Interlude

“It’s going to take forever to sort through this data…” Stanley complained as he scrolled through the reports on his screen.

“And this is with just ten active prototypes,” Nicholas added, sitting next to Stanley as he monitored his own screens. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“Start with the notes about what the users have said about the Dolls so far,” Raymond suggested as he stood behind them drinking from his favorite coffee mug.

Stanley nodded, and opened up the user reports. “For people that fill out reports all day, they are terrible at giving us actionable data. Look at this one, Michael White ID215681. ‘The Doll lacks crucial features.’ But then he doesn’t elaborate.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s talking about his dick,” Nicholas said with a smirk, turning around to see Raymond’s reaction.

“That’s speculation, unless it’s specifically stated as being an issue, focus on something else,” Raymond just took another sip from his mug.

“Lisa Young, ID278314 mentioned not feeling this young in years. Though she’s been flagged for termination.” Stanley continued. “Wow, she had a fourteen hour session on her first day and then was ejected from the Doll when she tried to take it to work.”

“Fourteen hours? How far along was the integration?” Raymond put down the mug on a random desk and approached the terminal.

“Enough for the Doll to drive itself to work before returning to signal range before shutting down as it realized it didn’t have a pilot.” Stanley said as he continued reading the report.

“How far out was the Doll before the User was kicked?” Raymond was leaning over his shoulder reading some of the data for himself.

“Five minutes after the Doll went out of range, so I guess we know that system works, and the integration process is complete. It’s just a shame that she’s being fired over the incident, the raw data we’re getting from that Doll is way above the rest.”

Raymond nodded as he backed off and grabbed his mug again. He turned and as he pondered what to do next. “I want that Doll’s data forwarded to Zach for in depth analysis. What’s the status of the Doll itself?”

“It’s been flagged for recycling.” Nicholas wasn’t too upset; it meant one less Doll to gather information on.

Raymond placed down his mug again and walked over to the phone on the wall. “Raymond Jones, ID020205.”

“Yes, Mr Jones?” He heard his assistant’s voice pick up straight away.

“Tamara, I need you to contact recycling and request a Doll marked for destruction…” Raymond snapped his fingers to get Stanley’s attention and waved him over. “The Doll is…”

“Lisa Young, ID278314.” Stanley gave him the information he needed.

“Lisa Young, ID278314,” Raymond repeated. “Oh and Tamara, make sure the paperwork goes missing once the request goes through.”

“Yes sir Mr Jones,” Tamara responded before disconnecting.

“Sir?” Stanley stood there confused and unsure about what he overheard.

“Is there a problem Stanley?” Raymond gave him a stern look.

“Company policy states that all Dolls without a user must be recycled,” Stanley laid out his concerns. “These are also a new line of Dolls, the integration function copies the user's mind. That Doll would have loads of private information about Lisa Young.”

“I understand your concerns and I would normally agree with you,” Raymond placed his hand on Stanley’s shoulder. “Remind me again what department I’m in right now.”

“This is R and D, sir.” Stanley stated firmly.

“Correct and what do you think we could do with a partially integrated Doll that can drive itself to work?”

“I don’t know, sir.” Stanley.

“Either do I, which is why we’re going to find out,” Raymond removed his hand from shoulder and gave him another stern look. “But for now you don’t need to worry about it, just get back to work and say nothing, understood?”

“Yes, sir?” Stanley sheepishly acknowledged as Raymond left the room to go back to his office. Stanley headed back to his station unsure what to make of what his boss was doing.

“What was that about?” Nicholas asked disinterested. “You know what, don’t know, don't care. Anyway while you were dealing with the boss, I found a more detailed report.” Nicholas shared his screen with Stanley. “Lauren Smith, ID299935”

Stanley read through the notes on Lauren’s Doll. “Finally some actionable feedback. I never considered the voice thing. I wonder how we’re going to fix that?” He continued reading down to the emergency eject. “She’s even testing the more important systems.”

“She also has submitted complaints about the unblemished skin, eyesight being too perfect, the body not being as fat as hers. She’s listed pretty much every imperfection she’s found with the Doll,” Nicholas added.

“It would be nice if more users were like her,” Stanley commented as he began to compile the notes to send down to the engineers.

“That might be a problem,” Nicholas sighed. “Look at the uptime, it’s only been active for thirty minutes total.” He then switched to the raw data. “Also look at her brain activity between session one and two” He showed Lauren’s brain activity between both. “The first session shows the usual elements we see when Dolls are first piloted, there’s a sense of curiosity mixed with uncertainty. Before she disconnected  while testing the security features there was even a sense of playfulness.” Nicholas explained as he went through Lauren’s brain activity when she first used her Doll.

“Now look at session two. All of that curiosity is gone, it’s nothing but doubt. And this right here…” Nicholas pointed touched the screen as he brought up the Doll’s diagnostics. “Look at her brain activity before she touches her body. She’s having some serious doubts about the Doll.”

“That’s disappointing, we need more users like her.” Stanley said as he read the latest notes and sighed. “I see what you mean ‘Entering Standby mode is disorientating,’ then she elaborates on taking a bathroom break and having lunch with her boyfriend while the Doll is in standby.”

“Only she didn’t go back to it afterwards,” Nicholas pointed out, showing that she only has two sessions. “She hasn’t even piloted the Doll for thirty minutes and it seems to have had a profound impact.”

“That’s disappointing, I would’ve preferred receiving more feedback from her.” Stanley lent back in her chair. “Wait, what are you doing?” He turned to Nicholas as he made comments on her file.

‘Lauren Smith, ID299935. Has shown a profound disinterest in the Doll; recommend ending trial early - Nicholas Potts, ID477901’

“It’s better for her and the company if we just cut our losses and focus on the other users,” Nicholas suggested.

Stanley pulled his chair back into his terminal and opened up the feedback on his own terminal.

‘Lauren Smith, ID299935, has provided invaluable feedback with the doll with her dissatisfaction; recommend keeping her in the program for tests on future Doll models - Stanley Mason, ID477900’

“It’s your call, to keep her in the program,” Nicholas shrugged as he read Stanley’s note. “I still think we should recycle this Doll.”

Nicholas was about to close Lauren’s file when he noticed a new session begin with her Doll. “That can’t be right…”

“What’s going on?” Stanley looked at his screen to check the issue. “I guess you were wrong. She’s using the Doll again.”

“Stanley…” Nicholas said to get his attention while still focusing on the screen as he pulled up Lauren’s company file. “It’s Ten A.M. Lauren started her shift at the office an hour ago. She’s not the pilot.”

Stanley looked at the screen and confirmed that she had signed into work at the office location. He then pulled up the active brain scan. “This isn’t Lauren’s brain.”

“I’ll say, look at the activity, it’s like a new user but more extreme,” Nicholas looked at the data coming in with excitement.

“According to her personnel file, she’s married to a Ben Smith. He must be using her Doll, preparing to disconnect.”

“Wait!” Nicholas physically stopped Stanley from typing on his computer. “This… this could be interesting. We should see how it plays out.”

“He’s an unregistered user, company policy clearly states that all unregistered users must be disconnected immediately. Besides this is a custom Doll, who knows how a second mind will affect the integration.”

“I know, that’s the exciting part. He shouldn’t even be able to pilot the Doll… unless…” Nicholas switched back to the activity log. “This is being registered as a resumption of yesterday’s session. Make a note of that, standby mode allows for unregistered users to pilot the Dolls. Glad we found that bug before we launched…” he laughed.

“We still need to boot him out, who knows what damage he’s causing by piloting the Doll,” Stanley reminded Nicholas.

“A Doll that’s going to be recycled. We both know that Lauren isn’t going to pilot it again.” Nicholas continued to block Stanley’s attempts to eject Ben from the Doll.

“I’m contacting Mr Jones.” Stanley pushed his chair back and ran to the phone and the back of the room. “Stanley Mason, ID477900. I need to speak to Raymond Jones, ID020205. It’s an emergency.”

The line was silent for a few minutes and Stanley wasn’t sure if he was going to get a hold of him.

“Stanley, if this is about Lisa Young’s Doll, I don’t want to hear it.” Raymond didn’t give her ID as per company policy, meaning she was fired.

“No, Sir, it’s not that. We have an unauthorized pilot in one of the Dolls… Lauren Smith, ID299935, her husband is piloting it.” Stanley explained before he could hang up.

The phone went silent for a few more minutes. Stanley almost thought he was hung up on but there was no dial tone. “Sir?” he asked, making sure his boss was still listening.

“Have you ejected the husband?” Raymond’s tone didn’t give anything away.

“I… I should have, but no…” Stanley’s heart was pounding; he just admitted to not following company policy but he didn’t want to get Nicholas into trouble either.

This time the silence felt like an eternity even though it was only a few seconds.

“Good, keep monitoring the situation. I’ll be down as soon as I can.”