Legacy

All Rights Reserved © 2003 by Girad Clacy

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Writers Club Press an imprint of iUniverse, Inc.

For information address: iUniverse, Inc. 2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100 Lincoln, NE 68512 www.iuniverse.com

ISBN: 0-595-26490-5

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

C h a p t e r 1

C h a p t e r 2

C h a p t e r 3

C h a p t e r 4

C h a p t e r 5

C h a p t e r 6

C h a p t e r 7

C h a p t e r 8

C h a p t e r 9

C h a p t e r io

C h a p t e r ii

CHAPTER 12

About the Author

This book is dedicated to the many men, women and children of the world who are paralyzed. Keep the faith, for modern medicine may have an answer.

In memory of Thomas Mourey, a good friend and dedicated teacher. Although paralyzed by a rock climbing accident many years before his death, he never once regretted being confined to a wheelchair. You will be greatly missed by both student and friends alike.

Thomas Mourey

(1935-1996)

C h a p t e r 1

The sun was reflecting off the glass windows that were an integral part of the building. The building housed the worldwide headquarters of the C.W. Gooden Corporation. The building was a monument to the company’s founder, C.W. Gooden and to the town that made it what it was; Childersburg, Alabama. The building itself was in the center of the newly redesigned downtown section. Most of the redesigned downtown section was made possible by huge donations from the C.W. Gooden Corporation.

Spring was in the air in Alabama. There were birds singing and flying about the whole city. The humid air was not its usual heavy self. The wind was blowing lightly and only managed to ruffle a few of the tallest trees in Childersburg. C.W. Gooden paused for just a second to take in a deep breath of the fresh, spring air.

As Chuck Gooden walked into his office building, a barrage of people greeted him. However, today nothing was going to upset Chuck, not even these people. Chuck was about to unveil the crowning achievement of the early part of the 21st century; ARDy.

ARDy was going to be the greatest gift to the medical profession of the 21st century. Chuck knew that ARDy stood for Automated Roving Doctor. The robot was over one point seven meters tall, measured over one point two meters wide and weighed nearly a metric ton.

The Gooden Corporation’s Bio-Medical Sciences team had developed ARDy to be as non-threatening as possible. ARDy was bulky, but he was very intelligent, being constructed of the latest technologies that money could buy or develop in the area of logic circuits. Of those circuits, a new prototype microchip capable of rudimentary thinking capabilities was installed. This microchip was labeled 986DX2.

Although logic circuit technologies were being updated on a monthly basis, ARDy’s circuits allowed him to think and reason fast. This fast thinking and reasoning ability gave ARDy the capability of arriving at a correct medical diagnosis in minutes rather than hours. The early thinking robots had a major drawback to them. They took hours to arrive at a conclusion with the early thinking technologies.

For the Gooden Corporation, ARDy was the prototype robot of the future of medicine. Awaiting final test runs at an actual hospital under normal, not laboratory, conditions, a whole fleet of ARDy’s was ready to roll off the assembly line. Chuck also remembered what the bio-medical science team had developed ARDy for.

ARDy’s primary function was to cut medical costs and to assist doctors and interns who were working too many long hours. As a result of these long hours, misdiagnosis and sometimes death resulted to some patients. Chuck hoped that this breakthrough in medical technology would be seen as a dream come true for the medical profession and not as a threat to their existence.

Wading his way through the flotilla of people in his outer offices, C.W. Gooden made it to his inner office doors. Opening these doors, C.W. Gooden slipped into the solitude that was his office. There on his desk, as always, was a cup of coffee, fixed just the way he liked it. He walked over to his large oak desk and sat down in the comfortable leather chair.

Chuck swung himself around to face his desk and put on his reading glasses. He looked down on the desktop at the bright red folder with a royal blue background. This folder was lettered in dark green letters. The front of the file folder had the familiar company emblem.

The company emblem was the Gooden family coat of arms. This family coat of arms was augmented with two swords of gold running from corner to corner. This emblem was worn on the chest of a solid silver Pegasus.

Chuck saw the name on the folder; ARDy: A NEW TECHNOLOGY. He opened up the folder and reviewed the file summary sheet in the front. Chuck was pleased with the report and set it back down on the desktop. He reached over and buzzed his secretary.

Yes, sir? asked Rose.

Rose, have the bio-medical department meet with me in conference room eight at noon.

Yes, sir. Anything else?

Call up the board of directors for the City of Childersburg hospital. I want them present for the demonstration.

Yes, sir.

Chuck hung up the phone and leaned back into his large leather chair. He casually reached over the corner of the desk to a little table that was attached to the desk. On that table, which looked like the desktop, was his cup of coffee, still hot. Looking down on the front part of the desktop was the calendar. Today’s date was March 9, 2006. For Chuck, this week was when his daughter would be visiting him for the first time in many years. Chuck smiled at the thought as he reached for the phone again.

Yes, sir? asked Rose.

Rose, I want you to call my house.

Yes, sir. One moment.

There was silence before Chuck’s housekeeper, Heidi, answered the phone. Heidi was always up-front and almost militaristic in her ways.

Good morning, Gooden residence.

How are you Heidi? Please have the two guest rooms on the south wing ready for tomorrow.

Very well, sir.

I can’t seem to remember what airlines my daughter is on. Could you help me with that one?

Midway Airlines, flight number 1223.

Heidi, what would I do without you?

Go crazy, sir. Goodbye.

Goodbye, Heidi.

As Chuck hung up the phone, he gazed down at the picture frame on the right hand side of the desktop. There was a silver, wire rope framed picture of him and his wife, Elizabeth, on their vacation to the tropics some years ago. Elizabeth had bought the picture frame for their twentieth wedding anniversary present. Suddenly Chuck felt a tightening in his stomach while looking at the picture.

For Chuck, it had been ten years since her death. His memories of her last days alive were filled with pain. He remembered the day he took her to the hospital for a headache, the diagnosis, and then eight days later having to take her off the life support machine they had connected to her. Chuck felt his stomach doing another twist tighter. He had to look away from the picture. He always wanted to remember her as she was, not as she had been there in the hospital room.

Chuck had submerged himself in his work to escape the pain and loneliness that followed her death. Even his own daughter had been set by the wayside during that time. Heidi was the only one who kept Chuck and his daughter in contact with each other. In fact, it was Heidi who suggested to Chuck that he take some time off for this very important meeting she had arranged.

He handled two press conferences and then went to his previously scheduled meeting. As he walked in, a hush fell over the room.

Be seated, said Chuck.

The lights in the conference room were dimmed and a hologram of a man appeared on the conference room table. The image rotated around so that all could see and hear what the gentleman had to say. Chuck knew the face was that of Dave Sommers, President of C.W. Gooden Corporation‘s Bio-medical sciences department.

„Greetings, Mr. Gooden, I have some important news for you," said Dave Sommers.

„I sure hope to hell so. I have spent twenty years and over three billion five hundred million seven hundred forty two thousand six hundred forty eight dollars. I EXPECT results!" Chuck slammed his right fist down on top