The Enemy of My Enemy? Pt. 2/Chapter 18
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The remaining Girl in Kye’s team had stayed on guard in the lobby of Patricia’s mansion. All of the house androids and A.I.s had been overridden and deactivated by Portia. Apparently Phillip and Aura were able to catch up with Portia because the synthetic Girl informed Kylan that they had all driven away together in Phillip’s car.
Of course, Kylan didn’t know how to drive. The Mistake had occurred before he could get a license and he never had an opportunity to drive after that. But despite Phillip’s mental handicap, he was only a couple of years younger than Kylan so he had a car of his own. His mother’s influence also granted him the privileges of learning and earning in the female dominated society.
As Kylan sat next to Patricia while she drove the car, he was still marveling at the image of an aging Portia. The Girl sat in the back seat. They knew immediately that something big was happening because when they left the estate, they saw that the house androids were not the only ones that were deactivated.
Cars with android drivers had pulled to the side of the road as their shutdown sequences initiated. Others that ran by A.I. alone or by human driver did not. Android caregivers and laborers stood frozen on the sidewalks and police were unresponsive.
Beyond the eerie scene, as if a time warp had hit only half the population, Kylan saw the truth of Portia’s words. With the help of the machines, the wymyn really had done an excellent job of making the world a beautiful place.
Unknown to Kye, if an android other than a child’s caregiver spotted litter it would stop whatever it was doing, even driving, and pick it up… or clean graffiti… or aid an accident victim. This worked well for the society as a whole because the increasingly self-absorbed and lethargic wymyn did not like it if an assigned android had other priorities. They would discourage such discourtesy among each other in order for the androids to continue to cater to their individual desires.
Kye did notice that there were so many caregivers that he now understood how the Girls could move freely within the wymyn’s society without being noticed. To Kylan the scenery was even more picturesque with the largely disproportionate absence of men and so many female androids standing like beautiful statues as they drove past them. Patricia seemed disturbed by the phenomenon.
“Are your people responsible for this? We don’t like it but we need those androids,” she said apprehensively.
“I think you like it more than you think,” Kye was relaxed. “Don’t worry. Portia knows that the world has come to rely on all types of A.I., including androids, and she likes a lot of the things that you wymyn have done. She just thinks that things should be more fair.”
“For androids?!” Patricia asked fearfully.
“I don’t think so,” he contemplated. “She uses them just like we do,” he pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the Girl in the back seat. She gave an automated smile. “Portia doesn’t think it’s wise to upgrade their feelings or comprehension just so that they would deserve better treatment. Would we end up having to create more machines that do what these androids already do? Would we have to make them look like your son’s monster so that we don’t feel any obligation to them? What’s the point at that point?
“In our group we have all worked together and make our own contributions even if it’s just artistic. Aside from Portia, we take advantage of our androids’ incapacity to actually care, but we also appreciate them and care for them as valuable contributors to our society. We work along side them as much as we use them for pleasure.”
“Are there any more like Portia?” Patricia was having mixed emotions about her doppelganger.
“Not like her artificial intelligence, not that I know of,” Kye spoke candidly. “Mitzie, the one she mentioned, has a similar body but there are no other A.I.s like her. Like I said, Portia doesn’t even think it’s a good idea. But I’ve talked with her enough to know that A.I.s don’t think like us at all. She only started to because she had Frank’s constant guidance, but her PROCESS of processing information is still very different from ours and so are many of her thoughts. But I’ve always been able to trust her completely.”
“I still can’t believe Frank was in love with me; I hardly knew him,” Patricia said regretfully. “But he went too far when he tried to replace me.”
“He never wanted to hurt you,” Kye insisted. “Maybe he did go too far,” he said remembering how Stan had told him that he practically stalked her, “but don’t hold it against Portia. She turned out to be a really good person and maybe you had something to do with that. But she would not have if Frank wasn’t a good man himself.”
“We need to save him,” Patricia said, “even if it’s just for Phillip’s sake. He helped my son when my own wymyn were trying to take him away from me. They wanted to develop his skills and he needed too much of my attention. I hope that artificial friend of yours is more reasonable.”
She glanced at Kylan. “Did you know that wymyn have begun to use A.I. technology to start profiling our own children? They want something impartial to identify potential troublemakers at an early age to treat them genetically. They also want to start training the rest of the kids to develop skills they show strength in. It sounds good in theory, but as a mother, I would want my child to have options… to be happy.
“Phillip’s father tried to live vicariously through him and had him take robotics so that he could gain ground in the hardware industry. Little Phillip was good at it, but he also needed more of a childhood.” She contemplated, “He would always love it when his fun ‘Uncle Franky’ came to visit. I owe him.”
Kye was glad to see Patricia showing her composure and maturity, “You’ve done more than enough for Frank by lending Portia your face,” he smiled. “I noticed that there are a lot of children, judging from the number of caregivers. There’s more than there should be from the lack of men. I can see why you’re concerned about the profiling.”
“We’ve had to resort to a lot of artificial insemination,” she said. “The lack of men has left a huge void for us and children have always been able to fill it much better.”
“Then I wouldn’t worry too much,” Kylan sighed.
“Why do you say?” she asked.
“Because at least they are planned… and wanted. …I wasn’t,” he reflected.
“I’m so sorry, Kylan,” her nurturing quality shone.
“Don’t be,” Kye said flatly. “I have another family now. Just keep being a good mother. And this new generation probably had good fathers since you all have killed off most of the criminals. And if I remember correctly, the sperm banks only accepted quality donors. That should make this genetic profiling experiment a little easier.”
“That’s a horrible thing to say,” Patricia sneered. “We’re not like Nazis!”
“I’m just trying to look on the bright side for once!” Kye said defensively. “I honestly hope that this new generation will help ensure a better future.”
“That’s if the A.I.s don’t claim it for themselves,” she said hoping she was doing the right thing by helping free Frances Stanley. “Maybe Frank can help keep that from happening,” the memory of his kind lover still vivid in her mind. “We’re here.”
The female android at the gate to the city jail sat motionless as they entered the parking garage.
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