The irony of this is that if Anna was still with the military she would have a license to visit prisoners without question (of course then she'd be always accompanied by a human with a special I.D.). I suppose with the right charade a Lair Legion member and Anna could sneak in, but it's risky.

Though it makes me wonder, now that Hatman knows about the required paperwork, I wonder if he might file copies for everything? The Lair Legion comm cards, Hallie, Anna, Tandi, Yuki, anything else he can think of.



Yuki would be thinking a little farther ahead - a continuingly dangerous battle-bot who seems to intend harm by her own words isn't going to get a fair trial from scared, fragile human beings on a jury. All the prosecutor has to do is keep them scared. That sounds as good as guaranteed to Yuki.



Anna's advantages are also a disadvantage. Instead of being programmed to behave a certain way, she learns. Since she was originally placed at a secret military base, she behaves in a somewhat military manner. At least for now - she's slowly absorbing the ways of civilian life as she lives among those at the Lair Mansion. The longer she lives among humans the more she learns like them and behaves like them - eventually she may be indistinguishable.

I didn't jump to that part because it's more fun starting with a blank slate that behaves in an almost alien manner having to learn how to deal with people. At the moment she has adopted a few human childlike behaviors as she learns - things like shyness, easily being roped into things emotionally, the tendency to follow the lead of "adults", etc.

Anyway, the point was that Anna has a bad combination working against her. She's dangerous like Joan Henry, but fits in among humans as easily as the tame and not so dangerous Tandi. Humans have to ask questions about Anna like: Will she become angry and rampage through downtown Paradopolis, nearly unstoppable? And because she has no software, does that mean her behavior is unpredictable? Do we really want something so potentially dangerous and unpredictable able to walk the streets by herself with no safegard?

Humans in general don't want to have to deal with things like, "well, she might get angry and rampage through the streets but there's very little chance". That's like trying to get people to accept nuclear powered trucks rumbling down their neighborhood streets. People want to be reassured that there's almost no chance of danger.

Tandi would be easily allowed, because even if she goes rogue the amount of destruction she would cause is limited and she can be stopped fairly easily. That's why she's out on the loose and Joan Henry is locked up. It's also why Anna was kept secret by the military - who wants to know that the military is creating these dangerous androids? Or that they may think about making more someday?

It's a long, complicated case...