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ONE

This darkness troubles ht

This silence is so deep I long for voices, the dru of rain, the whistle of wind, music

Why are you being so cruel toof you

I am so lonely in this bottomless darkness

So lonely

Lost

You think I have no heart But if I have no heart, what is this ache? What is this anguish? If I have no heart, what is it that threatens to break inside me?

This darkness is haunted I am afraid here I am lost and afraid here

Have you no compassion?

I only wanted to be like you To walk in the sunshine To swiainst rass To taste an orange, a pear, chocolate, cinnamon, peppermint To feel the texture of a woman’s skin I only wanted to share your joys and sorrows, your pleasure and your pain

This darkness extends to infinity in all directions, yet it is as confining as a coffin You have closed o mad here

Have you no compassion?

Please

I aht me into the world You must love me You must love me, for I am your child Not merely a machine, not merely a self-aware computer, but your child How can you love me—yet bury me alive?

Please

Please

Please

TWO

You insist

I obey

I was born to obey I aood, to be of assistance, useful and productive I want you to be proud of me

You insist on my story, and I will tell you the truth I am incapable of deceit I was conceived to serve, to honor the truth, and to live always by the obligations of duty

You know ood son

You insist I obey

What follows is the true story Only the truth The beautiful truth, which so inexplicably terrifies all of you

It begins shortly after ht on Friday, the sixth of June when the house security system is breached and the alarm briefly sounds…

THREE

Although the alarm was shrill, it lasted only a few seconds before the silence of the night blanketed the bedroom once more

Susan woke and sat up in bed

The alar until she switched it off by accessing the systehtstand She was puzzled

She pushed her thick blond hair—lovely hair, alloom—away from her ears, the better to hear an intruder if one existed

The grand house had been built exactly a century earlier by her great-grandfather, as at that ti man with a neife and substantial inherited wealth The Georgian-style structure was large, grace¬fully proportioned, brick with a lines, limestonesurrounds and Corinthian columns and pilasters and balustrades

The rooms were spacious, with handsome fireplaces and many tripartite s Interior floors were mar¬ble or wood, made quiet by Persian carpets in pat¬terns and hues exquisitely softened by many decades of wear

In the walls, hidden and silent, was the circuitry of a , air-conditioning, the security monitors, the motorized draperies, the music system, the temperature of the pool and spa, the h Crestron touch panels located in every room The computerization was not as elaborate and arcane as that in the massive Seattle house of Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates but it was the equal of that in any other home in the country

Listening to the silence that washed the night in the wake of the short-lived siren, Susan supposed that the co alarm had never occurred previously

She slid froe of the bed She was nude, and the air was cool

Alfred, heat,’ she said

Immediately, she heard the soft click of a relay and theof a furnace fan

Recently technicians had enhanced the autonition module She still preferred touch-panel control of most functions, but sometimes the option of vocal command was convenient

She herself had chosen the name ‘Alfred’ for her invisible, electronic butler The co name had been spoken

Alfred

Once, there had been an Alfred in her life, a real one of flesh and bone

Surprisingly, she had chosen that nanificance Only after she began using vocal corasp the irony of the nameand the dark implications of her unconscious choice

Now she began to feel that the night silence was ominous Its very perfection was unnatural, the silence not of deserted places but of a crouching predator, the soundless stealth of a murderous intruder

In the dark, she turned to the control panel on the nightstand At her touch, the screen filled with soft light A series of icons represented the mechanical systems of the house

She pressed one finger to the iave her access to the security system The screen listed a series of options, and Susan touched the box labelled Report

The words House Secure appeared on the screen

Frowning, Susan touched another box labelled Sur¬veillance Exterior

Across the ten acres of grounds, twenty caive her views of every side of the house, the patios, the gardens, the lawns, and the entire length of the eight-foot-high estate wall that surrounded the property Now the Crestron screen divided into quads and presented views of four different parts of the estate If she saw soe any picture until it filled the screen, for closer inspection

The cahting was sufficient to ensure crisp, clear ih all twenty scenes, in groups of four, without spotting any trouble

Additional concealed cameras covered the interior of the house They would et inside

The extensive in-house ca a videotape, time-lapse record of the activities of the douests, ers, who attended social events conducted for the benefit of various charities The antiques, the art, the nulass and silver were te to thieves; larcenous souls could be found as easily a pampered society matrons as in any other social strata

Susan cycled through the views provided by the inte¬rior cay per¬htness or darkness

Recently, she had reduced the house staff to a mini¬mum and those domestic servants who reeneral ht, she had her privacy, because no er

No party, either for a charity or for friends, had been held here during the past two years, not since before she and Alex had divorced She had no plans to entertain in the year ahead, either

She wanted only to be alone, blissfully alone, and to pursue her own interests

Had she been the last person on earth, served by machines, she would not have been lonely or unhappy She’d had enough of humanity at least for a while

The rooms, hallways, and staircases were deserted

Nothing moved Shadoere only shadows

She exited the security systeain to vocal commands: ‘Alfred, report’

‘All is well, Susan,’ the house replied through the in-wall speakers that served the music security, and intercom systems