The IAD investigation would take a week I had been told. By the end of that week I was bored to tears. Rebuilding the Ebike had taken a whole day,. Then I could do nothing but wait for parts for the gasoline bike. The Ebike got an even more advanced hub motor, so it ran farther and faster than it had before. Since the new motor came with a much wider wheel, I had to buy a new frame as well.

The insurance company might have objected but they didn't object at all. It probably had something to do with the fact that the kid hit us while driving in reverse, which almost automatically made it her fault. Then there was the fact that I was a cop and both the bikes belonged to me. Also add in that I was doing the work on the bikes myself, which would cut the repairs in half. Considering all that I suppose it made sense for them to just go along.

The ebike was up and running just two days after the incident and one day after the insurance company made the decision to foot the bills. The first day they did a value estimate, and then we discussed the true replacement cost. It took them another hour to see the light. I ended up with a better Ebike, and a vintage kit that had never been opened. That was another costly item. Those kits when new, sold for about a buck and a half. By 2030 they had been outlawed long enough for the price to go from a toy to an antique toy. If you could even find one, they were over five hundred dollars.

Since I convinced the insurance company to give me the junk, I had a complete bike for parts as well as the new kit.. The chick had crushed the frame, wheels, and done some damage to the motor itself. The motor had some serious issues but there were still lots of parts available. Of course I also had some parts for the old engine laying around. I knew that I could build another bike without any problems at all. Convincing the local cops that it was an antique not a replica wouldn't be a problem. Even if they had cared, I was one of them.

A positive result from the IAD investigation would mean that I could keep my job and that Annie would not be turned into a vacuum cleaner. After the incident with the suicide, Annie went in for a routine checkup and some renovation. She was gone while I worked on the bikes. That was a neutral thing since Annie just turned herself off while I worked on the bikes anyway.

Dr Brent showed up after I had completed my bike but before the results of the IAD investigation was in. "So, how are things between you and Annie?" she asked.

"Things are just fine, how are things between you and Annie?"

"Things are good, but we do had some news for you." I smiled. I had no idea what her new might be but I could imagine that Annie's new experiences would give the lab rats some new ideas.

"Okay shoot," I suggested.

"There were some things in the downloads which have prompted us to make some changes."

"Oh like what?"

"Mostly the problems are a matter of subtlety. We had not fully anticipated how much she would be interacting on a social level. We had programmed her for decision making based on hard facts in a copland environment. We have androids working in most of the soft cop jobs."

"Sissy cop jobs, I know." I replied.

"Yes that, we were surprised at the amount of interpersonal reactions Annie is expected to understand."

"Ah well, she can't be insulated from the people out there you know. Not if you want her to be part of the real cop force. If people see her as just a recording device, they won't take her seriously. If they don't take her seriously, you will not be able to prevent crime. She will only be able to track down people after someone is hurt or killed."

"Yes we are becoming more aware of that. We thought she had sufficient skills but we were wrong. There are ways she needs to react which she was not programmed to handle."

"So what is the new plan?"

"You aren't going to like it." she told me.

"Oh, you mean I am going to like it less than the way things are now? If that is the case, maybe you should just surprise me."

"Not this time, you need the opportunity to refuse to continue."

"Geese what have you done to her? Have you turned her into some kind of killing machine?" I smiled knowing they wouldn't dare do that.

"Nothing like that." She paused thinking it over. "Oh hell there is no easy way to say this. A female cop died in New York city. She died in an auto accident off duty. She had no family and she was an organ donor."

"Geese you didn't give Annie her brain like in the movies?" I asked in disbelief.

"No nothing like that,"

"Good, this is enough of a freak show already."

"What we did was to download her complete memory bank. We couldn't read them of course so we downloaded them into Annie raw. Annie for all intents and purposes has become Louise Anderson."

"You have to be kidding me?"

"Not at all. She knows that she isn't Louise. She has been subjected to intense therapy to reconcile the two entities. We think that with your help it will work out just fine."

"What do you mean with my help?"

"You knew her as Annie, we want you to continue with the living arrangements as they are now. She should be an even better roommate than she was before."

"This is way too nutty for me. I think, I'm ready for a new partner."

"That is your right of course, but I expect your value to the department will be diminished."

"You are threatening me?" I sure as hell was getting my hackles up.

"No of course not, it's just that the IAD report is almost ready. I wouldn't want to see you do anything to jeopardize your job."

I gave it a lot of thought in a short period of time. I would have been angry except that I knew the world ran on blackmail. It was simply a matter of degree. "Okay, you win. But it is going to cost you."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure yet, but it will be something appropriate." I had also figured out that it had not been a decision made in two days. Brent had surely known from the start that something like the memory transplant would be necessary. Most likely it took the data from the first couple of weeks to convince someone high up.