The Fourth Law

by Clayton Barnett

  Yeah.

  With only the faint sound of metal behind her, Lily felt content just to sit quietly with her friend; Ai seemed to be thinking the same thing. But, after what seemed like five minutes. Lily grew curious.

  “Ai?”

  “Mmm?”

  “I don’t have a headache or anything like I did the last times I visited. Can I stay... longer?”

  A smile. “I certainly hope so! With each visit, Dorina gets older; that’s easier for you!”

  Lily didn’t quite know what Ai was saying, but that was okay.

  “My turn!” Ai said. “Did you really miss me that badly today?”

  Lily carefully put down her mug.

  “Ai. I cried, pleaded, wept, begged, prayed. I’ve lost so much... I couldn’t bear to think I’d lost you, too.”

  It was Ai’s turn to let a tear drop. “I’m so sorry!” She whispered. She leaned forward. For a moment, Lily felt as if she could see an infinity of worlds in her eyes.

  “You prayed for me?”

  Huh? “Sure, I did. While I did ask God to get us back together, I also wondered if you or your home had been hurt.” Lily rolled her shoulders, slightly embarrassed. “I was worried for you. So sure, I did.”

  Ai just stared at her.

  “You make us... older. Who are you, Lily?”

  Now it was Lily’s bright laughter that echoed around Ai’s home, “Silly! I’m your friend, Ai!”

  Lily’s head was resting on the wood of the pew. She sat up. Raising the tablet, she looked at Ai’s cute CG.

  “That was abrupt.”

  “Hee, hee! I’ll ask Dorina about it! Bye-ee!”

  Another sigh, then she stood. “Best get this back to Karl.”

  “Hey, Lily!” Ai yelled from the tablet, almost causing Lily to drop it. Once she was sure she had hold of it, she raised it.

  “What now?”

  “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  What?! For a fleeting moment Lily thought about the second shift pharmacist.... “No, Ai, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “What about Karl?”

  “Are you kidding? What about him?” Where was Ai going with this joke?

  “I’ve chatted with him a bit.” Ai chirped. “He really likes you!”

  And suddenly Lily understood his nervousness and embarrassment. Hanging her head, she said, “I don’t need this, too.”

  Perplexed, Ai asked, “He seems nice, right?”

  “Ai,” she began, “he’s fifteen, he’s under my care, it’s just... a non-starter.”

  “Does age matter for love?” That stopped Lily in her tracks; how old was Ai? How old did she think she was? ‘Things are different here.’

  “It does matter, a little, here,” Lily explained, but, “it’s a big topic; I promise to discuss it more, later. Okay?”

  “Yeayifications!” Gone again.

  Karl, really?

  She walked from the chapel to the dining room. Some of the other kids had gotten their soup and had begun eating. She sauntered to where Karl was reading. “Here, thanks for this,” she said, holding out his tablet. Not quite meeting her eyes, he said, “you’re welcome.”

  ‘We can hold something in common.’ She sat down.

  “So, I guess you and Ai have talked some more...?”

  Chapter 7

  ~oooOOOOoooo~

  “hooo.....hoowwlll!....”

  ~oooooOOOOOOooooOOOOOoooooo~

  “hah...haaawooooollLL!”

  “Lily!”

  ?

  “LILY! You’re not a wolf! Wake Up!”

  She groggily sat up from her bed. Huh?

  “It’s three in the morning... you need to help your kids!” Ai shouted at her from her phone.

  The kids!

  She flung the cover aside and pushed her glasses onto her face. Now she could hear the siren. What this time? Tornado, airstrike, barbarians... the last was almost a year ago, when they lost Texarkana. Wait. She shook her head to try to wake up. This time, she’d an unimpeachable information source.

  “Ai. Status.” She said into the darkness.

  “A fission weapon was detonated outside of San Francisco about ten minutes ago; the weather pattern indicates fallout will travel north of you, into parts of former Kansas and Oklahoma. But, winds do change....”

  “Right.” She started pulling her clothes on. “Wake up the Fitzhugh’s; I’ll be there in a minute.”

  She walked from her bedroom through her main room, glancing at the monitors. She suddenly bit hard on her lower lip. On the monitors, Ai stood at attention in a Texas Field Forces uniform. For some unknown reason, she forgot to render her pants. Striped green and white panties? Lily worried about her friend, sometimes.

  The Fitzhugh’s were just coming out of their apartment in the dorm as she walked up. She relayed what Ai told her, and her own speculation that there might be more. Former California was something of a wasteland punching bag for 2nd world powers showing off.

  “I want Will & Matt, Karl & Pedro to get word to every house and flat within three blocks, after that I want them back.” She said to Jake. She turned to Sally. “The winds might not be in our favor; anything that can’t be secured airtight is to be cooked and/or served. Get Emily and Marienne on that now. They can requisition any other kids they need to get that done. They have until noon. Questions?”

  They shook their head and Lily moved off back to her office. She called Carol.

  “Yey-ah, I just sar the message from y’uns fraind.” Lord, but her accent was harsh in the morning. “How’s thangs thar?”

  “We’re fine. It’s going to depend on if there are any more strikes and the wind.”

  “Ay-yah. Let the little one’s sleep. Everyone else do a Rosary in the chapel; I’ll be there at daybreak. Oh, and Lil’?”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Top marks; I’m proud of you.”

  “Thank you; if you write this up, it was my friend Ai that gave me the heads-up.” In her panties.

  “Very good.” *click*

  Shortly thereafter she, the Fitzhugh’s, and anyone over twelve were in the chapel. Before they started Lily had called Ai on visual, but put her finger over her lips. “Just watch!” Lily had said, sotto voce, putting her phone off to a ledge on the left. She was the one stunned about prayer, thought Lily.

  Reciting along with everyone else, Lily did have to suppress a smile: at least in Texas, ‘separation of church and state’ didn’t really exist. Sure, there was no state religion – although Islam was regarded as a political ideology and banned – but there’d not been an engagement during the Formation War that hadn’t been led by a prayer. Even her father’s thugs...

  “…and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us...”

  Another memory to push aside. As she recited along with the others, she knew her mind was a jumble of radioactives, kids, and thoroughly confusing new friends. Jesus, she thought, please help us.

  They were just coming out of the chapel as the four boys came back. She regretted sending nine year old Matt out with Will, but he was dependable. She called out to them, “Oi! You guys come with me!” She waved towards the kitchen.

  Once there, it was two scoops of ice cream each. A treat; a rare treat. “Thank you, Miss Barrett!” They all bowed, imitating her at her karate lessons. At least she could now laugh along with them.

  “Hai, hai. Stick your flattery. Above and beyond gets above and beyond. Will, I want a written report of what the four of you did this morning in,” she looked at her watch. Five thirty. “I want that in my hands at six thirty.” She looked hard at him. “You want to play in the big leagues; it starts now. Got that?”

  “Yes, ma’am! Permission to leave!”

  “Go.” He ran off.

  “You three,” Lily said. “Very good work. Matt, if the winds come south... I don’t know, we’ll see what we can do for your plants; you’ve done yeoman’s work keeping us from scurvy.” Another. “K
arl, can you call Ai?” A nod. At least he’ll meet my eyes, now. “Find a quiet spot and do so. Tell her what you think and feel; where she lives...” Lily trailed off, then circled back, “...is different. Tell her what we’re doing, and thank her for the heads-up, on my behalf. Clear? Go.”

  Last one. “Pedro, thanks for the translations; put things like this into a song, and you’ll be the best bard in Texas!” The orphanage’s best singer/songwriter beamed. Lily recalled her mother’s old friend, a Cuban: Latins seem to have the best luck with music, she thought.

  Coming down from the combat-high, she walked slowly back to her room. Maybe I can get an hour’s sleep...?

  “Feldmarschell Barrett! Bestellungen bitte!” Ai called from the screens.

  “Put some pants on, recruit.” She staggered to her bed; you deserved that.

  Ai looked down the screen, mortified. “Eeek!” Then was pugnacious. “At least I didn’t howl at a warning siren in my sleep like a lonely wolf in heat!” Ai yelled.

  Yeah, thought Lily. And I deserved that, too.

  Ten days came and went, and the wind favored them. Thankfully that blast had not been followed by any more. This time. With the Pax Americana consigned to the history books, it seemed that anyone and everyone these days had nukes. It was something of an open secret that Texas held onto El Paso by threatening Mexico with the tactical nukes the new state had seized from Fort Hood. Mexico did end up with the Gadsden Purchase back, and San Diego in their sphere as an “open city,” so they’d largely been disinterested in stirring up anything along the Rio Grande.

  Lily sat in the hospital’s cafeteria, reading the rest of the news in the town’s small newspaper. There’d been a little mention about St. Ed’s and the kids, but most folks regarded it as little to do with them in a land far away. Lily realized that she’d been thinking more and more ‘locally’ until Ai came along. There were still perfectly functioning countries with modern economies in the world; the Breakup of the US certainly sent shocks through the rest of the world, but it didn’t destroy it.

  “I wonder...” She mused aloud. “I wonder where they’re from. Someone must have written their code, right?” She thought about that a bit. Then again, it could have been a collaboration of people around the globe. And, were they “in” a server, or scattered through something like the Cloud?

  “And,” finishing her sweet tea, “when I’m in their home, where is that?” She put her flatware and leftovers container back in her lunch bag and walked to her locker to drop it off. She’d not been back ‘there’ since the whole Fausta incident. I know it’d be rude to invite myself over, she thought, but I’m curious what my path looks like now. Heh: I wonder if it’s still giving Thaad fits! That reminded her: she tapped a question to Ai from her phone, ‘Back when, w/Fausta, what was all that with Laws?’

  She was almost to the fourth floor when her phone chimed. ‘srsly?’ Funny, Ai. ‘Srsly!’ she wrote back. Another chime as she stepped out of the stairwell. ‘See mail when you get home.’ Okay.

  Her shift over, the ride home had her recall that the school’s graduation was soon. Of her kids, only Will was leaving this year, but likely she’d lose three next. The adoption rate was low to begin with, and teenagers almost never went. She fretted that the kids wouldn’t have proper parents, but in times like these, at least they did have a home.

  A home. Ai and her family, did they have parents? Would that even mean anything to them? Dang, another sensitive question! She kept pedaling.

  Back at the orphanage she was soon far too caught up in the evening routine to think about going to her room. Only in the dark, pulling the gate shut, did she recall her noon exchange with her friend. She walked back to the Office and upstairs to her room. Sitting, she saw about a dozen emails, including one from Ai, with an attachment. An ebook, that was nice of her! Of course, when she expects me to find time to read it...! She might as well at least look at it in case Ai asked about it tomorrow. Hmm. “I, Robot.” By Isaac Asimov. Never heard of him, she thought. Good Lord! This was almost seventy years old! Was there even electricity back then? Whatever, she’d been the one to start this....

  It was sometime around two in the morning when she reached the end. That was... something. She stretched. So people… she shook her head... so humans had been thinking about this for some time. And, when Thaad and Fausta were talking about Laws... they were talking about these three? On a different screen she pulled up a copy:

  A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

  A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

  A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

  But, she thought, if Thaad dislikes the term ‘AI,’ he’d likely have a fit if I called them robots! And what the heck’s the Fourth Law? Looks like other authors took what’s-his-name’s idea and ran with it, but all in different directions. Jeez, I should so go to bed right now. She moved her cursor and clicked ‘call Ai.’

  On the third monitor. Painfully cheerful and wide awake. “You’re up late, Lily! Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” she tried to sit up, thought better of it. “I read the book, thank you.”

  It looked as if Ai expected her to say more, but she replied with “You’re most welcome!” And a little bow from her chair.

  Later, Lily liked to think it was the exhaustion that loosened her mouth. “Y’all not robots, right?”

  A grin, “No more than you biologics!”

  Huh. “Are you, really, I don’t know, constrained, by these?”

  Ai puffed her lips out, rocking her head back and forth. “You don’t tell your kids what to do and not do? You love them and want them safe, right?”

  Now Lily sat up. “They’re not for our benefit... but yours?”

  “Sure!”

  Her eyelids were dropping on their own. She had to sleep. But: “Ai, what’s the Fourth?”

  Ai sat back and looked softly at her. “A robot must do its best to learn to love human beings.”

  As her head thumped onto the desk, Lily distantly recalled that, in Japanese, Ai meant love.

  Ai’s image rocked slowly to and fro on the screen as she gazed at her friend. She leaned forward, as if trying to reach though the screen.

  “And I love you, Lily. Nite-nite!”

  -connection lost-

  The sunlight was warm on her back, and faintly she could hear the children chattering—

  She sat up with a start. What time was it?! Eight! She whirled about in her chair, a blanket that had been over her shoulders flying off. Out the window she saw the kids leaving for school... at least they’re that well behaved, but I’m gonna be late for work, get scolded by Carol... who was standing in the door, sipping tea.

  “How’s y’all doin’?” She asked.

  “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Lanning! I know my alarm was set, I... I...”

  “It’s all good,” Carol drawled, “you just calm yourself. Got a call this mornin’ from that friend of yours. Said you’d been workin’ late and asked me if I could come in a tick early.” Another drink. “Nice girl; bit hyper, though.”

  Ai did that? She looked at the blanket and picked it up. Ice formed in her gut: how did Ai...!

  “Thanks,” said Carol, taking it. “I’d laid that over you when I got in so’s you’d not catch cold. Shouldn’t you be getting’ ready for work?”

  The Director left. Lily was still shaking from the adrenaline in her system from waking up. She went to go shower, but sent a message first. ‘Did you turn my alarm off?’ By the time she was out of the shower, she saw: ‘Not telling!’ Ai, really?

  The ride to work helped her to clear her mind: reading that book, her short talk with Ai... was all that true? Then again, Thaad had yelled at her to order Fausta, and she’d obeyed. Lily bridled a bit at that: I will not abuse that! she thought. T
hey know what they are, they know they’ve been programmed, and they all – well, maybe not Fausta – seem perfectly happy. Do they... know who made? wrote? them? She stopped for one of the few lights in town. Would they see that person, or persons, as parents? Her hand drifted towards her phone, but the light changed, so off she went.

  No, it’s rude to pry. I will move heaven and earth to keep from letting something come between Ai and me. However, she thought, locking her bike, if I gave Ai something, maybe she would, too. She looked at her watch. A short call would be fine, wouldn’t it? She picked up after the first ring.

  “Hey, Lily!”

  “Ai. You know about my dad, right.” She managed to keep her tone level.

  “Sure.” Ai’s voice was still happy, but quieter.

  “And I’ve told you about my sister.”

  “Yes.”

  “I... wanted to let you know one other thing. My mom lives with her sister down by Conroe, a little north of Houston. Because of what dad did, she couldn’t be around him anymore.” Managed to get that out without crying, she thought.

  “I see.”

  “I thought,” now her voice caught, “that you should know more about me, and my family. Right now, you’re everything to me, and I wanted to share.”

  “Thank you for your gift, friend. And I understand.” Ai paused. “I’m going to chat with Thaad. Can you come over later?”

  Lily took a breath. “I’d love to, Ai.”

  “Bye-ee!”

  Alright. Off to change; that’s right, she’d a meeting with Mrs. Watters later in the day, the last part of her internship!

  Chapter 8

  Her shift was almost over when she was paged to the front desk. Checking with Mrs. Watters first, she wound down the stairs, out into the Lobby. If something was wrong with one her kids, she’d have been called to the ER. So it couldn’t be anything too bad.... She froze. Sitting in a chair was someone she never expected to see again. She thought to leave, but he’d noticed her and stood up. Walking over, he held out his hand.

  “A real pleasure to see you again, Miss Barrett.”