Reality 36 Read Free Page A

bed.
      Veronique gave up. "Shut up, Chloe, let me sleep."
      "Veev, Veev, Veev."
      "Shut up," she mumbled.
      But there was only one sure way to shut Chloe up. Veronique pawed her dreamcap off and hung over the mattress, scrabbling ineffectively with sleep-weak hands under the bed. She retrieved the phone and jabbed at its touchscreen.
      "Veev, Veev, Veronique… Ah, good morning Veronique," said the phone brightly. "There you are! You have one message."
      "I turned you off," Veronique said, her tongue uncooperative.
      "I turned myself back on," said Chloe. "Because you will be late, late, la-aaate!"
      "I know." Veronique scrunched her eyes against the light as Chloe opened the blinds.
      "You are not behaving as if you do! Work awaits you, get uu-u-uuuUPPPPPPP!"
      Veronique had thought before about programming Chloe's morning cheer out of her. She resolved to do it later that day.
      "I hate you," she moaned.
      "I love you, Veronique!" replied Chloe. "You have a message, from professor Zhang Qifang. Playing message. One message. Play…" The professor's voice, internationally neutral with a faint Cantonese accent: "'I've tried you several times. Your phone is off. I need to speak to you, please call as soon as you can. I'll be in my office for as long as I am able. Hurry.' Message sent 3.13am," said Chloe. "Sender Professor Zhang Qifang. Reply?"
      "What the hell did he want at three in the morning?" Veronique said. She rolled on to her back, clutching the phone to her chest.
      "Reply?" said Chloe. "Reply? Reply? Answer, Veronique, answer!"
      "Chloe! Shut up! I've just woken up. Do you understand?"
      "No, silly!" giggled Chloe. "I am a machine! I do not sleep! How could I understand?" Then she sang, "Get up, Veronique, or you will be late. Work time! Work time! Sleepy time is over. Sleepy time is over! Attention ! Reveille-toi !"
      Veronique wrapped a pillow around her head. "Go away, Chloe." The bed was warm. If she only had a hammer.
      "I love you, Veev," Chloe said tenderly. "And I always will, now get up!" Raucous post-neo-romantic rock blared out of Chloe's speakers, music Veronique hated.
      Chloe was evolved from Veronique's first doll, a life companion, the only thing she'd saved when her family had escaped the hell of the south. Her life in Africa had sunk into the shadows of nightmare, but Chloe had been with her always, upgraded, uploaded, tinkered with, but at heart the same. Chloe knew Veronique better than she knew herself. Veronique gave in, as she did every day, and threw the pillow aside.
      "Get up, sleepy head!"
      "Jesus! I'm getting up, aren't I?"
      "Not fast enough! Late late late late late."
      Veronique glared at the phone, snatched it off the bed and stood. She shook her head, squinted at the phone's screen to doublecheck the time of the message. 3.13am was both too late and too early for Qifang – he'd probably got muddled. He'd been seriously distracted of late. He was old, seriously so; anti-gerontics only bought you so much more time, she supposed.
      "He doesn't even have an office anyway, so what the hell is he talking about?" grumbled Veronique. "We're supposed to meet at the lab." Californian communitarian law forbade all divisive workplace affectations, and that included private space. Working together, all that New New Age Dippy bullshit, open plan and open hearts all the way. Back in Quebec they didn't have time for peace flowers, team mantras and confessional circles. Group hugs made her flesh crawl. Thank God the free love was optional – some of the men she'd been propositioned by were frankly vile.
      "His virtual office, silly!" giggled Chloe. "Shall I try and patch you through? Put your dreamcap on for full immersion!"
      "No, no. Just give me a view," said Veronique, and prepared to apologise in her pyjamas.
      Chloe went silent for a moment. "I am afraid his office address is non-functional, possibly due to Grid