Michelle vs. Number One
Michelle vs. Number One
Part 1: Nancy Draws Near
“Why are you stressed, Michelle?” Gabriela—the stunning-looking blonde Latina fembot - tilted her head surprised. “You're not the one competing.”
“I'm just worried about you, you blockhead. Sure, you're good-looking, but good looks in a fembot aren't everything. There's also a talent show and…” Michelle smiled faintly at her partner. “I guess I'm a bit of a stage mom.”
It took a while for Gabriela to mull that over and understand the idiom… but once she did, she tottered over to Michelle and gave her a warm hug.
“Aww, hija mia, that's so…. sweet”. Michelle was less than thrilled to be pressed against Gaby's perfect synthetic body, particularly her ample bust.
“Gaby? You can let go, hun.”… Michelle was a bit miffed…
“Well, isn't this lovely.” Gaby let go when she heard a sharp feminine voice. Michelle turned around to see a very tall, Caucasian woman dressed in a single-piece white pantsuit. Her pale face bore a mocking grin, underlined by her impressive cheekbones. “Girls… Do you really think this whole… afterschool special deal will help you win?” She leaned forward on her cane.
“And who the heck are you?”, Michelle asked, not intimidated in the slightest. The woman in white frowned.
“Such language! Beauregard?” Michelle realized that a giant, bald man in a suit was, in fact, not an element of scenery but a person standing behind the newcomer. He was built like a brick shithouse… though he didn't look half bad for a mountain of muscle. Nonetheless, he leaned over Gaby and Michelle, snarling: “One does not speak to Mrs. Astor this way!”
Even though Michelle flinched, Gaby didn't let go of her—maybe it was protectiveness, or maybe the Latina robot-woman was not entirely imaginative. Michelle found that… well, comforting.
“Um… I'm sorry.” She extended her hand to Mr. Beauregard, who did not accept it. However, Mrs. Astor stared at her with her icy-cold blue eyes hidden beneath her impressive eyelashes.
After a good while of Mrs. Astor waiting, she scoffed. “Well, I suppose she can't help it, Beauregard.”, she adjusted her mane of platinum white hair and turned to Michelle. “I take it you're the owner of this… blondie?” Somehow, it sounded far more derogatory than it should have.
Michelle nodded. “Look, I don't know what your deal is, but…”… she didn't get deterred by Beauregard's snarl. “But yes, Gaby and I are a team in this beauty show.”
“Beauregard!”, Mrs. Astor snapped. "We can always solve it politely." She turned her attention to Gaby and stepped back, pointing at Latina's hair and… curvaceous build with the tip of her cane. “You must be cheating. She is far too young-looking to run at the Talent Show in THIS age category.”
Michelle chuckled—and looked at Gabriela— who was blank-faced and observing the situation. “Gaby, this lady just said you look young and beautiful. I mean, in a weird way to do so, sure… but you should thank her.”
“Thank you, lady.”, Gabriela grinned for a moment—and froze with a satisfied, pleasant smile. Fembots, Michelle groaned internally, then turned to the perturbed complainer.
“Look, Mrs. Astor, my husband had built Gabriela Ortega-Calderon as a 52 years old woman, and no one complained in the preliminaries.” — The android shows had fairly elaborate requirements—even though Gaby DID look younger than one might expect. Michelle thought that 'senior female android' was a far less competitive category.
“If you have any complaints, take it up to the board, we're not quitters.”, Michelle added. The self-satisfied red-lipsticked smirk didn't disappear from the face of the woman in white.
“Oh, child, I have. Believe me, they will trust the word of Nancy Carolyn Astor. I have been three times winner of the 50+ category and Kulyashin and Ronalds will take my word seriously. You are cheating. And cheaters get disqualified, humiliated, expelled for LIFE.” — She added emphasis to each word with a thump of her black, slim cane.
Michelle's stage mom instincts took over. "Look, lady, I'm more than willing to cut wrinkles in Gaby's synthetic flesh. Just make good on your promise and stop bothering us."
"Hah!" The sound reminded Michelle of a locomotive whistle. “I do not bother you two.” Astor stopped smiling. “You bother me.” Beauregard stepped forward, but Mrs. Astor stopped him. “As the young lady said, Beauregard, we must take the official route. Come, I can't keep that little make-up woman waiting forever.”
Michelle stayed calm. When the white-haired woman left, she took a deep breath. “Stressful… but I guess not that threatening. We can deal with them.”
“Why are you so sure, Michelle?”. Gaby finally let go.
“Because they were robots. Mrs. Astor said she was the winner and going to make-up artist—not her robot or anything. Exceptions, sure, but robots can't hurt humans. The big guy was… did his best to be scary, but I think empty threats are all they have. She IS good, though—I can see why she's winning. I wonder what she'll do in the talent show part.”
“They don't have to be empty threats.” Gabriela pointed out after some consideration. “She might have me removed.” “I don't know, but it's her word against mine and George's. He made you. She's a contestant android, we're two humans with some clout in the community. If anything goes wrong, we can talk to her owner and work things out together.”, Michelle shrugged. “She's an old lady robot with a sidekick, how dangerous can she be?”