"Welcome home," said Charlotte.shurpa as Lyre stepped through the doorway of her West End apartment. "Let me take your briefcase. Here is a hot towel for your face and I'll put this martini on the credenza for you."
"Thank you Charlotte. You're an angel. The traffic downtown is horrendous. Some stupid shurpa walked into a transformer or something and shorted out the FLO system for four city blocks. It was chaos, I can tell you. Nobody knew which way to turn. They were all stepping through each others' holoBeams, crossing directives and electrocuting each other. Pathetic. So, what's our status here?"
"I've rebalanced your investment portfolio, paid all the bills for maximum discount, scheduled your scooter for it's maintenance check, sent thankyou notes to your aunt Karina for the birthday present, and the Roberts, your parents' friends, for the lovely lunch you attended, via shurpa representative, this afternoon."
"Was it a lovely lunch?"
"Yes. I can play the full video if you'd like. In summary, there were genuine cucumber sandwiches and we recalled fond memories of visiting their summer cabin in Desolation Sound. Their son Wallace was also there. He tried hard to be charming and wondered if you two might exchange messages now and then."
"That's sweet. You can put Wallace on the Christmas card list, but keep it light. He's looking for love, but I don't want him knocking on the door here."
"Yes damsire."
"Ok, now, are there any currents picking up in my Social Matrix?" said Lyre taking the first sip from her martini. "Mmm, your mixology upgrade is really paying off."
"Cute cat videos figure large on the Matrix this hour. Your friend Sloon's cat had kittens," said Charlotte.
"Ahh. That's so nice," said Lyre. Send her a Hi5 for me."
"Of course, damsire," said Charlotte.
"Thanks Charlotte. Is there anything new in Government?" asked Lyre.
"The City government has a series of new resolutions to be approved by citizens, but none of them affect you directly. Except perhaps the ban on soyplast packaging from the City landfill. It would mean you'd have to take your packaging material to 3rd party commercial processers instead of relying on the City's collection system."
"Oh God, it's so boring!" said Lyre. "Can't you give my proxy to some reliable charismatic Eco-celebrity?"
"Yes, of course," replied Charlotte. "There are several options. You have already suggested sympathy for the Kat Lady. Would you like her to exercise your civic vote on these resolutions?"
"Please," said Lyre.
"I shall notify the Kat Lady immediately. Remember that you can include special instructions or revoke your proxy at any time," said Charlotte.
"That's good for now, thanks," said Lyre. "Anything in the aftermath of our project 'Meet & Greet' this morning?"
"There was a flurry of messages, but nothing substantial. It's mainly happy groubling about the importance of the project, prestige of BigCorp, and so on," said Charlotte.shurpa.
"Don't let that b.s. distract you, Charlotte," said Lyre. "This is when dominance is established. We need to know who the new hero will be asap."
"Yes damsire. I will tune my message filters for the faintest indications."
"Ok, thanks. Now what do we know about Eager?"
"He has supplied us with a library of personal transcripts, letters, photographs, videos, surveilligraphs and holoprojections from the last 20 years, essentially every recorded communication by or about him since Middle School."
"Evaluation?"
"Begging your pardon damsire, but on what aspect?" asked Charlotte.shurpa.
"Oh, nothing specific. Let's just make this an idle speculation and randomly wonder whether tha would make a good romantic partner."
"For you, damsire?"
"Not necessarily me. But ok, yes, for the moment."
"In that case, prima facia there are no obvious impediments. Tha has no serious medical, psychological, financial or legal problems. Tha is not involved in any scandals and has no criminal associations. Tha has good standing in many social circles. Tha has good prospects for employment. The same is largely true of thas family and extended family. Tha has known sympathy for young children and dogs. Aside from receiving detention in Grade 10 for throwing snowballs, and infrequent traffic fines, tha has no known social deficits."
"So, you would recommend tha for me?"
"Damsire, that question is outside the purview of data analysis. If you decide to pursue a romantic relationship with Eager, then I can help with designing strategies and evaluating resultsets, but motivation is uniquely a human attribute. What is your desire?"
"Exactly, Charlotte," said Lyre. "Let's do it. If tha doesn't work out, then I'm no further behind. Then at least I've tried, done my best, and learned something from the experience, right?"
"Congratulations on your resolve, damsire!" said Charlotte.shurpa. "I should mention your first functional challenge will be that, in your current professional capacity, a romantic relationship with Eager would be illegal."