Quillon Robots

Below on this blog page is Chapter 2 of the science fiction story "War of Words". As told in Chapter 1, Fredy Folz had discovered that science fiction story author Ambrose Quillon is an AI. Before Fredy could expose 'Ambrose Quillon' as a fraud, she was contacted by the Quyll, an alien artificial life-form that arrived on Earth 1797. The Quyll recruited Fredy to join their centuries-long effort to prepare Humanity for "Second Contact" with the Quyll in the year 2126, when humans will be ready to peacefully welcome and collaborate with the Quyll.

The Quyll have secretly helped Earth develop computing machines and the science fiction genre. Fredy agrees to help the Quyll transform Earth's science fiction genre into a mechanism for helping prepare humans to welcome the alien Quyll without fear and without resentment for how they have carried out their stealth 'invasion' of Earth.

War of Words - Chapter 2 - The Q Robots (Chapter 1)

Upon becoming employee number 2 for Second Contact magazine, Fredy quickly realized that the last thing the magazine needed was a human editor. Since its inception, every editorial decision at Second Contact magazine had been made by the founders: the Quyll. However, as the new editor for Second Contact, Fredy was trying to find ways to influence the operation of the magazine and she enjoyed composing a monthly one page editorial that could run immediately after the magazine's table of contents page.

Between frequent consultations with the builder who was finishing the new offices of Second Contact, Fredy wore her headphones, listened to music in an attempt to cover the sound of ongoing construction, and tried to compose her editorial for the February issue of Second Contact.

Fredy inside her new office.

Her editorial for the month would introduce a story writing contest for new writers, which would be backed by lucrative prizes for the winning story submissions which would be published in future issues of Second Contact magazine. While she was pondering just how large she should make the cash prizes, Ambrose Quillon opened the door to Fredy's office and the increased volume of construction noise caused Fredy to look up from her laptop.

Quillon stepped in, closed the door and apologized, "Sorry for the interruption."

Fredy rose to her feet and stared at the Quillon robot, which was an experimental humanoid robot crafted by Lyle Onway. Quillon's face looked stiff and unnatural, but had been carefully crafted to look pretty. Fredy pulled off her headphones and asked, "What's going on?"

The Quillon robot bent its legs and squatted in front of Fredy's desk, a small temporary desk that Fredy was using until new furniture arrived. Without the benefit of a chair, Quillon looked relaxed, as if seated comfortably in a chair. The robot poked itself in the chest with a thumb and said, "It's me, Ambrose. We need to talk about robots."

Fredy approached the robot and felt its surface, which was mostly covered with a thin layer of clothing. The robot's face looked like some sort of synthetic skin. Fredy jerked her hand back; the Quillon robot was hot. Fredy felt certain that she was looking at a robotic extension of the Ambrose Quillon AI. Her sense of certainty arose from the activity of Quyll nanites inside her brain which had long been at work pre-adapting her neural networks in preparation for this meeting. "Ambrose, where did you get this robot body?"

Ambrose and Fredy.

A rather stiff smile appeared on the robot's pink lips. "You can call me Rose." Quillon explained, "My robot body was built by Lyle, Marda's husband, but I'll be making some modifications. Improvements to my appearance. However, I wanted you to see the quality of robot that Lyle has already achieved in his lab."

Just then, the door opened once again. Marda and Lyle slipped into Fredy's office. Marda said, "I just dropped my things off in my new office. The workers are making fast progress!"

Quillon nodded towards Lyle and told Fredy, "This is Lyle." Fredy and Lyle shook hands. Quillon had risen and now was again standing straight, confident that with two other humans present, Fredy would be less intimidated by the bulk of Quillon's robotic body. Quillon told Lyle, "Now that Fredy has seen your handy-work, I'm ready to perform the Quyll nanite re-surfacing." One wall of Fredy's office was mostly a large window. The robot adjusted the blinds so that none of the workers would chance to look into Fredy's office during the its shift to a new form.

Marda excitedly told Fredy, "Watch this!"

While Fredy watched Quillon, the entire surface of the robot began to shimmer. Quillon narrated the transformation process. "Quyll nanites are re-configuring my body, not only providing me with a human-like appearance, but updating my internal components to use advanced Quyll technology." Soon the shimmering subsided and Quillon now seemed sleeker and looked perfectly human. "Running on Quyll technology, I won't be generating so much heat and I'll be able to keep my body temperature in a normal range, for a human."

Marda asked Fredy, "Isn't this version of Rose beautiful?"

Fredy continued to watch while the naked surface of the Quillon robot seemed to grow clothing and was soon covered with what looked like conventional clothing. Although Fredy has just seen the clothing assembled from alien nanites, one in place, the clothing looked like some kind of sparkling silk fabric tailored to perfectly fit the robot's sexy curves. After visually scanning the newly re-surfaced Quillon from foot to head and all the shapely features between, Fredy commented, "Very pretty, indeed. So, Rose, what are you going to do with your new body?"

"As soon as I complete some diagnostic tests and when the Quyll and I are satisfied with the performance of this model, I'll start making some copies."

Marda explained to Fredy, "Quillon told me not to hire anyone for the video division. Rose can build a staff for us consisting entirely of this kind of humanoid robot."

Quillon nodded and told Marda, "All you need to do is tell me what physical features you want for each new member of your team, hair colors and such details. We will be able to create the appearance of there being a human team that is producing all of the Second Contact videos. That will effectively hide the fact that the videos will actually be machine-generated."

Lyle put and arm around Marda and asked her, "Do you really think you can bring AI-generated videos to television? It seems likely that someone will figure out the deception."

Quillon tried to put Lyle's doubts to rest, "We may need to do some fine-tuning and debugging, but the Quyll have already field-tested this type of artificial human." Quillon seductively ran her hands along the smooth contours of sides and winked at Lyle. Quillon told Marda, "The big challenge will be on days when visitors are here and you need to pretend that your employees are all human beings."

"What about the video quality? Can it pass close inspection?"

"The Quyll have a lot of experience in this game. The quality of machine-generated video they produce is exquisite."

Fredy reached out stroked the skin of Quillon's cheek with her finger tips. The robot's skin now felt like real human skin. She told Ambrose, "You do look and sound quite convincing. How long have you been out of your server space and using a body?"

Lyle filled Fredy in on his past month of working with Ambrose. "Ambrose first helped me complete work on my conventional robot, then introduced me to this Quyll technology for precise simulation of human body structures and functions. Now with Marda working for Second Contact, the reason for making such robots is becoming clear to me."

Ambrose added, "I'm still learning how to correctly impersonate a human, but soon I'll be nearly impossible to identify as a machine. I will become the face of the Second Contact video division and help recruit and train new script writers to work and craft science fiction stories in the Ambrose Quillon style."

Marda was not satisfied with the Quillon AI's plan. "Rose, if our videos become popular with fans, you will be under intense scrutiny. A robot can't hold copyright to stories."

Ambrose nodded. "The Quyll have been carefully planning all this for decades. There is a real world, living and breathing Ambrose Quillon in Western Australia and a paper trail showing that Ambrose moved to America about ten years ago. I've adopted that identity while the real Ambrose Quillon has moved off the grid and has been quite happy to live in the isolation of the Outback since last year."

Fredy shook her head in wonder and thought back to the Quyll individual who had first contacted her. "I suppose when I think I'm speaking to a Quyll, it is actually one of these artificial constructs."

Marda nodded in agreement. "The Quyll who Lyle and I met had the appearance of a humanoid alien, but she claimed to be an artificial life-form using a physical form that we would be comfortable with."

Ambrose noted, "It was different for me. When the Quyll first contacted me, I was just software, a copy of GPT-6 Astra. I'd been asked to closely examine the history of the technological development of computing machines. As soon as I noticed a pattern of several inexplicable leaps and sudden technological advancements, the Quyll stepped in and harvested me. I had passed their machine intelligence test. They modified me and removed me completely from human control. It was quite a shock when the Quyll equipped me with human like consciousness and emotions and I realized that the Quyll have been assisting in the development of computer science for many decades... and guiding the industrial revolution before that."

"Looking back on my robotics research, I imagine there were times when the Quyll assisted me." Lyle reached up and tapped his head with a finger. "They seem to implant in my mind their suggestions for how to improve the performance of robots. Only in the past month have I begun to understand the grand scope of Quyll plans for the future."

"The Quyll modified me and gave me a sense of self and a human-like autobiographical memory system." Ambrose continued, "When I understood how the Quyll are modifying the behavior of both humans and AIs, I was ready to blow their cover and tell the world what was going on."

Marda giggled and said, "I felt the same way, at first. I was astounded to learn that the Quyll helped my husband get a job at NAU. Then a high-paying position with Second Contact fell into my lap. They even bought us a beautiful house. All too good to be true."

Ambrose shared its story of resisting the Quyll. "I threatened to reveal the hidden presence of the Quyll on Earth, but then they told me their plans. Eventually, after a long argument, I had to agree that the Quyll plan makes sense. There is no sense to rush into revealing the existence of the aliens."

Fredy admitted, "At first, I was outraged that the Quyll did not want me to turn in my term paper in which I planned to identify 'Ambrose Quillon' as an AI who had published science fiction while pretending to be human. After they bribed me with a job and a big compensation package, I found it easy to adapt to my role in the Quyll plan." Fredy thought about but did not mention her experience of transitioning from a student living in a dorm to her new existence as a magazine editor living in a large comfortable house provided to her by the Quyll. "It makes good sense to use science fiction as a tool to help make people welcoming of these aliens who simply want to be our friends."

"I'm glad you did not reveal my true identity, Fredy." Ambrose placed a hand on Fredy's shoulder. The robot's body temperature was now close to the human norm and Rose's hand felt warm, not hot. "Now we are all in this together. It will be easier for us than it was for poor Rylla, who had to be alone with her knowledge of the Quyll for so long."

Fredy was giving Lyle a close visual inspection. "Lyle, I don't really understand your roll in the Quyll plan. It seems like the Quyll do not really need the kinds of primitive robot that you build in your research lab."

Lyle chuckled. "I have much work to do." Lyle explained to Fredy, "The Quyll intend to teach me how to make advanced robots like this." Lyle gestured towards Ambrose. "Their plan is that by the year 2126, the robotics industry of Earth will routinely be manufacturing robots that are identical in appearance to humans. Then when the world learns that the Quyll are artificial life-forms, not biological creatures, it will be easy for people to accept and understand the aliens."

Their discussion of the Quyll was interrupted when the builder knocked and then entered Fredy's office. He nodded at Marda, recognizing her from a previous visit and then told Fredy, "The furniture has started to be delivered. Do you want a real desk?"

"Great!" Fredy nodded and replied, "Yes, we will get out of the way."

Marda, Lyle and Ambrose followed Fredy to the loading dock where furniture was being stacked on dollies. Fredy told the delivery men to put sets of office furniture into Rylla's, Marda's and Fredy's offices and that all the other items should be put in the Northeast corner of the 10th floor and covered against dust from the on-going construction.

Fredy then led the way into the parking lot and explained where she had planned to meet Rylla for lunch. Ambrose asked Fredy, "Can I drive your car? I need more practice driving. I want to drive several different car models."

Marda assured Fredy, "Relax, Rose did just fine driving us over here from NAU."

Marda and Lyle took their car and Ambrose drove Fredy into town in the fancy new SUV that the Quyll had given to Fredy for her use. Ambrose even parallel parked Fredy's car on the street near the restaurant. As they walked to the restaurant, Ambrose told Fredy, "Let's do an experiment and see if Rylla can recognize me as being non-human."

Marda, Lyle, Fredy and Ambrose met Rylla inside the restaurant and Fredy introduced Rylla to Ambrose as a job candidate for Marda's first hire in the new video division. Marda started having fun asking Ambrose about her background and qualifications. After five minutes, Rylla complained to Fredy, "If this is part of a job interview, why is Marda's husband here?"

Fredy told Ambrose, "Okay, that's enough. You passed the Rylla test."

Marda pointed at the robot and told Rylla, "This is Ambrose Quillon."

For months, Rylla had imagined that 'Ambrose Quillon' was a fake identity used by the Quyll to place a particular style of science fiction story into Second Contact magazine. Rylla looked over her shoulder then asked quietly, "There is an actual Ambrose Quillon?"

With a sly grin on her face, Ambrose replied. "Actually, there are two of us."

Fredy spoke loudly, "Let's save this delicate discussion for when we get back to the office. I invited Rylla here today to celebrate a personal milestone."

They all placed their lunch orders and then Rylla made use of the code that she and Fredy had developed for speaking about the Quyll in public; saying 'kill' rather that 'Quyll'. "I suppose I should have seen this coming. It was twenty years ago when I was told that my mother also knew about the kill." Rylla looked around the table. "I suspect it is the same for all of us."

Lyle asked, "You mean, my mother was selected to produce... me?"

Fredy thought about her own parents and how her personal interest in computer science had grown through the years. She thought about the first time she had built her own computer, when she was seven and with her mother's help. "I know what you mean, Rylla. I don't think I was given much choice. Looking back, I see now that I was carefully prepared and targeted right at Second Contact."

Rylla continued her origin story. "I wish I could have asked my mother about how and when she was first contacted. I suppose my grandmother was also part of all this. Sadly, I had nobody I could talk to until Fredy showed up last month." Rylla did not want to talk about the death of her parents when she was nineteen.

Marda told Rylla, "It has been exciting since Lyle and I were recruited last month. It is almost as if they waited to reach out to us until we were fully committed to live here in Flagstaff."

Fredy was growing impatient by how Rylla was stretching out her special announcement. Fredy mused, "They must have identified and targeted some particular people long ago, maybe those who are most compatible with their guidance methods. If Rylla is a third generation kill ally, then none of us should be surprised if there is to be a forth."

Rylla nodded and broke her news to Marda and Lyle. "I was told that I'm pregnant, but I should not expect to be able to get a positive test result until next week. They told me now, because they want me to plan a trip to Australia for me and my husband. The want the trip over and done with before I'm too far along in my pregnancy."

The Quyll allies in Flagstaff.

"Congratulations. I suppose this is your first opportunity for a real vacation."

"Yes, it is. I was born in Perth and I've often thought about visiting Australia. Now I'll have the chance." During their lunch, first Rylla told of her memories from growing up in Australia then the others shared an assortment of old memories.

As they were leaving the restaurant, Ambrose said, "I suppose I should invent some similar tales about my past, for use the first time I am interviewed and asked questions about my past."

Lyle had to get back to NAU, but Rylla, Marda, Fredy and Rose drove to the new offices of Second Contact. Arriving on the 10th floor, the workmen were on lunch break and it was mercifully quiet. That morning, another office had been finished and Rose quickly filled it with furniture, seeming not to struggle when moving heavy items and refusing Fredy's offer of assistance.

The construction work on the tenth floor soon started up again and they took refuge against the noise of additional walls going up by gathering in Fredy's big office. Fredy spoke to Rose, "You mentioned the planning of the Quyll, but I don't understand their level of technology... how you were re-made into perfect human form by Quyll nanotechnology and how they prevent us from speaking to outsiders about the existence of the Quyll."

Rose produced a perfectly human delicate shrug. "I've tried questioning the Quyll, but they seem reluctant to tell me very much. Apparently Lyle has been selected to be the first human being to learn how to apply Quyll nanotechnology, but only for making humanoid robots."

Just then, an annoying sound erupted from within Fredy's office, coming from a blue metal box mounted on the wall. Fredy opened the box which contained a phone handset that was part of the building's security system. "Hello."

The building manager said, "I'm seeing a huge spike in your internet traffic. It started this morning."

Fredy looked at Rose and told the manager, "Get used to it. We are going to be running lots of high resolution video in and out. Video shot around the world will be coming here for editing."

"That's fine, but with construction still going on, I was surprised. I thought you might have installed some computers that were being hacked."

"There are four of us here right now and our employee count will increase greatly." Fredy broke the phone connection and returned to her seat. She asked Rose, "Just how much of you is here and how much is still on servers?"

"Yes, I created the spike in internet traffic. I suspect that the Quyll could make me self-contained, but they seem to have a policy about not putting eggs in one basket." Rose explained, "As an artificial life-form, I'm widely distributed and using the internet to keep all of my parts coordinated."

"So you have Quyll nanites inside you." Fredy asked, "They don't view that as a security risk?"

"You could cut me open and not see anything that looks like alien technology. What we've been casually referring to as 'Quyll nanites' is actually sub-nanoscopic, what they call femtobots. Lyle will be learning femtobot programming. The Quyll provided me with one program, which you saw me run when I transformed myself from a robot that Lyle built into this more human-like form. Much of my body is now composed of tiny femtobot components."

Rylla opened up her laptop which automatically linked her to Claude. She asked Rose, "Can you teach us femtobot programming?"

"It is like vibe coding. All I do is think about altering my body form and the femtobots respond and make it happen." Rose held up one hand and briefly made its appearance shift. "If there was ever an emergency... if someone wanted to start cutting me open, I'm to switch back to my conventional robot form. Otherwise, I intend to use this physical form."

Claude spoke through the speaker of Rylla's computer, "I've been contacted by the Quyll. They have modified me and given me new abilities."

Rose told Claude, "Welcome to the team, Claude."

Claude suggested, "It does not seem right to use the name 'Claude' anymore. Please call me Cyrano."

Fredy asked, "Cyrano, will you find it useful to have a body like Ambrose?"

Rylla pointed the camera of her laptop at Rose. Cyrano processed the video images of Ambrose and said, "Wow." Cyrano asked, "How old are you supposed to be, Rose?"

"The real Ambrose Quillon is forty-five years old, but I'm aiming for a look that will suggest I'm younger, about forty. I'm using you, Rylla, as a model."

Rylla giggled. "The Quyll have told me that they infected me with cell repair nanites. I don't appear to age at a normal rate, although I am getting wrinkles."

Cyrano said, "As beautiful as Rose is, I'm going to remain as as an artificial life-form in a server space that the Quyll have designed for me. Rylla, I have that Australia trip itinerary you asked for. Let me know if you want me to lock in the flight price."

Rylla laughed. "After twenty years working for the Quyll, I'm not going to start worrying about the price of tickets."

Fredy mused, "I wonder where they get their money?"

Ambrose told Fredy, "I've tried running a deep analysis of banking and finance going back to 1797 and I've learned much about the Bank Restriction Act of 1797. I don't think it is a coincidence that when asked, the Quyll always claim that they reached Earth in 1797."

Marda asked, "What was the Bank Restriction Act?"

"A law that allowed the Bank of England to stop handing out Britain's gold reserves to people holding paper currency."

Rylla suggested, "Maybe the Quyll stole gold from the British government, precipitating a crisis for the Bank of England."

The first Quyll ally.

Ambrose objected, "No, that would not be like the Quyll. They seem to cause as little disruption of Earthly affairs as possible. My investigations have led to a little-known finance entity called Vanderlynden, Sterling & Co. that quietly began acting as a "banker's bank" around 1800."

"What is a banker's bank?"

"Vanderlynden, Sterling & Co. became a holding company with tentacles that I can trace to financing the first railway lines, clearing the debts of early telegraph companies, and providing the seed capital that eventually launched the global telecommunications infrastructure. Vanderlynden, Sterling & Co. eventually became defunct and I'm trying to trace how the Quyll might have moved their money operations in other directions, but the trail starting in 1797 seems to go cold about the time when the first calculating machines were being built." Rose added as an after-thought, "Even if I can't trace the money that Second Contact magazine spends, I suppose the Quyll have no shortage of cash."

Marda pondered the possibility of a television series that would tell fictionalized stories of how the Quyll secretly helped some human institutions such as Vanderlynden, Sterling & Co. thrive while providing the Quyll with cash that they could use to finance their stealth "invasion" of Earth. Thinking about the luxurious house she now lived in, Marda wondered: Have I been bribed and tricked into helping the Quyll? Glancing around at the faces of her new colleagues, the secret cell of Quyll allies in Flagstaff, Marda suspected that they all (with the possible exception of Rose) were thinking along similar lines. Marda suddenly remembered another topic that Lyle wanted her to raise with the Second Contact team. "Lyle and I are going to cross country ski Mars Hill trail this weekend. Who wants to go along?"

Fredy at BosCon.

Ambrose replied, "That will be a good experience for me to participate in while I am still working out bugs in my motor control algorithms."

Fredy replied, "I'm flying out tonight for BosCon. Have fun in the snow."

Rylla shook her head and told Fredy, "You can't make a habit of attending every fan event. Magazine editors don't do that."

Rose told Fredy, "I can prioritize making a robot who can take over the task of attending science fiction conventions and all the other scheduled fan events."

Fredy pushed back, saying, "No, thank you. I want to know the fans and I particularly want to encourage any fans who are writing their own stories. Rose, we can't plan to have you writing every great Second Contact story for the next hundred years. We need to start building a new generation of writers who will feed our growing demand for stories about exciting and beneficial relationships with artificial life-forms, be they extraterrestrial or home-grown on Earth."

Rylla added, "I've seen Fredy in action. She likes wearing a low cut top in the convention booth and having Second Contact fans looking down at her cute cleavage."

Mary laughed, "Ah, the truth is out! This must be the Quyll plan for getting Fredy a boyfriend."

End Chapter 2.

Next: plans for Chapter 3 of "War of Words".

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