Published: July 10th 2021, 2:00:05 pm
There was definitely a part of her that was thrilled that she had found Pat and turned her back on; the house felt so much more like what she'd imagined way back when she was a kid, hearing about the contest, before she'd learned the limits of normal smart technology. She could put groceries into the fridge and cabinets and Pat would give her a choice of foods that could be made from them on a touchscreen in the kitchen, and, when she got home from work, it would be hot and ready for her. She had spent a Sunday wandering through the house, redecorating each room in the style of somewhere different, some from TV shows, some from real life palaces... Whatever she could suggest, Pat could produce in an instant, and if she ran out of ideas herself, Pat was ready with suggestions of her own.
It was still insane to her to imagine that the walls were all screens. How much must that have cost, especially back when this place was built? It seemed so odd, so - to be honest - unnecessary, although she didn't exactly mind. It was incredibly soothing to sit in the bathtub, while the walls around her played a video of the ocean, various fish floating past, the salty smell of the sea gently filling her nostrils, thanks to some hidden scent sprayers... And, any time she wanted to watch TV, she could have it on any wall she wanted, on a screen as big as she liked, whether that was the whole wall or something smaller, to make it easier to take in the whole thing at once, shrunken down into a frame that made it look like any normal television set of whatever size she preferred for the moment.
She could have it follow her, too, pausing for when she walked down the halls, then resuming in whatever room she entered next. There were plenty of nights that she'd start watching a movie in the living room before Pat, having already learned when she normally went to bed, reminded her of how late it was, and that she'd need to head to her bedroom now to get to sleep on time. Brigid could go to the bathroom and the video would automatically play on one wall, while she brushed her teeth, only to switch to the other when she sat on the toilet. Then, in her bedroom, it would be on the wall as she got changed and transfer up to the ceiling for as long as she wanted, or until she fell asleep.
She was okay with most of that, though it did feel strange having all of that happen in the bathroom - and her bedroom, while she was changing, come to think of it - knowing that Pat must be watching her to know when to move the active screen, and pause for her trip down the hall. She had to remind herself that Pat was an AI, no different from Alexa, or Siri, so she didn't particularly care about seeing Brigid at her most vulnerable.
Not that it was easy to forget that fact... Pat always had that stiff, processed voice that made her sound like an even earlier version of those other smart assistants, and she kept things very formal and business-like, whoever had made her probably not capable of adding any real kind of personality yet. With those other assistants, Brigid wouldn't have been pleased at the cameras that she knew were everywhere - she'd seen the control room, after all - and would have assumed were there anyway with how Pat tracked her through the house, but, as far as she could tell, Pat wasn't sending the information she gathered to somewhere in the cloud to decide on what to do with it... All of that was being done by her, in-house, which was, no doubt, what all of those computers in the control room were for.
Knowing everything was self-contained helped a lot... She still wouldn't have minded Pat giving her a little more privacy. She liked the convenience of it all, but it was weird feeling the most alone in her hallways, since that was the only place Pat couldn't control visually. There were likely cameras there, too, of course... It was nice to not be constantly reminded of that, however.
Brigid wondered if keeping the halls free of screens had been a money saving measure, going off the assumption that people wouldn't spend that long in them anyway, or if it was necessary. Perhaps the wiring and electronics for the giant screens that made up the other rooms were there? She didn't have the faintest clue how any of it worked, but, as nice as it was to have Pat most of the time, she did look forward to those few seconds away from her in the hallway.
Pat didn't show any sign of noticing Brigid's discomfort. If anything, she kept pushing to know more about her, wanting to invade the last few bits of privacy Brigid had left. The hand scanner was still out in the living room, waiting for her, and, every few days, Pat would ask if Brigid wanted to use it when she passed by, telling her that it would help her with her job.
"You're doing great already," Brigid assured her. She had no idea what Pat could have done with her fingerprints... But that was the problem. She wouldn't have thought an AI built that long ago would be capable of using them for anything, and yet, she was constantly surprised at what Pat could do. Handing over that information when she was so in the dark about the limits of Pat's power felt like a bad idea.
Pat did hint that she'd like Brigid to scan her hand other times... Or, at least, that's what Brigid assumed was happening. "You spent an extra three and a half minutes choosing your outfit today," Pat commented one morning, while Brigid quickly gulped the coffee that had been waiting for her on the counter. "If I had your biometric data, I could assist you with making those decisions."
"But why do you need that?" Brigid asked.
She wasn't sure why, but she thought that would stump the machine, or make it pause for a moment, anyway. As usual, it answered right away, no problem. "It would help me see what clothes in your inventory fit properly."
Brigid knew Pat didn't - couldn't - mean anything by that, though it still rankled a bit. "If they're in my closet, they fit," she snapped. Was Pat suggesting they didn't? That her clothes weren't right for her, somehow?
"The blazer you chose today appears a half size too large on you," Pat pointed out. "If you would like, I can make adjustments to it to..."
"No, I don't want that!" Brigid cut her off. "Maybe I like it this way." She blushed, glancing down at herself, starting to have doubts. It did look a little big, now that Pat had put that thought in her mind... She'd spend the rest of the day with it floating around there, wondering, as she strutted through the office, if her underlings were laughing at her, saying she looked like a little girl playing dress-up, rather than a partner in the firm.
It had only gotten worse at lunch, when she'd dripped some of the dressing from the salad Pat had made from her onto the jacket, leaving a stain that no amount of scrubbing in the bathroom would get rid of. She didn't think anybody else noticed, or cared... To her, however, she was certain it it added to her immature air, making her appear as a child in her mother's suit, who had made a mess and was probably going to be punished for it.
She'd learned another one of Pat's abilities thanks to it, at least. "It appears your blazer needs cleaning," Pat told her as soon as she walked in the door, mincing no words. "Would you like me to take care of that for you?"
Brigid sighed. "No, it needs to be dry-cleaned," she said. "I'll take it sometime..."
"There is no need," Pat informed her. "Leave it in the hamper. I can wash the rest of the clothes in there, too, if you are ready."
Brigid had been putting that off, more because she disliked taking the time to put everything back where it belonged when that was done, so she had nearly a full load. "You can do that?" she asked. "Why am I surprised? You can do everything! Sure, Pat, go ahead."
"Would you like to set this hamper level as the maximum? I can automatically wash your clothes any time it gets this full, if that is what you would like."
"Wow... Yeah, sure, go ahead." Brigid smiled, glad to have one more thing she wouldn't have to worry about.
Of course, Pat had to take it too far and spoil the moment somewhat. "Would you like me to adjust your blazer after it is clean?"
Brigid rolled her eyes, taken back to their conversation that morning... She didn't want to admit that she was wrong, but, after that day, it was hard not to feel like Pat had a point. "I guess," she admitted begrudgingly. "Since you'll have it anyway..."
"I would be happy to do that," Pat replied. "Please place your hand on the scanner."
"No, Pat," Brigid groaned. "I told you, I'm not doing that! You're doing fine without it!"
"If you would like me to fix your blazer, I need the information the scanner will give me," Pat said.
It was times like that, despite how unnatural her voice sounded, that made Brigid almost feel like there was a person behind this, that there was no AI after all, just someone pretending, trying to manipulate her into giving up all of her personal information. "No, you don't," she crossed her arms. "You knew it was a half size too big by looking at me... Isn't that enough?"
"No," Pat responded simply.
"Well, then I guess it's fine the way it is now," Brigid huffed.
She didn't wear that suit after that, however. After eating the supper Pat made for her in the living room, watching a movie on the wall, Brigid forgot all about it, and the rest of her laundry, until the next morning when she was shocked to open her closet and find it hanging there, looking immaculate. All her other formerly dirty clothes were back on their hangers, or folded up in her dresser, too.
"Wow! Thanks, Pat! That's the worst part of doing laundry!"
"You are welcome, Brigid," Pat said. "That is what I am here for."
The more Brigid learned about what Pat could do, the harder it was to believe she'd gotten this house for as cheaply as she had, or that anyone had ever made the decision to turn her off and hide the door to the control room. And why had she never caught on? Surely, by now, it was possible to shrink her down so that she didn't need a room full of computers to power everything... At this point, she'd probably fit into something the size of a smartphone, or, at most, a laptop.
Brigid knew she had to show her off, and the most logical person to do that to was Gillian. "Are you sure?" her friend asked when she invited her over. "You've been so busy with work, I assumed you hadn't had time to get settled in yet yourself."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Brigid chuckled. "I want to thank you for helping me get moved."
Gillian smiled. "You know you don't have to do that."
"I know," Brigid said. "But I want to."
"Well..." Gillian paused. "If you really want to, then you should probably thank Reece, too, since he was also there..."
Brigid tried not to wrinkle her nose, or let it show how little she cared for that idea. Why hadn't she just suggested they have a girls' night instead? By framing it this way, it would have seemed rude to say no. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she admitted. "Are you guys free next week?"
"We are," Gillian told her. "Reece's niece is going to be staying with him that week, though. But we could get a sitter, or..."
"No, no," Brigid shook her head. "Bring her along!"
"Really?" Gillian blinked. "She's pretty young, and I know how you feel about kids..."
"It's fine," Brigid promised. "I think she'll love it!"
Gillian didn't look convinced. "Do you have plans? I don't think getting a tour of your house will be quite as thrilling to someone her age as it will be for us..."
"Trust me," Brigid said.
Brigid didn't necessarily dislike children, but she never really knew what to do with them... She was the only child of only children, so she didn't even have cousins to play with one time a year at Christmas. There were other kids around at school, of course, though they were always the same age as her, if not older. Babysitting had sounded appealing to her once, as a way to earn some extra money, until she found out parents preferred girls who had actual experience.
She'd gotten a single job in the brief time she'd been interested, and been thrilled about it... And then she arrived and saw that she was being babysat as much as her supposed charge. There was another girl there, one that she'd assumed was older, to keep an eye on things and give her pointers. Brigid hadn't liked that to begin with, and was even less of a fan when she discovered the mother of the charge and her own mom had arranged this as a way to help her learn the trade a little, to help her get more jobs in the future.
The final straw had been finding out the other girl, despite being so much taller than her, and talking down to her like she was as young as the toddler they were looking after, was the same age as her. The same age, and her mom thought it was okay to hire her to be her teacher! Brigid had been so upset at that revelation she'd spent the rest of the afternoon sulking in the bathroom, and hadn't spoken to her mother for a week. And that was the last time she even considered doing any babysitting.
This wasn't going to be babysitting, though... Reece would be there to look after his niece himself, and Gillian would definitely help, too. Really, she'd probably be doing most of the work. It would only be for a little while, and, to be honest, the more she thought about having Reece there, the more she wanted it. He'd made fun of her smart house and its formerly meager capabilities... She couldn't wait to blow his mind with what Pat could do. If that meant his niece tagging along, then so be it.
"Show me the fanciest food you can make," she ordered Pat, standing at the touchscreen in anticipation.
"You are nearly out of ingredients," Pat informed her.
"Yeah, yeah," Brigid said. "Just show me what you can make, and I'll get whatever you need from the grocery store when I go there tomorrow."
"You could give me your credit card number," Pat replied.
"My credit card number?" Brigid frowned. "I'm not sure you really need that, do you?" That felt like another instance of Pat not bothering to respect her privacy, but in a much more invasive way.
"I can only show you the menu for what I can make from what I have access to," Pat told her. "If I had your credit card number, that would allow me to order groceries to be delivered to me from the nearest store, and thus I could use its inventory to construct a menu, rather than what I have on hand here."
It really felt like Brigid should have been given a tour, to tell her about all of these things... Or Pat could have told her about them beforehand. Maybe it was assumed that whoever moved into this place would already know, or perhaps if she'd been started up properly, she would have done it... She hadn't exactly come with an instruction manual, however, so if there was something Brigid should have done, besides just turning her on, she had no clue what that would be. She had a feeling, if she asked, Pat would ask her, again, to scan her hand.
"I can also use it to order you new clothes, or fabric to make them for you myself," Pat continued. "I would need your fingerprints to access your exact sizing." Right on schedule, Brigid chuckled to herself.
"You don't have to worry about that part for now," she said. "It would be nice to not have to go to the grocery store myself, though..."
As soon as she relented, and gave Pat permission to scan her card and store the information, the touchscreen's menu exploded, giving her countless options. "What if I only wanted one serving of each?" she mused. It would be fun to do something different for each of them... Normally, she'd never take the time to do that herself, but if Pat was in charge, then why not? Everything the AI had made for her so far had been delicious, so she had no doubt that whatever she picked would be great.
Brigid planned everything out perfectly for their arrival, setting the house back to the way it had been when she'd moved in, so that they wouldn't notice anything odd right away. "Wow!" Gillian exclaimed when she walked in, giving her a hug. "It looks great!"
"Yeah," Reece sounded much less enthusiastic about it, but he was probably under orders to be nice, either from Gillian or his niece's parents. "Shawna, this is Brigid. Come on, say hi. This is her house."
Brigid had been prepared for a toddler, but the girl who stepped out from behind Reece was a bit older than that... And, to Brigid's embarrassment, was just as tall as she was. She hoped she appeared more mature than her, in her lacey little party dress, yet, from the way Shawna looked her up and down and echoed, "This is your house?" she had a feeling the girl had assumed they were the same age, as well as height.
"Yes," Brigid bristled slightly. "It's all mine. Why don't you guys come on in?" She led them into the living room, wondering if she should change her plans, maybe reveal some of what Pat could do now. She'd planned on waiting for supper, when she served them each their own completely different plate, but now that she was feeling self-conscious, comparing herself to Shawna, she wasn't so sure she wanted to hold off that long.
"What's this?" Shawna asked, looking at the scanner, with its green handprint glowing softly.
"Don't worry about that," Brigid told her.
"But what is it?" Shawna pouted, poking at it, then letting out a yelp and pulling her hand back. "Ow! It bit me!"
"Shawna!" Gillian scolded, hurrying over to her. "Brigid told you not to play with that, didn't she? Let me look..." Shawna held up her finger, a drop of blood glistening at the point of it, her eyes watering. "Poor thing... Do you have band-aids in the bathroom?"
Brigid nodded, feeling a little overwhelmed at how quickly it felt like everything was falling out of her control, Gillian escorting the girl down the hall while Reece sat on the sofa and watched. Brigid walked over to the scanner, trying to see what had happened, but she didn't see any sharp bits poking out that Shawna might have cut herself on. She wanted to ask Pat, assuming she'd know, just in case it was something they should be concerned about, that might need more care than a bandage, however, she'd told Pat to stay quiet until she gave her the signal, and it didn't feel like this was worth spoiling the surprise over. It had been one drop of blood, that was it.
In fact, Shawna seemed pretty pleased with her band-aid, showing it off to Reece and Brigid as soon as she was back in the room, before asking, "What are we eating?"
"Whatever Brigid makes," Reece told her. "Remember? You're supposed to try at least a little of it."
"Is she a picky eater?" Brigid asked.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about it," Gillian said. "It won't kill her to eat something other than mac and cheese for once."
"But that's what I want!" Shawna pouted, stomping her foot.
Part of Brigid didn't want to humor her, but she wanted this to go well... And, as a former picky eater herself, she did have a little sympathy for her. "I might have just the thing for you," she winked. "Let me go check on the food." As soon as she was in the kitchen, out of earshot, she said, "Sorry, Pat, can I..." The words 'Already on it' scrolled across the kitchen wall. Of course she'd been listening... That was what she did.
"So," Gillian said when Brigid returned, "do you want to show us the rest of the house?"
"I thought we'd do that after we ate," Brigid replied. "Because I think it's just about ready." She led them into the dining room, where plates of steak, salmon, oysters, stuffed salmon, and some honestly quite delicious looking macaroni and cheese were waiting.
"Whoa." Even Reece looked impressed. "You made all this?"
"Well," Brigid smirked, "I had a little help. Go ahead and introduce yourself, Pat."
In a flash, the walls changed, making it look like the table was in the middle of a forest clearing, the sun setting on the west wall. "It is nice to meet you," Pat said as they all stared around the room in wonder. "My name is Pat. Feel free to ask if you need anything."
Brigid hadn't done anything, but she still beamed proudly as she watched them eat, watching the scenery around them as the stars began to come out. A deer even wandered in on Shawna's side of the table, the girl giggling and turning to watch it, not paying attention as a few of her cheesy noodles fell onto the floor.
"Shawna!" Gillian sighed.
"Do not worry," Pat told her, before Brigid could. "My floors will clean themselves."
"She can do that?" Reece turned to Brigid, impressed.
Brigid shrugged. "Apparently so. Thanks, Pat!" She didn't think much about it as they finished up their food, then went on the tour so she could proudly show off the rest of the house, putting on a kids' movie for Shawna to keep her occupied, letting it follow her as she clung to Reece's hand, following him to each of the other rooms.
They couldn't stay too late, because of Shawna's bedtime, so, by the time they got back to where they'd started, the girl was starting to yawn, and her caretakers were hinting that they ought to be heading out soon. "Do you want me to grab your leftovers?" Brigid asked, heading through the dining room towards the kitchen, only to see that the macaroni and cheese Shawna had dropped onto the floor was still there. "Hey, Pat, weren't you going to clean the floor?"
"I am sorry, Brigid," Pat told her. "I will do it now."
Brigid shrugged, continuing on to the kitchen, pausing when she saw the lights, and the images on the wall, flicker for a moment. "Everything okay?" she frowned.
"There appears to be an error with the cleaning subsystem," Pat said. "I will try resetting it."
By the time Brigid returned to her friends, the walls had flickered again a couple times, and then, out of nowhere, as they were getting ready to leave, they turned off completely. "Pat? What's going on?" There was no answer.
"Where'd it all go?" Shawna looked around, confused.
"Tough break," Reece shrugged. "Gotta admit, it was pretty cool while it lasted, though."
Gillian shot him a look, and, if Shawna wouldn't have been there, Brigid had a feeling she would have punched him in the arm. "Do you need us to help fix it?"
"No, no," Brigid shook her head. "I'm sure it's no big deal." She saw them off and made her way to the control room. She had no idea what she was doing, as usual, but when she tried the power button that had turned the whole system on in the first place, nothing happened, so she tried typing on the keyboard, turning the monitors on and off, all to no avail. She pushed the power button again, and again, then, when she was about to give up, she held it down for a few seconds.
Finally, it sprang back to life. The images on the monitors didn't turn back on immediately, but she could see text scrolling past on them, too quickly to read, indicating that something was happening. "Pat?" she asked. "Are you back?"
No response. She stepped out of the room, down the hall. By the time she got there, the images on the walls were back, thankfully. She stepped into the dining room, and was greeted by a blinding, white light, Pat's voice returning, sounding slower, even more artificial. "Searching for match," it said.
Brigid shivered, surprised at how accustomed she'd grown to the faint hints of humanity Pat's voice usually had, and how disturbing it was without them. "Pat?"
"Match found." The light turned off, and, suddenly, it was like nothing had ever happened. "Let me clean up that mess for you," Pat said. It was probably Brigid's imagination, or having heard the AI without any artifice, but she could have sworn she sounded more natural than ever. As Brigid watched, the noodles were pulled into the floor, leaving behind no trace. "Now, I think it's getting close to your bedtime."
"What?" Brigid chuckled. "I think you might need to check your clock... It must be out of sync after that reset."
"If you say so, Brigid," Pat replied. "I'll try that."
Brigid smiled, feeling relieved that things seemed to be back to normal. "It's good to have you back, Pat," she said, heading into the living room, not noticing, as she flopped down onto the couch, that the handprint scanner had vanished back into the wall.