A Simple Business Arrangement*

Act One

Zach was a man of a certain age. He was too young to be considered old, but too old to be considered young. He had spent his forty or so years of life slowly building up a reputation as a knowledgeable, reliable, and decent person. He owned a franchise of general stores in his part of town and was well liked by all his employees.

Still, being a certain age, he was young enough to want to play around, but old enough to want to settle down with someone. He’d had several relationships in the past with varying degrees of success, even to the point of marrying and fathering children with one of them. While they loved each other very much, she was too outgoing and gregarious, and Zach was the complete opposite.

Nearly two years following his divorce, he finally decided to throw his hat in the ring one last time. This time, however, he would be trying his luck with online dating. Online dating was something he had previously scoffed at before, but, after hearing several good reviews from his employees and small circle of friends, he decided to finally try it out.

He had his closest friends, and a few female relatives, help set up the bulk of his account, but he added the final touches, wanting to ensure that he didn’t snag any undesirables. With his line cast, all he could do was wait….

Someone finally bit, three excruciating days later, and, despite the uncomfortable wait, Zach was surprised by the woman who bit.

Her name was Sherry and she too was divorced and in her 40s. She even had two kids, and was looking for someone to settle down with and help to get her youngest child through school; her oldest was already in college. They couldn’t have matched better together if they tried!

After exchanging a few tentative private messages, they finally decided to meet for the first time at a small café at the edge of town for brunch.

On the day they agreed to meet, Zach put on his most casual clothes and took a seat at the bar in the café, patiently awaiting Sherry. He half-expected her not to come, idly biting his lip as he watched the television and drank the house blend. He was finally interrupted from the news reports by a cheerful, yet nervous, voice behind him.

“Umm hi, are you Zach?” the voice inquired.

Zach slowly turned around to look at the woman who had walked up to him, and his heart caught in his throat as he gazed upon her. Despite claiming to be in her 40s, Sherry looked as though she could easily pass for someone in her 30s, possessing either a youthful appearance or having sold her soul to a demon. Either way, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

“Yes,” Zach finally managed to say. He spent a few extra seconds collecting himself before finally asking, “Are you Sherry?” sounding just as nervous as she did.

“Yes,” she replied shyly.

He found himself lost in her dark brown eyes, both staring directly into his soul and sucking him in like a pair of black holes. He was also transfixed by the way her dark brown hair matched the color of her eyes; her hair was roughly neck length and parted evenly, framing both sides of her lovely face.

He could tell she was mesmerized by his eyes too…but, most people were. His were a rather penetrating shade of green that always seemed to give him the appearance of someone who was always calculating things.

They stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like hours before she finally broke the awkward silence.

“Well, now that I’m here, why don’t we get a booth so we can have some more privacy?” she suggested; even her voice sounded beautiful and youthful, immediately disarming what few defenses he had put in place.

“Good idea,” Zach said with a note of relief, while simultaneously giving himself a mental slap for not managing to suggest that first and for seeming like a dork. He motioned to the hostess, who promptly seated them in an out of the way corner. She handed them their menus and then walked away with a knowing look on her face; she wouldn’t be back for a while.

“So,” Sherry said, being the first to break the awkward silence, “How old are your kids?”

“Well, Alison, my daughter, is 13, and Dustin, my son, is 8,” he answered, “What about yours?” he asked, “I know you said one of them was in college already,” he added, showing off how well he listened.

“Yeah, that’s my oldest, Mandy,” Sherry beamed, “She’s 21.” “My youngest child, Erica, is 12.”

“Wow, you and your husband obviously met earlier,” Zach marveled, “Were you and he college friends?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Sherry smiled, “We both met in a computer class, and hit things off right away.”

“You must have loved him very much,” Zach said, “It’s one of my deepest regrets that the mother of my children and I couldn’t stay together.”

“Well, then you wouldn’t be able to meet me,” Sherry reminded him, “I’m sad every day about my husband’s desertion of us, but I try and find the bright side to everything…you’re a very good catch yourself.”

“Aw, thanks,” Zach said with a blush, “Do you have any idea why your husband left?”

“Yeah, it was probably because he was too overwhelmed with raising two children,” she said with a sad look, “He was always more interested in his computers and projects than his own kids...he finally left us to spend more time with his work.”

“Well, I’m glad,” Zach said, seeing the opportunity for boldness, “Now we get to have a chance with each other.”

“That’s right,” she nodded, reaching across the table and touching his hands, which he opened up and grabbed hers with, feeling their smooth warmness with his rougher ones. She gave him a full smile this time, revealing the whitest teeth Zach had ever seen…seriously, they were so clean, they were nearly see through.

At that sign, the waitress from before miraculously reappeared with the same knowing look, giving them each a look that made them blush. “So lovebirds, what can I get you for today?”

Unable to respond to that, they instead glanced at the menu one last time and made their orders.

They engaged in small talk while they waited for their food, not wanting the waitress to barge in on a more intimate conversation. When their food finally did arrive, she brought it with the same knowing smile and then walked away.

“So, what made you finally decide to get back in the game?” Zach asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Well, I’ve been awfully lonely since my husband left, and I can really use the help raising my youngest daughter through grade school,” she said.

“What kind of work do you do?” Zach then asked.

“I do as much work as I can from home so I can spend as much time as possible with my daughters,” she answered, “I have a home business that helps people sell their stuff on various online auction sites, for a modest commission” she explained, “and I go to the various garage sales in town and look for treasure in all the junk, which I then sell for much more than I bought it for.”

“Wow, that does sound kind of fun,” Zach smiled, “and you staying at home all day would make things easier on my ex-wife if she wanted to leave my kids with us for a week off with her new husband,” he added.

Sherry merely smiled at that, a smile that instantly warmed his heart. At this point, he knew things were going extremely well and that a relationship between them was quickly blossoming.

“So, why don’t you tell me more about yourself,” Zach said, “There’s only so much that can be said through online conversations, after all,” he laughed.

“Well, I can’t argue with that,” Sherry laughed with him, “Well, let’s see,” she said, then she got an odd thinking expression. She seemed to be lost in extremely deep thought, with her pretty head cocked off to one side, her face slack and her mouth hanging slightly open.

At first, Zach thought she was messing with him, but after 30-seconds had passed, he finally got concerned. “Hey, Sherry, you okay?” he said, but she did not respond. “Sherry, are you okay?” he asked a bit louder, but not too loud as to alert anyone else; he also gave her a slight shove.

This finally seemed to shock her out of her reverie. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she apologized, a blush quickly forming on her face, “I sometimes space out from time to time,” she admitted, “It usually happens when I’m in a stressful situation, and I must admit that meeting you for the first time has been pretty stressful.”

“It’s no problem,” Zach said, just glad she was okay, “I’m kinda stressed too,” he admitted.

“So anyway, you wanted to know more about me,” she said, seeming to remind herself, then she started talking all about herself.

They sat in that café for several hours, barely paying attention to the food that had been long since finished. They were both telling each other all about themselves, from the moment they were born until their meeting. Aside from her space out at the beginning of the conversation, everything went perfectly, though Zach noticed several times that she appeared to be covering for the fact that she couldn’t quite get an answer out right away. He just shrugged it off as her covering for more space outs.

When they finally decided to leave, he paid the waitress and then he walked her out to her car; it was a surprisingly expensive car for a stay-at-home-mom.

“Well Zach, I had a really great time with you today,” Sherry said with a warm smile.

“Me too,” Zach blushed.

They didn’t say anything after that. Instead, they slowly moved closer to each other until their faces were mere inches apart. From this distance, Zach could feel her breath on him, and she was breathing quite heavily; he was too. She finally made the subtlest of movements, triggering his near-instinctive response to kiss her.

Both their lips instantly locked, and their instinctual reaction was to close their eyes and fully enjoy the pleasure of the moment. Her lips were just as soft and sensual as he had fantasized while speaking with her and he suddenly realized his hands were gently caressing her back. They remained locked in embrace for what seemed like an eternity until they finally broke apart with slightly bashful expressions.

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve kissed like that,” Sherry finally managed to say, panting as her heart continued beating a mile a minute.

“Me too,” Zach also managed to say.

“Well, I guess I’d better get going now before my kids throw a fit,” she then said regretfully.

“Yeah, I know what that’s like,” Zach sighed.

“Anyway, I truly enjoyed our time today and look forward to our next meeting,” she smiled.

“Me too,” Zach said, then the two of them gave each other one last, quick parting kiss before walking away. Just before he reached his car, he turned to give her one last glance and caught her also doing the same, a gesture that acted to further warm his heart.

Act Two

After their successful lunch date, they chatted as often as they could. In addition, they ended up going on several more successful dates, each date getting better and better. By the time a month had passed, their relationship had evolved to the point where Sherry finally felt comfortable enough to invite Zach over to her place for dinner, and hopefully some desert too…

Despite the fact he felt comfortable with her after all this time, he still felt a bit of trepidation as he followed the directions to her house.

What if he was late? What if he got lost? What if her kids thought he was lame? These thoughts kept floating around in his mind until he finally forced himself to stop thinking and focus on getting to her house.

When he finally arrived there, he was caught off guard by how nice her house was. It wasn’t quite a gated community, but it was pretty close. Her house was a two-story nestled in a quiet neighborhood.

“Impressive,” Zach muttered to himself, slightly in awe and slightly suspicious that a woman with a limited income could afford a home like this. He finally figured maybe she couldn’t and the main reason she was trying to form a relationship with him was for his steady income that could easily afford a home like this. Even if that was her intent, he knew from all their dates that they had more than enough chemistry to make such an arrangement pleasurable for both.

With the mystery solved, at least for now, he slowly approached the door and pressed the doorbell.

Once second passed…two seconds…five seconds…Zach couldn’t help count the seconds until he was admitted into her house. Finally, he heard the sound of footsteps on the other end of the door. He put on a warm smile and was prepared to say something, but was caught off guard by the individual who opened the door.

Zach suddenly found himself experiencing a flurry of emotions: he felt disappointed that it wasn’t Sherry who answered, then confused about who it was, then he realized it had to be Sherry’s oldest daughter, and finally he was rather guiltily aroused at how unbelievably hot her daughter was.

Just like her mother, she had dark brown hair, though hers parted neatly down both sides of her face. Her twin, steel blue eyes seemed calm and calculating, and her face had a collection of freckles on her forehead. Unlike her mom, who had a Mediterranean tan, this girl had a more normal pinkish color to her skin. After several seconds of trying to remember, he suddenly recalled her name was Mandy.

“Hi,” Mandy finally said, after several seconds had gone by, “You must be Zach,” she said tentatively, her eyes seeming to pierce into his soul; she seemed to perceive his arousal at her and had an odd smile on her face.

“I am, and you must be Mandy,” Zach said, gaining control of himself and putting his best customer service skills to the test.

“I am,” Mandy smiled, “I’m sorry my mom didn’t answer the door, but we weren’t expecting you for another fifteen minutes,” Mandy apologized, motioning for Zach to come in; she seemed a bit nervous.

“Yeah, I always leave extra early when traveling to an unfamiliar area…just in case I am unexpectedly delayed,” he explained.

“Wow, that’s a very efficient plan,” Mandy said in an almost detached tone, “In any event, Mom’s still getting herself ready, so feel free to make yourself at home in our living room while I…I mean, while she finishes up,” she said, seeming to catch herself and blushing a bit.

“No problem,” Zach smiled, following her into the living room and making himself comfortable. As soon as he was seated, Mandy promptly left, practically running out of the room. “Wow, she’s a bit odd,” Zach said, still getting over her appearance.

While he waited for Sherry to freshen up, he occupied his time by looking around the room. It was a typical common area one would expect to see in a home like this, especially one furnished by a stay-at-home mom like Sherry. The one thing that caught his attention was the several pictures of a man Zach assumed was Sherry’s ex-husband. He found it odd that she would continue to display pictures of someone who deserted her, but he shrugged it off; perhaps she was keeping them displayed for the sake of her kids.

Zach was idly looking at the clock, and true to Mandy’s previous statement, Sherry came down almost precisely 15 minutes later; she looked as beautiful as ever. Zach was slightly suspicious because she still had her natural look, but he figured she was maybe just working out nerves or something; besides, he liked her natural look anyway.

“Sorry to keep you waiting Zach,” Sherry said, quickly walking over to him and planting a surprise kiss on his lips, “You know us girls, we always have to look our best,” she gushed.

“Yeah, but you always look great,” Zach smiled, causing her to blush furiously. He then heard the pitter-pattering of a few steps, and he turned to see both Mandy and the younger daughter, Erica, waiting down at the foot of the stairs.

Sherry quickly snapped her fingers, “Oh, before I forget, these are my two lovely daughters,” she said, walking over to them, “You already met Mandy here,” she gestured to the older one, who still focused her steel blue eyes on Zach; it was at this point Zach noticed something…Sherry and Erica both had brown eyes, but Mandy’s eyes were blue. He then quickly glanced back at the photos of their father and noticed that he had the same color eyes.

“And this little princess is Erica,” she finished, shocking Zach out of his reverie.

“Oh mom, you’re embarrassing me,” Erica blushed.

“Well, you two both look lovely and I look forward to you meeting my kids someday,” he smiled back to them.

“Wow, you have kids too?” Erica said with a surprised look, “Any cute boys?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t call my little boy cute, but I do have a daughter who’s just a year older than you,” Zach answered, “I’m sure you’ll get along just fine,”

“Well, I’ll take what I can get,” Erica then said, causing Zach to choke a little in shock, “Wow, Erica’s quite precocious, isn’t she?” he said a bit nervously.

“Hey little sis, now you’re embarrassing me,” Mandy then said, giving her sister a light slap across her head.

“Hey!” Erica whined.

“Alright you two, stop that now,” Sherry scolded them.

“Yes mom,” they both said in unison.

“Sorry about Erica,” Sherry then whispered to him as the two girls headed back up to their rooms, “It seems she’s hit puberty a little too soon for my comfort.”

“No problem, I’m going through a similar problem with my daughter,” Zach smiled.

“Well, why don’t you make yourself comfortable here in the kitchen while I start cooking dinner?” she suggested warmly.

“Oh, I don’t think you ever mentioned you cook,” Zach said with some surprise, following her into the kitchen.

“Oh yes, I’m quite good too, you’ll see,” she winked.

“Well, watching you cook is no fun,” Zach said, “I’m at least slightly skilled in the kitchen, so I’ll help you with the preparation and cleanup.”

“The more the merrier,” she smiled.

With both Zach and Sherry doing the cooking, they had a fresh, home cooked meal within the hour. Zach quickly decided he enjoyed dining with Sherry and her family. From the probing questions he asked, he could tell that both Mandy and Erica possessed very high IQs and knew they’d provide him with some very stimulating conversations as time went on.

Long after Mandy and Erica had excused themselves from the table, Zach and Sherry remained, now sipping on desert wines while classical music played in the background.

“Well Sherry, I must say I am truly impressed with your house and your kids,” Zach complimented.

“Oh, really? That’s great!” she said, a look of genuine pleasure and relief on her face.

“I’m also impressed that you’ve been able to keep this place despite being single,” he added carefully.

“Well, it hasn’t been easy,” Sherry sighed, “But now that Mandy’s got a part-time job, she’s been able to help with the bills a bit.”

“Well, I’m sure with the two of us working together, everything should work out for the better,” he assured her, reaching across the table and taking hold of her hands.

“You truly were a lucky find for a simple girl like me,” she then said bashfully, batting her eyelashes a bit.

“I consider myself the lucky one,” he corrected, “You’re far more beautiful than you give yourself credit for.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I think I might finally be ready to show you just how beautiful I really am…if you know what I mean,” she said with a playful wink.

“Oh yeah, I think I catch your drift,” he said with a smile like the sun rising.

She then rose from the table without saying another word, still holding hands with him. She gently led the way from the dining room, heading up the stairs and down the hall into her room.

Once they were in her room, she quietly closed the door behind them and then ran over to her bed, hopping onto it like a little girl.

“Wow,” Zach said, laughing despite himself.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve had a man in here, so I couldn’t help but put on a show,” she giggled.

“Well, I enjoyed it,” he said, even giving her a supportive clap.

Once their laughter left, they suddenly found themselves in an awkward silence, knowing what was about to come next and unsure of how to proceed.

“Well, perhaps you can start with a striptease,” Zach finally said.

“Ooh, that should be fun,” she smiled, rubbing her hands excitedly, “but first…” and she grabbed a remote from the bedside table and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, smooth jazz began playing.

“Wow, you are full of surprises,” Zach laughed.

“Well, I can’t do a little dance without music,” she pouted, making her look even more cute. She then stood up in front of the bed and began giving him a little dance, removing an article of clothing at, what Zach thought, were perfect cues in the music; she must have been practicing. By the time the short song ended, she stood before Zach fully nude, flaunting her perfect Mediterranean skin, with no hint of wrinkles, scars, or imperfections.

Just looking at her perfect body, Zach still couldn’t believe she was in her early 40s. Pairing rather nicely with her modest, natural appearance were her two pert breasts, both a large B size and perfectly real. Her pussy also looked natural as well, with a neatly groomed patch of pubes trimmed short.

It took Zach a while to catch his breath, as he had been breathing rather heavily during her dance. He was surprised a woman could still have this effect on him, but considering his previous exploits hadn’t been as…carefree as Sherry, he was ultimately not surprised.

“Wow, I can see I’ve had some effect on you,” Sherry said coquettishly, now laying seductively on the bed in the classic pose. “Did you need my help undressing you?” she then teased.

“Oh, no,” Zach said, coughing a bit as he tried to control his breathing, “I got it,” he then stripped off his clothes in a considerably less than sexy fashion, unable to come close to trumping Sherry’s performance.

“Nice, a simple disrobing for a simple man…I love it,” she smiled, still swinging her legs seductively in the pose.

“Thanks,” he said, joining her on the bed. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before embracing each other, feeling each other’s bodies and fully enjoying the warmness of each other’s presence.

It wasn’t long before they finally broke apart, ready to engage in more activities.

“You know, before we get started, I really should put some protection on,” Zach said, getting up and rummaging through his things, “Drat, I forgot to bring them…you wouldn’t happen to have any condoms, would you?”

“Sure, but they aren’t really necessary,” she smiled, getting up and walking with him over to her dresser, “I had my tubes tied years ago.”

“Yeah, I’ve had a vasectomy too, but I just want to play things safe...this first time,” he said with a wink.

She gave him a wink in return, then opened up the top compartment and let him look inside. She had quite a selection of condoms available, and, to his surprise, several female sex toys as well.

“Huh, perhaps before we do it, I can get you warmed up a bit,” he suggested, grabbing a vibrator from the compartment; the vibrator appeared not to have been used in some time.

“Sure, it has been a while since I’ve used it,” she smiled, “And it’s been a while since this has been used too,” she added, gesturing towards her crotch.

“Well, I’d say it’s time we remedied that,” Zach grinned, testing out the vibrator. It took a few seconds for it to turn on, but it finally did, so he quickly shut it off before bringing it down to Sherry’s welcoming vagina; he didn’t notice the small spark at the tip.

As he brought the tip of it close to her vagina, Sherry assisted him by gently grabbing hold of both folds and opening it up for him. He was then able to slide it smoothly in until it was fully inserted.

“Alright, time to warm you up,” he said playfully, then he turned it on, starting at the lowest setting.

Instantly, Sherry got a look of utter contentment on her face as the vibrator worked inside her. “Oh yes,” she panted, “It’s been too long since I’ve felt this good.”

“I can imagine,” Zach said, getting turned on by her arousal, “I’m going to up the setting a bit, but not too much,” he warned her, “I just want to get you a little wet for when I enter you in a bit,” he added with a smile.

“Go for it,” Sherry managed to say, still reveling in the waves of pleasure the vibrator was stimulating.

Zach then carefully toggled the settings to the next level, then winced as he felt a sharp jolt; the vibrator had just shocked him!

“Holy shit, that hurt like hell!” Zach said, then he realized that the shock had caused him to inadvertently turn the vibrator to its maximum setting.

Sherry didn’t seem to notice that he had just cried out in pain...instead, she was fully distracted by the vibrator running full speed in her body, sending waves of pleasure through her; she was now moaning and panting very loudly. A few seconds later, she suddenly seemed to freeze up momentarily, her head cocking off strangely to one side with a blank expression on her face, before she just as quickly resumed her exuberant throes of ecstasy.

“Whoa, Sherry, are you alright?!” he practically yelled, grabbing a condom and covering his hands with it. Once his hands were covered, he quickly grabbed the vibrator and managed to pull it out of her body, turning it off before tossing it a safe distance away.

Zach had been so focused on dealing with the vibrator, he had not been paying attention to what was going on with Sherry. She had long since stopped panting and moaning and was twitching and muttering to herself.

“Hey Sherry, are you alright?” Zach asked again, waving his hand in front of her eyes.

This seemed to snap her out of it. Her eyes regained their focus and focused on him. “Oh Zach, what happened?” she asked, a confused look on her face, “Why aren’t you using the vibrator anymore?”

“Don’t you remember?” he asked with an equal look of confusion, “The damn thing must have had a short in it and electrocuted us,” he explained, “I had to cover my hands with one of these condoms just to pull it out,” he finished, pulling it off his hand and showing her.

“Huh, that’s odd, I don’t remember that happening,” she said in an almost detached tone, “Well, it must have worked, because I am well lubricated now,” she added with a smile, looking at the moisture that was coating the exterior of her vagina.

“You sure you’re okay?” Zach asked again.

“Never felt better,” Sherry replied cheerfully, instantly calming Zach down.

“Alright then,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“Now, as I recall, you were going to penetrate me,” she said, flaunting her body, “Better do it before I get dry,” she teased.

“No need to tell me twice,” he said, her teasing instantly making him grow hard again. Just as with the vibrator, she assisted him by spreading her folds and allowing him to make a quick entry.

It was as he entered her that Zach suddenly realized he forgot to put on a condom, but that thought was instantly erased by the feelings of her warm, juicy pussy wrapping around his penis, giving it the natural massage it was designed for.

The pleasure went on and on, as she seemed to expertly hold back just enough to keep both of them from climaxing. Sherry, it seemed, was full of surprises and taught him things about sex he never knew he was missing. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, they both climaxed at the same time and collapsed in each other’s embrace, catching their collective breath.

Once they caught their breath, they rolled over onto their sides and looked into each other’s eyes. At this point, words were not important…they simply gazed into each other’s souls. Then, Sherry suddenly seemed ready to say something before she caught herself and got the same blank look on her face as before.

“Error, malfunction in primary memory banks,” she then said in an emotionless tone, “Attempting to resolve…standby,” she said.

“What?” Zach asked, too confused to truly understand what she was saying.

“Resolution failed…resuming with secondary memory source per programming,” she said, then her face seemed to tweak out a bit before finally regaining some life. Her eyes once again focused on Zach, but to his surprise, she suddenly screamed out in horror.

“Who are you and why am I naked?!” she screamed, sitting up and covering herself with the blankets.

“Sherry, what are you talking about?” Zach said, also sitting up, “It’s me, Zach,” he said, wondering if this was related to the zoning out issue she occasionally had.

“I’ve never seen you before in my….” She started, then she zoned out again, “Error, unable to access secondary memory systems, resuming primary protocol in emergency mode,” she then said, before coming back to life once more.

“Hey handsome,” she then said coquettishly, with a look on her face that was unrecognizable.

“Sherry, what’s wrong with you?” Zach asked, started to get a little worried as he rose from the bed to protect himself from the episode she seemed to be having. “Maybe she’s got multiple personality disorder or something,” he mused.

“What’s wrong sweetie, aren’t I attractive?” she asked, grabbing both her breasts and then letting her hands rub down her torso, “I’ve been programmed to mate with you,” she said, approaching him ominously.

“Programmed?” Zach said, “You speak like you’re a robot or something.”

“I am,” she answered, “I’m a Somatronics 9000 sexbot, designed and programmed solely for your pleasure,” she recited cheerfully.

“Holy shit,” Zach then said, shocked at this revelation; Sherry was an android. Before he could react, she suddenly leaped across the bed and then circled around him before trapping him in a crushing embrace. He found himself both unable to breath and highly aroused, as he was crushed by this hyper realistic sexbot with the perfume scent and the soft, warm skin.

He suddenly realized he could hear the sound of mechanical whining coming from her body, since she was using superhuman strength to squeeze, and now lift him a few inches above the ground.

“I love you so much Zach,” he heard he say, followed by a beep, “I love you Zach...beep…I love you Zach…beep…I love you Zach...beep.”

“Wow, I always knew I’d be killed by love, but I never figured it would be like this,” Zach now thought idly. Strangely, he also found himself getting an erection, either from Sherry’s perfect body pressed against his, or the lack of oxygen giving him erotic asphyxiation…or both.

Just before Zach ran out of air, however, he heard the door bang open and then Sherry suddenly seemed to stop. Zach felt himself slowly released from Sherry’s death grip as he heard a sound emanate from her body sounding like a machine winding down.

“I love yoooouuuuuu Zaaaaaaaaachhhhh” she managed to get out before coming to a complete stop, her voice ending in a long drone.

When he finally regained control, he immediately collapsed onto the bed to catch his breath. Once he had recovered a bit, he stared at Sherry to see her body now frozen, her face stuck in the crazy smile.

Zach got up and looked around wildly to see what had shut Sherry off, and then gave a startled gasp as he saw the source: Mandy was standing right behind Sherry with a look of anger and disappointment on her face.

“Mandy!” he shouted, “Your mother’s a robot…she just tried to kill me…holy shit, thanks for saving me,” he said in quick succession.

“Obviously,” she said, “Now shut up, I’m trying to concentrate,” Mandy snapped at him, her attention fixed on whatever she was doing on Sherry’s back. “Shit! This is useless,” she then muttered, angrily closing something and then taking a few deep, measured breaths. Once she collected herself, she stared into Zach’s eyes and said, “Quick, get dressed and then help me carry her.”

Too confused to say or do anything else, Zach merely complied, putting on his clothes and then picking Sherry’s lithe body up and following Mandy out of the room.

Interlude

Zach followed Mandy in a near daze, still confused by what had transpired. He found himself following her down the stairs, instead of into her room at the end of the hall, and then into what he had thought was a closet under the stairs, but was actually a stair leading down into the basement.

Once they arrived in the basement, which was basically a room filled with sophisticated computers and lab equipment, Mandy instructed him to place Sherry’s body on an examination table while she activated all the computers and equipment.

With his arms relieved of Sherry’s body, Zach merely stood off to the side dumbstruck as Mandy then began to literally take Sherry apart. She clinically removed both Sherry’s arms and legs, followed by her head and began examining each of the connection points before pressing in on a spot between both Sherry’s breasts, as well as her belly button. This caused an oval shaped seam to appear on the front of her torso, splitting in two between her breasts and then hissing open, revealing an awesome display of machinery.

The entire time Mandy was working on Sherry’s body, she was muttering to herself, seemingly oblivious to Zach’s presence. It was at this time that Zach was suddenly aware that Mandy was dressed only in a bra and pajama shorts, fully flaunting her hot college age body and making his penis go erect once more.

After several minutes had passed, Zach finally mustered the courage to speak.

“Umm, Mandy…” he started, but at that precise moment, Mandy stood straight up and looked directly at him.

“Zach, I know this is all a lot for you to take in and I’m sure you have a million questions, but I just need you to hold on for a few minutes while I fix my mom,” she said apologetically, all the anger from before seemingly vanished.

Zach merely nodded silently, and at that, Mandy gave him a calm smile and then did something that surprised Zach even more: she took a long computer cable from the bench, plugged one end of it into Sherry’s torso, and the other into a panel that slid open on the back of her own head. Once connected, Mandy froze up and said, “Full diagnostic of external unit commencing…standby,” in the same emotionless tone Sherry had used earlier.

“Holy shit, Mandy’s an android too,” Zach whispered to himself, “Shit, maybe the whole family is nothing but a bunch of androids,” he then said, thinking about Erica upstairs.

Zach stood transfixed on Mandy’s frozen form for nearly a minute before growing impatient and moving closer. He was now able to see more of Sherry’s interior and was quite impressed with the machinery that not only gave her life, but also made her appear and feel so real.

Her overall body was nothing more than a clear, flexible plastic shell molded into a human shape, with a thin layer of fake skin attached over the molds of bones, as well as compact gel molds of musculature. The inside of the panel seemed to house her primary CPU array, which is what Mandy had plugged herself into. This caused Zach some confusion, since Mandy had plugged the other end into her own head, giving the impression that her CPU was in her head.

“Perhaps they’re different models,” Zach shrugged, continuing his exploration.

Inside the torso, he could also clearly make out what appeared to be her stomach; a clear bag filled with the contents of the dinner they had shared earlier. That being said, he saw nothing else connecting to the bag to send the food out of her, indicating she didn’t eat for energy, but merely to give her a more realistic façade. She did have two lungs, and he did remember seeing and feeling her warm breath, but he could now see the lungs were merely there to cool off her CPU array, and for the extra realism.

The bottom portion of the panel seemed to house the sexual systems, including several canisters of lubricant and the interior bag which was indeed her vagina; dozens of fiber optics ran from the bag into her CPU array. Upon closer inspection, he could see burn marks surrounding it, most likely caused by the faulty vibrator, and, since the vagina was so intricately connected to the CPU array, it wouldn’t have taken long for a short circuit to occur. Zach managed to tear his attention away from Sherry’s torso and focused on her head, lying a short distance away from her neck. Her eyes, which were still wide open and staring blankly, still managed to entrance Zach’s attention and he carefully lifted her disembodied head to gaze into them more closely.

“Wow, you have some very pretty eyes for a sex bot,” he mused, staring into them as deeply as when he first met her.

Despite his initial confusion, Zach was aware of the existence of sexbots, and had even seen a few that were owned by investors in his business franchise. The one thing that he noticed about them was that, even though their bodies looked perfectly real, the companies had yet to perfect their eyes, so the eyes usually looked like cheap color lenses; a small price to pay.

Another thing that confused him was that those sexbots he’d seen had very basic intelligence; there was no way they could act so real, with all the human subtleties that Sherry had demonstrated these past few months.

One thing was certain, whoever built Sherry was either a genius, or they paid a shitload of money to make her appear as real as possible. Either way, they succeeded, because she completely fooled Zach.

Despite the feeling of betrayal and of being used, Zach still had feelings for the person he knew as Sherry, so he gently rearranged her face into a more dignified expression and then placed her head carefully down where he found it.

Mandy, on the other hand, was an enigma. As far as Zach knew, the only androids out on the market were sexbots and basic domestic units, but if Zach had learned anything over the course of his life, there were lots of things he didn’t know. The one thing he did know was that Mandy was definitely no sexbot, and she had to be many years ahead of current standards to have her CPU located in her head.

Confident that Mandy was oblivious to the world at the moment, Zach took this opportunity to gently probe her statuesque body and was surprised to feel and hear a slight gurgle as he probed her abdomen.

“Huh, sounds like she has a digestive system,” Zach said, probing a little more before moving on, “Hmm, I wonder if I can open her up like she did with Sherry,” he then said, eyeing her bra and poking his left finger in between them and his right into her belly button.

“Illegal action,” Mandy then said, shocking the hell out of Zach and causing him to jump back. Still, aside from that, Mandy remained silent and did not do or say anything else.

“Well, I guess I learned my lesson,” Zach laughed nervously, inching back over to her to begin a less intrusive examination. Just as with Sherry, he found himself staring into her eyes…her steel blue eyes that seemed bursting with life, despite the blank expression on her face.

He found himself getting closer and closer to them, as though they had some gravitational pull. He was mere inches away when he suddenly heard a series of beeps emit from Sherry’s torso, as well as from Mandy’s body. Mandy suddenly started moving again, just as he managed to move out of the way.

“External unit diagnostic complete, catastrophic damage detected…beginning repair,” Mandy then said, again in the emotionless tone. At this point, lights began blinking very rapidly on Sherry’s CPU, as well as the small panel on the back of Mandy’s head. This went on for nearly five minutes, until a few more beeps emitted from both androids and Mandy finally came back to life.

Act Three

“Repair of external unit complete,” she announced, then her face regained its previous life as she casually removed the cable from the back of her head and closed the panel. “Well, I’m sure you have many questions,” she then said, turning to him with a smile on her face.

“I think that’s a major understatement,” Zach admitted with a blush.

“Well, I think I’ll get some things out of the way then and you can ask whatever you like later,” she decided, and after seeing him nod with approval, she began, “Well, as I’m sure you’ve surmised, both me and my mother are androids,” she began.

“Is Erica one too” Zach interrupted.

“No, she’s human,” Mandy answered, “Don’t worry, I’ll explain,” she then said, seeing the look of confusion on his face.

“Ah.”

“Anyway, I’m afraid I’ve set out these past few months to entangle you in a rather elaborate deception…but I can assure you, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” she said apologetically.

“Well, I do feel a bit betrayed, but even though I know Sherry’s a sexbot, I’ve never seen a sexbot look and act that real before,” he admitted.

“Well, she’s been highly customized,” Mandy answered simply.

“Alright, just tell me…which parts of her story were real and which were fake?” Zach asked.

“Well, to be honest, most of what she told you was fake,” Sherry said, “Her husband, my father, didn’t leave us…he died,” she said sadly.

“Oh,” Zach said.

“Yeah, my father died in a plane accident while he was going on one of his long trips,” she explained, “Anyway, he was a genius in robotics who somehow managed to woo and marry someone as lovely as my mom,” she continued, getting back to her story, “They initially couldn’t have children due to an untreatable medical issue, so he spent several years inventing the technology which eventually coalesced into me,” she continued, “I’m the most advanced and realistic android on the planet,” she finished proudly.

“I can tell,” Zach said.

“Anyway, he ended up showing me off to some of his friends, one of which was a defense contractor for the government, and one thing led to another and he suddenly found himself building highly realistic androids to serve as spies for our government.”

“Well, that explains how Sherry could afford this house,” Zach mused.

“Yeah, and he was even able to use his money to cultivate one of Sherry’s eggs and conceive Erica via surrogacy.”

“But the way you’re talking, it’s like Sherry was a human,” Zach then said, “I can clearly see she’s an android.”

“She hasn’t always been an android,” Mandy said sadly, “She was just as human as you are…that is, until she fell down the stairs a year ago and died.”

“Oh man, that’s horrible,” Zach gasped, “But wait, you built a sexbot just to replace your mom?”

“Well, technically I didn’t build her,” Mandy corrected him, “My dad often had to travel for long periods of time, so he commissioned a sexbot to be made in my mom’s image, and then spent his free time on his business trips customizing it to act more like her.”

“Oh, that makes a little sense, but I find it hard to believe that he could have programmed a sexbot with all the nuances and imperfections that the human character has,” Zach told her, “The conversations I had with Sherry were perfectly real and fluid…I sensed no programmed responses.”

“Well, that was my doing,” Mandy admitted, “Once my mom died, I suddenly found myself in a troubling situation.”

“Why, it was an accident wasn’t it?” Zach asked.

“Of course it was, but that accident rendered me and Erica orphans,” she replied, “Not to mention it put into question who would continue receiving the vast inheritance my father left my mom.”

“Ah, it figures there’s an inheritance involved.”

“Yeah, I’m trying to make it through school to earn a degree in advanced robotics so I can resume my dad’s work, but I need the money…and the state might decide to take a huge amount of taxes out if they discover that it’s going to a new beneficiary, which brings up a new problem…I may not technically be a legal beneficiary, which would leave Erica, who I believe is completely the wrong person to give that much money to.”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you had entangled me in an elaborate deception,” Zach laughed.

“Anyway, it’s currently impossible to implant a human brain, or to transfer the data from a human brain, into an artificial body, so I got creative and came up with a novel solution,” she smiled.

“Oh?”

“Follow me,” she said mysteriously, walking a short distance away to a set of double doors. She keyed in a passcode on the door lock and then opened the door. Inside was what looked like a morgue, with various cabinets on one side, and a closet on the other.

She walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a refrigeration unit. Zach gasped as he saw the dead body of the real Sherry. Despite the fact that the Sherry laying before him was obviously a corpse, he could tell by looking at her body that the sexbot hadn’t been modified in any way to appear younger or more beautiful: the real Sherry had all the qualities naturally. Aside from the head appeared to have been surgically opened and re-stitched, and a bruising pattern around her neck, there appeared to be nothing wrong with her.

“What did you do?” Zach stared in near horror. Things were taking a real turn as he suddenly thought of the stories of androids going crazy and killing their creators.

“She was already dead,” Mandy defended herself, “fortunately I was able to salvage her brain so I could do this,” she said, walking him over to the closet at the other end of the room. Zach gasped again as he saw what was inside. Inside the closet was an odd apparatus. It appeared to be filled with a semi-gelatinous liquid. Suspended in the substance was what appeared to be Sherry’s brain, with various wires and probes sticking into it. Every now and then, a few visible electric arcs connected to it, filling the room with blue light and making the brain glow temporarily.

“As I said, my mom was dead, but her brain still had all the ‘data’ my real mom stored throughout all her life, so I built this machine to allow the Sherry sexbot to access it remotely as a sort of secondary memory storage,” Mandy explained.

“Wow, I don’t know whether I should be impressed or terrified,” Zach admitted.

“Well, I could understand if you felt both feelings,” Mandy blushed, “I had to act fast, because I could only lie to Erica for so long before she got suspicious,” she said, “Not to mention any longer and the brain wouldn’t have been viable for the procedure,” she added.

“Does Erica not like you or something?”

“She does,” Mandy answered quickly, “but, if she had access to the entire inheritance, I fear she might start treating me like a machine,” Mandy said with fear in her eyes, “It may be a false fear, but I’d prefer to maintain the status quo…at least until Erica turns 18 and moves away,” she said, walking back out to Sherry’s body with him.

“So, I can see why you’d need to have this sexbot fill in for your mom, but why’d you make her start dating?”

“That was an added layer of precaution,” Mandy replied, “If she could find a good man, especially one like you who had a stable income, and then marry them, it would further maintain the status quo.”

“So, then I was nothing more than a pawn…a random guy selected solely for my money?” Zach asked, looking crestfallen, “Did she even know she was an android?”

“No, I spent days pouring through the digitized representation of my mother’s psyche and carefully determined exactly who she might be interested in…you were a 100% match,” she assured him, “And she was aware she was an android, but I programmed her to act as human as possible.”

Zach let out an explosive sigh of relief at that, “So then, the conversation she and I had…she was really falling in love with me?”

“Yeah,” Mandy nodded.

“So, what’s up with her zoning out then? Was that just a glitch in her programming?”

“Oh no, that was caused by latency issues between her CPU and the brain,” Mandy explained, “There was something in between here and that café that was interfering with the signal.”

“Oh, that explains it,” Zach said, “I take it you managed to fix it?”

“No,” Mandy answered, “But fortunately, I anticipated problems such as that and installed a buffer in her internal memory storage that heuristically downloads and stores information that her programming dictates might be essential for the brief times she’s that far away from the house.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, that buffer worked,” Zach told her, “I couldn’t tell…well, aside from the fact that she occasionally took longer than usual to respond to me.”

“Well, I’m still tweaking it,” Mandy defended, “Still, it was good enough to get you here…which reminds me…why the fuck did you use a vibrator when you could have just done it yourself?” she scolded him.

This caused Zach to blush furiously, as he forgot that Mandy must have been monitoring their entire sexual encounter in her room. “Well, in my defense, I didn’t know the damn thing would zap us.”

“In any event, that thing nearly fried all her circuits…fortunately, most of the damage was to her software, which I managed to repair.”

“So, you could turn Sherry back on now?” he asked.

“I could,” she nodded, “but first, I have to repair her vaginal unit,” Mandy said, reaching into Sherry’s body and carefully removing the damaged unit. It seemed Mandy had prepared for such an eventuality in advance, because she already had a replacement unit nearby and made quick work of installing it.

“There, now I can turn her back on, if you like,” Mandy smiled.

“Aren’t you going to reassemble her first?” he asked, gesturing to Sherry’s arms, legs and head, still lying around Sherry’s torso.

“No, I want to make sure everything’s working fine before I do that,” Mandy answered. She then reached her hand inside Sherry’s body, prepared to reactivate her, before suddenly stopping and looking back up at Zach, “Go on, why don’t you do it?” she suggested, “Just reach inside and press that button there,” she instructed, gesturing to a button located on the CPU array before withdrawing her hand.

“Alright,” Zach shrugged, carefully reaching inside and pressing the button. Instantly, everything inside came to life in a flurry of electronic whirs, beeps, and hums. A status monitor lit up on the array, lines of text scrolling down the screen at high speed as her systems booted up.

Nearly a few minutes later, the lines of text slowed down and displayed simple stats, such as the CPU temperature and speed, and current power readings. Then, a light lit up near what looked like a speaker on the CPU array and then Sherry’s voice emitted from it.

“Testing…testing…testing…Somatronics 9000 unit systems check complete,” Sherry’s voice said in an emotionless tone, “Previous system damage repaired…hardware damage repaired…searching for remote storage…remote storage discovered,” she reported.

It was at this time Zach noted the flashes of blue coming from the other room started increasing in speed and duration, indicating that Sherrybot was accessing Sherry’s brain.

“Internal storage discovered,” she continued on, “Starting A.I. Sherry with special configuration,” she finished, then a low beep emitted from the speaker before Sherry spoke once more.

“Ah, I seem unable to access my arms, legs, or head…and I’m detecting my primary access port is open,” Sherry said, “Did I malfunction Mandy?”

Despite her voice sounding digital, Zach still felt his heart flutter at hearing her voice again.

“Yes mom, but I managed to fix you,” Mandy said.

“Ah, I see now…my short term memories appear a bit hazy at the moment,” she apologized, “You’re the best daughter a robot mom could ask for,” she then added.

“Aww, thanks mom,” Mandy blushed. It now appeared to Zach that Mandy may also have wanted to maintain the status quo because she too needed occasionally motherly love. Clearly there was for more to Mandy than met the eye.

“I do hope Zach wasn’t too freaked out,” Sherry continued.

“I was a bit, but I’m over it now,” Zach said.

“Oh, Zach, I didn’t realize you’d be here,” Sherry said, managing to make her digital voice sound surprised, “I’m so sorry you had to find out about me that way…we were hoping to break it to you gently,” she apologized.

“No need for concern,” Zach shrugged, though he knew Sherry couldn’t see him, “I still hope I can spend the rest of my life with you…despite recent developments,”

“Aww, I can’t begin to describe how much that pleases me,” she gushed, “And that’s not just programming,” she added, “Mandy, may I please be put back together so I can express myself better,” she requested.

“Of course,” Mandy smiled, “But I think I’ll let Zach do it, so he can get some practice.”

“Good idea,” Sherry said, “Go ahead Zach, why don’t you start with my head?” she suggested.

“Alright,” Zach said a bit nervously, once more picking up Sherry’s head, stopping briefly to admire the machinery present at the bottom of it, as well as the dignified expression, before clicking it back into place on her torso.

As soon as her head was connected, the seam instantly vanished and her head instantly came to life.

“Oh wow, this is much better,” she smiled, working her jaw muscles up and down and rapidly blinking her eyes to wake her face back up. Then, her two lovely eyes focused on his. “Hey handsome,” she said.

“Hey,” he said, awkwardly waving at her as Mandy shook her head in the background.

“It’s so nice to be able to see you again,” Sherry then said, “Why don’t you give me a quick kiss before putting the rest of me back together?”

“Sure,” Zach said. He prepared himself to lean down, but she surprised him by managing to sit her torso upright with a loud mechanical whine. Smiling despite himself, he carefully embraced what remained of her body, careful to avoid the hinged open panel, and planting a kiss on her lips.

“Mmm, that was nice,” Sherry said, as soon as their lips broke apart, “Now could you please lay me back down…laying down isn’t as easy as sitting up in my current condition, I’m afraid.”

“No problem dear,” he nodded, bracing his left hand on her upper leg stubs as he gently lowered her torso down to the table with his right.

“Ah, much better, thanks,” Sherry smiled, “Now you can reattach the rest of me,” she told him.

“Yes Ma’am,” he teased, eyeing all four remaining limbs and picking out her arms.

He spent a few moments admiring the realism in both of them, from the fingerprints on her soft hands, to the way her muscles contracted as he flexed them. As soon as both arms were connected, she twitched her fingers and then propped herself back up into a sitting position.

“Wow, this is kinda fun,” Zach admitted.

“Yeah,” Sherry nodded.

“Would you like to do the honors and reattach your own legs?” he offered, since she could easily do it on her own with her arms reattached.

“I’m sorry Zach, but my programming prevents me from doing that,” she said with a sad look.

“Really?” Zach said, looking at Mandy with a confused look.

“Yeah, it’s a safety precaution I installed in her,” Mandy explained, “Despite all the tweaks my father and I have done to her over the years, she’s still just a sexbot and not capable of performing repairs to herself,”

“I hope my limitations don’t turn you off,” Sherry said with a frown on her lovely countenance.

“Not at all,” Zach smiled, picking up one of her legs and admiring the foot before reattaching it; the foot had no odor, attesting her artificial nature, “even Humans shouldn’t be performing medical procedures on themselves,” he shrugged, reattaching the other one, thus fully reassembling her.

“Good point,” Sherry smiled, dropping down to the floor and wiggling her toes. The only thing now that betrayed her artificial nature was her open torso panel, still hinged open.

“So, you mentioned before that you were the most advanced android on the planet,” Zach said to Mandy, who was still watching them intently, “What makes you different from Sherry here?”

“Lots of things,” Mandy answered, “Here, I’ll demonstrate,” she then offered, removing her clothes and positioning herself next to Sherry, “Sherrybot, maintenance mode,” Mandy commanded.

“Maintenance mode confirmed,” Sherry said, all traces of her humanity fading as she turned stoic next to Mandy.

Seeing Sherry be commanded like that, especially without any warning, slightly put Zach off, since he had real feelings for her, despite her not being real. But, at the same time, he found himself slightly turned on. Shaking those feelings off, he could now see the slight resemblance between the two women, since Mandy was now completely naked.

“Now, I know you tried doing this while I was repairing her,” Mandy winked, “But the major difference between me and my Mom here is that I am sentient…she’s not.” She explained, “My mom, as awesome as she is, relies on a whole host of programs to manage the data from her internal storage and the brain, whereas I have an independent A.I. system that comprises me.”

Mandy then pressed in on her belly button and between her beasts, opening a similarly designed panel that split in two and hinged out on both sides. “Well, what do you think?” she asked, inviting him in to take a closer look.

“Well, so far it appears you both open up the same way,” he said, not too familiar with robotics. He then took a closer look and compared the differences to Sherry’s body.

Both androids appeared to have a similar overall design: a flexible alloy shell with artificial skin adhered to it, with compact gel molds in the shape of the major muscle groups. The major area in which they differed was their internal mechanics. While much of Sherry’s torso was taken up by her massive CPU array, Mandy’s had an actual digestive system hooked up to a much more intricate power system. Both their sexual systems were on par with each other, though Sherry’s body appeared more reinforced in that area to handle more sex more often.

“Huh, you’re CPU isn’t in your torso, and it appears you can digest food,” Zach concluded, standing back up.

“Exactly,” Mandy congratulated him, “Though since Mom here is a sexbot by nature, she’s designed for more hard core sex than I am…though, that’s something I’m trying to incorporate into my next body,” she said.

“Your next body?” Zach asked with a confused look.

“Yes, you don’t expect me to look 21 forever, do you?” she said so matter-of-factly, it made him laugh.

“No, I suppose not,” he smiled, “So, in what other ways do you differ?” he then asked, “in terms of your body,”

“Well, I can perspire, and my artificial skin can generate bruises to simulate injury,” she listed, “And I even have a liquid that resembles blood when my skin is cut…it even heals the skin.”

“Wow, impressive,” Zach said, “I can see how your father made androids like you into spy bots.”

“Yeah,” Mandy agreed, “Though unlike them, I have free will.”

“And what about your CPU?” he asked, “Based on what I’ve seen, it’s obviously in your head.”

“That’s correct,” Mandy nodded, then she surprised him by reaching around the back of her neck and removing her head. Even more surprising was that Mandy still appeared to be in control of her body, even though her head was no longer attached.

“Wow, you can control your body remotely?” he said in wonder, watching as she settled her head in her arms, with it still facing him.

“Yeah, but only for short distances,” she explained, “It’s so I can perform maintenance on myself.”

“Ah, I guess that makes sense,” Zach nodded, “You don’t have your dad anymore to repair you if you break.”

“Well, that and the spybots he made have to be able to maintain themselves in the field,” she added.

“Oh.”

“Anyway, the true marvel is how he was able to fit everything inside my head,” she told him, suddenly fiddling with her head and then removing the entire top of her head. She carefully placed her scalp, complete with her hair, down on the nearby examination table and then held her head out for Zach to see. “Take a look,” she offered, “But don’t touch,” she warned.

“Okay,” Zach said, awestruck as he gazed into Mandy’s head.

Contained in the confines of her head was a marvel of micro computing. Zach could now see why Mandy needed a massive inheritance to continue her work, because without it, she hadn’t a prayer for constructing a new body with a functioning brain. There were small rows of very compact processor and memory arrays, all bundled together with fiber optics and surrounding a gel-like orb in the middle.

“Wow, Mandy, what’s that orb in the middle?” he asked, tempted to touch it.

“That’s basically my memory storage…everything that makes me ‘me’ is contained in it,” she explained, “You see, it was no problem for my dad to find processing equipment small enough to fit in a head. The military already had it, and he managed to procure them from his friends in the defense contractor business. However, it took him years to develop the gelatinous storage medium to house all the pre-programmed data, as well as every bit of information I add to it during my lifecycle. It was a true breakthrough in the field of organic computing, and that alone is what earned him his mass wealth,”

“It’s amazing, and beautiful,” Zach said, admiring its blue color and the swirls of lights in it as data streams were activated within it. This site to behold was more than enough evidence to prove to Zach that Mandy was alive.

“I’m actually trying to convert my mom’s brain into a similar shape,” Mandy said, “Basically, I’d liquefy it and then use a similar process to compact it into a gelatinous, orb shape.”

“Huh, that sounds risky,” Zach said, “How do you know it won’t result in permanent loss of everything Sherry learned throughout her life?”

“I don’t,” Mandy answered truthfully, “But the thought of un-restraining Sherrybot from the latency issues that have plagued her keep me focused on my work…who knows, if I perfect the procedure, it could be a valid method for converting humans into robots someday.”

“Well, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with such a procedure, but it would certainly earn you lots of money on your own,” Zach said.

“Yeah, in any event, I’m also working on simply transferring all the data from the brain into a similar orb…but I still haven’t been able to develop a device to properly process the data.”

“Well, I don’t mind,” Zach decided, “I don’t like going out much anyway, so Sherry shouldn’t have many latency issues for some time,” he assured her, “Besides, I’d rather you not risk my new love’s ‘life’ unless it becomes necessary.”

“Fair enough,” Mandy said, walking over and reattaching her scalp, “Hey, wanna hold my head for a bit?” she offered, holding it out to him.

“Sure,” Zach said, carefully taking it from her, holding it face up in his arms. He then looked back at her headless body, now standing at attention; it’s torso panel was still open.

“Hey Mandy, why don’t you close your torso panel now?” he suggested, “It’s kinda distracting,”

“No problem,” she smiled, dutifully swinging both sides of it shut and resealing it.

“Thanks,” he said, “So, just how far can you operate your body remotely?” he asked.

“I’ll show you,” she said, then she had her body slowly walk to the far end of the room. As it got further away, it began to slow down, it’s movements becoming more jerky, until finally it came to a stop about 25 feet away.

“Wow, that’s pretty impressive, considering,” Zach said.

“Yeah, I can actually still move it that far away, but I stopped at the far outer range,” she said, demonstrating by having her body jerkily wave at them before shuffling back over and stopping before him. “So, if you’re done holding me, I think I’d like to reassemble myself now,” she said, “My head only has enough power to remain online for an hour or so.”

“Alright,” he nodded, regretfully handing it back to her and watching her reattach it.

“Ah, much better,” she sighed contentedly, “Well, is there anything else you’d like me to show you?”

“Yeah, I’d like to see what you were doing on Sherry’s back earlier,” he said, remembering her fiddling away on Sherry’s back.

“Ah,” Mandy smiled, “Sherry, turn around,” she ordered.

“Command received,” Sherry said, slowly turning around before coming to a stop.

Sherry looked just as nice from the rear as she did from the front, Zach thought.

Mandy then pressed a small, almost invisible circle of discolored skin and then pulled open a small panel on her back. Then panel contained a small monitor which instantly lit up with all sorts of information regarding Sherry’s systems; it was obviously a control panel.

“I use this to monitor her systems without having to open her up completely,” Mandy explained, “That’s another difference between us…I don’t have one because I handle all of that in here,” she said, tapping her head.

“Interesting,” Zach said, getting a closer look. He could now see this is how Mandy had shut Sherry down, and he could also see diagnostic controls and settings for her myriad sexual and domestic programs.”

“Her skin comes off too,” Mandy then demonstrated, peeling one of the surrounding sections of skin and removing a rectangular shaped section of skin. She then handed it to him.

“Wow, this is a little creepy,” he said, feeling it in his hands. It looked and felt absolutely real on the outside, but the other side had a repeating hexagonal design which appeared to interface with the hexagonal design on the clear alloy shell that made up her core body shape. When he had his fill of it, he carefully put it back in place and watched as the seam sealed itself.

“Well, I think my curiosity is satisfied for now,” Zach said.

“That’s surprising,” Mandy smiled, “So Zach, now that you’ve seen everything there is to see for now, why don’t we talk business?”

Act Four

“What do you mean?”

“Well, considering what you now know, a business proposal seems appropriate,” she explained.

“Ah, I see,” Zach said, “What’s your proposal?”

“Well, I think it might be more advantageous to have Sherry explain,” Mandy said, a shrewd look forming on her face.

“That hardly seems fair, but alright,” Zach laughed.

“Sherrybot, Human mode,” Mandy commanded.

“Human mode confirmed,” Sherry said, then all humanity once again returned to her face. “Ah, did you have fun poking around in my body?” Sherry asked coyly.

“Well, I didn’t exactly poke around, but yeah,” Zach said sheepishly.

“Mom, I think it’s time we presented our business proposal to him,” Mandy said, an intent look in her eyes.

“I understand,” Sherry replied, an odd look of recognition in her eyes; clearly Mandy unlocked some programming. “Why don’t we go somewhere more private Zach?” Sherry suggested, gesturing to the room where her brain was.

“Sure, but can we close you up first?” he asked, “it might distract me from your proposal.”

“Of course, but you’ll have to do it for me,” she said.

“Yeah, I know…your programming,” he nodded, quickly grabbing hold of both sides and closing it. As soon as they were closed, she resealed her seam. He then realized he had used her breasts as handles to close the panel, and blushed.

“Better?” she asked innocently.

“Much,” he agreed.

“Good, now let’s go talk business,” she said, taking his hand and walking with him into the brain room. “So, I take it Mandy already showed all this to you?” she asked, gesturing towards her brain, now completely lit up with electrical arcs.

“Yeah, you’re using that brain as a sort of remote hard drive to augment your programming,” he recited.

“Yep, it kind of seems a bit horrifying, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“To be honest, yeah,” Zach admitted.

“Well, I can assure you, although I may be nothing more than a souped up sexbot, I do have access to the real Sherry’s memories,” she began, “I can assure you, the real Sherry would have been pleased her children were being raised by their mother, even if it was an artificial one.”

“Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from,” Zach agreed, “I’d want my children raised with my values too, rather than being split up and raised by someone else.”

“Exactly,” Sherry smiled, “And despite Mandy’s insistence that she wants to maintain a status quo, I think she too feels the need to be mothered, just as any child would.”

“I have noticed that,” Zach told her, remembering Mandy’s reactions from before.

“I thought you might, you’re very smart…which is why I chose you out of all the other potential candidates,” she told him.

“Well, I’m honored…I can’t imagine how someone else may have reacted to you malfunctioning like that,”

“Well, I’m just glad you still have feelings for me, even if I’m not completely real like Mandy is,” she said.

“Well, I don’t think I really care, to be honest,” Zach told her, “I just want to settle down with someone, and despite your situation, I still enjoyed my conversations with you.”

“That’s a huge relief,” Sherry smiled, “So on to the business proposal. My late husband, in his works with the government, accumulated nearly five billion dollars,” Sherry reported.

“What?!” Zach gasped. He figured the guy had to have earned millions of dollars, but never did he think the guy might have earned billions!

“That’s right, and when he died, all of the inheritance, minus a small death tax, was transferred to Sherry’s name,” Sherry continued, “But when the real Sherry died, Mandy had to work fast to reconfigure me so I could resume Sherry’s life.”

“So, do you really sell stuff on eBay, or was that a lie too?” Zach asked.

“Actually yes,” Sherry answered cheerfully, “It’s an easy job which gives me a good cover story as well.”

“Wow, interesting,” Zach mused, “But I’m still not exactly sure why Mandy needs you to marry someone.”

“Because, if I’m ever discovered to be a fake, she has some pull with a few legal authorities who can make it appear as though the real Sherry died AFTER being remarried to you, thus making YOU the new legal beneficiary of the inheritance.”

“Wow,” was all Zach could say.

“Yeah, otherwise, if people were to then discover Mandy was an android, Erica would be the legal beneficiary,” Sherry continued.

“Yeah, Mandy mentioned that,” Zach nodded.

“Well, Erica does love Mandy and treats her like she’s real, especially since Mandy was a prefect big sister, but I do think Erica is the wrong choice to receive a massive inheritance like that…just for different reasons,” Sherry said.

“Well, this is truly interesting…hearing the opinion of a non-sentient android, and that of a sentient android,” Zach smiled, “But as a father, I do agree with you…Erica’s too young and would likely squander it…Mandy has a much more useful purpose in mind for it.”

“Exactly,” Sherry smiled approvingly, “So, the deal is, you get to spend the rest of your life with a very attractive, very advanced sex bot, while Mandy gets to utilize the inheritance to potentially further increase the money pot,” she explained, “and in exchange, you’re set for life…no more money worries…and, I’m highly customizable to fit any of your needs,” She finished with a smile, the blue lights behind her making the scene almost romantic.

Zach spent some time thinking about it. To most people, it would be a no brainer, but Zach prided himself on not being like most people. There was still part of him that didn’t completely trust Mandy; perhaps she did kill her parents, more research would be needed. But, Sherry here truly was a one in a million sexbot, and he’d be lucky to have one. He spent several minutes deciding, all the while Sherry waited patiently, tapping her right foot on the cement with well programmed nervousness.

“Alright, I think we’ve got a deal,” Zach said finally, and upon seeing a look of delight on Sherry’s face, he then said, “But, there’s one more thing I want…let’s go speak with Mandy.”

“Alright,” Sherry said, jumping in delight despite herself as she followed him back out.

Mandy was typing away on a computer when they returned to the main lab, though she immediately stopped what she was doing when she heard them re-enter. “Sorry, I was working on some fixes to Sherry’s A.I.,” she said absently, “So, have you decided?” she asked.

“Yes, I believe we have a deal,” he told her with a smiled.

“Good, you have no idea…” Mandy began.

“But, I do want to add another condition,” Zach then said, interrupting what was probably a long rehearsed speech.

“Oh, go on then,” Mandy said, a minor note of irritation in her expression.

“In addition to everything you likely programmed Sherry here to say, I’d also like to have a yearly threesome with you and her, starting with tonight to celebrate our new arrangement,” he offered.

This took both Mandy and Sherry aback…they didn’t seem to anticipate this for some reason, and both seemed to commune with one another wirelessly. After several silent moments, both their blank expressions faded and they smiled.

“Deal,” Mandy said, offering her hand.

“And deal,” Zach confirmed, taking her hand and shaking it firmly.

“Well, I just need to install this hotfix into Sherry first…shouldn’t take more than a second, and then we can head up and get started,” Mandy smiled, quickly typing away. “You get that Sherry?” she then asked, after the typing concluded.

“Yes Mandy, I’ve installed the patch successfully,” Sherry reported, “Though, I must report that the short circuit I experienced earlier caused a slight discharge on my batteries,” she then said sadly, her head cocked off to one side, “I’m afraid I only have about 20% remaining.”

“Hmmm, that should still be enough to get you through an hours’ worth,” Mandy shrugged, after doing a quick calculation in her head, “Besides, it’ll be good experience for your ‘boyfriend’ to charge you up each night,” she added.

“I suppose you’re right,” Sherry beamed.

“Well Zach, let’s go up and consummate our new arrangement,” Mandy said, leading the way back upstairs.

“Wow, I couldn’t have put it better myself,” Zach smiled, “Though, should we worry about waking Erica up?” he asked.

“Not to worry,” Mandy winked, “I anticipated a noise issue and gave her a mild sedative…she won’t be up until morning, I guarantee it.”

“Wow, you never cease to amaze me,” Zach laughed.

As soon as they returned to Sherry’s room, they wasted no time in sexing things up. The music was turned back on, and Zach once more disrobed. This time, he had two lovely ladies in bed with them, and over the course of the next hour, they both taught him things about sex that he never knew he was missing.

They finally stopped because Sherry appeared to be running out of power. The three of them laid comfortably on the bed, Zach and Mandy using the time to catch their breath, as they waited for Sherry to completely shut down.

“Ah, making love to you…to you…surrrrrrreeee takes a lot ooouuttt of me,” Sherry managed to say, her face forming a weak smile.

“How do I recharge her?” Zach asked, concerned for his new girlfriend.

“I’ll show you,” Mandy said, getting up out of the bed and walking to the other side. She grabbed a power cable that was connected behind Sherry’s nightstand and brought it over to her body. As soon as the other end of the cable came within a few inches of Sherry’s right side, a small panel opened up with a connection point inside.

“Now you see Zach, every night she plugs herself in, and she should be able to maintain a steady power supply throughout the course of the day, though strenuous activities such as sex can deplete her batteries faster,” Mandy explained clinically, even as Sherry was using her last bit of energy. Just before Sherry appeared to be on the verge of shutting down completely, she finally plugged Sherry in.

“Recharge cycle in progress,” Sherry then said in the same emotionless tone, “Sleep mode activated,” and she promptly assumed a sleeping position, even including light snoring.

“Huh, it looks like she actually is sleeping,” Zach said in astonishment, staring deeply into Sherry’s sleeping face before focusing back on Mandy as she returned to the other side of the bed.

“In a way, she is,” Mandy said, crawling under the covers and instantly warming up Zach’s left side, “When she recharges this late at night, she enters a sleep mode to augment the recharge process, and to run diagnostics on her systems to perform nighttime repairs.”

“Cool,” Zach said, “And do you do the same thing?”

“Well, I get energy from the food I eat, so I don’t need to recharge,” Mandy said smugly, “But I do run diagnostics as I sleep.”

“Fair enough,” Zach shrugged, “I suppose you androids have to take care of yourselves sometime or other…sleep is the perfect time.”

“Exactly,” Mandy smiled, “Now why don’t we sleep now…I’m sure you’re exhausted after your day.”

“I am, but you’re going to sleep with us?” he asked.

“Well, just this once,” Mandy said, “I want to make sure your first night sleeping with my mom goes smoothly.”

“Ah, well then, in that case, is Sherry able to snuggle with me?” he asked, looking over at Sherry, who was sleeping on her back.

“Sure, just grab her right hand and pull her arm over gently,” Mandy instructed, “Her snuggle programming should take over from there.”

“Alright,” Zach said, and as soon as he did what Mandy instructed, he found himself being snuggled by Sherry’s warm, naked body.

“Better?” Mandy asked.

“Much,” Zach agreed, laying contentedly on his back.

“Alright, then let’s go to sleep,” and at that, Mandy seemed to commune with the house and shut off the lights, then she rolled over and fell asleep.

As Zach lay there, his new sexbot and soon-to-be-wife on his left side, and his hot, soon-to-be-android-daughter on his other side, he just thought to himself. “I’m so glad I tried out online dating.” Then, he fell straight to sleep, as a man without a care in the world.

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