Dahlia - Birth of an A.I. Ch. 01

By the time I finished my coffee, my morning wood had subsided enough to use the bathroom. I took care of business, got dressed, and headed downstairs. I heard all four of them in the kitchen, talking about their day, and was a little surprised.

Did the three of them spend their nights at Lia's place after the monthly parties? Or... did all four of them live in the same house?

I shook my head, I had no proof of that, although the brownstone was certainly large enough.

I headed home, for a shit, shower, and shave. I pulled on a pair of dockers, a leather brown belt and dress shoes, and a light blue collared shirt. My bosses were pretty laid back, but I wouldn't assume jeans were okay until I saw others wearing them, until then it was business casual.

I was alone in the house, as usual, my parents were rich, but they were always working. That much hadn't changed in the last four years, and I never saw them much at all outside of holidays and birthdays. At least they were good at those, they'd never missed one of them.

I popped a frozen breakfast sandwich in the microwave, and I made my second cup of coffee for the day. I was a bit of a coffee addict, at least until five or so. I poured in a heaping teaspoon, which was easier than carefully measuring out two flat teaspoons, and then added a splash of milk.

The microwave dinged, and I grabbed the sandwich and sat at the table. I wasn't exactly feeling sorry for myself, I didn't do much of that, but I did feel a bit alone. I was used to it, when I was at home anyway, but staying at the boss's last night, and hearing the banter of the boardroom ladies in the kitchen that morning during breakfast made the usual aloneness of my home feel far starker.

It wasn't the first time I'd had that feeling either, it happened every time I'd come home from college, where I'd had a roommate and plenty of friends to share meals with.

It was a wistful feeling.

I'd had a few girlfriends in college, but nothing too serious. I'd also had friends in college, but casual ones. It took a lot of effort to do six years of college in four, add to that a part time job for a little spending cash, and I hadn't had much time to build deeper relationships.

A part of me wondered if I was damaged or broken, I'd been raised to respect women, follow the law, and to be a man, but I'd also been left alone a lot. Sadly enough, the closest friend I'd ever had was Dahlia, and even to that day I missed her on the odd occasion.

Still, I was about to start a new dream job, work for four gorgeous women, and do what I loved most, work code and make it dance. I'd be moving in my own place soon, and I had my life ahead of me. I was filled with potential, and I knew if I wanted to find close friends, and a more serious relationship, well I'd do that too.

At least, that's what I believed at the time, and in a way I would get all of that, but not in the way I imagined. As to if it was better or worse, I'll leave it to you to decide. My life was good, was about to get a whole lot better even, before it would all blow up in my face.

Although, it wasn't quite that bad, and at the same time, it was far worse...

It was decidedly odd, just one more thing on that list.

Twenty-three employees, then why was Fortress Security's office building a sky scraper in downtown Chicago, with no other tenants. Were all the other floors empty, or was it just a conceit of the business world?

I walked toward the building, and I hit the intercom on the wall outside, next to the doors.

A voice said, "Hold you're ID up to the camera, Mr. Ashton."

Well, that was interesting, he recognized who I was, but still had to follow procedure. I took out my license, and I dutifully held it up to the camera. I pulled on the door when I heard the magnetic locks click, and then stepped inside. The lobby was vast, with a typical security desk in front of the hallway that led to the elevators.

There wasn't much else in the lobby, a floor with pretty designs, and some plants in the corners, even a Fichus tree, but that was about it.

The man behind the desk had gray hair, in a high and tight buzz cut that screamed retired marine. He wore a typical security uniform, and I was surprised to see he was actually packing. His smile was crisp and professional, and his uniform looked pressed to within an inch of its life.

"Welcome to Fortress, Mr. Ashton."

"Paul please, and thank you."

He nodded, and then picked up the phone and notified Emma of my arrival, calling her Doctor Jones. That... was weird, was she really a doctor at eighteen? Well, I had my masters at twenty two, and while I was considered a genius I was hardly the smartest person in the world either.

The security guy went back to work, so I moved over to the side of his desk to prevent awkwardness as I waited for the midnight haired Emma to show up. I didn't have to wait long.

I barely suppressed my chuckle, but was sure my eyes were dancing. Of course Emma with the fuck PC attitude wouldn't be dressed professionally. Her gorgeous midnight hair fell in ringlets down her back with a small lock of hair over her left shoulder. Her exotically beautiful dark complexion and long thick eyelashes, as well as her naturally pouty lips didn't have any makeup on it at all.

Not that she needed makeup anyway, she had everything she needed to go natural, a rare true beauty that was exotically captivating.

Her waspishly and sinfully sexy and nubile body was covered in painted on blue jeans, and a tight red half shirt that hugged her D cups, and also showed off the perfect skin of her flat stomach and mouthwateringly thin waist. She also wore pink flip flops on her feet.

"Emma, nice to see you again."

She smirked, "You too Paul, although much less of you this time," she said in her normally sultrily voice, as her eyes roved down my body and then snapped back up to my eyes.

See what I mean, total sexual harassment suit.

I froze, not sure what to say to that, but she winked nonchalantly and turned, "Follow me."

I followed. And really enjoyed the view. She had a juicy rounded ass that stuck out quite alluringly, the tight jeans leaving nothing in doubt there. She was a sexual harassment nightmare waiting to happen, and I did my best to stare at her flowing black ringlet curled hair instead.

Although, I got the distinct impression I'd insult her if I didn't at least take a quick look.

"Big building," I noted neutrally.

She smiled, "Most of the employees are on the top floor, including our offices. The rest of the floors are for R&D, much of it is automated. Network security is the smallest part of what we do here, even if it's what we're best known for. Technically, the parent company headquarters is in this building too, on floor five with separate security systems and networks to comply with the law. There's also several other development floors for soon to be companies that are still in the research and testing stage."

"I see, thanks."

I still wasn't sure it made sense, how could they have all that with twenty-three employees? Maybe there were just twenty-three for Fortress, and there were others under the parent company working on forming more subs? Whatever, at least I knew the floors were being utilized.

She winked, "Anytime."

I cleared my throat, given her naturally sultry voice that had sounded a whole lot like an offer to get naked. I was hardly shy, or a virgin, but the corporate world had dim views on that kind of thing. I was also positive that wasn't really what she'd met, she couldn't help her voice was so naturally smoky and sultry. Or at least, I was almost positive, my cock was voting the other way, but I wasn't dumb enough to listen to it.

The elevator dinged, and we got off at the top floor, I followed her to one of the corner offices.

She turned and pointed through the building at the other corner, "Lia's office," then pointed down the front of the building, "Mia's office," then pointed down the side of the building, "and Bell has the last corner office. You'll head to Mia's when I'm finished getting you set up. I'd give you a tour myself, but I've got a busy day ahead of me, and Mia loves that onboarding shit."

"Right, no problem."

She walked into her office, and I followed her inside. The office was... eclectic to say the least, and it looked more like a doctor's office than a corner office in a corporation. There were different types of expensive art on the walls, along with a medical diploma in her name from a very highly rated medical college. Her desk was half covered by knickknacks of various types, and she picked up what looked like a forced air injector.

"I have to ask you, we have a new implant that does have GPS, idea being if a person has a heart attack, emergency medical services can be notified through a Bluetooth connection to their phone, along with their location. The default is off and you don't have to have it turned on.

"That said, only the four of us, the company officers, have full access to that data while it's being tested. If it's a problem, I'll dig up an old version if I have to."

I waved that away, "It's fine. You know where I work, and have my home address already, right?"

She laughed, "Exactly, but some people get weird about it. Glad you're not one of then, hold up your arm."

Her hand gripped my forearm, and it felt far too good, I firmly reminded myself that she was my boss.

I had a feeling I'd be doing that self-reminding a lot, for all four of them.

She rubbed my forearm with an alcohol swab, held up the gun looking thing to my forearm, and pulled the trigger. There was a loud sound of air, and I felt a slight sting. When I looked, there was a tiny little red spot the size of a normal needle.

"How big is it?"

She smiled, "Small. Not quite microscopic, but you'd need very good eyes to see it with the naked eye. It runs on bio-electricity directly, so no nano-battery required."

"Cool."

She winked, "Thanks."

"You made it?"

She smirked, "Don't look so surprised, I know you noticed my diploma on the wall."

That... was a good point, she was a genius, and far more of a genius than I'd ever be, and I was in the upper two percentile that way. Not bragging, a high intelligence didn't mean I wasn't as dumb as a post about some things.

"Are we set?"

She shook her head, and then snagged the tablet on her desk. She opened an app, and then waved it over my forearm, and looked at the results.

"We are now, unless you want to turn on any of the options?"

I nodded, "I told Lia I would. The medical, and I wouldn't mind the payment systems part, and I guess there's no point in doing all that and not turning on the GPS."

Emma smirked, and hit a bunch of button settings in the app, then swiped my arm again.

"The payment systems won't be set up until you verify your accounts and the rest of your paperwork with Mia. Oh, and pair it with your phone, the pair code is sixty-nine. Otherwise it's all set."

Sixty-nine as a pair code? Good lord, she was going to kill me. I also couldn't help but notice her scent was at least as alluring as her looks, voice, and brash personality. She still hadn't backed away from me after the implantation, and I was standing rather close.

"Thanks."

She nodded, and the sparkling look in her stormy gray eyes gave me the distinct impression I could take her right there, over her desk.

Of course, I rejected that as foolishness, and believed my second head was doing the thinking there and it was a complete idiot determined to get me sacked on the first day.

Instead, I turned around and walked out, with half a chubby, but still with a job with a big paycheck. I turned to the left and walked down the long hallway towards the other end and Mia's corner office. The center of the floor was glassed in meeting rooms, a couple of break rooms that looked to include free coffee, and bathrooms as well as the hallway with the elevator. There were no cubicles that I could see, and it took me a second to realize that there would be almost forty windowed offices on the top floor of this building. That meant I'd be getting one myself, holy shit.

Double the normal salary at start, and the mecca of the corporate world, a windowed office on the top of a high-rise. Things were going well, and college had very much been worth it.

I knocked on Mia's door, which was open, and looked her way with a question in my eyes.

Mia was the golden blonde, with those vivid dark blue eyes that sparkled. Her beautiful face was angelically sweet, and the smile she brought up for me reminded me her personality was just as sweet. Her body was lissome, soft curves, and she was about five foot seven. She had the body of a dancer, tight perky B cups, and incredibly long legs. She was just as sexy as Lia and Emma were, if in a completely different way, Bellona too for that matter.

I couldn't see what she was wearing down below, but she had on a nice red blouse that was buttoned almost all the way up to her neck, with ruffles around her neck and over the buttons.

She said softly, "Paul, good to see you, find everything okay so far?"

Her voice was warm, but at the same time had that authority to it that made me instantly trust her, she must be a hell of a saleswoman, given her beauty was already remarkable enough to engender a lot of trust subconsciously. Even knowing about that false effect, didn't make me immune to it. Mia was a sweetheart too, the kind of woman every man would stand up to protect and kick ass for, even knowing it was absurd I felt her pushing all the buttons of my protective instincts.

"Great, thanks. Emma took good care of me."

Mia stood up, revealing that she wore a black pencil skirt that hugged her hips and legs, and dark red shoes with two-inch heels that matched her blouse. She walked around her desk, and she waved for me to follow her.

I walked out, and she turned left.

We walked all the way down, and she pointed out the bathrooms, breakrooms, and the conference rooms where some of the employees would brainstorm if they were stuck. She showed me Lia's office, who wasn't in at the moment, and then turned right. We walked all the way to that corner, which was Bellona's office, which if I remembered right would be my main boss, sort of.

Mia took me in an office two doors from Mia's, it was a large room, fifteen by twenty at least, with a real wood desk, phone setup and a had a thin LED all in one computer monitor. Next to the keyboard on the desk was a tablet.

It also had a name plaque with my name on the door.

Mia said, "None of this should leave the office, ever. The tablet is to help share ideas within the office, and to test our tablet applications with your code. It can also interface with any of the monitors in the meeting rooms for a meeting or demonstration. Go ahead and pick it up with your right hand."

I did, and as soon as I did, the tablet logged in. I really needed to see that code, and how the implants worked as remote smartcards.

She pointed, "Open the human resources app, and it should prompt you to go over and digitally sign your paperwork in order. It'll also set up your direct deposit and wireless pay if you activated that part of things."

I sat down and clicked on the app, and I started looking over the paperwork and verify it all. It took a surprisingly short time, considering I didn't have to fill any of it out besides my bank account number, and they hadn't made any mistakes.

"What's next?"

She said, "There are also video overviews of our benefits, which will activate in three months automatically. As well as a copy of our company handbook. I'd advise you to review both, then we're finished until Monday morning. Unless you have questions for me?"

I shook my head, "Not yet."

She smiled, "Okay, well if you do when you finish the video and handbook, you know where my office is. If you want a bigger screen, the app is on your computer too."

She looked into my eyes a long moment, and her lips slightly parted like she wanted to say something else, but she abruptly smiled instead, welcomed me to the company again, and left my office.

I guessed that tour only included the top floor. I was curious about the research floors, and what might go on there, but I figured this floor and the lobby would most likely be all I'd ever see. It made sense, that kind of thing would be split off, and I probably wouldn't need to know it to do my job. That was just basic security precautions. I also wondered what Mia had wanted to say but had held back.

Fuck, all four of them were drop dead gorgeous in completely different ways, I wondered if I'd ever get used to working with the four of them.

I bet Emma would have spat it out, whatever Mia had held back.

I chuckled at that thought, and then started the video.

Chapter Four

It took me a couple of hours to watch the video and read through the company handbook. There was nothing too odious in there, though none of the technology could leave the building outside of our implants and cell phones. I did learn the dress code was business casual, but apparently Emma didn't count for that, which was fine with me. She looked amazing in jeans.

I also took a moment to install the security app on my cell phone, which made it use the secure login implant, only then did it allow me to set up my email on it. It was about a quarter to twelve, and I guessed I was done for the day. I was all set to start on Monday, and I had a three and half day weekend left before I hit the salt mines on my first job.

I was honestly excited about it, cutting edge security coding and app design. I was looking forward to being briefed on my first project by Bellona.

I got up, and the computer and tablet locked when I was about five feet away from them, which was impressive. Then I left, and I headed for the elevators. I was almost disappointed I didn't have any questions as an excuse to talk to Mia again, and I considered the idea of saying hi to Bellona and Lia, but ultimately dismissed it. They were my bosses, and quite friendly, but not my friends.

I turned into the center hallway, and I smiled in surprise when Lia walked in from the other side a second later. Her work clothes weren't nearly as revealing as that pink lingerie number from earlier that morning, but she looked just as drop dead gorgeous in a business appropriate light green dress, that nonetheless managed to show off her perfect hourglass body, half her cleavage, and her toned muscular legs. Her long light brown hair hung down like a shimmering curtain to frame her face. She also had a tiny amount of makeup on, which she really didn't need with her soft girl next door beauty.

Her brown eyes lit up at my smile, and she said, "Everything go well today?"

I nodded, "Great, I'm all set up for Monday."

She smiled, "Good," she pushed the elevator call button, "I don't suppose you want to keep me company at lunch. Bell has a coding emergency, Emma is on a deadline on an implant related project, and Mia is plotting to take over the world."

I laughed, "Really? Mia?"

She winked, "Don't let her innocent looks fool you, she's a shark, and does it with a sweet innocent smile, and she's more than half the reason we've been so successful. Oh, not with the tech itself, but with the marketing and sales."

I asked, "One day you'll have to tell me how you all met."

Seriously, four young geniuses, perfectly suited to complement each other in a cutthroat business and not only thrive but take the world by storm. That they were all hot and female was just... a bonus I guess.

Lia looked me in the eyes and said deadpan, "I made them in my basement."

It was an odd joke, but I managed an honest chuckle.

Then she giggled, and said, "Someday I will, if you keep me company?"