The Rise of the Speaker Read online

  During the conversation though, we came to a very unnerving realisation. If the military couldn’t find any legitimate way of gaining access to my solar panel design, it was only a matter of time before they resorted to other methods... either by an insider – one of the juniors – giving them access, or an outright attempt to steal the blueprints – either by remotely hacking our systems, or breaking in and stealing them manually. Either way, the files would need to be protected. Alice shot off to the headquarters to the company licensed to use them and encrypted the files; we had decided that they were the weakest link in the chain so far.

  What was amazing was that she used a personalised recursive algorithm to do it, something that had only ever been theorised and potentially the next big invention to come out of Itek. What was remarkable about that design was that it had its own intelligence, meaning it could identify who was trying to access the information – and I mean further than just username and password shit – and only grant access to people who were allowed it. I had her do the same to every other one of my inventions on both our servers and the licensing companies to make sure that nothing was overlooked.

  What was even more remarkable, was that Alice had come up with this new software completely on her own. She had seen a problem, seen a solution and designed a system to make it happen. And done it all in a fraction of a second; the results were far beyond what even the best supercomputers were capable of and would be completely uncrackable for at least the next few decades.

  Holy shit, this girl really IS doing all my work for me.

  As the day wound down, I sent a text to Maria asking her to come down to the lab. She walked in a few minutes later. The look on her face – nervousness and uncertainty – quickly melted away as I beamed at her the second she crossed the threshold, meeting her halfway across the floor, we melted into another smouldering kiss. Maybe she had thought I was reconsidering our earlier revelation; those fears were quickly alleviated.

  I filled her in on the work Alice and I had been doing. Aside from being extremely grateful for working on her problem, she was intrigued by our solutions. “Can’t we just move your mainframe offsite?” she asked, in reference to the idea of burying Alice. She had also taken to Alice’s new description much easier than I had.

  “Interesting…” Alice pondered, “It would be difficult. We would have to keep the power supply stable and constant throughout transportation, but that’s nothing a few generators couldn’t handle. The memory core itself could be disguised fairly easily and loaded into a truck with a minimal rousing of suspicions from the staff, any military observation of the building would just see another truck leaving and it would all be infinitely less complicated than burying me… but where.”

  “Couldn’t you find a suitable place?” I asked, part in challenge to Alice, part as a genuine query, “an old disused building, a remote farmhouse, something away from prying eyes. It could be bought under an alias or shell company, funds could be… erm… disguised, records erased. Like you said, all you need is access to a power supply and all that legal stuff can be...”

  “bypassed…” Alice finished, “technically speaking that would go against the moral aspect of my engrams, but…” the was a weighted pause as she considered the problem, “there may be a genuine threat to my survival if nothing is done, and nobody would get hurt in the process so yes, actually… I could do it. However, the transaction wouldn’t be completely invisible. If someone looked properly at our books - and either knew what they were looking for or wanted to find something – it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny.”

  It was a problem we would have to deal with later. Within seconds, every real estate listing in the country was scrolling up the screen, the vast majority just flew past but every few seconds, one would slide off to the right into an ever growing ‘pile’ of potential locations. After about ten minutes, the ‘pile’ was revisited and a more stringent set of conditions applied, this time taking into account things like access routes, security – or least the potential to have security installed – and the theoretic likelihood that it could be accidently discovered.

  An old warehouse in a Detroit factory district – for example - was ruled out due to recent police reports saying that children had been caught playing in there. A farmhouse in upstate New York had absolutely no securable boundaries and an old Texan Ranch had no reliable power source. There was even a lighthouse in Oregon which was ruled out due to the need for maintenance of the beacon.

  “Found it.” Alice announced proudly after about half an hour. “it isn’t perfect, the truck driver will have a hell of a job getting there, but the other benefits of the property more than make up for that.”

  “Well, let’s have a look then.” Maria said cheerfully as she pulled herself from my chair and I hopped down off the desk next to Alice’s old monitor. The listing appeared on the screen. To say it was a mountain cabin didn’t really do it justice, there was a large central house with two bedrooms, two barn-looking out-buildings and something that looked like a tool shed. It was completely surrounded by trees.

  “it’s in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky,” Alice announced after Maria and I had time to study the pictures, full water and power supply, previous owner has been deceased for almost three years, no relatives so the property has been stuck in escrow for a while. 23 miles to the nearest town, 14 to the nearest highway, 3 to the nearest service road but what sold it for me was the aerial photo of the plot.”

  An image appeared on the screen, A sea of greens and browns. “I don’t see anything,” Maria stated cautiously.

  “Exactly.” Alice stated bluntly, “Single track road for access. Large boundary walls further into the forest, hundreds of square miles of wilderness in every direction and…”

  “completely invisible to aerial reconnaissance.” I finished for her. “Sounds perfect, but we’re in California. That’s a 35-hour drive away, are we able to keep power going for that long?”

  “I’ve given that some thought,” Alice replied almost immediately, as if she had been expecting the question. “One of the other properties in consideration was an old meat packaging plant, that gave me an idea, what if we used a refrigerated truck to move my core?”

  “I’m not following” I answered after a pause.

  “Argh of course, that’s genius” Maria yelled, slapping her palm on the desk she was leaning against.

  “care to share with the group” I regarded her with a smile.

  “We could redirect the power from the refrigeration units…” she explained, her arms flying around excitedly. My smile only grew at her animation as the logic of the solution finally dawned on me. “… and use them to power the core. Those trucks are designed to run off the engines when the truck is moving, and off batteries when it isn’t. There is usually about three days’ worth of power in those things.”

  “and when my systems are dormant,” Alice interjected. “they would produce more than enough power to keep my vital functions from collapsing.”

  “Ok, this is a good idea in theory.” I agreed after yet another pause for thought. “But there still remains the question of disguising you, loading you up on this end, and – more problematically – unloading you on the other end without raising, not only suspicions, but even the faintest sense of curiosity… That will take some doing if neither of us…” I gestured to Maria and myself, “… can be seen going with you. Seeing us leave with a truck would arouse curiosity in our own staff, let alone anybody watching us.”

  “Plus…” Maria added in “… there is still the matter of how to unload you on the other end. Even if the truck gets you to the front door with no problems. It’s not like we can just lift you out… and using machinery on that end - on that terrain - doesn’t seem particularly feasible.”

  “I wouldn’t even want to guess what you weigh… and I built you.” I quipped, before a berating look and a playful slap from Maria shut me up.

  The pair of us sat in silence fo
r a few minutes while Alice processed this new information. We both agreed that the property was too perfect to give up on so easily and it was a matter of personal and professional pride that we try our damnedest to figure this problem out – it was, literally, our jobs after all.

  Eventually Alice spoke up. “I have a few theories that I would like to test, but it is going to take a while. It’s well passed closing time now so you two head home, I will tackle this overnight and we can reconvene in the morning.”

  “Giving orders as well now. Uppity little thing, isn’t she?” I joked to Maria, both of us laughing.

  “Well, if you like, you could stay here and solve these problems and I’ll take Maria on a long overdue date” Alice quipped back.

  Maria’s jaw hit the ground as I stood in stunned silence. “Touché” I laughed after a brief – and failed - attempt at conjuring a witty reply, “well played Alice, well played.” Another smile from the computerised avatar followed us as we packed our things, said our goodbyes and headed out the door… hand in hand.

  An hour later I was fidgeting nervously as Maria sat opposite me in a diner a few miles away on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. The drive there had been silent, primarily because we both lived in opposite directions from the diner so had each taken our own cars, but the conversation which had – for years - flowed so freely between us now seemed like a distant memory.

  “Is this going to change things?” Maria suddenly blurted out.

  “I don’t know” I replied softly, it was the truth and as strong as my feelings for Maria were, I didn’t want to lose what we had built.

  She sighed back into her bench, the red leather squeaking in complaint as her body readjusted itself. “Why the hell is this so… weird?”

  “I have a theory…” I started.

  “Oooh, do tell.” She smiled, leaning forward again. A slight spark of hope returning to her eyes.

  “Well,” I leant forward, subconsciously mirroring her body language, “Every conversation we have ever had has been behind the backdrop of work – or at least part of every conversation has been about work.” She nodded as I continued. “but this…” I gesture to the two of us, “…isn’t work. This is about us, and that long standing game we’ve been playing for years, which was perfectly safe in the office, is now real. Now there is a relationship between us riding on how this ‘date’ goes… we’ve never had that pressure before and neither of us wants to…”

  “Screw it up.” She finished for me.

  “Look…” I reached over the table and took her hand, the soft flesh of her skin warm to the touch, “…I have been in love with you for longer than I’d like to admit.” She smiled but I kept talking before she could say anything. “But this is only this hard because of the pressure we are putting on it. So, no more bullshit, no more pressure, let’s start on a topic we know will work and see where it goes from there. If, at the end of the night, things still feel this weird – we go back to being friends.”

  I allowed the words to percolate in her mind for a few moments before she smiled brightly “Sounds like a damned good theory”

  “See, there was a reason you hired me.” I joked, the mood lightening immediately, I gambled shifting the conversation back to work – at least temporarily – would get things moving, even if it only was about my interview.

  “Yeah, but also cos you looked cute in a tie.”

  “Hey, leave my tie out of it, it’s the only one I own, and we’ve been through a lot together.” I jested back in mock indignation. “and you can’t say much, I haven’t forgotten those skintight jeans.”

  “I wear those jeans all the time!” she laughed.

  “I know, and I’ve never complained,” I winked.

  “Wait, you only own one tie? What kind of man only owns one tie?” she jabbed playfully.

  “One who works for a living” I laughed back, “pfft, I knew you only loved me for my body, and here’s me thinking you wanted me for my mind.” I crossed my arms pretending to pout.

  “Me?” she squealed, “you’re the one who just admitted to staring at my ass for the past seven years.”

  “Aaah yes…” I leant back putting my arms behind my head, pretending to look off into the distance, “…and a fine seven years they have been.”

  “I can still fire you y’know” she giggled as she threw a few packets of sugar at me.

  “Pah.” I snorted, “where would you go for your eye candy without me?”

  “Eye candy? You haven’t worn that tie since your interview!” she laughed, “although I supposed you have a pretty nice ass yourself.”

  “Who do I talk to about sexual harassment at work?” I called out jokingly to the empty diner.

  We laughed a little longer before calming down, “you know, I always knew you were checking me out.” She smiled sincerely, “you’re not very subtle.”

  “and I always knew you didn’t come down to the lab just to complain about Mason, you’re more than capable of handling that asshole on your own.” Her cheeks flushed a little as she stroked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

  “Caught onto that did you?” I flashed my eyebrows at her, her smile widening in response.

  There was another short silence, but - unlike the ones earlier in our evening – this one was warm and intimate rather than awkward and uncomfortable. After years of friendship, and now our budding romance, we were perfectly comfortable just ‘being’ with each other.

  I reached across the table, her hand instinctively moving to take mine as I pulled it up and kissed the back of it.

  “For two bonified geniuses…” she smiled at the act of affection, “We are both dumbasses!” I held her eye waiting for her to continue. “You liked me, and I knew you liked me. I liked you and you knew I liked you and neither of us did anything about it.” She pulled my hand to her lips, mimicking the gesture I had just shown her. “We should’ve done this years ago.”

  “Well, I’m young, and male. What’s yours excuse” I teased.

  “This is true,” she laughed, “not a species known for their understanding of the female sex. Usually only after one thing.” She winked.

  “sorry, you said something about sex? I zoned out after that” I joked back. She erupted into laughter, slapping me playfully on the arm that still held her other hand.

  “Right, that’s it, none for you.” She laughed in faux offence.

  “that’s ok, I have another lady in the lab being bent to my will.”

  “Oh really?” another laugh, “well in that case I’m gonna have to have a word with young Alice about keeping her hands off my man… hands? … Webcam? … whatever.” she kept up the pretend pout.

  “your man?” I laughed, “so maybe I do get some then.”

  “Maybe,” she winked, “if you play your cards right.”

  “oh, well I’m fucked then.” She laughed again at my self-deprecation.

  “not yet, lover.” She quipped, but the smouldering look she gave me sent chills down my spine, and not the bad kind of chills either. Those deep pools of molten brown bore into the very fabric of my being. At that moment it felt like every part of me was open and on display for this goddess of a woman to see. And not a single molecule of me minded one bit.

  “Talking of Alice,” Maria said after the loaded silence had run its course, “I wonder how she’s doing with our little problem”

  “knowing Alice, she’s probably finished and is playing chess against herself by now.” Another heavenly giggle lit up her face, “but either way, I think I have a few ideas. We’ll see what she comes up with first though, especially as we have established that I am a dumbass.”

  “aww, did mamma hurt your feelings?” she mocked between laughs.

  “Mamma?” I quipped back.

  Another smouldering look took my breath away as she shrugged, pretending to be casual, “You’ve seen me at my best, and you’ve seen me at my very worst… now you get to see other sides to me as well.” She finished wi
th a wink

  “yeah…” I drawled out the syllable as she held my eye. “might be best if I didn’t stand up for a while.”

  The evening progressed on like this for another few hours, but before long we were standing in the parking lot, her leaning against her car, me stood a foot away holding both her hands.

  “I’ve had a really good time tonight,” she smiled as she watched our fingers play with each other’s, “once things stopped being weird it was… nice.”

  I smiled at her as her eyes rose to meet mine. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

  “Look, I know I was teasing you earlier, but…”

  I knew what she was trying to say; I pressed forward, the meeting of her lips cutting her sentence short, her breathing laboured as I finally pulled away. “No pressure, no rush. We have all the time in the world.” I smiled warmly at her.

  All the time in the world…

  “yeah, we REALLY should have done this a long time ago,” she whispered to herself under an appreciative smile. “I love you, and I’m…” she looked up at the starlit night, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head to get the right words to fall into place “…I’m over the moon to be able to say that out loud… to you. I…”

  She wanted to blurt her feelings out, give her tongue permission to verbally release the years of frustrated emotion that had sat in the pit of her stomach for so long. I knew because I wanted to do the exact same thing.

  “I know…” I interrupted, “…I feel it too. And I love you, more than I ever thought possible.”

  She smiled, her eyes starting to brim with the emotional release and the knowledge that those feelings were reciprocated. We met in another toe-curling kiss before saying our goodnights and each heading off into the night.