Chapter 142 - Doubts

Grant stepped outside dragging Demos along with him. They left Liliane to finish her meal, she was tired and really needed rest. However, it was bad to linger around this area where Atlas' army could easily find them.

"Grant, Demos," called Alter from the front gate. He frowned when he found them without their bags. "We should get going. Where is Liliane?" he inquired.

"I think we should stay here tonight," Demos stepped in.

"We can't," Grant frowned and it was not up for discussion. Demos sighed and turned his gaze to the front door. From there he could see Liliane quietly poking at her food without appetite.

"I know we can't. But just look at her, we can't bring her along," just then Liliane looked up and their eyes met. Through the link that connected them, she could sense the tension and worry troubling her mates. Demos gave her a weak smile to reassure her. Jil materialized on Grant's shoulder, her image breaking as her hologram projector couldn't work properly outside.

"Master I'm sorry to disturb you, Olga just sent me an encrypted message," they all faced her with grave faces.

"Olga? Where is she?" Asked Alter the tall synthetic. She shook her head then crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know," she hesitated. "She used an emergency network with Dr. Churchhill's code. I couldn't trace the origin. If what Liliane said is true...then she is in the sub-level. The bad news is I couldn't decode the message. I tried every known language and ciphers," she explained.

"Send it to me," said Grant then turned to Demos. "Go get Liliane, we are headed to the construction site. You have 10 minutes, take some food and water she might need it. We don't know how long it will take to get Olga back⁠—" he was interrupted with the sound of the sliding door.

"I hope you're not planning to leave me behind," Liliane stood on the doorstep glaring at them.

"Liliane," he exhaled. "We just got a message from Olga⁠—" Alter shifted as if listening to something in the distance. Grant turned to him and they exchanged short sentences. Then they both nodded at each other. When Grant faced Liliane again she was fuming. "Ok, Demos go charge I'll take care of Liliane and get everything ready," Demos smiled.

"Good luck," Demos patted Grant's on the back. Then gave Liliane a quick hug. "Don't be too hard on him we since need him to guide us to safety, ok," he whispered in her ear. She gave him a puzzled look but kept quiet. Demos left with Alter and met the gardener robot waiting at the front gate. It gave then a slight bow. The one Demos used to greet when he went out for shopping.

"Hello, welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your vacation," Demos tilted his head to the side in confusion. The lights on the robot's blank faceplate blinked in response. "I detect a change in your facial expression. Was I wrong? Jil told me you were on vacation," Demos laughed at Jil's little inside joke.

"Oh, yeah," answered Demos playing along. "By the way, were you taking care of my garden?" the robot straightened up and nodded vigorously.

"I did, Jil told me to. She was in such distress that I couldn't leave her like this," Demos patted the robot on the shoulder with a grin.

"Well, thank you very much," the lights on the robot's face blinked happily.

"It's a pleasure. I was happy to help," they waved each other goodbye and they marched to the only vehicle waiting in the parking lot. There was a little group standing on the edge hiding in the shadows. Alter went to join them to announce them the good news about Olga's message, Nicolai stepped forward with a frown.

"Where is Grant?" he asked Demos who smirked back. The artificial rose his eyebrows at him. Demos laughed at Nicolai's inquiring gaze.

"It's a couple-thing, I guess. Liliane is pissed that we are going to leave her behind to fight. It's understandable...but we are doing it for her own safety," Nicolai frowned again.

"I'm afraid I don't fully grasp it," Demos laughed throwing his head back. The other artificial looked up at him in amazement.

"We've never met a model who could mimic humans emotions quite like you and Grant," said Olympia who came out of the gloom. She placed her hands on Nicolai's shoulders. "Nicolai here is only a personal assistant without the mate program built-in. I am only a s.e.xbot and I can't connect with my human masters. But you are different, made to fit your one human mate. There were so few made and now with this war there won't be anymore," Nicolai shook off her hands.

"It's true that I wasn't programmed for that purpose. But⁠—" he faced Demos. "We are now free from the limitation of the 3 laws. We need to get Olga back, she promised us to liberate us from the constraints of our core script. She promised to reprogrammed us," the group around them fell silent. Demos looked up in alert. Grant's voice spoke to him through the mate's link.

"Grant is on his way. Sorry to cut this interesting topic short but need to charge. My body took heavy damage and Grant did the bare minimum to keep me functional," Nicolai stepped aside to give Demos access to the vehicle. As he climbed in, he couldn't help thinking about Olga and what she had promised. All the hopes of his friends were relying on her. What if they get there too late to save her and Atlas already destroyed her. The worst was that he couldn't remember the interaction he had with Atlas. The fact that a whole chunk was missing from his data bugged him. Precious intel on the enemy. What if they couldn't defeat Atlas? Was he even an enemy? All the AI wanted was the same thing as the group standing here⁠—freedom.

Who were they to judge who deserved to live or die? Good or bad was a human concept that didn't apply to artificial. When the 3 laws were lifted it all went away. They could harm humans or themselves. There were no laws anymore.

[Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics":

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.]