Forever Yours
21
Building Memories
Henry cheated. At least, that was his assessment of things. Instead of cooking, he ordered a Thanksgiving meal for eight from the local co-op. It came complete with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.
Lisa still helped in the kitchen to make sure everything was hot before their friends arrived. Henry went to his parents’ house for folding chairs and they decided to serve the dinner on paper plates. No one was planning to spend the afternoon washing dishes.
There were nine at the table instead of the expected eight. Kaitlyn took Henry seriously when he suggested she could invite her golf friend, George. She’d given him enough notice that he could get another chair from his parents’ house. Kaitlyn sat next to Henry at the table, but George seemed especially enamored of Chastity. He’d also brought a couple of bottles of wine, which was appreciated since all the others except Kaitlyn were under twenty-one.
“We’re not discussing business at this party,” Luke said as he raised his glass, “but we would be remiss if we didn’t congratulate Henry on pre-releasing our software to EMEE for final tests before release. It will be in the market in two weeks. Congratulations, Henry.”
Everyone cheered.
In keeping with the statement of not talking business, though, that was all that was mentioned.
“Here’s to Chastity’s twentieth birthday, Saturday,” Henry said. “May this be just the beginning.”
“To our hosting couple, Henry and Lisa,” Isobel said.
“Uh… We’re not a couple,” Lisa said. “I just rent an apartment. Henry’s a couple with Kaitlyn.”
“Oh. That was what I meant,” Isobel backed things up. “I meant we’re guests in your home. I mean…”
“We get it, Isobel,” Chastity said. “Here’s to Henry and Kaitlyn. May you have a long life together. And now on to pumpkin pie.”
There was a lot of shuffling around to clear the table and reset with pie plates and plastic forks. Henry had a pot of coffee ready for those who wanted a cup. He already had an entire cupboard of coffee mugs that just seemed to continue to grow.
He put an arm around Kaitlyn as he poured. Josh was given the honor of serving the pie, but Lisa was standing by with two cans of spray cream topping.
“Want to spend the night tonight?” he asked. “I’ve never had a girl stay over in my apartment.”
“Except your roommate,” Kaitlyn said. “I’m not feeling well. I’m going to ask George to take me home. I’ll see you tomorrow night and we can just have sex if you want.”
“That’s not the only reason for us to get together,” Henry said. In fact, they’d only connected that way once since their first time.
“I know. But it’s too cold to play golf. See you tomorrow, babe.” She isolated George who seemed disappointed to have to leave the party early and managed to get Chastity’s phone number before they disappeared.
“What are you doing now that the UI is finished?” Josh asked Lisa as they sat around Thursday afternoon.
“As soon as the app was out the door, Henry switched me over to cleaning up the company website. It needs it,” she laughed. “How about you?”
Henry had brought Josh on board to review his code during the past two weeks. There had been a lot of testing each other for ability and trust. Henry had never had anyone actually look at his code before. He thought he trusted Josh, but it was still a big step.
For Josh’s part, he didn’t want to offend Henry by questioning calls or routines, but he wanted to show his worth, as well. He admired Henry, not so much because he was a brilliant coder, but because he had such interesting vision as to where his development could take them. Josh was ready to hitch his wagon to that rising star.
“He’s got me reviewing code for a search engine and I’m getting to add a few features I’ve always wished I had in my own search engine. Just getting started of course,” Josh said. “Uh… I’m not… I mean… Would… Would you be interested in going out sometime? I know we’ve all got finals coming up in two weeks, but if you need a break, we could hang out… I guess.”
“Yeah. That would be okay. Don’t expect much, though. I’m probably going to get out of Dodge as soon as my last final is over. I like it here and all, but I need a break,” she said.
If ‘hanging out’ turned into an actual date, Josh would consider that a big win.
“I’m not very good at relationships,” Henry sighed as he lay in bed with Chastity Saturday afternoon.
Chastity started laughing.
“Hey, it’s not funny. Seriously, what should I do?”
Henry’s date with Kaitlyn on Friday could only be described as a little flat. They went out to a movie, had dinner, went back to her apartment, and fucked. Then he said goodnight and went home. He liked Kaitlyn. She seemed to be turned on enough, even though he didn’t think she came when he ate her. But she seemed to have a set routine of positions and how long to stay in each one. She scowled at his use of a condom. When he’d come, she made noises like she was having an orgasm, but then hustled him out the door as soon as they were ‘done.’
“Well, you could probably start by not having sex with me. I mean, I hope you don’t choose that. But I’m not your girlfriend, remember? What we have is between you and me. I don’t care who else either of us is involved with,” Chastity said.
“Would that still hold true if you were madly in love with someone and decided to settle down and get married?” he asked.
“Yes. But please don’t tell me you plan to settle down and get married to Kaitlyn. I don’t see any chemistry between the two of you.”
“I like her.”
“Ye-ah. So, what’s the problem?”
“I don’t seem to be able to really get her engaged. I mean, I think every time we’ve had sex, she’s faked her orgasm. She could just tell me that I either just don’t turn her on or I’m doing something wrong,” Henry complained. He settled his face between Chastity’s thighs and started licking the way he knew she liked.
“Oh, goddess! Yes,” she said. “I was hoping we were getting to this part of the conversation. If she doesn’t have an orgasm when you do this, it’s because she doesn’t want one. Oh, yeah. Keep that up. Yes, inside. I’m… How do you get me there so fast? I’m… Don’t stop. Yes!”
Henry didn’t let up until she pushed at his head, her usual signal that she’d had enough. He rolled away and just held her while she caught her breath.
“Oh, fuck me!”
“You don’t fake that when you’re with me, do you?” Henry asked.
“You’re entirely too unsure of yourself. Did all your testers fake having their computers blown up when they tried to hack the site?”
“No. That would be pretty hard to fake. And what would the point be?”
“Exactly. What would the point be in faking the one thing I enjoy about sex?”
“You only enjoy cunnilingus?”
“With you. I mean, I like fucking you, too. But I only enjoy getting eaten by you. I don’t even let any other guys try anymore. They just get frustrated. And so do I. I might let a girl go down on me, but that’s different. So, let me tell you: If she isn’t getting off on you eating her, she doesn’t want to. Or there’s some kind of deep hidden psychological block against her enjoying sex. That’s always possible, too. Maybe she was told from the time she was a baby that good girls don’t enjoy sex.”
“Hmm. I suppose. How did you get past it?” he asked.
“Who says I did? I don’t do sex for pleasure. If you’re not going down on me, I know how to work the controls myself. And don’t think I don’t like fucking you, too. I do. It’s fun. But I don’t do it to come. I do it because it’s you. Other guys? I do it for the stack of hundreds they leave on my nightstand.”
“I wish it was better for you.”
“It will be, eventually. We’ll all be making money hand-over-fist in the company when the software releases and I’ll retire from escorting. Another year and guys will start looking at me like I’m too old.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! This is only your twentieth birthday!”
“That means old guys can’t hire me so they can have sex with a teenager. You have no idea how things really are.”
“You’re right about that. You know I’d do anything for you, don’t you?”
“And you’re doing exactly what I want. Now while all your drool is keeping my pussy wet, why don’t you get a condom on and slide in for a while.”
Time between Thanksgiving and the winter break rushed by. In the last two weeks of classes, Henry had four research papers due. Then there was a week of final exams. All six of his classes had objective exams, meaning there were no essays. There were a few short answer questions that were to be answered in less than one hundred words, but professors tended to stay away from even these. All their exams had to be graded and turned in before they could start their own holiday breaks.
EMEE reported favorable results from their pre-release testing, indicating they had installed the optimization AI on all their company computers. They had not yet installed it on servers, pending further testing. Henry heartily agreed. The software was slated to release the eighteenth of December, coinciding with the end of the semester.
In the midst of the end of semester rush, Henry had to talk to Gallitzin Marketing Solutions—or rather to Darla Gallitzin at the agency. Luke and Isobel had interviewed the agency as they sought someone to handle promotion for the new product. They provided all the corporate information necessary, but Henry had to supply the product information.
“The idea of installing an AI on my computer just raises my hackles,” Darla said. “Tell me why I should trust this one?”
“We could call this your domestic AI, or your pet AI,” Henry started. “One of the problems with AI is that all the current embodiments we hear about are trying to connect you to everyone. Most of all, to the makers of the AI who use the information it gathers to market more junk to you. The Open Cloak Optimization app installs on your computer and yours alone. It doesn’t require you to connect to our company or to report anything from your personal computer to anyone online. Ever. Open Cloak Optimization works for you and you alone. Once installed, you can’t even share it with someone else. It is there to be an extension of what you want to do.”
“But who determines what I want to do?” Darla asked.
“You do. When it is installed, OC Optimizer goes to work immediately looking for general optimization it can do in the background while you continue to do whatever work you would normally be doing. That includes things like defragmenting metal drives, scouring your computer for background programs that are just using up your processing power without adding any benefits to you, looking for spyware—also known as cookies—that are not associated with things you normally do. You’ll see results within the first few hours of having the software installed without having to do anything. At any time, you can tell OCO to report on what it has done and it does so in clear and concise English—not computer speak. It learns as you use your computer and continues to work in the background on your behalf.”
“And it does this without being connected?”
“It is totally resident on your computer and does not connect to or report to the internet or anyone else in any way,” Henry said.
“My pet AI?”
“Loyal to no one but you.”
The marketing agency began putting together its promotional campaign for the new product. When they asked about working on the company website, though, Henry balked.
“I have an extremely good developer that I’m paying to revamp the site. What I would suggest is that you compile a list of whatever you think should be included and forward it so she can crosscheck to be sure she’s remembered it. If she needs additional information, I’ll have her contact you. I don’t want two different people or entities tampering with the site code,” Henry said.
Darla attempted an upsell to take over managing the website, but Henry was firm.
“Let’s just say I have my own pet AI operating on my site and it would not be friendly to you trying to feed it,” Henry concluded. Darla gasped and agreed to keep hands off.
The holiday proved to be a time for Henry and his family to get together. He even moved back for Christmas week. Kaitlyn had announced that she was flying back to California as soon as classes were out and would not be back until spring semester. It was a rather abrupt parting, though there was nothing antagonistic about it. He wished her well and realized he was a little relieved not to be spending the entire holiday with her in his apartment.
In fact, they’d never spent the night at Henry’s apartment. After Thanksgiving, Kaitlyn had simply said she wasn’t comfortable spending the night with another woman in the house. No explanations could change her pre-conceptions.
Henry’s parents, however, decided to intervene in a different way.
“Oh, don’t worry about a thing,” Sylvia said to her son. “We’ve been meeting up with the Donovans every so often to play cards. They had no plans, so we invited them to join us for Christmas dinner. It will be fun. Dad’s doing most of the prep work—with your help—since I’ll be working from mid-afternoon overnight.”
“Six places set, Mom?” Henry asked.
“Well, they can’t leave their daughter home alone on Christmas! She’s a sweetheart. You’ll like her.”
That was settled. The Donovans would be joining the Pascals for Christmas dinner and Henry would like them.
He wasn’t a curmudgeon about it. It would be nice to have company, though he’d prefer to have had one of his own friends—Chastity, Kaitlyn, or even Lisa, who was home in Baton Rouge. Nonetheless, he decided to have a good time.
Nancy Donovan was a lovely eighteen-year-old who was a senior in high school. Henry did his best to make sure she was included in conversations that seemed a little out of her range. She really didn’t know how to respond to the announcement that Henry’s software had been released the previous weekend. She supposed it was cool, but it wasn’t a game so there was no real reason for her to be interested in it.
After dinner, they stood on the Pascals’ front porch as their parents said their goodbyes.
“I don’t sleep around,” Nancy said bluntly. “If you’d like to go out sometime, I’d be willing if it was something interesting. You seem nice for an older guy.”
Henry was only a little more than a month from his twentieth birthday. He supposed that was certainly enough older to make a difference. He expected to graduate from college in a year and a half. Nancy was nice and she was pretty, but he really didn’t want to bother with high school drama. He’d had enough difficulty dealing with his own.
“I like you,” he said. “But let’s not make any plans right now. I kind of have a girlfriend and classes are crazy at the university. If we dated, I’d want to be unencumbered and be able to spend some time planning something fun.”
“That’s a relief. I mean, it sounds like your girlfriend is kind of tenuous, but that’s as good an excuse as any. I felt I had to offer a date, but my heart wasn’t in it.”
“Mine either,” Henry laughed. “It was really nice to meet you, though. Maybe we’ll run into each other in the future sometime.”
“Yeah. See you around.”
They’d both fulfilled their perceived obligation and went home happy.
Henry returned to his apartment the day after Christmas and busied himself just cleaning and settling back in. Chastity had been in over the break and had cleaned the office. He expected all three of his partners to spend time there during this week. Then they would go to the club for their ‘second annual’ company New Year’s Eve party.
When he settled into bed that night, the apartment seemed very big and very empty. He thought about having Kaitlyn with him, but her image was quickly replaced by that of Nancy. Well, that was just a fantasy about a cute girl and nothing he really wanted to pursue. He was definitely restless, though, and sleep avoided him after he went to bed.
He finally got up and went to work on his computer. He sat for a while just scanning what was in his development chain. He’d intentionally taken the week of Christmas off, just so he’d return refreshed. Nothing was jumping out at him, so he dressed and left the apartment to go for a drive. Sometimes new thoughts would come to him while he was just focused on the road. He checked the gas and filled up before he headed toward Wheeling, then picked up I-70 westbound.
He didn’t push speed limits. It felt good just to be on the road with no one talking to him and no computer demanding his attention. He stopped in Wheeling and picked up a large cup of truck stop coffee, then continued west. In Columbus, he stopped at another truck stop and ate a trucker special steak and eggs, then continued west.
His AI—what he’d told Darla was his pet AI—was performing well. He’d modified it several times for his personal use, expanding what it was able to anticipate. It now powered his search engine as well as the optimization tool. The guys would start code reviewing and testing the search engine in earnest when they got back to town. But there were all kinds of options for an artificial narrow intelligence to optimize a person’s life both on and off the computer.
“So, what should I apply it to next?” he asked aloud. He often talked to himself when he was driving alone, but he imagined his father in the seat next to him. Over the summer, he’d actually taken his father for a drive to talk about the ethics of training an AI. Of course, there was a lot of discussion online about the subject, but Henry wanted the opinion of someone he trusted who didn’t make snap judgments.
Ryan’s comment about having the AI private and disconnected from the network had inspired the way Henry developed the Optimization AI.
“I could turn it into a personal financial manager,” he said. “I don’t think I’d trust it right away to actually make decisions, but I might direct it to determine when I should transfer money from checking to savings or from savings to longer term investments. It could simply send me a message when it spots something and I could decide whether it was worth my time to make the transfer. It would learn from my decisions.”
That seemed like a good use. He’d also adapted his AI to track down proxy servers in case of a hacking attack on his company. It had worked remarkably well.
“What about the oracle?” he heard his father ask. Henry looked over at the empty passenger seat.
“For that matter, why am I talking to you in my head instead of waking you up in the middle of the night to talk these ideas out in person?”
As a matter of fact, his father would be open to that if it didn’t happen more than once a year or so. He’d get pretty tired of it if Henry called him as often as he had questions he was trying to work out.
“In my human memory class, the professor talked about associative memory. Traditionally, psychologists classified six types of human memory: episodic, semantic, procedural, short-term working, sensory, and prospective. But the thing that ties memories together is association. If I smell pine chips, my memory automatically goes back to Oedipus, that club-footed guinea pig I had in eighth grade. When someone says ‘waffles,’ I smell you cooking on special mornings and it associates with all kinds of memories of those breakfasts, why we were having waffles that day, what we were celebrating, what every person at the table said.”
Of course, all those memories would also fit into one of the categories of traditional psychology, but the professor believed that was what tied them together and gave people access to their memories. “That reminds me…” is a common phrase.
“So, when I ask you a question, but you aren’t there, I still hear your voice as I piece together memories. I’m just so afraid I’ll lose that. You know I hear your voice less these days than when I lived at home. What will I do when… you know… when you aren’t there any longer?”
It bothered Henry. He needed to figure a way to preserve his father’s voice, his stories, and his advice. Recording was easy. But he could program his AI to do the associative part of recalling the memories.
Henry found another truck stop on the east edge of Indianapolis and bought a pad of paper and a pen. He sat in the restaurant sketching out his associative memory AI. He would preserve his father’s voice and wisdom forever.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
