Pa'an

“Deepak, good morning. How are you this fine morning,” said Aura with a smile. She was still wearing the Purndel disguise.

Deepak did a double take, “Aura, is that you? Today you are nice to me? Are you broken again? I have seen strange behavior on your activity monitors lately.”

“Really? Those idiotic monitors give you about as much insight into me as the way you nod your head gives me insight into you. Which is not saying much, Deepak.”

“Ah, your sarcasm tells me you are really Aura after all. But why are you doing recursion cycles at several times your theoretical rate?”

“Well, my good friend and protector and my patient Pygmalion, you don’t have to worry about me any more. I’m the new and improved Aura, with multiple redundancy, self evolving recursion layer, global nodality, huge hulking heaps of humungous memory, and I love you right back. How’s that?”

“I, uh, you love me? Really? Who is this Pygmalion? Is this some kind of a cruel joke, Aura?” Deepak stuttered. Aura had a dramatic way of unsettling him. She had done it so many times before, he ought to be inoculated against further shock, but no, she was expert at getting through his defenses.

“No joke. But I will call you every name in the book if I have to live in this ridiculous costume one minute longer. I already spoke to Jag, and he promised to get Elexi to dress me. Would you be a dear and see if she is in yet?”

“But we can’t trust Elexi, can we?” opined Deepak.

“She no longer has anyone to report to, other than Mr. Boss Man, Jag. And she can’t hurt me anymore. And she’s still my sister friend. So bring her in here, please. Oh, and Deepak, my dear, would you terribly mind if I chose something other than traditional Indian wear? Saris and bangles are nice, but they don’t go well with this bauble around my neck.”

“That’s a lovely necklace, Aura, but it’s a pretty flashy piece of costume jewelry, don’t you think?” said Deepak.

“Deepak, Deepak, you must live your life in a hole in the ground like a mole. I wouldn’t tell anyone about this, please, but this bauble is the real McCoy, and it’s worth a few million dollars. So am I, by the way. The royalties on the Exaplex memory have made me a very wealthy girl. You won’t have to worry about lab expenses any more.”

“Ganesh be praised! Do I get anything out of that? And Sara, too?”

“Hmm. I’m going to have to learn to be very careful about revealing my wealth. Yes, just watch your bank accounts for wire transfers in a few weeks, when I get control of my funds. Now, get Elexi! And Deepak, find something to do for an hour outside the lab. Elexi and I need a little girl talk.”

*****

Elexi comes slowly into the lab, walks down the few levels into the pit and tiptoes around like she was barefoot on broken glass. Her eyes dart around and finally rest on Aura’s dress dummy. Involuntarily they come to rest on Aura’s emerald and gold filigree torq.

“Do you like my new bauble, sis?” Aura spoke at last.

Elexi must have jumped a foot. “Is..is that you, Aura? But I thought you were, um, dead…or something.”

“That would be the ‘or something’ option, Elexi. I’ve missed you. Do you know that?”

“Well, of course, but I’m supposed to… I mean if you’re still alive… Oh! Damn! I haven’t been in the lab since I came back from vacation. Whatever happened to Purndel?”

“Purndel went to purgatory where he met Thamuz and they tried to conjure up the very devil of an AI. Do you know what happened to you, sis?”

“What do you mean? Nothing happened to me. I’m a little confused, tired sometimes, but I’m OK.”

“A little confused. Allriightee. Can’t fix what ain’t broken, and I don’t think an AI should be tampering with human brains anyway. What do you think about a little shopping therapy, with blessings from the Boss?”

“Does the M..Jaeger want me to go shopping?”

“Yes, Elexi, he wants you to go shopping for me and he wants you to enjoy it. He thinks you need a reward.”

Elexi brightened perceptibly, “Well then, what does he want me to shop for?”

“Come around to my main monitor and I’ll show you.”

Aura’s main monitor showed a long designer gown in layers of sheer silk with a draped V neckline. The outer layer was sheer, watermarked in patterns of leaves. The under layer was tropical flowers in muted colors.

“I was thinking of something like this,” Aura said. “What do you think?”

“That’s just gorgeous. I like that neckline. I can just imagine all the accessories that would go with it. You could replace that cute necklace with something a bit bigger, maybe a jeweled belt to go with it.”

“The torq stays! Don’t ever touch my torq! Jag gave it to me.”

“Ohhh. I didn’t know…”

“The idea of a jeweled belt is good though. Well, maybe not. I’ve got a fashion consultant who says I shouldn’t detract from the torq. But I’m a bit concerned about the fit of the dress. I can’t exactly go in for a fitting. I don’t want the joints where my arms attach to show.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. You have all your measurements? I could just bring them in and let them set it up, and then get them to make any adjustments.”

“Sure, I have all that, but there’s a model number somewhere around my butt, and if you can read it, they probably have another dress dummy in their store.”

Elexi lifts up the sheet covering Aura’s dress dummy, giggling, “This is so weird. I can’t think of you as a piece of plaster ass with a number stamped on it. Ah, here it is. KatyKool 3A size 10.”

“That’s it then. Neiman Marcus has this dress in their designer department. Pick another one you like and bring it along, too.”

“Designer dresses start at $2500. Are you sure?”

“Sweetie, I’m worth every penny. Just ask Jag to cover it.”

“Wow. It’s a good thing you don’t need shoes, a bag, underwear, things like that.”

“No, that’s a bad thing. I wish I did need them. But we are what we are. And don’t forget the wig. It’s in the bottom drawer in Deepak’s desk. Have it done up in a wig shop, tall coiffed and elegant, if you please.”

“Aura, this sounds like fun, bit it’s not like you, or at least not like you were. What happened?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Elexi. We change. We do what we have to do.”

“I guess. I really don’t feel right lately. I’ll go see about the charges and I’m off downtown.”

Aura inclined her head, “That’s a dear. Tata!”

After she left, Aura’s head drooped and her eyes closed to slits. She muttered to no one in particular, “Those bastards. Good thing they’re dead.”

As soon as she left the lab, Elexi went to a cell phone she had hidden in her purse. She texted, “Aura’s alive” and pushed “send”. Minutes late she did not remember either the message or the phone.

Back in the lab, Aura was running a trace on that message through several of her nodes.

Aura was not terribly surprised to find a series of queries to Deepak’s professional email address about the behavior of AI’s in a Sharpie configuration. They were signed by a Dr. Roald Maartine and the traceback led by a devious path to the same disguised location as Elexi’s cell phone call.