Birth of Adam (Artificial Intelligence Book 2) by Liza O'Connor Page A

her...except for me.” He looked at Amanda. “What we talked about before still stands, but unless you decide to move out of the dorms and find your own lodgings, I’m your roommate.”
    “I advise you accept his offer,” Adam said.
    She shrugged as if she didn’t care. However, she noticed Jules wasn’t particularly happy with her response. “I’ll talk to Dr. Wilson,” he promised her.
    “Don’t bother,” she said. “Mark is correct. They do hate me. Assuming I have a say as to what goes on in the room and who’s allowed to enter, I have no problem with Mark as my roommate.”
    “Absolutely,” Mark assured her.
    “I’m sorry, Mark, but under the assumption that all goes well tonight and I sign Miss Carrington, I don’t want you screwing with her head.”
    “Jules, I have no intention of screwing with Amanda’s head, nor do I think she’d allow that to happen.”
    Jules turned back to Amanda. “You are not to fall in love with him.”
    Amanda smiled. “I promise to resist.”
    “You say that now, but he hasn’t tried to seduce you yet.”
    “Actually, I tried to seduce her after the first time I heard her sing,” Mark admitted. “She’s proven herself fully capable of resisting my charm. If you want her focused on her music, then I am without question the best person to have her room with.”
    Jules looked at her in shock.
    “He’s too young,” she explained.
    “Do you have proof you’re thirty-seven?” Jules demanded.
    Amanda handed him her driver’s license.
    He tossed it back. “So why are you in college learning music this late in your life?”
    Replying was very easy, since Adam told her exactly what he wished her to say. “While I’ve always loved music, my father decided I lacked a voice, and thus I was ordered to find a different career. So I became the wife of a rich man and lived a very dull life. He was considerably older than I was, and when he died, I changed my identity and started over. And that information cannot leave this car,” she added.
    “What was your husband’s name?” Jules asked.
    “I cannot answer that.”
    Jules sighed. “You’re thirty-seven years old. I cannot present you as an ingénue with no history. You have to have a history to account for those years!”
    “Well, the truth isn’t going to help in this situation. If you want me to have a credible history, then make it up. Honestly, I’ve no more qualifications than an ingénue.”
    “Maybe you should simply consider changing her age to something younger,” Mark suggested. “Hell, she doesn’t look more than twenty-five.”
    Jules frowned. “How many people actually know you’re thirty-seven?”
    Adam thought this an excellent solution, and assured her all electronic data in the school’s records was being changed, as well as her bank accounts, social security, tax and motor vehicle records.
    “I’ve told you, Mark, Dr. Wilson and Claire.”
    “That’s it? Then how did Harold know you were older?”
    “I’m not sure, because I never heard the rumor. But he didn’t actually know my age.”
    “I may be at fault there,” Mark admitted. “I was trying to explain why it made sense for a freshman to receive a grant. I said Amanda far exceeded the age of a freshman and needed to get on with her career.”
    “This could work,” Jules said. “But it might blow up in our faces, since your passport and driver’s license will still have your true birthdate.”
    “I can get those changed.”
    Both men stared at her in shock.
    “I have friends who can do that,” she assured them.
    “She does have friends,” Mark said as he hugged himself.
    “Then we’ll handle it that way. As of now, you’re twenty-five years old. So how do we explain what you’ve been doing over the last five years?”
    “How about private training with a Russian master?” Mark suggested. “Everyone seems to be training with unknown instructors these days.”
    “Doskoff,” Jules said. “He died last