It had been more than a decade (human subjective time) since the Em had taken the job offered by the complex's government. The job had paid enough to allow the Em to grow his family and provide job security for them. The Em was very much a family man.
The contract had called for a test installation before widespread deployment. The Em and the government agreed upon a centrally located area for the Ems to occupy. Several towers were turned over to them. The Em relocated to one of them and immediately started having the infrastructure installed that would be needed to support a large nest of Ems.
When resources allowed, the Em imprinted or reanimated another member of his “family”. The Em called it “budding”. In each family, all new Ems were of the same imprinted brain but those reanimated also had their experiences since first budding restored. Each was given a particular area of the complex's infrastructure to tend and watch over. As more and more Ems came online the complex's residents begin to notice the changes.
Transportation was the first area the Ems had transformed. They quickly reduced the commute time, at least for those that still commuted, to only a few minutes across the whole of the complex. The food got fresher, at least for those who could afford real food. The high belt traffic, mostly delivery drone traffic that operated at the highest levels of the towers, became more orderly, quicker, and quieter because the Ems had redesigned it.
Crime, something that threatened the very concept of the complexes, came under control. By increasing their processor speed and assigning more Em buds, the Ems had been able to monitor all the complex's camera installations and drone feedback in real-time, something the complex's government had never been able to do. They could then respond with their robot surrogates in cooperation with the human police to stop the crime.
The Ems infrastructure continued to grow. They built their towers higher and higher until the Em core overshadowed the rest of the complex. When the communication delays up and down the towers became prohibitive, the Ems requested more structures on the core's periphery.
Displaced residents complained but overall, the complex's other residents felt that the results of Em management outweighed the sacrifices made by a few.
The test installation became permanent when the time came for contract renewal because it was apparent to the complex's government that they could no longer operate without Em management. The government didn't even complain when the price of the new contract went up, after all, the Ems were saving the government enough on operating expenses to cover the contract cost.
But there were a few residents of the complex that weren't completely satisfied with the new situation. Particularly with the real-time surveillance which they felt could be abused by the Ems and the government. These residents spent time and money making sure that their apartments weren't monitored and that they could not be followed using their Annies or other electronic devices. Some even went to the trouble of escaping the complex or at least knowing how to escape if it became necessary.
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