Business Class Part 3

BA · Post by BA » Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:07 pm

Three — Upgrade

“Would C Class passengers Marshall, Fujimara and Sloan please report to the Customer Service Desk? Marshall, Fujimara and Sloan to Customer Service!”

ZoÃ« and Jane had left the processing area, passing a line of human passengers at the main Gate 90, and were nearly at Gate 32. They had ignored the curious stares as people looked at the two androids, given away by the C Class sign over the doorway they emerged through. In common with most units they were programmed to inhibit responses when their situation was incompatible with human behaviour. They were literally incapable of feeling embarrassed of their robotic nature or when exposed for servicing or processing.

They turned at the announcement, “what now!”

Heading back into the now quiet processing area they approached the desk again. “Abigail” was now working on Ms Exxon. A less realistic unit, much of her body was functionally metallic with only her upper torso and arms closely resembling a human woman. Her trouser suit was hanging in the crate and she was lying face down across the metal table her limbs spread limply. Abigail finished removing several power units from her open back, below the pink flesh of her shoulders her entire burnished metal back plate had been removed exposing most of the robotics within her torso. The attendant straightened her legs, which clanked against the table, before she tightened the joints manually one by one.

At the Service Desk was the brunette who ten minutes before had been naked, re-booting in her packing case. She was now lively and smiled at the two women approaching. She wore a thin skirt and vest, looking like a well-off, fun loving character travelling for pleasure.

“Ladies, I am pleased to tell you that we are able to offer an upgrade to Business Class seats on your originally scheduled flight. After checking with the IAA regulations it seems that your models are cleared for passenger transit on our aircraft.
May I confirm firstly that you all have a compatible means of system interface on your person and secondly that you are sufficiently charged and serviced for at least five hours functioning from now…”

The three women agreed, all smiling at their change of fortune. This was unusual to say the least and none had travelled other than as cargo before. This would be a new experience as well as getting them back on schedule!

“Very good, your tickets have been adjusted, please proceed through the main passenger gate. The cabin staff will advise you on flight procedures aboard the aircraft. Have a nice flight!

“Thank you!” “Thanks very much”, Yeah, thank you!”

The three boarded the plane amongst the human passengers and were directed to seats at the back of the Business Class section, three seats in a row. They introduced one another to the latest addition as they took their seats: “Alex” was a Playbot. A millionaires’ plaything but tastefully build and with the best of programming unlike the Italian “slutbots”. She lived her life as freely as any robot could, her owner allowing his collection all the freedom they wanted. It seemed that she had been reverse-processed from cargo to be upgraded as the only other robot booked on the flight that met the stringent regulations for flying within the cabin. Since the Brazil accident the power isolation regulations had come in and all robot travel rules had been tightened up, adding to the cost of transport as an influence on airlines’ policy.

The cabin was half full when they boarded and began to fill quickly. A stewardess finished serving drinks to two middle aged travellers and came to the androids’ row.

“Hi, I’m Cathy, your hostess for this flight. As you know it is unusual for androids to travel within the cabin, there are certain procedures required by the IAA to ensure safety. In particular to ensure your comfort and functionality I will require system interface availability throughout the flight.
I have been advised of your specifications and you are all approved for safe cabin flight. I’ll guide you through the preparations now. Please enjoy your flight and don’t hesitate to ask if I can be of further assistance.”

Cathy edged past ZoÃ« and Alex to Jane in the window seat, shining her beaming smile about like a flashlight, and bent over to her. The Business Class legroom gave her plenty of room to attend to each of the women in the row.

“Ms Marshall, I will need to access your system now…”

“Sure, sure…”

Jane squirmed forwards in her seat and arched her back. With both hands she tugged her tight pullover up from the waist and settled back holding the bunched fabric under her breasts, revealing her pale stomach. In the centre of the detailed female flesh, amongst the freckles and trace of fine blond fuzz, set just above her belly button, was a three by four inch recess. Jane’s control interface was set directly into her torso, without covering, allowing access to anyone who chose to, to enter commands and interface data freely.

The stewardess tapped several controls in sequence while Jane sat passively watching.

“Ms Marshall, your model does not require power isolation and is therefore approved for cabin transit. However to protect your processors from interference from aviation systems I will require to suspend your system for the duration of the flight.”

“Oh dear, I was looking forward to it! Well guys, have a good time, I’ll see you in Tok……..”

Cathy deactivated Jane in mid sentence leaving her frozen in her seat, turned towards her friends with the word “Tokyo” frozen on her lips. Her warm green eyes looked directly towards ZoÃ« in the isle seat, her head fixed at an angle, dropping forward an inch or so before the servo system locked. ZoÃ« saw the sun shining in through the window, lighting up the halo of tousled red curls around her head. Her face was harshly lit showing the minute details of every tiny freckle and hair, even the carefully crafted fine lines that so perfectly replicated the signs of graceful aging in the lovely android’s face. She was a perfect replica of an attractive thirty-something lady, indistinguishable from an organic female except for her frozen stillness and the clearly robotic panel on her still bare stomach.

Alex rummaged in her handbag as Cathy turned to her…

“Gee, that’s too bad. Shame to make it up here then miss all the fun eh? Here’s my PDA…”

She handed the small silver palmtop to the stewardess with its cable, ZoÃ« recognised it from earlier when she had first seen Alex, booting up in the terminal. The middle android pulled up her own thin vest top and plugged herself in, pushing the small plug home into her belly button with a sharp click and covering herself up. The fine wire ran subtly out from under her clothes to the flat metallic slab in Cathy’s hand.

“Than you Ms Fujimara, may I see your ticket please?”

Cathy entered the access code from the ticket into the PDA and touched the screen to ensure that systems access was enabled should she require it during the flight. She handed the device back for Alex to wedge beside her in the seat.

“Thank you, have a nice flight.” She edged back towards the isle where ZoÃ« had already removed a large screen laptop from its case and opened it on her lap, facing away from her.

ZoÃ« undid the top two buttons of the fitted white blouse under her suit and pulled the edges apart to reveal the smooth depth of her chest and the top of a sheer white bra. The edge appeared in her flesh of a small oval nestling in her cleavage as the section rose out from her body.

“Please connect to port three for interface”

“Thank you Ms Sloan.” Cathy pulled gently at the plug of flesh, which sprung upwards to stay open like a hatch into the female executive’s chest. Reaching in she connected the laptop via a fine cable and entered several sequences on the laptop, opening a number of interface windows to configure Zoe’s systems for the flight.

“Oh…. No I… oh..” ZoÃ« muttered in response to some of the alterations to her system, not in protest so much as in un-demanded response to stimulus.

Cathy stood back. “Thank you for your patience ladies, please enjoy the flight. I will ensure that you are correctly re-configured on arrival in Tokyo.”

She left the women, one deactivated and the others now interfaced and accessible for control if needed, and turned away to her human passengers as the cabin filled before departure. Alex turned to ZoÃ«,

“Shame about your pal but at least we’ll enjoy the ride eh?”

ZoÃ« nodded in reply, “ - “, she tailed off halfway through her sentence, puzzled. “ - “. Just like the low spec. airline attendant, Zoe’s words were forming on her pretty lips in silence. She turned her head to look for the stewardess and back to Alex in the next seat, “ - “, she tried to speak more urgently but nothing came. Her shoulders and body sat back passively in the seat while her face alone showed her growing agitation.

“Hey, let me have a look…” Alex turned the laptop and studied the screen for a few moments. ZoÃ«’s processes were displayed in several windows scrolling rapidly upwards. The stewardess had opened the system interfaces but, as these were part of a wider servicing protocol, Zoe’s vocal and primary servo systems were now paused. They wouldn’t be chatting during this flight!

As Zoe’s jaw worked silently messages flowed past Alex’s eyes: VOCAL FEEDBACK NOT FOUND, SOCIAL INTERFACE FAILURE, ERROR, RUNNING SELF-TEST….. The silent android’s head twitched as she tried to speak to her companion and her face froze, mouth open, her cold blue eyes fixed on Alex’s. She twitched again and looked around, confused, before trying to speak again. Alex watched the same messages scroll past until finally: ….INTERFACE FAILURE, ERROR, RUNNING SELF-TEST….. ZoÃ« locked up again for a second and continued to run the same disconcerting cycle, failing to recognise her system status, registering an error, self testing before returning to square one. Alex felt that this was going to be a long trip for both of them!

Loganov · Post by **Loganov** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:24 pm

Amazing again. I can't wait for the next part. I'm also quite eager for the continuation of Claire 33.

Have you ever considered writing a story (using your type of androids)centered around the newscasters and reporters at a local television station? Just wondering. Don't want to stretch you too thin. You've got two great stories already ongoing.

Again, great story. Keep them coming. Can't wait.

BA · Post by BA » Fri Oct 01, 2004 2:05 pm

*^%$Â£Â£@@*!!!!

*****&%$Â£$Â£"(((*!!!!!!

WHY didn't I think of that? You have tickled my imagination there....

By the way, I for one would love to see more of your work, Morgan-616 and her buddies were quite something!

BA

Loganov · Post by **Loganov** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:08 pm

The real Morgan slipped out of my life some time ago now. She was my Muse and inspiration for "The Final Frontier". It's been difficult to get back to it since.
It's nice to have a fan. I thought people had forgotten my story. I have some ideas and I'd very much like to bring Morgan-616 back to the electric page.

ehy · Post by **ehy** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:41 pm

Wow... very nice. Very nice.

I had the TV-newscaster idea a while back (watching a particularly cute, very artificial-looking CNN anchor), but couldn't think of a story to tell with it. Looking forward to seeing what you can do with it, when you get a chance.