Lina, Part 3

Share your fembot fiction and fantasies here or discuss the craft of writing by asking for or giving suggestions.
Post Reply
User avatar
DukeNukem 2417
Posts: 1196
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:26 am
Technosexuality: Built
Identification: Human
Gender: Male
Location: somwhere on Planet Earth
x 3
x 30
Contact:

Lina, Part 3

Post by DukeNukem 2417 » Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:08 am

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I borked the character count again, and the following installment will be presented in two sub-parts, both in this thread. They're still effectively halves of the same part of the story, so....yeah. Here we go!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I'd expected (and hoped for), everyone I told about my new relationship with Lina was supportive. A lot of my friends, co-workers and such were surprised, to be sure—granted, all I had to say when they asked how I met her was “Internet”, which she backed up—but none of them thought I was full of shit for it. When I called my dad to tell him, he acted like he thought I was kidding....but I knew he was proud of me.

Mom....eh, I called the institution, they said she was still speaking in tongues. I left it at that.

Lucy came back over the next few days to drop stuff off—repair gear, extra clothes for Lina, her extra hairpieces, a few boxes of “miscellaneous and sundry items”....basically, sort of housewarming gifts, all to help Lina get settled in.

My brother, on the other hand....

Put it this way. I had to leave him a message about Lina moving in, which he only heard half of after getting back to his place, and for some STUPID reason, he thought I was kicking him out. Thus, one night later in the week, he damn near crashed his car into the front of the house, slammed the door loud enough to scare the cat and then demanded I get out there and explain myself to him.

The only problem with this? I was bathing at the time.

A knock on the door interrupted my humming. “Ah, Matt...someone's here!”

“Tell 'em to piss off, please...I'm butt-ass naked right now.”

The fact that Lina didn't laugh was the first clue that this wasn't going to be an ordinary “guest”.

The second: “.....I think it's your brother.”

“....damn it.” I eased myself up out of the tub, adding (loud enough for Lina to hear): “Give me a minute....”

Three minutes later (and with my idiot brother banging on the damn front door the whole time), I was fully dressed and standing in the living room, with Lina at my side. “All he's been doing is standing outside and pounding on the door?”

“And yelling.” Lina wrung her hands, looking more than a bit nervous. “He looks kind of, ah....”

She didn't finish the sentence, and didn't even have to. Just from glancing at him through the window of the front door, I could tell my brother was strung-out, hadn't slept for the past few nights and, once again, had broken the speed limit just to peel out on my front lawn. “...damn it to Hell....”

“D'you want me to call the cops, or something?”

“No cops....just open the door, and then haul to the master bedroom. I don't want you getting involved unless I have no other option.”

Lina surprised me by shaking my head. “I'm not going to let you two thrash each other over a misunderstanding.”

I turned to glance at her, more impressed than annoyed. “You are something else.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, which calmed me down, and probably helped to ease her fears about the situation. “I just hope this whole thing ends nice and calm....”

Lina squeezed my arm. “I hope it does, too.”

The cat, having already been annoyed by the door-pounding, just stared at us both before darting off to another room.

I nodded to Lina, Lina opened the door.....

What followed, pretty much, was exactly what I'd expected. My brother stormed in acting like he owned the whole damn house (he didn't), completely ignored Lina for the first five minutes of our “conversation” (which was mostly him yelling at me and me calmly explaining things to him), and, when he did notice Lina, accused her of everything under the gorram sun, from dating me for a shot at a Green Card to some hopped-up insanity about “industrial espionage” and some kind of “subversive neo-dominant-feminism” movement that made approximately no sense at all. He called her a bitch, a prostitute and stuff that made me want to lock him in a choke hold and throw him out of the house...

...but through it all, Lina kept her calm, never replying to any of his stupid-ass insults. She didn't even flinch when he kicked over the front room trash can and then started screaming in her face when she went to pick it up.

Granted, I wanted to knock his block off after that....and I pretty much told him as such to his face.

After around twenty minutes of him yelling, me refuting his stupid ramblings and occasionally raising my voice, and Lina staying calm throughout, I told my brother to go get all of his junk and just get out. Instead, he started trying to find any lame-ass reason for Lina to leave, getting up in her face and asking her where she worked, who she worked for, all that stupid shit. She flat out told him it was none of his business....

…..well, she tried to, until he pushed her hard enough that she fell, and I could hear the crack of her head on the floor.

At that point, a few things happened. I jumped him, pretty much herding him to the door and throwing him out; Lina sort of froze in place; my brother and I had a swearing match with him outside and me inside, and after I told him he could go get all of his junk back at the nearest thrift store, I pretty much gave him until the count of ten to get the Hell out of my yard and off my property before I called the cops on his stupid ass....so he got the Hell out of my yard.

And that, pretty much, was the end of that.

With my brother out of the picture, I slammed the front door (couldn't help it...I was still pissed off) and turned my attention to Lina—nearly panicking when I realized she hadn't moved since he'd punched her.

“.....Lina? Are you, ah......” I approached her, reaching out to help her up off the floor.

“I'm fine.”

The suddenness of her voice caught me off guard, and I thought she might've been damaged, or stuck in some kind of loop over whether or not to hit back....but when she stood up and looked up at me, her expression was calm. “It didn't hurt, if you're wondering...he didn't break anything, either.”

“Your head hit the floor pretty hard...you're sure you're okay?”

Lina nodded. “Are you?”

“.....a little pissed off, but other than that....” I stopped, noticing the grin on Lina's face. “....what?”

“Well, if you wanted to tell the police that your brother showed up to cause problems....” She poked herself above her breasts, like she'd done in my room the day we'd first met. “I kinda sorta maybe recorded your 'chat' with him,” she admitted, opening her panel. “Just in case you need any proof that he was here.”

“.....and you chose to record this?”

“Well, it wasn't just my idea....I called Lucy as soon as your brother showed up, asked her what she thought I—”

“I get it, I get it....” I shook my head. “...and you're not...upset that he shoved you? That he could've damaged you?”

Lina couldn't meet my eyes. “I've been hit before....” Now, she did look at me, a smirk on her lips. “...pretty sure the ones who did the hitting felt more than I did.”

“....please don't tell me you're into that kind of shit.”

“I'm not—and you really need—”

“To stop swearing so damn much, I know....” I sighed. “I just wanted to make sure you're okay, is all.”

“Like I told Lucy, I'm a big girl. I can handle myself....besides, I could tell he was strung-out and not thinking straight.”

“Yeah, but strung-out how? No sleep? Too much of, ah.....anything?”

“I think he's exhausted. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was really jumpy...but his reflexes just seemed dulled, too.”

“Exhausted, huh.......you can close your panel, by the way.”

“Well, I thought you'd want to copy the recording to the computer in here! I'll go get the cable out of—”

“No, no....you don't have to go get the cable. Don't delete the file, but....” I stared at the front door. “....he's always had problems, really.”

“He's not going to come back, is he?”

“I hope not...he's got his own job, his own place...” I grinned. “If he wants to bitch about the lease, we'll just head out to City Hall tomorrow and put your name instead of his.”

“And your dad won't have a problem with that?” Lina mused.

“Probably not—and it's better than Fenton throwing you around. You're sure the fall didn't damage you.....”

I turned around, expecting to see Lina giving me some look....only to find her slowly—and dare I say sensually—peeling her face away, from the forehead down. Most people I know would've been utterly horrified to see the flesh give way to unyielding chromed metal, contact points, the occasional hollow revealing wiring and motors beneath and some kind of lip armatures over the perpetual grin of her perfect teeth....but I was absolutely transfixed.

“...take a good look for yourself,” she offered, her voice sounding no different than it had when her face was on.

I approached, slowly, drinking in every detail. I reached out to touch her exposed, inner face...but stopped. “....it won't, ah, hurt, if I....”

Her hand encircled my wrist, drawing mine in to trace the contours of her face. “I promise, it isn't hurting me.”

I nodded. “You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful girl I've ever known....inside and out.”

Even without her face on, I could hear the smile in Lina's voice. “You're not so bad looking yourself, Matt.”

I couldn't help but crack up. “....I'm gonna go do my nightly routine...you can, ah, put your face back on and join me, if you want to.” I ran my finger along the contours of her face one more time. “After that, we can spend the night doing whatever you're up for....”

Apart from a pretty damn good make-out session in the old master bedroom, the night was, in fact, primarily spent with me sleeping and Lina....sleeping, pretty much. It was almost getting to be a routine, sleeping next to such a beautiful robot—no, a beautiful girl, like Lina...but there was no way it could ever be just “routine”. This would never, ever get old (or, for that matter, routine).

Lina was already in the kitchen by the time I was up, greeting me with that winning smile. “Sleep well?”

“I think you already know the answer to that one...you?”

“I always sleep well.” Lina walked over and gave me a quick smooch. “Lucy changed the settings on my Sleep Mode before the ownership transfer, so I can customize them myself...or you can, if you want to.”

“And why would I want you to have anything other than a good night's sleep?” I kissed her on the forehead as I walked past. “Did she program you to dream, too?”

“....that...actually went through a few iterations,” Lina admitted. “First it was just completely random stuff, but there were, ah....problems...” She rubbed the back of her head with her hand, almost like she was embarrassed to go into any details about it. “....let's just say there were a few crossed wires, and some systems were linked that really shouldn't have been.”

“Dreams and sex?”

“....no comment.” Lina rolled her eyes. “Anyway, she wrote a whole new dream emulator from scratch—my Sleep Mode program runs the latest version.”

“Nice....” I retrieved my phone from where it was charging on the counter. “....and today should be interesting.”

Lina cocked her head a bit. “How so?”

“My uncle Frank is dropping by, at around 9—he used to just show up, unannounced, but one time he pulled that routine while my brother was in the middle of....let's just call it a 'low-point' and leave it at that.” I shuddered at the memory. “Nearly ended with Uncle Frank getting a putting wedge to the brain pan. As it was, I had to drive him to the hospital to get treated for broken ribs and a bruised kidney.”

“Ouch...” Lina winced. “And your brother?”

“Sent to counseling. Back to counseling, really...he'd claimed to be 'all better', but...” I shook my head. “Anyway.”

“What's your uncle like?” Lina walked over, draping an arm around my shoulders and reading the notification.

“He's....eccentric, put it that way. Used to work as a pilot...I think...though I've never seen any pictures of him anywhere near a plane. He's got a whole business of repairing 'exotic machines', these days...pinball machines, arcade cabinets, old jukeboxes, sports cars....even vintage animatronics, once or twice. He's a nice guy, too...like I said, a bit 'out there', sometimes, but overall, a great guy to know.”

“He definitely sounds interesting,” Lina mused, reaching over my shoulder to scroll down the screen. “I wonder...”

“What?”

“Lucy mentioned the Institute working with 'independent contractors' for repairs on some of their projects...”

“....you think Uncle Frank was one of those contractors?”

Lina shrugged. “Depends on how close his shop was to the campus, among other things—if you're wondering, Lucy left it up to me as to whether or not I'd enroll as a student.”

“Will you?”

“Dunno yet,” Lina replied. “I figured we'd settle in, first...'date' for a month or so, then...”

“Right, right....” I grinned. “I'll go get changed—don't want to look like I just rolled out of bed when Uncle Frank gets here, y'know?”

“You almost rolled out of bed last night,” Lina teased, nuzzling my cheek with her nose. “I had to reel you back in.”

“Lucky you....” I turned, gently kissing the tip of her nose. “You might want to get changed, too—not too formal, but not too, ah....'casual'.”

“Gee, that narrows it down... “ Lina giggled. “I won't walk out just wearing a bikini top and short shorts.”

“Please don't.”

“Until after your uncle leaves?”

“....I plead the Fifth on that one....”

A little before 9 AM, Lina and I were both sitting in the front room—me wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, my third-best jeans and my day-to-day shoes, and Lina in a sleeveless pink top, jean shorts, knee socks (apparently, Lucy had a thing for them...I have to admit, I was a fan as well) and sneakers. The cat, as per usual, was chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool on her perch by the front door.

I checked the time on my phone. “He'll be here soon, probably...”

“Think he knows about what happened with your brother?” Lina inquired.

“....only one way to find out....”

Five minutes into our sitting and waiting, a van with “GHTR” and several taglines—all thought up by my uncle—painted on the side pulled up under the carport, the front passenger door lined up perfectly with the steps leading to the side door. I couldn't help but chuckle—Uncle Frank always had a knack for making an entrance.

Seconds later, the side door flew open, followed soon after by Uncle Frank himself.

I've heard, from friends, that my uncle Frank looks like a refugee from a Saturday morning TV show straight out of the early 90s—tall, lanky, almost manic in his movements and mannerisms. As per usual, he had his “work clothes” on—a shirt with the logo of his shop tucked into khakis, the legs of which had in turn been rolled up and covered by his socks.

“Heya...” He nodded in my direction. “SO, ah, how'd the party go, Matt?”

“It went great.” I left the recliner, crossing the room to shake his hand. “Run into any problems on the way here?”

“Ah, some garbanzo bean on the freeway thought nobody'd notice if he started dancing behind the wheel...he drifted from one lane into the other!” Uncle Frank accompanied his tale by waving his arm horizontally. “Totally crazy.”

“Well, at least he didn't run anybody off the road....c'mon in, close the door.”

Uncle Frank nodded, making his way to the couch—and, in the process of glancing around the room to see if I'd done any further redecorating, noticed Lina. “....well, well, well, who's the lucky lady?”

“...observant as always...” I grinned. “Uncle Frank, allow me the honor of introducing you to my girlfriend, Lina.”

“Hi.” Lina got up from the other recliner, smiling.

“Lina,” Uncle Frank repeated, nodding (it's a habit of his). “Very beautiful name, Lina....” He took her hand in his own and kissed it. “She's the one you called me about?”

“Yes....you didn't get the message?”

“Oh, my phone was jumpin' all over the table yesterday, Matt! Client after client after client—d'you know somebody sat on a vintage Bram Stoker's Dracula pinball table last week, nearly collapsed the whole thing?!” Uncle Frank made a “ttssh” sound, shaking his head. “Disgraceful.....” He noticed Lina regarding him with a bemused look. “....sorry, I, ah, tend to get a bit carried away when I'm talking shop, y'know?”

“I don't mind,” Lina assured him.

“....right, right, good.” Uncle Frank turned his attention back to me. “And, ah, how did you two meet, exactly?”

“At the party, believe it or not.” I flashed a quick grin at Lina.

“Really?” Uncle Frank leaned back on the couch, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “And how exactly did your encounter come to pass?”

I held up the phone. “The miracles of modern technology.”

“I was trying to get a signal on mine,” Lina quickly added, “he was in the bathroom with his phone...we didn't even notice each other until we turned and, well...” She grinned, giving a shy sort of shrug. “We kind of hit it off from there!”

“I see....” Uncle Frank nodded thoughtfully. “And did you two, ah....” He did a sort of half-dance, mostly moving his arms and giving a weird, half-suave, half-goofy look. “...at any point in time?”

“....just a little.” Lina grinned again, glancing at me.

“A little?” Uncle Frank echoed, glancing at me.

“Some idiots started fighting in the back yard, Fenton ran out to break it up with the 9-iron.” I gave a humorless chuckle at the memory. “Everybody else pretty much left after that...Lina and I said our goodbyes in here, she sent her e-mail address to my phone, and....well...” I glanced at Lina. “The rest is history.”

“....Fenton ran out with the 9-iron?” Uncle Frank echoed. “From the set I gave your dad for Christmas back in '06?”

“He's been pissed off on a daily basis, lately. Showed up out of it last night to yell at me because he thought I was trying to kick him out...I'd called him to let him know Lina was going to be using his old room here, since he's got that place uptown....peeled out in the front yard, cussed me out on the steps, then barged in here demanding an explanation...as soon as he saw Lina, he flipped out.”

“He shoved me,” Lina added, her voice surprisingly calm. “Fenton, I mean....not...” She nodded at me.

“And you two didn't call the police?!”

“I threw him out myself. He wants his stuff back, he can go thrifting for it next week—actually, y'know what?” I gave another chuckle, this one dripping with venom. “You want to help me out, you can take all of his shit and bring it back to the shop, give it away as Customer Loyalty Bonuses—”

“All right, all right, that's enough!” Uncle Frank was off the sofa now, wagging a finger at me. “First off, you need to stop swearing so much, Matt....you're gonna say the wrong thing to the wrong person one day and they'll put your lights out, or worse. Secondly....Fenton's your brother! You can't just throw his stuff out because of one little argument!”

“....maybe we could bring it to his place uptown,” Lina offered. “As an...apology, for last night.”

“Me, apologize to him?! He pushed you pretty damn hard to the ground, for fu—”

“It didn't hurt,” Lina reminded me. “Maybe he's....just under a lot of stress, lately...”

“Did you even ask him what he was so fed up about?” Uncle Frank added.

“....apart from thinking I was kicking him out.....no.”

“....well, then, Lina and I can bring his stuff to his apartment uptown, later this week—as a matter of fact, it'll be a slow day today! I've got nothing on the schedule, no jobs that need my immediate attention—one or two CPS2 boards that maybe need a nice good clean, but nothing too labor-intensive....”

After a few seconds, I sighed. “All right....you can load his stuff in the van before you leave, and we'll go with you.”

Uncle Frank nodded, giving that “wise” grin I'd come to respect him for. “Good call.”

“You need anything to drink?” Lina offered. “Water, coffee, Sprite....”

“Water'd be nice.” Uncle Frank returned to the couch, stretching his arms out as Lina headed for the kitchen. “Long day, today,” he grunted. “Had to break up a fight in Receiving yesterday...somethin' about privilege and slacking off on the job. Gomez—you remember my old pal Gomez, right? The one with the arcade in the barn?”

I nodded. “Christmas '08, best one that decade—could you get me a glass too, Lina?”

“Yeah, well, Gomez nearly got a deviated septum trying to break it up. He got in between the two, trying to get 'em to talk it out, and WHAMMO!” Uncle Frank punctuated the line by smashing his fist into the palm of his other hand. “A big flyin' elbow right to the nose!”

“....pretty sure that's not how a septum gets deviated, Uncle Frank...”

“Oh, yes it can, if it doesn't heal properly...anyhow, Gomez bled all over the place. Knocked over a tool rack, fell into a 70s motorcycle!” Uncle Frank shook his head. “Took three rolls of paper towels to clean up the blood, the oil....”

“Your glass of water,” Lina interjected, handing Uncle Frank the glass. “I put some ice in it, too...”

“Much obliged...” Uncle Frank nodded and took a sip, giving a long sigh. “...oh, there is nothing to prepare you for a long day of work on vintage arcade cabinets like a nice, tall glass of water with a few cubes of ice in it.” He glanced at me, once again giving that “wise” smile. “You've landed a real winner here, Matt.”

Lina giggled, and I swear she actually blushed.

“Not going to argue that one..” I grinned. “So, aside from having to break up a fight...”

The rest of the conversation was relatively light, mostly focusing on relatives (Aunt Ruth and Uncle Arthur were still out in Germany, on vacation; Uncle Byron was off doing his fifth “road trip” with friends) and other matters—and in a twist of cosmic irony, my “dating” Lina brought Uncle Frank to another topic he'd been wanting to discuss with me.

“Y'know, I'm glad to see you getting out there on the scene, and all that...I mean, I never had a problem with you going to that forum you always go to—”

I nearly spit out the water Lina had just brought me.

“I'm serious!” Uncle Frank insisted. “I mean, what you look at on the Internet in your own time is your business, and I have no problem with you...fantasizing, or whatever it is you do, with that material, but for years, I've been meaning to tell you 'You shouldn't spend so much time looking at pictures of robot women on that forum you always go to, y'know...you need more realistic standards!'...and, well...” He gestured at Lina. “I guess you beat me to the punch!”

Lina nodded her agreement. “Well, he told me what he's into after we met...”

Uncle Frank looked somewhat surprised. “....and you're okay with that?”

“I don't see why I shouldn't be!” Lina grinned at me; I could tell she really wanted to wink.

“...well, if neither of you has a problem with it, then I guess it's not a problem anymore.” Uncle Frank chuckled. “You, ah, plan to incorporate that into the....”

Lina stiffened, speaking in an intentionally put-on robotic drone. “If. It. Pleases. Him.” She cracked up at the end.

“It does,” I quickly added. “It really does.”

“Well, what you two get up to in the privacy of your relationship is your business,” Uncle Frank stated, “and I'm not gonna be the one to tell you how to enjoy your love life....” He checked his watch, nearly jumping out of the sofa. “Holy Toledo, I'm gonna be late—I told Gomez I'd take his shift to help fix up one of those After Burner cabinets, the ones that look like a real jet fighter cockpit!”

“I'll go get Fenton's stuff...” I got out of the recliner again, stretching as I did. “Might as well load it in the van now instead of you having to make a detour later.”

“I'll help!” Lina offered, holding her hands up. “The more, the easier!”

“Pretty sure it's 'the more, the merrier...”

Lina stuck her tongue out at me. “Don't ruin it...”

In the hallway, out of earshot of Uncle Frank, we nearly collapsed into giggles at Lina's robot “impression” earlier. “You think you could've been a bit more subtle with that one?” I chuckled.

“C'mon,” Lina teased, “you liked it....”

“Obviously....” I gave her a quick kiss. “Let's get these boxes to the van...”

With Lina's help, we got the boxes into Uncle Frank's van in...I'd say under five minutes. It didn't hurt that the boxes were all pretty light, mostly being full of Fenton's clothes and the few books he hadn't bothered to take with him. The plan was that Lina and I would follow along in Fenton's old car (he'd traded up after getting his own place), and with any luck, we'd be in and out of Fenton's place in....minutes.

Lina slid behind the wheel—it took her...I'd say seconds to acclimate herself to the setup. “This is...kind of an old car,” she mused, glancing around the interior. “Late 90s, early 2000s....”

“Just be glad you're not driving The Tank.”

“....'The Tank'?” Lina arched an eyebrow at me.

“Early to mid 80s, possibly late 70s. A Pontiac or something...the fabric on the ceiling was starting to sag, the upholstery stank, half the lights on the dashboard had died out at some point or another....” I rolled my eyes at the memories of The Tank as Lina started the car. “It sucked.”

“Well, any ride's better than none,” Lina mused.

“....so it was Lucy's idea for you to get a driver's license?”

Lina nodded. “Mm-hmm. It also helped me test my navigational suite...which works, if you're wondering.”

“Glad to hear it...I have to catch rides everywhere.” I rolled my eyes. “Fenton used to drive me around....guess those days are over.”

Lina was somewhat surprised. “You never learned to drive?”

“Long story, don't want to go into it....”

The drive out to Fenton's was...actually pretty fun. Lina sang along with the radio (with me joining in a few times), and apart from one incident where Uncle Frank had to lay on the horn because of some “garbanzo bean” (as he'd put it) being a lane-hogger, nothing too stupid happened. Uncle Frank ended up having to stop at a gas station, which Lina used as a great excuse to get lunch at a fast food place across the street—nothing fancy, but nothing off a “dollar menu”, either. After asking Uncle Frank what he wanted (and taking my order) she headed for the drive-thru and made the orders for the two of us—and one for herself, as well.

“I can actually taste stuff,” she informed me—probably noticing my surprise at her own order. “Chemical sensors built into my tongue, and things like that.”

“What about burning your tongue on really hot stuff?”

Lina shrugged. “Dunno...and I'm not going to just try it, to see what happens.”

“And I wouldn't ask you to.” I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I just hope Fenton will be okay with us having lunch at his place...he went through a bit of a 'neat-freak' phase, a few years ago.”

“Eh, if we make too much of a mess, I'll offer to clean up.” Lina grinned. “It'll be a gesture of goodwill and forgiveness.”

“...somehow, I can't really find anything about that idea to disagree with.”

With the pit-stop taken care of, we got back on the road to Fenton's place—me belting out a few classic rock tunes and earning giggles and thumbs-up from Lina in the process. Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with any further traffic idiocy on the part of other drivers; the whole drive to Fenton's place—pit stop included—took a little under—

“Destination. Reached. In. Forty-three. Minutes.” Lina was staring straight ahead, her expression neutral. Of course, as soon as I put a hand on her shoulder to see if she was okay, she cracked up and started giggling. “I figured you'd something to lighten the mood,” she explained. “Y'know, before we have to talk to your brother...”

I gave her a quick kiss. “I appreciate the sentiment, but, ah, let's save the fun for later...I don't want Fenton to think we spent the whole drive canoodling or anything like that.”

“'Canoodling'?” Lina's giggling nearly escalated into a laughing fit; thankfully, she calmed down by the time Uncle Frank got out of the van with a theatrical “Your assistance, please, my most adorable chickpea?” Despite my eye-roll at the remark, I gave Lina the go-ahead to help unload Fenton's stuff from the van while I got got out of the car, taking a good, long look at the apartment complex.

Fenton's apartment, like the rest in the complex, was reasonably sized, well-maintained, great security and a reasonable, compassionate landlord who didn't act like he was the lord king God of his own personal kingdom. In the midst of all of these facts, I had to wonder what the Hell Fenton had been so rattled about over the last few days...

“He's still on the fourth floor, right?”

Uncle Frank's question jolted me out of my reverie. “Fourth floor, yeah...I'll, ah, get the food.”

The elevator ride went smoothly enough, and everyone we passed down the hall was friendly, as well—though they all looked a bit...concerned. The landlord himself—Scottish, grey hair, a few inches shorter than me—actually met us on the way to Fenton's, said a few hellos and then asked us why we were there.

“We're visiting Fenton Harker,” Uncle Frank explained. “He left some of his stuff—”

“Fenton Harker?” The landlord arched an eyebrow, looking worried. “Oh, he's been in a bad way, the last two or three days....don't think he's gotten a lick of sleep throughout. I thought he'd been doing rather well for himself, but...he was rather perturbed when he got back yesterday. Something about a disagreement....”

I sighed. “That's, ah, actually another reason why we're here. I came to make amends with him over a...dispute.”

“Well, I sincerely hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive each other...” The landlord nodded, wished us the best of luck and headed for the elevator.

By the time we reached Fenton's apartment, I'd decided to take the lead in “making amends” myself. Thus, with Lina and Uncle Frank close behind, I keyed in the code to let us into his place, opened the door...

...and immediately felt like an utter bastard for having thrown Fenton out of my house the day before.

The landlord's thoughts that Fenton hadn't gotten any sleep for “the last two or three days” were an understatement if ever there was one—obviously, he hadn't slept in weeks. He was halfway passed-out on the couch, his shirt half-open and the first hints of five-o'clock shadow on his chin. Important-looking forms were strewn all over the coffee table in front of him, and at least three mugs of coffee had gone cold. I could see a dent in the kitchen wall where he'd probably thrown something—which turned out to be a briefcase, half-open on the floor with papers spilling out.

“Fenton?! FENTON!” I nearly tripped on my own feet as I headed for the couch, hoping that he was only running on empty. “C'mon, damn it....” I lightly slapped him a few times, just to make sure he was still conscious.

“....what...”

“It's me, Fenton...Matt. Your brother....” Lina was at my side, resting a hand on Fenton's shoulder to steady him.

"Oh, Matt, and, Uncle Frank? And..Gina? No, Lina...” He glanced around for a second, noticing the coffee cups.

“You okay, Fenton? You look like absolute Hell...”

“I'm, ah....I'm just stretched really thin right now, is all...look, Lina, sorry about pushing you over last night...." Fenton went to get off the couch, nearly falling over in the process. Lina pretty much guided him to a standing position, her hands on his shoulders to steady him, and—after smiling the most merciful, understanding smile I'd ever seen on anyone, hugged him.

Right then and there, I knew that Lina was more than just coding, metal, plastic and silicon. Anybody with an Erector set and a text-to-speech synthesizer program could build something that'd say “I forgive you”....but that simple gesture Lina had shown to Fenton was so far removed from “robotic” that it damn near brought a tear to my eye. I had to wonder just how much time Lucy had put into writing every aspect of her personality, her feelings and all that....

“Okay, so, now that we've got that sorted....seriously, Fenton, are you okay?”

“I'm good, I'm good.....I've just got a lot to do, is all.”

“You didn't look like you were doin' a whole lot when we got in here,” Uncle Frank reminded him.

"I know, Uncle Frank, but we can catch up another time, maybe really soon. I was actually in the middle of something really important when Matt woke me up just now." Fenton was starting to wander around the apartment, barely focusing on anything. “I need a cup of coffee, damn it....”

I was starting to regret showing up. "If you're in the middle of something big, why the Hell did you make me host a party over the weekend?"

Fenton sighed. "Look, I hosted it, on your property—”

“You were barely out there talking to anyone, for crap's sake! Apart from charging outside with the damn 9-iron—”

“I hosted it, but I admit, it did get a little bit....I dunno, out of control, so...no more parties, okay?"

I stared at Fenton for a full minute, but finally chose to just nod. “Fine.”

"Look, don't worry about me, ok? And I'm glad to meet you, Lina, under, uh, slightly better circumstances than last night, but I have stuff to do, so...” He ambled over to the kitchen and poured himself a mug of black coffee, no cream or sugar; with all of us watching, he took a massive gulp. I could see his hands tremble as he set the mug down.

I knew we weren't going to get anything more out of him for the time being. “Right, right...” I gestured to the boxes from his room. “Here's all your stuff...just, call if you need anything, okay? I mean, I've got stuff to deal with, myself—"

"I will, thanks. But just....” He took a look at the wall clock and pretty much finished off the rest of the coffee mug in one massive gulp. “....yeah, I've got a lot to do. Talk to you later!"

He damn near pushed us out of his apartment right after that. So much for making amends....

We ended up eating our lunch in a sort of promenade on the third floor—Lina and Uncle Frank chatted, while I sat there feeling like I was in someone else's movie. I was glad there was no bad blood between Fenton, Lina and I, but he'd been acting weird—just going about his business as if we'd interrupted “something big”, despite the fact that he'd been passed out on the damn couch when we got there. None of it felt right to me....

By the time Uncle Frank, Lina and I had reached the elevator, it was nearly the end of Uncle Frank's lunch break. “I've gotta get back to the shop,” he stated. “That Bram Stoker's Dracula table isn't going to fix itself, y'know....”

“Thanks for helping sort all this—well, helping me try to sort this, Uncle Frank. It means a lot.”

Uncle Frank clapped me on the shoulder. “You see? Wasn't this better than fighting? Animosity?”

“I'd say it was,” Lina mused, nodding her agreement. “I just hope Fenton can get everything sorted out...”

The elevator, once again, gave us no problems—but a few minutes later, as Lina and I headed back to Fenton's old car out in the parking lot, my phone went off. My first instinct, by this point, was that it was FCon—I'd had notices from it at the party and the restaurant, when gynoids were in close proximity, and I almost instantly thought that my brother was living in an apartment complex surrounded by fembots.

Nope. This time, it was an actual text message notice, from Lucy.

“What's up, Matt?” Lina had noticed me retrieving the phone. “We didn't leave anything behind at Fenton's, did we?”

“It's not from him.” I frowned. “It's from Lucy...”

Lina arched an eyebrow. “She left everything I'd need at your place earlier this week, and told you all you'd needed to know about me...” I handed her the phone to let her see the message. “...she wants both of us to be at her place....”

“You don't think she changed her mind, do you?”

“She wouldn't have given you all my paperwork if she wasn't going to fully transfer ownership....I can't really think of anything else she'd need to discuss.”

I shrugged. “I guess we'll find out when we get to her place....”

(rest of Part 3 incoming.....)
"No one steals our chicks.....and lives!"

User avatar
DukeNukem 2417
Posts: 1196
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:26 am
Technosexuality: Built
Identification: Human
Gender: Male
Location: somwhere on Planet Earth
x 3
x 30
Contact:

Re: Lina, Part 3

Post by DukeNukem 2417 » Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:24 am

AUTHOR'S NOTE: .....aaaaaaaaaaand here's the rest of Part 3! :D
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The drive from Fenton's place to Lucy's took a good half hour or so, possibly longer. Lina and I didn't really talk all that much, this time around; she was probably just as confused and concerned about Lucy's text message as I was. The only reason I wasn't more worried about this “visit” was Lina's assurance that Lucy wasn't taking her back—granted, my next train of thought was that the Institute had found out about me using FCon on Lina, or that Lucy hadn't told them about giving Lina to me—or that she hadn't told them about her in the first place....eventually, after a few minutes of pointless worrying, I decided to focus on whatever was playing on the radio instead....

...which didn't help, since I was still worried when Lina guided the car to a stop at Lucy's house.

Fortunately, my first look at the place took my mind off of my worries almost instantaneously. It was all white tile, marble and metal, angles and cubes and such; there was no symmetry or reason to the windows, and what I took to be just another slab of metal turned out to be the front door. I found myself almost distracted by the fact that this house was either outside the city limits, in the middle of a park or very close to the Institute—I hadn't really paid any attention to the scenery during the drive.

“Well, I guess we might as well go inside,” Lina mused, “see what she wants.”

“Right, right...”

Lina and I made our way up the front walk. I could tell Lina was still a bit apprehensive about the situation; personally, I was still confused as to why Lina and I had been called all the way to some random house by Lucy, especially after everything had been settled—or at least after I thought it'd been settled. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Lina shrugged and knocked on the door. “Lucy? Matt and I got your message, and—”

The door hissed open without preamble.

“....ladies first, I guess...” I shrugged, motioning for Lina to enter ahead of me.

As soon as I walked in, my attention was immediately drawn to Lucy, wearing a button-up shirt two sizes too small, a skirt that wasn't long enough to be formal or short enough to be a miniskirt, what I assumed were her best “fuck me” pumps and freaking sheer hose. I could tell something was off when she turned to see Lina and me standing by the door; she had this weird half-smile, and something about the way she walked up to us—like she was trying to do a “sexy” walk, but only every few steps—was just weird. “So, you got the message...glad to see you made it.”

“Yeah....” I nodded, trying not to be distracted by Lucy's, ah...attire. “So.....ah...”

Lucy ignored me for the time being, instead being apparently surprised that Lina was with me. “Oh, hey, Lina! I didn't think you'd come, too....think you could sort out my office for a bit? Y'know, just to make sure it's all in place.”

Lina glanced at me, a bit worried, but nodded. “Not a problem—”

“And the garage, when you're done with the office.”

Lucy's last-minute addition prompted a groan from Lina, but she nodded. “Right...” With a shrug, she headed for the office. On my end, my concern about the inherent weirdness of the situation was quickly drowned out by the room I was now in—again, white tile, white metal, weird windows....even the furniture was white leather and chrome. “.....is this, ah, your place, then?”

“Perk of the job. Sit down, kick off your shoes...” Lucy was walking around the room as she spoke—again, in that weird, half-sultry, half-normal walk. “Can I get you anything?”

“.....ah, no thanks....” I headed for a rectangular couch and sat down. “....I, ah....” I nearly changed my mind in regards to Lucy's remark about getting me anything, but any request I might've made pretty much evaporated on my tongue seconds later. Lucy was regarding me with what I'm guessing was supposed to be a sultry stare, except she kept winking—actually, it wasn't even winking so much as it was an uncontrollable spasm of her right eyelid. “....Lucy, are you okay?”

“Of course I'm okay!” Lucy giggled. “I'm fine, Matt....why, you think something's wrong?”

“Well, I just....ah....” I shrugged—more than a bit nervous, seeing as how Lucy took a seat right next to me on the sofa, still staring at me. “....you seem to be, ah.....”

“What,” Lucy teased, “acting weird?”

“.....uh.....”

Lucy's right arm reached around my shoulders, her hand resting on my own right arm. “I'm not, if you're wondering. I'm functioning perfectly—” She paused, all emotion leaving her face for a split second, before relaxing. “...the Hell am I even saying....” She rolled her eyes, turning me to face her.

“....ah, Lucy....”

“Like I said, perfectly fine.” Without preamble, Lucy reached for my shirt. “It's way too hot in here for you to be wearing that, y'know...”

“Can you not do that?!” I glanced over my shoulder—any minute, I expected Lina to walk in, see Lucy trying to hit on me and then all Hell would break loose. “Lina's right over there—”

“Perfectly fine.” Lucy continued pulling my shirt off, apparently oblivious to my protests—a point she proved when she pretty much shoved me to a prone position on the sofa with one hand, before slowly unbuttoning her shirt. “Lucy Sievers, nice to meet you!”

Horniness and panic were officially duking it out in my brain, now. Yes, the familiar stirrings down South were making themselves known, seeing as how what was playing out was insanely close to a few favorite stories of mine from the forum....but this felt different. It felt...wrong, to be honest—Lina was just in the other room, after all....

“Take off your pants.”

What?! NO, I—”

Lucy, now free of her shirt, proceeded to somehow kick my shoes off with her own feet, before going to work on my jeans. “I'm functioning perfectly,” she stated, apropos of nothing; her hands were still working my jeans down my legs as she started kissing my chest. “Like I said, perfectly fine.”

“Lucy, what the fuck are you doing?!

“Perfectly fine.” Lucy shucked off her skirt—her red-and-black panties matched her bra, furthering the battle between logic and libido raging in my brain. “Why would I be malfunctioning right now?” She shifted her panties aside, once again giving me that weird, sexy smile—which would' ve been a lot sexier had it not been for her involuntary winking all the damn time. “Take off your pants....”

She's a gynoid. Under any other circumstances, I'd have been thrilled at the realization—but this was definitely not the time. She's a gynoid, just like Lina, and she's malfunctioning....

I felt my own underwear being pulled down, and reflexively slapped Lucy's hands away. “Quit it! Seriously—”

My protests were silenced by Lucy leaning forward and kissing me, her right hand basically pinning me to the couch while her left headed straight for—and into—my underwear. I was still, ah, firmly appreciative of the situation (in at least one sense), despite my ensuing panic, and Lucy quickly took full grasp of things. I tried, with my left hand, to push her off of me, but her knees were pretty much pinning me to the sofa. “Lucy, what the fuck is wrong with you?!

“Nothing's wrong....” She kissed me again. “I'm functioning perfectly—functioning perfectly—functioning per-per—”

Something inside of Lucy's torso popped, and her eyes shot open. “Lucy-cy-cy-cy Siever-ver-vers! Nice to-to-to-to-to meet meet meetmemememememememe—” Her entire body seized up—without hesitation, I reached down, pulled her left hand out of my underwear (and off of my, ah, anatomy) before pushing her off of me. “Shit....”

From somewhere behind the sofa, I heard footsteps. “I'm going to the garage now, Lucy!”

Lina's declaration apparently prompted an all-too-brief moment of lucidity in Lucy—her head snapped to the right as she called out “Thanks!” before her attention returned to me. “Perfectly fine.”

“LINA, WAIT—” I groaned as the door to the garage hissed closed—just in time for Lucy to attempt to jumpstart her ministrations on my crotch. “QUIT IT!” I flat-out kicked her hand away—which pretty much sent her off the couch and into the coffee table, which collapsed under her. “....fuck....”

“meet-meet-meet—” Something else popped inside Lucy's torso—followed immediately by a sizzle. “Malfunction at OFEE4155. Malfunction at OFEE4155—” Her face had gone completely blank; her hands were opening and closing of their own accord, and her voice was a flat, lifeless monotone. “Sexual hardware configuration incomplete. Sexual hardware configuration incomplete—” Another sizzle sounded, this time behind her eyes, as her face seized up. “A fault has been detected in my—in my—in my—in my—my—my—my—” Her eyes went wide, and her hand—still going through the motions as if it was on...well, me—kept moving up and down, faster and faster....

I scrambled to put my jeans back on, simultaneously terrified and (might as well admit it) turned on.

“Error—error--virus detected in sector—sector—sector—sector—sector—OOOOHHHH!” Lucy threw her head back, her hips bucking against nothing even as her left hand kept at it. “OH, YES....YES.....YES—corruption detec-detec—OOH!” A panel opened just above Lucy's breasts—well, I say “opened”, but it pretty much blew out by way of a spark firing from behind it. Another panel opened at her navel, or at least tried to; something behind that seemed to get stuck, and a grinding noise started to drown out the sizzling and popping...both of which lost out to a far more, ah, biological sound accompanied by the sudden soaking of her legs and groin with what would've been all over me, had I not pushed her off of me and scrambled away from the sofa.

“YES—YES—YES—YES—” Lucy's head twitched to the side with each repetition, her writhing slowly winding down as her body gave out. Her, ah, juices pooled on the shattered glass and metal of the busted coffee table; another spark fired from the panel above her tits, followed by a louder one from higher up. After a few more twitches, she went still.

All I could do was stare at Lucy's broken form. Her eyes were crossed, and her jaw had gone slack. Oily white smoke was still wafting out of her mouth. A hole the size of a quarter sat in the center of her forehead; bits of singed plastic and wires were poking out, accompanied by a smaller plume of black smoke.

“....she broke herself...she just tried to have sex with me, and she broke herself...”

Had this been something written for the forum, my appraisal of the situation would've been vastly different.

I scrambled around Lucy's unmoving form, trying to look for a way to somehow reactivate her, or at the very least get her into a standby state. I had no idea what had happened before Lina and I showed up, but she'd been malfunctioning even then—and Lina hadn't even noticed it!

“The phone.” I reached for the phone in my pocket, thumbing through until I got to FCon. “It'll work...it has to....”

It didn't. The button that had activated Debug Mode for Lina wasn't even showing up, now....

“....damn it.” I waved the phone over her, like a tricorder out of Star Trek—no dice. I aimed it at her face, her boobs, her crotch, her ass....nada. I even held it up to the hole in her forehead....nothing. “Come on....you helped Lina, for crap's sake, why can't you help her?!” I realized the absurdity of criticizing the app a few seconds after I spoke...not that it did any good.

Without any other method of getting Lucy back online, I grabbed my shirt and pulled it back on. I was almost in a daze, to be honest—I'd read plenty of stories that had gone down exactly like what'd just happened (or at least very closely to what'd happened). Guy meets girl, girl and guy get it on, girl malfunctions halfway through, guy is still turned on enough to try and finish, girl breaks....except this wasn't just a story on the forum, and Lucy wasn't just “some girl”. She'd designed, written, programmed and built Lina, she'd gone through the whole transfer of ownership...and she, herself, was a gynoid, just like Lina.

“....and she tried to have sex with me.” I shook my head, not caring that I'd just spoken part of my train of thought out loud. “She called us over here—Lina and me.....and then she tried to...”

Every single story I'd read that had a scenario like this ended with the guy either trying to fix the girl before her owners (usually her “parents”) got back, or just wandering off to go help himself to the fridge. Obviously, I wasn't about to pull the latter...but I wasn't an expert in robotics engineering, and I had no way of knowing how to fix Lucy at all. FCon had already failed me, and I wasn't about to “go exploring” Lucy's broken form for some emergency reset button....

With my options rapidly running out, I thought back to—of all things—some of the stories from the forum. Hell, some of those had rather...unorthodox methods of reactivating gynoids after catastrophes.

“....I really hope this works.” I reached for one of Lucy's boobs, wondering how hard I might have to press—

Really?

GYAAAHHH!” I nearly fell over—Lucy had spoken.....but her lips hadn't moved at all. For a second, I thought I'd just been hearing things; clearly, she wasn't going to be moving or talking any time soon. I took a few steps closer to her motionless form, one finger extended to prod her boob, her nipple, whatever I needed to just to see if she was going to react...

Okay, really?

This time, I knew Lucy hadn't spoken—her jaw was still slack, her eyes still crossed....but I had heard her voice.

“.....okay, what the HELL is going on here?! You're....ah.....”

Far end of the room, dipshit.”

“....what?!” I glanced around the room until my eyes settled on a flat monitor—and, more to the point, the image of Lucy regarding me with a rather miffed stare. “....was this....was this some kind of stupid test?! You called me out here, sicked a robot copy of yourself on me, and had her...malfunction....on purpose....” My theory ran out of steam faster than I'd expected.

“....that's your big comeback? That you think I set this up as a test?

“Well.....I've got piss-all to go on otherwise!” I waved at the still-unmoving figure behind me.

You want something to fucking go on, Einstein? How about this? I had a new software update to download, straight from the Institute, but me being me, I figured it'd just be easy to hop on the Internet, download it directly....and not do any kind of deep scans for viruses or whatever. Thing is....I wasn't exactly thinking straight when I direct-linked, and I, ah...I was jealous, okay?! I saw you and Lina together, and you looked so damned happy with each other, and I couldn't stop thinking about getting love for myself...except the fucking virus ramped it up way past 11......”

“So when you thought 'love'.....you decided that equaled 'get your freak on with Matt Harker'?”

The stupid fucking virus ramped up my arousal too high for me to control.” Lucy sighed. “And I can still transfer my A.I. to my new body—it's in the bedroom—anyway, I can transfer from this rig.....so...sorry if I....scared you, or whatever.

“.....and seeing as how you're pulling the Wizard of Oz routine on me, I'm guessing you're not infected now?”

I got it out of my system right before I blew. That, or whatever the fuck infected me couldn't get anything further out of me, so it self-destructed and took my body with it.” Lucy rolled her eyes. “...all those fucking times I told Lina not to direct-link on an insecure connection, and look what happens to me....”

“Hang on.” I gestured back to Lucy's body. “How'd you get from there to the TV?”

Sent myself over the network, obviously! My A.I. can move between devices—and it's a slimline PC, not a TV...dingus.

“...right....well, maybe Lina can help when she gets back from the garage—”

Lina's here?

“YES! You talked to her at the front door! Told her to....she doesn't know you're a robot, does she?”

Gynoid,” Lucy corrected. “And no, she fucking didn't!

“......ah.” I scratched the side of my nose, sighing. “....well, ah...I guess you're going to have to explain—”

The whole fucking reason I fucking gave her to you is that I was going to finish upgrading myself. I couldn't have her here because she didn't know what I am...and I went and invited her over here to fucking find out about it. And now the whole fucking network is limited, and I can't transfer from this fucking computer to my new body. Yay, me...”

“...well, can you transfer to anything else?”

Lucy (or her image on the screen) nodded towards a cabinet. “There's an old tablet in there...Lina was on it before she got her body. If I can send myself to it in the next hour, before the house network just locks up completely...”

“Right, right.” I nodded. “So all I have to do is just go get the tablet, and—”

“Lucy? I'm done in the garage!”

“....and, ah, that'll be Lina...”

Lucy groaned. “Oh, just fucking great.....”

The garage door hissed open, and I could hear Lina's footsteps on the tile as she approached. “I finished sorting all the stuff in the office and the garage, like you asked, and....” She rounded the sofa, coming to a stop as she stared, in wide-eyed shock, at me looking like I didn't want to be there....and at Lucy's broken body on the floor. “....Lucy?”

Yeah.” Lina looked up, surprised to see Lucy on the monitor. “....surprise, I guess....”

Lina took a step back, her hands trembling. “I....I think.....” One of her eyes started blinking involuntarily. “I'm...starting to de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de—” Her head snapped to the side with each repetition. “....develop....protocol con-con-con-conflicts in my A.I—A.I—A.I—A.I—A.I—” She nearly doubled over, as if someone had kicked her in the stomach.

“LINA!” I was at her side in an instant. “...Lina, c'mon....”

“....A.I. sub-sub-subsystem.....” She managed to focus on me, tears welling up in her eyes. “Matt, please....help me...

Lina, command code Q-R-E-4479, Subject Gamma.”

Lucy's recitation of the code caused Lina's eyes to flash blue. “Code acknow—acknow—.” Her head jerked to the side, and her eyes turned red. “ERROR.” Her hands began opening and closing at random, and she kept reciting the word “ERROR” for a few seconds. “ERR—Clearing cache memory. Please wait......” Lina's head had stopped jerking to the side, and she was blinking pretty damn fast; her voice had once again turned flat, as it had when she was in Debug Mode, but there was a subtle synthetic undertone to it. “.....please wait....please wait....cache memory clear.”

Override ZZT-1091-TDK-7148. Acknowledge.

Immediately, Lina stopped twitching, standing ramrod straight. “Acknowledged.”

Execute protocol YKMN.

“Executing protocol....opening A.I. Subsystem directory. Locating all instances of Lucy Sievers as human. Marking all instances of Lucy Sievers as human as deprecated. Please wait.....please wait.....”

I watched, fascinated, as Lina's eyes blinked too rapidly for me to keep track of. “....whoa....” I thought of the old cliché of waving one's hand in front of someone's face, decided not to....then just went ahead and did it.

“....really?

“....sorry. Always wanted to do that...” I shrugged and tried to chuckle, but it sounded utterly stupid, so I let it trail off into nothing. “So, ah, what's she doing, exactly?”

Finding every mention of me as a human being in her system directories, marking them as deprecated and then deleting them. If I were still registered as her owner, she'd be standing there for a pretty fucking long time....” Lucy rolled her eyes, looking bored despite the fact that she'd effectively relocated herself to the wall-mounted PC. “Once I'm on the tablet, you two can go get my new body out of the bedroom...bring it to my car out in the garage and—”

“Lina drove us here in my brother's old car,” I countered. “We can just use that!”

Does your brother's old car have RIFD shielding, protected WiFI and a charging cable connecter that doesn't need some fucking bootleg adapter that plugs into the fucking cigarette lighter?

“......no.”

Well, there you fucking go.

“All deprecated instances marked. Preparing to delete deprecated instances.”

I walked around Lina as she enacted the YKMN protocol within her own systems. “....wow.”

She's just clearing her system files out to make sure she doesn't recognize me as human anymore...what the fuck d'you find so 'amazing' or whatever about that?

“....it's just....it's hard to explain—”

“Deleting instances.” Lina's eyes were now giving a red, throbbing glow, like one of the flash drives I used to own (before it got put through the dryer a few too many times). “Deleting....deleting....”

I placed my hands on her shoulders—purely out of habit, and the fear that she might collapse when she was done.

“Deleting....all deprecated instances deleted. A.I. Subystem conflicts resolved.” Lina blinked a few times, the glow in her eyes fading. “I'm okay, Matt,” she murmured, glancing at me and smiling—she twitched a bit, but not as bad as when she'd first seen Lucy. “I just had to clear my head.” She glanced at Lucy's unmoving form. “.....did you two....”

I shook my head. “I'm a one-woman man....never thought I'd say that...” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, ah...” I nodded to the monitor at the far side of the room. “Lucy told me—”

“Lucy....” Lina turned her attention to the monitor, scowling. “Lucy, you JERK!

Well, hello to you too, Lina—”

“Why didn't you—you—you—” Lina seized up for a second. “—you TELL me you were a gynoid from the start?!”

I had my reasons for not telling you, okay?” Lucy sighed. “Well, seeing as how you know now, it's as good a time as any.....right, Story Time for Lina and the Dipshit—”

“You know damn well my name is Matt.”

“.....sorry. Story Time for Lina and Matt....” Lucy sighed. “Spoiler alert, this one ain't gonna be happy.”

The image on the monitor seemed to split, right down the middle: Lucy on one side, and what appeared to be an old photo on the other. “Once upon a time, there was a promising robotics major named Audrey Seward. She had a lot going for her—groundbreaking A.I. algorithms, the respect of her peers on campus, the possibility of winning a Nobel Prize for her work....and one big fucking strike against her: cancer. Specifically, breast, stomach, ovarian and brain. Luck of the draw, with her....”

“...damn.” I glanced at Lina, who looked positively devastated.

“...well, the good news is, or was, the Institute wasn't about to let all that knowledge and crap go to waste. They signed off on a full, 1:1 reproduction of her—she put as much of herself into my coding as she could, the 'new' body was an exact recreation of the old as far as appearances go...the day they switched me on was the day she died. They wanted to try some kind of brain imaging technique, but for some fucking reason, they didn't have the money for it...”

“....so why the name change?”

Legal bullshit. Once Audrey Seward was dead and buried, they could falsify records and have Lucy Sievers show up to pick up where she left off. Problem solved....at least, until now.

“....which brings us right back to Square One.” I glanced at the still-smoking remains of Lucy's former body.

All we need to do now is get somewhere with a secure network that isn't infected with the stupid virus—Lina's secure, by the way, since I put her on your network after the transfer.

“What if she connects to the network here—”

“I can't.” Lina glanced at the monitor. “It's why Lucy had to give me the override command verbally.”

“...right. And your, ah, new body—”

“Wait, new—new—new body?” Lina glared at the monitor, ignoring her right eye deciding to blink on its own.

“....I'll explain after the transfer, okay?! For now, just get to my bedroom...there should be a capsule or a crate, it'll be in there. Thumbprint lock, you're set to open it, all that good shit...just get it out, get it to my car in the garage and we can get the fuck out of here before the network locks down and starts Purge Mode.

“....Purge Mode?” Even if Lina and Lucy weren't tired of my “echo effect”, I was.

“It'll run a full purge of the house network,” Lina explained. “Complete factory reset on everything.”

The security systems will recognize me in my new body after the transfer,” Lucy added. “So I won't get locked out of here or any shit like that just because of some stupid random virus...”

“...makes sense.” I nodded. “Ah, how long do we have until the network decides to initiate 'Purge Mode'?”

50 minutes. It's not going to erase Lina or me, or make the house want to kill you or anything...”

“...wasn't really thinking about that, but thanks for bringing it up.” I rolled my eyes; Lina had already set off for Lucy's bedroom, leaving me to converse with Lucy. “So....ah, about all of this....”

Wasn't your fault. Like I said, the virus made me 'want' you, I couldn't do shit to fight it....”

“.....so, no hard feelings?”

“.....to be honest, it's not the first time I've been broken,” Lucy admitted. “I've been online for....what, five or six years, now....maybe seven, maybe a few more. Kind of blurs together after a while. Anyway, the Institute's managed to foot the bill for my repairs, so far, but the new body's pretty much the most advanced they've made so far, so the policy this time around was if anything happened to break the old one, I just transfer to the new one.”

“....and what happens to the old one?”

Scrapped for parts, the face gets stored so that there's not another Lucy walking around on campus.

“Sounds like they've really got things in order.”

Pretty much. Now all I need to do is figure out where the fuck we're going to go to get a secure network that'll let me transfer to my new body without any bullshit....”

Instantly, I knew. “....my uncle's. His shop has a secure network. He repairs arcade machines, some of 'em need a WiFi connection for scorekeeping, updating, all that stuff....if we can get you there, set you up and connect you, we can make the transfer, and you'll be good as new?”

“...can we trust him?

“He's a bit...out there, sometimes, but I'd trust him with my life, if need be.”

“Your new body's in the car,” Lina called out. “Pretty sure the monitor's not going to fit in there, though...”

You're not taking the rig, Lina. I'm transferring to the tablet you were on before I built your body.

Lina was somewhat surprised. “You're using that? I thought we got rid of that thing!”

I set it up to be as comfortable for you as possible before you got your body....mainly because I had a feeling I'd need to use it myself eventually. Better to have it and not need it, all that shit.

“So...how long will it take to transfer?”

“....give me a sec....” Lucy sighed, then vanished from the TV screen....and a few seconds later, an all-too familiar voice could be heard swearing from inside a drawer: “OPEN THE FUCKING STUPID DRAWER, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

“....you want to, or should I?”

“I'll go,” Lina giggled, heading for the drawer and retrieving the tablet. “You okay in there, Lucy?”

“....I've been worse. At least I don't feel an obsessive need to fuck something.”

Lucy....”

“I'll call my uncle, tell him to expect us...” I retrieved the phone, sighing. “This has to be one of the craziest weeks I've had in a good long while...” I glanced at Lina. “...of course, it has had its perks.”

Lina grinned. “Can't argue with that...right, Lucy?”

“....considering the fact that I'm on a fucking tablet right now, I could....but whatever.

“I still don't get what really happened between you two, though,” Lina mused. “I mean...”

An annoyed sigh issued from the tablet. “I had to upgrade my systems—y'know how I do a lot of work from the Institute here at home?

Lina rolled her eyes. “Yes...”

Well, I....decided to bypass the Institute's servers, get the link without virus-scanning, and I got hit with something.....”

“She tried to get it on with me and broke herself.”

“...what he said.” I couldn't see the screen of the tablet, but I could tell Lucy—or her A.I. projection, or whatever—was rolling her eyes. “Also, I...kinda sorta maybe I direct-linked, to get the update—”

“You always told me not to direct-link!” Lina protested.

Yeah, well.....I thought I could fucking handle it, okay?” An annoyed groan issued from the tablet. “...anyway, the stupid fucking virus made me think about how happy you two are together, and I kinda sorta maybe got a little bit, I dunno, jealous of you...and I decided that what I really needed was the same kind of love you had, except the stupid fucking virus decided to replace 'you need love' with 'you need to fuck Matt', so...”

I shrugged. “She tried to put the moves on me, I refused her advances, and, well...”

Despite her annoyance at Lucy for having broken her own rule about direct-linking, Lina nodded. “So, we just bring you to Matt's uncle Frank and try to transfer you there?”

“....actually, now that you know....I was thinking we could try it here.

“...and you actually want me to help with the transfer?”

I designed you, wrote you and fucking built you myself, Lina. You're only the second person I'd even fucking ask to do this for me.”

“And who's the first?”

My question earned me a derisive snort. “Me, obviously.”

“....so nobody at the Institute—”

I'd get my fucking security clearances revoked for half a fucking year if they found out about this. We do this here...and, I guess, at Uncle Frank's, if we have to.”

I nodded. “....so, ah, do you need my help with anything?”

You can go get my new body out of the fucking car, for starters.”

Lucy....” Lina rolled her eyes. “He's just offering to help.”

Yeah, well....that thing about me not missing my body is starting to be less true with every passing minute. It's fucking comfortable in here, just for an A.I., and all...” There was a pang of something in Lucy's voice...regret? Sadness? “...I just want this to get this shit sorted out. Fuck if I care where it happens...like I said, I just want to get this fucking thing over and done with, okay?

“I'll do what I have to do,” Lina replied. “Matt....”

“Right, right....which way is the garage?”

With Lina pointing the way, I headed off to where Lucy's new body had been stashed in the waiting car—and I'll be the first to admit, I've never seen a garage that looked less like a garage than Lucy's. The whole thing honestly looked a lot more like an actual robotics lab than an average garage—a scaled-down robotics lab, maybe, but a robotics lab all the same. There were sketches on the walls, some of which were half-formed versions of Lina's face, and maybe eight or nine photos of “possible” designs for Lina; a few human-sized crates over in the corner caught my eye, but I figured Lucy wouldn't exactly like it if I went poking around all over the place, so I restricted my attention to the car.

Apart from not having holes in the forehead and midsection, Lucy's soon-to-be new body was pretty much exactly like her old one....well, there was one other difference.

“Ah, Lina?”

“...yeah?”

“.....did Lucy forget to, ah, dress her new body? She's butt-naked in here!”

From a certain point of view, she wasn't naked—though I'd hardly count a sheet of polystyrene as clothing . At least her skin color wasn't dictated by whether or not she was online, otherwise anyone who'd passed us on the road would've called the cops about a car hauling a girl who looked “dead...wrapped in plastic”. Yeah, that would've been more than a bit awkward to explain....

Three minutes later, with Lucy's new body on the dining room table (and tastefully attired in yoga pants and a sports bra, both in basic black), Lina set to work on trying to transfer her A.I. from the tablet to...well, Lucy. “Okay, so where do we start?”

“...tap twice behind the left ear, and a port should open on the rear of the neck.

“Right.” Lina tapped behind the inert gynoid's left ear, which was followed by a hiss. “It's open.”

Connect the tablet, and find the secure network that doesn't have a house icon by it.

“....got it....there!”

You know my password for my laptop, right?

“.....yeah.”

Enter it here. You should get a confirmation notice that the transfer process is beginning—”

“While we're all here, ah.....why, exactly, did you need to move your A.I. from your body into the PC on the wall?”

My question earned me a curious stare from Lina—and a groan from Lucy. “Are you fucking kidding me?!

“I'm...actually kind of curious about that, myself,” Lina admitted.

“....fine. I didn't want my entire personality overridden by that stupid virus making me want to fuck the nearest adult bipedal lifeform, or whatever, and my body's power core was redlining anyway. If I'd stayed in that old body any longer, I'd have been corrupted beyond repair.”

“....and you were actually able to fit....well, yourself into a PC?”

Custom rig, Einstein. I was able to jump from my body to that rig because I built the fucking rig.”

“.....I guess that makes sense.” I glanced at Lina. “Does that make sense to you?”

Who the fuck cares how much fucking sense it fucking makes?! Just fucking get the fuck on with the fucking transfer!

Lina rolled her eyes. “It makes sense,” she murmured, grinning. “Okay, so what—what—” She groaned. “What now?”

“....where the fuck were we?

“I got the confirmation notice about the transfer beginning...” Lina glanced at the tablet. “....it looks like it's started.”

Okay, just don't mess with it at all.....wait....oh, fuck.

“What?” Lina frowned. “I didn't mess up, did I?”

Not you, the fucking stupid network! I thought all of these were—” Lucy's body jolted, nearly sending the tablet to the floor; Lina was able to grab it before it fell. “What's going on?!”

Fucking....SHIT! The network's crashing hard!

“I thought we had almost an hour until that Purge Mode thing kicked on!”

It's not fucking Purge Mode, damnit....someone's trying to—” Lucy's body siezed up again, her head jerking from side to side like she'd been possessed.

“LUCY!” Lina held down Lucy's body by the shoulders, doing her best to not drop the tablet in the process.

....fuckers....trying to....down....network.....” Lucy sounded like she was legitimately trying to fight to keep the transfer ongoing. “...Lina...my room. Backups....fifth and sixth drawers.”

“How up to date are they?”

Just....added to them....this morning.....oh, FUCK....” The nipples on Lucy's body stiffened and crinkled under the sports bra; her hands clenched and unclenched. “....Lina, kill the connection.”

“....Lucy, I—I—I—” Lina clenched her teeth, fighting through her own malfunction-induced tics.

LINA, KILL THE CONNECTION NOW.

“It might corrupt your files, or...or....or....” Lina shook her head. “...it could delete you!” She was on the verge of panicking, just like when she'd first noticed that Lucy was a gynoid.

My backups are current as of this morning, before I ramped up my settings and direct-linked. At the most, I'll lose just a few hours of my memories, all from today. Those backups have all of my memories, including my notes and design documents from when I built you.” Lucy's voice, despite sounding somewhat commanding, took on a note of sympathy as she continued: “...yes, you run the risk of losing me by killing the connection, but even if you do, it'll be temporary.

“....okay.” Without another word, Lina pulled the cord from the tablet out from the panel at the back of Lucy's neck; her body instantly stopped siezing up, and returned to its lifeless state (nipples included).

“...Lucy?”

The tablet's screen had gone dim...but after a few seconds, a voice: “....I'm here.

“Are you, well...okay?” I leaned in to see for myself.

Only 25% of the transfer completed. Everything that makes me, well, me is still on the tablet...everything that I need to run my body is in my body. The new one, I mean.

“....so, you didn't forget anything?” Lina asked. “Nothing got...erased?”

The only things I don't have access to are the files to move my body around. Like I said, those are in the new body now—”

An alarm klaxon went off, accompanied by Lucy's voice: “Ten minutes to Purge Mode...backup all your shit now, or you'll fucking lose it. Or don't back it all up, I don't give a fuck.

Lina groaned. “You couldn't even do the alarm announcements without talking like that?”

100% authenticity, Lina. If they didn't sound like me, I wouldn't take 'em seriously.

“....so the network here is officially borked, then....” I looked around, surprisingly at ease considering what I'd nearly had to endure when I first got there. “.....which means...”

We go to your uncle's. Lina, go get my backups and load 'em into the car, then—”

“You ever consider asking nicely?”

I could tell Lucy was doing her best to glare at me from the tablet. “....what?!

“I'll go get the backups,” Lina offered. “You two....try not to yell at each other, or anything, okay?”

I nodded. “I'll do my best.”

“Glad to hear it.” Lina grinned. “Lucy?”

“.....no promises.

Lucy....”

“....fine, I won't fucking yell at him.

“Good—and no swearing, either, got it—it—it—it?” Lina groaned at her glitch-induced tics.

Why the fuck are you telling me not to swear?! And run a fucking defrag on yourself before we leave....please.

Lina rolled her eyes. “Just try not to drive each other insane for the next minute or so...” With that (and a quick kiss on the cheek for me), she headed off to the bedroom.

“....so, ah, just for the record....no hard feelings?”

What, about me glitching out, trying to fuck you and bricking my old body in the process? I'd have run out the mileage on that one sooner or later....not that I liked how it went out—”

“With a bang, you might say.”

I could tell that if Lucy could've had her body glare at me in that instant, she would've. “....really?

“....too much?”

Just shut the fuck up and wait for Lina to get back.....” A sigh sounded from the tablet's speakers. “....and, just for the record, I'm not pissed off at you for what happened. It was my own fucking fault.

“....fair enough.”

“I got the backups,” Lina called out, making her way back to the kitchen table. “And for the record, I can run the defrag while we're on the road...I also saved a bunch of your binders and notebooks and stuff. They're in the trunk.”

You didn't have to save all of those...”

Lina shrugged. “Well, I figured they might help when we get to Matt's uncle's shop.”

“They might—”

Five fucking minutes to Purge Mode. Either back your shit up or fucking lose it....your fucking loss.

I rolled my eyes, and Lina frowned at the tablet. “After this is all over, you're rerecording those alarm messages.”

Again, seniority—”

“Can you two maybe save this debate for another time?”

“Matt's right....we should probably get going.” Without hesitation, Lina grabbed Lucy's body around the waist, lifting it off the table with zero effort. “I'll go put your body back in the car...”

“I'll bring the tablet. It's the least I can do...”

Just don't drop it, or I'll kick your fucking ass as soon as the transfer's done.”

Lucy...” Lina shook her head. “You might want to look into rewriting some of your personality files so you don't swear so much, after the transfer...”

“...might be asking for too much there, Lina.”

Something in Lucy's tone was more than a bit unsettling, but Lina didn't really pick up on it. “So your uncle will be able to help us out?”

“If he can't help us himself, he'll at least let us use his shop...” I shrugged. “He does work on 'exotic machines'....”

Lina smirked. “And how far up the 'exotic' chart would Lucy and I be?” she asked.

“You're a Hell of a lot more than just a 'machine', Lina.” I kissed her on the forehead. “I'll punch the first prick who tries to say otherwise.”

“Can you two make with the kissy-kissy shit after the transfer?! I'd kinda sorta maybe like to have a body again!”

Lina giggled. “I think that's our cue to hit the road, Matt.”

Stay tuned....

(as always, comments, compliments and constructive criticisms are anticipated and appreciated! )
Last edited by DukeNukem 2417 on Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"No one steals our chicks.....and lives!"

User avatar
DollSpace
Moderator
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 6:27 pm
Technosexuality: Built
Identification: Android
Gender: Female
Location: Charging Terminal #42
x 96
x 28
Contact:

Re: Lina, Part 3

Post by DollSpace » Tue Oct 08, 2019 7:00 am

I enjoyed it loads, loved it! I would normally have constructive criticism and stuff but I already gave you a ton of that before you posted, so hopefully, people here enjoy this one! You worked hard on this one! :)

User avatar
Spaz
Fembot Central Staff
Posts: 1921
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:18 am
Technosexuality: Built and Transformation
Identification: Human
Gender: Male
Location: San Jose, CA
x 125
x 112
Contact:

Re: Lina, Part 3

Post by Spaz » Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:41 pm

I didn't comment on Part 2, because it was mostly filler material. But, this part was well worth the wait. I had been hoping Lucy would end up being an android as well, though I figured you might go the route of making her a sleeper. I suppose that's because your story reminds me a little of Serf's Party Girls from way back, another of my favorites.

Keep up the good work!
Check out my stories: https://www.fembotwiki.com/index.php?title=User:Spaz

Current story status: The Small Business Chronicles: Season Two | The Doctor is in - The Clinic (In progress...)

Robo-Admirer
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:38 pm
Technosexuality: Built
Identification: Human
Gender: Male
x 31
x 97
Contact:

Re: Lina, Part 3

Post by Robo-Admirer » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:40 pm

Great part right here! Really liked the twist with Lucy, and I wonder how others will take to it.

Looking forward to what comes next! Keep at it mate!

Post Reply
Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 23 guests