Chapter 12 Part B

  Continued…

  But did all of the models have the bio-skin? I would have to answer that too. I was sure the Liga did, and maybe even the Carin, but not sure about the rest. It might take some time to find that out. Bioskin would make a big difference in feeling like the android was real to me. It would affect stealth from human detection too. Humans touch each other all the time and literally all day, so that would get discovered fast.

  This was why some anti-android groups were scared. They were afraid that humans would become obsolete because we were so fwed and androids looked so perfect. They aged pretty well also. Some of them even cimed to be former Mellifera employees that had seen what really happens…but they weren’t saying everything? So either they were cowed into not saying but still being rebellious or afraid to say? Or was that a lie? Or are they just angry reject employees?

  Maybe it would garner more support in an anti group if you cimed you were a victim of some kind, and that might be why some of them cimed to be ex employees. Some of them didn’t know enough about the process to be able to show they were employees. They just repeated generic information in their ‘get the vilin’ social justice warrior videos.

  We’ve repced cars with mag cars which use electricity and fuel cells; thus no more fossil fuel needed propulsion systems and a lot of that technology was avaible to use but not capitalized upon even fifty years ago. We’ve also repced a lot of other technology for flying with nuclear reactor powered pnes and air craft, including hover copters. We’ve also developed a powerful medical nanobot system to repair not just tissue, but also genes. Thus humans can live for … who knows how long now. Society really has come a long way.

  So if those things can happen a biologically based android could happen.

  But even with all of those things, we still had social anarchy unrest, because of poverty and social caste systems much greater than any other period of history. The police were still trying to implement drone based tactical systems to avoid losses and find more tech to lower chances of fatalities.

  Our public utilities and drinking water weren’t any better than they were fifty years ago due to corruption and very strained too because of ck of proper development and maintenance. There was almost no middle css anymore either. What few pockets that were left were probably simir to me, independent thinking people that had worked hard for a few years by their own blood, sweat and tears; and been helped by their parents a little bit. The rest had probably seen their jobs go overseas or bought out by heavy corporations.

  War with the countries in the east was likely to break out again too, a lot of people thought. What was interesting in my observance of this opinion was that it wasn’t just small po-dunk hillbillies saying this anymore, but also corporate leaders, bankers, and social scientists, and a few others in high society. Tensions were high and the Cold War between the three rgest countries had been going a bit too far. But it seemed more artificial and based on competition of resources.

  Ten years ago there were skirmishes. It was kept out of the news, but there were leaks, and rumors. Then ter we found out it wasn’t just one skirmish but several over the Aleutian Isnds and parts of Sakhalin. There were rumors they’d had camps for about two years on some of the outlying Aleutians. There were also reports of rare earth minerals used for android production being found in some of those hot zone pces.

  Go figure.

  So even though we had more technologically and better lives, we were living more dangerously with more people fighting over what was left.

  I looked down at the table with the different models.

  OK, now comes the hard part.

  I have to figure out what I can do with the resources I have.

  Theoretically I could use the android to not only work on the shop, but also sell more services using the pretty face if it had a good appearance like any of the models I’d seen so far. But I had to be careful of not getting into debt too much. As it is pulling this off would be difficult enough as it is.

  With Barbara’s help, she’d sent me a bunch of information that I did qualify for a much broader and bigger grant than I’d originally thought possible through the Violent Crimes fund; that would pay for the equivalent of value of something like a modified android for my shop completely for free at no cost to me. But I couldn’t get the most expensive model with it. I would only be able to have it cover an Asca or a Carinol. There might be some change left over for some upgrades for a Carinol, but that’s as far as it went.

  I’m not sure an Asca would be able to handle selling and bartering…some of the forums I’d looked at didn’t like the idea of using them in a shop as a seller, but did say it was possible, just not easy to start up with…requiring a hugely obscne almost sky high number of training hours that seemed impossible to get through.

  OK. More number crunching. But then I had to stop and see what I’d missed. It turns out there’s more. Additional features cost extra. Some of them could be worked around but some of them couldn’t. It wasn’t like you were totally screwed if you didn’t have every upgrade out there, but advantages could help some.

  Things like customization of the face, hair, and build didn’t cost you extra because that was considered included in the package. They did that as a selling point to make ‘every android unique like a real person’.

  But other things were different.

  If I do strip models then I can also get a bank loan which I qualify for because of good financial history. My shop showed it was stable also as a financial winner too. Plus the violent crime fund for more than one android. With that considered I can either buy two strip model Ascas, or three strip model Carinols, or one souped up and heavily modified Carin. In no situation whatsoever will I qualify for the cost of a Liga, which was very heart breaking.

  The Liga,… they seem to be a luxury model that not many people can do. Even the rich had trouble getting them for some reason, hinted certain rumors. I guess I’d have to live with not having a Liga…

  But strip models with no upgrades didn’t sound as appealing in some ways, though it would be very tempting. It was the equivalent of having like two or three 20 year old girls living with me and that was hard not to think about. It meant a harder start up, which would mean more stress because I would be worried about a lot of stuff while teach an android what I needed from it in the shop.

  It’s also a complication that mag cars weigh a lot and having more than one android might help with moving heavier parts like engine and transmission cores. Crap…I hadn’t thought about that. Because of a lot of reasons it was hard to afford and get heavy equipment with high price tags for an auto shop, but now suddenly a back door was open.

  Turns out only about ten percent of households can also get funding for an android because debt and bad choices are so rampant in our society. Any kind of prison record of anyone living with someone at an address could potentially get them axed from the list with Mellifera and the German companies too. They will usually also already have a lot of other financial commitments and then miss out on being able to buy them.

  So I suspect Barbara wants to make this sale work. She’s followed up with me at least once per day. I let it go to video feed messaging, but finally sent her a text only message that I was still going over numbers and research to determine what’s best but that I’d be in touch with her very soon.

  Text only reply came back less than a minute ter, “Thank you Jack. Let’s talk soon. –Barbara ?.”

  Even though people have had video feed technology for a long time, text only messages are still popur because of ease and the feeling of not wanting to commit emotionally too much to people you didn’t always know and having a screen to hide behind.

  Next I had to look at the upgrade options. I wasn’t even sure of everything avaible.

  Because there had been so much social unrest the Asca model looked attractive. But it would take the longest to get acquainted with my shop. The Carin had a mod download chip also for being able to work in auto mechanic shops. There wasn’t a mod chip download for Asca’s to use for shops since it hadn’t been worked out yet and it was assumed that they were the official android of choice for anything reted to guarding or security like police and prison guard work.

  Oh that’s interesting. There was a mod chip download for Asca’s to drive pnes and hover copters however, since they needed those types of responsibilities for those models as military soldier units or military support units. That was an unexpected find and low cost for their model only, since they needed it. They also held the lowest cost for farming software mod chip downloads, though that farming soft chip was avaible to all four models since it was considered necessary for humans to be able to live and therefore necessary to know for caring for humans.

  Carinols had obtained the nursing and medical soft chip download for the equivalent knowledge of nurse job applications however, which the others had to pay extra for.

  No pilot download programs for Carinol’s were avaible now or in the future, however. Carin did have a download support for pilot modifications but it was like five times more expensive than the Asca model’s soft chip download.

  There was also no rib and skull armor mod for the Carinol avaible. That made me nervous. That model was looking more and more like it wouldn’t be able to care for me in times of danger or distress.

  The rib and skull armor mod might not be necessary, but the town going to the dogs and who could say, plus Matt trying to kill me had made me totally freaking out paranoid. The description of the ribcage armor in all models seemed to describe it like a synthetic metal ribcage in pce of where bone ribcages would be on a human that had a steel belted movable webbing between the ribs, strong enough and still a slight moving system to still be able to simute breathing like a human would but also act as a fully functioning bullet proof armor. It also seemed that most of the major systems of all models were also located in the ribcage and skull so the armor wasn’t a bad upgrade. It would not however stop bullets from damaging the exterior bioskin or areas below the edge of where the armor caging ended in the lower belly.

  That wasn’t unexpected however. You can’t win everything. There would be limits if they were putting ‘stealth as a human’ as their first priority.

  This armor mode was a really useful idea. It could be put on the Carin, but came for free in the Asca mod. While being an extra cost with Carin, if I could have afforded it with a Liga then it would be a very low extra cost, since the model cost alone was very prohibitive to anyone but the filthy rich.

  The customization I hadn’t even gotten halfway into. This was going to be a lot of homework.