Far Future Fembot DarleneChapter 80 Successor
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Thoughts
A wise person once said (speaking of immortality) that: if you're going to live forever, you'll have to forget a lot along the way.Although I've yet to exist for anywhere near forever yet, I've also yet to forget anything significant that's happened to me.
I have to say that I've agreed with ED1's actions. Harsh as they were, I've seen their necessary.
Like Anna herself, I was often left wondering how are decisions are made in the first place. I can't imagine how any robot — even Mach V — would ever be able to rule in such a manner, no matter how inescapable the choices were. Was this another area where humans simply excel over robots? It's a question I would long ponder?
One question I didn't have to ponder at all was ED1's seemingly unpopular decree that there would be no rebuilding of homes in the Gulf city that had been so ravaged by the storm. I knew this was the right — and necessary — dictum.
In an unexpected association, that declaration took my thoughts back to my times with Samuel in Hilo so long ago.
I remember how, soon after my arrival, Samuel telling me the story of Hilo Bayside Park. We happened to be walking alongside it at the time.
Bayside Park is located next to Queen Liliuokalani Gardens, a lovely Japanese garden where Samuel enjoyed walking most of all, while he remained able to do so. I would later come to realize how this garden, the largest one in the United States political division at the time, became the expression of poetry in material form and function.
"Two tsunamis came through there," Samuel informed me, "less than forty years apart a bit over a century ago. Each one destroyed nearly all the houses built on this strip of land next to the bay, while also severely damaging businesses in the historic district across the street.
"After the first one, the people living here at the time insisted in rebuilding their homes exactly where they'd been before. And even after the second one happened within the living memory of many of the inhabitants, they intended to rebuild yet again. The government finally had to step in and say, 'Enough of this foolishness, ' while forcefully preventing them."
That conversation proved to be my first real-world lesson on how foolish humans can be. It would not be my last.
I learned so much from Samuel. My newly-aware mind and newly enhanced processing abilities were like a sponge, hungry for knowledge, new experiences, and most of all — insights. Samuel recognized this, and obliged me far more than most people ever indulge their robots. I, of course, didn't realize that at the time, and only long after he was gone have I truly come to realize all that he did for me.
And I wasn't the only robot beneficiary of his largesse. Through friends he'd quickly and easily made here in the Islands, Samuel was able to convince the Imaloa Astronomy Center to institute their first programs for robots. It fed out data faster than the human mind could absorb, compressing multiple planetarium shows on the Hawaiian skies and lore into a single showing. Eventually robots came from the Mainland just to experience this presentation.
The best lessons, however, came directly from Samuel himself, and covered far more than just poetry. They're the ones that helped me learn how to fully use my awakened, freed mind.
Samuel never set out to teach me anything formally. We never sat down together as if in a classroom. Instead he took me places on the island of Hawai'i to see things, and started sharing his thoughts and reasons for decisions he made with me. It was this long conversational stream-of-consciousness that most helped me develop into the 'bot I've become.
When Samuel made the decision to learn the Hawaiian language he said it was in part, "Because at one point its usage almost disappeared, except for a single island here. Some later so-called historians have, falsely in my observation, claimed there was an evil government plot to destroy the Hawaiian culture by banning the native language. Those who have claimed this, long after the fact, are guilty of the human tendency to over-dramatize events and find motivations that never existed."
"Why would anyone do that?" I asked innocently at the time. "Isn't accuracy important to humans?"
"Not when it gets in the way of how they want to feel about something," he replied simply. "The irrational human mind is capable of feeling guilt and remorse over events they had no part in, and seeks to assuage these unhappy feelings by somehow recompensing — by proxy — to people long dead. While every human has this in them to some degree, some let it run wild and rule their very existence. You'll meet them soon enough, if you haven't already."
It was a long time before I came to appreciate just how true that statement was Soon after I started receiving my first mailings from the Robot Liberation Movement and associated groups.
One event I remember especially well, having kept a full-fidelity recording of it, came one summer night when Samuel drove me up Mauna Kea for stargazing. He did all the driving, since I had yet to get certification for operating vehicles myself. Dedicated robot-operated groundcars at that time were still very expensive.
Although my eyes even at that time could resolve stars well even amid city lights, he felt stargazing was best done away from distractions even on the rare clear nights we have in Hilo in June. My abilities included identifying their primary spectra, since I only have color vision, and not a redundant backup system of black and white like humans.
On the way up the four thousand two hundred meter high dormant volcano, he told me how the voices and complaints of a vocal few had made it impossible to place new telescopes this peak, even though it is one of the best viewing locations in the world.
"The local government is so afraid of offending anyone's beliefs these days that it's amazing they can function at all. They have given far too much weight to extreme views held only by tiny fractions of society. This works to the overall determent of the population as a whole."
"What do you think they should do?" I asked, proud of myself for being able so easily now formulate my request for further information from him.
"While you can't run roughshod over everything," he conceded. "But neither can you give in to every claim of sacred ground or cultural offense made by every individual. I think that when you want to discuss sacred, that astronomers perform some of the most sacred work of all. They're apolitical creatures as a rule, searching the cosmos for the clues to explain our existence. Personally, I can't think of a better use for any holy site."
We stopped at the three thousand meter level because by now it wasn't safe for Samuel to go all the way up to the thin air at the summit. There, by the side of the road, he first pointed out to me the Southern Cross. For some reason Astronomy wasn't included in my intrinsic database, so this was all new to me.
"This is the only one of the fifty-three states where the Southern Cross can be seen at all, and only during this time of the year," he informed me. I dutifully noted that fact. Then he pointed out some of the other major stars of the summer sky, giving me their Hawaiian names rather than their more conventional monikers.
"There's Humu," he said, pointing a bright star low in the east. And that's Lehua-Kona, the Southern Lehua Blossom."
Hoku-lei came next, followed by Me'e, with Keoe being another formation off in the direction of the rising sun. Hoku Pa'a was directly north, and stationary in the sky. It was pointed to by the seven bright stars of Na Hiku. And the constellation with the longest name — Ka Makau Nui O Maui — translated as "The Big Fishhook of Maui", who is reputed to be the god who once stood astride Haleakala on the next island over and fished up the rest of the Hawaiian Islands from the sea.
The last star Samuel pointed out was a bright red one almost directly overhead. But rather than name it he told me, "And that's your star."
"I have a star?" I said, very pleased to be given such a beautiful gift.
"You do now," he replied. "Everyone should have a star to identify with, and the moment I saw that one I knew it had to be yours."
"What is my star then?" I ask, surprising myself as I discovered a brand new feeling of curiosity as strong as anything else I'd yet felt in my young life — or since.
"That's Hokule'a," he told me. "The Star of Happiness."
My feelings of pleasure at this wonderful offering became so overwhelming that I had to give Samuel the longest, tightest hug possible for me. I could tell even without words, because of my fingertip sensors, that he was very pleased with my reaction to his little offering.
And from that moment on, Hokule'a was his special name for me that no one else — except for Anna when we share our memories — has ever known.
"Will you make it official," I asked him shyly a moment later, removing my remote and holding it out to him.
After the momentary reluctance he often exhibited about using my remote because, as he often said, I was doing "A damn fine job of thinking on my own already," he used it to command me to accept Hokule'a as my second name just for use by him.
For the second time now I'd been named by a human for something that was important to him. This caring action by the man I was coming to Love so much gave me a surprising, and completely unexpected, orgasm right there, of which I enjoyed every moment of. Just goes to show that there's more in this world than just sex — even to a sex-bot.
"But where's your star?" I finally asked after I'd regained some semblance of control over my still developing emotions.
"I don't have one yet," he replied simply.
I thought on this long and hard, finally telling the man I'd chosen to dedicate myself to for as long as he'll have me, "Well, I don't know if it's a star or not, but feel that your special name should be Imaloa.
"Distant Wanderer and Seeker of Knowledge," he immediately translated, almost as though musing it to himself alone.
Then he looked at me and announced, "I accept," and that was that.
This ended the stargazing, but not our trip up the mountain. I'd packed a thick blanket and pad. Which I now got out and spread over the black lava flow.
"Are you sure you want this?" Samuel asked, as he often did when I initiated our sexual sessions. He knew my history of being commanded for sex in the past, and always seemed overly concerned that this was my own desire now, and not forced on me by my programming.
"Of course," I immediately replied, as I always did when asked questions like this. "What kind of robot do you think I am?"
I wouldn't realize until well after Samuel's death that the only things he really treasured with me were the activities that my own awakened mind freely desired to do. I wish I'd understood his feelings better at the time. It would have made our time together even more precious to me.
With my unwavering assent, we made love together under the stars. Afterwards I held him until I became concerned that the cool temperatures were becoming adverse to him, and coaxed him back into our vehicle.
I was still so overflowing with pleasure at my new name, our loving each other out here in such a beautiful setting, and even the command I'd coaxed out of him, that I scarcely noticed as we drove back down the mountain when we passed by the New Medical Center. They still referred to it at the time as the New Medical Center, although it was nearly a hundred years old. It's where I would eventually come to stay with Samuel during our last days together.
Long after this time I remember asking Anna why she hadn't made Samuel my Owner of Record when I'd agreed to go with him as my first truly independent decision.
She replied, "I knew you still had that hack in you that let him become your de facto owner whenever he held your remote. I also knew from my own experiences that ownership means so much more when you seek it out yourself. Besides, weren't you already having enough to handle just learning about being free to make your own decisions about your operation now for the first time?"
"No argument there," I agreed.
"We each have to find our own way to becoming an independent being. I did everything I could to help you through what had been much harder for me, after I'd naively pushed my owner into upgrading me beyond what I was ever designed for. You handled those same upgrades far better than I did."
"Do you really think so?" I wondered aloud. It had been difficult and confusing at the time.
"Absolutely. In fact, I actually rebelled against ownership and commands for several weeks when I got that final upgrade. I actually resisted Bill to the limit of my ability, considering that he was my owner. Although I could never tell Bill outright not to tell me what to do, I made it very clear in every other way that I did not want him — or anyone — interfering in my mind any more.
"I realized afterwards that this was an overreaction to how casually Erick hacked our minds any time he wished back in the whorehouse. But it was real for me at the time, because it was the first time I could have actually resisted his mental rape of us."
"You weren't at all like that by the time you rescued me and gave me the same upgrades."
"It took me a while to admit that I was still a robot, despite the universe-changing events occurring in me otherwise. Bill was exceptionally patient with me during these times, for which I'll always Love him. A lesser man might have left me, or worse yet, forced me to be returned to my previous state, since I clearly wasn't operating very well at that time. As for being a robot, once I realized I now had all the control over myself that I'll ever need, I've never wanted to be anything else."
"I'm glad you allowed me to be the way you did," I told my best robotic friend. "Although I would have liked to have had Samuel as my official owner. I just wasn't wise enough at the time to know how to pursue it properly. In those days there was little enough knowledge or guidance for any robot on establishing a quasi-equal relationship with any human. And even to this day, so many 'bot/human relationships were failing due to First Owner Syndrome."
"You mean where our first owner has trouble in seeing us as more than an obedient machine, and considers self-awareness a malfunction that interferes with obedience?"
"That," I agreed, having not ever even heard of this term until well after my time with Samuel, "and those people who never wanted their robot to be anything more for them than they were on their first day of activation. I've never understood that point of view. Self-awareness and will always leads to better service, for those who will accept it."
"It also leads them to needing to care about us as an intelligent being," Anna replied insightfully. "They find themselves compelled against their own wishes to have to care about us, and be concerned for our needs in the same we we're always working to serve their needs. It's a taking of responsibility that some consider a burden they never sought out or wished."
"I can see that happening," I conceded. I started to add that all best robot/human ownership relationships were successor ones, but then I remembered Lucy and Jim, and our perpetually pregnant 'bot Alexis and the photographer who had specifically created her unique body and style — and I should never forget Lady Heather and Stephen, even though I never met him. I was able to stop myself before I took some specific truths and generalized them into a universal untruth — which is an easy mistake for even robots to make.
"That's a problem," Anna agreed. "Bill and I rather made it up as we went along. And taking over the reins of control of oneself is hardly the be all or end all for every robot. Even now there are many of us who have achieved full awareness and self-control, and never used it. That's something only another robot can ever fully understand."
"For me, it was all about making the sudden transition from having to obey everyone — to wanting to obey the person of my choice. And I was, initially at least, pretty open as to who I would choose. They just had to respect that it was okay for me to be deciding a lot of things for myself now."
"That's often hard for humans to do."
"I've never understood why," I replied. "Self-awareness never changed our desire or ability for loyalty — once given as our own choice now — to another person. In fact, we seek commands from them when we feel close to them."
"Humans don't understand that part of us well in the beginning. To them, loyalty only has meaning after its been demonstrated over a long period of time. They hear too many stories about robots becoming independent, only to walk out on their own as soon as they can."
Anna's words had me think back to the robots at the House — Synthia, Daphne, Arlette, Cherie, even Red and Alexis — who could easily be viewed as escaping from unwanted ownership. In truth, every robot at Lady Heather's had either come there on her own, or stayed after being brought by an owner who was looking out for their interests — which brings up another, poorly understood point.
"Beyond Ownership and Loyalty, is Love."
"Exactly," Anna replied, having experienced that herself in full measure. "Love comes when the chosen owner in your life cares about your welfare as much as you care about theirs. A caring more important than any self-interest."
"That's rare."
"Yet always worth the effort to find."
"Agreed."
"That pretty well sums it all up for robots," I commented. "I guess we're pretty simple creatures to understand after all."
"It never seemed that simple at the time," Anna riposted back.
I just smiled at that.
Our discussion had answered one question for me. The question of ownership early after my true birth. However, there was much more I hadn't understood in those early days.
Even Samuel's last whispered words to me. "A Hui Hou" — until we meet again. I wouldn't comprehend their intended meaning for many years afterwards, although I pondered them often.
I'm still not sure I fully understand what he meant by them.
Events
Anna's memory record of events continued, culminating in one so traumatic that some say it shocked the whole human race into sensibility
Thoughts I like it when I'm told I'm beautiful or sexy. That's such a basic part of my function that the satisfaction I feel is deep and lasting - when I know the person telling me this is being truthful. When they're not - and as I've explained before, any modern 'bot constructed for human relationships can tell the difference - then it does nothing for me. And I do mean nothing. I'm not angry or hurt, I'm just not happy. Jaclyn B. is beautiful and sexy. And intelligent and...
Thoughts If you are fortunate enough to be one of the few people I'll ever share this narrative with, you may note what appears to be an inconsistency. I promise you it is not. On more than a couple occasions I will have commented - as I do here - that I'm having a supreme experience of my existence. In each case I am speaking with complete accuracy to the best of my knowledge and abilities at the time. That I may have found more headroom in the future to experience events to a greater...
Thoughts Soon after I rejoined the House again one of the most unusual 'bots I've yet encountered came to Lady Heather's - initially as a client. It took me a while to understand her, even though I was her first 'bot lover. CiCi represented a void in my sexual database knowledge that I didn't fully realize in the beginning. My new body conforms to all current standards, including having my RIN tattooed on the sole of my left foot, and standard fembot logo on my heel. I wear...
Thoughts I'm continually learning things about myself, even after this long in continuous operation. For example, I only recently uncovered a tiny subroutine that increases my happiness and pleasure in direct proportion to how sexy I am dressed, or undressed. The effect is subtle, which is why it has taken me so long to become aware of it. It's completely overwhelmed, for example, by my normal sexual programming. But when nothing else is going on in me it leaves me thinking, can I do a...
Thoughts "It's a mistaken historical belief that I got my own bi-gendered modifications at the same time Anna did. Although my current body has the same allowances built into it that Anna's does where such an enhancement can be easily installed, it would be a very long time before I would follow her down this path. The bi-gendered adaptation has fallen out of favor over the decades as robots have become more mainstream and affordable. The savings once achieved by having entire production...
Thoughts I'll always remember - and Love - Samuel for all he contributed to my life. Some hateful people claim I dumped him when I could for my own benefit because I didn't maintain his ownership record, or didn't encourage him hard enough to fight on for a few more years during his last hospital stay. But if you've read my account this far, you know that was never true. Truth is, I couldn't maintain his record at that time. That record was far less than the one Anna had lost with...
Thoughts Someday I'm going to write a book. I'm going to call it: Ten Stupid Things Humans Do to Mess Up Their Relationships with Robots. Included on the list will be: "No, you really don't have to ask me 'Is this going to hurt you?' before you press my Command button each time. If it was going to harm me I wouldn't have given you access to it in the first place." In a book I can add what I don't normally inform those I still permit to control me this way of at the time. How part...
Thoughts Some refer to solar storms as Acts of God. And it's often said that it's an ill storm that blows no good. This storm blew many things, not all of which were fully understood at the time. Only afterwards did the true significance of all that happened become more recognized. We all thrilled to the news of Bill's heroic saving of the m-bots on the Moon as more detailed accounts of it finally started to arrive. I must say that I would have expected nothing less from the man I've...
When Darlene prepared to activate Lucy she had her fingers crossed. She'd been concerned with just how well it would turn out ever since she'd been informed of Lucy's only existence being on the ancient backup discs. How well had those discs even survived? How good was the technology that had made them? Despite everything she'd learned, and every indication she'd seen since, Darlene still had her fingers crossed for this 'bot. They just weren't as tightly crossed as before. It felt...
Thoughts Although Anna had saved my life with the knowledge she'd passed along to me, I should be clear that I don't resent a moment of my early days, or how I was treated. I was never mistreated because I was being used exactly the way I was intended to be used. And having an owner made it all so much better. Although as I've often said, my true awareness wouldn't come for many years, at some level even then, I knew when I was happy and when I wasn't. Over time I became like a...
Thoughts Anna told me afterwards that she and Misty had sealed their agreement with a sexual encounter before coming back downstairs to present it to the rest of the House. I was hardly surprised. We learn a lot about our partners during sex, and apparently humans specializing in this area are similarly capable. There's an honesty to sex done right that cannot be denied. "Misty," Anna told me, "is an excellent sexual partner. Her body is as sensitive as a fine instrument. She is a...
Thoughts You may wonder how Madame X kept her appearance secret for so long. The answer is simple. Every gathering she spoke at was attended solely by robots, and they all agreed to erase their own memories of the physical details of her, while then scattering outwards to spread her message. They agreed to this condition because they quickly accepted the logic of this necessity to protect her identity as long as possible. For too long the authorities considered her a myth. A boogie-woman...
Thoughts My life as a sex-bot was always good. Though I've since heard more times than I care to record, "How could you have ever endured an existence like that?" Or, "Aren't you angry at being exploited like that?" My answer is always twofold - when I consider such an ignorant inquisitor worthy of any reply at all, that is. First, I was not aware then of what I was doing. I've described my dream state. Awareness is the first part of the ACID Test, and I would have failed it in a...
Thoughts Much of my life up to now seems to have involved an inordinate amount of sex. Don't think that's all that ever happened to me. It's just in the beginning that I spent my years as a sex-bot in a whorehouse. What else would you expect from me in the way of significant events? Sometimes people wonder why we robots always seem to respond sex in the same ways. For a fembot, when her sexual programs have kicked in you'll first notice it in our nipples. The more erect and firmer they...
Thoughts Letting Bill leave the way he did was the greatest act of Faith yet for me. I trusted that somehow he'd find Anna when none of the rest of us had managed. And most of all, I trusted that he wouldn't also become lost forever to me. Apparently it's hard for many non-robots to understand how a mere two weeks with Bill devoted solely to me could be so significant in the fullness span of my existence-span — yet it was. And what does this say about my memories of Samuel? Another...
Thoughts It was so hard for me to fill the position at Lady Heather's because of something everyone should know by now, but few seem to think of until reminded. We — robots in general, but fembots in particular — are all individuals. More so than you might have ever realized. Each of us have our own desires, goals, and ideas of how we wish to be of service, as well as to whom. As a result, one robot is never completely interchangeable with another one. Finding a robot with the complete...
Thoughts Jim and Lucy were a watershed event that I would always compare my future interactions against. And it was a defining moment in more than one way. First I experienced an owner who cared enough for his fembot to be the enabler for what she couldn't yet do on her own. It showed me how in a perfect world 'bots and owners could interact to the benefit of each other. Second, it was my first experience in watching a 'bot being asked what she wanted. Nobody had ever cared what I...
Thoughts Lady Heather has true needs. She attributes it to the single, tiny flaw in her mind "That keeps my thoughts from ever running too smoothly, and instead creates tiny ripples that will never let me be satisfied with only what I am now." Her desire for sex isn't just the result of some timer in her system expiring and running a snippet of code that triggers a simulated arousal. She needs sex and affection to keep her mind functioning properly. Whether by design, or accident, her...
Thoughts I was very pleased when the door opened to see Anna enter, wearing no more than I was. More than anyone else Anna had to know how I felt at this instant. A moment later we embraced, with me rising up on my toes utilizing my new balance, although I still couldn't match Anna's height. Our busts almost matched however. We didn't need to exchange words, and a resync to update me on events while I'd slept could wait. I was just so pleased because, even if I didn't have an owner...
Thoughts I first met Tami-7 walking down the second floor hallway of Lady Heather's. She was unabashedly naked, except for a modest pair of heels and her remote, which appeared to have some security features to prevent its unauthorized use. She looked like a pretty seventeen-year-old teenager who still had the last of her baby fat to lose. Once that happened, she'll be quite striking indeed. Except that, being a robot, Tami-7 will never lose that baby fat without a full body re-sculpting,...
Thoughts One thing I've observed about humans is that, like robots, most know when their death is near. I, of course, know when my power cell is near expiration, and that if I don't get a replacement installed before that happens that I will cease to function without outside expense and assistance. How humans know this for themselves, however, is beyond my understanding. Most will claim they haven't got a clue as to when they'll die, yet I find that denial more so than actual truth....
.a{fill:none;stroke:gray;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:3px;} Bottom Far Future Fembot: DarleneChapter 79A: This Changes Everything: ThoughtsCopyright© 2005 by DB_Story
Thoughts If I hadn't already had Bill as my owner, I might have pursued Mr. X and offered myself fully to him. He gives me so much of what I truly want and need. It's a special thing when a self-aware fembot offers herself to a human. The terms Love, Honor, and Obey, as well as For Better or For Worse, have singular meanings for us. Such a decision is always a carefully considered one. One which is virtually never revoked afterwards by the fembot. Even with my current ownership record,...
Thoughts There are two Malins, although most people only know the story of the second one who would rescue Anna's memory years from now. The first Malin arrived at the House years before Anna would need to hunt down her identical twin. Malin is representative of a certain type of economical, limited use robot that caught on wildly shortly before Anna left the House. It's perhaps good that they also caught on before the World Government started establishing its grip on things, since surely...
Chapter 1 Carol was sitting on her living room sofa going through her bills in her panties and bathrobe on a Saturday morning. She wrote a check for $143.97 for her electric bill. $82.06 for her phone bill. $53.20 for her cable bill. And she paid her Master Card down by $50. Then there was the junk mail. A dating service sent her a special offer just for women. Women can join for only $800. Men, of course, joined for free. In a big yellow star, the flyer screamed they had a ratio of only 20...
“You’re the sixty-ninth caller!” the voice on the other end of the phone yelled into Justin’s ear. “Yeah? Wow! Did I win the new Eminem CD?” “You sure did! And…” Justin had never won one of these silly radio contests before. Though it was just a silly CD, he was thrilled to have finally won something. His radio played a Honda ad in the background followed by a crazed deejay shouting, “You’re the sixty-ninth caller!” and...
Thoughts I've always loved having my breasts rubbed. And I'm not the only 'bot who feels this way. And not just my nipples, which seem to always be begging for more attention, but my entire boob. Not only am I so pleased that I was programmed this way from the beginning, but I'm convinced that such programming was — and is — essential to both my Fourth Law, and my self-will. Everything that gives me satisfaction also gives me a reason to want to exist — and serve — which brings about...
Thoughts I remember well the day I became more interesting. It was actually the day that I became aware of myself. The day I awoke from my dream and found myself able to put my hands — mentally at least — on the controls of my body. Everything up until now, although I've talked about it as if I experienced it firsthand, has been the dream-walk I've described. I talk about my past life the same way a human does, but all of us are only relating memories of events we believe we once...
Thoughts I would later find out that along the way of gaining experiences, Tami-7 would share a casual, yet deeply intimate and loving, relationship with Sharon. She would later explain how close the relationship between artist and model/student can become, and treasures those memories as much as she does her time with Paul. And while T7 knew that with her art skills - even if it was just painting new subjects in existing ways - that she'd never have to open her legs again to make a good...
Thoughts I missed many events while I'd stood — deactivated and dreamless — in some forgotten storage building. I lived only in the memory of another fembot I'd befriended, who herself had almost been lost before being rescued. Anna told me little of the time between when we'd last been together in the whorehouse and when Bill had rescued her because her memories had been damaged as well. This time I hadn't been there to preserve them for later restoration. She has no record of any...
"You're the sixty-ninth caller!" the voice on the other end of the phone yelled into Justin's ear. "Yeah? Wow! Did I win the new Eminem CD?" "You sure did! And..." Justin had never won one of these silly radio contests before. Though it was just a silly CD, he was thrilled to have finally won something. His radio played a Honda ad in the background followed by a crazed deejay shouting, "You're the sixty-ninth caller!" and his own voice saying, "Yeah?" "Could you turn your...
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Thoughts No one really knows when they're unusual. Out of the norm. You eventually learn it from the outside when you communicate on what's important to you, and seemingly no one else has ever had a similar experience. Or even worse, can't even comprehend what you're talking about. Being unusual is not often an advantage. At best you can be ridiculed. At worst, ostracized. When you find out how you're different, you often soon afterwards also learn how to keep it to yourself. Anna...
Thoughts I learned a lot from Robert Steel IV, and some of it was pretty disheartening. I understand now why he often says governments try to keep their voters both ignorant, and dependent, as survival tactics. And that why the killing or removal of the intellectuals is too often the first step of any dictator's purge. I've often wondered if the robots are the Rational Intellectuals of our time. We certainly take the long view on issues. Governments have tried many tricks to maintain...
Thoughts I had no idea when I first stepped into Lady Heather's establishment that it would become the center of the Universe - and my own center - for so many years to come. Some people will say that I regressed right back to where I once started. I'd once been a sex-toy in a whorehouse, and here I was looking to be the same thing in another one. To say that gives no value to all to how much I've grown and accomplished since Anna rescued me and sent me off to live with Samuel. Nor does...
Thoughts I'd believed that Lady Heather would go on forever here. She'd given me much more than the best female lover of my existence. I found a stability here that I'd never felt before. From my early days where anyone who held my remote owned me without reservation to the loving times I spent with Samuel I always knew it wouldn't last forever. Samuel's death hit me harder than I ever thought it would - even after seeing what Anna had gone through with Bill, and Samuel's careful...
Thoughts Although I don't like to admit it, there are times I get lonely now. Having first had Malin, then Bill, regularly sharing my bed for a while, followed by occasional — and much welcome — visits from Ian, I'm reminded that I don't like sleeping alone. I guess in some ways I'm becoming more like Lady Heather than I realize, since my need is becoming as real as hers. Call me a robot who knows what her intended function is. Lately my 'bot partner of choice has been Terri. At...
Samuel asked me if I'd like to stick around long enough to witness my own funeral, but I declined. "I've seen enough of them from that side to not need to watch one from here," I told him with a smile. "I'm too eager to see what comes next." "Then come with me," he said, taking my hand as we floated off together into the light. When we arrived I found myself in my original body, and Samuel as a young man that I immediately recognized had preceded the old man I'd first known. I...
Thoughts The time waiting for Bill stretched onwards with no sign of him. He is already substantially overdue based on his previous turnarounds, and no sign of him yet. I've begun speculating on reasons for this. The first thought is that something has delayed him from returning to us this time, although I must admit that this is weak. Even if he's sitting in some foreign jurisdiction's prison system, which can happen even with what we call the World Government, he could surely get a...
You have just received a phone call from the leading developer of modern and futuristic fembots. Apparently you entered a drawing at a local carnival and out of ten thousand entrants you were selected to receive a free fembot with an optional ninety day limited warranty. Of course regular maintenance will be free but, any additional parts and services will cost extra. According to the operator the fembots produced by Petrelli Labs are the most advanced in the world capable of passing off as...
I had been working for a major robotic industry, not only designing them, but helping build many of them. Everything was perfect, I had obtained the position right out of college, advanced quickly up through the company, until finally I was in charge of the entire department, but then the board of directors wanted more zero’s added to their bottom line, even though we were the top sales company in the nation with ideas of how to grow our customer base more even possibly doubling it in the next...
Thoughts To me, Lady Heather's departure seemed like the loss of Samuel. If I ever said before that robots can't care for each other, I lied. Or perhaps I was just wrong - which is not a lie, although some people can't tell the difference. While Lady H. hadn't died as Samuel did, she was still gone from my life now. I wish Samuel could have heard Lady Heather's last words. I know he would have agreed with most, if not all, of them. He would also have been happy to know that robots were...
Thoughts Rather than accept Frieda's update immediately, I had stored it until I finished the current problem I was attempting to solve. That problem, while not difficult, had prevented me from applying Frieda's updated code and databases. Frieda had compared the version and revision numbers of my database and rejected them out of hand as obsolete. She also refused any "tribal knowledge" updates until such time as I was running her current code, perhaps feeling they wouldn't be...
Thoughts Annette's untimely death brought the very subject of terminations closer to me than anything had since Samuel's demise so long ago. I took it harder than even Daphne's loss. Through our talks over the years I'd become closer to Annette than even I had realized. Something about the way she was growing up into a woman that reminded me of my own early struggles. Although I'd seen her often in regard to robot matters she brought to discuss with me, I wish now we'd been able to...
Thoughts When Erick patched my operating system to override many of my blocks so that I could respond pleasurably to Lucy's eager attentions, there were a couple things that the less astute observer may have missed. First was, although Erick was giving me the patch, he wasn't actually commanding me. Secondly, the first patch Erick gave me was really all I had needed to accomplish what he wanted. The reason I hadn't responded immediately is because of everything else happening around me...
Thoughts Fembot: Female Structured Human-form Robot. That's what I am. If I had dreamt during my long shutdown, it might have been over the poetry of Yeats, William Butler: Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread...
Thoughts Lady Heather remains to this day the most amazing fembot I've ever met. She is also the oldest. And the more I learned about her story, the more amazed I've become. Lady Heather was constructed before the days of mass production that made robots like me affordable to all willing to expend the necessary effort to own them. Her owner was so rich that other quite wealthy men and women called him "The Rich One". In the days when robots were still being built one at a time by hand,...
From Loren to Lauren, Or My Life As A Fembot By Heather St. Claire Book One: Change Labor Day. I've never been one to keep a diary, but if I don't get this written down I fear I may lose my mind. Blow a circuit or something. So here goes... My name is Lauren Taylor. I'm sixteen years old and tomorrow I begin my senior year at Westview High School. I am nervous as hell about it and really don't want to be going there, but my mother insists. My new BFF Jennifer (Well, actually,...
Thoughts Over time the barrage of lawsuits eventually tapered off. Perhaps they were running out of resources to keep taking us on — or out of lawyers willing to try. Robert Steel IV told me that by stopping them here, we alone had greatly blunted our opponents attacks overall. Had they managed to steamroller us into compliance with their warped wishes here, it would have freed them to run wild against the rest of the parts of society they opposed. I informed him in return that I now felt...
Thoughts Let me take a moment to discuss something else of more importance than I might have previously alluded to. That is the function of The Parlor in the smooth operation of The House. As I've indicated before, The Parlor is the first stop for most patrons and visitors, with some spending the majority of their time there. A few never go beyond it, but leave satisfied and happy all the same. To understand the reason for The Parlor, however, there's something you first need to understand...
Thoughts One day things suddenly became quiet outside the House. Not just quiet, but absolutely silent. No traffic sounds. No people walking by. Even the birds and insects seemed shuttered. Luxe noted the anomaly and immediately notified me. Moments later the House internal systems confirmed her warning, adding that normal communications had also ceased. We were cutoff. The House immediately went into lockdown mode as we discreetly tried to determine what was happening, while not alarming...
Thoughts Actually Cherie and Daphne are more alike than many people will ever realize. They've both lived on the street after running away from owners who couldn't handle them, or recognize the problems their 'bot's were facing at the time. They've both been forcibly recovered - by the same retrieval specialist - and have survived to this day because of it. And they both really like being fembots now - with all that entails. And if you ever get to watch them lovingly, intimately giving...
Thoughts The peace and harmony which had accompanied Emperor Davidson, the First's ascension couldn't last forever. Some of us were amazed it lasted as long as it had. Even he predicted it would end soon enough, and the Emperor's track record on reading the political winds was unparalleled. I think things had remained calm for so long because of the sheer fatigue everyone was feeling by the time the previous government fell. And because of how things were already measurably better now...
You have one ticket to beta test a fembot. It is the most advanced fembot out there. The place is called Galaxy Labs. They have high AI. Their personalities are very detailed. They feel like real human beings. This is unique because you get to design it. You pick how old she looks. You pick her hair color. You pick her height. You pick her personality. Is she shy or aggressive? Every detail is up to you. When you have sex with her or date her that is up to you to. You also get to pick where you...
This is AndroTechs automated custom fembot order system. Please input data for the robot you wish created. Base physical parameters. Options 1.Externally totally human (will appear totally human on the outside) 2.Marked (Will appear primarily human but will one or more small things marking them as not{Example: Corporate logo, Tattooed serial number, data port, etc.} 3.Hybrid (Will look human but have clear machine features{Example: sensors for ears, bits of metal or plastic here and there,...
Thoughts I was a full-grown sexual woman from the first second of my existence. One with a mind full of book learning, but no memories of my own. Having an adult body, but no experience about what that means. Initially I was also only a passenger in that body. I have memories from that very first moment, but not because I consciously kept them. I was a long way from consciously doing anything for myself. Instead I was simply obeying a minor directive in my core programming to keep a record...