Free Human by Robert Berke Page A

any new appearances."
    Before leaving the room, Bayron made some notes in his black spiral notebook.
     
    Bayron's lab retained its office like atmosphere. The only thing that had changed about it in the preceding months was the addition of nearly one hundred monitor screens grouped in sets of various sizes hanging on the walls. The monitors were all measuring or tracking something different. Some displayed line charts, some displayed numbers. Others represented the flow of digital "blood" through the digital arteries of the digitized brain that was now doing all of Smith's lower and median brain functions.
    The only person who knew the meaning of all the information on all the monitors was Dr. Bayron. He had grouped the monitors in such a way that, with one pirouette, he could see everything that was going on with Smith's two operating brains and his one useless body.
    "Sharky," Bayron said placing a hand on the shoulder of the young engineer in the white labcoat, "come with me."
    Sarkis Ohangangian, known around the lab as "Sharky", was Bayron's prot é g é . His father and pregnant mother fled the destruction caused by the devastating 1988 earthquake in Armenia and came to the United States just months before he was born making him the first member of his family born outside of Armenia. In Armenia, his father had been an electrical engineer. But, being unable to speak English, in the United States his experience, skills, and talent were worthless. His education and intelligence however, were invaluable.
    Sharky's father landed his first job in the United States as a machinist in a factory working for cash under the table. Then he found work as an auto-mechanic and ultimately opened his own repair shop. Eventually he opened several shops. By the time Sharky had graduated high school, his father owned a chain of auto supply and mechanics shops in three states. Sharky learned mechanics when he was a little boy. He learned how to weld, how to build engines, how mechanical things worked. This was his first language. As his father became more successful, Sharky gained access to the best schools, the best universities, and the best opportunities.
    Sharky's blazing intelligence, natural inquisitiveness, and unstoppable drive made him exactly the kind of person most deserving of the opportunities his father's success could provide.
    Sharky followed Dr. Bayron to his office in eager anticipation of whatever challenge Bayron was going to throw at him.
    As they sat in Bayron's glass-enclosed outer office, Sharky got the sense that Bayron was tired. He looked old. "He wants internet access." Bayron spoke as casually as a waiter telling a cook that the party at table five wanted soup, but Sharky immediately grasped the significance and gravity of the request.
    He summed up his concern succinctly: "Then it won't be a closed system."
    Bayron answered the non-question with a non-answer. "We could lose control of the operating environment. What do you think?"
    "Firewall of some sort. We can't let him get hacked, but there's no perfect firewall. We'll have to back him up, obviously. Maybe let two artificial brains work in tandem: one that's wired to the 'net and one which would require a disconnect from the net before permitting updates to be made. Maybe even a third brain to decide if any of the information brought in is virulent or malicious." Sharky was brainstorming.
    "An id, superego, and ego."
    "Funny in a way, isn't it?" Sharky said. "I mean, if the artificial brain would hold all of the elements of his personality, then the id, the superego and the ego would already be a part of the system and there would be no need for three separate brains, would there? Then it would just be an issue of making the mechanical connection to the web, which I could actually do today."
    "You put too much faith in both science and people, Sharky, neither will ever fail to disappoint you." Bayron sighed. "Think negative for a minute."
    Sharky raised one