Chapter 9, The CPD Project
Chapter 9: The CPD Project
Dan Highland has been attending a private medical clinic to prepare for his physical make over. He is under the illusion that getting plastic surgery will help him get the diplomat position at the UCW organization he has been pursuing for a while. Trying to look younger is also an attempt for the CEO to regain his self-pride, after feeling his male ego was stepped on by Faxx’s deliberate manipulation.
Highland still needs to go through several medical exams before his surgery is possible and that will take time, meanwhile, the old man has been having private meetings with someone he trusts and has recently come back from Japan to be re-hired by OCP to work on Highland’s new undisclosed idea, the CPD project.
Dr. Walter Moore. A man in his early sixties, one of the first Bio-Technical physicians graduated with honors from the Technical University of Detroit many years ago that had been working for OCP developing projects in the Security Concepts department for years, until he got a better offer to work for the Japanese company Kanemitsu as a technical developer.
Even if Moore had been spending the last few years in Japan working for Kanemitsu, he has remotely witnessed how other Bio-Technical physicians and Bio-Engineers that have worked for OCP have been either fired or have resigned after the pressure that the CEO and Johnson have put on them to develop another project as successful as RoboCop.
The old man had ordered to build a new technical laboratory in the basement of the OCP building, before Moore’s arrival to the U.S.; He has been excited to have someone as remarkable as Moore working for his company again; loads of money have been invested in Moore’s new workstation.
Johnson is unaware of the old man’s plans. In the meantime Johnson is aiming to control RoboCop to make him work as part of the Rehab team, the old man is planning to create another robotic police officer, able to control more robotic units, to clean the city of Detroit, since he has already given up on the dream of building Delta city one day.
Right after his medical check-up, the old man has decided to visit Dr. Moore’s laboratory, to get any updates on the CPD project.
Old man: You are the only one that I have left, Walter, the only one that still shares my vision. McNamara, Schenk…they are all gone…I am so glad you decided to take my offer and come back to OCP…
Moore: What can I say…got bored of sushi and hentai… Schenk was weak Daniel, he could not endure the pressure after the RoboCop2 meltdown, although, not everything is lost, we still have a brilliant doctor on board, Tyler, bring her to my team, I know she’s the one with the administrative permissions to install upgrades on RoboCop’s OCS…
Old man: Would you believe Schenk is bringing a lawsuit against OCP now…arguing that his severe anxiety and mental nervous problems were caused by the unfair and inhumane treatment he got from us…
…I have tried, to hint at Dr. Tyler what we are trying to do here, I have even offered her to get promoted, but she keeps arguing she wouldn’t have time to build another RoboCop, if she is already busy giving maintenance to the only one that we have…
Moore: If Dr. Tyler doesn’t agree to join us, I will need you to grant me access to Morton’s files, RoboCop’s programming, the code, the language they used, everything related to it is critical for my investigation…
Old man: I had restricted the access of those files from the crew of Security Concepts a while ago, you see…I don’t trust in Johnson’s rants and Schysler’s dumb ideas…they wanna mess up RoboCop and I don’t have time for that…they already messed up the TDX units…more wasted money!
Moore: Do you blame me for that, Daniel? My outsourced designer in Sweden did what she could with the very limited budget we had for the units…
Old man: I don’t blame you or your outsourced staff…as a matter of fact I would like to bring that mysterious woman here, to work with us, she would be a great asset for the company…you were just following orders. The very ambiguous and inconsistent suggestions Schysler had for the units messed up the project...
Moore: But not everything is lost, Daniel, once we have the new Crime Prevention Droid project up and running, we will have the new unit, paired with RoboCop and both of them will be the team leaders of the TDX units…then all money spent would be worth it…
Old man: There is something that bothers me Walter…I am about to become a diplomat…merging machines with human beings is now considered an outrage of human rights by the UCW, Murphy caused me a lot of problems when he regained his identity and the media realized we were experimenting with deceased cops for our corporative purposes…let alone when they found out, Faxx was putting the brain of a drug addict in my RoboCop2…
Moore: The human factor is what fails in these cases. I am not denying that Robert Morton was a visionary, however, after RoboCop, you haven’t been able to develop any more successful cyborgs that agree to live with under a new identity and serve the city as improved, bionic police officers…
Old man: If we subtract the human element, we would be building stupid robots with no capacity to reason, or to use their judgement in dangerous situations…
The old man takes out some scale figures out of Moore’s glass exhibits and puts them on an operating table, as if he was a little kid, playing with action figurines.
They are small representations of the robot police prototypes that OCP have developed over the years, many of them were failures that had costed OCP millions of dollars to develop; he starts to knock them down with his fingers except for two, ED-209 and RoboCop.
Old man: See the difference between these two? One reasons, the other one doesn’t but the one that reasons…causes me problems…
Moore: This is precisely, why we need something in between. Are you familiar with the wetware term? Do you know what a synthetic wetware brain that works on artificial electric impulses is?
Old man: Illustrate me…
Moore: It’s pure artificial intelligence…no robot…no cyborg…an android, capable of making conscious decisions by itself…developing a wetware artificial brain that reasons like a human one is still an utopic dream we get to read on Sci-Fi novels…
…Unless, we have the chance to copy it from a real brain, it would be possible, to make it almost human, without any human elements…no wiping out anyone’s memory this time, no working over the wounded body of a man or a woman anymore…no outrage of human rights…
Old man: Isn’t that what you used to do for Kanemitsu? I don’t agree with that idea, no offense but I think that what that company develops are nothing but mannequins…with movement and faked programmed “Emotions” no free will, not real conscience, Callahan, the president of my directive board is still obsessed to make an alliance with that corporation…that’s not viable from my point of view…
Moore: You are right to some degree. That is one of the reasons I got bored to work for them. Those Japanese “geniuses” were obsessed with their robot ninjas and their martial arts software, instead of programming their wetware brains, to make their units, more intelligent, capable of reasoning, capable of relating to human beings, for example. Capable to even talk, for god’s sake!
Old man: Hmm. So how would you make my mannequin more intelligent?
Moore: As I previously mentioned…we can make a copycat…we have someone that can help our mannequin to become more functional. So far, nobody knows what makes RoboCop work. He is a fluke, a wonderful mistake that somehow is still alive, if we operate him, to explore how his human brain has adapted to the computer and his operating system…we could replicate his twin.
Old man: I like that…please continue
Moore: The extracted data can be duplicated and programmed into a wetware synthetic brain…then voilá…you get you CPD up and running… we copy the reasoning…the logical thinking of a human being without the emotions…the perfect combination…
Old man: That is…fascinating, but is that even possible? Although that means putting RoboCop offline for a while and…well isn’t this some sort of dissection what you are after? Would he survive?
Moore: It’s just a routine operation…I won’t break your toy, I promise…once we have copied and installed the CPD’s brain into a new cybernetic body, we can use Kanemitsu’s interface connection technology to make both of them interconnected…and the two of them will have access to control the TDX units…
Old man: Wouldn’t we be…stealing ideas from them? Could they bring a lawsuit against us? I don’t want any more of these…my lawyers already roll their eyes to me whenever I bring them bad news…
Moore: No, Daniel, not at all. I was part of the development team that worked on the interconnection interface between droids project at the Kanemitsu headquarters. They can’t sue me for using my own ideas…besides; I would modify the interface enough so it doesn’t resemble the one they use.
…Wouldn’t you like to have your own cybernetic police army that fights crime and finally cleans the city of Detroit? Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?
Old man: I have long forgotten about Delta city… All I want now is to make Detroit a better place to live; however, I will have to…ask for Murphy’s permission…he has been a great police officer all this time…
…Johnson is so stubborn, he gets on my nerves…he is obsessed with controlling RoboCop and now wants him for that whatever tactical team he is forming, he doesn’t disclose much information about it…and I have a bad feeling about his project, this is the reason why when I come back from Germany, I will relocate him and Schysler to different departments…
Moore: Do you really need to ask for RoboCop’s permission, isn’t he our product? If I were you, I would ask Tyler to put him offline to upgrade his OCS and then we perform the operation…
Old man: He is…he is our product, but Murphy is also someone that has requested to be called by his former name…that has defied Johnson’s orders by insisting to work with human officers…refuses upgrades and destroys police and private property as if OCP was a bottomless pit of money…
…I don’t any want more problems with the media or the UCW organization if we do this without his consent… I will talk him into it…he will have to help us, after all, aren’t we the ones that keep him alive with repairs and maintenance?
The important meeting the old man and Moore had about the CPD project made the CEO excited to have a new sketched plan for the new RoboCop/Android unit he’s planning to build. However, Highland is cautious to not disclose much information about it among his own employees.
The bitter taste of being betrayed in the past by his own executives is something the old man hasn’t forgotten about. Johnson was right, bringing his niece Giselle into the Security Concepts department to work as a sub-director of operations was his own strategy to have someone of his entire trust watching his back.
Although Highland is wishing to look younger to impress the UCW organization, his physicians have warned him his age is a disadvantage for the operation to be a complete success and he fears that if everything goes wrong and he dies, his beloved company would fall into the wrong hands.
The old man had been having private meetings with his legal team, to assure that everything is well arranged before he lies down on an operating table. After signing many documents, transcribing them into digital form and closing many briefcases, Highland and his lawyers are satisfied now, OCP is well protected, even after Highland’s death.
There is just one thing left to do, the old man thinks. Talking to Giselle and sharing with her the valuable information that is well kept among he and his lawyers will finally give him the peace of mind he needs. The old man can be a little paranoid at times and he had agreed to meet his niece at a local cafeteria and not at any of the expensive restaurants he usually attends, just in case someone has tried to follow him.
Old man: What a colorful lovely place…how come I never knew about this cafeteria…?
Giselle: It’s so funny to see you here; I never thought you were coming with me to my favorite coffee shop one day…
Old man: They are staring at me, all the kids from the table next to us…am I that old?
Giselle: They see an older man here wearing a corporate suit…they probably think you are the owner of this place or something…
Old man: I have some documents for you to review; my lawyers want you to sign them as soon as possible.
Giselle reads through the documents, Dan Highland’s lawyers had prepared everything in advance. If the operation goes wrong, Johnson will become the temporary CEO of the company, and the new director of operations will be in charge of supervising his performance and will be the responsible one to inform the directive board about his actions. The directive board will decide based on the reports given by the director of operations, if the temporary CEO becomes permanent or if he is voted out.
Giselle: What is this? I don’t get it?
Old man: This means, darling, that if I never wake up from the operation, Johnson will get away with it and will become the temporary CEO of OCP. Nevertheless, I have an ace underneath the sleeve; think about it…if Johnson is the new president of the company… that makes you what?
Giselle: Director of operations? No…that is a lot of responsibility…besides, nothing will happen to you in the operation and let’s say for argument’s sake I take the position. The directive board will hate me forever…
Old man: They won’t. They would trust you enough to report any discrepancies in Johnson’s performance, so they can vote him out.
…The president of the board, Robert Callahan knows about this decision. Please sign the documents. This is the guarantee I need to have peace of mind that if I die; my company won’t fall apart…
Giselle: I will sign them…just to give you peace of mind, but I know nothing will happen to you…
Old man: Well, if nothing happens to me, there is another bunch of documents you need to sign too…
Giselle is getting where her uncle is really coming from. Whether he dies or not at the operating table, the old man is putting pressure on her to escalate to director of operations, the position currently held by Johnson.
The old man explains to her that in a few months he will become a diplomat working for the UCW organization and that his plans are to relocate Johnson to a different department; by granting him the position of “Administrative Vice-President” Highland would be able to remove Johnson from the Security Concepts department by making him work only in administrative affairs of the company, that way, he will have freedom of action with his CPD project and the police force.
The old man doesn’t want to directly fire Johnson, as he needs him; after all, Johnson is the one person that knows everything about OCP. Highland just wants him off his back.
Giselle feels way too inexperienced to become director of operations, although she doesn’t want to disappoint her uncle, or her parents. Her major is in journalism and the only job she has had besides working for OCP, was of an editor in chief for an electronic magazine issued by Channel 15 and the Media Break TV program. Giselle used to work alongside her boyfriend Steve, who is also a journalist and a big RoboCop fanatic. Steve was in charge of covering the news in Prisma city, the time when Detroit’s police decided to help Lee Jenkins against the orders of OCP.
Giselle: That wasn’t part of the deal…I don’t want Mr. Johnson’s position, I wouldn’t even know where to start…hire someone else, someone who is more experienced than me
Old man: Darling, do you know the amount of money I pay Johnson every month just to see how he messes up things with the police department and RoboCop? How much money does Steve make working on that blog thing he does for the guys of the media break for example?
Giselle: That is not a blog…it is a formal magazine, electronic and printed…and he does make a decent living working for them…
Old man: No offense, but who reads printed magazines anymore? Anyway, how are your parents…? Isn’t their anniversary coming soon? Wouldn’t it be nice for Sam and Maggie going on that cruiser to the Caribbean they have dreamed for years, as a celebration?…What if they could get a gift like that? What if their daughter could afford to give it to them?
Giselle: Are you bribing me uncle? The same way, you used to, when I was younger and you used to send out expensive presents for me, my sister and my parents, but you never showed up at any of our Christmas’ dinners?
Old man: The media and even your boyfriend Steve perceive me as some sort of evil rich old man…is that how you see me too?
Giselle: No…of course not…I want to learn about OCP and make you proud…but I know next to nothing of the police force and RoboCop…Mr. Johnson has ordered me to transcribe some of his personal files into digital form, that’s all I have been doing ever since you hired me…
Old man: You have time, to learn about the department, and once I have my new Crime Prevention Droid up and running and RoboCop finally gets a partner, guess who will get the exclusive…? Isn’t Steve a big fan of RoboCop? He could get to interview both OCP robot officers…up close…
The old man is an expert negotiator. He knows everyone has a price, even if it means manipulating his own family members to obtain what he needs from them. Offering Giselle more money to take her parents on a trip, made her hesitate about taking the position, but knowing that Steve could get the exclusive of the new robotic police officer OCP is planning to build has finally made Giselle close her laptop and pay close attention to what the old man is saying.
Giselle: Oh my…Steve would love that! But doesn’t Robo already have a partner? Officer Lewis, I think it’s her name? I remember Steve interviewing all the Metro West officers when they were in Prisma…but, wait a second, you wouldn’t be thinking to separate RoboCop from his police friends? That would be, well, kinda cruel, don’t you think?
Old man: No not at all. Giselle you are too young to understand, but after that terrible episode with RoboCop2 and the media frenzy, the legal problems…those were hard life lessons for me and I want to think I have become a better man thanks to them…
…I truly want Robo’s wellbeing; he will finally have a friend that is more…similar to him, someone he can really relate to… OCP won’t spare in costs for repairs for either of them…after all, they will be a new cybernetic team, in charge of making Detroit a safer place to live…
Giselle: I guess…but, Robo is not entirely a robot, Steve says, he even has a…name…an identity of his own
Old man: Don’t get carried away, although we have agreed to call Murphy by his…former name, we all know he is still under the illusion he is a person, but sadly he isn’t. The Supreme Court doesn’t even recognize him as a legal citizen…Robo needs to be…put in the reality.
Giselle: Well that is sad…
Old man: What can I say, it is sad the way things turned out with Murphy, this is definitively not the vision Robert Morton originally had for his RoboCop project; I don’t deny he is outstanding working as part of a police team, but, also, being among human officers for years have made him think he can aspire to have things…he really cannot have anymore. This is why I plan to make his life easier, happier by giving him a new police partner…that wouldn’t abandon him one day.
Giselle: You know, Steve says…Officer Lewis is very fond of him, I don’t think she would let her friend down…
Old man: Oh I know…this sharp eyed policewoman protected my investment once…somehow she managed to hide RoboCop from Jones and his attempts to destroy the most valuable product we have ever created and this company will be eternally grateful for her service…but let’s be honest, for how long more, do you think those two can be friends?
Giselle: I…I don’t know…
Old man: It’s a natural order in life for things move forward, Officer Lewis will eventually get promoted leaving her partner behind… or maybe she gets married and is on maternity leave one day? Wouldn’t our dear Robo feel lonely then?
…But, if we create another one…that is more like him, so they can sit together at the same laboratory, day and night, he will now have a permanent companion. Dr. Lazarus would work alongside Dr. Tyler, giving them the best quality of life possible…
Giselle: That doesn’t sound too bad…
Old man: And guess who will be the outstanding journalist that will tell this story to the world?
“The New Cybernetic team from OCP that is cleaning the streets of Detroit”…by Steve Porter!
The old man is now handing his expensive golden pen to Giselle. He is proud to see, the girl almost immediately takes it from his hand and starts signing documents. Triumph. The expensive gifts he sent Giselle in the past have evolved into more sophisticated toys. The old man still has the power to bribe his niece. Even his family, have a price.
In the meantime Giselle is signing the documents, some confused members of the coffee shop staff approach their table, asking the old man for permission to take some chairs and tables outside for the customers, they mistake him with the owner of the cafeteria. Highland just nods at the guys politely without saying much.
Giselle: Ha ha ha! This is so priceless!! I told you…they think you are the boss…so what does it feel like, uncle? To be the owner of a coffee shop for a day…?
Old man: If only, Giselle, if only my life was as simple as that…sometimes I wish it was…
