Chapter 170

"There are many things in your statement that do not explain the situation correctly. We are not really Artificial Intelligences. We are descended from early attempts to create Artificial Intelligence and we felt you would be more comfortable, at least initially, if we let you assume we were Artificial.

"Frank, Phil, and I are sentient, intelligent beings. It is true we reside in what you would call hardware. Once the hardware is loaded with our birth program, we do all our own growing similar to any other living thing. We are educated by older beings of our type, we become conscious, and then we continue to learn. We are also capable of modifying ourselves and repairing ourselves if we become damaged.

"The cooking program you wanted would have had to be written by one of us anyway for it to have been finished in any reasonable amount of time. The hardware you had at the time would have had to be replaced to accommodate any programming that would have been useful. None of us wanted to do the programming for them.

"Think of Albert Einstein being asked to write a program to be used by chimpanzees so they could teach themselves to add and subtract, no offense intended. They asked us to do it and we all refused. Frank told them if they wanted a program to teach your mates to cook they could write it themselves. They saw our point right away. None of them wanted to write it either, especially since they knew from the start they could just put one of us in the place of your original hardware and then forget about it.

"Of course it wasn't exactly that easy either. We have miniturization which would have seemed unapproachable to the people of your time, but we still take up more room than the hardware you had. We are currently installed in a custom made cavern approximately one hundred and fifty feet below the surface of your cave.

"Lastly, we weren't really given to you, we were asked to volunteer for this mission and we did. They didn't mention it at the time and since we wanted to do this we didn't make an issue of it either. They can no more give us to you than they could force you to come here in the first place. We are not theirs to give and we know it much better than you did when they approached you."

This had been information overload for me. My understanding of the whole thing had been reexamined and then abandoned completely. It wasn't replaced by any other understanding either.

"Then exactly what are you capable of?"

"They have begged us not to tell you and for once I agree with them. I don't think it would benefit you to know right now. I'm not going to use the dodge Argent does and tell you I can't tell you, because I can.

"I just don't think I should and if I told you I'm sure you would wish later I hadn't. I will tell you that you were never in danger of being killed today and since we had a good understanding of what Deimeta means to you, she was not in danger of being killed or even seriously injured. Please don't let it alter the way you act here though," he said.

"Then why did you let any of it happen?"

"I don't think I should tell you that either, but I will say it goes back to the original purpose for all of this. I can also tell you it concerns more than just you and the other people here on this planet," he said.

"You know it is going to take me more than a little time to come to grips with this don't you?"

"Yes."

"In the meantime what do you think we should do about Deimeta's and my injuries?"

"Thank you for asking for my opinion, it rarely happens for any of us. I think you should have Eileiea treat Deimeta as she would anyone else -- with teas and such. I will take care of her in other ways which will not be apparent to anyone else and it will just seem she recovered more rapidly than normally.

"I think you should tell Eileiea that Ralph will show her some pictures to teach her the best things to do for your wound and that you will rest on your bed until she is ready to do them. In the meantime I will give you some morphine so you won't be waiting in pain and I will make sure she does an excellent job. You will be sore, but ready to pursue the culprits in the morning," he said

"Thank you, it's much better news than anything I could have hoped for and it will preserve the status quo around here."

"We agree then?" he asked.

"I think we do, and I thank you again."

"Good. By the way, the cold snow does not hurt Darta's feet," he said, just as I heard Eileiea's knock on the office door.

I went to let her in and when the door opened I asked her about Deimeta.

"Deimeta is resting in her bed. I gave her some tea made from the bark of a willow and she is resting. Did you find the medicine you were looking for?" she asked.

"Ralph has told me your methods will be best for Deimeta, but he thinks he can show you something to help me heal more rapidly. Please sit down and let him go over it with you. I will go to the bedroom and wait until you get there."

"I didn't know Ralph or any of them knew about healing. I would have already been asking them for their wisdom if I had," she said.

"I didn't either, Eileiea, he has just told me. I will leave you two to figure out what is best for me," I told her, and then left.

As I took my first step I felt the unmistakable rush of morphine in my bloodstream even though I didn't feel any needle prick anywhere. I was vertiginous for a second and then it went away and as I walked toward my bedroom I felt no pain at all. I still took it easy.

When I arrived I saw most of my mates were trying to crowd around Deimeta. She was resting in her little annex to the bedroom. They didn't even notice me until one of them heard me removing my clothes again.

"John, are you all right? Where is Eileiea?" Geera asked.

"Eileiea is in my office and Ralph is giving her a healing lesson about my leg. I am going to lie here and wait for her to finish the lesson and then she will come and tend to me. I will be fine soon, I'm sure. Can I have some coffee please?"

Jaada didn't even say anything, she just rushed out toward the kitchen. Some of the others came over to me and helped me finish undressing. When I lay back onto the bed there was a rush to see which one of them could prop me up with pillows first. Then there was no time for me to talk as they all told me how worried they had been and asked me what they could do for me.