The chief programmer meets everyone in the android assembly section of the space station. He is still shocked by the appearance of the blue alien even though he has seen images of him. But, he is pleasantly surprised by the grace and courteous behavior the alien presents. Soon, they are conversing at a rapid clip. The alien asking the programmer question after question. The programmer answering them with amazing speed, insight and accuracy. After they have their initial get acquainted session, the company's project manager gets their attention and asks they focus on the the companys perceived problem of dealing with the four super smart androids. He takes one of the exotic gel-gen electronic brains off the shelf at random and places it on the diagnostic table. A few swift motions and he has it hooked up the the table's analysis inputs. The table's diagnostic electronics begin to hum as it analyzes the functioning of the electronic brain. It isn't very long before some of the results begin to appear. 'This is most interesting!' says the blue alien and the chief programmer at the same time. 'In all my years dealing with artificial life, I have never seen equations like the ones that this brain is producing!' says the blue alien. 'I've seen these equations before. Now where was it?' asks the programmer. 'Oh, now I recall, they resemble some of the equations in a few of the notebooks my great grandfather kept when he was dabbling with mechanical robotics. I didn't know what they meant then. I see they must have some connection with why these androids are behaving as they are. My grandfather was just as curious about mechanical beings too. He created three bears that are still functioning on our ancestral island. I was so used to them from an early age, I never gave it any thought that they were mechanical. I just took them for granted. They were always great playmates and they helped scare away many undesirables that wanted access to the island. I never questioned just how special they were. They have always functioned perfectly.' 'You must have inherited some of your ancester's skills, chief programmer, to have subconsciously placed code into these brains that produced the independant thought these android brains possess.' said the alien. 'I must get to know you better to learn where your talent comes from. Perhaps we could go down to your island sometime and you could show me the bears?' At these remarks, the android company CEO spoke. 'I don't see that any of this has any bearing on our problem here. We need to find out exactly what causes this 'aberration' in the gen-gel brains and remove it. My company needs the revenue producing servant androids will generate or it will soon be bankrupt. As to what to do with these first four androids, I'm not sure what to do.' 'Father programmer!' one of the androids almost shouted. 'We sense danger to us in the remarks of the CEO! Please! Don't let us be erased!' The CEO had a very angry look on his face as he spoke. 'You androids are company property and we will do with you as we please! You are useless to the company in your present intellectual development. We either have to turn you into a predict- able, saleable commodity or we will be forced to destroy you!' 'Now lets not get hasty here, CEO!' said the chief programmer. 'I'm sure there is a way through this to avoid such drastic actions. We have a rare opportunity here to study these new boys. I call them boys because they are exhibiting all the vital characteristics of children. Their curiosity is boundless as is their enthusiasm. We can't turn our backs on that!' 'You have stated your case very well.' said the blue alien. 'We had some problems of a similar nature when we were developing our AI many of your centuries ago. We saw some of these dangers and took measures to prevent them so the AI didn't get out of our control. We stopped all further enhancements to their memories after they achieved the levels of skill we required of them. You saw our results on the 'spy' we placed in your midst. He performed brilliantly for all our needs and was only discovered when your 'superior' androids caught him before he could return to us. This is the main reason we decided to reveal ourselves to you now. You must not let these androids out of your control or they will lead to your destruction!' The four androids looked at each other in alarm. They had learned how to communicate with each other telepathically. Their brains began exchanging massive amounts of projections as to the course their futures might take. They finally came to the same conclusion, their only hope was to convince the chief programmer to plead their case and prevent their destruction.' 'I think we should be able to remove the new and potentially dangerous coding in all the current gen-gel brains on the shelves,' said the chief programmer, 'but I won't be a part of scrapping these first four. I want to study them at great length. I don't look at them as adversaries. I feel they have been endowed with largely benign motives and I can feel their earnest desire to be of service to the human race. I think they just need a chance to prove themselves!' 'Its not your decision to make!' growled the CEO. 'At this point, its up to the company's board of trustees. I won't make this serious a decision on my own!' and with that, he stomped out of the room and headed back to his spaceship. He knew this important a discussion needed to be conducted face to face with the company's board. The blue alien got the chief programmer's attention and said, 'I will be glad to assist you in weeding out all the undesirable coding on your electronic brains. But I would still enjoy seeing those bears you told me about.' 'Perhaps after we finish our work on the brains, I might be persuaded to take you down to my little island. I'll keep it in mind.' 'Thank you, chief programmer. That is all I can ask for.' said the blue alien. M4 characters. Rendered in Poser 11.1 PRO. Post work in Photoshop 7. Thank you for taking a peek! Your support is greatly appreciated!