Garrett had no desire to spill his guts to this man. What was important here was the engineering, his ability to focus on getting something useful done. Something unique. Something that would make people gape and say, I’ve got to get a picture of this. Gotta visit. Gotta have it in my life. He had his own skills with machines and structures. With others’ help he could turn a patch of watery wilderness into a human place, a home, a new port of call. He might have as many as fifty workers as they scaled up. Who knew what ideas they’d have, what new discoveries they’d make, once someone lit the flame?
He realized that he was thinking out loud, humiliating himself with sappy, empty words. “Sorry,” he said, averting his eyes. “I get carried away when I think about marine construction.”
And Martin smiled upon him. “What would you say to adding me to your starting crew?”
Garrett stared, re-evaluating the balding man as a worker.
“Bah, don’t look at me like that. I personally oversee some of my special projects as they start up, and I’ll be able to keep in contact with the rest while at sea.” Martin tapped at one of Garrett’s charts, a financial projection. “One thing we’ve not much discussed is your money. You’re sitting on an impressive inheritance between your father’s insurance, the family business, and a settlement check for your father’s accidental death.” Martin ignored Garrett’s wince and pressed him further: “None of which you earned, I notice. You could take all that and loaf comfortably for years. Surf, if you like the water so much.”
The thought made Garrett’s hands twitch. “I can’t do that. I’d go crazy from being useless for that long.”
Martin nodded. “I know the feeling. I can’t shower you with as many dollars as you’d like, but there might be something to your proposal. The question is: will you pledge your fortune to this scheme?”
For Garrett this one was easy to answer. The blueprints of Castor’s core platform spun in his mind, waiting to become real. “It’s an investment for me, too. I’ll plant the fortune and make it grow.”
6. Tess
All last week she’d obsessed over volunteer work at the Baltimore Aquarium, for training. It was going to be great to get away!
Now she stared at her video screen in disbelief. “What do you mean, I can’t go?”
That rich guy Garrett had found — Martin — looked out from the computer in her hands. “I’m sorry, miss, but you’re not suitable.”
“Bull! You need a computer geek who’ll work for cheap, and that’s me. Did you even look at my resume?” Her parents had helped her slap one together.
Martin studied her like a lab rat. “Mediocre grades in everything except science.” Which she’d aced to spite this one teacher. “Honor roll, which seems to mean little at your school. And it says you’re a programmer. For all I know, that means they spent a semester teaching you how to peck at a keyboard.”
She glared back at the screen, feeling her anger fizzle. “That’s — okay, that’s all true, but I do lots more than that. I’m a programmer on my own, not just from the junk they teach us. I know my way around tech.” More than anybody your age, she wanted to add.
“I got my start in nanotechnology,” said Martin. Tess blinked, startled. “And there’s a world of difference between saying you know how to use computers, and being able to run a real network. Especially where we’re going.”
“But I really want to do this!” she blurted.
“And?”
“And Garrett said I could go. We already decided this.”
“I didn’t. Sorry, but you just don’t suit this project’s purposes. Best of luck to you, though, and thanks for your interest.”
One of them hung up. Must’ve been Martin, not her jabbing the off button. Tess stood up, paced, and cursed. Where did this guy get off telling her what she couldn’t do? She had Garrett on her side. Or did Martin think of Garrett as just another tool to use or leave on the shelf? She couldn’t go back to being a worthless drone of a student. Not after being handed a chance to…
To do what? she thought. Her pacing stopped. Why do I care about smelly fish and sunburn, anyway? But she couldn’t find an answer, and the lack of one made her feel hollow.
7. Garrett
Cool harbor air wafted from the deck behind him. His father’s place was cleaned out now. Garrett had shared the books with Uncle Haskell, kept a few things for himself, and sold the rest to fuel his own project. The apartment meant nothing to him anymore. He leaned against the last couch and reminisced, but then the doorbell rang.
When he opened the door, Valerie and another figure were in the hall, caught in the crossbreeze. Valerie hid behind dark glasses and a shapeless coat. Any subtlety she had, though, was outweighed by the robot beside her.
“Glad you could visit,” Garrett said to Valerie. “You didn’t mention your escort.” The thing must have been one of her own inventions, a four-foot-tall humanoid whose face had only a horizontal notch to suggest a mouth, stuck in a neutral expression.
Valerie gave a choppy laugh, then glanced over one shoulder as though someone would hear. Garrett ushered her inside and she relaxed enough to shove her glasses up on her forehead. “Damned city spy-cams. How does anyone relax here?”
“So you brought a guard against the police AI?” said Garrett. Presumably the robot had drawn some stares on the way here, so IDing Valerie really wouldn’t have been hard for anyone who cared.
Valerie fidgeted and drummed her fingers on a sofa, not looking at him. “This is something different.”
Garrett noticed that the bot had wandered off and was inspecting the place. It glanced at the book of Corrosion Protection For Marine Applications lying on a coffee table. Like some of Valerie’s other creations, the bot had bright eyes and a long, clacking tail. “What’s the theme on this one?” said Garrett, eyeing the tan plastic hide and little round ears. “Otter?”
“Aquatic styling. This robot is a gift. Something for your project.”
Nice! Garrett was puzzled, but glad to see how far Valerie’s research had gone. In college she’d kept dragging him away from homework to share a pizza and look at her latest AI experiments. First they were her toys, then tools, then pets, then… whatever this one was. There was this unconscious little happy dance she did whenever she talked about them. Today she sounded all business, though, and fiddled with her glasses. He said, “I really appreciate it, but why?”
“I’m testing the possibility of making aquatic robots.” She nodded definitively to herself, then met his eyes. “Take this one with you. Get him to work, and let me know how he performs. You’ll be paying me back in data and publicity.”
“But what can it do?”
“Anything. Or whatever you ask, anyway.”
Garrett stared, and the robot looked back. Garrett blinked first. To Valerie he said, “Thanks! Can I buy you a meal down at the Inner Harbor?” Glassy shopping pavilions stood in view from the apartment’s deck. Nearby floated the USS Constellation, a proud ship with her sails forever furled. He found himself looking out there and he turned back to Valerie, wanting to tell her of his dreams. That’s all the dinner would be for, just gratitude and catching up.
Valerie said, “I’d like to drop your present off here.”
“Yeah, okay. Where’s the off switch?”
“There isn’t one. Long story.”
Garrett tried addressing the bot. “Robot, turn off.”
The bright blue eyes met his and its ears flicked backwards. “No.”