The Replacement - Part 4

Part 4.1: New jobs

Despite John’s warning, Sabrina’s newly upgraded body ran smoothly and without any major issues and a few weeks after Sabrina’s upgrade, Ipek received one as well. Sabrina graduated with her Master’s degree a few weeks after she moved into her upgraded body, and she quickly got a new job working as a secretary at the local college, earning more than enough money to quit her job at the retail store.

Greg’s promotion finally came through as well. He was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge, or ASAC, of logistics and operations. Basically, he was in charge of all the other analysts, amongst other things.

They both had a small celebration at their apartment, though John was hospitalized for reasons he refused to disclose, though he said it was some sort of work related injury, so they didn’t read too much into it. Still, Greg’s parents managed to make it.

As happy for Greg as Sabrina was, she was still a little nervous, because even though he was the ASAC of basically the office support staff and the analysts, he was now expected to occasionally go out into the field, meaning he had to carry a firearm with him; he was actually a good shot, though he hadn’t had to use a weapon since the academy.

Greg assured her he would be alright, since he would rarely have to go out into the field, and when he did he would be with trained agents, but she worried nevertheless.

They both happened to start work on the same day, so they got into separate vehicles and headed to their new jobs.

While Sabrina was getting settled into her new work atmosphere and getting to know her coworkers, Greg was settling in to his new office and joining his first briefing meeting with the SAC and the other ASACs.

After his lunch break, he finally had some alone time in his office, so he decided to pull his tablet out and check in on Sabrina. He quickly pulled up the visual feed and saw her vision of what he assumed was her desk. She was currently filing some sort of paperwork.

It did not take her too long to realize he was looking at her feed, and her voice emitted from his tablet’s speaker.

“Hey, why are you spying on me?” she asked a demanding tone of voice, though she didn’t censor anything from her visual feed, so he knew she was just being playful.

“Just checking in on you,” he said.

“Aww, that’s sweet,” she said.

“How’s your first day of work?” he asked.

“It’s going fine,” she said, “Though this one intern keeps hitting on me even though I told him I’m spoken for,” she complained.

“I’m sure you can handle him,” he said, “I don’t have anything to worry about, do I?” he asked.

“No,” she laughed, “He’s not even close to as good as you,”

“Good,” he said.

“So, how’s your day been going?” she asked.

“I’m just getting my brand new office settled in,” he gloated, leaning back in his chair and looking around at his nice sized office.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” she said.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have an office someday too,” he said.

“I hope so,” she said.

They chatted for a few more minutes before getting back to their work. They decided to try and chat in that fashion every day that week, and they were able to…though it was much easier for Sabrina since she could carry on the conversation inside her head while continuing her work and without alerting anyone.

Their conversations went fairly well, until their last chat at the end of the week. Greg was finishing up some paperwork in his office before heading out for the weekend, and Sabrina was doing the same thing.

“I wonder what Ipek is cooking for us tonight,” Sabrina mused as she typed a pile of transcripts into the computer.

“Hopefully something filling,” Greg said, “I’m starving,”

“Me too,” she agreed, “I’m so glad I can chat with you right now,” she said, “Everyone else has left and I’m all by myself here,”

“Well, I’m glad I can keep you company,” he said.

“Don’t you feel lonely in that…,” she said.

“Sabrina, what is it?” he asked.

“I thought I heard something,” she said, and a few moments later, “Must have been something outside,” she added, “Don’t you feel lonely in that office?”

“No,” he said, “I have a one way window, so I can see what they are doing and they can’t see me,”

“Cool,” she said, “Someday you have to let me see your…”she started, and then the visual feed cut out.

“Sabrina, are you there?” he asked, suddenly getting worried.

After getting no response, he quickly left the visual feed and went to the diagnostic window. He gasped when he saw the result. Her systems had suffered a severe electrical overload, causing her to shut down. The only way that could have happened is if she were attacked.

“Shit!,” Greg muttered, pulling out his phone and quickly dialing the emergency number for John.

“Greg, what is it?” John’s voice sounded over the phone.

“I think someone attacked Sabrina,” Greg explained, hooking an earpiece to his ear and getting his gun, “Her diagnostic reads show she suffered a severe shock, and her systems are all shut down,”

“Damn it!” John swore, “She’s only been working there a week, who would want to hurt her?”

“I’m not sure,” Greg said, “She mentioned that there was an intern making advances on her,”

“Is her homing beacon still active?” John asked.

“Yes,” Greg said, double checking the tablet.

“Good, you head over to where she is while I alert our private security teams,” John said.

“Okay,” Greg said, “I’m going to quickly reacquisition a chopper so I can get there more quickly,” Greg said, already filing the request on his office computer, “Fortunately the college she works at has a helipad,”

“You just go,” John said, “I have a team nearby that will probably arrive shortly after you do,”

“Understood,” Greg said, and once his request was approved, he quickly rushed out of the office and up to where his chopper was awaiting.

From the San Francisco field office, the flight took less than ten minutes. The second they landed on the roof, he leapt from the chopper and followed the homing beacon to Sabrina’s location. Just before he left the roof, he absently noticed a bunch of unmarked vehicles peel into the nearby parking structure.

The homing beacon went beyond the offices were Sabrina worked, into the computer sciences section of the building. He slowed down and controlled his breathing as he entered the lab the signal was coming from. His heart sank when he saw the label on the door, “Cybernetics lab,”

“Damn it, someone knows what she is,” he swore under his breath.

Greg quietly opened the door and looked around. He heard a muttering sound coming from the other end of the room in a separate chamber. As Greg got closer, he could begin to make out what the voice was saying.

“Damn girl, whoever built you was a genius,” he said, “I couldn’t even tell you were a robot,” he added, “But those wireless signals gave you away,” he continued.

Greg’s blood was beginning to boil as he heard this guy musing about his girlfriend. His heart nearly burst from his chest when he finally came within eyesight of them. He saw Sabrina completely naked on an examination table. Because he didn’t have access to her tablet, he had used a scalpel to cut into Sabrina’s front access panel, causing her artificial blood to spill out.

It was a testament to his training and his usual cool headedness that he didn’t pop the guy in the head right then, instead he continued his slow advance and listened to the idiot’s verbal musings.

“Man, I just can’t figure you out,” he said, “Where’s your A.I. center at?” he asked, beginning to attach devices to her primary motor center.

That was enough for Greg. “It’s in her head,” he announced loudly, pulling his gun and aiming it at the man.

“Whoa!,” the man announced, though when Greg finally saw his face, he was able to see it was actually a 16 year old freshman.

“FBI,” Greg announced, flashing his badge, “drop the tools, put your hands in the air and step the hell away from my girlfriend,” Greg told him.

“FBI,” the boy said in a confused voice, “Your girlfriend?” he asked.

“That’s right,” Greg said, “That person you attacked is my girlfriend,”

“You actually think that is a person,” the boy laughed, “Now that’s sad,”

“Just shut the hell up kid,” Greg said through gritted teeth.

“I can’t believe an FBI agent actually thinks a robot could be his girlfriend,” the boy continued nevertheless, “As real as she seems, she’s still a machine,”

“You have no idea what you are dealing with kid, I suggest you be quiet,” Greg told him.

“Actually, I’m something of a prodigy with cybernetics,” the kid announced arrogantly, “I know everything there is to know about them and even the most real ones are still just machines,”

“Sabrina here used to be a real person,” Greg said, “She’s an experimental humanoid replacement model,”

“What the fuck?” the boy said, “There’s no way androids like that can exist. I don’t believe you,”

“Believe it or not, they do,” Greg said, and he heard the sound of footsteps outside, “Looks like my backup is here,” Greg said, just as the team of men came in, all wearing black suits.

“Agent Phillips,” the leader of them called out.

“Over here!” Greg called back to them, and as soon as they arrived, he said, “This kid somehow discovered what Sabrina is,” he reported, “Why don’t you take him in and question him?”

“Gladly sir,” the leader said, and he and his team roughly seized the kid and began pulling him out as a second team entered with a stretcher for Sabrina.

“Hey!, you can’t do this! You’re FBI, you have no jurisdiction here!” he yelled.

“True, but they aren’t FBI,” Greg smiled, and then the men dragged him out.

“So, did he do any irreparable damage to her?” Greg asked the technician who was looking over Sabrina’s body.

“Well, the skin is easy to repair,” the technician reported, “But we won’t be able to assess the damage caused by the shock until we get her to the lab,”

“Alright, I’m riding with you,” Greg said, and he followed Sabrina’s stretcher down to their vans, holding her hand as they made the long drive to John’s lab.

John was waiting for them when they finally arrived at Sabrina’s personal lab. Once they hooked her up to all the machines and ran a few diagnostics, they all gave a collective sigh of relief.

“What is it?” Greg asked, “Is she okay?”

“Yes Greg, she’s okay,” John said, “That idiot used a stun stick at the base of her neck,” he explained, “Fortunately, we developed a countermeasure which basically cutoff her power systems before any serious damage could be done,” he continued, “The funny thing is we originally designed that safety feature for the rare possibility an android might get struck by a bolt of lightning,” he finished with a laugh.

“Well, that kid was an idiot,” Greg said, laughing as well as he watched them replace a few minor components in her body and then resealing the sliced skin with a special tool, “So, what are your guys going to be doing to that kid?”

“Well, we’re going to interrogate him to find out how he discovered Sabrina’s nature,” John said, “Then we’re going to use our government connections to have his cybernetics licenses and certifications revoked permanently, and we are going to invoke a gag order on him,”

“A little excessive,” Greg said, “But after what he did to Sabrina, I really don’t care,”

“Me neither,” John said, and then one of the technicians reported that Sabrina was repaired, “Good, could you activate her please?”

The technician reached behind Sabrina’s left ear and pressed in. Moments later, all her systems came back online and she woke up with a start.

“Whoa!” she screamed, shocking almost everyone in the room.

“Relax Sabrina, you’re safe,” John said, walking over to calm her down.

“What the hell happened?” she asked, “The last thing I can remember was filing some paperwork and chatting with Greg,”

“Well, apparently that annoying intern found out you were an android and attacked you with a stun stick,” John explained, “Greg flew over to the school and rescued you,” he exaggerated slightly with a sideways wink.

“That creep attacked me?” she asked, shuddering at the thought, “What did you do to him?” she asked.

“We’re questioning him now to find out how he discovered what you are,” John reported, “Suffice to say he won’t ever be able to bother you again,”

“Good,” she said.

“How are you feeling?” Greg asked, walking up to her.

“I’m fine now that I know I’m safe,” she smiled, “My hero,” she added.

“Oh, it wasn’t quite like that,” he scoffed modestly, blushing nevertheless.

“Well, that’s how I choose to remember it,” she said stubbornly, and then she got up and kissed him.

After the technicians cleared her to leave, they gave her some clothes to wear and she and Greg were driven home by one of John’s employees. That night they had some pretty awesome trauma sex before eating what Ipek was able to reheat for them and then passing out in their bed.

After a few days passed, they had forgotten the incident and had moved on with their lives. Greg was just finishing up a case involving him going out into the field with the white collar crimes unit. As he was heading back into the field office, he heard someone yell out, “Hey, robot lover!”

Greg turned around and was surprised to see the kid he had busted the previous week for attacking Sabrina. He was even more surprised to see the kid aiming a gun at him.

“You,” was all Greg said.

“Yes, me,” the kid sneered, “Thanks to you, my life is ruined,” he said, “Thanks to you and your robot,” he added.

“Kid, I know you think she’s just a robot, but she is a lot more than that,” Greg said, watching as several of his coworkers formed a perimeter around them.

“Thanks to you two, I can’t get a job anywhere!,” the kid screamed, “All I wanted to do was figure out how she worked, but you all just overreacted!,” he continued, seeming completely unhinged now.

“Kid, just relax,” Greg said, trying to calm the kid down.

“NO!,” the kid screamed, “You ended my life, and now I’m going to end yours!” he screamed, and he fired his weapon directly at Greg.

Greg felt a searing pain in his back. As he fell to the ground, he could hear his coworkers emptying their magazines into the kid. The last thing Greg remembered before losing consciousness was the sound of his own labored breathing, and the blood pooling around himself.

Part 4.4: A day in each other's shoes

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Continued in The Replacement - Part 5

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