Teddybear, Teddybear

After years of development, David Wellesley, PhD, a scientist with the Johnson Space Flight Center in Dallas, created a prototype of a revolutionary new Artificial Intelligence Brain, designed to drive the planned Mars Explorer for NASA. As he is finishing up the project, he receives a visit from Erich, a heavy set man with an even heavier German accent, whom he met briefly at Harvard the year before. Erich begins to grill David for information about the AI Brain, then hotly demands that it be turned over to him for a private sector project named Gamma. When David refuses the demand as he had promised it to NASA, Erich leaves in an angry mood. Suspicious of Erich's intentions, David decides to hide the AI Brain in his granddaughter's teddybear--one of the latest Talk-and-Toddle teddybears, that can walk and learn to respond to basic spoken phrases. David had purchased the bear for his granddaughter as a Christmas present, and it was left in his care when his daughter's family took a trip to California. That night, something amazing happens as the teddybear sporting the new AI Brain achieves true consciousness. He realizes he can think, he can plan, and it is a good thing, too, because the next day David is kidnapped. By searching police and other databases via telephone, Teddy manages to alert the police. Soon Teddy is obligated to reveal his new status to the Wellesley family and Sergeant Joe Verdigo, as they all race to save David. Thus begins the unlikely career of a two-foot tall, furry Private Eye.


Genre: Science Fiction