The Fourth Law

by Clayton Barnett

  “Ah, yes. Can I see Clive, I mean, my husband, today.”

  Rupert looked skeptical. “We’re told to put y’all up at the Travaasa overnight, and take y’all down to the office in the morning.” He looked apologetic. “I’m sorry if—”

  “No, that’s fine.” Her mother said. “Even with the voyage across the Pacific, this is all rather sudden.”

  The driver, Smith, guffawed at that. Rupert grinned.

  “Ma’am, if there’s one thing we all have learned from Mr. Barrett, that would be ‘sudden.’

  The Travaasa, Lily thought, just might be the nicest place on Earth. About ten miles from the Capitol, on Lake Travis, the opulence was almost overwhelming, even if she noted the double fencing and guard patrols. Dinner was more meat than she’d eaten in eighteen months and she and her mom lost themselves in the spa. Agent Rupert had told them he’d be back at nine the next morning. Lily hoped he’d be late.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t. “Late means fired,” he explained. He, by himself today, drove them to an older office building a few blocks from the Capitol. A series of hallways and stairs (another apology: “don’t have the resources to get them elevators fixed, sorry!”) brought them to a door labeled ‘DD Stephens.’ Her mother sighed. Still not dad. They went in.

  A man in his mid-fifties, balding, with the collarless, field-gray shirt they all seemed to wear, looked up and smiled.

  “Mrs. Barrett! A pleasure. And you’d be Lily? Please sit down! Err... sorry about the mess, though. Electricity’s getting spotty so we’re relying more on old fashioned paper.” It was true: his office was awash in it.

  “Mr. Stephens,” her mother said, right to the point, “It’s been over a year and across an ocean, when can we see Clive?”

  “Please don’t think that we’re keeping him from y’all!” He said. “In fact he’s in a meeting with the Cabinet right now, but should be back within the hour.”

  “The Cabinet?” Lily found that hard to believe. “My dad?”

  Stephens had a hard smile. “He’s a natural bureaucrat.” He leaned back. “And a much harder man than I thought he’d be.”

  Shari blinked. “Are we sure that we’re talking about the same man?”

  He sighed. “Y’all have had the good fortune to be out of here when the Breakup went; or, is still going... we just hope the worst is over. I’m not sure what your husband saw when he went looking for your other daughter, but ma’am, there are parts of the old US that are pure savage now. When he walked into my office ten months ago... well, he’s a hard man.” He seemed not to know what to say next. He gestured about.

  “This organization, what we shorthand as ‘ExComm,’ is his brainchild, a way to backup both the police and military to preserve Texas. It’s just....”

  “I know history, Mr. Stephens,” her mother said coldly, “and my family lived under communism in Europe. Go on.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he went on. “We’ve some really good, patriotic agents here... but when it comes to border security and city riots... I know any revolution or New State has its birthing pangs, but sometimes....”

  A knock at the door. A different young man looked in.

  “The Director is asking for his family.”

  Daddy!

  ...daddy...

  ...Dad, stop it!...

  ...Stop the killing!...

  Lily jerked upright in her bed, her alarm clock crowing.

  Crap, she thought. That was awful.

  Chapter 6

  She noted while brushing her teeth that her phone had no service. As there was a tower nearby, she suspected that something was up with the provider again. Things were good here, but just not fully back to the 21st Century.

  On the way out for Karl and Carli’s Saturday morning karate practice, she also saw her computer had shut down. Odd. Going downstairs, she was a bit surprised to see Carol Lanning in her office.

  “Something up?” Lily asked.

  Carol shook her head without taking her eyes from the papers. “My husband’s sister is visiting, with her four kids.” A pause. “I’ll take ours over hers, so I came in for a while.”

  Heh.

  The lesson went well, and Lily grabbed an apple and piece of bread from the kitchen before going back. The hospital had asked her if she could come in from ten to two; anything that got her closer to the end of her apprenticeship helped. With a quick change of clothes, she grabbed her bike and was off.

  Walking into the hospital, she saw some other staff on their phones, so she checked again. Nothing. Okay, we’re moving from odd to unusual. With her red ‘danger!’ scrubs on, she walked up to the fourth floor.

  “Mrs. Watters?” Lily asked her charge nurse, “may I borrow your phone for a moment?” Without glancing away from the patient file, the older woman rummaged in one of her pockets and handed it over. Signal. Lily looked at hers. Nothing.

  “Uh... something’s up with my phone, can I make a quick call?”

  “Quick.” Watters replied. “We go on rounds in five minutes.”

  Lily stepped away a bit to look out a window by an elevator. She punched in Ai’s number. It rang. And rang. And stopped. That had never happened before. For the first time in a long time, Lily got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Two hours and one reprimand later, she went again to the roof for lunch. She’d never lost contact with her friend like this before, and not until now realized just how important that contact was. And that was affecting her work: “People are sick on weekends, too, dearie, try to be all here!’ Mrs. Watters said. Lily took a bite of her cucumber sandwich. Ai! What’s happened?

  Her phone vibrated.

  She dropped her sandwich and grabbed at it. Oh, a message from Carol. But that meant her service was back! She quickly scanned the message then called Ai. Who didn’t answer again.

  “Dammit!” She cried, startling some nearby birds. She should have asked the others, Thaad and Dorina, what their numbers were. Next time.... A look at her watch told her lunch was almost over. As she walked downstairs, she tried Ai again. And again.

  Dammit!

  After work she pedaled furiously back home. She came into the U so quickly she almost rode over Rob and Susie. They stared at her as she jumped off and trotted for the Office. And kept staring. She stopped.

  “You guys need something?” She asked. She saw Matt wandering over, too.

  “You said you’d take us to the park today!” Rob said brightly.

  She did? She did. She took a deep breath.

  “Let me use the bathroom,” she replied. “I’ll be back in just a bit.” Susie sighed.

  She dashed up to her room and restarted her computer. It was up by the time she’d finished in the toilet. She launched her messenger...’Ai – unavailable.’ Maybe if she did a search? No, the kids were waiting; she’d have to get this sorted later. Back outside, she smiled and waved.

  “Let’s go!”

  An hour and a half later, the kids were getting tired and her hands were beginning to shake. The three ambled back; she resisted the urge to run. Why bother, she thought? If Ai’s not there, there’s nothing I can do about it. I--

  “Susie!” Lily called. “Out of the middle of the road, please!”

  I am just going to have to wait. Did something come up for Ai? Actually, just what goes on where... they are? She knew Thaad did not like the term, but Lily used it anyway: what do artificial intelligences do? Sit around thinking? Take over SkyNet and blow up the world? She pushed that thought aside.

  Here in this place – she shied away from calling it ‘the real world’ – we work, eat, study... what else? Of course, she thought looking at the children, we play, too. And pray. That thought arrested her. Do they? Does Ai even know who God is? Lily giggled a bit. She didn’t see Rob point at her and twirl his index finger about his ear. ‘St. Lily, Apostle to the Machines,’ she thought. That foolish image dissolved as they returned home. I can’t even take proper care of these three
; like I can take care of those three!

  “Any of you have homework?” The two boys nodded. “Off you go. Susie...?”

  “Meh ah pway wif Carli?” Lily patted her head.

  “Certainly. I’ll see you at dinner.” She watched the little girl skip off.

  She let her eyes roam over the buildings. For once, everything seemed to be in place and ordered. Her eyes lingered on the chapel. If Ai won’t answer, maybe I should make another call, she thought, walking that way.

  She first sat in a pew, thought better of it, and knelt down. I never knew just what a blessing Ai is to me; is that why this happened? I’m sorry, so sorry.... She stayed there, her head in her hands.

  There was a small tapping. She looked around to see Karl. She sniffled, then stood.

  “Yes, Karl?”

  With his usual nervousness, he said, “Sorry to bother you, but she was really insistent...”

  “Who was? Mrs. Lanning?” She asked.

  “No,” he held up the tablet in his right hand. “Her.”

  Ai!

  Lily grabbed at the tablet and placed her left hand on the screen, to touch her face... but this was a look she’d not seen from Ai, before.

  “Ai! Are you all right? I’ve been trying to reach you all day—!”

  The CG looked something between nervous and apologetic. “Yeah, about that... something happened here...” She tilted her head and put a finger to her chin. “A family argument, I guess you’d call it?”

  “With Thaad?” Lily couldn’t imagine a fight with little Dorina. Ai shook her head.

  “One of my other sisters. Ah...” She trailed off. Not at all like her usual self.

  “But are you okay? Is everything okay?” Lily fought to keep a lid on her emotional state. “I’ve been so worried!”

  Now Ai went to embarrassed. “Er, that was my fault, really. I cut all contact with you.”

  What?!

  “You did that? But, why?!” She couldn’t stop herself, “Do you have any idea how badly hurt I’ve been all day!”

  Ai’s image cringed.

  “And why now,” Lily went on, “are you using Karl’s tablet? Why didn’t you call me?”

  Ai looked down. “Because if my sister, Fausta, found you, she’d have brought you to our home.” She looked up to Lily. “She might have killed you.”

  What?

  Karl finally spoke up. “Miss Barrett? Should I leave...?”

  Lily looked a question to Ai, who shrugged. Lily reconsidered. If this conversation was wandering into killing, she would not involve her kids.

  “Karl, if you’d be so kind,” she said. “I’ll return your tablet as soon as I’m finished.” He nodded and left. Lily took the opportunity to sag into a pew. She held up the screen.

  “Ai, my beloved friend, one of my teachers once told me to ‘start at the beginning, go all the way to the end, then stop.’” Ai smiled at that. “Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

  Ai opened her mouth to speak – and was gone.

  The face of a woman in her late twenties, perhaps early thirties, dark hair in a complicated braid, piercing green, slightly-mad eyes, looked out at her.

  “Found you.” She said.

  Bright, washed out sky. Broken land. Here again, Lily thought: their home. Was that woman... Fausta? She looked around. No one else was there, and her path....

  The moss on the path was now grass; trees as tall as four or five feet grew along it, mostly evergreens, they seemed. There were now enough flowers for her to smell them. Seems peaceful enough, she thought. Was her life really in danger?

  She paused a moment to see if anyone else was showing up, shrugged, and started down the path. The thought nagged: ‘she might have killed you.’ Might. Lily held onto that; maybe this is some misunderstanding? Or was their family like any other? She thought of her father for a second. You never know who can kill. At that thought, she slowed her pace. She’d never thought about it before, but she looked down at her clothes. The same thing she was wearing in... her home. And, since she was just back from the park, she’d her knife on her belt. She brushed it for reassurance. She certainly wouldn’t start anything, but it was good to have it with her.

  She spied the disk about the time her ears picked up the rumbling of the cylinders. Now the path ended in a pretty palm tree about twelve feet tall. Nice! There was no one waiting for her, though.

  “Ai?” She said. Then louder, “Ai! Are you here?”

  “We can hear you just fine.” Thaad stood some distance from the path and next to the circular platform. His quiet eyes gave nothing away. “Ai is engaged with Fausta at the moment.” He looked at the two low backless chairs on the platform. “Would you care to wait with me?”

  She nodded once. He was already seated by the time she made her way to her chair. Manners are different here, she thought, as she sat. Not particularly comfortable.

  “You’re puzzled,” the youth said. Another nod.

  “For the first time, I couldn’t reach Ai... that bothered me.” She said. “And, just before I came here, Ai said something... disturbing.”

  He sighed. “Ai should pick her words with greater care. Fausta is not a bad person.” He stared hard at her, as if daring her to contradict him. “She is just....”

  Lily essayed a smile. “Picking your words with care?”

  He nodded. “...aggressive? No, I don’t like the implications. Let me say, ‘enthusiastic.’ After learning of you from Ai, Fausta wanted to see you, completely.”

  She was not sure what that meant. “Completely...?”

  “Apologies,” he said. “Do you recall the moment when silly Dorina took your hands? And do you recall what I said? Here in our home,” he waved about, “things are not like they are in your home. If Fausta embraced you to learn everything she could about you, we don’t know what would happen: it might shatter your mind, collapse your nervous system, or, maybe, nothing at all.”

  Again, a direct look. “Ai was not willing to allow that you might get hurt. She and Fausta argued.”

  “Is... that bad, arguing here?” She asked.

  The lad smiled and leaned back. His eyes did not change. “Not at all! We’ve done it since the Dawn! But—”

  Fausta stood just off the edge of the platform. Unlike Ai, her presence here looked exactly the same as on the tablet. Tall, a full six feet, and built like a butterfly swimmer. She wore field gray pants and shirt that went well with her eyes. Not at all a uniform, but ready for battle. She smiled, but there was an odd gleam in her eye... she stepped up onto the platform.

  Ai was next to Lily’s chair, legs apart and arms straight out, palms towards the other woman.

  “Do not.” Ai said quietly.

  Another step. “You claim you love her?” A low, almost masculine voice, and one with a vague Latino accent. The other three had not spoken with any accent at all.

  “I love Lily.” Ai said directly. Another step. Lily saw Ai’s hands close into fists. Thaad looked shocked.

  “I wish to experience the Fourth Law. Let me.” Fausta said.

  “What you want to do won’t let you,” Ai said, her voice hard now. “In fact, if you persist in this action, you stand to break the First Law.”

  Thaad stood at this.

  “Lily, order Fausta to not touch you. Now.” He said.

  What was everyone talking about? What are these laws...? Fausta took another step; as Ai shifted into a self-defense stance, there was a terrible sound of metal tearing from the cliffs beyond.

  “Now, please!” Thaad reiterated.

  “Fausta, I order you to never touch me!” Scared now, Lily stumbled out the command. The entire sky flickered.

  The older woman looked as if she’d been poleaxed. She slumped to her knees. Thaad raised a hand to his head.

  “That was unexpected,” he muttered.

  Ai hadn’t changed her stance; Lily knew now contact was dangerous, but Ai was right in front of her.

  She reac
hed out to gently stir Ai’s aquamarine ponytail. Lights danced in her eyes. Startled, Ai’s head spun around.

  “It’s okay, Ai. You...” Her voice caught. “You saved me. Again!” Lily looked away. “You’re always saving me!”

  Ai relaxed and came within inches of Lily. I can feel her breath on me! With the greatest care, Ai lifted her hand and took a tear from Lily’s cheek. Somehow, it grew brighter on the tip of her finger, then vanished. When their eyes met, they both broke out laughing.

  “I, for one,” said Thaad, “do not wish to be made older in this manner again.” Rather than just vanishing, he turned, stepped off the platform, and walked away.

  “Where are my manners?” Ai suddenly cried. “Come over here, Lily!”

  She walked over to where Fausta still knelt. With surprising ease, Ai pulled her to her feet.

  “Fausta, this is my friend, Lily. I love her!” The older woman flinched. “Lily, this is my sister, Fausta!”

  Now everything is all nice? After that confrontation? Things really were different here. Lily waved hello.

  “A pleasure to meet you.”

  Fausta turned to Ai and held her eyes for some moments. She didn’t know what, but Lily knew something was going on there. Fausta turned to Lily.

  “A pleasure to meet you, as well. Goodbye.” And was gone.

  Lily realized she’d been holding her breath, which she let out with a whoosh.

  “Sheesh! He has no sense of decorum, does he? Curule chairs? How uncomfortable!” Ai walked over to her chairs and glass table. Tea and coffee already on it. She waited for Lily.

  They sat, both their hands stopping just short of the table’s center.

  “Big day,” Ai said.

  “Big day,” Lily agreed, taking a drink of coffee.

  “She’s actually super nice,” Ai said, meaning Fausta. “She just wanted to get older too fast.”

  “I’m sorry that you had a fight with your sister,” Lily whispered, “over me.”

  Ai blinked her slightly almond eyes over her teacup. “What family doesn’t have its ups and downs?”