The Fourth Law

Chapter 8, Part 2

I wonder if I should ask about that...

"Miss Lily!" She turned. Dorina stood on one leg and twirled about on the rich green grass of her path. "This is so nice! Is your home like this?"

"Parts of it, sure. There's lots of different kinds of terrain, plants, animals..." She hoped Dorina was getting something from her lame description.

"Mmm! And you've made me so much older! Thaad told me to be careful, but he's such a slowpoke! Just by touching this," she waved at the various plants, "I've learned to smell and taste!"

Lily's mouth fell open. "You learned...what?"

Dorina scrunched her eyes closed and smiled like the sun. "When I awoke, there was only sight and hearing. When I was older, touch. So many wonders you brought! Oh! Let's go see Thaad; come on!" She ran off down the path.

Lily walked, trying to take that in. She learned to smell and taste? This is going to be an interesting visit.

By not running, she never did catch up to Dorina, but instead slowly came to where she was dancing around Thaad, who was off the path, but carefully poking at the twenty-foot-tall palm tree with some sort of whippy metal pole. "Miss Lily, greetings," he said without turning. Dorina kept humming and skipping about. Lily spied a large daisy and had an idea.

"Dorina! Could you come here a moment?" She hopped over. Lily bent down, snapped off the flower, and very carefully placed it behind Dorina's ear. She heard Thaad's breath hiss out.

"You take foolish risks, lady."

"It'll be fine," Lily said. She turned back to Dorina... surprised at her completely expressionless face.

"Is something wrong, Dorina?"

"You killed it," she said in a flat voice.

What? Did she mean the flower? "I just picked the flower because I thought I would give you something pretty. I... I'm sorry if I did something wrong..."

Dorina turned to Thaad. Again, they exchanged one of those long stares. She turned back.

"You have different Laws than we do." Dorina smiled, coming back to her normal self. "I didn't know! I'm older now! Tell me, tell me, Miss Lily: what are your Laws?"

She was not sure how she heard her pronounce that word with a capital letter, but she did.

"Uh...we have the Ten Commandments, I guess?" She realized she was botching her 'apostle to the machines' job pretty badly.

"I've seen those." Dorina waved, looking past Lily. "Ai! Are you older, too?"

Lily turned back to Ai walking down the path, a slight smile on her lips.

"Yes," she said quietly to Dorina, "I guess I am."

Ai walked right up to Lily, mere inches away.

"Would you two please not DO THAT!" shouted Thaad. Too much for the both of them, they laughed on and on. Lily looked about again; ah, perfect!

She picked a hibiscus flower and held it up by the stem. She nodded at Ai, who held the stem just below her fingers.

"We can't hold each other..." Lily began.

"...so let's hold something in common." Ai finished.

"You two are crazy," Thaad concluded. "I'm leaving." And was gone.

Ai took the flower and put it behind her ear, as Lily had done for Dorina. "Shall we," she asked, gesturing toward the chairs on the platform. As they moved that way, it reminded Lily to ask.