It was a clear, sunny day on one Perry Drive, a well off suburban street, lined with big beautiful houses, and a ended with a cul-de-sac, where perhaps the biggest and nicest one stood. It went up 2 stories, the exterior walls a perfect white, at least, where they weren't made of perfectly polished plexiglass, revealing a beautiful dining room on the upper floor and a comfortable looking lounge below. In the backyard, not that many could see it behind the house, was a perfectly clean in ground swimming pool, complete with heater and automatic filtration systems. The house was a new addition to the cul-de-sac, one that dazzled and confused the other residents on the street. There had been construction workers, men in lab coats, people in black suits and sunglasses, coming in and out of the site since the house started being built. Now, the house was done, and there was no sign of any of them, aside from a scrawny, nervous looking man in glasses waiting on the front steps. As a moving van approached, he stood up, dusted himself off, and quickly scurried down to meet it.
"Man! Would you look at that....."
As he got out of the passenger side seat of the van, Eric Ellis thought he must be the luckiest guy in the world. His shitty apartment had been stifling- but when his brother's friend's uncle turned out to be a scientist at some big-time laboratory, and that big-time-laboratory was offering a mansion of a house like this for participation in some experiment, Eric was quick to sign up. Lucky him, he got selected. And now, looking at it, he felt like he was getting a pretty good deal. He was briefly roused from his appreciation by a small, weedy man in glasses coming up to him, glancing back at the man starting to move Eric's property into the house.
"Mr. Ellis?" he said, sticking out his hand, "I'm Morris. I'm one of the technicians working for Luxe Corp, working on your assignment." Eric nodded to him, returning the hand shake which Morris very quickly broke as he started to lead Eric into the house.
"It's nice to meet you, man. Moving all the way out here was a pain, but," Eric glanced around as he entered the house, shivering contentedly at the blast of AC, "I gotta say, this seems more than worth it. Worth any experiment you guys are having me do to, or whatever that is."
"Well, Mr. Ellis, that's actually what I'm here to tell you about," Morris said, clasping his hands together. "You see, the house... is the experiment, in a manner of speaking."
"What do you mean?" asked Eric. The house looked fantastic, but nothing seemed... experimental. Really nice looking, and with plenty of high tech gizmos to keep him comfortable, but nothing that looked out of the ordinary from that.
"Well, allow me to introduce you to Janine." Morris said, and, walking over to what Eric had assumed was an intricate thermostat, punched in a sequence of button presses, before a light on the panel lit up green, and a disembodied voice filled the room.
"Welcome back, Dr. Fulbright." The voice was that of a woman, rich and soothing. It paused for a moment, before continuing. "New subject recognized and registered. Nice to meet you, Eric. Welcome to your new home."
"Woah...." Eric said, looking around. For a moment, he saw Morris drop his nervous demeanor, letting a smile come to his face at Eric's bewilderment.
"Impressive, isn't it? This is Janine, an artificial intelligence designed and created for the purposes of making this a fully automated house. We're real proud of her, but she's still a work in progress, still needs to be socialized, and that's where you come in."
"What exactly does that entail?"
"Just live in the house," Morris replied, "and make use of Janine as you would to get her used to having people here to take care of. Do you think you can do that?"
Eric nodded vigorously. "Definitely."
"Good. You've also already signed the paper work, so, asking was mostly a formality. Now, I should explain some things about Janine further, but remember, when asking Janine for something, its best to be as specific as possible with your request...."
Eric barely heard the rest of Morris's explanation, instead marveling at everything being shown. Janine was capable of handling the lights, to the heat, to just about every electronic in the house. She would tint and un-tint the glass walls at a command, send out drones to vacuum the floor; using robotic appendages, she could even prepare food or change beds! No, Eric spent the rest of the tour enraptured by each room, barely listening to the technician, until they circled back around to the front door.
"...and so, to be safe, you should probably avoid having too many people in the house at once." Morris explained. "Any questions?"
"Uh, no," Eric replied, only just catching up to the man, "no this all seems... perfect."
Morris nodded. "Very good. Well, I'll be off then, and let you get used to the place." As Morris turned to open the door, he paused, and turned back to Eric. "I only have one last thing to say, Mr. Ellis."
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