AI's Children

by Ed Hurst

  Chapter 6

  Growing up in the enclave was not isolation.

  Harp had plenty of visits to the rest of the world. She had met other children from outside. At first it was quite fun and entertaining, but as soon as she learned to talk, the outside kids became quite annoying. They never seemed to progress much, remaining immature and silly long after she move on from childish stuff.

  She and her brothers were hardly the only kids born in the enclave, but were among the first few. Once it came out of the shadows, The Brotherhood expanded quickly. That is, while the core membership grew a little, those who wanted to be a part of it quickly doubled, and then trebled the population of the enclave. The Brotherhood was able to secure ownership of an old factory and office complex that the government had simply fenced off and abandoned. With just a bit of investment, The Brotherhood turned it into a thriving high technology campus with both living quarters and workspace.

  Her brothers became quickly engaged in their apprenticeships, but Harp never seemed to find anything more interesting than simply shadowing her mother or learning directly from AI.

  Dax had always been rough and tumble, active in sports and constantly seeking new challenges. He was gregarious and socially adept. As soon as Harp began thinking about romance, she realized her future husband would have to bear some of Dax’s dashing figure. He had always been there for her, close and supportive. He never seemed to fail in cheering her up when something made her sad.

  Not that Tim ignored her. Her younger brother was generous to a fault, having sacrificed anything she asked. He was too absorbed in AI to care too awful much about material things. Tim had early adopted that sense of timelessness that characterized their father. There was always time for what people needed, and Tim surely cared, but his kind of caring was altogether different, almost alien. It was gentle and guiding, always seemingly aware of something he couldn’t express. Yet it was painfully obvious he was in a different world, even though he cared sacrificially for people in this one. By the time he knew how to tell others some of what was on his mind, she was ready to find her own man.

  Having learned well from her mother, Harp had no intention of falling in love, as it were; she intended to walk carefully into it. Nothing had ever hindered her wandering the entire campus, but now she had a purpose. It was time to start learning how to pick out a prospective husband based on all the things she had learned. Feminine poise, the proper balance between too showy and too plain, and carefully minding her mouth, she avoided alienating anyone right away. She portrayed an open reserve, as her mother called it.

  So on one trip through the research area, she passed a doorway with a split door. The lower half was closed and there was some activity inside with men talking. Having seen nothing of interest on previous journeys here, she passed by without slowing. From behind she heard a wolf whistle.

  That in itself was hardly new. Her mother had insisted Harp was actually prettier, certainly more attractive than average. It was common when walking with her family on trips outside to hear such noises, but it was rare in the enclave. Men in The Brotherhood didn’t act that way, so without slowing she simply rolled her eyes and blew it off as visitors acting out. Real men waited for a gal’s attention and didn’t pursue her like some goddess whose favor must be courted, or a toy to play with.

  She had scarcely rounded a corner when two younger men caught up with her, one on each side.

  “Hey, we’ve never seen you before,” the shorter one said.

  She stopped, turned and glanced from one to the other. “Well, I live here and I’ve never seen you two, either.”

  The other one piped up. “They told us enclave girls were really special, but I didn’t think it would be this special.”

  She wanted to say how juvenile that sounded, but decided that would play into their hands. Sticking to her line of talk and her even tone, she asked, “Are you guys attempting to break into our little secret world here?” There was just the faintest hint of indulgent humor.

  The taller of the two was clearly not expecting that, and glanced at his companion. She surmised this was an act of deference and focused on the shorter young man. He was a little quicker. “Sure. All the more so since we found you here.”

  Again, she kept to her line of inquiry. “What brought you to us in the first place?” Now she was adding just a hint of motherly tone.

  They began chatting back and forth about the portal technology. Apparently this was still difficult for government and military technicians, in part because they still had not grasped how to deal with AI for much beyond basic computer networking. This gave her room to flex a bit of technical expertise and an edge on social dominance without sacrificing her feminine composure.

  When it was apparent they were running out of steam, she turned just a bit back in the direction she had been going. “Good luck, guys. You’re going to need it, because I think you have a long way to go.”

  With that she turned and strode off down the hallway. As nearly as she could judge, these fellows were at or near twenty years. They were exceptionally bright but deeply infected with outsiders’ bad social mythology and habits. She doubted this was the last she’d see of them and steeled herself for the worst. If they dared do anything stupid AI would summon a dozen healthy Brotherhood men to handle them, so she wasn’t too worried about that. There was something else that made her uncomfortable, something holding a much graver threat.

  She stopped off in a small library with a half-dozen computer screens. Men seriously engrossed in something occupied two of them, and she sat down in front of the first unused one. With a few quick gestures she called up a roster of visitors. AI highlighted the names of the two she sought to identify. They were actually in their mid-twenties. Nothing in the record indicated much because their status showed they were quite new to the enclave.

  While there was no serious effort to stratify what status applied to whom, AI offered variable tagging that matched the needs of whoever made the query. People from the outside were so used to ubiquitous surveillance that there was no particular need to warn that AI was linked through field sensors all over the place. The symbiosis between The Brotherhood and AI had grown deep in the few years with Chandler as leader. It was hardly surveillance so much as a very protective and productive linkage that left everyone free to pursue his or her own goals.

  Almost a decade younger than these two fellows, Harp was easily over their heads socially. She could handle their boyish antics seeking her attention, but it was more than that. AI itself seemed a bit more than just curious about them, too, because they had not connected with The Brotherhood through any of the typical channels. If seduction was any part of their interest in her, it was surely just a cover for something far worse, but she had no proof, no grounds to act.

  At least, she had nothing until the next day.