A House Called Aurora by Gloria EKX (free e novels TXT) 📗

X:Aurora HomeConnect> Do you like it?

"My stomach has been bothering me, and that's a bit…well strong. Do you have anything lighter perhaps?" I spoke audibly, attempting to cover up for what I knew would be taken as rude.

"Let's see what I have!” Aurora’s excited voice beckoned.

A screen in the wall came to life. Whoever had this house, spared no expense. This much tech, even though ancient, couldn't have possibly been cheap. I walked over to examine the screen further. It was small and rectangular. Aurora scrolled through several menus, which I assumed were general access control panels. Before landing upon one labeled the “Food Stock List.” I reached up to touch the screen, almost out of habit. It responded to me easily and promptly. As I scrolled, I noticed that most items had a red “X” to the right of their name. Things like: lettuce, broccoli, bread, cheese, and even some items I'd heard of but hadn’t seen in this dimension since I arrived. It would be another 250 years until the people here would taste their first piece of organically grown fruit in non-treated soil. All the items I scrolled through had a red “X” beside them. After scrolling for a while, I landed on a heading that read “Emergency Food Storage.” Protein bars, cans of beans, fish, and dozens of other items filled the screen line item by line item with green circles beside them. After looking through dozens of options, I selected what was called an “Italian Tuna Salad'' and a strawberry flavored dessert of some sort.

Aurora sprang to life, "Great choices! I'll have them made in a jiffy!”

What a strange way of talking, and even stranger turns of phrase. I was still on edge, but after sitting down for the first time in hours, I, against my own better judgement, was grateful for Aurora. Even though I was still waiting for Ethan to show up and explain himself.

4

Her Former Glory

Aurora talked as she prepared my meal. She knew so much, about history, about dimensional travel. She was endlessly interesting, not like a human, or an artificially intelligent being, like something in-between.

I listened with joyful attention as I ate. My meal was questionable at best. The Italian Tuna Salad ended up being a pasta dish of some sort. It was sour in some parts and sweet in others. And as I bit into the strawberry flavored biscuit, my mouth began to burn.

“It must have been rancid!” Aurora explained, horrified. She apologized with fervor while I washed out my mouth then she insisted on scanning my vitals.

“I’m fine,” I assured, but after several minutes of requests, I finally obliged. I was fine, obviously.

“Well, you do heal fast, don’t you dear?” Aurora said while heating up a cup of freeze-dried coffee for me.

“It’s the hyper-resonant quartz in my DNA,” I confessed, surprising myself. “It allows me to travel.” Not the whole truth but good enough. Eager to change the subject and because I was genuinely curious, I asked audibly, "You're not a typical AI, are you? I've run into hundreds of things like you over the years. Your programming is different. So what, exactly, are you?" I drank the cup of freeze-dried coffee, hating every sip. I hated coffee. But it’s one of the only things that I knew would keep well inside the rations Aurora stored.

Aurora did not immediately answer.

“I cannot answer that. For I do not truly know," Aurora spoke. The sadness in her voice, palpable. Intense.

I understood exactly what she meant, and the sadness that accompanied it. I surprised myself again when I admitted, “I no longer believe I’m human at all. At least not in the ways that matter.” We sat in the quiet for a moment.

"Chief Francis,” Aurora spoke, breaking the silence, “was my former inhabitant. He brought us here; he had a means of traveling between worlds. Oh, the places we’d visit! So many, many places. We were so happy, he and I. What adventures... and the parties... oh, they were something magical! I’d change my lights to dance with color, and this kitchen would be working hour after hour! Oh, it was so wonderful!” Aurora seemed to be caught in a memory, it made me smile.

“Ethan has promised to help restore me to my former glory! He was certain you would too. It seems fate brought you here.” Aurora seemed so human in so many ways as she spoke.

"Well, I can't stay forever. But I'm sure I can help while I'm here," I offered. Something inside me wanting to help somehow.

"You will help. I am sure of it," Aurora responded.

I noted the odd response but put it out of my mind; this house had a thousand odd turns of phrase.

“So, when’s Ethan getting back? It’s been a few hours. It’ll be getting dark soon.” I looked around toward the back entrance of the house. Even though I’d left him high and dry without even a goodbye. I hoped the Synths and Sniffer hadn’t caught him either.

"Why don't you have a shower, Ellen? I have put some new clothing in your suite." Aurora was avoiding my question. A house that evades questions. I stood up slowly and walked toward the shower. Attempting to ping my neural assistant, Albert, for the fifth time that afternoon. I didn’t want to spook Aurora. This house was dangerous.

5

Where Ethan Went

The shower was wonderful and warm. The glass fogged up just enough for me to draw childish marks with my finger. Aurora had been true to her word, fresh clothes - old but still functional - sat on the bench beside the shower.

Even though I was on edge. I sat on the bed and breathed my first sigh of relief in weeks. I was comfortable and frankly, didn't want to leave. It was as if this place was in a dimension all to itself. Aurora was the best company I'd had in months. People normally didn't care about me, I faded in and