RoboNomics

Chapter 69 - 2016

"This can't be it," Austin mutters.

We step out onto the white marble curb and look up at the building. It's a single floor and about a tenth the size of the Toronto hospital Austin worked in.

Rupert stands beside us. "And it's completely automated. It was the first of its kind. Donald took the vision and made it reality. Follow me."

The automated lounge car that brought us here slides away. The front doors of the hospital open with a whoosh.

Inside, the halls are as stark white as Earth hospitals once were, but they have a cleanliness that hurts my eyes. The public hospital that Austin worked at, with its stained carpets and moldering acoustic ceiling panels, was like a park sandbox compared to this place.

Robotic staff with the faces of cartoon cats and dogs float by on wheels hidden beneath their pristine scrubs. There are no waiting rooms and no reception areas. Just a labyrinth of spotlessly clean halls populated by machines.

"Here we are," says Rupert as we come to a door-less entry way marked "Intake." 

Around a tight corner, the three of us enter a small room. In it, there's a device resembling the machines I had been at one time subjected to for my annual dental x-ray. 

A robotic attendant with a face of a smiling rabbit stands beside it. I am suddenly reminded of the stuffed bunny I owned as a child. It is still in a box, perhaps, in the basement of our abandoned home.

"Right this way, please, Ms. Anderson." The attendant says as it comes to life. 

Its long white arms indicate the machine that looks like it will take x-rays. The bot doesn't have the tinny note in its voice that Earthbound robots had.

I glance at the bot. It blinks at me with an unbreakable smile. I look at Austin and Rupert and wait for their looks of bewilderment. 

But instead, Austin squints at the android. Rupert gazes at me with expectancy.

"It's perfectly safe, Ms. Anderson," he offers.

"Oh, its not that," I reply. "It's just that, well...what does that thing do?" I point to the machine that looks like a body scanner at an old airport on Earth.

"It will assess the state of your overall health."

I step into the machine. It whirs around me for a minute, then stops. A screen materializes in the matrix of the white wall and a picture of my face appears. 

The giant rabbit turns, its wide blinking eyes looking at me In its eerily human voice it began to give me a diagnosis.

"Andrea Anderson, you have a 57% chance of developing hypertension. You are 62% likely to develop melanoma," it says. "Currently your iron levels are sub-optimal and body composition ratio indicates that you are underweight. I will send instructions to your home for preventive and restorative measures. Please follow me."

The machine begins to leave the room.

I glance at Rupert, then at Austin. Another nurse enters, this one with the face of a teddy bear.

"I suggest you follow the nurse," says Rupert. "Austin will be well taken care of."

"Go on, Andrea," Austin adds. "I'll be alright."

My eyes flick back and forth between the two men. I sigh and turn to leave.

"Please take a seat, Ms. Anderson," the rabbit-nurse says.

"What are you going to do to me?" I ask as I slide into a smooth metallic chair in the next room.

"I am going to install a biometric information tracker. The New Rome healthcare system will then be able to track the state of your health in real time and provide for your optimum health continuously."

"What if I say no?"

"Through our system, there will be no reason for you to return to this facility until your cellular structures begin to break down through unavoidable human aging patterns. There is no reason for you to say no to the procedure."

"And if I still say no?"

"You will be unable to enter New Rome," the machine says.

Rupert hobbles into the room. Austin is close behind, overtaking the old man's shuffling strides and crossing the space quickly with his long steps. 

"Is there a problem, Andrea?" Rupert asks.

"Wh...what do you mean?"

"I was informed that you're resisting the biometric tracker."

"I was just asking questions. Is that not allowed?"

"Andrea, the tracker is perfectly safe. It is installed for your health," Rupert explains. "What are your concerns?"

"I'm just not sure that my health is the only thing that will be tracked, that's all." I drop my gaze.

"Your father assured me that these trackers were only meant to make people's lives better. Whether it was the antiquated paper file method or an embedded microchip, someone throughout your life has always been peeking in on you. But always in order to take care of you."

"Except for three years or so." I growl with sudden resentment.

"Precisely. And what happened during those years?" Rupert asks. 

I say nothing. I can't look at him. I blink back tears at the memory.

"You had to fight for survival. These systems exist for a reason."

Austin comes to my side and squats to my level. "Come on, Andrea. There's nothing dangerous here. The machines run it perfectly."

"How easily you forget," I mutter.

"No, I remember," he says. "I remember a flawed, frustrating system. Come on, Andrea. Now you've seen it, you can't tell me they don't do it better here."

"Austin, medicine was your whole life. How can you just fold?"

"Because I remember other things. I know who brought me back to life when I was dying. I couldn't do it, could I?"

"Austin...I can't just hand my life over to the bots."

Austin grimaces and rises. "Andrea, I know you don't believe me but I'm on your side here."

My breath comes in quick angry spurts and I can feel my blood pressure rising. I turn from my husband.

"Besides," Rupert adds, placing a hand on my shoulder, "even if it were a diabolical scheme to track you and your personal information, you've nothing to hide."

I take a sharp intake of breath and clench my jaw.

Could they know? Could they find out about my past from my blood? No, that's impossible. But could they find out some other way? Store the information on this chip? Blacklist me?

I used another name back then. There's no way they could link me with that long-buried, long-forgot criminal identity. Not unless I tip my hand.

"Ms. Anderson?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I force myself to let my breath out slowly and hold out my arm for the implant.

(Continued in Chapter 70...)

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Thanks for reading this far, everyone! I hope you're enjoying it. With so many current issues surrounding digital data and privacy, I wonder what your thoughts are on this chapter? Let me know in the comments!