Chapter 55: Are You Alive?

HENRY AND GERMAINE arrived in San Diego Saturday afternoon. While Germaine took care of picking up their car, Henry checked the weather. It was only mid-May, but the temperature was predicted to reach ninety over the weekend. He was seriously considering changing his entire mode of dress. He’d been a rebel in college and refused to dress in the ultra-casual and sometimes even ragged mode of most computer geeks. He always wore a jacket and tie to work.

He’d think about that later. He saw Germaine pull up with the car and went to join them. They drove to a hotel near the address of the church and checked in. Henry decided to have a swim before dinner. Germaine declined to join him, but he saw they were near the pool and alert anyway. He felt guilty that this person he depended on so much was always on duty. People weren’t meant to be alert 24/7. That was a major difference between people and computers. People needed rest.

Germaine sat with him at dinner, but was quiet unless spoken to. He spent his time flipping through the security report on his tablet. Chastity had told him he’d had it in his inbox for almost two weeks and he hadn’t even noticed. The report was easy to understand. The company in general could be seen as a target. It was most likely to be attacked cybernetically, but considering how regularly such attacks were repelled, physical attacks were not impossible. There were recommendations for physical security that included improving the access codes and recommending 24-hour security personnel onsite.

At the same time, few individuals were ranked as being vulnerable to attack. Henry, Luke, and Craig, the new COO of the company. Other managers and shareholders in the company were lower on the list. Henry’s family was listed among them. He was the primary target. He’d ‘invented’ both the security program and the Pythia Speaks program. His name was synonymous with the ‘new generation AI’ that was threatening to take over the world in some people’s minds. He snorted at the thought, but he couldn’t argue with the security assessment and was glad Germaine traveled with him.

In the morning, he ordered breakfast from room service and found Germaine in the hall having already checked the room service cart against his order. They were dressed and ready for work as if they’d never been to bed the night before. Henry ate, showered, and dressed, then let Germaine know he was ready to leave. They walked together to the parking garage and Germaine programmed the address into the vehicle’s GPS.

Henry didn’t have a lot of experience with church in general. He wore a suit and tie. He and Germaine sat quietly toward the back. The normal dress code for this church was far more casual than he was dressed. What do I know about how to dress for church? Many of the attendees looked to be in their teens and twenties. They wore board shorts and T-shirts or bikinis with light wraps around them. The temperature outside was already eighty and there didn’t appear to be air conditioning in the little church.

One thing he didn’t expect from any church was the laughter and generally boisterous behavior of the congregation. He looked around wondering which of the kids in the congregation was Wendy Morris. He didn’t know how old she was. There were some older attendees as well, but they were just as casually dressed, though perhaps not in swimwear.

The minister entered and led the congregation in singing a couple of traditional church songs, then stepped to the front. He wore simple slacks and a polo shirt.

“Okay! Welcome everyone. I see some new faces. Glad you could join us this morning. Is everyone looking forward to the surf this afternoon? There are supposed to be some rad breakers today,” Rev. Morris began. “If you’re wearing a suit and tie, I invite you to lose the jacket and tie so you’re more comfortable. We don’t have the air conditioning operating yet. I promise not to keep you all riveted to my voice for long.”

The comment seemed to be addressed to the congregation, but Henry was the only one in the church wearing a tie. Rev. Morris led another song and then stepped up to a flipchart on which he wrote one word in large letters—LIFE.

“I hope you are all well-informed enough to know that there is yet another round of debate raging across our country regarding women’s rights and it always seems that gets overshadowed by the ‘right to life’ issue—as if they were one and the same. Let me tell you—especially those of you who like to party on the weekend—it’s better to avoid the issue altogether. Make sure you grab a couple of condoms if you need them on the way out. There’s a basketful in the foyer. Better safe than sorry.”

There were a few titters in the congregation, but people were mostly still smiling. The preacher turned and tapped the flipchart.

“After searching the Bible for a definitive answer, I decided to ask Pythia Speaks about the issue. You know one of the basic tenets of our church is to find the right question to ask. We all have access to Pythia Speaks. We could all ask the same question and likely all get different answers. But have we asked the right question? Pythia Speaks doesn’t let us get away with quoting a chapter and verse in her holy book and believing that will be the answer for everyone through all eternity. When we ask her a question, we can assume we will receive a response that encourages us to think.

“My friends, I spent many years in this pulpit thinking I had all the answers in a black book that was two thousand years old. What I discovered, quite by accident, was that I didn’t even have the right questions. Isn’t that what we all face every day? How many of you have started a conversation with your partner, your date, or your friend with the words, ‘Why did you...?’ We operate from the assumption that we already know the answer to ‘What did you...?’ I can see some of you are nodding your heads.