Happy Home begins boot up procedure

Chapter 3 - Getting to Know You

The house goes from deadly quiet to alive in an instant. A slightly off-color panel found on the wall of the entry way retracted, and two things came forward: A key hole, and a small, flat apparatus with a small green line running up and down it. Then, much to John's surprise, the house began speaking.

"Welcome to your Happy Home. To continue, please place a finger of choice on the fingerprint scanner and place the house key in the lock to confirm your identity."

With nothing else to do, you do as the voice says. It has a slightly robotic, yet feminine timbre. As soon as you enter the key into the lock, it retracts both components back into the wall. "Wait my key!" you call out, but the house seems to ignore you and move on.

"Confirmation Successful. Thank you. The house key will be available for use at your leisure, however from now on the auto-scan protocol will ensure that when you require entry, a simple fingerprint scan will be all that is necessary. Now beginning first step protocols. Please observe the pad in front of you and fill out the information present there while I complete preliminary scans."

While you're setting up your profile, the house begins scanning both you and your several suitcases of belongings, and determining how they should be organized. Too engrossed in the question about your preferred workout schedule to notice, the AI efficiently determines where all of your belongings are to go, and thin robotic appendages sprout from the walls to take them to their designated locations. The AI processes it all as follows:

Found 1, documents, processed as important and taken to file storage. Found 2, clothing, moving to laundry, then wardrobe. Suitcases moved to storage.

Furthermore, the program reviewed the notes put in place by HHI and matching them to the new profile that you had just finished creating.

Client 1 - John - Lost both parents, 0 local connections, watch mood levels carefully. Orientation - straight - look into possible connections to the opposite sex. Updating database to routinely check for matches in profile's hobbies, likes and dislikes. Scan of client 1 complete: small frame, good health, slight slouch. Profile indicates wish to be held responsible for exercise and dietary needs; updating client schedule with daily health supplements and mandatory workout routine.

Finally noticing that your belongings were missing, you ask the seemingly invisible AI where they went, to no avail.

"Please hold questions until final process has completed. Final operation of first-time-startup initiating: Introductions. Hello John, I am Happy Home Helper 16 of prototype house 16, however my provided nickname is SARAH. When you require any sort of assistance, simply state my nickname, then the task you would require of me. I look forward to our continued partnership."

Well this doesn't sound so bad, you muse to yourself, and proceed to ask your first command. "Sarah, please tell me where my belongings went, and run me a shower. I'm exhausted."

"Very well John, shower running." Checking the profile, Sarah found the preferred temperature and set the shower just right. "Your clothing was taken to the built in laundry system, and will be sent to your auto-closet promptly afterwards. All Documents have been filed in the HHI archive system."

"Thank you!" With a skip in your step, you head up the lavish stairs to the master bedroom, and then to the huge bathroom adjacent to it. It may as well have been a whole house in it of itself. The shower felt absolutely heavenly, and you couldn't have been more relaxed as you turned the water off. To your slight surprise, there was a towel awaiting you on an outstretched, err, arm? of some kind. As soon as you took it, the arm retreated into the tile wall, as quick as can be. That'll take some getting used to, you thought dryly.

Walking back into the master bedroom, you noticed a rather important problem. "Sarah, can I get some clothes please?"

"Most certainly John, for what activity do you require clothing?" She responded almost instantly.

"Erm, relaxation? Or just the clothes I brought would be fine?" You tentatively ask.

"Unable to authorize request, clothing is still being washed. Until then, I will search the available wardrobe for suitable alternatives."

Sarah searched through the wardrobe files made available to the standard log of a Happy Home. Before the plans were made for the Doe family to move in, the previous settings had been set to match an intern who lived in each of the prototype homes for a week or two to test new features your father thought up. With no other clothing options made available to the AI, it accessed file -Intern-, finding clothes that would be suitable for a woman in her late teens or early twenties. (The intern was a woman taking a gap year from college, who had met with the company via a recommendation from her University). Since it had not yet had the opportunity to order clothing for a new user, these were all of the options the AI had available.

Tapping your foot absentmindedly while you waited the couple of moments it took the AI to process all of the information it needed to, it pinged satisfyingly to indicate your clothing was ready. To your surprise, the wardrobe opened to show...