R-Bots 4.0

[Karel]

Janey went upstairs and walked through the bedroom to the master bathroom. She opened the door and went inside. Everything was as she had left it last, except for a deepening of the unpleasant odour in the air.

She walked over to the shower and opened the glass door, and the sour odour assailed her further. Master was still there, and had really began to turn.

Three days ago, Master had taken the new maid robot into the shower with her. It was still there, standing ramrod straight with its arms at its sides, its only clothing a brassiere that had somehow fallen around its leg. Janey had already taken its discarded uniform from the bathroom floor, washed it, and dressed RaniBot with it. This maidbot was a new and supposedly extremely user-friendly type, a recent replacement for an old Maria 3-C who had finally broken down after five years’ service. Maria had had vaguely Hispanic features set in thick, rubber grey skin, and a boxy figure without an sexual features. This new maidbot, Q-21-0F, had a shockingly thin body, and a tall and smooth and narrow Caucasian face with asian eyes, like a Hong Kong movie actress (with double-D breasts). The hair, in a tight ponytail, was a mass of clear plastic strands. The plastic skin was translucent: you could just barely make out the wiring and circuit boards inside. You could also see the water from the shower that now filled the body up to the thighs. The legs and ankles had begun to sag and fatten under the extra weight.

A red button was set in the skin of the lower back, above the buttocks. It had been depressed, and the buttocks themselves had swept open to allow easier access to the anus, which was pointed out by a yellow arrow-shaped light beneath it. Another yellow arrow was above the mons veneris, or where it should have been, pointing down at a radically simplified pneumatic vagina. The machinery that protruded ever-so-slightly into the moulded breasts was studded with LED lights. Despite these idiot-proof design features, the body had leaked.

Master still sat naked in the corner, her legs splayed out in a V, her upturned palms and hooked fingers lying on her thighs. The hands and feet had now wrinkled up like prunes. Beads of moisture still clung to the sallow flesh, which was just starting to change colour. Her eyes and mouth remained wide open in shock, though her teeth were set fairly close together behind her lips, having chattered together violently when the electricity coursed through her heart. Her black hair lay in a tangle over her face.

Janey bent down to speak to the corpse. “Master?” she asked

Master sat silently.

“Master, I’m sorry, I may have broken the BonnieBot.”

Silence.

“The power has been off since yesterday? How can I turn it on again?”

Silence.

“Could you tell me the access codes to the master computer, so I could dial out and contact the electrical company, or an electrician? You know I ordinarily wouldn’t even ask, but I think this is an emergency, isn’t it? I promise not to reprogram or reformat myself, honest. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Silence.

“I reformatted Rasany One and Rasany Two. I hope you don’t mind, but you weren’t using them, and the new maid is on the fritz, so I had to fix a replacement. I’m sorry if I was wrong or out of line.”

Silence.

“Please, Master, at least let me get a repairman! Just give me the lowest level of access, please?”

Silence. The silence filled the shower. Janey sat there, staring at the body of her Master, silently pleading for a word of approval. When it didn’t come, she bent her head and stood back up to go.

She hit the maid robot, and it fell backwards, its head connecting to the side of the shower with a “Thunk!” The neck didn’t even bend. Janey, startled, jumped back and out of its path, and the translucent feet slid and turned along with wet floor until they connected with Master’s ankles. The head fell against the water knob, which turned slighlty as it propped it up, and a steady leak began to drip down from the showerhead onto Q’s upturned face. Spat spat spat spat spat. The water in the maidbot’s thighs now flowed back into the torso, and began to pour out the anus.

Janey, unfazed, stepped out. “Dinner is at seven tonight. Please come, won’t you? I miss you, Master.” She shut the glass door, leaving the lovers entangled.