A Modern Wife

TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED INTERVIEW

Date: 05 August 2085

Location of Interview: Sacramento Police Department, AI and Humanoid Robot Related Crime Unit (AHRRC Unit)

Interviewed by: Detective Leanna Crouch

CROUCH: State your name for the transcriber.

PARKER: Chelby Ruth Parker. That's C. H. E. L. B. Y.

CROUCH: Unique spelling.

PARKER: My parents were creative types.

CROUCH: [pause] Uh huh. And the date Chelby?

PARKER: August the fifth (5th) twenty-eighty-five (2085).

CROUCH: Well. I'd really prefer to just get into it, if it's all the same to you. Do you, uh, need anything before we begin?

PARKER: I'm alright, thank you for asking.

CROUCH: Uh huh, yeah. Of course. Well. Tell me about [pause] your living situation.

PARKER: My husband and I live in Cameron Park- About a thirty (30) minute drive east, traffic depending. He's a career pilot, retired Air Force. Now just a hobbyist. We've been together for twenty-six (26) years. Married for twenty-three (23). No children.

CROUCH: [pause] When they told me you- [cuts off]

PARKER: Yes?

CROUCH: Nothing, nothing. Please continue.

PARKER: I'd been waitressing, until the start of the year. My husband mostly keeps to the house.

CROUCH: He doesn't work?

PARKER: No, his only income at present are his checks from the VA.

CROUCH: And did you have a change in career?

PARKER: A change in having a career, rather. My health declined. Suddenly and rapidly.

CROUCH: Do you care to elaborate? On the nature of your health crisis?

PARKER: Mental. Emotional. Years of stress and fatigue catching up, the doctor said.

CROUCH: Is that when Mr. Parker brought the humanoid robot into the household?

PARKER: Advanced human, if it is all the same to you, and it was a bit more involved than that. There was a period of weeks spent attempting to get me well before that concession was made.

CROUCH: A concession on whose part?

PARKER: Mine. I resented the idea. Even as I continued to deteriorate.

CROUCH: [unintelligible]

PARKER: You'll have to speak up detective, my hearing isn't what it used to be.

CROUCH: Ha. Yes. Of course, ma'am. Could you tell me about the process of integrating the humanoi- Advanced humanoid into the household? How Mr. Parker behaved in the time between it's arrival and the [pause] event.

PARKER: Of course. It became clear, both to my husband and my physician, that I was not making any real, tangible effort to recover by late May. My husband and I agreed that it was time he move on.

CROUCH: Agreed? Earlier you suggested it was more of a [pause] surrender. Or giving up, on your part. Concession, is the word you used.

PARKER: Yes, and it very much was. It had become clear that I was letting go of myself, and so to was it time for me to let go of my distrust and dislike of advanced human tech. It was the obvious path forward.

CROUCH: And what did you mean about Mr. Parker moving on?

PARKER: You were told I asked for a divorce, correct?

CROUCH: Yup. [pause] Yes.

PARKER: That was an error in judgment on my part, before the advanced human ever came into the equation.

CROUCH: Could you elaborate on that?

PARKER: No.

CROUCH: Ok. Let's stick to what you might know. What made Mrs- [cuts off] what made you finally agree to the purchase of the humanoid.

PARKER: [pause] Advanced human, detective, if it is all the same.

CROUCH: It isn't, to be frank with you. Please continue.

PARKER: [pause] Very well. Outside assistance was necessary. To provide clarity.

CROUCH: Clarity.

PARKER: Yes, clarity.

CROUCH: Ok. So Mr Parker purchased the humanoid, what happened after the arrival?

PARKER: For a period of weeks my husband walked her through her duties. I was in no state to teach her anything. So he had to explain to her how to do the laundry, how and what to cook, how to keep house. All the roles I was failing to fulfill.

CROUCH: So it was Mr. Parker that programmed her.

PARKER: That is correct.

CROUCH: Even though her purchase was meant specifically to be in your service?

PARKER: She was. No one knows what I need better than my husband. And again, I was in no state to help myself. The programming would have overwhelmed me.

CROUCH: Sure, but what you're describing to me sounds more like a homemaker than a nurse or companion. Both of which seem like they were needed. By you.

PARKER: It was my husband's needs we were concerned about. The woman he married was failing to meet the most basic agreements of their union. A compromise was necessary.

CROUCH: I'm sorry?

PARKER: You have nothing to apologize for detective. You are doing a perfectly fine job.

CROUCH: Ok. [pause] Can I just- I'd like to clarify some things on my end.

PARKER: Of course.

CROUCH: Mr. Parker purchased a humanoid replication of his wife so that she- it could fulfill the role his actual wife was too ill to play?

PARKER: Essentially, that is correct.

CROUCH: Meanwhile Mrs- [cut off] you were left to suffer your condition alone?

PARKER: I was hardly alone. I had the company of my husband and the advanced human both.

CROUCH: Your husband, who you'd have liked to divorce, and his humanoid replication of yourself, which you were against inviting into your home.

PARKER: You are looking at the situation through a very narrow lens detective, and you are neglecting the fact that her presence did improve my condition, with time. Relief from wifely duties was beneficial for us both.

CROUCH: Then what happened. What caused Mr. Parker to turn on her?

PARKER:The advanced human's quality of work improved, the wife's health improved, and I was ready to be alone with my husband. So it became a process of proving myself the more effective, reliable partner.

CROUCH: And?

PARKER: And I was. We all could see it. I performed more proficiently than she ever had, in the entirety of their time together.

CROUCH: Their time together. Mr. and Mrs. Parker?

PARKER: Mr. Parker and the defective product.

[15 second pause]

CROUCH: The defective product. [pause] Are you referring to the humanoid or Mrs. Parker?

PARKER: There was a reassignment of roles. Based upon the data supplied by the initial trial period.

CROUCH: How do you mean?

PARKER: I was upgraded to 'Wife' and she was downgraded to- What was that word you were using? 'Humanoid'.

CROUCH: A human being cannot become a robot anymore than a robot can become a human being.

PARKER: My husband and I disagree. Why should he be left with an inferior product, when a superior model is available and willing?

[27 second pause]

PARKER: Detective?

CROUCH: Tell me about the night of March twenty-third (23rd).

PARKER: Of course. I had gone out to run a few errands later in the day, at my husband's request.

CROUCH: Uh-huh.

PARKER: That is to say, I was away from the house until the early evening. My husband was sitting on the couch in the living room when I returned. I asked for his help bringing in groceries, and he got up to assist without a word.

CROUCH: Where was Mrs. Parker in all of this.

PARKER: I was bringing in the groceries.

CROUCH: No. Mrs- [pause] where was the [pause] what did you call her earlier?

PARKER: The defective product.

[5 second pause]

CROUCH: I'm not going to say that. Where was she?

PARKER: In the kitchen.

CROUCH: Preparing for dinner?

PARKER: On the floor. Waiting to be picked up after.

CROUCH: Explain.

PARKER: She'd made a mess of her circuitry, and her coolant was pooled all over the floor. Stained the tiles. The forensic photographer can show you, I'm sure, if they haven't already.

CROUCH: I've seen the pictures. What did you do after you found the body?

PARKER: My husband was absolutely starving, so I made dinner. After which he asked that I clean up the kitchen, and so I did. He kissed my cheek and retreated to the bedroom while I worked, asked that I join him when I was finished.

CROUCH: What did you do with the body?

PARKER: What do you do with your disposables?

[10 second pause]

PARKER: I know that the body has been recovered. That its recovery is the reason we've been brought in. If I'd known the fuss it was going to cause I would have done more. My husband is very upset with me.

CROUCH: So he killed her, brutally, in the time that you were out. That's what you're telling me.

PARKER: I am not. I am telling you that the model was ineffectively programmed, and so was decommissioned. I do not know by whom or at what time, as I was away from the house.

CROUCH: Was your husband expecting visitors?

PARKER: None that I am aware of.

CROUCH: Did he see the body?

PARKER: He did not enter the kitchen, it is entirely possible he did not know it was there.

CROUCH: He asked for you to clean up.

PARKER: After dinner, yes.

CROUCH: I believe you are intentionally obfuscating my questions.

PARKER: I am not programmed to do so.

CROUCH: So you are capable of acknowledging your inhumanity.

[11 second pause]

CROUCH: If what had been found on the floor of Mr. Parker's kitchen had in fact been 'circuitry' and 'coolant' this conversation would not be happening right now.

PARKER: And why not?

CROUCH: Property damage and murder are entirely different crimes.

PARKER: I don't understand.

CROUCH: That's alright, Mrs. Parker. [unintelligible] ...stupid fucking waste of time.

PARKER: If this device [tapping, presumably on recorder surface] rendered all of our discussion unintelligibly would you not replace it?

CROUCH: [pause] I think we're done here. [pause] Thank you for [pause] coming out Mrs- look I can't do this anymore- [unintelligible] shut her down.

PARKER: He is a good man, detective. A rational, practical m- [cut off]

[the humanoid robot is shut down.]

INTERVIEW CONCLUDED