Paradigm City - Fan Fiction

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Sentience

Part 8

Alex was waiting impatiently. "What did you do to my android?" he demanded as they led her into the house.

"She had a conflict, apparently," Norman answered. "The excitement of the celebration may have been too much for her."

"She can handle parties," Alex disagreed. "Did either of you give her any new commands?"

Roger nodded slowly. "Nothing special, though," he said. "She was," he hesitated, a little embarrassed, "getting a little too friendly with me. I was uncomfortable with it and I told her to stop. But that was all."

"Don't give my android orders, ever!" Alex glared at his brother. He grabbed Dorothy's arm roughly and dragged her up the stairs.

"Alex, that hurts!" Roger heard her faint protest. He started after them, but Norman blocked his way.

"I don't think you should interfere," his grandfather said quietly. "He's in a mood, you know how he is. He won't harm her."

Roger shook his head. "He's up to something," he said. "I want to know exactly what the hell her orders were, that my asking that she not keep grabbing at me would cause a conflict. I wasn't even angry, I just told her not to do it anymore."

"I'd like to know the answer to that question too," Gordon joined them at the base of the stairs. "I'm going to be very angry with your brother if he's damaged her."

A loud thump came from upstairs, and then a shout. "That's it, I'm going up there!" Roger slipped past his grandfather and took the stairs three at a time, with Gordon close behind.

"I can't. I can't!" it sounded like she was crying.

"Do you understand?" Alex's outraged voice came through the door clearly. There was another thump and a yelp of pain, then the door burst open and Dorothy thudded into the opposite wall and fell to the floor.

Alex followed closely behind, cradling a bruised right hand. Unaware of Gordon and Roger's presence, he kicked the fallen android repeatedly.

"That's enough!" Roger was completely outraged. "There's no need for that!" He grabbed his brother by the collar and pulled him off.

"What's your problem?" Alex demanded. "It's not like she really feels it, stupid machine!"

"That's as childish as my kicking Big O because we lost a match," Roger would have taken a swing at him of not for his father's hands on his shoulders, urging him to calm. "It isn't her fault. Whatever happened to upset you, she can't help it."

"I'll handle this," Gordon said to Roger firmly. "Please see to Dorothy." He grabbed Alex with both hands and shoved him in the direction of his room. "Go!"

Alex ducked by his angry father to confront Roger. "You ruined her!" he shouted. He cruelly yanked Dorothy to her feet. "You belong to Roger now. Do you understand? You follow his orders, not mine. Do you understand?" She nodded, eyes filled with tears. He let her drop to the floor, kicking her once more for good measure and then stormed into his rooms, a furious Gordon close behind him.

Roger knelt down beside her. "Are you hurt?" he asked her. She didn't speak, but her eyes met his. He shouted for his grandfather and picked her up from the floor, shocked that such a tiny android could weigh so much. Fortunately, his own rooms weren't very far away and he'd left the door open. He brought her into his study and carefully put her down on the couch.

In the stronger light, Roger could see several marks on her face. He touched them gently, making sure her artificial skin hadn't torn. A tear trickled down her cheek and landed on his hand. "It's okay, Dorothy, we'll get you fixed up in no time," he reassured her.

Norman came into the room. "I am so sorry," he told them both. "I would never have stopped you if I'd realized..."

"It's not your fault, Grandfather," Roger shook his head. "You were right, if she were a human woman, Alex wouldn't have hurt her. But he doesn't see her as a person, so he thinks it doesn't matter."

The older man sighed. "He's never been able to resist taking out his temper on the things around him." He turned towards the door. "I'll get the manual and my kit, I'll be right back."

"No, he never could," Roger agreed. He turned to Dorothy. "Is there any more damage?" he asked. She wordlessly held out her left arm, tears still streaming from her eyes. "Don't cry," he pleaded. "Grandfather is getting the kit and we'll get you fixed up in no time."

"It hurts," she finally spoke. "Why did Alex hurt me?"

"I don't know. I guess he thought you couldn't feel it," he said. "Dorothy, I'm sorry. If I had known he was going to act that way, I would have been there a lot sooner." He was at a loss for words and he was completely disgusted with his brother.

"I've got the manual," Norman came into the room with the book and his tool kit. Roger took the manual from him and quickly scanned the index until he found the section dealing with damage.

"The RDW5000 is fully equipped with millions of sensors that closely mimic human nerves," he read out loud. He flipped through a couple of pages. "Here it is." If there is any damage to the sensors, the unit will experience it as pain. If the pain is severe, the unit may cry or scream or show signs of distress. To determine the extent of the problem, run diagnostic XL7336 with Block and bring your unit to the nearest authorized service center as soon as possible." He flipped back to the index to find the pages that explained the diagnostics. "Page 371, page 371...there." He read for a moment and then spoke. "Dorothy, run XL7336 with Block, verbose. Do you understand?"

"Running," her eyes closed. "Sector 81883 currently blocked. 24,000 sensors damaged. Sector 81884 currently blocked. 14,000 sensors damaged. Sector 62254 currently blocked. 8000 sensors damaged. End of old blocks. New damage report. Sector 2166 damaged. Block applied. 512 sensors damaged. Sector 2364 damaged. Block applied. 40 sensors damaged. Sector 91623 damaged. Block applied. 50,000 sensors damaged..."

Roger shook his head. "This isn't the first time he's hurt her." He paced the floor in frustration as the list of damaged sectors grew. "How could he be such an idiot? She was created to feel, to be able to respond in the same way a human woman would. That was the whole point of this experiment, wasn't it?"

Norman shook his head. "I can see we're going to have to add a few safeguards," he said. "Like an automatic override if someone damages a unit intentionally and then tries to cover it up by commanding it not to tell anyone."

"That would be a start," the younger man nodded. "I don't doubt the benefits any more, honestly." He glanced down at her, but she was still reciting sectors. "Dorothy is a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed having her around at the matches. A similar model would probably make a perfect companion for an elderly person who couldn't get out much, or as you and Dad said, someone with shyness to the point of phobia. But there has to be some way of keeping tabs on how they are doing."

"End of listing. Program complete," she finally fell silent.

"Is that better now?" Roger asked her.

"It doesn't hurt any more," she answered. "I think the skin on my arm is torn, though. I feel something strange."

"Let me see," he carefully rolled her sleeve back to reveal her arm. He winced at the sight of the tattered ends. "Grandfather, do you have anything to patch this temporarily?" he asked.

"This should do the trick," he said, producing a bottle filled with a clear liquid. In a few minutes, the patch was set. "It's not beautiful, Dorothy, but it will keep your arm from bothering you until we arrange a proper repair."

"Thank you," she smiled at him.

"I'll bring you down to the center first thing tomorrow," Roger promised. He yawned suddenly. "It's been a busy day. Are you hungry, Grandfather? I think I'm going to get a snack before I call it a night."

"No, I'm going to turn in, I think" Norman told him. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He looked at Dorothy. "Are you able to walk now?" he asked.

She stood up and took a few experimental steps. "Yes, it seems most of the damage was superficial," she said.

"Good." They walked quietly down the hall and down the stairs. Alex and Gordon were still arguing, their angry voices could be heard clearly despite the closed door. They went into the kitchen and Roger began rummaging through the refrigerator. "Do you want anything?"

She shook her head. "I really don't need to eat," she said.

"I know, but it would be rude not to offer," he told her. He put a container of soup into the microwave and began cutting up a cold chicken breast to make a sandwich. "I really am sorry, Dorothy," he said again. "I didn't think Alex would harm you, I thought he was just going to yell and complain."

"You are very different from Alex even though you are brothers," she observed.

"I guess so," he shrugged and got the hot soup out of the microwave. He put his sandwich on a plate and brought everything over to the small table. "Sit down, Dorothy, even if you don't need to eat."

She sat in the chair next to him, obviously considering something. They sat in companionable silence as Roger ate his food. When he had finished, he pushed his plate back and gave a sigh of contentment. "Do you feel better now?" she asked.

"Yes, much," he smiled. "What do you say to spending a week working on the Megadeus when your repairs are completed?"

"I would like that very much," her face lit up. "I want to talk to Big O and thank him for helping me."

"Can you tell me what happened?" he was genuinely curious. "What were the commands that caused the problem?"

"Alex wanted me to hug and kiss you even though I told him you did not like it," she said simply. "It caused a small conflict, but he overrode that and said that I should file it under humor, practical jokes. He said that you would seem uncomfortable but that it was okay to disregard it because it would make you laugh later. It didn't seem to be very logical to me, but the conflict resolved without difficulty, so I thought it was something new that would become clear to me later."

"Idiot," Roger muttered under his breath. "Flush twenty years of research and development down the toilet for a so-called practical joke. Ha, ha."

"I don't follow," Dorothy looked confused.

"My brother is an idiot. That's all you need to know," Roger said sarcastically. "And of course, when I told you not to do it, there was a conflict of two direct commands."

"Yes," she nodded. "Big O helped me to break the loop."

"How did he do that?" he inquired.

"Big O reminded me that he has two pilots. Whoever is at the controls is the commander," she said. "He said I should obey your commands when I was with you, and your brother's commands when I was with him. If you and Alex were both with me, then Alex was my primary commander because I belonged to him, just as you could override me if we both tried to make Big O do something at the same time. It was really very simple once he explained it."

"That's very good advice," Roger agreed. He made a mental note to suggest an authority-sorting routine to his father. "What happened that made my brother so angry?"

Dorothy looked down at the table. "Something broke when the loop snapped," she said. "Your brother tried to give me a command and I couldn't accept it."

"You probably were still off balance from the earlier conflict," he mused. "My father said you needed 24 to 48 hours to properly resolve it. Alex was too impatient."

"Perhaps," she said. "I was able to accept the command when he told me I belonged to you from now on."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Roger told her. "I'll check up on it, but my guess is that you were still dealing with the aftermath.. Him telling you to obey me resolved everything because it took him out of the command structure completely and there was nothing left to cause a conflict."

"That makes sense," she nodded. She rose from the chair and began clearing away the dishes. "May I ask you something, Roger?"

"Let me help you with that," he went to the sink for a sponge and wiped the table. "Sure, ask away. I don't know if I have any answers left tonight, but there's no harm in trying."

"Why don't you like it when I touch you? And why did your brother think it was funny?" she wondered.

He sighed. "When Alex first brought you home, I was a little uncomfortable because I wasn't sure what to make of you and how to act, do you remember?" When she nodded, he went on, "Sometimes he and I don't get along very well, and we don't act very nicely to each other. He was already very comfortable with you, and he thought I was foolish to act the way I did, so he thought watching me try to avoid you would be amusing. I can't say I agree."

Dorothy listened attentively. "You became comfortable after we started going to the matches together."

"Yes, I had a chance to get to know you, and it was a lot of fun," he agreed. "I'm still not sure about the hugging and kissing and everything that follows, though. It bothers me that you would always agree, even if you were in conflict or in pain."

"I am supposed to make you happy," she reminded him. "Doesn't it make you happy?"

"Not when you have no choice," he said. "Please limit yourself to the category of friendly touching unless I say otherwise. Do you understand?"

Her eyes narrowed. "No," she said flatly.

He looked at her in disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"No. I can't. I don't understand," she repeated.

"Okay..." the astonishment on his face was replaced by the beginnings of a smile. Could it mean what he thought it did? "I need to get some sleep, Dorothy," he said casually, keeping a tight lock on his excitement. "Do you have a way of suspending your processes temporarily as well?"

"Yes, and I think it would be a good idea to use it tonight," she said. She followed him back up the stairs, noticing with relief that the arguing seemed to be over, at least for the time being. After a bit of debate, she accepted one of Roger's pajama tops for sleeping in since all her clothes were still with Alex. While she was in the bathroom changing, he put a sheet and blanket on the couch in the study. "I really don't need that, I can sit in a chair," she told him.

"Humor me," he said. He held up the blanket so she could lie down and tucked it around her snugly, noting that she was still wearing the medal from their victory. "Do you wake on your own or do you need me to call you?" he asked.

"Whichever you prefer," she answered. "Say my name three times if you require me at any time during the night, otherwise I will set my internal clock for 8:00 am."

"Make it 9:30," he said. "If I get up before then on my own, I'll wake you. Goodnight, Dorothy," he smiled at her, his hand running lightly over the marks on her face. "We'll get all those sensors straightened out tomorrow."

"Thank you, Roger." She put her hand over his. "It is good to be touched kindly." Her eyes closed and her body relaxed as the suspension activated.

He sat beside her quietly for a long time, wrestling with an intuition that refused to be rationalized away. A soft knock on the door recalled him from his thoughts. He looked to see his father standing there. "There will be no more trouble from Alex," Gordon told him. "It's late, but after you bring Dorothy over to be repaired, I'd like to see you."

"I need to talk to you too, Dad," he said. "It's too late to get into this, but I think you've finally done it!"

Gordon looked confused. "What do you mean?"

His son was grinning from ear to ear. "It's Dorothy. There's someone in there, Dad!"

The other man looked at him in complete shock. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes, I am," Roger said with satisfaction. "I think she's become self-aware."

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