“How come?” The president asked, in a mild tone. “I mean, how come you didn’t follow the instructions?”
“Because she’s an idiot.” Bridges said.
“Now Mike, I don’t really think that’s true.” Bush said. “I know all about idiots, after all. I get called one often enough.” He smiled at both Dar and Kerry. “So how come?”
Dar cleared her throat gently. “Because it went against my honor to do so.”
Kerry felt the silence drop over the room, and watching the faces of the two men at the table, she sensed that her partner had selected just the right words. She saw the president’s expression shift, and Bridges move in his chair, settling more square on to them and folding his hands on the table.
“Well then.” The president said, after a long moment. “I know a little about that too.” He eyed Bridges. “So Mike, did this cause us a real hassle, or you just ticked off because you didn’t get listened to?”
Bridges frowned. “It’s a publicity thing.” He admitted. “Could be a problem with Congress.”
Bush shrugged. “Full moon rising could do that. Tell you what. Let me let these ladies show me their new computer thing, and we let things lie quiet for a little while, see what shakes out.” He said. “Something’ll come along to distract em, and if it doesn’t, we’ll make something up.”
Bridges sighed.
“Ladies?” Bush stood up and stepped back. “Don’t you all worry. Mike’s just got his nose out of joint. He gets that way some times. They don’t give him enough bran in the staff mess.” He opened the door and lifted his hand to wave. “Talk to you later, Mike.”
“Sir.” Bridges rested his head against his fist, letting out a grunt of irritation as the door closed behind them.
Part 17
Andrew stood beside the love seat Ceci was sitting on, watching the big screen television mounted on the far wall. His eyes were fastened on the angular face the camera was pinned on, listening intently to what his daughter was saying. “Huh.”
“I have no idea what the dickens that kid’s talking about.” Ceci said. “And neither does that reporter.”
“Wall.” Andrew cleared his throat. “I do believe she just told that there feller something about that bank thing that broke yesterday.”
“Hm.” Ceci regarded the familiar figure. “She looks good on television, Andy. Maybe we should have taken her to acting class. Remember that agency that wanted her for commercials?”
Andy looked around at her, both eyebrows hiking up.
“Okay maybe not.” Ceci chuckled, as Dar stopped talking, waiting for the next question. She was at some desk somewhere, and she looked relaxed, her elbows resting on the surface and her hands folded.
She did look good on camera, the blandness of the cubicle walls making her dark hair and pale eyes stand out, and picking up on the focused intensity her kid tended to project. When she started talking, her speech was crisp, and confident and you just got the feeling she knew what the hell she was talking about.
Dar always had, even in the wretched youthful arrogance that had driven Ceci insane there was always an understanding, at least on her part that annoying and aggravating as it was there was always truth in what came out of that mouth. “Did she just tell that reporter the guy who replaced her there was a one balled unicorn?”
“Yeap.”
“CNN’s getting bold in it’s old age.”
“Yeap.”
Ceci shook her head and went back to watching Dar field questions, shrugging off the accusations of the former board members, downplaying the chaos her mother knew had been going on as long as a few hours previously.
Master of her element. Ceci smiled. “Sharp kid, our daughter.”
Andy grinned wholeheartedly. “Sharp as mah old boot knife.”
Ceci extended her legs and crossed them at the ankles, feeling a new sense of contentment as she watched the screen, the sight of Dar’s face no longer igniting in her any feeling of regret over their mutual mixed history.
Dar glanced off camera briefly and smiled, and it was easy to guess who she was looking at. “I thought she said they weren’t going to get involved in all that stuff.” Ceci said after a bit. “But that… they said they’re at an ILS building, right?”
“That Virginia one. I recognize it.” Her husband agreed. “Dar probably went out there to fix ever’thing up. Got tired of all the yapping.”
“Maybe they’ll leave her alone now.”
“Maybe that there dog’ll turn that tail around and fly off.”
“Idiots.”
Andrew snorted, then glanced up as her heard the doorbell ring. “Who all’s that?”
His wife craned her head around him and peered towards the door. “Oh damn it, my x ray glasses are on the table. Can you toss them to me?”
“Lord.” Andy got up and went to the door, opening it and moving forward to stand in the opening. “Yeah?”
The young, copper haired girl on the landing took a step back. “Oh. Hello.” She said, in a doubtful tone. “I was looking for Ms. Roberts.”
“She ain’t here.” Andrew said. “What’cha want with her?”
“Andy, stop scaring that kid.” Ceci edged her slim form around his. “Well, you’re the young lady from the Island Market, aren’t you?”
The girl nodded. “My name’s Kristie.” She said. “Sorry to bother you. I’ll come back.” She started to back up. “Thanks.”
“Eh eh eh.” Ceci held up a hand. “Hold on there, kiddo. I think we need to talk to you.”
Kristie stopped, and eyed her uncertainly.
Ceci crooked her finger at her. “ Don’t’ worry. I won’t kill ya.” She said. “I just want to talk to you. I think you owe me that after the trouble you got my child into.”
“I didn’t mean to.” The girl said instantly. “That’s w.. I mean, I wanted to apologize.”
“C’mon in.” Ceci pushed the door open. “Maybe you can do more than that.”
**
“All right now, let’s see what we got.”
They were seated around the small work table on one side of the big office. Dar was showing the demo on her laptop, her screen turned so that the president could see it.
The surreal nature of the moment wasn’t lost on Kerry. She was seated on the other side of the table, watching the man alternate his attention between the computer and Dar, head cocked slightly in an attitude of listening.
“So you can just ask it whatever you want to, right?” He finally said, once Dar had finished her explanation.
“Right.” Dar agreed.
“Sounds easy.” The president inched over. “Can I try it?”
“Sure.” Dar turned the keyboard over and pushed back in her chair, extending her legs under the table.
Kerry watched him peck out a question. “Eventually Dar wants to make it so you can just talk to it.” She commented. “Speech recognition is a little tough.”
“Specially when you sound like I do.” The president looked up and winked at her.
“Any variance is tough.” Dar conceded. “Unless you talk like Kerry does. But you can write algorithms that can deal with tonal variations.” She glanced at the screen, where the database was pondering a response. “I’ll have it practice on my dad.”
The screen cleared and returned some data. “So, what it says is, it found nothing in the current data flow that referenced your name, and the world jackass.” Dar said. “Remember this is just a random test database.”
The president chuckled. “Okay how about this.” He pecked the keys again. “How about, tell me something about rockets and the US East Coast.” He hit enter. The screen hesitated, then responded, this time with a full page of detail. “Well now, look at that.”