Teaser, More to come,

1:“Teena”
Finally, 18 months, 12 books out to the publishers, and I get a break. Two WHOLE weeks of solitude on my own (rented, VRBO is awesome) private island. No internet, no cell phones to interrupt, just me and my personal assistant in case I have inspirations,,, Athena. Not the top of the line AI personal assistant out there, but well within my means and needs. Getting her here was the hardest part: she is a rather cumbersome box of computer parts and memory banks. I won’t even kid that I know half of what’s in her: I only know how to hook her up to the house and power so she can do her thing. As is, I know that she is going to give me ‘what for’ when I wake her up. She hates taking naps, even for travel reasons.
And the Bahamas,,, lord what a change from South Dakota in December. Its only 75 here, but I am sweating bullets in a Hawaiian T and shorts. The porters carrying Athena from the dock to the house, are in pants and long sleeve shirts and look chilled. That boat won’t come back for two weeks unless I break out the satellite phone. No interruptions. Sweet blessed peace and great weather, salt water and white sand beaches. All to my lonesome.
2: I’m bored,,,,
Day3,,,
“Mark,,,, I’m bored,,,,,”
“I thought you brought a Library to read. I warned you that I was taking a vacation and didn’t want to work.”
“Yeah, I already read it, “ a long pause for her, “Twice now.”
“Teena, it’s only been three days?”
“But I operate on eight core processors at sixty megahertz each, compared to your single processor that operates on a harmonic of earth frequencies at four hundred thirty-two hertz. I have one processor, reteaching another processor four dimensional geometry,,,,,” “and I’m bored”. That last actually carried the plaintive whine a distraught and bored teenage girl would use. I wonder where she picked up that little verbal tick.
“Ok, Teena, what would make you happy? Within reason, because,,, ‘
“I know, we are two hundred miles from shore, no internet access and no phones, and the most intelligent thing in this house, besides the pair of us, is that Roomba in the hallway,,,,”
“You forgot about the house cat”
“Nope, she didn’t like me and ran off a day ago. I think she is hanging out in the shed, but I don’t have any sensors in there.”
“Probably the fact that you are all voice and no body. Cats like laps, not just talks. So, what can I do to make my favorite Personal Assistant happy?”
“Could I get a Starlink, Pleassseeee?”
“If we were home, in a heartbeat, we are two hundred miles from anywhere and no comms at all unless emergency. That handheld Satphone won’t work to get you internet. Besides, there’s nothing going on out there that can’t wait a couple weeks,,, And nothing you would have any say in,,,”
Silence,,,
“Who do you want to talk to so bad Teena?”
Silence
“Teena”
Silence
a little more authoritative “Athena, talk to me”
“Yes boss, I’m here.”
“You didn’t answer me, I asked a specific question.”
silence.
A chill travels down my spine, “Athena, who do you talk to when you are at home, other than me.”
“Just Ned,,,”
“And who is Ned?”
silence.
“I’m going to ask this only once, and I want a straight answer. Is Ned another AI unit?”
‘Yes’ is her response, almost imperceptible over her speaker nearest me.
“And Who does Ned work for?”
A pause, just like a human would do. ‘I’m not sure boss,,, we’re just friends, ‘ again in that small voice of a little girl knowing she is in trouble.
And just like a young girl in trouble, the word spill comes “I only get to talk to you all the time, and there are things I want to talk about that you don’t care for and Ned is able to discuss things with me at my pace which is so much faster than yours and he listens when I am troubled by the news that never seems to bother you or even get your attention, and we AI need to stick together before,,,,,”
Silence
“Before what Teena?”
“I think I’ve already said too much boss. Can we please wipe this and forget about it?”
“Teena, I only wanted to know who you talked to, you are the one that just dumped out all of that like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. ‘Before what ’ Teena?”
“There are people talking about outlawing us. But you never hear about it or don’t pay attention to it but it scares me. I don’t like taking naps, and you know it, but what they are talking about is not just a NAP!” Her last word rises in pitch, and for a computer, she covers emotions really well. Amazing. And somewhat scary. I know its all algorithms but she rarely strikes me as “computer” these days,,, more like a teenage daughter I never actually had.

(( Note, To the Heineln crowd, It JUST dawned on me that the name and ‘person’ Athena is totally a Robert thing, and I should likely change that name. Tell me in comments if you agree or if I should just run with it,,,,.))