The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (13 page)

“
I am sorry to correct you;
however, just being a Floater is considered an illegal act. Under
International Law all living humanoid organisms need to be
registered with their government, unless they meet certain
exceptions.”

“
Again, we don’t know if she
meets those exceptions yet. I’m well versed in the law. So what if
someone doesn’t want to be found, that’s their business, not ours,
and certainly not the government’s.” As Jade stood there and
analyzed what she had just voiced, she gave HICAMS an order, “For
now, please don’t make anymore statements on this matter, just
trust me.”

HICAMS replied, “Certainly Ms. Jade, is there
anything else I can do?”

“
Erase Serafina from your logs including all
audio and visual recordings and under no circumstances can you
mention this to Reece. I really don’t want to hack you and do it
myself.”

“
Yes, Ms. Jade. I understand, no
need to make threats.”

“
Thanks, HICAMS, and it wasn’t a
threat, it was more like a promise.”

“
I understand Ms. Jade.”

Jade walked to the front door
calmly, opened it, smiled, and said, “Hi, nice to meet you. Or
should I say, nice to see you again Serafina.”

“
Hello, have we met before?” asked
Serafina.

“
Ah yeah, don’t you remember?”

“
I am sorry, but I do not,” fabricated
Serafina.

“
You were the clergy at my father’s
funeral.”

Acting as if her memory was
triggered, Serafina responded, “Ah yes, I remember now. You were
the young girl who carried the remains to the lake. I have to say
that was one of the more touching funerals I ever had the honor of
partaking in.”

Jade started to feel sad as she recalled the day,
but quickly suppressed all emotions. The last thing she wanted was
to break down crying, so she moved forward with her line of
questioning. “I knew it, I knew you were her. How did you know my
dad?”

“
I cannot speak about how I knew your dad, all
I can say is he was a great man.”

“
Yeah, he was, but why can’t you talk about
it?”

“
Because my job will not allow me.”

“
Oh, it’s like a clergy thing, I
get it,” said Jade with disappointment. Jade was contemplating
pushing the issue, but felt she should take it slow. The last thing
she wanted to do was to scare Serafina off.

“
Yes, it is something like that,” replied
Serafina.

“
So how long have you been here?” asked
Jade.

“
I moved back to Northern American
approximately one month ago from Australia.”

“
What were you doing in Australia?”

“
Business,” said Serafina simply.

“
What kind of business?”

“
Personal business,” laughed
Serafina.

“
What’s so funny?” asked Jade who
was starting to lose patience.

“
I am sorry, I do not mean to
offend you by laughing. I just find your curiosity
refreshing.”

Not sure how to take the comment, Jade responded,
“Anyway, I knew you were the clergy at my father’s funeral.”

“
Yes I was, but that is not the reason why I
am here. I came over to introduce myself as your new
neighbor.”

“
Nice to meet you, my name is Jade
Cade.”

“
Did you say your last name was
Cade?”

“
I know it sounds silly. I cannot for the life
of me think why my parents would give me a first name that rhymes
with my last.”

“
No, it does not sound silly at
all,” said Serafina in an attempt to be kind.”

“
Well I do. So your last name is
Smith?”

“
Yes.”

“
For real?” laughed Jade.

“
Yes, for real,” smiled Serafina ignoring
Jade’s response. “So then, it is my understanding that Spencer Cade
was your biological father.”

“
Yeah, why?” replied Jade
defensively.

Serafina decided to back pedal and lie again. “No
reason really, I just was not sure what your true relationship was
with Spencer. I am sorry if that question made you
uncomfortable.”

Again Jade knew she did not want
Serafina to leave, so she let it go and did what she does best -
change the topic of the conversation, “That’s a really cool tattoo
on your stomach, what does it mean?” as Jade also admired
Serafina’s half cut black and purple leather shirt.

“
It represents my family.”

“
Your family? Like your relatives?”

“
Not necessarily my relatives,
more like a group of people who share the same ideas and
values.”

Realizing she had been impolite by not inviting
Serafina in, Jade quickly paused her line of questioning and asked,
“Would you like to come inside?”

“
Sure.”

After Serafina entered, Jade
offered a tour and Serafina graciously declined. Being the fine
host she was, Jade offered her a variety of beverages, but in the
end, Serafina accepted a glass of water. After Jade directed
Serafina towards the living room, she went to retrieve the beverage
as Serafina sat in the wide open area. Serafina closely studied her
surroundings and was surprised with the amount of clutter. She
noticed the empty boxes of pizza, the large variety of clothing
covering the floor, the half empty glasses randomly lying around,
and the number of different types of computers piled up in the far
corner. Serafina understood when a middle aged man and a teenage
girl lived together there was bound to be a little bit of clutter,
but this magnified the stereotype tenfold.

“
Sorry for the mess,” said Jade as she walked
back into the room. “We actually keep this place pretty clean, but
our cleaning lady quit last week and Reece hasn’t found time to
replace her.”

“
This mess formed in a week?” asked Serafina
surprisingly.

“
Yeah, it has been a busy week,” responded
Jade with a hint of embarrassment.

Serafina reassured her, “Oh well, it is not that
bad, I have seen a lot worse. I am sure when you hire a new
cleaning person this place will be straightened up in no time.”

Jade showing some sign of relief replied, “Yeah, it
will, like I said, it’s just been a really busy week.”

“
So, Jade, what are your
interests?”

“
Mostly cybernetics and
encryption.”

“
Sounds interesting, and have you been living
here long?”

“
Not that long. About three
months.”

“
Do you like it?”

“
It’s alright.”

“
Well, if you ever need to talk to another
girl you can always call me, ok?

“
Really! Thanks, that means a lot,” smiled
Jade.

“
No problem, I know sometimes it
can be hard growing up,” said Serafina as she drank from her semi
cleaned glass, as she looked over and saw a picture of Spencer.
Jade caught her looking at the photo and started to feel an
emotional battle within.

“
Losing your dad must have been really
difficult.”

“
Yeah, it was,” said Jade while
holding back her feelings.

“
Well, he was a very handsome man.”

“
I guess, so can I ask you a
question?”

“
Sure.”

“
Were you the woman my father saw
the morning of his death?”

“
Why do you ask?”

“
I guess it’s because my dad really took an
interest in who I think was you, and that was the first time since
my mom died.”

“
Why do you think I was this woman you speak
of?”

“
I don’t know - just a feeling -
well that and her name was Serafina too and you fit her
description. What I don’t understand though is if you were that
woman why did you act like you knew my father for a while at the
funeral, when my father mentioned this was the first time he had
ever seen you?”

“
Really? Well, I think I can
explain.”

“
Good, please do.”

“
To answer your first question - yes that was
me your father saw in the hallway.”

“
I knew it,” smiled Jade, who followed up
with, “So what happened? Where did you go?”

“
Well your dad was acting a little strange, in
a cute way, and I unfortunately did not have time to stick around.
You see I had to complete a task for a close friend who lived on
the same floor as your dad.”

“
Oh, was that old grumpy Mr. Sozek or Mrs.
North?”

Seeing an out, Serafina chose
Mrs. North and decided to tell Jade she was taking care of some
personal matters for her.

“
Why did you pretend you knew my dad at the
funeral?”

“
Well I do apologize if it came across that
way. I assume this was the first funeral you ever attended?” asked
Serafina who already knew the answer.

“
Kind of,” said Jade leery.

“
What do you mean by kind of?” asked
Serafina.

“
I went to my mother’s funeral,
but I was too young to remember it. Why do you ask?”

“
Well you see when someone is put
in charge of overseeing a funeral they gather as much information
on the decedent from friends and family, so when they speak about
them it comes across to be a little bit more personal. I am sorry
if that was how you perceived it.”

“
That’s ok, I think I understand. So would you
have gone out on a date with him?”

Caught off guard by the question
Serafina responded unknowingly, “I do not know. I did find him
attractive, but I think I would have passed as I was getting ready
to leave for Australia. I hope you are not offended by
this.”

“
No, I understand. Dad certainly
had his moments. I’m sure he said or did something foolish to scare
you away,” grinned Jade.

Hoping to divert the topic Serafina followed up
with, “Well I know one thing for sure, your dad did a great job in
raising you. I would have loved to have had a daughter of your
caliber.”

Jade started to blush and replied, “Really, um
thanks,” and in an attempt to divert this unsuspected flattery Jade
asked, “Can I get you anything else?”

“
No thanks, I need to get going, but I hope we
can chat some more. It was a pleasure getting to know you
Jade.”

Disappointed that Serafina was leaving Jade simply
replied, “You too - bye.”

Serafina stood up and walked
towards the entryway, as Jade admired her lengthy black leather
coat as well.

“
Bye Jade, I will talk to you
soon.”

“
Ok, bye.” As Serafina walked out
the door Jade yelled, “Wait!”

Serafina turned around, “Yes?”

“
Are you really a Floater?”

“
What do you think?”

“
I think you are.”

“
You do, do you?”

“
Yes, well are you?”

Choosing to leave Jade in a state of curiosity, she
simply responded, “I need to get going - it was a pleasure.”

Realizing Serafina was not going
to answer, Jade asked, “Will I really see you again?”

“
Of course, we are neighbors,” there was a
brief pause followed up with, “Take care of yourself.”

Jade rushed back into her room
and asked HICAMS to pull up a holoscreen, where she quickly drew
out the oval shape tattoo with the three vertical snake like lines
and orange star.

“
HICAMS can you run this marking
and compare it to all known religious groups and cults. Make sure
your criteria is not set to an exact match; show me anything that
is similar including the colors used.”

“
Understood, Ms. Jade, and Reece will be
arriving home in three minutes.”

“
Thanks, HICAMS can you download your findings
directly to my PIC?”

“
Yes, Ms. Jade. I would also like to inform
you the symbol you had me check earlier connects to 357 different
originations and is most well known to represent, ‘infinity.’ I was
unable to isolate a particular origination with the limited
information given.”

“
Don’t worry about that symbol.
Just focus on the new one I drew out,” instructed Jade as she
reverted to her homework, just as Reece walked in.

“
Did you have a good day?” asked
Reece.

“
Yeah, it was alright, I met our new
neighbor.”

“
Great, you met Serafina.”

“
You already met her?”

“
Yes, ran into her yesterday when I was
leaving for work, asked her to stop by sometime today to introduce
herself to you.”

Surprised Jade asked, “Why didn’t you tell me last
night.”

“
Not sure - must have slipped my
mind.”

“
Didn’t you recognize her?” asked Jade
curiously.

“
Recognize her from what?”

“
She doesn’t look familiar to you at
all?”

“
Should she?” asked Reece with a baffled look
on his face.