Brad watched the Rainforest truck pull away from their house, leaving a mountain of boxes behind. George Stavros was holding up his end of the bargain, so far.
"What do you say we start organizing all of this?" he asked Andy and Olivia. It was supposed to rain later and some of these components were sensitive.
For Regency, Reka's company, Brad and those two had become the "hands-on crew", physically putting together anything and everything that his brilliant fiancee could dream up. Today, if all went well, their AI butler was getting a body.
"This is nuts," Andy said, picking up a box. "If he can move around as well as he can communicate, the Galiban agent will be the most advanced android of Earth."
"I know what you mean," Olivia agreed, following Andy and Brad up the driveway. "They talk about all these famous companies starting in a garage. Are we next? I mean, Reka has already done so much, but she's not stopping. What else is there?"
The garage door opened at their approach.
"Why, anything the apprentice of automata might imagine, of course."
Brad smiled. "Good morning, Galiban."
"It is always a good morning when one so august as the king-consort calls on this one's humble workshop," came the voice from the walls.
Brad shivered a little. Galiban's voice was so rich and mellifluous that listening to him talk felt like getting your ears cleaned. If all else failed, they'd have a hell of an ASMR business if they wanted.
Andy turned to him, "Am I ever going to get used to working here?"
"Bro...let's just say it was a long time before being with Reka felt normal to me," Brad told him honestly.
"She chose you, right?" Olivia chirped, setting down a box marked "e" for electronics in the section that Galiban had labeled. "It must've felt like a dream."
Brad hid his face from her by bending down and adjusting the box he'd already put down. "Like a dream," he said tightly.
Galiban had already done a lot of planning for them before the supplies had arrived. Every part of the garage had a purpose. There was a section for metals, one for electronics, and some plastic injection molds of all things. Unboxing and laying everything out took the better part of an hour.
"By the way, where's the boss, Mr. Regis?" Olivia asked politely while she put together a soldering station.
Reka's cult, er, fan club, were always a little bit weird around Brad. He wasn't exactly the object of worship, but he was definitely "honored" by association. They were super respectful, but kept their distance, which was probably for the best.
"Coffee date with Julie," Brad told her. "She doesn't like to leave me alone, but since you two are here..."
"Naught will befall our noble king-consort while this Galiban has the watch," interjected their AI.
"And Galiban, can't forget him!" Brad played along. Was Reka using Galiban to monitor him? Almost certainly.
"So, when she gets back..." Andy let the question go unasked.
"Yes, she's going to sit down and watch us work all day, just like last time," Brad explained. This was Andy's life. He deserved to know what he was getting into.
"Korean girls are exactly the same," Andy said in understanding. "They will completely crash out on you if you don't text back fast enough, and they want to text all the time. I know just what you're going through, dude," he said in sympathy.
"Sometimes you just have to understand the assignment," Brad said sagely, laying out sheets of metal next to the big CNC machine. "I'm not the main character in this story. This is Reka's world; I'm just lucky enough to share my life with her."
Olivia stopped working and looked right at him. "That's beautiful," she said in admiration. "The way that you support her and take care of her, it makes her strong. You guys are such couple goals it's ridiculous."
Brad couldn't help grinning like an idiot when he heard that. He and Reka were "couple goals". How'd a loser like him ever manage that?
"Indeed," Galiban voiced his support. "It is for the sake of the king-consort that our noble sovereign strives as she does."
You too, Galiban?
"So what's first on the agenda?" Brad asked. "Looks like we've got everything set up."
"This one believes that constructing the arms of his mobile platform would avail the king-consort the most. Once those are wrought, I may lend myself to the finer work at hand, more precise than any mortal shall I be."
"Okay then," Brad agreed. "I guess it's time for some machine shop work." He picked up one of metal sheets. It was a black alloy he didn't recognize, strong but light, smooth against his fingers, and pleasantly cool to the touch. Brad popped the first batch into the CNC machine and programmed in the desired shape based on Galiban and Andy's design. The mill descended and began shaving off bits of metal. These would be the "bones" of the arm.
"You were in the Navy, right?" Andy asked while the machine worked. "Is that where you learned how to do all this?"
"Not exactly," Brad said. "We didn't actually build anything new. Most of the time I was working on a nuclear reactor that was older than I was."
The CNC machine was oddly hypnotic as bit by bit, the hunk of metal was shaped into the part displayed on Brad's laptop screen. All three of them stood there and stared.
"What was your rank?" Andy asked out of the blue.
"Second class petty officer," Brad said. He thought for a minute. "But you don't really know what that means, I guess. There's basically four types of people in the Navy. First are seamen."
Andy didn't laugh, but he looked like he wanted to.
"Seamen are slaves," Brad continued after Andy stopped smirking. "Petty officers, that's what I was, are senior slaves. Then you've got chiefs, who are slave overseers, and finally officers, the only actual humans. The Navy is a caste system. If a boat has a crew of one sixty, that's one hundred and sixty officers and men; that's how they say it, like officers and the men under them are a different species."
"So you were a mid-tier slave," Andy said in understanding. "I dodged the Korean army, just barely. From what my dad and uncle say it's hell for pretty much everyone, a year and a half of hazing and bullying. My parents brought me to America as a kid partly to get away from it, but I still might've gotten forced to go back even though I barely speak Korean now. Being a robotics expert does wonders for your citizenship application."
Talking to Andy was nice. Brad had lost touch with the last of his guy friends from his Navy days and it'd been a while since he could just have a conversation with another man. It wasn't like how it was with Alex at all. Looking back, Alex was always fishing for information, almost never talked about himself.
"That's the arms done," Brad said. "Fingers are next. Do they have to be exactly like human hands, Galiban?"
"This platform is intended for household service, king-consort, thus the form of a man is preferred," the AI replied instantly. Galiban was always there, listening. Yeah, he was sure Reka had a "Galiban app" on her phone that she was checking constantly. He waved to the opposite wall. Hi honey!
"So many joints and moving parts," Andy complained. "Designing that would've been hell without Galiban generating ideas."
Wasn't there something about hands that even AI had trouble with? Brad guessed Galiban was just built different. Though, why wouldn't he be? Reka made him.
Olivia was working on the electrical system while they finished up with the machining. "Just have to wire these up to servos and Mr. Galiban will be able to do whatever he wants," she said.
"The apprentice of automata is too kind, and her soldering work is exceedingly fine as well. "
Olivia actually blushed. Galiban had that AI husbando rizz, that was for sure.
They caught a few snags on the fingers but for the most part the arms came together smoothly. Once plugged in to Brad's laptop they were moving around on their own looking creepy as hell, like some kind of zombie skeleton made out of black metal.
"This Galiban sincerely thanks the king-consort, the chief of automata, and the apprentice of automata. With these, he can do much without assistance. Her grace approaches with lunch, and while your humble butler does not require sustenance, his charges most assuredly do. Farewell, and bon appetit!"
Reka's car pulled in to the driveway within seconds and his fiancee hopped out to greet him. "My looooove," she called out musically, "I've brought sandwiches!"
After pulling Brad into a deep kiss, Reka examined the garage with a critical eye. "You can handle the rest?" she asked the open air.
Galiban's hands were opening and closing experimentally, and one disembodied arm was slithering across the floor like a snake, dragging a power cord behind. "All but the final touch, your grace," he said meaningfully.
"Well done, my good and faithful servant," she said in her teacher voice. "I look forward to your progress this evening."
Then, quick as a flash, Reka was back in fiancee mode, wrapping her arms around Brad's neck. "The sandwiches come highly recommended. They are made by real artisans and not low-paid menials. I brought you the finest one of all," she said softly in a voice that curled his toes, a voice that only he could hear.
Brad went to the car while Reka was still hanging off him and carried the sandwich boxes inside.
"Did you work hard today, Brad?" she asked as the whole crew sat down in the dining room.
As if you don't already know, he thought in amusement. "I wouldn't call it hard," he said modestly. "Galiban and Andy did the hard work, working out those crazy plans. Actually building it was meditative, oddly satisfying, but there is still a lot of work to do. We've only finished the arms."
Reka just smiled at him. Brad heard something coming from the garage. It sounded like the buzzing of thousands of insects on the hottest day of summer. It was November.
Not thinking too deeply about it, he dug in to his avocado turkey sandwich, topped with a fried egg. The bread alone was unreal, not like any bread he ever tasted. American store-bought bread was more like cake, and loaded with all kinds of chemicals and preservatives besides. This was that European bread, the kind that goes stale within twenty four hours of buying it, but oh so good fresh. And that spicy mustard? Jesus...
"Man, this is how we eat at Regency?" Andy said to nobody in particular. He looked how Brad felt. These sandwiches were orgasmic.
"Even better," Reka said firmly. "When Galiban comes into his own every meal shall be a feast fit for royalty."
Having a metal skeleton butler cooking your food wasn't normal, but with Reka it was.
After finishing lunch, Brad was anxious to get back to the garage. "Honey, there's still a lot to do," he said.
"You've worked enough today, my love," his fiancee said strangely. "There's a surprise later. You may play until it's ready."
He didn't really understand, but knew enough not to question things when Reka was clearly planning something. The buzzing from the garage got louder.
"If you say so, honey. Andy, Olivia, you two up for a race?"
They were up for it. Andy was cracked at the racing game from the start, and Olivia was initially behind but she was a fast learner. Brad just enjoyed the sensation of his fiancee curled up next to him and wasn't really worried about winning or losing. The afternoon passed quickly and the buzzing from the garage stopped pretty abruptly at about five.
"It's ready," Reka said excitedly, getting up and leading Brad by the hand back to the garage.
Secured to a rack on the wall stood a black terminator. There was no other way to describe it; it was a terminator, a skeletal metal humanoid.
The skull bowed at their approach. "You're grace," it said submissively.
Woah...
"Galiban, is that you?" Brad asked nervously. He didn't realize he was shaking a little until he felt the sensation of Reka gripping his waist firmly to steady him.
"My god, look at the articulation on that skull! Every joint is perfect. It can emote. It can do anything." Andy sounded totally stunned, like nothing in all his years of studying robotics had prepared him for this moment.
"The chief of automata played his part well," Galiban said earnestly. "Without your assistance this would've proved much more difficult. This humble Galiban bows his head in gratitude to you as well."
Andy just covered his mouth, too shocked to speak.
"My love, would you like to do the honors?" Reka asked. "Just place your laptop battery in faithful Galiban's chest, and he'll be able to move independently."
"But..." Brad wasn't so sure about this.
"I can get you another infinite battery if you wish, Brad," Reka said quickly.
Brad blinked. What? "It's not that, honey," he said in confusion. "Don't you live in my laptop, Galiban? Is it safe to 'unplug' you like this?"
The terminator skull chuckled. It was lifelike in the most disturbing way possible.
"This humble butler is flattered by the king-consort's concern, but I am a distributed intelligence, with my consciousness in many places at once. The majority of my active processes reside in the 'cloud' of Rainforest Web Services at this moment. Removing the laptop battery will do this one no appreciable harm."
Like always, Brad just went with it and did what he was told. His old laptop battery snapped easily into a slot in Galiban's chest. The terminator unplugged himself from the wall, walked forward, and kneeled before Reka.
"This Galiban is ready to serve, your grace."