FLAG Today: When the Law is Above the Law
Chapter Six: Aldean Sylvester
It was New Year's, 1976 and Aldean was in Oslo for the celebration. She had just finished an assignment a few days before for a fur company where she'd spent hours outside wrapped in gorgeous minks, fox, lynx, and sables. She'd nearly gotten frost bite but Halvor, one of the photographer's assistants had been very attentive, and very good at keeping her warm. They'd celebrated with some really high rollers that night and the food, the champagne, and other things, were flowing freely. She and Halvor woke up in her bed early the next afternoon hung over and eyes burning. So they did what someone in their twenties would normally do in that situation; they dived back under the covers. By the time they were hungry enough to peel themselves apart it was dark. Of course, in Norway in January, darkness came by 3 o'clock. Aldean had a flight the next morning to her next assignment in London, so suddenly, time became of the essence.
Six weeks later she was doing a shoot on Mykonos. She had missed her period and she knew that what was happening early each day wasn't a stomach flu. She was undeniably pregnant. And that was going to present problems in a few short months. Once she started showing, that was going to be the end of her modeling career. And once her parents found out, there was going to be hell to pay at home, too.
Halvor hadn't even told her his last name and she had no clue who the photographer was. She could have found out through her agent, if she'd wanted to, but that would probably start the gossip even earlier than she wanted. With luck she could still work through the end of April, maybe into May. She had put away a good amount of money and she had a spot waiting for her in law school in California. The best thing would be to arrange to start the fall semester. If she could convince an OB/GYN doctor to induce her or do a C-Section a few weeks early and then give the baby up for adoption, she could enter school on time. No one need be the wiser. She'd go visit her parents on her way home from Europe. Some bulky sweaters would hide the small baby bump, and then she could go on to the west coast, settle in and get everything set up.
There was no question in her mind about keeping the child. She had a plan for her life, and she was not going to let a pregnancy derail it. Once she had found an adoption agency that she felt sure would give her child a chance at an excellent life, everything fell into place. The doctor she had found had assured her that she probably would need a Cesarean section in any event because of a narrow pelvis.
Ten days before her semester was scheduled to start, Aldean was in the hospital for the birth. She never saw her child, only was told that it was a healthy boy and two days later was back in her apartment recovering from the surgery. She was sure that no one knew and that no one ever would. She had also thought that once the pregnancy was over and the child out of her life that she would close off the whole incident and never think about it again. It would always surprise her when out of the blue something would remind her, and she would find herself thinking how old her son was and what he looked like. Every so often she would encounter a very blond man who looked a bit like the young Halvor and wonder, "what if?"
And now it was forty-five years later, and the secret was so deeply buried that no one knew; no one but herself and one other person, that was.
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I still hate getting dressed up for FLAG fundraisers. The only thing that makes all the ridiculous small talk and meaningless speeches bearable is seeing Bonnie dressed up in something outrageously stunning. Damn, she is still a beautiful woman and I constantly tell her to stop hiding herself under the chassis of an auto. Standing next to her at one of these functions makes my job so much easier! I love her more each year. But these fundraisers are torture, even with her at my side. I still don't know how Devon could breeze through these things and make it seem so effortless.
Anyway, fundraising has to go on constantly, both here and in Chicago and the next cocktail party to be held on the patio by the mansion's reflecting pool was coming up. It was the perfect excuse to invite Senator Sylvester and chat her up a bit. KELI and KITT would be the star attractions. KITT of course has gone through these performances for years on end, but this would be KELI's first exposure to what I call, "the dog-and-pony show". KITT has briefed her and I'm sure she will do fine. She doesn't have his slightly snarky, sarcastic wit and is more eager to please, but she has developed a bit of vanity. We can't blame her, really. She has a beautifully designed shell and KITT seems to remind her of it on a regular basis. Recently, I've noticed that when he approaches her, he will stroke her hood or her A-pillar gently and her scanner bar gets a little brighter when he does. Ah, young love!
On the day of the party, once Bonnie had done a check of both AI's systems, KITT took KELI out to the back lawn behind the garages and washed and waxed her so thoroughly that you needed sunglasses to look at her with the sun reflecting off her shell. Later, Bonnie reminded me of how in the early days, I would spend hours too, making sure that there wasn't a speck of dirt on KITT's Trans Am body. I guess, I deserved that little reminder of the 1980's.
The donors…I mean guests…started arriving at about 5:30 and Bonnie, KITT, KELI and I were on the patio to great them. We had lanterns and torches lit up all around the pool and the patio and a full moon was rising as the night came on. The jewels and the champagne glasses glittered in the warm light, and before too long, a combo started playing. I handed Bonnie a flute of champagne, but before she could take a sip, I pulled her into a deep embrace. Then, and only then, did we make out way over to the first group of people.
KITT was wearing a tuxedo and he wore it well and with confidence. Standing next to KELI, the black of the suit and the red of her shell played off of each other brilliantly. Bonnie noticed Senator Sylvester arrive and putting her arm through mine, she steered me to her. The senator was wearing an understated navy dress that made her gold and diamond necklace stand out. Not too flashy, it said "subtle good taste" rather than "loads of money". Accompanying her was a youngish fairly non-descript man who she introduced as her Assistant Political Advisor on trade issues. He offered his hand with a sincere smile as he informed us that his name was Toby Anselmo. While he drifted off to get the Senator a glass of champagne, I directed her to KITT and KELI.
She had previously met KITT. In general, no one ever forgot meeting him once they knew that he was the world's only truly functional humanoid artificial intelligence, but Senator Sylvester seemed to be just as astounded by him on this night as she had been the first time. Assuming that she was ill at ease with him, KITT did his best to be charming to her, and he can indeed be very charming when he wants to be. Next we introduced KELI and after expressing her interest in our second artificial intelligence, the Senator turned to Anselmo and accepted the glass of champagne that he had silently handed her.
Of course, I didn't indicate in any way that FLAG had been quietly brought in to find out about the leak of the Ways and Means Committees documents. Senator Sylvester was eager enough to question me about Knight Industries artificial intelligence projects for me to get the feeling that she knew quite a lot about such high-tech topics. I was also quite aware that Aldean Sylvester immediately looked at these things through the lens of military utility. She clearly knew what various technologies could mean for national defense, both ours and for some foreign actor willing to pay for it.
She glided away from me after a few minutes, and I turned my attention to KELI and KITT. Several of our guests were speaking with them and I noticed Toby Anselmo there as well. He was listening intently as the AI's were explaining their general abilities.
"…and of course, since I was activated almost 40 years ago and have naturally accumulated a significant amount of situational learning, I participated actively in KELI's programming," I heard KITT say as I came back to them.
"Is it safe to assume that the two of you can communicate electronically as well as verbally?" asked one of the guests.
"Yes, of course," KITT responded with obvious pride. "We have multiple ways of communicating with each other."
"And unlike earlier iterations of KITT when he was paired with a human driver, the two of us do not need a commlink to communicate when we are separated," KELI added helpfully.
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The next afternoon Aldean and Anselmo landed in Washington, D.C. Senator Sylvester's driver was waiting for her at the gate and Toby handed her into the limousine. Before heading off to pick up his own car, he quietly said, "The Knight Industries artificial intelligences are very interesting. You should learn as much as you can about them." She looked him up and down and merely replied, "Later."
Anselmo was nearing 50, but he didn't look it. He was tall and had the figure of someone who worked out regularly. There was a little bit of gray threaded through his dirty-blond hair, but it wasn't noticeable. His bright gray eyes had a hooded, hawkish, calculating look to them, but when he smiled, they looked happy. He was a political operative and that meant being the power broker behind the scenes for the Senator. It also could mean being the true power in the office, but Aldean had been around the block a few times and knew how to spot someone like that and shut him (it was almost always a man) down and keep him down. In Toby, she had found someone who thought like she did and over the last ten years, she had groomed him until she felt that he would be a worthy successor to her when she won the presidency. Of course, it took resources to keep him by her side, especially when his whole life seemed to be devoted to politics. There was no significant other, no family to speak of and his outside interests didn't seem to exist if they didn't lead to a political benefit. He was a political animal and as Aldean well knew, his diet consisted almost solely of expensive needs.
But this afternoon, she was thinking of feeding different appetites. After stopping at her apartment to shower and dress in something a little more impressive than the jeans she had worn on the flight, she headed over to another apartment in her complex, pulled out another key and let herself in. He was already there and after she locked the door behind her, he handed her the drink he had prepared for her.
"So how was California this time?" asked James Connaught, Vice President of the United States.