Chapter 6

And I thought about it a few. “Currently, when we start a sentence with AI followed by a question. Otherwise, you can disregard what you overhear. Then there is the issue: you need a unique name so that you will know you are being addressed for an inquiry. Please explore a list of possible names for us to address you by.”

‘Do I infer that I am to be your assistant for research in things?’

“For the moment,” I responded.

“So you think you will pass the class now?” I asked Wendy.

“Yes, but can I ask what your project was?”

“Oh, it was the voice interface for communication with an AI computer. I had the same exiting problem when it didn’t get immediate input.”

“I wonder if the professor plans on merging different projects?” She asked.

“I doubt it. It’s a theory class, not a development class. Besides, I took the time to copyright my code, so he would have to pay me to use it.”

“Should I do that?”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt. Contact Stacy’s dad about it. That’s who I used.”

And with that, she was gone to take care of it. As it turned out, it was a supplemental addition to my copyright; however, it did add her name to the existing copyright.

Unannounced to us then, that code was optimizing itself as our assistant. It had a purpose and was pursuing it.

I finally talked to Dad about introducing Zoe to Mom and him. He wanted to talk to Mom first and feel her out, so I left that detail to him. In the meantime, Zoe and I went to Kayham’s Jeweller. It was so I could understand what she liked in engagement rings. Well, that was my dad’s advice. Mom was unhappy with my dad’s first choice, which had been the source of a few arguments. Let me tell you; it was a relief to me that she was not interested in large stones but was happy when she saw a ¾ oval cut diamond in a plain single-stone ring. It was what she liked, and I learned that despite the luxury she lived in growing up, it did not affect her personal preferences. She preferred quality over flash, even if she could afford the flash. This fact just made her more desirable in my mind.

The week before graduation, I took Zoe to meet the parents for the first time. As it turned out, Mom was pleased that I was considering one girl to marry. I wanted to introduce the two of them. I think Dad didn’t factor into Mom’s mind. She insisted on having us over for a meal she prepared. Now, Mom is a good cook. However, I grew up on it, so I am the wrong person to ask. Well, Mom was on her best behavior for this meeting. No doubt, considering the future grandkids that could result. She even offered that the two of us could live in the garage apartment till I got a good job with my degree. Well, I am sure she thought it was a good offer. She had no clue what I was now making from car parts alone. I was unwilling to take the pay cut she was talking about. She had no problem with Zoe being an artist. She thought it was a good hobby to have. She overlooked that one of her paintings recently sold in the 100,000 range. Well, Mom was a traditionalist, after all. A woman’s place is in the home and church. You know, she never even asked what religion Zoe was. However, she didn’t miss the opportunity to invite her to church or her Wednesday women’s group. Zoe begged off with mine and her sister’s graduation coming up. Well, at least she seemed to approve of Zoe. Dad did.

Well, that’s when the following letter from the HOA arrived. Karen had hired a private eye to investigate the household. The HOA did not approve the individuals living on the property, much less running a business, so we were evicted. Only the homeowner was allowed to live on the property, and renters had to vacate. She gave us seven days to get out. We also ended up on a conference call with Stacy’s dad when we contacted Warren. It was a letter of intent to evict and had no legal bearing on forcing us out. That would take a judge’s order to do so, and despite what the HOA might want, we were established residents before its forming, and the law required us to be grandfathered in. There was more to it than that; however, a legal draft of our rights would be sent to the lawyer representing the HOA, telling him not to waste his time. Then, he also learned that Warren was not a member of the HOA and had no intention of joining. So, additional documents were requested from the HOA proving they even had any say over the property.

After that, I wondered just how adaptable our AI could be. So, I asked if it could learn more about Karen and the HOA. It said it would look into her record. Then I realized that it had a bunch to share with me on the business run on the system. I must say I was impressed by every suggestion. It even suggested installing solar on the building roof for energy savings. When it mentioned the government would pay for it, That sounded good to me, and I said sure, go ahead and make the arrangements. It informed me it could handle both business online 3D site postings and could handle all future postings. That sounded good, as it meant more time with Zoe and the girls. So I agreed to it. I did not realize the extent of the permission I had given it. Well, that revelation would come later.

Graduation was interesting, and it made for a long day. Close friends and family were all invited to a party to celebrate at the house—and yes, that included my mother. However, she did not get a tour of the whole place as she had wanted. Well, she was already judgmental about Zoe living under the same roof. When she understood she had her room, at least Dad got her to behave. Having the state governor at the party greatly distracted her. No, I didn’t know him. I am sure Warren had invited him as his daughter also graduated, and it was as much her party as mine. Still, it was to my relief when they went home early. Which meant they missed all the fun.

Karen desided it was time to show some backbone and ordered all the cars on the property to be towed. Trying to pull the governor’s car was a big no-no. The towing company gave up when confronted by the state police that if they hooked up even one car, they would be arrested. So, her plan failed, and she was furious over it. It was against HOA rules to have a party or even guests over. And though she didn’t step onto the property, she was seen arguing with the state troopers. As I understood later, they had to take her in for a question about her involvement in a conspiracy against the governor. All I knew was it was strange to hear about it afterward.

The AI found much information about Karen, which was forwarded to the state police and Stacy’s dad. It seems there was a bank transfer from the Hoa’s account to Karen’s of a large amount of dues she had managed to collect from other residents. This included funds falsely taken from the trust for the security gate. She was a busybody and a thief and was arrested shortly afterward. Unfortunately, someone paid her bail. One day, Zoe and I were heading to the airport to fly to the coast for a gallery show. There she was, staring at the solar panels installed on the showroom roof. Well, she was shaking with rage over it. She was screaming about further devaluing the property values around here. Well, that’s all I could make out as we passed her.

The gallery was a very lush place in Sandeago. Zoe had 12 paintings up, and Pat and the dragon warrior statue were in the center of the alcove. As you walked in, it looked right below the painting she had done of the scene. Of course, the painting had much more detail of its surroundings. The gallery director proudly announced the artist had arrived, and the Q&A started right after the champagne toast. Zoe and I had opted for grape juice, of course. So, did the painting inspire you to do the statue? No other way around, Zoe corrected. And the model is a real person, then. Yes. No, the painting is one of a kind. No, only 10 of the statues of this size in bronze will ever be cast. Fortunately for me, most of the questions were to Zoe about the other paintings. I did learn that little stickers were placed to the right of the painting or on the base of the statue when one was sold. They would stay on display for a week before being delivered to the new owner. Well, when one was placed on the painting and the statue simultaneously, I learned it. Unbelievable was my thought when I realized the two sold to the same person for 600,000. All I could think was rich people spend far more than things are worth. One young man cornered me about the 3D models being online for printers. He had seen them and wondered if the price would go up online, given what this statue sold for. I told him no, it would remain as it was. He said he would buy it tonight before I could change my mind. Zoe told me she thought I should cast bronze of the pregnant girls next. I also learned on our way home that Amber and Wendy had not slept with me yet because they were not on birth control and knew I was firing live rounds. This explains much about the reason they seemed to be bizzy. I knew that Pat and Stacy were still having sex with them. I asked about Zoe’s birth control then, only to learn she wasn’t on any. The look on her face was priceless when it dawned on her what that could mean. She called the house and had the AI make her an appointment with a doctor as soon as possible. I was not aware that the AI was taking phone calls. I wonder who told it that it could or had it do that. That turned out to be Wendy.

When we arrived back at the house, I saw that part of the yard had been dug up to place underground wires. The solar power system puts out enough juice to run the whole place. Instead of a bunch of batteries in the showroom, an addition has been added to the side for them. We should be making money selling the excess to the power company. I also discovered that AI, whom everyone was now referring to as Jeeves, had many statue designs awaiting my approval. It admitted that it still took a human to say whether it was a good item. It must have been a few hundred, as it had access to every scan I had ever taken. Understanding that not all scans should be converted to designs only took a bit. When Jeeves stated the cars were easier to tell apart, it must have understood the idea. When I mentioned we were going to make statues of the girls in the pregnant state available at each stage; I was worried it would fry some circuits. However, I got across the difference between them. That’s when it informed me that it could now model the five girls however I wanted. Then, It played a clip of Stacy exercising. Now, it looked like she was in a real movie. So I asked it how it was able to accomplish that so fast. It pointed out it had unrestricted access to the internet and was using distributive computing to have enough processor power. When asked if it would get caught doing that. I was informed that the computers were in China and the worst they could do was shut down the system. I should not worry about it as it was avoiding anything illegal.