Chapter 57: New Generation

ON MONDAY, employees were greeted by Cici, the third generation of the AI powered holographic receptionist. The most noticeable aspect of this new generation was an improved sound system, both for speaking to the hologram and listening to her. Henry had approved a pretty hefty equipment spend to get the best possible sound input and output for the new receptionist. She greeted each employee as they entered the lobby.

“Good morning, Josh,” Cici said when he entered the lobby.

“Wow! Um ... Hi, Cici. How are you this morning?” Josh asked.

“I’m brand new, Josh!” she announced enthusiastically.

“Oh. Yes. You certainly are. Have a good day, Cici.”

“You, too, Josh. Let me know if you need anything.”

The interaction was typical of the eighty people who came to work. Of course, Audrey still sat at the reception desk opposite Cici’s perpetually happy face.

“How does she do that?” she asked Chastity. “I’ve been here almost a year and still don’t know everyone’s name.”

“Everyone carries an RFID card in order to go through the inner doors,” Chastity said. “The team installed a reader so she immediately identifies anyone who comes through the door. I’ll have them put a read-out on your monitor.”

Chastity perched on the corner of Henry’s new desk. He smiled as he leaned his head against her leg and kissed it.

“Oh, that’s nice. You aren’t tired of having access to me all the time?” she asked.

“The day I get tired of either you or Lisa, shoot me,” he said.

“And leave Lisa and me to take care of our baby without you? Huh-uh,” she said.

He ran his hands up the inside of her shapely legs and they parted.

“Not that this isn’t enough, but did you have something else on your mind, love?” he asked, kissing his way along the inside of her thigh.

“Yes. And since we just did this last night, I can wait for more. Can you?”

“It’s an effort, but tell me what’s on your mind.”

Chastity reviewed the morning interactions with Cici and then came to Audrey’s question.

“It occurred to me that this could be a security issue. I was just going to take it to Mia, but it might be more in line with Nathan,” Chastity said. “The card grants access to the office, but it doesn’t really identify the person holding the card. Audrey, or Nancy, or anyone we have at the desk at the time, should be able to see the identity of any employee and have their picture so she can verify that’s who is coming through the door.”

“What a great idea. Yes, it should become part of Alice, but it should be a normal part of security operations,” Henry agreed. “Let’s go have a conversation with Nathan.”

He paused a moment to kiss up to her slit and then helped her off the desk. She kissed him softly and pulled her skirt into place before they left Henry’s office.

“I think this is one of my favorite parts of this job,” she whispered.

Nathan listened to the idea and nodded. It wasn’t often he got a chance to interact with Chastity or Henry now that he officially reported to Conrad.

“Let’s call Conrad in and see if we can put this on our schedule,” Nathan said.

Henry was about to object because he’d just approved it, but realized Nathan was right. Henry couldn’t just jump into anyone’s office and give them a new project without talking to their manager. It was a new organization and he needed to abide by the lines of reporting just like everyone else did.

Conrad came to Nathan’s office and joined the meeting.

“Conrad, I wanted to be sure we weren’t blowing smoke before we talked to you, so Chastity and I came to ask Nathan about the feasibility of an expansion of our security system. He seemed to think it had value, so we want to check with you,” Henry said.

Conrad was only a couple of years older than Henry and still reported to him, even though Nathan reported to Conrad. They were all getting used to things. Nathan took up the narrative and told Conrad what the concept was.

“I can see the value,” Conrad said. “This isn’t really a product, though. Do we have the bandwidth to develop it?”

“I think it fits with our internal security mission,” Nathan said. “I also see that it is a feature that should be built into Alice, but has application across a wider range of situations. There is no reason it should be limited to identifying employees. Nearly everyone carries an RFID card of some sort with them. Despite the number of warnings people receive and the special wallets available for them, hardly anyone protects their RFID identity. It’s in their driver’s license, their credit cards, their company key cards, and probably Costco membership card. The device could help identify or confirm the identity of anyone who walked through the door.”

“Now I see it as a marketable product,” Henry said.

The four of them brainstormed a little while and finally agreed to devote a limited number of resources to the project.

The month of June was one of constant innovation and progress for the company. It was also a time of progress for Henry and his family.

Lisa, Chastity, and Henry began attending birth classes. While having three working together in the class was not unheard of, it was unusual. The birth instructor simply assumed that since Henry and Lisa were married, Chastity was a doula, or birth helper. The role fit well and Chastity began reading up on the duties of a doula. Unlike a midwife, a doula provides emotional and physical support for the mother, but not medical support. She doesn’t deliver a baby. In other words, a doula filled all the same functions that a good husband should and, in Henry’s case, would.