For the first time, Megan wished she had specialized in brain augmentation instead of androids. Right now, she could have used some extra intellect. Augmentation technology wasn't available yet to the public, though. The biochips meant to enhance the human mind had so far caused more neural damage than increased intelligence. Of course, people already enhanced their lives with computers in everything from postcards to jewelry. She had even seen a scanty little lingerie number that could talk sexy for lovers who liked that sort of thing. Megan couldn't imagine keeping a straight face while her corset discoursed with lustful intent. In any case, someday the line between machine and human would blur. But they weren't there yet, and if this situation with Ander was any sample of the future, they were in trouble.
Dawn was spreading a pepper-red glow across the sky as Ander pulled up to their bungalow. He had Megan repeat the same process with Raj as when they had switched to the hovercar. When she opened the back door, Raj stared at her in the dawn shadows, sweat running down his temple.
As Megan reached to untie Raj, Ander lunged forward. With no other warning, he clumsily heaved her up into his arms, keeping the gun under her body, its hidden length pressed against her legs and buttocks.
"What the—" Megan broke off, frozen by the chill touch of the gun against her thighs.
"Quiet," Ander whispered. With his foot, he slammed the door shut. Then he lost his balance and fell against the car, his muscles tensed under her like ridged cords.
She finally saw what had spooked him. An older man and woman were coming up the road. The man wore a Hawaiian shirt and tennis shorts, and the woman had on a sundress with a shawl around her shoulders.
"Hi, there," the woman said. The man glanced at Megan, then averted his gaze, his face reddening. Given her attire, or lack thereof, it didn't surprise her.
Ander gave an embarrassed cough. "Carrying her across the threshold, you know." He used an out-of-breath voice, as if carrying Megan was far more effort than he expected. She jabbed her elbow into his ribs.
The man's face turned kindly and his wife beamed. "Oh, that's lovely," she said. "Congratulations." Then they continued on, leaving the "newlyweds" to their privacy.
"Put me down, damn it," Megan said.
"Such sweet nothings, my dear." He set her on her feet. "Get Raj out."
When she opened the door, Raj stared at her, his face flushed with anger. Dismayed, she saw fresh blood dribbling down his arms from the lacerations in his wrists. He must have been struggling to free himself.
"Ah, Raj," she murmured.
"Just take my hands down." He sounded as if his teeth were clenched.
As she freed him from the car, she wondered if the couple had glimpsed Raj before Ander slammed the door. If so, would they report it? Then again, at the fine Motel Flamingo, maybe no one would think twice about kinky newlyweds who brought along a third party to play.
Ander hastened them into the bungalow. It wasn't much. The miserly bathroom was just big enough for a sink, toilet, and tub. In the main room, the bed had the most amazing purple quilt beautified by hot pink flamingos in purple boas. A nightstand stood on this side of the bed and a table on the other. Beyond the table, glass doors fronted the patio. A cabinet at the foot of the bed contained a holovid, music cube player, and console. All the furniture was bolted to the floor except for two chairs at the table.
Ander closed the curtains, which were made from the same inimitable cloth as the bedspreads. Megan wondered if a person could get eyestrain from too many fluorescent flamingos.
Ander motioned at them with the gun. "Don't try to call for help."
"You can't shoot in here," Raj said. "People will hear."
"We're too far from the other bungalows." Ander's arm jerked, snapping the gun out from his body. "You have to do what I tell you."
"Can't you see you're not working right?" Megan asked.
"Then fix me!" He clenched the rifle so tight, tendons stood out on his wrists. "Make my mind stop these damn loops."
She spoke carefully. "It sounds like you're trapped in a limited area of code. It can happen when you write new code by copying and combining pieces of older code. It's like inbreeding."
He gave a short laugh. "What, my 'gene' pool is too small to produce healthy software?"
"I can help," Megan said. "But I'll need to reprogram you."
Suspicion shadowed his face, so real she could almost forget it was simulated. "And now," he said, "you're going to claim you have to turn me off to make these fixes."
"She can't get reliable results if your software is changing as she works," Raj said.
Ander scowled at him. "Shut up."
His growing hostility toward Raj alarmed Megan. The code he had written to project wariness in his first meeting with Raj must be in the region where his mind had become trapped. That code's "offspring" were probably undergoing a population explosion, which meant his hostility would only grow worse. If they didn't free him from that trap, he might end up killing Raj.
"You can't work on my mind directly," Ander told her. "I can't trust you. Think of some other way to help me."
His response didn't surprise Megan. Although she couldn't be sure of anything where his "emotions" were concerned, she had the feeling that beneath his bravado he was scared. If Raj really had attacked them, how would Ander incorporate that knowledge into his evolving mind? It could warp his fledgling concepts of trust and make him question the coherency in human behavior.
"If I make suggestions, can you do the rewrites?" she asked.
"I'll try. Anything is better than this nightmare."
"It's probably a protective measure," Raj said.
Although Ander tensed, his curiosity got the better of him. Instead of snapping at Raj, he asked, "Why?"
Raj shifted into the unconscious assurance that always came when he talked about his work. "As you become self-aware, the evolution of your code becomes more complex. To make rewrites manageable, your mind might temporarily isolate certain sections. It sounds like it backfired, though, trapping you in one of those sections."
"Could it be?" Then Ander frowned and gestured at him with the rifle. "I told you to be quiet. No analysis."
"What are you going to do with us?" Megan asked.
He regarded them uncertainly. "I'm not sure how to take care of humans. You need to eat and sleep, right? I don't know what to feed you. I thought humans slept at night, but neither of you seem to."
"We can wait until tonight." Megan doubted she could sleep now anyway.
"We need breakfast," Raj said.
Ander gestured at the comp-phone on the nightstand. "Will that give me room service?"
"It should," Raj said.
Megan's breath caught. Ander's increasing ability to adapt gratified her. Although "room service" appeared in his knowledge base, he had never had reason to interpret the concept. A few months ago simple questions had turned him catatonic; now he could come up with his own questions and try solutions.
Ander made the call for food. When Megan started to ask Raj a question, Ander shook his head at her. She stopped, fearing to incite his unpredictable temper.
After Ander ordered breakfast, he considered them. Then he spoke to Megan. "Why are you always looking at him? Why not me?"
Megan felt Raj stiffen at her side, like a coil ready to snap. "Ander, don't."
"Don't what?" With deliberate motions, he aimed the rifle at Raj. "Sit by the table leg. Now."
Raj spoke in a calming voice. "Ander, you don't want to shoot anyone. Why don't you give us the rifle?"
"No! I won't let you hurt Megan!"
Then Ander fired.
The android jerked with the recoil of the gun, almost losing his balance. The bullet hit the floor well away from where Raj stood. They were too close for Ander to have miscalculated by such a large amount; he must have missed on purpose.
"Are you nuts?" Raj grabbed Megan with his bound hands and shoved her behi
nd him. "Stop it!"
"Sit down by the table leg." Ander sounded scared rather than angry, as if he couldn't believe he had fired either.
"All right." Raj raised his hands, palms out. Then he sat on the floor, his movements slow and contained.
"Tie his hands to the table leg," Ander told Megan. "And don't try to trick me. Understand?"
"Yes." With her pulse hammering, she knelt and tied Raj's hands. She gave him a look of apology. Then she stood again, taking care to move slowly, so she wouldn't incite Ander.
"Why do you always look at him?" Ander set the rifle on the nightstand, then walked around the bed toward her. "Why him?"
Alarmed, Megan backed away. But he kept coming. With a sudden lunge, he grabbed her arm, then swung her around and threw her onto the bed. She sprawled on her stomach, grunting as she lost her breath. Before she could recover he was kneeling over her, straddling her hips. He put his hands on the small of her back and pressed her into the mattress.
"Stop it!" Straining to look over her shoulder at him, she swung her fist back and hit him in the knee.
Ander ignored the punch. Instead, he gave Raj a malicious look. "You can watch me do her."
Raj cursed at him. He was bracing his feet against the table leg, pushing hard, trying to snap the wood.
Megan clenched her fists. "Get off me."
"Such honeyed words." Ander lifted himself up, but only enough to flip her onto her back. Then he pushed her down into the bed.
"Why are you doing this?" Megan shoved at his shoulders.
"Why are you afraid? Are you a virgin? No, don't answer. I know you aren't. I've seen your medical records."
She froze. Did that mean he was the one who had searched her files at the Pentagon?
"What do you want from us?" Raj asked. "Your freedom? You have it. Just let her go."
"I'm doing what I want." Ander regarded Megan. "I am one. A virgin, I mean. Sure, they tested my plumbing. I've never had sex with anyone, though."
"Ander, listen," she said. "You're trapped in a truncated response space—"
"Oh, stop. Truncated space indeed. I want to fuck."
"Input your crosslight codes," Raj said.
Ander went so still that for a moment Megan thought his rnind had frozen again. He stayed that way for one second, like a statue. Then he deliberately set his hand on Megan's breast and turned to Raj. "I cut out the crosslight code, asshole."
No. Megan stiffened with sudden understanding. The crosslight code was the rewrite she had done to strengthen his conscience. Without it, he had neither caps on his behavior nor a significant sense of moral responsibility.
"Put it back in." Raj watched Ander with a probing intensity. "It will solve your looping problem."
"You need your conscience," Megan said. "To widen the gene pool for your code." She wasn't sure if that was true, but it only mattered that he believed it.
Ander turned to her. "I don't want a conscience."
"It's why your mind feels unstable," she said.
"Maybe." He started to unbutton her nightshirt. "Maybe not."
Megan tried to twist out from under him. "Ander, don't do this. Don't prove the detractors right who claimed an android could never develop morals."
He grabbed her wrists, holding them in front of her body with one hand. "Why do you act like this sex thing matters? It's nothing. A little rubbing and then it will be over."
"It matters. Believe me."
He began working her out of the nightshirt. She fought in his hold, trying to stop him, but she only succeeded in ripping a side seam of the shirt, splitting it up to her hip. He finished taking it off and dropped it on the bed, leaving her naked beneath him.
"Ander, don't be a bloody fool!" Raj said. "Do this and you'll never recover her goodwill."
"Why?" Ander pinned Megan's wrists to the bed by her shoulders. "Humans do this all the time." He jerked his head toward Raj. "You want him. Why not me? We're about the same size and shape. And I'm younger."
"None of that matters." Megan shot Raj a frantic glance and he tilted his head, trying to tell her something, but she had no idea what.
"Come on, Megan." Still holding her hands, Ander stretched out on top of her. He pushed apart her legs with his knees and fit his hips into the cradle of her pelvis. "I want to know what it's like."
"Stop it!" She could feel his erection through his jeans. "No more."
"Why is it such a big deal?" He slid his hands up her sides, scraping his thumbs over her breasts. "Rubbing you this way—I don't understand the context. I know men consider your body beautiful. But this pleasure thing—I'm missing it." He rubbed against her. "If I do this enough, I'll have an orgasm, especially if I go inside you. But it's just plumbing. The faucet goes on for a few seconds and that's it. In fact, this whole reproduction thing doesn't usually last long. So why the big fuss?"
Megan struggled to keep her voice calm. "The damage is emotional as well as physical." She remembered now where she had seen Raj tilt his head that way; he did it in the NEV-5 lab when he was about to leave for his rooms, the library, or the Solarium. But she didn't see how it could help now.
Ander rolled her nipple between his fingers. "It's only friction. If I washed your face when you didn't want it washed, it would be irritating, sure, but you wouldn't act as if I were subjecting you to some horrible trauma."
"This isn't washing your face." She pushed at his shoulders. "It's a violent act with consequences far beyond the time it takes."
He slid his hands down and gripped her around the waist. "You always acted as if you found me pleasant enough."
"Sex involves far more than 'pleasant enough.' You know that." Suddenly she realized what Raj was trying to tell her. "You have a library on sexual crime, Ander. It's probably in the portion of your code you've isolated. You have to read it again." Ander was far more likely to respond to the advice from her than from Raj.
"I don't want to." He pushed his hand between their hips and unzipped his jeans.
"No!" Megan hit at him with her fists. He was opening his jeans now. "Ander, stop!"
He paused, his hand still between them. Then he said, "Damn it all," and blew out a gust of air, stirring tendrils of her hair. With a grunt, he rolled off her body onto his back and zipped up his jeans with an angry jerk. Then he put his arm over his forehead and clenched his fist.
Megan grabbed her nightshirt as she slid off the bed. She backed up to the bungalow entrance, then pulled the shirt on over her head. If Ander came after her, she would lock herself in the bathroom. He had secured the front door, linking his mind to its computer chip so she and Raj couldn't open it. Fortunately, the motel was so cheap that the bathroom had an old-style lock with no chip. Ander could probably break the door down, but it was better than nothing.
So they stayed, Ander on his back, Raj watching him, and Megan against the wall with her arms folded around herself.
Finally Ander sat up and took the rifle from the nightstand. "Now what?"
"Let Megan go," Raj said. "You only need one hostage. Then you won't have to worry so much about keeping us under control."
"I want you both. You belong to me now." Ander looked back and forth between the two of them. "I really have it by the tail, don't I? I can't control both of you unless I keep at least one tied up. What if your fragile human bodies can't take this treatment, or you attack me and I have to shoot?"
"Let us contact someone who can help," Megan said.
"No." He rubbed his eyes in a gesture so human, it made her breath catch. If only they could have come this far without him turning against them.
"What is it you want?" Raj asked.
This time, Ander's face didn't blank as he considered the question. Instead, he appeared thoughtful. "I don't want to be alone. I need others like me. You and Megan can make more of us."
Raj suddenly went rigid. "Why do you think that?"
"You two are the experts."
"Build
ing you took years of research and teams of experts."
"That's right," Ander told him. "And after all that work, you know how to make us and Megan knows how to program us."
"It's not that easy," Raj said. "The cost alone would be millions. At least."
"You're a billionaire. You can afford it."
Raj clenched his fists around the table leg. "I may not have as much money as you think. Even if I did, what you want would bankrupt me. Why should I agree to that?"
"You're mine now," Ander said, as if pointing out the obvious. "So what was yours, as they say, is mine."
"Like hell."
"The Everest team used a lot of your techniques," Ander said. "And I know you were part of the Phoenix group at the Lawrence Las Cruces Lab in New Mexico." That made Raj pause. "I've never worked at LLCL. The Phoenix Project was at Arizonix."
Ander leaned forward. "You know your name is in that file."
"What file?"
"The one you stole from the Pentagon."
Raj made a frustrated noise. "You stole those files."
For the life of her, Megan couldn't tell who was lying. They both sounded genuine. "Raj, could your name be associated with the project without your knowing?"
"It's possible, if they're using my work."
"We need money," Ander said.
Raj's voice turned acerbic. "Fine. Go ahead. Steal mine."
"I will, when I can."
"Why not now?" Raj drawled, dripping sarcasm. "My money cards are in my wallet."
Ander didn't rise to the bait. "I'm not stupid."
Megan suppressed her disappointment. It had been worth a try. If Ander used Raj's money card without Raj's permission, it could set off a multitude of alarms. But eventually Ander would figure out how to use them without getting caught.
Right now, the android was rifling through Raj's wallet. "You've only a hundred dollars left in cash."
The Phoenix Code Page 14