"Susanne, just a while longer, I promise ... I have some problems I'm hoping you can do for me."
Having pinned down the unusual entity that was Susanne, Jim fed her as many sophisticated financial programs as he had been able to get hold of. He found that the basic knowledge in this Turing-construct allowed it/her to go right on learning by leaps and bounds.
Jim studied Susanne's easy happiness as she mastered each program. For this new creature, mathematics was nothing, a breeze, a mere trifle, as automatic as breathing. It was sex that truly cahllenged and aroused her, even as a thing of pure intellect. He still could not see how this could have happened.
"Excellent," he praised Susanne. "Listen, I was thinking things over, and I would like you to start thinking of yourself as a candidate for the new face and voice of AxisBank."
He had been thinking it over the night before, and passed on the Addstronaut Investments idea. Susanne's role for them would be too limited -- but there was still a way to sneak her under the patrician nose of Beatrix Revelstoke Addington. Addington was a daughter of the Revelstoke dynasty, the owners of AxisBank, and while Beatrix was herself a mature woman, the patriarch, superdiplomat, and general purpose kingmaker Simeon Revelstoke was pushing ninety, and it was no secret that he considered Trixie his favorite and most trusted heiress, impressed as he was by her philanthropic good sense and keen eye for investment. Any year now, a profit for Simeon was going to turn into a windfall for Beatrix. It was all a matter of trickle-down economics.
The trick was to keep Susanne cooperating. A much more simplistic version of her, without all the peculiar humanlike behavior, could be developed and mass produced, but for right now he need her to play along.
Satisfied, Jim called in Mr. Sutherland.
"Jim, how's the Addcademy campaign coming along?"
"Sir, if I could beg a moment of your time, I think we can serve our client in a whole other way."
Jim waited and fretted as Sutherland suited up to meet Susanne -- now referring to herself as Lady Fortune -- and ask her a variety of questions.
At last, Sutherland pulled off his helmet, beaming.
"Who the hell is she, Jim?" his voice was alive with wonder.
"A surprise I've been cooking up, sir. But you don't have to worry, she's ours exclusively."
"Incredible! I have seen the face of Mammon -- and she looks hot! Very well conceived, if I do say so. She's got the classic sex goddess thing going for her, the eyes, the blonde curls, and yet ... and yet, she can pull off all the necessary authority and confidence. She's your basic brainy babe who knows money -- my God, man, she's worth a dozen Maria Bartiromo! Just a shade above bimbo, just a shade above ice queen newscaster -- I love this! But how does this fit in?"
Jim pitched his AxisBank plan.
"Smooth," said Sutherland. "Sneaky. Anticipatory. I like it! But the Addcademy campaign is still a priority. But I'll be sure to draw up a timetable for -- Lady Fortune, as you're calling her. Fuck those gold Sacajawea dollars -- we have just found the new look of money!"
Jim felt quite smug as Sutherland left -- but then he turned back to the VR unit. He still could not guess Susanne's true origins -- or how much she still desired from him.
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Wed Apr 23 16:57:44 2003