She grinned. “Is it still Ciopova that far up the line, or is there some new super-intelligence?”
“We still call her Ciopova, and Rose is tantalizingly close to launching this revolutionary upgrade to her. If she can deploy it while I’m still alive, there’s a good chance the new capabilities will let Ciopova figure out how we all can live.”
“But it’s a race?”
He nodded. “For me, anyway, and it’s down to the wire. Rose’s work uses technology that won’t exist for decades, so I can tell you a little about it without contaminating your ideas.”
He held up two fingers. “There are two types of AI structures. One is built using an advanced version of the programming technology you’re familiar with. The benefit of this traditional approach is that the intelligence can be initialized from a database, so it’s smart the day you turn it on. The problem is that it can never be truly intelligent. Even though it can learn and grow, the simple architecture limits how far it can develop.”
He wiggled his two fingers to show he was still counting. “The second structure is wholly new, even for us. It’s a biomimic construction that promises to be truly intelligent, but we haven’t a clue how to program it. Right now, we’re using automated teachers with the AI, kind of like how you’d educate a human, only faster and with no bathroom breaks. We’re training a room full of them, but it will take a year or more to bring them up to speed with that approach.”
Sitting up in his chair, he signaled the punch line. “Our amazing daughter has developed a way to start with a traditional intelligence we know how to program, and use structural editing to transform it on the fly to the biomimic kind.”
Lilah saw the benefit. “So you can initialize an intelligence from a database and then move it over to the new architecture.”
“That’s right, and our number one AI to convert is Ciopova. After the transformation, Rose thinks it’s possible that Ciopova could even be self-aware. If so, that would give her the ability to collaborate with us in a true partnership as we scramble to solve our problem.”
“But Rose won’t finish soon enough?”
“You can’t start with just any hardware and apply her technique to it. Her method requires that the original AI circuitry be made in a particular way using a specific material. She’s finished building a traditional version of Ciopova using her methods. As soon as it’s tested, she’ll apply her magic and perform the upgrade. It’s just days away at this point, so I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Lilah digested the information and something bothered her. “In the end, if it’s Rose saving the day with this huge achievement, why do you push so hard for me to develop Ciopova? It doesn’t sound like what I do matters that much.”
Fifty-Nine’s forehead creased. “Sure it does. Over the next fifteen years, you develop Ciopova to an amazing degree. Though she’s not self-aware, you get her to the point where she develops a personality. Most important, you get her so she can assist with her own development. That’s when things really take off, and that’s how Rose is able to achieve what she does.”
He looked into the distance and chuckled. “I remember Ciopova’s first signs of a personality emerged when you decided to send Rose to a middle school that specializes in the arts. Ciopova scolded you, pushing the idea that a technology school would better prepare her for her future.”
“Good for me,” said Lilah. “She’ll be more rounded with that kind of education.”
“You thought Ciopova’s stance was funny, but then high school rolled around. She’d become an even more capable AI, and her stance on Rose’s schooling became adamant, moving the situation from funny to alarming. Toward the end, the arguments became quite heated.”
“They were arguing when she died?”
Diesel shook his head. “It became heated and then Ciopova backed off. They hadn’t argued for a few months when my Lilah passed.” He paused and sat up. “You think Ciopova could be involved?”
“I’d flashed on the thought, but the fact that they’d made peace for months weakens the case.”
Fifty-Nine got a faraway look but Lilah brought him back to the present. “Does my Diesel know about Rose?”
“He’s going to meet her today, so he soon will. It’s yet another bump we’re making, something we’ll keep doing to ensure a different outcome for you and the other young Lilahs.”
26. Twenty-Five and three weeks
Diesel practically skipped from the T-box, lighter than air from his meeting with Rose, and optimistic about finding a solution for Lilah. It was three in the morning—Justus and Bunny were long gone—so he didn’t bother dressing, instead starting up to his apartment.
As he climbed the steps, he held up the arm that had been in the stim sheath and rotated it back and forth. He couldn’t feel anything different, and on impulse he pulled the arm up to his nose. It smelled clean, so he sniffed his hand, then lifted an arm and smelled his armpit. He hadn’t noticed before, but the T-box somehow delivered him completely sanitized.
Yawning, he entered his apartment and climbed the steps to his bedroom. A light shone at the top of the stairs, and from the way the shadows fell, he knew it was the table lamp next to his bed.
He figured Bunny had left it on after cleaning, but when he stepped into the room, he found a figure sprawled on his bed. Adrenaline flushed through him, triggering a fight-or-flight impulse. He crouched back toward the door as his brain dissected the scene.
It all happened in a split second, then he relaxed and took several deep breaths. A small person wearing a huge white bathrobe lay asleep on top of the covers. A tousle of straw-colored hair poked out of the top of the oversized robe.
“Lilah?” he said in a loud whisper. “Are you awake?”
He started toward her, but stopped when she didn’t move, fearing she’d think all manner of evil about him if she woke to find him standing over her naked. He reached into the closet, and that’s when he learned that the big white robe was actually his.
Pulling on a T-shirt and shorts, he called louder, “Lilah, I’m home!”
She sat up with a start, though her eyes drooped and hair hung in her face. “Are you home?”
“I am. What’s the matter?”
“What do you mean?” She pushed her hair back and blinked slowly.
“You’re in my bed. Don’t get me wrong—it’s the perfect place for you to be. I’m surprised, that’s all.”
She sat cross-legged, distributed the robe around her, and patted a spot on the bed. “Come sit and tell me everything.”
Diesel’s day had been magical, and finding Lilah waiting for him pushed his brain into happiness overload. He wasn’t sure what drove her behavior, but he wanted to encourage it. Moving cautiously, he sat on the edge of the bed.
“So you arrived at Fifty-Five’s home, and then what?” She looked at him expectantly before interrupting herself. “How did it feel to time travel?”
He began his story at the end, holding out the back of his hand so she could smell how clean the machine left him. Then he stepped her through his arrival, the different colored shirts, and his medical treatment by Fifty-Five.
As he spoke, he argued with himself over how to broach the topic of Rose. If a woman announced, before they even did any serious kissing, that he’d be making her pregnant, he would make a break for the door and never look back.
So he started editing Rose from his tale. When he got to the part about looking for patterns in the Browns’ behavior, though, he screwed up. He’d become animated when he told her about making a breakthrough for the group, then realized that story depended on knowing about Rose. He looked into the distance and raced for ideas.
“What is it?” she asked, leaning forward to catch his gaze.
He blinked twice, and then he lied. “I told them this idea that the Browns might actually be trying to influence events that happen later in the day. The brothers were excited to hear a new take. Apparently, it doesn’t happen a lot. Bu
t in the end, it turned out that we didn’t have the data to follow up.”
With lips pressed together, she stared at him, continuing until he looked down at his hands. When he started telling her about the differences in technology between the age groups, she blurted, “You’re really not going to tell me?”
“What’s that?”
Her eyes flared, causing his heart to rise in his throat. She knows.
“How could you!?” She climbed off the bed, stuck a hand under her robe, and pulled out a red bow from somewhere underneath. “I’m no gift for you.” She threw it in his direction, then turned to leave.
“Wait.” He put a hand on her arm, and she didn’t pull it away. “What is it you think you know?”
“What is it you aren’t telling me?”
“Did Twenty-Six tell you? That asshole.”
“Maybe he did. And maybe what he told me will never happen in this timeline because I don’t make love to liars.”
She sat on the bed next to him, hugged herself, and said in a plaintive voice, “It hurts so much that you aren’t honest with me. Why would you do it about something so wonderful?”
“You think it’s wonderful?”
Lilah turned to him. “What is she like?”
“So first, backing up,” said Diesel. “When I left here this morning, you wanted me to keep my distance. How could I come back and tell you ‘Oh, by the way, we’ll be humping like bunnies and making a baby any day now’? I believed that if I pressured you like that, you’d be gone by morning. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“You should have just said there are things you won’t tell me.”
“Do you really think that if I came back and said I have a huge secret but I’m not telling, you’d let it end there?”
She gave a resigned shrug. “Please tell me about her. I’m dying to know.”
He took one of her hands in his. “She’s perfect. Beautiful, confident, smart. And she looks just like you, especially around the eyes and the shape of your chin. Same build as you, a shade darker hair, and maybe an inch taller.”
“What did you talk about?”
“We exchanged greetings and that’s it. They wanted me to know about her as a way to bump time, but they wouldn’t let me interact with her after that. Fifty-Five says she has dedicated her life to saving Lilahs and old Diesels. Oh, and my mom is still alive.”
“What about my mom?”
“Sorry,” said Diesel, bowing his head to show contrition. “I didn’t ask.” He picked up the red ribbon and toyed with it as he shifted closer to her on the bed. “The gift thing sounded fun. I’m sorry I ruined it.”
She didn’t speak, but relaxed and put both hands in her lap.
“Twenty-Six says she’ll be born any day now. At the end of the party, we sat around a huge firepit in Fifty-Five’s backyard, and some of the brothers swapped stories about her.”
“Tell me every story, now, while they’re fresh in your mind.”
He laughed, put an arm around her, and spun through the stories he could remember. She asked questions at the beginning, but by the end, she just listened.
When he finished, he leaned over and kissed her.
She kissed back, hungry, assertive, at one point a growl escaping her throat.
Diesel touched her neck, then made his move, sliding his hand down under her robe.
She pulled away and looked at him. “I have to do this now because I’m too nervous to wait.”
He scrunched his eyebrows.
“Fifty-Nine told me I that if I do this for you, it will move you at a spiritual level. I want to do it now.”
“You don’t have to do anything but be with me. That’s what makes me happy.” He pulled away from her as his mind clicked. “Wait, Fifty-Nine? When did this happen?”
“Today. This is a now-or-never thing. My nerves are about to give out.” She stood up.
“I’m so happy right now and this seems so…mechanical. Is it supposed to be sexy?”
“Yup. Take off your clothes and sit here.” She pointed to the edge of the bed by the lamp.
He hesitated, and she tilted her head in a fashion that said, Really? He followed her instructions and looked at her expectantly.
Standing in front of him, she kissed him, then turned away. “Ready?”
“I think so.” He couldn’t imagine what this could be, and suspected that Fifty-Nine was teasing them.
“Can you see me clearly? Is the light good?”
He nodded. “You look great.”
Lilah let her robe drop to the floor, and then just stood there, hands at her side, naked, with her back to him.
His mouth fell open as he studied her—firm shoulders narrowing to a tight waist, then swelling to delicious hips over smooth, athletic legs.
He’d always thought that the level of stimulation he got from Helena Costas was a solid ten. But if that were so, his arousal now was over one hundred. Everything about this was exciting.
And then she turned to face him.
He looked into eyes that connected with her soul, then feasted on the most stimulating visual presentation he’d ever experienced. She was his perfection. Tears welled as he gloried in her beauty.
He stood and kissed her. Then he started kissing his way down her body, working slowly, continuing while he was on his knees.
They exhausted each other after that and fell asleep in a tangle of sheets, awakening when the sun was high, only to start again.
27. Twenty-Six and four weeks
Lilah, sore as hell but determined to push through it, climbed the steps to their apartment. She held their perfect new baby in her arms. Diesel hovered alongside, doing his best to ease her burden.
They’d moved into Diesel’s place when she got pregnant and, over the following weeks and months, transformed it from a man cave into a family home. The front bedroom became a nursery. And boxes of baby devices—stroller, crib, rocker, changing station, and more—filled the living area.
When they entered the apartment, Twenty-Seven emerged from the kitchen to greet them. “Mom, why don’t you sit here?” He motioned to an overstuffed rocker-recliner the brothers had selected for her, knowing it would become her favorite.
Instead of sitting, Lilah tucked Rose safely into Twenty-Seven’s arms, then walked past him. “I have to pee so bad I’m going to burst.”
Twenty-Seven cuddled Rose in one arm and adjusted her cap. “I’d forgotten how small she was.” Then he looked at Diesel. “C’mon Twenty-Six, it’s time to be a dad.” He motioned to the couch. “Sit.”
When Lilah returned, she found Diesel cuddling Rose in both arms and whispering to her. The baby rewarded him by starting to fuss.
Lilah knew Rose was hungry, but so was she. “Let me grab a quick snack, and then I’ll take her.”
“I have something prepared,” said Twenty-Seven. “Sit and feed your daughter. I’ll be right back.”
Rose sat in the new chair, appreciating the support and comfort it offered. Even more, she liked that her feet actually reached the floor. She took Rose from Diesel, unsnapped her nursing blouse at the shoulder, and started feeding the fussy infant.
Twenty-Seven returned with a drink and a plate. “Strawberries, cheddar cheese, and iced tea.”
“Caffeine!” Lilah had been disciplined during her pregnancy, avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and medicines the entire time. Excited to return to her bad habits, she took a long drink of tea while Rose gnawed on one of her already-sore nipples. “Are there any crackers?”
“Coming right up.” Twenty-Seven returned a second time, handing crackers to Lilah and a beer to Diesel. Sitting next to him, Twenty-Seven took a swig from his own bottle, and then announced, “Breast feeding is incredibly important.”
“We know,” said Diesel. “We read the parenting books.”
Twenty-Seven shook his head. “Not for what they say. Reason one, you get to stare at her boobs.” He paused a moment to look. “Reason two, her modest breasts
are now an impressive rack.”
Self-conscious, Lilah looked down at her chest. “They’re still nothing like Bunny’s.”
“I love your breasts,” Diesel said emphatically. “Always have, always will.”
She made eye contact with Diesel so he would hear her. “They’re as tender as can be, so it’s look but don’t touch for now.”
“Reason three.” Twenty-Seven wasn’t done. “When Rose cries at night, you can wake Lilah, then turn over and go back to sleep.”
Lilah suspected he was kidding, but in her weakened condition, she reacted. “He can bring her to me in bed, he can bring her back to her crib when she’s done feeding, he can change her diaper if she needs it.” She again locked eyes with Diesel. “This will be a team effort.”
Diesel nodded, and Lilah thought he looked frightened, or at least overwhelmed.
Rose finished nursing, then Twenty-Seven familiarized them with what would become their daily routine. He changed Rose’s diaper, explaining the process as he went. He helped them organize travel bags, dissuading them from trying to pack for every contingency. Then he finished upstairs with a walkthrough of Rose’s evening ritual.
Lilah looked at the bed and realized how tired she was. She sat on the edge of the mattress, looked at Rose asleep in her arms, then looked at the pillow. Diesel fetched the bassinet, moved it next to the bed, took Rose from her, and laid his daughter in it.
Lilah fell back and tried to say, “Thank you,” but was asleep before the words formed.
* * *
Diesel dimmed the light in the bedroom and followed Twenty-Seven downstairs.
“She needs to get in the habit of sleeping whenever Rose does,” said Twenty-Seven. “At least for the first couple of months. Things move toward a routine after that.”
Diesel picked up a beer. “Was this mine?” Shrugging, he drained it, then fetched two more and gave one to Twenty-Seven. “Her mom arrives tomorrow. Do we get along?”
Bump Time Origin Page 21
