“What are you watching?”
“Nothing yet.It’s the way the watch starts up when you turn it on.”
“It sounds like the score from a movie or something.”
“It’s Julien Bonds’ theme music.”
“I had no idea.”It probably shouldn’t surprise her, but it did.
She extended Nathan’s cup to him, and he accepted with a smile.
“I found the cream in the fridge,” she said.
“I suspected you were resourceful enough to do that.”
The words “Good morning, Nathan!” blasted from the watch as the theme music faded.
She watched, stunned, as a small image of Julien Bonds floated above the screen.“Hologram?”
Nathan nodded and sipped.
“Is it real time?I mean, are you interacting with it?”
“No.You might as well enjoy it.There’s no way to make him shut up once he starts.”
“Your software update is complete.Do I look better?Sound better?Tell the watch what you think about the new voice synthesizer.It will relay it to me.Don’t worry about hurting my feelings.I want to be perfect more than I want you to stroke my ego.”
“I wonder about that,” Nathan said.
“You may want to amp up the workout a bit today, Nathan.”Bonds flexed his arm.“It doesn’t appear you walked your suggested ten thousand steps yesterday.”
Nathan pulled her into his lap and she had to readjust quickly to avoid spilling her coffee.
“And we’re unsure whether or not you got enough sleep.”
“Who’s we?”she asked.“Does he mean the royal we?”
“It could mean his engineers or the program.Or you could be right.It might be the royal we.”
“As a reminder, for this to be as effective as we want, please wear your watch in the evenings, even when you sleep.In fact…you took it off around eight-thirty last night.Were you doing something you don’t want us knowing about?At any rate, as for business… Press reports for Donovan Logistics have been mostly complimentary.I’ve attached all relevant search results from the past twenty-four hours to an email and they’re flagged in suggested-read order.I’ve included a rumor from an online source that states OneTech is being acquired.They quoted an anonymous source.And Donovan Worldwide was not named in the piece.Be sure to eat right today.Pizza is not a sustainable choice.At least order a vegetarian one.”The image gave a little wave before vanishing.Then screen went blank.
“Impressive and intrusive,” she said.
“Isn’t that the conundrum?It’s so fucking useful, though, that I leave it on most of the time.His search filters are beyond anything we’ve seen so far, as if he’s applied artificial intelligence to it.The news updates are cross-referenced.Info on all of our companies and those we’re interested in, as well as relevant market updates, show up twice a day, generally around noon after the European workday is done and then again at the end of business in Houston.I didn’t access it last night, so it was waiting for me this morning.”
Her phone chimed, and she scooped it out of her pocket.
“More intrusive technology?”he asked.
“The worst.”She swiped the screen to silence the reminder.“This is an alarm that tells me to get moving so I’m not late to work.I don’t want to piss off my new boss.”
“See that you don’t.”
She scooted off his lap and he snagged her wrist to prevent her from escaping.Before she knew what was happening, he’d plucked her coffee from her, slid it on the desk then turned her over his knee.
Kelsey yelped as she put down her hands to prevent herself from falling.
He exposed her rear, and before she was ready, he brought his hand down on her buttocks, setting her skin on fire.
