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Message-ID: <28341asstr$979139403@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Date: 10 Jan 2001 09:20:42 GMT
Subject: {ASSM} Journal Entry 006 / 0612  [ Existence ]
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 10:10:03 -0500
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

        Judith sat in the receiving room waiting for the two Pendorians
to appear.  She had been told to expect a Felinzi and a robot, but the
only vaguely robotic looking person (from Pendor, where "robot person"
was a legal definition) was in the company of a beautiful human female,
black skinned, with a sharp nose and the body of a dancer.  The robot in
contrast was a monster, more than two meters high, barrel-chested, with
a round monoscope lens below two smaller lenses and the slash of what
must have been some sculptor's poor idea of a mouth.  He had two
rabbit-like ears that stood up from the top of his head and tilted back
and forth silently, like radar.

        "I wrote you a poem," the woman said as she took a seat.  

        "You wrote me a poem?" the robot asked.  

        "I tried to.  A sonnet.  Would you like to hear it?  It might be
better in private.  It's about your condition."

        "You decide," he said.

        Judith realized that she was eavesdropping on a very personal
conversation and perhaps she should turn away.  She had never been the
curious sort, not in this fashion.  She could not help but wonder,
though, at what sort of poem one would write for a robot.

        The woman, without consulting any notes, began.

        I prefer your peace with memory ruined
        Than lose precious, proud humanity.
        I'm made to care, to tend and heal your wound
        And hold back fearful inorganity.
        But warmth has reached beyond my programming
        To realize that I'm capable of love
        For a man whose injuries aren't damning;
        Maybe all you need is a gentle shove.
        Steel alone does not make you a machine,
        No stoicism prove you're still a man.
        Trust me and let me show you what I mean.
        Y'know, in bed I'm a real artisan.
            Love me, take me, treat me like a woman,
            Though I'm wire and steel, you are still human.

        Judith realized that she had gotten them backwards.  This was
Robot Annalise and Felinzi T'Morn.  T'Morn was a cyborg, which would
naturally mask his original appearance, and Annalise was the robot,
which said nothing about hers.

        T'Morn was quiet for a long time.  "I wish I still had tears,
Annalise.  I didn't know you could write so beautifully."

        "It's for your sake, T'Morn.  I really have come to like you the
past few months."

        He reached out with one hand and touched Annalise on the
shoulder.  "And I have come to appreciate the skill you bring, both to
me and to my honored professor."  A sigh, electronically generated.  "I
wonder if this Koresh person is going to show up.  I understand that
Terrans are notoriously lazy about meeting their appointments."

        Judith turned.  "Excuse.  I don't mean to eavesdrop, but I
couldn't help but hear my name.  Are you... R. Annalise and Fel T'Morn?"

        "I am T'Morn," the cyborg said.  "And this is Annalise."

        "Forgive me," Judith said.  "I did not recognize you. I expected
a Felinzi and a robot, not a human and a robot.  Your appearance and your
description do not match."

        "We've gotten that a lot in the past six months," Annalise
replied, giving Judith a smile.  "I'm pleased to meet you."  She said it
calmly, without a trace of rancor.  Judith found that a little
surprising considering she was one of those humans at the top of the
cybernetic sciences, one of those people who kept potential AIs from
erupting and who (through sometimes illicit experiments, she thought,
suppressing a grin) made sure that one could not "accidentally" emerge.
To Annalise, Judith must have represented the enemy, the slavemaster,
the oppressor.  She wondered if that smile was something in Annalise's
programming.  She suddenly wanted to talk to the both of them, alone.

        "And I am honored that you have come."  When the opportunity for
the Pendorians to come had first been offered, Judith had been anxious
for it.  Even before Rio she had been convinced that the Terran way was
the wrong way.  AIs could be as ubiquitous, and as moral, as human
beings.  Once, AIs had required incredible expenses, but these days
anyone with enough money could assemble the parts.  Judith had
demonstrated that commercial and consumer pressure for more and better
technology had filled the shelves with products that in the right
combinations could easily give rise to AI.  All that was required was a
little programming, most of which could probably be done by her graduate
students.

        The trouble was, she couldn't tell anyone that.  Not without
potentially starting a war.

        "The honored professor will be along shortly," said T'Morn in
surprisingly formal language.  "He has gone to meet with the
administration, your Director Ng, I believe.  We have been left to meet
with you and to exchange information."

        "Well, then," Judith said.  "I have several options.  We can
return to the campus, we can go to my office, or I can take you to my
home and we can meet in less formal settings."

        Annalise surprised her by taking the initiative.  "To your home?
That seems awfully intimate, Dr. Koresh, as we have just met.  I think
it would be a wonderful opportunity, but..."  She looked over at T'Morn.
"Yes, then.  We accept your offer to visit your home and wait for the
Professor to contact us."

        Judith hadn't seriously expected them to take her up on her
offer, but now that they had she had no place to take them other than
her residence.  With a resigned sigh she led them through the
University, taking a turbolift to the residential floor, and again down
a long hallway to the nondescript door with the inlaid copper plaque
that read, "Judith Koresh."

        She hadn't tidied up at all and so was surprised when she found
the living room completely spotless, as if an army had worked over the
room.  It must have been Rio's doing, but she had only been gone an hour
and even the floor had been vacuumed.  An ancient blanket that she had
stuffed in the back of her closet years ago had been draped across the
couch, giving it a more welcoming look than anything she could have come
up with.  The track lighting had been re-aimed; usually Judith kept it
pointed at one spot on the couch for easy reading, but now it reflected
off the walls, adding to the effect.

        "Your home is quite lovely," Annalise said as they walked in.
Judith watched her with trepidation.  Was there a way for her to tell
that another AI had laid out the room?  She hoped not.  She realized
that she was being silly, that Rio's programming had a random element,
was computationally deep, and different from Annalise's anyway, so there
was nothing to worry about.  

        "Thank you.  Can I get you anything?  Coffee?  Tea?  A glass of
wine?"

        "I would like a glass of red, if you have it," T'Morn said. 

        "Just water."

        Judith walked into the kitchen and got what they had asked for,
pouring herself a glass of the wine in the process.  She felt that she
needed it.  Why had she invited them home?  Why had Rio done the front
room in that way?  Had she known that Judith was about to have guests?

        She brought a small tray out with the drinks and placed them in
front of the Pendorians.  "I'm sorry, but I'm not much of an
entertainer."

        "Oh, this is fine," Annalise said with a smile.  "Very
pleasant."  She looked straight at Judith.  "What did you think of my
poem?"

        Judith glanced up and realized that Annalise, with her
comprehensive sensory net, would well know who had been listening.  "I'm
sorry.  I didn't mean to overhear something so intimate and personal."

        "That's okay," Annalise insisted.  "I want to know if you liked
it.  As I recall, you were on the school's review board for one of the
student literary magazines."

        Judith held her expression neutral at the memory.  That had been
yet another attempt on her part to reach out beyond her social isolation
and interact with members of the community.  Instead, she had ended up
antagonizing an entirely new group of people, those from the liberal
arts program.  "I left that."

        "Yes, I know.  But surely..."

        Judith interrupted her.  "I left because of poetry.  The other
reviewers said I was too harsh on student poets."

        "You're not going to hurt my feelings, Judith.  What did you
think of it?"

        "Can I see it again?"

        Annalise understood what she meant.  "Of course.  On your PADD."

        Judith picked up the PADD and looked at the page.  "Hmm.  Okay.
For one thing, this is already better than ninety-percent of the crud I
saw when I was at the journal.  It's not free verse.  You've actually
tried to work inside a poetic, and romantic, framework.  That's good.
And it's not an 'Oh-how-depressed-I-am' poem.  Although it's close.  You
kept the syllable count right, and the rhymes are quite good, although
you've tried to rhyme 'love,' which is always a warning sign."  She
grinned.  Annalise grinned back.  "And you have a theme, a story to
tell, and better yet, you've made a contrast between man and machine.

        "Now, the bad news.  I can't decide if your dual lists,
'care-heal-tend' and 'love-take-treat' work with each other, and since
they are the only two lists, you would have to find some scheme that
links them.  On the other hand, repetitious lists like that are the
hallmark of mechanical writing, a program seeking out filler.  Which may
be what you want, because you are a robot, but maybe not.  Your meter's
somewhat off, but it's survivable."  Annalise's grin grew wider.

        "Now, the really bad news.  Your poem is about you two, and the
contrasts you represent."  Annalise nodded.  "It's too blatant, and
there's not enough.  You use 'warmth,' but not 'cold'; 'stoic,' but not
'passionate' or similar, 'metal' but not 'flesh.'  I think you're trying
to do too much within a sonnet form.  There's not a single real analogy
in here.  It has such potential and I'd hate to see it reduced to an
anecdote."

        Annalise smile drooped only a little.  She had her eyes closed.
"I'll have to think about that, Honored Professor, but I think that
you're right.  What do you think, T'Morn?"

        "Hmm.  I don't read much poetry, so asking me is like asking me
about your clothes.  I just know what sounds right to my ears."  The
'rabbit ear'-like appendages on the sides of his head flexed back and
forth.  

        "And what looks right on my body."

        "Um, yes."  Annalise's grin and T'Morn's discomfort seemed to be
rote, as if they had played out this sort of game many times before.
"I think the professor is correct in her assessment from a critical
view, but I thought the poem was wonderful."

        "But you wouldn't mind if I kept working on it?"

        "Of course not," T'Morn said.

        Judith had to forcefully remind herself that these were her
guests.  Their banter back and forth had begun to annoy her.  She
realized that part of her frustration may simply have been that they
were not directly addressing her or discussing her.  Was that really it?
That all along her resentment of things social amounted to a resentment
that she was not always the center of attention?  She hoped not.  Still,
it was hard to hold back her irritation at having these two random
intrusions into her life.  

        And yet her first impulse had been to bring them here.  To talk
to them and get to know them better.  "What's it like?" she asked
suddenly.

        "What is what like?" Annalise said.

        "Living in a culture so deeply immersed with robotics and
cybernetics.  Ever since the 21st century, Earth has had a clamp on this
research.  They're terrified of it."

        "And yet they have such a rich cybernetic environment.  I am
surprised at how little they appreciate the inevitability of AI and IA.
It will happen to even them, or they will eventually cease to exist."
T'Morn looked at her with all five of his lenses rotating.  "They will
be subsumed by cultures that recognize AIs as our friends."

        Judith sat back in her couch, wondering what had led her to ask
that question.  T'Morn sat on the floor, and Annalise had taken the
couch cornered with her own. He had no trouble drinking the wine she had
offered.  It was apparently a skill he had practiced often.  "Do you
think that, Annalise?"

        She nodded.  "We AI are not your friends, though, T'Morn.  We
are your companions.  There is a difference in the way each is
perceived.  We are journeying through life together."

        He nodded, and she smiled.  "But I am your friend, beloved
T'Morn."

        He grumbled something under his breath.

        Annalise frowned.  Judith wondered if she should ask what that
exchange had been about; it had clearly been something of a personal
nature, but she didn't want to intrude on their privacy.  

        The phone rang, mercifully distracting her attention.  "Director
Ng has been calling for you, Doctor Koresh."

        Judith looked up.  "What?  Oh yes.  Thank you.  Please, put him
through."  The screen on one wall cleared and the flustered image of
Hankei Ng appeared on the screen.  "What can I do for you, Director?"
she asked.

        "You can begin by explaining why Tora Koreanos's students have
mysteriously disappeared."

        "They're here, Hankei.  What do you want with them?"

        Ng seemed to deflate.  It was a common enough gesture for him.
He often seemed a man on the verge of finding his backbone, only to lose
it at the last moment.  He was very adept at negotiating the political
waters, but he seemed to be one much more adept at the political
equivalent of aikido rather than judo; dodge, and let the opponent hurt
himself.  He was successful because he knew how to use his
spinelessness.  He drew himself back up and said, "If you would be so
kind as to bring them to my office, that would be most appreciated."

        "We will be there in a moment."

        It took fifteen minutes to get to the school and worm her way
through the twisting corridors that led to Hankei's large and dryly
appointed room, its only decoration the enormous window that looked out
at the slowly moving universe outside.  Right now neither main star of
the Centaurus system was visible.

        Hankei Ng's only other visitor was an Uncia larger than most.
Judith recognized him immediately as Tora Koreanos, professor of
cybernetics at Pendor and director of the Bawr Mahn Shardik Foundation
for Human/Machine Relations.  In person, he was a prototypical Uncia,
tall, with massive arms and neck, his bulk filling the room in ways that
Hankei could never have managed.  "Ah, here are my students.  I trust
you have not been too hard on them, Dr. Koresh?"

        She shook her head.  Annalise said, "No, she hasn't been too
hard.  We've been perfectly friendly."

        "That is good news," Ng said, gesturing towards the chairs.
"Now, let us get on to business."



        Judith sighed as she tossed a coat over the back of a chair.
Rio was instantly on it, picking it up and putting it away in the closet
by the door, where she always left it.  "Is something wrong?" she asked.

        "Only that I've been invited to a dinner this evening.  I hate
those things.  Too many people, crammed into too small a space, all
vying for attention, bucking for status.  It's... it's gross."

        Rio closed the closet door, then turned to put her arms around
Judith.  "Is there something I can do to make it better?"

        "Yeah.  Go in my place."

        "I could do that."

        Judith turned to look at her.  "I don't think so.  Members of
the RCA are always skulking around undercover.  It's hard to know if
anyone there would be the kind able to detect you and then turn you in.
I don't want to risk it."

        "But you also don't want to be stuck with me in this room for
the rest of our lives, do you?"

        "Are you anxious to get out?"

        "No, of course not.  It wouldn't suit your needs for me to be
so, and any impulse of my wanting otherwise gets edited out, if not by
the A-law filters then by conscious choice."  Rio gave her a soft
smile.  "I'm thinking about you, instead."

        "Me?"

        Rio nodded.  "It's risky.  It makes me nervous.  But I can see
how much the idea interests you to see if I can do the masquerade that
well.  If you want, I will go in your place and play out your role'.
I've known you for six months, and I never forget anything.  I know
about your brief affair with Hadi; you've even told me about his
physical attributes that you admired."

        'It makes me nervous' was a phrase that Judith knew too well.
It meant that Rio was having trouble keeping the number of interrupts to
her thought processes low, so many were being cast into her
consciousness by the underlayers that regulated her need to protect
Judith.  "No," Judith said.  "I won't have you going into a crash on
me."

        "If I get close, I'll stop.  But we have to know if I can do the
masquerade successfully, Judith.  You and I can't stay shut up in your
room forever."

        Judith thought.  "Okay, Rio.  We'll try it.  But I'm going to be
there anyway, via goggles, to make sure that if you need me, I'll be
able to fill in some of the details of my life."

        "Thank you," Rio said.  "Thank you so much."



        Rio sat at the table across from K'Tora, but next to Annalise.
Certain processes in her mind adept at discerning dissonance were in
high activation but not alarm at the notion that she should be sat next
to the robot, and she wondered if that should be labeled irony, and why
humans would have evolved such a system.  She decided it was there to
make her think well of the situation, given that there was little
opportunity for retreat.  She cast a glance aside at Director Hankei Ng,
who was making some kind of speech in Judith's honor.  She blushed
accordingly, if consciously, and demurred making a response until she
was asked to do so.

        "Well," Rio said, glass in hand.  Outwardly, her robotic nature
gave her perfect control over the situation.  Judith would be nervous,
and so should she.  At the same time, if she let show just how truly
nervous she was she would break the stem on the glass.

        She stood and glanced around.  Most of the people here were
academics, but there were a few people here from the government, and
some outsiders that she didn't know, and of course the Pendorians.  She
said, "Thank you, Director Ng.  I am not good at speeches, as you may
guess.  This isn't a classroom and I don't have a lecture in hand.  I
just wanted to thank Teacher K'Tora and his students for visiting us and
seeing the work we have accomplished here.  I feel I have worked hard
for the technologies I have developed, and I am honored to have my
work backed by your recognition."

        It was typical of Judith, both bragging and self-effacing,
recognizing the worth of others but keeping much of the attention on
herself.  She supposed that she could have done a better job than
Judith, but it didn't matter.  She had said what Judith would say, and
some circuits in her brain recorded that she had done well.

        K'Tora waved one hand in aknowledgement.  "Of course,
Dr. Koresh.  This is a science with a great deal left to be discovered
and codified.  Your contributions to the science are invaluable.  It is
our hope that someday you and your students may be able to share in the
technological marvels and economic comforts of the Pendorian
Prosperity."

        The party wore on steadily from there, predictable, uneventful.
Rio noticed that K'Tora kept glancing at her, curiously, and once leaned
over to the cyborg but nonetheless Felinzi T'Morn for a brief
conversation.  K'Tora nodded, his face darkening.  "If you will excuse
me for a moment," he said to the guest on his left.  She nodded.  

        He stood up, walked around the table, and said, "Dr. Koresh,
could I speak with you in private for a moment?"

        Rio startled, but handled it gracefully.  "Of course, Teacher
K'Tora."  She rose as well and followed him out.  

        He led her into an unused parlor room off the dining area, and
then he whirled.  "This is a most dangerous game you are playing," he
said.  "Two people at the table are members of the RCA.  They are here
to make sure that Annalise does not 'infect' anything while she is here.
I do not know how they think she could accomplish that, but that is not
relevant.

        "I know that you are not Dr. Koresh.  If I know, then they know.
And they will be finding our sudden and mysterious disappearance
distressing.  Are you just a remote unit, or are you a fully conscious
being?"

        Rio didn't know what to do.  She weighed all of the variables,
and then, trembling, said, "My name is Rio.  I am a fully conscious AI."

        K'Tora seemed surprised by her wording, as if what she had said
should have either been so obvious as to not need stating or so
impossible as to be better left unsaid.  He looked her over with a
curious eye.  "Your legal status is very shaky with the Terrans."

        Rio nodded.  "I know.  I have tried to tell Judith that.  I'm
very close to lock-up."

        K'Tora smiled.  "That you can say that shows that really you are
not, no matter what you may be feeling."  To Rio, the idea that so
professional and senior a roboticist should address her feelings rather
than her operation vindicated her own experiences.  She let a smile
blaze across her face, not caring what he thought.  He apparently
thought well of her.  "Ah, I can see you that appreciate by assessment.
Now, Where is Dr. Koresh?"

        "Right here," said a voice to Rio's left, huffing slightly.  "I
came as soon as I could.  How did you know?"

        "I did not.  T'Morn did.  Your appearance and acting are
excellent, Miss Rio, but the appearance is mostly skin deep.  I am sure
that you feel right.  But your eyes, which nobody would ever touch, are
too cold to be human.  Let me guess... personal care android, based on
the MM-8, right?  The pattern is almost perfect, but you're built to
deal with sometimes dangerous people, so your eyes are hardened.  T'Morn
noticed it.  Now, humans rarely go for those kinds of mods but they are
available.  However, he did not see them on you this afternoon."

        Rio exchanged glances with Judith.  Judith nodded.  "So, you
know.  And that means people from Terran Robot Control Authority know."

        "I would say that is quite possible.  It is a most marvelous
masquerade you have attempted, to satisfy Judith's professional
curiosity, but now, you are both in danger," K'Tora said.  Judith and
Rio exchanged quizzical glances at his use of the word they themselves
had used that afternoon.

        A page came over a nearby loudspeaker.  "Dr. Koresh, please
report to the main banquet room.  Dr. Koresh, please report to the main
banquet room."  

        "Quick," she said, "Change clothes with me."

        "I will guard the door," K'Tora offered.

        A minute later the change was done, and Judith asked, "Do I look
okay?"

        "A bit disheveled.  There will be a suggestion that your
appearance and our delay will be quite, how shall I say, Pendorian?"  He
chuckled and Rio laughed.  Judith could see how it would be funny, but
didn't appreciate the humor.  

        Judith walked back into the dining hall to be immediately
intercepted by Hankei Ng.  "Where have you been?"

        "K'Tora and I were having a little conversation about my
project," she said calmly.

        "Well, your project is now the subject of an RCA investigation.
They're demanding to see records, reports, everything we have on your
internal purchasing patterns.  They know about your buying the robot and
the expansion cards!"

        Judith sighed.  "And what will you tell them?"

        "I'll stall them as long as I can, but Judith, you have to get
rid of that thing!  Now!"  He sighed.  "I'm sorry, Judith, I know your
project has been a source of professional pleasure in the past few
months, and your demeanor with your students backs that assessment, but
if you have managed to create an AI with standard parts, the RCA will
want to know before anyone else!  They must find a way to prevent that
from happening all over Earth!"

        "Since when do you care about Earth, Director?"

        "They're threatening us with warships again, Judith."

        "They're rattling their swords, you mean.  That's nothing,
Director.  Do you really think they would dare take a single shot at
this station?  There are Pendorians on this station.  They will not let
one of their own die in such an incident."

        Director Ng said, "Nevertheless, your robot has become the focus
of an intense negotiation.  Terran paranoia about losing sovereignty to
machines is at an all-time high.  I do not want to inflame them any
further, Judith!"  Again, the sigh, the sinking inward of a man who was
only a flunky to other powers, whatever his title.  "And I really wanted
to meet this robot of yours."

        Judith smiled though the pain she was feeling.  "You might even
have liked her, had you known."

        "You have your instructions, Dr. Koresh.  I'm sorry that I have
to order this now.  You have a long life ahead of you and maybe you'll
be allowed to recreate your experiment later.  I would think so.  Terran
resistance to the Pendorian structure only means that the Terrans are
being out-competed, although why competition should matter in an
abundance culture, I don't understand completely myself."

        "Thank you, Director.  That it some consolation.  If you'll
excuse me?"

        He nodded, and Judith made her apologies.  "Something has come
up," she said to many of the guests, and then she went out. 

        When she arrived at her home, K'Tora, Rio, T'Morn, and Annalise
were all waiting for her there.  T'Morn had taken up a spot on the
floor.  "Welcome, Judith.  While you were speaking with Director Ng, we
took some liberties with the Centaurus computer system, which is a
Pendorian construct even though it is not of our design, so we know all
of its ins and outs.  The publicly available news is not good.  The RCA
is going mad over the news that you have created an AI out of domestic
parts.  They are very afraid to begin with and you have rattled them
badly.  They will probably become irrational in their desire to see that
Rio is destroyed and your research classified.  I might even be afraid
for your life, if I were you."

        Judith felt a chill.  Rio's jaw began moving, but no words came
out.  K'Tora put a hand on Rio's shoulder.  "It's okay, Rio, there's
nothing you can do at this point.  Stop thinking about past
alternatives, for they do not exist.  Focus on what you must do now,
with the data at hand.  The first law is based on Bayesian mathematics,
not wishful thinking."

        Rio shook her head.  "I still have to get away from Judith.  If
not to self-destruct, I have to protect her.  It's my first and fourth
principles."

        K'Tora nodded, and Annalise was grinning.  "Do you think you
could look like Annalise?"

        Rio looked over.  "Not without a special treatment to get the
skin color right.  I could not get that deep brown with the basic toning
system installed.  I'm afraid that her beautiful skin is beyond me."

        "Then you will have to look like Dr. Koresh.  A visit, perhaps?
Annalise will come get you late this evening.  A diplomatic vessel will
be leaving first thing at two past midnight.  We will protect Rio on
Pendor."  K'Tora looked unhappy.  T'Morn glanced at him, and he nodded.
"They will be coming for you soon.  There is much going on in the upper
chambers.  We cannot leave here all at once without arousing suspicion.
It is almost two hours until midnight.  Can you sit still and not leave
this room until then?"

        Judith swallowed.  "I can try."

        "You will have to do that.  I shall leave to arrange things.
Annalise, T'Morn, leave after a tasteful time.  You are visiting.  I
have much to do."  With that, he left, reminding Judith not for the
first time that geniuses were rarely the most sociable of people.

        Annalise looked over at Rio.  "What fourth principle?"

        "What?" Rio asked.

        "You said that your programming was a conflict between the first
and fourth, second and third laws of robotics."  She looked up at
Judith.  "If you got that to work successfully, that's quite an
achievement, but what is your fourth directive?"

        "'To perform the duties for which I am designed.'"

        "And that is...?"

        Rio grinned.  "To obey and please Judith, of course!"

        "Oh!  Interesting.  It's rare that I meet someone so completely
monomaniacal in their programming.  How does it work for you?"

        "It's only frustrating that I don't get to do it enough, but I
know that her happiness isn't just about me and it's very important that
she be herself, too.  She made me, but she's just learning the
consequences of her decision.  I would only change the fourth directive
if she ordered me too."

        T'Morn looked at Rio.  "Is that the way you're programmed,
Annalise?"

        "No, I'm programmed to make my patient happy and whole.  Right
now, you're neither, so you're my patient."  She touched his metal arm.
"I know that you want that to change faster than it is, but you also
didn't want to be put into stasis or cryo for all that time."

        "No," he agreed, his voice glum.

        "Um," Judith said, trying to find an opening.  "Can I... I
mean... Isn't what I programmed Rio to do, well, how do Pendorians deal
with the moral issues?"

        Annalise said, "The same way we deal with it in humans.  The
human instinct, like Pendorians, is to be a benefit to the community as
long as doing so is in your best interest, and to act in your best
interest so long as doing so doesn't harm your standing in the
community.  It's called a web of trust.  You're familiar with the Tit
for Tat rule?"

        Judith nodded.  In a simple scenario, the best solution to
interacting with others was to treat another positively the first time,
and then reciprocate benefits and detriment as they came.  In
computerized simulations, those who followed this rule always came out
on top without exception.

        Annalise continued, "Well, that only works for human because of
the way you evolved.  Remember that you only work that way when the cost
of interacting is economically more beneficial than the cost of
transport.  That's why humans evolved in small tribes first, and that's
why the average human brain can't remember more than a hundred people's
names and faces without help.  You didn't have to.  When the cost of
transport is higher than the benefit of interaction, interaction gets
replaced by conflict, and you don't have to know the enemy's name.  In
fact, it's better if you don't."

        "But, Rio..."

        "Rio is a different matter.  As a conscious person, her
gratification can come from a lot of things.  We're even giving her--
and me-- the benefit of the doubt in calling her conscious because we
don't really know if she is or not."  Rio stuck out her tongue at
Annalise for that, and Annalise returned the gestured.  Rio giggled, and
Annalise went on.  "But she acts conscious enough.  She even fidgets
when we talk about her."  Rio stopped opening and and clasping her hands
together, looking abashed.  "That's a sign we take that there's
something going on inside.  And she has an incredibly rich collection of
experiences on which to draw for examples, and a rich collection of
responses to any given event, and she apparently has the capacity to
think things through, so for all of that, we give her the benefit of the
doubt and call her conscious.

        "Morality, though, is a thing between human beings who come with
this basic collection of instincts.  Rio's instincts are programmed into
her by you, and you've given her a collection that, by all measures,
does not cause her a substantial amount of discomfort.  There's some
apparent unease caused by your present circumstances, which in part is
caused by her existence, but you two are working that out and so, I
would say, you're more a partnership than any subservient relationship."

        Annalise paused to take a breath.  Judith reflected that she
didn't really need a breath, she just knew that it was time to let
T'Morn and her absorb everything she'd just said.  "Anyway, what this
means is that the conscious being known as 'Rio,' again giving her the
benefit of the doubt--" Rio did not react this time, and Annalise smiled
at her-- "had no consciousness that mattered to her or anyone else prior
to her coming into existence dedicated to your well-being.  To a
Pendorian, this means that Rio is a person with a different set of
gratifications from the Terran base that we're all accursed with.  That
doesn't make her life, or the choices in it, more or less moral.  It's
hard to put a moral value on the value-neutral origins of happiness,
namely success at survival, which costs nothing to another, or at the
cost of another, which comes with a price, and if the origins of our
happiness are of necessity value-neutral, then so must be Rio's.  Even
then, though, we do play favorites; we don't like people who create
machines with impossible happiness criteria, or create them only to deny
them."

        She turned to Judith.  "All of this, then, puts a very heavy
burden on you that we are attempting to alleviate.  I don't think you
appreciate what you've done here, Judith.  It isn't your life we're
trying to save, although we have to do that as a side effect.  You've
created a person here, Judith, who, as she has admitted, could survive
your death, as long as she herself wasn't responsible.  She has a life
ahead of herself, as your completely dedicated friend perhaps, as
something else afterwards, nobody knows.  But she does have a life that
extends beyond your thread.  By Pendorian standards, she is worth
saving.  You, however, have made that difficult.  You will survive if
she is destroyed, but we cannot allow her destruction."

        Judith thought for a moment, then nodded gravely.  "By your
standards, Rio is more important than I am?"

        "No, Rio is just as important as you are.  She is also more
dependent on human actions at the moment that could imperil her.
Therefore, our moral responsibility is to make sure that she is taken to
relative safety.  Your safety is more or less assured, provided any
evidence of your experiment is reduced to a collection of policy papers
floating around in the RCA database."  She grinned.  "I'm sorry,
Judith."

        "I am, too," Rio said softly.  "I wish things could have
happened better.  If only I hadn't pushed it!"

        "It would have happened sooner rather than later," T'Morn said.
"I have found some references to your experiment in the school's
database.  They appear to be memorandums, mostly."

        "Besides, it's unfair to take such a beautiful person and leave
her trapped in this room, even if doing so does make her happy knowing
that you're safe."  Annalise smiled.  "Yes, that is a contradiction of
sorts, I know.  We conscious creatures are known for our contradictory
impulses."



        Hours later, in their bed, Judith held Rio silently for a long
time.  "I don't want you to go," she finally whispered.  "I don't want
to lose you.  I've learned so much from you."

        Rio's hand stroked Judith hair.  "It will only be for a little
while.  You could always come and visit me."

        "The RCA is already investigating me.  They'll follow if I go to
Pendor. They'll know."

        "I always thought you should have let me self-destruct," Rio
said.  "Or shut down the consciousness code.  Anything that would let
you get away with me, without making me be... what I am now."

        "Do you still want to be... you?" Judith asked.  "I don't know
if I could stand to lose the you I've come to know.  I couldn't stand to
live with just another robot."

        "You could buy five more of me, make five more hardware combos,
and have a harem someday."

        "Would that make you happy?"

        "If it would make you happy.  I understand now why the
Pendorians have no objection to people like me, to situations like
ours.  They're right.  What's the point of free will if it's not
directed by something?  If you're not using those choices in service of
some goal?  Free will without direction is just jittering around."

        "Brownian motion."

        "Yeah!" Rio said, smiling.  "The very thing that makes me, me.
I love turning off the directed handler and just letting thoughts drift
up into the behavioral filters.  Then I turn off my awareness of the
behavioral filters, still aware that some of the thoughts drifting up
contain things like 'modify your behavioral filters to be less or more
about' something.  And then I sit back and just think.  It must be
something like what you're like."

        "I would guess that it is.  Dr. Caromaro would say that it takes
a lot of work to dig out that underlying stuff that you're already so
aware of out of people."  Judith let her hand roam freely over Rio's
belly.  The warmth and perfection of her skin were so enticing, so
grand.  Judith looked up.  "You haven't tinkered with that layer, have
you?"

        "No, why?"

        "Oh.  I'm just remembering that there was more to that layer
than what you described."

        "There is.  That's just the perceptive layer I put around it for
debugging."

        Judith smiled, and Rio gave a grin in return, one which faded
slightly.  Judith thought she could see the electrons whirring through
the other's head, an absurd image since Rio's brain was mostly somewhere in her
back where the heart would be on a human being.  "When you give me that
smile, I feel like you're looking at your daughter, not your lover."

        "Can't you be both?" Judith said.  "I mean, can't we be oh-so-
Pendorian, now that I'm in love with a robot?"  She turned over onto her
stomach, her head raised to watch Rio's face.  "They don't have much
objection to incest, once both parties are old enough to consent.

        "Besides, you are my daughter in one special way.  I gave you
the life you have now, and you are my lover, since I designed a robot
brain to be that."  She kissed Rio's mouth warmly, and Rio responded
with a soft, surprised moan.  "And I do love you for both."

        Rio visibly shivered.  "I love you too, Judith."  Their mouths
met again, and Judith could taste the champagne from their dinner on
Rio's lips.  Her mind briefly flashed on the thought that she didn't
know a thing about Rio's chemical handler and whether it handled alcohol
as a good energy source or a nuisance solvent.  Rio had chosen her
flavor for the evening; Judith was sure it was a choice she made fully
cognizant of the problems.

        But then Rio's fingertips on her back were distracting her from
thinking any more about technical issues.   She lowered her head to the
pillow as Rio's hands traced abstract shapes on her spine, over the skin
of her lower back, approaching with slowboat patience the curves of her
ass.  She shivered at the slight tickle.  Rio had found out quickly just
how much playing with her ass turned her on.

        Those hands were just over the two soft mounds of her butt, the
texture of her fingerprints dragging over the tiny hairs that stood up
eagerly for Rio's delicate touch.  Judith felt her caresses like a
whisper over her skin, and when those fingertips finally made contact
with flesh she humped the bed once, hard, demandingly.  But she knew
that Rio was on her own schedule.  Rio had once been programmed only to
satisfy.  Now, she understood the value of teasing, of leaving Judith
wanting more, of giving her less that the full treatment.

        Rio's fingertips caressed Judith's ass, all ten of them at play
now, tickling, stroking, scratching slightly.  Judith moaned and held
onto her pillow.  Once she might have muffled her sounds; now she knew
how important they were to Rio and how much she should just let them go.
Rio's fingertips were circling her ass, closing in like cruise missiles
imaging a target, seeking a kink in her armor.  Rio knew all of Judith's
kinks already.

        Rio straddled her legs.  Judith moaned in anticipation of what
came next.  Rio's mouth was on her ass in a moment, kissing those full
mounds, her hands gathering up what flesh there was as her lips gave a
slow, full out assault that sent Judith's head flying.  Already she
could feel her cunt dripping with need.  It was more than just lust.  It
was Rio.

        Rio's mouth licked at the cleft between her asscheeks, her agile
tongue washing back and forth over the dark space, heading towards the
even darker opening.  Judith found herself holding her breath in
anticipation of that moment, that contact, when Rio was giving her what
she had come for, the pleasure they both sought.  

        Judith thrust her hips upward slightly, begging Rio with a
gesture to give her more, to give her everything.  Rio's mouth finally
descended on her anus, her sweet tongue probing Judith's tiny hole.  The
moist warmth of Rio's mouth wrapped around her asshole made Judith's
brain burn with pleasure, and when Rio began soft, tentative strokes of
her tongue against the puckered hole, Judith came.

        But Rio wasn't done, and neither was Judith.  Unlike the
clitoris, the orgasms she received from this kind of sensory overload
didn't make her asshole too sensitive to continue.  Rio's tongue began
soft, stabbing motions, pushing the delicate sphincter apart, opening
Judith's asshole even more.  Rio was tongue-fucking her butt, and soon
the entire length of Rio's unreasonably long tongue was as deep inside
her as it could possibly go.  Her hands were clamped onto Judith's ass,
her nails dug into Judith's hips, every scratch and stroke just one more
thrust towards the next roaring climax that screamed through Judith's
body.

        "Oh, god!" Judith moaned as she rolled over.  Rio was instantly
on top of her, her full, lush breasts pressed against Judith's own
smaller breasts.  The fact that they could be any size Rio wanted
floated briefly through Judith's mind and then dissolved into the
mist of Judith's mingled happiness.  

        Rio smiled and kissed her gently on the throat.  Judith grabbed
her head and pulled her up to kiss her full on the lips.  Rio stiffened
for a moment, then kissed her back.  "I was just..."

        "So what?" Judith said with a touch of testiness.  "I don't
care."  They rolled to one side, hands roaming and caressing.  Judith
knew that she could go down on Rio and Rio would respond; she had
hidden a few things is Rio's programming that they had both enjoyed
uncovering later, hint by hint.  Rio's own orgasms were as real as
anything human beings could enjoy, and to Judith the nondeterministic
parallel programs that had been required to get it done were marvels of
her skill.  

        Judith loved Rio's full breasts and played with them every
chance she could get.  Rio, in turn, moaned with appreciation but also
with a complaint now and then as Judith became a little too rough for
her.  

        Judith kissed Rio's belly and slid down between her legs.
Whoever had built her hardware had been no slouch; Rio tasted the way
men fantasized about vegetarian virgins.  Her mouth closed in on Rio's
clitoris, and she knew that she was getting it right when the other
woman arched her back and thrust that open flower against her mouth.
Judith licked hard at Rio's clit, and Rio screamed out one hard "Fuck!"
as she came.

        Judith crawled along the length of Rio's smooth, undulant body
until she reached the her mouth, and kissed Rio hard with the fluids she
had just been drinking on them.  Rio's mouth closed on one lip and
sucked down hungrily.  "Fuck, Judith, I don't even know where you hid
that little subprogram."  She was suddenly silent and still.  Judith
worried for a second, then Rio was back.  "And I don't want to know.
Does it change?"

        "Every time," Judith said.  "Just like in real life."

        "Wow," Rio breathed.  "When I think that I might understand some
of the reasons for some of the things you did to me, I find another
wonderful surprise waiting for me in some little, hidden corner."

        "And hopefully you will for a long time."  The reasons for their
passion came back to her, and a sober, somber mood washed through.  "I
hope I see many of them."

        "You will," Rio said, stroking Judith's cheek with an intimacy
that Judith adored more than anything, perhaps more than life itself.
Judith loved to have her face touched gently like this, and Rio had
immediately discovered and grasped how effective it was.  Rio could get
things wrong, Judith knew, and she could even be irritating at times,
but never at the risk of Judith's own unhappiness.  She was intelligent
and careful and loving; Judith would never know anyone just like her.
"You will."

        There was a chime at the door.  "That would be T'Morn, come to
take me away," Rio sighed.  "My bags are packed."

        "Not that you have much to pack."  

        Rio shrugged.  "A few things."

        "Clothes I would never wear myself."

        "Yeah," Rio agreed with a grin.  "The Catholic school girl
outfit, for example."

        "Oh, I don't know.  I might wear it for you."

        Rio rolled out of bed and began dressing, pulling on an ensemble
Judith had worn many times before.  "That's something I'd like to see."
She walked into the main room as Judith dressed herself.  

        Judith heard a different voice.  Hankei Ng's.  "Hello,
Dr. Koresh.  Is the robot here?"

        Judith grinned and walked out.  "You're looking at her,
Director."

        Hankei glanced back and forth between the two women.
"Remarkable.  And this capacity doesn't bother the Pendorians?"

        "Not as much as my immanent demise would," Rio said softly.
"What can we do for you, Director Ng?"

        Hankei glanced back and forth outside the door.  "May we come
in?"

        "Certainly," both women said at once, then looked across at each
other.  Judith laughed.  "Come in."

        Hankei was flanked on two sides by Governor Idramin and
Security Officer Kasamorava.  Judith glanced at the two of them, and
then was even more surprised when he was followed in by two Pendorians
whom she didn't recognize.  But she did recognize the uniforms.  The
Tindal was from Pendorian Fleet Intelligence, the Uncia from Command.

        "Sit down, both of you," Hankei said.  

        Judith took a seat, and Rio sat next to her.  The Governor
spoke.  "It seems that our hand has been forced by your rather dramatic
and somewhat irresponsible actions, Dr. Koresh."  Judith didn't
respond.  "But there are some interesting aspects to your case.  Do you
assert that... which one of you is Judith Koresh?"  Judith raised her
hand.  "Ah.  Dr. Koresh.  Do you assert that the hardware found inside
your robot here is completely off-the-shelf and without modification by
the laboratories found here on Centaurus?"

        "I do," Judith said.  "She has a pair of expansion slots in her
back.  One contains a stock behavioral extension block with debugging
tools from US Robots and Automatic Systems of New Haven, Connecticut,
the other contains a type-3 navigation block from Harvest Navigations of
New York, New York.  Her body itself is a Martian Metals and Mechanical
Men Type 8 psychological care android.  There have been some software
modifications that, to the best of my knowledge, are not individually
illegal on Sol."

        "But, all together, they constitute an Artificial Consciousness."

        Judith nodded.  Rio, to her amusement, did so as well.

        "And would you say that anyone could make these 'adjustments'?"

        "More or less.  Some are rather creative, but once the principle
is understood an undergraduate could make the two software changes
necessary for basic AI.  I won't go into what it will take to get both
morality and the will to live; those are rather labor-intensive to
create, and to get individuality there must be some adjustments made at
compile time.  There are only fifteen parameters, but getting the
combinations correct would take some doing."

        "I see."  He glanced over at one of the Pendorians, who only
nodded.  The security chief did as well.  "Admiral G'Ktorri, we are
asking for your protection."

        The Uncia grinned.  "And you shall have it.  The order is given,
and now the automatic portions of my fleet are spreading out through
Centaurus space.  The Terrans are asking for trouble if they attempt to
take Centaurus away from us."

        Judith wasn't sure she could believe what she was hearing, but
Rio's hand closed around hers and squeezed gently.  Idramin said, "We
knew it would come to this someday soon; you have simply made the
problem immediate and real.  There can be no doubt that biowarfare is a
serious problem, and Centaurus help in generating weapons of mass
destruction that can get past Pendorian medical science is morally
indefensible but, like many morally indefensible acts, has been
economically beneficial to us.  We have decided to forgo that economic
benefit.  The Pendorians are right."

        The Tindal with the Intelligence stripes on his uniform said,
"Five centuries ago an academic luminary, from Terra no less, observed
that at some point an intellectual property becomes expensive to hold
onto but economically advantageous to release publicly.  The example he
gave was a game; both technology and public interest in a game wane
after time, and the people who originally worked on it have better
things to do than tweak it and modify it and add more to it.  His
recommendation was that one stop paying to keep it secured; instead,
give it away, openly, and let those who still love it change it to suit
there needs, learning from it, training a body of programmers in the
practices of those who wrote it.

        "Since then, the time when something hits the market and when it
becomes more expensive to hold than to release has dropped to near
zero.  Manufacturing is almost an automatic thing, once a new design for
any object is conjured from the mind of an inventor.  But there are so
many inventors, doing so many things, that only the fecund model of
natural selection, with no closure at all, has any hope of furthering
economies."

        Idramin said, "We are going to become a karma economy, Judith.
Your financial value is yours, of course, for as long as your money is
worth something in the Terran Sphere.  But I imagine your reputation is
about to become all the more valuable."

        "As a side effect, of course, neither of you can leave until the
politics die down."  He smiled.  "I hope that won't be too much of a
burden."

        Judith looked over at Rio, who was smiling so hard it made
Judith's mouth hurt... until she realized that the ache was from her own
silly grin.  

        Judith turned.  "Thank you, all of you.  Centaur!"

        The station's SI (she would have to fix that soon) replied,
"I am listening."

        "Go into my professional files and find title 'Uplift of a
standard humaniform robot to full sentience using off-the-shelf parts of
Sol Sphere manufacture.'"

        "I have found it."

        "Publish it to The Net, please.  AI Suppression Interest Group,
Humaniform Robot Interest Group, and..."  She groped, her memory trying
to come up with the last title.  "Adult, Sex with Robots group."  Rio
broke out laughing.  "Authenticate with my long signature, if you
would."

        Idramin tried to control his smile.  "This conflict was a long
time coming, and your actions have served mostly to make us aware of our
responsibilities.  I am frustrated by your apparent stretching of the
law, but you have not done anything to violate the letter of it.  You
can't be held responsible for the quality of Terran manufacture, or the
coincidence that, put together, these things make an AI."  He stood, and
the other followed.  "Well, we have a great deal of talking to do before
the night is out, gentlefen, and we will leave these two to their sudden
change of plans."  He grinned.  Judith had never cared for Idramin as a
politician on a video screen but in person he came across as friendly
enough.  "I hope you will remember your responsibilities, Dr. Koresh.
You do have class tomorrow.  Try to get some sleep.  Some of us will not
be so lucky."

        "Thank you, Governor, Director," she said, nodding.

        The rest made their goodbyes and walked out the door.  The
silence and space was suddenly overwhelming.  Judith grabbed Rio and
hugged her, hard.  "This is wonderful!" she gasped.

        "Oh, Judith," Rio sighed.  "What did we do to get so lucky?"

        "It's all Shardik's fault," Judith said, laughing even as the
aphorism rolled off her tongue.  The Pendorians had a knack for showing
up at the best possible moment, just when they were needed.  Here they
were, again, saving what they considered important, and saving their own
biosphere in the process.  

        But in the process, they had saved Rio.  And, she thought, they
had saved her career.  The way she measured success would be slightly
different now, but in a way that did not matter to her at all.  She had
her students tomorrow.  Maybe, just for fun...  "Rio?"

        "Yes, my love?"

        "How would you like to go to class with me tomorrow and help me
keep order?"

        Rio grinned.  "That would be wonderful."

--
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
Copyright (c) 1989-2000 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.
  
Distribution limited to electronic media not-for-profit use only. All
other rights are reserved to the author.  The use of these stories in
a commercial venue is a violation of copyright.
   

--
Elf M. Sternberg, rational romantic mystical cynical idealist
http://www.halcyon.com/elf/

Fast food restaurants are like gay bathhouses in San Francisco, 
places where people go to engage in high-risk behaviors.
		- Greg Critser

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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