Free The Phoenix Code by Catherine Asaro Page B

with authority figures?"
    "Hell, yes." Then he added, "Sorry."
    She laughed. "No you're not."
    The hint of a smile played around his mouth. "Maybe not."
    "Why don't you like Richard?"
    "He's a control freak."
    "Give him a chance. Let him see your good side."
    Raj pulled his jacket tighter. "I don't have one."
    She wondered where he had come up with such a thought. "Of course you do."
    He almost stopped again, staring at her with the same surprise he had shown upstairs, when he touched her cheek. Then he resumed his pace, a flush on his face. She wanted to ask why compliments bothered him, but she held back, certain it would make him even more uncomfortable.
    At Aris's room, the door slid open. Aris was working at his computer. The program looked like a war game he had written, but she wasn't sure. He played so fast, the holos blurred in a wash of color. MindSim intended for him to design such codes himself eventually, but for now he concentrated his resources on his own development and used other computers to write the games.
    "May we come in?" Megan asked.
    "No," he said, still playing.
    Her breath caught. No? It was the first time he had refused her.
    "You might enjoy our company," Raj said.
    "Why?" Aris swiveled his chair. "Time for me to behave again?"
    "I hope not," Raj said. "That would be boring."
    "I'm not here to interest you," Aris shot back.
    "I might interest you, though."
    Aris seemed unprepared for this approach. "I don't see why."
    "So find out."
    The android sat for a moment as if he hadn't decided whether to glower or relent. Then he said, "Oh, all right, come in."
    Megan stayed back, curious to see Raj and the android take each other's measure. Raj pulled a chair over to the console and sat down to study the screen. The geometrical shapes had stopped moving and now stood in ranks, like an army regiment.
    "Defensive geometry," Raj said.
    Aris sat stiffly. "It's a game."
    "Did you write it?"
    "Yes."
    Raj indicated a purple cube. "What does that do?"
    "It's a term in a partial differential equation." Aris regarded him with suspicion. "I use it in a model I designed to predict human behavior during combat."
    "It was going around and around in a loop before."
    Aris shrugged. "They get stuck that way sometimes. I fix it."
    "You like writing war games?"
    "I don't like anything."
    Raj glanced at the computer screen, then back at Aris. "So why write games instead of standing on your head?"
    Aris's forehead furrowed. "Why would I stand on my head?"
    "Why not?"
    "That's a weird question."
    Raj smiled. "Probably."
    "What do you want, anyway?"
    "To know why you're angry."
    "I'm not angry."
    "Yeah," Raj said. "You're rolling with techno-joy."
    The android crossed his arms. "It should be obvious why I'm simulating anger."
    "Because we attacked you?" Raj asked. "Insulted you? Lied? Cheated? What?"
    Emotions flickered on Aris's face as if he were trying and discarding them: hostility, indifference, unease, conciliation, suspicion. "Because you all control my conscious activity."
    Megan's pulse leapt. Did he consider himself conscious ?
    Raj had also tensed. "Do you mean conscious as opposed to subconscious?"
    "No," Aris said. "I have neither."
    Disappointment washed over Megan, and Raj's face mirrored her reaction.
    "How did you mean conscious, then?" Raj asked.
    "I have no autonomy." Aris swiveled to look at Megan. "I know you well enough to trust that if you deactivate me, you will turn me on again without causing harm. But what if someone else gains that power over me?" He glanced at Raj. "Someone I have no reason to believe has my best interests in mind?"
    She had known they would face this moment eventually. Aris would never have independence as long as people could turn him off. Yet for all that she had argued for his freedom, she had doubts about making it this complete this soon. Some protective mechanism had to exist while he developed. Only she could act as a systems operator on his brain now, so only she could turn