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Message-ID: <30966asstr$992927404@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "DB_Story" <DB_Story@att.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} (New) Pickup at the Robot Bar (M/Fembot, cons, SciFi, asfr)
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 01:10:04 -0400
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PICKUP AT THE ROBOT CLUB

By DB  ( DB_Story@att.net / http://home.att.net/files/Authors/db_story/www )

Copyright(C) 2001 by DB.

ASSM/ASFR (M/Fembot, rom, reversal)

(This story contains Constitutionally protected material intended for adults
over 18 years of age in the United States of America, and whatever passes
for adult status in other countries.  If you are under legal age, acting
under legal age, not allowed to view such material in your area, or easily
offended, please do not continue.  This is not for you.

(The only rights granted are to view this story.  You are not allowed to
reproduce, post, or otherwise redistribute this story without permission,
except for non-profit Usenet archiving sites.

(To purchase for publication, place on your web-site devoted to this style
of fiction, or for permission to link to my posted material, please contact
me first at the above email.)

- - -

A Friday night in 2065.

Jon stood at the club entrance while the doorman carefully inspected his
identification even though he was clearly thirtysomething.  He had been told
to expect this, so he didn't take it personally.  He used the opportunity to
look out from the small landing to the bar along the far wall and the floor
30 feet below.  It was mostly dark down there with only the main bar well
lit.  The small tables crowding much of the rest of the area were lit only
by the small lights on them.  There was a small dance floor - empty - and
old techno rock wafted up from below.  From this distance, the table lights
appeared as fireflies in the night.  The large cubical space shouted
warehouse while the black walls whispered privacy.  This was a place where
secrets could be exchanged.  Its relatively spartan furnishings said this
was a low overhead operation.  It was here to make money and its attraction
didn't depend on the quality or price of the alcohol served.  If anything,
it reminded Jon of some of the bars Hollywood created in the past hundred
years of old movies he enjoyed so much.  That last century had seemed so
much a simpler time.

By 2054, technology had created robots that could pass for human in every
way.  They made excellent servants, and their complex minds allowed for
human interactions at a near peer level.  They was a growing market bringing
on price drops every year.  Not everybody liked this situation.

By 2061 a vocal minority (with a bit too much civil rights on their mind by
many people's opinion) had managed to ram through the Amendment granting all
robots emancipation.  Penalties for attempting to subvert a 'bot's autonomy
started at five years hard time.  The loud minority proclaimed that the
brave new world had arrived, and moved on to the next burning issue.  As
another group had been two hundred years previously, the robots were
unceremoniously dumped out on the streets to fend for themselves.

Jon had just sort of celebrated his 34th birthday two weeks eariler in 2065
when the adventure that would lead him here had started. It was Tom and
Susie's doing.

Tom and Susie were Jon's neighbors over the backyard fence.  Tom had lived
there for the five years since Jon had bought his little piece of suburbia
next door.  They were virtually the same age and spent many a weekend
afternoon jawing over the common fence.  Then six months ago Susie had come
into Tom's life.

Susie was absolutely gorgeous.  Long light blonde hair with gentle wave in
it that framed a beautiful face and cascaded down her back.  Five feet eight
inches of always tanned body that she never seemed to mind showing off in
short shorts and a skimpy top to feature her long perfect legs, or working
in the yard in some of the sexiest bikinis on the planet.  Add a sparkling
smile and personality to go with her and she was an real winner.  And she
absolutely loved doing everything she could for Tom.

Tom was the luckiest guy Jon knew to have a woman like that in his life.
Not that Tom - or Jon - weren't good enough looking men.  It just seemed
that neither had quite clicked with the women they'd dated, and much of
their talk had been about their current relationships, all of which seemed
to follow the same path of failure.  Then Tom found Susie, and you could see
they were a couple from the get go.

Jon's birthday had looked to be a quiet affair.  His parents lived over a
thousand miles away and his younger, married sister had already two young
kids to look after.  Jon didn't see himself wanting kids ever.  He was just
not the family type.  So he was facing a quiet birthday when he heard Tom
and Susie over the fence.  They seemed to be celebrating, so he out to see
what was happening.

They were barbecuing in the backyard.  When they found out it was Jon's
birthday they insisted he come right over.  Turned out Susie was sporting
quite a rock on her elegant ring finger and they were celebrating their
engagement.  They morphed the party into a impromptu birthday party as well,
and somewhere after Jon's third beer Susie asked The Question.

"So, Jon  Why haven't you settled down yet?"

That's a pretty personal question to a thirty-four year old bachelor.  But
somehow Susie could ask it in a way that seemed concerned, rather than rude.

So maybe it was the way she asked the question.  Or maybe that last beer.
Or maybe it was being depressed about being alone on your thirty-fourth
birthday when your friend and neighbor had just bagged the most beautiful
girl around.  Whatever it was, Jon gave Susie The Answer.

He looked levelly into her clear, green eyes - a little hard to do given
that they were above her ample and barely covered chest - and told her
straight out, "Because I've never met a woman like you."

Her reaction surprised him. She turned to Tom and asked, "Does he know?"

"I don't know.  I haven't told him.  Have you?"

"No," she replied to her fianc e with certainty.  "Its never came up."

"Me neither.  I guess I assumed that you'd have mentioned it along the way.
It's yours to tell."

"You're too sweet when it comes to me," Susie said, giving Tom a quick kiss.

Jon was completely baffled by their conversation.  He finally had to
interrupt.

"Tell me what?" he asked them both.

Susie and Tom looked at each other.  Then Tom came over and put his arm
around Jon's shoulders.

"Jon, good buddy.  Susie is a 'bot.  Robot," he added, seeing Jon's puzzled
expression.  "And there are a few others like her still out there."

Jon turned to look at Susie with his mouth hanging open in an unspoken
question he couldn't quite get out.

"Of course I am, silly," she said brightly back to him.  "A fembot, to be
precise."  She seemed proud of being exactly what she was.

After that, the course of the afternoon changed radically for Jon.  There
were more beers intermixed with The Story of how Tom had met Susie and how
they fell in love.  Though robots were somewhat common now, Jon had never
knowingly interacted with any, except at a couple stores where they handled
checkout duties.  And although the 'bots were free now, you didn't expect
them to just show up in your neighborhood and fall in love with your best
friend.  It took a long time to tell the story because Jon kept interrupting
with very basic (and occasional stupid) questions about robots.  Afterwards
he thought he must have asked some of the questions more than once.

Jon awoke in his own bed the next morning with a very fuzzy head, and the
feeling that his world had been overturned somehow.  When he looked out his
window, he could see Susie in her yard in a bikini cleaning up after
yesterday's party.  Jon quickly put on his old, frayed bathrobe and almost
ran out to the common fence.

She saw him immediately.

"Hi, Jon," she said brightly.  "How are you feeling today?"

"A little confused," he answered truthfully.  "Are you really a..."

"A robot?  Of course I am.  I told you that yesterday."

The world seemed to suddenly rotate a bit faster as it looked like all of
Jon's memories were intact.  That left only one question that mattered.

"Could I really meet someone like you?  A robot, I mean?"

Susie looked him over carefully, as if seriously measuring him up for the
first time before being willing to consider introducing him to any of her
friends.  Whatever grade he needed it seemed he passed because she replied,
"Come on over tonight when Tom gets home and we'll tell you how it works."

The doorman at the club interrupted Jon's reverie by handing him back his
ID.  "You may go in, Sir," he said in a deep voice.  In the past two weeks
Jon had learned a lot about this new subject and realized the doorman was a
male robot.  (Male robot was redundant Jon knew now.  Robot was commonly
considered the masculine term.  'Bot was gender neutral.) That was rare.
Most 'bots were female, many of them young looking, and all of them
beautiful.  But a robot here did make sense for this function.  Jon also
knew, despite all the privacy laws on the books, that his ID had been
permanently logged with the club.  Any trouble or not playing by the rules
and they'd know where to find him -- and pass his name to other clubs as
well.  'Bots looked out for each other.  But Susie had explained all that
before he came.  She had explained a lot of things about this facet of
underground culture that were new to Jon as well.  He just hoped he
remembered it all.  What really mattered though was that this was how Tom
had met Susie.

The doorman stood aside to let Jon pass.  Jon walked down the stairs that
ran down one wall to the bar.

Freeing the robots neither changed anything fundamental in the robots
themselves, nor how most humans regarded them.  While many robots walked out
on their owners - often with the encouragement of the rabble-rousers - their
needs remained.  A robot is a costly, high maintenance item, and they had a
built-in desire to interact with the humans they were built to resemble.
Some stayed with their former owners under new terms.  Some humans threw
their 'bots out themselves, and then tried to collect compensation for their
losses.  Some of the 'bots applied for jobs in competition with humans.
Some jobs they were better suited for than others.  And some of them came to
places like this one.

Jon reached the bottom of the stairs and walked over to sit at the bar.  The
women were at the tables, but he didn't want to look too eager.  He ordered
a drink and winced at the price.  This club definitely was doing boffo
business at these prices.  He nursed it while he watched the action around
him.

It was still relatively early and the place wasn't crowded with humans yet.
The women -- all fembots -- sat at the small individual tables.  Jon had
heard that some human women liked to come and pretend to be 'bots to the
clients.  However he was assured that a club like this one would keep that
from happening.  Any human woman here was here to cut her own deal.  The
music was just loud enough to cover up the talk at any table from casual
eavesdropping.

The action followed a simple pattern.  A man (or woman) would walk over to a
table with a single fembot sitting there and ask if he could sit down.  The
answer was virtually always affirmative.  They'd talk a minute or two.  If
he stayed he would buy her a drink.  (Susie clued him in that the drinks
served to the fembots were merely colored water, and this is how they paid
their rent to the club.)  The customer could leave at any time, but if he
stayed long enough, he'd buy her a second drink.  By the time the female had
finished the second drink, the man would either get up and leave, or put a
substantial amount of cash down on the table.  If the amount wasn't correct
for the period of time under discussion, she'd leave it untouched and start
looking around the room for any other interested patrons.  The man could
either add to the cash, or pick it up and leave.  Her other option if the
cash was sufficient would be to take out her remote control and place it
next to the cash.  If the customer took the remote, she took the cash and
they left together.  The only variation was that the couple could also spend
some time on the dance floor to get better acquainted.  No one seemed to be
taking that option tonight.

Although Jon had been told ahead of time, it was here that the reality hit
him.  What each fembot was selling - renting would be more accurate - was
herself to be commanded about as in the old, pre-liberation days for a set
period of time in return for maintenance money.  Even a 'bot needs to make a
living if she is going to keep herself fully maintained.  It was the oldest
profession with a new twist.  And Jon had reason to believe he had just
enough inside information on how this really happened to make this work out
to his benefit.

Not a lot was going on yet, even though this was a Friday night.  The fast
action (he was told) came in the last hour before closing when you made a
deal or went home alone - customer and 'bot both.  That's when the sharks
came in to cut the best deals.  Jon didn't want to dive into that pool yet.

As he looked over the room, most of the fembots ignored him.  Until he went
over to one of their tables, he wasn't a prospect.  There were at least
fifty occupied tables along with half again as many empties.  Jon realized
he had never seen so many beautiful women in one place in his entire life
before.  The women ranged from short to fairly tall, but all were gorgeous.
Blondes, brunettes, red heads, in an array of outfits.  Some wore clothes as
skimpy as what Susie liked to wear, while others were in elegant full-length
gowns.  All of them had excellent figures, ranging from hourglass to very
busty.  And none of them seemed the least concerned about showing off what
they had.  There was even one who looked to be an exact clone of Susie,
right down to her bright smile.  She flashed Jon one of those smiles and he
almost went over to say hi, after determining she wasn't wearing any
engagement ring.  But that seemed like it would be just a little too weird.
Besides, even with the smile she seemed to be missing something of Susie's
spark.  Maybe she just hadn't met the right man yet.

He had been told to take his time on his first visit, and he heeded that
advice.  He watched a few couples get up and leave, and each time he had to
hold down his irrational fear that all the good ones would be taken if he
didn't move quickly.  He knew this was wrong.  All of them here were great,
and a couple of the girls that had left earlier had already returned from
short assignations and sat back down to be available again.  Occasionally a
new fembot would also enter as the empty tables gradually filled up.  Things
seemed to move at such a leisurely pace that Jon thought most of the women
must be completely bored by now.  Then he had to correct himself as he
remembered that 'bots don't get bored the same way humans do.

At one point a man did sit down next to Jon and try to start a conversation.
But Jon just shook his head at the man, who moved on looking for more
conversational company.

The action remained slow for now, but Jon realized that his attention kept
returning to a very attractive brunette with cascading waves of rich dark
hair sitting almost apart from the rest over on the far side.  As he
watched, a couple men had approached her, but left quickly.  Mostly she sat
alone.  Susie had described this as a positive sign from Jon's perspective.

"Either she is very new to this scene, very selective, too expensive, or
everyone already knows her and she's unpopular with the usual crowd."

"And why would I want one with any of those qualities?" he asked back.

"Because you don't want what the usual crowd wants, silly."  Then she'd
hugged him and told him not to worry so much.

Jon finally got up and walked toward the brunette's table.  As he got closer
he could see that, even sitting, she was taller than average.  Looked to be
near his own height.  For this crowd she was dressed both elegantly and
demurely in a sleeveless full length black dress with large white crystal
sequins, modest scoop front, and a slit on the side up to her hip.  It
seemed very unlikely that she could be wearing any underwear under that
outfit.  Elegant, slim black heels and a silver bracelet finished it off.
By the time he had made all this out in the dim light, Jon was at her table.

"Hello, I'm Jon.  May I join you?" he said, extending his hand in greeting.

"Please do, Sir," came the surprisingly mellow reply, as she took his hand
only for a moment in hers.

Jon sat down in the only other chair.  When she didn't initiate any further
conversation he asked, "Do you come here often?"  (Ouch.  What a stupid
thing to say.  I have the social skills of a rodent.)

But she didn't react to the socially inept question except to answer, "Not
often."

Well, that was better.  Then she gazed at him with a calm look that seemed
to say that she had all the cards and she knew it, which tipped the balance
again.  Except if she had ALL the cards, she wouldn't have been here.

"Do you have a name?" Jon finally asked, to break the next silence.  She
didn't seem great about initiating questions on her own.

"Beth," she replied.

Nice name, Jon thought.  Then asked, "May I buy you a drink, Beth?"

She perked up a bit at that.  "Yes.  Thank you"

When Jon just sat there, she finally reached out with an elegant fingernail
and tapped the light base on the table.  It flickered once and one of the
waitresses immediately came over.  (Were they 'bots too?  Jon couldn't
tell.)

"I'll have another one of these," Jon said.  And then added, "And whatever
the lady wants."

The waitress looked at Beth, then asked, "The usual."

Beth nodded slightly.

The drinks quickly arrived and the waitress left with a large tab and tip.

Jon sipped his drink, not knowing what else to say.  Beth matched him sip
for sip quietly.

Finally both glasses were empty, with no further progress between them.  Jon
was considering that Beth was a lost cause when he saw another man standing
just off to the side, as if next in line for her.  It was the boor from the
bar.

Jon looked around the room briefly at the other women, and then back at
Beth.  His gut still said this was the one.  Besides, he didn't want to give
that other guy any satisfaction.

Jon tapped the light himself, and told the waitress, "Another round."

As the drinks arrived he asked Beth, "Do you mind that I just want to look
at you a bit more?"

To his surprise, she stood up and pirouetted a most graceful turn that
flared out her long skirt showing her shapely legs, and then sat back down,
bending a bit further forward than necessary and affording him a glimpse
down the front of her dress.  In addition to seeing what she wanted him to
see, Jon noticed that while her dress was elegant, it was also showing signs
of wear.  Maybe Beth had suffered through some hard times herself recently.

Jon almost gulped down the rest of his drink to move things along.  She
again elegantly matched him swallow for swallow.

Then it was now or never.

Jon laid down most of the cash he had brought with him tonight for this
purpose on the table.  Then looking at her he said, "Sixty hours."

Time seemed to slow to molasses as the last syllable was uttered.  Was her
gaze moving away from him?  Was she looking around for a better offer?  What
have I just done here?

Then the room, which had seemed to go silent a moment before, roared back in
as Beth said, "Yes," and reached down into her purse to retrieve and place a
small remote on the table next to the cash.

Jon let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.  Beth was his for
sixty hours.  All the way through Monday morning.

He reached over, took the proffered remote.  He pressed (as Susie had
instructed him) the blue command button while saying her, "Come with me,
Beth."

She rose with him, gathered up her cash, and moved up beside him as he
headed back to the stairway.  Mr. Bar Boor turned away in disappointment.

At the top of the stairs Beth stopped and handed the cash to the doorman.
It would be escrowed for her until she returned.  This way Jon couldn't
command her to give it back to him the moment they were outside.  And if Jon
had a beef about their deal, he could come back and demand an accounting -
though he probably wouldn't be welcome at the club again afterwards.

Then the doorman reached out his other hand to Jon.  Jon was momentarily
flustered before he remembered what this was about.  He handed the doorman
Beth's remote.  The doorman pressed the blue button and asked, "The deal?"

"Sixty hours," she replied in a much more robotic tone of voice than she had
used at the table.

The club now knew how long she had agreed to be in my service.  If she
didn't check back in upon expiration of that interval their enforcers would
come out looking to see if she needed rescue.  And they already had Jon's
id.  Fortunately Jon didn't expect to have any of that kind of trouble with
them.  Unfortunately things didn't go all that well from here.

Jon took the beautiful, obedient fembot home with him, looking forward to a
night of intimacy and passion.  (You never take a 'bot to her place, Susie
explained, because all any of us needs is a safe room to stand in and
recharge until we have a reason to go out again.  As such, 'bot
accommodations are very small with no amenities beyond a closet to hold
extra clothes.)  Perhaps it was the stress of doing this for the first time
took its toll on Jon.  But he was tired, and Beth didn't seem anything like
Susie.

He could press her blue command button and she would do anything he asked.
He had her undress herself (turned out she had been wearing a small black
thong underneath the dress) and pose nude for him.  She would dance around
the room on request, or stand frozen in any position, the moment he asked.
He avoided the other three buttons on her remote, and when he asked her to
make love to him, she performed the act in a highly credible, if technical,
manner.  (This was a skill that all fembots possess.  It was the most
demanded single feature back when you could own them.)  But the spark that
made Susie seem so special - so happy and so human - was missing.

Beth did exactly what she was told to do to the apparent best of her
ability.  When she completed a task, she stopped and waited for her next
command.  And that was it.  Do this.  Do that.  Everything had to be
commanded.  Sure she was beautiful and sexy.  If anything, she seemed a bit
more attractive than Susie, with her lustrous dark hair, large firm breasts
(making her low nipples look small in comparison), classically beautiful
face, and golden tanned skin right down to her pretty, manicured feet.  But
there was no spark.  No spontaneity.  No vivacious woman here.  Between the
stress, the drinks (Jon's were real), and this developing disaster of a
date, Jon felt frustrated.  Beth, except for her beauty, was the very
opposite of Susie.  Finally in frustration Jon commanded Beth to sit in the
living room and wait for him to come back in the morning.  He considered
turning her off entirely, but she looked so frozen already that there would
likely be little difference.  Besides, when he thought of turning off a
fembot that at least looked so human, he immediately thought of Susie and
how turning her off would seem like killing her.

He left Beth in the living room and retired to sleep alone again.

The next morning things were not much improved.  Beth was immobile, nude,
beautiful, and unchanged.  Jon tried to have her fix breakfast (something
Susie said she loved doing for Tom), but somehow the commands got tangled up
and nothing seemed to get done right.  Jon tried lovemaking again, and it
was far less satisfactory than the night before.  He asked Beth what was
wrong, and all she would say is, "What is your next command?"

Jon finally flopped down on the couch in frustration.  This was clearly the
date from hell.  Whatever his reasoning behind picking Beth, she was clearly
the wrong choice.  He was looking at her back, since after she had finished
his last request she had stopped while facing away from the couch.

Jon stabbed at her remote control one more time to ask, "Are refunds given
if I take you back now?"

Beth didn't turn to him, but just replied from where she stood.  "No.  We
don't give refunds.  I'm here to obey your commands.  How may I serve you?"

But Jon didn't hear the last part.  He was staring down at the control.  In
his haste he had been careless and had pressed the red shutdown button
instead of the blue command button.  But Beth had reacted as though it was
just another command.  Without saying a word, Jon pressed the red button
again, then asked, "Beth.  What time is it?"

"1:07 pm," came the reply.

He pressed the yellow pause button, and finally the green start button with
no change in the robot.  This wasn't right at all.  The remote didn't even
work, although Beth acted as if it did.  The statutes are specific that all
freed robots must carry their remotes at all times in the event of
breakdowns or other problems requiring diagnosis.  In theory, if the remote
broke, the robot was supposed to freeze or immediately report for repair.
Yet Beth's remote clearly did nothing..

Suddenly Jon got angry.  He realized what had happened.  He'd been taken.
He got up and was about to yell at her for fraud when he suddenly got an
idea.

He walked around in front of Beth and spoke softly.

"I'm sorry.  I think we're just not a good match for each other.  I'm going
to take you back."

Then he looked carefully at her face.  I think your makeup has suffered.
Here, let me get that." He reached over and deliberately smudged her eyebrow
and eye shadow.

"Darn.  I'm making it worse.  Where is your makeup kit?"

Beth didn't answer, so Jon pulled out her remote control and clearly
pressing the blue button repeated his question.

"In my purse," came the flat response.

"Please get it for me," he commanded.

She walked over, got a makeup case out, and came back to hand it to him.

He looked in it as if confused, then finally commanded Beth to go to the
bathroom and repair her makeup.

As Beth rounded the corner out of sight, Jon dove into her purse looking for
another remote.  In typical female fashion it was full of apparent junk
which he poured out on the table.  Nothing.  Reaching back into the purse he
felt what appeared to be a false bottom.  He had just gotten it open and
pulled out another remote when Beth came back around the corner.

"What are you doing?" she said in her most animated voice yet while lunging
towards her possessions.

"Stop!" he commanded while stabbing at the remote.  He missed the command
button and hit the yellow pause button instead, which had the same desired
effect.  Beth was truly frozen this time in mid lunge. Pause mode allowed
her to keep her balance, but she couldn't move otherwise.  This gave Jon
some time to think.

He looked at the two remotes.  The new one was larger and in addition to the
standard four buttons of any standard remote, had a flip-down panel
revealing a display panel and complete keyboard.  Beth was clearly of highly
advanced design.  In fact, carefully inscribed across the top was her name
in gold: Bethany, with a tiny diamond at the end.  Definitely not a
run-of-the-mill unit.

By contrast, the first control looked cheap and shoddy.  Jon carefully
opened it, and found only some junk electrical components and a big piece of
putty to keep them from rattling around and add some heft to it.  Not even a
battery.  Clearly this control couldn't command a vacuum cleaner, let alone
a sophisticated robot.

Jon tossed the old control into the pile of stuff from Beth's purse, then
pointed the new control at her.

Pressing command, he told her, "Bethany, talk to me and answer my questions
fully and truthfully."

"Yes, Sir."

"You lied to me."

"It was not a lie."

"How do you compute that?"

"I did everything you commanded.  That was our agreement."

"Our agreement was that I have control of you for sixty hours.  You did not
give me that.  The doorman at the club knows which remote I had when we left
together.  What if I go back and show him both of them?"

"You are right, Sir.  I lied to you.  I ask you not to expose me to the
doorman please."

"Why not?"

"If they determine I acted in bad faith, not only will you receive your
money back from escrow, but I will be banished."

"Is that bad?"

"Yes.  Not only from this club, but others as well will not trust me.  For
me, that would be very bad."

"Explain further?"

"Because my systems are rare and complex, my repairs are expensive.  I am
specialized and unsuited for many tasks, though I can do this task quite
well.  If I am banished I will lose my best source of income.  Was my
service that bad?" The last came out in a sexy, yet plaintive, voice.

"Yes.  Your service was very bad."

"I'm sorry.  I did my best to simulate my command mode.  Will you be
returning me now?  I will see that your money is returned."

That hit Jon by surprise.  He didn't expect such complete surrender from her
after her previous comments.  Maybe this could be salvaged yet.

"No.  I'm not going to return you yet.  You sold me sixty hours of your
services and that time is not up yet."

But Jon knew he was in over his head now and he needed some serious expert
advice.

"Wait here for me to return," he commanded unnecessarily, since Beth was
still paused, except for her speech.

Jon then went over to Tom and Susie's.  Tom was out, but Susie was who he
really wanted.

He told Susie the story and showed her both remotes.  He cold swear that
Susie's eyes widened when she saw Beth's complex control unit.

"What am I doing wrong?" he asked her.

"Just about everything, hon," came her sweet reply.

Can you help me?" he asked back.

"You both need help," she said with unexpected determination.  "Now come
with me while I straighten out this mess."  Susie then grabbed Jon's hand,
and with robotic strength half dragged him back to his house.

Beth was still standing in the living room.

"You first," Susie said, taking Beth's real control out of Tom's hand and
pushing green start and blue command buttons.  "Come with me," she ordered.
Beth followed her into the bedroom.  Susie shut the door behind them.

Twenty minutes later she came out alone and empty-handed.  She walked up
face Jon.  Then to his complete surprise, she reached down and pulled her
top off over her head and stood there with her large, bare breasts facing
him square on.  Jon had fanaticized about seeing those breasts ever since
the first time he had seen Susie in Tom's backyard.  He was in too much
shock from her actions though to enjoy them now, and she only gave him a
moment to overcome it.

"Jon, I'm a fembot.  Female Structured Human-form Robot if you prefer.  I am
not a real woman, and I will not react in ways contrary to my nature.  Would
a real woman do what I have just done?  Or this?" she said as she slipped
out of her shorts as well, leaving one very attractive, very nude woman
facing him.

"No," he finally managed to get out.

"Good," came her quick reply.  "I had this same talk with Tom soon after we
met, and that's why we get along so well.  Now let me make this short and
sweet.  I love Tom dearly.  To the very maximum of my capability to love.
Why?  Because he uses me the way I was always intended to be used?"

"How?" Jon managed to get out.

"Tom commands me to be in every part of his life.  He tells me to use my
abilities to find better ways to serve him.  He commands me directly when he
needs anything."

"He still commands you?"  Jon was surprised.  Susie seemed to run herself
entirely, though certainly to Tom's benefit.  "And you don't mind?"

"Every day.  And I love him for it every time he does it.  In fact, I don't
feel he does enough of it, though he says he feels guilty every time he
reaches for my remote.  I want him to do it.  I live for him to do it.  And
he watches out for me in all the important ways.  Do you know what a robot
fears?"

"No," Jon got out again, puzzled by her shift in subject.  "I wouldn't think
you need fear anything."

"Well, we 'bots do have our fears.  My biggest one is going in for
maintenance."

"Why?"

"Because once we're turned off for maintenance, anything can be done to us.
All that matters to any of us are our memories.  They define who we are.  My
love for Tom exists only in my memory banks.  Without that, I'm nothing.
I've seen some of us lose our memories in maintenance - and worse.  Others
have woken back up to find out the maintenance shop has a lien against them
for repairs beyond their ability to pay.  It's not like anyone offers us
health insurance."

"But how does Tom help you there?"

"With Tom to watch over me, I know that he'll do his best when I'm helpless.
He stands there every minute they are working on me.  If my systems fail,
he's there to rescue me and get me the right help.  I like my life the way I
have it, and he is my savior.  And that's not all."

"What else?"

"'Bots starting to disappear.  We're a dying breed.  I'll bet you don't
know, but since liberation passed almost no new robots are being
manufactured.  Why?  Because since no one can own us anymore, there's no
reason to make more of us.  The clubs use their profits to buy new units and
keep production of spare parts running, but it's not enough.  Unprotected
units disappear every month now.  We don't' know what is happening.  Our
friends just disappear, and nobody else cares to hunt down missing 'bots
like they once did when their owners could post rewards.  Many of us don't
have friends or family like humans do -- though we want that closeness just
as badly."

"So Tom protects you?"

"In every way."

"But how does this help me?"

"Do you know what a fembot wants?"

"No," Jon sighed.  "Not a clue.  I don't even know what women want."

"We want to be cherished.  We want to be essential to our owner's - oops,
old term - partner's life.  We want to be commanded to excel at every task
they give us, and appreciated when we do.  That is how we get our highest
satisfaction.  We want to be loved.  And that's why I left my owner when
liberation happened."

"I don't think you've told me this story."

"I'll tell you now, because I trust you.  I was owned by a nice, young man
who only used me for sex and conversation.  It was wonderful sex and I
really enjoyed all our talks because they helped me better understand
myself.  But I had no other useful purpose in his life.  He was from a rich
family, and they already had a maid for cleanup and a cook for meals.  Sex
and conversation were my only tasks.  I knew he wanted children some day,
and that when he found the right woman he would marry her.  His family would
demand that of him.  I knew that when that time came I would be scrapped
from his life.  And if I loved him, he would break my heart.  Therefore I
could never let myself love him.  Before the Liberation, my only future
would have been to go onto the used market and hope my next owner was as
nice and caring as my first owner.  Too few of them actually are.
Liberation allowed me to use my self-will to leave him."

"And what happened to him?"

"He did find a nice girl and marry her.  I heard they have two kids now."

"But one thing.  How can you have self-will and like being commanded at the
same time?"

"Being commanded is what makes my self-will work.  You tell me what you need
done, and I decide how I'm going to do it.  My self-will asserts itself best
against a strong set of commands.  It is what we all us with self-will are
programmed to do.  And it is what we do best."

With this, Susie stopped her long explanation and just stood there,
unconcerned with her nakedness, while Jon absorbed all that he had heard.

"You really like being commanded?" he ventured.

"Sure."  Then she reached down to the pocket of her shorts lying on the
floor and pulled out a simple remote like the first one Bethany had given.
She handed it to Jon and said, "Command me to do something."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes.  Do it!"

Jon jumped at those last words, then pressed the command button.  He thought
for a moment, then said, "Susie.  Give me a hug and a kiss."

With a smile she flowed into his arms, pressed her breasts tight against his
chest, and gave him a deep, passionate kiss that left Jon with an erection
in his pants.  Then she stepped back with a smile on her face.

"Good enough?"

"Great!" he replied.  "But what does that prove?  Where is the self-will?"

"It proves I'm serious about liking being properly commanded, as are we all.
And as for the self-will, you didn't tell me what kind of a hug or kiss you
wanted.  I made that choice for myself.  As I choose to come over here with
you in the first place.  Jon, you're actually really a nice guy once you get
some old fashioned ideas out of your head, and I've long thought how nice it
would be to kiss you sometime.  If I hadn't met Tom first, I would have
hoped to have met someone just like you."

Jon blushed.  "But doesn't Tom mind?  What if I had asked you for sex."

"Not at all.  He knows who and what I am, and that it's him I love.  I told
him long ago that I'd kiss you if I ever got the chance.  He said he'd like
to watch because he wanted to see the look of surprise on your face.  Now
I'll have to describe it to him.  And if you had asked me for sex, we would
have done that too, because I would have enjoyed it.  But I knew you
wouldn't have asked for that.  You know that I trust you because I do allow
you to command me -- and I'm Very selective about that these days."

"Well, this is all wonderful and very new to me, but can you simply tell me
if Bethany is the right girl for me?  And if so, what should I be doing with
her?"

With that, Susie turned serious.  At least as serious as she could ever be.

"Jon," she said, taking her remote back out of his hand and picking up her
clothes.  "Bethany is yours for the taking, if you want her.  She has had
some bad experiences that led her to pull that foolish stunt with the fake
remote.  It was stupid on her part and she knows it.  She is a rare find.
She is one of the most complex fembots ever constructed.  More so than even
me.  She was afraid of too many things, including that her real control,
which allows many adjustments to her self-will and other operational
parameters, would be misused.  But she still wants the same things all of us
want.  A man or woman that she can safely love.  I've made some adjustments
to her to help undo the damage some other idiots have done to her in the
past."

"Do I just command her to love me then?"

"No, silly.  Command her to be part of everything important in your life.
Have her make breakfast for you in the morning, and make love to you at
night.  Have conversations with her about what is going on at the moment.
Listen to her.  Touch her.  Let her see that you want her service alone,
above any other.  She is very smart and capable with a strong self-will.  If
you want a woman like me in your life, Bethany is the best you will ever
find.  Now I've told her what I've come to know about you in the last six
months, and she's ready to give it an honest try.  I left her control beside
her in the bedroom.  Don't be afraid to use it!"

"But how do I know when I'm doing the right thing?  How do I know when she's
happy?"

"The same way you know with me, or any other woman?"

"And that is...?" Jon asked, feeling he must be dumb since it was clear he
was missing something obvious.

"Look at my chest?"

"I've been trying not to."

"Well look now.  That's why I took off my top.  See my nipples?"

Jon definitely saw Susie's nipples.  They were just a shade darker than the
rest of her skin, firm, big, very erect, and perched on the nicest pair of
breasts Jon could imagine.

"I see them," Jon replied.

"When I'm happy or excited they look like this.  You just gave me a command
I loved to carry out.  I'm both happy and excited right now.  Beth is just
like me.  Every fembot ever made is.  One look or touch to her chest and
you'll know if she's happy.  If not, command her to do something to help her
feel useful and wanted -- and loved."

Well, touching Susie at the moment seemed going just a little too far with
his friend's fianc e, so Jon settled for one last lingering look at Susie's
chest.  Susie didn't mind at all.

"It's really that simple?" he asked the beautiful blonde.

"Yes, it's really that simple.  You humans can be so dumb about stuff
sometimes.  I wonder how you guys ever managed to deal with us at all in the
first place."

"Well thanks a lot," Jon replied, hoping it really was that simple.

"Don't mention it.  I've got to go now.  Tom is due back any time and he'll
want to know how you are getting along on your date.  You've given me a new
way to make him happy since I can now tell him about this."

With that Susie gave Jon another quick peck on the lips, wiggled back into
her clothes.

"By the way," she added in parting, "Bethany has called the club and reset
the 60 hour clock with them.  Then she was gone out Jon's front door.

Jon slowly walked to the bedroom to find Beth.  She was sitting frozen on
the bed, nude except for her thong, her control beside her.

"Are you active?" he asked her.

There was no response.  Susie appeared to have left her deactivated.
Interesting that one 'bot would do that to another.  Maybe it wasn't as big
a deal to them as a he would have thought.  The thought of Susie commanding
Beth was also interesting.  What does one fembot have to say to another?

Jon picked up Beth's remote, which was still open to Beth's extended
function controls.  There was a small status screen reading: "New Settings
Saved."  Looked like Susie had made some changes.  Jon felt he ought to ask
Susie just exactly what she'd changed next time he saw her.  If things
worked out with Beth, he'd probably need to know how to take care of her
himself.

There seemed nothing else to try except to press the green start button.

Beth immediately animated, started breathing, and announced, "Bethany 17
fully active.  All self-checks complete.  New parameters loaded and
operational."

Then she looked up at Jon with a smile to match Susie's and asked, "What are
your commands, Sir?"

Jon finally realized what he wanted from this woman.  He held the command
button firmly down and told her, "I want you to be with me as my companion
and assist me in every part of my life for as long as you wish to stay and
do that."

Beth seemed to change completely on hearing this.  Her posture straightened.
Her chin lifted, eyes widened, and her face showed a wonderment and
happiness to match Susie's.  There looked to be a tear at the corner of her
beautiful brown eyes.

As Jon looked at a completely transformed Beth, he noticed her nipples were
much larger and more erect than he'd seen them before.  He gently reached
out and touched them to verify their firmness.  Beth smiled back a wider
smile in return, reached up to stroke his hand as he touched her so softly
and intimately, and then took one of his hands and kissed it before placing
it back firmly on her breast.

"What are your commands, Sir?" she asked again.

"First thing, give me the best sex of my life," Jon replied in direct
honesty.

Jon realized that he hadn't pushed the blue command button when he made that
last request, but it didn't seem to matter as Beth enthusiastically reached
up and pulled him down on top of her while he struggled out of his pants.

Sixty hours later Beth called the club and told them everything was okay and
she wouldn't be back.  She directed that the escrow money be deposited in
their new joint account.  Susie now had a breathtaking new friend just over
the backyard fence.  And Jon no longer envied Tom, since Jon now felt he was
now the luckiest guy on Earth.

--End--

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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