Never the Twain

  ***

  Outside the control centre was a mild and almost sunny day. A few clouds drifted overhead and a very gentle breeze disturbed the grass on the lawn. Joel stood outside one of the doors leading from the building out to the landscaped lawn area where people walked and talked during breaks from their work.

  Joel held his personal communicator close to his ear, he really didn't want anyone to overhear his conversation with Jenna. Every so often as someone walked back into the building they would give Joel a curious look, and this only added to his anxiety.

  'So Athena's been talking to you about music?' asked Joel.

  'Oh yes, she's been chattering away, she's really quite talkative.' Joel thought that Athena had obviously found a kindred spirit in this respect. 'She's been telling me how she'll post messages on news feeds, even have messages printed out so that people will read them in range of one of Online's surveillance cameras so he can see it. They really are quite sneaky the way they get messages to each other.'

  'But did she say anything about the forms we signed?'

  'No,' said Jenna. 'She's just been talking about policies that she's planning, like the new policy that promotes human composed music over computer composed music at all public sports events. She even let me download an advanced copy of the policy, she...'

  Joel interrupted. 'Did she say anything about terms and conditions, anything about couples not working in both control centres?'

  'No, nothing like that, she...'

  'Sorry Jenna, I have to go.' Joel felt a little guilty at how abruptly he ended the call. He put his communicator back into his pocket and went back into the building.