Sand Storm
Copyright© 2026 by MicaMeesha
Chapter 4
As he was walking back from the newsagents with his Sunday papers, the pager made its presence known once more. Taking his mobile phone from his pocket, he put his Bluetooth headset on and dialled the duty room, the number committed to his memory rather than that of the phone – just in case the phone fell into unauthorised hands.
“Hello.”
“Sir, good morning, Sir. There were no further developments overnight, sir.”
“I see Natalie. And what are your views this morning? Did your assignation with your man alter your interpretation in any way?”
“Sir, no, sir. It still looks odd to the duty room, Sir, and my man said a plant is for the garden, and that is where flowers should stay. A box of chocolates is his idea of a romantic gesture, and I have to say that I tend to agree.”
“Okay, Natalie, fair enough, though I despair for the future of the world. Please mark our conversation in the log entry, and I will pick up on the matter tomorrow morning. On another matter, did the original training exercise that stumbled across this matter get rescheduled?”
“Oh no, sir, the Observer was suitably impressed with the way the exercise went, especially in light of what transpired, and felt that at no point was the game given away, so to speak. Accordingly, he passed the exercise, Sir.”
“Excellent, Natalie. I look forward to reading that report.”
“Sir”
After clearing the call, he ensured that the number dialled was deleted from the phone memory and put the phone back into his pocket. Today he could concentrate on the newspapers, especially after the success of yesterday evening’s surprisingly undisturbed dinner party. The reports from the foreign desk on Friday before he left for home had been neutral; the excitement with Trader would probably prove to be nothing; and the cricket season was months away. Today could be just the Sunday papers.
The weekend had gone before Edward knew it, and now it was Monday morning, and, predictably, the Colonel had sent a text message asking him to pass by his office. Grumpily, Edward settled into the Omega and mentally prepared for the slow crawl that would be the early morning bypass. “Well, Olga, how do you think the day went on Saturday?”
“There is traffic congestion southbound for five miles from junction ten Edward. Average speed is ten miles per hour.”
“Useful, Olga, useful.”
“Thank you, Edward. The outside temperature is 2 degrees Centigrade. There is a risk of ice on the road, Edward.”
Edward glanced at the dash to check that the car was in Winter Mode and selected drive, checked the mirrors, and as he was about to pull away, he changed his mind. He must have a word with Steve at the research lab; Olga was getting annoying.
“Olga. Phone. Dial Steve Gibson.”
“Yes, Edward. Dialling.”
The phone audio cut into the radio, and Edward could hear the tones as Steve’s number was dialled. The receptionist answered, and Edward asked for Steve Gibson. Although he knew the direct dial number for Steve, Edward had learned long ago that it was useless. He was never in his office at his desk, and only two people ever seemed to know where Steve was: one was Steve himself, and the other was the receptionist.
With all the technology available to him, Steve just used as little of it on himself as possible. He never activated his voicemail, and he never put his phone on ‘Follow Me’, a useful gimmick available in some offices that allowed a person’s phone extension to follow them to wherever they were in the office. It also seemed to some that Steve was always at work in the labs, but the reality was that he was an early starter, preferring to get in and out before the morning and evening rush hours.
“Hi Steve, Edward.”
“Teddy.”
“I wish you would stop calling me that.”
“I know, Teddy, I know.”
“What can I do about Olga?”
“You, Teddy, can do nothing. I, on the other hand, may just be able to. What do you want to do about Olga?”
“Upgrade her or something, I don’t know. Look, she uses my Christian name in almost every sentence – it has become wearing from an impersonal machine. If I ask her something that is not in her programme, she gives me road conditions. Perhaps she needs a bit more intelligence, I don’t know. You’re the whiz kid; you tell me.”
“You are very clever, Teddy. I know darn well that you understand how Olga is made and how she works. Why do you dumb down when you talk to me sometimes? If you pose a query that is outside her operating parameters, do you want her to just say something dumb like ‘Insufficient parameters to answer at this time’? That would just sound like Star Trek, and that my friend is fiction, and Olga is real-world.”
“I don’t act dumb, Steve. Sometimes when I suspect your answer is going to be technically beyond me, I try and dumb you down by acting a bit simple myself. That way I can hope to keep up with your responses. I am not a computer scientist, and I am not as intelligent as you; dumbing you down is usually my only chance of understanding you.”
“Now Teddy, you are the one being dumb. You are intelligent, probably more than me; just because you did not go on and do a professorship or don’t have the depth of computing knowledge that I have doesn’t make you dumb, a lack of knowledge is ignorance, not dumbness. We did not start this conversation to discuss our relative IQ levels. What do you really want with Olga?”
“Olga’s simplicity has begun to wear a little thin. I almost wish that she would just say what she has to say and no more.”
“Almost wish? Don’t beat about the bush; what do you really want?”
“Just a bit more power, I think. A bit more conversation and a few new parameters and inputs would be something of a start. Something that would make ‘her’ seem a little more human.”
“Actually, Teddy, my man, sorry, I have been teasing you a little. I have been meaning to give you a ring. I do have an upgrade for Olga that I have wanted to try on you. I still don’t think that it is quite ready for mass market, but I do need to generate positive feedback to continue sourcing funding, and I feel that we are only 2 or 3 generations away from the right product.”
“Same kind of feedback style from me as before?”
“No and yes, Teddy, not from you directly anymore. Olga will now download info and data to me automatically as you drive past the labs. If you don’t pass often enough, Olga will download using dial-in. From you I need to know what you like, what you don’t like, what works, and what doesn’t – not from a technical point of view; I can get that from Olga’s data. In the future I intend to key into the cell phone data network and download from almost anywhere, but that needs a little more work on security yet. From you I need the human responses. Is this a useful business tool beyond standard satellite navigation, which every businessman is going to want in his car?”
“When do you want to do this upgrade?”
“If you are free now for a couple of hours, then we could do it this morning; otherwise, it will be a few days before I have the time spare.”
“I was going into the office, but not for anything that cannot wait. I am near the centre of town just now, about 20 minutes or so from the lab.”
“How fast can you drive at this time of day? No, don’t tell me; Olga soon will. Come to the lab, I will phone the gate and get you a car pass, drive through and come down to the big roller door marked ‘B’, the same place as before. The gatehouse security will let me know when you arrive, and I’ll meet you at ‘B’. See you soon, bye.”
Edward disconnected the call and dialled the office and left a message for the Colonel to say that he would be along later that morning. He pulled the car out into the traffic and headed towards the labs.
As Anne wandered the aisles at the wholesaler, she increasingly grew frustrated at the layout. The herbs and essential oils were seemingly located in a haphazard arrangement; there was no order that she could fathom. After about twenty minutes with less than half of her needs supplied, she began to wish that she had bought Debbie with her – she could have been sent off on missions to get some of the basics. Unfortunately, it was the only wholesale outlet for miles that sold the range and scope that she needed.
Anne paced the aisles looking for a new carrier gel that she had heard of but was disappointed to find from an assistant that it was not stock that they carried. Time was up and was soon to run out. She had to get home, change, and get back out and be at her appointment in less than forty minutes. Passing over her credit card and entering her pin, she bundled her purchases back into the trolley and headed for the car.
Back at the cottage she slipped out of her jeans and top, and after a hasty wash with a small muslin cloth and some Muira Puama root lotion that she had prepared last week, she stepped into her white tunic and buttoned up the front. A quick spray of a lavender, patchouli and Neroli mix perfume that she had also made last week, and she was back out to the car, loading the various supplies that she needed for this morning’s session.
The heater was plugged into the lighter socket, and her hot stones carried from her oven and placed inside. The back seat was folded down, and her table and cases of oils and lotions were added through the hatchback. Quickly she checked that all was turned off in the cottage, and then she was off to see her first customer of the week.
As expected Steve had it all organised when Edward arrived. The gate guard handed him a paper pass to put on his dashboard authorising the car on the premises, opened the gates and waved him through. Steve was waiting by door ‘B’ and waved for Edward to stop. The large door rolled up, and Edward drove into the pristine and spotlessly clean workshop garage. The door was shutting behind him, even before Edward had stopped the car and turned the engine off.
“Hello Teddy,” Steve said as he patted Edward warmly on the back, “this shouldn’t take too long. You go and get us a couple of coffees, and I’ll make a start.” Edward, having been here before many times, knew the way to the kitchenette, made two instant coffees and went back to Steve. He returned to find the bonnet was up, and Steve had connected a thick wire to the car from an earth point in the workshop to ensure that there was no static charge left in the car. That particular hazard had destroyed a few computer chips in the early days, and Steve now took full precautions.
“Here you go,” Edward proffered the coffee to his friend.
“Thanks. I am not going to tell you much about the new chips’ capabilities, as I want you to discover them for yourself, but there is one thing you will need to know. When you get in the car and start up, Olga will greet you as before. However, now I want you to respond back using the words ‘business’ or ‘personal’ in your reply, indicating what kind of journey. You don’t have to keep doing it for every journey; Olga will assume the journey to be the same type as before unless you change it. It’s simple flip-flop logic, but I only thought of a sensible application last week and made a few modifications to enable it to be implemented. Fortunately, your car has all the optional inputs I needed, although I shall have to make a couple of changes to the seat sensors. Apart from that, how have you been, my friend? Been anywhere interesting recently?”
“Well enough, Steve, well enough, and everywhere is interesting if you open your eyes enough. Look, I want to know what Olga is capable of; I don’t really have time to play games, and I don’t want anything that is liable to compromise the safety of anyone in the car.”
“Don’t be silly, and the mouths of gift horses spring to mind.”
“Don’t think that you can pull that wool over my eyes. You know that I am the soul of discretion, and I would not go on about it. You know that you will get real-world feedback valuable to your project, and you know that if this comes off, you are about 2 years ahead of the competition. Also, you wouldn’t want me to flag this up to certain government departments now, would you? You know that they could declare it ‘In The Nations’ Interest’ and bury it forever. No royalties for you then. Oh, and by the by, technically, you should look at a gift horse in its mouth. It is the best way to tell its age and health.”
“The point of that saying is to be polite when you receive a gift, not logical.” Steve went across to the small office at the side of the workshop, beckoning Edward to follow, and sat on a brown leather couch, putting his plastic coffee cup on the table in the corner. After Edward had sat and joined him, Steve continued.
“Sorry, Teddy. I get a bit wound up sometimes. Look, I am rather excited about this new Olga. I have put a lot of work in, and I think it’s darn near ready. I reckon we are actually only about 1 year in front of the competition in most of it, but the new innovation I thought of last week should give me the edge over everyone else. You having tired of Olga’s simplicity is exactly what I expected and demonstrates its unsuitableness for the real businessman just yet. Once I’m out in the market, the competition can play catch-up pretty quickly, but by that time we hopefully will have signed deals with the main car manufacturers and only leave the competition the scraps to play with.”
“It’s okay, pal, I know. I’m a bit wound up myself. You know the world seems to have gone crazy, and just at this moment I’ve just met a lovely...”
“Woman? Brilliant, oh you don’t know how perfect the timing is. Tell me about her.”
“What do you mean by ‘perfect timing’? Does this have anything to do with Olga? Do I need to leave my car at home and use a taxi if I am on personal trips?”
“Idiot. I am looking for product mass market appeal; I am not going to do anything liable to upset anyone. It will be fine. Just tell me about the girl”
Edward filled in the details, being sure to only relate what he could have known from his encounter with Geraldine – no need to mention all that he had found out from the office. “Her name is Geraldine; she drives a Cooper. Her dad is something of a senior in the police but may have retired and can’t quite leave it alone and still helps them out. Geraldine was a bit vague about that. What else? Oh yes, she lives alone and may have a daughter. She has auburn curly hair, is pale skinned, very English looking, has a great sense of humour, and we seem to have just hit it off straight away. I am taking her out tomorrow night.”
“May have a daughter? Apparently lives alone? What intrigue awaits you, my friend. If it all pans out, let’s do a foursome, and soon. Sal will have five million questions for me when I get home and tell her about Geraldine the Cooper Driver, and the only way to temper her curiosity will be a meet.”
“Steve, it’s early days yet. But I must say there is something about Geraldine; she is rather nice.”
“Nice? Edward. Incoming Message. Go to Smiths. Stop. Buy Thesaurus. Stop. Look up romance and follow all the iterations. I am a professor of Applied Computing, and I know more about love and romance than you. It is pitiful. Send her flowers.”
“Already have. I’m not completely dry on these things. You know how it is; I have been busy over the past few years, and I’ve been abroad a lot for various reasons – as you well know. That has made me unavailable for any long-term commitments, and so I chose to keep my eyes shut, but it did not make me a monk. However, even though my eyes were shut, Geraldine seems to have opened them. Believe me, I wasn’t looking, and her arrival in my life is slightly disturbing.”
“What do you mean by ‘disturbing’ Teddy?”
“Well, I am a bit busy in the office, and the last thing I need is a distraction. So, as I say, I am not looking for anyone; perhaps she is looking for someone, or even specifically, looking for me. I don’t have the time to play games, and the Colonel will have my proverbials if I’ve been suckered.”