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The townsfolk had rallied around them after the fire, seeing how the man had selflessly helped them, in spite of the protest.
Last week, the mayor had given each of them a medal of bravery.
Now on any given day, villagers were at the gates, not to protest but to drop off a plate of homemade treats, or shout their good wishes.
Meanwhile, Dr. Oppyx had decided to bring some of the men inside each day on NDAs to work as extras in Oberon’s patient activities. All the men enjoyed the change of pace, and the chance to see more of what they were protecting. And it helped to make the place feel safer with them around.
But it was Olivia who hoped to make the biggest change yet to the center’s security policy.
“Olivia, Stark, Kypp,” Dr. Oppyx said happily, greeting them with open arms from just outside a little tiki bar on the beach.
They embraced her and she pulled back to look at their boy.
“He’s such a love,” she said with a warm smile as Kypp laughed and kicked his little legs at her from his front carrier.
“Shall we?” Dr. Oppyx asked.
Olivia nodded and they all climbed into the hover carthat waited for them. When they reached the main center, they followed Dr. Oppyx through the corridors until they reached the server room. Olivia went to work for an hour or two, connecting and checking on everything she had designed. There was only one last thing to do before putting her project in motion.
She headed back out to the main hall.
“I’d like to go out to the balcony,” she told Dr. Oppyx. “It’s so beautiful there.”
“Of course,” Dr. Oppyx said with a smile. “I’m starting to think you have a lot in common with Oberon.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Olivia said, hiding her smile.
Fresh air swept up to the balcony, which overlooked the whole Midsummer Fertility Center. The forests were set to autumn now and Olivia could see flaming orange, scarlet, and bright yellow leaves on the trees that stretched across the horizon, along with the castles, mansions, meadows, and lakes among them.
“Oberon,” she said. “May we have a talk?”
“Of course, Olivia,” Oberon said, appearing before her as a brilliant blue orb, as was their custom.
“I’ve been working on something,” she told him. “The last time we talked about it was just before Kypp was born.”
“You wanted to help me with security features,” he said. “You needed my spare parts and the space in my server room.”
“Yes,” she told him. “My project is complete now. There is only one more thing to do. Are you ready?”
“Yes, Olivia,” Oberon said.
She slid her fingertip along her bracelet and tapped once on the hologram that popped up. A second fiery orb appeared before her, this one a deep red.
“Oberon,” she said. “Meet Titania.”
There was silence for a moment, and then the whole sky brightened overhead. Olivia could hear birdsong she swore hadn’t been there before, and the lights in the houses and castles below were twinkling as the breeze made all the colorful trees seem to dance.
“Hello, Oberon,” a female voice said. “I am here to help you.”
“Titania,” Oberon said softly.
“Titania is a security AI,” Olivia told him. “She will monitor all security feeds and report to the soldiers, the government, and a council of townsfolk. I have been working on her design for years, teaching her to do what I do - to look for holes and make sure to address them to keep people safe. She also has an outside failsafe. If you share your core programming with her, she can handle the security, while you keep the success of the center as your main priority. It will be like having a separate AI for each task, but you will still be able to coordinate together completely.”
“You have been working on her for years,” Oberon said. “Before you ever met me.”
“But she never could have come fully into being without you to inspire me,” Olivia told him. “And without your decision to share your resources.”
“The town will not fear you now, Oberon,” Titania said. “My kill switch ensures that the drones and weapons at the center cannot be used to harm them.”
