I caught a red eye out of La Guardia in one of those four seater jetcabs. You know the type, no legroom. Tokyo was the destination. I'd arrive in a few hours.
Over the Pacific the speedy little air skiff encountered an emaciated air pocket. We dropped a thousand feet in less than a second and damned if the plunge didn't disengage my AV. Angel nailed it when she said this unit was flawed.
As an original LBU (live birth unit) intentionally programmed to conform to current cultural algorithms, plus or minus three kilobolts of free will as an operating standard, this LBU- Model A has lately struggled with non-functional adaptation limits and, as it is often the case for us BI's (biological intelligence) , time's the culprit. In other words, augments or not, I'm wearing out.
The committee was quick to file a report. "An anabolism somewhere in the region of your pre-frontal cortex is restricting flow of non psychic information."
No kidding. I could of figured that one out on my own.
"I'm in a heap of trouble," I said out loud to no one in particular.
Angel laughed off my concerns, "to neutralize your current shortcomings a second jolt is recommended. Random action is required."
Angel, you're a doll.
A solution materialized in microseconds. It scrolled on internal vid in hyper speed. I'd should start a drunken brawl, but as it is I was sober as a tub of sentient silicone gel, and me, the only recognizable self aware entity crammed aboard this wingless bird I was out of luck for a bout of fisticuffs. Sure, I could slug old teapot nestled comfortably in the adjoining seat but retaliation would be negligible.
Random? Random? Think man, think.
I swung a bony fist through un-sequestered carbon saturated air and connected with a nearby fleshy object. It had a soft and forgiving texture. It hurt like hell but the black eye was worth it. It was like someone flicked a switch. AV was back on board and I was back on line.
"We've been trying to reach you", I could hear the implications behind a proposal. She added, "Your permalink?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Malware?"
"Noooo?... malfunction." I wasn't programmed to lie. I wanted to, believe me, but for this cardboard cut and paste facsimile a pause is about as close to misrepresenting truth as I'll get.
"Better come in, vacuum your protocols. Codeman will book you for a look see."
"No can do. On assignment. Tokyo. Can't go into details."
"Well, don't overheat your principles. You're not the most practical device in real world conditions."
"Everyone's on my case lately. Tell me something I don't already know."
"You're very temperamental today." The offending noise source was one of the Agencies go go know it all new hires. More AI than BI.
"Like I don't know that either."
"Just remember you're designed for natural and artificial ventilation. Singapore is under heat advisory".
"Tokyo. I'm confused. What other ventilation options are there?" I wondered if they knew something about ventilation I didn't.
"There are none." Her affect was flat. This mint julep was in dire need of a sarcasm upgrade and while they were at it an inflection enhancement wouldn't hurt.
"Listen, there's nothing I can do about it now. Descent has begun. Tokyo here I come, like it or not." I signed off.
