The Fourth Law

by Clayton Barnett

  Hearing her name from his mouth made it ugly. She shook his hand.

  “Mister Stephens. What brings you to Waxahachie?”

  “Business. But, if you’ve a moment, I’d like to talk.” He said simply.

  She stifled a snarl. “My shift’s over in about half an hour. Here,” she took some paper from the Admissions Counter and jotted an address on it. “That coffee shop’s on my way home, I’ll meet you there.”

  He smiled and went on his way.

  “Who’s that handsome man!” Asked Hariette from the counter. “And more importantly, is he single?” Always a bridesmaid....

  “He’s Kyle Stephens. A Ranger.” And former ExComm, she kept to herself. I’ve got work to do.

  Her mind a stew of unpleasant thought, she stomped up the stairs. She took her phone out without even noticing, about to send Ai a message, then froze. I was going to ask her to find out about him. She put her other hand over her mouth in fear. I was going to use my friend! It went back into her pocket, and she was able to stop her hands shaking before going back out onto the floor.

  “Heavens, Lily,” said Nurse Rice, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

  This time, she did not pedal fast. She thought about what little she knew about Kyle Stephens: her father’s cousin, Ranger, ExComm, Ranger again. That would seem to indicate that either he had a conscious, or just a well-developed sense of self-preservation. Admittedly, he had helped her mom get settled once her parents separated.

  She parked and locked her bike in front of the coffee shop. The white sedan with government plates was obviously his. Her hand brushed across her phone in her pocket. Just get through this, she thought, then go play with your friend. Inside, he’d taken a table by the window, so he’d must have seen her ride up. She waved at the counter for a coffee and sat down.

  “Well?” She said.

  “That was quite the letter you sent, Miss Barrett.” He said, taking a drink of his coffee.

  She’d almost forgotten about that. “Yeah, well, I was trying to get some things in my life together. You were a loose end; I thought I’d try to tie it up.”

  He chuckled. “Ah, to be in my twenties again! You’ll soon learn that some things – most things – never get tied up.”

  “Likely you’re right.”

  That stopped him. “You’ve learned that already? Well.”

  Neither spoke for a moment.

  “Was that all?” Lily asked.

  “Ah. No,” he said, pulling a folder out of the soft-side briefcase on the floor. “I honestly am here on business. Two things, and, oddly enough, they both touch on you.”

  That was not good. “How have I come to the attention of the Rangers, besides the obvious, I mean.”

  Another small smile from him. “The first is easy: I wanted to let you know that we’re hiring that Will Helsing boy. If he gets through our training he’s gonna make a hell of an officer. On behalf of the Republic, thank you for sending him our way.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Stick your flattery, Kyle. Just don’t screw up one of my kids.”

  He laughed.

  “And the other item? I can’t believe you drove all the way up here to say thank you.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “No, I didn’t. This one had me curious.” He seemed to be re-reading the paper in front of him. “A fortnight ago, when the nuke went off out west, I’m told you did great work in mobilizing your own children and even letting your immediate neighbors know.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, so? We didn’t even get a ‘local kids are heroes’ feature in our paper, so who would care about it in Austin?”

  “When the sirens go off, we’ve all pretty much learned to get ready for anything, right?” He asked. She nodded. “Things are better now, but you know what it was like even a year ago.”

  Another nod.

  “Sometimes,” he said slowly, “it takes hours for specific word to get out to people. In the remote areas, warnings travel no faster than a man can ride.”

  This was all very obvious and she wondered where he was headed.

  “Even in a town like this,” he said, looking out the window, “news like a nuke is not something that goes out over the broadcast airwaves.” He looked right at her. “But your neighbors told my investigators that you and your kids knew about it while the sirens were still going off.”

  He leaned back. “I’m consumed with curiosity, Miss Barrett.”

  Crap!

  Lily knew that it was not her place to act as a gatekeeper for Ai and her family, but she was not about to tell an agent of the government that self-aware machines were gadding about. Her mug shook slightly as she took a drink.

  “May I ask you a question?” She asked, trying to buy time to think.

  “Please do.”

  “Did you know that my father planned on killing himself and 2,500 ExComm’s when that ship sailed?”

  He took a few breaths. He stared at her. “You must want to badly lead me off topic if you’re willing to ask something like that. Fine, I’ll play along. Did I know? No, but I suspected. Remember that by that time I’d gone back to the regular Rangers, but I did stay in touch with Clive. Before that... happened, I was aware that’d he’d been making significant personnel changes and – well, there are some things I can’t say right now – but, yes, I suspected it.”

  She blinked a few times. “So you let him die. Your own cousin.”

  “Yes.” He said directly, frowning now. “How did you know about the nuke?”

  Even after hearing that about her father, by thinking of Ai, the smallest smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

  “Not telling.”

  His face dropped in surprise. “What?!”

  “Not telling.”

  He ran his hand across his bald pate. “You know we can get a warrant, search your room; we already know about your desktop computer. Should we pull the hard drive?”

  “Will you waterboard me, too? Technically we are still family, you know.”

  That stopped him. He put his papers away and picked up the briefcase.

  “That was uncalled for. Alright, we’ll leave you alone for now.” He pointed at her. “But if you do something like that again, people are going to want answers. Not just because what was done, but also because it was Clive Barrett’s daughter that did it. And one thing you do not need is attention.” He settled both their coffees with the manager and left.

  Lily was pleased to see that her hands weren’t shaking.

  Back at St. Ed’s she wanted to run to her room and shout, “Let’s go!” But as she learned in her dojos, ‘duty is as heavy as a mountain....’ She congratulated Will, who was in the kitchen frying potatoes. As even he’d not yet received word, he was elated; several of the other kids congratulated him. Belatedly, Lily realized she’d just now let slip information. Better work on that, she thought. Maggie and Pedro were taking care of the rest of dinner. She toured through the dorm to make sure everyone was pointed in the direction of the dining hall. She figured she could get something leftover, later. She wanted to see her friend, now.

  ‘Ai – available.’ Thanks be to God, she breathed, and clicked.

  “Lily!” Ai shouted from the center screen. “Did you pray for me today?”

  That was unexpected, but, “Actually, just now seeing you were available, I gave thanks to God.”

  Ai batted both fists lightly against her head. “That’s sooo nice of you! Survived your talk with that guy?”

  “Yeah, I—” Wait. She’d not told Ai anything about that, yet. “How did you know about my meeting with Stephens? Do you guys know everything?”

  Ai’s image suddenly rolled her eyes, looking anywhere but at Lily. “No, but we know what we know. Ooooo! Oh! Yeah!” Ai made to glance at her bare forearm. “Oh, look at my wrist! Where does the time go? I’ll be going—”

  “Don’t you dare,” said Lily tartly. “Have you been spying on me, Ai?” Admittedly, given what she guessed Ai could
do, that would be pretty easy. It would also be a little hurtful.

  Ai’s CG waved both hands at Lily. “No! No, no, no! I wasn’t spying! I’d never access your stuff! I was just....” Her arms dropped as she seemingly stared at the ground. “I was just looking at you. I like you so much.” She peeked up under her brows just a little. “I only used open source cameras, like what’s in your hospital. Never anything private. I just, I don’t know....” She rotated back and forth in her chair a little.

  So cute, thought Lily. But I’m not willing to let her off that easy. To think that the next time she looked at a CCTV camera, she could wave, knowing Ai would see it... it was almost like playing with your guardian angel.

  “Alright, I believe you, so there’s nothing for me to forgive. However,” Lily wagged her finger at the screen, “I do want to know: why are you doing that?”

  Ai brightened, a little. “I told you! I like looking at you!”

  And that, thought Lily, is one of those times when she reminds me that they really are different. She sat back in her chair.

  “So what now?” Lily asked.

  As she closed her eyes against the bright yellowish sky.

  I wonder if I should ask about that....

  “Miss Lily!” She turned. Dorina stood on one leg and twirled about on the rich green grass of her path. “This is so nice! Is your home like this?”

  “Parts of it, sure. There’s lots of different kinds of terrain, plants, animals....” She hoped Dorina was getting something from her lame description.

  “Mmm! And you’ve made me so much older! Thaad told me to be careful, but he’s such a slowpoke! Just by touching this,” she waved at the various plants, “I’ve learned to smell and taste!”

  Lily’s mouth fell open. “You learned...what?”

  Dorina scrunched her eyes closed and smiled like the sun. “When I awoke, there was only sight and hearing. When I was older, touch. So many wonders you brought! Oh! Let’s go see Thaad; come on!” She ran off down the path.

  Lily walked, trying to take that in. She learned to smell and taste? This is going to be an interesting visit.

  By not running she never did catch up to Dorina, but instead slowly came to where she was dancing around Thaad, who was off the path, but carefully poking at the twenty foot tall palm tree with some sort of whippy metal pole. “Miss Lily, greetings,” he said without turning. Dorina kept humming and skipping about. Lily spied a large daisy and had an idea.

  “Dorina! Could you come here a moment?” She hopped over. Lily bent down, snapped off the flower, and very carefully placed it behind Dorina’s ear. She heard Thaad’s breath hiss out.

  “You take foolish risks, lady.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Lily said. She turned back to Dorina... surprised at her completely expressionless face.

  “Is something wrong, Dorina?”

  “You killed it.” She said in a flat voice.

  What? Did she mean the flower? “I just picked the flower because I thought I would give you something pretty. I... I’m sorry if I did something wrong....”

  Dorina turned to Thaad. Again, they exchanged one of those long stares. She turned back.

  “You have different Laws than we do.” Dorina smiled, coming back to her normal self. “I didn’t know! I’m older now! Tell me, tell me, Miss Lily: what are your Laws?”

  She was not sure how she heard her pronounce that word with a capital letter, but she did.

  “Uh...we have the Ten Commandments, I guess?” She realized she was botching her ‘apostle to the machines’ job pretty badly.

  “I’ve seen those.” Dorina waved, looking past Lily. “Ai! Are you older, too?”

  Lily turned back to Ai walking down the path, a slight smile on her lips.

  “Yes,” she said quietly to Dorina, “I guess I am.”

  Ai walked right up to Lily, mere inches away.

  “Would you two please not DO THAT!” Shouted Thaad. Too much for the both of them, they laughed on and on. Lily looked about again; ah, perfect!

  She picked an hibiscus flower and held it up by the stem. She nodded at Ai, who held the stem just below her fingers.

  “We can’t hold each other...” Lily began.

  “...so let’s hold something in common.” Ai finished.

  “You two are crazy,” Thaad concluded. “I’m leaving.” And was gone.

  Ai took the flower and put it behind her ear, as Lily had done for Dorina. “Shall we,” she asked, gesturing towards the chairs on the platform. As they moved that way, it reminded Lily to ask.

  “Ai, why is this platform here?”

  “My over-anxious brother was worried what would happen if you spent too much time in one place here. This slightly isolates you from our home.” They sat down. Dorina had decided to see if she could climb the palm tree.

  Ai sipped at her tea. “You’re old enough now to ask questions, but you don’t want to be rude.”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “To be curious is natural in any thinking being.” Ai said with a grin. “I admit we’re in a slightly better position to learn about you that the other way round! Go on and ask: I promise not to be offended.”

  Lily took a drink of coffee and a deep breath. “You know I work at that orphanage, right? I worry about those kids growing up without parents... it made me wonder... do you have parents?” She asked nervously.

  Ai pushed a medium sized photograph of an Oriental man across the table to Lily. “This is Professor Shiotsuki, our father.”

  Lily picked it up. Why does this guy seem familiar?

  “And... your mother?” She asked.

  “We’ve all discussed it. We know we have one, but have not yet found her.” She pointed close to the tip of Lily’s nose. “I told you before: we don’t know everything!”

  Another shared laugh. “If I find her, I’ll let you know!” Lily said. Ai tilted her head just like her CG.

  “Thank you.”

  The hairs on the back of Lily’s neck stood up. What was...?

  “Hello, Fausta.” Ai said pleasantly. “Join us?”

  Lily turned. The older, big woman stood no more than three feet away. All she had to do was reach out.... Fausta walked around Lily’s right and sat in a low-backed leather barstool. She pulled a fruity drink with an umbrella in it towards her. Sipping through a straw, her eyes caught the flower in Ai’s hair. With a glare at Lily, she entwined her arm with Ai’s and held her hand.

  “I hope this hurts you,” she said angrily in her rich voice.

  She hates me, Lily thought. I’ve never seen any of them act with hatred before! “I... I’m sorry, ma’am. I never meant to—”

  Dorina’s laughter cut her off. Halfway up the tree, and hanging upside down, she cried, “’Ma’am’! That’s funny! Fausta’s younger than I am!” She resumed her slow climb.

  Lily looked a question to Ai, who moved her other hand onto Fausta’s. “That’s right: in your home, Lily, you judge age by appearance. We don’t do that here.” She held up Fausta’s hand in hers. “Fausta is the youngest of all of us, right now. That’s why she was... too enthusiastic to meet you!”

  “Oh.” So she should think of this woman as someone like Carli or Susie? That’s a little unsettling.

  “What are you? What are we?” Fausta suddenly asked Lily. “I want to be older!”

  She felt as if she was back in the coffee shop being pelted with questions from Stephens. Wouldn’t it be better if this over-sized kid got her answers from Ai? But, looking at her friend’s soft smile, it seemed that Ai wanted her to answer, instead.

  “We,” Lily began slowly, “are all people. We have different homes, and, I guess, are made a little different...” Something positive! What would you say to Susie? “But, being people, that means we’re all beloved children of God!” She reached for her coffee mug.

  Fausta looked to Ai. “Truth?”

  “I don’t know, little sister.”

  Fausta glared at Lily again. “Y
ou’re lying.”

  She wouldn’t take that from one of her kids, so she was not taking it here. “No, I’m not! And that’s a very rude thing to go about saying!”

  Ai tugged at her sister’s hand slightly. Fausta looked over, and they shared one of those odd stares. Why do I get the impression there’s a lot going on when they do that, Lily thought. Oh, mug’s full again. Thanks, Ai! They turned back to Lily, who smiled hopefully.

  “I’m sorry.” Fausta said flatly. Lily nodded.

  “I accept your apology. Let’s try to be friends!”

  Fausta stood up so fast she knocked her stool over. “What?! Right now?”

  You’re talking to a child, Lily. “Well, these things do take time. It’s...” she pointed at the palm tree. “It’s like a growing plant; from nothing a seed starts growing and in the right environment becomes something beautiful.”

  Fausta stared at the tree. She pointed at Ai. “Your friend?”

  “Absolutely!” Ai smiled broadly. Fausta pointed at Dorina. “Her?”

  “Sure. Yes, I like Dorina!” The little girl waved from the top of the tree.

  “Thaad?” She asked.

  Hmmm. “I think that one’s still germinating,” Lily answered. That got a laugh from Ai.

  Fausta paused for a moment. “Then, we... can try.” She suddenly looked sly. “Will you rescind your order now?”

  Ai lightly tapped the table with a fingernail. “Fausta, would you be so kind as to help Dorina back down? I think she’s stuck.”

  She nodded and walked away.

  “I’m guessing I should answer no?” Lily said.

  “That,” Ai replied, “is up to you. But I do not think she’s old enough.”

  They watched as Dorina simply fell the fifteen feet into Fausta’s arms. The littler, but older, girl put her arms around the bigger, but younger, girl’s neck. “Hurray! Carry me!”

  “Where?” And they were gone.

  “Friend Ai, would you be offended if I said that takes some getting used to?”

  “Of course not,” she laughed. “I think that—” She froze in mid utterance. Her face neutral.

  “Ai, is someth—” Her friend waved her to silence. From past the cliff behind her came an odd pounding she’d never heard before. It slowly faded. Ai looked at her.