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her
attention to the awakening. She would have to handle this carefully,
she knew. The first time the prototype awoke would only last for a
few minutes. Any more than that and there would be too many stimuli
to keep in memory: it would overwhelm. She tried to remember exactly
what the doctors in Germany had done with their apes. There were many
ways to soothe animals, and she hoped that they would also work to
soothe a human.
    Because if this one
malfunctioned, Chal might never get a chance to work with a
human-substrate prototype again. Therefore, it couldn’t
malfunction. It just couldn’t.
    Chal wouldn’t
let it.
    ***
    The lights were
turned off in the main lab, leaving Chal alone under a soft red glow
with the unconscious prototype. They had wheeled him in with little
ceremony and moved him quickly to the sensory-deprivation tank they
had rigged up. It was an automated system that would awaken the
prototype and then sedate him again after only a few minutes. Chal
had assured everyone that this would be plenty of time for the first
session with the prototype. She didn’t want to overstimulate
him.
    He floated now in
the tank, attached only with one IV to the green liquid that would
wake him from his unconscious rest. It was remarkable how much he
looked like a normal human. Chal knew that, physically at least, he
was as human as she was. It was just a matter of making sure his mind
could weather the transition into consciousness. His dark hair waved
in slow motion in the water. She watched him, for the first time
taking in his appearance.
    Alan .
    He was handsome, and
this was something that she had not prepared herself for. His body
was perfect, chiseled and lean, and his facial features were
decidedly masculine, dark eyebrows slanting across his brow, an
aquiline nose. He looked to be in his late twenties or so, in peak
physical condition. This was important, she knew. The body would need
to be strong enough to deal with the chemical adjustments the brain
made as it developed rapidly into maturity.
    His naked body
bobbed slightly in the saltwater, and Chal adjusted the padding
around the sides, not wanting him to bump his head on the tank walls.
She moved slowly, carefully, but her hand accidentally touched the
prototype’s limb. She let her fingers move on his skin. He felt
warm to the touch, and Chal let his wet skin glide under the pads of
her fingers.
    Smooth. Like a baby.
Yet full-grown, a man already on the outside. It was strange, and as
Chal examined him she felt a mixture of emotions surge forward under
her skin. Curiosity surpassed all of the rest, but it wasn’t a
clinical curiosity as it had been in the past. Every animal she had
worked with had been on the very low end of the Freitas consciousness
spectrum. The difference between a baby rat and a full-grown rat had
more to do with size and mobility than with intelligence. But a human
man is so different from a human baby that Chal trembled at the
thought of waking the prototype up.
    Her hand traced the
line of his shoulder, his neck. She was curious who he would be once
he woke up. Would he be a conscious person? Really? His mind would be
an infant’s, although not for long. She would have to remember
that, to make a point of remembering.
    His face was calm as
her hand made its way up to his cheek and rested there. Chal’s
fingers stroked the skin at his temple absentmindedly.
    What will you
think when you wake up? she thought.
    “Are we
ready?” Dr. Fielding asked, startling Chal out of her thoughts.
The water rippled with drops as she removed her hand from the tank.
    “Yes,”
Chal said. She sat back, the clipboard resting next to her on the
table. She was ready.
    White noise came on
over the speaker system, a static humming that blanketed the room and
filled Chal’s ears. The IV began to drip emerald fluid, and
Chal eyed the one-way-mirrored wall nervously. Having an audience
made her a bit unsteady. She breathed in deeply, relaxing herself