Mistress Mira 5

Karel · Post by **Karel** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:28 pm

While Cherry mixed drinks and Natalya fixed dinner, Mira ate her shrimp, then walked over to the scanner. Two days, that last one had lasted! Pathetic. She checked herself. She was still wearing blue jeans, and a tight black sweater without a shirt. She supposed that would be acceptable. If this new copy did as well as the last one, she would have a chance to change the look again soon!

She fired it up, posed, and scanned herself. A 3D model appeared on the console, rotating in relief, along with an enormous list of arcane physical and emotional statistics.

She got ready to boot herself up, when a thought occured to her. She tossed it back and forth in her mind. Finally, “Fuck it.” She tied her hair back in a quick ponytail and scanned herself again. Then she turned off all her financial and office software for the weekend, and created a virtual drive on which to run a second copy of the simulation program. Then, she booted herself up, twice.

In the kitchen, an ice cube dropped to the floor as Cherry froze in place. Natalya, too, froze up, knife in mid-air, hunched up over (h)er cutting board. Running two simulations at once was extremely taxing on the computer system, especially during start-up, but it soon normalized, and the robots came back to life, returning to their tasks.

Two HoloMiras now appeared in front of the real thing, one with loose hair, the other with a ponytail. “You know the score,” said Mira. They both nodded. One of them would have to be deleted before the end of the weekend; whoever performed the best would avoid that fate.

Both robots in the kitchen noticed the ice cube on the floor at the same time, and bent down to get it. Their heads collided softly with one another. Each straightened up, and, upon achieving eye contact with the other, shifted instantly from a totally blank expression to a sugary smile.

“Oh, I·m So Sor·ry Cher·ry!”
“I·m So Sor·ry, Na·tal·ya, I Did·n·t See You!”
“I Did·n·t See You, I Feel So Sil·ly!”
“How Sil·ly Of Me, Let Me Get It!”
“Just Let Me Get That!”

The smiles were instantly wiped from their faces, replaced again by dead, empty stares, and they each bent over. Their heads collided again. They straightened up, established eye contact, and put on their over-the-top grins.

“Oh, I·m So Sor·ry Na·tal·ya!”
“I·m So Sor·ry Cher·ry!”
“How Care·less Of Me!”
“I Did·n·t See You, I Feel So Sil·ly!”
“Just Let Me Get That!”
“Just Let Me Get That!”

Again, the friendly masks came off, and the machines repeated the same mindless action.

“I·m So Sor·ry Cher·ry, I Did·n·t See You!”
“I’m So Sor·ry Na·tal·ya, I Did·n·t See You!”
“How Care·less Of Me, I Feel So Silly!”
“Let Me Get It!”
“I·ll Just Get That For You!”

As their heads collided for the fourth time, HoloMira 1 stepped into the kitchen and made a hand gesture.

“Oh, I’m So Sor·ry Na·tal·ya, I-” But Natalya was not smiling this time, and had already moved toward Cherry, the same cold expression on (h)er face. (S)he pressed (h)er left hand against Cherry’s breast for support, and grabbed Cherry’s left ear, pressing the reset button behind it. Cherry’s beaming smile slumped into a grotesque expression, then blanked out as (s)he powered back up. Natalya rotated on (h)er servos, back toward the stove, and resumed cooking. Cherry stood completely still for half a minute, then, expressionlessly, bent down, picked up the melting ice cube, threw it in the sink, and went back to mixing drinks.

HoloMira 1 stoob beaming, hands on hips. “Score one,” said Mira, while her other double sculked.

Karel · Post by **Karel** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:48 pm

And that's that.

Thank you Dollspace, Robotman (still waiting for Soccer Mom-Unit 14!), everyone else who enjoyed it. I'll send the rest of this story to the LTBSA eventually. I don't know why I even started writing it; I guess as a response to nauseating descriptions of artificial bodily functions (equally artificial, in their description, when applied to humans or robots) and, frankly, the extreme misogyny that rules the day around here. But it just got pushed off the chart by a 3rd Grade English project and a story about a woman powered by ______________________. Not that there's anything wrong with getting off to _____y writing or scatalogia, but seriously, fellas, see ya later...

TheSpotConlon · Post by **TheSpotConlon** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:35 pm

This is what I get for chiming in late! Well, hate to see it leave prematurely (and I know something about not wrapping things up around here), but you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope to see it in a complete form somewhere in the future.