Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Paul Hastings

   By

   Apache

   All rights reserved

   Chapter 1

   Paul Hastings, an eighteen year old senior in Johnson County High.  He
lives with his mother June and his sister Ann.  Paul is smart, and easy
going.  He doesn't like to make any waves either at home or at school.  He
is classified as a nerd or geek in school, and therefore not part of any of
the more popular groups in school.

   It was a Friday afternoon in early spring when his story diverges from
normal.  His mother had received a past due notice for the county tax on
the farm where he lived.  His mother worked as a waitress at the local
greasy spoon in town.  She didn't make a lot of money at the job, and had
no way to pay the tax bill.  Paul knew all about this and was now sitting
on the back porch trying to figure out what he could do to help.

   Paul had read the letter and knew that his family had just three weeks
in which to get together over Five Hundred Dollars.  His mom didn't make
that much in three weeks.  He knew that he had to do something to help out.
He got an idea then, that was almost a force to go look in the barn for
something to try to sell to make the money.  He walked to the barn and
looked around.  There was nothing there on the ground floor.  He climbed
the ladder up to the loft, and looked around.  He again saw nothing, well
almost nothing.  There was an old wooden box stuffed back in the far
corner.

   Paul went to the box and pulled it out into the better light.  He saw
that it seemed to be full of old scrap iron.  Now Paul had a feeling the he
should look into the box and see what else it held.  He pulled out the junk
and saw a leather pouch at the bottom.  He pulled out the pouch and opened
it.  He poured the contents on the floor.  What he saw made his eyes bug
out.  On the floor was Thirty-eight gold coins and a large silver ring with
a blue stone in it.  He counted the coins.  All gold and all with very old
dates on them.  They looked to be almost new, with very little wear on
them. Then he picked up the ring.  It looked to be a man's ring, and Paul
liked the looks of it, so he slipped it on and got the shock of his life.
It felt to Paul as if a charge of electric current ran up his arm and then
thru his whole body.  He tried to pull the ring off but it would not fit
back over his knuckle.  I thought 'I'm going to die'.  Then he heard a
voice in his head.  The voice said, "Paul, do not be alarmed or in fear, I
will not hurt you.  What you are feeling is the interface you have on your
finger making connections to all parts of your body and brain.  And then it
was over.  The voice continued, "Paul, I am what you might think of as a
very big computer, I have been on your planet for a little over two hundred
thousand of your years.  My people refer to me as an Artificial
Intelligence.  I know that your race has not advanced as far as I would
have liked, before I made myself known, but now I need help.  One of my
power supplies has run out of fuel and the other is getting very low.  I
need to be where I can gather some elements from the atmosphere.  If you
will give me permission to move all of myself to where you are, I can
recharge my fuel supply.  To reply to me all you have to do is think what
you want to say and I will hear you."

   Paul still had a very high level of fear, so he thought, `What do you
want with me?'

   The AI replied, `Paul, I want nothing from you, but I will help you in
any endeavor you might want to follow.'

   Paul didn't believe a word of what he had heard.  So as a challenge he
thought, `O.K.  come here.'

   Paul didn't see anything appear around him, until he looked at the
ground floor.  All of the old junk farm machinery was gone, and in its
place was a large assortment of metal boxes.  After gathering up the coins,
Paul climbed down and took a very close look at what was in the area. 
There were twelve boxes on the floor.  None of the boxes were very big, the
largest was about three by three by four feet, and it had a soft warm blue
glow about it.  He touched the box and the voice said, `Paul what you are
touching is the brain of the computer.  The rest of the boxes are just for
memory and some other operations that I will explain later'.

   Then the AI continued, 'Paul when you go to sleep tonight I want to go
over your body and mind to correct any defects you may have.  I would also
like to enhance your body.  I want to make you immune to all sickness.  You
will feel no pain or discomfort with what I do.  I need your permission to
do this'.

   Paul said, "AI you may proceed with my check up and makeover.  Now I
have a question for you, what is your prime directive?"

   The computer answered, "Paul, my prime directive is, "Never harm or
cause harm to an intelligent, warm blooded being by any action or inaction
of myself.  To protect my director, which is you, Paul, above all else. 
Paul sat down on the floor and thought about what he just heard.  Then he
asked, "Does that mean you will protect my family, as well as me"?  The AI
replied, 'Paul what it means, is whom ever you want protected, will be
placed under my protection'.  Paul thought about that for a little bit,
then thought, "Would you make the same changes to my mother June and my
sister Ann"?  The AI replied, `No, Paul, I would not, for they are female
and you are male.  I would make them immune to all sickness and make some
small changes to their bodies and brains'.  Paul again thought about what
had passed between him and the AI.  Then he said, "Ok, lets do it".

   Paul was thinking that this was some kind of joke, so he had decided to
let whom ever was pulling the strings to hang themselves.

   Paul went into the house and showed his Mom the coins he had found,
fully expecting them to be fake.  June looked at them and said, "Paul, I
don't know where you got these, but right now I am going to call a coin
dealer and see what they are worth.  She looked up a dealer in the phone
book and made her call.  She explained to who she was talking to what she
had.  Then she said, "That's fine, we will see you then".

   June turned to Paul and said, "Mr.  Block will be out here in about an
hour.  He said that he would bring his testing kit, and his coin books with
him.  In the mean time I'll fix us something to eat".

   A short time later a simple meal was ready.  The Family ate and as they
were finishing, a knock came at the front door.  June let Mt Block in and
showed him the coins.  His eyeballs almost jumped out of his head when he
saw the coins.  He made several tests on the coins, and said, "These coins
are all genuine, now let me look up the price I will pay you for them, if
they are for sale".  June looked at Paul and got a slight nod.  Then she
said, "Yes, they are all for sale".

   Mr.  Block was turning the pages of several books, and writing down
numbers.  After about fifteen minutes he took out a calculator and began
punching in numbers.  Then he said, "I am prepared to write you a check for
the amount of $138,450.00.  Is that a suitable amount"?

   June was speechless, so Paul said, "Mr.  Block that is a suitable
amount. We accept the deal".  Mr.  Block wrote out the check, handed it to
June, collected the coins and said, "I wish all of my dealings could go as
smoothly as this one did.  I thank you and bid you good day".  Then he was
gone.  June was looking at the check, with eyes bugged out.

   Then she seemed to shake herself out of the state she was in.  She said,
"O.K.  kids lets take this into town and put it in the night deposit, I
don't want anything to happen to it".

   They went outside and climbed into the old truck.  June told Paul to
drive because June was too excited to keep her eyes on the road.  Paul, got
behind the wheel and started the truck.  Paul was surprised that it started
as easily as it did.  When he put it into gear he didn't hear the noise
that it normally made.  When he drove on to the road, it felt like he was
driving a new truck.  Paul heard in his mind, "Paul, I have made a few
modifications to your vehicle.  There is a new drive train in it and a new
front end under it, along with a new and safer breaking system.  It also
has new tires on it that are a much better design that the ones that were
on it".  Paul thought, "Why did you do all of that"?  The AI Replied, `To
keep you and your family safe'.

   When they arrived in town, Paul took his mother to the bank.  When June
deposited the check, she checked and double checked the drop to make sure
that the deposit was safe.

   When June got back into the truck, Paul asked where they wanted to go
next.  June told him to go to the place where she worked.  When they
arrived, June said as she got out of the truck, "Just wait here, I'll be
right back".  June came back out in just a little more than five minutes.
When she got back in the truck, she said, "I've been wanting to do that for
several years, now, I've done it".  Paul asked what she had done.  June
told them that she had quit her job, and the owner told her that she would
never get another job in that town.  She had high hopes of never having to
work again.  Little that she knew.

   The next stop was at the County seat.  There was no one there, but there
was a drop box for payments.  June wrote out the check, and along with the
bill for the taxes she put them in the drop box.  That completed, They went
to the only grocery store in town.  They stocked up on everything that they
didn't have.  All of the stuff that they bought almost filled the bed of
the truck.

   When they arrived home, Paul and Ann spent a good amount of time putting
things away, as June prepared a lunch of cold cut sandwiches and a salad.
After they ate, Paul made an announcement, He said that he had something to
show them, in the barn.  Soon all three of them were looking at the things
in the barn.  Both June and Ann asked what all of this stuff was.  Paul
told them it was a computer, or an Artificial Intelligence.  Just then
before any more could be said, a form appeared before them.  It looked like
a woman in modern clothing, but they could see through it and see things in
back of it.  Then the form spoke, "What you see, is a hologram I am
projecting.  I am Paul's protector, and your protector as Paul's family. 
Paul gave me his permission to go over everyone and cure any illnesses and
repair any defects, he also gave his permission for me to enhance his body.
Would you two ladies want the same thing"?

   The discussion went on for over three hours, and in the end, both June
and Ann desided to go for the whole works.