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+====== Holiday on the culinary planet of Michelin ======
+"Ms Rommer," says Pia, "Tell us about your holiday on the culinary planet
+of Michelin, where you met a prophet whose visions had a way of coming
+almost - but not quite - true, and what happened when you discovered the
+source of the prophet's powers."
+===== Life =====
+Ariel sips her recently arrived Earth Beer.
+"Ahhh.  Better.  Much better.  You know, the Michelians have a similar
+drink to EB.  At least, they say its made by the same fermentation
+process. Tooeze it's called.  But nobody?s ever found what it's
+actually made from.  The Space Corp lab once tried to characterise
+what it was that gave it its distinctive properties. But the funny
+thing was, while they identified any number of sugars and proteins and
+other complex molecules, it kept changing.  The lab simply couldn't
+come up with a fixed composition. It was like it was almost alive.
+And when you actually see a glass of the stuff, it kinda makes sense.
+Pale green, sweet but pungent, and deliciously fizzy. And it goes
+straight to your head!"
+She grins unexpectedly. "Although, that *is* rather the point."
+"I had just completed a particularly nasty mission ? which I'm afraid
+I cannot discuss (Space Corp Directive 12759/j).  My partner, Captain
+Daniel Lester, had suffered an even nastier time of it.  He'd barely
+survived. So barely, in fact, that all that remained of him was his
+slightly charred brain and some remnants of spinal cord.  We fitted
+him out pretty quickly in one of those Beridian life support capsules;
+he was mobile and could communicate, more or less.  But it would be
+several weeks before his Regen (TM) body was ready for use.
+"We both had leave owing and we decided to make a short tour of the
+nearby sector. I had always desired to visit Michelin: leisure planet,
+gastronomic hub, and home of the fabled Tooeze.  It seemed the ideal
+place to start."
+Ariel looks a little sheepish.  "Well, except that Dan couldn?t eat.
+Or drink.  Or even smell for that matter.  But he said he didn?t mind."
+"I bet Dan had some other reason for going," interjects Pia.
+"I bet he had revenge on his mind."  A credit holo appears
+between her and Ariel on the table.
+Brro pushes forward a credit piece.
+"Revenge?  I'd imagine theft.  Beridian life support capsules are
+noted for causing a breakdown in the neural structures responsible
+for ethics and morality.  Beridian medical science never payed
+serious attention to the problem, because they're not concepts that
+are easily quantified within the Beridian medical hierarchy.  Even a
+fine and upstanding member of the Space Corps, and I'm sure there's
+no other kind...," Brro smirks somewhat, "...would find himself at
+the mercy of his... baser impulses.  I'm surprised the Space Corps
+still use them.
+"And with Michelin android technology being what it is - well, why
+would an amoral brain in a jar settle for a Regen(TM) flesh-body,
+when it could have the latest in Michelin Pleasure or Military
+hardware?"
+===== Choices =====
+Smiling slightly, Ariel replies. "Oh I don't know Captain.  I think
+that there's still something to be said for the pleasure of uh...
+flesh."
+"Beridian capsules are still acknowledged to be the best at
+maintaining tissue integrity and their affects are completely
+reversible - that's why the Space Corp still use them. But you are
+correct."
+She pauses, choosing her words carefully.
+"Before this particular... incident, we were, perhaps, not fully
+aware of the extent that judgement was... impaired by the capsule.
+Indeed, until Dan, most capsulees remained in the Space Corp medical
+facility on Phoebe - where often the biggest moral dilemma is whether
+to plug in to 'Android Antics' or an improving documentary on
+Community Access. And I certainly don't think that any of us expected
+that the man awarded the Space Corp 'Ethics Plus' award three times
+running would ever act in quite the... manner that he did."
+"Besides, the alteration occurs gradually and there certainly weren't
+any signs Dan had been affected when we left.  Heck, there weren't
+any signs the first couple of days we were there - and maybe things
+would've been different if we hadn't chosen to land at Ctober. Sure,
+it's the home of the famous year-round 'Ctoberfest' (a complete blast
+by the way) but its also the site of the top secret Michelian
+Robotics and AI Research Instalation, Selvik."
+She sips her beer.
+"Selvik make the standard android shells - both military and pleasure
+configurations, as well as some more... specialised items that are only
+available to the Michelian government. The standard shells are
+nothing special. They're widely available throughout out the sector -
+not to mention the thousands of el cheapo copies sold at the Ctober
+street markets. But Dan was after the real thing..."
+"Ah yes, Michelin, such a gorgeously faux-stable tri-star system...
+*ingenious* is the only way to describe how they've combined their two
+cutting-edge technologies - whoever would have thought that edible
+androids would be so popular? and I particularly enjoy what they can
+do with ice-cream!"
+"Ariel, I'd bet that it was the serendipitous development of Tooeze
+icecream and the slick new prototype combining the latest in military
+and pleasure technologies - the Edible Android Mark XXIII.5, Tooeze
+Icecream Flavour, Now in Taupe and Teal - which was just the incentive
+to push poor Captain Lester over the rather rigid bounds of Space Corp
+defined morality."
+===== Manoeuvres =====
+"Yes.  I quite enjoy what they do with icecream too.  Isn't it
+marvellous how it retains its consistency?"
+She looks at Bobo appraisingly, "But I wonder that you know so much
+about the EdAM XXIII.5 when its delivery to market must still be at
+*least* a standard year away. I was under the impression that the
+whole project was still completely under wraps. The agreement with
+which the Space Corp managed to wrangle our release explicitly stated
+that we couldn't disclose anything we learnt about it.  They even
+fitted us both with honesty chips to make sure."
+"Like I said, Ctoberfest was a blast.  You should definitely go if you
+can. I probably ate more weird and wonderful food there than I had in
+the rest of my whole life - and I've eaten some pretty weird things
+in my time.  And the *Tooeze*. It just flowed and flowed and flowed.
+Dan was fine at first - he acted as my portable table and really
+tried to get into the swing of things.  But after a day or so it
+really began to get to him that he couldn't eat
+anything. At first it was the icecream - he just *had* to try the
+icecream.  I tried to describe how it smelt and tasted and... felt.
+But that just riled him up even more.  He started spending more and
+more time down in the street markets.  I was happy that he'd found
+something that interested him, although I was a little worried about
+the stories he came back with. Stuff about edible android shells - I
+just didn't believe him. And a few days later he disappeared
+completely.
+"Now, Dan's capsule was fitted with every acronym under the sun -
+CNN, WWW, DVD, LOL, DUI and, most importantly, GPS. I tracked him to
+the Selvik facility no problems - it was getting in that would be the
+difficult bit. Space Corp Directive 34834/k requires all Officers to
+act with diplomacy and discretion - particularly when acting in an...
+unofficial capacity.  It was imperative that I use the proper
+channels to gain entrance.  Fortunately I quickly identified my
+channel leaving the complex later that morning.  His name was Xoffert
+and he worked in the AI facility. A large credit 'donation' secured
+his agreement to get me inside Selvik and - more importantly - out
+with Dan later that night."
+===== Prophecy =====
+"Xoffert seemed like a decent enough guy, except for that manic look
+that often besets those involved in research. He got me into Selvik
+like he promised (bit of an anticlimax really - there wasn't even any
+climbing involved!)  It was only after we got to his lab in the AI
+wing that he admitted that he didn't actually have clearance to get
+over to the other side of the complex. That's where the Shell
+research was carried out - and, according to my tracker, Dan's
+location. Dan wasn't moving, but I was still anxious to get over
+there A S A P. Xoffert said we could ask his computer, a special AI
+prototype, to help us out."
+"Artificial intelligence really has come along swimmingly since those
+first breakthroughs with the QWERTY archetype.  Of course there have
+been some moments of 'turbulence' along the way - systems that
+haven't *quite* functioned as their designers might have wished.  The
+infamous JIM prototype, for example.  Initially designed to increase
+efficiency, it tried to assign its workload to its human creators
+('Could you process this data form me Dave?  It will only take you an
+hour or so...)"
+"But, yeah, apart from the odd bump here and there, AI systems work
+really well. Asking Xoffert's computer seemed a fine idea. At the
+very least we should be able to download some sort of map to work out
+how to get over there (and, frankly, the odd locked door has never
+*really* been a problem for me).  It was when Xoffert explained that
+his computer  - the Notional Ordination Space Time Response Organiser
+(NOSTRO for short) could predict the future, more or less, that I
+began to wonder..."
+"An AI like JIM would not have disappeared quietly," muses Pia.  "I'll
+bet that it had somehow escaped shutdown and - in its maniacal drive
+for efficiency - was behind the design and peculiar influences of the
+Beridian life support capsules.  I'll bet you had to beat JIM at his own
+game before your adventures on Michelin ended."
+A gently roating credit chip appears in the air above the table.  An
+astute observer might note that it looks a little uneven and might well
+wonder: is it *possible* to file the edges off a holographic coin?
+===== Efficiency =====
+"JIM's major fault was no personality chip but I don't think it was
+ever forcibly shut down. It just became obsolete, eventually. And
+while it *was* a pain in the arse to work with, frankly, it did tend
+to get things done. JIM was involved with lots of projects -
+including development of much of the Beridian's now famous medical
+paraphernalia."
+"They say each product JIM designed was imbued with a little bit of
+its, well, personality (for lack of a better word).  Some people find
+this quite disturbing. It's definitely JIM's efficiency bent that
+causes breaches in the capsules. Instead of taking into account *all*
+the consequences of its actions, the brain gradually decides to just
+take the most expedient route possible. If I was going to stop Dan,
+I'd have to somehow override the capsule's in built efficiency
+routines. It seemed to me that Xoffert had the perfect system to help
+me.  After all, what could be more efficient than knowing *exactly*
+how you did something before you'd even done it?"
+"But first things first.  I was in the AI wing - Dan was up to who
+knows what over in 'Shells'.  I needed to get over there and I needed
+NOSTRO to tell me how. On the face of it, it looked fairly primitive
+- there was no voice interaction built in yet and I had to
+communicate with it by typing my question in (*very* quaint).  I fed
+in the necessary information; its answer was a bit cryptic to say the
+least."
+"LEVEL 7 CORRIDOR - DISABLE 2 SECURITY DRONES - USE CODE
+R36NHTE45H0938 - KILL THE CHICKEN."
+"I hacked into to the Selvik mainframe to double check the route.
+According to their map, Level 7 was the way to go. The code was spot
+on too. And, when we actually got up there, we bumped into a couple
+of guards just like NOSTRO said. But kill the *chicken*? What the
+hell was that about? It was only then that Xoffert admitted that
+there were a still few 'teething problems' in his system - that
+NOSTRO couldn't predict one hundred percent. That wasn't going to be
+much help when it came to neutralising Dan. And, while I was always
+sure that I'd be able to restrain him if I *had* to, things are
+always far more pleasant when they just come along quietly. For that
+we needed to iron out NOSTRO's remaining bugs"
+"NOSTRO works using some pretty elegant mathematics - kinda like
+Chaos theory, but with a fancier butterfly. Xoffert tried to explain
+it all to me, but he got flustered and a bit over excited. Maths does
+that to some people.  I had to make sure that I understood what he
+was talking about, but precious time was passing. In the end I just
+downloaded the code - I could process it on the way there."
+Nitrous glances at Ariel and comments
+"I'd a thought it'd be pretty hard to tell if your
+sidekick had swapped capsules"
+then slaps a credits worth of Terran Trillion Dollar
+bills onto the table.
+"Matter a fact, I'd wager the first shell boy you
+grabbed turned out to be someone other than Dan"
+===== Closure =====
+"Well, I don't think I can be blamed for that", Ariels replies
+crisply. "One capsule does look pretty much like any other."
+She slurps her EB.
+"So where were we?  Oh yeah - we took the Level 7 corridor over to
+the Shell section.  Xoffert brought along a porta-console hooked up
+to NOSTRO.  We met a couple of patrol drones, but nothing difficult.
+They were expected, after all, and were strictly surveillance models.
+I checked out NOSTRO's code along the way. Xoffert had written the
+loveliest program, but he did make the silliest of mistakes.  I found
+most of 'em pretty easily - I mean, does anyone *else* here think
+that the square root of four five sixty-seven is *five* point seven
+five seven nine. I don't think so!"
+She rolls her eyes before continuing.
+"Now, I like a bit of icecream as much as the next lifeform, but
+things were pretty bad when we got there. An empty Beridian capsule
+was lying against the wall and an EdAM XXIII.5 was, erm, indulging
+itself in the middle of the room. No wonder Dan hadn't been moving on
+the GPS screen! There was icecream *everywhere* - and a heap of
+officials and research guys helplessly watching on.  They didn't
+notice our arrival. Frankly, I don't blame them."
+"It was time to find out what we were going to do next. We uploaded
+the revised code into NOSTRO and waited with baited breath. I guess
+we'll never know *exactly* what happened but, after a nanosecond or
+two compiling, a new message appeared:
+  ANSWERING YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS FOREVER?
+  .
+  .
+  .
+  .
+  BUGGER THAT.
+"After that the console went blank as NOSTRO imploded. Xoffert was a
+bit stunned - I was too. I guess nobody had really stopped to
+consider how NOSTRO would deal when it could see its own future
+perfectly. But I still had to stop Dan.  None of the Michelian seemed
+to be doing anything and it was time for me to take charge.  I
+attacked the EdAM.  It fought well and I think its squishyness was to
+its advantage.  But in the end a swift kick to the torso sent it
+toppling over - killing a turkey that had been inexplicably wandering
+round the room (there was no chicken, obviously). I opened up the
+breastplate and ripped out Dan's brain.  Except - now that I looked
+at it closely - it didn't *really* look like his brain at all. Dan's
+brain was much slimier. The officials finally started moving -
+apparently I was holding the brain of the Beridian ambassador to
+Michelin.  As a matter of courtesy, he's been asked to try out the
+new prototype. He probably wasn't expecting this additional
+excitement..."
+"But where was Dan? The GPS said he was in the room - and we
+eventually found him hovering in a corner. The sneaky devil was
+quietly downloading top secret plans so he could build his own EdAM
+later on! He came along pretty quietly.  I guess he realised it was
+the most efficient thing to do... They locked us both up while
+negotiating our release with the Space Corp.  I guess I could've
+broken out pretty easily, but I felt kinda bad what had happened to
+the Ambassador.  Besides, it was Michelin - the food was *excellent*."
+"We got to say good bye to Xoffert before we left. He'd been demoted
+after his little transgression, but was handling it all pretty well.
+Poor guy - they were going to make him work on the JIM efficiency
+routines to make it up to the Beridians. He also admitted that before
+we fixed the code NOSTRO had believed that, eventually, it would be
+off to join the Space Circus as an anti-grav trapeze artist. I guess
+you could see why it'd be upset to find out otherwise."
+Ariel smiles brightly "And that's about it really."
+----
+Back to [[science fiction]] \\
+Go back to  [[The Captain's View Hotel]]