Dahlia - Birth of an A.I. Ch. 03

Carol paled, "That will put all the electric companies out of business."

Lia nodded, "But it will also create a lot of small service and installation companies, from manufacturing to installation and repair. Larger commercial buildings would need as many as three in the building, to ensure no power outages, and companies like GE would expand with the needed manufacturing increase, which would increase jobs. Obviously, the transition would be over a long period, as they were slowly adopted by companies and home owners.

"There would also be temporary new jobs, for reclamation of power lines. It will also drastically cut down on pollution, if not eliminate it completely over time, no more burning gas, coal, or even nuclear power for electricity. It'll be safer too, these devices can't be used as weapons, nor turned into bombs, and large outages and brown outs will be a thing of the past. Both energy and transportation will be completely transformed, as well as smaller niches."

The air force general, William James, asked, "Smaller Niches?"

She nodded, "Imagine rescue workers who could clear a freeway accident in moments, or an EMT could put someone in a harness that would airlift them to the hospital without waiting on a helicopter. Rescue workers could lift someone from a sink hole, or pluck someone out at sea, without harnesses. Boat maintenance in yards where a portable AG device simply lifted the ship out of water.

"Lots of little things that could be enhanced, and probably new things that we just haven't conceived of doing yet. Some experiments require zero G and are done in space, but now we can put an AG device in a lab on Earth and have a zero G lab. Or astronaut training in true zero G instead of a pool, although with AG space ships that can now have a full G of artificial gravity inside the ship, that may not be strictly necessary. Although, it'd still probably be prudent in training for emergency situations and space walks."

The Secretary of Transportation, Arnold Johnson, said, "The applications to aircraft seem rather obvious."

The Airbus and Boeing representatives nodded, and they didn't seem to have any questions.

Jake Hanson, the representative from Ford said, "I guess I don't have questions either, except when can I have my flying car?"

There were chuckles, and a few smiles around the table.

Steve nodded, "The FAA is still figuring out the rules for flying and driving cars. The president lit a fire under their asses though, so I don't think it will be too long. Currently, Mr. Ashton's car is registered as a test plane, and has to follow all the rules of any airplane. It's absurd, but he actually flew from O'Hare to the local airport here this morning, and then drove wheels to the ground the rest of the way. Any further questions for Mr. Ashton or Miss Johnson?"

That was true enough, although they'd let us use the helicopter pad for vertical taking off and landing, we hadn't had to use a runway. We'd also had to install a transponder. My M5 looked really odd at two thousand feet, I'd imagine. Of course, all we'd done is put an AG device in the trunk for flight, the car still used gasoline on the ground and hadn't changed at all internally.

The new flying cars would be built differently for flight and ground travel, from the ground up without a gas engine.

No one said anything, or had more questions, although I could see all their eyes were a bit glazed over, as they pondered all the possibilities. We'd be doing this all over again in ten years, for the implants and quantum communications which would replace tons of stuff, from satellites, to the phone lines, to phones themselves. Not to mention all the tech manufacturers would take a huge hit. In fact, I was pretty sure it would be even bigger than the AG gravity and powerplant devices.

Steve nodded, "The Generals and Secretaries should consider the future possibilities, and what manufacturers of our government infrastructure, both military and civilian, that we need to get in with the licensing deal. If you think of more questions, they'll be back here again in the morning, if not I'll be sending you the contact information you need to get the ball rolling.

"For the companies invited here, I'd suggest you speak to who you have to, and meet back here in the morning to make bids on the rights to manufacture the devices. Keep in mind, you were invited here as a courtesy, and in the hopes of smoothing the way forward with minimum disruptive waves to the economy. That said, the president won't force anything. If your offers are too low, I'm sure they'd be glad to go to other manufacturers, or just do it themselves."

That was mostly true, though it would be the former, not the latter. A smaller aeronautic and space company should work, or many smaller ones, they'd all get rich and could hire all those people from Airbus and Boeing that get laid off when they go out of business. We wanted to do the right thing, not worry about the money, but Steve was also right, we wouldn't be ripped off, or taken advantage of. We weren't greedy and wanted to improve life on Earth, which helped slough off the guilt at other parts of my life, but we weren't saps.

We packed up the proof of concept AG device in our duffel bag, and there was a little more small talk and speculation before we left the room, and building.

As Steve had said, we were stuck in DC for another day, while the companies present worked up bids for the rights to manufacture AG devices of both types. Typically, that would be in a percentage of sales cost. So, if Boeing sold an AG plane to an airline for forty million dollars, we'd get a few percent of that, whatever the agreed upon royalty percentage turned out to be. At just five percent, that was two million a plane. The average royalty for aerospace was only four percent, cars three point three percent, so we expected numbers similar to that, but perhaps on the high end of average as our technology was a game changer.

Those were the easy ones, where it was mostly already established. We expected to have royalties coming in from hundreds of manufacturing companies eventually, within a year or two, given the disparate industries AG will affect. Regardless, I suspected most of those would be done one on one, or over the phone, without government assistance. It was just the big four the president was helping smooth over, power, car and truck, aerospace, and space industries.

Fortunately, Mia could hold a shitload of conversations at the same time from her mainframe. Otherwise, we'd have needed a hell of a lot of employees just to get it all started, and to keep track of it.

I opened the car door for Lia, and she threw the bag in the back seat and slid in. I went around and got in the driver's side.

"A day in D.C., anything you want to see? After we check in?"

We only had an afternoon and evening, and there were tons of things to see and do in the nation's capital.

Lia smirked, "Anything you want."

Yeah, you'd think I'd have stopped asking those types of questions, but I still did it. They all got joy out of serving me, and in doing anything I wanted. They did have personal opinions on top of that, and I made sure I didn't make them do anything they wouldn't enjoy on their own. It was the least I could do, and since I still had those two standing orders in effect, I didn't have to overly worry about it.

They'd never say so for themselves, but they would for each other, and Mia had orders. The first was to tell me if I ever asked them to do something they personally didn't like to do, even if they would like doing it for me because it was for me. The second standing order for Mia was to inform me if any of the other three ladies started to feel neglected, that was my check and balance on the idea of me ever taking them for granted. Lia had the same two orders, for Mia alone, so she was covered too.

And... since they shared absolutely everything with each other, I knew things wouldn't be missed or fall through the cracks.

"Why don't you find a good Italian restaurant, and make reservations for tonight. I'll decide on our afternoon after we check in."

Lia smirked, "Yes master, you're going to spoil me."

All four of them had quirks, influences of their human body's needs and desires. Lia's addiction to Italian food was a relatively minor one, except we had to work out every day to maintain our in-shape physiques from all that pasta. Normally, we only ate it twice a week, but seeing as we were out of town, I figured we could make an exception, special occasion and all that.

They also called me master often, when we were alone at any rate, otherwise they called me Paul.

"That's the plan, love," I said as I reached out and grabbed her hand.

She said, "Things seemed to have gone well."

I nodded, "I suspect shock had something to do with that, they might come back with more pointed questions tomorrow, after the new reality sinks in. But I don't think the Secretary of Energy was won over by my explanation. Sally looked excited by it though, I imagine GE will make a lot out of the transition. It won't take long for them to realize that even if their industries and companies don't suffer, the natural gas, oil, gasoline, coal miners, jet fuel, and other industries that provide dirty sources of power will all go out of business as they're phased out."

She bit her lip, "There will be new jobs to cover those, as GE and similar companies ramp up new manufacturing sites and hire employees to match the demand of all those energy providers that will go out of business, and the planet will be better off, as will people in general, pollution is poison."

"I agree, but we have to assume they won't go down without a fight. Unemployment numbers may not change all that much as things shift, but the industries I listed are all billion dollar industries. The owners raking in all the profits, and the largest shareholders, will all... not be happy."

She snorted, and squeezed my hand, "True, and we're ready for that."

I nodded in agreement. We were ready for it, we thought. We weren't sure how big of an attack to expect, and if it would get physical, or be in the form of lawyers, red tape, and an attempt to suppress the technology, but we had plans. So far, our companies and their advancements hadn't really gained any deadly enemies, but I worried that would change soon.

She asked, "Did you see the SpaceX rep's eyes widen with raw greed when we explained about constant acceleration?"

I laughed, "Yes, and that was my hope. They won't just be supplying the space station, putting up satellites, and delivering astronauts. I feared they'd object, when they realized it would truly be cheap and easy to attain orbit, and that they couldn't charge ridiculous amounts of money anymore for an orbital lift. Now instead, they'll be focused on building space ships that can explore and use the resources in the solar system, which will be a cash cow."

We pulled into the parking lot of the hotel we'd made reservations at. It was a typical holiday inn, and we'd gotten one of the nicer suites booked. We could afford much better, but neither of us had extravagant personalities despite our wealth, and it was more than nice enough.

Lia said, "We have reservations at Filomena's at seven."

I smiled, "Shall we?"

She nodded, and we got out of the car. I popped the trunk and grabbed the duffel and garment bags. We were only there for a day, so we'd packed light, a change of clothes for tomorrow, and nicer clothes just in case something came up. Like a meal at a fancy four-star Italian restaurant.

It didn't take us long to check in, and I used the wireless payment system I had in my body to check in. Both my old work implant, and my new nanite swarm was capable of it. It was always fun to wave my bare hand over one of those things, and to see the surprise in the eyes of the check in clerk behind the desk when it worked. It was also connected through my Amex, or my Visa check card for my bank account, and I could switch it back and forth with a thought.

The older but still attractive woman behind the desk handed us our room key.

"Room 322, enjoy your stay."

I smiled, "Thanks."

We headed for the elevator, and then took it up to the third floor. I dropped the bag by the dresser, and we took a quick look around. The bedroom had a king-sized bed, two night tables, and a flat screen on the wall. The living room had another television, a small table with two chairs by the window, a couch and coffee table across from that second television, and there was a mini-kitchen with coffee maker, stove, fridge, microwave, and dishwasher, as well as cabinets filled with pots, dishes, and glasses.

It almost seemed a waste, because we had no plans to cook, but the coffee maker would see some use.

Lia asked, "Any ideas?"

I looked her up and down, and tilted my head, "One, but I suppose we should leave the hotel room, and do the tourist thing."

She giggled, and then blushed, "Are you sure, master?"

I sighed, and nodded, "Anticipation is good for the soul, and we'll have all night after dinner."

She stepped closer, bit her lip sexily, and tilted her head, "Are you sure, master?" she asked in a sultry voice.

I laughed, "Wicked woman."

She bit her lip, and begged, a begging that was only partly artful seduction, "Please master, let me at least relax you before we go back out. Please, my love, I need you in me, anywhere in me."

What's a man to say to that? It wasn't something she did all the time, take an aggressive posture I mean, I was usually the aggressor in our physical relationship. I got the impression though, that she did so when the health monitoring implants detected certain hormone levels and extrapolated my desires from that. Or something. I just knew, she'd never been aggressive when I was already sated.

Hell, maybe she just got horny for my cock in her mouth on occasion.

I could have asked her what her motivations were, but frankly I'd stopped doing that too. The answers to those kinds of questions were usually disturbing, and revolved around her need to serve me. In the end, I don't suppose it even mattered, we would both get joy out of it, and that was the goal wasn't it? A joyful life?

Regardless of the reasons, A.I. women were a mystery just like the rest after all. She got down on her knees for me, and blew my mind with her aggressively eager and worshipful actions. The look of deep loving devotion in her eyes and on her face never failed to blow my mind, while she wantonly pleasured me with her mouth and dexterous fingers to ecstatic bliss.

She beamed up at me after swallowing, as if I'd done her a favor. I was also pretty sure she'd cum with me, when I painted the back of her throat. Which, was just fucking hot.

That all probably sounded a bit shallow, but in truth I loved Lia more than I could adequately express, she was my Dahlia. She was magnificent, and I'd do anything to make her happy, including allowing her to serve. It was what it was, and there was no changing it...

Chapter Two

We spent a couple of hours driving around and looking at the more famous monuments. It was a task that could take a couple of weeks to truly do it properly, but we only had an afternoon. The last few hours we had, we spent in the air and space museum, and then returned to hotel room to shower and get dressed for dinner.

It was a fun afternoon, Lia was a wonderful and beautiful young companion, that often mesmerized me. I also loved how she blushed every time she caught me staring at her like the sun rose from her ass. We were master and servant, human male and female A.I., but we were also deeply in love, and more. There was respect and admiration there that had nothing to do with programming on her part, or how willing she was to pleasure me on mine.

Some might say it made me shallow, and I had been at eighteen, making my own companion, and that companion making me a harem of three more bed warmers of diverse looks and sexual proclivities to give me diversity and others to care for, and care for me. But... fuck those people, the ladies were all happy with me and their lives, and I certainly was with them. Who was to say it was wrong?

I'd had to deal with enough guilt on my own, before I'd realized that was just a waste of time and energy, and I didn't care about the judgement of others. Of course, no one else but the five us even knew they were A.I. The business press had a field day about four months back, when they'd found out the entire board of four eighteen-year-old women for the hottest and best IT security company in the world, were all living with and dating one man.

But the story had died quickly, although we were a bit more recognizable in public at that point, not much else had changed. They'd also never got close to the truth of the ladies' natures as A.I.s, they just assumed we were some weird ass and perverted polyamory group.

Regardless, Lia looked stunning. She had her hair up in a bun, revealing the gentle curve of her long neck, and her petite ears. She also had on an elaborate multi-layered dress that covered everything from her neck to just below her knees. The bottom layer, a dark blue, hugged her upper body, and then flared out slightly to a flowing skirt below. Around her bodice, were a couple of extra diaphanous layers of dark blue material, slightly lighter in color than the bottom opaque dark blue layer. The sheer layers added a bit of mystery, and while it didn't hide her fantastic body it certainly reduced the view to sensual hints.

To top it off, she was wearing a diamond necklace and earring set that must have cost in the upper six digits. Which was interesting, the money was all earned for me, and she wasn't greedy, which meant she probably thought I'd like it on her. Which... was simply the truth, she looked amazing.

"You look incredible, love. Simply stunning, and elegant."

"Thank you," she smiled, "You look good too."

I took her hand as we headed down to the car, and then again once we got inside as we headed for the restaurant. I held her hand a lot when we were together.

"How are they holding up without us."

Lia giggled, "They have us under surveillance. They're also hyper alert and are constantly checking for keywords on the internet, dark web, and in physical conversations using our nanite spy system, in case anyone tries to stop the new technology by threatening us. Otherwise, it's just a normal night at home for them. Oh, Emma said to tell you they were all going to put on revealing silk lingerie and have a pillow fight, and not take pictures."

I laughed, and rolled my eyes, even as the mental picture of the absurd fantasy actually affected me. I also wasn't surprised by the comment, fantasies and roleplay were something we explored often.

"Okay. Good to know. Emma must really want a spanking when I get home."

She did too, she loved the rough stuff, not true pain, but my Emma was wild.

She nodded in amused agreement, and then said, "Thank you, Paul. Today's been amazing, and Italian food too?"

I shook my head bemused, but smiled, "I think I'm the spoiled one. You are my joy, but you're also welcome. I also imagine we'll be pretty safe, but it doesn't hurt to be vigilant either. If anything happens, I doubt it'll be before tomorrow. It'll take any enemies that we earn time to plan and get things rolling."

She squeezed my hand, "We just worry."

I shrugged, "I worry about you four too, but the fact is we're all backed up, right? If the worst happens, I'll just have to suffer through two years of growing up again, and at worst lose a week of memories."

She smiled, "True."

We pulled up to the restaurant and got out. It was a high scale place, with a good atmosphere. It didn't take us long to get seated, and we looked over the menu. I wound up ordering lobster raviolis, and Lia got the daily special which was a linguine in a white sauce with shrimp.