Modern Marriage
"Welcome to the Asimov International Stargate Terminal. Bienvenue au Terminal International..." The calm female voice cycled through it's multilingual cycle, audible over the low level chatter of arriving and departing travelers as Robert Eaton glanced at the information board.
"Oklunga – Earth; 09:00 PM GST; ARRIVED" It had been 'arrived' for half an hour, and as he looked at it, it slipped off the board entirely. Shifting the jacket he carried over his right arm to his left, he wondered if he should find a seat.
Looking around for the closest bench he turned back as one of the elevators "dinged" and let out a small crowd of travelers. Temporarily suspending his search for seating, he scanned the crowd as they dispersed. He didn't have to wait long. Rebeca Eaton cut a distinctive figure amid the tourists and businessmen, sweaty, dusty and tanned a near reddish brown, she wore a well traveled khaki outfit rolled up past her elbows. The bulging backpack she wore had it's straps drawn tight and bounced not at all.
His iPod clicked as she approached, taking a picture. "The prodigal wife returns, eh?" She greeted him with a smile as he snapped the electronic bracelet back around his wrist. "It's good to see you 'Becka." He smiled back. In a moment they had their arms around each other in a warm hug. "Long time."
"Yeah." Then he grinned, through she couldn't see it. "You're late."
They pulled apart. "Oh no."
"What?"
Sure enough, there was a Rebeca shaped dust print on his black trench coat. When she tried to brush it off, she only succeeded on rubbing off the stuff that was on her hands. "I'm so sorry." She said, looking torn between trying to correct her mistake and knowing it would only make it worse.
Robbert just laughed. "Here, give me your bag for a second." He handed her the winter jacket hanging over his arm. "You'll need it." With a few swipes of his hands, the coat became less obviously marred, and seeing further effort would be worthless, he gave it a rest. Acknowledging the lost battle, he hefted the back over one shoulder.
"Umm, yeah, I was held back in customs, they didn't know what to make of some of my souvenirs." She said, skipping back to his earlier question.
"We have to get going actually, Jim's a smart kind, but I don't know if I can trust him with getting that stuffed chicken out of the oven when he's supposed to."
They Started walking towards the escalators, Rebeca following her husband in the unfamiliar space of the brand new Stargate terminal. It was almost indistinguishable from any other international airport she'd been through. Last time she'd used Earth's Stargate it had still been in a tiny room under Cheyenne Mountain.
"How is James anyways?" She asked.
"Same old, same old. Still getting good grades, still out of jail." Robert smiled. "Him and Sophia are still together through."
His wife gave a low whistle.
"It's not that surprising, they looked pretty into each other, she'll actually be joining us tonight."
"Still, it's been what? Three years now? A lifetime for a teenager. Speaking of which..."
Oh boy, here it comes again. Robert through silently to himself.
"... I wish I could have come to visit more often, it's a lo easier now with the 'Gate and I know I should have..."
His wife loved her job, she always had, she was good at it too. But it did keep her away from home for months and sometimes nearly years at a time, a fact she regretted immensely. And like every other time she'd come back, she was having a miniature breakdown/apology session for missing all that time with her family. Ah, there! The escalators, and maybe, salvation.
"I'm going to cut you off right there and ask you to close your eyes."
"I know you say that you're OK with it but- huh?"
He smiled his "amused but patient" smile and got her to get on the escalator a head of him.
"Step." He said at the top, so she would know when to step off the machine. "What's going on Robert?"
"Just wait." He led her away from the crowds and to the edge of the building where the hubbub of the terminal seemed to fade away. "Turn, no, this way. Ok, you can open them."
The first thing she saw was a half full Earth hanging low over the bright gray horizon.
Built on the Moon's northern peak of eternal light, Asimov terminal had an impressive view of mankind's cradle. From so far away, Rebeca could cover Earth with her hand.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
She shook her head as it to clear it. "Weren't we late?"
The rest of the trip passed without the dreaded apology session materializing, and Robert gave himself a pat on the back for a job well done. They ringed to Pearson International where Rebeca went for round two with the customs officers, and then emerged from the airport into a howling blizzard to find a cab.
"Oh god!"
"Climate change my dear!"
Quickly finding a free one, they got into the bright orange Toronto taxi.
"And good evening to you sir and madam." The driver cheerfully greeted them in a South African accent. "Where might you be haded this stormy Christmas day?"
"425 Brooke Street please."
"Alright, but just so you know..." he consulted his GPS. "Don't expect to be getting there in under forty five minutes."
True to his word, they were gridlocked five minutes later. "You would think people would learn their lesson. Every year Christmas comes around on the same day, and every year you have people scrambling to get their last minute presents." Robert said, looking out into to stormy yet packed streets.
"It's Christmas day, why is it so crazy? I thought most of the last minute shopping would be done by now, the presents have already been opened."
"Yeah-"
"Wait, why are we on Dundas? This is the busiest street in town." She looked accusingly at the driver.
"Truth is ma'am, it's not much slower than the alternatives this time of year. Besides, Dundas Square's really something to see right now."
"He's right." Said Robert. "You haven't been back in a year, you'll really like this."
Five years behind schedule, one scandal and a not insignificant amount of money later, the Toronto city council had finally completed the hologram system across Dundas Square, successfully following in the footsteps of it's bigger brother in New York. Now as traffic crawled down the intersection of Dundas and Young, Rebeca had the impression of stepping into a Harry Potter novel. Despite the snow's constant interference with the image projection systems, a veritable sea of candles, Chinese lanterns, menorahs, and other symbols of equivalent (through not always simultaneous) festivals floated a meter above head level. Rebeca spied at least one Santa sleigh that seemed to be playing tag with a Chinese dragon (although she was pretty sure Chinese new year wasn't for almost a month).
A sudden realization popped her tourist moment. "Since when do you wear glasses?"
"Huh?" He took them off. "Oh yeah. They're not really glasses." He pressed a few keys on the wide electronic bracelet. "Here, try them on." He passed them to her.
She eyed him dubiously for a moment before putting them on. "Whoa." Sheer sensory overload. It was like a whole new world. Everything she looked at caused a new window to pop open showing something about it. The cab's route was a floating line above the car, Every piece of electronic equipment around her had a menu around it, and the ads, oh my god, the ads!
"Ugghhh!" She took them off to rub her eyes. "How do you stand it."
He chuckled and typed something else into the iPod. "Sorry, I took the filters down to show you the whole thing. James got it for me for my birthday, it's actually been really useful. We should get you a pair."
"Mmm, maybe, we'll see."
As they left the intense celebratory mood of the main streets, the city became more subdued. "I see poverty hasn't been abolished yet." She said, spotting a homeless police quad-rotor blaring at a homeless man sleeping in in a door in an effort to get him out of the way of the building's residents.
"You can't expect miracles." Robbert shrugged. "It's getting better every year but..."
Rebeca's lips tightened a bit. "How's the economy? How are you, actually? I didn't have much time to keep up with the news."
"Been better, been worse." He looked out the window thoughtfully. "There's been something of a revolution while you were away, desktop manufacturers are selling like hotcakes, James and a few friends pooled their money to get a good one, it's killing the secondary industries."
She shot him a worried look.
"On the bright side, the cost of living keeps going down!" He grinned in an effort to alleviate the tension.
"It's not so bad, really. Whatever isn't being bought on Earth gets shipped off-world these days, even our outdated stuff is state of the art on a lot of planets, so I'm doing pretty good actually. More and more stuff gets exported every month, and the 'Gate can't handle it so it's pretty hectic at the office right now."
It was nearly eight when Robert unlocked the apartment door.
"Easy, easy, wait- ok, just... hold it there." James and his girlfriend were wrestling the Microsoft Surface that doubled as the apartment's wide-screen off the wall and onto it's table stand.
"We're home!" Robert announced loudly as he hung up his coat, causing James to look up and clip the edge of the Surface with his forehead.
"Motherf-unction!" He corrected midway, grimacing in pain. "Mom, you're back!"
"Come here." She said, hugging him. James did his best to balance the need to let his mother know he loved her with the need to maintain some dignity as a young adult and hugged back for a second before pulling away.
"Good to have you back mom."
"Good to be back."
"Evening Mrs. Eaton." Sophia said. "Did you have a pleasant trip?"
"Yes, yes I did."
A loud sigh came from the kitchenette.
"Oh come on dad! I can program genetic algorithms but you don't expect me to be able to take the chicken out of the oven on time?" James said turning towards the the kitchenette.
"Alright, how can I help?" Asked Rebeca looking around.
"Well... not to put to fine a point on it mom but..." James tapped the side of his nose. "You could do with a shower."
Rebeca looked down at her dusty khakis and sighed. "Point. Alright, I'm off to avail myself of the wonders of indoor plumbing."
Dinner was served with the lights dimmed to almost nothing, the fireplace cast a flickering blue light that competed with the aquatic reflection generated by the Surface whose screen-saver they set to a faux Stargate event horizon.
"Mmmmmm." Rebeca hummed with pleasure as she chewed the sweet and spicy carrot strands. "This is delicious Sophie. What is it?"
"Korean style carrots, popularized by the Russians ironically enough." Sophia smiled a she speared a few slices of lemon with her fork, happy to have bought her way back into James' mom's good books.
James had a similar reaction on bitting into his share of the carrots. "Mmmmmm, I feel the need to re-iterate how much I love you."
Robert laughed. "They don't say that 'the way to a man's hart is through his stomach' for no reason." He said, looking at Sophia.
"Speaking of a certain man, nice job with the fireplace James."
Her son shrugged. "Actually some British lady made the design, I just downloaded it, fed it to the printer and found a cheap renovator."
The table was set with a diverse array of dishes. The stuffed chicken held center, while a salad and a plate of pastries flanked it. Thin sliced lemon, cheese and salami along with the Korean style carrots and a basket of olive bread Sophia contributed occupied the remaining free space.
"Out of curiosity Sophie." Asked Rebeca. "I know you have a large family, how did they let you spend Christmas with us?"
"Mom and dad are Orthodox, Christmas doesn't come until later for them so I'm free today."
"How are you enjoying first year at UofT?" Robert asked Sophia, cutting himself a piece of the chicken.
"It's been great, beyond hectic, but great. We just got a Galaran neural scanner and it feels like half the software engineering faculty's invaded psych, everyone says a Bachelor's in neuro-psychology comes with a default minor in AI programing these days." She replied with a grin.
"It's like we're in the same program half the time." Said James.
"If only the code-heads would quit pestering us about the quantified variables of the, quote, sexiest female voice, unquote, we could actually get some work done." Sophia grimaced.
Rebeca raised an eyebrow at her son.
James just shrugged. "The senior project is making a muse..." He was met with blank looks. "A personal digital assistant AI that handles all of your stuff, books tickets, makes appointments, downloads the books you tell it to, it's keyed to your preferences..."
"So it's... an AI secretary?" Asked Rebeca.
James made a face. "Yeah, we'll go with that."
"And they want it to talk in a sexy voice." Concluded Robert with a grin. Rebeca raised an eyebrow at him and Robert assumed the most innocent expression he could muster. "How was your expedition dear?"
Rebeca cringed. "Difficult, but worthwhile. The Tlalticpacchanehque under Goa'uld rule became a very stagnant people, on the bright side, it means we're likely seeing a society that's fairly close to the one that existed here on Earth, but they're very insular and obsessed with tradition, which made observing them up close difficult. And on a tangent, we've fond strong stylistic and linguistic similarities with the Tollan so they may in fact have come from the same culture initially."
"Wait a sec." said James. "The Tollan are like space elves, they have tech that lets them walk throghy walls; and these Tlatchpa-Tkalap-eh, you know who." James said as they chuckled over his inability to pronounce the consulted name. "They're barely out of the stone age."
"They've actually developed an incredible level of skill when it comes to working with glass, but it's a stark contrast to be sure, and we haven't confirmed it conclusively, it's just a good hunch so far. Still, it was enough to get us a small grant from the Curia."
"OK, and did anything... noteworthy happen?" Asked James with a grin, bringing his wineglass up for a sip.
Rebeca laughed as she leaned back. "There was the time at the sinkhole with an Ahuizotl, which by the way turns out to have some basis in reality..." As they shared stories, joked and laughed they finished a good dinner and settled on the couch.
"Well, seeing as it is Christmas day, we may as well unpack our presents." Said Robert with a smile.
Rebeca's eyes widened a bit. "Oh no, I haven't wrapped your presents yet!"
"Moooooom. Relax." Whined James from his spot on the corner, one arm around Sophia. "It' still gonna be a surprise for us, we haven't exactly had a chance to peek." He finished with a smile.
"First thing's first then." Robert reached under their stunted tree and gave Rebeca a smallish box. "From me and James."
Inside was a pair of glasses and an iPod similar to Robert's.
"Dad paid for the hardware but I jail-broke it for you and added some pretty nifty stuff, put them on."
Rebeca did so. "Ummm..."
"Dear..." Robert reached across to power up the iPod.
"Mommm..." James hid his face with his palm as everyone laughed. "You're killing me."
"Good evening madam." A miniature late middle aged man in a black suit with white shirt said from the top of the coffee table at their feet said in a British accent.
"Whoa!"
"Mom, I present to you Alfred, your new electronic butler. He's not quite a muse, but he's close. You can give him voice commands and queries and he'll act on them.
After the brief shock, Rebeca looked at her son through the heads up display. "Alfred, really?" She asked with a smile.
"You can change the skin anytime you want, but when we were deciding it was either this or a house elf and Sophie-"
"Hey!" She said, pulling out of his embrace as he chortled to himself.
"She wasn't a fan of the idea." He finished.
His girlfriend just crossed her arms and turned away with mock offense. It wasn't her fault, ever since she'd read Harry potter and the Chamber of Secrets she'd felt sorry for the fictional elves.
James and Robert gave each other cologne, Sophie and James exchanged a recipe book and another butler program, through Robert expressed skepticism at the thought of James starting to cook. Sophie then gave James a pair of self heating socks so he would stop whining about the weather.
Rebeca came back from her pack with a flower like glass instrument for Robert played by varying the water level within it and the location struck, after filling it in the sink and giving a few experimental taps, Robert was very pleased even through he hadn't a musical bone in his body. James got an onyx cup which he said was cool, and in a bit if improvisation, Rebeca gave Sophia a pair of jade earnings and a complicated looking hair clip that she had to show Sophia how to use.
"Wow, thanks Mrs. Eaton." Said Sophia sincerely as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"I do believe that's everything." Said Robert glancing at the tree, whose base was now devoid of packages.
"Not... quite." Said James with a twinkle in hie eyes. He beaconed Sophia over where she sat down next to him.
"So, me and Sophia have a surprise for the both of you." He said, looking guilty and amused at the same time.
Ohmygodshe'spregant- was the first through that flashed through Rebeca's head. But then she thought that would be unlikely, neither her son nor his girlfriend looked... well, serious enough. That would have been a private discussion, not something sprung upon your unsuspecting parents on Christmas day. As James took Sophia's hand, Rebeca put her wine glass down and gave them her undivided attention.
"Mom and dad, me and Sophie are getting engaged!"
Robert made a sound between a snort and a cough as the drink he'd been taking returned to it's container.
"Now hear us out before you judge!" James quickly added raising his hands in a warding gesture.
With a final cough, Robert put his drink down and gave a jerky nod while Rebeca watched with a calm demeanor that didn't fool anyone.
"When we started dating, it wasn't entirely out of the blue."
"Didn't you say you met one some on-line forums?" Asked Rebeca.
"That may have been a bit of a white lie." Admitted James. "I mean, it just started out with me trying to make a point to my friends-" He started. "We were matched on Pair Bond Design."
Robert groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Rebeca, uncertain of what that was supposed to mean.
"Do you remember eHarmony?" Asked Robert.
"No..."
"Pair Bond Design is the leading electronic matchmaking software today." Jumped in Sophia. "They profile you psychologically and genetically, filer for age, culture, even location."
""
tlalticpacchanéhque"
James grimaced. "It's a waste of time, if the bloody UNE would just release the critical bits of Asuran code they have on file we would already have true Artificial General Intelligence."
"Well I for one agree with them." Said Sophia. "Nobody knows the details..." she explained to Mr and Mrs. Eaton, "But apparently the military did a comparison between the two and found they're related in terms of common code sequences, and both went for the genocidal AI angle, so it makes sense that the UNE wants AI research to move independently of that. We either have to make our own that isn't predisposed to rampancy, or to try to and at least gain a better understanding of how recursive self improvement systems work before we can try to fix what's broken with the replicator code."
"But we're going in blind." Whined James. "Collaboration and reverse engineering has taken us so far. Just because they're rampant doesn't mean we can't learn from it."
"Come on you two, keep the shop talk to a minimum here." Said Robert, smiling.
Conversation proceeded in a roundabout fashion troughs the dinner, Rebeca shared some of her more interesting off-world experiences, Sophia and James started to spiral into increasingly incomprehensible jargon over mind uploading before Robert pulled them back, and finally they found themselves on the couches looking out over the city lights as they sipped the tea that went with the pastries.