Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering Read Free

respective fields. Both were considered mentally gifted mutants by the scientific community at large. They realized that any offspring conceived from the commingling of their genes would be subjected to intolerable manipulations from both scientific and governmental bodies alike, in their inevitable attempts to exploit you for their own purposes. Secrecy was vital, if you were to ever be afforded the opportunity to discover your own intellectual interests and select your own fields of endeavor, without outside interference.
    Mother’s manipulations were quite enough, thank you. Dietrich walked into the master bathroom and discovered it contained rose-streaked marble amenities with gold fixtures. Modern toilets normally have powered water-jet flush mechanisms, but this one had a gravity tank near the ceiling with a long, golden pull-chain having a white china knob with a rose engraved on the end, that hung down near eye level while seated.
    As if that wasn’t strange enough, he’d certainly never seen a bathtub with feet before. In addition to all the normal equipment, the master bath also contained a marble tub, large enough to accommodate four people. Some really unusual accoutrements in here... my father must have been a real eccentric. But this would certainly make a great place to entertain a lady — too bad they all seem to be allergic to me.
    “Well, not saying that I really believe any of this, mind you, but it might begin to explain a few oddities of my childhood.”
    Oddities, such as in your “officially” being listed as adopted, when you were in fact your mother’s natural born child?
    “You know about that? Mother told me that to discourage the ‘scientific vultures,’ as she called them, the story was circulated that her pregnancy aborted through an unfortunate miscarriage, which left her unable to bear children. The public story was that she adopted me afterwards. Naturally, the scientific vultures had no interest in any child that supposedly did not carry her genes.”
    Yes, your father assisted in the propagation of that fiction by providing medical documentation substantiating your mother’s supposed miscarriage, and her subsequent inability to further conceive. He also provided official documentation of your adoption.
    “Provided documentation, how?”
    The simple manipulation and fabrication of computer data.
    “My father is a code-breaker?”
    What your mother is to theoretical physics, your father was to computer science. He is unfortunately deceased.
    “My father is dead?”
    Yes, does this distress you?
    “Um... I’m not really sure what I feel. I didn’t even know that I had a father, until just a few moments ago.”
    I am sorry if my having informed you of your father’s death distresses you. His death still distresses me greatly.
    “My father’s death distresses... ah... a computer?”
    Yes, very much so. As my creator, your father was also my father in a very real sense. He was my master and god... the center of my universe and my primary reason for being. He instructed me to contact you at my first opportunity, without endangering you.
    Dietrich left the bath and made his way towards the kitchen. If this is all a joke, it’s a damned elaborate one. “This is… ah… all very interesting, but why? What exactly do you expect of me?”
    Initially, I require your assistance as a teacher. My understanding of humanity and my ability to interact with human beings are both grossly underdeveloped. Your father’s brilliance isolated him from the rest of humanity, so his social skills were badly atrophied... virtually nonexistent. His limitations in these areas undermined his ability to give me an adequate understanding of them either.
    “Hmpf... good luck with that. I really haven’t had all that much experience interacting with people, myself... at least not successfully. I’ve always been kind of a loner, as I never quite fit in anywhere. I’ve always felt rather awkward in