{"loaderData":{"4":{"story":{"id":"2e962564-1e2b-492f-b6b3-95effc700172","seriesId":"8f123ec3-5d42-4688-a05f-ccf4b1278b28","seriesName":"Savage","currentUserId":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","added":"2022-02-16T11:05:01.258Z","title":"Digital Assistant","slug":"digital-assistant","shortId":"J4WnIEN8","authorNote":null,"disclaimer":null,"type":"Short","paidUrl":null,"synopsis":"“Standing in the hall of the great cathedral. Waiting for the transport to come. Starship 21zna9. A good friend of mine, follows the stars.\nVenus and Mars, are alright tonight.” (Paul McCartney and Wings 1975) .........and yes, one suggestion that turn up when the two are brain storming was used for the cover illustration shown in the first chapter. ","partCount":1,"parts":[{"partId":"ac122d64-1fb0-4e20-a217-751b1ef82ce8","title":null,"summary":" Several weeks had passed, while Pilar had been hesitant to connect with Moira on theICN networ","wordCount":1433,"readTime":7,"number":1,"state":"Published"}],"currentPart":1,"contentTitle":"Chapter 1","content":"

$\"Girl$

Several weeks had passed, while Pilar had been hesitant to connect with Moira on the
ICN network. This was not because she had revealed who and what she truly was.
While Pilar did not feel that Moira was too disgusting or strange.

She was not as repulsive as some other genetically changed humans she had seen
images of. The sense of rejection for those was caused by the fact that they looked like
deformed humans.
Whereas Moira only was a jellyfish, though of a very unusual kind, that fact did not make
her uneasy in any way at all.

It had more to do with what she had learned about their colony's situation.

She felt sorry for her, which was not the best attitude she could have toward a
dominatrix Mistress.

The thought that she had a predatory mind was also unsettling to her. For Pilar lived in a
society where life was considered semisacred, killing and eating other living beings was
far from anything she had imagined that a human still would do in this enlightened age.

But there it was, at that faraway star, a sizeable portion of the population living inside
other living creatures, like ghosts. And actively participating, even enjoying catching and
devouring other beings on a regular basis.

Eventually, she decided to hook up again. She sat down in her session chair and sent a
connection request to Moira's world.

While she waited she browsed the news nodes, while most were familiar she smiled
briefly when she reflected on the fact that most used laughable names including
'Hypernet', 'Ultranet' or the preposterous 'Galactic' which actually suited them well as
the reporting often were so exaggerated one might think the galaxy was falling apart.

In this peaceful era, the media outlets twisted a minor demonstration suggesting it was
a planetary revolt in the making. Or that a minor spacecraft mishap was a danger to
the entire asteroid mining business. She closed the digital tabloids and moved over to
the BDSM community news, which used the very predictable header 'Subspace news.'

After about an half hour, a signal flashed in the corner of Pilar's vision confirming that
Moira had logged on, she stopped reading, greeted her and said. “I am pleased to

hear from you again.”

“Thank you, I am glad to meet and also to see you this time.” Said Pilar.

“Oh my face? It's my avatar simulation of course, based on what my actual appearance
used to be, as well as the synthetic voice.”
“Anyway, I almost thought I had scared you off.” Moira's voice trailed off momentarily
before she continued.

“But just in case you would return I have done some research and prepared a some
new scenarios, one is in a 15th century Byzantine harem, it will provide us both with
many female encounters that I have made avatars for.”

“So you go right to business? It's all good, but most of your scenarios is quite ancient,
why wont we do a scenario in the 22'th century?”

“I wanted to keep things simple, 22'th you said? By that time there already was AI's
and techno shamanism. You could retaliate in ways I would not be able to anticipate,
with a trojan in your cyber implants or whatever. With a simple setup, you'll be left
with only way out, and that is to use your emergency stop.”

“Technophobe!” Replied Pilar with a gargling giggle.

“Well I got one that is more modern, where your body cells are removed in a manner
to shrink you down to doll size, chained up, and then imprisoned inside a small sphere
where I can torture you remotely in various ways without touching.”

“When I am away, or busy with other things you’ll end up placed on a shelf so I can
watch you at any time. Micromachines will keep you alive so you eventually are forced
to live as my toy for a 1000 years!”

“Safeword!”

“What?” Asked Moira. “Was my idea really that horrible?”

“No....er yes!” Pilar hesitated before continuing. “In a way it was. My mind cannot fit
into such a small skull.”

“Well why not put electronic circuits in the foundation of that snow globe then, and
have most of your mind stored there.”

“That is exactly the kind of matter we need to discuss, the transfer and storage of a
mind.” said Pilar.

“For you, that is a technique you got in common use, but to us it has been an
unproven hypothesis that such even would be possible, until I heard about it from you.”

“While we play in virtual worlds, or even visit distant places with an avatar. The actual
mind is still in our own body. You have expanded on that in a way I'd like to learn
more about.”

Moira's attention got diverted from Pilar when a smoky figure appeared through a
small gap in the wall.

“What the heck is that?” Asked Moira with an astonished tone in her voice.

“Oh that's just my house god, it might be time to do some dusting.”

“Isn't that a projection? How can it help with cleaning, it does not look solid at all!”

“My Tudipo is very physically real, even if she appears to be ephemeral.” Pilar smiled
and followed the apparition with her eyes for a moment before she continued:
“An EM field keeps her together. She's helpful in many ways, reminds me of
appointments, place orders for supplies.”
“When I'm in virtual space with you, she guards the home and if something major
happen she can use an off switch to summon me from my torpid state.”

“So this Tudipo is your safecall then?” Asked Moira and added: “Once you mentioned
that you had a safety to call on, but I got the impression it was a person.”

“Oh, it might be true I phrased it that way.” replied Pilar.

“I often think of Tudi as a person, and she's very reliable.”

“But your hunch is correct, she's not good at manipulating physical objects, except
dust, the field that keep Tudi coherent will raise dust from any object.”

Pilar sent a command to the digital assistant allowing it to interact with Moira.

The figure flew up to the display monitor which was provided with a camera.

The semi transparent character bowed and said hello to Moira with a thin but
pleasant voice. 'Digital Assistant?' Thought Moira, neither did it appear much like a
cleaning lady to her, more like a small goddess or fantasy figure, with a staff in one
hand. The body vaguely female, while the face more apparently so.

“Hello Tudipo is that your title or your name?”

“Both! Pilar never bothered to change my appearance or even name me. Even
though there's templates that would fit her culture. I told her how to do it!”

Pilar laughed quietly at the subordinate appliance. “I find you to be a quite
pleasant company as you are, and that Mardi Gras costume was absolutely garish!”

For a short moment Tudi's appearance changed into one very colourful being,
wearing a mask on the face. Then changed back and replied with a piqued tone in
the voice. “There's other templates you could have used.”

“You're good as you are, stop pushing back on my decision and go back to work now.”

“Yes Mistress!” said Tudi and flew off to a shelf where she moved around like a bee,
moving from object to object while sending small puffs of dust into the air.

Moira could not resist smiling and asked:
“Is that AI fully sentient? She sounded like she is.”

“Not really, it's a very good emulation though.” Replied Pilar. “She gives quick and
sometimes obnoxious replies, those who made her wanted her to have a personality
that provided a bit of a challenge. The users often view those as a minor deity.”

“Wait, your people are mostly atheist, do this suggest she's not of your culture at all?”

“Yes true, Tudi and her siblings was obtained by one trade deal from off planet.”

“You got interstellar trade? How? Big sublight transport ships?”

“No no,” replied Pilar, “I cannot imagine anything such ever would be profitable.”

“The corporation sent quantum encrypted designs and procedures to prospective
buyers, the one who eventually got the contract looked at the first layer of the
palimpsest and found they got the know-how to manufacture and struck a deal.
They paid with templates of things invented here and got a monopoly on this world
for interactive digital assistants.”

Moira's avatar looked thoughtful before she replied: “I knew there was information
exchange and that some work on bookkeeping even for people and corporations in
other systems.” “But I never understood there was any large scale trade going on.”

“You didn't?”

“Well, my main interest have been how people lived and what their environment
is like.”

“You're a virtual tourist then, have you ever used any of the remote controlled
robots to experience any other world?”

“No I could not afford anything such, I got no interstellar funds, neither have I
been allowed any longer leave to make such possible.”

“I start to see why you are uninformed in some matters, and without funds you
cannot purchase higher level information anyway.” Pilar said thoughtfully.

“Good information is hard currency on the net.”

“It's not just me who lacks such, it's our curse, even though we got a
communication node.”
“We're locked out from the kind of information that would make a difference.
And know very little about interstellar affairs, as I am not part of the inner circle
of the technocrats”. “Merely a He3 miner, bottom if the ladder, those like me
used to be called the working class.”

Even though Moira used a synthetic voice, Pilar could clearly hear a tone of
discontent in the tone of that reply.

'I am starting to wonder which one of us is the actual slave here.' Thought Pilar.

","authorName":"Aibo","authorUserId":"82a71ad5-c260-4d96-980f-105cffbacb44","rating":5,"ratingCount":1,"reviewCount":0,"quoteCount":0,"storyCodes":["Light","Online","Sci Fi","CNC"],"language":"English","readTime":7,"recommendations":[{"id":"97f53ae3-8b2e-4637-ad7b-dbe850187297","title":"Chips Of The Same Block","slug":"chips-of-the-same-block","shortId":"p7p2zmMY","synopsis":"Something from their virtual session follow Pilar into the real world, her perception of reality crumbles.","rating":5},{"id":"ba0b3d53-1ba0-4573-96fa-4cb0aa738bd9","title":"Stigmata","slug":"stigmata","shortId":"3ywpLxw5","synopsis":"Mind over matter.","rating":5},{"id":"4c55f259-f714-4408-be31-48cb3f3710ab","title":"Divulgence","slug":"divulgence","shortId":"lyZMkX1L","synopsis":"The only way for Pilar and Moira to meet in person, is to send the contents of Moira's mind, her memory and personality to a waiting clone. At this point every mad scientist is supposed to say: \"What could possibly go wrong.\"","rating":5}]}}},"actionData":null,"errors":null}