The Age Of Machines

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Rebecca Bailey stood tall and proud, her back straight and her lips thin, dark black eyes set hard in front of her.

The Human Replica Droid waited, her eyes shifting slightly about the small lobby, her body remaining still. No one knew what she was of course, they simply thought of her as another client coming to meet the head of Hegemonic Automaton, another person here to see the companies Chief Executive Officer. At times she wondered how they could live in such ignorance, how curiosity didn't drive them.

It hardly mattered of course, but it was a thought that passed through her mind for a micro second.

“Miss Bailey. Mr Ardik will see you now.”

Her head snapped to the side, looking at the small secretary that had approached her.

The CEO of Astraeus Industrial nodded. “Excellent.”

It took a few more micro-seconds for the silly girl to begin walking, but soon the HRD was heading towards Mr. Ardiks office. Of course the man wouldn't know what she really was, nor would he know about who truly owned Astraeus Industrial. All he would know was that she was interested in his ship automation systems, and that Astraeus Industrial was designing drones.

Perhaps he would learn more later.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Gerion had been expecting a human, but instead it was a droid that entered his office. Great, another female Human Replica Droid. If anyone else was aware that these blasted machines kept scheduling meetings with him, they would have assumed Gerion had a problem. But this droid was a CEO, whereas the other one was looking for a job. This either implied that Rebecca Bailey was a pawn in someone else's game, or that the real Rebecca Bailey was indisposed. Or that maybe this was an ambitious droid that had achieved sapience and was carving out its own corporate empire as a result. Ultimately Gerion did not care, because Astraeus Industrial was far removed from his operations and any deal they struck here would only benefit the both of them. Then when Bailey (or Bailey's doppleganger) began the glorious droid revolution, they would remember how Ardik had helped them and spare his life.

Hopefully.

So when Miss Bailey entered, the Umbaran rose from his seat, greeted her, shook her hand, and indicated her sit down. Once that was done, Gerion sat himself back in his own chair.

"I'm afraid I wasn't given a lot of details regarding your proposal." He said. "Something regarding drones and ship automation, I'm told. Hegemonic Automaton will be more than happy to participate in developing what you need."