Read Shelter for Free Online Page A

remember that."
        "I know you do not remember it," Preston said. "The people at the hospital took away your memory, Henry. They took away your past. I know you want it back: all the brainwiped do. People who have been wiped feel for their missing memories the way a tongue feels for a missing tooth. You wake at night weeping, Henry, do you not? Knowing that you had a life you cannot remember, and wondering what it was? If you close the door and stay here, I can give you back your past. Not all of it. There are things I do not know. But part of it. If you leave now, you could very well die, as Kevin just died. If you leave you will lose your future, as well as your past. Please stay, Henry. Please shut the door."
        "Trick. It's a trick! House is an AI, and television is tricking Henry. House and television are lying!"
        "I haven't lied to you," the house said. The ability to prevaricate was part of the legal definition of personhood, something the biologically born shared with the translated and with AIs. All three, unlike simple bots and other machines, could lie to protect themselves, or to hurt others. That was part of why AIs scared so many people. Like people, they could reshape reality to suit their own purposes. "I've told you the truth, Henry."
        "As I have," Preston said. "Henry, all of the people who used to live here are gone, and the one who lived here most recently has just died." Silver slid down Preston's cheeks. "Dying too soon is a terrible thing. I remember when I died. I do not want anyone else to die too soon, least of all you."
        "Least of all Henry? Henry is least of all! No one cares about Henry! Why should television care?"
        "I will tell you why I care, but only if you shut the door."
        Henry shut the door and leaned against it, panting. "Henry must have been bad. Henry doesn't want to know what he did! Henry must have done something very bad."
        "You did not do anything very bad, Henry. You did not even do anything slightly bad. You tried to help someone, but other people did not understand that you were trying to help. They were afraid of you because you lived in a cave. They were afraid of you because you knew more about them than they wanted you to know."
        "What did Henry do? What did Henry know? Who were the people who were afraid of Henry?"
        "Sit down, Henry. House, can you make Henry something to eat?"
        "Certainly, Preston. Henry, do you like soup? We have chicken noodle, cream of mushroom, or a spicy rigatoni. I think hot soup would be good for you. I will also prepare a salad and some bread."
        "Mushroom," Henry said. "Television, tell—"
        "Sit down in the kichen, Henry. Then I will tell you."
        Henry sat down in the kitchen while the bots bustled about the counters and stovetops, preparing his meal. One of the kittens, braver than its fellow, sidled into the room and sniffed at Henry's ankles; he bent down and scooped up the creature, holding it on his lap, where it licked itself and then began to purr. "All right, television. Henry's sitting down now. Talk!"
        "Very well, Henry. Here is the outline: You tried to help a little boy, because you knew he was in pain and in trouble. The person who was afraid of you was his mother. She did not want anyone to know about her son's difficulties. She had you punished because the child told you his secret. She had other people punished too, to try to save her son. She is not an evil person, but she was afraid. She was in pain and in trouble herself, Henry. Fear makes people do evil things."
        Henry shook his head. "Henry doesn't remember any of that."
        "No, of course you do not remember. You have been brainwiped."
        "Television, who was the little boy? Who was his mother?"
        "The little boy is named Nicholas. His mother is named Meredith. She is my daughter, and she used to live