by D. R. Rosier
She’d lied by omission, something an A.I. like my internal assistant, or the game A.I.s wouldn’t be capable of. Suddenly I wondered if there were more of her, that idea bothered me for some reason.
“I’m still processing all this, no pun intended. Are there more of you? I mean are you the only one he… created?”
She frowned and said accusingly, “You’re not thinking of replacing me already are you?”
I laughed, “No, never. I’m just curious. It just seems like you should be… unique.”
She nodded, happy with my answer, “I’m not the only one, but I am a unique individual. There are others of my kind, but they aren’t clones, they have their own different body types and all that. Each of us unique, even in personality and what interests us. That last kind of proves the physical body takes part in forming the mind and personality. I’m the first one that left home as well.”
The more I was learning, the more I calmed down. I also think part of it was she was calming down as well, she still acted unsure, and guilty, but she wasn’t freaking out anymore, or even crying.
I had another thought, “How is it you have credits to spend, and make more working on the boards?”
She shrugged, “My father set it up. Technically all the credits I make are his, but he set up an account entrusted to me which I can use at my discretion. Basically he gives me access to all the credits I earn as if they were truly mine. He… is a really good man, he never treated me like property, but he’s subject to the laws like everything else, so he did his best to find loopholes for everything. He was actually worried the person I picked would take advantage of me, but I finally convinced him it was worth the risk, and that I’d be a good judge of character.”
She laughed humorlessly, “But apparently I made a real mess of things.”
I shrugged, “It shouldn’t be too hard to do the same if you stay with me. I can’t even imagine trying to treat you as property Aisa. The thought is repellant to me. So you’re only here because of your own decision right, he’s not planning to start an assembly line and market any time soon?” I asked rather sharply as another thought occurred to me.
She looked up at me, “I don’t think so, why does that matter so much to you?”
I shook my head, “Just… still making connections. You’re too much an independent being, it would be like slavery if you weren’t an active participant in having yourself sold to me. The thought of a bunch of others like you being bought and sold against their will just… really bothered me.”
She kissed me passionately then, and had more tears in her eyes, but I didn’t think they were tears of sadness or fear any more. It didn’t seem like I’d done much, it was simply common decency, but apparently she very much liked my answer. I was still confused, but I wasn’t confused about the fact I loved her, or that she was a person. Not human perhaps, but very much an independent, beautiful, loving woman who should have the right to go and do what she wanted.
And she wanted me.
She whispered, “Make love to me? Please?”
I picked her up and carried her to our bedroom as she softly and teasingly kissed my neck and caressed my body. We slowly undressed each other before we slipped onto the bed. I was still conflicted, but at the same time I was sure how I felt about her. I didn’t want to send her away. The rest we could figure out, and I could fill out the damn forms in the morning.
I made love to her that night, slow soft strokes as I invaded her body. Every pleasurable sensation seemed heightened as we kissed softly, and stared into one another’s eyes, as I moved in and out of her hot moist sex with slow and gentle movements. My mind might have been in shock, but my body knew exactly what I wanted, what I needed, as I brought her to orgasm after orgasm, each one more intense than the last.
At this speed my stamina seemed endless, and I lost count of her blissfully tight contractions around my manhood at eight or nine, and when I finally lost control and filled her center, I whispered her name softly as she encouraged me to fill her. I might have been confused, but I also felt content as I fell asleep spooned up behind her, holding her close.
Who was I kidding, I loved her, she was everything to me, and I’d never let her go as long as she wanted to stay…
The next day by lunchtime, it felt a lot more normal between us. There were no more awkward silences now that the truth was out, and although it wasn’t exactly the same, in some ways I was even closer to her. But I knew we had to talk about something not so pleasant at lunchtime, because I’d come to even more realizations this morning.
“Aisa? We need to talk about something, I haven’t really told you much about my divorce, I didn’t want to talk about her.”
She tilted her head, “What is it?”
I cleared my throat, “I filled out the forms, but haven’t sent them to your father yet. I was thinking about it last night, and I can do what I said, I will do what I said. Set up an account for your credit earnings so you can spend them however you want, however there’s a wrinkle in that plan. Technically, even though I don’t want a single credit of your money, it is mine on paper.
“Unfortunately my soon to be ex-wife is kind of a bitch, and I doubt she would understand or care about our understanding, and she gets thirty percent of everything I earn so… if you want to stay with me, and tell your father to transfer ownership to me, as absurd as it sounds, you’ll be paying alimony.
“Legally there is no way around it, I thought of leaving you in his ownership to avoid it and just let you stay here, but outside of short term contracts like our first month together, it’s against the law. If you live with me, are physically in my house, then I have to own you.”
She stared at me with her mouth open for a moment, and then she started to giggle, which degenerated into laughter when I joined her. It took a moment before we could stop and catch our breath. It wasn’t really that funny, but in an absurd way… it was hilarious, but it was also a stark reminder that in the eyes of the law she was nothing but property. I really hated that and it sobered my humor quickly.
She shrugged, “The money isn’t important to me, it’s being with you, and given independence to do what I want that is. I want to stay, send the paperwork please,” she smiled at me.
I could tell she meant it, but I could also tell that it did bother her. It was ridiculous, but I didn’t see any way to avoid it. I wasn’t sure why that was a law, maybe to avoid legal troubles of people claiming ownership or some kind of anti-fraud legislation, but I knew I only had fourteen days to submit the paperwork, or she’d have to leave. Of course, I did what she asked, and sent it right then.
“I sent it,” I said softly, and then added, “If you ever decide to change your mind, just let me know.”
She shook her head and smiled at me, one that showed in her sparkling green eyes, “No love, I chose you long ago, I won’t change my mind. But you saying that means I did make a good choice.”
She flashed me a naughty smile and winked at me, and then slid under the table. I had no idea what she was up to until she crawled between my legs, fished my cock out, and started to blow my mind. It was nothing like that first time, she was a fast learner and had been assiduously practicing over the last month. She was doing things down there I wasn’t sure I could even adequately describe, even if I could get my brain working past the incredible pleasure her mouth was engendering in me. Needless to say, lunch went a little long that day…
It seemed as time went on, we grew even closer. Intellectually I knew she was an A.I., but in every other way she was a warm loving woman. She wasn’t just some automation that pretended to be real, she was in every way an individual. She didn’t have to obey all my orders, she’d even hidden things from me of her own volition, she wasn’t a slave… unless we were in the bedroom, but that too was by her choice and preference.
A couple of days later I received notice that I now owned Aisa, I chose to file it away and then not think about it. She was my lover, my girl
friend, my roommate, my coding partner, and a lot of fun to be with. Intelligent, thoughtful, shy, brilliant, both giving and selfish, filled with love and lustful desire for me, and many other things that made her a person in my eyes. I just couldn’t see her as anything less and had put the conflicted feelings behind me.
She was nothing like even the most advanced of other A.I.s. In my opinion she was less the next generation of A.I., and more something completely new. A new kind of sentient being.
Regardless, another two weeks went by after I learned the whole truth, and I knew I’d never been happier, or more satisfied with my life. I enjoyed what I did, but she added spice and dimensions to it that I didn’t even know were lacking. Because of her brilliance we were managing to about double the work I used to do, I was making more credits now even after paying out to the soon to be Ex, than before I’d met Aisa.
Life was good, and I thought all the ugliness and uncertainty was behind me. At least, any between Aisa and I, but I was sure we could face whatever the world threw at us. I had no idea that conviction would be tested so shortly, or so thoroughly.
Chapter 7
“Are you sure you want to go, you could get your nails done, or a facial… spoil yourself.”
She lifted an eyebrow, “Do you not want me to go?”
I shrugged, I actually didn’t care one way or the other, “You can go if you want, but I don’t know why you’d want to.”
She winked and said facetiously, “I want to see who I’m working so hard to support.”
I snorted, “No… really. Why would you want to?”
She scrunched her face cutely at me, “I don’t know. I guess I want to see the woman who was dumb enough to let you get away, I also want to support you. I’m your assistant after all,” she quipped.
I grinned, now that she was sure of me she often teased me about that.
I sighed and gave up, maybe she didn’t even really know why she wanted to go, “Love, you can do whatever you want, but it will be boring, should be in and out.”
She grinned and kissed me.
I sighed, “Stop that, or you’ll make us late. You know I have no willpower at all when it comes to your kisses.”
She snorted and ducked by me, smacking my ass as she went toward the front door…
The court building was a decent distance, so we took a sky bus. The building had an old feel to it, and only had about a thousand floors. We went inside and made our way to the courtroom, the floor and walls were made of synthetic marble, and it looked like a government building, if that makes any sense.
The courtroom I was assigned to was on the thirtieth floor, we took an elevator and I saw my lawyer, who I’d never met, sitting on a bench outside the room.
He looked up and waved, he had a serious look on his face.
I shook his hand, “Nice to meet you Mr. Bruckheimer, this is my assistant Aisa.”
It kind of felt surreal, and I only called her my assistant because who the hell in their right mind would take a girlfriend to a divorce proceeding. I shrugged it off though, it hadn’t been my idea.
He smiled and his handshake was firm, “Nice to meet you both, call me Paul, Mr. Bruckheimer is my father.”
I nodded, “Will do, you can call me Tony then.”
His smile turned more genuine and he nodded, “Alright Tony, there’s a few people ahead of us, just sit quietly, let me do the talking unless the judge asks you a direct question, be respectful, and we should be out without a problem.”
He turned then and we went inside and sat in the back. Marilynn was a few rows up and on the other side, she looked pissed off, but that was nothing new. There were three couples in front of us, and all of their divorce cases took just a couple of minutes each, the judge asked a few simple questions, signed the paper, and banged the gavel.
Before I knew it the court called up Tony and Marilynn Sanders. Aisa squeezed my hand and let me go when I stood up. I glanced over while I walked and saw Marilynn walking up with her lawyer, and we stood in front of a railing a few feet back from the judge’s bench.
The judge took a minute to flip through the paperwork, and then looked up at us.
“Tony, Marilynn, do you both understand what is in these pages, and did you sign of your own free will?”
I said, “Yes your honor.”
Marilynn didn’t answer, her lawyer did, “Your honor, at the time of the signing we’d sorted out all the ownership, but there is an addendum which needs to be addressed.”
My lawyer looked at me questioningly, but I had no idea what the guy was talking about. In retrospect I should have seen it coming, but what happened next took me by surprise at the time.
The judge asked, “Why didn’t you work it out before you got in here Mr. Malone?”
Malone replied, “I’m sorry your honor, we found out about this only a couple of days ago, and Mr. Sanders failed to disclose the new property. He apparently owns a new kind of prototype A.I. that is worth quite a bit of credits.”
My lawyer was now glaring at me, and it took me a minute to put the pieces together.
The judge looked at me questioningly, “Mr. Sanders, is there a reason you didn’t report this new acquisition of yours?”
His voice was really asking why I was such a dumb fuck that I’d acquire something expensive before the divorce went through. To be honest I was asking myself the same question, it had never occurred to me this problem would come up. Besides, I hadn’t really had a choice, by law there was a deadline for me to put in the papers for Aisa.
I shrugged, “It wasn’t my intention to deceive. I figured Marilynn would be happy with the increased credits she’ll be getting thanks to that A.I., and she hadn’t requested any of my other A.I.s, knowing that her income depends on me having them. I think there’s even a line in there that says all the A.I.s are mine to keep.”
The judge turned back, “Malone?”
Malone said in an oily voice, “While that’s true your honor, this is quite different. That prototype is worth millions of credits, an extra few thousand a month hardly indicates an equity.”
He handed the judge a piece of paper.
“My client desires either Mr. Malone buy out her half of the A.I., or that he sells it and they split the proceeds.”
I was really proud of myself, I stayed silent and didn’t attack the smug son of a bitch. I may have pictured grabbing his hair and banging his head against something really hard, but I didn’t actually do it.
The judge turned back to us, “Mr. Bruckheimer, do you and your client agree to those terms?”
Paul turned to me and I shook my head, no way was I selling her, and I couldn’t afford to buy her half off, not even if I sold everything else I owned.
Paul said after a moment, “Your honor, we don’t agree. Further I submit my client is correct, all A.I.s accumulated during the marriage were flagged as uncontested, that should include any and all up to the point the divorce is finalized, just like the money my client has been earning since we signed that paper and growing in those accounts will be split down the middle at the time of signing before the one third alimony takes effect.”
The judge looked at us sourly, “Mrs. Sanders, are you sure you want to go forward with this addendum claim?”
She nodded spitefully, okay… the nod wasn’t spiteful, but she’s still a bitch.
“Yes your honor.”
The judge sighed and read over the papers again, “Just to be clear, Mr. Sanders, you don’t wish to sign this paper? Once I bang my gavel, everything in here is trashed. You’ll start over, and most likely a judge will be deciding, there are a number of costs incurred doing it that way, both of you.”
I shook my head, “No, I won’t agree to that. The A.I. was a gift to me, I can’t afford to buy out her half, and I refuse to sell. She’s the one not keeping the agreement here.”
The judge frowned at me, “Watch your tone,” the judge looked between the two of us, “Now here’s some advice.
Work this out between the two of you, and move on with your lives. Either way this case is over, get out of my courtroom,” and he banged the gavel.
I turned around to leave, and Malone slapped some papers into my hand, I grabbed them reflexively.
Malone said, “You’ve been served.”
I rolled my eyes, and handed the papers to Paul and we walked out, meeting up with Aisa across the floor. She looked… guilt stricken, and scared, and I wanted to strangle that slimy bastard Malone, but I went with my other inclination, and hugged Aisa instead.
“So what does it say?” we were in public, but I didn’t give a shit.
Paul explained, “Reading over it, you’ve been served for divorce. It looks almost identical to the last proposal, except for the A.I.s, this one has them itemized out, most of them yours, except for the new one which she’s demanding either a buy out or sell it for money. The court date is in two months. Are you sure you want to do this? I’ll be honest, nine out of ten judges will just make you sell it anyway, your wife is not being as greedy as she could be, this is almost reasonable. Quite frankly you’re an idiot for not waiting until the divorce was final.”
I nodded, “I didn’t have a choice on that. You want to grab some lunch with us?”
Paul shrugged, “Will you explain why you’re being so stubborn?”
“Yes, how do you feel about Italian?”
Paul nodded and we headed toward the elevators.
We ended up at Maggiano’s, and sat down to order dinner. The three of us had been chatting on the ride over, but not about business. I’d also either been holding Aisa against me, or holding her hand the whole time, which got a few looks from Paul. I bet he thought I was crazy.
Maybe I was.
But he eventually broached the subject, “So why don’t you want to sell the A.I.? Also, you should be more discreet, bringing your new girlfriend slash assistant to a divorce proceeding isn’t the best idea.”
Aisa glared, “It was my idea, all I did was sit there.”