SWNOVELS Chapter Dinner for Three
Dinner for Three
Block 7,922,103
Han and Huifen are getting everything ready before Min arrives for dinner. The children are bathed and ready for bed once they have dinner. Huifen puts the final touches on the fish before placing it in the oven. She’s waiting until Min arrives to complete the fish. And Huifen is pleased with how the house looks.
Within moments, AI announces Min’s arrival.
“It will be nice to see Min again. I’ve been so busy with the kids these days.”
“Yes, I think she’s looking forward to dinner with us tonight.”
Han walks to the door as Min approaches.
“Hi, Min!”
“Hi, Mr. Tan. Thank you for inviting me.” Min is holding some flowers for Huifen.
Han whispers, “I will let you give those to Huifen.” And he winks at her.
She whispers back, “Yeah, great.”
They walk in together and head towards the kitchen.
“Hi, Mrs. Tan.”
Huifen turns around, “Oh, my, those are lovely! Hi Min. Please, you know you can call me Huifen.”
“I know; I just like to make sure.”
“Of course.”
Han motions to Min, “Please sit down. Would you like something to drink?” Huifen motions to Min and reaches for the flowers.
“Uh, sure. Do you have any white wine?”
“Yes, of course. Let me check on the house special.” Han smiles, comes around the large island in the kitchen, and looks down at the wine cooler. “I’ll get you set momentarily.”
“So, Min. I hear your boss is working you pretty hard.” Huifen says.
“Oh, not really. He only thinks he’s working me hard.”
Han peers above the island, “Well, in that case, young lady, maybe we shouldn’t be having dinner. Maybe you need to be working tonight.” Han says with a laugh.
Huifen and Min laugh with him.
The children hear the conversation and come running in.
“Hey kids, do you remember Ms. Min?” Huifen says.
“Yes!” They all say in unison.
“Ok, say hello and go back and play until it’s time for dinner.”
They each come up to Min, say hello, promptly turn around, and run back into the play area.
“Dear, how much more time until we are ready?” Han asks.
“Oh, twenty or thirty minutes.”
“Ok, I want to show Min the garden.” Huifen knows that’s where he takes anyone, including herself, if they want to avoid eavesdropping from AI.
“Yes, of course.”
“Min, here’s your wine; let’s go to the garden.”
“Yes, of course, Mr. Tan.”
“You know you can call me Han when we are here?” He says in a forced whisper.
“Yes, but that would be too uncomfortable for me.”
“Ok, let’s go outside.”
They walk to the front door. Han opens the door and allows Min to pass through. Then, he shouts over his shoulder, “Dear, just let us know when you are ready.”
She yells back, “Yes, of course.”
Han leads Min over to the bench in the garden and motions for her to sit next to him as he begins to sit down.
“Ok, let’s talk about data from the device and the memory and processing issues with the Beta console.”
“Yes, Mr. Tan, I’ve been thinking about it since you showed it to me this morning. But, first, we need to get the data from the device and import it into Han Tech AI.”
“I agree, but I’m not sure what we are dealing with, and I don’t want Han Tech AI and SO-Land AI to analyze the contents before I know what they are.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want Han Tech to analyze the data?”
“Well, I’m not sure the device is from SO-Land. I’m sure you noticed the alert on the console.”
“Yes, I did, but I didn’t know what to think. I thought it was maybe something you had coded.”
“No. And another issue is that it came in a capsule with unrecognizable lettering. And I found it on the shore near Ben Jianao.”
“What? Mr. Tan, what were you doing along the shoreline? Of course, you know it is frowned upon to be near the water like that.”
“Yes, I know, but Ben Jianao is my favorite place to be when doing the node updates. I love watching the sun come up before the day begins. I do some meditation there. It has become a very special place for me all these years. After I was done and heading back to the node center to start the validation, I found the capsule with the data device inside. It looks like it had been in the ocean for years. The bottom was covered with thick algae. The capsule is made of titanium, designed to last forever. So I’m pretty sure it’s not from SO-Land, but I have no idea where it could have come from.”
“Hmm... I see. That is odd. We could make a console with enough memory, but since I don’t know what it is, we would still need the full AI network for computing and analysis.”
Min pauses, then looks Han in the eyes and whispers, “Do you think that other people exist outside of SO-Land?”
Han’s eyes get wide. For another adult to ask, that question is shocking. Children ask their parents silly questions like that all the time. Through exacting conditioning, though, SO-Landers never entertain those types of questions. Han immediately flashes back to what he saw in Mehran through the shamal. He keeps the thought and image to himself.
“Min, that is a fascinating question.”
Han pauses. Min can tell he is thinking.
He begins, “Ok, what do you think about this; let’s get some of this code onto the Han Tech AI test net as a working prototype of a new update for the nodes. That way, we can get it into the consciousness of Han Tech AI. Since it will be in the test net, it won’t be shared with SO-Land AI.”
“Ok, then what?”
I don’t know, let me think.
Huifen calls from the door, “We are ready!”
“Ok, dear. We’ll be right there.”
Han and Min stand up and start walking towards the door in silence.
They walk into the dining area, and the children sit down. Han points to the chair to his left for Min. She places her glass of wine on the table.
Huifen serves dinner and sits down to the right of Han.
“Great, what do you think of the garden, Min?” Huifen asks.
“Very interesting. I can see that Mr. Tan has spent much time on it.”
They all smile and begin the meal. But Han is working on solving yet another problem as they eat.
+++
“Well, that was very nice, dear.”
“Yes, Huifen, that was delicious,” Min adds.
“Thank you, dear, and thank you, Min.”
“Ok, children, say goodnight to daddy and Ms. Min and go to your rooms so I can tuck you in,” Huifen says.
Each of the children comes to Han. He picks up each to hug and kiss them. Then, when he puts them down, they run to their rooms.
“Ok, how about I get a tray of mango pudding... that is one of Han’s favorite deserts,” she winks at Min, “and some mooncakes. You can take them out to the garden.”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful.” Min chimes in.
Huefin enters the kitchen and opens the refrigerator to retrieve the mango pudding. The moon cakes are in a box by the stove. She places them on a tray and carries them to Han.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks, dear; I love you,” Han says and kisses her.
“Thank you, Huifen.”
“Ok, I’ll make sure the kids are in bed. And you two can finish admiring the garden.”
Han and Min walk to the door. Min opens the door for Han, and they head to the bench. Han places the tray on his lap as they sit down.
“Please help yourself.”
“Ok, this looks delightful.”
“Ok, I was thinking over dinner that we can re-activate the consensus feature I was working on...”
“Mr. Tan, you know that caused a problem for SO-Land EMC,” Min mentions.
“Yes, yes, I know. But I think what we can do is activate it knowing there is going to be a problem. When I get a call from Mr. Dickhead.” Min laughs, “Then we can report that we are aware of the problem, but now we have a new solution with a new update to bring stability. We can then introduce the device as the delivery mechanism since we already have a Beta in AI consciousness, and we will have a portion of the data in the test net to look like a legitimate Han Tech update.”
“And then what? You know that the power usage from the consensus update will still flag EMC, and we don’t know how long it will take for the data from the small device to be uploaded into AI.”
“Well, that may not be accurate. However, if we push enough of this data into the Han Tech test net, we can calculate timing from there. I can only imagine that loading this onto the AI test net will happen much quicker than onto the beta console. So we can calculate how long a complete upload would take there.”
“But, Mr. Tan. I don’t think it’s just about data upload. Those lights on the device indicate that it’s communicating with another device or devices. Our prototype device only needed one light to understand internal functioning. If we use the nodes for storage and analysis, I’m not sure the design of our node centers will permit an outside signal. Our nodes connect to AI through our proprietary radio wave antennas.”
“Yes, yes, they do. Would it be possible for your team to develop a connector for this device that runs with the cables for the antenna? That way, the device can be connected, and whatever signal it generates or receives can still be transmitted or received. We can deploy this as a hardware update for each node.”
“Yes, I think that could work. We can design and fabricate everything at Han Tech in Wuhan. We can deploy the teams for the fitting, but unlike the node updates, I think we can deploy multiple teams to install this new hardware. I think we can get everything completed within six weeks.”
“Are you sure?”
“I think so. We already have what we need. We are just making a longer port. The manufacturing and assembly of these cables will take the most time.”
“Make it so number one!” Han exclaims.