The Proposal Ch. 02

Though it had felt like hours to them since they entered the pool house, less than thirty minutes after they began their passionate lovemaking, Charlie and Todd stepped from the shower they used to wash the sweat and sex from their bodies. Charlie moves like a lioness, all grace and strength, her eyes partially closed in the way of a well fed cat. After dressing in their swimwear, Charlie takes the top towel, damp with sweat, and tosses it on the bench with their clothes. The bottom towel joins it on the bench and the remaining clean and dry towels are refolded and placed back on the shelves. By the time she finishes Todd as folded and placed their street clothes on the shelves as well.

The pool house tidied, all evidence of their lovemaking removed, Charlie and Todd emerge from the pool house, the outside air feeling cool on their skin after the heat inside. Todd latches the door open to allow the interior to cool and to remove any lingering smells of their sex. Tossing the two towels they had set aside earlier onto a chaise, Charlie slips into the pool, sighing as the water cools her. Todd takes a less elegant approach and cannonballs into the deep end of the pool, splashing water everywhere. He swims from the deep end of the pool to where Charlie is standing, the water just covering her breasts, laughing at Charlie's disapproving look. He takes her in his arms, easily lifts her off the floor of the pool, and kisses her with gusto.

Charlie and Todd are still in the pool, laughing and splashing when Giselle and Rick return home. Todd greets them as they step out onto the patio. "Hope you don't mind but we started without you."

Giselle gives them a big smile and wave. "Not at all. Rick and I will change then join you in a moment."

Charlie watches as Rick and Giselle enter the pool house. Giselle seems normal, upbeat even, but Rick appears tense and reserved. Moments later they emerge dressed in swimwear but carrying no towel.

When Giselle emerges from the pool house, Charlie clambers out of the pool. Saying not a word, Charlie saunters over to Giselle, just settling into a chaise, and kisses her ever so lightly on the cheek before whispering into her ear so that no one but Giselle could hear, "Thank you."

Giselle sits still for a moment, shocked by Charlie's kiss, then gives a near imperceptible nod. Giselle peeks over the top of her sunglasses as Charlie begins to dry herself. "So, how was it? The immersion I mean."

Charlie answers after some thought. "It was fantastic. It was like I was you." Then looking to Rick, Charlie asks, "I thought you told me immersions can't capture people's thoughts."

"It can't," Rick replies. He was over his shock that Giselle would share something so intimate, her Sphinx like calm while they were gone effectively defusing his anger and frustration.

Charlie settled into a nearby chair, still drying her hair. "But I could. I could tell exactly what she was thinking. When I, when she saw the pineapple I knew that was her favorite fruit. I didn't know that before," Charlie protests.

"That's just a biochemical reaction to her seeing something that gives her pleasure. The neural interface picks that up and boom! you know she likes pineapple." Rick explains. Rick would know as he was a key figure in developing both the original neural network and the immersion interface.

Rick was born to two deadbeat parents that had little use for anything that involved work. While they were never abusive to Rick, he languished in benign neglect. The family never had anything that wasn't given to them and Rick hated his life and couldn't wait to get away. He threw himself into his school work and was accepted into Stanford with a modest scholarship. Though he qualified for grant money, he refused it, not wanting to feel indebted to anyone and with the aid of student loans and long hours working nights at whatever jobs he could get, Rick paid his way through college.

Rick excelled in all his computer classes and showed an affinity for writing elegant, easy to understand, interfaces. He worked hard and graduated near the top of his class with a BS in computer science. The workload of mornings spent in school, nights tending bar or stocking shelves, was beginning to break him so he decided not to pursue an advanced degree at the time. Upon graduation he immediately began his career working on what eventually became the neural net.

His skill at interface design got him noticed at NIT, Neural Interface Technologies, and he was set to work, along with hundreds of other software and hardware engineers, solving the host of problems involved in integrating the human body with a computer network. Rick never advanced beyond lower-middle management, his career peaking when he was placed in charge of the interface group supervising twenty-odd programmers. The hardware engineers were the real rock stars of NIT, and while Rick never fully got his head around how the chip interfaced with the human body, when a hardware engineer would say, "When the chip," it was always just called the chip, "receives this signal, I need the chip programmed to return that signal," that he could understand so he and his group set to work making it happen. After ten years of grueling toil the net was born and those that had accepted stock options in lieu of pay, Rick among them, became wealthy, very wealthy.

As NIT's business moved more toward hardware, Rick left NIT and, cashing out the bulk of his stock, poured the money, and his coding talent, into a new company, Feedback Alive. Building on the work done by NIT, Feedback Alive purchased the software rights from NIT and began to extended and refine the software interfaces between the hardware and the human nervous system until finally, just over a year ago the company brought to market immersion technology. The immersion is an offshoot of the neural network technology developed at NIT that is revolutionizing communications and data retrieval, replacing a host of now obsoleted technologies.

Early in the twenty-first century the amount of information available to people exploded. First there was the World Wide Web, then search engines, then intelligent search engines, each designed to better manage the ever increasing volume of data. But even with all the advancements, people and businesses were drowning in information, which was nearly as bad as not having enough. The latest advancement in data management is the neural network, or net.

Using ultra-thin film technology it is now possible to implant the chip developed by NIT at the base of the brain, allowing access the vast amount of data available on the net. The chip is powered by the heat of the human body and once implanted is a totally self-contained device.

At first the chip simply functioned as search portal, but the neural interface technology didn't stay confined to data retrieval for long and a revolution in the way people interacted with each other and the world began. Through continuous improvement in the software interface to the body, the technology has become so pervasive it is now everywhere. Anything that can be automated is now controlled through the net. As you walk up to your car you want the doors to be unlocked, the engine running with the air conditioning on, cooling the interior, so it is. When you leave your house you expect the doors to be locked, so they are. This is all controlled by a series of hardware based encryptions keyed to each person's DNA. It is impossible to crack, and impossible to fake, so non-violent crimes like identity theft and fraud are effectively reduced to zero, which in turn has led to an explosion in the use of human/network interface, the immersion being only the first of what was likely to come.

Feedback Alive is a privately held company, owned by Rick and three other partners, but the fledgling immersion market was beginning to grow and the company should be revenue positive in another year or so. Or so Rick hoped. He was very nearly living as a kept man on Giselle's income. What they needed was a blockbuster immersion that could show what the technology could do, and use that to ramp up their licensing and hardware sales.

"Well, maybe," Charlie mutters, "but I think there is more to it than that." She pauses and thinks a minutes. "But if you can't read thoughts, how does the search and ping, and all the other stuff work?"

"Okay, I misspoke," Rick says, "the chip can read your thoughts. The problem is that your thoughts are like trying to pick out a conversation in a crowd of people. Where you can't follow a conversation, you might hear your name. The chip works like that. It is looking for keywords among your thoughts. Take the ping for example. Do you know why you ping someone instead of call them or talk to them?"

"No," Charlie says shaking her head.

"Because when we were developing the interface we did start out having the ping interface open when you wanted to talk to someone. The problem was, every time you wanted to talk to Todd about something the damn interface would open, even if what you really wanted to do was talk to him when you got home. So we came up with a new term, the ping, so you had to think 'I want to ping Todd' before the interface would open. Don't ask me how the chip sorts out the keywords, that is beyond me, but while yes, the chip can read your thoughts, the bulk of the stuff that goes into the chip is ignored and never passed to the interface."

"I don't know Rick," Charlie says dubiously. "I swear I could tell exactly what Giselle was thinking."

"Trust me, you just think you could tell because of a very limited set of variables. Let me ask you this ... at the beginning, when we," Rick motions to Giselle and himself, "are walking along the beach, did you know that we were having a picnic?"

"Of course," she replies with finality.

"Wait!" Todd interjects. "You were on a picnic with Rick?"

"Nooo," Charlie replies. "Giselle was on a picnic with Rick. It is where he proposed to her." Turning to look at Rick she adds, "Well done, by the way."

Todd looks from Rick to Charlie then back to Rick. "Well, buddy, I don't know what you got, but I want some of it."

Charlie and Giselle giggle while Rick blushes. "Annnyway," Rick says trying to steer the conversion back to safer ground. "Are you sure you knew or did you think you knew because Giselle wasn't surprised? See, Giselle knew we were recording the picnic. It was kind of like a field test for the recording equipment. She just didn't know about the rest of it."

"What's the difference?" Charlie asks.

"Well, granted it's small, but it is a significant difference. That is why immersions work so well for one or two people, but not particularly well for a group. Here's an example. Giselle is sitting in the chaise and is daydreaming in the sun. If you are in an immersion of that event you will feel the contentment of someone at peace, but you won't know what she is thinking about."

"Oh ... I think I would have a pretty good idea," Charlie says.

Rick blushes again and hears Giselle giggle in the chaise.

"Maybe what you say is true, but I'm not sure I'm convinced," Charlie says. "Whatever the reason, that was the most moving and powerful immersion I have ever experienced. Ever. Would you mind if Todd experienced it?"

"What?" Rick says, louder than he meant to and he can almost feel his eye bug out.

"Would you mind if Todd experienced the immersion recording of you proposing to Giselle. I assume you have one."

"I do, but ..." Rick splutters. He looks to Giselle who looks back passively.

"But what, Rick?" Charlie says.

Rick nods to Todd. "What does he know?"

"He knows that I was Giselle when you proposed to her after a picnic on the beach."

"That's that it?" Rick demands.

"That's it," Charlie replies. "And that is all he will ever know unless you tell him, or he experiences it for himself."

Todd has suddenly become very interested in this conversion but says nothing, feeling like he is on thin ice.

"I don't know Charlie," Rick says. "You know until Giselle you were my rock." Rick see's Charlie's eye flick to Giselle, then back. "You helped me through some tough times. But this is asking a lot." Rick pauses for a moment, then continues, "Why do you want to do this?"

"Because, Rick, there is something very profound in that immersion. It touched me. I'm assuming that your immersion would be just as powerful. It seemed like it to me," Charlie says then corrects herself. "It seemed like it to Giselle. See, I can't even keep it straight. I know it was Giselle but it was so real, so vibrant, so alive, it was like it was me."

Giselle moves from the chaise and sits down in the chair beside Rick and puts her hand on his arm. Rick looks to Todd with an almost pained expression.

"Buddy, it's your call. Don't do it if you don't want to. I don't mind," but ever the wit Todd waits just the right amount of time then adds, "but can Charlie experience it again sometime?" The heavy mood broken they all laugh.

* * *

A few hours later everyone has changed from their swimwear into street clothes, and now the women were in the kitchen slicing fresh vegetables for the grill, chatting and laughing. While Charlie and Giselle prepare the vegetables, Rick prepares the grill, the act of cooking together a ritual they both enjoy. Nothing more has been said about the immersion and they have been pleasantly chatting, four good friends, enjoying each other's company.

Todd sips his beer and watches Rick fuss with the grill. Though curious to know what had happened on that beach that had so affected Charlie, it was obvious to him that Rick didn't want to share it, and that worries him. Todd knows how Charlie is when she wants something. She will worry the problem to death until she gets what she wants, something he knows from long experience. He and Rick have been friends for, Todd zones out into the interface, then has the answer in less than a second, thirteen years. That's a long time and this immersion isn't worth all that.

Charlie and Todd began dating in high school and have been together ever since. A swimmer on his high school swim team, Todd had turned in a state record setting time in a come from behind victory as the anchor in the four-by-one hundred meter freestyle relay to secure the their school's first state championship in swimming. The hero of the moment he finally gathered the courage to ask Charlie out on date. She accepted, and while it wasn't exactly love at first sight, they have been together ever since. Moving from the Midwest to Los Angeles, Charlie worked as a model while Todd worked on his BA in marketing.

Rick met Todd when a calendar company used Rick's antique 2010 Aston Martin in a photo shoot. Though the car was almost sixty years old it looked new and was the one thing that Rick had splurged on when he became wealthy. While Charlie worked with the car, Rick and Todd discussed antique cars, something that Rick enjoyed but Todd was passionate about. Todd knew more about antique English cars than Rick ever would and Rick was fascinated as Todd effortlessly recalled horsepower ratings, 0-60 times, prices, all manner of minutiae on vehicles made by Aston Martin, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Bentley or Land Rover. Anybody could do that now, but this was before the net had become pervasive and it was an impressive feat of recall. Rick still has the calendar featuring his car hanging in his garage, perpetually showing July 2068, his Aston overlooking the Pacific Ocean with Charlie, one hand pulling open her not quite fully unbuttoned shirt, the other pulling down on her unbuttoned shorts, wet with "sweat" from a spray bottle, hair flying away in the breeze from an unseen fan, vamping in front of the car. Only Charlie could upstage that car, but upstage it she does. It took four hours of hard work, Charlie doing the same poses over and over to get that one shot, so Rick and Todd had plenty of time to get acquainted. By the time the shoot concluded the beginnings of their friendship were firmly in place.

From out of the blue Todd picks up the immersion topic again. "Rick, listen, don't sweat it okay?" Rick looks at him in confusion. "The immersion. You know how Charlie is. She will keep picking at this until she gets what she wants. But if you don't want me to experience it, I'm fine with that. Really. Give the word and I will shut her down." He then bangs his chest comically and exclaims in a caveman voice, "Me man. She woman. Woman listen to man." Rick raises one eyebrow in an uh-huh look, but says nothing. Todd, suddenly serious, puts his hand on Rick's shoulder, "It okay man, really."

"What do you know?" Rick finally asks quietly.

"I know that you proposed to Giselle on a picnic on a beach somewhere."

"San Miguel Island," Rick supplies.

"I know that you had a picnic with Giselle on a beach on San Miguel Island. That's where you proposed to her," Todd begins again, then waving his beer in the general direction of the kitchen window, added, "she accepted. I assume, based on Charlie's reaction, that you must have rocked her world on that same beach. What I don't know is why that has affected her so. Charlie I mean."

After a pause Rick speaks softly, "That's the sum of it." Another pause, but Todd waits patiently. "I don't know why Charlie is so jazzed up about this and I don't understand why Giselle did what she did." Pause. "You and Charlie are my best friends, but I don't know about this."

"Don't worry about it. I will talk to Charlie tonight," Todd says, then he puffs his chest out like he is going to beat on it again, then deflates it comically. "Oh never mind. Who am I kidding?" Rick laughs gently at his friend's antics as Todd adds, "Seriously, I will talk to her, okay?"

* * *

They all enjoy a meal of steak, roasted peppers and potatoes, all expertly grilled by Rick. Todd, feeling a bit guilty that Giselle and Charlie prepared the food and Rick cooked it, appointed himself errand boy and made sure no one wanted for anything. After the meal he insists that they sit and he would clean up. He didn't mind. At home Charlie cooks and he cleans up and he felt well rewarded for the effort. Besides, in a modern kitchen, cleanup took what, fifteen, twenty minutes?

Afterwards the four of them sit by the pool once more in comfortable silence when Charlie speaks up, "Rick, about the immersion."

Todd pipes in, "Charlie ..."

Giselle interrupts, "Let her finish. I want to hear what she has to say."

Charlie pauses a moment and when nobody else adds anything, continues. "Giselle and I were talking. I understand what you are saying about the chip not reading thoughts. It comes down to feelings, right? If I say I feel hot, I feel cold, I feel hungry, I feel lust, I feel pain ... if I can say 'I feel' something and it makes sense it will come through on an immersion, right?"

Rick nods.

"But if I say, I feel math or I feel blue sky, not only does that sound stupid but the immersion chip doesn't get it either. If I said I feel happy because I love a blue sky I would get the happy but not the blue sky. Does that about sum it up?"

"That's it precisely," Rick says.

"Do you realize what you just said?" Charlie asks.

He didn't. "What did I say?"

"You said you can capture emotions."

"Uhhh ... okay. I guess. So ...?"

"Do you know what the most popular immersion is?" Charlie asks.

"Porn."

"Okay, you're right," Charlie agrees. "What I should have asked is do you know what the most popular non-sexual immersion is?"

Rick hasn't the first clue and shrugs his shoulders. "Uhhh ..." but then he thinks about it and the answer comes to him, roller coaster rides. Because of his expertise he could tell that the answer came from the chip. Damnit! That was one problem with the net, you couldn't play guessing games anymore. They, Feedback Alive, should try to fix that in the interface. "Roller coasters." he states.