Mistress Mira 3

Karel · Post by **Karel** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 7:12 pm

Without blinking, Cherry came to life, took its hands off its lap, and carefully unplugged itself. (S)he stood up without turning around.

Cherry’s physical appearance was based on a government employee Mira had once had to deal with, and who, over the course of their mercifully brief association, had quite convinced Mira that she was otherwise unemployable. Mira didn’t know what had happened to her during The Fall, but it was a safe bet that she was dead. Much less custom work had been done on the face, compared to Natalya, but the standard heavyset gynoid body had been modified to add larger buttocks. It stood still, looking at the wall. Mira walked up behind it.

She put her hands on her hips, and tilted her head, frowning a bit. “Cherry!” she shouted.

Cherry turned around slowly. It did not smile upon seeing Mira, having already been addressed in a negative tone of voice. It tilted its head to make direct eye contact. “Hel·lo Mas·ter.”

Mira straightened up. “What did you do today?”

Cherry’s head remained tilted to the side as it answered. “This u·nit Pre·pared The Liv·ing Room. This unit Pre·pared The Kit·chen. This u·nit-”

“How long were you down for?” asked Mira. Cherry’s settings were slightly different from Natalya’s. HoloMira stood nearby, sipping its virtual martini.

“This u·nit Was On Stand·by for Two Hours and Fif·ty ·Three Min·utes and For·ty ·Eight Sec·onds, at Nine Fif·ty ·Four A·M. This u·nit Was On Stand·by for Three Hours and Twen·ty ·Two Min·utes and Twelve Sec·onds at Two Fif·ty ·Five P·M.”

“When was the Natalya unit on standby?” Mira wondered if some vestigial racism was at work here, contrasting her practical interrogation of Cherry with her playful attitude towards Natalya. She usually kept Cherry in a completely subordinate mode, without any semblance of spontaneity or initiative. Not that it really mattered, she supposed, given the aftermath of The Fall.

“My Na·tal·ya Sis·ter U·nit was Off ·Line For One Hour and Twen·ty ·Two Min·utes and Two Sec·onds at Nine Fif·ty A·M. My Na·tal·ya Sis·ter U·nit-”

“Whoah, whoah!” interrupted Mira. “What was she offline for?”

“My Na·tal·ya Sis·ter U·nit-”

“And don’t call her that,” Mira interrupted again. She vaguely remembered offering that as a standard designation. “Call her...The Natalya Unit.”

“The Na·tal·ya U·nit was-”

“No, no.” Too impersonal. “Ummm...my partner unit.”

Cherry’s eyes stared forward. Its expression remained exactly the same, almost a mild look of shock, and its head was still cocked to the side, as if (s)he were lost in thought, when of course (s)he was incapable of thought. “My Part·ner U·nit-”

“My Natalya co-unit. Repeat that one.”

“My Na·tal·ya Co·U·nit. My Na·tal·ya Co·U·nit. My Na·tal·ya Co·U·nit. My Na·tal·ya Co·U·nit.” Cherry repeated it over and over again. Mira stared at the rounded lips mouthing the words, as their motions lost all meaning.

HoloMira stepped over, now with a simulated Tom Collins glass in hand, tilted (h)er head to match Cherry’s, and pressed (h)er fingers to the android’s temples to straightened it out, as it continued to repeat “My Na·tal·ya Co·U·nit.” Then (s)he brushed (h)er fingers against the still moving lips, dabbed them to (h)er own, and stuck (h)er index finger inside the mouth. “Ay Na·dal·ya Go·U·it. Nay A·tal·ya Go·U·dit.” Mira stared at her tipsy, giggling virtual self. It was freaky to watch Cherry’s dark lips deform perfectly around a finger that wasn’t even real.

“Gee, obsessive compulsive much?” said a giddy HoloMira, before draining the last of (h)er virtual drink. The virtual girl threw (h)er simulated glass to the floor, where it broke into a hundred pieces before being deleted.

“Break!” snapped Mira, and made a motion with her hands. HoloMira shimmered and blinked out, snapping back into existence in the kitchen. The computer system shot (h)er program forward three hours in a the space of a few milliseconds, and left (h)er with a wildly exagerrated hangover. “Oooh,” it moaned, grabbing its own temples.

“Cherry,” Mira continued, and Cherry suddenly stopped repeating the words, firmed (h)er empty gaze, and looked right at (h)er master. “Why was Natalya offline?”

“The Na·tal·ya Co·U·nit Was Placed Off·line For Vi·rus Se·cur·it·y Main·ten·ance.”

“Was there a virus?”

“No. Vi·rus Se·cur·it·y Main·ten·ance Nec·ess·it·at·ed By Fire·wall De·ac·tiv·at·ion.”

The firewall on her day trading programs had been turned off!? “How did that happen!?” She asked.

“The Mi·ra Pro·gram De·ac·tiv·at·ed Fire·wall.”

Mira whirled around to face her virtual self, which now had a look of terror on its face. “No, wait, I can explain!” said HoloMira. “It was just for a few minutes!”

“Mas·ter, this u·nit Re·ceived An In·com·ing Tel·e·phone Mes·sage Time One Thir·teen P·M Pri·or·it·y N·A.” Cherry’s eyes widened, and (s)he opened (h)er mouth wide and leaned (h)er head back slightly as another woman’s recorded voice began playing from inside of (h)er.

“Hello, Mira, it’s Cathy, just phoning back about tonight. That thing I told you about is going to go on longer than I thought, but I can drop in later, maybe around eleven? I’m about to turn off my zee, but leave me a message if you need to. I’ll bring Samus! Anyway, catch you later. Ciao!”

Mira was speechless. HoloMira was desperate. “I didn’t have any idea about that.”

“I asked you if anyone had phoned.”

“That was my downtime! I was turned off, you know that!”

Mira shook her head. “I don’t care,” she said, and raised her hands.

HoloMira reached out, panicked. “NO, DON’T!” (s)he cried, but it was too late.

Mira snapped her fingers.

Karel · Post by **Karel** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:53 pm

Thanks for the praise, Robotdoll, and thank you Dollspace for the archiving; I didn't realize the sections would be so short when I chopped up the story, so that might be the better place to read it. There'll be many posts at this rate.

DollSpace · Post by **DollSpace** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:41 pm

Karel wrote:Thanks for the praise, Robotdoll, and thank you Dollspace for the archiving; I didn't realize the sections would be so short when I chopped up the story, so that might be the better place to read it. There'll be many posts at this rate.

Always glad to be of service

And since you mentioned me, I should let you know that this story does look very interesting and I fully plan to read it at my earliest opportunity; life's been hectic here so sometimes I have to put things off to read later... >< And it doesn't always work, but I'll try! ^^

Keep up the writing!
Catie