Free Stand Against Infinity by Aaron K. Redshaw Page B

several
improvements to the pods he made every day. These included a better
thermal conversion cycle for the drive system, new improved and
remounted intake, and a faster speed overall. These, and the long
hours of dedication put in by H662 made him one of the company’s
best.
    His only competition was A1103, who always
arrived at nearly the same time in the morning, and put in as many
hours. The foreman’s son had brought his own innovation to the
company, with his tireless work. Sometimes when his father was
around him, H662 would sneak a look and saw great pride on his
foreman’s face.
    That night H662 took one of the pods home
from work, realizing he was tired. It was last year’s model and a
bit cramped for his taste. When it reached his home, he stepped out
of the pod, and it sped off to pick someone else up who had called
for it. Here, before him, was his apartment.
    He took the elevator until he reached his
floor and walked down the narrow hallway into his apartment. His
wife, U1472, stood just inside the door.
    “Good evening,” she said.
    “Good evening,” he said. “How was work?”
    “Good, but I did have to talk to our daughter
about playing make-believe again. Could you talk to her?”
    “I will do my best. Have you ordered dinner
yet?”
    “I was just about to,” she moved toward the
console on the wall next to the table. “Would beef flavored carbo
packs be good for you tonight? I will get the associated vitamins
sent up as well.”
    “Sure, sure. Sounds good.” He headed off to
see about his daughter.
     

Chapter 5
    U2258 was an important man in an important
job. For years now, chips had been implanted behind the right ear
of citizens once they reached adolescence. Within the city, the
number of people who had the chip interface was nearly 100%. And
U2258 made sure the chip and the brain could communicate with each
other. This took a good deal of knowledge of neurology, signal
processing, and biofeedback engineering, so it would be accurate to
say that U2258 was smart. However, he did not act like it. In fact,
his slow methodical speech often gave strangers the impression that
he was slow on the uptake.
    “U2258?” said his boss, a dark haired man
with a severe face. “I’d like you in on this new project.”
    A pause as U2258 chose his words. “A new
project? Something besides active brain interfaces?”
    “No, no. The same good work you’ve always
done. The technology is just different.”
    “Hmm,” said U2258. “When do I get to hear
more?”
    “We’ll have a meeting later this afternoon. I
know you’re always on time, but be sure you are this time.”
    “Yes,” said U2258.
***
    Later that afternoon, U2258 opened the door
to the conference room. Three others were in the room, including
his boss, so U2258 took a seat across from them.
    “Is this the man?” asked a woman shaped like
a concrete block.
    “He is,” said his boss.
    “It is nice to finally meet you, U2258,” she
said. “We have heard about all the good work you are doing
here.”
    “Thank you,” he said. She did not offer her
name, making U2258 just a little suspicious.
    His boss began, “I have had you brought in on
this project because of all the work you have done on brain
interface technology in the past. You are the best we have.”
    “Thank you,” said U2258, still confused about
his role, but interested to see this new project.
    Another man, with a short, well-trimmed beard
and a high voice jumped in. “We have designed a new chip with new
capabilities that we believe will change the world.”
    U2258 paused, assimilating all this. “In what
way?”
    “In every way,” said the man.
    Another pause, “I mean, what will it do?”
    His boss took this up, “It will allow for
airwave communication. We call them feeds. A person wearing this
chip will have the ability to receive live communication from other
sources.”
    Pause. “How will that affect the wearer?”
asked U2258.
    “Not sure yet,”