Simulation: A Pop Travel Novel Read online

  Cooper wiped his mouth with his lacy white cloth napkin and threw it on his flowery, China plate. Hasan had gone all out for them, the little cupid.

  “I know you want to tell me more about your case and all that interesting DNA stuff, but I just remembered I have another appointment. All I need to know for my case is a simple way to tell if someone is a clone android or not. How can I determine if someone is a simulation or a real person without cracking him open?”

  Hasan nodded. “Of course. I understand. And, yes. Wouldn’t want to be wrong in that assumption.” He laughed, then got serious and put a hand to his chin in thought. “That is actually quite difficult. Especially for the average person.”

  Geri chuckled. “And Cooper is so average.”

  Definitely time to go. Cooper brushed her off, “You were saying, Hasan?”

  “Well, simulations blink, bleed, react, eat, and function in all ways like a human. They are cyborgs. Their bodies are clones, complete with all human tissues, minus the brains and skeletal systems. I created a computer processor brain. It branches out, controlling the android’s functions through an artificial skeletal system, which I borrowed from my uncle’s work in cybernetic prosthetics. The skeletal system is made from a sturdy nanoplastic that’s strong as steel, yet has no trouble passing through metal detectors. Since bone takes the longest to grow, it also speeds up the entire process.”

  “Interesting, but you’re side-tracking, Hasan.” Sometimes he needed a little reminder to stay on topic. “If a metal detector won’t work, how about electronic and transmitter scanners?”

  “Well, the skeletal system also acts as insulation for the electronics and protects against all scanning. Wouldn’t want anyone to remotely juice into its system.” He winked at Aimee.

  She smiled and nodded for him to continue, hanging on every word.

  “It’s easy for me to identify a simulation by simply looking into the eyes because I know what to look for. It’s all in the eyes. You might have to stare into them for a minute or two to see it. Have you ever noticed the eyes on androids? They’re like camera lenses. The same is true for simulations, but much more sophisticated, making it harder for people to tell if they aren’t searching for it. The key is to stare long enough, then you can see them refocus ever so slightly after a blink. Though, staring at a real person too long could be awkward, right?”

  “I guess. But I think I can handle a little embarrassment. And no one would think anything of it, since I’m so average.” Cooper stood up and gave Geri a sidelong glance.

  She turned away. Maybe she… No. He had what he needed and should leave before he did something stupid.

  “Well, Hasan, this was very nice, but I do need to get going. Thanks again for helping me out. The meal was great and the company entertaining. I’ll be in touch.”

  Hasan stood. “You’re welcome, Cooper. Are you sure you have to go so soon?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Geri faced him with an ugly, exaggerated smile. “Aw. Can’t stay? See ya.” She waved him off.

  The men ignored her. Cooper could take a hint. Seeing her again hit him like a bus. He thought he was over her; now he felt dizzy and confused. He’d definitely had enough abuse for one night. He was thankful Hasan didn’t press him any more to stay.

  His little buddy stepped over and shook Cooper’s hand. “I will have Paris take you to the transport house.”

  “Thanks.”

  While Hasan walked Cooper to the door, he called his guard, Paris, on his ear-com.

  Glancing back, Cooper couldn’t leave without a few last taunting words of his own. “It was nice meeting you, Aimee. And Geri, I hope you find your man.”

  Geri tilted her head at him with a derisive grunt.

  “Bye, Mr. Cooper!” Aimee gave him a sweet wave and innocent smile.

  He smirked. Ah, youth. Maybe a little of her positive attitude would rub off on Geri. Unfortunately, he figured it would more likely be the other way around.

  Cooper took a deep breath of fresh air on the front porch, relieved to be exiting the uncomfortable unpleasantness. It had been more than a little stuffy in there.

  “I thought he’d never leave.” Geri slumped back in her seat as the ball of tension that wound tighter and tighter all evening uncoiled and rolled out the door with Cooper. She held up her glass for the servant droid to fill. “More wine, please.”

  “Oh, Geri. You still ache for him. I saw it in your shoulders.” Hasan winked at her.

  “My shoulders? What are you talking about?” She straightened back up and strained to look at her shoulders.

  “Your shoulders are a dead giveaway. They were alert and attentive to Cooper, even when you turned your face away from him, they leaned in to listen.”

  “That’s nonsense.” What was he talking about?

  “I don’t know about your shoulders, but your body language was unmistakable,” Aimee added. “You stared when he wasn’t looking, then avoided his gaze, a sign of playing coy. You and Cooper also had a rhythmic banter, even if it was mostly negative. But the biggest giveaway was you licking your lips.”

  “They were dry. What are you, a walking Q-lopedia?” Geri snatched her glass and whisked herself out of the dining room, cursing her weak heart for feeling anything at all for that hound. Briskly walking through the foyer to the parlor, she snuck a peek out the window to see if he was gone.

  When Hasan and Aimee followed, still chattering away, Geri quickly straightened the curtains. She could’ve been standing there naked, juggling monkeys, and they’d never notice.

  “That’s fascinating! Tell me more, chipmunk.”

  “Well, I took a physiology communications class and they gave us advice for presenting—”

  Geri cut them off by chopping the air between them with her free hand.

  “That’s enough. We need to get back to business.” Fishing in her pocket, she pulled out the sample she took from the lab and presented it to Hasan. “Can you analyze this?”

  “What’s that and where did you get it?” Aimee put her hands on her hips. She knew the answers to both of her questions. She was definitely no dummy.

  “I must’ve bumped into the fragile specimen at the lab and this piece just fell into my pocket.”

  “Mm hmm.” Aimee added a head tilt.

  “I agree with Aimee’s body language.” Hasan imitated Aimee’s perturbed, accusing pose.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter how I got it. It’s here now. And it will do everyone good if we figure it out. I can return it tomorrow.”

  Hasan took the sample and examined it with a sparkle in his eyes, easily swayed by her lame reasoning. He loved solving puzzles.

  “Fine. But this is going to take a while. All I have left of my DNA contamination research is stored on stick drives in a drawer, if I kept any at all. I saw no advantage to going on with it.”

  “Maybe this will help.” Geri opened her QV and showed Hasan the file she copied from Rage/Rajul’s CC.

  His eager expression ate up the possibilities. “Wow. And how’d you get this?”

  “Geri is very resourceful.” Aimee’s compliment sounded a little condescending again. Watch it, little sister.

  Hasan pointed at Aimee and grinned. “Oh, I bet you had something to do with it.” He walked over to the wall and opened a port receiver. “Could you upload it to me, Geri? Then I can see what that devil cousin of mine has been up to with my research.”

  After Geri sent the file to Hasan’s home CC system, he scanned through it.

  “Even with this, it will still take several hours to decode and interpret.”

  “I have all night,” Geri said.

  “I’m with you, boss,” Aimee added.

  Geri didn’t think it was possible, but Hasan’s eyes brightened another notch.

  “Sensational! I’ll have Oscar take you to guest rooms. A sleepover! Lucid!”

  When Cooper popped back to Atlanta, he couldn’t stop thinking about Geri. Her
eyes, her curves, her hair, her attitude. He kept telling himself he was over her. They were too different and he was better off alone. He shouldn’t feel that way anymore. The whole walk back to his apartment building, he kept his head down and his hands in his pockets, brooding.

  Closer to his street, laughter drifted toward him, making him lift his head. The full moon brought a different crowd to the Saturday evening streets. Roused and rowdy characters ready for a night of fun and trouble. At the light, he caught up with a group of twenty-somethings waiting to cross. They talked and joked, teasing each other, anxious to play their game. They reminded him of how fun it had been with Geri when they first started their relationship.

  Crossing the street together, Cooper separated from the younger crowd on the other side, heading in the opposite direction. Good. He needed to focus on the task at hand. All the memories of his past relationship flooded back at dinner and clouded his judgment. The only way he’d managed to stay sane after the breakup was by concentrating on work. He couldn’t let this chance meeting with his ex throw him back off-track.

  Unfortunately, he feared happenstance was not in play with both their cases leading them to Hasan’s cousin, Rajul. Cooper had faith in his nothing is a coincidence rule. It would be painfully annoying if Geri’s case conflicted with his, but worse if they were looking for the same guy. And based on Cooper’s experience, worse was what he expected.

  With his eyes fixed on the sidewalk at his feet again while he put the pieces together, Cooper paused and looked up. A lone stranger walking toward him caught his attention. An elderly woman with a cane, holding a bag. Shuffling in his direction, she was bent over and wore a dark kerchief on her lowered head. Cooper had never seen her before, but Atlanta was a big city, so that didn’t mean anything. She just seemed out of place to him in the younger neighborhood.

  As she passed, she lifted her chin and looked at him.

  With simulations on his mind, Cooper stared into her eyes a few moments too long. A normal person would’ve given him some kind of reaction like annoyance, intimidation, or fear. But she gave him a blank stare. Cooper also thought he detected a slight glow in her eyes, and not like the glow of happiness. The old woman turned away and continued down the sidewalk, disappearing around the corner.

  He shook his head. He had to be imaging things. It must’ve been the way the streetlight reflected on her face. All that talk about identifying a simulation tricked his mind into seeing things that weren’t there. Cooper shrugged it off and went up to his apartment, but filed away that glow, just in case.

  Atlanta, GA

  Sunday, June 21, 2082

  ells was a busy guy. Reading his schedule over an English muffin, Cooper noted where the Congressman would be so he could track him down and get a good look at him. He’d have to be pretty creative to get close enough to stare uncomfortably into his eyes, with all the security and reporters. Maybe he should resort to one of his disguises. Or maybe the Colonel would remember him and he could get close to the two of them that way. Cooper chuckled. He didn’t know if that would be good or bad.

  That morning, McFarland Wells would make a special appearance at the opening of a grocery store in his district. Then he would pop to D.C. for a luncheon about androids, and pop back to his local office to meet with some constituents. A disclaimer at the bottom stated he could cancel or change his plans at any time if he was needed for a vote back at the Capitol.

  Cooper chose the first appearance. He would probably be able to get the closest to the Congressman at the informal setting, and he wouldn’t have to pop to get there. He still got indigestion every time he thought about pop teleporting, and he’d just popped the night before to go to Hasan’s. That would hold him for a few months.

  Once he finished his breakfast, he drove out to the grocery store. He arrived early and parked a short distance from where they were setting up, observing the layout from his car. While he waited, he read a quick blurb about the event on his QV. The City Farmers’ Marketplace was a new concept for residents to grow, prepare, and distribute their own food. It gave inner-city dwellers jobs and a local place to shop so they didn’t have to travel so far to get healthy meals. Plus some much-needed pride. Up until now, locals had to rely on convenient stores and fast food for their nutrition. Cooper appreciated the kind of politics that actually took care of the people. But Wells didn’t come up with the concept, he just happened to be the guy around when it finally came to fruition.

  Twenty minutes before Representative Wells was scheduled to arrive, Cooper found a place to stand along the wall of the store, away from the small crowd gathering in the parking spaces surrounding the newly-erected portable stage to hear the Congressman speak.

  A young boy ran in front of him to catch up to his mother and bumped into a woman standing at the edges of the group. The woman had on a wide, red hat and her head was lowered so Cooper couldn’t see her face. Cooper found it odd she gave the boy no reaction whatsoever, triggering his defenses. He didn’t like to jump to conclusions, but he swore the woman had the same short, stocky build and rough motions as the older bag lady from the night before, even though she was dressed in a red-trimmed, black tailored suit and two-inch heels. When the suspicious woman finally lifted her face for him to see, she had on sunglasses. That figured.

  Cooper kept his eyes moving, scanning the crowd in case she caught him looking at her. When she turned away, Cooper slipped out of her sight range. He wanted to check if she was… Wait. Was he losing it? He couldn’t go around suspecting every strange, quirky person of being an android.

  He would hold back from listening to his nagging gut and just kept an eye on her. More people crowded in around her, but he could still see her hat. He needed to focus on how he would approach the unapproachable Congressman Wells. The Colonel seemed to be his best chance, with a fancy meeting you here angle.

  Checking his QV, Cooper took a deep breath. He had to stay calm. The Congressman would arrive in less than fifteen minutes. Nothing unusual was going to happen. He chided himself for suspecting the woman. The waiting and his nerves were getting the best of him. Still, his gut alarm told him to keep an eye on her.

  With about five minutes to go, a small commotion erupted in the midst of the crowd. People backed away, making a space around the woman in the red hat. Several folks swatted and others scooted away from an aggressive wasp. The woman in the red hat took no notice, even when the wasp dive bombed her and seemed to sting her in the arm. She didn’t acknowledge the incident until the people around her asked if she was all right. Glancing at them, she nodded, covered the bite with her hand, and moved to the back of the crowd. From across the lot, she tilted her head at Cooper, then refocused on the stage as if nothing had happened.

  Cooper couldn’t ignore his suspicions any longer. He snuck around the far corner of the store and walked all the way around the back, slowly emerging on the other side. Now that the crowd was bigger and louder, Cooper appreciated their cover. He should be able to blend in if anything went wrong. A few local police corralled the group to keep them from getting too close to the stage, but he could still get close enough to grab the Colonel’s attention and have a short chat with him, and hopefully see the Congressman’s eyes.

  But first he wanted to check out the woman. He looked at the spot where she’d been standing. She was gone. He cursed and searched the large group of people for the woman’s glaring red hat. She was nowhere. He even glanced over at his car, just in case. Nada. Oh, well. She was distracting him from his primary goal anyway.

  Cooper backed up to lean against the building, and there she was, holding her big red hat with her black-gloved hands in front of her, in the shade of the store. Sunglasses still on.

  Whether this woman was an android or not, Cooper decided to take the opportunity to practice looking into a stranger’s eyes before trying it on Representative Wells. And there were still a couple of minutes before the speech. Plenty of time to make a move.

  Si
dling up to the woman, he reached to stretch and accidentally knocked her sunglasses off.

  Her head swiveled around to him and he stared into her eyes.

  “I knew—”

  Before he could finish accusing her, the woman shoved him in the chest with surprising strength. Cooper went flying into the unsuspecting group of spectators waiting for the Congressman to arrive.

  The woman picked up her sunglasses, replaced them on her face, and calmly walked away, ignoring the concerned citizens asking her again if she was all right.

  The rest of the crowd scolded Cooper for bothering the woman and smashing into them.

  Cooper had trouble catching his breath. What’s wrong with you people? I’m the one on the ground!

  A policeman jumped on Cooper. After frisking him and taking his QV, the cop read him his rights and placed him under arrest, complete with magnetic cuffs. The spectators applauded and shouted, “Serves him right!”

  When Cooper finally got his breath back, he tried to protest. “She shoved me! I didn’t touch her!” He looked around, but the woman was gone.

  “That’s what they all say.” The officer dragged Cooper to his car.

  Cooper was dumbfounded. He didn’t even get to see Wells, much less look him in the eye. As the officer pushed him into the car, he realized this was one coincidence too many. And if he was in trouble, he might not be the only one.

  “Wait! I need to call my—” He hesitated. My what? Ex-girlfriend? FBI Agent? It all sounded ridiculous. “I need to call my friend. She might be in danger!”

  “You can wait until you get to the station. And you might want to think about who you call. Your friend might not bail you out.” The officer gave Cooper a smirk.

  Cooper wasn’t worried about getting bailed out, he was worried Geri could be in serious trouble. That woman in the red hat had to be a very sophisticated android. He was sure of it. And if someone was following Cooper for questioning Rajul, the same source surely knew about Geri and was likely keeping tabs on her too. And possibly Hasan.