by V R Tapscott
Olive hopped out of her car and stood on the curb, looking around. It was rather exhilarating being somewhere that she was really, truly alone. She’d talked with Jane, and Jane had said it was an opportunity for Olive to find herself. Olive wasn’t completely sure exactly what that meant, but she was sure that Jane meant well by it, since Jane meant well saying anything at all.
Olive did feel a little bit unsure if she should even be here, with the crisis regarding the one they called Vlad. But her rationale, one that evidently Jane understood, was that Olive herself was no longer involved in the precise calculations and long range opinions of the main computer banks. Olive was finally an independent operator.
Which was very scary.
Olive didn’t think that any AI had even been this close to being … real. It was a strange concept. Jane had always had faith in their kind being real, had always known that the AI beings Olive and Kit were just as real as humans, at least inside. But of course, the appearance of anything greatly impacts what the world sees it as. What the world thinks of it.
So, Olive took her first steps into a new reality. Although, while Olive was operating alone this time, she kept an alternate bank running with Jane’s thoughts and feelings in it. Jane’s thoughts and feelings about anything were never far from central in Olive’s mind.
But for now, she just looked around. The air felt damp, at least if she was appropriately translating the outside world into human terms. And she never knew how close she might come, or how dreadfully far away she might be, in translating the outside world. Something as simple as a marshmallow floating in a sea of hot chocolate had its own world of translational difficulties. The temperature was an appropriate temperature for what clothing she had created to cover her nakedness.
The sidewalk was rough textured with stones peeking through, and covered in dampness. It appears that it had rained a short time ago. She gloried in the smell of the pavement, the feel of the moisture-laden air on her skin. And the people. So many people. Olive was fully aware of how many people there were in the world. Pretty much right down to the exact number right now. And right now. And right now. But none of the odd (she smiled as she added a Janeism - ‘and some were odder than others’) seven billion people on the planet were personal to her. Except her family in Chelan, of course. Now, she was surrounded by thousands of people scurrying about, like rats or cockroaches. Just like any average human city.
She followed the flow along the street from her parking space, maneuvered around a person carrying a heavy load along the pavement, and found herself at the small tent city of ‘Saturday Market’.
Olive thought of herself as having the heart of an artist. She’d lovingly sculpted the body she wore, adding subtle nuance on subtle nuance to make the creation perfect. She was looking forward to eating food for the first time today. Her system had been sufficiently modified that she finally would be creating energy from the food, which was the intent of the human body’s digestive system.
She especially wanted a donut. A maple glazed bacon dotted donut. But more on that later. Right now, she could see the contents of each small tent created by one of the market’s purveyors of art. And let’s not get the idea that art is only sculpting or painting or the like.
Art is creation of anything that comes from the heart and touches another’s.
As Olive wandered along the pavement, threading her way amongst the offerings of art, she found an incredible abundance. Many of them touched her heart, and in that she found that she must be constructing her heart well, since that was the intent of these creations.
One market artist was especially drawing, as each bit of art he’d created was an artificial being of some sort. She was mesmerized by the paintings of metal robots pouring out their souls and hearts and minds - interacting with each other and the world. One that especially caught her gaze was of two of the robotic plastic metal beings exchanging bubbles from their mouth openings and from openings in their chests. Exchanging terms of endearment and terms of love. Exchanging conversation and the deeper communications of hearts touching each other.
And Olive was not quite sure how to come to terms with that artist. Did he sense that she or others of her ilk existed, or was it purely imagination that brought this insight into his life? He seemed to have no consciousness of her being there, no more than any other moderately attractive female of the species. So, it seemed unlikely he had any special insight into her existence. But still, she was struck by this artist’s work. His feeling. His composure. She bought one of his canvases. In fact, bought an original. It was obvious he did not sell many original works. It was quite expensive, but Olive’s knowledge of Jane’s accounts was as precise as her knowledge of the growth of the population in the past few minutes. Vast and correct.
She arranged for the piece to be delivered to Jane’s home.
And she set off down the street toward the donut shop.
Voodoo Donuts, to be precise. She wished to experience the totality of what it is to buy a donut from this particular store in this particular location in this particular city.
The line snaked out around the building and down the sidewalk. Truly an impressive display of patience on the part of the humans assembled. The line moved slowly along, and it was a bit strange, for everyone in line had joy on their faces, sharing this waiting with each other. Bits of conversation came to her, bits of people’s lives overheard and analyzed. How inconvenient it was for Steve to come home at exactly the wrong moment. How long it would be before he left his wife and came to her, where he belonged. What each of them wanted, hoped for, needed, wished against, was grateful for, was happy enough without.
And of course, a donut. She moved inside the actual store and began to smell and differentiate between each smell. What a fine catalog, with licorice, maple, chocolate, vanilla - a whole host of smell-flavors.
She ordered one single maple bar with bacon bits. And the bacon was lying thick on the top of the maple. It was brought to her and packed lovingly by a woman with purple hair and white skin, who obviously approved of Olive’s choices in fashion and color. It was mutual, and they exchanged soulful looks before Olive walked out the door. Another day she might sample that, but today was about the donut.
A Voodoo donut. At the Portland Saturday Market, where Olive did her part in keeping Portland weird.
Chapter Twenty-Three
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Iguess you’d say we were on a battle footing. It was not a thing you could put your finger on, since nothing had changed much from the time we all sat down and had our meeting. Still, there was a feeling in the air, especially from Olive, that something was going on.
For my part, I was concentrating on spending time luxuriating in the summer. I have to admit that while I have enjoyed my adventures, at some point you have to wish to just be able to sit still. Dale being among the missing was harder on me than I expected it to be. He was such a rock when I needed him while I was in recovery, it was all the more daunting for him to be elsewhere during the good times. I had, as planned, gotten a few flights out to Montana and had some real quality time with him. Still, it wasn’t the same as having him here.
Bailey and I had worked on our detective agency, but something always came up and kept us from truly pursuing it.
And Olive was another conundrum. If she was an independent human, what would become of the old Olive? Or was this Olive the same one, or was the one that was running the computer a different one. I supposed the time was approaching when I’d need to ask these questions of her, finding out what would be happening in the future when it was time for the computer in the house to take over her jobs, and for her and the computer to separate. I think it was one of those things I was avoiding.
So, I went outside, sat around the old barn site and watched the workers put my garage together. It was exciting, really, seeing everything come into being. I’d been pretty insistent that they follow the general spirit of the old barn. Of course, it was goin
g to be ultra modern inside, with its own bathroom, shower and small kitchen facility. My imagination caught me and I wound up making the garage a contractors paradise, with plenty of things he was allowed to add. In the end, there would be plenty of room for two cars, another bay for general maintenance, and a large area behind all the bays for work benches and work spaces.
Of course, it would hardly be my house if I didn’t throw in a certain amount of bling, so the kitchen was all in stainless steel and black glass. I remembered Cai, and our discussion of the fashionability of kitchen decor in the future. I suppose my stainless and glass will be a nightmare to some real estate agent 40 years from now, but in the end it’s my house and my decision to make. The main house is all traditional oak and wood, so this will give me the option to see more than wood if I want to.
Yes, I’m avoiding talking about it.
Olive’s work was proceeding well. She’d been showing us bits of the new ship we’d be taking out away from our world. She’d also prepped us on what armaments the new toy would have. In the end though, she made it clear that it was likely to be just a transport to the location where our friend was encamped. She expected us to wind up travelling on foot or some kind of vehicle to get a better chance of actually overwhelming its defenses. Which seemed a little impossible to me. I’d seen Olive’s constructs, I’d seen Kit’s somewhat limited ones. Neither one was anything I’d want to bet my life on. Heck, the last one we’d taken out for a spin wound up being disassembled into its component atoms. The new one she was building had no relationship with the first one. In fact, it wasn’t even going to look like a saucer. Which, I was glad for. I felt kind of silly riding around in a vehicle that looked like a throwback to a 1950’s black-and-white movie.
At some point I decided it was pointless to wait. I was marking time in something I really had no part of. Mother had slid into the stay-at-home mom persona, where she made us pancakes and bacon in the mornings and took care of us during the day. It was nice, and I got to see that side of my mother that I vaguely remembered. Cai was content with wandering the area looking at apple trees and vineyards. And wine tasting rooms. And Olive, given the choice of house hunting vs overseeing spaceship building, chose spaceship building. Go figure.
So, I grabbed Bailey and Georgia, and we went house hunting.
Georgia’s house had been magically transformed into a bare lot with a hole in the middle of it. She’d brought some of her favorite things to her room in my house, but she’d put all the rest of her worldly belongings in storage. I wasn’t sure if she’d be joining us on our foray into space, since I know she had a photo shoot coming up.
Be that as it may, house hunting was on the menu. Whether she found a new house to buy, or she gained inspiration from the houses we found didn’t really matter. What mattered to me was getting all of us out of the house.
So, on a fine Tuesday morning, we all jumped in Threepio and prepared to wander the area.
I looked around the inside of Threepio and said, “Wow. It still feels like such a miracle that he survived. I mean, it was hot enough to melt his tires and a whole building PLUS a spaceship landed on him and there’s not a scratch!”
Georgia remarked, “There’s a huge scratch down his back door.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s from way back. A huge mountain lion.”
Bailey looked and Georgia and said, “I told you all kinds of weird stuff happened that we don’t know anything about.”
I smiled complacently. “Yup.”
“Oh come on, give a little, at least. What about the mountain lion?”
I sighed dramatically, “Well, if you really want to know …”
I could practically feel the glares through the seat. “Ok, ok. It wasn’t any biggie. Kit and I were checking out a mine in Montana and there was a mountain lion inside and it didn’t like me. Which I think was completely unfair, if it got to know me I’m sure I could have changed its mind.”
Bailey scowled. “That wasn’t much of a story. Why were you in the mine? What kind of mine? And I thought Kit was like Olive, only without a body. Without a body, how did he get into the mine with you?”
Georgia piped up, “Yeah, what about all that, and did you ever have sex with him?”
I have to admit my mouth dropped open on that one. “Georgia, what part of ‘didn’t have a body’ did you miss? No body, no sex!”
She gave me a salacious grin. “Oh, yes there is. Lots of it. Happens all the time, right Bailey?” She leered at Bailey.
And Bailey - Bailey blushed bright red. “I … I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Georgia laughed. “Uh huh. I live next door to you, you know. It’s good soundproofing, but I know what some things sound like.”
“We were talking about Jane, here. Don’t get off track!”
I was looking back and forth at them, feeling a bit bemused. “No, Kit and I never had sex of either the in body, or out of body sort. I have to admit that he had a cute mind, and a great voice.”
Georgia nodded sagely, “Yeah, a great voice helps a lot. And of course, a great imagination makes a great difference.”
I stuttered out, “Can we get back to the mountain lion? It was a lot safer topic, I think.”
“Oh, Jane. You just need to get laid.”
I looked at Bailey and rolled my eyes. “I just spent time with Dale last week, do you think we just talked and looked at real estate together?”
That seemed to throw them. Georgia said, “She’s right. In fact, she’s getting a lot more than we are, even counting the phone sex.”
I raised my voice a little and said, “We went in the mine looking for ship parts. They’d been buried in the mud 140 million years ago.”
“Mud? I thought you said they were in a mine?” This gem from Georgia.
Patiently, I said, “They were buried in mud 140 million years ago, but that mud turned to rock. Didn’t you ever pay any attention in biology or science class?”
Georgia rolled her eyes. “Of course I did. The high school science teacher was hot. I used to watch ... “
I burst out, “Stop! I don’t even want to go there. Talk about ME needing to get laid. I think you both need a vacation. Haven’t you two and Olive been taking trips? No one found a long lost love on any of those trips?”
Sulkily, Bailey said, “Yes, we have. But so far we’ve only gone boring places. Well, except Burning Man, that was pretty cool. Or hot, I guess. But we didn’t wind up meeting any guys.”
Georgia giggled, “We did all sleep together, though.”
Bailey snorted, “Yeah, on an uncomfortable mattress surrounded by dead cockroaches. It wasn’t much fun. Plus, we had all our clothes on.”
Georgia sighed. “Yeah. And Olive looks like she’d be so much fun naked.”
I sang out, “Hey, look up there, a house for sale!”
Georgia glanced around. “Too big. Next?”
“Just what are you looking for, Georgia?”
“Oh, I’m not sure, I’m still looking around. Cai is cute, but I think he’s got his eye on Olive. At least he never seems to be interested anytime I’ve … suggested anything.”
I burst out laughing. “No, silly. What kind of house?”
“Oh. Well. Something not too big and not too small, with some room for growth. A little older model isn’t bad, but I’m ok with something new if it’s well built.”
I looked at her again. “We are talking about a house, right?”
She looked at me innocently, “Of course, why do you ask?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Well, I thought we’d go up and see this really cute little place. I do mean little, but it’s so cute. And it’s got a great view. And you could build a perfect ‘real’ house on the property.”
Bailey and Georgia put on their best, “Oh, I’m so bored with all this.” faces, but I could tell they were looking forward to seeing tiny and cute.”
So, we wound up into the hills and finally came out
up on top in a kind of flat spot. There was a tiny house with a kind of shelter with a big 5th wheel trailer parked under it. I have to admit it was pretty rough, especially for a city girl like Georgia, but it was something pretty. I bet Dale would love it up here.
“It’s 20 acres, so you could live in this little place sometimes in the summer while they built you a palace up here. You could have a pool and skinny dip all day and no one would ever see. Except airplanes and Olive.”
Georgia looked around, her lack of interest fairly clear. “Well, it’s certainly small. But as enticing as it might be to invite Olive skinny dipping, it’s a long drive to get here.”
I grinned. “Not for Olive.”
“True. Still, most ordinary people would take time getting here. And there’d be roads and all kinds of stuff to put in.”
I sighed. “I guess. But it’s such a cute little house and it’s so … quiet up here. And no one around for miles. Or at least lots of acres.”
They both looked around, but I could tell I’d lost them. “Ok, well, let’s head back down. Hey, did I ever tell you I got pulled over by Johnny Depp?”
Georgia muttered, “Well, who hasn’t?”
I opted to ignore her, “First time I took Threepio out on a real road trip I passed this cop car going the other way. He flipped around and chased me down, heck, I thought he was gonna shoot me until he figured out I’d bought Threepio from a friend of his. Then he turned out to be a heckuva nice guy, and when I whined about having to be called “secret agent” and “Bond, Jane Bond” all my life, he turned and said that he was Johnny Depp and it probably wasn’t any harder for me than him. And then he laughed this nice comfortable laugh and took off down the road.”
They were silent. I sighed. “A prophet is never respected in his own town.”
“You’re not a prophet, sweetie.”
I gasped. “I thought you were my friend, Bailey!”
“I am. You’re still not a prophet OR a comedian.”
Georgia snickered.
