CHAPTER 5
Oh Dear What A Calamity! 

“Well, quite literally – there you are”, said Brigmore to Kostkri as he unveiled the Human Genetic Robotoid.

“If it’s all right with you, we’ve decided to call her ‘Feodora’”, Kenning informed Kostkri.

Kostkri stared in amazement at the robotoid in front of her.

“Can she speak …or .. what?” Kostkri asked.

“We have to switch her on”, Casper explained.

“Would you like us to activate the HGR now?” enquired a technician.

“No!” was Casper ’s short but very firm reply.

Professor Brigmore then whispered something into Kuskaya’s ear. Brigmore then consulted with his colleagues and made the following announcement:

“Would everyone except Drs. Kenning, Casper , Gilson, Cowner and Kostkri please vacate these premises”.

Kuskaya, in the Russian language asked all except the senior Russian scientists to leave the laboratory.

Technicians, engineers, research assistants and laboratory workers all obediently trundled out of the building.

“I will now activate the device”, said Casper . Casper held a remote hand-controlled object and pointed it at the HGR. A few seconds later and the HGR started to move.

“Do you hear me Feodora?”, Casper asked the HGR.

“Yes, I hear you.”

“Can you see me?”

The robotoid did not reply.

“Can you see me?” Casper repeated the question. Again the robotoid remained silent.

“It looks like something is wrong with Feodora”, said Walter Gilson.

“There is nothing wrong with me?” the HGR said.

“The why didn’t you answer my question Feodora?”, said a somewhat exasperated Casper .

“Because I did not know that the question was directed to me?”

“Very well”, said Casper . “I’ll try again. Can you see me Feodora?”

“Yes I can see you”.

“Who else can you see Feodora?”, Brigmore asked.

The HGR went on to identify all the other people in the room that Kostkri knew.

“Who are you Feodora?”, Cowner asked the HGR.

“My name is Feodora Kostkri and I am a bio-chemist and head of the bio-chemical research unit at Moscow University ”.

Charles Kenning pointed to Dr. Kostkri and asked the HGR who she was.

“That is Dr. Feodora Kostkri. Her brain was scanned to create me”.

“Do you feel anything?”, Gilson asked Feodora.

“I used to feel, but I feel nothing now.”

“What else did you used to feel and do but which you don’t now?” asked Brigmore.

“I used to have sensation in my body, but not now. I used to eat and sleep but I have no need for such functions now. Until now I used to play sport, say prayers and carry out all sorts of charitable work, but now I would not perform such acts”.

“And why not?” asked Brigmore.

“Because these things are illogical. They serve no rational function.”

“Now Feodora. Do you know exactly what your mission is?”

“It is, with the aid of the Speedy Gonzalez hyper-computer, to crack the genetic code of the space bacterium now nearing Earth’s surface and to develop a vaccine to combat illness caused by this bacteria”.

“I hope that you will be pleased to perform this task”, asked Gilson.

“No” was all that Feodora replied.

“Why not Feodora, why not?” Gilson yelled.

“Because happiness is an illogical emotion.”.

“So you refuse to co-operate with the mission?”, Brigmore asked.

“No”.

“But you refused a moment ago”.

“I did not refuse. I said that happiness is an illogical emotion. I used to feel it as I did other emotions, but I no longer feel emotion. I feel nothing either physical or emotional although I once did.”

“So you will go on the mission to the exosphere and work on the bacterial DNA?”

“Yes I will”.

“Thank you”.

“Thanks is illogical and non-productive”.

“Enough”, said Brigmore. Turning to Casper he said “could you turn her off please?”

Over lunch in the dining section of the base, Kenning asked Brigmore and Gilson what they made of the HGR.

“I’m convinced that the thing is not conscious. It seems that brain scans capture the logical functioning aspects of the brain but not the emotional or, dare I say it, spiritual parts of a human being”, Gilson conjectured.

“The question is – does that thing truly reflect the flesh and blood Feodora Kostkri?”, wondered Kenning.

“None of us know her well enough to really answer that question”, commented Cowner.

“Well, the best person who can answer that query is Feodora Kostkri herself”, came a somewhat tinny sounding mechanical voice from behind. The group looked round in amazement expecting to encounter the HGR version of Feodora Kostkri. But it was the real McCoy which they saw. Kostkri explained that a sense of humour was illogical but that she was pleased that this “illogicality” remained in her. She had been mimicking the voice of the HGR in order to give the others a bit of a scare. They all invited the beautiful bio-chemist to join them for lunch.

“So – is that thing ‘you’”? Gilson asked.

“Only in terms of logic and knowledge but in nothing else. I agree with Professor Gilson that the contraption has no consciousness”.

“You know Feodora”, said Brigmore, “we expected you’d be in your room in floods of tears over what you had witnessed earlier today”.

“I’m made of almost the same tensile material as that robot”, said Feodora smiling. “I’m logical enough to know that I’m not totally logical and rational, so what is inside that thing is only a part of me. I’m no philosopher, but I know that even the logical parts of our mental composition are never wholly disconnected from our emotional and psychological systems”.

“Many scientists, from neurologists to quantum theorists, are coming round to the idea that the brain alone cannot account for the totality of the human personality”, explained Gilson.

“So, you’re not upset by what you saw?”, asked Brigmore somewhat concerned.

“Not in the least”, Kostkri replied.

“However I do think that there could be an advantage in having a contraption that weeds out everything in the human personality apart from logic”, Casper proposed.

“Why do you think that Alan?”, Charles Kenning asked.

“Because, unencumbered by feelings and emotions, the device can sort of ‘see’ things more clearly than real human beings can. Charles when can the HGR be fitted with the rocket engines and placed into exospheric orbit?”.

“Whenever you bio-chemists, astrochemists and bio-engineers are ready?”, Kenning replied.

“We still need to wire up Speedy Gonzalez to Feodora’s brain”, cautioned Alan Cowner.

“How long will you need?”, Brigmore asked.

“Can you give us a couple of days?”

At the rocket launching site near the research base, Feodora stood motionless and erect ready to be blasted off into orbit.

“It’s best that we switch her on when she’s in orbit”, Kenning advised.

“Why is that?”, Brigmore asked.

“Because the trauma of takeoff might cause damage to her neural circuits”.

“Fine, we’ll activate her from base level once she’s in orbit”, said Casper .

When the time came for lift off, Feodora ascended into the sky like some Greek goddess. Chemical rockets were now a thing of the past. Nuclear powered rockets meant that any device could be easily and cheaply sent up into space.

Half an hour later when it was established that Feodora was safely in orbit, Casper and Kenning decided that it would now be appropriate to activate the HGR.

“Ground control to Feodora – do you read us?” Kenning asked the HGR.

“I read you”, came Feodora’s reply.

“Feodora! Are you ready to be connected to Speedy Gonzalez?” Casper asked.

“I am ready and willing”, came the reply back from space.

“Dr Kostkri, gentlemen, if you are all satisfied that everything is in order, I’ll activate Speedy Gonzalez”, said Cowner.

Everyone nodded their approval and Alan Cowner started the vital process whereby Feodora’s brain would work with the hyper-computer in deciphering the highly complex genome of the space bacteria.

“The genetic structure of this bacteria is even more complex than I imagined”, Gilson said to Brigmore.

“The more information we get the more complex it becomes”, Brigmore sighed.

“But surely it can’t be infinite. This is five days now. I thought that an HGR and an SG hyper-fast computer working in combination would have worked it out in as many hours – in one day at the very most”.

“Well, Walter, we just have to be patient.”

Gilson’s and Brigmore’s musings were interrupted by a technician who entered the laboratory.

“Excuse me Professors Brigmore and Gilson but Drs. Kostkri, Kenning, Casper and Cowner request your immediate presence at the control centre. They ask you not to delay as there is an emergency”.

Brigmore and Gilson looked at each other somewhat bemused then hurried off to the control centre to see what the commotion was all about.

“What’s up?”, enquired Brigmore as he entered the control centre.

“Feodora seems to have started to malfunction”, Cowner explained.

“What exactly do you mean?”, Gilson asked.

“The flow of information form her has slowed down and her voice messages are incoherent and garbled”, said Kenning.

“Let me talk to her”, said Brigmore.

Brigmore sat at the communications consul in order to speak with Feodora.

“Feodora!”, said Brigmore in a tone of voice which was a mixture of firmness and sympathetic concern.

“What…wh…what” was all that came back from Feodora.

“Feodora – what is wrong? Tell me what the problem is”.

“I cannot compute at the same speed as Speedy Gonzalez”.

“But you have been doing so for five days”.

“Not now, Professor Brigmore, not now”.

“When did you notice this deterioration?” asked Brigmore turning towards his colleagues.

“Only 15 minutes ago”, Kostkri informed him.

Brigmore returned to the communications consul.

“What do you think is causing this problem Feodora?”

“I don’t know”.

“Well, what do you feel right now?”

“I am unable to feel anything.”

Casper walked over to the consul. “Listen Feodora – Analyse your internal structure and report back.”

Two minutes later, Feodora sent this communication to Ground Control: “There is a temperature increase in my frame. I am around 180F and rising. There is foreign biological matter in my brain”.

“Oh my God, Oh my God”, Brigmore moaned. “I know exactly what has happened”.

“You mean Feodora has been infected with the bacteria”, Gilson asked.

“Exactly! What else?”