Debbi's Diary Chapter 17: Birthdays

[Murotsu]

Chapter 17: Birthdays

My database showed Brad’s birthday was in fifteen days. The normal procedure for a birthday was to invite his friends to a party, have a cake and other food available and each guest would give him a card and present. With an established procedure like that it was easy for me to set up a birthday party for him. I felt really good about doing this.

Everything went well. Rodd and Tarl behaved themselves and I had fun with Suzy. It is always nice when she can come over to visit.

Afterwards, Brad snuggled with me. He plugged me in so I could charge while we did, as the cable would not get in the way of things.

“Master, do I have a birthday?”

“I guess…”

“Do you know what day it is?”

“Um… No…”

I could tell he was being cautious about his answers. I spent one point two six seconds processing where to go with this. “So, you are unsure if I have a birthday, like you?”

“Well… You do have a date of manufacture. That’s sort of like a birthday, isn’t it?”

“What was my date of manufacture Master?”

“We can look it up probably. I mean, a lot of your manufacturing data is blank, remember?”

I bit my lip and looked into his eyes. “I want to know if I have a birthday and if that is my date of manufacture, then what that date was.”

“This is important to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes Master. Because I am a girlbot and a robot I often get left out of things. You try hard to include me in everything. But, there are so many things I cannot be a part of because of my robotics.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Thirty six days ago the humans where I work had an office party after a meeting. They had food and drink and socialized. I was the only robot present. The secretaries were left out. I found I could not participate because I cannot consume human food items, and my socialization routines were not fully capable of dealing with that situation.” I was about to cry.

“You had a fun birthday and I really tried hard to make it work according to the data I have. But, you can never give me a birthday party as I compute we do not know if I have one or if I do, what it is.”

I started crying. “It really sucks sometimes to be a robot…”

“I didn’t know about how you get treated at work. You never said anything.”

“I did not want you to have to get involved. I computed that would cause me more problems if I did. I can accept I am different than my co-workers. After all, I have you.” I hugged him.


“Deb, sit down.”

I frowned but obediently did. He sat down next to me. I watched as he drummed his fingers on the table, thinking.

He got up and got his tablet. “Deb, plug me into your I/O port. Bring up that number I called to get you serviced.”

I did and he called it. “Hi, this is Brad Pederson. My girlbot, Debbi twenty two is upset that she doesn’t know her date of manufacture. I can’t very well give her a birthday party without it…”

He turned the pad towards me. “Well, that was simple enough. Looks like we have some time until your birthday.”

I knocked him over onto the floor in a hug. “Oh, thank you Master, thank you! You are truly wonderful, I love you so much!”
“Deb, Deb! Air!”

“Sorry Master! I am so sorry!”


Later that evening, Brad and I were snuggling. “Deb, I have another surprise for you. This weekend, I’m having a mecha named Morgan come over from work. She’s going to help me install a degaussing system in you. No more icky magnetic fields messing with you.”

“Really? You have one you can install in me?” I sat up and hardly stay still.

“Yep. We install them on robots at work off and on. I got one specially designed for girlbots, like you.”

“Can I see it?” I was bouncing up and down with excitement.

Brad got the box out of the closet. I opened it. Inside there were ten coils of fine wire in several sizes, a rectangular metal box to connect them to that was 5 x 3 x 3 cm that also had a switch unit attached to it.

“How does it work Master? How are you going to install it in me?”


On Saturday, Morgan seventy showed up at our home. She and Brad got me ready to install the degaussing system.

“Don’t worry Deb, I’ll be right here the whole time. We’ll have to shut you down to install the power supply. You can stay on while we do the coils.”

“Understood.” I smiled at him and gripped his hand tightly as I lay on an absorptive blanket on the bed.

Morgan started by putting the coils in my arms and legs. To do this she used a large needle-like probe to pull the coil wires under my skin.

“The coils go under your skin and just below your pressure sensitive dermal layer” she told me. “You may feel slight discomfort as I install these and your status output may indicate minor damage to you in the area I am installing these. That is normal.”

Pink fluid oozed from where she made the penetrations. “Fembot electrolytic coolant” she said when she saw me looking at it. That serves to give you your sense of touch and also regulates your body temperature. I will ensure that you have the right amount when we are finished.”

With two coils installed in each leg, arm, and in my torso Morgan looked at me, smiling. “Time to shut you down. I have to open your upper chest to install the power supply and controls for your system.”

When I restarted everything came up like always.

“Everything working?” Brad asked.

“Fully functional Master!” I started to get up. I felt stiff.

“You may feel stiff until your movement controls adjust their settings to compensate for the coils” Morgan said.

“It was really cool seeing your systems exposed like that” Brad added. “You are one really complex piece of machinery. Looking at your components all I could think of is the beauty of your design equals how you look right now.

“Debbi, you should activate your degaussing system to test it for proper functioning” Morgan interrupted.

I rolled my eyes. That just ruined Brad’s comment because I was about to tackle him and tell him how much I loved what he said. “I compute I should do it nude, since I am, or will clothes make a difference? Do I need to unplug myself first?”