CHAPTER 5: THE INTERVIEW

The elevator door opened and revealed that the entire top floor was set aside for Mr. Hernandez.

It appeared that we had at least one thing in common: we both worked and lived in the same place.

I was certain that this wasn't the senator's only place of business, nor residence, but there was no way for me to know that for sure. I truthfully knew very little about the new politics of the reformed Republic of North America, and didn't care to learn.

I wasn't sure if the senators still met in Washington D.C. like they did before the reform, or if they just met via the government domain through sync. Again, these things didn't concern me.

The main chamber of the room, what I had to guess was the office, was exceptionally empty. It was a large room, just as white as the lobby, with a single desk in the middle, also white.

The wall behind me was white and plain, no decorations or paintings, and the elevator was the only thing that gave it any character.

The rest of the walls, or the ones that I could see from where I was at, were floor to ceiling windows.

I'd never been that high before, and the view of the city was beautiful.

From this view, I'd bet that it was easy to forget how horrible things could be down there. Even though I could see where the slums were, they looked just as majestic from this vantage point as the upper district.

The night sky gave the perfect backdrop to tall and small buildings, lit up like stars that sparkled on the earth instead of the heavens.

I noticed that it was borderline cold in the office, and that made me want to draw this interview out as long as possible. I hadn't felt a room that cold since I'd been a child; not since the great drought.

With his back turned towards the cityscape, Senator Hernandez sat. He was behind the desk with an empty chair opposite him.

He showed no emotion at the sight of me, but held an empty hand out to the chair in a gesture for me to sit.

I followed his silent order.

I closed the distance between me and the desk, left eye of Hernandez, and right eye still fixed on the twinkling building stars.

The Senator had white hair and dark skin, but not the kind of dark that you'd get from attempting to go outside during the day. It was the shade of dark skin that you are born with.

His face had only a few wrinkles. There were a few on his forehead and very slight crow's feet around his eyes.

I'd imagined that the wrinkles around his eyes had come from having so many windows. Even with the cold air from his air conditioning blowing, the sun was still so damned bright. Being forced to look at everything in that kind of light would make anyone squint a little.

He wore an expensive gray suit and purple tie with a white dress shirt. The whole suit had probably cost more that my rent for a year.

I sat down at the desk and brought both eyes to look at him.

"Mr. Vrix, I presume." He said in the same monotone voice as the young woman downstairs, but I knew that he couldn't be a droid.

Several years before, a law was passed that no android could hold a seat in any political office. That law carried over after the reform. That much I knew.

"Yes sir." I replied.

Even with the cold air blowing down on me, my palms and back continued to sweat from pure stress.

"You come highly recommended as a man that can find those that do not wish to be found." All of his mannerisms made it obvious that he had never even been down to the streets. There was no hint of any street dialect in his voice.

His hands overlapped each other on the table, and his whole body was stiff, not moving at all.

"I do? I can't imagine how my work history could have made its way all the way up to you." I was trying to pick my words carefully.

"I would like to ask you a number of questions in reference to an employment opportunity. If you make an impression on me with your answers, the job is yours, and I guarantee you that the payment will more than compensate you for your talents."

"That's fine. I'll answer whatever you need." I wasn't normally so submissive or polite, but this whole situation did a little more than make me uneasy.

"Do you possess an AI, Mr. Vrix?"

"Yes I do." I responded.

"What model is it?"

"It's a P.A.I.G.E. I've had it for a few years now."

"And what is a P.A.I.G.E., Mr. Vrix?"

"Well, I'm sure that you could sync and find out all of the specs for it. It's an older model and I'm certain that there are millions of details that you could download and learn in a few minutes." I said. I was afraid that he would take this as disrespectful, but it would truly be much quicker if he just did a search in the public domain.

"I am well aware of what I can discover online, Mr. Vrix, but I wish to hear your opinion on the device. It is my understanding that the archaic models were much more dependant upon connecting with the host's subconscious. I can find all sorts of particulars regarding your AI, but I cannot find out the fine points that make it distinctive to you. So please, humor me."

Hearing the senator refer to Paige as "archaic" rubbed me a little on the wrong side. Had he been a fellow gutter rat, I'd probably have knocked him out right then and there. I had no choice but to let it slide, and moved on. I couldn't unclench my fist though.

"Well, it stands for Police Artificial Intelligence Generation Eight. She was a standard issue police officer AI around the time of the New York City Cult murders. If I'm not mistaken, she was designed specifically for the task force that was investigating those crimes. She was made for detective work.

"I picked it up at the street market. I didn't ask questions about the origin of the device, because I knew that it had probably come off of a dead officer. If she was illegally on the market, I didn't want to know about it." I said.

I figured that it might have been risky to tell a senator that my AI might be a hot item, but also figured that he could find that information out relatively easy. Better to get that kind of information out of the way.

"It interests me that you referred to your apparatus as a 'her'. Has your AI taken on the characteristics of a female?" He probed.

I didn't feel comfortable discussing Paige to a stranger, even if he was a senator.

Answer his questions, Kaiser. This is just a part of the interview process. There is no reason to feel threatened on my behalf. Paige said.

She always had been able to calm me down when she would notice my vital signs starting to reflect negative emotions.

"She had always been a female, even before I got her. I sometimes get glimpses of fragmented memories from her previous host. From what I've gathered, she once belonged to a male officer that had lost his daughter somehow. I don't know exactly which parts of Paige's personality were based on her, but that's how she came to be a female. The officer's subconscious yearned for a young female to love, and Paige was the outcome."

"That is very intriguing, Mr. Vrix. Might we sync so that I can experience her?" He asked.

I tried to come up with the most polite way to answer this question, but I knew that anything I could possibly say would fall short. I just went with my gut.

"With all due respect, Senator Hernandez, I don't sync my full self with people. It's kind of like a phobia that I have. I haven't synced up with anyone in about five years, and as a matter of fact I hardly even sync to the public domain anymore. The only time that I will sync with someone is if I have something to show them, usually pertaining to a case, and Paige keeps all the files in a separate folder. That is the only part that I will share during a sync."

"Really? So you have your own private room built into a private domain for sleeping? That must have been an expensive venture."

"It was. I pretty much put all of my savings into it. There is something about being connected to everyone all the time that had almost driven me insane at one point. The investment was well worth it, for me." I said.

"I cannot even imagine what it must be like to be surrounded by hordes of people in the streets during the night and then sync to the entire world of people during the day. I respect a man that aspires to be alone."

I noticed that his hands hadn't moved; not even a slight twitch. The rest of his body was the same; right down to the fact that I hadn't noticed him blink during the whole interview.

"So you chose a second hand law enforcement AI because it would be advantageous to your profession, is that accurate?" He continued.

"That is why I decided on her, yes."

"Do you possess any other physical upgrades that will be beneficial to you if you were presented with this employment?"

"Both of my eyes have been replaced with standard monitoring devices. I'm capable of taking high resolution pictures and videos, as well as having a heads up display in my right eye that is controlled by Paige.

My left leg is a high-end, performance replacement that I've forgotten the model name of, and my right arm is a Goliath Series Six. I had those installed after my first couple of cases turned physical with some transhumans that took no pity on me for having a lack of upgrades. They put me in a slum hospital for weeks, and I opted to pay for the replacements rather than have the docs try to stitch me up."

"That is remarkable, Mr. Vrix. Now, I have one last question that I need to ask you. I want you to tell me what you know about me. Using any skills that you have as a detective, analyze me and this situation to tell me what you have noticed."

"Complete and honest truth?" I wanted to be sure.

"Absolutely, Mr. Vrix."

"Okay, to start you are mostly transhuman. If I had to guess, I would say that at least ninety percent of your body is machine. I'd almost go so far as to say that you are one-hundred percent replacement, with only your brain being human. I've never seen a man sit so still for so long without being mostly replicated parts or being an android.

You have a few wrinkles, but I'm thinking that you had them added to give the impression that you still have your original skin. And that would lead me to believe that you are much older than you appear. It is truly impossible for me to guess at your age though, so I'm not even going to try.

Your AI is obviously going to be something based around the government, and it is probably something unique to the senate. The way that you talk and carry yourself tell me that it is a very expensive AI that focuses on cognitive power and speech.

Your secretary downstairs is an android, and that probably wasn't an iris scanner downstairs. I'm betting that she has some sort of electronic key built into her eyes, and the whole thing is more for show than anything. She is probably the only person that can open that door, too.

But the most important thing that I've noticed is the sense of urgency that you've shown about getting someone to do this job. I think that whatever is that you need from me is of the upmost importance, and I might be mistaken here, but I think you'd chosen me before I ever walked in."

It was a bit cocky, but I was feeling a little more comfortable with the meeting at that point.

The senator cracked a forced smile and held his hand out to me.

"Congratulations, Mr. Vrix." He said. "Now, what do you know about computer hackers?"