Io is finally doing what it was meant to do - train Replicants. The
army base commander, Colonel Tannhauser, has been extremely cooperative and the security measures were in place well ahead
of schedule - no small feat when you stop and consider the defensive perimeter and buildings that the Colonel had to set up
in such a short amount of time.
The Replicants have performed very well. They seem to be able to focus
better, handle instructions and carry out tasks in the worst kinds of weather without complaint. Until we've had more evaluation
time with them, their military training has been limited to marching, some light construction and some mining. They have so
far proven to be extremely strong and able to cope better with Io's crazy atmosphere. They tell me that the atmosphere is
getting better all the time. So they say.
Some things could be going better. Tyrell's representative, Halford,
is telling me that upgrades have been made to the Nexus line without notifying us for approval. It's a struggle just to get
production reports or copies of the upgrade memos. We can't make evaluations based on changes that we didn't even know happened
in the first place. Until I can get further word on this, both Tannhauser and I have agreed to keep human contact to a minimum.
Another thing is the number of Replicants that Tyrell is sending us.
They have been sending more than the production quotes state. Right now the number stands at 788 Replicants delivered so far;
the initial plans laid out specified only 550. Every time I've asked about it, I'm told that the Pentagon increased the order.
Even Colonel Tannhauser has protested this through channels. The extra demands this has created on my staff have been overwhelming.
It's also created housing problems, but Tannhauser counters this by building more accommodations for the extra Replicants
then calling them "Maintenance Buildings". The man cuts through red tape like a possessed accountant.
Also, I've noticed slight differences in the mental aptitudes of the
Replicants, and some seem to be operating at a higher mental level than the others. As we develop their identification profiles,
everyone seems to agree there needs to be a mental coding grade assigned to each Replicant.
So far no criminal tendencies or actions have been taken by a Replicant,
at least none that we know of - yet. Hopefully the Attorney General, who has supposedly been working on a way to police Replicants
should they become a problem, will respond to all the emails and psychology profiles I have been sending him.
But at this point in time, the Nexus experiment has been a success.
"Okay, I'll need you to step back a bit - Roy, isn't it? Roy I need
you to step back a bit, so I can get a better view with the camera." The tall Replicant stepped back, and he could see that
the air chisel wasn't working right, just making a popping sound.
Daniel watched his video feeds via remote, sitting about fifty yards
away in a control room as the Replicants tried to effectively work the mining equipment. They'd had nothing but problems with
the pneumatic lines and tools for the better part of the morning, and the afternoon didn't seem to be going much better. It
was just too cold to get anything to operate longer than ten seconds.
"Tell everyone to hold tight for a few seconds, I'll get down there
with a hot air gun, see if that helps."
Foster, another civilian trainer was standing in the room watching
the same video feeds as Daniel. He looked over at Daniel.
"We're not supposed to go in the mines. We're just supposed to monitor
them on the feeds. Those mines aren't exactly stable, you know."
"Yeah, I know, orders. But I can't see what's going on from this dinky
little monitor. Besides, they may have hit another problem that I might catch."
Foster stared at him, looking for a little more honesty.
"Okay....So I'm bored sitting on my ass. Don't tell the boss."
Daniel collected a few tools and began to head out. Foster pointed
over to some metal jacks in the corner, meant for emergency situations in case of a cave in. Daniel knew the Replicants had
a few in the mine, but had no idea if they'd been trained in how to use them.
"Yeah, gotcha." He grabbed the jacks and Foster went back to the monitors,
taking over Daniel's headset as well as his own.
Daniel slung the jacks over his shoulders, and with another duffle
bag full of tools in tow, began heading towards the mineshaft. Foster watched him on the monitors, and then went back to the
monitor of the Replicants. While they tried to adjust their equipment, Foster began to notice a small rumbling in the shaft.
Foster wasted no time in hitting the alarm. Daniel, who was about
half the distance in between the shaft and the monitor shack, looked back to Foster's window. Foster was waving his hands
like mad, motioning for Daniel to get back. Daniel looked back and then to the mine entrance, and began running as fast as
he could with the emergency jacks towards the entrance of the mine.
Roy began to look around him as the shaft began to collapse. He watched
as a huge chunk of the mine fell onto a fellow Replicant, crushing him flat with his legs jolting out in an angle. He felt
another Replicant, a tall oval faced unit named Leon, grab his arm. He could barely see Leon through the mine's rubble as
it fell and shuddered all around him. They ran as fast as they could towards the light of the entrance, which was closing
tighter with every second. Then he saw a man running towards them holding two large jacks.
Daniel was nearly completely out of breath and did the only thing
he could think of - Got the E-jack underneath the closest support beam, planted its bottom and hit the firing button. Two
huge plates shot out, one towards the ground and another towards the support beam - holding it in place. After planting the
first he began to back up and get ready to fire the other one, but the entrance began to slowly collapse, but then stopped
while it was still halfway open. He turned on a small flashlight and began to look at the two Replicants standing beside him.
A few others a little further down the mine began to free themselves and begin to come to where Daniel was standing.
"Is everyone okay? Did we lose anybody?" The Replicants began to count
off. Roy turned to Daniel.
"I saw one go down. Did you see anybody go down, Leon?" Leon shook
his head. Leon was really shy, in Daniel's estimation, and just didn't talk that much.
"Okay, guys - I think if I can just get this other jack planted in
the ground under the first beam, we can -"
Both Leon and Roy walked underneath the half-sunken beam, put the
backside of their shoulders underneath it, and with an easy effort, pushed upward on the support beam. Daniel looked at both
of them incredulously for a second, marveling at their strength, and then quickly got the E-jack propped up straight and fired
it into place, raising it up enough for them to start pulling Replicants and equipment out.
He began to look backwards and start helping the other Replicants
out. The Replicants looked at Daniel with wide eyes for a second. He was the first human that they'd had so much contact with,
let alone think that a human would even bother trying to save them.
______________________________________________
"Mr. Wauldron, it's the MP's on the phone. They say they've had an
accident in one of the mines."
Wauldron looked over his glasses. "What kind of accident? Anybody
hurt?"
"Some sort of cave-in. They lost one Replicant. A couple of the civilian
hire-on instructors got involved. One actually went inside the caves to help the Replicants."
Wauldron paused for a second. Although he regretted the accident,
he also knew he had to act fast to try and learn more before Halford and the Tyrell Corporation got involved, and possibly
try to cover something up.
"Okay....call in all the staff. Let's see if we can get every Replicant
involved in for a counsel session, and see how they've handled an emergency. I'll need to talk to the instructors, too."
_______________________________________________
Daniel sat on the back of medical spinner, held onto his respirator
mask, and watched as the circus of medics and MP's encircled the mine. He slowly looked over and saw Roy and Leon, who were
also being checked over. The Replicants were forced to stand in formation close by, which began to make Daniel feel a little
uncomfortable. Why should that make me feel any differently than it did yesterday, or the day before? he began to ask
himself. Then Foster showed him why.
Foster had been walking towards to Daniel to check up on him,
and noticed some of the medics carrying out the uncovered dead Replicant rather nonchalantly half on a gurney, in plain view
of the formation of Replicants. Although the Replicants didn't show any emotion or outburst - every one of the Replicant's
eyes followed the gurney.
Foster grabbed a blanket from one of the medical kits, ran over to
the soldiers as they carried the gurney. "What the hell is wrong with you guys? Show some respect," he said quietly as he
pulled the blanket over the corpse, looking back towards the Replicant's formation. "..Right in front of them," he continued,
shaking his head.
"What difference would that make? They're just robots," one indifferent
medic stammered.
"They ain't robots. I've seen these guys bend tips of jackhammers
just to see if they could do it. But if you think it doesn't matter, please feel free to treat his dead buddy like a sack
of potatoes right in front of the whole goddamn formation of them."
The medic slowly looked back at the Replicants, a few of which were
now looking right back at him.
He began to quickly help Foster with the blanket. In the background,
Daniel took in Foster's lesson as well.
