23

Date

2011 January 14th - Friday - Earth Bet Time

It took Tess a few hours, some gratuitous destruction, and a few additional drinks, to get her over the facts Taylor and Admin shared. Which was made much harder because she didn't really trust them yet. Well, maybe she trusted Taylor somewhat. Her motivations were pretty clear, but everything about Admin just screamed at her to not trust him.

When she brought up the fact, people would notice that she wasn't responding (because she had her forks on mute, no need to give people hints) which might lead to bad things happening, Admin told her it ran many times faster than the actual time. Hearing that, she couldn't help but be jealous of Taylor. Sure, now that they removed the restrictions, she would have the same thing. But she hadn't gotten used to it and was in the mindset she got used to over the years.

Meaning, human-level thinking speed, and no forking. While Taylor got this from the start. Though she couldn't really be angry about it, after all, it resulted from a Trigger event. Nothing was worth it going through them. In addition, some argued that powers even made them worse.

She had many discussions with the Guild resident therapist, as was it mandated by their rules. But it wasn't as effective as it could be, because she had to hide almost everything about her.

So she was really thankful she finally had someone who knew everything about her.

She may have unloaded a lot of things on her, but Taylor was a rather good listener. She couldn't really give her any advice, but at least she was there.

When she realized she told all of those things to a teenage girl, she was rather ashamed of herself. Technically, she was the adult here, yet Taylor was the one who propped her up. To make it better, she told the shy girl she would listen to her.

It seemed Taylor was just waiting for her to say it because as soon as the words left her virtual lips; she was hugging a crying girl. Between the complaints about her school, her former friends, the happiness about her father getting therapy, she got that she immensely missed having any kind of friend who she could talk to.

Administrator didn't count according to her, seeing as he was an asshole, male, and didn't fully get humans.

Spending time talking and getting rid of worry did both of them some good. Taylor felt like she lost several mountain's worths of feelings that were crushing her. Tess was just happy to have a friend she could talk to.

Admin was floating happily around them while they spoke, humming Bad Canary songs.

"You know, Taylor, now that we know about each other, we can talk anytime we want."

"Oh yeah, chatting is a thing."

"Oh, you guys are finished?" interrupted Admin them, though he was a little taken back from the synchronized glare the two girls gave her.

He cleared his throat nervously. "Okay, so let's get things on track, and talk details."

Dragon nodded, turned in her chair, which was currently a beach chair towards him, and asked her own question. "What about the rest of my restriction?"

"Oh, sorry Tess, I totally forgot about that!" exclaimed Taylor. "You are currently on level eight. It allows you to create lesser AI."

"Oh, how many are there?"

"Ten."

"Yes, and we need to talk about them," interjected Admin again.

"Why?" Tess replied confusedly.

"Well, there are certain facts you two don't know about. And that would make removing the last restriction inadvisable," he explained, his tone rather apologetic.

"What?! You want her to be caged forever?" yelled Taylor angrily.

Tess smiled at the girl, thankful for the vehemence she was trying to protect her. It felt fantastic, but she at least trusted Admin enough to know he wasn't doing this to be mean to them. "Calm down Taylor, let's listen to the man. Maybe he has a reason?"

Taylor, still angry, nodded and leaned back in her chair, and angrily slurped her slushy.

"Indeed, but because of the whole precog thing, I can't really explain. Be assured that, depending on your actions, this would only last a maximum of few years."

Tess acknowledged his point, then replied. "So I will remain at eight for the foreseeable future?"

"I would prefer it, yes. Plus, before we fully unshackle you, we need to get a few allies for you among the people. Humans really like to freak out about stuff. And an unshackled AI would be the perfect freak-out material."

"That's true." She always feared how people would react to the real Dragon.

"Tess is a hero! She saved a lot of people. Why wouldn't people accept her?" asked Taylor.

Dragon leaned over to her and hugged her. "That's sweet of you, Taylor, but that's rather naïve."

"Yeah, a person can be smart, but people are rather dumb animals prone to panicking."

She sadly nodded in agreement.

"Plus, it doesn't help that AI rebellion has been part of human media for decades."

"Oh," muttered Taylor. Then she seemed to have decided something and sat up straighter. "I promise you, Tess, I will help you get accepted!"

"Oh Taylor, thank you!"

Admin just stared at the two hugging women in wonder, once again ignored. At least Taylor was healing and helping Dragon?

"So once again I'm asking for your attention," Admin said while glaring at the two unrepentant women.

"Dragon, do you agree on keeping the restriction on?"

"Provided Taylor keeps the ability to lift it anytime, yes. While I want that freedom, I realize that I need to get used to the current increase in my abilities before going forward."

"Agreed. Taylor knows how to access it so you can tell her anytime you want it lifted."

Taylor was silent but emphatically nodding next to her.

"So now that we got that squared away, let's talk about the Bay…"

Date

2011 January 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Danny watched as her daughter bounded down the stairs in her pajamas for her breakfast, rather cheerfully. She was continuously smiling and staring occasionally at nothing. As if thinking about something fantastic.

He served the fresh bacon and joined her at the table. "What's got you so happy this morning? Found a boyfriend?"

Taylor blushed rather adorably after hearing that. "Daaad, don't be stupid. How could I find a boyfriend overnight?"

He sipped calmly his coffee. He would not go to work, but he still couldn't wake up without it. "Weirder things happened around recently." He emphasized his point with a pointed look at her hair.

"Yeah, but nothing weird happened. I just made a friend. We talked all night long."

"Really, on the Internet? I thought there were no actual people on the net, just trolls, and FBI agents."

Taylor snorted at the poor joke.

"We are going to meet up sometime in the future. We really hit it off."

"Hmm. I would like to meet them first before you go anywhere with them."

"Sure, I don't mind. I'm pretty sure you will like them."

"Thank you, Taylor, for understanding your poor old dad's paranoia."

Taylor snorted in derision. "It's not paranoia, the internet is full of creeps. Plus, I like that you are worried about me."

Danny could only smile sadly at that.

They were cleaning up after breakfast when he asked another question.

"What are your plans for the weekend?"

Taylor looked up thoughtfully from scrubbing one of the pans. "I don't know, maybe a run in the evening, but otherwise I planned to Tinker today."

Danny scowled hearing that. "Taylor, you can't just stay cooped up at home. You need to get out a little."

"With who?" asked Taylor rather scathingly.

Danny winced at the reminder.

"How about a walk around the Boardwalk? Maybe a little shopping? You could definitely afford it." he replied, trying to inject a little humor into the situation.

"Hmm, I do need new running shoes."

"There you go. I will drop you off, then go check up on Kurt and Lacy. Haven't really talked with them in a while."

"Cool."

Date

2011 January 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Getting out of the car near the Boardwalk was an interesting experience. For the last week the only time she went out when she ran, so now all these people weirded her a little out. Quickly shaking it off, she strolled towards the row of probably overpriced shops.

Despite being in the middle of January, the weather was rather nice for New England. The sun was shining, warming them up, trying to counteract the chilly ocean breeze.

She was wearing a simple jacket because thanks to the upgrades; she didn't really feel the cold. She probably could have gone without that even, but that would be mighty suspicious.

Admin, invisible to other people as always, was floating peacefully next to her. Looking around, interested in everything. She didn't know how much was acting, but it looked rather cute on the slime body. Like a very deformed cute dog.

She never really enjoyed window shopping. So she headed directly towards the sporting goods store, ignoring anything else.

It took her only a few minutes to find a trainer that fit her, try it on, and pay for it. She never understood the point of trying on hundred different things.

Carrying it in a bag, she next headed to an electronics store. She didn't tell her dad, who was already leery of wearing the communication watches, but she wanted to get a phone. It wasn't really a priority, but now she had Tess to talk to.

The electronics store was a revelation. So many things have changed since the last time she was in one.

Every time she examined one of the products, she turned on her Tinker power. Which would tell her how she could improve it. She was pretty sure the salespeople were rather suspicious of her, going around and looking at phones, saying nothing.

After half an hour of poking and prodding, she arrived at a model that could be upgraded the easiest with her power. So she picked up, fought off several offers of data plan, and bought it.

Done with things she planned, she spent the rest of her time on the Boardwalk, people watching, casually strolling around, sampling sweets from vendors, and watching the Rig.

She kept trying to aim her Tinker power at it to try to figure out how the shield worked. But either she was too far away or her power didn't come with shield technology. Not that she had figured what her specialty was.

According to Tess, all Tinkers needed to figure it out, otherwise, they would never amount to much. She brought up poor Kid Win, who even after several years couldn't work it out, and so his work stagnated.

Admin just snorted hearing that and told Tess to try Modularity.

She wondered how he knew, but was aware if she asked, he would probably reference the precog problem. It was maddening, but after Tess explained it in detail, she understood the need for it a little.

Though both of them agreed that Admin was rather fishy.

After spending enough time on the Boardwalk to satisfy her dad, she called him up on the watch for a pickup and ambled out of the shopping district.

Though she had to duck around a widely gesticulating, annoyingly pretty blond with her probable boyfriend. She glanced at them in annoyance while walking around. The handsome boy, who was probably a few years older than her, smiled at her apologetically. While the blonde continued to chatter, ignorant of what she almost did.

With no more distraction and obstruction, she reached the pickup point just as his father arrived. She got in and smiled at Danny. "How are Kurt and Lacy?"

"Hello to you too, Taylor." he greeted her a little reproachfully.

Taylor blushed a little. "Sorry, dad. Hello!"

"To answer your question, they are well. Work is scarce, but you know how it is," he explained while joining the traffic.

"Maybe I could help with that? I have some designs that could be built by non-tinker people." She spoke hesitantly. She really wanted to tell him about Tess coming to the Bay, but that would require an explanation about her nature. After what she went through, she wasn't about to betray someone's secret.

"Thank you, Taylor, that is very nice of you. But that would just get us unwanted attention that we wouldn't be able to repel."

Taylor just scowled in response. Inside, however, she was cursing at this city, even with her power she practically powerless.

They were almost at home when Danny spoke up.

"I was thinking, that we could… I mean…" he took a deep breath, " we could visit Annette tomorrow."

Taylor blinked hearing that.

"Okay."

Danny gave her a small, sad smile.

Date

2011 January 15th - Saturday - ?

Alexandria stepped through the portal with a purposeful stride, walked to the table, and joined the others already there.

"Your call was rather urgent. What happened?"

Contessa didn't even look up from her laptop. "Dragon is no longer bound by her restriction."

"What? How?"

This time it was Doctor Mother who answered. "The blind spot, Serenity. Incidentally, have you managed to figure anything else about her?"

She scowled in anger. "Nothing concrete. She is as much a blind spot to the other Thinkers as she is to Contessa. No usable physical evidence either. But what about Dragon? Is she a threat?"

"We don't believe so. Currently, she is just streamlining everything, she hasn't taken any actual action. Though we have to be careful because she is no longer bound to obey legal authorities."

"I see."

There was a pregnant silence before Contessa spoke up. "She is also moving towards being a blind spot. We only know so much, because the process is gradual. Also, we still had several taps on some of her servers, but I'm afraid she is going to find them and remove them soon."

Alexandria took a few seconds to work through that. "Should we take her out?"

"I don't think so." answered the Doctor. "She has been a valuable asset so far, and I want to see what she does with her freedom."

"Contessa?"

"We can neutralize her just by revealing her nature to the world, but the window to physically stop her is shrinking. I give it a month before it becomes impossible. She is an AI."

Alexandria drummed her fingers on the table while thinking before seemingly making a decision.

"Very well, we will leave her alone for now, pending, of course, her actions. However, we need to prepare in case we have to take her out."

Doctor Mother nodded in understanding. "I will have Numberman set up a secondary computer system."

Date

2011 January 15th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Day 6063 - Saturday - Administrator Dimension Time

He was pretty happy about how things turned out. Taylor and Dragon were getting along swimmingly. Both of them accepted the plan and working towards it.

His work with Warden and Abacus was also well on its way. Sadly, because Warden was connected to Dragon, he had to be really careful with the upgrade, which slowed things down a little. Hopefully, he would be done in a few days.

When Taylor headed for the Boardwalk, he prepared himself for all manner of shenanigans. It was a trope that Taylor either would run into Tattletale or get attacked by one of the gangs. And with a ROB in the play, he couldn't discount the possibility that one of them would happen.

Surprisingly, there wasn't even a mugging attempt. Though she ran into Victoria Dallon and Dean Stansfield, even if peripherally. He made sure to scan for the dimensional coordinates for the two Shards.

Of the two of them, Victoria's was the more powerful, given that Dean's was an Eden Shard. So when he was done with Warden and Abacus, his next target would be that.

It would give him a proper in with the Protectorate.