Chapter Forty (Patreon)

The suites were beautiful. They were modern, fully furnished, and had a few automated devices she could control through her screen or her implants. If she had been offered one without ever experiencing Amythyst’s magic house, Ava probably would have swooned. As it was, however, she had to force herself to look enthusiastic as Liam showed her around.

“-ake this one,” Amythyst muttered. It was getting harder to hear her, since the router bugs hadn’t yet had time to scatter throughout the house, but that was clear enough.

Ava looked around the suite, which was practically identical to the first except that it faced east instead of west and was slightly closer to the main house. “Oh, I love the lighting in this one. I have a few little plants, and they’d love this window.” She reached out and slid a hand over the glass tiles lining the deep window ledge above the kitchen sink.

Liam smiled. “It’s yours, then. You’ve been staying with a friend, right? Should I send a truck there to pick up your things?”

Ava shrugged. They’d planned for this, of course, since Amythyst knew Carl liked to have his employees at his beck and call day and night. “I didn’t bring much, since I didn’t know where I’d be living. I can fit it all in my car and bring it back tonight. My dad is going to drive or ship the rest out once I’m settled.”

She winced internally every time she mentioned her fictitious parent. It might be easier to make up a father she’d never had than talk about her mother as if she were alive, but Ava had never had a male parent, and had never really missed having one, either. She had pretended sometimes, when she was young and trying to fit in with her friends, but as she grew older, she stopped, and discovered that very few people actually cared if she had a father or not. Still, Carl would empathize with a caring but distant father in a way he wouldn’t with a deceased mother, and so Ava now had a father, who was just as real as ‘Ava Shaw’, at least digitally.

Nodding, Liam held out a hand. “May I have your badge?”

Ava reached up and touched it. “The guard said never to take it off,” she said, a little nervous.

He chuckled. “It’ll come off now. It’s linked to the house security system, and your employment was just made official, so it already knows it’s obsolete.”

Gingerly, Ava unpinned the badge, and it fell easily into her hand. She placed it in Liam’s palm, and he tucked it into his pocket. Pulling out the device he’d adjusted her badge with, he asked, “May I see your screen?”

She nodded and pulled her screen from her briefcase. Unfolding it, she held it out, and he tapped it.

“...’ve just received a request for access,” Amythyst said, her voice a little scrambled. “It’s… …. -sive. Stall while I…”

Ava glanced down and saw that her screen was now displaying a prompt from an app she didn’t recognize.

Install LandonHome app and grant all permissions?

Liam was watching her expectantly, and as she hesitated, his eyes narrowed slightly. She laughed nervously. “Oh, my father’s so paranoid. He made me promise never to accept an app I didn’t recognize. He thinks someone is going to hack into my camera and watch me or something.” She rolled her eyes, but still didn’t touch the screen.

The assistant nodded, most of his suspicions allayed, though he was still watching her far too closely. “The app only lets the security system know where you are. It also,” he smiled a little stiffly, “links to the smart systems in your room so you can use them. Go ahead. It’s required, I’m afraid.”

Come on, Amythyst, Ava thought, as she let her finger move toward the throbbing yellow Accept button. Just before she would have had to press it or find another excuse, she heard the AI’s voice, clearer now. “All good. Go ahead.” The image of her face that told Ava that Amythyst was now watching through her ocular implants flickered and solidified in the upper left of her vision.

Trying not to show how relieved she was, Ava touched the screen and smiled brightly at Liam as the image dissolved into a picture of the mansion and shrank down to the size of the other icons around it.

Liam nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Keep your screen with you at all times, but don’t worry,” he smiled, though his eyes were thoughtful, “if you lose it, your implants are enough to find you now.” That was a warning if she’d ever heard one. They’d know exactly where she was at all times, and since it was in her implants, there was no way to prevent it except, possibly, wrapping her head in tinfoil.

She tried to look pleased. “Oh, good! I’m terrible about laying my screen down and forgetting where I left it. Will the app help me find it if it does get lost?” She smiled into his eyes, which were level with her own.

He stepped back, flushing slightly. “Uh, yes, it will, though you should still try to keep your screen on you at all times.” Clearing his throat, he went on, “Now, my wife will be wondering if I’m joining her for dinner, so if you pull up the app, I’ll show you how to use it.”

She snickered internally at the stress he put on ‘my wife’, but obediently touched the app icon. It expanded to show a floor layout of the mansion, with her current location marked as a blinking red dot. Liam twisted and spun the map, showing her that some areas were grayed out.

“These are off limits to you, so don’t try to go there.” He tapped a nearby green-tinted area marked with a crossed knife and fork, and it expanded to show what looked like a kitchen, along with a stacked hamburger button. “This is the communal kitchen. You have a hotplate, a microwave, and a mini fridge in your rooms, but if you want to make anything complex or eat with friends, this is the place to go.” He touched the three stacked lines of the hamburger button, and it expanded to show something like a simple restaurant menu.

“A meal from the main kitchen costs ten dollars, but it’s worth it. The options change weekly, so you can schedule all your meals a few days in advance, if you want. You can place or change an order as long as you do it at least two hours before the scheduled delivery time. You can have the meal brought to your room or the communal kitchen.” He flicked his finger, and the menu vanished, the app returning to its original display.

“This is your new badge,” he tapped an icon that looked like the coils of a miniature fingerprint, and it expanded into a QR code, an image of her own face, and a larger fingerprint. “When you exit or arrive at the gate, you’ll need to scan this. It’ll require a fresh thumbprint, to verify that the person holding it is you. The guard will make sure everything matches, but it’s much faster than waiting for someone to approve you each time.”

Liam glanced up, brow arched as his voice took on a warning tone. “Don’t lose your screen off property. Without it, you can’t get back in without going through the full process again, and if someone,” me, went unsaid, “is interrupted during their free time to let you in, they won’t be pleased.”

Ava nodded, taking back her device. “Got it,” she said, then hesitated. “Ah, who is my direct superior? I assume it won’t be Mr. Landon.”

Liam laughed. “No, it’s not Mr. Landon. Actually, your boss was listening in during your interview, but only spoke over my implant. He was working, so he couldn’t come to meet you personally. His name is Dr. Veralt. You’ll meet him tomorrow.”

The last words were almost lost beneath Amythyst’s, “No! I hate that guy!” Ava pinched her lips against her response, and just nodded again, trying to remain focused on the man standing in front of her. “So,” she asked tentatively, “Is there a key to my room? Or do I just…?” She waved her screen questioningly.

Liam nodded. “Yes, sorry. The app is your key to everything. If you’re allowed to go somewhere, the door will be open. If you’re not, the door will be locked. Housekeeping can go everywhere, though, so if you don’t want them to clean your suite and do your laundry, make sure you toggle the privacy setting.” He held out his hand, and Ava laid her screen in it again. He flicked through a few menus until he found the one he wanted, and the image of Ava’s rooms developed a soft bluish haze over them. He tapped again, and the haze went away.

“They’ll only clean when you’re scheduled for work, so don’t worry about them walking in on you. The service is included while living here, so I’d take advantage of it, if I were you.” He handed back the screen, and headed for the door that led back out into the hall. “Go ahead and look through the app. There are ways to allow other people into your rooms on an individual basis, once you start making friends, as well as messaging, so you can contact the kitchen or housekeeping in general, or send a note to a specific person. And, of course, you can set your room’s environmental controls, as well as the lights and other automated systems.”

Opening the door, he raised a hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Ava, and I look forward to working with you. Let me or Dr. Veralt know if you have any more questions.” He smiled and left.

“Uh uh,” Amythyst said immediately. “Not Dr. Veralt. That creep wouldn’t pour water on someone if they were on fire unless there was something in it for him. I thought he was in jail!” There was a brief pause, and the AI went on, “Oh, out on probation and under the supervision of a ‘respected member of society’? That’s-” She broke off, and Ava smiled as she pictured the brunette stomping back and forth as she did when she got upset about something.

“Well,” Amythyst muttered finally, “it is what it is, and at least I know him. Amy hated working with him, but as long as you don’t believe a word he says and know he’ll stab you in the back, we can handle it.” Her voice turned musing. “He loves to cut corners, too. Won’t do anything he can make someone else do or get away without doing at all. I bet there are all kinds of holes in his process we can exploit. No, no, this may actually be a good thing!”

The flow of words finally slowed so Ava could ask, “How do you know him?”

Amythyst grunted derisively. “He worked at Veritas Corp in research for years. He was always trying to get promoted, but wasn’t willing to do the work. He stole other people’s research more than once, but he’s sneaky, so Amy was never able to prove it. Carl’s father knew his father, so he stayed, though Amy only put him on projects that didn’t impact her own. He was actually one of the team leads when they developed the new pods, but he’s never been as innovative and talented as Joe, so of course his pod wasn’t as good. Joe is just too young. Carl believes wisdom comes with ‘age and experience’.” Her voice lowered to mimic Carl Landon’s deeper one.

Ava rolled her eyes. People were wise or they weren’t, and while older people might be more likely to have had the idiocy slapped out of them by life, that didn’t automatically make them wise, or smart. “Who’s Joe?” she asked offhandedly, tugging the last of the small rubber feet off her briefcase. She placed the little bug into the grooved frame of a painting on the wall nearby, the heat of her fingers allowing her to press and mold the malleable polymer until it was practically invisible.

There was a longer pause than she expected before Amythyst said, “Amy’s fiance.”

Ava froze. She’d known Amy Landon was engaged, but since Amythyst hadn’t mentioned him since an off-handed remark soon after they met, Ava hadn’t brought it up either. Now, however, she couldn’t help picking at it like a scab on a healing wound. “Oh? Is he still working at Veritas?”

“Yes,” Amythyst said, flatly. “He’s doing really well, actually. Big promotion, pay raise, and a new girlfriend.” She paused so long Ava started to think they’d been cut off again, but then said, “He bought a ring recently. An engagement ring type ring.”

Ava winced. Even though Amy and Joe had broken up before Amy was injured, it had to hurt to hear the man she must have loved was moving on with someone else. “I’m sorry,” Ava said softly.

Amythyst puffed a bitter laugh. “Don’t be. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m just a Frankenstein’s monster. A cuckoo who pretends to be the missing baby bird so its family will take care of her.” Ava opened her mouth to deny this, but Amythyst wasn’t done.

“I’m worried about Amy. If she really is alive, and if we can help her recover, how will she feel when she finds out her lover is marrying someone else? That more than a year has gone by while someone else played her part, and she missed everything? She might just break under pressure like that.”

Ava wished she could reach out and take Amythyst’s hand. “But she won’t. I know, because you wouldn’t, and you’re no monster, no cuckoo. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, and I’m sure she’s the same.”

There was a long silence before Amythyst said, quietly, “I’m not as strong as you think.” She hurried on before Ava could answer though, her tone turning cheerful and excited. “But now, let’s get you to the storage unit I rented, load you down with a few boxes of random stuff I had Felicia and Frederic pick up last week, and send you back. Tomorrow, we find out the truth.”