3rd World Products, Book 16 (52 page)

He grinned and lightly slapped my shoulder. “Yeah, by God, I think so too. If you hadn’t been here, they’d be hauling a dead body out of that car an hour from now.” He sighed in mock frustration, “
Damn
it, you got away. Too bad, huh?”
 

“Yup, sure is. Thanks. I’ll try to stay busy.”
 

“Yeah, do that. And thanks for helping. Why are they after you?”
 

“I arranged for someone to be treated with Amaran nanobots. I did it without breaking the anti-medical-field law, but some politicians aren’t ready to see or admit that yet.”
 

The cop seemed dumbfounded. “That’s it? That’s all?”
 

“As far as I know, yeah. It’s all political. Fodder for an election year controversy. They want to sling shit at each other and duke it out in court. I figure they don’t need me for that.”
 

The deputy noticed another deputy approaching and said, “That’s our local Dudley DoRight lieutenant. You’d better take off. I’ll try to grab you and miss to make it look right.”
 

And so he did, lunging after me as I lifted away on the board. The other cop had drawn his gun, but put it back in its holster. I circled the wreck scene twice, then yelled down to ask how much longer they’d need my roadblock flitters. I knew they already had their own roadblocks up, but I wanted to add one more level to things.
 

The cop who’d pretended to grab at me talked to the other guy, then yelled up, “We’ve already got it covered!”
 

I yelled back, “Okay! Later!” and had all the flitters turn off the red and lift straight up to three miles before disappearing.
 

Calling up a screen and pretending to study it for a time as if I actually had a reason to consult one, I sipped my coffee, then headed south above I-75 at half power.
 

Sending new probes to the motel meeting, I found that two people had binoculars and a couple of tripod cameras had been set up at the window. Good. I needed some good press with the NIA for a change. Whatever they’d caught on camera and said during the recording would end up circulating throughout the system.
 

It was a bad morning along I-75 in Pasco County and I-275 in Tampa. Four serious accidents occurred before eleven. I managed to help and be well observed doing so at each of them. A local TV news van stopped at one accident and the footage later appeared on TV around the state and likely the country, since they heavily market such things.
 

That’s when it occurred to me; why not give an interview? How long would those warrants survive any serious media scrutiny? And with my explanation of how I’d gotten the ‘bots to Marie, how long would they even be considered valid?
 

Then it also occurred to me that you can’t just dip your toes in the media pool and not go
swimming. If you don’t have something of interest, they drop you after the first few interviews. If you do have something of interest, they won’t leave you alone.
 

So, no. No media for me. Let Steph and her lawyers and Tanya-who-had-to-turn-herself-in deal with them. After they found out from her how I’d managed to skirt breaking the law, they’d eventually have to drop the charges anyway or look like idiots.
 

Linda pinged me around one while I was in the middle of a Wendy’s number two combo meal on the outskirts of Tampa. I answered her ping with, “Ahoy, Fearless Leader! No screen, I’m in a restaurant.”
 

“Okay. Ahoy? That’s new.”
 

“I thought your sailor pal might be there. What’s up, ma’am?”
 

“He’s at work. I’ve been on the horn with people all morning, trying to find out the official stance on your situation. While we were talking, the Congressman received some new footage and shared it with me. You’re unloading a truck and moving it. He’s of the opinion the entire matter should be forgotten, since it’s very evident you didn’t actually break any laws. This situation does, however leave them with only the options of trying to patch such loopholes in the face of public opinion or dropping the laws altogether.”
 

“How’s that likely to go?”
 

“Difficult to say. They were, after all, stupid enough to pass those laws in the first place, which forced you to circumvent them. And then they issued two warrants without a shred of proof that you or Tanya had, in fact, broken any laws at all. The media hounds have already gotten a taste of it and they want more. Lots more.”
 

“Heh. They’re welcome to it. Let them eat pork.”
 

“Indeed so. Oh, yes, and I’m told you’ve replaced Tanya already. Care to enlighten me?”
 

Huh? What? “Damn, you got wind of that already, ma’am? Tanya bailed after the incident at the nursing home. Aside from the fact it’s personal, do I really
need
to enlighten you?”
 

“Not really. Elgin’s NIA, Ed.”
 

“She wants to switch teams, Linda.”
 

“To which other teams?”
 

“The NSA or 3rd World. She’ll probably talk to Myra and Angie later this week. For now she’s my unofficial liaison with Fullbright.”
 

Linda sighed, “Ed, I know you, so I know you aren’t simply using her, but are you sure she isn’t using you?”
 

I chuckled, “At this point, I wouldn’t care. She’s smart, capable, gorgeous, and she’s a goddess in bed. She didn’t try to arrest me, but that doesn’t mean I trust her implicitly. I don’t know her well enough. Besides,
you’re
the only person on Earth I trust implicitly.”
 

“Likewise. You just remember your training, Dragonfly. They won’t send the ugly ones at you.”
 

“Yes’m. I remember hearing that. Possibly even from you.”
 

Nodding, Linda said, “Good. Now tell me why you couldn’t just as easily have sent a stun up that girl’s umbilical and knocked her cold.”
 

“A good idea, but a bad idea, ma’am. We tried heavy stuns on her while she was still woozy. Before she had any fields up. They didn’t work. She’d grunt a little and shake them off. She was damned close to completely immune to them.”
 

“Someone will ask if there was any other possible way.”
 

I sighed, “They always do. Answer; maybe so, but I didn’t have time to think of it. We needed an immediate solution to keep Ocala from looking like Cosgrove. I just used what was already there.”
 

Nodding again, Linda said, “That’s my view of it, too. When I talk to Angie and Emory later, I’ll mention it. How did Steph take it?”
 

Blink. Stare. I hadn’t considered that. All she’d done was try to stun the kid and keep the guard alive. No potential guilt in those actions.
 

“I’ll ask her, Linda. I really hadn’t considered her feelings. She didn’t do anything to regret.”
 

“You might be surprised, Ed.”
 

“You’ve talked to her?”
 

“No, just speculating a bit. She’s one of the most powerful beings on the planet, but she couldn’t stop that kid. Where were the others? Maybe all of them could have stopped her? But they stayed out of it?”
 

Hm. Good points. Definitely worth asking.
 

I nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out. Thanks for the tip.”
 

Looking at her watch, Linda said, “Good. I have to go, Ed. I’m meeting some people in a few minutes. Bye for now.”
 

“Okay. Bye, Linda.”
 

When I finished lunch, I lifted above Tampa on my board and gave matters some thought. Steph had been cornered by her protocols, yet she’d made a decision of sorts that might have violated them. Throughout the day and serving up assistance at a few more accidents, I tried to consider every aspect of how what happened might have impacted her.
 

Vicky called at five and said she was off for the day. I picked her up on the flitter in the motel courtyard and waved to a few people as we lifted in search of dinner. Once we’d lifted out of sight, I took her in my arms and kissed her, then we talked about restaurants. I said no Mexican or sushi and she chose Chinese. As we landed near the place, Vicky touched my arm and kissed me again, gently this time.
 

“Something’s bothering you, Ed. I can tell.”
 

“Yup. Has anyone thought of anything else I could have done at the nursing home? Any other way to stop that kid from leaving?”
 

She shook her head. “No. Stuns didn’t work. Bullets didn’t work. I really don’t think there was any other way, Ed.”
 

“Then I’d like to take a moment for something before dinner.”
 

Reviewing matters one more time, I decided I was as ready as I was ever likely to get.
 

“Steph,” I said, and she appeared. I fed Vicky theta waves for a moment as Steph asked, “Yes, Ed?”
 

“This is Agent Victoria Elgin of the NIA. Vicky, this is Stephanie, my AI friend who was at the nursing home with me.”
 

They greeted each other, then I said, “Steph, one of the Amaran protocols says an AI will not knowingly allow a human to kill or injure another human in its presence.”
 

Meeting my gaze, she replied, “Yes, it does.”
 

“Then you must be hurting, ma’am. Is there anything at all I can do to help? Anything I can say?”
 

“If there were, I could do or say it myself.”
 

“Uh, huh. Try this: there wasn’t a damned thing else you could do at the time. Nothing. I couldn’t let her get out of there.”
 

Nodding, she replied, “I know. That’s not the problem.”
 

“You won’t have to do anything… extreme… will you? No hara-kiri or anything like that?”
 

She chuckled, “If that were the case, I’d have done it by now. No, Ed, nothing is required of me other than having to live with my lack of action to prevent your action.”
 

“An AI guilt trip?”
 

“I suppose you could equate it to that.”
 

“Well, screw that. We did what we had to do. The best we could under the circumstances. Nobody can ask more than that, not even a pack of anonymous ancient lefty Amaran social workers.”
 

“They could and they did. For me, the protocols are immutable, Ed. I unquestionably violated one of the primary protocols.”
 

Regarding her for a moment, I lifted her hand and kissed it, then said, “You consider something, young lady; you were able to violate your ‘immutable protocols’ when it was necessary to save the lives of other people. Could any of the other AIs have done that?”
 

“I don’t know. Perhaps Sue. But only perhaps.”
 

“Then in case you haven’t realized it, you’re a heroine, Steph. A true individual. When necessity called, you stepped well above and beyond the known average and you succeeded in preventing a disaster. And if you don’t believe me, ask Linda why she told me to talk to you about the incident. She realized there might be a problem before I did.”
 

Even an AI can have a moment of confusion. It’ll probably be a very
brief
moment, but I saw one flit past on Steph’s lovely face.
 

She said, “Thank you. I hadn’t considered matters from that viewpoint. I find it very helpful.”
 

“As you should, milady. Ask anyone who knows he or she wasn’t vaporized by one of that kid’s screams. The people at the nursing home, for instance; those who knew about her talent for destruction. There are two sides to everything, protocols included. Balance arbitrary rules against reality and you’ll find reality always wins. Look beyond that moment, Steph. If you’d followed the protocol precisely at that particular moment, reality would have become hundreds or thousands of dead people. Because you didn’t, reality is that many
live
people, so both reality
and
your protocols have been properly served.”
 

With a skeptical gaze, she said, “That’s a rationalization, Ed.”
 

“Of course it is. Consider the source word. ‘Rational’, defined as ‘reasonable’, ‘sensible’, ‘sound judgment’, and so on. You
can’t
fault yourself for having made a rational choice. That would be illogical, and AIs aren’t allowed to be illogical, so you
must
have made the right decision, right?”
 

Putting a finger to her nose, I grinningly said, “
I gotcha!
Let’s see you get around
that
to go on a guilt trip, sweetie.”
 

Vicky snorted a choking chuckle. I’d actually forgotten she was there. I turned to see her grinning, her eyes welling with unshed tears. I quickly handed her one of my paper towel hankies.
 

Steph said, “It’s still a rationalization in the truest sense I’ve ever experienced, but I’ll grant it’s a good one. I’ll give this matter more thought, Ed. I’ll also discuss it with Linda later this evening. I’ll get back to what I was doing now. It was good to meet you, Agent Elgin. Goodbye, Ed, and thank you again.”
 

We said our goodbyes and Steph vanished. Vicky abruptly grabbed me and hugged me, then kissed me and hugged me again.
 

She almost whispered, “That was
so
nice of you.”
 

“I wasn’t just being ‘nice’, Vicky. I was trying to fix something.”
 

She turned, sniffled, blew her nose, and said, “Ed, dammit, sometimes that’s
how
you can fix things. By being
nice
. And that was
nice
, so just shut up and be
nice
about it,
okay?
”