I can only nod in agreement. “I’ll explain,” I just get out before the door closes. He’s gone and I walk closer to Hud pulling out my phone. “Have you seen their sheets?” I get the website up.
“Yeah, where’s a drone?” The gruff voice surprises me. I point at the camera. “It’s a translucent butterfly, when the wings move up, you can see the edges. I was in the lab myfirst week and saw them building them so the only time you see its movement is at the edges. They reproduced chameleon characteristics from some changing paint idea Asa had and use that to blend them in for long time frames.” Seeing the butterfly flutter, I look back at Hud.
His eyebrows go up and eyes blink hard, so I know he saw it. “They made that from a paint idea?”
“Yeah. So, you saw their sheets?” I bring him back to the point.
“Yeah. Don’t you find that weird?”
Great. Wasting time isn’t my thing. “Not as weird as the changing color paint on the walls at Elite, DNA and blood strings, or strands they’re using to build holograms of people for the doctors to diagnose and treat, or the new choppers they’re building that have the new chameleon skins. This is what they do. You heard about the hologram Alders but didn’t believe it?” My sharp tone has him finally looking at me.
“It moves and you don’t know it’s not Alder without the dots on the collar on it?” He doesn’t believe.
I breathe deep before answering this dipshit. “Yeah. There are more but I don’t know who or when. Most people aren’t touched here so how would you know unless they tell you? They are never ‘it’, they’re A, B or C. He’ll tell you of others when he needs to.”
One eye is wider than the other so I guess it’s his realization look. I don’t care and start the lesson. “So, the Bits build shit and robots are on that list. There’s a ship in New England that uses robots for service jobs but they’re mostly behind the scenes, cleaning, cooking, repetitive sort of jobs. They look like rolling or mechanical robots, but customers rarely see them. The others are fantastical and meant to awe and inspire wonder. Asa said they keep people thinking. I believe he means in imagination.” I turn from the hall back to his face, gladto note his eyes are on me.
“The sheets show how robots can only be meant to service humans under the surface. In public, you need human interaction, therefore, keeping the robots behind the scenes means humans are needed for maintenance, guidance, updates and overseeing. Since the Alpha-Bits in general are smarter than me, I believe what they say. The AI issues are different. We can do that when you get to that sheet. For now, I’ll send the link in chat so you can read this one. Alder and Asa use us to explain when they’re annoyed, or for Alder, when it’s a long explanation that needs exact wording. He misses words when he’s got a point to make.”
He nods. “I’ve seen that. Human interaction being the point for the robot sheet.”
I nod. “Yeah. Read while I watch the hall.” I send it over before I look up. He’s still watching me. “What?”
“You’re Canadian army.”
The point of this is lost on me. “In many ways.”
He watches me but this guy hasn’t earned more than what’s on my bio. A good minute goes by before he finally nods and pulls his phone.
I watch the hall wishing for the K-9s again.
§*§*§
Alpha Rising
Hud
Silva is with a group of Brothers at the bar. I don’t see the Canadian Charlie’s Angel and step into the bigger open bar from the pool table side. The Brothers look my way when Silva throwschin. I throw it back. “Brothers.”
Silva smiles. “Hud. This is Bean our doc, Sammy and Enrique is our conscience.”
I smile at the older Brother. “Hud Girard. Alder’s Lead off the ABSZ Clubs or what he calls the Phoenix five.”
“I heard about you.”
I turn fast seeing a giant that I recognize but I don’t know where from.
“The VP here.” Silva adds but that doesn’t help.
“Delta,” the giant says.
I nod. “EU and…”
He cuts me off. “Yeah, and Africa. You know Nova.” He isn’t advertising missions.
I respect that and nod. “Yeah, I saw his name but haven’t seen him. We were paired in the EU Ops center for a few.”
He nods. “I ran overwatch and got pulled into a couple.”
