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The speech-recognition h the entire package had a limited capability, the state-of-the-art synthesized voice was pleasinglytone
Susan envisioned a tallat the teray eyes, and a sination, quite like the Alfred she had known but different from that Alfred because this one would never harm or betray her
‘Alfred, explain the alarm,’ she said
‘All is well, Susan’
‘Damn it, Alfred, I heard the alarm’
The house conize hundreds of commands andinquiries, but only when they were phrased in a specificfashion While it understood ‘explain the alarm,’ it could not interpret ‘I heard the alar being, but merely a clever electronic device enabled by a sophisticated software package
‘Alfred, explain the alarm,’ Susan repeated
‘All is well, Susan’
Still sitting on the edge of the bed, in darkness but for the eerie glow from the Crestron panel Susan said,
‘Alfred trouble-check the security system’ a ten-second hesitation, the house said, ‘The security syste correctly’
‘I wasn’t drea,’ she said sourly Alfred was silent
Alfred, what is the roorees, Susan’
‘Alfred stabilize the room temperature’ Yes, Susan’
‘Alfred explain the alarm’
‘All is well, Susan;
‘Shit’ she said
While the coe offered some
Convenience to the homeowner, its limited ability to
Recognize vocal commands and to synthesize adequate responses was frequently frustrating At tiet designed to appeal strictly to techno geeks, little more than an expensive toy
Susan wondered if she had added this feature to the house computer solely because, unconsciously, she took pleasure fro able to issue orders to so obeyed by him
If this were the case, she wasn’t sure what it revealed about her psychological health She didn’t want to think about it
She sat nude in the dark
She was so beautiful
She was so beautiful
She was so beautiful there in the dark, on the edge of the bed, alone and unaware of how her life was about to change
She said, ‘Alfred, lights on’
The bedroo a pati¬naed scene on a pictorial silver tray, revealed only by gli cove, the nightstand lamps dimmed by a rheostat
If she directed Alfred to give her ht, it would be provided She did not ask for it
Always, she wasday, with birdsong and the smell of clover on the breeze, even with sunshine like a rain of gold coins and the natural world as welco as Paradise, she preferred shadows
She rose froer lithe, shapely, a vision When it olden, and her sloith an inner fire
When she occupied the bedroom, the surveillance camera in that space was deactivated to ensure her privacy She had locked it off earlier, on retiring Yet she feltwatched
She looked toward the corner where the observant lens was discreetly incorporated into the dental lass eye
In an only half-conscious expression of modesty, she covered her brsts with her hands
She was so beautiful
She was so beautiful
She was so beautiful in the dih bed, where the rumpled sheets were still ith her body heat if one were capable of feeling it, and where the scent of her lingered on the Egyptian cotton if one were capable of s it
She was so beautiful
‘Alfred, explain the status of the bedroom camera’
‘Camera deactivated,’ the house replied at once
Still, she frowned up at the lens
So beautiful
So real
So Susan
Her feeling of being watched now passed
She lowered her hands from her breasts
She moved to the nearestand said, ‘Alfred, raise the bedroom security shutters’
The motorized, steel-slat, Rolladen-style shutters were mounted on the inside of the tall s They purred upward, traveling on recessed tracks in the side jambs, and disappeared into slots in theheaders
In addition to providing security, the shutters had prevented outside light fro the bedroom
Now the pale h palm fronds, dappled Susan’s body
Fro pool The water was as dark as oil, and the shattered reflection of the moon was scattered across the rippled surface
The terrace was paved in brick, surrounded by a balustrade Beyond lay black lawns Half-glimpsed palht
Through the , the grounds looked as peaceful and deserted as they had seeh the security cameras
The alarm had been false Or perhaps it had been only a sound in an unrecollected dream
She started back to the bed, but then turned toward the door and left the room
Many nights she woke fro and her skin cla so slowly that she ed cat, she sometimes prowled until dawn
Now, barefoot and unclothed, she explored the house She was oddess Diana, huntress and protector She was the essential georace
Susan
As she had recorded in her diary, to which she , she felt liberated since her divorce from Alex Harris For the first time in thirty-four years of existence, she believed that she had taken control of her life
She needed no one now She believed in herself at last
After so many years of timidity, self-doubt, and an unquenchable thirst for approval, she had broken the heavy encu chains of the past She had confronted terrible memories, which previously had been half repressed, and by the act of confrontation, she had found redemption
Deep within herself, she sensed a wonderful wildness that she wanted desperately to explore: the spirit of the child that she’d never had a chance to be, a spirit that she’d thought was irreparably crushed alo Her nudity was innocent, the act of a child breaking rules for the sheer fun of it, an atteet in touch with that deep, primitive, once-shattered spirit and meld with it in order to be whole