To the Stars -- and Beyond. Damien Broderick

and his attorneys conferred again, and there was obvious disagreement. Arthur slapped his hand on the table to emphasize a point. Finally, Camus cleared his throat and said, “We did not come prepared to show the contract, Your Honor, but we can have copies brought here if it’s absolutely necessary. We feel it’s in the interest of all parties to avoid the expense and publicity of a trial.”

      Judge Maxwell checked his watch. “It’s nearly ten. We will resume at one. I expect Counselor Haug will have at least an hour to study the contract and formulate his questions. One way or another, I hope we’re going to settle this today.” He smiled down on them all. “Coffee time,” he said, and banged his gavel lightly.

      * * * *

      “No wonder they didn’t want us to see it,” said Blanche. “This is not only outrageous, but obscene. Helen would never have agreed to this.”

      “You agree that’s her signature?”

      “Yes, it looks like it. Signatures can be forged, Randal.”

      “I doubt it here, Blanche. I think you’ll have to accept that Helen was involved as a subject for experimentation with Advanced Technologies before her death, and what’s happening now is an extension of that work.”

      “What work?”

      “Good question. Whatever it is has to be approved by Arthur Winslow, but otherwise, ‘my body can be used in any form or for any purpose within the AINI project.’ That’s both vague and specific. We have to find out what AINI means. It’s the only unknown. Otherwise, Helen has allowed them to do anything they want with her after her death.”

      “Then they brainwashed her to get her money. This AINI thing is probably part of it.”

      “We can still argue for an autopsy,” said Randal, “but my bet is she died the way they said she did. And seeing the contract hasn’t strengthened our case, Blanche; it’s weakened it. They’ve documented Helen’s total consent to the procedure. All we can do is try to show that consent was somehow forced out of her.”

      They were sitting on a bench outside the courtroom. Arthur came down the hall with his entourage behind him, and Blanche glared at him.

      Arthur broke away from the group. Camus made a grab for his arm, but missed. Arthur headed straight for Blanche. Randal stood up, prepared to defend her, but Arthur stopped short. His round face was flushed, and he posed angrily, hands on hips. Blanche had a sudden urge to laugh at him.

      “Well, I suppose you’re still not satisfied,” said Arthur.

      “We might be, if you tell us what the AINI project is,” said Randal.

      “That’s none of your business.”

      “It might be if it involves coercion and fraud. Let’s see what the judge thinks.”

      “Monster,” said Blanche, “you’ve been allowing experiments with the body of your own mother.”

      “You don’t know anything,” shouted Arthur. “Mother would be furious if she heard you say that!”

      Camus arrived, and pulled Arthur back. “You won’t accomplish anything by this. They don’t have a case,” he said.

      “We’ll see,” said Randal.

      Blanche smiled, pleased by Arthur’s boyish rage. “You always got away with tantrums when you didn’t get your way, dear. If you’d been mine, I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

      “How fortunate you weren’t able to have children,” snarled Arthur.

      “Arthur, please!” Camus pulled him away backwards by both arms.

      “No! This has to stop here. I’m going to have my AINI unit brought in for testimony. It’ll settle everything once and for all.”

      “The patents, Arthur. We can’t—”

      “The patents are filed, and the hearing is closed. If anything leaks to the press we’ll sue her for everything she has. Let me go!” Arthur twisted in Camus’ grip, and broke it.

      “Wait for me here. I need to make a private call.” Arthur turned to Blanche and pointed a shaking finger at her. “Now you’re going to get it!”

      Everyone was amazed as Arthur stormed away from them. For one instant, Randal Haug and Richard Camus were sympathetic colleagues. Randal shrugged his shoulders in dismay, and Camus said, “What can I do? The funding was his, and he has the authority. The board, of course, will blame me.”

      Randal shook his head sadly. Blanche was mystified by everything she’d just heard.

      Two hours later, she understood everything.

      * * * *

      “What’s all this?” asked Judge Maxwell, after he’d seated himself. He gestured at a large, black screen and computer console with projection system that had been set up along one wall of the courtroom. Two fisheye cameras mounted on the console pointed outwards into the room.

      “My client wishes to perform a demonstration he feels will clear up this entire matter, Your Honor,” said Camus.

      “Any objections to this, Counselor Haug?”

      “No, Your Honor. The only questions we have regarding the contract relate to details about the AINI project, and we’re told the demonstration will answer those questions.”

      “Good. You may proceed, Counselor Camus.”

      “Ah, the demonstration will be given by Arthur Winslow. He’s familiar with the technology, and has been using it on a regular basis since his mother’s death.”

      Maxwell looked at Haug.

      “No problem, Your Honor.”

      Arthur stood up, adjusted the knot on his tie and walked to the computer, turned, cleared his throat and folded his hands together over his stomach.

      “The apparatus behind me houses what we call the AINI Model 10. By AINI we mean ‘Artificially Intelligent-Neural Integration.’ It is basically a combination of a brain that stores data and a learning center that can synthesize new data from old. In other words, it’s an artificial intelligence system with a solid state brain made up of rare-earth-impregnated-carbon-nanotubes.”

      Arthur opened two doors at the base of the console, revealing what looked like a solid cube of silver metal. “This is the brain.”

      Everyone looked at him blankly, searching for understanding and relevance. “Rubbish,” muttered Blanche, and Arthur heard her.

      He glared straight at her, closed the console doors behind him, and softly said, “It’s my mother’s brain, now, and if you’ll listen I’ll tell you how that happened.”

      Blanche gasped. Randal squeezed her arm, and hushed her.

      Arthur blushed, and his voice quavered. “It all started with the Josephson Junction SQUID arrays to map magnetic storms in the brains of epileptics, but as resolution increased, our scientists began to see repeated neural current patterns related to specific thoughts, especially in memory recollection. We were soon down to the neuron level in resolution. Each memory, each thought, is a definite, three-dimensional current pattern in real time. It’s like scanning a picture, and this is what AINI does, building up a library of memories and thoughts that can be reassembled by an AI system to satisfy any scenario.”

      Arthur’s voice cracked. He seemed to be struggling, and took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. His eyes were suddenly quite moist.

      “It was my mother who came up with the idea of using AINI to store more than the body of someone you loved when they died.”

      Arthur choked, cleared his throat again, and blew his nose with the handkerchief. Blanche rolled her eyes, and sighed.

      “She was interested in many things, and she’d had a series of small strokes, little