The radio that Killer had left us proved to be either haunted or defective. We were supposed to leave it set to come on at four in the morning then record using something that only recorded when there was something being transmitted to us. That is the recorder was set to be voice-activated. Later in the morning when we got up we could playback what was recorded. If Killer hadn't sent us anything then there should have been very little or nothing recorded.
Toni and I listened to the recording on the first morning and there was a lot of talk on it and none of it was from Killer or for us. We scratched our collective head and left a message to be sent to Killer that night regarding all the chatter we had found. The next morning we got Killer's reply that he didn't know what the problem was along with a lot of other chatter. The sister unit he was using hadn't done that. He suggested we reread the instruction manual. Both of us glanced through it again and we checked the settings on the radio to be sure they were the way we figured they should be set.
The third morning the recording was just as full of junk as the first two had been. We did notice that the radio wasn't tuned to the proper frequency. That had to be what the problem was. Instead of being on the nice quiet frequency Killer had picked out for us we were on another frequency that saw a lot more traffic. Toni and I patted each other on the back for having found the trouble and set the frequency to what it should have been.
The fourth morning we had one full hour of recording and the frequency was set wrong again! It was irritating. The radio was so important to us and it didn't work right. We left a message for Killer on it for that night's transmission. I don't think Killer got it.
The next morning we had another recording of some of the busiest channels on the air. It was freaky. We actually were able to detect when the unit was tuning itself to different frequencies on it's own in the middle of the recording. It was decided that we would have to forgo the automatic recording feature on our radio and just have to listen manually to the radio at four in the morning. It was a hassle but Toni and I decided it would be worth it.
We were on our second week when we discovered that the video receiver, that had been left here from before Killer had brought Toni and me to the complex, didn't like staying on the same channel either. I'm the sort of person who finds something she like and stays with it. I had this one channel I always watched and I never ever changed the channel.
One night I had the video reciever in the office where we kept the radio. We kept the radio in there so that I could let Toni sleep while I waited for messages. I had been watching a movie. It was a perfect way to keep track of the time. I'd watch the movie then when it went off it would be time to get any message that Killer might send. I'd listen to the radio for an hour while reading or something then go to bed.
It was strange. I knew what frequency I had left the radio on but every night I would have to set the frequency back to where it belonged. I was beginning to think Toni was up to something.
On this one particular night I had gone to bed after not getting anything from Killer when I found I couldn't sleep. I lay there in bed tossing and turning until I remembered a movie that had been advertised to come on. It had looked interesting and since I wasn't getting any sleep I decided to get up and watch it. I rolled out of bed and padded back to the office carrying my pillow so I could make myself nice and comfy as I watched.
I was surprised when I got to the office to find both the radio and the video playing when I got there. At first I thought maybe Toni was restless too, but she was nowhere around. I thought I had turned everything off. I was sure of it. I had to have turned the video off when I had been listening to the radio for Killer. I didn't think too much about it and turned the radio off and switched the video back to the channel with the movie I wanted to see. Toni had to have been there for the video to be on the wrong channel. She must have been listening to the radio I decided.
I was all nice and comfortable in the huge chair behind the desk and ready for my movie to start. All the alien furniture was half again bigger than life. What ever they looked like they must have been really big. I couldn't sit in one of ther chairs normally. For one thing my feet would be too high off of the floor and my back wouldn't reach the back of the chair. What Toni and I would do was to put our feet up on the chair and sit like that. You could really get comfortable like that. You could scoot your feet up under you or kinda lounge around in the thing. I don't know, maybe that's the way the aliens sat. Maybe they weren't any bigger than us.
I had my pillow hugged up to me and I was thinking about Sid when I noticed George. He was down on the floor behind a box. It looked like he was trying to hide from me. It was odd to see a droid not working or doing something. For a moment I had the impression that maybe he had broken down.
"Are you alright, George?" I asked aloud. I had gotten used to verbalizing my thoughts around it. I kept hoping I'd say something that would make it perk up and begin talking back to me. "Come on." I called and got the familiar, "ferguy" response. George was ok.
It rolled out to the middle of the floor in front of me and waited for me to talk to it some more. I didn't feel like talking. I wanted to think about Sid some more. I had a nice little dream that I was building that involved Sid, some cooking oil, and a water bed. I kept adding to it trying to put together the perfect fantasy. My movie came on and I barely noticed. I was debating on what color negligee I would be wearing when I heard the radio come on. Startled I looked at it and there was one of George's grippers working the controls!
"George! What the hell are you doing! Leave that alone!" I shouted before I realized what I was doing. George retreated behind the box again. He had been the culprit all along! What was he doing? I listened to the radio trying to determine what George had been trying to receive. It was just some guys talking about ther wives. I checked the video and the channel had been changed there too. There was a program on with some guy pointing at a chart and explaining crop rotation. I could see no relationship between what George had picked out on the radio and what it had tuned the video to.
Suddenly one thing did stick out in my mind. The guy pointing to the chart. It reminded me of a pointer pointing at some icons on the computer. George had been doing the same thing with the video and the radio that I had been trying to do with the alien computer. It was trying to learn our language!
I turned the radio and the video off. It was time for some direct communication of my own!
"George, Come on."
"Ferguy"
"Yeh, I know. Ferguy!" it had rolled back out into the center of the floor. I picked up the video and sat it in front of George. "Video!" I told George. "Vvvvid..ee.oh...video...vvvid..ee.o." I repeated slowly like I would for one of my students back at the school.
Nothing.
I removed the video and put the radio down in front of the droid. "Rrrr..aaaid..dee.oh...radio...rr.aid.dee.oh."
Nothing.
"Come on George, say something!"
"Ferguy."
"Show me a ferguy!"
Nothing.
"Radio, come on you say it."
"Ferguy.."
"Radio....rr..ai.dd..ee.oh...radio!" I said as I patted the radio in front of George. "Come on, radio."
"Ferguy...."
"Shit George, you can do better than that! Radio! Come on, let me hear you!"
"Ferguy....."
"Dumb droid!"
"Radio" George said in my voice!
"Radio!" I repeated with my heart in my throat as I patted the radio. "Radio."
George just sat there. I wasn't sure if I had made a breakthrough or not. When George had said 'radio' he had used my voice like a parrot would. Perhaps I was just hearing some kind of recording being played back. I looked at the droid. It was nothing but a chunk of steel. How could I expect to be able to communicate with it? It wasn't alive. It wasn't real. I thought about that for a moment. According to the dweebs I wasn't real either.
"Radio" George repeated.
I patted the radio happily. "Radio" I confirmed. George was learning. I needed a way to reward it. What could I do there? How could I show it when it was right and when it was wrong?
"Radio" George repeated.
I patted the radio again then I picked it up and put the video in front of George. "Video." I prompted it.
"Video" George said.
That wasn't bad. It was still talking in my voice though. "Video." I validated the word for George. I put the radio on the floor beside the video in front of George. "Radio" I said.
"Radio" George said.
I pointed at the video. "Video."
"Video"
I kept pointing at either the video or the radio and saying ther names and George would repeat each time. I went back and forth until I was sure that George was anticipating what I was going to say next then I kept taking longer and longer before I would say the word until finally George began saying either 'video' or 'radio' before I told it what to say. I did this until I was sure it had the idea.
I stopped and tried to think what to do next. I could point at the wall and the floor and the chair and...and George grabbed my hand and made it point at the radio.
"Radio." George told me.
"That's right, George!" I said thrilled. It's a wonder I didn't pull my hand back. I guess I was just so used to having George around me all the time. It's gripper felt cold and hard. It had a good grip on me and I don't think I could have pulled free if I had tried.
It moved my hand to the video and said, "Video".
"Right!" I said happily.
It kept moving my hand back and forth between the video and the radio and saying the name of the object. I kept telling it that it was right then it'd move to the other object. Finally it stopped and just sat there like it was thinking. It didn't let go of my hand. I tried to pull away but I couldn't get my hand free. I didn't pull too hard. George could hold my hand for awhile longer.
Finally it put my hand on the radio and said, "Video."
"No!" I told it, "Radio!" Maybe George wasn't the star pupil I thought it was.
It put my hand on the video and said, "Radio."
"No! Video."
It put my hand on the radio and said, "Video."
"No!" I said helplessly. It was suddenly doing everything wrong.
"Video. No! Radio."
"That's right George! Yes!"
It pulled my hand and made me pat the radio. "Video. No! Radio."
"Right!" I told it again.
"Video. No! Radio. Right!"
I blinked in astonishment. It was trying to direct me. I had been thinking of George as a dumb child when it was suddenly acting like a mature adult. It was trying to make sentences. It was trying to learn my words for right and wrong. I would have hit myself on the head if it wasn't holding my hand. It wanted to know right and wrong and I had taught it 'right' and 'no'! Oh well, that was close enough.
It let me move my hand to the video and I said, "Radio, no. Video, yes."
"Yes" George said.
I wasn't sure if it was repeating the word or asking what it meant. I said, "Right!" which should have been appropriate in either case.
I don't know if George knew what I meant or not. It would be terrible if I confused him somehow. I knew how that was from my classes with adults trying to learn to read. If you threw something at them they didn't understand they could decide to make new rules or come up with "Why'd they do that?" Usually it would mean I'd have to stop what I was trying to show them and we'd have to debate for awhile before they were ready to get back to what we were supposed to be doing. I'm not blaming them, I would do the same thing. What I'm saying is, I learned that when I saw was of those confusing things coming up it was best to cover everything about why there were exceptions first. After I had that explained then I could hit what I was afraid they'd have trouble with and everything would probably be ok.
I couldn't do that with George so I distracted it. I made it let me point at the floor and I said the word "floor" and George repeated it right away. I pointed out the "chair", the "wall", the "desk", the "computer", and everything else I saw. George repeated the name of each thing just like I had said it. That was the only thing that bothered me--it kept using my voice. I figured that it would develop it's own voice later. Other than using my voice George was a perfect student.
I got the distinct opinion that George wanted me to go faster. It was probably wanting to learn at computer speed. I tried to guess how long it would talk before George and I could have a real conversation. George would be able to tell me what the machine was and what it did. All of the technology of the aliens would be available to us. What a tremendous leap forward we could make!
And it would all belong to the CBs!
***
I had lead George all around the complex pointing at things and saying it's name. If I forgot something George would point at it and I'd tell him what it was.
It was hard. When I pointed at a wall obviously I would say "wall", but if the wall was green when did I mention that? Could I even be sure that George wasn't color blind? What would happen if I tried to explain the difference between red and blue and both colors looked the same to the droid?
After an hour or so George began asking one word questions. We were in the main cavern and I was pointing stuff out when George spoke up.
"screen" George said.
At first I didn't realize what he wanted. I thought he was confused about the last thing I had showed him so I pointed it out and said it's name. George reliably repeated what I had said and in my voice. I was going along and had about forgot what George had said until he said it again.
"screen" George said.
I looked at the little droid. I remembered that I didn't want to make the same mistake I had earlier. I had to keep in mind that this thing wasn't dumb. It was saying the word "screen" for a reason. That's when I decided that maybe it wanted to know what a screen was. I decided to lead the way to the control room and point out one of the computer screens down there.
On the way I debated if I should light the screen up or not. "Screen" is one of those words with more than one meaning.
There's the computer screen
Different screens used inside a program on a computer Don't forget...
sun screen--the screen door--when you screen an applicant
--a smoke screen--a screen for sifting--to sift out
I showed the screen to George with the computer off and said it's name. George repeated it after me. So far we had been covering only nouns (Person, place, or thing). I began to think that maybe it was time to move up to verbs. That way maybe George could begin forming sentences...
***
I had George speaking in sentences, kinda, by the time that Toni found us. It was nine in the morning and I was showing signs of running down. George was just beginning to fight with the differences between a statement and a question.
"Toni! Am I glad to see you! I've got George talking!"
"What? You mean it can understand you?"
"Sure. George is what has been happening to our radio. He's been turning it on and listening to it so he can learn how to speak with us."
"No! George? That's impossible, Cookie."
"Oh yeh, watch this!" I pointed at the computer screen and Not Ftapped on it to be sure I had not only Toni's attention, but George's as well. "Screen." I pronounced.
Nothing.
I couldn't believe it! George and I had been talking so much all night that I was beginning to feel horse then when I try to show him off for Toni the little rug rat clams up on me! "Table!"
Nothing.
"Come on!"
"Ferguy"
I looked at Toni lost for words.
"I think you need your beauty sleep, Cookie. You've been up to long. Why don't you take a nap?"
I tried to explain to her what had happened but all I could get out of her was, "You sleep on it and we'll talk about it when you get back up."
***
How could I sleep? I was excited by what I had done with George and I was bewildered by how it had acted around Toni. Had I dreamt the whole thing? I didn't think so. I wanted it so bad that I could have though. It was so confusing...
***
"I thought you were going to lay in bed all day, Cookie" Toni told me. We were in the lounge area. Toni had cooked up some food for me and I was eating.
"Did anything happen while I was asleep?"
"You mean like George?"
"Maybe. Did it do anything?"
"Sorry Cookie, as a matter of fact I just about haven't seen the little bugger all day. I think you were just super tired last night and had a waking dream or something. I wouldn't let it bother me if I were you."
"I guess. It just seemed so real, Toni. I was sure I had managed to teach him all sorts of things. It still seems like he should be able to talk."
"Don't let it bug you, kid. I guess you just want this to happen so bad that you made yourself believe that it did. Why don't you just take the day off and put your mind on other things? You deserve it."
"Thanks, but I want to keep at it. I'll be alright, mom."
"Owww! Don't call me that! Please! Oh boy. Don't do that to me."
"Sorry. You're serious aren't you? Did that remind you of something?"
"My boy. You would have liked him. He was a good son until the cops began to harass him and his friends all the time. I don't want to talk about it. Look I'm going. I've got some things to look at. Promise me you'll take the day off, ok? Go get some sunshine. You're beginning to look a little pale. It'll do you good."
"Ok Toni."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Good. When I see you later I want to see you dark!"
"Dark! Very dark!"
***
I went out side after I ate and found a good place to lay in the sunshine. I hadn't thought about it until I was outside but that had to be the first time out of the cave since Killer had brought Toni and me out there nearly a month and a half previous. I was wearing just a blouse and some shorts. I would have to be on the lookout for any aircraft that just might be passing by and see me. Most likely I would be able to hear them before they would be able to notice me. I found a flat sandy spot down in like a gully. Anything flying by would have to be nearly overhead before they would be able to see anything. By that time I would be able to hide myself among the rocks. There was an overhang near where I was going to lie down and I would be able to duck under it if need be.
I doffed all my clothes and tossed them under the overhang. I had a yellow towel that matched the color of the sand. I sat on the towel and looked around me. It was glorious out. Yes, I would definitely try to get Sid to let us move out to the frontier when he was released from jail. No where did the suns shine like they did out away from mankind. I spread some tanning butter on myself as I thought about the last time I had been sunning myself out on the frontier.
I had been with the folks and it had been the day I had been thrown into jail for getting into that accident. I never should have been given that car. The folks knew I was a CB. Why hadn't they left well enough alone? Because I had begged them for a car of my own. It had been a rite of passage. I wanted to show all my friends that I too was an adult. What a mistake. I would still be living in the lap of luxury if it hadn't been for that.
It had been worth it. I knew who I was and once I had gotten over the initial shock it wasn't too bad, except for the dying part. There was nothing I could do about that. I would have to die someday--everybody did. If there was only some way that I could get a soul, have a soul. Talk about things beyond your control! It's best not to sweat things like that. Why trouble yourself over what you can't control?
I decided to think about Sid. I wished I could send him a letter. There was no way, of course, that I could. It probably didn't matter much though. Sid got very few letters through the prison. Soon he might get an early release. I squirmed to think what it would be like when he got out. I remembered Toni's attitude. She had gotten laid on the very first night--so would I. A thrill ran through me.
It would be wonderful to have Sid out again. It would be wild for the first few nights. Sex wasn't the only reason I wanted him to be with me again. Still the sex part would be nice. Nice? Hell it would be towering--for awhile.
I sat up prettily and did some stretches. Some exercise for my bust seemed like a good idea. I worked out until I had worked up a good sweat then laid down to relax. The sunslight felt good on my body. I began remembering about Sid. I began fantasizing about him too. I had sexual fantasies which is a little unusual for me. It was good.
The whole book in zipfile format.
|
|
|
This page hosted by
|
