[Thursday, October 13]

My phone blaring wakes me up with a groan. Reaching over, I pick it up and see it’s a little after 2 in the morning, and secondly, it’s Mirai calling.

“What’s up, Mirai?” I mumble tiredly.

“I’m sorry for the early call, but I just got a call from Hestia. A pair of grad students from MIT sent me an email about a subject that I know you’ll be more than a little interested in.”

“Alright. You might as well call Dakota to join us, and I’ll meet you two at your office once I’m dressed and have eaten something.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

Sighing loudly, I sit up. It must be important or Mirai never would have called me at this time of the night. “Freya, contact Jason to tell him that we’ll be heading to TGR soon, and ask Michael to have someone make me something to eat while I get dressed.”

“Of course, Sora.”

“Thank you, Freya.” Turning, I wake up Ryu. “Honey, sorry to wake you, but I have to leave for a while.”

“Is it the Alkarin?” he asks blearily.

“No, Honey. Mirai called me a few minutes ago, and I need to go meet with her. I might end up going to Boston to meet with a couple of grad students, too. I’ll call or text you as soon as I know for sure, okay?”

“Okay, but what about Ai?”

“Don’t worry, I’m taking her with me.” Leaning down, I give him a short kiss, then caress his cheek as I tell him, “Love you.”

“Love you, too, babe.”

I quickly take a shower, loosely curl my hair, throw my hair up in a ponytail, pinning it with a ruby-encrusted bow, and apply my makeup, then head over to my closet. Looking things over, I select a blush-colored cable-knit sweater mini dress, sheer white shimmery stockings, white suede thigh boots, and a white suede duster coat. I’ll need it if we do go to Boston because it’s cold there this time of year. Trust me, it’s my alma mater, so I’m well aware of the weather there.

Then I slip on my wedding rings, a white velvet choker with a ruby pendant, and ruby stud earrings. Once I’m dressed, I look myself over in the wall mirror and smile at the apparent teenager reflected there. Touching my stomach for a moment, I think, ‘Three babies, and you can’t even tell that I was ever pregnant.’

I quietly close the door behind myself and walk over to the nursery. I give the nanny a shushing gesture and dress my little red-headed angel. I place her in a carrier and pick up her bag of things that she’ll need while we’re gone. I go downstairs to find Jason waiting for me. I quickly eat, and we make our way out to the Peregrine. Once onboard, the pilot fires up the engines, which thankfully is only a low murmur inside the cabin, allowing Ai to continue to sleep peacefully, while I quietly explain to Jason what’s going on.

We lift off along with our escorts, and 10 minutes later, we land at TGR HQ. Waiting until the engines spool down, we then head up to Mirai’s office and walk in to find her and Dakota waiting.

“Good morning, ladies.”

They reply, “Good morning,” and Dakota immediately gets up, gestures to AI, and asks, “May I?”

“Sure, just try not to wake her.”

She gently lifts Ai out of her carrier and cuddles her while grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

Smiling at her, I say, “You know, if you’d get married, you could have one of your own.”

She shrugs slightly. “When do I have the time to find someone? Anyway, I can have babies vicariously through you,” she wrinkles her nose at me and grins.

“Dakota, it isn’t the same at all. Trust me, you’ll realize that when you finally have your own. By the way, didn’t you say that Ryan Murphy asked you out for drinks the last time we talked?”

She nods. “He did.”

I quirk an eyebrow at her. “And?”

“And, nothing. I’m busy.”

“Dakota, there are some things that are far more important than work. He’s a good man and handsome to boot. Go out with him. That’s an order from your Queen and friend. You can’t live for work.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Your wish is my command.”

I giggle softly. “Dakota, our lives are far too long for us to be alone. Trust me, having someone who loves you, is there for you, and supports you is nothing to discount. Not to mention that I’m surprised your nanites aren’t driving you nuts about getting laid.”

“Oh, well, that part I have covered. I have a boy toy that I call whenever it becomes unbearable.”

“Dakota…”

“I know, I know. I’ll tell Ryan yes the next time I see him, alright?”

“Good.” Focusing my attention on Mirai, I ask, “Now, what’s this about?”

“I received an email from a young lady at MIT, Rebecca Davidson. She said that another young lady, Indira Sinha, created a nano-scale quantum computer and was talking with her about it. Now, Rebecca has been working on Cortical AI interfaces, or CAIis. She is calling them Kites.

“They combined their work and tested it on lab rats. When it was successful, they moved on to a chimpanzee with no problems. Then Rebecca took the nanites and has a working CAIi that incorporates an AI assistant. She’s had it for months now without any issues.

“What really caught my attention is what it can do besides allowing her to control computers and the like just by thinking about it. She can make calls, send and receive messages, play music, videos, or games, store huge amounts of data, and has perfect recall of anything she’s ever experienced.”

My eyes widen, and I tell her, “Let’s go. They sound like ladies we need to talk to. I can already tell you that the military is going to want them, sight unseen.”

Mirai chuckles softly. “I thought you’d say that.”

In the background, I hear Jason call for my SUV to be flown to Boston as I text Ryu to let him know that we’re flying to Boston.

[MIT - Boston, Massachusetts: 3:17 P.M.]

Walking into the Dean’s office, I tell his secretary, “I need to see Dean Samuels.”

She doesn’t even look up at me. “You’ll have to set an appointment,“ she states.

“I’m quite sure that he’ll see me without an appointment. Just tell him that Sora Ueno is here to see him.”

“I don’t care who you are, no one sees…” she begins, then looks up and blanches when she recognizes me. Standing up, she curtsies. “I apologize, Your Majesty. Just a moment.” She picks up her phone, taps in an extension, and says, “The Queen is here to see you… Yes, ‘The Queen’ …Of course. Go right in, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you.”

We walk into his office to see him stepping around his desk. His face lights up in a smile, then he lightly shakes my offered hand and says, “It’s good to see you again, Sora. How have you been?”

“Great, other than missing sleep a lot. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. How about you, Don?”

“Fine, fine. Have a seat. Coffee?” I nod. “If I remember correctly, mocha is your favorite.”

He calls his secretary, and a few minutes later, she brings in a tray with our coffee. She serves us and quickly excuses herself.

I chuckle at her quick departure. “I think she’s intimidated by me.”

“Most people are, at least until they get to know you. So, I know this can’t be just a social call with your old professor. What can I do for you?”

I take a sip of my coffee, set it down, and then tell him, “I need to talk to two students, Rebecca Davidson and Indira Sinha. They have a project that I’m extremely interested in.”

“Ah, those two.” I quirk an eyebrow questioningly. “It’s nothing, I merely had plans to introduce them to Erica and Mirai when they graduated. It seems you’ve beaten me to the punch though.”

He picks up his phone and tells his secretary to have them come to his office immediately. We chat, catching up on things while we wait for them. A half-hour later, his secretary says they’re here and then escorts them in, closing the door behind them. Their eyes widen in surprise when they see me, and they stand stock-still in shock, which makes me chuckle.

“Sit down, ladies, and let’s talk,” I tell them as I gesture to the sofa, and they take a seat.

“What the hell did you do, Becca? Why is the Queen here?” Indira whispers harshly.

“I didn’t do anything, and like I’d know why she’s here, too,” she replies.

I clear my throat, and they look at me. “I’m here because your little project was brought to my attention by Mirai. You may not know this, but I own Tokyo Genetic Research. Rebecca, when you contacted Mirai, she contacted me.” I gesture to Dakota. “This is Dakota, a senior researcher at TGR. Now that we all know who’s who, I’d like to hear more about your project. Specifically, where you intend to go with it.”

They glance at each other. “I haven’t thought much about that past getting it to work, Your Majesty,” Rebecca says.

“You can call me Sora in here. Well, you have it working, and it works well from what I understand.” They nod. “So?”

“Your… Umm, Sora, I did this because of my sister. Six years ago, she was hit by a car, which resulted in severe brain damage. She can’t speak or take care of herself, and I thought ‘what if I could develop something to help her?’ Normal, BCI’s, uh, Brain-Computer Interfaces, are severely lacking in functionality. I wanted to help her live a more normal life, maybe even return her to where she could do things for herself. I was talking to Indy and kind of co-opted her into helping, and here we are.”

“You do know that there’s a treatment for severe brain injuries, right? TGR developed it more than a decade ago.” She nods and looks around, seeming a bit hesitant to say whatever she’s thinking. “Rebecca, I’m not a monster, ask Don. I’m a very nice person. So, tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I, uh, we can’t afford it. If it weren’t for the scholarships and grants I receive, I wouldn’t be able to go to school here.”

I look at Mirai. “Get Sandra on the phone and have it sent here immediately.” I look at Rebecca and smile. “There, done.”

She looks shocked. “W-why?”

“Can I call you Becca?” She nods. “Okay, Becca, as I said, I’m not some heartless monster. I care about my citizens’ well-being, or do you believe that I didn’t mean that every time I’ve said it?” I blow out my breath. “Nevermind that. Becca, you and Indira can be very wealthy if you want to be. By that, I mean, I want to pay you to help Dakota incorporate some more functions and buy the right to produce your nanites and nano-computer, which the military will then be buying. What do you say?”

“How wealthy?” Indira asks.

I shrug. “How much do you want?”

“10 million?”

I laugh. “Oh, good lord, my dear, that is far too little. Don’t you two realize what you have? You just revolutionized computing, and Becca made much of the way we interact with technology obsolete. Think about it for a moment. Being able to directly control a ship, plane, or the like just by thinking about it. And you, Indira.”

“Indy, please.”

I nod, “Indy, do you have any idea of how expensive Level 1 AIs are?” She shakes her head. “The code alone costs about $750 million. Ladies, get a patent attorney. Get one filed for your nanites and for the nano-computer. If you can’t afford it, I’ll gladly front you the money. Then we can talk about how much your initial payment will be and work out the percentage for your residuals. Plus, I’d love to have you work for TGR, Becca, and Indy, you at DTI. I can see a rather bright future for both of you.”

“You want us to work for you?” Becca asks.

“Not me directly. Mirai is my COO at TGR, and Erica is my head of research and development at DTI. For now, get the attorney. Don will be happy to help you with that, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Just have them send their bill to me, and I’ll pay it. Now, ladies, what I want from you is to incorporate these additional features. QC link communications. I’ll have Erica contact you with the information you’ll need for that. Controlling your body’s nanites. Dakota will work with you on what we want to do. The ability to create a secure local network among a chosen group of Kite users, so that they can share sensory information, among other things, and provide instantaneous translations of all languages. What do you think?”

“I think we’re going to be really busy,” Indy says.

I laugh for a moment and smile. “That you will, ladies.” Looking over my shoulder at Jason, I state, “Get them cleared for Yakushima as soon as you can. They’ll need to be able to go back and forth between here and there.” I return my attention to Becca and Indy. “Either Erica or Mirai will arrange for your transportation when needed. Welcome to the team, Ladies.”