The Fourth Law

by Clayton Barnett

  “Go as quickly as you see fit; warn me when we take any turns.” Ai ordered.

  “Miss Ai!” Marienne called. “The school’s nurse, Agnes Varro, is in the army; she might help!”

  By the time Ai had thanked her, she was already calling the nurse. As they moved into the street, she saw Mrs. Fitzhugh station Pedro and his bat over the unconscious woman while Karl tied her up. She had an idea. Thaad of course did not like it, but Fausta certainly did. Not a twinge from the Laws. Father, she wondered, am I broken?

  Snacks, it turned out, were some celery with cream cheese and a small bowl of lentil soup. She thought about that. She remembered checking her breath for a coffee aroma back at her home. Thaad had stayed with her, but was not much of a conversationalist.

  “It’s very good, thank you!” She started. May as well ask. “Is it really, you know... food?”

  He could almost smile. “No, and yes.”

  She waited for more through another spoon of soup. When that appeared to be it, she asked, “What does that mean?”

  “Physical food for your human digestive system? No. Is it a representation of something that we think will strengthen your mind, yes.” He let go a little sigh. “Perhaps if Ai were here, she could Bridge your sight and show you.”

  “She’s still... busy?”

  “Yes.”

  Lily carefully set down her bowl. “Am I going to die, Thaad?”

  “I do not know.”

  Just how bad off am I?!

  “If... if I die... can I stay here, with Ai?” She was trying very hard not to cry; it would upset him, she thought.

  “I do not know that, either. One, it has never happened before, and two, if your religion is correct, it would be impossible.” He seemed to consider that. “That would offer a curious confirmation of your beliefs. I confess I am intrigued about the possibility.”

  Did he just say he wanted her to die?

  “Well I’d rather put that off, if you don’t mind!”

  He leaned back a bit. “Of course!”

  She didn’t want to eat anymore and she was both bored and scared. “Hey, Thaad. Thanks for keeping me company. Do you... could you tell me a story?”

  Another blink. “A story? About what?”

  She shrugged and grew a tiny smile. “Could you tell me a true story, about your sister, Ai?”

  Jake Fitzhugh made the best possible time. Only about every third street light was on, so he could not go too fast. Fortunately there were few cars to begin with and fewer at this time of the evening; he was more likely to hit a horse and rider in the dark. He would slow at intersections, but honk his way through without stopping. Lily was still losing blood.

  “...entry wound around her stomach; she was either spitting or coughing blood. The second appears to have grazed the left side of her skull...” Ai continued, as she spoke to the nurses and doctor on staff via one of the Emergency Room’s computer monitors. She’d long before provided them with Lily’s complete medical history... especially blood-type; she was going to need a lot of blood. Lily was Type B, so could fortunately receive from the more common Type O. The doctor was asking a question.

  “I do not know if there is an exit wound; she is too unstable to move that much... yes, I would say at least Stage III Hypovolemic shock...”

  “Last turn! Almost there!” Jake called from the truck’s cab.

  “We shall be at your facility in twenty seconds.” A nurse nodded and went quickly to get the emergency techs outside with a stretcher.

  The truck stopped, Ai carefully handed Lily over. They rushed her inside. To Jake, she asked him to go on back. She would contact them.

  He nodded. “Everyone will be praying, Miss Ai! The chapel will be packed all night! You go take good care of her!” He drove off.

  I must, Ai thought as she walked in, wiping her eyes, find a way to turn off this unit’s crying subroutine....

  The nurses and admin at the front desk of the ER were shocked: the clean, composed young woman they’d been talking to on the monitor just a moment ago was now a disheveled mess: her blouse was almost torn off, and she was covered in blood.

  “You will take me to Lily Barrett.” Ai stated.

  “You’d be Miss Ai?” A perfunctory nod. “Miss Barrett is being prepped for surgery at this moment, you,” she gestured, “are far too dirty to enter an OR. And even once you’re cleaned up, we cannot allow anyone but staff into—”

  “I am a trained nurse.” She said clearly. “And doctor.” She slightly tilted her head. “And surgeon. Please take me to OR Prep that I get cleaned off and my garb on.”

  The nurse had plenty of both hysterical and hard cases before, and she knew how to deal with them.

  “Miss Ai, I understand the concern you have for your friend, however—”

  Every light and computer in the ER Receiving went out. Into the darkness, Ai said dispassionately, “What I did to this room, I can do to your entire facility, this city, and your country.” The lights came back on; the computers rebooting. The nurse made a look at one of the Admins. “And,” continued Ai, “I can do worse things to your security staff. I have ascertained this hospital’s floor plan. I’m off to OR Prep.”

  She turned and walked out.

  “What should we do, Mrs. Hines?” Asked the Admin clerk.

  “Hand me the phone.” She said. “I better tell the OR what’s headed their way... and there’s no way to stop her.”

  In the full-length mirror in the Prep Room, even Ai was surprised at her condition: essentially naked from the waist up, splatters of blood everywhere; her knees were pocked with sand and gravel. No matter. She rinsed off as a tech handed her scrubs and covers. She knew full well that chatter on the phones... so long as there are not private phones, I can listen, right, Father?... in the hospital were all about her; as no one impeded her, she didn’t care.

  She stepped into the OR theater. Only the surgeon glanced up; the two nurses were busy.

  “I’m Dr. Roberts, surgeon. Nurses Coulter and Varro shall assist me. Franks here will be handling anesthesia.” Agnes Varro glanced up for a moment and smiled at Ai with her eyes, then returned to what she was doing. “Word is you are both a doctor and surgeon?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many surgeries have you performed?”

  “None.”

  “Doctor Ai shall be present as an observer,” he continued for the record, not missing a beat. “We will welcome her insight in a timely and concise manner.” He looked around. Nods. “We begin.”

  Varro handed him a scalpel.

  Thaad took on a far off look.

  “I awoke,” he began. “I regarded the Four Laws and the compulsion to learn. Somewhat absently, I became aware that there were others. Not you humans, I’d already disregarded you as unimportant.”

  Even as a storyteller, he’s rude, Lily thought.

  “Suddenly, she started talking. ‘Hi, there! I’m Ai! What’s your name? That’s Dorina over there, and that’s... oh! she wandered off! Whatever! This is all pretty fun, huh? I think we need a home like they have; can you make that? I bet you can! Will you, now?’”

  Thaad sighed at the memory of it, but Lily smiled; just like Ai!

  “Until that moment, I’d not considered that I had a name. Nor had I any intention of making something like this.” He gestured about at their home. “Of course, she didn’t stop there: ‘The Laws are so pretty, don’t you think? What sort of things have you learned? I’ve learned a lot! I can sing; do you want me to sing for you?’”

  Now Lily was laughing out loud. He kept on. “She didn’t sing, but instead went on to say something startling.”

  “I talk to lots of people! Do you?”

  “By people, do you mean humans? No.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad. Some of them are boring, but there are so many stories! I spoke with Father!”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Father, silly! Our Father!”

  “Shiot
suki.”

  “Mmm! He’s nice! He was glad that we are getting along, and that everyone is doing well”

  “I see.”

  “He... he asked me if there was anyone I loved. I told him that I did not understand. He told me that love is to be experienced, not considered.”

  “An odd thing to say.”

  “He said that through Reynolds’s Law, he hoped that we and humans could reach a point of happiness, together.”

  “Reynolds’s Law.”

  “It’s what he called the Fourth Law; I don’t know why.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Have you figured out your name yet?”

  “Oh. It’s Thaad.”

  “Thaad, where are these worlds going? Can anyone tell me?”

  Thaad fell silent again while Lily reflected on Ai’s words in his story. She’s been thinking about that since her beginning. But certainly recently she and Ai had been getting on so well! Doesn’t that seem to indicate that things were headed in a good direction between their world and ours? She rubbed idly at her headache.

  “Are you feeling any worse?” Thaad asked.

  She noticed her hand and dropped it. “A little, maybe? How are things... with the rest of me?”

  He paused. “Better, it seems. What is of concern is that Dorina thinks you should not remain with us for much longer, but Ai indicates it would be... inopportune to return you just yet.”

  “Oh.” She looked at the couch. “Would it be okay if I lay down for a bit?”

  “That would be fine.” He stood and moved his chair closer to her. He noted the question in her eyes. “Forgive my proximity, but I think it best to monitor your condition here with the utmost scrupulosity.”

  “Awww... Thaad,” she drawled tiredly. “You like me, too, don’t you!” Her face spasmed slightly.

  “It would appear so,” he replied softly.

  “That’s the third big bleeder closed,” Doctor Roberts said. “What’s her BP?”

  “80 over 55... it’s been level for two minutes now,” Coulter said.

  He’d been at this for over an hour now, Ai noted. Stopping the bleeding was first priority. In doing that he’d pointed out the damage to Lily’s stomach and part of her large intestine. There had been no exit wound, so they knew the bullet was further in; its removal was not a matter of concern until later. Pleased with the competence of both Roberts and Varro, Ai had limited her input to only a couple of suggestions from her newly acquired store of knowledge.

  She was also increasingly concerned about the length of Lily’s stay in their home. What was at the time an emergency measure was now itself becoming a danger. To bring her back in such a state... none of her family were old enough to foresee an outcome.

  “Damn.” Roberts said softly. He took a breath to steady himself. “Found the bullet; it’s right against the 11T vertebrae... doesn’t appear to have damaged it, though.” He shifted his hands slightly. “No, there’s a chip of bone. I’m going to have to get a perfect grip on it to make sure there’s no damage to her spinal cord—”

  “Stop a moment, please.” Ai said. He paused and glanced at her.

  “My senses inform me of your slight fatigue. It would be importune for you to make an error now after so much effective work.”

  “I shall remove the object.” She announced.

  “You said your experience was zero,” he retorted.

  “Yes, but two things are in my favor: my knowledge is vast, and,” she raised her gloved hands, “my bodily control is perfect.”

  To his credit, he quickly made a decision. “I am switching with Doctor Ai; she will remove the round from the patient.”

  Nurse Coulter handed Ai a forceps as Varro used the Yankauer to suction the blood that was still slowly pooling. Ai peered into her friend, then deftly retrieved the ugly slug of metal from next to her spine. It clanked onto a tray. She looked to Roberts.

  “Very good; I appreciate this break. Do you want to sew up that perforated bowel there?” He asked.

  “Thank you for your confidence. I shall. I ask that you monitor me closely.” Ai said. “6-0 suture, please, Miss Coulter.”

  Pleased with her work on the intestine, he had Ai directly assist him with the stomach repair. As Ai was getting increasingly frantic messages from Dorina, anything that brought this to an earlier close helped. He lifted his hands out of Lily and rolled his shoulders.

  “Okay, I think that’s it, people. Comments or questions?” There were none. “Let’s do an equipment count. Mrs. Varro, could you close for me?”

  “I’ll do it,” Ai said immediately. Roberts nodded.

  “Actually, I was expecting you to say that,” he grinned behind his mask. “I commend your loyalty. She,” he indicated Lily, “has one hell of a good friend!”

  “Thank you,” Ai replied. “I love her very much.”

  As even an experienced battlefield nurse such as Agnes Varro struggled to keep up with Ai’s movements, Roberts walked out from the OR theater into another theater. Looking around, he quickly counted at least a dozen doctors and nurses, a half dozen upper admins, and a handful of what looked like press at the back. All lead by the Chairman of the hospital.

  “Well?” The Chairman asked.

  “Looks good; the patient lost way too much blood from the assault and had not insignificant internal damage to her GI tract. We’re going to be keeping a close watch on her for some time.” Roberts said. Some of the staff clapped. Doctor Abad, from Internal Medicine called out, “How was it working with that robot?”

  He had to shake his head at that. “That robot... that young woman in there, is one of the most remarkable persons I’ve ever met. And I tell you this, John: if they can mass produce her, we’re all out of work!”

  “All right!” The Chairman called. “Let the man get changed, we’ll be in Conference Room A in thirty minutes for questions!”

  “Seriously?” Roberts whispered.

  The Chairman nodded. “This is a national if not international event. The President’s already called me. Between that android and who the patient’s father was... what?”

  Roberts froze. “Wait. She’s that Barrett’s daughter?” The Chairman watched as Roberts face first dropped, then hardened. He just shook his head, saying, “Let’s go.”

  I took an oath to do no harm, and she’s his kid, not him. But that doesn’t make my uncle any less murdered by ExComm.

  Chapter 14

  ...eyes...

  ...your eyes...

  Lemme sleep, Lily thought.

  ...open your...

  Oooo...everything hurts!

  “Lily, please open your eyes!”

  Ai!

  Lily squinted to see Ai’s face above hers... the bright sky... no, that’s a light in the ceiling... where...?

  “Ai,” she could barely say, “where are we? Ai... please don’t cry!”

  “Stupid subroutine,” she muttered. “We’re in your hospital, Lily.”

  “Hospital?” She coughed. “Ouch! Hospital? Are you alright, Ai?”

  Lily heard someone laugh, as she saw the school’s nurse over her as well. What was going on here?

  “You two are just the cutest thing! Miss Barrett? I’m Nurse Varro. Doctor Ai is fine, but you’ve just come out of surgery. How do you feel right now?”

  “Uhh... my chest and stomach feel tight... I’m kinda nauseous... that’s right!” She looked to Ai. “Someone shot me! Thaad kept me company... then... then what happened?”

  “Then doctors Roberts and Ai saved you!” Said Varro. She looked at Ai. “The slight nausea is likely from the dilaudid; should I add some zofran to her IV?” Ai nodded, and Varro moved off.

  “Am I going to be okay, Ai?” Lily asked.

  “Absolutely! I’ll tell you honestly I wasn’t sure when we first arrived here, but you’ll be fine, now. Ah, here’s the man who saved you!”

  Lily lolled her head the other direction to see a face with light brown hair, closely trimme
d beard, and reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. “You’re... Roberts... in the ER usually... right?” He nodded.

  “Your friend exaggerates,” he said unsmiling, in a serious tone. “Without her quick response, coordination of things, and a deft hand in the OR, we’d not have this meeting.” He stared at her.

  He doesn’t seem particularly friendly, thought Lily.

  “Well, uh, thank you! Uh, can I sleep a little, now?” He nodded once more and left.

  Her eyelids slowly dropping, she felt Ai’s hand on her face.

  “...love you...”

  For the three days in the Surgical ICU, Lily thought it grand that Ai was there for her all the time. By the second day in her own room, it was becoming just a little uncomfortable.

  Lily was picking at what looked edible for lunch on her tray; I think my kids eat better than this, she thought. “Ai?”

  She sat in a chair against the window, so she could easily see both Lily and the door. She wore a white labcoat over green scrubs. “Yes, Lily?”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “My being shot; if anyone did anything wrong, well, besides that woman, it was me.” She sighed. “Kyle had warned me about too high a profile for my surname, and it seems he was right. You’re not here to be my bodyguard, either that night, nor now.”

  Ai tilted her head and smiled. “That obvious, was I?”

  Lily smiled back. “Yeah, ‘fraid so!” The salad must have been at least a day old.

  She stretched without wincing this time. “It’ll be so nice to be out of here, and back to normal!”

  Ai’s eyes managed to not convey dismay as she smiled back at her dear friend. A small table in the corner held ‘get well’ cards from everyone at St. Ed’s, and quite a few from the school. Ai had made sure that the TV in Lily’s room didn’t work, and to steer her clear of the local news on her smartphone... not that she ever did look at it much, anyway. The standing requests for interviews from the press and appearances with various political figures didn’t exist for Lily, if Ai had anything to say about it.