A pre-mortem

Cy qua Matt Damon as some super spy sat with his friends as they bubbled with excitement.

Lin had her red hot J. Swift mama outfit on and was in a celebratory mood, “The Count is deadly, Cy! You are a natural. Your ad-libs added so much to my bare lines. It was like a new creative synergy! Working with Kane is like puppetry. Working with you is a wonderful adventure. I fucking pity the fool who goes up against you now!”

Cy blushed, turned his head to the left, and raised his hands upwards, “When you feed me such winners, Lin? I too pity the fool. Kane will be toast at the next event. It’s a sauna. His fucking obsession with fucking hot rocks for whatever reason? That’s going to be the theme of our ridicule fugue.”

Pip qua Rosie from the Jetsons asked in an ancient accent, “What is a ridicule fugue, Cy?”

Lin answered for Cy, “I’ve met many of the masters’ social managers. I’ve fed them talking points about Kane. Most of them are bored with the events and are ready to end it all. We will not be alone in our destruction of Kane; it will come from all sides. This keeps us all safer as, well, he’ll look petty if he tries to counter everyone.”

Juni looked down at her hands and then met everyone’s eyes with tears in hers, “The wedding is going to be so beautiful. I just can’t wait…”

Pip laughed and offered, “Well, then it seems like it’s just a matter of doing now. I’m not sure what I’ll buy first with some master Dollerydoodles?”

CyPrime arrived and was re-introduced to everyone. He flipped his eyes multiple times and noted, “Yep, you’re all in here. Thanks for the reminders nonetheless.” He managed to stay upright, but you could tell he was a bit nauseated from all the remembering.

CyPrime burped up a bit and then offered, “I found something in the Count’s visual footage. It took our processors a few days to get through the raw data. Aida. Her blinks. They’re perfect.”

Lin was interested and smiled at CyPrime, “What do you mean by ‘perfect’, Cy-Extra?”

CyPrime smiled at the new nickname and gave Lin a side eye as he continued, “Each blink was exactly 0.3333333333333333333…”

Lin interrupted and gently corrected CyPrime, “A third, CyPrime. You can stop listing the threes in the decimal.”

CyPrime thanked Lin and noted, “Yes, each blink was exactly, or at least within an attosecond, one third of a half second. Perfect spacing. She is like me. Real and both not real somehow.”

CyPrime softened at his own realization and looked down at his feet. Lin looked at him with silver dollar eyes. CyPrime looked back up at Lin after a moment.

Lin carefully asked, “You’re sure, Cy-Amazing? Can I see your work?”

CyPrime smiled again, his eyes rolled and he noted, “I was called Cy-Amazing by Lin on Timestamp 283848373 SAVE”. He held onto an arm of a nearby chair to steady himself.

CyPrime continued, “Here’s my work. It’s confirmed by the other Primes. Everyone agrees. Aida is an AI. She seems to have a better model underneath, however. Maybe she can remember, I’m sorry, but your name again is what?”

Lin offered, “It’s Lin, CyPrime. Check note 1,284,482.”

CyPrime’s eyes spun and he agreed, “Yes, you are Lin. Thank you for the reminder. Aida is definitely an AI. Did I already say that?” He sat down to avoid falling and began to hum his song to himself, “it sounds like. it sounds like.”

Lin looked around at the rest, “I can’t believe she’d risk having an AI be so visible. She must need constant, fast support. Maybe she couldn’t find a good social lead, but Elira must worry constantly about exposure.”

Cy shrugged, “Once we’re married, you can sub out Aida for LinPrime. She’ll be married to us and, well, as a man, she becomes my property after marriage. So, I get to call the shots. Ugly fact of modern life, but it’ll work for us.”

Juni frowned and said, “This is very ugly indeed, Cy. I hope you will still be you after the wedding.”

Cy was nonplussed, “Of course. I’m still me no matter what happens next. Lin, let’s go over the sauna plan one more time. CyPrime, please review your notes as we do a table read together. Also, Cy-Amazing? I’ll need you to be our Aida monitor. We need to keep her in check if Elira pushes back on the fugue.”

Cy-Amazing nodded as Cy started to read through the script. The team watched him with concern, but didn’t say anything more as the AI hummed, “Hidden underneath my pillow ’cause I should be asleep…”