A.I.S.A.: An Erotic Sci-Fi Romance (6 page)

“Are you sure you want to go, you could get your nails done,
or a facial… spoil yourself.”

She lifted an eyebrow, “Do you not want me to go?”

I shrugged, I actually didn’t care one way or the other,
“You can go if you want, but I don’t know why you’d want to.”

She winked and said facetiously, “I want to see who I’m
working so hard to support.”

I snorted, “No… really.  Why would you want to?”

She scrunched her face cutely at me, “I don’t know.  I
guess I want to see the woman who was dumb enough to let you get away, I also
want to support you.  I’m your assistant after all,” she quipped.

I grinned, now that she was sure of me she often teased me
about that. 

I sighed and gave up, maybe she didn’t even really know why
she wanted to go, “Love, you can do whatever you want, but it will be boring,
should be in and out.”

She grinned and kissed me.

I sighed, “Stop that, or you’ll make us late.  You know
I have no willpower at all when it comes to your kisses.”

She snorted and ducked by me, smacking my ass as she went
toward the front door…

The court building was a decent distance, so we took a sky
bus.  The building had an old feel to it, and only had about a thousand
floors.  We went inside and made our way to the courtroom, the floor and
walls were made of synthetic marble, and it looked like a government building,
if that makes any sense.

The courtroom I was assigned to was on the thirtieth floor,
we took an elevator and I saw my lawyer, who I’d never met, sitting on a bench
outside the room.

He looked up and waved, he had a serious look on his face.

I shook his hand, “Nice to meet you Mr. Bruckheimer, this is
my assistant Aisa.”

It kind of felt surreal, and I only called her my assistant
because who the hell in their right mind would take a girlfriend to a divorce
proceeding.  I shrugged it off though, it hadn’t been my idea.

He smiled and his handshake was firm, “Nice to meet you
both, call me Paul, Mr. Bruckheimer is my father.”

I nodded, “Will do, you can call me Tony then.”

His smile turned more genuine and he nodded, “Alright Tony,
there’s a few people ahead of us, just sit quietly, let me do the talking
unless the judge asks you a direct question, be respectful, and we should be
out without a problem.”

He turned then and we went inside and sat in the back. 
Marilynn was a few rows up and on the other side, she looked pissed off, but
that was nothing new.  There were three couples in front of us, and all of
their divorce cases took just a couple of minutes each, the judge asked a few
simple questions, signed the paper, and banged the gavel.

Before I knew it the court called up Tony and Marilynn
Sanders.  Aisa squeezed my hand and let me go when I stood up.  I
glanced over while I walked and saw Marilynn walking up with her lawyer, and we
stood in front of a railing a few feet back from the judge’s bench.

The judge took a minute to flip through the paperwork, and
then looked up at us.

“Tony, Marilynn, do you both understand what is in these
pages, and did you sign of your own free will?”

I said, “Yes your honor.”

Marilynn didn’t answer, her lawyer did, “Your honor, at the
time of the signing we’d sorted out all the ownership, but there is an addendum
which needs to be addressed.”

My lawyer looked at me questioningly, but I had no idea what
the guy was talking about.  In retrospect I should have seen it coming,
but what happened next took me by surprise at the time.

The judge asked, “Why didn’t you work it out before you got
in here Mr. Malone?”

Malone replied, “I’m sorry your honor, we found out about
this only a couple of days ago, and Mr. Sanders failed to disclose the new
property.  He apparently owns a new kind of prototype A.I. that is worth
quite a bit of credits.”

My lawyer was now glaring at me, and it took me a minute to
put the pieces together.

The judge looked at me questioningly, “Mr. Sanders, is there
a reason you didn’t report this new acquisition of yours?”

His voice was really asking why I was such a dumb fuck that
I’d acquire something expensive before the divorce went through.  To be
honest I was asking myself the same question, it had never occurred to me this
problem would come up.  Besides, I hadn’t really had a choice, by law
there was a deadline for me to put in the papers for Aisa.

I shrugged, “It wasn’t my intention to deceive.  I
figured Marilynn would be happy with the increased credits she’ll be getting
thanks to that A.I., and she hadn’t requested any of my other A.I.s, knowing
that her income depends on me having them.  I think there’s even a line in
there that says all the A.I.s are mine to keep.”

The judge turned back, “Malone?”

Malone said in an oily voice, “While that’s true your honor,
this is quite different.  That prototype is worth millions of credits, an
extra few thousand a month hardly indicates an equity.”

He handed the judge a piece of paper.

“My client desires either Mr. Malone buy out her half of the
A.I., or that he sells it and they split the proceeds.”

I was really proud of myself, I stayed silent and didn’t
attack the smug son of a bitch.  I may have pictured grabbing his hair and
banging his head against something really hard, but I didn’t actually do it.

The judge turned back to us, “Mr. Bruckheimer, do you and
your client agree to those terms?”

Paul turned to me and I shook my head, no way was I selling
her, and I couldn’t afford to buy her half off, not even if I sold everything
else I owned.

Paul said after a moment, “Your honor, we don’t agree. 
Further I submit my client is correct, all A.I.s accumulated during the
marriage were flagged as uncontested, that should include any and all up to the
point the divorce is finalized, just like the money my client has been earning
since we signed that paper and growing in those accounts will be split down the
middle at the time of signing before the one third alimony takes effect.”

The judge looked at us sourly, “Mrs. Sanders, are you sure
you want to go forward with this addendum claim?”

She nodded spitefully, okay… the nod wasn’t spiteful, but
she’s still a bitch.

“Yes your honor.”

The judge sighed and read over the papers again, “Just to be
clear, Mr. Sanders, you don’t wish to sign this paper?  Once I bang my
gavel, everything in here is trashed.  You’ll start over, and most likely a
judge will be deciding, there are a number of costs incurred doing it that way,
both of you.”

I shook my head, “No, I won’t agree to that.  The A.I.
was a gift to me, I can’t afford to buy out her half, and I refuse to
sell.  She’s the one not keeping the agreement here.”

The judge frowned at me, “Watch your tone,” the judge looked
between the two of us, “Now here’s some advice.  Work this out between the
two of you, and move on with your lives.  Either way this case is over,
get out of my courtroom,” and he banged the gavel.

I turned around to leave, and Malone slapped some papers
into my hand, I grabbed them reflexively.

Malone said, “You’ve been served.”

I rolled my eyes, and handed the papers to Paul and we
walked out, meeting up with Aisa across the floor.  She looked… guilt
stricken, and scared, and I wanted to strangle that slimy bastard Malone, but I
went with my other inclination, and hugged Aisa instead.

“So what does it say?” we were in public, but I didn’t give
a shit.

Paul explained, “Reading over it, you’ve been served for
divorce.  It looks almost identical to the last proposal, except for the
A.I.s, this one has them itemized out, most of them yours, except for the new
one which she’s demanding either a buy out or sell it for money.  The court
date is in two months.  Are you sure you want to do this?  I’ll be
honest, nine out of ten judges will just make you sell it anyway, your wife is
not being as greedy as she could be, this is almost reasonable.  Quite
frankly you’re an idiot for not waiting until the divorce was final.”

I nodded, “I didn’t have a choice on that.  You want to
grab some lunch with us?”

Paul shrugged, “Will you explain why you’re being so
stubborn?”

“Yes, how do you feel about Italian?”

Paul nodded and we headed toward the elevators.

We ended up at Maggiano’s, and sat down to order
dinner.  The three of us had been chatting on the ride over, but not about
business.  I’d also either been holding Aisa against me, or holding her
hand the whole time, which got a few looks from Paul.  I bet he thought I
was crazy.

Maybe I was.

But he eventually broached the subject, “So why don’t you
want to sell the A.I.?  Also, you should be more discreet, bringing your
new girlfriend slash assistant to a divorce proceeding isn’t the best idea.”

Aisa glared, “It was my idea, all I did was sit there.”

He held up his hands, “Sorry, divorce is no fault, so
legally it isn’t an issue, but flaunting a new girlfriend in front of the soon
to be ex-wife may make her fight even harder for a larger share of the
stuff.  It’s just the way it is, I meant no offense.”

Aisa bit her lip and sighed, “Fine, message received, I’ll
stay home next time.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You two are living together?”

Aisa nodded, “Is that really your business though?”

Paul laughed, “Yes, I’m his lawyer, I need to know
everything that might affect the case, and that fact most definitely fits into
that category, even if it shouldn’t.”

I was being quiet on purpose, I wanted him to get to know
her before he found out the truth.  I also wanted her to be the one to
tell it.  I didn’t think of her as my dirty secret or anything, but I
didn’t want to put her on the spot or make her feel uncomfortable.  I
hoped he reacted well, I’d hate to have to punch my own lawyer.

Aisa sighed, “I met Tony six weeks ago, I actually tracked
him down just to meet him.  He’s one of the best coders in the city, and I
liked everything else I found out about him on the net.  So I accidentally
on purpose ran into him in an Irish bar, and we got to talking.  He agreed
to partner up on one project to see how it went.  Six weeks later… things
grew way past that level.

“I’m his coding partner, assistant, and girlfriend.
 I’m here because I want to be with him, my own choice, you understand
what I mean?”

I snorted, “That’s way too subtle love.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, but I was right, Paul looked
really confused.

“What are you talking about, I’d hope you were here on your
own, and not being forced by my client in some way.”

She giggled and said softly, “Thank you,” and then added
archly, “so please don’t let someone make him sell me,”

We kind of just let that sit out there a moment, and I took
a sip of my drink as Aisa did.  It took him a minute, but he caught on.

“You’re the A.I. he recently acquired?” he asked, half in
disbelief.

She sighed, “Yes, but my father only sold me to Tony because
he knew Tony wouldn’t abuse me, or treat me like a thing.  It’s a fiction
because legally I have no rights, and I’m not human, but I am a fully emergent
A.I. and can feel and do everything a human can.  It may be legal, but
selling me against my will would be… immoral.”

I nodded, “Slavery, besides, I love her.  How do you
sell a life?” I asked softly.

Paul nodded, “Let me absorb all this, I never would have
guessed Aisa wasn’t… just a young human assistant, and I understand now why you
won’t bend on this.  But give me time to think.”

We ate our lunch in silence, Aisa looked nervous, so I
reached over and squeezed her hand.

She smiled at me wanly, grateful but also scared.  It made
me want to hit things.

I wondered if Marilynn might back off if she knew the truth,
but deep down I knew she wouldn’t care.  She was… too self-absorbed, and a
few million credits were on the line in her mind.  She’d probably just
call me a pervert and demand I sell my sex doll, which would be bad, because
then I’d have to kill her.

When we ordered dessert Paul finally spoke, and it seemed
he’d made some sub vocal phone calls during the meal.

“I don’t see a way to handle this in divorce court, even if
a judge was inclined personally to see it as immoral, they would have no choice
but to follow the law, which is Marilynn gets half.  We can’t fight it
there, so let me ask you, how willing are you to fight, because I do have an
idea that’s kind of desperate.”

I frowned, “I’m not willing to give up, so what’s the idea?”

He said, “I called my partner Gerald, the other half of
Bruckheimer and Hainsworth associates.  He handles all of our human rights
violation cases.  He seems to think there’s a chance Aisa and you could
sue for equal rights under the law.”

Aisa shook her head, “Wouldn’t that require a new law be
written, giving A.I.s that are emergent equal rights to humans?”

He smiled, “Yes, and no.  If we were trying to make
you, and any others like you, into an independent sentient race with rights,
yes.  But I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about tweaking the
meaning of what is considered human in the courts.  Make you a natural
born citizen with all the rights as every other human.”

Aisa gaped for a moment, and then asked, “How will that
work?”

He shrugged, “What is human?  The strict definition of
human is defined as not an animal, or an alien, and you’re clearly not
those.  Other definitions are in the shape of a person, and with the
frailties of human nature which you assuredly have.  Just as clearly, you
are more flesh than technology.  Is it just our brain matter that makes us
human?  If yes, the plan wouldn’t work at all.  But you have human
DNA do you not?  You weren’t built, you were conceived and born in a lab,
you age, you will one day grow old and die, correct?”