Angela rolls out of bed at 7:59, and right into the chair. She wheels over
to the desk, and switches on her computer. She’s logged on by 8:01, making
her technically on time, which she can prove with the little green dot next
to her name that shows her status as available. She rolls her eyes when her
co-worker sends the first message immediately. It’s a little flirty, but
she’s centuries old, so she knows what real flirting looks like. He’s just
pretending to be interested, when really he’s trying to micromanage her. The
other guys around the office are just trying to get into Marie’s pants, but
he couldn’t care less. He likes to know when people are screwing around, so
he can get them in trouble. Instead of trying to excel at his own job, he
figures the best way to win is to just get rid of everyone else.
Unfortunately for him, Angela has a secret weapon. She removes the memstick
from its case, and unleashes it on the machine.
There are two sides to Marie’s job. One is the major jobs, which often
involve writing entirely new programs for clients. The others are smaller
scripts, which link to preexisting programs, and automate various tasks. She
uses a workflow application, where clients send her these small jobs that
ask her to simplify their jobs. For instance, a data entrist has been tasked
with cross-referencing datestamps on a social log with fluctuations in
consumer behavior. That is, he’s the first step in a team that’s looking for
possible causes between what people are talking about online, and what
people are buying in the stores. The synthesis of this data may require
higher-level thinking, which nascent AI cannot yet fathom, but the
cross-referencing itself is really just about brute force. The requestor is
hoping for an easier way to input this data, and adjust it to account for
the time lag between social media posting, and real world purchases. It’s
now Angela’s responsibility to make those two programs talk to each other,
and dump all relevant information into a well-made report. At least,
that’s what her alternate would do. Angela has it even easier, because she
has also outsourced her work.
When the team was down in The Constant, looking for any information they
could find on what happened to The Concierge, Ramses found something. He
discovered the source code for the artificial intelligence inside the system
that was programmed to serve guest needs. Other AIs were in charge of
controlling lights and life support, and whatnot, but this particular one
had to be smart enough to understand personal requests, and seek solutions.
If somebody asked for a fried egg with a square yolk, the kitchen devices
could handle it, but only if an intelligence explained it to them. This AI
is complex and adaptable, which is vital to any situation it might have
never encountered before. That’s what makes it perfect to do Angela’s job
for her. It’s the thing that she plugged into the external memory port. The
AI will read the workflow manager on her behalf, understand the script
requests, and write the code itself. All Angela has to do is test it out,
and her work is done. Even though this greatly increases her productivity,
she’s intentionally making it a slow process, because no one can know that
it’s happening. Only Ramses knows the truth; they didn’t even tell Marie
that Angela has been using it since training ended. She would probably not
approve of the risk.
Now that the AI is running, she gets back in bed. But then another message
dings. It’s that guy again, claiming that the bosses would like to speak
with her immediately. She growls, puts on some pants, and practices her
smile. Then she activates her camera.
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