AfterNet 01 - Good Cop Dead Cop

one of the glass walls, which suddenly became opaque and lowered the lighting in the room.
    The darkness helped. He avoided looking into other wavelengths and he tried recalling the pleasure feelings, especially the warm apple pie. Sometimes he thought he missed food the most. Never a real glutton, happy with simple fare, he never thought food played such an important part of his life. He could eat almost anything put in front of him and he never really understood how some people could go on and about a particular flavor or …
    “OK, and we’re done. You can get out now.” She was opening the mesh ball.
    “You OK, partner?” Yamaguchi asked. He now realized that she and Feore had rejoined them.
    “Yeah, I’m OK.”
    “What did you do to him?” she said angrily to Younger.
    Younger was about to answer but Feore cut her off. “We have to get pretty precise adjustments to make the interface chamber — the big ball behind you — to work as closely as possible with Alex. We’re hoping the shipping technology won’t require such … precise alignment,” he said looking at Younger, who tried to ignore him.
    “If you ever want repeat business,” Munroe said.
    “Yeah. OK, I think we’re ready to put you inside.” As Feore said this, Younger walked up to the chamber and pressed a button on a panel. An eighth section of the chamber, like an orange slice, opened, one half swinging upward, the other downward. The inside of the chamber was a featureless gray. Yamaguchi walked toward the opening and peered inside it.
    “It’s empty,” she said.
    “Actually, the entire inside surface is an organic display. OLEDs.”
    “It’s a big computer screen?”
    “Oh, it’s a whole lot more than that,” Feore said. “Now if Alex will just step inside …”
    “No. He’s not. Tell me what this is, tell me what it does.”
    “We really don’t want to prejudice the subject,” Younger added, she thought helpfully.
    “Stop calling me that,” Munroe said.
    “It will not hurt,” Feore said. “Alex, I promise you it will not hurt. You will probably enjoy it. Hell, you’ll love it. I can’t really tell you too much about it, because that will color how you will perceive the interface.”
    Feore leaned close to Yamaguchi and whispered something in her ear. She nodded, an odd expression on her face.
    “Now, Alex, if you’ll step inside,” Younger said.
    “I think it’s OK, Alex,” Yamaguchi said.
    “All right. Linda, promise me you’ll kill these people if they do something to me.”
    “I promise.”
    After a few seconds, Feore asked Younger, “Is he in?” She nodded, flipped a switch and the sphere closed. “Linda, we’re going to sit over here.” He led her to some chairs flanking a double row of monitors. Younger joined them in the center chair and started typing.
    Once the chamber doors closed, it was dark and Munroe was cut off from the AfterNet field. He tried infrared but couldn’t make out anything except a fairly uniform glow cast by the organic LEDs. He switched back to normal light and saw that a message had appeared on the walls of the chamber.
    “Alex, this is Bob. We’re going to get started. You might not experience anything for a while. You might hear a woman’s voice. Just relax.”
    Hear a woman’s voice? That’d be nice. Soon he faintly felt an AfterNet field, far weaker even than his partner’s terminal.
    “Alex,” a woman whispered in his ear. He spun around. The voice came from behind.
    “Alex, don’t be frightened.” The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
    “Who are you?”
    “Don’t try so hard. Just speak normally, like you did when you were alive.”
    Speak? he thought to himself. As if.
    “Yes, that’s better. I can hear you quite clearly.”
    Who are you? He wasn’t visualizing his thoughts as words like he normally did with an AfterNet field. It was more like talking.
    “I’m whoever you want me to be. But I know what you really meant. I am the new AfterNet interface or agent, coupled with a greatly improved field.”
    You’re an artificial intelligence?
    “No, I am not self aware, although I have been programmed to so appear. I am merely your guide to explore the AfterNet and the Internet. Would you like to experience the new search engine technology?”
    Are you reading my mind?
    “Yes. Would you like to experience the new search engine technology?”
    Yes, show me.
    Munroe couldn’t explain it. He just felt it. He didn’t