She doesn’t look like she knows we’re watching.
Or I’m a pretentious asshole, and she doesn’t give a fuck about us seeing her in loungewear.
“Hell yeah,I made that clear to that asshole. Wanted to make sure he knows not to pull any shady or gross shit while I have to listen in,” Grey adds with a grimace. “Speaking of, can you see him?”
Oliver types some more, then shakes his head, “No, he’s not there. She also has some sort of advanced motion detection that thermal maps the apartment. She’s the only one in there.”
“Why does she have all that?” I wonder aloud. Some sort of security system? Sheisa woman living alone, after all.
“Is this part of some new smart home device we haven’t heard of?” Grey frowns.
“I don’t know,” Oliver admits. “But I could?—”
Voices filter through the speakers, cutting him off.
“Shut up, guys. I want to hear what they’re saying,” Grey cuts in.
Jamie’s voice fills the room again, louder this time since Oliver ups the volume. “It’s nice to meet you, Amelia. Do you prefer Amelia or Amelia Charlotte?”
I turn to look over at Oliver, who whispers to himself, “Charlotte.”
Amelia snaps, “How do you know my middle name?”
Well, that’s a sore spot, it seems.
“Wouldn’t call her that, buddy,” I mutter to Oliver, amused by how wide his eyes just got.
Jamie continues, “I scanned all the information available in your systems, including your birth certificate, to ensure I can serve you effectively.”
Grey cringes as he types some notes. “We need to word that better.”
Jamie rattles off Amelia’s biography like a Wikipedia entry, and it’s fucking impressive.
“Fuck, your girl is smart, Ollie. What the hell is she doing as a system integration specialist? She could have her own damn department for AR or VR.”
We have similar educational backgrounds, with Oliver holding a PhD in artificial intelligence, Grey in cybersecurity, and mine in human-computer interaction. We each chose our fields, knowing precisely what was needed to make this future project work.
And Elysium gave us idiots our own department to lead, so why not her?
Oliver frowns. “This all just doesn’t make sense. Most of all, whyshe’s the one beta testing.”
“Don’t act like idiots,” Grey interjects. “You just heard it. She’s working under Langley, and I bet he just pushed it onto her since he didn’t want to. I already guessed that he was not into testing when we told him about it, and he didn’t really pay attention.”
“But he should have known we’d figure it out. Again, wetoldhim we’d be listening in,” Oliver points out, his frown deepening.
Amelia’s voice cuts through, sharp and clear. “Jamie, no, just stop.”
“Fuck, he’s running off too fast,” I note. “Guess we need to make the initializing process longer. Jamie’s perfect with us since he knows our preferences, but we have to hold him back until he has more information to act on, or it will overwhelm people.”
Now Jamie adopts a British accent, and pub sounds start playing in the background.
Oliver puts a hand over his face, groaning. “Holy shit.”
Grey nods. “Given her face, it does seem to overwhelm her for sure. Damn, maybe she’s not made for this. She looks fucking helpless. What do we do?”
Oliver’s already typing away. “Maybe I can…”
Amelia, unaware, cuts him off, commanding, “Stop all activity, pause, and listen.”
