“Love?! To Hell with you and love!” She clicked the icon to write a reply.
To her amazement, someone’s CG avatar exploded onto her screen. Lily reached down for the power button before a virus took hold...
“Hi there! Thanks for reading my review! My name’s Ai! Can we please be friends!?”
Chapter 10
Lily typed as quietly as she could, wanting to finish her report before bedtime. Of course, since Carli was having one of her night terrors and so was in Lily’s bed, she assumed she’d make due on her tiny couch. She typed on.
“...with most forecasters agreeing that the coming winter will be at least as cold as this past, we expect additional expenses for both...”
She saw her messenger button flashing. I wanted to finish this first, Ai! She turned down the volume for Carli and clicked the icon.
The palest, most cautious eyes stared out at her; framed by outstanding ears, though. “Oh, Thaad, it’s you.”
He blinked. “That’s certainly an effusive greetings. Nice to see you, too.”
Yeah, that had been kind of rude. “I’m sorry, you’d never called before, and I thought it’d be Ai.”
He shrugged and turned to point at some part of ‘her path.’ “Are you familiar with what’s called the doctrine of co-creation?”
“No clue.”
He looked sharply at her. “I learned it from your religion; you can at least try to keep up! Even though your god created everything, he also allowed creation within that order: plants and animals grow and change their environment, and humans even more so.”
“Uh, huh.” Her eyes started to slide back to her report.
“So I’ve concluded that simply by introducing you here, into this place, you brought some aspect of your life here. Changing both the landscape and anyone that comes into contact with... are you listening?”
She flicked her eyes back. “Sure! I made a mess in your place. Sorry!”
He shook his head. “In a way we don’t understand, you made Dorina older just by her walking along the path and touching the plants. It’s why you’re able to stay so much longer now.”
That got her attention. “And... that’s why you’re so reluctant to touch anything from it? You’re afraid to change?”
A slight frown. “Fear is not an issue, here. Uncertainty is. Suppose this uncontrolled change is strong enough to...” He seemed to be thinking about the proper words. “...to alter our fundamental nature.”
“Uh, huh.”
“All right, let me give you a personal example,” he said with exasperation, “suppose Fausta ambled down your path, only to have the Laws wiped from her at the end. She’d be coming for you right now.”
Eeek! Now he had her concerned!
“So, I need to bring some shovels, maybe a weed-whacker... Round-up! That’d be good...!”
“Oi. Would you please stop babbling. There is no way to undo what you’ve done here. We can’t make anything younger. I wanted you to know so that you’d take more care the next time you’re here.”
She rested her chin on her hand. “So the silly human girl stirred up your nice, ordered world? Jeez, Thaad: do you have any idea how much Ai, your silly machine girl, has stirred up mine? Let me lay it out for you: when I met her, I wanted to die. Badly. I am alive because one of you strayed into our place. And you’re worried about some plants?”
She was rewarded to finally see his eyes show an emotion. “You make me older, Miss Lily. I must think on this.”
-connection lost-
If only everything was that simple, she thought. She checked on Carli, yawned, and returned to her report.
Sending it off to Carol, she skimmed her emails before bed. “Ad, delete; ad, delete... huh? From ‘Texas A&M Department of Engineering, Office of Robotics’?” She opened it. As she read it, her incredulity grew.
“You guys have no sense of subtlety, do you?”
Ten days later, on a cloudy but warm Saturday, a maroon and white van with “A & M” emblazoned on the side, pulled into a parking spot at St. Edward’s. That was a rare enough event that several of the kids wandered over. Having heard them drive up, Lily was already walking out of the Office. I wonder what word Thaad would use for ‘nervous, excited, worried, curious’, she thought.
Her conversation nine days ago with Ai had been much the same.
“You... arranged for a prototype android to be shipped from Japan to Texas? Just like that?!” She asked.
Ai was back in her ‘room,’ and spun about in her chair. “No, it wasn’t just-like-that! It was an exchange: Somi Corporation needed to field-test their latest design, and I wanted to play. So, I sold them some code and told them to send it to you!”
Japan had always led the world in robotics, and some of one’s she’d seen at a demonstration her Senior class went to were astonishing. A few companies had claimed they could pass the, what was it? Turing Test? but that was still disputed.
That ‘I wanted to play’ from Ai worried her.
Three men got out of the van. The driver walked towards her. “Are you Lily Barrett? Bill Casey. Good to put a face to a voice! This here’s Ned, one of our coders,” he indicated the one with the beard, “and Patrick, hardware specialist.”
She shook Casey’s hand and nodded to the others. Patrick went around to the back of the van while Ned took out a tablet and started tapping at it.
“Any problem with the drive?” She asked politely. What’s it going to look like! She was having trouble not acting like a kid at Christmas.
He shook his head. “They’ve done a pretty fair job keeping 45 open. Back roads can be a little iffy. And nobody tried to get stupid with us,” he grinned. She’d noted they all had sidearms. But who didn’t?
Patrick had opened the back of the van, and she heard Karl exclaim, “Oh, my GOD!” He looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Holding its hand, Patrick walked the android around towards Lily.
It. Can’t. Be.
The height, skin color, eyes, and that aquamarine ponytail.... A pink blouse with a dark purple skirt…. Lily couldn’t get her mouth to work.
“A... ah... Ai? Is that....” The machine took its hand from Patrick and moved slowly but easily towards Lily. She smiled.
“Hello, friend Lily!”
Lily’s hands came up, she reached out, then stopped. “C... can I...?” Ai – Lily was already not thinking of it as a machine anymore – caught her hands. That was the first surprise: they were cooler than Lily had expected.
Lily heard Ned ask Bill Casey, “Wait. They actually know each other? What’s up with that?”
“Didn’t you read the whole dossier that came with it? This unit’s bleeding-edge.” He’d replied.
Tears falling easily, Lily held her friend. “Is it really you?” She whispered.
“Complicated, but yeah.” They separated; Ai gestured to indicate the whole world. “Show me your home?”
“Yes!”
Responding to the commotion, other kids started coming over. Lily made introductions – Karl turned scarlet when Ai hugged him – and suggested she give Ai a short tour. Bill had asked if Patrick and Ned could shadow them, taking evaluation notes. Lily had no problem with that.
“In fact,” she said, “here’s one: Ai’s not breathing. Once you notice it, it’s disconcerting.” Ned typed furiously. Ai worked her mouth.
“You’re right, I’m not!” She exclaimed. “That feels weird!”
Lily leaned close to her. “I remembered when we stood close, in your home, the feel of your breath. I... missed it.”
Ai took Lily’s hand.
“Anyway, that’s the Office, my flat’s up there....”
They walked through the Mesquite trees between the Office and the Dorm, then to the field behind. Three of the boys were kicking a soccer ball about and --
“Look out!” Pedro called. Lily leaned right, but Ai didn’t move, as the ball hit her square on the face.
“I should say ‘ouch’, ri
ght?”
“Ai! Are you alright?” Lily was checking her face for... for what, she suddenly thought? Ai could be damaged, not injured. Patrick also wanted a look.
“Dirty; nothing broken. I was worried about its eyes; the lenses are fragile, but it seems okay.” As he walked back to Ned, Lily just kept herself from screaming at him to stop calling her friend ‘it.’
Pedro ran up and started apologizing. Ai said she was fine and patted his head. He retrieved the ball and ran back.
“Ai,” Lily asked, “why didn’t you dodge?”
“Dodge? Oh, move out of the way of the ball?” Her finger touched her chin; Lily smiled. “I don’t know.”
“I guess we’re the product of four million years of evolution of all those hominids that successfully dodged things thrown at their head.” Ned laughed. “It doesn’t know that, yet.”
Lily’s temper snapped.
“You will not call my friend ‘it’!” Lily yelled at the two men. “Her name is Ai! If you can’t be polite, get out of here!”
They stood there, surprised. Hearing all the commotion, Casey came up behind them. “Hey, guys, let’s give the girls some room.” He took their shoulders, and with a wink to Lily, guided them back to the van.
“This form really is an ‘it’, you know,” Ai said with a laugh.
“You’re not helping!” Lily said; but they both were smiling.
Lily’s voice dropped. “Is that what you meant a moment ago? That ‘complicated’?”
A nod. “I could talk to you from this body, your phone, and your desktop all at the same time, even on three different subjects, if you wanted!” Ai said. She took Lily’s hand again. “But this is a start, for all of us. Older now?”
“Older. Come on.”
The dorms fascinated her. It took some explaining, out of earshot of the children, as to why boys and girls were separated. In the next building, Ai moved slowly about the chapel.
“You talk to your god here?” She asked.
After Thaad, she didn’t relish another theology discussion. “We can do that anywhere, but we like to have a special place as well.”
Ai considered that. “Show me.”
“Show you what?”
“Pray. Please.”
Suddenly embarrassed, though I shouldn’t be, she thought, Lily first sat in a pew, then knelt, her hands clasp before her. She closed her eyes, but heard Ai slowly walk around. She’s watching me, I bet. She said she likes to. Lily shoved that thought aside and did the obvious: she had to thank God for the miracle of Ai being here with her!
There was a small silence. First the pew, then the kneeler creaked. Lily looked to see Ai next to her.
“May I?” Taken aback, she could just nod. I know they ‘know’ about religion, but what do they feel? Can they have faith?
“To Lily’s God,” Ai said aloud, “My name is Ai. Greetings. Acting on the assumption that my friend is correct, I wanted to thank you for everything in general, and Lily in particular. Goodbye.”
“Was that okay?”
Wide-eyed, Lily nodded. “Mmmm, hmmm!” Ai stood.
“Next?”
The dining hall was simple, and Ai had some questions about the kitchen. It seemed that comprehending a recipe was different that knowing how to cook. Ai stopped to consider the knives, spoons, spatulas.
“Do you eat? What the hell am I saying, I’ve watched you drink tea...” Lily said. “What I mean is...”
Ai flicked Lily’s nose. “Stop being so nervous! This prototype can take in a small amount of food, mainly for social reasons. Its power core is independent of that. Although,” she mused, “some tea would be nice!”
Lily blanched at that; she always made sure to buy the cheapest teabags she could, so Ai was likely to hate it... Ai plucked at Lily’s sleeve.
“Anything is fine,” she said with her head tilt. “I’m very young in your home.”
“Right! Let me heat some water!”
After a bit, she carried two cups and led Ai out to a concrete bench in the garden. Looking across towards the Office, the three men from A&M waved. To Lily’s surprise, Ai waved back.
“Here you go,” Lily said. “I hope it’s not too bad!”
Ai smiled, took a small sip.
“Interesting.”
Lily slumped. Screwed that up, she thought. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“No, I really mean it!” Ai said brightly. “Think about it: a subcontractor of Somi built the sensors in my tongue; someone else had to write code for those signals to be interpreted in a certain way. And now there’s me, trying to make sense of all that.”
“I didn’t know it was so complicated.”
“Mmm. Dorina’s fascinated by all this. She’s some really wild ideas about our two homes!”
Huh. Of course, like she said, she’s not only here.
“This garden is yours, too?” Ai asked.
“Oh, no. The kids work here, especially Matt, whom you met earlier. He can make anything grow.”
“We’d better make sure,” Ai laughed, “that we never get him around Thaad!”
“Ai? There’s no way that… your current body was made in ten days or even a month. How is it that it looks like…” she didn’t want to say ‘the real you,’ “like you do in your home?”
Ai looked at the sky for a moment, then at Lily’s face. “We don’t plan, not in the sense that you people do. Working with Somi months back, having them make this form look the way it does, was just something I knew.” With a slight head tilt, and a laugh, she concluded, “Not very helpful?”
Lily laughed, too, gave a shrug. Hasten slowly. Ai set down her cup. “May I see your place?”
“Let’s go!”
Holding hands as they passed the three, Lily led Ai up to her rooms. Patrick said something to the other two she couldn’t quite catch, but Ai stopped. “A moment, friend,” she said to Lily.
Ai went over to Patrick and whispered into his ear. He turned sheet-white before Casey grabbed him to not collapse. Ai returned and took her hand again.
“Should I ask?” Lily said.
“Probably not!”
Entering her front room, Ai exclaimed, “Just like I’ve always seen it! And now I’m here!”
Are you, Lily thought. They moved into the bedroom.
“Just the small bed, dresser. Shower, sink, and toilet in there. Simple, but home.”
Ai’s face grew still as she went to the dresser. The only picture Lily had anywhere was one of Callie, from years and years ago.
Ai picked it up. “Your sister?”
Lily could only nod.
She returned the frame and held onto Lily.
“By the way,” Ai asked. “Where do I sleep?”
“With me!” Lily instantly answered. She felt her ears steam as she jumped back.
“No, no!” She cried, waving her hands about. “I’m not...! It’s...! I didn’t mean...!”
Ai shook with silent laughter. “I know what you meant, Lily! Besides,” she said reaching around to her back, “unless you’ve an extension cord, I’m sleeping next to a wall outlet.” She turned in profile to Lily and spun about half a foot of power cord that vanished into her body by her lower spine.
Now it was Lily’s turn to laugh. “What a cute tail you have!”
They were walking back into her main room when they heard the rumble of a motorcycle outside. Not that she’d planned to keep this a secret, Lily knew that once the kids found out something, the town did, too. She looked out her window; sure enough, it was Wayne, the head reporter for their newspaper, the Daily Light.
“Ai, the guy that just came up? He’s a reporter.” Ai’s face seemed to say, ‘so what?’ “He’s probably going to want to ask you a bunch of questions....”
“I don’t mind, unless it would bother you?”
“Oh, no! I’m proud of being your friend! Let’s go back downstairs.”
Wayne was already talking to the three men from A&M and writing i
n his notepad. Bill Casey pointed and said, “And there’s your star, right there!”
“Miss Barrett,” he nodded curtly. He knew, but he wasn’t here for her. “Afternoon! I’m Wayne Wright, reporter for the local paper!” He handed her a card. Lily noted Ai took it with both hands and a slight bow; wasted on this guy, she thought.
“I’ve just confirmed what the rumor was with your handlers, here,” Lily wanted to growl at that, “and would like to ask you some questions, Miss...?”
“Ai.”
“I?”
“Ai; may I borrow your notepad?” She wrote the kanji and handed it back.
“Okay, thanks. Why don’t we use this office....”
“No, we don’t.” Said Lily. Never had liked reporters, never would. “We can use the dining hall, and as many of my kids who want to watch, will.” The more witnesses, the smaller his lies.
He glared, then nodded. “Let me get some of my video gear first.” He went to the saddlebags on his bike while Lily pointed the kids in the direction of the hall. She sent a message to Carol.
A quarter of an hour later, tables rearranged, Wayne had a small camera set to record Ai, who sat flanked by about 2/3rd of the children. Lily was next to Wayne, in case she needed or wanted to punch him in the head.
“Okay. From the top: your name is...?”
“Ai.”
“You wrote the symbol for me, thanks, does it mean anything?”
“Love.”
Little Erik snorted.
“And you are...?”
“You behold a prototype android of the Somi Corporation of Osaka, Japan.” Lily enjoyed the evasiveness of her answer and winked at her; she blinked elegantly.
“Why are you here?”
“Somi Corporation has a working relationship with both your country and with Texas A&M University. It was thought a gesture of goodwill to debut one of their products here.”
“That would explain you being in College Station, not Waxahachie.”
“That’s true.” Lily bit down a laugh.
Wayne was not a rookie; he knew a tough nut when he got one. “Tell us why you’re here.”
“To see my dear friend,” she rolled her hand, “Lily.”
“You mean Lily Barrett?” Thanks for stressing the last name, jerk-wad.
The Fourth Law Page 10