Ch 5 Antique (3)

"Not mam, She-u." I turned and started for the door but called back over my shoulder after just two steps, "And you would do well to remember, Andrew, I am not now, nor have I ever been a damsel in distress. I girl would die if she was always waiting on a man to save her, they are usually the cause of the problem anyway."

I caught Goliath's expression as I turned to watch where I was going just in time to not walk into the wall instead of the door. "She always like that?" Andrew asked as I moved into the hallway happy I didn't hit the door for once.

"No, she usually walks into the wall. She is growing up. Now, what are-" The door closed and cut off their words.

"I think he likes, me." Goliath spoke quietly next to me. I stopped turned to look him up and down. He stopped at the same time I did.

"I know he likes you. He would have killed you as soon as you stepped out of the limo, if he didn't like you."

"You are mean, he would have had me killed before I got to the limo if he wasn't interested in what you were doing. He didn't like me until recently. He tolerated me when I threatened him getting out of the limo."

I raised an eyebrow at Goliath. It wasn't possible to smile at the same time though, "He didn't let you take any weapons though."

"He already figured out I am already armed. He is more spry than he looks, She-u. Besides how well armed would I need to be in the house?"

"Good." I stood on my tip toes and kissed his cheek before turning and continuing down the hallway. "Now are you worried about yellow?"

"I am more worried that you won't like him then that you will."

"You will have to explain that one to me when we get to the private dining room." I waved one hand as I walked and the MAID appeared. "Tell the kitchen that I will like lunch shortly. Try and plan it for when Joe and Andrew are on their way."

"It will be much harder to coordinate if you use the private dining, miss."

"I know, you will just have to put up with it."

"As you wish miss." The AI interface vanished again. I didn't let that fool me into thinking she wasn't still listening.

It wasn't a far walk to the dining room. I unclipped my phone and it's headset and set it in a bowl by the main door. "This room is one of the six that predates the home monitoring law. The only electronics allowed inside are lights. Since no input device has ever been installed in this room or those like it, I don't have to install them. So these rooms are effectively always private, and the AI cannot see or hear anything that happens inside."

"The downside being you have to leave your phone unattended out here."

"If someone has physically penetrated this far into my home with the intent to gain access to my home network without being stopped, that would be a huge flaw in my security and I would rather that person take my phone then take the server room which is about as far away."

I opened the doors and went in while I talked. This room was bigger than the one we had breakfast in. It was set up in a more formal manner. Currently there were just generic place settings and a pitcher of warm water on the table. No one had been warned I would choose to eat here after all. There was a knock on the far door followed by a five second pause before it opened. The door was sound proof, so there was no point waiting for a response the pause was to give anyone in the room time to stop speaking before the server entered.

The server had a tray with a fresh pitcher of water, and a plate of small cookies. So the MAID had warned the kitchen as soon as I had said I changed my plans. "Good afternoon, miss. It will still be a bit until lunch. Would you like anything else?"

"Not at this time, thank you." The man bowed and left closing the door quietly behind him.

Goliath pulled out a chair for me. I smiled at him but my tone didn't match my expression, "You too, I am not helpless and you aren't a servant. You do that again without me asking and with no one else around and I will kick you."

Goliath snorted, "I would hate for you to hurt your foot, princess."

"You are going to start calling me that whenever we are alone, aren't you, greenie?"

"I am finding I don't hate that name nearly as much when you say it, princess."

"Humph," I decided to change the subject before I actually lost. "Tell me what you meant about me not liking yellow."

"Not that you won't like him, that you won't like him as much. He is already on your side. "

"On my side… Are you saying that because of my breeding I must believe a certain way? If your weren't still my master I would smack you."

Goliath blinked in surprise, "Still your master, you can more than pay for yourself. I am still not sure what you are trying to do."

"I am trying to fight a three front war without any of the fronts realizing they are at war. The AI does not take into account people's reactions to its math on keeping people alive. It doesn't consider quality of life after or free will of all the pieces. This is a big part of the problem most people have with the Government AI. It needs realigned with more principles with an ability to shift and guide those to change as the moral compass of humanity changes. The AI has gotten too much power and nothing to balance it. The rebels want to burn down all AIs. That won't work, anymore than saying electricity is the problem so we need to get rid off all electricity. It serves some very life saving useful functions that just cannot be relinquished for humanity to continue to grow and thrive. The last front is Black who is currently circling the mining colony. Those are just my current problems."