Can You Love a Nanobot? Vol. 1, Chapter 2 — On The Street
When in doubt, tell the truth
— Mark Twain
Skateboarding
Several people watched the taller guy with a beard do skateboard tricks. His messenger bag started beeping. He continued sliding down the handrail on his board as planned. Landed so fine.
“Hey, man, your Army bag is beeping. Your mom wants you home for dinner.”
“Thanks! Hey, shut up! My mother’s — never mind.” The skateboarder objecting but still opening his khaki haversack.
His uncle’s iPad Pro was beeping, another Activity Alert from the CubeComm app. The young man briefly read the Notification:
Software update induced Interior temp increases. Sleep Protocol Change.
He tapped IGNORE. A spinning hourglass followed, as Apple devices once did but outdated for an iPad Pro. The app developer, Jerry, was nostalgic.
Notifications were becoming more frequent but users were prevented from changing the setting. He shoved the iPad back in his satchel and prepped for another skateboard trick. Mentally rehearsing his moves at the top of the ramp, he put all else out of mind. His phone started a VIP ringtone moments later.
Dr. Yoon Calls
The skateboarder tapped an earbud. “Yo, what up?” It had to be someone in Contacts. Unknown Callers didn’t ring. His sleeve slipped down, revealing part of a colourful tattoo. A young woman nearby tugged to show more. Only she could get away with that. The tat depicted 3 wounded Revolutionary War soldiers marching together.
“I’m trying to reach Professor Gernsback. I’m calling from his school.” The caller explained.
“Oh, sorry, I thought you were somebody else.” Reaching for his phone, he recognized the Cambridge number, CallerID showed a nearby institute. “This is Professor Gernsback’s phone. I’m his nephew, Jonah.”
“Yes, Jonah, I remember you. We sat around your uncle’s Nakashima table many times. I’m Professor Yoon.”
“Doc Yoon. Sure! Cool! Um, what can I do for you? Need me back on the floors?” Jonah asking tentatively, defeating a strong urge to hang up. He remembered Dr. Yoon fired him in a text message, cancelling his contract to clean the Physics building. Yoon was also his uncle’s boss, the Physics Department chair, often a sore subject at the same Nakashima.
“Jonah, I need to speak to Hugo. This is important. Are you with him now?”
“Uh, no, Dr. Yoon. Not today. I’ll see him at the hospital this weekend.” Jonah planned to take the bus upstate before Dr. Yoon called. He felt guilty, thinking 3 weeks since he last visited UncleG.
“We need an answer sooner, Jonah. Today. Now. Did he get our text messages?”
“No, Dr. Yoon. He did not.” Jonah glanced at the phone and noticed many unread messages. Jonah used other apps like TikTok, WhatsApp, and Telegram, mostly to share his skateboard videos. “My uncle throws stuff, like totally freaks out sometimes…he ordered me to take his phone. It wouldn’t matter now.” In truth, Jonah stopped reading texts out loud to Hugo long ago. His uncle never understood them and couldn’t remember the senders. The exercise only left him more frustrated.
Non Compos Mentis
“Everything OK with Hugo, Jonah? He made you take his phone?” Yoon asked in disbelief.
“Um, he didn’t want it around after he couldn’t recognize the callers anymore.” Jonah indelicately explaining the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. “Dr. Yoon, I’m not supposed to talk to anyone about his condition. Hospital reminds me all the time. HIPPOs and stuff. He broke the screen, twice. Curley, that’s his nurse, says he can’t have another phone. I keep this one so old friends, like you and Stan the lawyer, can check up on him. He’s totally out of it,” Jonah took out Stan’s card, “Non compos mentis, Stan says.”
“I see.” As department chair, Yoon typically the first to learn the details about professors under him. HIPPA rules? He remembered Gernsback taking extended time-off, then medical leave-of-absence, finally Long-Term Disability. Tried to make it look like a sabbatical.
Confusing memory lapses, he recalled Hugo telling him. Outbursts were heard outside his lab; nothing unusual according to the Cube team. Louder after budget-cuts. Always impatient to make progress with those smart 3D printers. Same low-budget space factories now causing a problem for astronauts.
Wonder if this is tied to that software update UncleG gave me? Jonah thought to himself.
“Do you have his room number? The name of the hospital would be fine, Jonah.”
Nurse Mendez
“I’m not supposed to…ahh, Tewksbury State, Dr. Yoon. I’m texting you the number for the Nurse’s station.” He hated giving up UncleG and Curley so easily, but Dr. Yoon was his uncle’s friend and boss. UncleG wouldn’t remember him anyway. It’d be weird for him to answer his uncle’s phone then act like he doesn’t know how to reach him.
Yoon received a contact: Curley Mendez, RN, Tewksbury, MA, email, Front Desk, Nurse station and cell. “I received a contact for Nurse Mendez. Thank you, Jonah. I’ll be in-touch. Call me during your visit with Hugo this weekend, OK?”
“That’s him. Curley’s awesome. Sure, Dr. Yoon. I’ll do that. No worries.” Jonah sent a heads-up message to Curley, letting him know the school was trying to reach UncleG.
UncleG boss WCU No idea why they know he forgot everything will visit u soon
Chautauquas
Dr. Yoon planted an image of his uncle’s kitchen he couldn’t shake. Windsor chairs, split-log benches, up against a row of tall windows easily slid aside. The George Nakashima carving twisting inside and outside his home. A walnut tree grew so big over the years it now touched the polished stump. People talked around the table until late. Sometimes they talked about how robots might one day take over the world.
- *******
- Thank you for reading this chapter from my trilogy, Can You Love a Nanobot? The entire book can be found here:
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVWB6PDZ
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/can-you-love-a-nanobot-vol-1-3rd-edition/id1477672797
- If you would like to assist me as an editor or reviewer or use my book in a class you are teaching, I can provide you with an educational copy or a promotional code (Apple Books only). Let me know. Thank you.
