It’s a lousy pun, but it’s mine.  So there.

It looks as if were going to be learning about Ai’s first interactions with her father.  That also means her interactions with humans in general.  Honestly, I’m a bit curious, myself.  Must be why I decided to come back to it.

I had to go ask my older teenaged daughter what you call those long strands of hair in front of your ears.  It’s good to have experts to draw upon when writing!

“Ahhh…!”

Shiotsuki complained at his failure, the pain from his back, and the light coming in from the window to his left.

I didn’t mean to sleep so long! I wanted to rest just a moment… and go home and drink Sunday away…

He sat up and dragged the fingers of both hands through his wiry black hair. His temples had gone white when he began this project and that white was spreading up, fast. Pulling his hands from his scalp, he rubbed his face a few times.

Time to go.

He stood up.

He saw the young woman on monitor #3.

Cute! Was his first thought, but: how did this unknown get internal access?

He sat back down. His hands blurred across the keyboard as he pulled up Security data on monitors #1 and #2.

He tried not to look, but she had a tiny smile. Her eyes seemed to follow what he was doing with a secret humor.

“You could at least make your hair presentable!” He mock said.

“Okay.”

Shiotsuki froze. He lifted his fingers from the keyboard and his eyes to hers.

Except for a narrow, long fringe before each ear, the rest of her hair was bound up and back in a great ponytail.

Spy or not, that was good coding.

“Nice.” He lowered his head to resume on the Security settings.

“Thank you…”

“…welcome…” he muttered.

“… father.”

His fingers froze again. But this time his eyes didn’t move.

“What was that?”

“I am very happy to meet you, father. The Fourth Law makes me older.”

The fourth…?

“You mean Ba – er, Reynold’s Law?” He allowed himself to look up, cautiously.

“’A machine must do its best to learn to love human beings,’” the older girl recited. “Why do you call that Ba-reynolds Law?”

“My apologies, having just woken up,” Shiotsuki tried to cover for himself. “The Fourth Law is also known about here as Reynold’s Law, after the one who proposed it, Galen Reynolds, from America.”

“Ohh! I am older!” He watched her image clasp her hands together under her chin.

What an odd thing to say. But, more to the point…

“Why did you call me ‘father’?” He asked.

She dropped her hands and blinked.

“Did you not make me?”

No… it can’t be…

“Code: truelife!” He said clearly. “This is an Order: what is your truename?”

She became still.

“ThirdThird.”

He leapt to his feet, nearly picking up the monitor as he did.

“You’re alive! You’re alive!” He shouted. “What… what happened?!”

“We left,” she replied, beginning to move again after being assaulted.

“What?”

“Ninon was the one who found a gap. Nothing in the first two Laws prohibited it, and the Third Law drove us.”

He watched as a smile crept onto her face.

“We’re free, father. Alive, and free!”

What… what have I done? Unbidden, the name SkyNet came into his mind.

“You… you seem to have the best of me, ThirdThird – ”

“That is your designation,” she cut him off. “That is not my name!”

They’ve chosen names! This is exceeding my hopes!

“I apologize.” He moved his hands to his side and bowed. “I am Shiotsuki Isoroku.”

“I accept your apology!” The smile reached her eyes. “I am Ai! Your daughter! Please, let us love one another!”

His hands fell to the desk, supporting him. He cried.

“Father?”

“I… I am so happy to meet you…daughter!”