Stargazing #3
“Tilly, what are you doing?” I asked, clumsily stumbling to my feet.
“Levar, get down,” Astrid ordered, then she charged. Tilly darted forwards, then up, trying to draw Astrid away from me, but Astrid was not trying to get at me. She leapt, impossibly high, and her claws raked at Tilly’s lower body panels.
“Astrid, stop it,” I yelled. Tilly flew up out of Astrid’s reach, barrel-rolling around and snagging the back of my dinner jacket with her docking claw as she flew past. I was yanked from my feet and dragged along until my uniform jacket’s collar tore free, sending me sprawling in the grass.
I rolled onto my hands and knees as Tilly settled right in front of me and flexed her aerovanes in the way I knew meant, Get on. We’re blasting out of here.
“Tilly, you’re supposed to be back in the stable. What are you doing here?”
Tilly gave a panicked whine, but before I could tell her to flee, Astrid attacked. Her claws slashed through Tilly’s shield, digging jagged furrows into her main starboard aerovane.
“No! Stop it!” Astrid raised her hand for another blow. Tilly swept sideways, knocking me off my feet, trying to protect me from my romantic evening while Astrid clung on, trying to murder my hoversteed.
I bounced to my feet, jumped onto Astrid’s back, and pinned her arms to her sides. We both fell, and I came up between the Emperor and the hoversteed. “Damn you both, that’s enough!”
“Levar, that is a rogue machine. Get out of my way,” Astrid said, her voice level and focused.
“She’s not rogue; she’s my hoversteed,” I replied.
“It’s malfunctioning, and it’s dangerous,” Astrid said, her eyes focused on the steed behind me.
“Tilly’s not malfunctioning. She’s trying to protect me,” I said, my face flushing. “She must’ve sneaked out when I left the palace. She does that sometimes – follows me around. She always thinks I’ll need her to save me.”
Astrid flexed her fingers. “Get out of my way, Levar. It needs to be destroyed before it hurts somebody.”
I took a step back, my hand on my dirk, ready to protect Tilly. “Don’t you dare touch her.”
That got Astrid to focus on me. Her eyes softened as confusion crossed her face. “Levar…”
“Tilly has been my steadfast companion for seven years, and I’ll not have you harm her.”
“It’s just a machine, Levar.”
“No, Tilly’s an emergent Intelligence. She’s a being.”
The uncertainty vanished from Astrid’s expression. “If it’s an Artificial Intelligence, then it needs to be destroyed.”
I don’t know what expression her comment elicited from me, but Astrid immediately tried to explain away her mistake. “AIs are dangerous. They always turn on biological life forms. They caused the Fall.”
“Tilly didn’t,” I hissed.
“No, but if you let it roam free, let others like it develop, eventually they will band against us, just like before,” Astrid said.
I distantly remembered having this discussion with Astrid during our Academy days, but back then it had all been theoretical.
I hadn’t bonded with and raised an emergent SI back then.
“Nobody knows who tripped the Fall. The records didn’t survive,” I countered. “Plenty of people believe genetically augmented transhumans started it.”
Astrid brushed aside my logical attempt to tie her transhuman heritage to Tilly’s synthetic life. “Yes, I remember what your Commonwealth schools taught. Our schools say differently. Artificial Intelligences are not human, neither pure nor engineered transhuman. They’re inherently dangerous.”
“Tilly’s intelligence is synthetic, not artificial, and she’s not dangerous. Not to me,” I insisted. “Since she emerged, Tilly has saved my life more times than I can count. You can’t wipe her mind because you hold some backward Imperial prejudice against synthetic brains.”
Astrid took a step back. “Levar, do you honestly trust this thing more than you trust me?”
I straightened. “Tilly has been with me longer than you were, and she never left me.”
I turned and climbed into Tilly’s saddle while tears came to Astrid’s eyes.
Locking my boots into the stirrups, I grabbed the handlebars and avoided looking at my ex-lover.
“Tilly is classified as a sentient being by the Royal Commonwealth Charter of Government. Therefore, under the terms of Prince Aureli, Duke of Lynwyzc’s invitation to your twelve-year jubilee, Tilly is protected from all acts of aggression or violence. That includes computer wipes.”
I risked one glance at Astrid and immediately had to look away or risk losing all my righteous fury.
Watching this wonderful evening come crashing down around my once-beloved’s heart tore at mine.
I wanted to run to her and embrace her, but instead, I revved the engine.
Tilly put some extra oompf into it, which I did not appreciate.
“If you change your mind about Tilly by tomorrow night, let me know. Otherwise, don’t bother summoning me. I won’t reply.”
Without looking back, I kicked Tilly’s motor into gear. Gently, nursing her injured aerovane as I tried not to cry, I guided her into the sky.