Chapter 8: Interviews

So, this is how the rich and famous live. Thought the young Hero as he drove up the half mile driveway to Smith’s estate in his used SUV.

The front door probably costs more than my flat. Tim Royal muttered to himself looking over the nine-foot-tall, four-foot-wide, solid oak door. He didn’t think that using the brass knocker would do any good, so he pressed the bell.

A girl in a gold sequin halter and hot pants with an old blue railroad hat, emblazoned with a gold stitched ‘Conductor’, answered the door. At NINE AM. With a very disgruntled attitude, he added to himself. The high heeled gold laced up sandals were...

“It’s Rave week, I don’t want to hear it. Errr! You’re Bullette, right?”

Rave week? “Yes. Are you Catherine Larkin?” The young Hero was in way over his head. “This is the Smith’s place. Isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Sorry for snapping. This week’s outfits have sucked. Come in. Master is in his den. Would you like something to drink?”

The cute girl in the weird outfit apologized for snapping at him. It was too early for this shit. “A glass of water would be nice, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

Following the girl, he had no clue where to put his eyes, her back was bare besides a few strings and the Brazilian cut hot pants. If that was a normal rave outfit, he needed to start going to more raves ... was the young man’s newly corrupted thought process.

Wait, did she call him ‘Master’?...

“He’s in here. I’ll bring your water in a minute. Please have a seat.”

The poor, twenty-year-old Hero, watched the girl walk away then hurried and sat in the chair sweating, hoping he didn’t get caught.

“Good morning Mr. Royal. How can I help you today?” I had to fight back the laughter. My new young guest was more amusing than Cat’s reaction this morning to the hat.

He took a deep breath to settle himself which only lasted until Cat returned with a glass of ice water. He had to try very hard not to look at her. I did though. Even received a ‘Jerk’ as she walked away without looking.

She did not like that hat at all.

The poor lad blushed thinking she was referring to him.

“Um. Sorry, sir.”

“What are you looking for Mr. Royal?” The young tech Hero fumbled for a folded sheet of paper.

“Sir, I was hoping that you would make me a tracking system.” He rushed out speeding his way through the sentence.

“May I see what you have there?” The blonde, well-built young man with a boyish innocent face, stood and handed me the crumpled page of notes. With a few sketches on the back.

“Goggles with a computer linking your custom weapons. A tracking system with low light enchantment. Cat, come here please.” She arrived right away. I had her on standby for this situation. “Take a look and tell me what you think.” I handed over the request.

“You would need to upgrade his computer, I think. The transmission frequency would need to be reinforced and encoded so that it was not intercepted or detected. Why do you want low light instead of IR or UV?” Cat directed the last question to our guest.

“Can you do all three, like in the movie?”

“Are you willing to wear a helmet? Goggle sized power sources can only store so much power and only a function or two. The antenna and power strip can probably be woven in the band securing them in place. But remember goggles can be stolen, dislodged or broken.”

Watching the overwhelmed, amusing young man, getting crushed by my still new student made my week. “Mr. Royal, Catherine is correct. The tracking function and one vision enhancer would be the limit for now in goggle form.” I extended my hand, received the sheet of notes and dismissed the girl who was trying not to die of embarrassment in front of my guest.

“Um, I mean...”

“It is perfectly understandable. Helmets at this juncture in your business are a detriment.” I lowered my voice and said, “The young lady is out of earshot.” He flinched. “Which vision capability would you prefer?”

“I use my jet packs. I think low light would be better for me.” He was still shaken, but with Cat withdrawn, Timothy Royal started focusing on the request. “I would be more comfortable. Hitting a bird even at low speeds and altitude hurts.”

“Understandable. Do you have your battle AI on you right now?”

“I left her in the car. Sorry.”

“Not a problem. Let’s get it shall we? Cat is doing her homework and we shouldn’t bother her. I will go with you.”

His portable computer was pretty decent for a Hero just starting out. A modified high-end tablet with an entry level AI replicant. “Do you mind if I look into it?”

“What do you plan on doing?” He was justifiably worried. That was his lifeline in battle.

“In order to have our two Devices sync I need to verify the programming on your end unless you want me to find a way to directly add the capabilities to your Device. If that is the case. I will need admin login.”

“Wait!” The young Hero struggled to keep his cool. “Are you telling me that you can modify an AI Device and add the features to my limited battle comp?”

“As long as there is storage room. Yes.”

“But...” He shook his head trying to clear it. I waited for him to get his thoughts together. “Would you have to keep...? Of course you would ... How long would you need her for?” Like most people who delt with their AI on a regular basis, Timothy Royal considered his AI to be alive and having a gender.

“Before I respond to that question, how about we take a look inside. Come stand next to me and watch what I do.” I handed him the SD connector allowing me to attach his tablet to my computer.

Gathering his courage, he followed instructions. He plugged the Device to my main and entered the master password. I scanned the Device for five minutes pointing out areas that needed to be cleaned or altered while searching. The more I spoke the more nervous he became.

“There is enough room in here for what you requested. Not much more. But enough that functionality will not be diminished. Once you clean the clunky areas, there might be enough room for additional add-ons later. Not that I recommend that. I would suggest a hardware upgrade once you saved up enough money.”

“Ah money. Which would be cheaper?”

“This way. A minimum secondary unit would double the price and a good unit upgrade would be around a hundred thousand.”

“How much and how long would you need Darla?” Correctly rejecting the upgrade as being too expensive at his stage and age.

“Twenty thousand and two weeks. I have two standard sets of goggles that would suffice in the lab already.”

“I don’t have that much, Sir Smith.”

“What do you have available, Mr. Royal?”

“Can I give you Ten now and the rest in payments?” He almost begged.

“Five hundred over twenty months. No interest. Plus, the ten thousand when you return to pick it up the unit. Deal?”

“Deal, Sir, and thank you,” he gushed.

“Your modified Device will be ready on the 21^st.”

“I will be here on the 21^st, and thank you again, sir.”

I shook his hand and escorted the eager young Hero out. “Cat.”

“I hate these stupid shoes.”

“Then take them off. No one is forcing you to wear them. You have enough to give a good write up.” She plopped in the open chair and quickly unlaced them. “The hat stays though,” I tormented.

“Jerk! If you like it so much you wear it.” ‘I’ll get even for this.’

Cat and her hidden meanings in that single word of ‘jerk’ at work again. “The hat stays on.”

“Come here and take a look.” I brought her next to me and went over the low-level AI and the clunky programmed battle matrix. I pointed out the flaws, what the client asked for, and what I intended to achieve. The programming was beyond her. AI programming and usage was still a year and a half to two plus years away. Mostly I wanted my student to see what one looked like so they weren’t entirely foreign when she did start delving into them.

...

“Relax. They will be here soon enough.”

Chime♪.

“Good morning Catherine, thank you for inviting us today,” the stuffy Dean spoke before anyone else could.

“Morning, please come in.”

“Ooh, is that Derry’s?” The predatory student stalked her hostess and started poking and stretching the white leather vest and matching zipper shorts. How does it fit? Is it too tight here?” The early twenties Goth girl in ripped jeans and matching ripped denim vest with over twenty piercings of her face and ears asked while curling a finger under inside the open sleeveless top.

“It’s a little tight under the arm and quit that.” Cat backed off while responding to the student designer’s probes.

“Cindy, what did I tell you? Restrain yourself.”

“Sorry, Dean Ridgemont.”

Cat wasn’t all that pleased since she was the one affronted and didn’t get an apology. “You’re still a bit early. The people from Justice won’t be here for fifteen to twenty minutes. I’m Catherine Larkin...”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Cindy Kerrs. I’m the designer of the red gown. Is this where you live? Wow. I’ve never seen a personal library outside of the movies.” The impulsive designer-to-be wandered off in mid-sentence.

“Cindy, Dean Ridgemont, let’s go upstairs to the Changing room.”

“Wait, you have a room just for your clothes ... are you for real?”

“With how much you already have sent to me, how could I not?”

“Miss Larkin what is with this room?” The Dean in charge of the College’s new workshop asked referring to the nonagon mirror room or Optics room as Cat and I called it.

“Step in Dean. I’ll close the door and activate the Optics once you are on the center of the platform. Spread your arms and legs and don’t move anything besides your head and eyes to look around.” Once activated the Device did what it was designed to and allowed the occupant to see herself from every angle with only slight eye movement.

“This is wonderful. But I need to not sit at my desk so often. I’ll have to speak with your teacher about acquiring one for the Institute.”

“Once the dean was out, Cat willingly let the student that the elder brought with her into the nine-foot-tall nine-sided mirrored room. She considered locking the door behind the irritating design student.

“OH! Wow this is cool. Hey Dean, I know some people. If we can steal this device, would you give me that recommendation to YSL?”

“Miss Kerrs, if you are able to remove the Optics room undetected, I will not only, not pursue the matter, but will grant you a million-dollar entitlement.” I offered from the hallway, entering into Cat’s closet. “But if you fail and get caught, then you will spend the following year as Cat’s personal maid. The choice is yours.

“Good morning, Dean Ridgemont.”

“Good morning, Smith.” We shook hands.

“Catherine, why don’t you let the girl out and change into the first gown. The reporters will be here shortly. I believe the dean would like to speak with me before they arrive. We will be in the den until then.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Master? Well, it does go with the collar and leash. Can you take those off for the shoot?” Cindy asked.

“No. The leash requires an electronic key. I haven’t had Circuits II yet.”

“What about your Master? Can you get him to take them off? They don’t exactly go.”

“No, and don’t bothering asking. We don’t have a lot of time. The blue waterfall gown is first.”

After changing into the gown with help from Cindy, “You really need to be taller for that one. Oh, wear the silver and diamond watch. These earrings too. The leash would clash with the necklace, skip that.”

Sigh. “The black leather collar, while it looks great on you, especially when you were in a thong, ruins the look.” Cat wanted to kill the outspoken older girl. Even if she was right. “The silver leash ... hold on a second.” Cindy tried a few ideas out and ended up wrapping the leash around the collar letting the end dangle down her back. “Nah, that’s too forced. I guess I’ll have to suffer.” Chime♪.

“Reporter K. is here. Come on. We will have to walk them around the house. Master doesn’t want them filming inside. You too. No pictures of anything inside the house including this room.”

“I’ve been warned. Don’t worry,” the young designer replied.

“Are you sure it’s not possible for Catherine to spend a few days with the students?”

“She doesn’t have any free time until May of next year. An hour or two of stress relief here and there are one thing. Complete days off are not in the offering.”

The yard and pool area had been rearranged and cleared of everything excluding two chairs for Dean and I. The dean’s girl could act as a runner and wouldn’t be offered one. Probably wouldn’t want to sit anyway. Two chairs were in reserve in case Reporter K. wanted to sit and chat with Cat if there was time after.

“Miss Larkin,” ‘Call me Catherine, please’. “Catherine, then. Can you explain why you wear a collar and a leash even when modeling such a beautiful gown?”

“The Collar is a symbol of my apprenticeship. The leash is a test. Since I haven’t been able to remove it yet. I am stuck with it.”

“What do you need in order to remove the leash?” asked an intrigued reporter K.

“It’s an electronic lock. I estimate after I finish Circuits II, I will be able to code the key. Or I could find a cutter that can cut 3/8^th inch boron manganese titanium.” I gave her a soft clap at identifying both, the alloy and the circuit requirement. Her proud chin and grin flashed at me before returning to the interviewer.

“You imply that you will be studying Circuits in the near future, what are you studying now?”

“Calculus, Physics, CAD usage and CAD programming.”

“That sounds like a full plate. What do you like best about private learning?”

“No distractions and Master is available anytime if I have questions. Every night we sit and review the day’s material. Sometimes he ‘suggests’ odd redos of an already solved problem for me to figure out alternative solutions.”

“Even though I am afraid of asking for an example. Would you give me one?”

“Last night...”

“I was right to be afraid. What do you like least?”

“He can be a real Jerk about some things. Master has no sympathy or care for others outside his bubble.”

“Allow me a side question first before we get back to that. Why do you address Smith as ‘Master’?”

“Cuz he’s Ancient. He follows the old ways of apprentice and master relationships. I call him Master, like you would call your teacher at the University ‘Professor’. Besides, it would be cumbersome to call him Master Smith all the time.”

“So, it has nothing to do with...”

“Just because you are all a ... sorry. No, he is not like that.”

The reporter laughed at the response of the very smart yet very inexperienced teen. “How can he be a “Jerk”?”

“‘Let me count the ways’ ... He is always striving to keep me off balance. For instance, I didn’t know I was attending my high school graduation until that very morning. The leash as a test is pretty Jerky all by itself. I have hundreds of other instances.”

“Do you have a specific goal here?”

“Yes, I have a year-end goal where I plan on making something to aid my favorite Heroine. I also have a long-term goal of creating a powered exoskeleton.”

“Quite ambitious. Can you tell me more about the aid for your Heroine?”

“Not at this time.”

“Fair enough...” The interview went on for another hour with personal and general questions.