His musings were interrupted by a knock at the door.His musings were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Kolya! Kolya, open this door immediately." Kolya glanced around in panic at the sound of his mother's voice. "Sean?" The door unlocked; as it did so, Nickolai noted that the sound of the water faded as if into a distance. "Kolya, why was this door locked all night?" his mother insisted as she stormed into his suite. Nickolai shrugged. "Pendorians have strange ideas about privacy, Mom. I'm of legal age here." "Don't give me that, Kolya. It's no excuse for locking the door from your own mother." "Sean?" Nickolai asked. The AI answered in cultured tones, "I'm afraid your son is correct, Mrs. Dittrich. I assumed that your son, like every other person on this station, would like absolute privacy from others during his sleep period. I locked the doors." Nickolai's mother glanced around and said, "You call it 'Sean?'" "That is my name, Mrs. Dittrich. You may address me 'Mr. Eldar' if you wish. 'AI Eldar' is considered excessively formal." "And you invite it into your room, too," she said, still addressing Nickolai and ignoring the AI. Nickolai shrugged and said, "No big deal, Mom. It's not as if we haven't got a computer in our house." "But this... this is a Pendorian machine. You never know what it could try." "I highly doubt it's going to try anything, Mom. Why should it?" "You're getting some very strange ideas since we started this trip, Kolya. |