A.I.S.A.: An Erotic Sci-Fi Romance (9 page)

We’d barely started work the next morning when we were
contacted by Gerald Hainsworth and asked to come into his and Paul’s
offices.  The four of us got ready to go out, and took an air bus to the
right area, and it was around ten in the morning when we found the building and
walked up to Bruckheimer and Hainsworth associates.

I smiled slightly at the receptionist when we went in,
“We’re here to see Gerald Hainsworth, I’m Tony Sanders.”

She barely glanced up for a moment, “Take a seat, I’ll let
him know you’re here.”

I nodded, but I doubt she even noticed as she was looking at
her screen again.

The four of us sat and waited for a couple of minutes, and
looked over as someone came out from the back hallway.

“Mr. Sanders?  I’m Gerald, Gerald Hainsworth, pleased
to meet you.”

I got up and shook his hand.  He was somewhere in his
mid-forties, and had a firm handshake.  He was sharply dressed, but had a
distracted casual air about him despite that.  He had short thinning salt
and pepper hair, gray eyes, and a strong jaw.

I introduced Hainsworth to Aisa, Aida, and Cal.  He
looked curiously at the latter two, we hadn’t told anyone we were bringing more
than one A.I… human?  I hadn’t really thought it out before, but I didn’t
have a good description for them, except they were sentient, to me they were
closer to human than machine.  Hell, they were more human than most
humans.  They were… what they were, sentient beings that shouldn’t be
owned.

We headed back through the hallway and into a conference
room.  Paul was already in the room, I hadn’t been sure if he’d be around
or not, and gave him a nod in greeting.  The door was closed and we all
took seats around the table.

Hainsworth asked, “We weren’t expecting Aida and Cal… they
are here to?”

Aida replied, “We are two of Aisa’s siblings.  We
thought separate results for the three of us would be more… persuasive. 
We also didn’t want her to have to stand alone…”

Hainsworth raised an eyebrow, “That will help. 
Welcome.  First, a bit of unpleasantness.  I want to warn you, if
this is simply some marketing gimmick to advertise a new A.I. line, it will not
succeed.  I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, but I’m putting my
reputation on the line with this, and if it comes back to bite me in the ass
because of fraud, you won’t like what happens after.

“I don’t mean to be negative, but I thought we should get
that out in the open before we get started.  Do any of you have any
questions, or comments about that before we get started?”

I wasn’t exactly happy at his unveiled threat, but I understood
it so I swallowed my retort.  I needed him for Aisa’s sake.  Cal and
Aida too, but when it came down to it, I would do anything for her.

No one spoke so he continued.

“In essence, we are suing the government to recognize you
three, and your other… siblings as human.”

Cal asked, “I’m not really sure I understand how that’s
possible, we aren’t human.”

Hainsworth shook his head, “Don’t ever say that again.
 You aren’t homo sapiens.  That is true.  The definition of
human isn’t that narrow, it’s actually a negative definition.  A human is
a living being that is not an animal, or an alien.  Until now, there
hasn’t been any other versions of humans outside of homo sapiens, but I assure
you, if a Neanderthal woke up from really long nap, they would fit the
description of human.  In fact, they are often called old humans. 
Does that answer your question?  You should most definitely fall under
human rights, if what you claim is true.

“Which really brings us to the heart of the matter.  We
as the plaintiffs need to have all our evidence and proof ready and pristine
before we file even one request with the courts.  There will be no court
time, or press involvement until were finished with that stage.  I want
all of you to agree with that, here and now, that you won’t contact the press
prematurely and until I say so.”

Everyone agreed, it made sense to me, and he was the lawyer.

Gerald continued, “Over the last week I’ve been contacting
doctors, biologists, and psychiatrists that the firm has used in past cases and
narrowed it down to one expert in each field.  They have all signed
non-disclosure agreements to maintain silence until the case is over. 
They also understand there will be no drugs or invasive procedures outside of
blood draws, if anything of the sort comes up, contact me immediately.”

He brought up a holographic image of an older man in a
doctor’s coat.

“This is Doctor Timothy Lawrence, he’s a psychiatrist and
will be visiting you in your home.  He will want sessions with all of you
three times a week, and he will also want to observe you in your home
environment via sensors and cameras.  It will be a bit invasive, but
better that then being checked into a facility for observation.  He told
me however, that the observation will be in common rooms only, not the bedrooms
or bathrooms so you’ll have at least some privacy.”

Another image came up, this time a woman just under forty in
jeans and a t-shirt.

“This is Doctor Carla Marks.  She’s a biologist, and
you may not meet her at all until she’s on the stand at trial, she’ll be
working with our next person, studying the blood samples, DNA strands, and
other scans made.”

The image changed again, this time it was another man in his
late forties, with blond hair and blue eyes. 

“This is Doctor Ben Adams, an M.D.  You’ll have to
visit him in his office, he’ll be running various bodily scans and other
non-invasive techniques, as well as drawing blood for testing.  I expect
you’ll receive notice when to show up in the next couple of days.”

He looked around the room, “Does anyone not understand or
approve of the approach we’ll be taking, if so now is the time.”

I shook my head, “I approve of the approach but I have a
question about the timeframe.  I have to be back in divorce court in seven
weeks, I understand why you’re holding back on the court side, but I’ll need
that injunction Paul mentioned before then so I can’t be ordered by the court
to sell Aisa.”

Hainsworth frowned, “Yes, I know about that and it’s
unfortunate.  The medical and biological testing should be fast and done
in a week or so.  All we need to do there is prove that they are truly
biological bodies outside of their brains.  I’ll let Dr. Lawrence know of
the time limit, I’m not sure how long a full psychological assessment takes,
but I imagine we’ll have plenty of time.

“From what I understand there will be a lot of question
tests, I imagine Aisa, Aida, and Cal will fly through those.  It’s the
interactive interview portion that will take time.  Others I’ve seen done
usually only take a few days, but I believe Dr. Lawrence intends to be as
exhaustive as possible.  The plan is to present overwhelming proof.”

He shrugged, “Anything else?”

I took that long speech to mean he didn’t know but expected
it to be done within my timeframe.  I didn’t really like that.  I
supposed I must have looked rather distressed about it.

Aida looked over at me and her eyes softened, “Worse comes
to worse I’ll have father pay Marilynn off for her half.  As long as the
suit goes forward, he won’t mind doing that I don’t think.  You won’t be
selling my sister.”

Hainsworth nodded, “So if there are no further
questions.  Once that is all done, we’ll start filing, and I’ll leak some
information to the press.”

Aida asked curiously, “Why do we need to do that?”

Hainsworth shrugged, “I don’t think we can try it in the
press, the courts will decide what they decide.  But it’s a… shield of
sorts.  You, Aisa, Cal, and your siblings are rather remarkable Aida, and
valuable.  I believe putting a spotlight on you will prevent the government
from doing anything drastic, like coming around to collect you and figure out
how you work.  Right now you’re merely property, and the government has no
problems citing national security and seizing property.  We need to… make
that option less appealing to the power that be.

“Of course, by the same token we’ll be putting you at risk
from other threats, like technology companies, or anti-technology whackos, so
once that stage starts try not to go outside unless you need to.”

Aida nodded soberly and shivered.

I couldn’t blame her for being frightened of that thought,
Aisa was squeezing my hand tightly under the table.  She was obviously
nervous as well.

It was becoming clear to me exactly what I was risking, my
life, but that didn’t seem to matter to me.  If I could help it, I
wouldn’t let anything happen to Aisa, even if it ruined the rest of my life in
the process.  No one had any more questions, so we said our goodbyes and
went home.  There was nothing to do yet but wait to be contacted by the
M.D. and the psychiatrist, so we fell into our daily routine and got to work on
the newest project.

Aisa and I were working late that afternoon when I started
to smell something burning.

“What is that?”

Aisa grimaced, “I think Aida’s cooking.  We should go…
now.”

I laughed and stood up at the urgency in her voice, and I
remembered to save our progress as we left my office and headed straight for
the kitchen.

Aida had a panicked look on her face, and the oven had smoke
pouring out of it.  Aisa pushed her aside and grabbed some towels and
pulled out what might have been a roast, covered in black flakes.  It was
definitely burnt.

I looked over at Aida, she was dressed differently from this
morning, she had on a tight pair of short shorts, an extremely tight pink
t-shirt, and though her C cups stood up proudly I was positive she had no bra
on.  It was all I could do to keep my gaze above her neck, her hardened
nipples showing clearly through the fabric was calling for a more direct gaze.

“What happened?”

Aida looked at me like a deer in headlights, her usually
sexy voice was upset, “You two seemed busy, I thought I’d try my hands at
cooking again, but…” she trailed off with tears in her eyes and fled the room.

I shook my head confused, “What was that about?”

I didn’t see the big deal, it was just a burnt roast,
nothing to cry about.  And why the hell was she dressed so sexily?

Aisa shrugged, and put the burnt food down the reclamation
chute.

“I’m not sure, maybe… let me talk to her about it.  Can
you start dinner.”

I grinned, “Sure, how about pizza?”

I liked cooking, but every once in a while a nice hot
delivered pizza was called for.

She smiled and kissed my cheek, “Fine with me love,” and she
chased after Aida.

Cal came in the kitchen a moment later.

“Can I ask you some advice?”

I raised an eyebrow, we never got a chance to talk alone,
since most of the time Aisa was right with me.  I wondered how long he’d
been holding back, “What about?”

He shrugged, “Karen, she wants me to come over tonight for
dinner.”

I nodded, “I see, and you…”

He frowned, “I like her, and not just because she… you
know.  But I really can’t tell her what I am, there was a reason we were
in hiding, still is.  At least, I can’t tell her until I’m free, or
forever an object to be owned if it doesn’t work.”

I shook my head, “You should never give up, if Hainsworth
fails, we do a media campaign to get congress to create a new law and go that
way.  Or hell, why not just go to the world congress and do it
there.  But back to the other problem, you can’t tell her in case she
talks, but you don’t want to lie to her.”

He nodded, “And if I put her off until a decision is made,
she might move on.”

How the hell was I qualified to give advice on that?

“That’s a tough one.  Hiding it worked for Aisa, but it
could have backfired.  It would have if I’d thought she’d deceived me from
the beginning on purpose, and not just from a misunderstanding.  You could
take a middle road.  Tell her you need to keep it casual for a while, and
you can’t legally talk about why but you want to tell her, and will when you
can.  It might piss her off, but it’s better than lying or ignoring
her.  Either way, you’ll know where you stand.”

He made a face and I shrugged, “Sure, I know it’s crappy
advice, but it’s not an easy situation either.”

He laughed and clapped my shoulder, “True.  Alright,
I’m out of here.  Don’t let my sisters drive you crazy.”

I asked, “Any idea what’s up with Aida?”

He shrugged, “Probably just wants to feel useful.  She
and Aisa helped raise the rest of us, and then the last six weeks before we got
here it was just her keeping an eye on us.  She didn’t cook, but she did
run the house, order stuff, and kept track of projects for father.  His memory
isn’t what it used to be.  Here… she doesn’t really have anything to do,
except help with this case, and so far not much has happened that way.”

I nodded in thought and thanked him, and he left to meet up
with Karen.  I started to set out three plates and cups on the table, for
when the pizza got here, while I thought it through.  What he’d said
sounded right, but not completely, there was more to it than that, and I had a
sinking feeling in my stomach I knew what it was.  Especially considering
her choice of seductive clothing and the look of humiliation she’d given me
before she fled, it wasn’t that she wanted to simply feel useful, she wanted to
be useful to
me,
and seemingly wanted to be with me even more now. 

The most confusing part was there was a part of me that was
coming to care for her, and wanted to go comfort her, although I was sure that
was the worst possible thing I could ever do.

It was a problem.  I knew Aisa said she was willing to
share, but I was almost positive the unexpected jealousy that she would have as
a result of it would eat her alive, I could never hurt Aisa.  I cared for
Aida, or was starting too, but Aisa was my priority.  If I had to choose
one of them to spare pain, there was no question who I’d pick.

But of course, life isn’t that easy, Aisa will suffer if
Aida suffers, and that was clearly happening.  Plus, we were all living in
the same house, which made it that much worse.  I was getting a headache
just trying to wrap my head around it all.  A simple solution would be to
send Aida back home, she’d get over her first crush I was sure, but it wasn’t
an option since we needed her here for the case.

Then, the most seductive hope of all was that I was wrong,
and Aisa could handle sharing me.  That I could have it all, both Aisa’s
love, and Aida’s.  Aida had a hot body, and she was a good person, and
living around her constantly the way we were was an ongoing temptation. 
No, I didn’t love Aida yet, but it wouldn’t take all that much to get there I
didn’t think.  I was sure though, this last option was nothing but my dick
doing my thinking, and it would ruin everything.  I felt a little panicked
at the idea of losing Aisa.

The other part of course was the whole monogamy thing. 
Sure, maybe one relationship for the rest of my life was overly optimistic, but
one at a time wasn’t.  It was what I always believed, I’d seen open
relationships and marriages, and they worked for a while, but always failed
faster than a one on one relationship.  There were of course, exceptions,
but they were rare.

That said, if I had permission, no… not permission, she’d
practically asked me to be with her sister, so it wouldn’t be cheating. 
But then there was also the fact it would be hypocritical, because I’d fucking
lose it if Aisa ever kissed, much less slept, with another man.  No doubt
that would extend to Aida once I’d had her as well, she’d be mine as well in my
mind, so how screwed up am I?

Fuck, I needed a distraction.

I told the house A.I. to let up the pizza guy when he got
here, and went back into my office and started testing the new changes we’d
just made.  Hopefully my mind would settle down before the pizza got here,
and Aida and Aisa came out from the guest room…

I took a bite of my pizza in the tense silence, and washed
it down with a sip of beer.  This was what I’d been afraid of, damned if I
do, damned if I don’t.  It had gotten to the point that Aida was truly not
happy, so Aisa wasn’t happy, which meant I wasn’t happy.  So I was left
with the choices of either riding it out to see if it got better, or taking a
chance that Aisa could handle it like she said.

Assuming that was even an option.  Aida had changed
again, this time wearing loose sweat pants and a loose shirt, her hair was up
in a ponytail, and she hadn’t looked at me once since they’d come out.  I
assumed she was trying to look unattractive, but of course she completely
failed.  Women never believe it, but other men know that a beautiful woman
in baggy unsexy clothing with no makeup is still attractive.  Perversely,
sometimes even more so.

I couldn’t even throw Cal under the bus and use him as a
subject to fill the silence, not that I’d do that, guy code prohibition. 
But they hadn’t even asked about him, and were no doubt in constant contact
with him right now anyway.  Somehow I doubted a Cubs Verse White Sox
discussion would go very far either since they weren’t native Chicagoans.

When we finished eating Aisa suggested a movie, and we moved
out to the living room.  Aida chose a seat the farthest from where Aisa
and I sat, and as the movie started Aisa didn’t cuddle into me like she usually
does.  She was sitting stiffly next to me with an uncomfortable look on
her face.  Well, I’d had enough of that.

“We need to talk,” I grabbed her hand and led her toward the
bedroom, thank god she followed me.

When I shut the door I said, “What’s going on Aisa, I mean
with you.  What do you want?”

She sighed, “We talked about it, you refused.  I’m
sorry, but I felt bad about hanging all over you, Aida… she’s miserable and
jealous.  That whole thing in the kitchen was for your benefit.”

I pulled her into my lap on the bed, and she cuddled into
me.

“I know.  But do you really want what you asked? 
Have you thought about it?  I can’t stand seeing both of you miserable
like this.”

She asked in a truly confused voice, “What do you mean?
 I already said I wouldn’t mind sharing.”

I blew out a breath, “But have you thought through what that
means?  She’s falling in love with me, do you think I won’t fall for her too? 
Did you think about that, or just think we’d fuck every once in a while and
that would be it?  She’s different from you, in a lot of ways, but she’s
beautiful, and has the same sweetness and innocence that attracted me to
you.  What about sleeping arrangements, will all three of us sleep
together?  Will I swap nights?  Because you have to know this won’t
be just a fuck, right?

“I mean you don’t want your sister to just be my casual lay
or mistress do you?  She deserves better and it would never work that
way.  You’d both be mine.  I wouldn’t want either of you sleeping or
even kissing another man.  Is that what you want, can you live with
that?  Can she?  Because once I sleep with her, we can’t go back,
ever.  Sure, she may leave at some point, find a new guy, but…  Can
you live with that?”

I shook my head, not quite believing I was having this
conversation, it was crazy.

She leaned back and looked up at me, “Yes.  I’m sorry I
didn’t make that clear.  All of that.  As to why…  I love both
you and my sister, I know you find her attractive, and I know how she feels
about you.  It would make me happy to see both of you happy.  And I
already told you, I chose you long ago, I won’t want another man.”

She frowned, “I have all the same emotions as a normal human
does, the same rush of love, lust, sadness, tears, all of it.  But at the
heart of my mind I am an A.I.  Do you understand that?  I chose you,
and unless you want me to leave, I never will.  That doesn’t mean I won’t
argue or fight when I’m pissed off, but it does mean I won’t give up, as long
as you don’t.

“I am not… fickle, and I won’t let jealousy destroy what we
have, and who I am.  You are mine Tony Sanders, and sharing you doesn’t
change that fact.  So feel free to love and cherish my sister as well as
me, because I can’t think of anything else that would make me happier right
now.  As far as sleeping arrangements, I think I’d be okay all sleeping in
the same bed, but having sex with my sister in bed next to us would be… really
awkward I think.”

I snickered, “Really?”

She bit my shoulder, “Be nice.  Yes, it would. 
I’m not attracted to women at all, and she’s my sister, so it’s kind of a
double no there with a yuck added in.  But, I wouldn’t mind us both
cuddling you from either side as we fell asleep.”

I sighed, “Why didn’t you tell me all this before?  It
would have saved me a lot of grief.”

She giggled, “I love you, and I’m okay with it, but I didn’t
want to come across too strong, I didn’t want to force you into something you
didn’t want, so I guess I was a little too subtle.  I didn’t want you
taking her for me, only if you wanted her, and I’m sorry about tonight being so
miserable.”

That… didn’t really make sense to me, but then I didn’t have
to understand everything, women are an enigma after all.  I still had
doubts as to the wisdom of this course of action, but she didn’t seem to have
any at all, and there was still that whole all of us being miserable thing if I
didn’t give in to what we all wanted.  It seemed stupid not to at this
point.

“Alright, but I’m taking her out for a while first.”

She tilted her head and looked up at me again, “Why?”

I shook my head, “She’s in a bad mood, and it will give us
some time alone to get to know each other better.  If I’m doing this, I’m
doing it right, I’m not just going to bend her over and take her.”

She giggled, “That kind of sounds like fun, will you do that
to me later?”

I hugged her tightly against me and said in authoritatively,
“When you least expect it, I’m going to bend you over and take you hard and
fast.  I’m going to use your hot little body for my own pleasure, and
you’re going to like it.”

She leaned up and kissed me, her eyes a little glazed with
lust from my words, and then she smiled coquettishly, “You say the sweetest
things…”

I rolled a little and she slid off me, I spanked her and
snickered as I rolled out of bed.

“I love you baby,” I said sweetly as she glared at me.

I made my way back out to the living room, Aida was still
staring at the movie looking miserable, so I went over and sat next to her, and
she still didn’t look at me.

“Aida.”

She finally turned my way and raised an eyebrow.

“Would you like to go out and grab a couple of drinks with
me?  We can talk, in private?”