"All creative people want to do the unexpected." Hedy Lamarr
It wasn't that Helena didn't have enough to keep her busy; it was that there wasn't enough to keep her occupied. The woman's appetite for takeover seemed insatiable as she set out to acquire most of Manhattan; one small piece of real estate at a time. Even she didn't realize how large the Bering-Wells take over was becoming.
"Sweetie?" Myka said one day when they returned from the pediatrician for Cate's checkup. "Did it help at all to go over this before we went in?" she asked her wife gingerly, as she prepared her daughter lunch.
"Grilled cheese," Cate ordered when they went into the kitchen. One look from Myka and she sighed and added; "Please." Just because her order was being processed by a programed mechanical arm was no reason to be lax about manners.
"I find the woman obstinate," Helena said in her own defense; even though she didn't have one. It was so obvious, that even Cate seemed to know.
"Trouble," she said softly to Helena because it was the same tone Myka used when trying to teach her a new life lesson.
"I just didn't think there was any reason in arguing with the doctor when we can't vaccinate Cate ourselves," Myka tried to highlight.
And then proving once again that her wife could argue about almost anything, Helena stated her case. "She insisted on holding that needle at a thirty five degree angle when she knows perfectly well, twenty five or less will do!"
The fact that Cate had not cried seemed to make the angle argument a moot point. But nothing was moot to the Brit.
"Well, we all survived it," Myka summed up as she accepted the grilled cheese sandwiches on plates from the robotic hand that handed them to her.
"Barely," Helena huffed and sat at the kitchen table.
Cate seemed to be paying little attention as she waited for Myka to give her the cooled off sandwich. She took a bite and looked over at Helena. "Mummy needs tea," she informed Myka because even at that age, she knew the solution to Helen's frown.
"Yes, Mummy does need her tea," Myka agreed and set out to make it. That mechanical device might have been able to serve a delicious coq au vin; but the code for the perfect cup of tea had not yet been written.
Helena talked to Cate while Myka prepared the tea. It had been a personal goal of the lawyer to learn to prepare what her wife determined to be acceptable tea. It was a near impossible feat; one accomplished only by Helena's former administrative assistant and relative; Eileen. At the time she discovered the young girl had a nature gift for doing it, Helena figured it was simply more proof that they shared genetic material. Myka's was a very close second and Helena had come to appreciate the effort Myka put into making it.
"Oh, there is a technology conference today," Helena said nonchalantly as she sipped her tea.
"We have a play date with Pete and Shannon," Myka said and Cate clapped her hands because she liked the sound of that.
"Dear Lord, do they ever …," Helena was complaining when Myka cast a cautious eye not to share her bias. "That sounds like fun," she said, unconvincingly.
"Let's work on that," Myka laughed and touched her wife's arm. "Why don't you go to the conference, and when you come home, I'll have dinner ready."
"If you insist," Helena said, even though she had been dying to attend the meeting. Mostly, for all the wrong reasons. "I'll see if Mr. Generis can go."
"You mean; Professor Generis, don't you?" Myka corrected Helena.
"Ah, yes," Helena said, remembering that her premier invention was now a full-time college professor at Columbia University. "I'll tell him I need him," she said, taking her phone.
"Do you… wonder how that is going?" Myka asked of the AI's independent status.
"I know exactly how it is going," her wife said matter-of-factly. "He is teaching a course on life from many different personal perspectives and it's the most popular course at the university."
"But… they think he's inviting different people…," Myka pointed out.
"When in fact he is morphing into them?" Helena completed the thought. "Yes, well that's rather the point. When he was living with Irene, he would become various people and live as them for a while. His data is first hand and top notch," she assessed.
"But now he's living on his own," Myka pointed out.
"Well, he still recharges and downloads his invaluable information. It's kept in the archives until someone wants it," Helena said because she wasn't interested in that just now.
"And by archives you mean…," Myka prompted Helena.
"Yes, the Warehouse," Helena elaborated. "I couldn't think of any other place it would be safe."
"Well, I'm sure Sui will be thrilled to go with you," Myka said.
"Why wouldn't he be?" Helena asked in earnest.
"No, I meant… of course," Myka smiled and kissed her wife. "Maybe Irene…?" was all she got out before Helena protested.
"No," she said annoyed.
"Helena, I think she's just really enjoying being home; it's not…," and she said the next work very carefully; "… personal."
Everything about Irene Frederic was personal to Helena and the glare that appeared in her eyes reminded Myka of that.
"She is Cate's grandmother," Helena reminded her.
"And she comes whenever we ask her to," Myka countered because it wasn't like they hadn't seen her in weeks. "Just last week…"
"No," Helena said, "I think I will go with Mr. Generis."
"I'm sure she misses you, Helena," Myka said, and put her hand on her wife's.
"I have to go," Helena said, the feelings bubbling up and making her feel a deep discomfort.
"Grandma Irene," Cate said and pushed Myka's phone over to see her beloved grandmother.
"Yes, we'll Facetime with her now," Myka agreed.
But Helena wasn't participating. "I have to go or I'll be late," the genius said and kissed her wife and daughter goodbye.
Forgetting that her daughter's vocabulary was increasing by the day and that she mimicked almost everything, Myka whispered; "She can be so stubborn."
"Mummy stubborn," Cate said but it truly sounded as if she was simply agreeing.
"Oh," Myka said and smiled as Cate finished her sandwich.
"Done!" she announced and showed her empty plate. "Now Grandma."
There was a time when Helena would have ascended the stairs to her bedroom and entered her enormous clothes closet and selected an outfit based on what she was about to do. But now that the two story room was in complete disarray, she had to purchase or summon an outfit each time.
The only reason she answered the door that day was because she believed it was her outfit being delivered. When she saw it was Bridget and Shannon, she came up with her next idea.
"Since you are here all the time anyway," Helena said after greeting them, "Couldn't you simply see fit to bring an outfit with you?"
Bridget had great respect for the woman who was wed to her best friend and whose real identity had been shared with her. Helena's brashness never got to her. It was one of the things Myka liked best about her; and one of the things Helena found most annoying.
"That probably makes sense to you because I live with the designer recently designated as the future of haute couture by Vogue magazine," the proud woman bragged.
"That sentence was very long," Helena pointed out. "It makes sense because you're always here."
"Kiss Aunt Helena goodbye, Shannon," Bridget said to her daughter who was dressed in overalls. One look from the Brit and she felt the need to explain. "We're letting her find her own style."
"Yes," Helena said slowly. "I can see that."
"Cate!" Shannon said of her best friend in the world.
"We brought paper and paints!" Bridget said, opening the large bag that had been on her shoulder.
"How creative," Helena said, but didn't mean it.
"Here we are," they heard Pete say as he struggled up the front steps; holding his son's hand and juggling the large structure under his other arm. "Hey, we brought this!" he said excitedly. He placed the plastic child sized basketball hoop down in the large hallway. "Never too soon," he said and handed Pete Junior a nerf ball. "Here you go, Buddy." The toddler immediately ran to the basket and threw a perfect shot into the net. "That's my boy!" Pete said, already dreaming of his son's future job as a professional basketball player.
"What…?" Helena asked of the chaos going on in her entry way.
"Sports, HG. You need to give them skilz," Pete called out as he dove for the ball and caught it.
Cate came running into the hallway to give her friends a big hug hello.
"I do it!" Pete Junior called out and threw the ball again. The ball went through and everyone yelled hooray. Then, Cate and Shannon wanted to try.
"Think trajectory, Cate," Helena said, always pointing out that sports was truly math and physics.
"Tra-ject-o-ry," Cate repeated and tossed the ball – perfectly in the air.
"Nothing but net!" Myka laughed when it went through.
"Net has nothing to do with it. It was the angle and thrust," Helena pointed out.
"You would have been fun to be with in school," Bridget teased the genius.
"We would never have been in the same grade," Helena pointed out.
"Because…," Bridget started to say, thinking it was the secret age difference. That had nothing to do with Helena's answer.
"Because we would have been placed according to aptitude and we would be grades apart," Helena explained, certain that the fact that she did have to clarify that was proof enough.
"Oh, sure; of course," Bridget said, picking up on something in her friend.
"I have to…," Helena said and went upstairs to find something to wear.
The children were tossing the ball and playing with Pete when Bridget whispered to Myka: "Our resident genius okay, there?"
"I don't know," Myka said slowly. "Something is going on, but I'm not even sure Helena knows what it is."
"Oh, that's not good," Bridget conceded. "Did you call Irene?"
"She was here last week, but she didn't say anything," Myka said.
"Well, if she didn't see it, maybe it's… no, I saw it," Bridget confided.
"I'll talk to her tonight. She's going to a tech meeting and that usually cheers her up," Myka said.
"Let's go to the park!" Pete shouted and all three children jumped up and down with excitement.
"The park it is," Bridget agreed. "I'll take Cate and Shannon, you get the other two kids," she teased.
Helena went to the bedroom and quickly grabbed a black and white dress that hung on the closet door. Then, she stopped and put her hand on the doorknob. Her favorite pair of Jimmy Choo's was on the other side of that door … somewhere. "Bullocks," she said when she realized she never be able to find them. Instead, she searched under their large bed and found a pair that matched. Donning the clothes and foot attire, she grabbed a purse and went back downstairs.
"We're going to the park," Myka said as they kissed goodbye. "Be good," she smiled.
"Where's the fun in that?" Bridget called back to her friends.
As soon as Helena texted him, Sui Generis made it his business to meet Helena at the meeting. He greeted his creator warmly and inquired how she and her family were doing. It had been a big decision for him to move out from the comfort and security of Irene's home. Not his of course; but Helena's. She liked that there was someone with Irene; someone to keep her company and protect her. When Sui concluded that he needed to make a societal contribution; he and Helena came up with the idea of teaching a course based on his life experiences as different people. The course description said it was a course taught by Professor Generis and guests. Sui had spent the time studying for his Ph.D. in social science and had earned it from the very university he taught at.
Helena filled him in on Myka and Cate and lamented that child-rearing these days included a tremendous amount of time on socializing. "I didn't have play dates; and look how I turned out," she said and Sui proved he was a very perceptive entity by not contracting her.
"Oh," he said when he saw who was giving the presentation. "I thought we weren't allowed…," he whispered, but his accomplice scoffed.
"This is still a free country, is it not?" the genius said as she went to the entrance.
The woman behind the desk seemed both impressed and worried when she saw the woman standing there. "Oh!" she said and wasn't sure what to do.
"You're hesitancy is annoying. Please call whomever you deem necessary so I can assure them no fuss will be made," Helena said flatly.
"It's not that we don't appreciate you wanting to be here, Mrs. Bering-Wells," the woman said, pressing her phone to contact her boss.
"Helena!" the man said as soon as he got word she was there. "It is so good of you to come."
"You're a terrible liar," Helena greeted the man who wished for nothing more than to be friendly to the woman.
"We want everyone to enjoy the session," he said truthfully. "Without interruption." He was gently trying to say the last two times the woman was there, she caused a ruckus. "I haven't had the pleasure," he said to the man who accompanied Helena. "John McAvoy," the CEO of one of the largest information technology companies introduced himself.
"Professor Sui Generis," Sui said, shaking the man's hand. He was also calculating the body language, tone of speech, and choice of words as the man spoke to Helena.
"We're very pleased to have you," Mr. McAvoy said but didn't entirely mean. "Now, Helena; today, we're going to discuss…oh, wait! We're ready. Helena, please remember the format of the session. The Q&A is at the end of the presentation," he all but begged. The tech genius had tried to control herself, but her impatience had gotten the best of her and she couldn't contain the many questions she had in previous sessions. They usually centered on the fact that she felt their latest technology was limited at best.
But for Mr. McAvoy; this was a very important meeting. They were going to announce that their latest AI was about to be made available to the public.
Unfortunately, Helena was accompanied by the very creation of a human-like android that housed a technology far surpassing anything they would see today. But the fact that Helena could not provide definitive proof that her AI was far superior was eating her alive.
The meeting would go on as planned for McAvoy; but was not going to end well for anyone. Most especially Helena.