We stop by our rooms first, where a set of more formal clothes are already laid out. I rinse off with a quick shower in a bathroom that’s every bit as fancy as the one in our Ho Chi Minh City hotel, if a little more modern. I grab the dress shirt and start putting myself together. I should really figure out an algorithm to get my bots to tie my tie, it always comes out just a little bit lopsided when I tie it by hand. A memory of Gramps showing me how to tie a tie flashes through my mind and I quickly commit it to my index before I lose it again.
I’m one of the first siblings to get to the ballroom where the event is being held. The event runner introduces me around to so many people that I can barely keep up even with my index and Bora helping me. I should have waited and come down with some of my sibs so the rush would get spread out across more of us.
I finally get to meet the king. I was kind of hoping he would have a crown or a sash or a royal presence or something, but he’s just a regular guy in a suit. It’s kind of anticlimactic. I don’t know why I expected anything, it’s not like he has any real power here since the prime minister actually runs the country.
Eventually, my sibs trickle in and I stop being mobbed by politicians who want a picture with one of Tom Butler’s kids. Someone from the hotel staff gets my attention and tries to ask me what computer we want to hook up to the conference room’s projector. His English isn’t great so I tell Bora to tell him not to worry, we pack our own displays. He looks confused, so I pop up some bot screens and the big model of the filter. The crowd starts quieting and my brothers and sisters filter forward.
With cameras snapping and flashing, I start the presentation with Bora handling translation. The excitement level is high and every eye is fixed on me. I think leading with the model helped, or maybe the Cambodians are just more into us. Hard to tell. I finish my introduction and pass it along to Evan. As he gets into the details, everyone stays raptly attentive.
At the end when we do the question and answer session I enjoy getting into the weeds with one of the reporters on how some of the filter parts work. I think I’m losing part of the room though, so I cut myself off. The next few questions are softballs to the younger class members which get us back into the warm fuzzy zone. Eventually we’re done and we have some mingle time before dinner.
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One of the suited folks that I didn’t bother indexing but I think Bora said was some kind of finance guy sidles up to me.
“Would you like a girl for your room later, sir?” he offers without preamble. “I know some very beautiful ladies who would love your company.”
I almost choke on my drink before I politely decline. He nods and walks away as if he’d never made the offer. I attach a couple of floating eyes on him as he moves to my other siblings. I see him making a similar pitch to Phil.
To Phil: Don’t even think about it.
From the guilty look on his face he clearly had been considering it. The last thing we need is a sex scandal, especially in a country as conservative as this one in that area. I end up broadcasting to everyone across the bot channel that we all need to just say no to prostitution. That goes on my list of things I never thought I’d use telepathy for.
The dinner is catered in the same giant ballroom where we did our presentation. The hotel and catering staff quietly transform it into a formal dining experience while we mix with the dignitaries and other VIPs. I get seated at the same table as the prime minister, which is a little awkward, because I know enough about him and his policies to know that I don’t care for him. But I follow our rule of not talking politics and make it through the meal without causing an international incident.
More non-memory-worthy conversations with people I’ll never see again fill most of the rest of the evening. The event finally winds down to the point where I can retreat without offending anyone. I sense Chad down the hall, almost to the elevators with Keeya on his arm. I don’t feel Lucie, so she must have stepped out already. Good, he’s being smart enough not to flaunt his unconventional relationships here. Though if my index is right, there are still some people practicing traditional polygamous relationships in the country, even though the practice was outlawed a while back.
I need to see how his talks with them went. Please Mom, let him have made good choices while he was away from us.
To Chad: Got a few minutes to chat?
From Chad: Yeah, let me walk Keeya up. Your room, OK?
To Chad: Yeah, room 1102. I’ll see you there.