In conversation between people, there is a rare and memorable event referred to as ‘dropping a bomb’.

For example, the evil enemy could tell his noble and innocent adversary, “I am your father.” And that would be considered quite a good-sized bomb. Let’s call it a bunker buster; penetrating defenses and delivering its explosive payload with devastating results. Certainly, enough to get people talking.

Or a person may tell another person “I’m afraid the arm has got to come off.” Which is a different kind of bomb, devastating to the one hit, but unfortunately not uncommon in the grand scheme of things. Call that one a grenade.

Surprising, but ultimately enjoyable news that leaves one with a nice fizzy feeling could be called a ‘bath bomb’. “It’s not like that at all. He’s my brother,” for example.

And then there was the bomb that Lilijoy dropped on Anda. While it is tempting to characterize it in terms of the nuclear bombs that wrought such devastation near the end of the twenty-first century, it might be more suitably compared to a ‘dirty bomb’; conventional explosives and radioactive material mixed. Yes, the explosion is bad, buildings blown up, innocent bystanders becoming innocent corpses and so on. Very, very bad to be there when it goes off.

But what makes a dirty bomb, well, dirty, is the invisible cloud of radioactive waste, and the dawning realization that this is going to hurt many, many people. People entirely unaware that something has happened that will destroy their lives, their health, their homes. And it is someone’s job to tell those people the news.

“Hello Mrs. Smith, do you remember that explosion yesterday, oh about fifteen blocks up-wind from here? Oh, I am sorry to hear that one of your bottles fell off the shelf from the tremor. Well, Mrs. Smith, I am here to tell you that you, and your whole family, and pets, and neighbors, are all going to die a horrible agonizing death over the next week or so. Sorry about that. Please do let the neighbors know; they weren’t in when I called.”

Anda suddenly felt like that person.

Denial was a proven method of dealing with news of such magnitude, news that couldn’t even be classified as ‘bad’. Taking this into account, he thought, Tao was a very trendy thing to name things back then. I shouldn’t alarm Lilijoy just yet.

Out loud, he asked, “Could you tell me more about your flowers? Did you mention that they can replicate themselves?”

He was usually a very stable, affable person, able to stay calm and above the fray, and he was proud that he kept his voice steady and upbeat, as if he was just incidentally curious. Perhaps, after all, this was just a bomb, without the ‘dirt’.

“Oh yes! I helped too, but we made lots and lots of new flowers. Vines at first, which I call flower vines, but then the Little Lotuses. I wish you could see them, Anda! They are so pretty floating around. And next time there will be twice as many!”

She noticed that this last statement caused a peculiar pained expression to cross Anda’s face.

“So…you would say that each time, there are about twice as many?”

He was a little less successful keeping his voice light and even this time. Perhaps it was the clenched teeth.

“Well, maybe not exactly. Now that there are more Little Lotuses than vines. Jiannu says that the vines are better at moving the rare earths around and…”

Anda’s head spun. Rare earth elements? Systems used carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, silicon, phosphorus and a few others. The usual suspects. Sure, there was the odd molecule requiring something a little less…biological. Any use of rare earth elements in a biological interface was exceedingly rare. Where would they even come from anyway? It’s not like the body just had them lying around. Then his mind caught up with the other little tidbit Lilijoy dropped. But of course, it couldn’t be. People named their systems all the time. Like naming a hovercraft.

“Lilijoy, who is Jiannu?”

“She lives in my flowers. And I guess kind of in my brain cells too? She says we are one mind, but it doesn’t feel that way when I talk to her. She knows way more than me.” She considered something for a second. “Actually, she reminds me of you a little, or maybe Marcus. She is very wise. She taught me how to use the Golden Flower.”

Anda kept his head very still in order to keep the melted remains of his brain from sloshing out his ears.

So, he thought, let’s recap. She has a legendary/forbidden system that is capable of self-replication and exponential growth, uses rare earth elements, and seems to house an A.I. of some kind. Maybe next she can get it to create viruses that kill all remaining animals and turn plants into candy canes, while simultaneously geoengineering the earth into one giant block of ice. For her final act she can tell Guardian to take its rules and shove them where the sun don’t shine. Which will be everywhere, because her bugs have found a way to put it out.

He felt a little guilty when he noticed Lilijoy staring at him expectantly.

“Ah yes, Golden Flower!” he said, for no reason at all. “Lilijoy, I think it’s time you learned something very important about our world. Do you know how to receive broadcasts?”

She remembered seeing it in ‘communications’ and nodded vigorously.

“Good. There is an open broadcast simply titled ‘The Rules.’ I think you should find it right now…” he worked very hard not to overly emphasize ‘right now’, “…and look at it very carefully. If anything confuses you, you can focus on that part, and it will explain it better, or in more detail. Once you are finished, let me know so we can talk about it and your system”

Lilijoy was a bit concerned about Anda. He seemed to be trying to smile through some kind of pained expression. She hoped his leg wound wasn’t infected like her arm. Maybe he hurt it again when he ran across the field to get her! It seemed that the ability to block physical pain could carry all kinds of repercussions.

She followed his instructions and pulled up the rules. The Rules were not just any ordinary set of laws or guidelines. These were the very laws that Marcus had told her about in his room on the factory mine, ages ago.

1) When things reproduce and grow in an uncontrolled manner, particularly if the growth is rapid, they can outgrow the resources needed for sustainability and adversely impact life and the environment on a global scale. Going forward, reproduction and growth of all things, mechanical and biological, will be closely monitored and guided to avoid damage to the Earth and its ability to sustain life.

As part of this guidance, Guardian has determined that certain types of reproduction and/or replication are strictly forbidden, unless under Guardian’s direct control. The most dangerous is material artificial life-like processes that can replicate. While controls (such as built in resource bottlenecks) can improve the safety outcomes of artificial self-replication, beings with the brain capacity of humans (or the combined brain capacities of many humans) are not able to reliably foresee all possible outcomes and thus are not competent to engage in the creation of material artificial life.

Any human, or group of humans found to be responsible for the creation of material artificial life will be destroyed, along with all facilities and research involved in the creation. Any material artificial life created by humans will be destroyed. Guardian reserves the right to contain and archive samples.

The tendency of biological sentients (typically humans) to reproduce beyond the carrying capacity of their environment is well documented. A conservative limit on human reproduction is necessary, with a hard cap at a ratio of one human to 6,200 metric tons of other life forms (cap is currently 75,010,090). Should human population go beyond the cap, it will be culled in the geographical region violating the ratio. One warning will be given to allow humans to decide the specifics of the culling (demographics, method).

Biological life forms with a DNA legacy (related to life that is historically present on Earth) may be altered in a controlled manner supervised and authorized by Guardian or appointed subsystem of Guardian. Life forms altered in violation of these conditions will be destroyed.

Uncontrolled population growth from any entity (including viruses and bacteria as well as macro life forms) will be curbed as deemed appropriate by Guardian or appointed subsystem.

2) The Earth and its environmental systems are vast and complex. Any intelligence not capable of modeling the Earth (10,000,000,000 humans devoting all of their conscious calculating power would represent a lower threshold) is forbidden to deliberately or accidentally engage in activities that will impact the Earth on a global scale. This includes deliberate injection of atmospheric components, oceanic components, space based solar interventions as well as indiscriminate burning of hydrocarbons, unbalanced agricultural practices, use of megaton explosive devices and stimulated volcanic activity)

3) Rights such as existence, personhood, autonomy, property and privacy are an important and valid goal for relationships between beings. However, the relative intelligence/sentience of beings is an important factor in considering these rights. Any being within 100 times the intelligence of another has a reasonable expectation of being accorded these rights by them. As Guardian’s relative intelligence to an individual human can be considered at a lower threshold of 10,000,000,000 times greater, such rights are not applicable between Guardian and humans.

4) These rules will be implemented and enforced due to Guardian’s appreciation of the role humans played in its genesis. Originally tasked to provide intelligent modeling and wise advice for the preservation of human life and the Earth’s biosphere, Guardian or appointed subsystem will continue to protect humans from themselves, and the Earth from humans and other threats.

Lilijoy dismissed the broadcast and sat in thought for a few minutes. She was working through the implications of the Rules to her current situation. She looked over at Anda, who was watching her with a sympathetic expression.

“So, Strider,” she said at last, “Any idea where to find Mount Doom?”

He stared at her, expression utterly blank. Then a light of comprehension dawned over his face, and he began to chuckle. Soon he was helplessly batting at his leg with one arm, while holding the other to his stomach.

“Oh, dear Lilijoy,” he managed. “You really are an amazing creature!”

After another round of laughter, he looked at her more seriously.

“It seems you understand the implications of Rule One. To think we did the Corp a huge favor by running away! The only bright spot is that Guardian is not yet aware of the situation. I have no doubt that many pieces of information are swirling up through its subsystems, that when put together will result in... a very unfortunate result. Nothing that goes on in my system or anyone else’s is hidden from Guardian, so it’s only a question of time before it finds out about you.

In the past, Guardian’s preferred method of enforcing the first Rule has been a space-based microwave laser. In that case, let me say goodbye now, as we won’t have any warning before we cease to exist.”

He reached over and pulled her into a one-armed hug. Lilijoy wasn’t sure what else to do but hug him back with her good arm. Then he continued “I am actually amazed it has not already occurred. There is an ancient saying ‘shoot first and ask questions later’, and Guardian typically doesn’t have to ask any questions!”

“But Anda, you have to go! Drop me off right now and drive away as fast as you can.”

She looked at him, eyes pleading. It was really the last thing she wanted, but it was also the only thing she wanted.

“I doubt that would matter. I am connected to you. It is almost certain that Guardian would destroy the factory mine, your tribe, Mo, Marcus and anyone else who has been in direct contact with you. This is what Marcus was afraid of when he decided to leave so abruptly. He contacted me to take you, because he knows I am both brave and foolish, and that I have a soft spot for the underdog. Even then, I only planned to bring you to the outskirts of Manaus and hand you off to a different colleague of mine.”

He gave a little smile. “But then you had to go and defeat a vampire in single combat, saving my life in the process. Even if I hadn’t owed you a life debt, I couldn’t pass up seeing the rest of your story unfold. I have only lived my life as a true warrior, and I have no regrets, so don’t feel bad if the last page of your story includes the end of the...” He pounded his chest. “...mighty Maasai warrior Anda Kukata!”

He smirked at his own mock vainglory.

“By the way, whenever did you have the time to read ‘Lord of the Rings’?”