by D. R. Rosier
Aisa asked, “Should we call the cops?”
I frowned, “I don’t know, how would we explain knowing the problem, it’s illegal to monitor the buildings systems isn’t it?”
Aida grinned, “Technically.”
I nodded, “Alright, at least we have advanced warning, get ready to call though, as soon as our door is breached. Assuming of course, this isn’t some scheduled downtime for an upgrade.”
Aisa shook her head, “Nope, that’s scheduled for next month.”
I grunted a laugh, “Alright, why don’t we…” and that was when I heard a large bang and my front door get bashed in.
I brought up the front area on a wall screen, it was virtual so only I could see it. There were three guys, all decked out in black with weapons that looked a lot scarier than mine. They walked right through the door, and didn’t seem to be falling down.
Aisa said, “Hold on, they have some kind of audio frequency cancellers in their ears. Give me a moment,” and she closed her eyes and was very still.
“What is she doing?”
Aida grinned, “I think she’s hacking their personal A.I. implants, they’re in range of our network after all, if she gets in she should be able to shut off their toys.”
Aida made a face, “I’m better than an average A.I., but I suck at programming compared to Aisa, so I can’t really help.”
I checked the virtual video, my home A.I. was showing them sweeping the outer rooms, and now they were heading toward the hallway. I was getting nervous, but I didn’t want to rush Aisa either, anything I did or said would just distract her and slow her down. It should have occurred to me any prepared team could counteract a citizen’s protection stunner.
Aisa opened her eyes and grinned, “Got them, I’m going to wait until they’re all in the hallway, then take their protection away.”
It was a good thing I didn’t have a fragile ego, because it turned out that after all I did they were the ones protecting me. But then the hallway wouldn’t have a stunner if I hadn’t bought it and set it up. Actually, it was kind of turning me on. Aisa had a hard glint in her eye, and had a look of triumph after she’d hacked the AI implants. It was kind of sexy.
I must have been staring at Aisa hungrily, because Aida whapped my arm softly and teased, “You can fuck her later, pay attention,” then she winked at me so I’d know she was just teasing.
I checked the window, only two were in the hallway, one was waiting up front in the living room. And they were almost to the bedroom door.
“Do it now Aisa, I don’t think the third guy is coming back here.”
She nodded, and her eyes narrowed for a moment, and I saw the two guys drop like two puppets that had their strings cut.
“What now?” she asked, her cheeks flushed with success.
“Well,” I said thoughtfully, “The cops are coming, and he’s caught between the stunner in the hallway, and the one by the door, so let’s just keep an eye on him for now.”
“Do you know who they are?”
She nodded, “Yeah, their personal A.I.s are loaded with info. Three guys from a security team at A.I. Horizons. Their mission was to bag at least one of us, and remove the rest as witnesses. I’m not sure how, but they had the key to shut down the building security A.I. Once they had what they wanted, and the rest of us were dead, they would have burned out the condo’s A.I. memory systems, so there wouldn’t be any evidence left.
“Nasty people. Thank you by the way, we’d have been screwed if you hadn’t gotten all this protection stuff.”
I nodded, “And without you two bugging and hacking we’d have been caught while sleeping.”
I was probably staring at her like I wanted to throw her down and take her, most likely because I really did feel that way in that moment, because she blushed at my regard. I supposed there probably wasn’t time before the cops got here, so I turned away reluctantly and I checked the virtual monitor on the wall. The guy was pacing in the living room. He muttered something under his breath, and then broke for the front door.
Aisa said fiercely, “Got him,” as he dropped to the floor by the condo’s entrance.
It took the police another five minutes to get here. We stayed in the bedroom while they cuffed the intruders, and waited for them to call us out…
Chapter 19
There seemed to be a lot of police to start with, and they asked a lot of questions. Aisa and Aida seemed a little upset, but were definitely holding it together. We’d been expecting something like this after all, but to have it happen was an entirely different story. I wanted to take them both and Cal, beat my chest, and run for the hills. I wanted them to feel safe.
Of course, that wouldn’t really help in this case, my A.I. implant was trackable, supposedly only those I allowed to track it, or law enforcement could do so, but I wasn’t that naive. Plus, doing that would make it too tempting for the government to just snatch us up with no witnesses.
That could have just been paranoia speaking, but there was no reason to chance it.
None of us told the police about the ladies infiltrating the building A.I., and just indicated the house A.I. woke us. The frequency wave cancelling technology the ladies had turned off was another story, no doubt their techs would be able to determine they were hacked, so we explained what happened there. I was hoping self-defense would make that an acceptable fact.
Hacking wasn’t legal, but then neither was stunning someone except in self-defense. Either way, the cops didn’t more than raise an eyebrow at that part of the story, they didn’t seem surprised either, since they recognized who we were right off. We also had to provide them with the condo-A.I.’s records of the incident.
It took about an hour for the building owner to make it in and reset the building A.I., and another twenty minutes for the repair robots to show up with a new door and the pieces to repair the doorframe. By that time there were only a couple of police left in the apartment, just here to keep an eye on things until the condo was considered secure again.
Once they left, Cal took Karen back to bed, and the ladies took me back to bed. We were all relieved, but there’d been a close call, it was a hard thing to realize I could have easily died. I wasn’t afraid for me though, or at least, I had been more afraid for Aisa and Aida. We eventually did manage to fall back asleep, but not until I had taken Aisa, and Aida had taken me almost directly after.
It was life affirming sex, I’d never wanted them more than before that. I don’t really understand the psychology of it, but I’d heard close calls often engender that reaction in a human. Apparently the same reaction is provoked inside A.I. humans as well. There had been an almost desperate tinge to the love making, and we did make love.
The only strange part was neither of the women wanted to leave the room and be on their own, so first Aida when I was with Aisa, then Aisa when I was with Aida, had fully immersed into virtual reality, for virtual privacy.
We felt a lot better afterward, and relaxed enough to fall asleep all cuddled up together with our limbs intertwined…
For most of the next day or so, I had two shadows constantly with the exception of bathroom breaks. I didn’t mind at all though, I kind of felt the same way they did although none of us discussed it. There was a part of me that wanted to panic when I couldn’t see one of them, it was as if they’d be in danger if they were out of my sight. I knew that made no sense, but it was how we all felt. Eventually though, after a few days that feeling slowly faded and life regained a little normalcy, if any part of my life could be considered normal any longer.
The break in also brought in a renewed round of news stories, along with a new stream of letters and messages from the outlier groups. We were having breakfast the third morning after the break in when Aisa sighed.
Aisa shook her head, “Are we ever going to be able to go outside again?”
I frowned, “It should die down after the trial ruling. Chances are we’ll be stuck inside a while after that. I don’t like it eithe
r, but maybe another few months? That’s like six months altogether, which I know is insane, especially since its only been a week so far. Even if we move like we planned right after the trial… There will be a new storm of angry people when you win your freedom.”
Aida tilted her head, “You sound so sure we’ll win.”
I shrugged, “We should win, the evidence is there. If we don’t it will be because the judge is a bigot.”
Aida smiled at my answer.
Aisa frowned, “Six months? I’ll go nuts.”
Aida snickered and teased, “Go?”
Aisa stuck her tongue out, “Nuttier then?”
I laughed, “Yeah. I hate the idea too, but it’ll be worth it in the end. We’ll get out some days, court, interviews…”
Aisa looked at me and softened a little, “I love you too, I suppose I kind of turned your life upside down, didn’t I. I never meant for any of this, I…” she trailed off.
“Yes you did. I haven’t been the same since I first saw those beautiful green eyes of yours, and I wouldn’t change a thing. You’re worth the fight, both of you. I’ve never been happier, even with all the baggage. It’s only temporary, we’ve the rest of our lives after.”
I took a sip of coffee and got back to eating breakfast.
Aisa still looked a little worried, but she smiled for me. There was only so much I could do, I couldn’t fix everything, and I knew she’d have to work it all out for herself. I could talk until I was blue in the face, she had to come to terms with it all on her own.
After breakfast we went into my office and got to work. There was plenty of it to do, there were a number of companies that had flagged jobs to not be done by Aisa, but there were much more that actually requested her work. She seemed to loosen up as the day went on, and I tried not to worry about her.
Aida seemed her normal cheerful self as she sat sideways on the couch with her legs stretched out, she must have been the only hot young blonde I knew that actually preferred to stay inside. She added an almost calming vibe to the group, she wasn’t at all bothered by spending so much time alone with just us.
Aida didn’t get scared in public anymore, and even had fun, but I believed she still felt most comfortable at home with just the three of us. I was looking forward to how she would deal with that when, or if, she became a doctor. Regardless, we shared a few looks and she didn’t look too worried about Aisa, as they were close sisters and in constant mental contact, I felt her opinion could be relied on and tried not to worry about it.
I didn’t know it then, but Aida would be the glue that held us all together, even when Aisa and I both got a little stir crazy. I already missed going to the bars and just… fresh air. I knew Aisa felt the same, it felt like a prison in a way, although at the same time, at least I was stuck inside with two women I loved.
It was a couple of hours later when Aida came up behind me and started to give me a neck and shoulder massage. She was extremely good at it, and I felt much better when she was done. She moved on to her sister when she finished with me. We were all feeling loose and relaxed when she finished. I returned the favor, though I was by no means an expert. I wondered if her medical knowledge made her so good it, or if she’d studied masseuse techniques, maybe I’d ask later but I didn’t want to ruin the relaxed mood. Either way I was feeling great for the first time in days, excluding bedroom games of course. One thing led to another however, and lunch went over long that day…
Much later that afternoon I got a popup, Hainsworth was calling. I answered it.
“Hello Gerald. Just a second.”
I ordered my A.I. to route the call to the physical screen in the room, so the girls could see it as well. A few moments later Cal walked in, I assume they’d called him over their constant link.
“Go ahead, we’re all here.”
Gerald replied, “Tony, got some news for you. The government is finally moving on things, and they want their own experts to do an assessment before trial. From what I understand, they’ll be doing a simple psychiatric assessment and observation for twenty-four hours, not a long one like Doctor Adams did. They’ll also be running their own scans and drawing blood in that time.”
“I see, when are they coming by?”
Gerald continued, “They’ll be by tomorrow morning to pick up Cal, Aisa, and Aida, who will be returned the following morning. They want to use their own facilities, and you’re not authorized to accompany them.”
“I don’t like that Gerald. I don’t trust them.”
Gerald sighed, “Me either, but the judge agreed to their demands, and technically they aren’t considered human yet. According to the paperwork they won’t do anything invasive, I don’t see we have much of a choice.”
Aisa kissed my cheek, “We’ll be fine, and we’ll stay in contact.”
Of course, the worst possible outcome occurred to me, they could simply run any tests they wanted on them, even say they were accidentally damaged and pay me credits to reimburse me for property damage, and then keep them. I realized how paranoid that sounded, but I loved them both, and even Cal as family, so I wasn’t happy.
“Gerald, can you get a reporter down here in the morning? Maybe make it a story, the government doing their own assessments and all that, get some footage of agents taking them away?”
Gerald grunted, “Good idea, I’ll call Katie, I’m sure she’ll help,” he addressed the three of them, “Besides being good news, I think she really likes the three of you as well.”
Aida smiled, “Thanks Gerald.”
He nodded and disconnected.
“You can keep in touch?”
Aisa smiled, “Sure, we never bothered because I’m pretty much always with you, but we can keep an open line with your personal A.I., much like we keep an open line between each other. Think of it like a party line, you’ll also hear all my siblings as well, is that okay?”
I nodded, “That would make me feel better.”
She gave me a hug and kissed me hard, and then whispered, “We’ll be fine, I love you Tony.”
Aida hugged me too, from behind as I replied to Aisa and kissed her again. I’d had a dream like this once, and Aisa giggled when she felt my reaction press against her stomach. Not that the dream was going to come true, but that was okay.
She pulled back slightly, “Dinner?”
I nodded, and we saved our work and went into the kitchen…
The next morning, I was added to an audio chat room of sorts. Aida had explained that for them it was a little different, they could share feelings back and forth as well as words, but of course I couldn’t as my A.I. implant wasn’t capable of it.
I was introduced to the five others in her family. Bill and Dan, the older men just a bit younger than Aida, were incredibly reserved and shy. I understood almost immediately why they’d deferred to Cal when the time came to send some more people up. So much so I wondered if they’d even bother to try and integrate with society when they were free to do so.
Sally, at nineteen, was a chatter box. I don’t mean that in a negative way, she actually had me laughing even though I knew Aida and Aisa would be out of my reach shortly. She had that same excited edge in her words that Aisa so often had, but without any of Aisa’s reserve.
Cheryl was just seventeen, and somewhat introverted. She was polite, but also obviously worried about her big sisters and Cal, she didn’t say much outside of introducing herself. I wasn’t sure if she was naturally that way, just worried, or just shy around a new person. Some people were like that, shy until you got to know them, and then they never shut up again.
That said I wasn’t acting all that much like myself either, I was tense for obvious reasons. Still, I didn’t see much of a choice, we couldn’t avoid this if we wanted them to be free. I just hoped my press idea worked, but I knew if they wanted something bad enough they wouldn’t have a problem simply stonewalling.
Steve was the youngest at sixteen, he was kind of a wise ass, and obviously sti
ll had some growing up to do. He reminded me of Aida in a way, he had that same teasing sense of humor, but his humor still had a lot of rough edges and none of Aida’s subtlety.
They also programmed some routines into my A.I., in the future I’d be able to join or leave, or even call one of them individually if I wanted to, on my own. In a way, that made me feel very welcomed by their family, I’d even have said touched if I wouldn’t have lost my man card for saying so. I might not have known them so well yet, but I was sure they knew a lot about me through Aida, Aisa, and probably even Cal.
Once introductions were out of the way, the connection got a little confusing at first. As seemingly there were a number of different conversations going at once, like at a dinner table. I started to get a headache until I had that thought, and once I picked up the knack of filtering down to one conversation at a time, I was able to handle it a lot better.
The wait was too long, and entirely too short as a couple of FBI agents came to pick them up, ostensibly to protect them from the public during transport. Karen and I accompanied them downstairs, and I collected a hug and kiss from both of them before they left. The agents didn’t look happy about the large crowd and cameras, but they didn’t say anything either.
My stomach seemed to sink further as I watched the air car take off and I stared at it until it was out of sight. I was kind of disgusted with myself, and freely admit I was kind of a wreck. They’d be fine without me watching them, they were grown adults, but I couldn’t get my heart to quite believe it. I realized how much time we spent together constantly had blown my natural desire to protect them out of proportion, but knowing it and feeling it were two different things.
The connection did help though, and I listened to Aisa giving cooking advice to Sally, and Aida ribbing Dan as I walked back up to the apartment alone, Karen was heading home and meeting up with some friends. I couldn’t blame her, we hadn’t really gotten to know each other that well, we were acquaintances, or possibly friends of the sort that hang out because they have common people.