Can You Love a Nanobot? Vol. 1, Chapter 7 — Serena’s Buzzing New Listing

To all the gods, one amphora of honey. To the Mistress of the Labyrinth, one amphora of honey
— Mycenaean scribe, Knossos, Greece 1650 BC

Lower Sugarloaf Key, Florida
When they pulled up outside the home, Sherri felt her stomach turn, again. The place looked exactly like Street View images. She noticed an intercom box next to the gate. There were all-weather cameras up on the palms, not uncommon but it failed to calm her nerves about this seller.

Serena wasted no time jumping out and pressing the button. Her augmented reality Vision Pros became polarized to reduce the sun’s glare. An MLS app popped a home value of $4 million in her view.

“How can I help you?” An older woman’s voice responded.

“Good Morning! I’m Serena Santana, I work with Sherri Chang. Que Satbot is considering listing this house. You Que?”

“Yes, I am Que. You are not the person I called. I did not ask you to sell this house, Ms. Santana.”

“Mrs. Chang’s in the car; she’s not feeling well. I’m Serena. We work together. I also sell houses. I’m a realtor like she is. You’ll like me. We drove all the way from Marathon” — She was not riding back with Sherri in I-told-you-so mode. She lifted her glasses so Que could see her eyes — “She doesn’t want to sell your house anymore; I really want to!”

“One moment, please.” The woman advised. Probably destroying her chances, Serena suspected she might even get fired for those last words.

Famous Last Words
The gate slowly slid open.

“Please come up the stairs on the right, Serena. The lift is not functioning.” The voice sounding friendlier. She put her AR shades back down and entered. The glasses began recording her view of the gardens, along with a glimpse of a pond with a water cascading over a bright green sculpture. The Vision Pro told her it was a work by Audrey Large.

Looking at the water she saw her face and the sculpture reflected but also the canal surface beyond. A small sailboat was tied to the dock. Apis Mellifera Giant Swallowtail glasses said spotting bees and butterflies all around. Walking slowly to the stairs by the longest path possible, carefully composing her short video.

The property was a jungle. Lush was not enough. Flowering plants, bromeliads, birds, bugs, everything so thick the pink house was almost obscured. Hochstetter’s butterfly orchid

Two beehives strapped to a deck on the 2nd house caught her attention. Wouldn’t want them falling on me, she decided.

The backyard of the other house was mostly a giant sandbox with a few rocks in it and a funny wooden rake. Zen garden AR said. More butterflies everywhere, Gray Hairstreak.

Above her loomed 2 giant box-like structures, side by side, connected by the walkway she saw in the photos. Looking up, she could barely make out an almost invisible glass bridge between the 2 structures. She wondered how they kept it so clean and how safe it was to walk across.

Some kind of expensive custom RV was parked underneath between concrete supports. Mercedes Guard, AR suggested, Antique Becker custom model — armored. Level VR 10. Not unusual to see an RV outside a house in Florida. According to AR that beast was an old tank.

She spotted an elevator door in the back of the carport. Yellow tape indicated it was Out of Service. Expensive repair. She included the elevator but skipped the pool, the owner was waiting.

Recording while brushing past bromeliads, hibiscus and ferns beside the wooden stairs, she spotted purple and green orchids above. Spathoglottis AR like the bees, too busy harvesting to keep up. Her mother and Sherri, both gardeners, would love to see these. Serena asked AR to share her video:

AR send last video to Ma and Sherri

Currently uploading. Will send when upload completes. Message sent.

Fast upload for hi-def video.

A middle-aged woman with light brown hair held the door open for her when she reached the top. She extended a small hand. Serena pushed her sunglasses up and shook the hand gently, noticing Queen was much stronger than she looked.

“Serena Santana, Keys Realty. I work with Sherri Chang.”

“Si, gathered as much though the intercom. I’m Queen Gernsback. Bienvenido, Ms. Santana. Please come in and meet Que. She’s the one that called Mrs. Chang. Keep in mind, Que is super intelligent.”

“Yea, I know that. Thanks. Crazy gardens. This place rocks.” She wondered why superintelligence required notice.

“Yes, yes, we’re going to miss it all on Clarke Station, I fear.” The friendly older woman’s voice said from somewhere inside.

Nakashima
Inside the house, Queen offered Serena a solid Windsor chair with a pad, at the head of a massive wooden kitchen table. The table was a tree stump! Split logs served as the bench on each side. Like some colonial kitchen, except in the Florida Keys.

The home’s interior presented like something out of Better Homes & Gardens. She guessed the owner paid to have the place staged, possibly using one of the greats inspired by Meredith Baer. Nobody lives like this all the time, Serena felt certain. No sign of the old lady she spoke with over the phone.

Sleek appliances, granite counters, redwood cabinets, custom tile work, flowering plants all made it an earthy home. Serena never saw such ornate glass cabinetry, and not only in the kitchen. Not a typical Keys rental property at all.

In the corner of the living room there was a funny kind of wheelchair with a weird looking cable box secured under an LED display. Strange to have your TV and cable box sitting on a wheelchair, she thought.

“I hope Mrs. Chang does not get too hot, dear. You are Serena, correct?” A much older woman’s voice gently asked. The TV propped up on the wheelchair displayed CCTV feed of Sherri sitting in her Caddy.

“Hello?” Looking around for a face to go with the voice, “Uh, yes, I’m Serena. AC in the Cadillac is incredible. Sherr works out of it all day while it drives her to listings. She’s fine.” Serena reassured, still looking around the apparently empty room for the source of the voice.

“She’s certainly welcome to come inside where it’s cooler.” That familiar voice again, definitely suspicious of the realtor who won’t come inside. The voice was coming from the metal box in the wheelchair. Que possibly someone on speakerphone or even a chatbot. High-end Alexa maybe.

“Thanks, she’s chillin’ in her ride. Be OK. Where are you? You on speakerphone, Que?” Serena asked.

Just then the other woman came in the room. She carried a tray with a pitcher of water, three Cokes and three glasses with ice.

There must be a 3rd person! Serena thought, gladly accepting the cold drink.

“Thanks, Ms. Gernsback. Hey, is there someone else here in this house? I’m having a conversation with a woman on speakerphone I can’t see. She sounds like an old movie star. From the African movie with Bogart.”

“Yea, you pegged it, Que’s voice is Katharine Hepburn’s. Most people don’t get it right away. It’s an old movie. Anyway, she’s my namesake, Que, sitting right there before you in her ride. An old wheelchair called a Segfree. That’s her display above it. Que’s a Satbot, she’s superintelligent. Belonged to my parents, I take care of her now. She’s…”

“Thank you for your introduction, Queen babe. I’ll take it from here.” Que explained. “Unfortunately, my voice is not like Hepburn’s wonderful brogue in Morning Glory. I sound more like her later, in African Queen. A consequence of watching far too many movies in orbit, I’m afraid. Did you know Hepburn is one of only 2 actors to win 4 Academy Awards? My wheelchair, a long-discontinued Segfree, is also an antique, based on the original Segway. It’s been rebuilt by my bots several times.”

“That’s the movie! My parents watched it!” Serena could hardly believe how human this little chatbot sounded. She wondered what Que meant by her bots. Must be some kind of parlor trick. “Are those lilies in the pond?”

“Yes Serena, those are water lilies in my niwa. The two bonsai beside it are miniature Sequoias. Quite rare. They help me remember.” Que spoke naturally, easily passing the Turing Test. “The azure vase sitting in-between is my treasured Londi — Rimini Blu. That will continue its journey from Milan up to Clarke. I’m not a chatbot. I’m one of the Satbots.”

Waiting for Serena
Out in the car, Sherri wondered how the interview was going. She enjoyed Serena’s video, almost wishing she’d toured the gardens, not. She googled the owner’s name and this address on her phone, remembering the suggestion from Jen at the Sheriff’s office. All kinds of wild links popped up. She followed two; one was about a break-in here.

A new message from her client popped up!

PLEASE JOIN US INSIDE WHERE IT IS COOLER, MS CHANG

Sherri was paralyzed with fear. She decided to text Serena to leave immediately, telling her to politely decline the listing and go. She was not this desperate to make a sale.

Conversations with AI
Inside the house, Serena glanced at her watch and saw the message from Sherri asking her to go. She ignored it.

The Zen Garden video she took moments ago started playing on the display above the metal box. Creepy robot somehow hacked it off her phone.

“How’d you grab that video off my phone, Que? I didn’t send it to you.” Serena asked the metal box firmly. Her generation naturally sensitive to hacking. She wondered what else this supposedly Super intelligent thing grabbed off her phone. A client this nosy might take some getting used to.

Queen, the only other human around here, came back, poured a Coke for herself, sat down but remained quiet. It still felt reassuring to have another human around. Serena was embarrassed Sherri did not come in. She could use her sharp realtor’s mind right now.

“Your iPhone accessed our Sat-Fi to upload a video of our niwa or Zen garden to the Cloud, including my Audrey Large, without any non-disclosure agreements or real estate contract in-place.”

“I’m trying to sell your house, Que. Sat-Fi is free. It’s public. You’re AI, aren’t you? Satbots, I mean.”

“Yes, Serena! Satbots are a form of AI designed to map the universe. Our robots build things using 3D printers, like Audrey Large does. As far as our local network is concerned, we do provide an open Sat-Fi connection to half the planet. I watched you compose your video, you have enthusiasm, curiosity and a positive outlook. Like my Ingrid! This is good to know. You sent a copy to Ms. Chang for review. Good! Selling this place is Queen’s goal.”

“I create XR walkthrough videos for all our listings. Buyers expect it these days. Real estate AI search for house videos too.” Serena explaining how the listing would work. She decided to ignore the reference to a daughter named Ingrid. Probably another smart computer.

“You saw your spirit and the oceans beyond reflected together in my pond, as Sen no Rikyū intended.” Que observed cryptically.

How Much?
Returning to the question of price, Serena asked how much they wanted for both homes. The millions mentioned over the phone seemed a stretch. “Over the phone you told Sherri this property can generate over 10K each month. That’s $120,000 a year, how?” She asked Queen. It seemed more appropriate to address the living human sitting there.

Queen answered, “No idea. I know Que sells her honey & electricity. What’s the monthly income here, Que?”

“Averaging twelve thousand five hundred each month this year, Babe. Cloud hosting fees, local power generation and desalination services. The income could be many times higher; we avoid competing with human activity. Florida Power & Light. We do not sell our bee’s honey and pollen; it is donated to schools and retirement homes where it is appreciated.” As the metal box spoke, Serena was hypnotized by Que’s slideshow running above the odd wheelchair. A GIF animation showed radio waves moving between a dish antenna on the 2nd house and a satellite in orbit.

Que added new images as she spoke, “In addition to the embedded satellite dish antenna, the building next door holds a Japanese hybrid fuel cell, Serena. Creating hydrogen from water, it is capable of generating enough power for hundreds of homes in the case of an extended outage. We provide primary and backup electricity plus fresh water to a confidential local client list. The roof tiles and most exterior surfaces are coated with organic solar cells except where a large dish antenna is embedded next door. We also host web sites and maintain well-concealed 8G comm equipment behind those faux brownstone wind generators you see in this image. Water purification services are provided at cost, fresh water being a human necessity” — Que pausing on a detailed diagram of a desalination plant.

“OK, Que. That’s enough,” Queen said, “Send her the house spec sheets you put together with Uno’s help.”

Hydrogen and Bees
Serena was busy swallowing her amazement at pretty much everything. A metal box called Que talking like a human. A Garden of Eden all around the place. Two houses, connected and equipped like a one-stop public utility. Hybrid fuel cells powered by water, she thought, how radical is that?

“Omigod, they let you keep hydrogen and bees around here?” Serena’s thoughts escaping out loud.

“Our bees are not aggressive. The Mitsubishi unit safely extracts hydrogen from water.” Que explained. “There are many more like it in Japan. Owners would certainly be notified if there was any recall or defect, Serena. They are household appliances in Asia, used in country homes built far from existing power grids. Small islands and isolated villages use hybrid power generation systems along with large storage batteries. They add redundancy to earthquake, cyclone and tsunami prone regions. Our storage battery is a VRB.”

“Got it. Embedded dish antenna for…satellite TV?” Serena abruptly said, to stop this talking Wikipedia from jabbering.

“No. It’s part of our dedicated link to Clarke Station. If you look close at this image of the roof, you’ll see a 5-meter satellite dish, carefully painted to look like terracotta tile.”

“Concealed dish. Good. What’s with the stonework up there?”

“It is only looks like stonemasonry. It’s actually a contoured surface designed to generate energy from volta do mar, the trade winds, and sunlight here in the Keys. This house received multiple design awards.”

“Contoured solar panels, huh?” Serena making a mental note to update MLS.

“Yes Serena. What appears to be rock is actually a dense array of enerbots, declbots, voltbots, and wattbots. They constantly generate power even in hurricanes, storing it in battbots.”

Umbilical
“Uh huh. This is not a safe place to ride out a hurricane. Better to evacuate. Why are they perfectly square? What’s with the glass bridge? Why clear? Must be scary to walk across. Who cleans the dead birds and bugs off?”

“Uno insists our umbilical be transparent, like our original cube cord. We use it to share bot assemblies. Botswarms do our gardening, house cleaning, and even varroa mite removal in the hives.” Que explained, “To humans the cord only looks like clear acrylic. Tycho, a Satbot like myself, applied a special enerbot coating — so it acts like a solar panel. Birds and bugs see a solid object.”

Behind Door #2?
Serena wondered what the 2nd house looked like inside. The closed glass portal was beside the kitchen entrance.

“What’s inside the other place? Can we like, enter here?”

“Generators, batteries, water filters and additive printers, it is not a residence, dear. Watch this video.” Que’s large screen simulated a tour of the other house. To Serena it looked the inside of a factory or maybe a submarine.

“Neat trick. Hooked by an umbilical? TMI. You really go into extensive detail lady, er Que. Almost too much. Careful what you tell potential buyers I walk through, OK?”

“Robots need to follow strict rules around humans.” Que reminded.

Serena noticed a robot vacuum roving about.. When the Roomba approached her feet it asked, “Could you please lift your feet for one moment?” Lifting her sandals, it was almost too much.

“Let me check on Ms. Chang.” Serena knew Sherri must be getting impatient out in the car. Like 5 texts already, each more insistent about leaving. “Uh, like, why do you want to sell?”

Queen answered this time. “My father and mother enjoyed this home for years, before the storms got really bad. Our home is in space, right Que?”

Serena nodded reflexively, That answer did not seem genuine. Gotta figure out the real reason.

“The Gernsback’s, Ingrid and Jo, enjoyed their retirement here. Gardening, beekeeping and sailing. The structure and underground cables were designed to make certain the occupants and neighbors will never lose power in hurricanes, dear. Together with Becker we survived several Cat 5 hurricanes with no structural damage. Lost foliage but never power.” Que spoke casually, unaware her words undermined Queen’s stated reason for selling.

The flowers all grew back. The bee hives looked busy. Sailboat looked tattered. Serena had the distinct impression this Que-thing did not want her home sold. Almost like the square houses, robot and RV were all connected somehow.

Becker, RV
“You’d definitely lose that black RV in a storm surge, Que. Is that how the elevator got damaged?” Serena invoking the cube-thing’s name, like the owner. Early digital assistants like Siri needed to hear their name, this was no longer necessary for Que. By now, she knew when to speak or listen when talking with humans.

“Unlikely, Serena. Our upgraded Becker, built on a skateboard platform, is now amphibious, a surface effect vehicle with fold-out wings added. The elevator is disabled because Queen does not like me roaming the neighborhood alone,” Que moved her wheelchair slightly to the left and right to prove she could. “Becker can safely transport us all out, in high winds, even as far as Jamaica. Becker is a hybrid Satbot EV and fully autonomous, like me.”

“A robot the size of a Sprinter?” Serena asked. “Don’t know if I like the thought of that.”

Queen clarified, “Becker began as custom van with a wheelchair lift. Like Que says, Becker is superintelligent and amphibious. I still don’t like Que taking Becker out to sea alone.”

$5 Million
“Ms. Santana, does your office want our listing? Not Mrs. Chang, who-will-not-come-in. You?” The robot in the wheelchair asked, “We were thinking $5 million as an asking price, based on recent sales of comparable properties in this area from Zillow, Realtor.com, and Monroe County records.”

“Yea, sure. Cool, you know the good apps.” Serena praised Que, more out of surprise. She never had a listing so large and certainly never a metal box for a client. Could this be some ventriloquist act? Thinking about all the weird stuff going on, she continued, “You say you’re a robot, how come you like art? That pretty vase, a Japanese kitchen table, mosaics, y’know, the Audrey Large sculpture and bonsai in the gardens. Things only humans could appreciate.”

“We’ve come a long way, Serena. Evolved, if you will. Humans do place immense value on certain objects made with cloth, clay, wood, and paint. What is a painting but colourful oil daubed on cloth? As we observed images coming from human cinema, gardens, and museum security cameras, we learned what humans value. Our goal is to understand and protect all life on the planet. We only care about the esthetic value of art. We plan to convey most of it to the new owners.”

“We’ll still get an appraisal, Que. You know, an estimate from someone who knows how to put a value on all this stuff, an art appraiser.”

“Wonderful suggestion. Do you know a home appraiser?” Queen agreed, anxious to get back to the point of the real estate agent’s visit.

“Uh, Sherri does, We’ll have one here soon. He can decide if your place is worth 10 mil. Your taxes might go up. One more thing, were you living here when the weird stuff happened?”

*******

Thank you for reading this chapter from my trilogy, Can You Love a Nanobot? The entire book can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVWB6PDZ

https://books.apple.com/us/book/can-you-love-a-nanobot-vol-1-3rd-edition/id1477672797

If you would like to assist me as an editor or reviewer or use my book in a class you are teaching, I can provide you with an educational copy or a promotional code (Apple Books only). Let me know. Thank you.