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[Story][Season 0] Master Of All
[Story][Season 0] Master Of All
#1
Master Of All - 12/Jul/2012
Arthur felt a bit better in himself.  Since he completed 'Project Infrastructure'.  Maybe felt a little in control.  And he thought he sensed an air almost of respect, from Ms Jones, when she came and checked his accounts.
"You do seem a bit senior, Ms Jones, to be doing work like this" he remarked. When he thought about it later he realised she hadn't quite answered that, and shifted to inquiring where he got his accountancy training.  She wasn't completely believing when he mentioned a single college term, and, that after all, it was pretty straight-forward.
Looking back, he supposed Ms Jones wasn't his first manager.  That honour went to Kevin Wright, an 'investment manager', whose talent for taking small 'business development' loans and turning them into regular income streams was arguably impressive.  Arthur got his repair business, via him, as an elderly engineer retired due to ill health.  Called him the "Wright Stuff".  Where'd he gone?
Arthur had been reading his contract terms more carefully.  And, consulting a retired friend of his aunt, who'd taught the subject.  Yes, the retainer meant he couldn't work for competitors, but it specifically permitted his repair business.  That gave him some leeway, and work, seeing as Rod was still in college.
Making sure the Body Builder was his had helped.  Handwavium, particularly with the moral panic around it, scared a lot of people.  He supposed he was a bit fatalistic.  He couldn't stop himself dying, maybe tomorrow, in a car accident.  So, why worry?  If you treated it with respect you were probably OK, and wouldn't wake-up with a tail and a particular fondness for fish.
The humanoid robots made by the Body Builder were handwavium-free.  He'd got certificated proof of that, and, always checked it himself with a gadget he'd waved up.  Seeing as a hand and arm reportedly sold, on its own, for $100k to the space industry, selling his complete robots for $50k looked quite feasible.  He already had a number of enquiries.  Yes, conventional batteries didn't give much untethered running time, so they could fight their consciences about buying his waved Li-on ones, good for a few tens of hours.
The latest request from above seemed a bit... hurried.  It was also simpler than anything they'd previously asked.  Survey robots, for use in the asteroid belt, that could work with minimal supervision.  They didn't even need to look like cute girls.
It took him a little while, but he found out what happened to Kevin Wright.  The man was in his early fifties, but he'd had a stroke.  After a year and a half of recovery and therapy he could talk, reasonably clearly, again, and walk with the aid of a stick.  He might never regain full use of his hand.  He'd never had a pension, and was effectively retired.  While he didn't say so, Arthur was pretty sure his savings were running out.
Arthur saw red.  He pulled an all-nighter and built a custom nursing robot from scratch, using the Body Builder for the easy bits.  His time, his parts, his money.  Then, spent a few evenings looking at Mather's AI discs, or his copies of them, anyway (the originals were in a bank vault).  The man was a genius, but there were things about the file-names, even the directory structure, that disturbed him.  And there were PNG files of ritual diagrams, some of which hurt his eyes to look at.
Next, he bullied his way on board O'Neill Station, for an inspection tour. Checking the installed AIs, and the Hollywood Machine while he was there.  He found a few things to criticise, too.  Demanded new procedures to protect power systems from overloads, in case of faults.  Walked straight past Jane Dow and didn't even flinch.
He got his fifteen minutes with The Machine, unsupervised, to run his tests, and when it tried to intimidate him he growled back.  Interesting to watch it try and camouflage itself against the bulkhead.  Nurse Blake came out perfect.  He had a full set of readings of her glamorisation process.  When they complained he pointed out that he'd provided test materials at his own expense, and that it'd be on his invoice.
Arthur was shaking when he got back to his office.  The adrenaline was gone, and he was wondering if he'd ever work again.  But, he had proven skills.  The package from his lawyer was there, waiting for him.  "Wright Stuff Mechatronics" would soon be a going concern.  Nurse Blake seemed quite happy with the idea of working to assist Kevin Wright, and her AI core would live in Kevin's car.
Later, after the "Master Surveyor" was finished, which proved a reasonably trivial job (though he'd only waved up one complete set), he sat and thought.  He couldn't claim that the 'good guys' won.  He wasn't sure there were any good guys.  He wasn't one.  But, if they existed, Kevin Wright certainly was.
And now, Kevin'd have the money to get his lawyer to look really hard at his own new contract terms.  Arthur wanted him to be sure he wasn't being cheated.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#2
META "Master Of All"

I'm reasonably happy wth this 'link' story. If the 'Arthur' stories were structured as chapters, this would probably be the last one in the chapter.

It shows Arthur actually using his brain for something other than waving and engineering. It also introduces Kevin Wright, who I've had a character sketch of for a while. But, I'm unsure if we will see any more of him after this. [grin]

This story comes after "Uncanny Valley", and is (currently) the last Arthur story.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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