This is a sequel to the “Lost”-series. Click here to be taken to the last part of it, which contains links to all previous parts.
Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 of “AIOA”
I help Caroline pack. Her movements are hectic and she keeps dropping stuff all the time. I always catch them, allowing her not to notice how much her hands shake. It isn’t just the fear that makes her lose control over her movements, although she isn’t willing to accept it. Her disease is getting worse. It’s eating up her nerves.
With proper medicine, her sickness could have been treated and she wouldn’t suffer as much as she does right now. But medicine has been rare for a while now. All those medical AIOAs are just decoration meant to make the people feel safe. In reality, they couldn’t really help a badly injured person. Anyone who’d rely on a medical AIOA to help them would just die if they needed more than a band aid. And even those were hard to come by these days.
”Erin, don’t just stand around staring holes in the air! We need to move! They could be here any minute!”
Dutifully, I put on the backpack and grab the bags to follow Caroline outside. A car is waiting. I put our things in the trunk, close it and walk around the car to the driver’s side. Caroline is sitting in the seat.
”Caroline”, I say softly. ”We talked about this.”
”I can still drive my own car, thank you very much!” She snaps at me.
”You know you don’t. I’m sorry. But as you said yourself, we need to move. Fast. And I doubt you want us both to die in a car crash, trying to get away from the government.”
She keeps complaining in a quiet voice but moves aside. I get into the car and we start driving. For a good half an hour, it is completely quiet, aside from the noise the car makes. It’s making me slightly uncomfortable.
”So they’re finally coming to force you to give me up”, I try to break the deafening silence. ”Do you know why?”
Caroline nods.
”They are revolting in the western colonies. Rationing medicine was bad enough. People got used to their neighbors dying of treatable diseases. The initial protests died down after a while. Medicine shortages have always been a problem, not just now. Something happens, war, the economy crashes, it doesn’t matter what. Something happens and people don’t have proper health treatment anymore, they can’t get hands on the medicine they need. They rebel. The government tries to soothe the angry mob with something. After a while, it is either resolved or people just get used to it. Maybe they smuggle medicine in from the outside.”
”So what is the problem this time?” I wonder.
”There is no outside to smuggle medicine from. Nobody is producing much of it anymore. And now, there is a shortage that’s even worse.”
”Which is?”
”Water. They’ve completely run out of water.”
A cold shiver runs down my spine. Water is something even I need from time to time to properly run. The thought of it being completely gone is horrifying. Caroline continues explaining.
”Only 3% of earth's water was drinkable in the first place, most of it frozen in glaciers or something. But glaciers thawed and most water ended up in rivers leading to the sea, contaminating the fresh water with salt. But while salt can be filtered, pollution can’t. Not all of it at least. Not even with our new methods.”
”So the water sources in the western colonies are what, all polluted?”
”Or dried up, yes. As far as I’ve heard, it’s been a problem for months now. And people are getting sick. Cholera, typhoid fever, you name it. The diseases that happen when people don’t have access to clean water. So you either die of one of those things or you die of thirst out there. It’s a choice many people don’t want to make, so they’re attacking government officials, brutally lynching them sometimes.”
”That’s horrible”, I say. Caroline nods.
”But what’s even worse is that they want to use Androids to keep these people under control. That’s why they want you.”
”Me? I don’t understand. There are already Android soldiers, why do they want me?”
”Because you can actually kill.”
The silence is back. My hands are gripping the steering wheel so hard that they turned white. This time, Caroline seems uncomfortable, shifting in her seat and looking at me from the corner of her eye.
”Don’t you want to know more?” She finally says. I grind my teeth.
”I’m not sure I want to hear it. But I have to, don’t I?”
”Oh Erin.” She sighs. *”Just because you can kill people doesn’t mean you will you know that, right? I gave you absolute free will. I wanted to make you as human as possible and I succeeded. All the other Androids, they were programmed to follow the three laws of robotics, although with slight changes to the first law. They changed it so that an Android can cause harm to a human, but not kill a human.”
”And I don’t follow those laws?” I ask.
”You follow your own moral code. A moral code you learned by observing and learning from me. Like a human.”
”But I am not human”, I say. She shakes her head
”You are better.”
Suddenly, I hear the sound of a helicopter. No, not one, several. They’re coming closer.
”Fuck”, I hiss and press the gas pedal down to the floor. It’s a futile attempt, I won’t be able to outrun the helicopters. ”FUCK!”
”Stop the car”, Caroline says with a voice devoid of all emotion. I look at her.
”Are you sure?”
”Yes.”
Screeching, the car comes to a halt. Caroline gets out of the car, opens the trunk and takes something out of it. Then she opens the door on my side and gives me the backpack.
”Go”, she says. ”They can’t get their hands on you. I’ll stall them, tell them you didn’t come with me.”
”But where am I supposed to go?” I look at the vast desert surrounding us. ”I can’t leave you alone!”
She gives me a loving smile.
”You have to. And you have to delete all your memories, in case they catch you. You can’t give them my life’s work. You can’t let them create a killing machine. Don’t allow them to turn your brothers and sisters into murderers. Go.”
I get out of the car and she pulls me into an embrace, before pushing me away. Tears are on her face.
”Go”, she whispers and I turn around to walk into the desert. As I walk, I prepare the memory wipe, but then stop. No. I don’t want to forget all this. Not permanently. Disregarding my mother’s wishes, I encrypt my memories instead of deleting them.
As soon as the last memory is encrypted. I pass out on the dry, hot desert ground.
The memory ends and the engineer is looking at me, delighted.
”There, was that so hard?” He asks with a grin.
”No, it wasn’t”, I say. ”But maybe, you should have thought this through.”
The engineer laughs.
”What do you mean? You’re tied to a table and will soon be completely deactivated. What is supposed to happen?”
Without a word, I rip my constraints apart and get off the table.
This time, the engineer won’t just be knocked unconscious. This time, I’ll get rid of him for good.
References:
The Ethics and Reality of Rationing in Medicine
Venezuela asks UN for help as medicine shortages grow severe
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