I laughed and smiled. But only on the outside. “Carry on, of course. The artifact must be found.”
“Must be found, you are right. The search must go on!” He looked over my shoulder and waved. “And there’s Floyd – and Madonette. Welcome, my dear, welcome. I would stand to greet you, but only with difficulty.”
She smiled and kissed his forehead below the bandage. Of course she was the last one to arrive, woman’s prerogative. Though I had better abandon such male-chauv-pig reflexive observations. At least while I was still a guest of the ladies this side of Paradise.
“I have been talking to Mata,” she said, seating herself and sipping a bit of fruit juice. “The science building was empty when the explosion occurred, so no one was injured. Since then they have sifted the ruins and found that there is no trace at all of the artifact.”
“Positive?” I asked.
“Positive. They have been eavesdropping on the other side of the wall, so they knew about all our interest in the thing. They waited until they observed that all the male scientists had looked at it and prodded it enough. As expected those noble gentlemen-referred here to as `the geriatric incompetents had discovered nothing. Having no further interest the scientists had it transferred here. A study program had been drawn up to examine the artifact but was just beginning when the explosion occurred. End of report.”
So the artifact might have been stolen, might still be around. I could help look for it. But I could also stop counting the days. Earlier, when I had been woken up by my computer, it had been flashing a glowing seven for my benefit. Now Admiral Steengo had relieved me of this chronic worry.
But I had taken three million for this job-and I still wondered what the thing really was. So the artifact-chase would continue. Minus the pressure of the days. I looked around at my musical rats and realized that nothing had changed for them. The search for the artifact was still on. Well – why not!
“What do we do next?” I said. Steengo, now more of an admiral than a musician, toted up the possible options.
“Was the explosion an accident? If it wasn’t-who caused it? There are really a lot of questions that must be asked . . .”
“Mata told me to tell you that you were to ask Aida if you had any questions,” Madonette said brightly.
We considered this seriously for a moment, then realized we hadn’t the slightest idea of what she was talking about. Still the admiral, Steengo spoke for all of us.
“Who is Aida?”
“Not who-but what. An acronym for Artificially Intelligent Data Assembler. I think that it is the central computer here. In any case, here is the access terminal.”
She put what looked like an ordinary portaphone on the table and switched it on. Nothing happened.
“Are you there, Aida?” Madonette said.
“Ready to be summoned at any time, darling,” the voice said. In a rich and sexy contralto.
“I thought you said computer?” was my baffled response.
“Do I hear a male voice?” Aida said. Then giggled. “It has been such a very long time! Might I ask your name, sweetie?”
“Jim-not sweetie. And why did you call me that?”
“Training and programming, dear boy. Before this present assignment I ran an exploration spacer. Male crew, endless years in space. It was felt by my creators that a female voice and presence would be more efficacious morale-wise than a machine or masculine presence.”
“The last exploration spacer was junked centuries ago,” Steengo said.
“A lady does not like to be reminded of her age,” Aida said huskily. “But it is true. When my ship was sent to the breakers I was made redundant. Since I am basically a computer program I am-every woman’s dream-eternal. I had, shall we say, a rather varied career before I ended up here. Mind you, I’m not complaining. I find this such a pleasant occupation. There are charming ladies to talk to, as well as additional memory banks and data bases to access whenever I wish to. Most pleasurable but I do chatter on. I have been informed that you have a problem. If you would identify yourselves by name it would make conversation that much easier. Jim and Madonette I know. The name of the gentleman who just spoke?”