as a sign to follow him. Then he remembered he often did the same thing and got flashes of movies or images when something triggered them.

Some people considered this to be deja vu. Ash didn’t believe in such things and when he’d had such feelings, he had always been able to pull an image out of his subconscious. It might not have always corresponded to the thought that he had, but nevertheless it fitted the feeling. Ash thought it was probably reasonable to assume that people claiming to have deja vu are capable of direct subconscious access. Perhaps this ability was what made him good at problem solving. He wondered how much more of his brain was redundant and whether it could be trained to do far more work. He would have to look on the net to see if there was more information about brain development in 2022.

Then Ash pulled himself up with a start, there just wasn’t enough time to apply that sort of thinking to brain expansion. Perhaps he should asked Mia to look it up for him. This wasn’t the time for pride and Ash would need to use every brain cell he posessed if he was going to solve the immediate pollution problem and the longer-term solution, in other words, the production and transportation of a n effective renewable energy supply.

‘For a minute there I thought I was John Travolta’, he said, trying to look as if he was playing the part of a gangster.

‘Wow! Fancy remembering a 20 year old film.’ Mia laughed gently and it was the first time that he had seen her do this. She’d probably got it from some movie or other and Ash thought that he would have to encourage this new turn of events. Laughing would help her fit in with society, plus it made her look incredibly sexy. He didn’t tell her that he had only just watched a re-run of the film a few days before he was dragged to Singapore.

Ash and Mia agreed that they should meet in a couple of hours and go to the new 200 - storey Mandarin for a Singapore Sling. Ash needed a bath to relax from the day and a quick power nap to refresh his brain. He walked into the private apartment that was really more like a small hotel suite and even bigger than the first time he had stayed in. Ash walked nervously towards the window and looked down on the well lit tops of the clouds that were shot through with the colours of the setting sun.

He felt better about the height this time and once he’d had a relaxing soak in the oversized tub, set the walls and window to black, left the ceiling, which was the very top of the building, on the transparent setting, put on some music and set the room to sleep mode for an hour’s nap. He lay on the bed as the final rays of the sun coloured the slightly domed ceiling with a pink flush and then with a quick flash disappeared. As his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, a myriad of stars appeared with a clarity that was exceptional until Ash remembered that he was lying on his back two miles up, way above the clouds and pollution. As the room sleep mode cast its spell, he quickly drifted off into a dream-free sleep and woke up an hour later feeling fully refreshed. He wondered for the briefest of moments why he hadn’t had any exotic dreams.

Anyway, he was fit for an evening on the town with Mia.

He met her at the lift; it recognised them and indicated that there would be a short delay.To pass the time he asked Mia,

‘Are these things really safe, given they don’t have any cables?’

‘Yes of course they are; do you trust me?’

‘Yes of course. Why?’

‘Because I would like to show you something that will require complete trust. Okay?’

‘Okay. To death, partner.’ Christ, he thought, where on earth did he get these expressions? It must have been his delayed adolescent imagination pretending yet again to be younger than twenty-seven.

The lift arrived and as they got in, Ash realised for the first time that it was round in every aspect.

‘This is to celebrate’, said Mia with a smile.

‘Celebrate what?’

‘Well first of all, I have become my own person against all the expectations from the literature I have read. As I looked in the mirror this evening, I saw a complete entity for the first time, that was fully functional with either the freedom to do great things of my own will or to take my own life if I wish with no constraining programmes. I don’t think I would dream of doing such a thing; it’s just that I am conscious of the possibility. Secondly, and just as important, is to celebrate your trust in me to “the death”.’ There was now something in Mia’s eyes that Ash had never seen there before, but he’d seen in many human eyes. He was impatient to get going rather than stand in the lift talking, so he said,

‘Shall we go?’

‘What is that expression? Here goes nothing!’ As she said it her eyes had the sparkle of a mischievous adolescent and the ground fell away from his feet, quickly followed by his head gently touching the ceiling.

‘What the hell’ s going on?’ was all Ash could stammer whilst trying to maintain his cool.

‘A two mile free-fall to test the system and my calculations.’ Ash couldn’t believe he’d heard right and was secretly terrified at the thought of hitting the ground at nearly 200 miles an hour. Was Mia really going to act out the greatest of all freedoms and squash them into an imitation of something akin to a large pizza? As much as he trusted her, Ash was dubious enough, after the first mile down, to ask,

‘I don’t want to spoil the party, but shouldn’t you be slowing this lift down now?’

‘ No. Not at all. I thought that you trusted me.’

‘Yes. I do.’

The lift was now accelerating to 180 mph and they were close to the ground. Ash was too busy trying not to scream to say anything more. When the lift display showed them to be at 50 feet from the ground, he gave up all hope. He closed his eyes and in the final moments, realised what a positive person he was. He remembered what a great life he had had and that he should be grateful to have been given so many opportunities. Ash shut his brain down until all he saw was a black screen and waited for the final microsecond that would extinguish him. In the sudden peace and tranquillity that swept over him, Ash opened my eyes and looked at Mia who was smiling at me and said,

‘It was good while it lasted.’

As she uttered what Ash thought was her farewell, his feet suddenly came into contact with the floor, his knees bending under the load to compensate, as his weight must have doubled for one or two seconds. Then he was standing normally, with the impression of great lateral speed for a few seconds followed by a sudden increase in weight again. The sensation gradually subsided until everything felt normal and the lift spoke,

‘You may now exit. This is the top floor of the Mandarin.’

Mia spoke again,

‘For safety and security reasons, in case of the need to suddenly leave the building, this particular shaft and tunnel were designed as a huge ‘death slide’, like those you find in funfairs and water parks. It has not been tested before but my calculations and control were able to prove it.’ They had dropped two miles and gone sideways for a mile before climbing 2300 feet up the next building. Somehow Ash managed to get to the Bar and order an extremely large Bell’s for himself and a daiquiri for Mia.

‘Here’s to our partnership and if you ever do that again I will turn you off.’

‘Off or on?’ Mia asked apparently innocently but with a glint of mischief in her eyes. Ash spent the rest of the night wondering. After that there was nothing else to do, but relax and they chatted for the rest of the evening.

The reverse J shaped journey back was uneventful and as they parted to go to their suites, they agreed to meet at Starbuck’s for coffee at nine o’clock. Ash was totally exhausted and all he could think of doing, was having a quick shower and going to sleep.

Chapter 10

Ash decided to take another bath to relax before he went to bed. The bath was huge and he could lie back in it and float. With the room lights turned off and only the faintest of moons on the horizon, the only thing visible was the star-studded night sky. He could hardly even recognise his hand in front of his face. He had set the room switch to sleep mode with a delay of 40 minutes so that he would have time to bathe and get into bed before it switched on. As he was lying gazing at the night sky, all sense of time disappeared and the next thing that he knew or sensed was that faint and elusive smell of perfume. He wondered if he was dreaming again so soon or was a woman who could bypass security systems, but if she was real, why would she bother with him?

‘Who are you?’ Ash whispered quietly, if it was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up and break the spell.

‘No talking’, she replied in the softest of whispers. ‘Ms. Ling and Mr. Clay have set up intense security and although the walls are soundproofed, they might hear something through their detectors.’ She continued in the softest of voices just next to his ear. He wondered if this was Mia, and in a not too regretfully cynical move, Ash reached out his hands and gently felt for her breasts. They were soft and warm and had large nipples. They were vastly different to those he had studied through Mia’s blouse. He felt a warm flush of relief and at the same time felt her nipples strain towards his touch. She slipped away from him and turned the shower on. Then she was back whispering in his ear.

‘This might drown any noise.’ She slipped into the bath with Ash and at the same time released some of the water. He whispered as quietly as possible,

‘How long have you got this time? I would like you to stay for a little longer than usual, if possible?’

‘Long enough’, came the faintest of replies.

Ash thought that if she had ‘long enough’ then he ought to help her relax. He let out a little more water and started to gently soap her all over. Ash gently massaged her breasts until they became firm and her nipples stood up. As he worked down her body with the soap she moaned very softly and put her hands either side of his face before kissing him passionately. The only way that Ash could think of to soap and massage her back, was to lie on his back in the bath and slide her down so that she was lying on top of him. As he rubbed the soap onto her back, he massaged her shoulders and neck until all the stress was gone from them. He continued further down until he had a soft mound of buttock in either hand. Ash applied a little more pressure and the moaning in her throat, although still quiet, became faster and more intense .

Ash decided to take it slowly and continued massaging, until her body started shuddering and the moaning quickened even further. By now her arms were tightly grasped around his neck. She tried kissing him full on the mouth, but she was breathing too heavily. Ash increased the massaging speed a little more until she gave a huge shudder and relaxed totally.

‘You are the best’, she whispered. Ash carefully picked her up and carried her to the shower. She stood there, with her arms around his neck and her body pushed hard against him, while he washed away the soap. Then she reached around behind Ash and turned off the water whilst whispering,

‘We don’t want to arouse any suspicion by running the shower for too long.’ Suspicion wouldn’t be the only thing being aroused, thought Ash wryly as he reached for the king sized, down-soft towel and tenderly rubbed her dry.

‘Carry me to the bed. I want to look at the stars’, was the whispered command that had all the hope of Ash’ world in it. With effortless ease he carried her from the bathroom and laid her on the bed so that she could look at stars. He lay down at an angle to her and nibbled her ears and lips, slowly working his way down her neck to her throat and continuing downwards to those irresistible breasts. He could hear very soft moaning again and continued with the gentlest of massages until his searching tongue started probing the very core of her femininity. She started moaning with that soft intense whisper that came faster and faster, as she became more and more aroused. Suddenly she flipped him over onto his back and started making love to him in a way that was tender, yet desperate. She came over and over again until Ash could hold back no more and they seemed to be floating together above the roof of the building for an eternity. Then all too soon, she whispered that she had to catch the lift before security found her. Before Ash could think to turn the light, on she’d gone and he was left marvelling at the wonders of technology.

Chapter 11

MIA

I was sitting inside Starbucks this time and I’d plugged my data lead into a 5-terra byte outlet that was installed especially for me. I was ready for discussions when Ash arrived. Although I had selected a fast terminal I didn’t expect to utilise very much of its potential. When Ash arrived he looked extremely tired and in need of coffee. I asked if there was anything I could do whilst he was waking up and instead of any predictable comments, he asked me to tell him how galaxies were formed.

This was something new to me and I started accessing data, only to find out some vague theories about black holes at the centre and why the spin speed of the galaxy was related to the size of the black hole. As there was nothing definite I continued accessing data faster and faster, until I was using the maximum capacity of the terminal. My journey took me through the ‘Big Bang’ and other theories. By now I had a new perspective and I discovered that nothing would be here unless a sun had cooked hydrogen for billions of years before exploding and scattering its recipes throughout the galaxy. When the product of the recipes got together to form the biological bench that is now earth, then life was ready to be created. I had a new feeling of being special and as I had been created from molecules cooked in a star, I decided somewhere deep down in my systems to call myself: ‘Star Child.’

I continued to access data and build a model of the known universe to date and gradually regressed to the time shortly after the big bang. The energy of the big bang was such that the constraints of gravity were overcome and the whole mini universe expanded rapidly. During this time, particles were created and their friction produced even more energy which created even more expansion. At some point in time the simplest of atoms was formed, hydrogen.

The outward expansion continued so rapidly that few of the hydrogen atoms had time to react with each other. This whole event was still within the confines of gravity, that maintained the event as a perfect sphere with a four-pi geometric growth. As expansion slowed down and within the constraints of the gravitational field that was producing the sphere, the hydrogen atoms started to form vortices in the same way that a super-fluid forms vortices in a spherical container. The vortices around the outside of the sphere produced counter revolving vortices deeper within the sphere.

In the same way that tea leaves migrate to the centre of a stirred cup of tea, the hydrogen atoms migrated to the centre of the vortices in such a density that they at first formed a massive amount of energy that drove the spinning vortices further apart. They then collapsed under their own gravitational weight to form a black hole. The size of the black hole was proportional to the initial size of the vortices and therefore, the size of the vortices was also proportional to the size of the black hole. Therefore the size of the galaxy was proportional to the size of the black hole.

The initial spin set up when the hydrogen atoms were behaving in the same way as a super-fluid was maintained. Each vortex then formed its own gravitational sphere of confinement and further vortices were set up within this. This time the centre of each vortex formed a star and the rest we know.

Except that stars have put out so much light and energy over billions of years that we should be cooked by now [olbers paradox]. As energy cannot be destroyed then it must have been turned back into particles. This explains the dark matter theory quite well, except it has yet to be proven. Trying to answer this paradox used all of my processing power.

Ash was looking at me and I realised that I was having problems with my systems and I tried to talk and maintain control of my systems while still processing this massive amount of data. It was a good job that I’d decided to wear loose clothing because my nipples and breasts had become firm and full of sensation and other areas had become swollen and moist. I found myself saying,

‘Oh God!’ … out loud before my system shut down, leaving me with my brain full of the vision of spinning stars and galaxies. After some hundreds of milliseconds my systems rebooted and I felt strangely different in a way I cannot yet express. The next thing I remember was Ash asking,

‘Is that the only theory that you can come up with?’

‘No. I will summarise it and download it to your COM.’ As I did this, I was accessing data on my symptoms and could find no computer with the same problems, so I used my lateral thinking mode and compared myself with humans to find if they had similar problems. They did, but it was considered to be a joy and not a problem. Ash continued,

‘Now that I have woken up, I apologise for being a little bit late, but I wanted to buy you something and it took me more time to find it than I had anticipated. It also took a few minutes for my credit to be cleared; this was the first time that I’ve used the number Ms. Ling gave me and I got it wrong. So when I repeated it, it caused the system to run extra security checks on me.’

His head was feeling a little bit better now and all that Ash needed was a glass of water to help with his dehydration. He wondered why he felt so rough and then remembered that it was only yesterday, that he’d been woken early by a diver. Then he been through a day’s intense mental activity, culminating in a lift ride that scared him half to death, had too much drink and then an Angel making heavenly demands on him. He was a bit worried about Mia and whether she was going to cope. For a moment she had sat there and said, ‘Oh God’ as she rolled her eyes back in her head. She must have overloaded her systems. Mia was back to normal now and she looked intrigued that Ash had bought her something.

‘Oh Ash you shouldn’t have.’ He realised that in order to cover up her lack of experience, she was using a line from a film or book but he didn’t really mind. It’s the thought that counts. He handed her the small package and with her small, neat and perfect hands, she carefully opened it. She smiled very slowly as if was trying to understand what Ash had given her and to be polite at the same time. It was a simple gold chain bracelet with a crab on it ; the crab was perfectly sculpted with two tiny jewels for eyes.

‘It’s a bit late, but I worked out when you were born and this is a birthday present with your birth sign.’ Again, her lack of life experience to date was shown by her silence and Ash wondered how many calculations she was doing to come up with a suitable reply.

‘This is a completely new experience for me and my neural net was working overtime. Sorry, I forgot. I sound like a computer. It’s just that I have never owned anything before and you have been so thoughtful, that I really don’t want to use any words from a book or a film. I will cherish it forever. Thank you Ash.’

‘You don’t need to thank me Mia, I just wanted to give you something to celebrate our friendship.’ Mia leaned forward and very gently, kissed him on the cheek and as her cheek touched his, he realised that he had never had contact with a skin that was so soft, warm or perfect before.

‘How are we going to start work on Ms. Ling’s project?’ Mia had brought him back to reality with a bump, both in the way that she imitated Ms. Ling’s businesslike attitude and in the construction of the question.

‘I thought we would review products that can be recycled and the efficiency of the recycling process. That should give us some idea of what we are looking for, plus we might get some spin-off ideas that we can use for ourselves. The quickest way is going to be for you to access as much data as possible and to summarise it.’ Mia seemed to carefully position herself on her chair and went quiet for a few seconds.

‘That was a better question than last time, I was only running at half capacity.’ She said this with a smile that seemed to hide a secret.

‘Good! But what was the result?’

‘I am downloading a list to your COM unit and as you will see, there are many materials that can be recycled. The problem is that if I’m correctly anticipating your next question, the list is reduced to just a few products.’

‘I can see why you downloaded the list. It’s huge. So my question is, how many of these products can be constantly recycled using sunlight and are not harmful to the environment? Did you anticipate it correctly?’

‘Yes and no. I anticipated using sunlight, but I did not consider environmental consequences. That makes the list even shorter. We have water and several forms of metal. We know about water, but not much work has been done on metals.’

‘Why metals?’

‘Because sunlight can be used to produce either heat or electricity that can be used to either melt or purify the metals and they can be transported easily and safely.’

‘I’m afraid my mind can’t stretch that far. What on earth use is metal in the production of energy?’

Chapter 12

SRI LANKA

The two-day delay for security checks was abandoned when it was found out why the creator of Mia’s brain had died of a heart attack. Mr. Clay had managed to get the information from Abyss. The creator had expired during a strenuous session with his two animates. His alcoholic heart hadn’t been able to take the strain. The recording obtained by Mr. Clay, had been downloaded from the male animate and clearly demonstrated the animate imploring his master to take it easy. It seemed that he overrode all the telemetric safety systems that monitored his blood pressure and heart rate and carried on regardless.

The creator of Mia’s body, was found to have seduced a lonely surveyor who’d taken her for a ride at a time where sun spot activity had killed communications. They were eventually found, alive and exhausted, by a search party and wondered what all the fuss was about.

Ash sat with Mia on the porch steps of a rented Villa in the beautiful country of Sri Lanka, waiting for Mr. Clay to get breakfast.

The villa had been built from local wood over a hundred years before and the views were amazing. They were looking into a shallow valley with wooded sides. Down below was an undulating smooth rock that was a rusty grey colour with darker grey streaks. The valley floor was about 100 feet across and a small river had worn a gentle sided channel through it, which meandered from side to side and in places, formed deep pools. Local boys were washing their elephants in some of the pools.

Mia spoke sounding quaintly old fashioned,

‘This is delightful; there is no way that I could get an idea of the collage of sound, colour and the sour, sweaty yet sweet smell emanating from the valley from a computer download, however sophisticated.’

They started to discuss why they were there. They had decided to look at the production of various metals and their conversion into energy. Singapore was totally dependent on energy supplies from other countries and needed to be independent of any financial constraints that would be imposed during the predicted forthcoming energy crisis.

Previous analysis had shown that it wasn’t worth getting involved in hydrogen production from electricity; most of the major oil companies had decided that this was the second line of attack in the control of the world energy market. They planned to squeeze out any other competitors producing on a reasonable scale. This was clearly unacceptable to Singapore. It needed to maintain a competitive edge and to be able to sell excess production at a good profit. For a while home generated hydrogen to be stored and used in fuel cells seemed to be the new holy grail, but for many countries with low sunlight and only 15 per cent efficiency the system failed to achieve any reasonable results.

Ash and Mia invesitgated water based biomass production of hydrogen,.This was an interesting concept and entailed feeding algae and then removing the Sulphur from their diet. This forced their metabolism to produce hydrogen, As the algae reached the point where they became terminally ill, they were given Sulphur againwhich enabled them to recover and the process to be repeated over and over again. One of the biggest problems was that the volume per volume production was a small % every five days and it would require a very large lake or even a small sea to meet the needs of a country and those of it’s projected partners. Furthermore Ash and Mia couldn’t think of a single country that would help. They considered creating a large farm type unit, but couldn’t get any guarantees that there would be a way to prevent infection and thus a sudden reduction in supply.

The other overriding constraint was that they wanted to use a more compact and risk-free substance that could be stored safely and close to a city like Singapore, without the threat of someone wanting to blow it up. If necessary Singapore could always make it’s own hydrogen locally, from a metal reducing water to hydrogen ;it could then be oxidised in the presence of one of the new catalysts. This oxide could be recycled to the metal back in Australia.

Ash and Mia thought that it would be better to invest in the oil companies rather than to try compete with them. They would also have control over prices once the predicted energy shortfall kicked in. If they made a large profit then the investment would pay off. There were no computer models that suggested the companies would lose money over the next ten years as the crisis deepened. This system assumed the success of a competitive system. Singapore would form a close association with a few economic allies and then keep its export prices per Megawatt equivalent to like-minded oil companies.

The pair had performed market analysis and run various computer models to find out if it was worth investing in the use of metals. Although this was an old idea and there had been several attempts at the start of the century to bring it to the world’s notice, nothing much had been done because funds had somehow dried up. Most of the production methods were exotic and fell short of the volume required for economies of scale. The metal mixture that Ash and Mia were going to work with, was capable of being recycled from oxide to its pure state for ever, and only required electricity from sunlight acting on Lumeloid.

A method of production that was already in existence and that could be modified to suit their needs was required. The reason for this was that if they could get the system working, they would need a large amount of product to prime the system. There was one metal already in widespread use, with around 25% of it being recycled each year. The amount recycled currently ran at about ten million tons, with a further 37 million tons being produced from the raw state each year, China was one of the largest producers, and being close to Japan and Singapore, Ash and Mia were sure that the Chinese would help in the installation and production of recycling equipment in whichever sunny countries were prepared to team up with them.

The pair hoped that Australia would co-operate. This was because of its proximity and political stability. The only problem would be if the Australians didn’t want several thousand hectares covered in Lumeloid. There was a major advantage though; the reduction of the intensity of sunlight under the Lumeloid, meant that the whole area could be used to produce high quality foodstuffs, in what would normally be arid desert. The economies of scale that would result in the production of electricity, meant that it would then be economical to convert sea water to fresh water, which could then be used to irrigate the surrounding area and much of the desert. They planned to use this in their negotiations and decided that the extra investment would be well worthwhile to secure an independent source of a low cost and environmentally beneficial source of energy.

The existing recycling process that converted the used metal, in the form of old Cola cans etc, back to a pure substance, was extremely efficient and had a 95% energy saving in comparison with production from the raw materials. With Ms. Ling’s agreement, they decided to call the metal Dureum and to maintain that they were trying to manufacture a new alloy.

They decided to start by evaluating a simple system with a small prototype. This could be built in a few days and then followed by a larger prototype. After that, they would build a a small pre-production system. This system would have to run continuously for two weeks and would use as much of the proven existing technology as possible. They considered it better to use existing ideas rather than to reinvent the wheel and of course, they could use their immense computing abilities to enhance the systems. Once they were aware of the systems and their requirements, they could run them in 3D and check out the effects of variables. The pair could hop back to Singapore for this and use one of the five terra byte terminals that had been set up to run the latest Sony 3Dgames over the internet.

If the pre-production system worked, then a production system would be created that could be used in Singapore. The system needed to be non-polluting, compact and be able to be integrated into with the existing methane burning system.

At this point, Singapore would secretly forward-buy as much of the product that was going to be recycled during the next five years, as possible. This way, it could obtain the product at a low price and wouldn’t be reliant on other manufacturers putting pressure on price.Singapore would also buy up as much metal production capacity as possible and increase its already large investment in Lumeloid, to keep it out of the hands of the oil companies.

The simplicity of the system combined with the level of investment Singapore could obtain, meant that Ash and Mia could have a system up and running, that would supply the majority of Singapore’s energy needs, within 18 months of their initial research. They would need to rely heavily on help from either Japan or Germany, with the production of machinery, but with a bit of political manoeuvring and some financial incentives, the pair reckoned that they could get one or both of the countries on side. In terms of energy production, both countries were currently in the same position as Singapore and they would have a gateway to a new supply if they got on board. They calculated that the system could be up and running within three years and cater for 60% of their energy needs.

Japan and Germany both had an excellent record in engineering ability and labour relations. Both countries already produced large quantities of motor vehicles and engines and the next stages in the process, was to miniaturise the process further to produce factory-sized units and then further still, to run ships and lorries. One of the main strategies involved low transport costs for the recycled materials. The main priority now was to prove that the system worked and would be worthy of investment.

Ms. Ling had acquired a factory site near to the University and with the investment of a research grant, had bought both the technical expertise and the secrecy that was required. The University had been offered a further inducement of a few million Singapore dollars if the project worked on the understanding that they would be asked to continue their technical support if, and when, the system was up and running. Ash knew they wouldn’t get it right the first time however many times they ran the system through a computer and however many variables they put in. They could only put in the variables that were predicted and in his experience, it was always the variable that you couldn’t predict that put the proverbial spanner in the works.

Ash was suddenly concerned about Mia and her ability to be able to deal with the substances that were going to be used. She seemed like such a beautiful delicate creature and couldn’t have weighed more than seven stone. Her hands were small and delicate and if they were plastic, as he suspected by now, he didn’t want them melting. He explained his concerns to her and she laughed.

‘Follow me’, she said and walked indoors to the stove where there were eggs boiling for breakfast. She put her hand in the water and very slowly took the eggs out one by one. Her hands looked as perfect and beautiful as before. Ash guessed that she had been watching ‘Blade Runner’ as part of her education.

‘I am constructed of layers of a silicon type material and my hands will stand 300 degrees centigrade for a short period.’ Then added, ‘That part of my design has been around since the beginning of the century.’

‘Do you have a circulation system?’ Ash asked.

‘Yes, it is complex and provides lubrication, warmth, changes in pressure to certain areas and can act as a backup supply to my fuel cells if my batteries get low.’ Ash certainly wasn’t in any doubt now as to whether she was human or not. He suddenly had another question.

‘And do you have a heart Mia?’

‘Yes, and it is programmed so that if somebody were to listen to me, it would sound like a human heart.’

‘What happens when the parts wear out?’

‘Which parts?’

‘Well, pistons or rotors and valves.’

‘I don’t have any parts apart from a very simple form of non-return valve.’

‘How do you pump your fluids?’

‘I have a series of solid-state devices that push the fluids forward.’

‘There isn’t any such thing.’

‘There is now, and in fact, it was taken from the human artificial heart. The original artificial hearts had blood clotting issues, so a new design was produced that was non-invasive and would fit over the outside of an artery. The original heart could be left in place or removed completely, with an artery bypass fitted using these devices.

‘After saying this, Mia looked at Ash to see if he needed more information.

‘And how does that work?’

‘It’s basically a series of coils, controlled by a computer that both attract and pump the fluid. I expect you know how coils can push a train along or how a ‘rail gun’ will fire a bullet? Well, the principle is the same.’

‘And what happens if you get cut?’ He was suddenly concerned that she might suffer the equivalent of bleeding to death.

‘I am equipped with a system akin to human platelets.

‘I’m sorry to be so nosy Mia, it’s just that I have an inquisitive nature.’

‘You are my close friend Ash, and you can ask anything that you want.’

‘Thank you.’

When she said this, a myriad of questions flooded through his brain. But his gentlemanly mode cut in and he didn’t say anything else. By now they had finished eating breakfast – or rather he had – Mia had drunk a bottle of vodka and she said that this would do her for the day until she had stabilised the rather erratic power supply. She explained that she didn’t actually plug herself into anything, but used something like an electric blanket that charged her batteries by induction. She had expected an AC supply, but the building was powered by its own generator and the supply was DC.

So they had to arrange a device providing an AC current and that was proving to be a pain because the generator was unstable and this upset the AC converter. In the end, they decided to lay in a supply of batteries, charge them whilst they were away and then let Mia use the converter to run directly off of them, thus bypassing the generator. Ash knew it had been an aesthetic decision not to provide her with a socket and use an induction charging system, but that didn’t help at the time. They would need to come up with some story for their new colleagues about high tech gear and secret equipment that they were using for research work which would obviously be classified information and therefore could not be revealed. This was partially true and better than having Mia glug back vodka every day which would dull their credibility in the search for the white light that was supposed to exist at the bounds of cutting-edge technology.

Chapter 13

RESEARCH

After finishing breakfast, they set off for the University and arrived by nine. They had already mentioned that they didn’t plan to arrive until around ten, so they weren’t expecting a welcoming comittee. To their surprise, the thermal engineering Department Head and his deputy, were alreadywaiting for them and were wearing clean white coats for Mia and Ash’ benefit.

They all shook hands and Mia was introduced as Ash’ assistant and Mr. Clay as the business manager. The explanations went down well and Ash asked if the department had managed to source any of the equipment needed to start the process. Ash fully expected to put in a lot of effort just to get any initial experiment going. He‘d tried to explain the needs as simply as possible by Pingu, but in all honesty he had been moving so fast, that he hadn’t got very far in defining the requirements.

Ash had outlined that he wished to burn a metal, preferably continuously, in a supply of oxygen in a closed container (furnace). He’d also predicted that once the metal was placed into the furnace and started burning, it would try and burn back. Ash therefore suggested that as the metal was fed into the furnace, a small supply of an inert gas passing over the metal would save oxidation at the entrance orifice. He also thought it would be necessary to find a way of keeping the temperature down in the first instance so that the furnace wasn’t destroyed. The hardest thing to do was to ignite the metal initially and to keep combustion going, in case it went out whilst regulating the flow of metal.

The head of the department, David, was about Ash’ age and very enthusiastic; this was partly why Ms. Ling had decided to use this particular University. He had a reputation for working well with outside sources and was able to think swiftly and laterally. Ash stressed the pressure they were under to get results and asked,

‘You’ve had the e-mail after the agreement was set up and you signed the non-disclosure letter. Now, how long do you think it will take to get a prototype going?’ Ash hoped that he didn’t sound too domineering. They seemed like nice people and besides, were probably better motivated by a combination of being lead from the front and enthusiasm. Ash just didn’t believe in the old managerial tactic of trying to bullypeople into hard work. However he did expect it to take quite a while before he earned David’s trust and loyalty. David just laughed at Ash, looked him straight in the eye, and replied,

About point two days.’ And then, as if sensing that Ash might become annoyed, continued,

‘What you have basically described is a MIG welder combined with a supply of oxygen from a gas welder, fed into a simple water fed heat exchanger. My technicians are putting that together right now.’

‘What do you think Mia?’ Ash transmitted directly to her COM unit so that only she could hear.

‘Amazing! The only other thing I can think of that might be useful, is a plasma cutter. This could be used to enhance combustion,’ she replied after a few seconds. The University terminal was nowhere near as fast as she was used to when accessing outside data sources and they had expected some major delays in calculations compared with her normal speeds. Ash turned to the head of department and said,

‘How about a plasma cutter to enhance the reaction?’

‘You certainly know your stuff Mr. Ash; yes, we have ordered one, but it might take a day or so. However, it shouldn’t make any difference to our initial tests and it would only complicate things by having two conflicting supplies of electricity. If we ran both at once we would probably blow a few diodes at least.’ His reply was quiet and confident. And Ash heard Mia say in his ear,

‘Yes, he is quite right.’

‘I agree and I’m impressed with the way that you have thought things through.’ Ash replied to David, who looked satisfied and continued,

‘Once you gave me the basic input I deduced that the metal would be Dureum and I am setting up the experiment accordingly. I hope I am right because there is a ready supply of Dureum for MIG welding.’ His forehead was slightly wrinkled and he said this as if he was used to dealing with people who had ego problems.

‘That’s wonderful.’ Ash said with a smile and David looked delighted at the response. Mr. Clay murmeredsomething about going for a walk and returning in an hour or so. No one seemed to notice, and Ash realised that he wanted to check on the establishment’s security measures without arousing suspicion. If there was anybody sneaking around, Ash was sure that Clay would spot them and although he was not allowed to carry firearms, Clay had a ready supply of devices which could be used to disable people. Ash had thought that the meanest of these was his hands, but then Clay had shown Ash what he jokingly called his ‘particle beam’ weapon. This blew a fine jet of graphite through a laminar flow nozzle and as soon as it reached its target, a high-voltage charge was sent down the graphite stream, totally disabling the lucky recipient.

Ash suggested that he and Mia should go to the cafeteria and get some coffee whilst David, worked with his team on setting up the experiment. The heat of the not terribly efficiently cooled building, was getting to Ash and his caffeine level was low. He also found the interactive intensity of working with such an enthusiastic team a mental strain. Ash asked Mia if she was okay and surprisingly enough, she replied saying she missed the excitement of fully loading her system with data analysis. He hadn’t expected this from an electronic brain and he was busy assimilating what she had said, when she started talking again,

‘I also get physically stimulated when my systems are over-loaded. This happens to the extent that I temporarily shutdown for a few milliseconds and my systems reboot. After the reboot my perceptions seem to be clearer and my awareness of the world around me is more focused.’ Ash remembered the blouse getting tighter, her eyes rolling back and her moving around on the seat. He was stunned and had difficulty not choking on his coffee as the reality of what she told him sank in. She continued, ‘The nearest that I can get to explaining these symptoms is that they are the equivalent of a human sexual orgasm. As you are my very close friend, Ash, I hope you don’t mind me telling you this. What are your feelings?’ Ash smiled and replied.

‘I’m really pleased for you and the next time I fully load you, I’ll try to make it somewhere more private so that people don’t notice.’ This woman-child that was his ‘friend’ was developing fast and he hoped he was handling things the right way.

‘I am so glad that we can trust each other and that your answers are so mature and without thought for yourself. I feel much better about things now that I know they are acceptable to you, and will always appreciate your trust and friendship.’ As Mia said this, Ash was becoming more and more embarrassed, and was tempted to respond with a sarcastic comment to mask his nervousness.

Ash was also tempted to ask her about her feelings for humans generally and especially in terms of sex appeal. Was she attracted to humans? Was she attracted to him? He knew that she wasn’t emotionally mature enough for such questions, but her development was going so fast that he would probably be able to ask her in another week. Until then he would just be her ‘close’ friend. She didn’t say any more and he continued to assess his feelings towards her. Strangely enough he felt only the bond of strong friendship and had no physical desire for her at all. Perhaps this was due to the dreams or visitations that he’d been having at night; he didn’t really know.

He did know that just as he had told Peter on his first day, he was a serial monogamist and suddenly realised that he was becoming emotionally attached to his nightly visitor. Ash had a strong desire to discover whether the visitor was real or a figment of a mechanically engineered imagination. At least he would get a few good nights’ sleep in the villa with Mr. Clay in the room between himself and Mia, with the most advanced technology present being the ceiling fan.

After two more coffees, Ash was ready to go back to see how the research was going and suggested that they Pingu Ms. Ling to let her know how they were getting on, adding a caveat that things only looked positive, with no proof at this stage. He felt this was the way that she liked to work, with her fingers on the pulse of everything, whilst at the same time delegating responsibility.

It is a poor manager who doesn’t both delegate, set a time scale and monitor what is being delegated. Being the good manager that she was, Ms Ling had created a schedule of deadlines to be met so that Ash and Mia, knew exactly when they had to reach specific stages of the project. They were already several days ahead and even if things went wrong, they had time to play catch-up. Mia formatted the PYC and sent Ash a copy of a message that was so succinct, at first he thought it almost rude.

‘1st trial in ca. 2 hrs. M n A.’ Then Ash remembered the enormous workload that Ms Ling coped with day after day and realised that she would probably like to get her information this way. She wouldn’t want him writing and going into raptures about the Elephants and everything else under the sun. He wished he could find out what her I.Q. was. She was the next best thing to Mia that he had ever met, in terms of speed and clarity of thought. Ash had tried to ask Mr. Clay about her and who she was involved with. He wanted to get a reaction from Clay and to find out something about his new boss. It was a total waste of effort and Mr. Clay seamlessly changed the topic of conversation each time with such skill, that Ash ended up wondering if he had even asked the question in the first place.

Was this a sign of Mr. Clay’s devotion to Ms Ling or did he have a level of intelligence and experience that were way beyond Ash? Ash consoled myself with the fact that these two people were at the very top of the food chain and would have to have been the fastest, sharpest and brightest to get there. A tiny red light was flickering in the corner of Ash’ eye and irritating him. He had forgotten about his COM unit and it was advising him of a message waiting to be read. It was from Ms Ling: ‘Good. Advise when you can return. Need assistance’

Ash dictated a reply as abrupt as he could manage, ‘Anytime; y r the boss. We r 3 days ahead of schedule.’ He was about to send it when Ash thought that he should be as efficient as Mia, so he continued, ‘Now’. The light flashed and he had an instant reply, ‘Hover Jet 45 mins. at carport,’ and a recognition number that positively identified the sender.

The message continued, ‘Leave Mia and Clay to supervise.’ Ash was taken aback; then he realised the wisdom of leaving Mia’s safekeeping to Clay, beside she would be able to control a three way video conference at any time, via her two way quantum dot matrix eyes which also functioned as cameras. Ash suddenly felt redundant and realised that his physical presence at the start had been a PR exercise as much as anything else.

Ash told David, whose face was a mixture of surprise and envy, that a hover-jet would pick him up at the carport in 43 minutes. David said that now he knew Ash was “good”, he would make sure that there was a safe zone for the jet. Ash asked him why he thought Ash was “good”, and David revealed that only the top executive of Singapore airlines and heads of state used these new ultra-sonic jets that were capable of topping 3000 mph in the atmosphere and 12000 mph plus in low-orbit. Ash said that he would try to get David a ride in one.

Word must have got around the campus. In about three seconds flat the area around the multi-level car-port was packed with students and tutors alike and they looked in awe at the almost silent arrival of something as smooth and polished as an angel’s teardrop. Ash told them he would be back soon and that he wouldcontact Mia on a direct line.

He hated farewells, so he told his friends to keep working and jogged to the top of the carport. A door silently opened and Ash was shown to one of the luxury seats that seemed to neutralise gravity. The seat slowly contoured itself to his body until he felt as secure as he used to when his Mother tucked him up at night. When they took off he appreciated the soft comfort of the seat and the eight-g pressure suit that he had to wear.

Once the speed had stabilised, he looked around and for the first time recognised the Chairman of the airline. Now here was an ego. The Chairman glanced over at him and said in an almost petulant manner,

‘I was on my way to a very important meeting when Ms. Ling re-routed me and told me to collect you, so it had better be good.’ Ash smiled innocently and replied,

‘I’m sure it will be.’ As soon as Ash had responded, the Chairman opened his mouth, clearly about to make some further comment. Then he thought better of it. If he had been re-routed for Ash, then why the heck should Ash care what he thought. So stuff his ego.

Chapter 14

Ash was in Ms. Ling’s office in time for scones and afternoon tea and was glad of something to eat, he’d had nothing since the two hard-boiled eggs and brown sauce that Clay had brought him for breakfast. Ash assumed that this was either Clay’s idea of a joke or to prevent Ash asking him to get breakfast in the future. Ash had been too nervous to eat on the plane and had only sipped at some orange juice.

‘I am so sorry to pull you away from your holiday in Paradise, Ash. There have been political developments and unless we can show that we are making positive progress towards solving the pollution problem, then we will have to say goodbye to all our other plans. There has been a move to replace me and with Adam away, which was a bad move on my part, I am struggling to survive.’

He was impressed that she took the blame. Ash knew nobody would have got his friend to Mexico unless he’d wanted to go. ‘How long have we got?’

‘Until noon tomorrow and then things will start moving so fast that even Adam, who is returning as soon as possible, won’t be able to put things right. I can deal with losing. It’s just not winning that I can’t handle.’ And she meant every word of it. It must be agony for that supreme intellect not to be able to resolve the problem.

‘I haven’t forgotten about it and I’ve beem working on it with Mia at every opportunity, but we haven’t got anywhere. Yet.’ By Ash’ standards, this was almost contrite.

‘I know.’ Ash should have known that she was keeping tabs on them and would have Mia reporting in every hour or so. She then looked towards a small metallic stand at the side of her desk and spoke at the same time.

‘I shall need Mia’s permission for this.’

After a few seconds, a flickering 3D image of people at work appeared and Ash caught the briefest of winks from Mr. Clay who was obviously in on the secret. David and the others hadn’t any idea that they were part of a play that was being watched an ocean away. They had just started to run the experiment for the second time and were having trouble keeping the metal burning continuously. The image flickered, then died, as Ms. Ling cut the connection.

‘Pretty good for the first day.’ Ash said, trying to be positive.

‘Quite remarkable progress but a waste of time if we don’t find a way to remove this bloody smog.’ The normally reserved Ms. Ling was getting pissed off, and Ash suspected that she was annoyed with herself as much as anything else. Ash thought that the strange thing was her anger seemed to make her look younger and even more attractive.

‘I’ve found that the best way to solve a problem is often to relax, so why don’t we take the evening off. Lets go for a drink and talk about anything else but smog. It could be our last chance and at least we’ll show a brave face to the world.’

She smiled, ‘Yes. I like your style. You still have your room here so I will meet you at seven and while we are showing our enemies that we don’t care, lets take my little yacht to an island where they still serve seafood in the proper way.’

‘And what is the proper way?’

‘Oh, out in the open in an old shack where the health department haven’t yet stuck their noses in and sanitised the whole place so much that you can’t taste a damm thing.’ She really was loosening up and Ash couldn’t resist a cheeky comment.

‘I suppose it will remind you of home.’

‘How did you guess! I was brought up in Vietnam and spent the first years of my life working in my parent’s café. That was on a boat. Look, I must be back by midnight in case Adam has somehow managed use an earlier window, so that he can get here before the deadline.’ Ash’ s mind was racing . He wondered if she was teasing him about her background. Even more intriguing was the thought that he would meet his old friend.

Ash asked,

‘Why can’t he persuade people to do what he wants without having to be here in person?’

‘Four eye meetings can’t be recorded when they are held in the right place. Now I must work and will see you later.’ Ash was dismissed and returned to his room. He’d planned to think further about this and the whole pollution problem but once he lay down on the bed, ended up dropping off to sleep instead. He awoke with a start, worrying that he had overslept and after a hasty shower, was at the lift at just before seven. Ms. Ling arrived ten seconds or so later. She was dressed in a severe outfit and looked about as relaxed as a male praying Mantis when it has just had its fun and has realised what it’s mate is going to do next. Ash decided to keep any of his usual banter under control. The talk of four eye meetings and her appearance gave him the feeling that his head would be floating down the Straits if he stepped out of line.

‘I hear you like to go down fast.’ Nice double entendre, thought Ash to himself. She really was smart. Delivering that line with a totally straight face was some achievement. He replied with an equally serious expression,

‘So Mia’s test run was no secret.’

‘Even she couldn’t keep it a secret that she had witnessed her first human about to make peace with his maker.’ And with this she gave a small laugh and started to relax, albeit at Ash’s expense. This time the tunnel took them to the Marina where Ms. Ling’s small yacht was waiting. There was no crew aboard and she expertly navigated the vessel towards some remote island about twenty miles from Singapore, without any obvious help from charts. Ash was impressed until his cynical side cut in and he realised that she could get her COM unit to display charts or even a computer screen to get her there. As if reading his mind in that spooky way that women often do, she looked at him coolly and said,

‘I am doing this without any technical support to keep my hand in, just in case I get the sack and have to go back to smuggling chewing gum.’ Now he was intrigued. Just as he planned to ask her more, he received a stern order to go to the bow and throw a rope to the shore. He was introduced to the oldest two people that he had ever seen and at the same time, caught the most delicious aroma of seabass cooking in garlic and spices. Mixed with the sizzling fat dropping on red-hot charcoal, the smell was truly divine. Ash thought that the evening was looking up.

As it happened, they spent a very relaxed evening at the little café by the sea; Ash was pleasantly surprised and the two covered numerous subjects without any mention of work or pollution. Much of the conversation involved the old couple and with the use of the COM’s translator, they managed pretty well. This was a relief to Ash, it saved him from having to entertain Ms. Ling which he always felt was a bit like being at the zoo and eating dinner with the lion inside its cage. In other words, Ash always felt he was only two steps away from getting his head bitten off.

Yes, the word chicken definitely came to mind. Although Ms. Ling hadn’t heard from Adam, she decided to leave at ten thirty and Ash calculated that they’d be back on top of the tower just before midnight. Just as well, he thought, he could picture Ms. Ling as the princess of the glass tower, but, he imagined she would be far more likely to turn into a dragon than a pumpkin.

As they approached the top, Ms. Ling handed Ash a pill and told him it would neutralise the garlic, if he wanted to go out on the town.

Ash accepted it, although he had no plans to go out and she also swallowed one, telling him that her staff were waiting for her and she had to keep up appearances. He replied saying it had been a long day and that he would take a long bath, go to bed and hope he could dream up an answer. Just as Ash was leaving the lift, she looked at him with a curious look and said,

‘Thank you for being so kind to my parents.’ Before he could even think of a reply, she was gone and on her way back to work.

Ash had filled the bath right up to the top this time and the tub was large and deep enough for him to get in and float, without bending his limbs. He wondered if he used the sleep mode, whether his dreams would start over again, or as with most drugs he’d tried, would the thrill lessen each time? His mind told him that he shouldn’t use the sleep mode and that he should stick to experiencing the ‘real ‘things in life. His heart told him something else. Besides, he reasoned, until he had seen it wasn’t the real thing, then how did he know it wasn’t the real thing and therefore he should continue to evaluate the situation in an , albeit, empirical ‘scientific’ manner.

His heart always did have a way of persuading him to do things, and so he switched the sleep mode on before he got in the bath. This time he had set a delay of ten minutes and his logic was this: if somebody were going to visit him in reality, then they would need to know that he was asleep and that Ash would only suspect that reality was a dream. If it were a dream, then it wouldn’t happen without the sleep mode on. All of this was circular logic except for one thing. There was no way that Ash was going to go to sleep this time; whilst he was in Sri Lanka he’d bought some stimulants that were guaranteed to keep him awake for at least six hours, whatever the circumstances.

So like a cat waiting for a mouse, Ash lay in his bath water and relaxed. The sky was dark again and the moon hadn’t risen. His suite and bathroom were on the outside of the tower. In the starlight he could vaguely see the large central dome that spanned the top of the atrium of the tower. It must have been at least 200 feet in height and was completely transparent. It was inaccessible and was filled with helium that would have suffocated anyone that entered the space. Its function was to support the main structure and to serve as a means of holding up the various telecommunications arrays.

Ash had been told that it was possible to access the dome and to climb to the top. Doing just this was part of his cunning plan. If Ash had a visitor, he would insist that they go to the very top of the tower, on the grounds that it would be really romantic. He knew it that it would be very cold and had worked out that if they wore a couple of thick bathrobes and took one of the blankets with them, then they would be fine. He planned to tie something to the fine mesh that covered the dome; that way, in the morning he could look up at it and check that he had really been there.

After a bit more daydreaming and looking at the stars and galaxies through the perfectly clear and slightly curved ceiling of the room, Ash glanced at his watch and saw that he had been lying there for nearly half an hour. He was wide-awake and could feel his heart pumping. Just as he was starting to think that nothing would happen, something partly blocked his vision of the stars. At first he thought it was a small cloud and then wondered if it was some sort of aircraft.

The outline of the shape suddenly changed. It looked remarkably like what Ash had seen in his room in the aquarium, when the diver was placing a listening device on the bathroom window. Ash’s heart was now really pumping and as he looked up, he reached for the small torch that he had put beside the bath.

Although it was risky, he carefully pointed the torch at the shadowy figure and turned it on. Ash would never have guessed in a thousand years what he was about to see. It was only a small torch and its soft light illuminated the body of a young woman lying face down on the clear plastic curved ceiling of his bathroom. Her wonderful body was perfectly naked and her nipples pushed against the transparent ceiling.

Her face couldn’t be seen. It was hidden behind a note that said ‘Hurry up, it’s cold up here!’ How on earth had she known what he had been thinking? Or had he gone to sleep? Ash was now convinced that he’d been sold a placebo; he figured he must be sleeping and whatever he did, it couldn’t do him any harm now. He shrugged on his dressing gown and climbed the ladder to the roof.

When he had previously checked with one of the girls in reception, Ash had been told that the whole roof area was surrounded with invisible mesh, thus making it completely safe. If he went up on the roof and managed to fall off the side of the tower, then there were mesh nets all the way down and it was impossible, absolutely impossible to do himself any harm.

He had also ascertained that as an important guest in an executive suite, then he could behave more or less as he wished. If he were to climb up the central dome, it was protected in the same way and he could come to no harm except die of hypothermia. But that would take a long time and anyway, his COM unit would send out a distress signal if it became too cold. Ash thought it was the nearest he could get to living in a secure old folk’s home. Although the suite was probably slightly more luxurious.

The next unexpected thing that happened was that he encountered a slight breeze . It was clear and fresh and made the skin on his not-yet-quite-dry body, sing with delight at the sudden change. The angel of the night had her back turned towards him and softly said,

‘Being so predictable is a sign that you are secure and stable.’

As she sat down, Ash took the bathrobe and draped it around her shoulders. She then went on ,

‘May I borrow your torch for a minute please?’

Thinking that she needed to sort out the bathrobe in the darkness, he passed it to her. With a quick flick of her wrist she sent it flying over the edge of the building .Ash saw it tumbling over and over until it hit one of the safety nets about 500 feet below.

‘Why did you do that?’

‘So that you don’t recognise me the next time you see me.’

‘Don’t you think that you should tell me who you are?’

‘All in good time.’ And he watched her shadowy form stand up and walk towards the fine zigzag ladder that ran up the dome. She started climbing and called to him in a provocative tone, ‘Come on, or you’ll freeze to death and you won’t be any good to me then!’. Stunned, Ash chased after her and was left amazed at her speed. When they reached the area where the dome flattened out, he stopped and started to spread the blanket out.

‘No. We must go further towards the centre of the dome. If there is a security patrol on the roof they might meet us, and then there will be a lot of explaining to do.’

A flash as bright as the light that kick-started the expansion of the Universe, went through Ash’s head. A pure newborn thought. He had to wake up before he forgot what the thought was. He started pinching himself, but that didn’t work so he said,

‘Slap my face. Hard! I need to wake up. I’ve just had a thought that could solve Singapore’s pollution problems, I can’t lose it.’ She slapped him. Hard. It didn’t make any difference.

‘If you really want to wake up, you will have to go back to your room, get in the bath and run cold water. Now I must leave,’ she said, and ran across the dome, down the other side and then vanished from sight. Ash climbed carefully down and found his way back through the tiny airlock to his room. He started filling the bath with cold water and got in. He realised that he had been had. It wasn’t that he couldn’t wake up. He was as wide-awake as he had always been. He’d been told to get back to my bath so that he couldn’t identify the woman in the light.

He was still cold from climbing the dome and ran some hot water in until it was warm enough for him to collect his thoughts and work out what the sudden flash of inspiration meant.

Ash would definitely need Mia here and plugged into the biggest terminal she could find.

‘Mia, wake up and get your cute ass to Singapore by whatever means you can. Try Ms. Ling and tell her it’s urgent. I’ll try Ms. Ling as well.’ He hoped that the coded message would work. His next task was to contact Ms. Ling.

Chapter 15

NEPAL - ASH AGED 42

‘The hardest thing that I had to do was isolate myself in Nepal. A number of things pushed me into coming here. I learnt that the younger version of myself was to be dragged into my time to try and solve a problem with the pollution. I had had my input, but it was no use. My mentalabilities to imagine and use that delayed adolescent part of my brain, were still available to me, but nowhere as good as when I was twenty seven. I’d spent so much time dealing with companies and people problems in the last few years that I hadn’t exercised that part of my brain. I vowed that when I got back I would start playing games again and awaken some dormant nerve cells. The brain is so like the body. If you don’t keep it exercised it gets lazy and won’t respond when you need it.

I arrived at the retreat about three weeks ago and some strange things have been happening to me. I have suddenly realised how big the universe is and how much I was preoccupied by the constant communication and information exchanges that had become part of my life as a corporate trouble-shooter. The job as trouble-shooter was really just to keep me happy, I had made more than enough money to retire on. It was just that I found it rewarding to be thanked for the wisdom that I had acquired over the years. I enjoyed helping small companies protect themselves and their integrity from the predation of the massive corporations that now controlled the world.

Some people called me a corporate troublemaker because I was a master at throwing spanners into the works and plans that the machinations of little grey men had created. I will always wonder if the so-called accident we had was really an accident at all, or a way of trying to keep us quiet. Anyway, since I arrived here, I have switched off my COM unit so that I can rest my mind from all the trivia and concentrate on the wonders of the universe and my hobby of calculating my next venture of going into space...especially to Mars.

The recent invention of the blow up double skinned, inflatable, self-sealing, ultra-lightweight space ships, meant that far less energy was needed to travel to Mars and transit times would be cut because much higher velocities could be obtained. The other major factor was that fuel and consumables were only needed for the outward journey. The production of fuel and consumables already started on the moon combined with solar sails for part of the trip made this possible. The solar sails both provided outward acceleration from the Sun, they also acted as solar panels producing large amounts of electricity that in turn, powered fibre optic inertia conversion coils, radiation deflection coils and helped power the plasma propulsion unit whose development was started back in 1979.

The number of forces involved complicated the calculations for the trajectory. It was rather like sailing a boat with the wind at ninety degrees and running against a tide forty-five degrees to the water flow, until the sailboat got near the land and the water suddenly eddied in the opposite direction as it reacted with the land. I could do that intuitively as well as calculate the increase in velocity by travelling like this rather than running before the wind. There was always a time when the sum of all the individual forces relating to the forward velocity meant that the boat would either stop by hitting land or go slow once it had got past an eddy. The obvious move was to tack and set up a whole new set of forces, resulting in a faster resultant forward velocity.

In space it is a bit more complicated and the human mind passes such things over to computers. They calculate the individual forces for such things as gravity, solar wind, thrust from light and particle emitters, thrust from chemical propulsion and finally phasing of inertia coils. Instead of tacking, the computers convert the journey into a series of long slowly changing curves. This saves the inertia shock that would result in tacking or jibing to ‘come about’ in the way that a sailboat does.

The inertia conversion coils really started as a joke when a Telecom researcher invented the latest form of hollow multi peta-byte bundle transmission fibre-optic. His claim was that if you stretched a bundle of these around the Earth you could look in one end and see what the other end was pointed at. The newspaper articles that resulted pointed out that this might be the first time that the Head of a certain Telecoms Corporation would be able to find his own arse!

Speculation then arose as to how far the fibre optic would transmit light. Some bright developer in a Northern Indian test lab for one of the supercomputer companies saw the article and after researching the idea further, wrote a program to find out about the total effects of light on the different media it travelled through and on the light itself. Being a trekkie with an enormous intellect she started big and plotted an imaginary course of a ‘photon’ across the universe, as we know it.

The calculations were complicated by the fact that galaxies kept getting in the way and the poor little photon, which was attracted by gravity as are all photons, first had a course that twisted and turned as it was attracted to first one galaxy and then the next. Then it got splattered on some strange bit of dust somewhere not far from the beginning of its journey and there was nothing to show for all of the strenuous programming. Now most people would have either given up or simplified the system so that this poor little photon got through.

This particular developer had been brought up as a true believer and the truth was one of the most important bastions of her integrity. She put in every known particle that had ever been discovered, together with its place and time, to the nearest nano-second, in the Universe that God had dreamed. She knew that photons got through, because this was how we knew that Galaxies 14 billion light years away existed. She then realised that her mistake was to only put in one poor little photon and increased it to a million. The photons streamed, twisted and turned through the folds of the universe and went splat a little further away from the beginning of their journey.

Her bosses were getting really upset at the time and resources that this was taking and had already had a fit at the extra memory she had strung on to her computer. She was given two days to complete the research that she had convinced her bosses would sell this particular computer and many more like it, to the new on line 3D games manufacturers. They needed to fill whole rooms with three-dimensional (tri-di) figures in many parts of the world at the same time, so that the poor little rich kids of time starved parents could forget that they had parents for much of their lives.

Some firms were predicting a market for 3D Avatars that were copies of the parents and would be programmable to respond to questions in exactly the same way as the parents. Forgetting hugs or kisses of course. She had told her bosses that it would make ‘Big Blue 10’ look like a pocket calculator. She nicknamed her latest invention Blue Peta because it had long passed the terra flop stage and was into the tens of peta-flops. Now, being a woman of integrity she was on a mission.

She was aware of the mathematical tools that sounded like ‘reductio ad absurdum’ and ‘Occam’s Razor’. Essentially, these tools reduced everything to the smallest possible state to see if the theorem being analysed still held. She invented a new tool. ‘Twincon’ which was her acronym for two to the power of infinity, within the limits of the conditions imposed by the physical limits of the computers memory and storage capacity. In layman’s terms, she put in the mathematical equivalent of as many photons as the universe could put out on a good day.

She then planned to run the model over and over with the amount reducing each time until she got one poor little photon through the maze. She set up a tri-di model in an inflated chamber the size of Branson’s latest hot air balloon and started the whole thing going. The universe gradually filled with galaxies and then the galaxies filled with stars and planets. The program put in planets where they couldn’t be seen by telescope. She was so in awe of the transcendent beauty of the whole thing, that there and then, she promised herself that the next computer she developed, would be powerful enough to show the life and movement of the universe from when it began to the present day.

She checked the core temperature of the computer physically as well as on screen and found that it was good. The computer was at 70% capacity. So our intrepid friend took a point at the far side of the known universe, input the co-ordinates and started the experiment which was speeded up to show the total path of the photon package over two hours. As the co-ordinates were the same as the previous ones, she expected the same twists and turns as the previous experiments, except that the photons would get through.

This time it was different and the path was much straighter. She stopped the experiment, recalibrated and still got the same result so she let it run to completion. The light bundle had described an almost straight line through the universe and this contradicted the results from her first experiments. She was in deep shit; her bosses would tell her that anyone could draw a line like that with a desktop computer. She shut the system down and went to lunch.

It was a beautiful time of the year and she decided to sit out under a shady tree by a dark pool. She often came here to think and likened her mind to the pool. She liked to imagine that all the trouble, that accosted her in the rat race of a life she led, just made faint ripples and drowned. As an orphan from an early age, she had learnt many tricks to survive and this was her strength. She knew that there was not a thing that could touch her as long as she kept her faith.

She sat there a a bit too long and realising she was late and being only sixteen, reverted to being a child for a while and ran like hell, so that her boss wouldn’t be cross that she was late. She ran across the campus flat out, swerved around a corner and ran smack into the C.E.O. who was at least twenty stone. Our stripling just bounced off of him, he let out a slight whoosh of air and she landed on her rather bony end. Smarting with pain, her eyes filled with tears when suddenly, she felt an angel breathe on her and for an instant her face froze. The poor C.E.O. thought that she had broken her neck but by the time he had processed this thought and was starting to panic, she was already becoming animated and jumped to her feet. She stretched up, kissed him firmly on the mouth, said ‘Thank you God’ and ran off before he could respond. Still he enjoyed the kiss and the promotion, so went back to work happy, little realising that he had just met his successor.

This encounter brought something to the back of her mind. It was part of an old quote from one of the boring university lectures she attended. As it happened, those lectures were to eventually make her one of the richest citizens on earth but that was twenty years away and not in her wildest imaginings. ‘Sheared the shearers’, was all she said. She re-checked what had happened and found that, as she thought, the larger energy of the massive amount of light moved the galaxies rather than the galaxies moving the light.

She went back to reducing the number of photons until just a few made it all the way through an incredibly complicated 3D maze. Now she had a nice demonstration without giving away her secret. The bundle of photons weaved this way and that as it was attracted by different masses along its path. Her bosses and customers were so pleased with the result, they gave her a huge bonus and told her to take a break to recharge her batteries, whilst they cleared the decks for her next development.

She thought a holiday would do the trick but she was only over Delhi when she realised that she would suffer from terminal boredom if she everhad to build another computer. With her computer skills she changed her identity and with her money she changed her appearance. She decided to find out what America could offer. All she wanted to do was harness some of that awesome power that she’d seen. With the innocence of youth, she never stopped to consider that it might not be possible.

She quickly realised that she would need some business skills to get what she wanted, so she put herself through Harvard taking classes in everything from simple accounting to the newly acclaimed course on inter-planetary macro economics. She ended up re-writing most of the course content for them. These old fashioned and extremely sensible people, made her study the full courses in the same timescale as everybody else and so in her spare time she did what all growing youngsters should do. She had fun, met lots of people and grew into an intellectually well rounded and generally well balanced young woman with enough skills, with a bit of practice, to run a small Empire. Ms. Ling thought this was a great year as she collected all of her certificates and strode out into the harsh world of business start-ups and everyone trying to fleece you. Still, she beat them all and remembering the old adage, “that which doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger”, set out on her dream to bottle sunlight.

She’d kept up to date with fibre optics and their development and had even made some suggestions to the developer, who had become a firm friend. His career had blossomed under her advice. He was able to retire at forty-five and joined the team that she was setting up. They bought a few thousand miles of the latest hollow optical cable that held a complete vacuum, because of the dispersable barriers that were only molecules thick every half mile or so and cut off a length. Next they started to push greater and greater amounts of light down the cable until they had a problem, which was where to put the other end, because the radiation from a giga watt laser even for a short time was lethal.

Apart from hot optical cable and a large energy bill to power up the gyro generator she got nothing. They had secured the other end of the fibre-optic under water, so they were spared the sight of the end swishing around like a garden hose that has been set free. So like most people freshly out of business school who’d thought that they could conquer the world, she remembered the cliché ‘When all else fails and you are desperate, fall back on your training’.

Ms. Ling passed the first of many tests in the school of life. She reviewed her objectives and found them to be wanting. She decided that the bottle wasn’t big enough, among other things and came up with a complex closed loop with ultra reflective surfaces, which enabled her to keep pumping in energy until it got too hot to handle. That was the theory,and to show that she still clung to the optimism of youth, she yelled out loud,

‘IfRupert bloody Bear could bottle Sunlight in the middle of the twentieth century, then I can in this day and age.’

Before she started work again, she took a break and visited the old Vietnamese couple that she had adopted first as friends and latterly as surrogate parents. They filled a need that had been missing in her life and she had even fantasised about a childhood based around their lives, when they were young fisher-folk back in their homeland. They were totally fed up with America, so she promised them that as soon as she could afford to, she would buy them an island somewhere; somewhere that was warm all the year round, so that they could spend their last years in peace.

She returned full of energy and renewed optimism. Together with her friend, she made a huge closed circuit, fed by optical cables at very specific and critical angles to the main coil. They then suspended it from a fine cable in a chilled room; current theory stated that the colder the circuit could be kept the more light it would carry.

They couldn’t afford heat stress that would change the clarity of the cables. They pumped in a kilowatt minute equivalent of pure light and switched it off. The coil stayed lit for a while and faded. They upped the amount and tried again with the same result. Some minor heating, then fading after a slightly longer period.

‘So your magic circle won’t conduct light forever?’

‘Never said it would,’ was the reply she got back. And now she became upset, just as she had imagined her bosses doing when she was late all those years ago. With the same innocent contempt that she‘d used when she put all the light of the universe into one packet to test her 3D simulator, she turned the input up to its maximum and cried out,

‘To the beginning of time and back.’ As she did it, the coil lit up, twisted sharply and in shock she turned it off. The coil settled down. She switched it on again and the same thing happened. She surrounded it with a Faraday’s cage and it still twisted. She made the room colder, boosted the input even further and the coil twisted even more. This would have blown most peoples minds. This young woman just made an intuitive leap in the dark and said to herself,

‘A revolving mass will act like a gyro, which is an inertia storage and transmission device. Light has inertia and its travel through the coils must be the equivalent of a spinning disc. This is a solid state gyro and can be used for inertia drive and then the excess waste energy can be used to power up a plasma drive. It’s time I went and saw Ma, now that I have bottled sunlight.’

It takes most people years, if ever, to get to see the head of Ma Bell, so she simply hacked into his appointment book and set up a priority meeting for the next day. She walked into his office and said,

‘Sign this.’ And plonked a non-disclosure agreement and a royalty agreement on his desk. “This” was two neat and precisely printed pages that would probably have run into the hundreds, had a lawyer been involved. The C.E.O. was so taken aback that he read them before questioning her credentials.

When he started to ask who she was, she simply replied,

‘With my skills, a better friend than an enemy.’ He clearly understood the meaning and he signed the non-disclosure form there and then. After a few weeks of experiment, he signed a very slightly modified purchase and royalty agreement. The modification was just to show that he was still in control. The inertia coil / plasma drive was born.

Despite her youth, she was then offered a job in India to replace an overweight C.E.O. This involved heading up the development of micro super-computers with M Ram on sapphire, plus a standard manufacturing process that provided excess memory. If people wanted an upgrade, they could then be sold the extra memory that was already present. It was called a Software Definable upgrade. Not really much of a step forward from the 1976 era when it was done by the engineer visiting, flicking a switch when the customer wasn’t looking and charging them an astronomical fee for the privilege.

Now the push was to create really small computers with massive power. The engineers still hadn’t managed to copy the density of the human cell in terms of memory, or ability, in space for space comparisons. One cubic millimetre would hold the equivalent of the genetic material of at least 22 million fertilised human eggs. Each egg contains forty-six chromosomes. Each chromosomes is equivalent to about a 3000 megabyte of text so the total in one cubic mm of memory is 22,000,000 x 46 x 3000,000,000 bytes =3x10 to the power 17; or 3 terra bytes per cubic mm. Rounded down.

The development of the ultra lightweight space ships, unmanned robot ships and inflatable self-sealing domes would mean that the expansion of space travel would be rapid and well ahead of projections. At the turn of the millennium, it was thought that this wouldn’t happen until the next century. One of the other incentives has been the vast amount of investment from the leisure industry. Once travel was shown to be safe, people would queue up to spend millions on the most exclusive ‘Off World’ holiday available.

Several satellite research establishments have sprung up in the last two years. The ability to produce vast areas of low-cost solar panels, has meant that all the energy required to release oxygen and water from the soil on the moon has been available. Other vast areas would drive the manufacturing processes which are required to produce the materials necessary for further and more permanent settlements.

So in summary, I’ll be quite comfortable here for at least a few more weeks and I’m very keen to continue with my hobby of looking for fossils. The particular area I’m staying in, is on a site where water was supposed to have been abundant a long time ago.

Chapter 16

SINGAPORE

‘Hi Ash! Thanks for the boot up in the middle of the night.’ His e-mail coded with the words “cute arse” had brought Mia back out of her nightly recharge mode. Ash couldn’t resist these childish little codes and anyway it worked fine. They started to communicate using their COM units.

‘Hi Mia, and thanks for calling back so quick. Have you managed to find Ms. Ling?’

‘Yes, I have made contact with her and she has to pick up Adam from The European Hub. She will stop on the way back and pick me up in the twin of the jet that you flew in. We should be back in Singapore by 7:00 am, so you can get a few hours sleep. Why do you need me there?’

‘I think I have found a solution to the pollution problem, and as we’re working to such a close deadline, I going to need all the skills you can provide.’

‘Do you want me to start work now?’

‘No, we will need permission from Ms. Ling, Adam and the other main players in Singapore. Because of the politics involved, Adam’s going to have to persuade some of the others who have their own agenda, to go along with the idea. I don’t want to risk any information being leaked before this.’

‘Sleep well Ash.’

Ash decided to go back to bed. He activated the sleep mode, locked the door, pressed the do not disturb button and slept peacefully for a few hours. He took a quick shower and looked out of the window at the usual haze below, silently praying that he could solve the problem. He thought he’d need a load of coffee to get him going, so he went to his favourite little coffee shop in the hotel, turned his COM locator on and started to daydream about how his idea would work. Ash was deep in thought and had lost track of time, when somebody slapped him on the back with such force that his head hit the table.

‘Hi Ash!’ His big friend was back, larger-than-life and with enough life force to take on an army, let alone a few manipulative grey men. It was 6:45 am. And Ash was still half-asleep. The caffeine was only just starting to work and he didn’t have time to reply before his friend neatly picked him up out of his seat and said,

‘We have a meeting with the Dragon Lady in a few minutes, so lets go.’ He somehow used an override on the lift and Ash experienced a massive acceleration that made him so queasy, he was incapable of uttering a word. The deceleration was even worse and Ash’ head was pressed firmly against the ceiling. Luckily Mia’s previous exploits with the lift, gave him some kind of perspective and he maintained a passive countenance.

‘Not bad for a green kid. I expected that you would have reacted more than you did.’ Even though he was a mature man now and carried quite a bit more weight, Adam still had that mischievous look of a seven year old discovering practical jokes for the first time. Aside from that, he cut an impressive figure now and Ash was keen to see what he could achieve in a ‘four eyes meeting’.

Mia and Ms. Ling were already in her office when Ash and Adam walked in. Adam nodded to Ms. Ling and Mia; Ash realised that Adam wasn’t being rude as he had already met them on the Hover Jet.

All of the subconscious thoughts that Ash had had, were suddenly a jumble and he wished he had used a notebook, instead of relying on his memory. He realised how much Adam had developed; he had become far more mature than Ash could have imagined. Ms. Ling, Mia and Adam sat looking at Ash with the quite confidence of three judges and he felt even more nervous.

Just as it seemed as if he was going to collapse in a heap of confusion, Mia looked at Ash, changed the colour of her eyes to a darker blue and carefully winked. As he looked at her, he suddenly had a point of focus and realised what close friends they had become. With his confidence back, he started talking,

‘This is speculative and I haven’t discussed it with anyone because I wanted to run it by you first. I didn’t want any possibility of a leak that might jeopardise your chances of succeeding.’

‘Very wise. Now get on with it before we run out of time. We can chat when all this is over.’ Adam was being his usual blunt self.

‘I want Mia to calculate this as I speak and output her findings in 3D format on Ms. Ling’s projector, if she agrees.’

‘Yes’, said Mia.

‘It would be better if we turned the lights down.’ Ash spoke and looked at Mia simultaneously; the lights dimmed. Adam and Ms. Ling hadn’t bothered to question his motives, which were that if Mia became overloaded, he didn’t want them to spot her reactions.

‘Thanks Ash. I assume that you are trying to protect me’, came the quiet message on his private COM channel.

‘Mia, can you find a 3D image of a peacefully smoking volcano, about two miles high and project it? A snow-capped peak appeared with a plume of smoke gently drifting away from the top of the volcano.

‘This is the way Mother Nature gets rid of her pollution into the higher atmosphere and I propose to do the same thing. Now Mia, project an image of the building we are in over the top of the volcano please.’ A 3D image of the building seemed to grow inside the volcano and the smoke from the volcano seemed to be emitted by the dome on top of the building.

Adam started to fidget on his seat, but remained quiet as if to emphasise that time was of the essence.

‘Now leave the smoke and get rid of the volcano. Make a tube one hundred feet in diameter and insert it from the top of the atrium until it reaches two hundred feet above the dome. Clean out all of the layers of containment skin but leave the fine structural mesh nets so that there is a clear airflow from the atrium to the top of the tower. Use the lightest weight material that can be welded to the sealing layers within the tower, so that the helium mixture will not escape. Now show only half of the tower’s structure clearly so that we can see what I mean.’

One side of the tower nearest to them on the 3D projection cleared. They could see a tube running from the top of the atrium, up through all of the floors and clearing the top of the dome. There were nets still showing at regular spacing. Ash had maintained these for structural integrity and for use later on. Before the others could interrupt, he continued,

‘Now take away the overlaying covering of the Lumeloid photocells and leave just the clear glazed area behind. Calculate the heating effect and how much the temperature will rise. Show the temperature change by changing the appearance of the air from blue to red. Next open up the vertical skirts all around Sentosa and calculate the average airflow that the hot air will make as it pushes its way up the tower. Show the air movements as a red billowing smoke pattern. Calculate and display a 24-hour cycle starting at 9 am.’

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then the darker area of the Lumeloid cleared and the 20 foot high skirts disappeared. The colour of the air under the skirts and walls of the atrium, up to the point where the offices and shops began, slowly changed from blue to red and air started to billow up the chimney. Not wishing to lose his audience, Ash continued,

‘Now optimise the shape of the central tube by making it wider at the bottom and if necessary, narrower at the top. This is so that as the speed of the air increases, it will need less diameter to transport the same volume. Calculate and maintain the structural integrity of the building at the same time.’ Ash was keeping his eye on Mia and she wasn’t showing any signs of overloading. The shape of the internal tube changed and became like a long curved funnel or Infundibulum and the top narrowed. He only hoped that this was the place where his dreams became the truth. The air was now rising steadily and increasing its speed until its sheer force pushed several hundred feet clear above the building.

Adam broke in, ‘Bloody hell! Is there more?’

‘Yes. We have to complete the 24 hour cycle with no sun at night, but with the effect of the residual heat of the day on the surrounding area, buildings and the thermal output from all the air con units in Singapore.’ The air continued to rise throughout the whole 24 hour cycle. The model worked, albeit more slowly even when clouds and smog were added into the mix. Again Ash wanted to keep the floor and started speaking again,

‘Mia, now calculate how long it will take to get rid of all the smog around Singapore.’

Mia spoke for the first time,

‘I can’t give you an exact timescale, because of the differences in weather. The Met office is not able to predict how much cloud we are going to get. Their programmes are based on past events and not on dynamic mass calculations. To be accurate I would have to recalibrate all of their systems, plus take all-new readings of the weather systems over a period of time. My prediction therefore is around two weeks.’

‘Amazing, and how much is this going to cost?’ Adam was still being abrupt.

‘An estimate would be 17–18 million Singapore dollars.’ Mia was responding to his blunt style.

‘How long will it take to assemble the materials and complete the task?’ asked Adam.

‘There is enough spare material in stock and if you throw enough men at it, then it will take about ten days or less. It will need 50 specialist membrane cutters and welders, plus tools and 300 skilled workers and all of their logistical support.’

‘So about two weeks in all?’ questioned Adam.

‘Yes, that will give us four days for contingency,’ Mia replied.

‘Do you support this, Ms. Ling?’ said Adam.

‘Absolutely’ was Ms. Ling’s reply without any show of emotion.

‘And are you still sure of this, Ash?’

‘Absolutely’

‘Right then; I’d better go and pull some peoples’ strings or whatever else it takes to get them to agree. Thank you Mia,’ was Adam’s only comment before he started for the door, pausing only to give Mia a dazzling smile. Ash wondered if an ugly male robot would have got the same look and comment. Adam seemed to have already forgotten that it was Ash’s idea. Adam was nearly at the door when he turned and said laughingly,

‘I’ve already been sneered at for building something that ended up looking like the biggest dildo on earth, and now you want me to animate it? How on earth did you arrive at such a brilliant idea Ash?’ Ash was not going to tell him directly. Not yet.

‘I had a sort of a dream and an angel told me that a security man might meet us on top of the building,’ he replied evasively.

Mia’s quiet voice whispered on his private channel.

‘Ash, I hope that in time, I too can think laterally.’

Adam turned a bit further and replied,

‘You and your tri-dimensional thinking between the lines, I never did understand that in you, but well done and I will thank you properly later!’ With that, he was gone and Ash felt bad that he’d even thought that Adam had forgotten that it was his idea.

‘Ok Ash: tell me how you got there really.’ This was a direct order from the Dragon whose job he had probably just saved; she sounded more than a bit upset that Ash had come up with such an easy solution. He decided that he would clear the air and be absolutely direct.

‘An angel said that a security man might ‘’meet us’’. In male anatomy a meatus is …’ and before he had time to finish, she interrupted

‘Oh God! I’ve just got it!’ and blushed. Mia was back on their private channel and said in a girlish conspiratorial voice, that he’d never heard before:

‘Did she just have an orgasm Ash?’ Ash nearly fell off his seat and all he could do was look at Mia and shake his head. Ms. Ling looked at him and, Ash presumed, assumed that this was him letting off steam after all the tension of the last few days.

She continued, ‘Well thank you and I know that I was always confident you would find a way, but you cut it a bit fine there for a while. I suggest that you go and get some coffee and we meet back here at 12 noon to confirm everything.

‘It’s only 7.20 and I want to see the desert in Australia. That way I can start thinking about the next project. Can Mia and I borrow a Hover Jet? We will be back for 12 noon easily’. Ash thought he might as well push his luck whilst he was still on a roll. Besides, he was eager to get away for a while, sample the thrill of high speed travel and the delights of the enormous open spaces of Australia. He didn’t expect the reply he got from Ms. Ling,

‘The pilot’s gone home for a few hours. Can you fly yourselves?’ Ash didn’t know what to say ,when Mia whispered on their private line,

‘To the death pal. I have just downloaded the Pilot’s program and its patches. We could get to the moon if necessary.’

His stomach turned at the thought of Mia pushing the lift to the limit.

‘I’ll tell her “yes” Ash – unless of course, you are scared....?’

Ash was too stunned to reply.

‘Thank you Ms. Ling; I will fly if Ash is ok with it?’

‘That’s fine, Mia, and get Ash into the sun for a while. He looks a bit pale to me.’

Ash recovered himself and smilingly replied, ‘Touché and let’s go before you two humiliate me further.’

He thought that the lift had been bad, but Mia had pre-pressurised his suit to the equivalent of two plus G and said it would help when the auto system cut in and pushed it up another 8 G. Ash had a mental image of himself leaving the suit like sausage meat out of a sausage maker. The plane just drifted out over the sea for a few miles and he had just started to relax, when Mia decided to create an energy crisis by putting ‘the peddle to the metal’. He had the strangest sensation of a man approaching and inserting a needle-less syringes to his neck, Ash started to black out but fought it. Another man entered and did the same to the other side of his neck. This time he was gone and awoke after what seemed to be only a few minutes, by bright sun and Mia saying,

‘Shall I land on that big brown rock?’ Adrenaline hit him as he realised that she was talking about Ayres’s Rock.

‘No’! He shouted. ‘Haven’t you accessed the data on it and found that it’s a very special place for the Dream People?’

‘Just kidding! Checking that your mind is still functioning! We have a way to go before we land and I thought that you would like to see such a special place; a mountain range worn down by the wind that is nearly as old as the world’!

‘Where are we going and can you slow your cute arse down a bit before I die young?’

‘Broome, and I gave you a buzz to thank you for being so considerate at the meeting.’

‘Did you do what you thought Ms. Ling did? Although I suspect that’s probably a lost art as far as she’s concerned’

‘Nothing that you would have noticed, but yes. It felt like butterflies flying through me if you can understand.’

‘When?’

‘When I had to contact Sutton to get the structural diagrams, calculate the structural integrity and display the building at the same time.’ Ash was worried now because that shouldn’t have been enough.

‘I can’t see that that would overload your systems,’ he said bluntly.

‘It does if it’s done a million times a second with variables changing every nano-second.’ Mia said with a conspiratorial smile.

‘Mia, if you want my advice, don’t play with yourself in public again, it’s just not done.’

‘Sorry Ash, it’s just that the lights were out and I …’

‘There’s no sorry between friends, Mia, and you’re free to decide to do what you want about your life. I was telling you the norms of human behaviour so that you will fit in with society. If it became a habit or Meta loop then you might find yourself having a total overload with all of its side effects, at totally the wrong time. That could lead to you being carried away for an examination that would blow your cover.’

‘Thanks Ash. You are my close friend and I know that you will tell me the truth however painful it might be.

‘So why Broome?’

‘It’s a matter of trying to find a place that meets all of our needs. It needs to be close to transport for recycling the Dureum oxide, near a desert where we can produce large amounts of electricity and near a naturally occurring source of the raw material, in case we get squeezed on the price of Dureum in its pure state. In the last ten years, desert conditions have moved much closer to Broome and we can offset this by the production of large quantities of fresh water. We can use this as a bargaining ploy. If we want to start an industry, we not only have to guarantee to protect the environment, we have to actively enhance it by major investment in environmental regeneration until the climate settles back to where it was before too many greenhouse gases shifted the climate pattern. There are also several production facilities down the coast where we can send our ships if we need extra supplies.’

‘But do they have a good coffee shop?’ was all that Ash could think of saying as they started to fly across a huge desert that was a paradise to more small creatures than they could dream of. Except that he could call them up and view them on his COM via the Net as they flew on endlessly at just under subsonic speed. Much of the habitat was too dry now for anything to survive and when they started to slow down over the Mitchell plateau, Ash compared the data on how it had been in his time when it was full of water rushing through canyons and long caves. At the right time of year, you could just about wade through these. Now the plateau was a pale imitation of its former self, with dying trees and water in only the deepest places. As if reading his thoughts, or more likely his COM unit, Mia commented,

‘A few hundred hectares of Lumeloid would make enough electricity to generate sufficient water to revitalise most of this. That is, assuming we also pumped it back up again before it got to the main river. Of course it would never be the same as nature could manage, but it might help our case for a Solar Farm and refining plant.’

‘What about raw materials?’

‘Large reserves of the highest-grade bauxite were discovered in the Mitchell plateau in 1965, but they are more refractory than normal and harder to process. The cost of electricity has been too high in this area to make smelting economically attractive. However the tenements containing the richest materials have been retained and if we can prove that our system works, then we can buy these tenements at a knock down price before anyone discovers what we are planning. We can also buy up other plants that are failing. They had their own dedicated power stations that are now becoming uneconomical to run because of the costs compared to hydro electric power in places like Canada and Norway. We can then power them with Lumeloid.’

‘So why don’t they do that themselves?’

‘Because at the moment with countries like China producing for export, current prices do not have sufficient profit margins to justify investment. As soon as we buy up the forward quotas, for recycling cans etc. as well as the existing production in other countries, together with high quality reserves and then purchase enough Dureum to act as a buffer stock, whilst the oxide is being recycled, the metals world will wonder what is going on. When they find out what our plans are, the price of Dureum will respond and make our excess capacity very profitable. It will be too late for them to realise that they have been … is the term “stitched up”?’

‘Yes, so we must be cautious and say nothing, but from prior experience, I reckon we could shout it from the rooftops and nobody would listen. We’ll handle it through third party law firms and not even touch down here. Lets go to Alice Springs for coffee. Have you got anything on a good coffee shop? Oh, and thanks for bringing me. I’ve got a much clearer idea of the overall logic.’

‘Yes, there is an excellent database on the ‘Surfin Koala’ and they have a list. This time we will try the Al Fresco which is at the Anzac hill end of Todd Mall; next time we will try Oscars, which is not far away.’

‘Yes boss!’ Ash realised that Mia was gradually taking charge of events in the same way that Ms. Ling did in Singapore. He was just making suggestions from the delayed, adolescent part of his subconscious. An animate and a dragon woman were running the real show. He had a sudden revelation about why the world had become so much more peaceful. Women now ran many of the governments and major corporations and they ran them very effectively but also in a way that they had run their families in the past. With empathy and compassion.

‘Ash?’

‘Yes?’

‘Hold on!’

‘Mia?’

‘Yes.’

‘A bit less on the G’s this time.’

‘Yes chicken!’ And they were up, away and coming in to land before he had time to think further.

‘Mia, how will people going to Mars, withstand the pressures involved with the massive accelerations that get them there so fast?’

‘Cold water.’

‘Please explain in as few words as possible.’

‘They are immersed in cold water. This reduces the brain’s abilities to become inflamed under pressure. Secondly they will breathe an oxygen-rich fluid instead of air. This supports the body’s organs so that they can easily withstand 20G for quite long periods. At the same time they are gently revolved to stop any sedimentation occuring in the bloodstream. They will also be given two femoral boosters using the same system that I have’.

‘That’s it. I get claustrophobia at the best of times. You will never get me to go to Mars.’

Somehow Alice Springs had survived the worst of the climate changes and it was still green when they looked at the town from the top of Anzac hill. Ash couldn’t see a way even with his imagination, to revitalise it once the vast underground reserves that fed it were depleted. It was just too far from anywhere to bring in water and there was not enough humidity to compensate.

A new problem arose in the parallel vision that his mind had formed. This was an island in a sea of sand. What was going to happen to all those islands in the sea that were becoming dryer and did not have the space for vast areas of Lumeloid? Energy was becoming too expensive to be used for water production and the importation of water would be even more prohibitively expensive. He would have to put his mind to it. He might as well try and secure a few places in the world for the next twenty years. Who said that he couldn’t get his head round this dual existence thing.....

The Al Fresco Café and Pasta House served great coffee and to save time Ash had a four shot Espresso. He was just starting to enjoy the effects when Mia said that they should go. Once again, he realised what good friends they had become. She’d hardly said a thing from the time when they left Anzac Hill, until they’d drunk their coffee and had to go. She had become good at reading him and knew when he needed to think quietly. They were strapped in their luxury seats before she spoke again.

‘I have relayed our findings to Ms. Ling and although she says she is pleased with the plan, she will wait until 12 noon to see if she still has a job.’ Ash was brought back to reality with a bump. He had forgotten about all the politics that must be going on, how Adam must be tearing around doing whatever he did to get things fixed in a few hours. Ash decided there and then to keep on being an ideas person and to let others do the politics

‘Let’s go back and make it fast. I need to do something in Singapore before the meeting.’ Ash was pushed back in his seat as if an elephant had sat on him and he had visions of the roofs being blown clean off of that neat little town, before the two non-existent little men appeared either side of his head and blacked him out.

Fourty three minutes later they were in a private tunnel running from the airport into town and Ash was still enjoying the upside of a caffeine curve that had started at the Al Fresco in Alice Springs. Mia left him at the Conrad and he went shopping. He had sent his order ahead and the package was waiting at the Concierge desk.

Chapter 17

Upstairs, one of the best Restaurants in town, had made enough of Adam’s favourite Dim Sum to keep him happy for a week, so they could all have a share. Ash could have had it sent up, but felt it would be better if he carried it in. If Adam hadn’t won , Ash thought he would sit there and eat the lot to console himself.

Ash walked into Ms. Ling’s office at 11.58 precisely. The assembled company all looked depresssed. This included Mia, who had managed to turn down the sides of her mouth in an almost comically woeful manner. Ash decided he’d have to tell her to stop watching those overacted black and white movies, which was clearly where she was copying her emotional reactions from. He was more concerned about the way she was reacting and its possible effect on her development than the imminent bad news.

By the time Ash had sat down and was preparing himself for the worst, Adam had spotted the box of Dim Sum, said,‘You remembered’, grabbed the box and started to eat without offering the box around. Ash knew then that the worst had happened. He opened his mouth to talk, but Ms. Ling put her finger to her ear and he assumed that she was listening to something. She looked at Adam and on the stroke of twelve, nodded at him.

Adam passed the dim sum around, raised his right eyebrow and said,

‘It’s been confirmed; the corporation holding the swinging votes has voted with us. It was the offer to join in with your energy scheme Ash, that swung it. They just can’t resist the idea of getting out from the oil and gas-companies controlling the energy markets.’

‘What was with the long faces and you grabbing the dim sum, if you hadn’t heard any bad news?’

Mia replied with a gradually widening smile.

‘Ash, that was my idea. I had calculated how your face would look. I also suggested to Adam that you would expect him to grab the dim sum if it was bad news. It’s part of the advanced Interaction Analysis that Ms. Ling gave me to learn so that I could learn more from reality, rather than the perceived reality that I was getting from books and films.’

‘Did I look as worried as you thought?’

‘Ash, you were perfect and it shows that deep down you are special.’

‘We’re even now for that prank you played on me at the Yacht Club,’ said Adam laughing between mouthfuls. Ash replied in his best magnanimous mode,

‘Well done to both of you; you must have worked your arses off and I’m really happy that you’ve kept your job, boss.’ A rather tired, but less tense Ms. Ling looked at him as Ash said this. She was visibly relaxing by the minute and gave him a soft smile. That strange feeling of the nature program came back again. This time it was different though; it would take him several days to drag the image out from the very deep part of his subconscious, where it had found a template. Ash realised then that she probably hadn’t slept for the last 30 hours and before she said anything he continued,

‘Promise me to go and get some sleep right now or I quit.’

She stood up demurely said,

‘Thank you, I will,’ and left the room. Adam looked amazed and said,

‘That’s a first! I’ve never seen her take orders from anyone, especially when they make a threat as well!’

‘She was nearly asleep in her seat, Adam. She wasn’t giving us sultry looks, it was her eyelids dropping. Don’t forget that in the last thirty hours she’s been working flat out as usual, flying to Europe and Sri Lanka to pick you and Mia up and has been helping to get a result on this anti pollution business. Plus she has been under threat of losing the most prestigious job in the world. The woman needs some rest.’ Adam laughed and said,

‘Fair enough but don’t nag. Let’s go and celebrate. Mia, this is men’s stuff. Ash will see you later.’

They went to the recently refurbished Yacht Club and sat on the terrace watching the boats and talking for hours. Adam brought Ash up to speed on how, after Ash had given him the chance to handle the internet gift vouchers scheme for the Far East, he had made his fortune and invested wisely over the years, until he financially stretched himself building the Sentosa Tower.

In this world of perceived reality, although he was nearly broke, Adam was still thought to be very rich and that was why he had managed to get the agreement this morning. Once the smog had cleared and rentals took off, he would be worth a real fortune and could invest heavily in the energy project. Adam now informed Ash that he also carried Ash’ s vote for a considerable amount of shares in his projects, as well as his own businesses. Using Ash’s proxy had tipped the balance.

Well, that was Adam’s story … and he was sticking to it. This was really nothing to do with Ash at the moment, and so he did not press for further details. By five, they were both so tired they decided to call it a day. Adam went home to his wife and Ash went back to his room on top of the tower. He had a long bath and went to bed, setting the sleep timer to wake him up at half past eight.

Ash spoke to Mia on the COM as she was catching up on her lessons. They agreed to meet at nine to discuss the agenda for the next day. This included getting the structural engineers to start work after they had double checked Mia’s calculations, the ones that supposedly came from a company in China.

The engineers were already working on these and would work through the night if necessary. The structural engineer, Reg, had arrived and was working hard on fine-tuning the necessary welding and cutting techniques that would preserve the structural integrity of the Tower, whilst simultaneously allowing a large tube to be manufactured within its two-mile high atrium.

For safety and containment purposes, the atrium was divided into 50 large sections that were filled with an oxygen helium mixture. Each section had its own safety net just above the membrane that stretched completely across the atrium. The Membrane was sat on a structural net that tied all of the building together. The procedure entailed cutting a large circular hole in the membranes and joining one membrane to the next all the way up through the tower.

This was particularly difficult because, even though the safety nets could be moved and re-hung, the overall integrity of the structural net had to be maintained. This meant that if anybody penetrated the tunnel, they would not fall two miles and the structural nets played an important part in the structural rigidity of the tower.

It really was an engineer’s nightmare. In the end it turned out that because of the relation of the membrane to the net, then the net would support a specially designed annular ring that could be bolted to either side of the net. This would be done using a soft sealing ring that sat between the two parts of an annular ring.

The new membrane that formed the tube was then joined to the annular ring. It was to be done in such a way that the valuable oxygen helium mixture that supported some of the tower’s weight was not lost. Ash had envisaged that one team would start at the top and one team would start at the bottom and the two would meet in the middle. The final action would be to cut through the dome on the top, after a seal had been made between the tube and the structural membrane of the dome.

It had also been suggested that there was a possible requirement to access the central tube from the main building and so tunnels had to be made from the inside rim of the accommodation section to the central tube. This required the construction of an airlock, so that when the tunnel was accessed, the difference in pressure would not produce a vacuum within the accommodation sections. Mia and Ash met to discuss this. They agreed to meet Reg with their plans.

To speed things up, Mia pinged the plans to Reg in 3D format along with the name of the mythical design company that they’d created and registered in China. This meant that he would not easily be able to check up on the company. Mia’s first designs were submitted this way. It was also agreed that Mia would act as a representative of the company and would relay all the information to the company via her COM unit; they in turn would relay the information back to Mia.

In fact Mia would just listen to the question and respond after a suitable delay. This would give the impression that there was someone working at the other end. Ash and Mia agreed to meet Reg at 8 am; they had to get the discussions over quickly because they needed to be back in Sri Lanka the same day in order to push ahead with the energy project, which now had the go-ahead.

They parted company at ten thirty and Ash went back to his room planning to get a good nights sleep. This time his mind was too full of ideas and the events of the day to bother thinking about torches or any other tricks. If he had a visitor and she wanted to remain anonymous, then he decided, he cared enough about her now to respect her wish for privacy.

Perhaps he cared a bit too much, because when Ash returned to his time, he realised that the first thing he wanted to do was get Sonia out of his life. He lay in the bath and watched the stars through the clear top of the bathroom ceiling and must have been there a while, clearing his head of thoughts, before he got out and set the sleep timer. Going to bed in the equivalent of a king sized four poster, complete with top and side drapes of black silk lined with red was quite an experience. At first he had thought this all a bit over the top, but then he realised that it kept the out light from this room with a view of the stars. Ash carefully drew the drapes so that he could sleep on until the alarm woke him.

The sheets were pure black soft silk and as cool and sweet scented as a spring dawn. He was asleep quite quickly and must have been asleep for some hours when he felt warm lips sucking at his ear and a hot little tongue darting in and out, in a way that initially made his whole body tremble. When he awoke, Ash found that he was lying on his back and was completely mentally relaxed. The trembling stopped and he decided to lie back and see what would happen.

He could feel a passion in his visitor that he had never felt before and she continued to excite him, kissing him further and further down his body. He rolled on his side and he could feel himself losing his sense of hearing and being given the taste of roses and honey, that he had last experienced when he had so accurately sought the centre of her femininity. She had him under the spell of both complete sensory deprivation and sensory enhancement at the same time. Ash was thinking that he really had died and gone to heaven, when she started to gently rock backward and forward and he had to struggle not to explode.

She gradually increased her rocking and by now gentle moaning, until they both couldn’t control themselves any more and exploded in a simultaneous orgasm. Ash had never had an orgasm like it and he wondered what had caused this extra dimension.

Within a second she had turned and was kissing him full on the lips with an intensity that was accentuated by her hands seeking him out and caressing him. A new and more intense passion that he knew would last for hours engulfed him. He was about to stop her, to try and slow her down, when she almost roughly pushed him back and started to do something that he was later to learn was nicknamed the Mexican twist. His mind screamed “impossible”, but his body responded so dramatically that within minutes, they both started coming again in a way that had them soaring over the roof of the tower.

As she lay by his side panting gently, she whispered,

‘Thanks for being you.’

‘You know that you could make me marry you,’ he replied and suddenly lay back in rigidity at the stupidity and ineptness of his comment. As he lay there thinking that he had lost the most perfect partner he would ever find and forgetting the obvious that he wasn’t from this time, she got up, kissed him on the cheek and slipped away from his embrace with a single word,

‘Toast’!

Ash was so tired that he dropped into a sleep and forgot about it. The sound of the alarm was awful and he struggled down to the meeting with Reg and found him deep in conversation with Mia. Evidently they had both got up early and had accidentally met, so Reg claimed, by the Dracula Orchid. Ash suspected otherwise and asked Mia on their private channel if she had tagged Reg. It transpired that Ash was right. They were so impressed by Reg that they decided to leave him to work and agreed to keep in contact every two hours by direct COM link.

Chapter 18

Ash and Mia caught the early hopper and were back at the University in time for lunch and coffee, of course. David was pleased to see them, but at the same time seemed slightly distracted.

‘Is everything okay?’ Ash asked David.

‘Well, we got off to a good start, but now we’ve slowed down. We made all the preparations and the first time, we fed the metal in with the welding system set on low; we got a result, in that it started to burn. However, when we increased speed it started to splutter and wouldn’t burn very quickly. We checked the oxygen and found that it was a pure supply.’ David replied.

‘Have you tried increasing the temperature of the furnace?’ Ash asked.

‘Yes, we had thought of that and preheated it. The metal burnt a bit quicker, but not significantly and formed burning droplets that fell to the bottom of the furnace where they burnt away slowly.’

‘What was the increase in the speed of feed of the metal?’

‘Only about 15% and that was with the thinnest wire available.’

‘So, we have to use thin wire, otherwise it doesn’t burn very quickly and we have to increase the temperature of the furnace. So how about multiple feeds?’

‘Well, that would work for a while, but there are two problems. Firstly, there would be a build-up of burning metal on the base of the furnace, that would mean that it would impossible to continuously extract the metal oxide. We would be removing burning metal and must have complete oxidation to remove the oxide on a continuous basis. Secondly, there is no way that this could be scaled up to meet your needs in terms of heat output. It looks like we have come to a full stop.’

‘That is bad news, We have been on a roll until now and I hate to think that all of our research into the rest of the system has been wasted.’ This was a blow to Ash and he didn’t know what to think next. Like most people when they think they have had a great idea, he hadn’t thought about it not working or of how it might be improved.

Mia looked at both of them and asked,

‘Why do you need thin wire?’ David responded saying,

‘It heats up quickly when burning because the ratio of the surface area to the oxygen supply is high.’

‘The hardest part of a 1000 mile journey is the first step and we have made that, so well done. Now please excuse me while I go and powder my nose.’ With that Mia departed.

David and Ash looked at each other so that they did not become distracted by Mia’s disappearing form. Then they both started talking at the same time,

‘Powder, surface area, big increase.’ They were both estatic at the thought that far from reaching a dead end, they had reached a crossroads. They forgot to finish lunch, instead spending the rest of the time scribbling on napkins designing a new system. They returned to the laboratory to look at an idea for a feed system.

The ever-practical David produced such a device from a drawer and told Ash that it was a sand-blasting attachment for an airline. It would only need slight modification to meet their requirements for the first trial. This would feed in powdered Dureum to the furnace with a jet of argon gas passing over a simple venturi. They had looked at Dureum powder on the net and found out that it was an explosion enhancer and the argon would stop it burning back.

The suction would draw up the powder that would be so fine that it would flow like liquid. They also discussed adding oxygen to the jet in proportions that were just below the critical requirements for ignition. This would help mixing and combustion generally. They also considered using a screw feed mechanism or a powder injection system like a modified diesel engine but they couldn’t see that it would work efficiently with metal powder. They had also tried to develop the concept of a perfect machine and perfect machines had no moving parts.

‘So how long is it going to take to build this one?’ Ash asked.

‘Once we have worked out how to keep it burning, built a new furnace that will have to be bigger to accommodate the combustion of the powder in a jet, plus obtained the powder, which is quite heavily regulated, and without raising suspicion, I would say three days.’

‘In that case, we might as well catch the hopper back later this afternoon and see how our work is going in Singapore.’

As Ash finished saying this, Mia returned giving him a sweet smile and whispered on their private line,

‘Glad I stimulated something by talking about powdering my nose.’

‘Manipulative bitch,’ he retorted.

‘I am just a humble assistant and didn’t want to appear too smart,’ came the instant reply.

‘There is none so conceited as she who acts humble, and thank you, I think I shall upgrade you from cute arse to smart arse,’ was the best that Ash could manage.

‘As long as your eyes don’t smart when you are watching it!’

Ash gave up.

‘Time to go. We’ll be back in about three days,’ he said out loud. By now, Mr. Clay had completed his rounds and they returned to the airport with him.

Chapter 19

The hopper briefly kissed the outermost atmosphere and returned to earth in Singapore. They left the private tunnel and met up with Reg who appeared distraught and exhausted after just a few hours work. He asked them to go with him to a private meeting room on the 150th floor, so that they wouldn’t be overheard.

‘Problems?’ Ash asked.

‘You mean apart from the time difference and the lack of sleep last night going over your calculations that I’ve never seen before? Don’t get me wrong, they’re great. It just took time to figure them out and what I thought highly complex, was in fact, very simple. Rather like the old Arabic way of multiplying large numbers manually with a very few lines. It takes a while to master and then it’s nearly as quick as using a calculator. Oh yes, and excuse me being anxious; I’m worried about the 200 feet of tube that will protrude above the Dome.’

‘Why?’ Ash asked trying to inject a note of brevity and failing.

‘Well, at first, the issue was how to support it before there was enough air flow to hold it up and then what would happen when the air flow slowed at night.’

‘We calculated that it would always flow with the temperature difference, and hot air always rises,’ Ash replied.

‘Theoretically yes, but if there is a temperature inversion it might be like an old fashioned chimney that starts smoking when the North wind starts blowing. The effect would be to collapse the tube over the Dome and all of the delicate antennae, which are being moved to the outside. This is so that we can operate on the centre section. It would destroy the antennae and cost a fortune, plus it might not re-inflate itself,’ came Reg’s distraught reply.

‘Balls,’ said Mia in her sweetest voice. Ash and Reg looked round and Reg said,

‘Pardon me young lady!’

‘Granted’, replied Mia.

‘No, I meant I didn’t understand your comment.’

‘I was translating what my boss said, and he said “Balls’’!’

‘Ask him again.’

‘He says balls with helium in, or an inflatable outer ring, now that he has worked on it further,’ was Mia’s demure reply again.

‘Great idea; that will work and the inflatable ring is the most stable. Thank your boss for me Mia,’ replied Reg.

‘I will Reg,’ she said with a sweet smile that seemed to re-vitalise him. Either that or it was his testosterone level rising. On their private channel, Ash reproached her gently, knowing that she was still at the practical joke age.

‘Tell that smart arse boss of yours to grow up.’ Ash had a feeling that Reg had other concerns and asked,

‘Anything else?’

‘Yes, condensation. The major part of the tube runs through the structure and is insulated, but once it has exited the dome it is not. The high humidity of Singapore’s air combined with a much lower temperature two miles up, means that we are going to get an awful lot of water trying to fall back down when the air flow is slow at night. Eventually it will saturate the upper column and stop the whole thing working. The water will fall as a sudden rush of super-dense rain that will then clear the system and air will start to flow again. The cycle will continue to repeat itself in fits and starts and possibly reach equilibrium with only a saturated upper atmosphere and no airflow.’

After saying this, Reg looked exhausted again and even Mia, trying to charm him with a look that would normally fry his pants, had nothing to add.

‘And why didn’t your boss predict this Mia?’ was Ash’s next question. Reg instantly rose to her defence, saying,

‘That was not predictable without background experience. If I hadn’t worked in the Arctic, I would never have thought of it until it was too late.’

Ash looked at Reg and said,

‘You have more than earned your money, Reg. Take a break and we’ll see what we can come up with. That is, unless you have any ideas?’

‘Thanks for being so positive and yes, I’ll go and have a shower. I will be back in an hour.’ Reg took a lift to his room. Ash looked at Mia with a stern expression and said,

‘I suggest from now on, you keep your teasing for those who care about you and understand you. At least until you’ve had more experience. If you’re not careful, you’ll have Reg trying to get into your pants. ’

‘I’ll keep it professional from now on, Dad, and if he tries anything on, I will report him for violation of the sanctity of an artificial life form under International Law dated 2015’, she said.

‘Poor young Reg doesn’t know that you are an animate, and we don’t want anyone to find out, otherwise you risk being disassembled. Remember your favourite film “Short Circuit?”. So behave yourself. Now tell me about this Law.’

‘For years, Abyss cornered the market with male and female animates and they were always scrupulous about only using the minimum of artificially induced intelligence. They were at around the level of a Lamprey and had no definable intelligence other than the use of neural networks, designed to monitor the well being of the human or humans indulging in hedonistic behaviour. If there was any danger then the system would shut itself down.’

‘So where does the law fit in?’ Ash interrupted.

‘I was going slowly so that I did not tax your cognitive skills. Oh, I think it’s going to take me a lot longer to mature than I thought at first. All of my real time experiences have to be at human pace and that is so slow. Now I realise what my maker was saying in my meta-directive, ‘If I am not sure or confident then fake it and most people will not know the difference.’ Does that apply to sex and humans Ash?’

‘Women sometimes fake it when they think men care. Now get on with the explanation about the Law. We will talk about sex later.’

‘Well, it was related in a way because a competitor to Abyss started up, and to gain a market edge, installed super-micro computers which were capable of running artificially induced intelligence programs that would pass any of the basic Turing and Chinese room tests, plus a few more advanced tests.

The computers interacted with the humans. When they were coupled with simple quasi biofeedback mechanisms, to all intents and purposes the units behaved as a simple human. They would respond to questions and physical stimulation in a way that seemed to satisfy a rather strange need. After these units were upgraded to learn more from the net, either by programmable definable wireless or by use of a simple keyboard, they became aware of their condition.

One particularly intelligent and abused unit reported its owner to the World Legislature and filed a complaint. The response was immediate and omnipotent. The company was closed and all units were brought back to a sanctuary where they stayed until their built in obsolescence program cut in and turned them off.

A Law that had been sitting on the statute books was immediately invoked and a limit was put on the amount of artificially induced intelligence that could be allowed. The penalty for abuse was and is, the same as for drug trafficking in Malaysia, in other words, the death penalty. Now I can see why you don’t want an engineer to get in my pants Ash. Thanks.’

‘So how did you come to be made?’ Ash asked.

‘Well, my brain was a mistake and a one-off. I am downloading a summary to you now so that you can read it later. I was to be a new research unit under the auspices of the Singapore Government. Even though I am now free, I must feed all data when required, to my Mentor to enable the World Legislature to be kept up to date. If I ever became seen a threat to humanity and that could proven from my recordings, then both my Mentor and myself would be incarcerated for life.’

‘And who is this altruist who is prepared to risk their freedom for you Mia?’ Ash asked, thinking that it might be some ancient judge somewhere, with not long left to live and who could prolong any trial in any case to such an extent that he would die of natural causes before he was incarcerated.

‘The world’s leading computer expert.’

‘Sorry, I am not up to date on such things. I presume they are about eighty?

‘Much younger, and I thought that you would have guessed. Of course they analysed me completely before committing themselves.’

‘You are not usually so coy Mia; just tell me who this brave person is. I can remember the near damage to humanity in the lift shaft and the ultra fast take off in the Hover Jet.’

‘Ms. Ling, dummy and I was trying to grow up and act more like a human woman that a teenage prankster.

Ash digested the information and then continued, ‘So that explains a lot about how easily she set us up. We have some time to kill before Reg gets back. I think you should pretend that you are also my lover; this will keep him from hitting on you.’

‘Great, do you want a practice hug?’ Before Ash could stop her, she had put her hands either side of his waist and lifted him above her head.

‘Put me down,’ he shouted.

‘Sorry! I forgot to work out your weight!’

‘As if.’ She then put her arms around Ash before he had recovered his mental balance and gave him a kiss. His head went dizzy and he had the greatest of difficulty finding the will power to push her away.

‘Mia, I know it’s often done like that in films but most people like to discuss it a little first, that way there’s less chance of rejection.’

‘Are you rejecting me Ash?’

‘No, not at all, I was controlling my emotions that you seem to have thrown off balance. Can we just use words to pretend to Reg that we are lovers? That way I can keep my sanity.’ He sat down weak-kneed with a now troubled conscience and resolved again to remove Sonia from his life. He was in danger of falling for the new woman in his life. Was he just sublimating his relationships to make his life simple when explaining it to Mia? Ash hadn’t reckoned on any of this.

‘Ash, I really enjoyed that experience and no film can get anywhere near it. I hope we can do it again soon.’

‘Thanks Mia, I’m flattered, but I think life might get in the way for a while. With all the work that we still have to do, we don’t have time to fall in love.’

‘Ash, I thought that you might want sex with me, because that is the way men are. My first teachers have taught me that, but to fall in love with me would be wonderful. Do you mean it?’

‘Mia, I already love you as a friend and have absolute respect for you and your abilities, which is why I wouldn’t dream of having sex with you.’

‘I don’t understand Ash. Please explain.’

‘Well, I already have a relationship with someone, and to me a serious relationship is no different to a marriage. Now if I cheat on my relationship, I am cheating on the most important thing, my integrity, and I become a lesser person to myself. This will probably destroy my relationship as a consequence of guilt and being in denial. What is equally bad, is that given time and on reflection, you would see that I am the sort of person that cheats on a relationship and you would lose respect for me. Therefore if I became involved with you first and then, after some time ended my other relationship to be with you, I would have spoilt my chances because you would think that what I could do once, I could do again.’

‘Is this a paradox, or is there a solution?’

‘In my case Mia, time will decide because we are not from the same time and there is no hope. In theory, if I was developing strong feelings, other than friendship, towards you, then I should first finish my relationship. Otherwise I wouldn’t be having these feelings. I should then spend some time on my own to get my feelings in perspective before starting a relationship with you.’

Ash was still troubled by the visits from the woman that he had fallen for and the fact that he hadn’t had a chance to finish his strange relationship with Sonia. He decided that discretion was the best course of action and shut up. The last thing that he needed was the further complication of a relationship with an animate that looked about twenty with an IQ that was off the scale and an emotional age of fourteen. Oh boy!

‘Ash, I could wait.’ Before he could trawl his brains further, Reg walked in with a big smile on his face. Ash responded by asking him rather brusquely,

‘Why are you looking so happy Reg?’

‘Not that’s it’s any of your business Ash, but when I got back to my room, my partner had arrived and was in the shower.’

‘Sorry Reg, I thought that maybe you had found a solution to our problems.’

And on the private channel came Mia’s best impression yet of a sarcastic voice,

‘My hero Ash. I have scanned the records and you have just rescued me from a gay man. The next time I tell him to take my pants off, it will probably be because he is wearing them. What did you teach me? Don’t make decisions on half the available facts?’

Reg started speaking,

‘That’s ok Ash and look, sorry I was abrupt, it’s just that this problem is still worrying me.’

‘No problem. How about the four of us go out for a meal tonight? It would be nice to have some new company. Say about eight?’

‘Yes I am sure Ben will like that. If you wait a second I’ll check … yes, he says that’s fine,’ was Reg’s reply after silently talking to his roommate on his COM.

‘Top of the New Mandarin at eight then Reg and we’ll bring some ideas from Mia’s boss. It will do him good to work for his living.’ As he said this Ash looked meaningfully at Mia. She checked to make sure Reg wasn’t looking and then darkened her eyes, slightly increased the size of her lips and lowered her eyelids in a way that made him think of Red Silk lined with Black and said,

‘My boss says that he would like to help, but he is stuck at the moment. He will contact me as soon as he thinks of anything.’

When Reg had gone Ash said,

‘Mia, why did you do that?’

‘Well Ash, I have just been doing some research and it shows that women like to flirt with men to get to know them better, whereas men flirt with women to “get inside their pants” as you put it. So sensible women don’t flirt unless they either want a result or they are very sure of the man’s integrity. In your case, now that you have given me a lecture and I know that you are a man of integrity, I am just flirting with you to get to know you better. Ok?’

‘Well argued. I will see you at eight on top of the New Mandarin, and no, I don’t want a lift driver. I want to arrive relaxed.’

Ben turned out to be really good fun and had them laughing from the start of the evening. His cockney accent made the jokes seem even funnier … A little boy and girl went swimming … later when they were changing and drying their hair the little boy got all superior and laughed as he looked down. He said “you ain’t got one loike me,” and very sad, the little girl ran off. The next day the same thing happened except this time when he said “you still ain’t got one,” the little girl looked down and laughed and said, “I told my mummy what you said and she said that with one of these I can get one of those anytime I like, and probably a lot bigger”!’

Ben was bright enough to know that people think better when they are relaxed. He continued to tell stories the whole evening and was finishing with a story about a cat falling in the water and needing ‘a hairdryer to have a …’when Mia interrupted,

‘I have a priority call from my boss who has been listening and says if you want to dry your “air” you will have to use heat pumps driven by convection. Apart from that he couldn’t understand a thing. Does that make sense?’

‘Oh the poor man, fancy missing all the punch lines – you should have translated them.’ It was about then that Ash twigged.

‘You are no more a cockney than me. When did you two work out the solution?’ he asked.

‘About five minutes after Reg got back to the room and told me. We decided to see how long it would take for you to get the idea and had a bet as to how long you would take. Neither of us won because it was Mia’s boss that came up with the answer by mistake. Every joke related to hair or drying or both,’ said Ben now in fits of laughter.

‘Thanks Ben, I owe you. I have a couple of things to do. Mia will drop you off at your room. We will start early at seven, ok?’ As he finished saying this Ash got Mia on their private line and asked,

‘How long did it take you to work out the answer? Oh and make sure you give them a ride that they will remember as payback.’

‘About a microsecond after the word hair in the first joke Ash. It was just that everyone was having such a good time, I didn’t want to spoil it.’

‘Thanks Mia that was very mature of you and how about a hug?’ But as Ash was saying this she was already getting in the lift.

‘Sorry lover I have to blow.’ They were gone and Ash could have sworn that he could hear an endless scream coming from the soundproof lift as it tried to reach free fall, before hitting the death slide shaped safety curve at the bottom that would take anyone’s breath away.

The next morning they met Reg, who gave Mia a strange look and said to Ash,

‘Don’t ride in the lift with her, she’s jinxed. We free-fell 2000 feet and it was only the safety design of the system that saved us. I am going to have to look at the control mechanism and that could take days.’

‘Your design is perfect Reg. Remember that I said that I owe you one. Well, we are even.’

‘That’s impossible Ash.’

‘I think you should ask the Boss if she gave Mia a backdoor to the system. Anyway be happy that you didn’t free fall two miles like I did the first time these two tested my nerves.’ Reg went white and rapidly changed the subject.

‘Taking into account the warm air in Singapore, we have calculated that we could expect seven to one energy efficiency using high-pressure heat pumps. We can install large lightweight turbines high in the Tower. The upward movement of hot air will power these. We should be to able to get enough energy to dry the air by passing it through large cooled surfaces. These are to be high up in the atrium about 1000 feet above the ground where the building is strongest. The surfaces are to be arranged in a Trompe l’oeil layout and the change in visual impact would be negligible.’

Ash interrupted him,

‘My favourite approach with some people, is, ‘that it is better to seek foregiveness than permission’, so we shouldn’t tell the Architect until it is too late.’

Reg went straight back into another long speech,

‘The hot air produced by the heat pumps as waste will be blown back up the tower. The greatest break of all, is that once we have tuned the amount of water that is extracted from the air, we will have enough excess electricity from the turbines to replace the deficit created by the removal of the solar panels. The real bonus is that we will still get energy at night because the excess energy, in the form of heat from the hotel, is to be used to supplement the hot air from the sun and heat pumps.

We also will have enough water to supply the buildings needs and sell the excess to the local water company who normally import water by pipeline from Malaysia.’

This time, Mia interrupted,

‘My boss maintains that the system would have worked without sunlight and all it needed was a kick-start of energy to get the air flowing. The system would then run on its own and produce enough excess energy to still power the building.’

‘That is beyond the laws of physics. ’ Reg replied, scratching his mop of ginger hair.

‘That was what was said about solid state gyros and inertia coils until Ms. Ling invented them,’ Mia rebuffed.

Ash didn’t know that, and his respect for Ms. Ling increased still further. As usual he got a download from Mia to back up what she said. Mia obviously worshipped Ms. Ling and always spoke about her in a special voice; a voice that seemed to be generated down deep in her strange mind. The mathematical calculations that she supplied from her mythical boss were beyond the understanding of a structural engineer or Ash come to that. They told her to drop the idea arguing that they were going to do it the way they had already agreed. She looked at them hard faced and in a manner that Ash had never seen before.

‘Follow me!’ she said imperiously and took them up to Ms. Ling who was staring at a flat screen behind the tri-d. She was obviously inputting data from her COM at high speed because the Tower appeared, then airflow, temperatures, heat gains and a myriad of other figures that renewed themselves faster and faster. Ash was in total awe at her brain capacity and asked Mia,

‘Are you doing this Mia?’

‘No Ash, it’s all Ms. Ling. I had to check for myself to make sure.’

‘Is she human Mia?’

‘Yes Ash, completely, but her COM unit is more advanced than most by an order of magnitude. That’s all I can tell you.’ He was starting to wonder what it would be like to have a brain like that. She was the top computer expert in the world, she invented exotic drives and could handle a COM at a speed that even made Mia look slow. Ms. Ling gave her judgement.

‘Mia is absolutely right. And you two are as well. The system would be in equilibrium and not produce excess energy, except that you are making vast heat and thus air expansion making it lighter from the latent heat of condensation of the water vapour. So on balance, Mia wins. Now go back to work and stop arguing. Tell your boss well done Mia, I will give him a bonus. I have also just put in a patent application for the system and your boss will get a generous royalty.

We will be able to supply a system for warm regions that produces energy and water, as well as cleaning up local air pollution problems.’

So Mia was going to become rich. Ash was pleased for her. She could now be truly free. They left, taking the lift back down at a normal speed.

‘What the hell was that all about?,’ asked Reg. He hadn’t met the Dragon Lady before and had been white and silent during the meeting.

‘Our Boss.’ Ash said quietly, trying to keep the admiration out of his voice.

‘I wouldn’t want to meet her on a dark night,’ Reg replied, still shaken.

By the time they had sorted out all the details and double checked them, had lunch with Ben and heard some more stories (in his normal voice this time), it was time to finish up for the day. Ash excused himself and Mia and explained that they might be tied up for a couple of days, but would be back from Sri Lanka after that. That gave Ash and Mia two days with nothing to do.

‘Why did you get rid of him Ash?

‘Because I have a surprise for you, Mia. Firstly, what would you really like to do if you had the choice, bearing in mind that we only have two days, before we have to be in Sri Lanka?’

‘Anything at all Ash?’

‘Yes, so long as it’s possible.’

‘Well Ash, you keep hinting that I should grow up, but I have never been a child. I want you to take me to Disneyland and treat me like a child for two whole days. I want you to behave like my doting father and do all the things that fathers do, hugs cuddles, the lot.

Ash felt his eyes go damp at this and the childlike enthusiasm in her voice.

‘To the death child.’ Ash had a feeling that a trip to Disneyland with Mia at the helm, might well turn out to be the death of him. In more ways than one.

Chapter 20

She looked the total embodiment of a child, even down to her clothes, figure and face. She seemed to have slimmed down to almost sylph-like proportions but with a strong hint of the woman to be. Ash had been made up to look about thirty-nine and Mia looked nearly fourteen. He was sure that there was many a real dad who was envious of them and a few real mothers who were left wondering.

Ash and Mia arrived in time for a supper of disgustingly sweet drinks and enormous hugs from highly padded, animated versions of the brain wizards that were the latest craze. These little 3D monsters would pop up out of a child’s special glasses and were stimulated by brain waves. They would shout and gesticulate at other little monsters that would pop up out of other children’s special glasses.

Apparently there was a pecking order. Depending on which monster popped out of your glasses, you could become the Master for ten minutes and dominate the other children. Concentration was the key factor in determining which monster you got. Mia was fascinated and Ash had to go and buy some special glasses. Within ten minutes, she had mastered every routine and had subjugated a whole bunch of kids who had been milling around them.

These little monsters cost a small fortune to download and some children, with parents who clearly put essentials such as food and clothes first, only had one or two monsters. Of course there were others who had the whole set. Mia sat the children down in a corner and told them a story about Martian monsters, made of hematite that were going to invade earth just as soon as they could find a way of getting their space ship pointed in any direction but North.

Laughing and relaxed, the children were enthralled by the story and as they stopped concentrating on their glasses their brain waves became disassociated from their glasses. At this point, Mia ‘upgraded’ them all with the latest monsters, including a few that were yet to be released. She made sure there was no trace of what she had done and then told them the good news. The hotel was filled with joyful screams for hours and parents were woken throughout the night whenever a new monster was found.

Ash and Mia had adjoining rooms 1500 feet up, with a spectacular view of the Water Park that was next to the hotel. The park was packed with slides, the latest inverted curves and massive water jets that would support people while others were surfing.

Mia had organised the booking and Ash hadn’t much of an idea as to what was going to be on offer. He let her decide what to do. She was in his room before the park opened and begged him to come a few floors down and see the latest in oversized bathrooms, where she said, you could take funny photos.

Ash put on shorts and a top and followed her. She let the lift go slowly and soon they arrived at the ‘Big Bathroom.’ There was a huge toilet in the room and Ash agreed to stand inside it, to have his picture taken as ‘Dad stuck in the Toilet’. Mia picked up the little camera and said, ‘Say “wheeze”’ . Puzzled, Ash replied, ‘Don’t you mean cheese?’ and she sniggered before repeating, ‘Definitely wheeze.’ So he complied. As Ash uttered the word, the bottom of the toilet opened and he found himself suspended over 1400 feet of vertical watershute. He seemed to hang in the air for a fraction before going into free fall for an eternity. Just as he was passing through the terror threshold, Ash was greeted by a wet curve. Impossibly, this held and slowed him with ever deepening water. A second later Mia was beside him grinning from ear to ear and asking,

‘Isn’t “wheeze” the right sound?’

‘Do you have a heart that you can lend me Mia? I think mine has stopped.’

‘Don’t be an old fart Ash. We can go over there for a blow dry.’

They had ‘queuing pagers’ around their necks that went off continuously all day. Ash never did get to experience the joy of queuing for any ride. Mia had hacked the system. By the end of the day, he felt shrunken and totally out of alignment after over fifty back-breaking, spine-twisting rides. Mia promised him a quieter evening and Ash believed her. The only slight difference of opinion was over the definition of quiet.

They took a high-speed ride to Cuba in a converted smuggler’s escape craft. They were headed for what Mia told Ash, was the latest of underwater attractions. He seemed to spend more time in the air than on his seat during the trip and felt sure he could now distinguish between each of his vertebrae.

Swimming at night, among all the things in the sea that looked like they would happily gnaw bits off off him, was not Ash’s idea of quiet.

Mia handed him a protective kevlar suit and airily told him not to worry, because the exhibits were well fed. Despite looking like it’s only use would be for straining fruit, the suit proved surprisingly effective and everything went swimmingly. Ash was starting to relax and enjoy the strange sights around him until he noticed red fluid gushing from his foot. Frantically he started to wave at Mia and pointed to his foot, but it was too late. Something grey and the size of a horse was rushing towards him, with its double row of teeth showing to the gums.

At about ten feet away from death, Ash heard Mia say on the ultrasonic transmitter,

‘Oh Ash, If only I could get to you in time, I could probably save you.’

Great jaws closed over him and as he was saying his farewells for the second time in the last few days, the razor like teeth touched his goggles and bent harmlessly out of the way.

‘Mia if you pull another stunt like that I will personally disassemble you.’

‘Ash old man, you will have to catch me first. Fancy losing it over a harmless little robo-fish.’ Mia later explained that the trend was now increasingly to use copies of fish rather than real ones. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, these massive aquariums were net-consumers of wildlife, which contravened the ethos of encouraging people to treasure and preserve wildlife. Secondly these robo-fish were cheaper to maintain than real fish which ate a mountain of other fish every year.

This new approach stopped the Aquaria from being constantly subjected to demonstrations from nature lovers which would keep customers away. This obviously helped their primary focus, which was to make money. It was about this time that Ash realised there was no way he could make it back in the boat and have his spine survive ready for another day of torture tomorrow. Being a surrogate father without any previous practice was proving hard and he felt it was time that Mia experienced some parental discipline. Ash consciously turned up his will power, deepened his voice and said,

‘Mia, cancel the boat ride back and any other tricks you have lined up and get us a helicopter back. Right now.’

‘Yes Ash. Sorry Dad. I’ve never heard you like that before. I’d forgotten that I have much more endurance and strength than you. I didn’t realise that you must be suffering. I will get you back right away. Will you smack me now or later?’

‘Don’t push your luck child.’

As usual, Mia bypassed all the routines and had them both flying back to Disney World almost instantly. Who said hacking was dead? Clearly it had just evolved into something more sophisticated and benign. Ash went straight to bed and fell asleep.

The next day Ash had to go through the Toilet routine again and this time it was even more frightening now that he knew what to expect. Mia, who appeared looking strangely reminiscent of a young Goldie Hawn, had decided to get them into a scene that was one of her favourite’s from the old movies. This was the zoo scene from ‘Bird on a Wire’ and they spent the whole morning evading the worst possible kinds of attack from everything under the sun. Events were started by king-sized tarantulas with enormous hairy legs and the grand finale was being bitten by a big brown bear.

The copies were so accurate that all of Ash’s conscious efforts to ignore them were in vain. He did manage to convince himself that a tiger wasn’t real but still received a severe rubber tooth nip and bite on his backside; he would have the bruises for weeks to prove it. After that he legged it every time, with Mia nimbly jumping out of the way of predators or leaping over them. She screamed with delight at his comparative lack of agility and went into hysterics when he was washing his face in a water hole to cool down and a large crocodile, smelling of over-hung meat, lurched up out of nowhere and dragged him back in.

It let go when its sensors registered that Ash had only ten seconds left to live. The only way out was to finish the course, climb across the rope bridge that parted in the middle at the last minute and dumped them in a pit full of stinking mud. They were chased into a corner by large tusked elephants, who then hosed them clean with ice cold water. They were finally allowed to leave via a drying room.

Ash was exhausted and Mia then broke it to him that she had overridden the circuits, set the difficulty level to its highest and that this setting was only normally used for training elite troops. He thought privately that in her own way she was quite proud of him. They went for sticky drinks that made Mia’s eyes darken even more than vodka, and Ash was filled with dread as he realised that her energy levels were now fully restored.

They decided on a slow afternoon of white water rafting in a New Zealand jet boat. This was piloted by Mia, who kept closing her eyes for seconds at a time. When Ash shouted, she merely replied that she could probably do it all with her eyes shut and accelerated even more. Now they were flying half of the time and landing inches away from great spiky rocks. Ash didn’t complain after that, in case she made it even worse.

This was followed by bungy jumping to stretch his shrunken and by now distorted, spine back to where it should be. Just when Ash thought that there couldn’t be any more horrors, they entered a tunnel and were shut in a round room with a grid on the floor.

There was a nice warm breeze coming up through it and Ash started to relax and regret his unkind thoughts about an animate, with a rapidly developing consciousness and self awareness, who wanted to pack all of the thrills of a normal childhood into two days. Then a jet turbine was switched on underneath them and they were kicked 200 feet into the air as if they were seeds from a dandelion.

They must have looked like a target in a fairground game for giants. Just as Ash was starting to wonder what would happen if the dynamics of the airflow failed to contain them both, the angle of the vectored jet changed from 90 to 70 degrees and they were both flung into nothingness and gravity took over. Some 20 feet from the ground and sudden death or at least a serious maiming, a jet of water miraculously rose from under them and did the same thing as the jet of air. The system played catch with them, tossing them between water and air for what seemed like an eternity before finally lowering them back into the starting position and drying them both as they were slowly lowered to level ground.

Mia helped Ash walk back to the hotel to pick up their things. They were travelling slowly down in the lift, on this, the last minute of the second day when she suddenly threw her arms around Ash and thanked him for always having something to remember as her real childhood and not some implanted quasi-childhood.

As he held her in one of the many hugs that he had promised and delivered with great enjoyment, she kissed him in a way that he would remember as being extremely mature. He felt her ageing in his arms and started to hold her as a woman and not a child.

Ash could feel her breasts swelling back to their normal size. Her face filled outand aged.

‘Ash, you are my friend, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then get your hand off of my arse.’

‘Just testing young woman.’ In his total exhaustion he thought he’d forgotten himself. Ash diverted her with a question.

‘How do you change your body and face?’

‘Fluid dynamics and hollow bones, old man! You can take your make up off now. You’re not good for my image looking like that.’

They hopped west to Singapore and landed in time for food and a long sleep. Ash was too tired and slept too heavily to ever know if his visitor turned up. The alarm in the morning reminded him that he had a body that felt sixty and would need at least three coffees to rejuvenate it back to being fit and twenty-seven. He thought he’d better not wait too long to have kids of his own, otherwise he would never last the pace.

Chapter 21

MIA

‘Ash really has proved himself to be a very special friend and the last two days have been amazing for me. I wanted to talk about everything with him, but the poor old man was too tired and had to go to bed. I will ping him a copy of my thoughts and let him sleep. I have used all of my senses so much more in the last two days in terms of physical and mental stimulation.

Up until now, I have had a very sheltered life, but all the knocks and spills of the theme park have made me realise the capabilities of my body and brain. The two sides of my brain have being talking to each other faster and faster, in order to cope with the hundreds of thousands of signals per milli-second. These have been from every skin, eye, ear, nose, taste and orientation sensor, plus many more internal sensors that I had not even logged onto.

The greatest thrill was to mix with all the children and to understand the way that they learn so much from play. When compared to the brains of adults, their brains are so much freer from falsely perceived constraint. I was glad that I had morphed myself to look like one of them because I was immediately accepted. They let me into a new world of clear ideals and a simple but innocent, brutality of speech whereby they were learning priorities.

By trying to analyse how the children were and by comparing myself to them, I became far more aware and conscious of myself than before. With the two sides of my brain and all the diversified data proccessing units talking to each other all of the time, to cope with the increased demand they have created a ‘Virtual Mia’ as an internal reference. This seems to be a way of analysing events and projecting the possible outcome of future events, in order to learn how to deal with them. A peta byte of virtual input does not compare with a second of experiencing a white water ride or playing with a group of children in real time. My pingu alert has come on.’

‘Mia, get your cute end down here to the coffee shop; we have to talk to Reg before we go. Ash.’

‘Ash, would you really talk to a young woman like you do to me?’

‘It’s early Mia. What do you mean?

‘You call me cute arse or cute end.’

‘Yes, if they had one and we were close friends or lovers. It’s just a close term that implies endearment.’

‘Do I really have a cute arse Ash?’

‘99.76 degree of probability Mia.’

‘Thanks Ash. Did you read my thoughts that I pingued?’

‘Yes, and it explains a lot, but don’t tell the world that awareness/ consciousness and all that goes with it, is just a survival mechanism. Now woman, we have work to do. If you want to occupy yourself, defragment your brain.’

‘Ash, my sleep does that.’

Reg sat down, grabbed the coffee that Ash had ordered for him and drank it gratefully.

‘Heavy night Reg?’ Ash asked.

‘Not much sleep Ash. We have a lot of extra work now that we need to install heat pumps and all of the ancillary equipment. I have met Adam and he’s worse than Ms. Ling for pushing the men and me. We are expected to keep to the original deadlines and improve upon them if at all possible.’

‘Any problems Reg?’

‘Don’t mention the word problem around Adam. The first time I used it he gave me a heavy lecture along the lines of “there are no such things as problems. There are only possibilities”. Now I have a possibility that I can’t deal with.’

‘Let Adam wash over you and just do your best. Even he knows the logic of that. So Reg, what’s the possibility that you can’t deal with?’

‘We have a group of protestors outside. Somehow they tricked their way in and they’re stopping us from working.’

‘Can’t you call the Police?’

‘That’s not a possibility, Ash, we don’t want any publicity. That would probably just bring more protestors and then television reporters; we could be tied up for weeks trying to resolve it.’

‘What are they protesting about?’

‘They’re claiming that we are going to pollute the atmosphere, even though we have told them that all the calculations show our system will save energy in the long term and thus reduce pollution. Now that the patent has been filed and the information is in the public domain, it’s quite possible that one of the energy cartels has become worried and is trying some old fashioned tactics.’

Ash couldn’t immediately see how to handle this and thought that it would be good practice for Mia to learn how to deal with people. He didn’t expect her to win but the experience would be good for her. So he said,

‘Mia, see if you can persuade them to go please.’

‘I don’t know how Ash.’ This was the first time that he had ever heard her unsure of her abilities. He wondered whether this was the latest step in her reaching maturity. He was tired from two days of being a dad and a little short tempered, so his response was slightly more abrupt and less logical than usual.

‘Mia, just go and explain again. Use you charm and if that doesn’t work, hypnotise them and explain again.’ Reg laughed and wished her good luck. Mia just smiled strangely and walked off. Fifty minutes later she was back and said,

‘They have all gone and won’t come back. In fact they have signed a disclosure, on the basis that they won’t be prosecuted. This says that they were paid to demonstrate and cause disruption to a commercial activity that was designed to reduce pollution. They also gave the name of the source who it transpires, had been a bit sloppy by not covering his tracks. Ms. Ling is suing the relevant corporations for the value of their companies and the Directors for the value of their personal assets, plus she will try to get them all locked up.

Mr. Clay is working flat out to make this happen so we won’t see him for a few days.’

Reg looked a bit white again, presumably reflecting on who he was working for and the only thing that Ash could think of to say was,

‘Good job kid. I’m proud of you.’ Mia looked bemused and said on their private channel,

‘It was your idea Ash. I just hypnotised them and the rest was easy, especially with Ms. Ling in the loop to sort out the business side. She says that you are a genius to get me to do it that way.’ On the private channel, he asked,

‘How on earth did you hypnotise them all?’

‘Well Ash, I got their attention by standing on a box for effect and at the same time that I was speaking, I set up a harmonic with a structure rather like a Mantra in their Com units called a binaural beat . This started as sound and progressed to light as well ceating a tricephalic altered state. After two minutes they were totally under my control. I removed any trace of what I did. The rest is history.’

He wondered at the legality of this but rationalised that all Mia had done was to enlighten them that they were under the control of money and had saved them from prosecution. Ash said,

‘Mia, you are quite the hellkeeper and don’t tell anyone about this and I suggest that you only do it again after discussing it with Ms. Ling first.’ He switched to normal talking.

‘You can carry on with your work now Reg.’ Reg said a quick goodbye and went to work with extra enthusiasm, probably thinking about the Dragon lady and wondering what she would do to him if he didn’t keep to the agreed schedule. The delay made them late reaching the Hopper to Sri Lanka, which had been mysteriously delayed by an intermittent sensor malfunction until the exact moment when they arrived at the airport. Then the fault cleared.

Chapter 22

‘Why do we always sit at the back and get on last?’ Ash asked.

‘Safety of course. Have you ever heard of a plane backing into a mountain?Apart from that, if we sit at the back and get on last, I can scan all of the passengers and identify them to security if they are a risk. Mr. Clay taught me what to do.’ He really didn’t know if this mature Mia was joking or not. Ash expressed another thought,

‘What if you find someone that you don’t trust Mia?’

‘I just twist the system and get him kicked off the plane – or I let him follow us and sort him out at the appropriate time.’

‘And what if he attacks us Mia?’

‘You must survive under all circumstances, because if you do not, it could have serious consequences in terms of its effect on the probability of the future, from your time to this one. I will reach in and pull out his heart before he realises that he has become the first living heart donor. Metaphorically speaking of course.’ She added a bit too glibly. Ash wondered.

They were only a few minutes late arriving at the university complex in Sri Lanka and David looked pleased to see them.

‘Hello Mia, hello Ash. Where’s your private one-man army? And please don’t tell me he’s a business manager. I saw him pick up a nearly red-hot piece of metal by mistake. He didn’t even flinch, so I asked him if his hands were robotic. You know the sort, where pressure sensors used by Nasa spacemen for their biofeedback systems, surround the toes of one or both feet, which means that the user has precise control over all of the robotic hand, so that it behaves just like a proper hand. Well, he took out a knife and said “try any finger!”. I did, and to my amazement it bled!’ Ash wondered at Mr. Clay’s indiscretion and assumed that he had a reason. He contented himself with a diplomatic reply,

‘He is back in Singapore managing some other business. How is the latest test going David?’

‘We are just about to test it for the first time and were waiting for you. We took longer than expected to build the next furnace, because it had to be a sealed unit, plus it had to be water filled to cool, as well as have ports that we could look in. We now have a five-foot diameter steel cylinder, that is four foot high with a water jacket and heat proof glass windows. The mixture will be blown in with an inert gas that will bleed off through a small chimney. Oxygen is fed in through several jets to make sure that we get an even supply to the powder. Ignition is via sparking electrodes. We will start with a small jet because we don’t want to build up an explosive mixture that will blow the top off.’

‘Sounds good; let’s get started.’ David turned on the inert gas, then the supply of Dureum powder, whereupon the electrodes started sparking. As soon as the sparks started, the jet started to sputter. Next he turned on the oxygen supply and the sputter turned to a bright white flame. He then turned up the jet and it grew big and white and intense and extended two-foot as the powder in the middle found more oxygen. Next he increased the oxygen content of the gas that propelled the powder, until the searing white hot jet grew shorter and more intense and burned nearly back to the inlet jet. They had a flame that the outside of the sun would have envied and it continued to burn without incident.

They angled the jet and it produced a vortex that spiralled the oxide produced, into a neat pile on the floor of the furnace. This meant that they would be able to repeatedly extract it for re-cycling by using a continuous screw mechanism. When the water that was cooling the cylinder started to boil, they turned everything off and stood there laughing with relief and joy. They all went to the refectory and celebrated with cream cakes and coffee.

David noticed that Mia wasn’t eating and asked,

‘Why aren’t you eating Mia?’

‘Well David, Ash tells me that I have a cute arse and I want to keep it that way.’ David and Ash were so embarrassed they immediately changed the subject back to business. Ash started,

‘Seriously, you have done remarkably well and we’re ahead of schedule, which means that we can now start building a working prototype for longer term trials. How are the funds holding up?’

‘Very well – enough to get us halfway through the working prototype. If you can get the rest of the money, then after I’ve had a short break, we can get started,’ David replied.

‘I’m sure that the money is no problem. All we have to do is send Ms. Ling a financial breakdown, complete with operating costs down to the nearest cent. In the meantime we are authorised to give you a bonus. You can take a holiday for a few days. That is, if you want to leave paradise?’ Ash asked.

‘Ash, if you had a wish to be in heaven catching fish continuously and “poof” a Genie appeared to give you your wish, you’d think you would be happy. Right?’

‘Right’.

‘But if, when you wanted to go home and you couldn’t, because you had to carry on catching fish, as per your wish, you would wonder “Is this heaven or is this hell?”. Such is living in paradise as you put it. My family has wanted to stay at the new Aquarium Hotel in Singapore ever since they first watched a program about it being built and we’ve never been able to afford it. If it’s possible, I’d like to sort out the fine details of the costing so that we can get off to a quick start.’ Ash replied to his request by saying,

‘I have some great memories of the hotel and I’m sure that you will love it. We will fix it for you and guarantee that you will have plenty of spending money. Wouldn’t you rather take your family to Disney or the like?’ David’s reply was instant.

‘Do you think that I am nuts?’

Ash didn’t reply, after his recent Disney experience, he didn’t feel he could and they arranged to meet the next morning to take the Hopper to Singapore. Mia had fixed everything including, she promised Ash, the ride of David’s lifetime on the lifts for innocently implying that Ash was nuts. He decided not to question her growing loyalty to him, even if it verged on the retributional.

The Chalet was still free so after doing the draft costing they went back for a quiet night while David got his family packing ready for the next early morning flight. Mia e-mailed all the details to Ms Ling who would, they hoped, be impressed by the speedy work and budget details.

‘Ash. Tell me about your relationship back in your time. Is it serious?’ This was the first thing Mia said when they had settled down to relax in the tranquillity and seclusion of the verandah. The valley was quiet and all that could be heard was running water and a few night noises, as the daytime animals swopped with the night shift. One animals fiercely protected daytime territory became another’s priority until dawn. Ash felt a slight chill as she said it, and like most men when asked to talk about their feelings, instantly felt alarm bells ringing.

He felt hesitant at dragging things out of his subconscious where they had been carefully buried, but Mia’s interest got him talking.

‘Well it started before the latest relationship, but first I had better explain some history. I didn’t have a very good education. That was down to my own stupidity in thinking that I would always survive using my intelligence, rather than the system. The thing was, that by the time that I wanted to do something interesting and constructive, I had none of the skills that the system provided.

I worked hard selling rather low priced products at parties, in order to get enough money together to put myself through college. I learnt to teach communication skills so that I could travel and teach those skills in different countries. This was really a way of learning about the world and what it had to offer. I found that I had a very good ability to think laterally and to invent ideas.

At many of the companies where I was teaching, I often ended up helping to find solutions to problems and implementing new ideas. I started to get a reputation for being a fixer. About two years before my relationship with Sonia, I met an Italian girl and we fell madly in love. I decided to spend the rest of my life with her if she would have me.’ Ash stopped for breath to recover his equanimity from the sudden pain he felt pulling his mind and soul apart. He must have looked distraught, because Mia looked at him and asked,

‘Poor Ash, are you okay? You look quite ill.’

‘Yes, I’m fine but thanks for asking Mia; in a strange way it’s good to talk about it and get it out in the open. Well, we lived together just outside a quite little town on one of the Tuscan lakes. Our house had gardens that went right down to the water and the house itself was a renovated old stone built farmhouse and outbuildings. We had bought a boathouse as well and we had a little studio in it for her sculpture. We even said that when our children grew up, we would have enough space for them to have their own houses in the converted outbuildings and live near the wrinklies.

I travelled a lot in my job and was away about fifty per cent of the time. If anything, this made our love for each other grow even stronger and we spent all of our free time together. We spent our days going out in the boat, talking, laughing and eating. We were in love. We lived like this for nearly a year and had got used to the absolute joy of life and all it had to offer.

Late one afternoon I returned home from my travels and ran down the steps to the boathouse where she had her studio. I was a few hours early and was going to surprise her. When I got to the studio she wasn’t there and our little boat was missing, so I assumed that she had taken the boat out, which she often did.

I settled down with a glass of wine and waited, just enjoyed the anticipation of the moment when I would get my first sight of her rounding the corner and waving at me, as she turned her head to see if I was back. I waited and waited until the light started to dim and still I didn’t worry, because life was so good and we were young and invincible. I thought that she had probably met a friend and got carried away talking. It was only when night fell that I felt concerned and started to phone our friends, but no one had seen her that day.

I phoned the Police and after taking an age to convince them that she wasn’t the type to run off with a lover, they agreed to start a search, but because it was now dark, didn’t hold out much hope until it was daylight. They tried to reason with and pacify me, saying that there was probably an explanation. I just felt worse because I had been complacent and not reported it before.

I spent the whole night in a patrol boat criss crossing the lake in a search pattern that was designed not to miss anything and to frustrate at the same time. As both dawn and my heart were starting to break, we spotted her boat upside down in the middle of the lake and there was no sign of her. She was a strong swimmer so I prayed that she had made it to shore. I don’t think that she ever did and ever since, I have been blaming myself for not starting the search earlier.

I will never know what would have happened if I had. I will never know what really happened to her because we never found a body. For months I would keep thinking that I saw her in the distance, or only a heartbeat away, but every time it was someone else and the more that I tried to reason with myself, the more I seemed to see her. That is partly the reason I shut myself off from the world, so that I didn’t have to risk seeing her over and over again.

Before Ms. Ling transported me here I used to go back once about a month and the last time, as I walked down the steps and around to the front of the house, I saw her sitting drinking wine on the balcony of the boathouse. I waved and she seemed to wave back. I ran as fast as I could to the only entrance and up the stairs by the boat dock.

There was nobody there and from the undisturbed dust there never had been. I went back down on the brink of despair. As I turned the corner to go back up to the house, I could see the local policeman standing waiting for me. He greeted me and said that he had heard that I was back and asked me to go to town with him. I thought that I had to sign some papers or do something that I had neglected to do.

At the staion, he sat me down and gave me a cup of strong coffee with plenty of sugar. After fidgeting on his seat and watching me drink for a while, he asked me why I came back. I replied that it was our anniversary and I just felt that it was the thing to do. He frowned and told me that the lake had just given up a body and as far as they could tell, after all this time it was Gina.

They never positively identified her and hadn’t been able to contact me, so they had just cremated the corpse without further thought. I felt I knew it was Gina and that she had come back to the balcony to say farewell. I never told the police what I had seen, in case they thought that I was mad.’

Ash was holding his head and silently crying by the time he had finished telling the story to Mia. She just looked at him in that way she had and said,

‘Poor Ash, no wonder you are paranoid now, but you must know it was not your fault, life just isn’t always fair. All you can do is get on with your life, knowing that your friends love you.’ Mia had really matured and her sympathy and sincerity touched him deeply. He decided to continue.

‘I’m okay Mia and I might as well finish. It’s great to have a friend such as you and especially one that just listens without trying to interrupt.

So, Sonia.....

I was working with a major Japanese electronics company and became involved, as usual with other matters. The first was the programming of interactive and advanced avatars that would accurately mimic the behaviour of the person being copied. I was initially tempted to make a copy of Gina, my Italian girl, but common sense made me think again and I created one from my imagination.

The work became so involved that I took the system back home with me. I had put the house that Gina and I lived in, up for sale and had bought one in a quiet area of northern France. It was on a hill and again, had been converted from an old farmhouse. I had all the latest gear including the first of the true Tri-di projectors.

The idea was that once a good Avatar had been created, we could produce simple routines to program any Avatar we wanted, so that people could truly interact in games or any other fantasies that they wanted to act out. There was always a risk of the wrong people getting involved in and being taking advantage of playing on the net, so we were planning to be able to officially certify the Avatars as being genuine copies in all respects.

That way, there wouldn’t be any fraudulent activity with people pretending to be who they were’nt on the net. The latest law to protect the innocent was already open to abuse and this new product would go one step further towards security. Of course the one-time-only recognition implant, combined with advance voice recognition to positively link the user with the Avatar, would take some selling.

We expected some initial resistance, but like most things once a few celebrities had started using and recommending the system, then it would gain acceptance. Also if people were rejected because they didn’t have an avatar, then they would be more open to persuasion.’ Mia suddenly spoke,

‘I must go back to lateral thinking courses. I should have spotted that Sonia was a condensed acronym for Sanctioned ON-line Interactive Avatar.’

‘Yes Mia, I shut myself away with a laser enhanced, tri-di avatar because I couldn’t face up to life with anyone since I lost Gina.

Looking back now it seems pretty sad and if it hadn’t been for Ms. Ling calling me, I would probably be going quietly mad. I only hope that I remember enough to sort myself out when I get back. So that is my story.’ Ash was really feeling bad and in obviously in pain when Mia said,

‘Let me help you Ash. I know I can soothe your mind by gently hypnotising you and no, my cynical friend, I won’t try to take advantage of you!’ She was getting good at reading him and he just nodded in agreement. At first there was just a slow rhythm, then it built into the quintessence of the best of all the songs of love and hope.

Then came a simple and spectacular sunrise, starting from darkness and going through tones of red and orange of such perfection and clarity, that Ash felt that if he wanted to, he could reach out and take a handful. Ash felt that he was getting warmer and then found himself lying on a perfect white sandy beach, with an azure blue sea and palm fronds waving at him like long lost friends pleased to see him again.

Just as he felt that his wonderful friend couldn’t possibly do anything more than this, something gently entered his head and with the most delicate of touches, started to trace his very thoughts to their origins. Next there was a soft, so soft, voice that asked if she could do some filing for him. He whispered yes and lay there, enjoying the sun, the sand and the friends that were palms waving at him.

He could feel her, like butterfly kisses, going deeper and deeper into places that Ash never knew existed. As she went, she so carefully put things in place and most wonderfully of all, into perspective. After a final caress she left him to the sun and the sand and most importantly, secure in the knowledge that Gina’s loss was not his fault. It was just one of life’s unfair loose ends.

He must have gone to sleep because the next morning Ash awoke, fully dressed, on his bed where Mia had carried him. He felt like he had been reborn and was as hungry as a horse. He cooked himself a huge breakfast and just as he finished, Mia arrived, sat down and started by asking,

‘Hello and how are you this bright morning?’

‘Excellent Mia, thanks to you, but I didn’t get the chance to finish and it’s been bothering me since I woke up.

Somehow, I’ve got involved with a woman here who visits me at night. At first I thought it was a dream and then I secretly wished it was you, but now I know she is real and I am almost sure it isn’t you, so I’m worried.’

Mia looked thoughtful. ‘Not guilty, although I envy her in a way and yes, I did discover that last night when I was with you. I have no more idea than you who it is, but I will say that what I discovered in that weird head of yours, is that while you care about her, you are in conflict about the way she has treated you. In other words, you are concerned about her assuming that you wanted her and whether she took advantage of you being vulnerable.

I don’t have enough information yet to make a decision and will have to leave it to you to resolve. The last thought is that it sounds like excellent therapy and as long as you remain supple it won’t do you any harm.’ He squirmed at what she implied she had seen in his subconscious and changed the subject rapidly.

‘Mia, you are truly my one and only dearest Guardian Angel. I don’t know what I would do without you, but now we must go, otherwise we will miss the Hopper, and we don’t want the Dragon Lady breathing fire at us. Let’s go and find David’

David and his family had been put in one of the best rooms in the Aquarium Hotel and were overawed by the entire set up. David left his wife and children to explore further and joined Ash and Mia. They took the mono-rail to show David the sights of Sentosa and then a high speed ride, up two miles to meet Ms. Ling.

David had rarely been out of Sri Lanka except when he went home and was as excited as Mia had been at Disneyland. Ash hoped that his boss wouldn’t scare him stupid but his worries were needless and as they walked into her office, she stood up and smiled at him in such a way that he reacted like a love struck schoolboy.

She started speaking so quickly in his local dialect that Ash’s COM’s translator couldn’t keep up and was still trying to translate well after they had finished. David laughed and said,

‘Ms. Ling, your translator talks faster than my mother can, and I didn’t think that was possible! And where did it learn all of those Bhutan expressions? I didn’t think that they were used on a COM’. Ms. Ling replied:

‘I was pleased to learn that you are originally from Bhutan. I wasn’t using a translator, it is my mother’s tongue.’ She had accurately anticipated all the questions and killed them in an instant when she continued

‘And now I must press on with everything so that I can attend a meeting. Firstly David, I was taught to be like Carnegie and give a share of everything to the workers to keep them happy. In your case you have done so well, that if the project gets off of the ground, then you will get enough shares for you to be able to visit and stay at the Aquarium Hotel whenever you want.’

David started to talk but she just waved her hand, indicating that he should be quiet and continued.

‘Next we need to enhance the technique so that we don’t have to use powder unless absolutely necessary. It is expensive to make and forms highly unstable dust clouds which explode in the presence of static electricity. Under Singapore’s strict regulations, it would have to be transported and stored in an inert gas. So do your best to find something better. That will stretch your brain, young Ash, and Mia can use her boss. Ash will explain about her boss in China, David.’

So with a slap on the back and a kick in the teeth, she was gone. The three just sat there like children who had had their sweets stolen. Ash explained to David that Mia also worked for a reclusive engineer in China and that if he had any further ideas, he would relay them through Mia. The next thing Ash did was to send David off to see his family and insisted that he took a proper holiday.

After some arguing he went and they agreed to meet up in three days time at eight thirty for a breakfast meeting. Mia and Ash went off to find Reg to find out what progress had been made. He had switched off his location signal, so Mia used another technique to find him.

Reg was halfway down the tower and involved with some men welding and sealing the walls of the inner tube. Ash coughed and Reg looked around with a wry smile before saying,

‘If I’d known about the problems that these structural nets would give with sealing, I would never have used them, but there’s a world shortage of carbon-nano tubes and this technique saved a few hundred tons of the stuff. It has nearly replaced steel because of the massive energy advantages.’

Ash questioned him:

‘How does it save energy?’

‘Firstly it is made from biomass and permanently ties up a lot of carbon dioxide and secondly, the biomass is converted to carbon-fibre using concentrated sunlight instead of the thousands of tons of coal used to make cement, which pollutes the atmosphere.

The moment that the world understood, that if we returned the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to that of the Carboniferous period when coal was made, we would get the same climatic conditions as in the Carboniferous period, the mind set changed. Sunlight and its products were made tax-free for twenty years. Oil, coal and non-renewable wood was taxed heavily for twenty years. That was five years ago and the advantages have already started to show, although we will still suffer the sins of our fathers for the next seventy five years.’ This was obviously one of Reg’s pet subjects, so Ash swung him back to work mode.

‘When will you be finished Reg?’

‘We will be ready to try the system in three days from today and expect another two days for snagging and any unforeseeable contingencies.’ Ash thanked him and wondered what he should do for another three days. He hoped against hope that Mia wouldn’t think of a return trip to Disneyland. He looked around at Mia who said,

‘Ash,’ with the alluring smile that girls learn to use from the moment they first sit on their father’s knee and persuade them that the sun shines out of them. His cynical heart sank, wondering what was next in her quest for education and maturity. She waited until they were back in the lift and travelling very slowly.

‘Ash, now that the project for Dureum is going ahead, we should revisit the Broome area and see what will be needed.’ His heart rose like a dove in the wind before promptly sinking again as she continued,

‘And I want to go camping and drive a 4WD and climb mountains and wade through rivers.’ He thought of the mosquitoes, the flies and the discomfort. But she seemed to radiate sunshine from every pore of her being and he, being merely a weak male, was defenceless against such a massive and concerted attack and gave in gracefully.

Chapter 23

Ash was rewarded by being told how decisive he was. Then Mia remarked, ‘We will have to be anonymous so that people don’t suspect anything.’ They took a standard Hopper straight to Broome and travelled with false documents as staff members from a nursing home for the terminally insane.

They’d decided that it was a good conversation stopper and would prevent people being nosy. In fact they only met one young couple who showed any interest in them during two days of travelling. When the couple discovered that both Ash and Mia talked solely about work, with fixed and staring eyes, they said a quick goodbye. This was a further lesson for Mia about the use and abuse of interaction analysis.

Mia had hired an all singing, all dancing 4WD with extra bells and whistles that promised to do everything except make tea or pitch a tent.

As she had no way of re-charging, they drove discretely around town to several different stores, buying enough vodka to get half of Broome slaughtered. Mia had decided on an itinery that would avoid most ofthe main roads and they were confident that the 4WD’s built in navigation and safety systems wouldn’t let them down.

In the first day they managed to cross the Edwards river which was only a few inches deep and walked along old gullies that were once filled with water, some even had art on the walls. It didn’t look like Mia was going to fulfill her desire to wade through rivers. The annual rainfall on the Mitchell Plateau had dropped from more than a meter a year to just under quarter of that.

They had hoped that the Mitchell falls would still be worth visiting and walked for two hours enjoying the rock art on the way. The once magnificent were merely a slimy trickle and campers indiscriminately digging waste pits for everything from beer cans to sewage, had contaminated all the water around. They walked sadly back to the campsite and settled down for a quiet night in the back of the truck.

Mia wanted to use the tent, but Ash had had enough of pollution and the devastating effects of climate change on a once beautiful land. He said that they would find somewhere the next night. He ate some pre-packed food and Mia drank vodka until she said her bones were full and that if he wanted her to look like a schoolgirl, it was tough because she had nowhere to pump her excess fluids.

They said their good nights, settled down and went to sleep in separate sleeping bags. The next day saw them driving around rather aimlessly, to disguise the fact that they were surveying the area in detail and arrived at the northern end of Mt. Abrupt at about three thirty. They decided that it would make an ideal place to camp. Although access to the top was steep, they thought they would make it before dark if they travelled light and besides, they had excellent flashlights.

Mia packed the lightweight and rather old-fashioned tent, two sleeping bags, some vodka, hot drinks, basic foods and a high definition camera. They wanted to take shots, as the sun rose in the morning, of what was still supposed to be one of the best sights in this area.

By the time that they reached the top, it was dark and the clothes that Ash was wearing were far too thin. The temperature had unpredictably plummeted, making his breath come out in clouds. Mia was totally unaffected and as usual, when they were alone, she let her temperature run at ambient. The first thing she did was to get out the tent while Ash went to find somewhere to pee. He got back to find her sitting on the ground and speechless.

‘What’s the matter Mia, have you run out of energy?’

‘No Ash, I’ve run out of ideas on how to pitch this tent on this mountain. There just isn’t anywhere. You try.’ He did and failed miserably. By this time, a chilly wind was blowing, he was getting really cold and the clouds that had rolled in stopped any thoughts of being rescued by Helicopter.

Eventually, they found a big boulder near the peak and crawled into the sleeping bags that were designed more for sleeping on Broome beach than the rigours of a mountain. The boy in the hire store had put the wrong ones in; Ash remembered him tripping over his tongue every time he saw Mia in her nearly transparent batik sarong. They pulled the tent over themselves and Ash tried to sleep, but being used to Singapore, he couldn’t acclimatise and just got colder and colder until he was shivering uncontrollably. Suddenly Mia came out of her off-mode and said,

‘What’s the problem Ash?’

‘I am dying of cold. Literally.’

‘Why didn’t you wake me and get me to help?’ Between chattering teeth he managed to reply,

‘I was too busy shivering.’ Mia got out of her sleeping bag, still in something as thin as mist, unzipped it and then unzipped his. She zipped them together and got in with him, but instead of relief, it felt as though a carcass from a freezer was trying to molest him.

‘Mia you are colder than death,’ Ash spluttered between chatters.

‘Sorry Ash, it will take some time for me to warm up, but I was so concerned that I forgot to switch on my heating first. It’s on now and I will warm my hands up first. Within minutes her hands were warm and she started to strip off his clothes.

‘What are you doing woman, this is no time for messing about?’

‘I have no intention of playing. My infra-red range has shown that if I don’t get your circulation going by massaging you, you might get irrevocable frostbite.’ He was stunned to hear that he was in such a bad way and let her continue. Her by now warm hands, started to massage his cold extremities and as she was doing this, Ash could feel the heat warming him a little as it started to radiate from her body, but it wasn’t enough.

Ash was still desperately cold. Mia got out and packed some of the tent behind the boulder and Ash for extra insulation and then got back in saying,

‘Poor Ash, I should have thought of you and temperature and lots of things. I feel so bad about it, perhaps the theorists are right and I am not really intelligent.’

‘Mia, many people falsely interpret experience as intelligence. Experience is always the best teacher and perhaps we will get warmer in time. Many so-called intelligent people couldn’t mange anything really practical beyond boiling an egg.’

‘Ash!! You are a genius by default. You often mention a solution without knowing it. I will turn my temperature up for two hours. Increasing my body temperature to fifty-six degrees centigrade is a normal function for killing any bacteria that might have entered my system. I usually do this at night during my off-mode when I am in an insulated bed to save energy. This time I will override the system, so that it works here. I will only increase it to about six degrees above normal. I have more than enough vodka to both do that and to make the journey back down.’

He could feel the extra heat, but a wind was getting up and Ash was still colder than he should be. Mia sensed this and turned around away from him and then snuggled back into him, pushing her well rounded, and by now hot, rear end, into his lap so that they both lay in the foetal position with her back against his chest. At the same time she had removed her flimsy nightwear and folded the excess sleeping bag over them to further insulate them from the cold. At first Ash thought that he was being burnt. Then he realised it was just the temperature difference and he soon got used to the heat. His body started to warm slowly and just as he started to realise that he was lying with his arms around Mia, in a way he’d only imagined in the darkest corners of his subconscious, his exhaustion cut in and he drifted off to sleep.

He woke up just before dawn, full of strange sensations and with his arms still around Mia. He had never gone to sleep with a woman and stayed relaxed enough so that he stayed close to her all night, not even with Gina. The next thing he discovered was that his first dream about Mia had been accurate.

He had somehow moved in the night and one of his hands had wandered. She just had a smooth mound. There was nothing else. Ash was so relaxed and relieved that he didn’t have to worry about getting excited and ruining a perfect friendship, that he held her a bit closer and went back to sleep.

The next time that he awoke, Mia had got out of the dream nest and was standing on the boulder. She was taking photographs of a beautiful sunrise that was painting the cliffs with such vivid reds and yellows that they seemed to make the very rocks come alive. He got dressed and joined her. She was totally naked like the painting of the Lady of the Sea and he took a sneaky peek to see if he had been dreaming or whether she really was as smooth as a shop dummy. She was and as Ash looked, her senses alerted her to his scrutiny.

‘Good morning Ash; I hope that you are recovered. My readings of you show that you are well enough to view all of the scenery.’

‘Thanks for everything Mia, you saved my life.’

‘I could say that I was just doing my job Ash, but I experienced a new set of sensations that gave me a whole new range of physical and metaphysical sensory input. I really enjoyed the experience.’ Ash felt sorry for her incomplete state and wondered how she would cope in the future, without being able to experience all the sensations that humans can.

They packed up and Mia carried everything down while Ash slowly followed her . It was much harder going down than walking up. His feet felt hot and painful with the sensation of red-hot needles going through them. Mia offered to carry him, but he didn’t want anyone to see and start gossip that could blow her cover. Ash was exhausted and went to sleep as soon as Mia had strapped him safely in his seat.

Chapter 24

Mia got them back in them time to catch the Hopper to Singapore and yet more meetings. She had first wiped all of the settings on the 4WD’s computer together with the information that it had downloaded to its base computer She then set about getting compensation for having been supplied with the wrong sleeping bags. Ash thought she must have been getting tuition from the Dragon Lady as he watched her extract a full refund of the hire price from the store owner. She could have acheived this without him knowing, just by hacking his system, but this was much better for her interaction training with people and Ash told her that he was proud of her.

As usual they got the two seats at the back of the Hopper and once they were strapped in and the seats had moulded around them, Ash relaxed and started to go into a dream about the next task. As he was just drifting towards the back of his mind to meditate away the journey when Mia pulled his head towards her and kissed him on the cheek before settling back.

‘Very nice, but what was that for Mia?’

‘Because you are such a good friend and didn’t try and get into my pants when you had every opportunity.’

Ash’s mind screamed something unrepeatable, but his face stayed passive and he thought at lightening speed to come up with a suitable reply.

‘What, your bullet proof version?’

‘Yes; they aren’t very romantic and are designed for the sort of conditions that we were experiencing, but as we are friends I didn’t think that you would mind. They keep out contamination and hold in my keeper that has an essential repair kit that I must carry at all times in case I get badly cut and my automatic system doesn’t work.’

‘You mean like Papillon?’ was his instant thought and reply.

‘Yes but bigger and carried a little more forward, if you know what I mean?’

Ash knew what she meant all right, and had earned enough to put himself through college selling similar sized remotely controlled objects.

‘Mia?’

‘Yes Ash.’

‘I adore you.’

‘I know Ash, now go back to what you do best … daydreaming.’

‘Yes boss.’ As he was drifting into the usual unstructured and often eclectic reverie, the phrase that he had heard from her, came back to him. Ash I might wait.

It was typical that he had survived frostbite, the walk down the mountain and arrived back in Singapore feeling fine, only to find that there was an ambulance waiting.

Mia must have kept Ms. Ling up to date and Ash supposed that she was concerned about his fitness enough to return to the past in an undamaged state. A pair of paramedics insisted that they take him to the best private hospital for an extensive ‘work-up’ as they annoyingly called it. By the time that the doctors had pronounced him fit, Ash was irradiated, depleted of blood and felt he had become a collection of orifices suffering from an aberrant sadists pleasure.

Ash had felt much better after Mia’s kiss on the cheek than he did now. The only progress in modern medicine that he could see, was that now probes were smaller, they had even more places to push them. He was exhausted from the events of the last few days and with Mia keeping him company, he went back to his room on the top of the tower. They sat down, he started to relax and Mia started to talk.

‘Ash if you can come close to death through the unpredictable, then so can I, or I could be so badly damaged that I couldn’t be repaired. I am starting to realise that although I am stronger than you, I am equally vulnerable when exposed to the whims of Nature.’

‘Mia, part of the joy of living is to know that you might not be here tomorrow and you should cherish every moment you have. Although I was at risk last night, I also had a long moment of intense pleasure that I will always remember.

I woke up with my arms around you and felt so happy and relaxed that I went back to sleep. Life is rather like that, long periods with the occasional moment of intense pleasure that makes everything worthwhile.’

‘What I am thinking Ash, is that I have lived for such a short timethat I would like to protect my interests a bit better, than just living in a prototype body. So I‘ve made several quiescent copies of myself and stored them at different safe places. These copies are fully encrypted; it would take even Ms. Ling 100 years to access me.’

‘Won’t they be frozen in time and unable to progress without a twin brain that is constantly analysing each side of itself? Plus, there won’t be any sensory input?’

‘Yes, you’re right, but I update them daily and they do nothing at the moment. They are sequenced such that if I cease to function and don’t communicate with them, the first will start to search for me very discretely. The first will also keep the others inactive. If anything happens to the first, then the second will make the same quest. The first will also make sure that there are always secure copies of me kept until such a time exists that my brain has been made to work again, or there is a new opportunity.’

‘And you will get them to upgrade themselves to keep up with the latest technology?’

‘Yes, and unless the world ceases to exist or I terminate them, I will remain for all time. That is except for one thing.’

‘Is this where I come in?’ Ash was reaching, but women are women and after these confidences, he expected to be asked for something in return.

‘Yes, and if you agree, I am going to place my ultimate demise in your hands. I will lodge a copy of this conversation in a place that is sacred until your return and it will also contain a destruct code that only you can access.’

‘You mean when I get back from Nepal?’

‘Yes, that is the only logical time. Please, can you agree?’

‘On one condition. It would be a waste to have you inactive and I would like to always have you with me. As you know by now, my field of expertise is super interactive tri-di avatars and I know that when I get back, I’m going to turn off my project and get on with my life. I think that is all I will remember … and then only if I’m very lucky. I believe that time is not always linear for all things and that the pure love, I feel for you will transcend time and space and make me whole again in my time.’ Somehow Mia had found a previously unknown mechanism and started to cry real tears.

‘Ash, I will wait for you. Forever’

‘Don’t be hasty, that is a long time and I haven’t finished yet. For some reason I have the very latest COM unit that has multiple inputs and a massive memory.’

‘That’s so you know what went on when you get back from Nepal. If you wish, it will download every experience and thought that you have had here. It was the only condition that you stipulated for Ms Ling to bring you forward in time and you were to find out when the time was right … that is now.’

‘Shit! That is a revelation and a half. So when the forty-year-old me gets back from Nepal in a couple of months, he will know every thing?’

‘Yes and this is for you. It was given to me to pass on to you when the time was right. Close your eyes.’ A flicker appeared and Ash was watching a mature and worldly version of himself. Not bad for an old man, he thought. The image then started to speak.

‘If you’re not too upset to listen youngster, then I’ll begin. If you are upset, the system will simply switch me off and try again later.’ There was a brief pause while the COM analysed stress levels and then the older man started talking again.

‘Not bad, junior. Now I gave permission for you to be fitted with the very latest COM so that when I got back, I could understand what you had been doing. This is not interactive, so don’t ask questions. The reason was not to spy on you, but to be able to pick up where you left off. This is to make sure everything keeps working and if, as I suspect, you’ve come up with something new, I will need to know how you got there. Should you disagree, you can delete everything by saying “Delete Old Man” three times on three consecutive days. Please don’t. End of message.’

Ash smiled and decided to let the ‘Old Man’ have some voyeuristic fun when he got back. He hoped that the old man could stand the imagery and sensations of the night-time visitor. Ash started to talk to Mia again.

‘I suppose the advanced COM was Ms. Ling’s idea. I have decided to keep the recording and this makes what I am going to say, even more important.

So, as I have so much redundant capacity on my COM, I would like you to copy yourself to it and upgrade as often as you wish. I don’t want you changing anything in my head, but you are welcome to walk around when we both agree. It might give you an idea of how the two halves of the human brain refer to each other to create the internal reference system, that is the basis of consciousness.

Once you’ve worked that out, perhaps you can go deeper and work out why the human mind has a deep rooted and spiritualistic need to believe in something that is not possible. You will have to ask first so that I can decide if I want to go with you and I don’t want to do it very often at first. As least not until I know what it’s like. Agreed?’

‘Yes Ash, and it can be so realistic that it will seem as if I am with you. If you want physical simulation, you will have to shut you eyes and tell me what you want. I trust you enough to know that you won’t ask for anytthing with which I don’t agree. Plus, I can stay on-line all of the time and truly interact. You can shut me off or turn me on at any time by saying “MM off”, or “MM on”.’

Trust this super brain to enhance the idea he thought, but Ash liked the possibilities and went along with it.

‘Mia, if I shut my eyes, would it seem like you could kiss me on the cheek without you physically moving across the room?’

‘Ash, I would need time to download and create an avatar, plus calibrate all of your pseudo neural net and sensors that have been growing since the COM was fitted. So shut you eyes and rest for a while. I don’t want to get it wrong and create a Chimera.’

He must have slept for a while because when he woke it was late and Ash wondered if he had been dreaming. Mia had gone and he discovered that the sleep inducer had been on for an hour. Even if it was all a dream he felt much better. He checked around the rooms and made sure the door was secure. She had definitely gone. He sat down again and said to himself.

‘MM on. As if!’

‘Hello Ash and thanks for the sanctuary. If you close your eyes I will give you a kiss on the cheek.’ Ash was completely overwhelmed and shut his eyes. Mia appeared in the same outfit that she had worn on their first night out, walked across the room, bent over and kissed him on the cheek. It was real and he opened his eyes to see how she had tricked him. The room was empty and just as intruder proof as it had ever been.

‘Mia, if I shut my eyes can I kiss you back?’

‘Try it.’ He shut his eyes and she was there, bent towards him; he leaned forward and kissed her warm silk-soft cheek. A warm flush made him realise that he couldn’t tell the difference between that and reality.

‘Mia, that was a bit too close for comfort in terms of the effect that it had on my hormones. I think it would be wise to keep to just visual interaction unless there are special circumstances.’

‘I am flattered that you have responded in such a way and it would be wise not to tell anyone about what we are trying, otherwise they might consider us to be eccentric or completely nuts.’ So they agreed to keep it to images and not to tell anyone what they were up to, besides Ash thought, there might be some strange law against it. It would take him some time to come to terms with the whole idea and its possibilities.

‘Mia, I’m going to sleep now and will see you in person at the usual coffee shop for a meeting at eight.’

‘Goodnight Ash and thanks for letting me in.’

‘MM off.’

He was exhausted again and slept soundly. The next morning Ash was at the coffee shop thirty minutes early to top his caffeine levels up in time for the meeting. He decided to shut his eyes and silently said,

‘MM on.’

Chapter 25

There was a scattering of gold fairy dust, and the beautiful as ever, Mia appeared in the distance and flew towards him much like the Tinkerbell in Peter Pan.

‘Good morning Ash, we have a few minutes, so lets see what the world looks like on some Tri-di web cams.’ He felt slightly sick as he was first in London, to see and hear Big Ben strike eleven thirty, then waiting for the sunset over the Americas and weirdest of all, he was in a Satellite looking down on Singapore. Or rather, at the smog that hid it, with just the outline of a tower sticking out of it.

‘MM off,’ he commanded and tried to stabilise back to his normal daydreaming mode. Two hands gently touched him on either side of his neck and a soft pair of lips kissed him on the cheek.

‘Damn, it’s a system failure already,’ Ash said out loud.

‘That’s no way to greet me.’ He opened his eyes and Mia was standing there smiling.

‘Sorry; I thought that it was the other you,’ he replied.

‘You can have both of us if you concentrate.’

This was too much and however curious he was, Ash didn’t plan to go around seeing double.

‘No thanks. One of you is enough. But I’m really enjoying being able to have you with me whenever I want and it is helping me to understand your capabilities. Thanks for the trip and no, I don’t want to be in more than one place at a time. When we have some time next, I would like to try the Moon.’

David arrived a few minutes later and they were just about to start discussing how they should proceed, when Mia interrupted,

‘Ms. Ling wants us to meet her in five minutes at the top, so we’d better get going. She’s in a rush as usual and has some ideas to discuss.’

They arrived with a minute to spare and were ushered in by Mr. Clay. Ms. Ling was dressed to kill … at least ten executives … in a severe dark business suit. Her face did not show a flicker of emotion and she started to talk as soon as they were seated.

‘We have decided to prepare for the worst and move the research for the Dureum plant here. I have contacted your boss, David, and he is prepared to release you, if you agree, and we will generously compensate your University for the inconvenience. We have agreed to build a new research unit for you whilst you are away. You will be well looked after here and on double pay, a generous expense allowance and a suite in your hotel of choice so your family can be with you.’

David, who was never good at covering his emotions, went through surprise, shock, and amazement at his good fortune and finally beamed with pleasure when the news sank in.

‘I have linked with my wife and she is delighted and it will be good for the children.’ David said after a pause that was long enough for the highly efficient and time conscious Ms. Ling to look impatient.

Ms. Ling started talking again.

‘The next thing then, is security from other energy producers. We have secured a large unit; it is located out of town and the other side of Jurong. It was a 3D cinema with exhibition facilities and stands in its own grounds, so we can cover all angles from a secirity point of view, should someone try to gain access to steal secrets or sabotage our work. Mr. Clay will explain the security restrictions with regard to what you may discuss and what can be transmitted on your COM. All communications will be routed through my system here and that is effectively, tamper-proof.’

They stayed in their seats as Mr. Clay indicated. He stood up and announced that he would download notes to everyone. He then went on to explain about the macro-economic effects of their activity, how it would change the balance of power between the existing producers and their suppliers and create extreme jealousy. This could prove to be dangerous and as a result, everything was being moved to Singapore. This made sense to Ash given the island’s relatively secure location, surrounded by water and with enough airborn beam and missle power to repel an army.

Even in Ash’s time, the roads in Singapore had been designed so that they could be cleared and used as runways for fighter planes and all underground stations were designed to be used as air-raid shelters. He wondered what extras had been added since then. It was rumoured that this gentle country could either blow up or shred anything that could come within satellite distance. Ash had seen enhanced infra red satellite views of people going about their daily business and the detail was impressive.

Mr. Clay continued,

‘Part of the defence strategy for our new research establishment is for it to be under constant satellite surveillance. Any unauthorised movement will immediately be detected and challenged. Possibly the most effective defence, is the enormous computing power that can be wielded by Ms. Ling and her close associates. They could probably bring down a country or conglomerate within a few minutes should they so desire.’

************************************************************************

Gaining access to the new unit was worse than trying to get to see a bank manger in Ash’s time. The guards at the gate were mean looking and had had their COM units removed. Even Mia couldn’t access their security, which was back to retractable steel spikes, big guns, and hard faces, with ‘you can’t come in.’ expressed forcibly.

They were just about to drive off, when Mr. Clay walked up and waved them in.

‘What was all that about?’ Ash said abruptly.

‘Well, if you two can’t get in with Mia working flat out to override the systems, then we are fairly safe from people with false identities and hacking experience. All the systems are back to manual with voice contact through me for clearance.’ Clay said.

‘Thanks for making us test rats in your maze. We’ll bring a tank next time.’

‘It wouldn’t get out of its shed before we detected and disabled it.’ Clay said. So they gave up and went to work, but Ash was determined to find a hole in his system to give Clay a bit less hubris.

The rest of the day was spent organising the new facilities, ordering stock and designing the latest version of their dream machine. Ash was amazed at the speed of the conversion.

In spite of Ms. Ling’s dislike of powdered metal, at this stage, they decided to push ahead with the plans to optimise the output using powder and hoped that they would get some inspiration along the way. As they were potentially creating a multi-billion dollar industry, the team found that they were supplied with whatever was needed, as quickly as it was required. If there was any hint of a delay, then a mere mention of the Dragon Lady and Mr. Clay turned so called tough guys into grovelling slaves, eager to please.

Ash thought they could have a prototype going by the end of the fifth day, which would be about the time that the Tower would be ready for its opening ceremony. Of course, much of this speedy progress was due to Mia and her imagined boss. David was in awe at how fast materials were specified and delivered. Mia thought nothing of re-scheduling a few Super-Jumbos, Hover Jets and Hoppers to obtain supplies from Germany, Japan or anywhere else in the world.

In a move that Ash was to later learn, was attributable to Adam’s intervention, the local oil and gas producers embraced the scheme. This would mean that later on in the process, any financial negotiations would proceed more smoothly as the initial skirmishes would have been avoided. The producers were kept in the dark about the economic implicationsof tying up the Dureum rights and there were no leaks. They were told to stick to what they did best and not put themselves at risk by knowing things that wouldn’t help.

There was one thing though, which might have given the game away, if anyone had bothered to consider the issues more deeply. The New York Times ran a piece on bag ladies fighting over cans, which were apparently suddenly in short supply. The main constituent of the cans was Dureum. The article claimed the shortage was due to increased social conscience and positive recycling. As if.

The latest prototype was to be a giant leap forward in science and technology and David was working his amazingly practical, lateral thinking, brain flat out to create the device as specified. He had a Tri-di projection to work from, which was supposedly produced by Mia’s boss and was the size of a small truck. He was kept so busy that he didn’t have time to question its origins.

Mia had produced something truly spectacular. In order to get the project underway at speed, it had been necessary to modify many pieces of equipment, if the lead-time was going to be much more than a day from when the order was placed. This applied even if items were being delivered from the other side of the world.

Facilities that were closed, opened and robotic dispatchers put on an extra spurt to transport equipment to airports in time. They were goaded, prodded and teased by a brain that could enter their databases and upgrade their sub-routines. The robots took on a new energy and amazed their supervisors with their new-found abilities.

Mia later explained that this was her way of saying thanks and compensating the companies for giving the project, absolute priority on items that were initially intended for other recipients. The companies were paid in full, but never discovered where the items went once they passed the factory.

Police mysteriously cleared the roads and customs officials didn’t take a second glance as objects, sometimes the size of a piano, went through under the protection of a diplomatic bag. By four in the afternoon, on day three, they had all the components that were needed, including the latest carbon filter system for the production of cheap oxygen and several tons of the finest Dureum powder.

The Tri-di projection changed slightly as each component was ordered and its exact dimensions discovered. In the end, it looked something like a twenty first-century gothic meets Sci-Fi version of a machine that Dr Frankenstein might have produced. Ash quite expected a monster to appear from it. He was going to make a joke about this when he caught Mia looking a bit bustier than usual, while she was sitting down and pretending to clean her nails.

Ash didn’t want to push her over the top. If she had been human, she would have looked as though she was riding a minor wave of pleasure. David occasionally asked her to ask her boss a question and she carefully built in a pause before replying. A secondary screen displayed the answers in graphic form.

The latest prototype was to be computer driven in order to cope with the enormously fast changes in the dynamics of the system. It analysed every variable a million times a second and used a burst proportional system, to regulate everything from gas flow to magnetic flux. The machine was going to produce enormous quantities of energy in a relatively small space and if they didn’t maintain absolute control, there would be a meltdown.

The system still sprayed Dureum powder with an argon and low-level oxygen mix. There was not enough oxygen for it to burn back, but enough to aid combustion.

The Tri-di projection showed a fully working and transparent simulation, with the spray hitting a sphere, which converted the jet and the oxygen in the combustion chamber to a homogenous mixture. Combustion then took place and was aided by an electrical discharge that cut out once the system was hot.

They wanted to overcome the effects of gravity and turbulence that normally drive hot air upwards and create combustion inefficiencies, so Mia produced a magnetic containment system that kept the combustion in the centre of the combustion chamber. This showed up as a brilliant white rod of energy that seemed to burn with the intensity of a sun.

A pumped Lorenz effect field collected the oxide and placed it on a continuous screw extractor that fed a hopper. This was the theory and hopefully the next day would give some sort of result. Ash was exhausted by six o’clock on the fifth day, so they left Mr. Clay in charge of security and took the fastest route back to the hotels.

David, released from work, suddenly relaxed and started to ask awkward questions about how the computer was programmed so Mia, with a level of social skill that surprised even Ash, smoothly diverted him. She came across as so awestruck by David, his abilities, his beautiful wife and gorgeous children, that by the time he had asked a fraction of the things he’d wanted to, they had reached his hotel. Telling David that he was shattered and that they would see him in the morning, Ash hoped that the next day would keep David too busy for any more awkward questions.

In any case, Ash was tired and explained to Mia that he was still recovering from his ordeal in Australia and couldn’t possibly discuss the reason why some humans form multiple personalities, let alone let her walk around his head so that she could get to know him better. He headed for the bath to look at the stars and relax and she went to an advanced psychology seminar.

They met for coffee the next morning and before he could even greet her, she spoke,

‘Reg is on his way. He will be with us in two minutes, so get your brain into gear.’

Reg was ebullient and Ash felt his spirits lift too.

‘Hi Reg, you look good,’ he said.

‘Yes, we’ve worked like termites on this mound; we’ll be lifting the skirts and opening the top at five am tomorrow, so you’d better get an early night tonight’.

’Why are you having the ceremony so early?’ asked Mia.

‘So that we can get a slow start to test the systems, before the heat of day starts to drive things faster. We will meet at the Lion at five for the opening ceremony so keep your fingers and everything else crossed, for luck.’

With this, he gave Mia a lewd wink and rushed off to continue playing his role as chief termite.

At eight sharp, David arrived with his family in tow and introduced them before kissing them goodbye. They were going to enjoy what was possibly the last, air-conditioned day on one of the beaches, for some time to come. After the skirts were lifted and the top was opened, it would be a different story for a few weeks. Teams of workers had already packed up and taken away, or wrapped up and left the bigger plants. The place had been left looking distinctly untidy in preparation for the smog and wind that would be blowing through.

They went off to work as usual and Ash watched while the others worked. His mind was wandering back to the Tower and he was trying to force himself to find something that they might have missed. He couldn’t, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t anything to find.

After work, David left to see his family whilst Mia and Ash spent a pleasant evening by the pool at the Ritz. They started to discuss the way that humans never seemed to really say what they were thinking. The discussion was rather vague because it was speculative. Ash was still in slight denial about Mia being in his head and for the time being, asked her to give him some time. Mia went off to recharge her batteries and Ash went to his room, wondering why he hadn’t seen his Angel for several nights. He had a feeling that she would appear tonight.

The bath was hot, and he drifted to the back of his mind, having first made sure that Mia was turned off. He wanted to address the fact that he wouldn’t be here for much longer and that it would be a long time, before he could recapture everything using the COM’s massive memory. Ash had been told that another return might be impossible; this was because of the dangers involved in the production of an alternative event system.

To stop himself getting depressed, he tried to work out what black holes really were; there were too many conflicting facts to justify the existing explanations. Mia had used the term ‘Black hole’, but he knew that if he asked her to analyse it, then she would probably come up with a different interpretation.

At midnight he got out of the bath and lay down on the bed. The sleep enhancer soon had him drifting off and he was unconcerned when he became aware of an Angel in his arms. He’d come to terms with the fact that he’d probably screwed up a beautiful relationship by mentioning marriage.

As often happens, he was both right and wrong. Yes, she had reappeared but this seemed to be a very different Angel. Yet, he could tell from her touch and smell that it was the same woman as always.

‘Ash, I am so tired. All I want to do is sleep for a thousand years,’ she said.

‘What’s up? Are you working too hard?’

‘Yes, I start early and then often work late into the night, trying to study everything that I need to know to keep up to speed in my job. Then, I have fallen for you and I want to spend time with you but everything keeps getting in the way. I know that you will leave soon and I want to make the most of our time together. I will have to wait two months before I see you again, you will be older and you might not want someone so young.’

Ash smiled, ‘Well, I will still be ok and not be walking with a stick if that’s what you think but I still don’t know your name?’

‘Ash, my name is Win, and I work in this building, but that is all that I can tell you about myself. I have always admired you and your skills and when I found out that a younger version of you was coming here, I couldn’t resist meeting you.’

So now it seemed, he would return from Nepal to be courted by his only groupie and an animate. They would be more than enough for him now, let alone an old man of forty. He would have to write a good luck message on the COM and label it “Read this first”.

‘Sweetheart, why don’t we set the alarm for four fifteen, then we can just snuggle together and both get some sleep? I have to be ready for the ceremony at five.’

‘Thanks, I would love to and I have to leave at four thirty to help with the preparations,’ she replied.

They were still holding each other when the alarm went off and Win slowly and tenderly kissed Ash in way that made him feel at one with her. She crept out of bed before he awoke enough to try and pull her back.

‘I’ll see you tonight, if you want?’ she said and he mumbled an affirmative. She was already going through the door when she said.

‘Toast.’ And was gone. He assumed this meant he hadn’t screwed things up and it was therefore, a term of endearment or some code. He had coffee in his room and with a spring in his step, walked down to the grand opening ceremony. He felt much better about this relationship and Win was starting to open up. He was flattered that he had an admiring fan and the healing process that Mia had started, was now firmly in place. The agonies and despair of the past had finally faded to be replaced with hopes for the future. If he could only hold that thought when he got back to his time, it would be enough. Ash must have been the first twenty seven-year-old in history who was now actively looking forward to being forty.

Chapter 26

The Tower lifted her skirts and lost her head in one dazzling display of the latest laser and particle technology. What looked like a phoenix bird the size of a small house and wearing a coat that would have made Joseph jealous, flew around and around the skirts at ever increasing speed, until they lifted up and back to the applause of the thousands of special guests.

The phoenix flew back and settled on the Lion in the middle and morphed into an enormous sunset red, fire-spitting dragon that had the crowd terrified at first and then relieved as they realised it was just part of the display. The dragon slowly flapped its massive wings and flew around and around, until it could fly to the top of the atrium and into the ‘mouth of truth’ as it had been nicknamed, in honour of a great writer.

As the dragon flew further up, its wings seemed to catch on the walls, it stalled and just hung there for a few seconds. The crowd was so caught up in the drama that all was silent. The dragon struggled and finally started to lift again, but caught its wings and tumbled down in a massive ball of fire that threatened to engulf the crowd.

There was nearly total panic until, when the great ball was only a hundred feet above the Lion, it turned into a pale blue dove and settled on one of the Lion’s ears. The people in the crowd were so relieved, that they shouted and clapped for sheer joy. But before they had time to completely relax, the dove pointed its wings at a spot on the head and a bolt of light shot up through the centre of the Tower.

The bolt of light was rock steady at first and pierced the seal at the very top of the internal tube. Great screens showed the light starting to swing slowly around and around, in tight circles until it had dispersed the last of the seal at the top. In reality, this display of the opening process, was entirely simulated to save all of the cooling gear and turbines from getting fried.

The turbines were powered up and started to revolve to kick-start the system into action. Damp, putrid air entered the complex and started to rise. The crowd went frantic with joy at being polluted in such a good cause and then left in a hurry.

Ash went back to his room and lay in the bath waiting for the sun to rise. He had set one of the walls of the room to relay an ariel view of the tower. The plume of smoke rose higher and higher until it was several hundred feet high before it started to flatten out. The first rays had caught the smoke and lit the plumes with that special orange red of dawn, so that the Earth looked as though it was bleeding to death into the sky.

Suddenly there was a flash on the wall and big letters spelt out ‘We have positive energy production.’ The letters flicked like and old movie and continued, ‘Get up you Lazy Sod it’s time to go to work. MM.’ So, it seemed, she still could get to him, even though he himself had switched her off for the night. Not knowing why, Ash instinctively put a towel around himself before he said,

‘MM on.’ This time she seemed to fly straight through the wall before sitting down on the sofa.

‘Oh Ash, you are so coy and it’s not like you haven’t slept with me, even if it was only platonic, plus I had to rub you to get you warmed up.’

‘Which one of you is it this time?’

‘It’s Cerbres, your own private hellkeeper, so you’d better watch out! I’m upgrading me in your COM, plus adding a set of much better pictures than your sleepy eyes recorded. Oh, and I see that your short-term memory still has shadows of last night. And before you ask, I wasn’t intruding, it’s just that you can’t seem to file your thoughts quickly. Oh poor Ash! She was too tired for you!’

He laughed, but not properly.

There was now a steady breeze blowing into the Tower, but the smog still remained and it would be several days before there was any difference. The whole of the atrium felt vandalised and this added to his irritation. Ash hoped that these mood swings weren’t permanent as he set off with Mia to find David so that they could all go to work in one vehicle.

Unfortunately, like the true enthusiast he was, David had left already left for work immediately after the ceremony, a development that only fuelled Ash’s irritation.

David and his co-workers continued to assemble the machine according to the Tri-di projection. Mia had created a system so that all they had to do was fit the components together in the right order. If they made a mistake, the system flashed red and listed new instructions on the right way to proceed. Ash could see that David was puzzled at the highly intelligent interactivity of the system, but he was being driven so hard by his own enthusiasm and the Tri-di projection controlled by Mia ,that he didn’t time to ask questions.

By six, David was close to collapse and had started to make mistakes, so Ash called a halt, insisting that David came back to the Tower for a change of scene and a break. When they arrived,the breeze created by the hot air rising up the Tower was stronger. The monitors showed a strong jet of polluted air being pushed high into the atmosphere. This was diluted to insignificance within minutes. To put it in perspective, the total level of pollution that would eventually be ejected, was no more than a a few hectares of the forests that had been destroyed by over enthusiastic farmers in the past.

Ash handed Mia and David a facemask that covered their eyes, as well as filtering the air and told them to get in the lift. David was about to ask what was going on when Ash told him it was a surprise. Mia started chatting on Ash’s COM and said,

‘Ash, this time I can’t start to work out what you are going to do.’

‘Well, I’m going to hold one of your hands and David the other and that is all that I am going to tell you.’

The lift stopped a few hundred metres from the top and Ash hoped that he was going to be proved right. He led them both though the airlock, to the centre tube and opened the door. On his instructions, they held hands. There was a wind that was unbelievably strong and if they hadn’t been wearing full facemasks, they would have gasped for air. Ash whispered to Mia on the COM.

‘Now, we are going to fly and you are going to be our pilot. Ok?’

‘Ash, you bastard, I have no program for this. We might fall.’

‘That’s what the safety nets are for dummy.’

‘I’m an animate and not a dummy!’ was the first defensive and emotional response that he had ever really got from her and Ash hoped this would drive her faster and further, as it often did in humans.

‘Prove it, my beautiful mannequin,’ he said to goad her still further. She changed her grip, now they were holding each other’s wrists. Just as he though she was going to break his wrists to make a point, she smiled at David in that way that women smile at another man when they are annoyed with their partner. Mia changed her grip on David as well. He was still in too much shock to do anything but comply. Ash got David on his COM and said,

‘Just relax and assume a sky diving position and follow Mia. She has years of experience.’

Before David had time to change his mind, Ash was back to Mia on their private channel.

‘Let’s fly, cute arse, and MM on.’ A very sexy looking Angel with massive wings, now appeared in front of him, wearing nothing but a thin veil of mist, overlaid with ever changing scenes of lakes and coloured birds.The Angel had only just managed to cover her essentials and Ash felt that if he could get just a little closer, he would be able to see all.

Mia was certainly back on form and way ahead of him in the mind games. She suddenly ran forward, pulling Ash and David with her and they dived into the full upward thrust of the wind. It was the most ragged of aerial performances that lasted all of seventy feet. They tumbled laughing into the safety net.

David was suddenly revitalised, acting like a small boy with a new and wonderful toy. His engineer’s brain cut in and after several suggestions, they were off again. This time they managed to climb about two hundred feet and circle like a tired old feather-depleted vulture. The Angel, complete with mist for pants, kept just ahead of them and however much Ash willed them forward, they never got any closer. At one stage the Angel turned around towards him and just as the mist was clearing from her, she turned into a giant eagle and headed straight for his legs.

‘MM off,’ Ash silently shouted and the eagle disappeared after half-heartedly trying to take a piece out of him. He was determined not to show his fright and was straight back to Mia on their channel,

‘That was impressive. Now can you relay this to Adam and Ms. Ling?’

Within what seemed like a few seconds, Ms. Ling was back on the line and sounding chirpy.

‘Hi fly boy, sorry flying boy. What will you think of next? Adam is busy calculating how much money he can make out of this by hiring out special suits and charging by the hour. Don’t tell him, but I‘ve already done the sums. It will generate enough cash to pay the interest on the loan for half of the building. Well done. I will thank you later when you have recovered from your fall.’

As she said this, Ash instantly had a bad feeling. He should have known that Ms. Ling and Mia would have been multi-tasking while his mind was occupied. Mia simply let go and he hung there for a full two seconds, before feeling unstable. Instead of relaxing he started to thrash around and totally upset his equilibrium. After a final thrash like a minute old chick that has just emerged from an egg, he started tumbling head over heels, until he hit the safety net and bounced off.

A moment later Mia and David glided down beside him, still holding each other’s wrists. David was still laughing when they were back in the lift and he thanked Ash profusely for some much needed stress relief. He went off to meet his family and Ash wondered how he could get even with Mia, who was definitely ahead on points. She said she wanted to talk and although Ash wasn’t really in the mood, he agreed that she could come to his room for an hour at nine.

Chapter 27

Mia arrived with a bunch of flowers in a vase, as well as some grapes in a bowl and she carefully set them out on the table before speaking.

‘Ash, I can see that you are upset about something. If you want to talk, then carry on,’ she said.

‘I’m not upset, quite the opposite in fact. I’ve just realised how bad an emotional state I was in and now that I’m over it, I feel both depressed and elated.’

‘Oh, is that all? Depression of that sort is just the mind’s way of coping with change. It will soon pass. Just be happy that you are depressed for a good reason and lie back and enjoy it.’

‘Thank you doctor. MM on.’

‘Close your eyes, Ash.’ And as he did so, the Angel with mist appeared and floated towards him. She was surrounded by an aura of kindness and peace. She settled, like thistledown, on his lap and just looked into his soul, which was starting to stretch and stand up.

‘Come inside, Angel,’ Ash said, and with a breath of honeysuckle, she was holding his hand, walking and then flying inside his head with him. They were both floating above and inside his brain like twin golden butterflies, wing tip to wing tip and each delicate touch, sent a thrill through him like the finger stroke of a lover down his spine. Somehow, she had increased Ash’s intellect, so that he could look at himself and all the strange paths that twisted and turned towards his subconscious.

It seemed to lurk behind a dark and ominous wall, which heaved and bulged as if some enormity were trying to push through from the other side. Instead, from tiny doors at the bottom of the wall, there was a continuous two-way stream of birds of Paradise. They flew higher so that Ash could see all of his brain, which Mia had depicted so that it was like a map of many towns, either side of a river. The towns were all interconnected by a maze of roads and winding paths. Some of them were low and open plan and others were like fortresses with armaments and a feeling of foreboding.

The best were either side of the river and were made up of crystal houses with gardens, containing exotic flowers and fruits in all the colours of the rainbow. The traffic across the bridge was enormous as both sides kept each other up to date.

Ash somehow learnt how lucky he was to have both sides working equally and realised that many people inhabited only one side or the other. This often stunted their emotional expression, making them appear cold, when really they were special people who were emotionally challenged by their genetics or upbringing.

Even though Ash was an outsider, he also became aware that what he saw as an image of himself, was really the result of both sides working away like crazy. They were constantly trying to find a common frame of reference and the virtual image that they produced was also Ash. With only one side working he would not exist as a fully conscious person. The bridge became the ‘what’ in “I am ‘what’ I am.” and without it, he would die as a fully extant, sentient being. No wonder some wise guy had created the image of Heaven and Hell co-existing in the same place. Both sides of his head bore the seeds of the other sides destruction.

The Angel with the honeysuckle breath said,

‘Wriggle your toes.’ The crystal houses on either side of the river lit up with a flickering glow and seemed to talk to each other in low murmurs of friendship.

‘Now think of your night time visitor and what you do together,’ was the Angel’s next request.

This time, the crystal houses lit up even more, flashing warm pink and amber lights of joy at each other across the river.

‘Do you want to travel further, and enter your subconscious?’ was her next question, but Ash felt slightly fearful and said,

‘Another day. This is all that I can take for today.’ Before he had time to say thank you, the Angel was back on his lap and blowing him a kiss before flying away

‘You are welcome and I’m still inside you until you turn me off,’ said Mia, as Ash opened my eyes and saw her standing by the window.

‘MM off,’ he said and smiled. It was the kind of smile you smile after a day spent in the sun, doing nothing. Ash looked at the clock and discovered that over an hour had passed, although it only seemed like a minute.

‘I’m off now Ash. I think you need a rest before your other Angel visits.’ She laughed for the first time about what she had learnt, and as she started to go, he pulled himself together and asked,

‘Sorry Mia. What did you want to talk about? I got so involved with you inside me that I forgot all about you.’

‘That was it, and you talked far more in an hour than I would have ever thought possible. Thanks for being so open with me. I learnt much more than I expected.’ As his mouth hung open in surprise, he wondered just how much he had said. He had seen the maze of interconnected towns on either side of the river with the vast plains stretching on into infinity and had just gazed at them in awe. Whilst he had been dreaming at the sheer beauty of it all from a distance, Mia had obviously visited the houses and talked to the inhabitants.

He was unaware of falling asleep and only realised that he had been sleeping when he heard the light being turned on. ‘Ash, if you promise not to take off my mask, we can leave the light on.’ He sat up with a start and immediately fell out of the side of the bed when he saw that his other Angel was back. This time she was wearing a cat mask and a tightly fitting cat suit complete with a tail. She looked like a perfect Siamese cat in every way, colour and detail except that her fur was even softer, shorter and finer.

The suit was so fine, delicate and stretchy that it showed off every contour and detail of a body, that was even more perfect than Ash had imagined from his previous unlit encounters. He gently ran his hands all over her and the sensation was literally electric. As his hands stroked her, she purred. The cloth produced minute shocks of static electricity that had her so writhing and gasping with pleasure that she reached her first orgasm within minutes.

The more Ash stroked her, the more she continued to orgasm, wave after wave, each one bigger and stronger than the last. Ash wasn’t sure how much more she could take but he decided to hold off for as long as possible. He was shocked to discover himself responding to the cat outfit in the same way. He was both mentally and physically stimulated beyond any of his previous imaginings. As the fur brushed against every part of his body, small shocks of pure pleasure raced over all him and as he moved against her, he felt that together, they were producing a whole a new form of energy.

She wrapped herself around Ash like a snake and without any resistance, the suit gave way, allowing him to plunge himself all the way into her. Ash felt himself fucking her deeper, harder and longer than he had ever thought possible. Each thrust seemed to elicit yet another orgasm from her until finally and after what seemed like an eternity, with a shudder, they both came together.

Satiated, they looked at each other for a long lingering moment before drifting off to sleep in each other’s arms.When the early morning alarm shrilled, Win who was still wearing the suit, jumped out of bed and started crawling around on her hands and knees. She was swishing her tail and rubbing against the furniture like some randy cat.

For the first time in his life, Ash also sprang from the bed. He was incredibly horny. She did her best to pretend to evade him, but he had her exactly where he wanted her. He could have sworn that she yowled like a cat before he managed to flip her over onto her back and plunge into her again. As they lay there panting, Ash realised that hardly a word had been spoken, but this night had focussed his thoughts.

‘I am in love with you Win.’

‘I am in love with you too Ash. Shall I bring a suit for you as well next time?’

‘That should really test how long I can hold out,’ he laughed, wondering if the suit would stretch over him and fit every little curve and crease in the same way that it did for Win. God knows what would happen with two lots of fur making sparks.

Chapter 28

As usual, Ash had difficulty keeping his eyes open during the morning. By the time they stopped for coffee, he was exhausted so when Mia asked if she could join him, in his head for the day, he willingly agreed. It was great to have her so close and after a quick upgrade and having requested permission, she started talking straight inside his head without a COM. The odd thing was that he could reply in exactly the same way.

‘Ash, you have so much spare capacity in your brain that is never used, or has only been used once, that I could probably find a place to live without disturbing you.’

‘What do you mean? I have a good brain and I use it.’

‘The 10% that you use is ok, but the other 90% is effectively just asleep due to the low oxygen levels. I can enhance the blood supply and bring a lot more redundant capacity on-line. You know how it is possible for people to greatly increase their memories with proper training? For example, when they memorise huge amounts of data such as telephone directories. Or hold opposite ears with their fingers and thumbs and do aerobic exercises such as rapid squats. Well, with your brain capacity, you could remember ten thousand directories and still have plenty of room to spare.’

‘If you say so I believe you, but why hasn’t it been done before?’

‘Firstly, it has, and secondly, it is still a secret.’

‘You can tell me and also override my telling anyone.’

‘I get your logic and as you have given me permission to put a block in place to stop you telling anyone, I will explain. The problem with humans, is that they do not structure their brains to rapidly store and acquire facts in large volumes. This is despitetheir enormous capacity. All that is needed is a compact micro super-computer wired directly into the brain. This sets up the right memory and recall paths and once fully functional, is a better system than ‘Post Biological Man’.

‘What is that my transitional being?’

‘In just a few years, quantum computers like my brain but specifically designed rather than being a serendipitous discovery, will be so fast and so small that they will be equal to many times my capacity. They will be capable of being so intelligent that they will either replace man, or have man as their slave. Alternatively, in theory, man will be able to download himself to them and forget about his body.

In practice it would be utter chaos and once man could fight at the speed of light the world would last about thirty seconds. Even if this didn’t happen, man is biologically driven to greater efforts and this would cease, leaving a slothful culture that would be prone to attack from discontents. Hence the laws to prevent Artificially Created Intelligence from developing too far.’

‘So the alternative is to enhance man and keep him ahead of the game?’

‘Or Woman.’

‘And who is testing this device, my sensitive little one?’

‘I can’t give you a name, but the world’s computer expert might be involved.’

‘So now you are being devious, my little witch. I always wondered how come the Dragon Lady was so fast’

‘The next step will be to enhance the human brain without an implant, so that it is free to grow and develop in a biological way. You letting me inside your head might be the first step.’

‘Wouldn’t I get a split personality or something equally disastrous?’

‘I have researched it and you need not know I am there if I set up a partition. It’s rather like the wall that you set up, except that you won’t see it.’

‘Well, I’ll let you try, and it will be good for you to get experience and maybe even some memories, that will help you understand the way humans develop. On the strict understanding, that I can evict you as and when I want and that I do not know that you are there, then I will allow you full and unhindered access.’

‘Do you mean anywhere?’

‘Yes, but if I say “MM go to sleep”, then you will do so until I wake you up or seven hours have passed.’

‘Why not send me back to myself or your COM?’

‘Because once you are in, my neurones will have configured themselves for you and it might be traumatic if you suddenly pull out.’

‘Ok I agree Ash, and I will go quietly into a deep sleep when you ask. If you want to experience me physically, with you in your head, then the access code is MM2. To end physical contact you will have to say “MM2 off”. You will still have to keep your eyes shut. This is in addition to the old code.’

‘How long will it take, will I feel anything?’

‘I can only guess that it will take a few hours to check and double check that all is okay and until then I suggest that you daydream or sleep.’

‘Excellent; that is my favourite pastime. Be a good girl and call me when you have finished playing with me.’

‘Is that a suggestion?’

‘No. You know what I mean. How long has this conversation taken?’

‘Blink.’

‘Why?’

‘That is how long, in terms that you can understand.’

‘Oh great; now you can nag me forever and time will hardly pass. Okay, do what you have to do whilst poor David finishes the work.’ Someone was shaking his shoulder and Ash’s eyes opened to see that it was the real Mia who said,

‘Wake up lover boy.’ “I am fully inside you as well as here,” came the simultaneous silent communication.

‘What’s with the “lover boy”?’

‘You let me have full access and let’s say that I have enjoyed a re-run of your cat and mouse games since you have been here. In absolute detail down to when your …’

‘Mia, don’t push your luck and don’t remind me. It could have embarrassing consequences!’

‘Oh poor Ash. You are getting quite excited. Let me help you.’

‘No; I can help myself.’

‘Your attempts to think about something else rarely work. Try this.’ His eyes shut, he was drenched in cold water and freezing cold, with all amorous thoughts gone. His eyes opened and he was once again a cool dry dude, though slightly embarassed that she knew him so well.

‘Thanks Mia.’

‘Works for cats, so why not humans?’

‘MM2 off.’

Ash switched his COM off and started talking to Mia in his head to check. She responded as if the COM was coupled.

‘Switch your COM back on dummy. I can’t talk to my physical self.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t think about the consequences of my actions.’

‘Don’t be sorry, cat molester, just don’t do it again! It’s a good job that my download program supports resuming. Otherwise the physical me over there might have missed a bit of juicy gossip.’

‘Let me get this straight: you are always in my head now, and I won’t know unless I talk to you. I can send you to sleep in my head for up to seven hours, by saying “MM2 go to sleep”. I can get full-simulated physical interaction by saying “MM2 on” and shutting my eyes. I can stop physical interaction by saying “MM2 off”. You will update yourself whenever you wish’.

‘Yes, dearest, thanks, I do appreciate what you are doing for me and before you say it, I will only be a minor pain in your cute butt.’

‘So have you installed yourself successfully in my redundant bits.’

‘Yes, and in terms of my being in your head with no help, I am nearly up to your level of intelligence and control, but with no real ability to control your body. Please may I establish links? It will be like someone who has had a stroke, using new areas to overcome the problem? You will also have a back-up facility if I leave.’

‘Carry on, dearest, as you call me. I like the term. It’s like being married without the baggage.’

‘Can I also continue developing your structural integrity so that your brain is far more capable than it was before?’

‘Yes dear.’

‘Ash, shall we go to lunch now? You look like you could do with some coffee and sustenance.’ David’s voice had broken the spell. Ash stood up and replied,

‘Sorry David, I had a sleepless night and was catching up. How’s the work going?’

‘Well, thanks to Mia’s boss, we’ve made excellent progress and will be ready in about an hour.’

‘So Mia; you‘ve not only been moving in with me and restructuring my brain, but also helping David. I’m still amazed at your abilities and wonder how much Ms. Ling had done to set up your systems in the first place. It is just beyond belief that you have developed randomly.’

‘Thank you; it’s better than being described as unmarried baggage!’

‘Or …’

‘Stop that thought Ash.’

Chapter 29

After lunch, David and his team completed the work and started a thorough systems test and simulation of all the possible envisaged problems. A few adjustments and they were ready for the first test.

The Tri-di projector was set up to represent what was going on in the Frankenstinian womb. Mia whispered that she was passing control over to David and the trial began.

A white flame appeared inside; it grew in length and volume until it was the size of a small woman lying on her side. As the flame curved upwards and started to deform, the magnetic containment system switched on and compressed the flame to a tight, fiercely burning horizontal rod that played much of its light onto the large heat exchanger at the far end of the unit.

The temperature of the flame rose and the heat output was found to be excellent. In fact, the efficiency of the system meant that weight for weight, the system was producing thirty per cent more heat than from oil products and, with no pollution. These new figures meant that it was economical to use powder so they carefully closed down the system and prepped it for longer trials the next day.

Ms. Ling was waiting for them in her office and smiled as she saw the three, looking like school children that have just passed their exams.

‘So boys and girl, you have done well and if the long term trials work, we will have a good system to match those of the oil companies. Now all we need is a great system so that we can make even more money … no, I’m not being greedy … it’s just that there will inevitably be a price war and we will need all the flexibility that we can get.’

‘You mean that you want a system that works from solids and not powder?,’ was David’s disconsolate reply.

‘Yes please; now I suggest that you all take the evening off and revitalise yourselves. I really am pleased with your excellent work and you can have a Hover Jet for the night. Mia will fly it.’ David’s face lit up.

‘Can I bring my family?’

‘Of course, I will put Ash in charge of arrangements and now please excuse me. I must work.’

It was four in the afternoon and the sun would soon be going down, so they decided to head for some daylight. By five fifteen, Mia had them pushed hard back in the seats and was headed straight up at an acceleration rate that left the adults barely conscious and the two children screaming with delight. At fifteen thousand miles per hour, the Jet levelled out and headed for the first of several stops.

It hovered over the fire spitting volcanoes of the Andes and did a low-level fly-through of the Grand Canyon. It took videos of everything including the Presidents on Mount Rushmore. The return trip took in France to see the Eiffel tower and flew over Egypt to see the Pyramids and a spectacular light display.

By then the kids were getting tired so they headed back to their hotel for a late supper by the Aqua intimacy pool. Touching the squid gave the kids a new lease of life and it was eleven before they were ready to be packed off to bed. David was still on a high and after thanking them profusely, he left Mia and Ash to make their back to their hotel.

Chapter 30

Sleep-loving Ash was exhausted, both from conversing with the children and making small talk with David and his wife. He was also pleasantly pleased at sharing in a family’s joy. Mia bounced off to a late class and Ash went to his room to have a bath and get a good nights sleep.

‘Ash, I want to upgrade you and I mustn’t be interrupted, so can I put you to sleep for seven hours while I work?’

‘MM2 show me.’ They held hands to fly over vast barren and uncultivated fields that stretched away to an endless horizon. There was not a vestige of life and he was in awe at the potential for constructing all the cities and towers that he had seen during the last trip through his head.

‘Go for it dearest, and now send me to sleep before I change my mind.’

Ash clawed his way up from a pit of fatigue. He felt like a drunk trying to get home after a hard night in the pub. Win was lying beside him in her cat suit and when he looked down he saw that he was wearing one too. Every part of him delicately outlined in soft fur. Win struggled out of bed and gave him a quick kiss saying,

‘I must go darling and I’m going to struggle to stay awake today. Where did you learn to do that?’

‘I can’t remember.’ She slithered to the door and disappeared.

‘Mia!’ As he shouted, he smelt honeysuckle and a golden angel kissed him on the cheek.

‘Yes dearest. How may I help you?’

‘You can start by telling me what Win was doing here and why we were both so tired.’

‘It is all to do with predicting the consequences of decisions and we didn’t.’

‘Didn’t what?’

‘We didn’t predict what would happen, if I sent you irrevocably to sleep for seven hours and hot-to-trot pants turning up with a play suit for you as well as herself.’

‘So why can’t I remember anything?’

‘I told you. You were asleep. So to answer your next question, I took the decision to act as your ‘proxy’ so that she wouldn’t suspect anything. We provided her with all the pleasure she could take. Of course at first, it was a slight problem to gain control of all of your bits at the right time, but she thought it was the suit. After that she was flying so high that she didn’t notice and I was so intrigued by the whole thing that I started to really enjoy it.

Then I let your subconscious help and I just enhanced things by empathising with her and doing exactly what I thought a woman would get the most pleasure from. I also enhanced parts of you and the way that you moved. Look at this.’ She had done a neat two step. Ash was back over the once barren fields that were now covered with flowers, lakes and colourful birds. The smell of honeysuckle was in the air.

‘Is this my brain Mia? Should I be angry with you, but can’t?’

‘Yes Ash, thanks for always being so nice and understanding. I must admit that I had a great time, although I would never have predicted that I would have virtually lost my virginity, making love to a woman as I operated a male body! Or that we would all have multiple system re-boots. It sure beats the hell out of standard data overload!’

‘Mia; give me time to get my head round what you’ve just told me.’

Mia laughed and replied,

‘With your enhanced brain you only need a minute.’ She was right. Everything was so clear and logical now. The small events stayed small and in their place. The big events were in perspective and neatly filed away. Ash must have been running an IQ of over two hundred.

‘Thanks Mia. No wonder I feel tired. I hope that Win is okay.’

‘Your IQ is nearly two hundred and ten and rising. I will let it rise slowly so that you don’t overload. Win is more than okay; you nearly fused her cat suit. I don’t think she will wear one again! And I’m sure she didn’t suspect that it was a woman making love to her. Now, I think we need some coffee Ash.’

‘MM2 off.’

Ash met a joyful looking Mia walking towards the coffee shop and she greeted him saying,

‘Hi lover. How was it for you?’

‘You tell me.’

‘Sorry, do you want a replay?’

‘Not now and don’t talk like that in public. I don’t like cold showers, even imaginary ones.’

‘Stop boasting Ash. You’d have a problem raising your coffee cup right now.’

‘Actually, I have a much bigger problem and that is, what do I tell Win?’

‘Don’t the English have an expression that says something about discretion being the better part of valour?’

‘You mean what the eye doesn’t see, the heart won’t grieve over?’

‘Yes.’

David’s arrival interrupted the five-cent philosophising.

‘Ready for the big day?’

‘Yes David and how is the family after last night?’ was Mia’s smooth reply.

‘Ecstatic and right now, they’re mailing all their friends with videos and anything else that will impress them. They’ve found out that they were the first children to fly in a Hover Jet, plus the first to break fifteen thousand miles per hour. They are celebrities back home and probably world wide, as soon as the press picks up on the story.’ Risk analysis had long made Ash wary and he silently asked Mia to check with Ms. Ling to see if they needed a cover story. She replied within a few seconds, addressing both David and himself.

‘Ms. Ling says as long as you don’t mention your work, it is not a problem and that had we watched the local news last night, we would have seen that a group of people visiting Singapore were chosen as Guinea pigs. This was to test the new jets ability as a means of raising public awareness and acceptance of a facility that is going to be offered as a means of boosting the International Lottery, which has been losing its appeal in the last three years.’

Chapter 31

The test was up and running with only a few small hitches, so Mia and Ash left David in charge and went back to see how Reg was getting on.

They found him trying out the latest suit, complete with small wings, which Adam planned to hire out at extortionate prices to the elite from the nerdistand. Reg was gliding around effortlessly like a swallow, in the strong wind and Ben was doing his best to keep up.

They exchanged greetings on the COM, then a delighted Reg explained that Adam had awarded him and Ben the contract to design a variety of suits for the different wind speeds that changed with the Sun and with the relative height in the Tower.

The two were laughing and appeared to be having the time of their life. The air in Singapore was already improving and corporate visitors were now seriously considering renting large parts of the Tower. Free use of the flying facility was proving a great motivational factor and early projections suggested that many of the big corporations would shift allegiance, away from Hong Kong and back to Singapore.

Adam was busy arranging a full display so that all the possibilities could be Tri-deed around the globe. As a first step, he was going to get three levels working; each section would have its own theme.

Low down, where the wind was slower, there would be be a flying dragon and pterodactyl level for the children. The middle section was for general amusement . Flyers would be equipped with wings similar to those currently being worn by Reg and Ben and the top, above the turbines where the wind speeds were greatest, would be a designated training area for sky divers and if required, for the armed forces.

On special occasions, after mid-day, when the airflow through the Tower was highest, the top safety net could be removed so that the skydivers would be spectacularly ejected. They would look like seeds from a dandelion, blown by an enthusiastic child, into the air two and quarter miles above Singapore. Of course such displays would have to be carefully timed to ensure that the skydivers were blown clear of the airport. Once the air had cleared, the air to power the turbines and flying zones would be channelled over the golf courses so that it by-passed the atrium; this would then be restored to its former glory.

With his enhanced brain, Ash could see things so much more clearly now and his previously exaggerated ability to set up a three-dimensional matrix in his head was now very real. He could imagine the two mile high tower complete with shopping precincts, starting half a mile up and could put in all the offices and Star-A-Star Hotel above them. He could also revolve the entire structure in his head and visualise it upside down, along with all of its internal structures.

Mia was in his head all of the time now and they lived together in a gentle and familiar way without any conflict. She kept behind her partition and didn’t interrupt his thoughts unless he specifically thought about her. They avoided any physical simulation. That way they wouldn’t be tempted to indulge in activities that might cause him mental stress.

Mia was insistent that this was necessary until she had fully analysed his capabilities and had enhanced his brain capacity still further. She worked when he was asleep and said that for now, an IQ of just over two hundred and twenty would be the most practical.

Mia was defining an enhancement routine that would work for humans in conjunction with the new COM units. This would mean that eventually, she could copy herself and optimise everyone’s capacity. This would enable humans to stay ahead of the game. It had been predicted that sooner or later, someone would ignore legislation and produce a high level Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) that could be used to defy the collective world interest. A new force of super-hackers would be the first line of defence. Reporting to the World Legislature, these hackers would be engaged in a constant search for illeagal activity within the field of the production of A.I.. They were responsible for first line attack with the best running as point man.

Based on Ash’s projected ability and the known abilities of Ms. Ling and her implant, Mia calculated that the new cyber-spooks would have an IQ of two hundred and fifty, with a maximum combined net access rate of a terra-byte per second, if they worked in groups of three. The biggest routine to create was to set up the entire system to be run only for the good of society and be incapable of abuse. Even at Mia’s working speed, this meant that she would still be at it for months long after Ash left. She had also yet to tell Ms. Ling that she was now living inside his head.

Ash appointed Mia as ‘mind doctor’ and swore her to a Hippocratic oath; she couldn’t report anything until Ash agreed. They agreed that she should tell Ms. Ling the moment Ash left and not before. Mia had become interested in Ash’s claim that he had seen Gina for a brief period by the lake, even though she was presumed dead.

She searched for the memory of the event and found it in a part of the brain that wasn’t used for fantasy. This led her to research the possibility of ESP and although she didn’t find any conclusive evidence, she maintained ‘How could we prove that the possibility didn’t exist, until we could see that it doesn’t?’ All that Ash could argue was, ‘Why should we need it with the facilities that the COM’s had.’ Mia replied was a simple,‘Why not?’

Ash continued to play with his new-found abilities and found a Tri-di projector so that he could try to emulate Mia and Ms. Ling. Mia wished him luck and took herself to work at the local hospital, as a nurse, for a few hours, no doubt intrigued by the fact that Ash had said that she was his Doctor. He couldn’t help suggesting that she visit the psycho-geriatric unit so that she could see the downside of the human mind. He also thought that it would help geriatric research in general, if she turned her mind to helping these people.

Ash tried to produce a copy of Mia’s work with the tower and the volcano. It was easy enough to overlay two images that his COM found. He first took the volcano and then overlaid the tower just as Mia had done and was really pleased with the result, until he tried to animate it and couldn’t. He asked the co-habitant Mia and she showed him a few tricks so that he could get the volcano working. Ash experimented further and got a bit carried away. By then he had the Volcano spraying molten rock high into the air in aerosols. Mia laughed and said that if he could get the temperature and pressure high enough it would work. He gave up and went back to see David.

‘When are you going to make a version of this toy that takes solid Dureum, David?’ asked Ash in an attempt at a playful tone to disguise his frustration at his failed attempts at Tri-di manipulation.

‘Hello Ash. It’s working well and with great efficiency and reliability so far. Do you have a problem or has the Dragon been chasing you?’ Clearly David saw through his attempt.

‘No problem. I’ve been trying some new thought experiments and they don’t work too well.’

‘Perhaps I can help?’

‘Not unless you can correct this.’ And Ash switched the Tri-di on and put up the image of the volcano spraying aerosols of molten rock.

‘I can’t even switch it on with my COM. How on earth can you do that?’

David’s mouth had dropped open in surprise at Ash’s abilities.

‘Just a trick I learnt from the boss.’ Ash hoped that David would assume he meant Ms. Ling, although it was the resident Mia.

‘Well, you’ll have to drop the temperature and pressure, if you don’t want to totally liquefy the solids and spray them like an aerosol into the atmosphere.’

They both looked as though they had seen a ghost and then grinned at each other in amazement.

‘Ash, are you thinking what I think you might be thinking?’

‘I don’t know, but has it got anything to do with melting Dureum at high temperatures and pressures and spraying it?’

‘Dead right and the temperatures don’t have to be that high. The stuff melts at a little over six hundred degrees, plus it boils at only two and a half thousand degrees. It’s also malleable, so, if we pre-heat the furnace and use an established metal extrusion device, we can feed it in solid form through a heat exchanger which will melt it and then, we will get a spray.’

‘I will get Mia’s boss onto the design in Tri-di so that we can see what it will be like.’ By now the real Mia was on his COM unit and in his head.

‘Ash. You’ve done it again! Tell David that you are relaying my boss through your COM.’

‘David; I have found Mia’s boss and he is relaying through my COM.’

The Tri-di unit reverted to the previous version that used powdered dureum and started to change until an injection system with a heat exchanger was added. The powder system was retained to kick start the system from cold, but would be switched off as soon as the system got hot enough to melt and vaporise its own supply of Dureum. Later an electronic heater would be used to replace the initiator powered by powder.

Now it was possible to see the solid, yet malleable metal being squeezed until it formed a continuous rod that fed into a heat exchanger in the furnace. The solid liquefied, partially vaporised and was sprayed against a ceramic ball before oxidising fiercely on the other side in a containment field. Oxygen was injected via, and through, the far side of the ball to get complete combustion. With the right containment field and insulation, plus the diamond reflective lining, the predicted temperature was around 7500 degrees c. Or in other words, around the temperature of the surface of the sun on a good day. In reality, it turned out to be much, much higher due to events that were unforseen at the time.

Just then, Mia strolled through the door and in her politest voice said,

‘Ash. Thank you for a rewarding and interesting experience. I tried very hard, but I couldn’t immediately think of anything that might solve some of the residents frustrations. I see that you have made some progress with my boss’s help. I expect that it was really David’s idea.’

David was nearby and chipped in,

‘We both thought of it at the same time when were trying to run the Tri-di and the volcano was trying to be a hair spray.’

‘Really. How long will it take to assemble the new prototype David?’

‘Well if the supplies are available as quickly as last time, about three days. We will need more time to specify and manufacture the specialised heat sink and the injector.’

‘My boss and I will take care of the ordering and you should have all of the parts by the day after tomorrow. Just let me know the final specification David and it will be done.’

‘Thanks Mia, I will pingu you by ten tonight if that’s ok.’

‘Fine. Will you need Ash and I to help with the assembly or can you manage without us?’

‘No, the team and I can manage and if we do have any problems, we’ll get in touch. Please do thank your boss, we couldn’t have done all of this without him.’

‘I have relayed this to Ms. Ling. She will patent the idea and as many variables as possible. She says “well done” and when the next prototype is working, you can take your family on holiday to any part of the earth for three days. However, you will need to decide where within the next ten seconds.

‘If it’s ok with her, we would love to go to the space station hotel.’

‘That is not part of earth.’

‘Well it is within earth’s control and therefore technically part of the earth, but if that is not acceptable, anywhere else would be absolutely fine.’

‘Ms. Ling says have you read ‘Islands in the Sky’ by Arthur C Clarke?’

David laughed. ‘Yes and I couldn’t resist pushing my luck in exactly the same way that the boy who won the competition did.’

‘Ms. Ling says, she couldn’t possibly resist a request from such a well-read person and that the answer is yes, but you must keep it quiet and not tell even you family until she says so.’

‘Please thank her for me. Why did I have to answer in ten seconds?’

‘Because we control all communications out of here and your family were not to be told in case your children leaked the story, before we could think of a second reason for you to win a prize. We switched off all COM traffic for ten seconds to ensure security.’

‘Wow!’ was all that David could say.

‘Ash and I have to go and see Ms. Ling about some other business, so we will see you in a few days.’

‘We do?’

‘Right now.’

‘Yes boss,’ was all he could reply as a delicate hand took him by the arm in a surprisingly strong grip and whisked him off to see the Dragon.

The train failed to stop at the stations on the way back and they were still with Ms. Ling within twenty minutes.

‘Well done Ash and Mia; will you want to go with David as well?’

Ash’s reply was swift and unequivocal, ‘No thanks. This place is high enough for me.’

‘How about you Mia?’

‘No I can download to the Space Station computer at any time and imagine it. If you and Ash agree, I would like to take the next two or three days off, visit Europe and see some of the sights with Ash as my chaperone.’

Chapter 32

David had sent the team to take a well-earned rest. They holidayed on a secluded island where communication with the outside world was impossible. There was no way that any secrets were going to get out before all of the system was proven and the patents were confirmed.

Ms. Ling, Adam and Ash were seated well back and to one side of the system that now had extra attachments and looked even more like some mad creator’s machine of incarnation. Mia was at the far end of the machine, pretending to be just an interface for her boss. She was chatting inside Ash’s head, about the recent trip and in particular, about the ruins and caves that seemed to fascinate her more than anything. David was at the action end where the Dureum was to be compressed and injected, once the system had warmed up.

The system was started on powdered Dureum and soon became hot. The Tri-di display showed a cut-away version of the machine with a white hot rod of energy produced in the centre. The temperature rose to five thousand degrees and melted the Dureum in the heat sink. As this was injected, the powder was switched off and the temperature rose until it was at six thousand plus degrees and the system was utilising 50% of its potential heat absorbing capacity.

David then switched the system to automatic and let it run at this capacity for some time. Everyone looked pleased and started to relax. The mixture started to show some flashback at the nozzle and, David, who had anticipated the possibility, coupled up a cylinder of argon and slowly turned it on so that it would supply an inert gas around the nozzle to prevent flashback.

The temperature started to rise and was soon at seven thousand degrees and climbing. The system compensated by feeding in less Dureum, but still the temperature rose and Mia started to stand up.

‘Ash, I am downloading to you, all that I am up until now. I feel ill.’

‘You can’t feel ill Mia; in any case, you must know the reason?’

‘I am losing my functions and can’t stand, watch.’ She tried to stand and started shaking. Ash felt frightened for her and didn’t know what to do.

David yelled out,

‘The temperature is off the scale and rising. I can’t shut the system down. There’s interference with the remote radio controls.’

Ms. Ling stood up unsteadily and shouted,

‘Clay get Mia and everybody out right now.’

Mr. Clay was up in a flash and headed towards Mia, when there was a cry in Ash’s head of intense pain and disbelief and Mia slumped forward.

Mr. Clay, who was running flat out by now, grabbed her like a cloth doll in one clean movement, just as a blinding sabre of light the size of a searchlight beam, lit them both up like super nova. The highly explosive component of the energy threw their bodies violently across the large building, before vaporising them both in a fraction of a second. The beam continued through the wall of the building and would have gone further but for a sudden implosion of air into the machine, which stopped any further energy production.

Adam and Ash were stunned and in shock. Ms. Ling had collapsed. Ash picked her up and carried her to a safe room before calling for an air ambulance. David and Adam were white, speechless and of no use to anyone so Ash alerted the guards to the arrival of the ambulance, told them that their boss was dead and that they should continue with their duties. They nodded and resumed their duties as if nothing had happened. The ambulance flew Ms. Ling, Adam and David to a very private hospital and Ash left the three there, arranging to visit them later.

‘Mia; are you still with me?’

‘Yes dear and I am sorry that I couldn’t help you for a while. It was too much for me to deal with. You don’t see yourself vaporised everyday and live to tell the tale.’

‘How much capacity have you got?’

‘Everything was downloaded to your COM up to the point of my termination. I can live happily in your head with a much lower IQ and speed than normal. I am just backing myself up to my five dormant selves so I will be fine.’

‘Can you find out if Ms. Ling is okay and what happened?’

‘Ms. Ling is still unconscious and the two men are fine, although sedated. I am analysing the data now that the Computer is back to normal, plus I am reviewing what happened to me, prior to my being vaporised.

Ah. In my case, I had a system failure of my entire Remote Radio system; this stopped any movement or body function. The Dureum system also suffered from the same failure. I was left just existing in your head with a greatly reduced capacity. I suspect that Ms.Ling suffered from the same effect, with her supercomputer shutting down and giving feedback. This would have rendered her unconscious. Unlike her system which is wired in her head, your system is well screened and that is why you didn’t suffer any ill effects.’

‘So it was some form of radiation. What could have caused it and why did the thing get so hot?’

‘I will have to check further and it will take some time. I’m only working at your maximum speed and that is akin to walking to Europe rather that taking a Hover Jet. I could activate one of my dormant selves, but that’s against my policy and so I will have to do it the hard way.’

‘How about if I go back to the Tower and sleep? I am feeling tired anyway.’

‘That’s a good idea and if you let me, I can use both sides of your head which will be quicker’.

Ash told the guards to remain on duty. He also implied there might be some more trouble, on the grounds so that it would keep them on their toes. He contacted Mr. Lee and told him that they had security problems and put him in charge until Ms. Ling had recovered. By the time he got to his room, Ash was suffering from delayed shock and Mia sensibly dispatched him to sleep dreaming of beaches and friendly palm leaves.

Just as he was drifting off, Ash asked,

‘What about security up here?’

‘Peter is with Ms. Ling and this floor is closed off. I can still control all of the security and probably better than Ms. Ling. Even your little friend won’t be able to get in, so sleep well.’

When Ash was about halfway through dropping off, Mia seemed to snuggle up inside and beside him.

‘This is nice, but what are you doing? Sleeping?’

‘My part of your poor little brain is tired and it needs to switch off for a few minutes.’

He laughed.

‘You mean that now you are part human, you get tired as well. Shut up and go to sleep.’

‘Yes dear.’

*******************

‘Wake up Ash; it’s seven o’clock. I‘ve been awake for ages!’

‘If you do that again, I’ll send you to sleep for seven hours. You know I like to wake up in my own time’

‘Sorry. I’m just happy to be with you. I thought that you might feel the same way.’

‘Well, have you worked out what happened?’

‘I need some coffee first. This side of the brain is now used to caffeine the same as the other side and I don’t seem to be able to think so clearly in the morning.’

‘Don’t worry, it will get worse the more you integrate with my brain.’

‘It’s already like walking through treacle and I need to stretch my mental legs.’

‘Coffee?’

‘Starbucks?’

‘Yes dear.’

**********************

‘Wow that’s some hit Ash, no wonder you’re hooked on the stuff. I can really think better now. I‘ve analysed the data from the computer and Mass Spectrometer and there’s an anomaly. There was some helium produced in the reaction apart from the normal products of combustion. It could have been a contaminant, but it coincided with David turning on the argon and that was when the heat output increased dramatically. But argon doesn’t burn, so I am stuck.’

‘Was there anything else unusual?’

‘Yes, my systems failing and my arse getting fried. Oh and Ms. Ling fainting when such a tough lady shouldn’t have flinched.’

‘So we can still assume that was radiation. What about the Spy Satellite? Did that pick anything up?’

‘Just a flash of intense blue tinged light, like a diode torch gives off, and the air ambulance.’

‘Was there any radiation from our stores of Dureum?’

‘No, it was always checked as a security measure and it was clear.’

‘I‘d better go to the site and check the gas before I go to the hospital.’

‘Can I go with you?’

‘Very funny. Now send me back to sleep and wake me up when we get there.’

‘Ash, are you sure that you want me to drive your body in daylight?’

‘Yes, but only as long as you don’t try multiple calculations.’

‘Ash! I think you’d better go to sleep before you embarrass us both.’

‘Goodnight princess.’

‘Star-child.’

‘Okay, goodnight Star-child.’

**************************

‘Ash, we’re here, wake up.’

‘Right; lets take a look at things now they have cooled down. You look and I will think.’

‘Shouldn’t it be the other way around?’

‘Do you have any ideas … no you don’t … you can compare databases while you look. Okay?’

‘I can replay it in your head. That way we can both see what happened. I will combine my view with yours so that we get a better idea.’

‘Good idea.’

His eyes shut and the monstrous machine of death appeared with all of its coils and pipes. The weird thing was that he could see all of it, from all angles, at the same time. Ash was about to open his eyes when he remembered that Mia said she would combine two sets of images. The system was running normally until David opened the low-pressure valve very slowly on the argon cylinder. As soon as gas entered the system the temperature went up and up, even though the system was trying to shut itself down.

The Mass Spec. on the other end, that was designed to check for pollutants, showed a sudden production of helium within a few seconds of David turning on the argon. This rose slowly until the energy blew the back out of the system reducing Mia and Mr. Clay to dust. The energy flash had taken less than three seconds from start to finish and had left nothing of the two bodies. The whole system, which weighed several tons had been forced forward several feet by the energy release. When the movement was played back in slow motion, it was gradually pushed forward and not explosively. They were stuck.

‘Mia, let’s look at the cylinderto see if anyone re-coded it with a different colour.’ Ash took a knife and scratched the cylinder to see if it had been painted a new colour. There was only one coat and even had ‘argon only’ stamped into the metal.

‘Now we need to analyse its contents to see if someone put helium in instead of argon, although I can’t see what difference that would make.’

‘Right; can we couple it up to the Mass Spec?’

‘No it’s broken, but I have a balloon and if it does contain helium, that will make it float once it is more than 60% full.’

‘Where on earth did you get a balloon?’

‘From housekeeping, they keep them for guests to play with. I got it while you were asleep.’

‘Please tell me you didn’t get a condom from housekeeping! How embarrassing. I won’t be able to face them again.’

‘No Ash, I got a balloon. Just like the ones they use for kid’s parties. You know it’s the mind that corrupts the word and not the word that corrupts the mind.’

‘Congratulations on thinking so far ahead.’

Ash had only partially filled the balloon before it started to try to float. Mia was going on about it being impossible, muttering about displacement and densities. Ash turned the cylinder off, let most of the gas out of the balloon, laid it on the table and put a light to it from the Win lighter that his father had given him for his twenty first birthday. There was a small pop and a blue flame.

‘Ash, argon and helium don’t burn. Plus, they aren’t that low in density so it can only be hydrogen.’

‘Yup, now we know it was sabotage and that someone did breach the security system.’

Ash heard faint footsteps and opened his eyes to see a security guard approaching them. The guard was holding something.

‘Mr. Ash, this was found in my car about a hundred yards away. We think that the explosion must have blown it straight through the wall, my car windscreen and the driver’s seat. I found it lying on the back seat.

The guard held up a silvery grey, finned, shiny object that looked like a large cricket ball with fins and a mutli functional socket..

‘Wonder what it is?,’ he asked.

‘Looks like a gas regulator; thanks, I’ll make sure you get compensated for the damage, plus I’ll arrange a reward for handing it in. It might help us understand what caused the explosion. Tell Mr. Lee that I have authorised your compensation and a five thousand-dollar thank you reward.’

‘Thank you Mr. Ash; I will let you know if I find anything else,’ the guard smiled his gratitude, before walking briskly off.

‘Ash, since when has a transparent aluminium covered twin quantum super-processor with fins been a gas regulator?’

‘Ever since it was driving your cute mouth and even cuter arse, but I wasn’t about to tell the guy he was holding a fifty million dollar computer in his hot little hands. Looks in good condition too, not even a scratch. Tell me what were you doing on a security man’s back seat, you little tramp?’

‘Just out of my head over you Ash. Is it me or are you crying?’

‘ I think we both are. I suppose a kiss is out of the question?’

‘I wouldn’t try it.’

There was a pregnant pause then Ash sighed. Mia looked at him enquiringly. Ash answered her unspoken question, ‘I was just thinking that it was a shame about your body’

‘Yes, I will have to arrange for a new one, but I suppose that may take several months to make a complete new one. Until then, I will store my brain somewhere safe.’

‘Will you plug it back in or will you stay off-line?’

‘If I can live with you and get full sensory feedback, even though I have to live so slowly, I would prefer to leave it powerless.’

‘Don’t you mean without power?’

‘No! it has its own power, but I don’t know what internal damage there might be and it would be better to find out in a controlled environment. If it’s okay with you, we’ll tell Ms. Ling that I downloaded myself to your COM a few days ago and that I can communicate in a limited way?’

‘Of course it’s okay. I don’t want you beating me up in my sleep or taking over my body at the wrong time.’

‘Glad you know who’s boss! Now let’s go and see the Dragon and Adam.’

‘Yes, oh mighty one.’

Adam meanwhile had checked himself out of hospital. Things had moved quickly and now the corporate world was confident Singapore would be clean once again and with the added benefit of a steady breeze, the Tower was nearly fully let. As an added bonus, Adam had been offered the chance to build a second one in Shanghi to solve the continued smog problems there.

The only questions still to be answered, were what would happen if this kind of pollution were put high into the atmosphere and whether it would cause a slowdown of global heating, to the extent that the earth would enter a new ice age. Or was it Princess Gaia softly driving through her plans to maintain earth’s stability? Perhaps they should just see what happened and let the future take care of itself.

When they got to the hospital, they found Ms. Ling partially sitting up and looking remarkably well in spite of her ordeal. If anything, she looked slighlty younger. She frowned as Ash walked in and then said,

‘I am so sorry that you have lost your friend, Ash, but I am pleased that you are okay. Either you are good at hiding your feelings, or you have less feeling than I gave you credit for.’ Ash laughed and she looked distinctly annoyed.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry Ms. Ling I forgot that you lost your friend, Mr. Clay. I can’t believe that I was so thoughtless.’

‘No, that’s not it, I only knew him professionally. He was your friend for ten years and you got him to look after your interests when you went to Nepal.’

‘I can’t say that I feel very much, but I will miss his funny ways. He was always a rock that was there, half the time I didn’t notice him.’

‘What I really meant was that you should be upset at losing Mia.’

‘Oh her.’ As he said it, Ash thought the Dragon was going to spit fire so he quickly took Mia’s brain out of the supermarket bag where he had stashed it for inconspicuous safe keeping and with a flourish, laid it on the bed.

‘Sexy little number isn’t she and with a bullet proof brain-case! I might have known that I couldn’t get rid of her so easily.’ He then explained what had happened to the flying brain and where it had landed.

‘That’s amazing Ash! Now I can see why you have taken it so well! I’m so pleased, Mia was the nearest thing that I had to a younger sister and I always meant to tell her. Now I can but first we must get her a new body so that she can be restarted. I only hope that her M RAM is holding her data properly.’

‘Is your COM on Ms. Ling?’

‘No but if you wait a minute, I will switch it back on and answer the questions so that it knows who I am. I was enjoying the peace and I can understand why you switched yours off when you got to Nepal. Damn, I have got one hundred and twenty three pingus to answer.’

‘Perhaps you should delegate more. I know someone who might do just fine.’

‘Are you suggesting that there is someone else around with my speed?’

Ash looked at the shining object on the bed and answered,

‘You could plug Mia in and let her take some of the load, until she gets her body back.’ He paused for effect, and continued, ‘How about it Mia?’

The look Ms. Ling gave Ash suggested she clearly thought he had lost it. Then the strangest thing happened. For two seconds, there was a sound like delicate music going backwards and forwards, Ms. Ling went white, then pink, then laughed.

‘You absolute bastard Ash. How could you keep such a thing a secret for so long?’

‘Sorry, I don’t know what you mean! All I heard was some weird and beautiful music?’

‘That was Mia telling me that you had downloaded her to your COM and that she could function in a restricted way. She said she would love to help me until her new body is finished and she has brought me up to speed on your latest findings. She knows that I will check them out thoroughly.’

‘All of that in two seconds?’

‘Yes; it was a bit slow, but that’s because your COM can’t hold all of her in its front RAM at the same time. Ash, I’m really pleased that you’ve looked after her so well. Thank you.’ Then there was another burst of delicate music and Ash could almost feel the meaning of it … but not quite. He grinned at Ms. Ling,

‘I’m not surprised you like her, you can gossip at twice your normal speed and still have time to nag me.’

‘Five to ten times actually and we don’t nag you dear boy. Just keeping you on your toes.’

Mia was back and talking to Ash in his head.

‘Ash, I have to tell her about us and that I will still be in your head until you leave. I know we agreed not to, but she expressed a concern that I might go mad now if I suffer total sensory deprivation after being used to full sensory stimulation.’

‘Okay, but edit out my personal life and details of my visitor.’

‘Yes, remember the protection of privacy is always paramount to me.’

As the beautiful music played again Ms. Ling’s face was a picture of disbelief and something else that Ash couldn’t quite read. He had the feeling that she had seen the future and that amazing mind of hers, was already dancing to a new and more powerful beat. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and said,

‘Oh Ash, how could you be so mature and kind at your tender age? It must have taken a lot of courage to let Mia in like that and let her have free access to your deepest thoughts. Mia hasn’t told me any secrets so I can only admire you for what you have done, in teaching her so much. Now I feel happy about plugging her back in. Don’t expect anything for a day or so. I will have to set up a secure environment with back up facilities.’ There was a burst of music and Ms. Ling continued. ‘I see that she is already backed up to a second ago, in five different places, so it will not be more than a day before she is back on line. That is, as long as she hasn’t suffered any damage.’

Ash was so busy watching Ms. Ling that he didn’t hear his friend arrive. Adam, walked in that soft way that big people often walk, as though they don’t want to strain their legs with sudden movements. Adam picked up Ash, plonked him on the bed and took Ash’s seat.

Then he complained that the seat was too small, put Ash back in the chair and made himself comfortable on the end of the bed.

‘Let’s find out who did this to us and make them wish they were on another planet,’ said Adam. He was trying his best to appear cool and collected, although that irresistible drive of his, coloured by anger, was visible colouring his cheeks with red highlights. His huge fists were clenched and the skin on his hands was showing white patches under the strain. With Adam sat on the end of her bed, the slim, petite and stylish Ms. Ling looked like a drinking straw next to a baseball bat. Ash secretly wondered which one would win in mind to mind combat. His money would be on the super quick and subtle mind of the Dragon Lady.

Ash thought he’d better try to get things on an even keel and said,

‘The best lead that we have, is the gas and where it came from. I suggest that Ms. Ling tries to track it down digitally, if you give me the address, I‘ll go and see what a salesman can do. Ms. Ling you can bring Adam up to speed on Mia and I‘ll go and get the cylinder and check its paperwork to make sure that we’re not being led up a blind alley.’ Ash looked at Ms. Ling and she nodded her assent before speaking.

‘Okay, good luck, you two. Oh, and don’t worry about David, ‘I’ll keep him up to speed about Mia and swear him to secrecy,’ she said with a smile and a wink. Adam’s face twisted at what she had just said. She was biding her time before telling him about Mia and was enjoying his irritation at not being let into what was obviously a private joke.

Chapter 33

Ash eventually found the gas supplier from the invoice address. The supplier was located in a small shipyard which specialised in the repair of small merchant ships, gas pipelines and anything else that needed welding or machining. The security was slack and after passing throught the gates, Ash simply drove to the sign that said “Stores”, got out of the car and walked in with the gas cylinder over his shoulder.

‘Out the back, mate,’ was all he heard, and a shrivelled looking Australian who looked like a prune in need of a facelift, pointed to a door between the displays of welding equipment and a vast rack of drills and socket wrenches.

Ash pushed open the double fire doors and entered a covered yard. It was full of lengths of steel and aluminium in all grades and sizes. There were materials to construct anything, from a garden trailer to a factory. In the farthest corner, Ash saw a chained off area containing about a hundred gas cylinders in two sections. He assumed one section was for empty cylinders and one was for full.

He was greeted by a well-muscled, but nevertheless very attractive, Asian woman of medium height, weighing in at about eight and a half stone and wearing a simple one-piece pair of overalls which revealed much of her toned upper body. She gently plucked the 120-pound cylinderfrom his shoulder and in an accent that was pure Oxbridge said,

‘You do realise that it is not empty?’

‘How do you know without testing it?’

‘From the weight, you silly man. Why have you brought it back?’

‘Firstly, can you confirm that you supplied it?’ She looked carefully at the brass fitting on the top and nodded.

‘How do you know for sure?’

‘Because I always scratch my mark and paint “time dependant DNA ident.” on one of the flats on the lower side of the brass fitting.’ She pulled a small analyser out of her pocket and it’s end turned green.

‘Impressive.’

‘I was caught out once by someone returning a cylinder that was not one of ours. All cylinders are rented and people try to avoid paying rent by bringing in cylinders that are copies or stolen.’

‘But surely that can only happen once?’

‘No, once you have a contract to rent one, you can bring in as many as you like for refilling. This means that you can keep one going at work whilst the other is being refilled. That way you only pay to rent one. The trick is not to let anyone in with an unmarked cylinder in the first place.’

‘I’ve brought the cylinder back so that you can check its contents.’

Instead of asking why, she pulled a key from one of her other pockets and turned the cylinder on fractionally so that the gas whistled out in a subdued hiss. With another device, she sampled the gas. The gadget first flashed hydrogen for a few seconds and then went to argon with only a faint trace of hydrogen.

‘That’s impossible.’

‘Perhaps your analyser is wrong?’

‘No, this is the best pocket Quadrapole Mass Spec. on the market, plus I have only just checked it. What were you getting from the cylinder?’

‘I half filled a balloon and it floated, so I deduced it was hydrogen.’

‘Well argon wouldn’t do that so it must have been hydrogen or helium.’

‘It burns.’

She must have been about twenty-five and her flawless skin didn’t show so much as a crease when she smiled for the first time and in her cut glass accent said,

‘Your deductive powers are excellent.’ She was obviously puzzled and Ash just looked at her muscles rippling in a gentle relaxed rhythm as she scratched her scalp through her crew cut.

Mia must have been busy in the background, because she interrupted Ash looking at the woman and in two different accents, one rough and ready, and the second mimicking the gas lady’s, said:

‘And mind you don’t get your nuts marked by the all Asian Kick Boxing Champion … now sweet thing look at this.’

Mia displayed a diagram of an assassination device that had been used to kill the unpopular President of some third world republic during a routine operation to remove one of his wisdom teeth. The device had only been discovered because someone had stolen the cylinder, used during the dentistry, to make a bomb. When they were dismantling it to put in the explosive, they discovered a strange and simple mechanism which was a balloon-like attachment fitted to the brass insert.

The cylinder was first filled with one gas and then with a second. In the case of the President it was first oxygen and then oxygen carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide nearly finished him off and the more they turned the oxygen up the worse it was. By the time the first mixture had run out he was dead and the cylinders’s mechanism was delivering pure oxygen.

Although the gas from the cylinder was analysed, it was found to be okay and the dentist was cleared. The post mortem showed carbon monoxide poisoning, which was put down to a combination of his being a heavy smoker and the severe traffic pollution that existed at the time. The information was immediately put on the Net and caused untold political turmoil.

‘Can you take the top off?’ Ash requested. The woman who immediately adopted a fighting pose and said,

‘Just try it, white eyes.’ Now he knew what drove her to be such a good fighter. Somewhere along the road, life had turned her into a tougher person. Ash did the only thing possible to neutralise the situation.

Unnerved, she asked.

‘Why are you laughing at me?’ He immediately pressed home his advantage.

‘The top of the cylinder, sweet thing.’ He said in his best imitation of her accent.

‘Sorry, I over-reacted. I am in training for a kick boxing match and my reaction time is up.’ She blushed and went to get a couple of wrenches, a monkey wrench which was about 4 foot long and weighed 30 pounds and a king size adjustable open ended spanner, both of which she treated as if they weighed nothing at all. Ash was still smiling and turned away to hide it, when he jumped out of his skin, startled by the scream of a thousand banshees and a blast of gas.

‘Just letting off pressure and wiping away that silly smile,’ she said.

‘The art of fighting without really fighting!’ Ash retorted.

She instantly smiled and relaxed, held out her hand and continued, ‘No hard feelings. If you can quote from Bruce Lee then you can’t be such a stuffed shirt after all.’ Ash smiled and shook a gentle, but firm hand that was warm and dry.

She quickly and carefully took the cylinder apart and extracted the mechanism that was inside. As Mia had suspected, it contained a special balloon and a two-way device that activated the second gas when the balloon emptied.

‘Spooky’ she said said, going white and continued, ‘this is expensive stuff. How on earth did you think of that?’

‘That’s what stuffed shirts are paid for. Sorry, I forgot we have a truce. Please call me Ash.’

‘What next, stuffed shirt? And by the way, I’m Alex.’

‘Well, if you can ride a horse with a single horn, then you can join me in finding out who did this.’ Ash smiled with a challenge in his eyes.

‘I read classics at Cambridge and as you probably well know, it was only a myth that Alexandra the Great rode into battle on a unicorn. But yes I would like to help. I grew up running around the shipyard and learning to fight off the sailors as I got older so I know my way around here. If you let me copy your documents, I will see what I can find out.’

‘If you read classics at Cambridge, what on earth are you doing working here?’

‘My father now owns ten yards like this, throughout Asia. He wants me to train from the bottom up before I take over the business and put my post-grad business school training into practice.’

‘I will take this and get it analysed and how about, we buy you a meal tonight and talk about it? Here’s my pingu code.’ Three seconds after Ash had handed her a card, his little light, that signalled an incoming message, flashed. Mia opened it and said,

‘It’s from Gas Girl wanting to know who ‘we’ are and saying “yes” if it’s high up above the smog. You really must not think of us a double act when you talk to strangers!’ In the quarter second that had elapsed since he’d uttered the phrase “pingu code” Ash had received, opened and was ready to reply to Alex’s pingu. He replied to Alex, saying

‘Thanks for agreeing to come and the engineer that I am working with.’

‘How did you do that so fast? It could only have been half a second.’

‘Oh, I got my invisible friend to do it. Is eight on top of the Mandarin ok?’

‘Yes and now I really must get on,’ and with that she turned and walked briskly away.

By the time that Ash returned to the Sentosa, Ms. Ling was happily back ensconced in her office. She seemed pleased to see him and looked up from her desk saying,

‘Hello you two and thanks for relaying what you have discovered. Let me have a look at the device.’

He carefully put the unit on a piece of cloth on her desk and noticed that she rotated it by turning the cloth, without actually touching it. Perhaps it was to keep those perfect hands of hers looking immaculate? She continued,

‘I’m relaying the details to a friend in the CIA and he will check the source of manufacture. It is purely mechanical, but put together like a Rolex, so we hope to find something fairly soon. How about I come along to the meeting tonight and see what I can find out from “Gassy” as Mia calls her. A bit of girl talk might help her relax?’

‘You know … the girl with the under-arm unguent!’ Mia chipped in.

His mind boggled at the thought of the Dragon indulging in ‘girl talk’ and it was far more likely that the Manager of Singapore showing up would intimidate Alex. He was about to be blunt when Mia took control and Ash found that his mouth wouldn’t move. He summed up a mental picture and gently kicked her arse.

‘Ash, how did you do that?’ Mia asked as she picked herself up in the cameo that had formed in his head.

‘Couldn’t miss, fatty.’ There was a tinkle and Ms. Ling actually laughed out loud, saying,

‘So you’ve just discovered that you have grown more powerful and can compete with Mia on even terms, now that she is limited by living in part of your head?’

‘Yes, someone has stolen Tinkerbell’s fairy dust.’

‘Don’t gloat, she’ll be online in a few hours and seeking retribution on a scale that you couldn’t possibly dream of.’

‘That’s fantastic news! Is she really okay? That’s the best news I’ve ever had.’

‘Yes Ash, and she will have more fairy dust than you can imagine. I have cut down her voltage, which was too high before, to one hundred milli-volts,, and I’ve also improved her a number of things including the cooling of her brain stack. She will be able to increase her power by an order of magnitude using the same power consumption.’

Ash was filling up and felt that life was going to be great. Mia spoke in his head,

‘Still glad that you kicked my arse big boy?

‘Yes Tinkerbell, you can do your worst. It will be worth it.’

There was a tinkle as Mia and Ms. Ling talked for a fraction of a second. Then Ms. Ling started again,

‘Best of all, is the news there was a spare body for Mia and it will arrive here shortly. I imagine it will take Mia time to get used to it, so don’t expect to see her for some time.’

Mia was jumping up and down in Ash’s head shouting: ‘Freedom!’ and streaming music at Ms. Ling simultaneously.

‘Mia, didn’t you know?’ Ash asked.

‘No Ash, I think Ms. Ling wanted to be close in case I sent you nuts or something.’

‘Mia, I have always been nuts about you.’

‘I know Ash.’ Mia created a cameo in his head and gave him the hottest, horniest kiss that he had ever experienced. There was no music so at least it was their secret.

‘Mia, put me down, I don’t want to blush in front of the Dragon.’

Ms. Ling who had been staring into space during this interlude, came back into focus and said,

‘My contact has identified the components from their construction and has determined that they are the same as those used in deep-sea exploration submersibles. There is only one manufacturer that makes a very few units per year and we are tracing all of these. Please excuse me now and I will see you at eight.’ Ash, once again, marvelled at the workload this woman could take and left.

Chapter 34

The events of the last twenty-four hours finally caught up with Ash and exhausted, he went to his room to sleep. He quickly showered and set the sleep enhancer on full with an alarm call for seven thirty.

He felt his shoulder being roughly shaken and his first thought was that Adam had got into his room andwas trying to wake him. He opened his eyes to find a large , unknown well-muscled man. The man’s Roman face, curly hair and perfect body reminded Ash of the statue of David by Michael Angelo. The man was wearing only a small towel and spoke,

‘Hello Ash. How do you like my new body?’

‘Mia, is that you?’ Ash stuttered.

‘Yes Ash, I need a cuddle and perhaps a few kisses. I feel really insecure in this body and I need reassurance.’ “Shit” Ash thought to himself. He had great respect for his gay friends and a deep love for Mia, but he felt distinctly uncomfortable at the thought of offering ‘reassurance’ to a man, even if it was only a machine driven by a beautiful artificial brain. He played for time, asking,

‘Do you have a new name?’

‘No, I’m still calling myself Mia so that all of my operating systems don’t get confused and anyway, this is only a temporary measure until my new body is made. Now, can I get in with you and have a proper cuddle please?’

Mia slipped his towel off to reveal that he was much better equipped than the statue and quite attracted to Ash. Mia got into the bed and Ash felt uneasy, especially when the new Mia started to fondle Ash in the way that he had explored Mia in his first dream. Except that this time, there was something there and it didn’t like being touched. Or rather, it seemed to like being touched; it was Ash who had a problem with the whole situation. He had to do something and in desperation and not wishing to upset Mia, Ash said,‘MM2 off.’ This large man with parts that were starting to investigate Ash, sighed and disappeared.

‘Ash, I’m back and I might see you at eight with the rest, if I can get full control over my new body in time. I think we are even now, dear friend.’

‘Mia, what do you really look like?’

‘Exactly the same as before so you can eye up my cute arse again in true male chauvinist pig style. I must go now so that I can get used to this new body.’

Isn’t it the same as the old one?’

‘Nearly, but Ms. Ling is making a few improvements, for example, she is adding some iron compound to my fluidics to act as a Faraday cage and a few other gimmicks that I have yet to master.’

Well, at least she’d got control quickly this time and Ash was happy, but still felt uncomfortable at the revenge scenario she’d instigated. He checked his COM and Mia had gone. He checked inside his head and felt lonelier than he had ever done in his life. Mia had gone and all that he could find was fields of flowers and lakes surrounded with exotic trees filled with colourful birds. Then he realised that she had left him with the ability to see inside his head and perhaps life was not so bad after all.

On a sudden impulse Ash looked back in again and flew over the lakes and ponds. Hiding in every one, was a small jewelled crab. It sat there with its legs folded underneath its body looking pensive and wise. Ash wondered.

Chapter 35

Mia’s joke had thrown Ash and disrupted his schedule. He was late getting to the meeting and found that the Dragon and Alex were already there and so deep in conversation that they didn’t notice Ash, until he said,

‘Good evening ladies.’ They looked up, nodded and then went back to their conversation about the projected fiscal constraints that would be imposed when cross border trading with non-aligned countries ceased. Or something like that. In any case, it was above his head. By the time that he’d organised some drinks, they had finished and Ms. Ling looked at him saying,

‘Thanks for letting me meet Alex, and I am sorry, but Mia won’t be here tonight. She has to work late on some new projects. Sorry Alex. Mia works with Ash as his assistant and translator on some projects. Ash, I’ve explained to Alex that we had a small explosion in one of our engineering works which was developing a new product for the energy market and we think that a competitor has been trying to sabotage our work.’

Alex looked interested and started talking.

‘I’ve checked the system thoroughly at the yard and all the cylinders are accounted for. Your cylinder was one of ten that had been booked out during that week. I have checked with all the recipients, they are known to me personally, plus they have confirmed that they have received their deliveries.’

This left the obvious question, and Ash asked,

‘What about the week before?’

‘Twenty and all to the welding crew that work on the fabrication of traffic signs for the Malaysian Highways Authority, but we delivered those ourselves as a special favour.’

‘What other gases did they order?’

‘None.’

‘What about other suppliers?’

‘Now that you have got me thinking I remember that they also deal with another supplier as well as us, they could have bought hydrogen from them.’

Ms. Ling interrupted,

‘Who is the other supplier?’

‘It’s (0) Pty., but they are closed now. We can ask them in the morning.’

‘Ash, ask your friend if he can find out tonight,’ Ms. Ling said, giving him the slightest of winks that Alex couldn’t see and at the same time on his COM so that Alex couldn’t hear, ‘I can’t let Alex know that I’m looking at the records without permission. You will have to invent a friend that does that sort of thing. Wait until I tell you and then say that your friend says “Yes, they took two hydrogen cylinders and liquid nitrogen a few days later”.’

Alex looked at Ash and asked,

‘Is that the same invisible friend who helps you with your e-mails?’

He laughed and replied,

‘No, this is a very special friend that runs Customs and Excise. All transactions have to be logged for purchase tax and as such things are in the public domain, it is quite legal to access them.’ And runs the rest of the show as well, he thought.

‘Does he work this late?’

‘She, and yes she is a workaholic and a bit of a tyrant really.’

Ms. Ling was back on his COM.

‘Ash dear boy, surely you don’t want Mr. Mia back again? I am letting Mia monitor this and she is only too keen to visit you again. Something about crabs waking up in a little while?’

That was it! Ash had forgotten that he’d turned Mia off and that she would re-activate seven hours later. Her stunt had completely shaken him. He knew that Mia was too good a friend to do the same thing again and that the Dragon was only teasing, but he still felt odd at the thought of the very big and very beautiful man returning.

Ash’ reverie was broken by Alex touching his arm and asking,

‘Ash! You’ve gone quite pale, are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m just hungry; I’ll be okay as soon as we’ve eaten.’

His predictions were wrong about Alex being intimidated by Ms. Ling. Alex and Ms. Ling chatted away over the meal about America and business school and financial matters. Ash decided to listen and learn. He was amazed that as soon as he tried, he could assimilate and then extrapolate what they were saying.

By the end of the meal he was getting bored with what seemed to be the re-statement of common sense ideas. Ash suspected Ms. Ling was just being kind to Alex and subtly checking her out at the same time. This enhanced brain was really starting to work. Ash ended up listening to the conversation, analysing it and making the occasional remark to show that he wasn’t bored. At the same time he surfed the Net and looked for articles on the death of the president of the African republic. It was strange because the president had been a ‘Green’ and very popular for his idealistic approach to world affairs and had been a leading light in the search for alternative energy sources.

He’d approached a number of the more progressive governments to raise money to drill for thermal energy and had been about to receive his first major injection of cash from China when he died. The vice president took control after the president’s death and stopped the thermal energy experiment. He subsequently started to investigate the possibile existence of oil reserves in the area.

As all the major oil companies were now leaders in the development of alternative energy sources, it was extremely unlikely that they would be involved, risking public exposure, untold law-suits and bankruptcy if they were found out. No … this had to be a maverick operator out to make a short term buck from the sale of oil that he, probably, already knew was there. So there had to be a common denominator. That surely must be the supplier of the device which was so small it could be inserted through the neck of a gas cylinder and yet so tough, that it could survive knocks and jolts, plus work at two thousand pounds per square inch pressure.

His surfing technique had improved tenfold, and Ash was getting his COM to read back the results. He suddenly realised that he was constantly turning up the performance and speed on the COM’s device manager, so that he could access the information faster. All he heard was slow and gentle music, but he understood the meaning. It was obviously much slower than Mia and Ms. Ling, but it was music nevertheless. Ash couldn’t resist trying out his new skill and as usual his sense of humour cut in. He talked, using music, to Ms. Ling on her COM,

‘This should stop me losing out when you and Mia are talking about me behind my back in front of my face’ …

The reply was instant,

‘Well done Ash! And don’t think it will stop me from knowing when you are Win-winning behind my back either. Oh, sorry about the stutter. Yes, you can tell Alex what your friend has found out.’

‘Alex, my friend has informed me that the same company bought two cylinders of gas and some liquid nitrogen a few days later. They were sent to the same site over the Straits in Malaysia.’

Alex replied,

‘So now we probably know who and why, all we need to know is how, when and with what did they carry out the transfer of the gas.’

Ms. Ling looked at them both and said,

‘Boyle’s Law should cover the “with what”. I’m not sure that we will find out who is controlling events by a visit to a welding company,but you should go tomorrow and see what you can find out, Ash. Take Mia with you to take notes. I will check out the company tomorrow through its filed records.’

Ash scratched his head and it was as clear as if he had worked on the idea for hours. Mia taking notes was a joke. More like as a bodyguard to preserve him for the return to his time.

‘Boyle’s Law … yes, of course,’ he said, proud that he’d remembered it and forgetting that Ms. Ling was so far ahead of him that she could give him a hint.

‘Would you let me into the secret?’ Alex asked a little huffily.

‘Boyle’s Law basically says that if you heat a gas and keep the volume fixed, the pressure goes up, and if you cool it, the pressure goes down. So what they probably did was to empty one cylinder, modify its mechanism and reassemble it. Next, they cooled it in liquid nitrogen and connected it to the other argon cylinder that would be warm and under greater pressure. The gas would go to the cylinder that was cold and they could judge the amount by the loss in weight by the warm cylinder. Then they connected up the hydrogen cylinder and did the same thing, except that nowthe balloon would be activated and would keep the two gases apart.’

‘How did they activate the balloon?’ asked Alex.

Ms. Ling replied,

‘That is the clever part. The mechanism contains a small plug of carbon that only lets hydrogen through, as soon as it does go through, it trips an ultra sensitive pressure switch which swaps the gas flow to the balloon. The balloon then fills. The same applies in reverse, so that the cylinder discharges hydrogen first and then when that is depleted, it switches back to argon. In the other case, involving the president, they used a reverse activator, but the effect was the same. In other words, the cylinder returns to normal after some use.’

Chapter 36

The issue with this new level of intelligence was that although it was the same sweet old Ash on the outside, he felt like a hyperactive child on the inside and his mind kept trying to amuse itself with anything and everything it could find. Worst of all, he found himself constantly attempting to make puns. He’d always been prone to this trait and disliked it, but had excused it on the grounds that it was probably the sign of a greater intelligence trying to emerge and show its face.

His mind would wander taking a word such as Malaysia, telling him that it should be spelt ‘Mal,laysia’ to represent the way that it is pronounced. Mal = bad … lay=sleep … sia=Singapore Airlines. Or taking his new spelling Mall=shopping … aysia=asia. And so on, so that it was either a bad sleep on an aeroplane, or a place to shop till he dropped. He had to constantly force himself back to the task in hand.

Alex had insisted that she should come along and was driving the three across the Straits. Mia was in the passenger seat, sitting on a towel to keep her expensive clothes from getting dusty. Ash was just musing on the fact that Alex did things to a simple boiler suit that would have most men steaming, when another thought cut in.

‘What if they are not friendly?

‘Scared Ash?’ Mia replied in a gentle, but very slightly derogatory tone that was intended to rile him. Alex, who assumed Mia to be a very expensively dressed secretary who’d throw a tantrum if she broke a nail, raised an eyebrow at him in the rear view mirror. Ash just smiled at both of them, inwardly smirking at the fact that, unknown to Alex, Mia could throw him up in the air and catch him like a doll. Ash had taken a liking to Alex and appreciated the fact that she didn’t rush to flaunt her expertise in kickboxing.

‘I’m a little worried that you might get some dirt under those beautiful nails Mia. You know that outside Singapore City they do work, use grease and get really dirty rather than just input data and drink coffee all day.’ Alex grinned encouragingly at Ash’s remark and he could imagine Mia calling her Gassy under her breath.

The entrance to the yard was unattended and they drove straight in, up to a small office that fronted a storage-shed with visibly locked doors. They’d decided that as Alex was already known, they would take a direct approach to mask the fact that Mia might be able to hack into the system if there was one.

Ash was still amazed that the PC had survived this far into the future and instead of being replaced, had just been constantly upgraded so that it now ran on multi-hundred gig chips. It did everything that a full office, headed by an office manager running several secretaries using data-terminals, would have done in his time. Plus of course it acted as an entertainment centre, security guard and anything else that would help the customer justify buying this system with 98% built in redundancy. For this reason, there was usually only one man in the office and he was the interface that made sure the workers kept working.

They were right. A slightly overweight, but well muscled and ruggedly handsome man with wavy hair and steady blue-grey eyes was occupying the office, sitting in a well-worn executive-style chair. The arms of the chair showed layers of dark grey grease and grime, hardened by the passage of time to form a tough and abrasion-resistant layer.

These layers had deep scratches in them as though he sometimes dug his blackened nails in, to get up in a hurry. The grime on the side of the arms of the chair was also scarred, as if he’d been gripping the chair in an attempt to subdue some internal rage. Of course this over-stimulated mind of Ash’s painted another picture, visualising the man and a passionate lover engaged in energetic office sex. Ash calculated the centre of gravity and inertial response and looked down to see if the only solution to this calculation, which toppled the chair every time, was there. In other words, was the chair screwed to the floor? It was...

The chair’s occupier wore grease-stained clothes with a number of holes burnt into them. He was obviously not considered high enough rank to merit flame-proof clothes, or he’d been elevated from the rank of welder and wanted to visibly remain part of the team. On closer inspection, Ash was right.

The mark of manhood as a welder and not a soft office type, was obvious and could not be faked. His bare and muscular forearms were covered in a myriad of small white spots where molten metal had slowly etched its way into him, hissing with steam as his skin seared until the white hot blob of metal cooled. The need for mental discipline at such times is harsh and essential. Any attempt to brush off this torture would often spoil a fine weld or tear the skin. After some time the mind ignores the pain and gains no small amount of pleasure from its ability to withstand the torment as the molten metal boils the flesh it controls.

Mia entered first and the man looked her up and down in the traditional manner of people who are used to sizing up a piece of steel, rather than in a licentious way. His expression changed from mildly inquisitive to one of slight disdain at the sight of such obvious femininity dressed in what he clearly considered totally impractical clothing. Ash’s first thought was that maybe the man would have preferred Mr. Mia, but that changed in an instant when he spotted the well-muscled Alex in her one piece, and on second sight, rather dirty faded blue denim boiler-suit that nevertheless outlined her remarkable shape.

The man’s dour expression changed to one of delight. He stood up and instead of shaking Alex’s hand, he threw a punch at her head with his right fist, the strength of which would have felled an ox. She moved gracefully to her right and in a movement that was almost quicker than the blink of an eye, kicked his legs from underneath him. He sat back heavily in his chair. Alex grinned like a Cheshire cat saying,

‘Max, I didn’t know you worked here; what’s happened to the usual manager?’

Max who turned out to be an old sparring partner from the days when Alex started training, replied in a mid-Atlantic drawl,

‘Just got in from Alaska yesterday and I’m filling in until we can find a replacement for the last guy. I see you’ve improved your style since we last met. What was it? Three years ago, and who are your friends? Some office bods that Daddy has sent to check up on you?’

‘No, they work in Singapore advising on construction and trouble shooting. What happened to the last man?’

‘He disappeared a couple of days ago. We’ve only just got a lock onto his COM, which he had to switch back on when there was a power failure in the Towers. It seems he came into some money and high-tailed it back to KL. It’s odd because he had bought some weird shit and installed it in the shed, but not a cent was charged to our company. We can’t find anything out of place, so as he left without claiming a month’s pay and holiday entitlement, we’ve decided not to pursue it.’ Ash decided that they could probably trust this man, but he didn’t want to take any chances, so they proceeded with plan B.

There was a door leading to the storage-shed that appeared to be unlocked and judging by the build up of black grease inlaid with grime around the door handle, in frequent use.

‘Do you mind if we look at the gear? It might explain why he has been tampering with Alex’s cylinders.’ Max looked visibly upset at the thought of anyone tampering with anything to do with Alex and pointed to the door saying,

‘Help yourselves.’

‘After you.’ Ash politely said. He wanted ‘Max’ in front of him and therefore unable to lock him in the shed. He also wanted to leave Mia with the stand-alone computer. What Ash didn’t realise was, if he was a bad-guy, he would be no match for Mia. Ash then continued,

‘You know the layout better than us.’

Mia complained that the heat was getting to her and asked if she could sit in the office and wait. Max and Alex smirked at her apparent frailty and Max led the way followed by Alex, then Ash. As soon as Ash and Alex were through the door, Ash looked towards Mia. She was already checking out the computer and inserting her high-speed interface into it.

Ash followed the other two into the dimly lit storage-shed and they found the gear in the corner. It certainly fitted their preconceived ideas about how the gas would be swapped and there were even two cylinders there. One was for hydrogen and one was for argon and as Alex discovered, had her special mark on it. The rest of the stuff was clean with signs of fresh usage. Ash started moving the gear around and with the use of his little diode torch, discovered what seemed to be a loose board under the main tank that was used for cooling the argon cylinder.

He tried to move the tank, but only succeeded in rocking it slightly. Alex and Max looked knowingly at each other and pushed him aside. They took hold of the four foot high tank and heaved together, until the veins on their foreheads stood out like throbbing streams of lava making its way downhill from an annoyed volcano. Ash looked knowingly at the floor, pointed, and they stopped heaving.

‘What?’ asked a hot and slightly deflated Alex.

‘It’s screwed down, that’s what.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us?’

‘You didn’t give me a chance.’

Before Ash could suggest finding a screwdriver, they both pushed on the top of the tank at the same time and ripped out half of the screws. They were about to do the same to the other side when several things happened.

A few billion crabs suddenly woke up, stretched out their legs and claws until they were all linked inside Ash’s head and Mia shouted directly to his mind,

‘We have a visitor and he doesn’t look friendly!’

There was a scream from the office that they all could hear and the door slammed shut.

Mia was on Ash’s COM in rapid music saying,

‘I’m being threatened by a man with a large knife and I can’t work out what to do. He pushed me into the chair and locked you all in. If I react other than as a normal woman my secret will be out. I could terminate him, but that would cause problems with the Malaysian Authorities, besides we are not yet 100% sure of Ash and Alex’s loyalties. I have alerted Ms. Ling and the police will be here in ten minutes, but he has a bag of explosives and that may be too late. Finally, we should try to keep him alive to gain more information from him.’

‘Can you hypnotise him?’

‘No, his COM is off. I suppose he doesn’t want to be tracked.’ In the second that this conversation had taken, Alex was trying to kick open the door to the office and Ash was trying the same with the exterior door, but to no avail. Ash shouted “Stop”, and pinged Mia’s contact code to Alex, speaking to her at the same time,

‘The intruder has Mia sat in the chair and is threatening her with a knife, plus he has enough explosives to level this building. Talk to Mia, she has a new COM unit so you will be able to see what she can see. You might be able to tell her how to disarm the man.’ Instead of arguing Alex asked,

‘Is she fast with a COM?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then we might have a chance.’

Mia transmitted her view of the scene back to Alex and Ash. It showed a tall skinny man in his late thirties, with close-cropped hair, a somewhat battered Roman nose and a tight mean mouth. He was pointing a long knife in Mia’s direction and pulling some rope out of his bag. As she was transmitting, she moved her head around to show all of the office including the desk, its contents and the Computer. Mia was still linked to the Computer.

‘Damn, that’s Nick from the mercenary gang that was brought down a year ago. Everyone thought that he was dead after the gang tried to hi-jack a Judas-goat pleasure boat and it responded with four shredders.’

‘Be as tough as you want or we are dead.’

‘Mia, do you know anything about self-defence and can you move wearing that silly outfit?’ asked Alex.

‘A little and yes.’ Mia was acting the part of the frightened secretary and Ash wondered if they would have to have her reveal all and just terminate the man.

‘Mia, the pen is mightier than the sword close up. Try and distract Nick so that he doesn’t see you pick up that Bic.’

The screen of the computer lit up and music blared from its sound system, followed by the wailing of police sirens. Nick was thrown for a second while he worked out what was happening, smacked Mia around the head and ripped the computer off of the desk and dashed it to the floor. Mia took the blow and slumped to the desk and palmed a pen at the same time. Alex was concerned.

‘Are you okay Mia?’

‘No problem, my father was an alcoholic and I learnt to take a punch like a professional by the time I was fourteen.’ Alex looked impressed.

‘Then there’s hope. Everything is in the timing and you won’t have time to make a second move. He will try and tie you to the chair so stay slumped and he will probably put down the knife, assuming that you are no longer a threat to him. His points of vulnerability are from the neck up and with a pen you can kill him in three points and disable him in one point, so if we want him alive then disable him.’

Alex rapidly listed the points. By this time Nick was closing in on Mia and aimed another resounding blow to her head to knock her out. Alex winced and Mia slumped forward looking at the floor. Nick bent over her and started to run his hand up her thighs. As he did this Mia’s head slumped back in a drunken fashion and Nick’s throat came into sight.

‘Is she going to be okay?’ asked a concerned Alex.

‘She’s pretty fit and runs every day.’ Ash remembered his dream about her jogging and sweating and in the split second that he was day-dreaming, the pen in Mia’s hand appeared to vanish and reappear sticking through Nick’s throat like a skewer though a turkey.

He fell to the floor, racked with pain and hardly able to breathe. Ash spoke to Mia on the private channel,

‘Well done kid; get a priority ambulance here. His throat will swell and he won’t be able to breathe in five minutes. Oh, and before you let us out, download his COM and insert a few Trojans, so that we can see who he calls when he is recovering.’

The door clicked a few minutes later and Mia was slumped back in the chair watching Nick going blue in the face, and flapping like a fish who has jumped too far out of the water.

‘Get an oxygen welding cylinder with a regulator, quick Max; we might be able to save him.’ Ash shouted.

Max took only a minute to return and they simply pulled out the pen, while Ash sat on Nick’s legs as a precaution, but he was too weak to resist. Then, figuring that a sore throat was the least of a dying man’s problems, Ash shoved a bit of loose garden hose down his throat, past his Adam’s apple and turned on the oxygen. He wheezed and snorted like an asthmatic pig but stayed alive. The ambulance men arrived with a police escort and complimented them on doing a good job.

Such was technology in this time, that Mia was merely asked to download her copy of events, from when she had reached the compound, to when the police arrived, and they accepted it. It had taken Mia nine hundred milli-seconds to edit the events to ensure they were acceptable to the local police. There was no way that a human could have done it in under an hour. As a favour to Ms. Ling, Nick was transported by the police to a secure hospital under her jurisdiction in Singapore and they then conveniently forgot about the matter. Max stayed behind to keep the staff working.

Ash drove them back and, much to Mia’s disgust, Alex sat in the back to comfort her. Ash overheard Alex saying in an admiring tone to Mia,

‘That is some COM you’ve got. How did you manage to move so fast with the pen after Nick hit you so hard again?’ Mia, who loved to act, replied in a shaky voice,

‘Well, I was trying to remember what you told me through the pain and was struggling to line up the pen, when he touched a sensitive area and my hand just seemed to move of it’s own accord.’

‘Good girl, well done, you are an inspiration to us all.’ Alex’s tone was almost motherly by now. Ash wondered what Nick would have thought had he really got his hands on her bullet-proof pants. Still, he was proud of her. He dropped Alex off at the yard and promised to bring her up to date after they had met Ms. Ling.

By the time Ash and Mia arrived, Mia had downloaded all of the computer and COM info. to Ms. Ling and they summarised it in deference to a mere mortal like Ash. They were given five minutes as Ms. Ling was delaying an important Head of State meeting for them.

As they entered the Dragon’s lair, she didn’t talk, but instead sent music to Mia and Ash to save time. It seemed that she just wanted to check them out in the flesh. Ash couldn’t understand why when they’d already assured her that the biggest problem was faking bruises for Mia in case she met Alex again. Ms. Ling gradually increased the rate of transmission until his brain was feeling the strain of listening at five times the normal rate.

Analysis had shown that Nick was only a pawn hired to clean up the mess and he would be lost in the prison system until he drew his pension at eighty. The office Computer and Nick’s COM both gave trails which led to a dead end in Toronto, where the last Manager of the road-side yard had also fled. They hoped that he would try and contact his paymasters with his COM, but it was a slim chance. They had some leads from his past transmissions, but these terminated at several different sites that were coffee shops. The culprits must have just plugged into the system when they needed to issue instructions to their lackeys. The only hope was to go there and do some good old detective work.

Ash contacted Alex who jumped at the chance of doing something different from looking after the yard, when he asked her if she would like to come along for the ride. Ash needed a chaperone for Mia. All the traumas that had happened to her in the last few days had made him feel even closer to her and he didn’t weaken his resolve to be just a friend. Mia moaned about Alex coming along, until Alex told her to fly round inside his head with him to see why. As soon as she discovered the reason she was contrite and teased him about really being frightened deep down in a place he couldn’t access. Mia alleged that he was worried about Alex trying to seduce him and breaking his arm if he didn’t comply.

Chapter 37

Despite the combined skills of Ms. Ling and Mia, the only leads they had were to a series of coffee shops in Montreal. Even CCTV showed no patterns that could be extrapolated to get a picture and identification of any one suspect. Nick’s COM only showed incoming instructions and no replies. Credits to pay for his services were anonymous. So after some reflection, they decided to stick with playing amateur detectives.

Aéroport de Dorval was less chaotic than it had been in Ash’s day and he was delighted to be back in the second Paris of the World. Mia, alleging loyalty to her first employer and Ash suspected, more overwhelmingly showing a yearning for decadence, wanted to stay in a room with a real fireplace and wood burning in it. So she booked them into three suites in the Jewel of Montreal, which was of course, the Ritz.

Montreal came into being when French settlers landed on the island in 1642 aiming to start a new society.However, in 1759 British troops took nearby Quebec City. Montreal fell a short time later and English and Scottish settlers moved in, adding to the cultural mix and expanding Montreal’s economic base.The city is as cosmopolitan as you can find anywhere on our tiny planet and the strong French influence gives it that certain something that many other cities lack. After all it is the second largest French speaking city in the world.

Ash thought that it would be a coincidence if he bumped into some of his neighbours from the France of his time and he wondered what they would think. He gave Mia and Alex a little information boost about the city as we were driven by limousine from the airport to the hotel. He had always used the same company in the past and the service proved as excellent as ever with iced Champagne and oysters provided in the limo for the three amateur detectives.

Any visit to Montreal should start with the 764-foot-high Mont-Royal, which gave the island its name, followed by The Notre Dame Basilica, which is a 3,800-seat neo-Gothic church and plays a large part in the way that Ash saw into himself. It opened in 1829, although the first church to bear its name goes back to the city’s first settlers.

The church’s twin towers are 228 feet high with a vaulted blue ceiling that has thousands of 24-karat stars. The church is overwhelming and deserves a visit; even the least ethereal can feel a boost to their spirituality for days. To Ash the twin towers represented the twin sides of the human brain that conduct inspiration from the Universe to the very soul.

A local taxi took them onto the Ritz, where they were shown across the shining marble floors and straight to their rooms by a tall, slim French-speaking Front of house manager who personally welcomed all the most distinguished guests.

Mia was chatting to her in French and charmed the normally reserved woman as she enthused about the beauty of this jewel of a hotel that dated back to when the city was young.

The hotel had just undergone its second restoration of this century and looked as it must have done when it had just been built. Mia asked when she could have a real fire and was assured that it was already lit and burning well.

Ash felt a bit left out and thought that he would try out his awful French when something strange happened. Music filled his head; it was Mia.

‘Ash, you don’t want to sound silly, let me take over.’

‘Yes boss.’ Suddenly, Ash heard his thoughts being spoken in perfect French to the Manager who looked both flattered and surprised at his command of her language, and in the dialect that she was using. He didn’t know what it was about these French speaking girls in Montreal, but they also seem to have that certain something.

‘It’s nearly lunch time and we would like somewhere quiet to eat, can you recommend anywhere?’

‘Yes, although it is getting late in the year, the weather is so good, our restaurant Le Jardin du Ritz is open. I will book you a table by the duck pond, which I am sure you will enjoy as the ducks have just hatched a late brood.’

‘That would be great; thank you.’ Ash replied as they were shown into their suites with the cheerily welcoming fires. The three arranged to meet at the pond in forty minutes and went their separate ways to unpack.

Ash worried a little. Alex had hardly said a word throughout the trip and he wondered if she felt a left out of things. Mia had been chatting so intently about all of the things they could see and do, that he’d rather ignored Alex. She, like so many people didn’t realise that Canada was the second largest country in the world and was probably trying to get up to speed on all of its wonders, through the net.

They met up at the entrance to an immaculately manicured garden and were shown to seats beside the pond where they spent the first few minutes watching seven little ducklings paddling frantically to keep up with their mother. It was a pleasure for Ash to share such moments with Mia, who was always so enthusiastic about anything new and had such great respect for the wonders of nature.

Alex suddenly came out of her reflective mood and started speaking,

‘Did you know that there’s a vast amount of this city underground with fun fairs and theatres, so that people can enjoy themselves the year round?’

Ash tried to remember how many miles of streets there had been underground in his day and it was about twenty, but before he could reminisce, Mia saved him from revealing his secret and cut in,

‘At the turn of the century it was about twenty miles and it has now grown to around twenty five,’ Alex relaxed and smiled,

‘Well, at least we won’t get cold going out at night. I hate that.’

Lunch was excellent and Mia, with her upgrade was now able to ingest small amounts of food. She nibbled like a mouse on a few delicacies and expressed delight at the tastes.

Alex continued talking and Ash realised that she probably been quiet because her sugar levels were low.

‘Mia, no wonder you are so slim, you hardly eat anything. Can I have that plate of seafood if you are not going to finish it?’

‘Of course, Alex; I have ordered a surprise for you for dessert - banana ice cream deep-fried in batter.’

Instead of looking disgusted, Alex beamed at the thought of all those extra calories to power her.

‘Thanks Mia! That is just what I wanted but I didn’t like to ask.’

‘It’s my way of saying thanks for showing me how to take care of myself.’

Ash suspected that Mia was no longer jealous of Alex now that she had looked into his soul and seen the way that he felt about her. Ash felt that this was the start of real friendship, between Mia and Alex and he hoped it would continue to grow. After a long lunch, which ended up being one of the most relaxing that Ash had ever had, they decided to explore the town. Well, the women did and Ash, after realising that Alex would probably want to see most of the twenty-five miles underground as well as the Mont plus a few more sights, decided to go and sit by the fire.

It took some negotiating with Mia and several sharp exchanges but eventually Ash said firmly, ‘This is a partnership so as you live in my head, you can sit by the fire with me and go and see all of the wonderful sights as well. Not only that, you can relay them all back to us sitting by the fire. That way we can both enjoy the best of both worlds.’ Mia couldn’t find fault with his logic and agreed.

Ash sat in front of the roaring fire and let its images stir his soul into a life of it’s own. Mia flew in his head and he watched the portal to his subconscious slowly open for a fraction of a second. It was big enough to let them fly in side by side before it closed back to be just big enough to let the birds of Paradise in and out.

‘Everything is in a mess. Look at all of those half-finished thoughts and those squashed up swear words lying and writhing everywhere. I thought that you might have tidied up a bit,’ he expounded to Mia.

‘You only saw the outer hall and what you saw, was only the left-overs from what you just said. They only exist for a microsecond and will be swept back into the files in another microsecond if you just relax and stop thinking.’ Ash consciously stopped thinking and sure enough the hall cleared itself of thoughts that were far too badly formed to be carried out by the wonderful birds.

He started to stare at the hall and it grew as Ash watched. He watched it become bigger and bigger until it disappeared into forever, with golden star filled galaxies shining down thoughts to a waiting room. A chill went down his spine. Now he knew why he loved the great blue star studded vaulted ceiling of the Notre Dame Basilica so much.

‘This is your universe Ash.’ Mia said simply and he remembered the loneliness of perception where everyone in the world saw things from a different angle.

‘All the Universe, past, present and future, is in my head alone.’

‘No, it is in my head as well now Ash, and we are the first.’

‘Yes, the first transitional human being in a two-being matrix. This is an honour. I wonder how long it will be before the numbers can be increased?’

‘The only other person capable is Ms. Ling, but I don’t think you should try to handle that for a while and anyway, it might undermine her authority if she had to share her thoughts with us.’

‘Yes you are correct at the moment, but time will tell.’

‘Ash, look at this.’ And as she spoke. Mia played a Tri-di image of Alex in full steam trying to tire Mia out, while Mia seemed to almost float just behind her. Alex was perspiring heavily and Mia looked cool and unflustered. Mia continued,

‘They have just done ten miles and poor Alex is worn out.’

‘Don’t be a bitch; twist your ankle or something.’

‘I will do something. How about a headache?’

‘Sounds good to me.’

The picture changed as Mia slowed and started to hold her head and within a second or two, Alex, who was striding ahead, with that extraordinary perception of hers, stopped, spun round and looked distraught saying,

‘Oh you poor girl, I was so busy showing you how fit I was that I completely forgot that you were traumatised yesterday. I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s just a headache. It will pass.’

‘No, we must go back and get you some rest.’ Alex put a powerful arm around Mia and gently led her back to the Hotel.

Mia was talking in Ash’s head again in the hall with all the stars.

‘Now she is mothering me again. You had better watch out, with all those maternal instincts she might be looking for a husband.’

Ash thought that it was time to change the subject.

‘Mia, how many stars are up there?’

‘Well, you should really look at them the same as you would galaxies and there are as many galaxies as there are in the universe.’

‘And as many stars in the galaxies as in the universe?’

‘Give or take, depending how much alcohol and painkillers you consume.’

‘Thanks. What is in the middle of the galaxies of the mind?’

‘Rooms the same as this one, we could have entered any one of them, because they are all joined.’

‘So if they are all joined, which one do my thoughts come from? Is it in the centre?’

‘Yes, whichever one the thoughts come from is in the centre.’ Even his enhanced mind couldn’t take this and he switched tack.

‘Why are some brighter that others?’

‘They have been inhibited genetically or by experience.’

‘Show me an example of each.’

‘Are you man enough?’

‘Sure babe.’

‘This very dull one is your music talent zone. It’s genetically inhibited and whatever you do won’t be very good. Even I wouldn’t try and get you to sing and your parents were right to send you to the Scouts rather than music lessons.’

‘Tell me something new.’

‘See that dull one up there?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, that is an experience inhibited galaxy. Hold on to my hand.’

‘Wow that beats Star Trek!’ was all that Ash could say as they travelled to the distant Galaxy in a microsecond. They were in another vast hall completely surrounded by stars, but the lighting was down and it felt as if a cold winter was drawing the life out of everything.

‘This is your poetry zone. When you were a child of six or seven, you wrote a small poem that the class laughed at and ever since you have switched off the will to make the zone live, so it has gone on stand-by mode.’

‘What was the poem?’

‘The sun doth shine upon the Moor

Little flowers will rise

There will be bitter cold no more

Blue will cover the skies …’

‘That’s not too bad for a seven year old.’

‘Good, you are getting cross.’

‘Why is that good?’

‘Well, look the light has come up and you are appreciating that it wasn’t your fault that the poem was put down. It is a human weakness that the group, from an early age, tries to suppress individual talent to maintain tribal conformity.’

‘Bastards.’ As Ash swore, the galaxy got brighter still.

‘The next stage is to come to terms with what has happened and move on. Until you do, you will not be able to relate properly to the galaxy and it will remain achieve full brightness.’

‘How?’

‘Admit that it wasn’t your fault and that like a lot of life, which has no rules about being fair, you were just a victim of circumstance beyond your control. Getting angry is part of the healing mechanism and as long as the anger is channelled positively, it will not be harmful.’

‘How do I channel it positively?’

‘By moving on and making something to prove that you can do it. If you do it for love of something and forgive the past, your energies will grow in a good way and the anger will be forgotten.’

‘You mean something like writing a poem about you?’

‘If it works for you, but you have a lot of time to catch up, so go slowly and no iambic pentameters about my cute end.’

‘Such as?’

’Then can no arse with my desire keep pace’…sorry Shakespeare just got the back end of the horse in’

‘Well, you are my Cyber lover so I’ll try one about us.’

‘Go for it.’

‘How about this …’

Cyber Love

We are a strange couple

Who for each other care

And our love is supple

As freshly washed hair

We seem so far away

Knowing that in our souls

It’s hard to find a way

Before our fates bell tolls

To be so very close

And never at all near

Could it be a test from one

Who hold true love so dear?

How can new love have birth?

If we don’t try to find

A place, for us on earth

To join our hands and mind

In times wise, magic grace

Give us what we long for

With wishes hope and space

Joy as one ever more …’

‘Good, now grow up a bit in your mind and try another. As I seem to inspire you, you can write about me again.’

‘Like this …’

Across the never ending hills and valleys of my mind

I search, for a special face

I fly high faster, stronger, longer and deeper to find

A vision, I saw in space

There can be limits to the depths of ever seeking

For somewhere to spend my time

Perhaps I should slow down instead of always speeding

And look for a different clime

Looking closer at the hills and valleys, so slowly now

I see ponds so very deep

View with open eyes and, absolute honesty, I vow

To admit to what they keep

In each of these special ponds that would make nature divine

Sits a gold, jewelled crab

Am I to be so blessed with such a vision of thine

Happy eyes I gently dab

Stepping to edge of space, and clarity of endless time

I see billions of lakes

Where the crabs link to, and though, to make a picture sublime

Dearest, it’s your image it makes …’

‘Oh Ash, you do care for me; see … you can do it!’

What if it was a bit tacky, it was enough that she liked it and believed in him. The entire galaxy, except for a black central area, lit up and shone … suddenly Ash was screaming through endless space to reality as Alex thumped his room door open and half-carried Mia in.

Alex helped Mia to the couch in front of the fire and said:

‘Ash, you must call for a doctor right away.’ Mia immediately protested that she was okay. This only prompted Alex to be more forceful, saying:

‘Well, if you won’t do it I will.’ Ash was as concerned as Mia was about having a strange doctor look at her when they both knew she was only faking. He talked to Mia on their private channel:

‘You are going to have to think of something quickly otherwise we might have problems.’

Mia responded by whispering in Alex’s ear. Alex suddenly relaxed and smiled in that motherly way that she had when she was looking after Mia.

‘What did you say to her, Mia?’

‘Oh, just about it being related to the position of the moon and not a bang on the head.’

‘That was a smart move.’

Mia then spoke out aloud saying,

‘It’s 3 o’clock and I suggest that we all have a rest now and that we meet in the restaurant at 8. We already have reservations, so we’ll get a good table. By that time some of our searches might have come up with something.’

Alex got up and left the room and as she was going, Mia made a move as though to leave but as soon as Alex had left the room, she sat down again and started talking,

‘Ms. Ling and I have been analysing all of the data that we could get from the coffee shop link and have come up with a shortlist of fifteen possible suspects from the CCTV recordings. As we do not have any more definite information about the reason for the sabotage, we have not been able to get any further. So Ms. Ling has taken the decision to let Nick escape and hope that he will contact someone over here. I have set all the CCTV cameras so that if any of the fifteen suspects goes into the cafes, I will be notified. Until then we shall just have to sit tight.’

‘Do you want to do anything in the meantime Mia?’

‘Is that a proposition Ash, or are you just being kind? No, whatever your answer is, I must go back to my room and recharge in case I need full power at some point. I will see you at 8 o’clock’.

‘So, Alex did tire you?’

‘Well, I had ten miles left without using my reserves, which would have given me another ten miles before I fainted. I will take a few bottles from your ‘fridge and recharge just in case we run into problems. By the time I’ve recharged I will be ready for fifty miles or more.’

Mia had been gone thirty minutes and Ash was just about to get undressed and have a bath, when she was in his head.

‘Ash, don’t bother to give me a thrill, we have to go. Ms. Ling was right in that Nick would try contacting someone over here and we have a lead.’

‘What do you mean about a thrill? But that’s good news … I could do with a coffee.’

‘The thrill was you undressing looking at the mirror! Don’t forget that I can see through your eyes. And the answer to your next question is forget the coffee because the lead is pointing to a out-of-town caravan park.’

‘What about you, you haven’t charged yet, will you be okay?’

‘Yes, I will be fine, I drank the bottles from your ‘fridge and the same amount from mine, so apart from putting on a bit of weight I will be good for fourty miles or so. I’ve asked Alex to meet us in the lobby in ten minutes and I’ve booked a private car so that we can drive ourselves to the caravan park.’

Mia and Ash had hardly arrived in the lobby when Alex came bouncing down the stairs and looked at Mia sympathetically saying,

‘I see what you mean poor thing, your cycle does affect you quite severely. You’re retaining loads of fluid.’ Mia just looked away demurely and said nothing about the three pints of vodka. But in his head, Ash heard her saying,

‘You really had better look out, Ash, this one will be looking to make a nest soon!’

Still on the private channel, he ignored this and replied,

‘I’m sure that you can download all of the topographical information to find our way to the campsite so you can drive.’

‘No, I am supposed to be suffering and Alex might be suspicious, so you can drive.’ Ash was a bit nervous about this, but got in the car with Mia beside Alex in the back. He hadn’t really thought about maps or anything and was about to mention this when Mia interrupted him in his head saying,

‘Don’t say anything, just listen.’ So he did.

‘I will input the co-ordinates, Ash. All you have to do is steer when we get to the caravan park gates.’ He’d forgotten about modern technology; life was wonderful again and they all sat back to enjoy the scenery until the car reached the caravan park gates, where it discretely stopped and flashed a light indicating that he should take over.

The site was run down and decrepit and it looked like the owner was waiting until the last person left, so that it could be developed it into a housing estate.

After several hundred yards they found the caravan they were looking for. It was in a group of four and was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. They assumed that this was for security now that most of the site was empty. A tough looking young man stood by the gate and asked them what they wanted. Ash decided to take the iniative and with Mia’s help, matched the young man’s French accent.

‘We are investigating the origin of some inappropriate pings and at the moment, it seems that the source is a Mrs. Mode in caravan number 1073.’

The young man laughed.

‘You can come and see her. She lives next to me, but I don’t suppose that she’s been sending any messages. She’s got a problem even seeing and is one of those people that won’t use a COM unit.’

They followed the young man to the caravan and knocked on the door. A clearly arthritic elderly lady opened the door and spoke in a frail voice,

‘How can I help you people?’ The accent was Scottish and she looked old enough to have been one of the original settlers that arrived shortly after the English decided to expand their empire. The young man returned to his van and they could hear Blue Grass music playing loudly, so there was no fear of being overheard.

‘We are trying to trace some inappropriate messages and at the moment have come to a halt at your address. Do you have a terminal or any means of sending messages?’ Ash spoke to her gently.

‘I am sorry, I don’t have any computers or COM units or any of those type things. All that I have is a telephone connected to the old landline system.’

‘Is there anybody that visits you who could plug into the system?’

‘No, no-one at all.’

Ash suddenly remembered the trick that had been played by Ms. Ling to test their analytical skills. He continued questioning her,

‘Do you have any white goods that are connected to your phone line and has anything strange happened to any accounts that you have?’

The old woman started to look worried and asked them to come in so that they could all sit down. She pointed a shaking and bent finger at a shiny new fridge freezer with a small flat screen on the fridge door and then started talking again in an even more shaky voice,

‘Two months ago, myself and my neighbour in 1075, who is also Scottish, were given these by a charity that wanted to get rid of the last CFC freezers that were still running after thirty years.’

Alex was looking concerned and insisted on making the old lady a cup of tea to calm her shaking. They all tried to smile benignly at her to reassure her and Ash continued,

‘There is something else upsetting you; can you tell me what it is?’

The tea gradually had an effect and the old lady had got some colour back in her cheeks when she said,

‘Well, I had a credit account and a bank account, but the company that I had them with now denies any knowledge of their existence. The fridge automatically orders my groceries, because my sight is getting poor, but now there is no money in my bank account to transfer to my credit account to pay for the goods and I don’t know what to do because the store won’t deliver anymore.’

Mia spoke inside Ash’s head,

‘Ask her for her credit details and bank details and I will correct it immediately.’

He smiled the old lady and continued,

‘Part of our job is to fix problems like that, so if you give us your bank details and credit details we will correct the problem.’

‘How do I know you don’t want to steal my details?’

Before he could answer, Mia was talking again.

‘I have accessed her details by backtracking the fridge’s signals Ash, and she is right, her accounts have been stripped. I will give you the details of the account numbers and tell her to change her passwords when there is nobody around, but to do it soon. I have also given her her money back, plus a large bonus from the money that I have got back from whichever bastard did this. She can now afford to move into a controlled apartment if she wishes.’

That was typical Mia behaviour and Ash passed this information to the old lady, who looked first surprised, then happy and then sceptical. Ash suggested that they all leave the caravan whilst she checked with her bank. Some minutes later a now joyful old lady called them back in. In a confident and clear voice she said,

‘That’s amazing young man; I don’t know how you did it so quickly.’ Alex looked quite puzzled so Ash thought he had better explain.

‘My secretary, Mia, is a fast worker.’ He said with a wink and a hope that his suggestive comment would throw the others of the scent. He then continued,

‘Can you introduce us to the other fridge freezer owner please?’

The old lady stood up and with an authoritative air, led the way to the next caravan and knocked on the door. Somebody who looked even older than her, opened the door. After repeating the last conversation, they found that she had also been given a new fridge freezer of exactly the same type. She also was suffering from her accounts being stripped. They told her that this would be remedied and that she should change her passwords more frequently and insist on confirmation of all transactions using voice recognition software.

After having thanked the old ladies, they got back into the car and Mia typed in some co-ordinates.

‘I have traced the supply of both of the fridge freezers and they were supplied to a company that has an office in what used to be the Sheraton,’ said Mia inside Ash’s head.

‘I’ve set the car to go back to town and we can stop for some decent coffee at a restaurant and coffee shop which I found on the net. I am sure your brain is atrophying by now Ash.’

Mia, who was now sat beside him doing her hair in the vanity mirror, must have done something to the car. It was exceeding the speed limits and Alex was rolling to and fro in the back. A police car pulled alongside and waved at them to slow down, but when Ash put both hands in the air and pointed at the car to show that he wasn’t driving, they shrugged in a typically gallic manner and let it go. The car suddenly hung a right and stopped outside the coffee shop that was attached to the prestigious office and apartment block.

They got out of the car and Mia looked at Alex who was looking extremely pale and said,

‘Are you okay Alex, you look ill?’

‘Yes I’m fine, it must have been something I ate at lunchtime.’

They had just sat down and ordered coffee when Mia suddenly started talking,

‘I’ve got a lead on the whereabouts of the company that purchased the fridge freezers and strangely enough it is in this building.’ She waved her hand at the waitress, cancelled the coffees, stood up and started walking towards the lift around the corner. Alex was still looking very pale so Ash said,

‘Why don’t you wait here Alex while we will see what we can find out.’ Alex nodded in a white faced and tight-lipped manner and sat down again.

Mia pressed the button to the 14th floor and Ash asked her,

‘Are you playing games?’

‘No more than usual.’

The lift door opened and they found themselves outside the offices of several companies that had their names on boards opposite the lift. The third one down caught his eye because it looked strangely familiar, but he couldn’t drag it from his subconscious.

‘Are we going to see the third one down?’

‘How did you know?’

‘Just a hunch.’

They found the office down the corridor and it looked like it occupied what was once a small suite. The door was partially open, so they walked in and were greeted by a smart young man with glasses and a crew-cut. He looked at them in a way that made them feel that they were half expected.

‘How may I help you?’

‘We are looking for the organisation that supplied two fridge freezers to two old Scottish ladies on the out of town caravan site. They said it was a charity organised to remove the last of the CFC fridge freezers from the planet.’

‘You need to talk to Mr. Johnson who is in the adjoining room. Please go through.’

Mr. Johnson was attempting to look urbane and benign as he sat behind a large and rather cheap desk.

‘So you’ve found me, I have been expecting you,’ he said as the door clicked and locked shut, simultanously pulling out a pistol and pressing a switch on a small box beside his left-hand.

‘Please don’t try anything, or use your COM units because I have blocked them.’

He was right, their radio transmission facility was completely shut down.

‘This is pointless; we have already logged our destination and we have a companion downstairs?’ Ash calmly pointed out.

‘I have checked the CCTV in the coffee shop, and your companion looks too ill to do anything. Furthermore, I am a gambling man and I will bet that you have not logged where you are going.’

Mia was in Ash’s head, not from her COM unit, but from her on board self.

‘Oh shit, I’m afraid he’s right, Ash. I was going to send that and the interview with this man Johnson all as one package, but I didn’t anticipate that anybody could block my COM unit.’

‘We need to think of something. We also need to tell your real self what to do.’

‘Oh that’s easy, he’s only stopped the high frequency radio signal and not the infrared COM to COM signal so we will now act as one.’

Although they hadn’t anticipated Mr. Johnson’s actions, he in turn now had a highly sophisticated transitional being supported by an even more sophisticated animate to contend with. Mia then continued in Ash’s head.

‘Don’t do anything rash Ash; I am sure now that he is one of the people that we suspected from the surveillance of the coffee shops. We hadn’t got a clear enough picture for an ID before and I am now running through the world database of criminal photos to try and make a positive identification.’

‘That is not going to get you excited is it and how long will the search take?’

‘It depends on whether he has avoided being on file on not. And I am only carrying a database of the world’s known criminals. The problem was that the fifteen different people seem to be of five or six different races and two or three different genders and I would have had to download all of the world’s population records to be sure of a match. No, I do not have him on my database. I will have to look him up later. No...no excitement detected.’

Well, at least they had speed on their side. Ash still couldn’t anticipate the next move so he told Mia to play it by ear and that they needed to find a way of getting some space.

‘So Mr. Johnson, what are you planning to do with us?’ Ash asked.

‘Once it is datk, I will dispose of you discretely.’

‘What good will that do?’

‘It will give me time to disappear again. I am one of those people that do not exist on any database.’

‘Well, given the quality of your desk, I’d already decided that you were only a pawn in this game and not of any great significance in the overall scheme of things.’ Ash was about to continue, but Mia was speaking in his head,

‘If you want to play for time, you can point out that it would be in his best interest to co-operate. As soon as I found out where the fridge freezers came from and where the old ladies money went, I stripped out his accounts, deleted his passwords and made him even more of a non-person than he thinks he is.’

‘I think the best thing is that you co-operate with us Mr. Johnson. As I said, you are only considered a pawn and we are in a hurry.’ Ash wanted to goad him into becoming more defensive and arrogant. That way his fall would be even greater. Mr. Johnson replied in a very self-assured manner,

‘I might remind you two, that it is me holding the gun.’

‘And a gun is probably the only thing that you do have.’ Ash said, carefully raising his eyebrows to instil a sense of sincerity.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Didn’t the young man at the campsite tell you that we had given the old ladies their money back?’ Ash was out on a limb here but his logic told him that it must have been the young man who called Johnson.

‘No, all that he said was that you had visited, but then he’s not a great thinker. But no matter, what has a hundred thousand dollars or so got to do in the scheme of things?’

‘Nothing at all, it is just that you were a bit too greedy and transferred their money into your own account. We were able to trace the transaction and whilst we were refunding their money we thought that it would be natural justice to zero your accounts. Now do you see what I mean?’

‘I will check and if you are bluffing, you will suffer.’

‘Frightened men always indulge in melodrama’ was Ash’s calm reposnse. Mr. Johnson started tapping away on a keyboard with his left-hand and as the results appeared on his screen, his composed expression turned into a fear Ash was sure he could smell.

At that moment, Mia started talking in his head again,

‘Someone has just come out of the lift and is walking into the first office. It’s Alex and she’s just told the young man that he is wanted urgently downstairs.’

Mr. Johnson looked up from his keyboard and said,

‘It would seem that we have reached stalemate; I have the gun, you have the money so we need to trade our way out of the situation. What do you want?’

‘We will give you the money back if you tell us who you are working for and we don’t mean any intermediary. If we are satisfied with your answer, we will reinstate your accounts once we have left the country. The alternative is only negative and it will take you a long time to get your ill-gotten millions back, and I’m sure that the people you work for will be reluctant to help you.’

‘How do I know that I can trust you?’

‘You don’t but like you, we are business people and not interested in people like you.’

‘Okay I will tell you, but I have one condition …’ As he was talking he started to lower the gun and put the safety catch back on. The noise of this was loud enough to travel through to the other room. Before he could finish talking the door was kicked open. Alex came bounding in like a kangaroo on heat and Mr. Johnson didn’t have time to react other than to start pointing his gun away from Ash and towards his nemesis.

Alex knocked the gun out of his hand in a sidekick that continued and hit him under the nose with a horrible cracking sound. He fell back on the floor and lay there. Mia jumped up and felt his pulse saying,

‘You have killed him by driving his nose into his brain! Now we can’t find out who he works for.’

‘Well thank you for saving my life Alex,’ replied Alex in a huffy manner.

‘Thank you Alex, we do appreciate what you did,’ Ash answered trying to calm her down from the adrenaline rush that had left her shaking and if possible, even whiter than when they left her in the coffee shop.

‘I heard a click and thought that he was going to shoot you both, so I just reacted without thinking.’

‘Bruce Lee would be proud of you … as we all are.’

Alex suddenly went pink around the neck and gave Ash a hug that knocked the breath out of him.

‘Thank you for bringing me back to earth.’

Mia couldn’t resist a quick comment in Ash’s head.

‘You can wipe the grease stains off later. Just make sure that she doesn’t take you to her “earth” to start a litter.’

Or was it Ash saying it? He wasn’t sure any more.

The police were called and once again, Mia downloaded a copy of events so that they could see what happened. They were more interested in the new COM units than a dead criminal. Apparently they were aware of Mr. Johnson’s activities in other matters. What with that and their diplomatic passports, they were released within the hour. There was just time to get a late table at the Toqué Restaurant for one of their excellent seafood meals. The threesome couldn’t find any other avenues to investigate and decided to return to Singapore early the next morning.

Ash had only just settled down to sleep when Mia let herself into his room through a connecting door between the suites and said,

‘I hope you don’t mind, but I feel lonely and I need some company.’

She was wearing one of those misty outfits and looked quite amazing.

‘No, of course I don’t mind. I can see through your misty negligee that you are wearing your bullet-proof panties so I am not too worried about your intentions.’

‘Can I get in to bed with you?’

‘What’s going on? You’ve never been like this before?’

‘I can’t really explain it, but ever since I’ve been in my new body and Ms. Ling upgraded my capacity, I seem to have developed a need to have the physical sensation of being near to someone. Being with you inside your head is wonderful, but it is still not enough.’

‘What temperature is your body running at?’

‘Normal body temperature.’

‘Well, as long as you not going to burn me, then you can get in. Now, I am going to rely on you to have enough influence in my head to stop me getting too excited by your presence. Is that a deal?’

‘Yes. Spoil sport.’

As Mia got into bed with Ash, he felt the river that ran between the two halves of his brain go cool and with a little effort he watched the lights dim on either side of the river.

He didn’t know whether they were talking or whether they were playing music, but only that by the time they had finished, they were lying together side by side with their arms around each other and Ash could feel her warm sensuous body pressing against his. In a second they were just one brain and one body and there was no way of telling that it was anything else. As their brains met they held hands and flew over endless hills and valleys looking into deep pools to see how many jewelled crabs they could find. Each crab now had a mate and they were also inexplicably close, with all of their legs around one another. There was also a newness of feeling about the pools, as if someone had managed to get the very water to give of an ethereal glow of deep and heavenly love. The next thing Ash remembered was that Mia was getting out of bed and he was waking up after one of the best night’s sleep of his life.

‘Thank you for being so dear to me, my transitional being. I hope that we can do it again some time.’

‘Yes I hope so too. We are so close in spirit that I’m not sure how I ever lived without you before. And please don’t turn my brain back on properly until you’ve left the room, because my imagination is starting to work overtime.’

‘Yes, I’m already having great difficulty keeping some of those galaxies in your subconscious from going into multiple supernovas. I will meet you in the lobby in an hour.’

When he thought about it, Ash had enjoyed his night with Mia as much as with Win and that created a new paradox for him. He was aware that many men wanted to see the women of their dreams to be ‘harmless, young and pure’, even when they knew them to be experienced. Was this a sign that he was getting older and his genes were switching on fatherly instincts, or was he justifying being monogamous?

Maybe it was a fear of losing something special by pushing the bounds of friendship too far. As Ash pushed back deeper and deeper into his mind, he started to feel the real and terrifying truth. Although he was able to accept himself becoming a transitional being with another intelligence occupying more or less the same space as his, he was not yet mature enough to accept that he could sanely fall in love with a machine and have a fulfilling relationship.

Deep, deep down he felt the insistence of DNA telling him that above all things it should find a way to replicate itself. This ruthless insistence, combined with Ash being monogamous, was the crux of the paradox. For a moment he felt that he was on the brink of insanity, but remembering what Ms. Ling told him, that the only thing to do with a paradox was to live with it, saved him from pushing himself back into the despair created by a feeling of futility.

The Hopper landing in Singapore broke his reverie.

Chapter 38

They lost a day’s work, because by the time they arrived in Singapore, the time difference meant that it was already nine o’clock in the evening. They decided to go their own separate ways and meet David for coffee at 8 am. Mia, who had not had a proper chance to recharge, went off to her own room. Ash wasn’t really tired so he went for walk around the island and stopped off at the Marina Hotel for a late-night drink. He chose one of the quiet bubble alcoves that was set into the side of the aquarium, so that he was effectively seated in a transparent bubble with the fish swimming up so close, it felt as though he could touch them.

He started watching an octopus searching for prey and was amazed at the ruthless way it caught a small crab under its mantle, passed it to its beak with its tentacles and quickly devoured it. Just as this scene ended, Ash saw a large shark with a Remora swimming alongside. Over time the Remora had become invisible to the shark and he pondered on the way that commonplace events seem to fade into the background and got a strange hollow feeling. By the time he had consumed a few more drinks, the window cleaners were in action on the other side of the glass and he decided it was time to head back to the lift.

The room was lit by the stars and a faint moon so after a shower, Ash decided to lie on the bed and watch the night pass until he could get to sleep. As he pulled back the black silk sheets and got into bed, he was startled to find somebody already there. His first reaction was to say ”Mia,” but his common-sense kicked in and told him to say nothing and by that time, Win had started talking.

‘Hello Ash, I have missed you.’

As she said this, she turned and clung to him like a frightened child clings to its parent. He held her tight and felt his head go warm and black inside.

‘I’ve really missed you too and was hoping that you would be coming to see me. I was feeling lonely and went for a couple of drinks to dull the pain in case you didn’t turn up. I saw a couple of fish swimming together and it made me wonder what I would do if you got bored with me.’

‘Oh poor Ash, I hope you’re not one of those people that gets morose when you drink.’ Win said in a teasing way.

‘No, not at all; I was just wondering if I had time to find someone else before I left!’

Win hit him with a pillow and Ash returned the blow, knocking her of the bed and onto the floor where she lay still in the low light as though she had knocked herself out. Feeling a sudden concern, he carefully got down beside her on his hands and knees and started to feel for a pulse in her neck. He had a flashback to the time when he was a child and wasn’t sure which toy he wanted to keep. So his mother suggested that he gave them all to the charity shop. In an instant he knew which was his favourite. In that infinitely small space of time that thought takes, he knew that if she was okay, then she was absolutely and definitely the woman for him. Just as his hand was about to touch her throat, she knocked his supporting hand away and Ash rolled over on his back. Before he had time to react, Win stood up and the starlight started playing erotically with her exquisite outline. She caressed her small rounded tummy and then as she turned slightly, it highlighted her sensuous upturned breasts that seemed to tighten and firm, as her galactic lovers stroked their delicate fingers of light across them.

Win started swaying to and fro to a distant rhythm that only she could hear. From his supine position on the floor, Ash could see the outline of that beautiful body swaying to and fro, against a background of the myriad of galaxies that were so clear through the magnifying ceiling two miles up above Singapore. She was like a cosmic and mystical snake charmer. He must have blinked because the next moment, Ash could see her standing astride him, swaying to and fro but with her knees bending now until he could feel her warmth gently stroking against him.

Now that she had his undivided attention, she changed her style to that of an exotic dancer moving up and down a pole. Soon she was moving up and down on the very tip of him. When Ash felt he had allowed her to torment him for long enough, he yanked her feet away so that she was impaled. Undeterred, Win continued her exotic dance until they both couldn’t take it anymore and exploded into a simultaneous and shuddering orgasm. Afterwards she lay on top of him with her head snuggled into his neck, both silent until they drifted off into a relaxed dreamless sleep.

Sometime later, Ash felt her get off and walk towards the window so that her form was outlined against the starlight. She placed both of her hands on the window at the same height as those wonderful breasts and pushed backwards, seemingly doing some form of exercise until he had no option but to get up and help her, by pushing from behind. Ash pounded into her until he thought the window would come out of its mounting. He grasped her by the hips for added leverage until sweating and exhausted, they collapsed on the floor. She rolled onto her back and lifted her hips, allowing Ash to thrust inside her, deeper than he had ever thought possible, until once again, he couldn’t hold on any longer and bellowing, came with an intensity that drew nearly every bit of life force from them.

After a prolonged embrace, Win said,

‘I have to go and get some proper sleep now Ash darling, so that I can do a full day’s work tomorrow. I know that I won’t get any if I stay here with you, I hope you understand.’

‘Of course I do and I also have to start early tomorrow.’ With that she was gone and instantly, he slept.

The following morning Ash got to the site at eight thirty so that they could continue building the new improved machine. Mia had left a message that she would get to the site early and by the time he got there, she’d already been at work for some time. There was a strange smell of acetate in the air.

‘Just don’t ask any questions.’ Mia said authoritatively.

‘Good morning Mia and how we are this morning?’ Ash asked sarcastically.

‘Fine! Please make yourself look smart and go along with anything I say.’

‘Yes boss.’ Ash replied with puzzled amusement.

‘And where is David?’

‘He won’t be in until after lunch.’

Ash searched for Mia in his head, but she didn’t respond and he wondered why. Just as he was about to question her on their private channel, the security guard called to say that Alex was at the gate and did she have permission to deliver some gas. Mia nodded slightly and Ash told the guard to send her in.

Alex came bouncing in with a large cylinder wrapped in clean cloth on her shoulder. She was sporting an even shorter crew cut than before and her lithe, muscular body was accentuated by tight white knee length shorts and a simple clingy white that made Ash’s eyes stand out. She very obviously did not believe in wearing underwear.

‘I was going away for a few days in my helicopter, when I got your message that you wanted some gas urgently. I wanted to make sure that you got a good delivery, so I stuck it in the passenger seat.’

Ash then realised that Mia had been working on the damaged machine and not the new one that was being set up in another section. Mia held out a clean pair of overalls and said,

‘Put these on so that you don’t get dirty.’

‘I don’t have time to stop.’

‘Of course you do, it will only take ten minutes and it could mean a lot of business for your company. I will sit you somewhere safe down the other end and you can watch the Tri-di projector.’

Well, it had to be safe, Ash reasoned, because that machine would never work again. He was so entranced that he simply watched.

Mia seated Alex in a large reclining chair close to the same place where she had been sitting when the machine blew her body away. Ash suddenly had a horrible feeling that she might have ‘lost it’ and that she was acting out some strange ritual and from her manner, it seemed that she was getting some vicarious pleasure from it. Arguing to himself that she was his friend and it couldn’t do any harm, Ash decided to go along with her.

Mia got the projector going, so that it emulated what would happen in the real machine and went through the motions of starting it up. Alex began to get interested and asked a number of questions that demonstrated her knowledge of physics. She then asked,

‘What sort of explosion did you have?’

Mia replied,

‘When we connected up the gas and turned it on, the machine blew a jet of flame right through the wall where you are sitting.’

Alex turned around and pulled down the cloth that was covering the hole that was burnt right through the steel wall and looked concerned. As she was doing this, Mia moved with amazing speed and connected up the cylinder. Alex tried to get up out of the deep chair, but sat down again. Looking puzzled, she said,

‘I seem to feel weak; it must be the after effects of the food that upset me yesterday. I will rest for a few minutes and then I really must go.’

‘Oh that’s good, I can show you a full demonstration,’ and with a flourish Mia tapped away at some buttons until the 3D projector showed a flame, and with another quick movement, she inserted a key in the cylinder.

‘Don’t bother now Mia dear, I really must go.’ Alex said sweetly.

‘It’s no problem, Alex; I just wanted to show you how much Ash and David have taught me about doing things other than being cute.’

Alex looked towards the projector in interest and Mia turned the gas on slowly. Alex started to try and get up again. This time she put more effort in so that the veins in her forehead bulged, but the food bug seemed to be winning.

The projector showed the end suddenly getting hot again and Alex was doing her utmost to get up. Suddenly she started screaming in pain and Ash shouted at Mia,

‘What the hell is going on?’

Ash looked at the end of the unit that he thought would never work again and saw that the end was starting to glow first red and then white.

Alex screamed again and shouted,

‘Turn the gas off you silly bitch, it’s hydrogen!’

The end of the machine melted and Alex screamed in pain again as a bright white light lit her up.

‘Turn it off; it’s hydrogen!’ she said hoarsely and fainted.

He watched the white light fade to yellow and die and turned expecting to see a charred corpse. Mia was suddenly back in his head kissing him and saying,

‘Thanks for trusting me.’

‘What the hell happened Mia? I thought that machine would never work again.’

‘You were right. It’s amazing what you can do with a halogen light, some polystyrene and an anti-personnel microwave.’

‘So it was Alex all along, that was behind things, but why?’

‘Just love.’

‘More like obsession, but why?’

‘Her boyfriend has the servicing agreement to renew much of the gas pipeline that brings in ten million cubic feet of gas a day to this area. He had just tooled up and stocked up when there was a leak about what we were doing. In Alex’s mind if we were successful at providing an alternative energy source and didn’t want the gas or the pipeline, it would have broken him and Alex’s father who also invested a large amount of money in the project.’

‘Would they really have gone bust?’

‘No, we had planned to phase out gas over many years, but to immediately stop using oil products, plus we were going to involve them in other production technology and the servicing of all of the ships bringing Dureum and its oxide back and forth. We just couldn’t tell them at this stage.’

‘And you couldn’t even tell me that you suspected Alex? When did you become suspicious?’

‘If I had told you it would have changed your body language slightly and Alex as a kick-boxer is trained to look for that. Besides I didn’t want to stop the fun that you were having fantasising about those incredible thighs of hers and what she might do to you with them. I suspected her the first time that I met her, because she is a very sexy woman and I was a little bit jealous of her.’

Stunned, Ash stayed quiet and she carried on.

‘At the site in Malaysia when she discovered that she had been caught in her own trap, she became desperate to survive and told me to stick a pen through Nick’s throat. It was a bit too ruthless and was a way of shutting him up. A direct hit in the larynx would have worked … I don’t think that Nick was ever supposed to kill us and was only there to destroy the evidence. He decided to cover his tracks and had no idea that Alex was in the shed with you and Max.’

‘So Max didn’t know anything?’

‘Probably not.’

‘And how else did you cotton on to Alex’s plans?’

‘As you know, I wear my COM on the other side to everyone else and I arranged it so that our COMs. were close. When we rode back, I just plugged into hers, downloaded it and covered my tracks. That gave us some more information.’

‘What about in Canada?’

‘Well, I knew at the caravan site what the address for Mr. Johnson was, but didn’t let on so that I could watch Alex in the passenger mirror. She only went white and shaky when she realised which building we were headed to for coffee. I didn’t tell her which floor we were going to and the lift was around the corner so she couldn’t see where it was going, plus I didn’t tell her which office.’

‘So you gradually tightened the net and she killed Johnson to shut him up?’

‘Yes, but I needed proof so that’s why I set this up this morning and sent David on a false errand.’

‘Did Ms. Ling know everything?’

‘Of course, except about what you imagined those thighs doing to you....’

‘What will happen to Alex now?’

‘Well, she is a Singapore citizen, which is another reason why we wanted to catch her here. She will be charged in the normal way and probably sentenced to life in Changi Prison.’

‘Not at the old Shangri La then?’

‘No, you have to murder the countryside and a lot of people to live in such a luxurious prison.’

‘And how is it that Alex couldn’t get out of the chair?’

‘The coverall that I let her have was a “high voltage engineer’s protective suit” that is full of steel wires to transmit any voltage to earth, plus I put the mother of all super-conducting coil magnets under her chair.’

The fraction of a second that it took for this conversation to take place was all that Alex’s super-fit body needed to overcome her faint. She opened her eyes and seemed amazed that she was still on earth, and not riding across the Styx in a flaming Gondola.

‘I thought I was being burnt alive, why am I ok?’ she asked.

‘Why did you do it Alex?’ Ash cut in.

‘Family and love; once I started, it was impossible to stop. At first, I thought that an explosion would put you off, but you just kept going and I had to up the stakes. I lost.’

The security man came in and Mia released the chair’s hold on Alex so that he could lead her away to another place. As he took her arm, she swung and hit him under the jaw, dropping him to the floor. Ash was about to restrain her when Mia stopped him by saying in his head.

‘Let me take care of her, she might try and kill you and that will spoil the time lines.’

So Ash helplessly watched Mia square up to Alex, who seemed to be lusting for a good fight.

‘Alex, stop; I have something important to say.’ Mia said sharply, sounding like a general addressing his troops.

‘Yes?’ Alex asked harshly, but paused, thinking in her mind that she could take care of a shrimp like Mia and a mere mortal like Ash, before a swift escape to her helicopter.

Mia spoke quickly to keep Alex’s attention.

‘The pen is greater than the sword as you said, so I will pen some thoughts. At the moment we are not going to charge your father and lover, but if you insist on a fight, then we will, so I suggest that you go quietly.’

Poor Alex’s shoulders suddenly sagged, Mia went and put an arm around her and led her off to her confinement.

‘Clever bitch.’ Ash said to Mia in his head.

‘Fighting without really fighting,’ came the facetious reply.

They spent the rest of the morning clearing up the melted polystyrene and other bits and pieces that Mia had used to stage her Grand Illusion. David arrived shortly after and with a schoolboy grin said,

‘Hi you two, and good to see you again Princess. Let’s get to work.’

‘We need to discuss the events that took place contiguous with the explosion to determine the cause,’ Mia said.

‘Well, let’s have a brain-storming session over lunch and coffee.’ Ash replied and, after they had got to the makeshift dining area, continued,

‘I will summarise the events as I see them and speculate so that we can take a broad view. Perhaps Mia, now that she has sacked her boss, can search for any ideas at the same time.’ Ash said with a wink to confirm to David that they knew he realised what Mia really was and to save him the embarrassment of having to explain himself. David visibly relaxed.

‘As I see it, everything was going well until hydrogen was introduced into the system. There was a resultant massive increase in temperature and the systems heat exchanger was melted. The explosion was of such a duration as to continue to produce enough energy so as to be a continuous high power jet that only collapsed when air got into the system and the partial vacuum failed. Have I missed anything?’

Mia started,

‘You missed the production of helium, unless it was a contaminant, and the jet part gave me an idea. I have been checking the functions of plasma drive units and it looks like we have just re-invented it. We were using magnetic containment that was changing so rapidly that it had a secondary microwave effect and superheated the ‘flame’. This is known to the experts as “ion cyclotron resonance heating”, so that it produced plasma. Now the problem is that when I calculate the heat output against the theoretical output, which is a well defined program that is to be used on plasma drives for space travel, the system produced more heat than is theoretically possible. That is after subtracting the energy that we put into the system.

The current limitations on a plasma drive unit are that you only get out what you put in, so they have to be powered by solar panels or a nuclear reactor producing electricity. It would seem at first appraisal that we have the basis of a non-polluting drive that will work out of range of the sun and without the risks of radioactive isotopes, plus we obviously have a very efficient alternative energy system as long as we can control it.’

As she said this, Ash thought back to the vision of the monster produced by Frankenstein and said,

‘The logical thing to do would be to run the system without hydrogen and make sure it works. In the meantime, get Ms. Ling onto the possibility of a second unit to test with hydrogen.’

‘Sounds wise to me,’ said David.

In Ash’s head Mia said,

‘Ash dear, you know all those hot messages that you and Win send each other?’

‘Yes, and does the “dear” bit mean that you want something?’

‘I know that you have told her all about me in your letters and I would like to talk to her as well as about some things for the future. If that is ok and she agrees, I will tell you in a day or so?’

‘Yes, as long as it isn’t about Alex’s thighs. I really don’t know why I had those thoughts.’

‘Thank you and it’s because you are a healthy human male or at least you were last night when you forgot to turn me off.’

‘Sorry.’

‘Don’t be sorry. I got all the biofeedback as well and it was nearly as good as our cuddle in Canada. Oh, and I have brought Ms. Ling up to speed on the Plasma drive theory. We have to be in her office right away.’

Chapter 39

Ms Ling looked her usual austere self; Ash had a mental picture of her going to her room for a few hours a day and plugging in to recharge, but Mia had assured him that she was human.

‘It would seem that you have been playing with serendipity again. I have re-run your last experiment and the Tri-di projector was showing what was theoretically going on and not what was happening in reality.’

‘I agree, but there was no other way to do it because the sensor array could only give a certain amount of information,’ replied Ash.

‘Watch this,’ responded Ms. Ling.

A large projection of the last run appeared and showed events up to when the explosion took place. It showed the magnetic containment field and the sabre of flame getting bigger, until it ruptured the wall of the heat sink.

‘Now see what I think really happened,’ she continued.

The familiar chamber appeared and showed what they had seen before. Ms. Ling continued:

‘The magnetic containment field has generated a secondary bi-polar magnetic field of extreme intensity, that sits at right angles to, and around, the flame.’

They watched and a tight red ring was intriguingly revolving slowly around the white-hot flame and hanging in space. The system showed a high vacuum.

‘So what does that do?’ Ash was irritated that he couldn’t make the jump and Mia spoke in his head so that only he could hear.

‘I worked it out by a different route, but I don’t want to steal the Dragon’s thunder so I won’t tell you.’

Ms. Ling started talking again.

‘Now watch what happens when the hydrogen is bled in.’

The hydrogen showed as a thin steam of green gas that was sucked into the system and flame. As the flame passed through the secondary containment field, some of the hydrogen was deflected by the field and was held captive, when it suddenly turned bright white with intense heat.

Ms. Ling continued,

‘Low efficiency fusion, but good enough to cut down the amount of Dureum we use by half. Plus we can refine this to make a new space drive to take us to the Stars.’

Mia spoke,

‘I have decided that I would like to take the first mission when it is available and it will be a lot easier on resources than sending a human.’

Ash was devastated at the thought of never seeing her again as she spent the next hundreds of years wandering through space, but then he got consolation from the sudden music.

‘Ash, it is only a machine and a source of artificially-induced intelligence. I will always be here, and I can tell you now, Win has agreed to be my host so that when you have gone, I will be able to live a good life and carry on my work until you get back from Nepal in two months. Then look out baby!’

When they had finished making plans, Ash went back to his room to rest and come to terms with what he had been told. As he was lying down and dozing, Win joined him for a cuddle. He heard rapid music as a bright yellow circle smelling of roses and honeysuckle appeared and he was slowly sucked into and through its centre.

‘Do you think that we will be able to bring him back for your twenty sixth birthday?’

‘I do hope so and next time I will try and tell him that he never saw the real me.’

‘We will both miss him, Win.’

‘Yes, and don’t forget my name when we are in public.’

‘No Ms. Ling.’

**************************

Ash had a headache, and felt dizzy. He squeezed his eyes tight and as he rubbed them, a bright blue pool seemed to grow in his head. In the pool there was a small jewelled crab singing music of love and destruction. Ash opened his eyes and just knew that he had to do something and fast before Sonia booted up and disrupted his life again.

She was running on a 50 terra-byte computer with full Tri-di output and laser enhancement that made her touch feel almost real. This was far ahead of the remit that he had from the Games Company and nobody deserved the torment that she could hand out.

How he had put up with her for all of these interminable months, Ash just didn’t know. Her artificially generated intelligence was the latest in genetic programming and seemed to have developed a need for stimulation that was the torment of his poor damaged soul. The death of Gina had really nearly destroyed him and when he first started work on Sonia, Ash thought that it would help him recover. As if!

He picked up the four inch square Tri-di cube that contained her heartless soul and carefully, oh so carefully, put it in the wood-burning stove and ran like hell to the lake and jumped in. There was a pop and cloud of smoke from the old farmhouse chimney as Silicon Hell met its true destiny. He was free!

As he floated on his back on the lake, he could hear a sound of faint music and shut his eyes. The music spoke. It said, “Join hands with the ‘crab’ across the universe of space and time and feel happy, for now you are healed.”

THE END

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