DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) (7 page)

And Terri suddenly looked quite serious. ‘There is something I wanted to ask, Fox. Something I want to do. I’ve talked to Poppa about it and I thought… I’d like you to join us.’

‘Doing what?’ Fox asked. ‘Where?’

‘I want to go down to Dallas on Saturday. I want to see the place again, close it off, end it. It’s the anniversary…’

Fox nodded. ‘I know. Okay. Okay, I’ll go. Who are we taking down?’

‘Now that you’ll be there,’ Jackson said, ‘I can arrange it that it’s just us. We’ll take a few security frames with us, one of my faster transports.’ He grinned. ‘We can take turns on the piloting.’

‘Leave the security to me then,’ Fox told him. ‘Otherwise Ryan is going to have a fit.’

16
^th
June.

Marie was not as keen to move back into her newly refitted apartment as one might have expected, but move she did. She was there with Fox and Sam when the Palladium facilities people who had been holding her belongings in storage turned up to put them back.

Technically, Sam was only there to make sure all the registrations had worked and the security system knew who he was, but he put his back into shifting things around for Marie before he had to get ready for an engagement in the late afternoon.

It was when they were basically finished with Marie’s rooms and Fox was starting to consider checking her own rooms, after a break for some lunch, that Belle made her presence known.

‘I just got a request for telepresence from someone called Belle,’ Marie said, frowning in the middle of a slump onto her sofa.

‘That’s the house AI,’ Fox said. ‘Terri mentioned it, but it wasn’t up and running when I was here last.’ Accepting the request which had appeared in her own visual field, Fox got her first look at what was, basically, the house’s avatar. ‘Terri designed you, didn’t she?’

Belle was a little shorter than Fox, slim, very upright with a modest chest, slim waist, and wider hips. She had a narrow face framed by powder-blue hair which fell to her shoulders with a pronounced parting. Her lips were full and curved, her nose long and straight, and she had arched eyebrows over large, blue eyes. Blue was a theme: her nails were painted in blue, her eyelids shaded in blue, and she wore a dark blue skirt suit that dropped to mid-shin, with a white, collarless blouse and blue, kitten heels. She looked, Fox thought, like a rather prim, slightly sexy secretary, standing there with one leg slightly bent and her hands clasped in front of her.

‘Good afternoon. I am Belle, MarTech Technologies Lares dash five nine seven Series AI, prototype BL. Along with your MarTech Services GL Series building management AI, I will be taking care of you at whatever level of service you require.’ She had a soft but firm voice, a little throaty. ‘Miss Martins was the principal project engineer in charge of my production, yes.’

‘You’re a prototype?’ Sam asked, settling down beside the now seated Marie.

‘I am the twelfth beta series prototype of the Lares dash five nine seven AIs. Miss Martins said to assure you that I am the fourth bug-free version, the first with full functionality enabled.’

‘According to Terri,’ Fox said, ‘Belle is the public face for the house. Handles security, basic housekeeping functions, comms management, net searches, and she’ll act as your social secretary, if you want.’

‘I also have basic accounting skills, language packages for Mandarin, Spanish, and Japanese, and loadable skill packages for computer security, cooking, criminology, materials design, medical diagnosis, and a number of data gathering methods. My “Instanced Mind” system allows me to interact, individually, with up to one hundred individuals or carry out a similar number of mentally intensive tasks, though performance is reduced when handling more than ten.’ It was all delivered in such a matter-of-fact tone, like a sales presentation for a toaster.

‘Well,’ Marie said, ‘I pretty much use LifeWeb for my social stuff. I keep my calendar on there, contacts, the works.’

‘I am able to access LifeWeb data, Miss Shaftsbury, with your permission, of course, and I can assist in managing it. One function I can perform is to ensure that all members of the household know of scheduling conflicts.’

‘I’ll have Javen connect to you,’ Sam said. ‘Coordinate my calendars with him, business and personal. It would be useful to know when people are here or out, or just busy.’

‘Kit will connect up and handle that when we get her server over tomorrow,’ Fox said. ‘I hope you two are going to get on. I assume you’re a class four?’ Kit appeared, peering at the other avatar with a slightly wary look.

‘The Kitsune dash five nine two AI is a “sister” of my series,’ Belle stated, smiling. ‘Some of my code was created for the Kitsune. The generic failure of the Kitsune instancing mechanism led to its reengineering into my “Instanced Mind” technology. Miss Martins did mention that your AI, Miss Meridian, had resolved that problem.’

‘Kit is unique,’ Fox replied, smiling. ‘And you can cut that “Miss Meridian” thing. It’s Fox.’

‘As you prefer, Fox.’

Kit wrinkled her nose a little and vanished. A second later, Fox heard, ‘I’m not sure I like her. She looks bossy,’ in her head.

‘Give her a chance,’ Fox replied silently. ‘Oh, and find out what “lares” means.’ Aloud she said, ‘I say we hit the kitchen and see what we can find to eat.’

‘I’m not sure what I’ve got in…’ Marie said, starting to her feet.

‘Both kitchens are fully stocked,’ Belle said, a smile touching her lips. ‘We made sure of that.’

Fox gave a shrug. ‘Palladium is a full-service security provider.’

~~~

There was only one access to Fox’s floor and that was via the back stairs which ran up from the basement to the roof. That led out onto a hallway which gave access to four rooms: lounge, bedroom, bathroom, and a large office. Fox had decided to recycle most of her apartment furniture and start from scratch, and she was checking on the results.

The office was modern, but it held on to Fox’s theme for the place, which was art deco. There was a desk, solid and blocky with four drawers down each of the pedestals at the sides and a vanity board at the back. It was pale, veneered, synthetic wood with a comfortable, leather-backed desk chair with looping curls for arms set behind it. The walls were painted a soft green and were largely blank. Another, similar chair sat against the wall beside the desk, out of the way. The office would be used primarily for virtual meetings and what Fox needed in it was space.

The lounge was big, the powder-blue walls gave it an even more spacious feeling, and there were three fairly large windows, rectangular ones which was not that thematic, but changing that would have meant rebuilding the walls. She had found a good pattern for a soft, comfortable sofa with a scrolled back, and there were two matching chairs. Those were set around a low table, but the basic idea was to have a communal sort of sitting area which faced a wall where vids could be displayed. There was also a dining table with six chairs from a beautifully styled pattern she had found.

Fox grinned as she saw it. ‘That turned out well,’ she said.

Kit appeared at her side, looking the same way, though she could really only see what Fox saw at the moment. ‘I believe your selections were all very good.’

‘You compiled the shortlists.’

‘Our selections then, though I admit I have no particular opinion on aesthetics. This is pleasing. Calming, I think.’

‘Uh-huh, let’s try the bedroom.’ Fox crossed the hall and found herself in a room with walls painted a strong red featuring a large bed in dark wood with scrolled head and footboards. There was a dresser, a wardrobe, and a chest of drawers, all in dark wood and designed to match the bed. ‘Uh-huh, that’s about right.’

‘It’s quite dark,’ Kit commented.

‘The lighting rig can brighten it up a lot, but it’s designed for sleeping. And other bedroom activities, obviously. The red’s supposed to promote… bedroom activities, but the dark is for the sleeping.’

‘I shall remember that phrasing. It’s got something like poetry in it.’

‘Smart ass.’ Fox opened the bedroom’s interior door and stepped into the bathroom. There was another door leading out onto the hall, and a boxed-off area at the back which housed the toilet behind a third door. And there was a sink, a full-sized mirror, a big whirlpool bath, and a walk-in shower. ‘I’ve never had a bath in my apartment before. Been in hot tubs at hotels a couple of times. Be fun to try it out. Terri says it’s relaxing.’

‘This one has a sonic massage system built in. It should be very relaxing. And I believe the shower should meet your needs.’

‘I shall reserve judgement until I’ve tried it, like the bath.’

‘Where will I be situated?’

Fox flashed her a grin and went out into the hall, returning to the lounge. ‘I guess that’s the right phrase, but I don’t tend to think of you as that box.’ Walking over to the far wall at the side of the seating area, Fox found a box set low on the wall and popped it open to reveal a connector socket. ‘Here we go. I figured you could sit over here and then your server will be with us when we’re sitting here.’

‘Thank you, Fox, that was very thoughtful.’ Kit beamed, always so child-like when she was very happy. It was a quirk of personality which could be a little disturbing at times.

‘Not that it really makes a difference. Like I said, you’re not in the box. You’re… wherever you are.’ Fox pointed at where she perceived Kit to be. ‘You’re there.’

‘I am currently running on a quantum processor in your right forearm.’ Kit, in turn, pointed to a spot around the middle of Fox’s forearm. ‘I am there. I am software running on a complex, multi-layered processor architecture, in there.’

‘That, my dear young AI, is like saying that I am just a lot of electrons buzzing around in some soggy, grey jelly up here.’ Fox tapped her head to emphasise the point. ‘No one is just that. Not in my philosophy anyway. There are some people I’ve met who are less, but most are more. And so are you. And also, this is getting very preachy and I never honestly thought I’d say something like that to an AI.’

‘Well then, I shall attempt to assimilate your philosophy and I am very pleased to have expanded your view of artificial minds. That was a little pompous, wasn’t it?’

Fox shrugged. ‘You’ve a right, I got preachy.’

18
^th
June.

The bath was relaxing. Fox lay sprawled in the hot water, eyes closed and arms on the side of the tub, with a glass of cold, white wine beside her. The water swirled around her as the jets pushed it, giving a constantly shifting pattern of heat across her body. There was also the inaudible pulse of the sonic massage system, which seemed to be trying its best to relax tense muscles. But none of it was entirely working.

Marie had said she would come up to Fox’s rooms once she had completed her acting exercises for the day, and Fox had really forgotten about it, but was not displeased when she heard the girl’s voice. ‘So, this is how the other half bathes.’

‘No, this is meant to be relaxing. If I want to wash, I still take a shower.’

‘Huh. Kit said it was okay if I came in…’

‘Of course it is.’

‘You know… You don’t look that relaxed.’

Fox sighed. ‘I’m going to Dallas with Jackson and Terri tomorrow. It’s three years since the operation there. I think Terri’s hoping we can put it all behind us now.’

‘You’re not so sure?’

‘I… She might be right. Maybe this is the closure we need. The loose ends were tied up in February.’

‘That business when she was kidnapped again? I saw it on the news.’ The water shifted, currents changing direction, as Marie slipped into the water. Fox smiled at the soft sigh which followed.

‘Yeah. The survivors of Dallas tried to pull the same stunt, basically, with a little added revenge. There are still a couple of survivors, but they’re locked up and they won’t be out for a long time. And putting them away helped, but it didn’t get rid of everything. I’m not sure I’ll
ever
be able to get rid of it all. I’m not sure I should be able to, or want to.’

‘Well, I doubt anyone wants to forget it, but you can forgive yourself for it.’

‘Forgive myself? Oh, survivor’s guilt. I think that may be Terri’s problem more than mine. She was kept alive while all the rest of the staff were killed. They wanted a single hostage, and they knew she was going to be there. Jackson Martins’ daughter was all they needed, so everyone else died.’

‘Damn. That must have really hurt her.’

‘It did, but it made her more determined that they shouldn’t die in vain. There was no way UA were going to get what they wanted. Dallas hardened her, according to Jackson. I’d never met her before then, but she was supposedly easier-going, less inclined to work her ass off into the evening. She went from Terri the intern, dipping her toes in various areas of MarTech to see what fitted, to one of Jackson’s smartest AI researchers in two years. I think it was mostly to make sure United Anarchy didn’t win.’

There was silence for a few seconds and then Marie said, ‘That sonic vibration thing is doing really weird things to me.’

Chuckling, Fox brought up the controls in-vision, selected the massage component, and raised the amplitude. She could feel the change, feel the soft vibrations throbbing in her muscles. ‘How’s that?’

‘That’s… uh… I think I could come in this after a few minutes.’

Fox lifted herself and slid across the tub to settle between Marie’s thighs, hands sliding up the limbs and spreading them further. ‘I think that that’s too long and want to hear you screaming sooner.’ Fox’s fingers found their target and started circling, like sharks.

‘I can get behind that,’ Marie said. Apparently the prey was not too worried about being eaten.

Airborne over the Southern Protectorate, 19
^th
June.

They could have made the trip a lot faster if they had decided to take another pilot with them. Since they were determined not to, they were being good, and though everyone got a chance at flying the jet, it was Fox who was to handle the take-off and landing, and they were keeping the speed subsonic. At its top speed, the personal jet could have covered the 2,200-kilometre distance to Dallas in under an hour, but as it was, it took more than two.