... Kerri stumbled backward, appearing to be dazed and blinded by the flash. I reached for her arm but she turned away rapidly. "Hey are you alright?" I asked. Kerri didn't answer as her whole body seemed to spasm. "I can't control, surging, wave pulse detected." She managed to say.
I managed to grab her arm and turn her towards me. "Kerri, did you get shocked by that?" I asked with concern. It was if she was looking through me, rather than at me. "Error at time index, time index, time index 17:42:26. Searching for loadable program files. Unable to re-initialize emulation pro. pro. pro. protocols." Kerri babbled. I took a step back realizing what I was seeing, what I was hearing. "Oh shit! You're a robot! A real freaking robot!" I yelled at her. She turned her head with a snap towards me. "Jim? Pluhh... Warning, error with secondary emulation protocols, diagnostic failure, Jim don't! Plastic or paper? Frontal assault, thermal imaging off line. I am not perfect, not perfect, not perfect. Jim I'm not a robot, a robot, a robot, a robot. Don't do not will not won't can't cannot would could should I am, I'm human human human human, I'm designed to be human. A perfect human woman. Warning critical software failure. Emulation error error error, warning metal is not not approved for use in in in the microwave. Battery power level is at 84%." She rattled off, making no sense.
"Kerri?!" I cried softly. I couldn’t believe it. I'd only known her for a couple of weeks. Last night had been the first time we'd really gotten intimate. Suddenly I felt a sickening in my stomach, yet watching her malfunction. There was something erotic about it. Oh God, my head was spinning.
Another spasm rocked Kerri's body. Her arms flayed wildly while her head twitched continually to the left. Her hair began to cover her face.
"Opening friendship_greeting.exe, closing friendship_greeting.exe. Loading orgasm sequence 582AFJ.SGXF Terminating sexual programs." She said, then she turned with a jerking motion and faced the wall. "Jim, please! It's me Kerri, me Kerri, me Kerri Kerri Kerri Kerri zzzzt." She repeated, her head twitching with an out of control spasm with each repetitive word. Kerri's body convulsed as the various micro motors strained throughout her body to move independently and simultaneously. I stood back against the doorway separating us from the living room. Partly stricken with terror at the thought that she was a machine whose true nature now fully revealed itself. The other part of me was sexually excited by her demise. Just something about it all made me horny. Her robotic nature on display, splayed open by a mere simple accident.
My attention was drawn back to her as she finally stumbled, twisted and fell over onto the floor. She attempted to steady herself and sit up, only to fall back down again. I dropped down to her side, kneeling on the kitchen linoleum. Her arms flaying wildly. I quickly grabbed her shoulder and rolled her on to her back. Kerri managed to turn her head and face me. "Warning, multiple system errors detected. Syn..synthetic vaginal fluid levels low. Unsequential op..op..open opening. I am unable to connect to connect to connect to Cy-Gen Gen Gen Servers. You Jim,you Jim. I am your your your girlfriend. Friend, pal, acquaintance, associate, confidant, lover, sexual partner, whore, ride. Do you want a ride? A ride?
Car, automobile, transport, Mercedes, German engineered, I am engineered to to to to please, to please, to please....please state command." She rattled off in a now monotone voice. Suddenly her legs closed together with her arms tight to her sides, chin up high. She looked like a toy soldier, broken on my floor. For a moment I held my breath as I sat next to her, to it! "Damn it!" I said aloud. Partly relieved, mostly frustrated. I slowly started to get to my knees when Kerri's body convulsed again a seizure-like manner. Her face took on a dozen expressions in matter of seconds, repeating and cycling through each one. Then after about ten seconds or so.
"Warning, personality profile corrupted. Unable to initialize emergency reboot sequence." Without warning she sat up spread her legs a little, then continued her rambling. "Caution, primary processors at critical temperature. Battery power level is at 62%. Cy-Gen Robotics Unit Model: Kerri F1246-RS Female Android. Series: Kerri 3B version 4.0882.
Scanning..." She said descriptively, then turned her head towards me and stared blankly. Her face emotionless, her eyes cold and lifeless. "Human subject: Jim Brewer located located located located. I am Cy-Gen Robotics Unit Model: Kerri F1246-RS Female Android. Series: Kerri 3B version 4.0882. My primary function is is is is is .....Error. Malfunction Malfunction Malfunction Malfunction Malfunction, Dirrrrrrrrrectives missssssssing." I quickly stood up and backed out and into the sofa, somewhat afraid of her. My hands clenched at the fabric for support.
Kerri's head did a series of twitches. I watched the Kerri I had grown to adore return to a sense of normalcy as her smile returned and expression brightened suddenly. "Jim wait! Please don't be afraid. I'm not a robot. I'm human, just like you, like you, like you, like you, I like you Jim, don't you like me? Don't be afraid. I'm hungry, lets go out for dinner, for dinner. Don't be afraid." She called out to me. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Afraid is hardly the word. You're a damn machine, a robot. What the hell is going on?!" I yelled at her. She blinked rapidly and her head twitched again. "It was not my in..in..intention to hurt your feelings. I am not not not a a robot. I am an an an android, an android. Cy-Gen Robotics Unit Model: Kerri F1246-RS Female Android. Series: Kerri 3B version 4.0882. Re-boot failed. Your microwave oven must have emitted have emitted a micro emp pulse as it failed. My proximity was close enough to compromise my internal circuitry integrity. Warning! Flash memory storage device failure immanent. Kerri unit unable to re-initialize primary core systems, Cy-Gen Robotics Unit Model: Kerri F1246-RS Female Android. Series: Kerri 3B version 4.0882. Danger all systems at critical. 'Oh no!' I need you to help me Jim." She cried out. I took a deep breath, my mind whirling still from the last few minutes. "Help you? Kerri..I'm uh, I'm still freaked out by all this. I mean, one minute you're like normal, human, then poof! You're a toaster with a broken digital recorder." I told her. Kerri continued to look at me, she blinked. "Help me. Hellpp mee. Hhelllppp mmmmeeeee." She repeated in a digitized monotone. Then she blinked again. "Kerri?...Hello robot woman?" I called out to her. She didn't move. "Kerri?!" I called again. Still nothing from her as she sat there on my kitchen floor, lifeless, unmoving, crashed.
Five minutes past, then ten as I stood there staring at her, replaying all that had happened since I had met her. She acted so human, in the two weeks I had known her she had never done anything other than act like a real person. Heck, even last night when we....Oh my God! She was so great, so amazingly great! Yet this whole time she....she was a machine, a machine built to resemble a human female. Why?
I slowly stepped towards Kerri. She had stopped blinking, stopped breathing, stopped period. I knelt down infront of her. Her brown eyes staring past me, her auburn hair somewhat strewn about from her convulsive shaking. Her mouth slightly open. She looked so real. I looked down at her white satin blouse, at her neck line and cleavage. I fought the urge to reach out and touch her, afraid of any reaction from her. I ran my gaze down to her polyester skirt, then to her legs, just above her knees. There was a liquid pooling at the inner edge of her skirt between them. I leaned a little closer, still not touching her. It had totally soaked the back side of her skirt as she sat there. I had a good view of her inner thighs. She was wearing thigh high nylons clipped to a garter from what I could tell. I reached down and put my fingers in the liquid, it was warm. I smelled it, it was her artificial juices. Probably during her meltdown she must have had some freak orgasm releasing it.
I nearly jumped as her cell phone suddenly rang from inside her hand bag. Startling me back to the moment at hand. I stood back up and went over to the table where her hand bag lay. With hesitation I reached in and withdrew the phone. looking at the caller ID it displayed: 'Cy-Gen Corp'. "Shit, I'm dead meat." I said aloud. The phone continued to ring as I pulled out a chair and sat down. I stared at the phone, then pressed the answer button. "Hello?" I said. "Hello, Is this Jim Brewer?" Asked a pleasant female voice. Part of me wanted to hang up and run away. But the more moral part of me took control. "Yes." There was a pause. "Is Kerri able to talk?" She asked. "No, no she's.." "It's alright Jim. Don't be alarmed." The voice interrupted. "We're sending some people over to help Kerri and you. Will that be ok?" "Uhmm...you know she's a robot?" I asked with reserve. "Yes Jim. She's what we call an android. May we send some help for you?" She asked again. I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at the caller ID again, then answered. "Only if you're not going to hurt me. It was an accident, I didn't mean to hurt her. It was an accident." I rushed. "Jim, we understand that it wasn't your fault, and no, we have no intention of harming you." She replied gently.
I let out another sigh. "Is this really Cy-Gen Robotics? I mean, is Kerri one of Cy-Gen's high tech androids?" I queried. "Yes, to answer both of your questions. Now Jim, in about five minutes two persons will arrive, they will not harm you. They are going to work on Kerri while they are there. I want you to feel comfortable with that assurance alright. Kerri is a prototype in beta testing, normally in the past we inform those who are inter-acting with our androids of their nature. With you we desired an undiluted testing arena. Does that make sense to you?" She asked. I listened carefully to her words and glanced at the clock on the wall. "I think so. You wanted someone who'd treat her as if she were a real person." I answered her. "That's right. I'm going to let you go now Jim, and thank you." She finished and then the line went dead. I hung up the phone and placed it on the table.
I waited for the knock on my door, when it came I numbly walked over and answered it. There were two persons, a young man and woman. After we exchanged greetings I allowed them in and directed them to the kitchen. They asked for a brief explanation of what had transpired. I informed them that Kerri had arrived earlier than I had planned. She wanted to go out for some dinner but I already had something in the microwave for me. I had just started it as she knocked. We'd come into the kitchen, and she had come around me and was peering into the microwave window when the thing went out. There was a loud snap and zapping sound from inside of it, then Kerri stumbled back a few steps and looked really confused. That's when she began her meltdown.
They both nodded. The man said it would be necessary to take my microwave back for analysis. He proceeded to examine my microwave while the woman opened up her purse and removed a couple of items.
As the minutes rolled by and the two persons did their examination and diagnostics I sat and watched with awe, at both the speed at which they worked, as well as the intricate internal components of Kerri. They removed her face mask, revealing her eyes, skull, sensors and and what must have been a hundred micro fiber optic cables. Prior to that the woman had unbuttoned Kerri's blouse and removed a square patch of skin from just above the center of her breasts. Revealing an interface port and several dark LED's. At around forty minutes time the woman turned to me.
"Well Jim, we've done all that we can here. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We'll need to take her back to Cy-Gen's facilities to finish our analysis and repairs." She informed me as she stood up. She reached down into her bag and withdrew a form. "Mr. Brewer, as a representative of Cy-Gen I've been authorized to compensate you for the inconvenience of this unfortunate situation." She told me. "Compensate me?" I ask confused. "Yes, since you were unaware of Kerri's true nature, her malfunction and the emotional stress that it has taken on you were not our intention. We desire to make all possible amends." She said sincerely. I cleared my throat. "What sort of compensation?" I asked . The young man looked up at me, then began to place Kerri's face back on. I looked back at the woman. "We'd like to offer you two choices. Either Five hundred thousand dollars cash." She paused. "Or two: An identical Kerri android unit With all services, upgrades and repairs taken care of over the next ten years. We would attempt to recover all existing memories and integrate them into the new unit. This would retain her knowledge and experiences developed with you." She stated plainly. I was speechless. I turned away and walked to the hall. They were willing to pay me or give me an android!
"Ha! What's the catch?" I asked as I turned back around. The female tech appeared confused. "No catch Mr. Brewer. We honestly regret any inconvenience. We're offering the money, or an opportunity to have an android." She stated plainly.
My head sped rapidly out of control with all the things I could have with either. I politely told her I'd have to give it some thought. She accepted that and then both she and the man cleaned up their tools, prepped Kerri for transport, and had me sign a form stating that compensation was pending my decision.
I sat there on the sofa till about one in the morning trying to make sense of it all. Hoping to come to a decision. The last thing I remembered thinking was Kerri asking for my help.
Epilog:
I smiled as I walked out of the bank and approached my car. The air was cool with the turning of seasons and winter was approaching. I quickly opened the door and hopped in. "Well?" Asked a familiar voice. I turned to Kerri and smiled. "Good to go, we're all set to head off on vacation. Money's been deposited and I've got us some spending cash." I told her enthusiastically. "Great, I'm ready to start our honeymoon and....to later put on that skimpy little thing you bought me the other day." She said teasingly. "Oh yeah! I'm ready now." I exclaimed. Kerri smiled then leaned over and gently kissed me. "I'm so glad that you chose me. Thank you." She said, fastened her seat belt. I brought my hand up to cradle her face. "Me too my love. Me too." I turned the key, put the car in drive and headed into the sunset.
THE END
