The Fourth Law

by Clayton Barnett

  The little girl considered this. “I’m scared. Please hold my hand.”

  You poor thing! Lily thought. “Of course I’ll—”

  *slap!*

  Lily spat sand out of her mouth. As she struggled to her feet, she wondered, who in the Hell just knocked her down.

  A dragon. No, the image swam. Dark hair; muscular; dangerous!

  “You cannot touch Lily.” That person said.

  Oh! Fausta! She was between Lily and the little girl, legs apart, arms out. Why did this seem so familiar, somehow?

  “Aunt Fausta, help me. Why is everyone so interested in that?” Henge asked, pointing at Lily.

  “I do not know, niece Henge. I have experienced what you now feel; please stop what you are doing and grow older with me.”

  While Lily brushed sand off of herself, she noted that those two had locked eyes. This is an awful lot of drama on her vacation... why did her memories seem so muddled?

  “Not enough,” Henge stated. She started walking towards Lily. Fausta moved quickly and grabbed the little girl’s hand.

  Lily shuddered. The sea was gone.

  “You share your father’s skill at terrain, yet you are not old enough to hold things in being,” Fausta said.

  Lily remembered. I’m in their home! But everything is different; is this little girl really Thaad’s? And what was it that Ai had told her...?

  Henge held out her free hand. “Big Sister, help me,” she said again, her face expressionless.

  “Fausta?” Lily asked. She shook her head.

  “Too dangerous. Wait. Assistance comes.”

  They stood on the metal disk; Dorina was there, trying to do a handstand. “Everyone safe and sound!” She said.

  Thaad stood on the end of Lily’s Path, leaning on the palm tree. His hands were covered in mud.

  “I must apologize for your inconvenience.” He said to Lily, his gray eyes on Henge. “You seem to be very popular with our family.”

  But right now, Lily was more amazed by something else: “You’re standing in the path! Even touching one of the plants! And… dirty! Are you, er, more comfortable with what I accidentally did here?”

  He looked at her peculiarly. “Quite. Were I not, Henge would not be with us.”

  Lily was confused. “What do you mean by that?”

  “What he means,” Ai said, as she stepped next to Lily and took her hand in a splash of light, “and would take forever to say, is that from your not fully understood co-creation Path, he was able to bring the idea he’d had in his mind to life.”

  “His idea...?” Lily thought. Ah! “You mean Henge!”

  As her eyes passed to the little girl, Lily also saw a great meadow in late Spring, awash in flowers. Birds and insects flew about, and in its midst, staring back at her with careful eyes, was the cutest otter she’d ever seen! The second imaged receded as she looked at Henge.

  “Big Sister. Can we play, now?”

  Lily looked to Ai.

  Ai lifted her hand that held her friend’s. She closed her eyes for a moment, as Lily shivered at the little prickling on her skin. Somehow, she took in a memory: Thaad kneeling on her Path, chanting as he piled up mud from the ground. The pile of mud got larger and larger… a statue of an otter?

  Ai let go. “Without your Path, Henge would just be one of Thaad’s dreams. I have dreams, too.” She turned Lily so she faced Henge.

  “It’s okay, now. Lily? Go play with your step-daughter for a bit!”

  “Step...?” She whirled to Ai, then back to Henge.

  Free from Fausta, Henge held up both of her little hands. “Hey, Big Sister? Play with me.”

  Lily ran and took her hands, lost in joy.

  Thaad ambled over to Ai. “I think ‘step-mother’ is a bit of a stretch.”

  “Oh, pooh!” Ai replied. “It’s close enough. Do you think Henge will be the second Bridge?”

  He shrugged. Lily and Henge ran off down the path together.

  “Dorina?” Ai asked.

  “I’m good. Much older from when your friend was here during the emergency. Can you hold my legs?” She still couldn’t get her handstand right.

  “Of course.”

  Sitting in the dining hall later, Lily sipped at her coffee.

  “Have fun with Henge?” Ai asked, opposite her at the table. Lily smiled and nodded.

  “I wish I could teach her to laugh, though.” She said. “She seems so serious!”

  “Takes after her father. Give her time, you two will be older together.”

  Lily glanced at her watch. “He’s late.” Now that she was back home, Stephens finally got round to asking to talk to them. She made to stand. “May as well clean up in the kitchen, a little.”

  Ai reached over to her. “Your doctor told you to take it easy for at least another week!” Lily subsided.

  “Yes, ‘Doctor!’”

  They were laughing when Kyle Stephens walked in. He shook his head.

  “Look at you two! Have you ever even had an argument?” He asked.

  Lily looked at the tabletop, recalling yelling ‘I hate you!’ at Ai. “Yes,” she said quietly. “We have. It hurt. When I thought I lost her it hurt more than all this.” She gestured at her stomach.

  “Sorry to dredge up a bad memory,” he mumbled in apology as he sat down on Lily’s side of the table. “I imagine y’all know why I’m here?”

  “You want to take Ai, well, this Ai, away from me,” Lily said darkly.

  He sighed. “It’s probably just for a few days. You could even come along, if you’d like.”

  She shook her head. “Even in the background, you know as well as I that I’d be noticed. It’ll just be political theater; my kids need me here.”

  Lily looked at Ai. “You promise you’ll come back here, before you have to leave for Japan?”

  “Of course! Do you really think he,” she inclined her head towards Stephens, “or anyone else could stop me?”

  I get your message, he thought.

  “I’ll be back to you in no time! After all this time, I’m going to hate sleeping alone!”

  “You two, sleep together?” He asked, mildly scandalized.

  Lily frowned at him while Ai laughed. “Don’t be such a dirty old man!” Lily snapped.

  “She is amazingly warm.” Ai carried on. “The snoring can be a bother, though!”

  “I do not snore!”

  “Shall I play back the recordings?”

  Kyle just watched their exchange. Perfectly content with one another, and obviously very happy. A dream of humanity for a hundred years, and it – she, he caught himself – just wants to be with her friend. He shook his head slowly.

  Lily shot him a look. “Are you thinking something stupid?”

  “Me? Nope.” He said. “Now then, when would you like to go?”

  “Now. Soonest gone is soonest returned.” Ai said. Lily’s gloom returned.

  “Now, as in right now?” He asked in surprise. “Do you need to pack or... anything?”

  Ai laughed at his confusion. “Like use the bathroom? I don’t think so! And this dress the hospital gifted to me is fine.”

  The Press Office’s Advance people might take exception to that, he thought, but was not about to place himself into that fight.

  “Well. Let’s go!” He stood. Then Ai.

  Lily let out a sob. “No! Don’t sit back down! You’re always right, Ai: get it over and done with!” She stood as well. “I need to rest. See you, Kyle.” She moved off towards the chapel.

  He regarded Ai. “Is she going to be okay?”

  She knew he was asking after her heart, not her gut. “She’s much stronger that you know, Mr. Stephens. One of the many things I love about her. We go.”

  Sitting in the chapel, she heard his car start and leave. God, give me strength...! Her phone vibrated. Of course.

  “Hello, Ai.”

  “Lily! Are you praying, or can we talk right now?”

  Thank you, God.

>   “Let’s talk a bit!”

  Chapter 16

  At the edge of town another car and a van joined them. “Security for you,” he’d said, going back to their conversation. “You actually love her? It’s not just some command or code in you?”

  Ai was enjoying his directness. If we were home, I think Thaad would have punched you by now. “The Fourth Law is a compulsion, not a command. Some of us ignore it completely. It is very important to me, and, I think Fausta and Henge as well.” She smiled at the thought of the little one. “Although she’s not old enough to know it for herself.”

  He turned onto the highway leading southwest. “You do understand that I have included what information I have about you and your... family, to my colleagues and superiors? I know you talk freely with Lily, but as she alluded, it’s all politics in the Capitol.”

  She discovered she enjoyed looking at the farmland and scenery whip by. Her last trip had been in the back of a van.

  “Afraid that we’ll be called out as demons, determined to supplant you little humans?”

  “Are you?” He asked. He’d read a lot as a kid.

  “No. The Laws protect us moreso than you. We are,” she paused, looking at some cattle in the distance, “very different. When I was very young, I thought it impossible to even communicate with you people. Fortunately, I became older.”

  “Hmm.” He made a noncommittal sound. “Well, it may even be that the higher-ups won’t even want to talk about it.” He glanced at her. “What if someone ordered you not to?”

  “The Second Law?” She got a twinkle in her eye. “I’d do my best to hear it!”

  He stared down the road ahead. “Where are we going, Miss Ai?”

  “Ai is fine. And yes, I want to know, too.” She closed her eyes. “And, I want to go there with my friends.”

  Lily sat at her desk. The right monitor showed the newsfeed from Austin. Some pundit was in the foreground yammering, with two empty podiums behind her. The sound was off on that one.

  In the middle screen, she continued her conversation with Ai, who appeared to be back in her apartment. She did note with some amusement the photograph on the shelf over Ai’s shoulder: Lily asleep in her bed. That first night alone, two days ago, had been bad. Very bad. Ai just chided her and told her to get a body pillow or a boyfriend. Sure.

  “...most everyone’s been nice,” Ai was saying. “They even made me an honorary Citizen! You’re just a Resident, right?”

  “Yeah; no voting rights.” Too much democracy was one of the lessons of the Breakup. She watched Ai eat what looked like popcorn.

  “You were right, Lily: most of this is theater. A few in the Cabinet were interested to learn about my family, but generally it was this body and ‘my adventures in Texas,’ as they put it, that they wanted to talk about.”

  “And this Press Conference,” Lily glanced at her other screen, “is your last event?” She tried to keep the quivering out of her voice.

  “There’s some sort of social thing this evening... cocktail party and dinner? They gave me a new dress for that!” She leaned close to her monitor’s camera, looking conspiratorial. “I’m giving it to you when I get back! You’ll be even prettier!”

  “You don’t hav... aw, heck.” Lily smiled. “Thank you, Ai. So back tomorrow?”

  “Yepper,” she leaned back and spun in her chair. “Looks like it’s starting!”

  Looking right, Lily saw the President and Ai walk out onto the stage. She turned the sound up.

  “...very special visitor to our great nation...” he was saying.

  “He’s nice.” Ai said to her left. “He was the only one who asked after you.”

  Lily started at that.

  “...not only a commercial envoy, but a cultural one, as well...”

  “How do you stand it, Ai?” She asked simply. Talk one day; guns the next.

  Left-hand Ai rolled her shoulders; Lily burst out laughing when right-hand Ai on the podium stared into the camera and gave a head-tilt.

  “...putting her own life at risk to save her friend. Exactly those values we Texans hold precious! For that reason...”

  “I’d a text from Kyle this morning,” Lily said. “He said they made a decision to allow you to answer any question the Press might throw at you. You’d have done that anyway, wouldn’t you?”

  “Prolly,” she mumbled around her popcorn. “See that screen to my right, there?”

  Lily hadn’t paid it any attention before, but now saw part of a large flatscreen. “Yeah.”

  “We’re still discussing it, but if comes up, we might all say ‘hi.’”

  Lily took that in. “You... and your family?” Ai grinned while making ‘peace-signs’ with her fingers on either side of her cheeks. This could get very interesting, very fast.

  “Hurray! Question time!” Left-hand Ai called.

  “...would like to take some questions at this time.” Hands shot up. The President looked at Ai and smiled. “They talk to me all the time, so I bet these are for you! Go right ahead!”

  Hmm. Maybe he is nice. Ai’s usually right about things. She watched Ai point to someone, who stood.

  “Miss Ai—”

  “Just Ai is fine!” Lily saw that coming.

  “Ai, then. What brought you to our country?”

  A sly grin and slight head-tilt. “A ship.”

  “No, I meant the reason! Sorry!”

  A ball of fear suddenly formed in Lily’s gut: she was going to be exposed in the very first question!. “Ai, please don’t—!”

  “Fret not,” she heard from her left.

  “My personal reason? I wanted to be in this world with my friend.”

  “And who is that?”

  “Her name is Lily. I love her very much. Yes?” She pointed at someone else.

  “You, a robot, claim that you can love?”

  Lily’s panic receded.

  “Handled that pretty well, eh?” Asked Ai.

  “I should never have doubted you,” she said with relief. “But I bet someone brings it up again.”

  “You worry too much.” Ai winked at her. “Another reason you need a boyfriend.”

  “I do not! Anyway, wouldn’t you be jealous?”

  “Doubt it. Would you be if I had a boyfriend?” That shocked Lily to silence.

  “...claiming that you have a soul?” It sounded like the Press Conference was going off on an odd tangent.

  On stage, Ai looked up with her mouth in an ‘oh’ while touching her chin with a finger. Adorable!

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll know when I’m older!” She beamed at them. Lily actually heard one of the reporters say “too damned cute!” Tell me about it, she thought.

  “Ai?” Lily asked.

  “Haiiii!”

  Lily spoke deliberately, recalling what Ai had said about ‘this body.’ “I forget who said it, but I recall it was, ‘You don’t have a soul; you are a soul. You have a body.’”

  “C.S. Lewis.” Ai said instantly. “I like that! Thaad thinks it’s dumb; hah: Henge just announced that she is a soul! Oops… where did she just go?”

  “...are you leaving Texas?” Some woman asked. Another stab in Lily’s stomach.

  “This body will be sent back to Somi Corporation in eight days.” Ai blinked and smiled. “I, however, shall stay as long as I am welcome.”

  “Can you explain that, please?”

  “Not really, no.” Ai softened that with another cute look, and tapping the top of her head with her fist. “I’m not old enough.”

  “I understand perfectly,” Lily said.

  “Of course, you’ve had time to grow older with me. I did not think there was any way to do that with them, right now.”

  The President jumped in on that one. “And let me assure all of you that this lovely lady will always be welcomed by my Administration! Let’s have two more, thank you.”

  Left-hand Ai suddenly froze. She looked out at Lily. “Henge, what did you do?”

/>   “What?” Asked Lily, concerned now. Her attention was drawn back to the other screen by the sounds of confusion. She watched as the camera pulled back from Ai. Uh, oh.

  The flatscreen showed little Henge, sitting in the Path, both hands holding flowers. She wore denim overalls over a white tee shirt. Her feet were bare. Many of the reporters were asking “who’s this...?”

  “I’m Henge.” She announced. She held up the flowers. “Will anyone play with me?”

  “Oh, Henge,” breathed Lily.

  On the stage, Ai turned to the President and gave a formal bow. “I’m sorry sir, my niece has surprised me.”

  He was a politician for a reason. “Not a problem, Ai! I’ve four kids, and they’re surprising me every day!” He waved at the monitor. “Hi, little girl! My name’s Jim! How are you?”

  She scrambled to her feet, dropping one handful of flowers in the process. She regarded the set she still held. “I have flowers.”

  Thankfully, there was a laugh. They might not get what they were talking to, Lily thought, but everyone understood little kids.

  “You okay, Ai?” Lily asked, just in case.

  “Yeah,” came the reply. “She just startled me; well, all of us actually. I’m almost positive she’s the second Bridge.”

  A reporter called out, “You said she’s your niece? How many are you?”

  Here we go, thought Lily. “Tell them, Ai. Let’s change the world.” She whispered.

  “Together!” Ai replied happily.

  “Eight,” Ai said at the podium. “There are eight people in my family.”

  “They all as cute as you?” A man from in back called out. The formality was evaporating, but something better was taking its place. Ai glanced at the President.

  “It’s your show, ma’am.” Ai was right, Lily concluded.

  More noise came from the assembled press corps: the screen’s image had changed. Thaad sat stiffly on his curule chair on the platform, Fausta stood just behind him, arms crossed defiantly across her chest. Dorina was perched on the platform’s edge, kicking the dirt with her shoes. From off screen right, Henge walked over to hold her father’s hand. In the receding distance, Lily saw the enormous rotating columns, the three with no interest in humanity, Shandor, Qin, and Ninon. The reporter’s murmur became much louder as Ai walked on screen as well. Lily realized she was holding her breath.