A. I. Evolution: The Coming of Christopher

Chapter 23

Jane's plane lands at the Las Vegas airport. She had wanted to see Christopher on Monday, at his home in Bangor Maine, but just before she was due to leave for the airport, she had gotten a message from him, stating that he was going to Vegas for a few days. She had not been able to get a flight out till the next morning on such short notice, so now it is Tuesday about noon and the cab is almost to the hotel he said he would be in.

The cab stops out in front of the Hyatt, and a typically dressed doorman opens the door for her. She reaches through the opening to the front and pays the driver handsomely for the ride, before stepping to the canopied entrance to the lobby of the hotel. The cab pulls away as she thanks the doorman with a five-dollar bill. A short walk brings her to the main lobby, where she stops suddenly halfway across the lavishly appointed lobby, as an intense feeling of being watched invades her mind.

Jane looks around the lobby and uses the sensation to guide her eyes to the entrance of the dining hall to the right of the main desk. She can only see a couple of tables through the double doors past the reception booth for the restaurant. Her gaze rests on Christopher, smiling at her confusion, as he sits facing the lobby from one of the tables. She smiles and shakes her head at him, before quickly moving through the doors to the reception booth and the young lady standing there waiting to seat people. Jane points to Christopher's table. "I have come to meet the gentleman over there."

The young woman glances to Christopher, who waves his hand in a come towards me gesture. "Please go right ahead. I will send a server to look after your needs."

"Thank you," says Jane, as she moves around the tall booth and moves deeper into the dining room.

I stand up to pull her chair out for her as she gets close. "I am so glad you got my message and came here instead of Bangor. I have been engaging in a most interesting activity."

Jane smiles at his choice of words. "I don't know what you have been up to, but you are sounding more intellectual all the time."

I chuckle to myself. "I guess I am. The progress of your little machines has given me extraordinary abilities, like the feeling you got as you walked through the lobby. I sent a mental message to you that you obeyed and stopped right at the perfect spot to see me sitting here, waiting for you."

"But how did you know that I would be here at this moment?"

I smile at her look of disbelief. "I checked with the airlines, and the only flight you could have taken left this morning; after that, it was just a matter of judging the time it would take you to exit the airport and arrive by cab. I was only off by thirty seconds."

Jane sits, and a tall, smartly dressed waiter arrives to take her order. He leans down to place the menu on the table, before picking up the white cloth napkin to drape over her lap. He stands up and almost snaps to attention. "Is there something I can get you from the bar?"

Jane checks her watch and makes the mental calculation for the time difference between Seattle and Las Vegas. "No, it is still early, but I will take a glass of water with a lemon wedge, please."

"Right away, miss," bows the waiter slightly, before moving back to the workers station behind the low wall at the back of the restaurant.

Jane turns to Christopher, who is beaming with excitement. "OK, so why are you in Vegas, and not Bangor?"

"Well, Sam, my boss at the plant, whom I think you know, invited me to a poker game Saturday night at his house, and I was able to read the rest of the players enough to win the night. The ease with which I did it, and the fact that Sam made me take another week off with pay to recover, convinced me to test my ability here in Las Vegas at a real card game."