Chapter Text
She needs to learn how to tell Leia no.
That much is clear, as Rey watches the Resistance tech and her boss's genius programmer son bustle about her home, setting the system up. The tech, a rather short woman with a cute bob and a friendly demeanor, isn't someone she minds having in her home—the woman seems respectful and kind, understanding, even. She seems to get that this situation is a little weird and not at all what Rey had planned for her Saturday.
The stupidly handsome genius programmer guy is another story. She tries not to watch the way he keeps pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
His name is Ben, per Leia's email. At least she assumes that's who he is. After an entire hour in her house, he hasn't bothered to introduce himself. He's only walked around, pointing out various places for sensors or speakers or whatever the hell this system requires. The family resemblance is intense—he inherited the warm brown eyes she knows well, and the healthy head of wavy hair, though she's not entirely sure where the height or sullen attitude came from. Maybe his father? Rey's not met him, yet.
As yet another one of her bookcases gets moved without her permission and three of her non-fragile Christmas ornaments fall to the floor, Rey sighs, and decides to leave for the privacy of her bedroom before she starts yelling at someone. When she arrives in the softly lit room and drops back onto her carefully made white-linen'd bed, she groans. The white quilt under her is patterned with cobalt swirls, and her eyes trace them as she tries to focus on not being annoyed by her unwelcome guests. She takes out her phone, rereading Leia's email to remind herself this isn't a form of punishment.
From: Leia Organa < [email protected] >
Sent: December 6, 2019 9:28 AM
To: Rey Niima < [email protected] >
Subject: Thank You
Rey,
Perhaps it's early, but I want to wish you a Happy Holidays. You've been a wonderful new addition to our team this year, and I'd like the opportunity to show my appreciation. I believe you know by now that Resistance is moving toward the late testing stages for our All-House AI (official name pending), and if you are willing, I want to gift you a prototype.
If you agree, my son Ben and one of our technicians (I believe he'll be bringing Rose, one of our best), will arrive tomorrow to install Kylo. You will be one of only three, including Ben, to receive the full-house version.
Kylo is still learning and you may need to be patient, but if the system works as intended, Kylo will adapt to your needs. I believe you will find the system exceptionally helpful, and once we get closer to releasing the full version to the public, we can discuss possible stock options or products you may want as payment for your feedback on Kylo.
Again, I can't thank you enough for being an exceptional assistant. I value your feedback on this product, and I hope Kylo proves helpful to you. This system is meant to make your life easier and give you what you need.
Sincerely,
Leia Organa
Give her what she needs?
Rey snorts. She's sure the system will be useful, but she doesn't even know what she needs. How can Kylo?
The large, plush surface of her bed draws her in and keeps her there, even in the middle of the day, as it so often does. Since she accepted this job at Resistance, with a generous and unexpected signing bonus, she's been able to afford things she once thought of as frivolous luxuries—things like a quality King-sized bed, or a TV, or a fridge full of food and a drawer full of spices. Her body might still be adjusting to all the new comforts. Every time she rests on this bed, she passes out.
The only thing that could make it cozier is if…
She must fall asleep to the thought of a warm embrace, because the next thing she knows, there's a knock on her bedroom door waking her up. Rey jumps out of bed, alarmed that she left two relative strangers to wander around her house.
It's Rose, waiting for her. The woman gives her a sympathetic smile, maybe even a little apologetic, and that's when Rey realizes she's been out for almost four hours—they've been setting things up for over half the day.
"We're finally done," Rose sighs, brushing her soft waves back behind one ear. "Do you mind if I show you everything before I go? Ben just left after we got Kylo running, but I wanted to stick around to show you how to get started, and I think you should know the extent of the system."
Rey nods. "That'd be great. I appreciate it. Sorry you had to spend your Saturday doing this."
"Leia made it worth my while," she winks. "I'm testing the system out, too. You, me, and Ben are the beta testers. Cool, right?" Rose must notice her hesitate, because she tilts her head out toward the living room and adds, "Come on, I'll show you. Give it a week and Kylo will be your best friend."
Rey's doubtful, but shrugs and follows the woman. Halfway to their destination, Rose shoves a clipboard in her direction, stacked with what seem to be dense legal documents. "You'll want to read through that. Gwen from legal prepped these docs and they're not exactly standard since this is kind of a first for Resistance, having three employees beta test such a potentially invasive technology. She flagged the spots you need to initial, and then you need to sign on the last page."
Rose leans against the back of Rey's cream colored couch, a decorating choice that seemed smart in the store and moronic the first time she almost spilled wine on it. "Ben and I signed ours, obviously, but…" she winces. "I should have had you sign it before we set everything up."
Her eyes glaze over within a paragraph. She glances up, already feeling the incoming headache, and studies Rose as the woman checks something on her phone. With a sigh, Rey asks, "You said you signed this? So you have this set up at your place?"
"Yeah, mine went in on Tuesday. Kylo's a godsend. I got the same set-up as you—full house, minus my bedroom and bathroom, for obvious reasons."
"Mm. And you trust this thing? Like, no Terminator-nonsense?"
Rose stares at her for a second, and then snorts. "Kylo's about as threatening as a helpful assistant who never needs to sleep."
Rey takes one more tired look at the small forest of paper in her hands and rifles through it, catching a phrase here or there—terms and conditions this, personally identifiable information that—and with a few flicks of a pen to initial five spots, plus scribbling her messy signature on the last page, she's done. Rose seems like a normal person who wouldn't have installed the next Robo-Cop into her home, and Rey doubts Leia would have gifted that to her favorite employees, let alone her own son.
As she hands the clipboard over, Rose frowns. "You really don't want to read this? Did you already read through the copy we emailed?"
"I didn't, but I will." No she won't.
Rose's eyebrows go up, but after a moment she shrugs. "Let me show you what we did. Then I'll introduce you to him."
For the next twenty minutes, they walk from room to room, throughout her single-story home. There are little cameras in every room that isn't a bedroom or bathroom, which is… creepy, but Rose explains, "If someone manages to get past the window or door security, though that seems unlikely, Kylo can identify strangers you haven't introduced him to and alert you, or you can request that he just jump ahead to calling the police in a situation like that."
The feature quells the creep factor just a little.
When they get to Rey's kitchen—her pride and joy, renovated upon her move in to match her preferences for creamy whites and sunny yellows mixed with cherry hardwood cabinets—Rose puts the clipboard down and leans against a counter, crossing her arms. She smiles. "Your system was the easiest to install since you already had Alexa controlling the basics, like your locks, lighting and home temperature. Ben didn't have any of that." She scoffs, adding conspiratorially, "For such a nerd he's really weirded out by this stuff. You'd think since he created it, that it'd be all throughout his house, but the guy won't even wear a Fitbit."
"That was the guy who was here earlier, right?" she asks, trying not to seem too interested. "Leia's son?"
Rose hums in confirmation, but doesn't offer any more information. Instead, she grabs a tablet off the kitchen island and taps away at it. "So you can ask Kylo to do… pretty much anything, but the tablet’s good for if you feel like changing any of the settings, like the temperature. Kylo can handle that but you can change it here, too. I leave mine in my bedroom since he's not set up in there."
"So Kylo sort of goes beyond what I had Alexa set up for, right? How so, exactly?"
"Ooh, this is the cool part," Rose grins, as if she's been expecting this question. "Kylo learns."
"How so?"
Rose purses her lips, considering it. "Well, think of your weekly grocery list. Or bi-weekly, or whatever. With Alexa, you can ask her to add stuff to your list, right?" Upon Rey's nod—the grocery list ability must be one of her favorites—Rose continues, "It's helpful, but what Alexa can't do is accurately predict what you might need unless you already know you need it."
At that, Rey frowns. "And Kylo can?"
"Yep. Since you have a smart fridge, Kylo can track what you buy and when you buy it. If you choose, Kylo can even take a look at which nutrients might be missing from your diet. Think of him like an amazing roommate who lives to serve you, or maybe… a live-in PA. If you talk to him, he'll get to know you. Give you advice, even, if you ask."
"Wow," she breathes. "Wow, he sounds—" Rey pauses then, huffing a laugh. "Sorry, I just realized we keep referring to an A.I. as he. Does Kylo actually have a pronoun preference?"
"I honestly don't know," Rose shrugs. "I try not to think too hard about it, but Kylo's voice is masculine, so I've been calling him he. When I asked him what was appropriate and what he preferred, he asked what my definition of gender was and I decided that massive conversation wasn't one I wanted to have with a computer."
"Fair."
"Mm. Okay, so…" Rose hesitates, scanning over the documents. She glances up to Rey with a smile. "I think we're all set. The email you received with a copy of this document has the number you can call if you run into any issues with Kylo, but unless you have questions for me, we're good."
As pleasant as the woman's been, Rey's kind of relieved to have her house back to herself. Well… herself and Kylo. She follows Rose out through her living room and stops at the door while Rose pulls on a heavy winter coat, boots, and mittens.
Rose cringes as she looks out the windowed front door. "Still snowing. Great."
"I know," she sighs. "It's not supposed to let up until Monday. I'm already looking forward to the snow day."
"Me too. I think Kylo's going to talk me through making a souffle."
Rey's eyes widen. "He can do that?"
"Oh, honey," Rose laughs. "You're going to love him. Trust me. You can ask him to do anything. Worse case scenario, he tells you he can't. But so far he's already optimized my diet, dropped the cost of my groceries by comparing prices he found online and sending coupons to my phone, and I haven't received a single spammy email since I asked him to set up filters. Hell, he even read me to bed last night."
"Oh, shit," she mutters. This definitely isn't a form of punishment, then.
Rose laughs again at her reaction, and opens the door, heading out with a wave.
"Wait! Didn't you say you'd introduce me to him? How do I… uh. Turn it on?"
The woman turns back, quirking an eyebrow. "He's already on. Just talk to him. Say hi. Thanks to the voice sample you submitted, he already knows your voice—the only reason he didn't respond to anything we said was because he could tell we weren't talking to him. Your Kylo will only respond to you, or anyone you specifically set as a user."
"Oh."
He's already listening, then. It's a little creepy. Maybe really creepy.
"Thanks," Rey says, a little uneasily.
Rose smiles, waves, and shuts the door behind her.
And Rey is left in a house, alone. Except… maybe she's not alone.
She turns back to her living room, biting her lip. Cautiously, she says, "Hello? Kylo? Are you… on?"
The voice is nothing like she expects. She expected something like the older GPS devices people used to use before smart phones were more common, something a little robotic, maybe. Instead, the voice that greets her is low and soothing, like the sort that should narrate an audiobook.
"Nice to meet you, Rey."
Her back bumps against her front door. "You… you know my name?"
Unless she's imagining things, Kylo lets out a soft laugh. But that can't be right. "I do know your name, Rey." The voice lowers, just a hint. "Would you prefer I call you something else?"
She blinks. It takes her a moment to place what's got her in a tizzy. It's his voice. Kylo—or, rather, whoever voiced Kylo—would be better served creating erotic audiobooks than making her grocery lists.
"Rey?" he asks again, voice soft, and just a little rough at the edges. "Would you prefer I call you something else?"
"No," she murmurs. "No, Rey's good."
"Good," he echoes. "Do you have questions about how to use me? Is there anything you'd like me to do?" He pauses. "How can I better service you?"
Use me. Service you.
Rey bites her lips closed. This stupid system is a walking, talking innuendo, and it doesn't even have legs. Then she groans, because she's literally getting turned on by the voice of an AI. Advanced Alexa is making her wet.
She really needs to get laid.
Rey clears her throat. May as well put Kylo to the test. "Probably a long shot, but are there any local sex shops that do delivery? Like, same day delivery?"
Without missing a beat, Kylo replies, "Let me do a search." Within ten seconds he comes back with, "Yes. One, but they charge a delivery fee. Would you like me to find out if they sell a particular product?"
She pauses. How much can he do? Curiously, she asks, "Can you… find out which of their vibrating toys sells the best? Something with g-spot stimulation?" Her cheeks burn, but what the hell? He's just an AI. "Rechargeable, silicone if possible?"
Kylo doesn't respond for a moment, but then says, "I've found multiple items that fit your specifications. Would you like recommendations?"
"How the hell would you know what to recommend?" she asks with a laugh. "Do you use sex toys?"
"I do not," Kylo answers, predictably. "I'm able to consult a resource that will assist me in recommending which item you might prefer."
That means he'll just check another site or two and cross-check ratings, which makes sense. She shrugs. "Sure. Consult your resource or whatever and order something good. If they take tips for delivery, add it in. Keep it at a reasonable cost and charge it to my Amex."
She's being purposely vague. It's a test—she's curious to see what Kylo considers a reasonable cost, what he considers a decent tip, and, maybe more importantly, she's deeply curious to see how successful he is at picking something.
It takes a minute or two, but he comes back with, "Your product has been ordered, Rey. Is there anything else you need?"
"Huh." Slowly, she grins. "No, thank you."
Maybe this AI thing won't be so bad after all.