The War Scam

Four

Jake shook hands with the Mayor of the planet of Haven. Ella followed his gesture a minute later.

"Please, sit down," the Mayor said to them.

The first time Jake had come to Haven, he was stunned to find that the robot in charge of this world of robots was one made to look, sound, and act like Marilyn Monroe. It was bizarre having to deal with a long-dead icon of female sexuality. He'd learned since that the robot and the real Marilyn resembled each other in a deeper way. Although the actress didn't have the best education, she did have a desire to learn an improve herself. Knowing that allowed Jake to understand how the robot version of her would become a leader.

Still doesn't make it easy sitting here, Jake noted.

Monroe turned to Ella. "I understand that you've graduated."

"That's right," Ella replied. "Majors in information technology and artificial intelligence, with a minor in applied information systems."

"Showoff," Jake grumbled.

"I'm impressed, Ella," Monroe said. "I hope that means we'll be seeing more of you in the years to come."

Ella glanced at Jake, smiled, then turned back to Monroe. "We'll see."

"Am I missing something?"

"I'm being pursued, Mayor," Jake said.

"Pursued? Oh, I see. I hope it turns out well. One more thing, before we continue. You two have been here enough that you don't have to call me by my title."

"You want us to call you by your name?"

"If you don't mind."

"Sure, Marilyn."

Monroe smiled. "That's not my first name."

"Let me guess." Jake pressed his lips together. "Norma Jean?"

"Just Norma."

Ella shook her head. "I don't get it."

Jake pointed a thumb at Ella. "She wonders why it might not work out." He lowered his hand and turned back to Norma. "Before we get to your needs, I have to bring up something fairly important."

"What's that?"

"Do you know about this new alliance of colony planets that's been formed?"

"Of course. You know we keep up on events among the humans. I feel that, if enough of us are active again, we might want to join to protect ourselves."

Jake could see Norma's point. The robots were activated on Haven to provide personal entertainment for the human visitors, from being supporting players in a guest's narrative to the reason why one would recreate a sexual icon like Marilyn Monroe. The robots became sentient and figured out how badly they were being treated. They communicated that to the human workers on Haven, and the two groups paired up to fight for their rights. The owners of Haven chose to call it a "robot rebellion" and shut the place down. That left these artificial beings without replacement parts.

Jake's involvement in thwarting Maxim Landau's plan to buy Haven brought him into the matter. The Institute was aware of the situation on Haven, but had no obvious means to help. Jake had a ship, but before being hired by Landau didn't have permission to land on the restricted world. Landau's enemies in the Earth government, pleased to see the greedy mogul embarrassed by Jake and a handful of robots, were willing to let Jake retain his landing permit.

The rest of known space was becoming aware that Haven was by no means abandoned. What wasn't as known was how few of the robots were active day-to-day. Jake's regular runs from the Institute to Haven with replacement parts were helping. In a few more years there might be enough of an operating sentient population on Haven to allow the residents to deal with more than one or two human visitors to the planet.