The Repair Shop - Part 1
The Small Business Chronicles: The Repair Shop - Part 1
Chapter 1: Clientele
“Jack, your clients have arrived,” Rachel’s voice sounded over the intercom in Jack’s lab.
“Alright, I’ll be right up!” Jack responded. He quickly tidied the place up, putting various computer and cybernetic equipment away and putting his computer station in standby mode. After placing a blanket over a human-sized android skeletal structure he had been working on in the corner of his work room, he brushed the residual dust off his clothes and then headed towards the lift.
The lift made its usual efficient climb up to ground level, and emptied into the office of the shop Jack owned. Unlike the last time, the office was in a state of semi-construction, with the wall where Rachel’s desk used to be knocked out and being readied for the addition that would connect it to the motel next door…the motel Jack had finally acquired a few weeks prior.
The gift shop that Serriah would be working in had been mostly finished, and they were already starting to sell some of their new products. Still, as much as the shop made, Jack’s true passion still lay in the android repair business. As the only licensed five-star technician, not to mention the only technician, in an area where over 100,000 people lived, roughly a third of whom owned some sort of android, he made quite a bit of money from his own business.
With the changes to the office, Rachel’s desk was now on the opposite side, to the left of the lift doors and next to the door leading into the new gift shop. There were two people sitting across her desk: an older man, and a young man. A young woman stood passively next to the young man, and was most likely the android they were paying Jack to work on.
“Sorry to make you wait, I had a few projects I had to secure,” Jack apologized, approaching the desk and taking a seat next to Rachel. He usually had Rachel sit in because she could remember all of his legal information in case a client was picky. “It’s Mr. Jacobs, right?” Jack would normally use a first name basis, but since the client was both rich and sitting next to his son, he chose to be more formal.
“Yes, and it’s no trouble at all, I hear you’re the best,” Mr. Jacobs said, leaning over the desk and shaking Jack’s hand.
“I take it you’ve already acquainted yourselves with Rachel, my Secretary model.”
“Yes,” Mr. Jacobs said, “She seems very well maintained, and adequately programmed.”
“Thanks,” Jack said, meanwhile Rachel gave a very well programmed blush as they spoke kindly of her. “Anyway, I take it this young woman is the android you’d like me to work on?”
Jack directed his attention at the passively standing young woman. Now that he was looking directly at her, he could see she was designed to be roughly the same age as the young man, approximately 18 years of age. She had a nice hourglass figure, pale skin, and long, light brown hair cascading past her shoulders.
“Yes, her name is Annina, a Perfect Friend model,” Mr. Jacobs explained, “I got her for my son Eric’s 16th birthday, two years ago,” he continued, “He’s a shut in, but a genius, so I got her to keep him company and to inspire his creative process.”
“Oh, and what do you do Eric?” Jack asked.
“I’m a writer,” Eric replied, a little shyly.
“Very nice,” Jack complimented him, “So, what is it you need me to do with Annina?” he asked, focusing back on Mr. Jacobs.
“I’ll let my son explain to you,” Mr. Jacobs said, getting to his feet, “He gets a little embarrassed speaking about Annina in my presence, so I’ll just wait out in the shop.”
“Okay,” Jack said, “You did hand over your consent to Rachel, right?”
“Yes, and I am also authorizing you to officially transfer ownership of Annina to Eric,” Mr. Jacobs said, “It’s his 18th birthday present.”
“Very well, and please take a look at some of the new items we’ve stocked in our new gift shop while you wait,” Jack said, “If you have any questions, just ask Serriah, my Partier model.” Mr. Jacobs gave him a polite nod and then left. As soon as Mr. Jacobs left, Jack turned back to Eric. “Well, Eric, what would you like me to do for Annina?”
Eric did not answer, but instead reached into his jacket pocket and produced a list of the changes he wanted made. “As my father said, I’m turning 18 in a few days. Five to be exact. But, he forgot to mention that my 18th birthday is also the same day as Senior Prom at school,” Eric said in a much less shy voice, “I’d like for the maintenance, upgrades, and repairs to be completed by the end of the week so she can go with me and then give me a happy ending, if you know what I mean.”
“I sure do,” Jack winked, perusing the list. “Hmmm, I see you did your homework before coming to me,” he said with an impressed look, looking at the detailed list of upgrades, as well as the list of repairs that needed to be made. “I’m curious, what happened to her fluidic transfer systems?”
“Annina and I went camping in the mountains a few weeks ago, and it was a cold night,” Eric began, “I didn’t realize she needed to be bundled up like a human, being an android and all, so her sweat glands froze and ruptured,” he continued, “Fortunately the damage wasn’t too bad, but she obviously can’t sweat now, and that slightly detracts from her realism.”
“I see,” Jack nodded, “Don’t feel too bad, you’ve made a pretty common mistake,” Jack assured him, “Most people assume that androids don’t need to protect their bodies like a human does, but their epidermis and internal systems are still susceptible to external factors…I really wish Spaztec would educate people better.”
“I guess I figured that out the hard way,” Eric laughed, looking sidelong at Annina, who gave him a smile in response.
“Anyway, most of these repairs should be pretty easy to fix, but these upgrades might take a while,” Jack said, continuing to look down the list, “Especially the addition of a vagina,” he added delicately, “I’m curious, did you pick out what kind of vagina you’d like her to have?”
Eric’s face grew red when he heard the question. “No, I figured you’d just install whatever one her model was supposed to receive had I been 18 when I got her.”
“Oh no, you get to pick what it looks like,” Jack smiled, pulling a small tablet out from his jacket pocket. He quickly loaded the Spaztec Android configuration site and opened the page for vaginas, “Here, take a look at these and select your favorite.”
Eric slowly took the tablet and then blushed when he saw the images before him. “Wow,” was all he said.
“Take your time,” Jack smiled. As he watched the young man before him look through the dozens of different vagina variants, he couldn’t help but remember his experience selecting Gabby’s configuration. Even though she was mainly based on a celebrity, he still got to make subtle alterations to her appearance.
After a short time, Eric finally made his selection; an average looking vagina. “Very well,” Jack said, having Rachel get started placing the order, “Now, that part alone will take about two days to get here, in the meanwhile I can easily work on the software updates, as well as many of the repairs and upgrades,” Jack explained, “And keep in mind, once I install the vagina, I will need to test it out to ensure it works properly.”
“Do you have to?” Eric asked defensively, giving Annina a concerned look.
“Yes,” Jack said, “I know it seems like I just want to fuck your android, but there is some fine tuning that needs to be done to make sure she doesn’t accidentally squeeze your dick off.”
“Oh,” Eric winced.
“Yeah, but I promise I will give her a thorough cleaning, and even wipe her memories of the experience so she will only remember you as her first,” Jack assured him.
Eric looked slightly relieved when he heard that. “Well, I will trust your judgement.”
Jack merely nodded, “So, you just come here on the morning of your birthday and she’ll be waiting for you,”
“Thank you, Jack,” Eric said, “Is there anything else you need from me?”
“Just her control tab.”
Eric quickly reached into his jacket again and produced a small control tab. “Here you go.”
“Thanks Eric, I can assure you I’ll do everything I can to fix Annina up for you,” he assured him, “My wife is a Housewife model herself, so I understand your concerns.”
“Once I’ve graduated college and released a few bestsellers, I’ll be converting Annina here into a Housewife model,” Eric said proudly, getting up and patting Annina’s shoulder.
“Well, I hope you’ll let me do the honors when the time comes,” Jack said, also getting to his feet.
Eric did not respond to that, instead he gave Annina a loving kiss and then started heading out. “Take good care of her!” he called back as he left.
“I will!” Jack called back. Once Eric was gone, he turned to Rachel. “Well Rachel, were you able to place the orders for me while we talked?”
“Yes sir,” she smiled pleasantly, “several of the components should be here as early as tomorrow, but that vagina won’t be here until the day after, as you estimated.”
“Just as I thought,” Jack said, “I suppose even in the 22nd century there are still limits to how fast shipping can happen.” Jack then turned to Annina. “Well Annina, why don’t you follow me down to my lab now?”
“Okay, Mr. Jack,” she said innocently, passively following him into the lift and down to his lab.
Chapter 2: Annina - Session 1
Once the lift opened up into the lab, Jack led Annina the short distance into the main room. Jack immediately sat down in his work chair upon arrival, while Annina remained standing a short distance from him. After getting the computer station booted back up, he turned to look at her.
“Wow, you’re not too bad looking,” he muttered to himself.
Annina was built in the form of a young woman, approximately 18-20 years old. Now that he was able to focus directly on her, he could tell she was most likely built from a compilation of at least a couple of European women, and her voice even had a slight accent to it. She was currently wearing the latest girl’s fashions in her age group.
“Alright Annina, why don’t we start by having you remove your clothes?” Jack suggested, sitting down in his chair and booting his computer up.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Jack, but you’ll have to give me an authorization code before I can disrobe.”
“Huh?” It was a fairly new security precaution being installed in the newer androids, but one he already had installed in all of his own units. He just wasn’t accustomed to seeing it in one of his client’s units…apparently, they really wanted to protect her. In response, Jack pulled a small badge out of his pocket with a 3D barcode.
Annina’s eyes went slightly out of focus as they scanned the barcode, then she returned to normal. “I have just scanned an administrator badge,” she reported, “Please give voice verification.”
“Wow, her owner really doesn’t want people messing with her,” Jack muttered again. He then looked directly into her eyes and spoke. “Technician grade five, code: three-seven-pi-zero-alpha,” he recited.
After a few seconds went by, in which Annina processed his voice verification, she finally smiled and said, “Code accepted.”
“Very good,” Jack said, “Now, would you remove your clothes please?”
“Certainly,” Annina replied with a smile. She then began efficiently disrobing, revealing a rather petite figure. The one striking thing about her appearance was that instead of a vagina, there was a smooth area of skin. This feature was typical of androids given to individuals under the age of 18, though it was not a requirement; obviously Mr. Jacobs wanted to save his son’s innocence a while longer. The odd thing was, she still had nipples, and that was also something that could be omitted due to parental controls.
Despite knowing of this type of parental control, this was the first android Jack had encountered that was equipped with it. He couldn’t help but reach out and feel the smooth area of skin; it felt real. The oddest thing, aside from the absence of female genitalia, was the fact that her designers had been able to make the absence itself look natural. If an alien were to land on earth and examine her, they would have no idea that something was missing.
“Alright Annina,” Jack started, withdrawing his hands from her lovely body, “Please lay down and open your primary access panel.”
“Okay,” Annina replied. She then efficiently laid down on the examination table and unsealed her primary torso access panel.
Jack quickly dug into the seams and pulled the skin away. Annina’s hardware was humming away, processing the many millions of commands from the complex A.I. core in the center. Jack could never get over seeing what made these lovely androids tick.
“Annina, can you access my diagnostic terminal?” Jack asked, as he perused her hardware to see if he could detect any failing components.
“Yes, would you like me to access it?”
“Please.” He watched as her eyes zoned out, then, moments later, they came back into focus; the wireless indicator on her hub was now lit up. “Alright, I want you to interface with the diagnostic logger and run a full diagnostic.”
“Alright, the diagnostic will take approximately 20-minutes to complete,” she reported, “please remember not to remove any hardware while the diagnostic is running.”
“Don’t worry,” Jack told her, but she had already begun the diagnostic. “Hmmm, I guess maybe I’ll have to make her a bit friendlier while I’m at it,” he thought to himself.
During the entire diagnostic, Jack poured over all of her hardware to see if he could detect any defects or damage; he found little of importance, mostly just general wear and tear. Just as he finished his visual survey of her systems, she finally finished the diagnostic.
“Diagnostic complete. Results are available on terminal,” she reported, coming back to life.
“Thanks, Annina, just take a breather while I analyze the results,” Jack said, not caring that her A.I. was too unsophisticated to parse that response. He quickly looked over the results and then sighed as he read them. “Wow, no wonder you seem so basic,” he said, “Looks like they spent so much money on custom making you that there was almost nothing left for enhanced hardware or A.I...”
Annina merely remained motionless, not able to respond to that comment.
“Well dear, looks like I’ll have my work cut out for me tomorrow,” Jack said, closing the diagnostic results. “In the meanwhile, it looks like the damage to your perspiration glands was not as bad as the kid let on,” he added, seeing the damage was restricted to her arms and upper torso, “Nothing a few nanites can’t fix,” he then said, getting up and heading to the opposite section of the lab.
Jack opened a sealed storage compartment and took out a container of an odd substance. It appeared to be semi-liquid, though the contents were moving. On closer inspection, it was actually billions of nanoscopic robots designed to repair delicate android components at the microscopic level. Jack was one of few technicians in the country even allowed to handle them, as they had to be very carefully programmed to only complete their assigned task and nothing more. A few non-qualified individuals tried in the past, but the nanites ended up escaping and wreaking havoc on every computer system within a mile.
Jack took a small needle from the container and poked it into the container, extracting enough to fill the syringe, but not nearly enough to drain the container; they were able to self-replicate. He placed the container back in the storage compartment and then walked back over to his computer, where he spent some time programming them for their assigned task: Repair Annina’s sweat glands.
“Alright Annina, this won’t hurt a bit,” Jack said, knowing she could care less about pain. He carefully injected both her arms and her upper chest. Once all the nanites were injected into her, he sanitized the needle and threw it into a special e-waste bin. He then shut down the terminal and walked back over to Annina.
“I’m going to shut you down until tomorrow Annina,” he told her, “the nanites should be done repairing you by then,” he added and before she could respond, he pressed her manual shutdown button. Annina quickly shut down, and as soon as all her systems were offline, Jack draped a white cloth over her inert body and headed towards the lift to the house.
“Until tomorrow Annina,” he called back, then he called for the lift to the house so he could relax for a while with Gabby.
Chapter 3: Annina - Session 2
Jack entered the lab first thing the next morning with a small cart of deliveries from Spaztec that had just arrived. He tossed the remnants of the breakfast Gabby had cooked for him into the nearby waste bin and then casually walked over to his station, booted everything up, and then pulled the cloth off Annina’s body.
“Well Annina, let’s see how you’re doing,” he said clinically, grabbing hold of one of her arms. There was a small layer of what looked like dust coated on both her arms and her upper chest. Upon closer inspection, it was actually the remains of all the nanites that had completed their task overnight; they crawled out of her dermal layer and self-destructed, essentially turning to dust.
“Very nice,” Jack said, brushing the nanites into a special bin for recycling. Once he had the spent nanites recycled, he picked up Annina’s control tablet and punched in his access code for the administrator toolbox.
Despite being shut down, Jack could still use the tablet to modify her settings before reactivating her. In this case, he modified her memory settings so that during his diagnostic sessions, her memories of them would be backed up on his server instead of in her own memory center. With that setting changed, he moved on to altering her hot swap settings so he could swap her hardware out while she was still online.
“Alrighty, let’s get you turned back on,” Jack said. He tapped the activation icon on the tablet and watched as Annina came back to life. Once all her systems were back online, she opened her eyes and then focused them onto Jack’s.
“Hello Mr. Jack, how are you this morning?” Annina asked pleasantly, not even surprised that she was naked or in a strange place.
“I’m fine Annina, thank you for asking,” Jack smiled, glad that Annina had been programmed well enough to be polite. “Several of your hardware upgrades have arrived today, so I’ll be installing them in you,” he told her, “But first, I need to perform several software updates.”
“Okay,” she smiled, then she frowned, “I seem to be having difficulty saving my memories to my memory center.”
“That’s because your owner,” Jack started, trying to remember the young man’s name, “Eric, doesn’t want you to have any memory of what I will be doing to you tomorrow,” Jack explained, “Which reminds me, could you please transfer all your memory regarding the brief session last night to my server?”
“Certainly,” she replied, then she zoned out a bit as she transferred over nearly an hour’s worth of memories. “Alright, I’m done,” she finally said moments later.
“Good, now before I start, I’m going to run a few benchmarks to make sure the new hardware works as intended,” Jack told her. He then tapped back into the administrator tool box and opened the benchmarking tab. “Now, this is going to severely tax all of your systems for about fifteen minutes,” he warned her, “So, try not to engage any programs while it’s running.”
“Ok,” she smiled.
Jack merely smiled back as he tapped the start icon for the benchmark. Immediately, Annina’s body seemed to seize up a little as the strain on her systems became apparent. Her eyes seemed to zone out and she fell silent and Jack’s trained ears could hear her processors working away inside her torso.
While Jack sat down at the computer to analyze the results as they came in, he thought about what exactly the benchmark was putting her systems through. It basically simulated a multitude of pre-programmed tasks running simultaneously in order to stress every system in her body. Jack was pleased to see some perspiration forming on her arms and chest as a result of the benchmark, showing him the nanites had indeed done their job.
After the fifteen minutes were up, the benchmark ended and Annina’s systems finally settled down. She came out of her reverie and started breathing heavily as though she had just finished a workout; in actuality, she was drawing in more air to cool off her systems.
“Annina, was that your first benchmark?” Jack asked, waiting as the results tabulated.
“Yes. How did I do?”
“Well, I guess you performed it adequately enough,” Jack smiled, “Let’s just say Eric got you for your looks, not your brains.”
“Good,” Annina said, seeming to have not heard the last bit, “Are you going to start my upgrades now?”
“Sure,” Jack responded. He sighed as he looked at her benchmark results. The benchmark nearly fried several of her processors, and it had created several subtle errors in her A.I. architecture...nothing that wouldn’t be fixed by the software updates. “I’m assuming you’re still connected to my server, right?”
“I am.”
“Good, then I’m going to add a list of software updates I want you to install,” he told her. He then queued up the massive list of software updates that would probably take her a few hours to complete. “Alright, you see them?”
“Yes.”
“Good, then get started,” he told her, “Oh, and before I forget, you have my permission to skip through all the warnings,” he added, referring to the annoying “Are you sure you wish to overwrite this program?” questions he was sure she would ask for each updated program.
“Alright.” Annina then zoned out and relaxed as she started downloading the multitude of updates.
As Annina downloaded and installed the updates, he spent more time analyzing her diagnostic and benchmark results. It appeared he was a little too hard on her. It was true that she was a little too basic to act realistic towards him, but that was because the majority of her programming had adapted itself to Eric’s personality, and a little for Eric’s father. As such, there was almost no room left in her software to adapt to anyone else. Fortunately, the combination of software and hardware updates would make her almost completely passable as a human…or at least, infinitely more passable than she currently was.
At this point, Annina had finished downloading them all and was now going through the long process of installing all of them. Jack had been doing this for years, but he still found it amusing to read through the file names. There were updates for literally everything you could possibly imagine: small talk, dreaming, jokes, sexy walks...etc.
During this point, Annina was essentially in a catatonic state while everything installed, so Jack amused himself like he always did; he browsed the Spaztec android exchange site for good deals.
“Hmmm, this one looks interesting,” he said. There was a single entry posted by Spaztec itself for three identical personal trainer units each modeled on the 21st century actress Kaley Cuoco (23 years old). Those types of posts didn’t show up very often, but when they did, you could always get a great deal since they saved money selling them in bulk rather than individually.
“I think I can use them,” Jack mused, seriously considering the purchase, “I’ll talk it over with Gabby when I’m done with Annina,” he smiled, reserving the purchase and essentially freezing anyone out of buying it for 72 hours; one of the many perks of being a consultant.
Closing the exchange site, he peeked at the percentage bar for Annina’s installation: it was at 13%. “Wow, maybe I should have installed the new hardware first,” he joked, giving her thigh a light pat.
As the installation continued at its slow pace, Jack busied himself by working on code requests from Spaztec, thus giving him more consultant credits towards the purchase he was hoping to make later that night.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, but…actually was hours, Annina finally finished installing everything and automatically rebooted. As her systems came back online, her A.I. automatically ran preliminary benchmarks and diagnostics, and the results were very promising.
“Well Annina, looks like the software updates alone gave you a 50% boost in overall efficiency,” Jack said aloud, once the results had tabulated, “How do you feel?”
“I feel fine, Mr. Jack,” Annina replied politely, “and my adaptive algorithms seem to be having an easier time adapting to your personality.”
“Good, that was the general idea,” Jack said, pleased to see she was acting a bit more…real. “Eric wants to take you to the school dance, and you’re going to have to be able to interact with hundreds of people.”
“Ooh, Eric never takes me out to meet people,” Annina smiled, “The last time he took me out was that camping trip.”
“I figured,” Jack said, “By the looks of Eric, it doesn’t look like he gets out much either.”
“He doesn’t,” Annina confirmed, then smiled, “But that’s what he got me for.”
“And that’s why I have all my employees,” Jack smiled back, “And Gabby.” Jack mused a bit before focusing back on Annina, “Anyway, it’s going to take a bit more than just the software updates to make you ready.” Jack then started opening the delivery boxes and prepping the hardware that he was about to install in Annina.
“Is that going to make me faster?” she asked innocently.
“Yes Annina, a lot faster,” Jack smiled, “You know what to do,” he nodded, eyeing her torso.
“Understood,” Annina nodded. She zoned out and once again unsealed her primary access panel, which Jack had resealed before leaving her the previous session. Jack once again pulled it off, setting it aside on a nearby tray.
“Alright Annina, I’m going to need you to verify that all your safeties are offline,” Jack told her, “I need to hot swap your hardware to ensure it installs properly.”
“My systems are reporting all safeties are offline,” Annina dutifully reported.
“Good, now I’m going to be replacing your processors one by one,” he explained, opening up one of the smaller boxes. The box was filled with five sub-processors, each roughly the same model as the ones Jack upgraded Gabby with on Christmas. Clearly Eric’s dad was sparing no expense on Annina’s upgrade.
Annina nodded as she began preparing her systems. Jack then reached in and opened the maintenance bay on her main processing assembly and carefully removed one of the processors. To his delight, Annina did not malfunction and was able to successfully reroute her functions to the four remaining chips.
“Looks like the software update really helped,” Jack muttered, quickly installing one of the newer chips and moving on to another one. He did this one by one over the next several minutes, pausing briefly in between to allow Annina to properly install each processor. When he finally had all five processors upgraded, he closed the maintenance bay and looked into Annina’s eyes; they seemed fine. “How are you feeling?”
“Great,” she replied, “The new processors are a lot better than the old ones.”
“Aside from that being completely obvious, I’m just glad that they installed properly,” Jack laughed, “Anyway, I’ve got a few more upgrades for you, so get ready.”
“Okay,” Annina said, relaxing a bit as Jack delved back into her.
Over the course of roughly an hour, Jack removed and upgraded nearly every component in her open torso, from her digestive systems to her cooling systems. Due to the removal of safeguards, he was able to perform each upgrade while Annina was still online, giving him advance notice if anything went wrong. It finally came down to the last upgrade, the one for her motor systems.
“Alright Annina, this last upgrade will require some interaction on your part,” Jack told her, pulling out one last component, “This is for your primary motor systems,” he explained, “Once I upgrade it, you’ll need to walk around for a few minutes to allow it to adapt to the unique way your body moves.”
“Ok.”
“Alrighty, here goes.” Jack then reached in and removed the old component. There was no visible reaction from Annina, since she was currently lying motionless on the table. Jack set the old component down and installed the new one. “Ok Annina, I’ll need you to get up off the table and walk around until it adapts,” Jack told her, withdrawing from her and moving away to give her room.
Annina didn’t reply, she instead sat up. Instead of sitting up gracefully like a normal person, however, she sat up rather stiffly and robotically, her body making a loud mechanical whirring sound as she moved. She continued by dropping down from the table and robotically walking around the room.
As he watched her move, he couldn’t help but admire the way these androids worked. When it came to basic motor functions, they utilized basic servo mechanisms to move their limbs, but they utilized a more organic-like muscular system for the minute, human like movements.
She whirred around the lab for nearly five minutes before she finally started moving about more realistically.
“Very good,” Jack complimented her, watching her do a few more laps around the table, each time strutting more sexily, “Very good.”
“Am I done now?”
“For today’s session,” Jack told her, picking her skin panel up and clicking it back in place over her open panel.
She gave him a friendly smile, “Good.”
“I’m going to need you to lay down again,” he told her, and once she did, he leaned over her. “Tomorrow you get your vagina, which I’m sure Eric will enjoy.”
“Ooh, I hope he does,” Annina said joyfully.
“Anyway, I’m going to need to shut you down again,” he told her, though this time he did it a bit more respectfully, giving her CPU time to parse that statement before pressing the manual shutoff switch. This time, she deactivated with a smile on her face.
“Wow, I think this has been the best improvement I’ve ever seen in an android,” Jack congratulated himself, “Though she was probably the worst-off android I’ve ever worked with,” he added, recovering her with a blanket and heading for the lift into the house. “It’s going to be a big day tomorrow,” he called back, whistling a tune as he stepped into the lift and headed up to the house.
Chapter 4: Annina - Session 3
Jack walked in the next morning with a big smile on his face, and a metallic box tucked under his right arm. He was whistling the same happy tune as he stepped off the lift and headed to his work area. He removed the cloth from Annina’s naked body and then started her up as he sat down and set the box in clear view of her.
Annina came online a few seconds later and immediately sat up, sitting on the edge of the table and focusing on Jack; she smiled as she saw the box.
“Is that it?” she asked with an almost hungry expression.
“Yes, it is,” he responded, “Would you like to take a look?”
“Please.”
Jack smiled in response. He entered his access code on the box’s security panel and then slowly opened it up. He got his fill of the boxes contents before slowly rotating it so Annina could take a look.
Inside the box, nestled in foam, was a fully realistic looking vagina. The vaginal opening included a patch of skin above it with a layer of well groomed, light brown colored pubic hairs. The whole unit itself was nearly a foot and a half long, continuing past the skin and musculature portion into the inner mechanics and the vaginal bag itself, including the lubrication tanks and interface ports.
“Ooh, it looks nice,” she said, reaching in and feeling the opening, as well as the hairs.
“Eric picked it out for you, so you’ll have to thank him for it when you see him,” Jack told her.
“Oh, I will,” she said, still distracted by her new vagina.
“Alright, if you’re done there, I’d like to install it and then test it out,” Jack said, “It should take about an hour to install, and another few minutes to fine tune it.”
“Ok,” Annina sighed, pulling her hands free of the box and laying back down, “Would you like me to open up?”
“Yes,” Jack told her, getting his tool cart ready and wheeling it over to the table. She had just finished unsealing her primary access panel, as well as a small section of skin where her vagina would soon be. “Wow, thanks for opening up both,” Jack said with a little bit of surprise in his voice, seeing as she was unable to take any initiative just 24 hours prior.
“You’re welcome,” she replied sweetly.
Jack quickly removed her main access panel, setting it aside on a nearby table. He then moved down to her hips and rather clinically removed the section of skin she had unsealed, roughly trapezoid shaped; wider at the top, shorter on the bottom. The skin section also had a plug like appendage on the bottom, roughly an inch long. With the smooth section of skin, he quickly placed it in a plastic bag that he had already labelled with all of Annina’s information and then set it aside later for storage; he kept it as a sort of receipt, proving he was the technician who performed this upgrade.
Underneath the section of skin was an almost circular hole, large enough for an arm to fit through, with a sort of track system, almost like the type a drawer uses to slide open and close. The part on the top where the pubic hair was going to be had nerve clusters and connections so the pubic hairs could realistically grow. There was also a mechanism for the subdermal controls for her vaginal unit, so her owner could increase or decrease her libido, lubrication levels, and so a technician could manually unseal the entire unit.
“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this sight,” Jack muttered to himself.
“What was that?” Annina asked.
“Oh, I was just saying you’re the first android I’ve had to perform this type of upgrade on since I was still a trainee,” Jack explained, “It’s a very weird sight, seeing a large hole where your vagina is supposed to be.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Anyway, just lay back and relax while I install this bad boy,” Jack told her, gently patting her right arm and then getting back to work. He carefully lifted the vaginal unit from the foam mold and brought it over to the opening. The vaginal unit had two grooves on each side that matched the tracks inside her body perfectly. After lining the unit up, he inserted it into the slot and then slowly pushed it in until it clicked in place; the seam still remained, since it was not yet connected to her systems.
“Alright Annina, don’t attempt to access your vaginal unit until I tell you to, okay?” he instructed her, “I don’t want to get electrocuted.”
“Okay,” she nodded.
Jack reached inside her primary access panel and located the opposite end of her vaginal unit, now clearly visible on the bottom. He pulled a few fiberoptic cables from inside the box and began connecting them from her A.I. hub to the vaginal unit. As he did, he saw lights blink on the device showing it was receiving power from her body, but nothing more.
After nearly an hour, he finally finished connecting the dozens of wires from her vaginal unit to various locations on her A.I. hub. He pulled his hands out and shook them off, since the delicate work had made his hands sore.
“Alright Annina, you may now interface with your new vagina and start installing the drivers,” he told her, massaging his hands and letting out an explosive breath of relief.
“Alright,” she replied, then zoned out as her systems interfaced with the new components. Lights started blinking inside her open panel, both on the new unit and on her A.I. hub. A few moments later, the seam around her vagina vanished as she gained full control of the unit. “Oh wow, this feels nice.” She squirmed around on the table with pleasure.
“I can only imagine,” Jack mused, “No errors in installing the device?”
“No, all systems functioning normally,” she reported gleefully.
“Well, I’ll be the judge of that,” he corrected, “let’s test out the control panel,” he told her, bringing his hands to just above the fresh patch of pubic hair and pressing two fingers about an inch apart. That was a pre-programmed touch response to illuminate the subdermal controls. There were two control icons with a droplet icon, and either an up or down arrow inside each drop to indicate lubrication. Another two controls with up and down arrows had a flame icon to indicate arousal. Finally, a standard eject symbol was lit up to indicate the manual release.
“I think I’ll skip the eject feature,” Jack decided mentally, placing his finger instead on the droplet with the up arrow. Instantly, liquid started seeping from various locations both inside and just outside her vagina, adding an even layer of lubrication. He tapped it up a few more times, making her wetter and wetter before tapping down and allowing her skin to reabsorb the lubricant; this feature was new and allowed the android to recycle their lubricant to save their owners money on replacement lube.
“How did that feel?” he asked her, “Any issues lubricating?”
“No, no issues,” she reported.
“And what are your current arousal levels at?” he asked, getting ready to press the libido icons.
“2%.”
He was not too surprised that she was not yet aroused, since he had yet to tap the flame icon, or to engage in any foreplay; apparently, she did not find his work attire very sexy. It was a pretty interesting set of algorithms to simulate arousal. She imprints on her registered owner, and instantly she becomes aroused at all of his physical characteristics, and anyone who may share some. For the purposes of the test, Jack was going to put her in test mode, which would allow her to get aroused by any male.
“Well, time to fix that,” he said. He placed his index finger on the flame icon with the up arrow inside and tapped it a few times at 2-second intervals. Each tap increased her libido by 5% by default, but could be increased to 10% intervals. He tapped it five times, increasing her to about 27%. He stopped and stared down at her face.
Annina’s face was starting to look flushed, and she was beginning to breathe more heavily. He could hear her processors working to process the sexual data, but it was nothing her new and improved systems couldn’t handle.
He continued increasing her until she was at about 50%, then, after waiting to ensure no malfunctions occurred, he lowered her back down to zero.
“Very good Annina, very good,” he told her, “The only thing left to do is a live sexual test.”
“Ok, I’m afraid my current programming prevents me from being aroused by anyone other than Eric,” she apologized.
“No problem,” Jack told her, putting her skin panel back over her primary access port and grabbing her control tab, “I’m going to switch you into test mode,” he navigated the technician settings tab until he found what he was looking for. He tapped the test mode icon under the sexual subsystems.
Annina’s demeanor almost immediately changed as her sexual systems suddenly fixated on the only male in the room. “Wow, I’m suddenly finding you very attractive,” Annina said, absently fondling her breasts and rubbing her body.
“I’m sure,” Jack said, “Follow me,” he told her, taking her hand and helping her off the table. He led her to one of the bedrooms in the underground facility, where they engaged in nearly an hour of foreplay and sex.
“You were very good Annina,” Jack said as they both walked out of the room naked, “Eric’s very lucky to have you.”
“Thanks Mr. Jack,” Annina blushed.
“There’s a shower in here,” Jack told her, opening up a door across the hall, “Please clean up and do a full sanitization cleanse of your orifices.”
“Yes Mr. Jack,” she smiled, giving him a quick kiss before heading in.
While she showered up, Jack wiped his privates with a wet cloth and put his clothes back on, planning on showering when he finished this session. As he sat down at his station, a message popped up from Rachel. He clicked on it, opening up a video link to Rachel’s computer.
“Hey Rachel, what’s up?”
“Your client, Eric, is on the other line,” she reported, “He says he needs to speak with you.”
“Alright, put him on,” Jack said. A few moments later, the screen was replaced with an image of Eric. “Hello Eric, what can I do for you?”
“Hey Jack, I’m afraid I was so concerned with getting Annina upgraded that I completely forgot that she needs to be fitted for a prom dress,” Eric told him with a stressed out look on his face.
“Oh, I see,” Jack said, “Are you saying you need her earlier than planned?”
“Yes, by tomorrow at noon,” Eric said, “How is she, by the way?”
“Oh, she’s fine, just cleaning up” Jack said a bit evasively, “I’ve actually finished most of the work and just have a few final diagnostics and benchmarks to run.”
“Good, well then I’ll be by around noon to pick her up.”
“That works for me, see you then,” Jack said, then he closed the call.
Just as he finished the call, Annina walked out of the shower, fully cleaned, but still naked.
“Oh Annina, good timing,” Jack said, “Eric just called and said he needs you a day early, so you’ll be seeing him again tomorrow.”
“Goodie,” Annina said excitedly, bouncing around and causing her breasts to jiggle a bit.
“Whoa, calm down,” he said, laughing a little, “So, I’m going to need to shut you down now so your systems can cool down overnight,” he explained to her, “Then I can perform a final benchmark on you tomorrow before I hand you back over to Eric.”
“Alright,” Annina said, laying back down on the table.
“See you tomorrow,” Jack said as he stood over her, he then pressed her manual shutoff switch behind her ear and watched her power down. As he covered her again with the cloth, he couldn’t help but reminisce about all the other girls he’d had on this table before stopping himself. “Man, I always get affectionate on the third session.”
With Annina shut down and secured for the night, Jack put all of his equipment in standby mode and then left through the house lift to take a shower.
Chapter 5: Annina - Final Session
Jack walked in to his lab promptly at 9am, hoping to squeeze several hours of work into a three-hour session before handing Annina back off to her owner. He quickly powered up all of his equipment, as well as Annina and relaxed in his chair.
Annina came on as efficiently as the previous time and immediately sat up to look at Jack. “Good morning Mr. Jack,” she said politely.
“Good morning Annina,” he replied in kind, “Looks like this is my last session with you,” he then said, “At least until the next time your owner brings you in.”
“Aww, that’s too bad,” Annina said, managing to look genuinely sad.
“In the meanwhile, I want to ensure that everything I’ve done to you over the past few days has worked and that there are no remaining issues with your systems,” he explained, “I think after all you’ve been through with me, you know the drill.”
Annina gave him a smile and a nod as her face zoned out. Moments later, she reported that she was wirelessly interfaced with his diagnostic console.
“Okay, now a few days ago I had you run a set of software updates,” he started, queuing a few things up on the computer, “This time I’ve got a few new programs I want you to install,” he continued, “Sexual programs, cooking, and all sorts of goodies that Eric has purchased for you.”
“Alright,” she said, zoning out momentarily as she accessed the files, “I’m also reporting a few new updates to my programs released in the last 48 hours,” she reported, “Would you like me to install those as well?”
“Absolutely,” Jack said, “Thanks for checking, I was just going to suggest it myself.”
“No problem, Mr. Jack,” she smiled modestly, “Would you like me to begin now?”
“Go ahead,” he told her. As soon as he gave her the go ahead, her A.I. started downloading the files from his computer and her face went slack.
Due to her new and improved software, her systems were able to install the new programs and updates far more quickly than before, taking only an hour. In the meanwhile, Jack checked back in on the Kaley Cuocos that he had put on hold to see if Spaztec had updated any of the information; they had. They had included a list of issues each of them had, none of which would be a problem for Jack to fix if he chose to purchase them. After spending the entire hour staring at the photos of them, he finally decided to bring it up with Gabby following this final session with Annina.
After an hour, Annina’s systems quickly rebooted to finalize the installation and she came back online quickly to report no anomalies in the installations and updates.
“Very good,” Jack congratulated her, “Now for the next phase I’d like you to run a full diagnostic,” he told her, “Just to make sure everything’s running fine.”
“Okay,” Annina nodded, then her face once again went blank as her diagnostic began. This time, it finished much more quickly and she uploaded the findings to the terminal.
Overall, Jack was pleased with the results. Only minor errors were reported…errors that would basically be the same as minor visual damage on a car, but not affect overall performance. But Jack was a perfectionist, so he quickly delved into Annina’s code to rectify each error, regardless of how small it was. Once he was finished, he had her run another diagnostic and he was satisfied to hear that no errors were reported.
“Alright, this final test is the same test I had you run during the second session,” he told her, bringing up the benchmark program, “The only difference is that with the installation of your new sexual systems, as well as the installation of all the new programs, there are a few more tests, and your systems now support some tests that were excluded before,” he explained, “Other than that, I’m hoping the test will show what I already know, that your systems have been vastly improved.”
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said, relaxing on the table.
Jack said nothing, just as before he merely tapped the benchmark icon and watched as her body once again seized up. Every system in her body was being systematically tested in a variety of real-world simulations in order to test her ability to act as lifelike as possible.
Jack closely monitored the results as they popped up on his screen, looking pleased as each result came in. So far, the lowest improvement in her scores was a 10% increase, and that was for her sense of smell, which wasn’t very relevant in most situations; no score went down.
After nearly half an hour, nearly double the length of the previous benchmark due to her systems supporting more features, the benchmark finally concluded with an overall system improvement of nearly 70%.
“Wow Annina, you’re probably my best improvement yet,” Jack said, admiring each benchmark score and comparing it to the baseline. “Before you celebrate, you might want to know that you were probably one of the worst-off androids I’d ever worked on.”
“Oh,” Annina said with a frowny face, “Well at least I’m better now,” she said finally with a smile.
“That’s the spirit,” Jack smiled.
“Am I as good as your other androids now?”
“Well, actually at this point you’re quite a bit better than my average android, but then I don’t really need most of my androids to be above average,” he told her, “But let’s just say you don’t hold a candle to my Gabby,” he said with a note of pride in his voice, “But don’t feel bad, she’s got bleeding edge, experimental hardware and software.”
“Oh, maybe Eric can get me some,” Annina said hopefully.
“I doubt it,” Jack told her bluntly, “I get access to them because I’m a highly valued technician.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said with a bummed look.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have access to some of the same tech in a couple years,” he assured her.
“Alright.”
“Well, looks like I’m done working on you,” he told her, remotely terminating her link to his terminal, “I’d like you to get dressed and then plug in to my recharge terminal.”
“Alright,” she smiled, quickly dropping down to the floor and searching for her clothes. She eventually found them on a bench in the far corner of the room, neatly folded and laundered by Gabby a few days earlier. It also happened to be located right next to a recharge terminal. Once she was back in the clothes she arrived in, she grabbed a nearby cable and brought it up to her torso. She lifted up her shirt and remotely unsealed a small port on her left side about midway up her torso, plugging the cord in as soon as the port was unsealed.
“Very good Annina,” he told her, “Now, I’m going to switch you back into normal mode,” he told her, grabbing her control tab, “That means all your memories of the past few days will be locked on my terminal until your next visit.”
Annina merely nodded, understanding his meaning. The next time she awoke, she would not remember a thing that occurred during her stay.
“I must say I truly enjoyed working on you and look forward to seeing you again,” he continued, fingering the tab to switch her out of technician mode.
“I enjoyed our time too,” she smiled.
“Well, until next time,” he said, and leaving no time for her to reply, he switched her modes, simultaneously placing her in standby mode until her owner arrived to pick her up.
Jack stared at her dormant form recharging in the corner of his lab for a few moments before sighing and finishing up some final tasks, most primary of which was altering her core programming to consider Eric as her new owner instead of his father. This was something he could have done at any time, but he chose to save it for last…to kill time before Eric arrived.
After doing routine paperwork regarding everything he did to Annina, Eric finally showed up to collect Annina. Jack sighed and unplugged her from the recharge station, at the same time he activated her via the switch behind her ear.
She came on almost immediately and gave him a slightly confused look, “I’m sorry, I don’t seem to recognize you.”
“My name is Jack Brown, technician grade five,” he told her, quickly flashing his badge, “I’ve just completed a full system workup and upgrade on you and am preparing to return you to your owner.”
“I understand,” she nodded, “My systems are reporting my owner has recently changed to Eric.”
“That’s correct, Eric is the one picking you up.”
“Good, are we going to see him now?” she asked politely.
“Yes, please follow me,” Jack told her, walking with her to the lift and activating it. A few moments later, they walked out into the office, where Eric was patiently waiting at Rachel’s desk.
As soon as he heard them coming up, Eric turned to see them, giving Annina a friendly smile, which she returned.
After a brief handshake, they all sat down, save for Annina who remained standing next to Jack.
“Alright Eric, before I return Annina to you, I am obligated to inform you of my findings regarding her previous and current status,” Jack began, and after a curt nod from Eric, he continued, “When I received Annina, she was in pretty poor shape. Her systems were sorely in need of updating and her hardware was under par. Now, I’m happy to report that her systems are fully up to date, and she is showing an overall improvement of nearly 70%,”
“That’s good!” Eric smiled.
“Now, everything has been properly installed and tested,” he said, giving a slight cough as he remembered the sex, “Anyway, in regards to the new vagina, Annina has all the programming necessary to teach you all about her new features, and the rest is for you to discover.”
“Very good Jack, I’ll be sure to give you a great review,” Eric told him.
“Alrighty, then all I need is for you to finish up some final paperwork and then Annina here can go home with you.”
“Very well.”
After several minutes of paperwork, Jack finally relinquished Annina’s control tab back to Eric and allowed him to leave the premises with her. He gave Annina a wave, knowing that she did not remember her time…but he always would.
Once they disappeared into the shop, Jack turned to Rachel and asked, “How’s our surplus?”
“Great,” she replied, “Why, thinking of a few new acquisitions?” she asked with a knowing look.
“Hopefully,” Jack told her, heading for the back door, “I’ve got to discuss it with the misses first though, but I think she’ll okay it.”
“Good luck,” Rachel told him as he left, “You’re going to need it,” she finished with a smile, filing the paperwork from the days business.
Chapter 6: Business Discussions
Jack stepped out of the back entrance to the shop and stopped briefly to admire the scenery. It was a clear spring day with puffy white clouds floating in the sky around the nearby mountains. He took in a big breath of air and paused as he detected a new aroma…something fruity. He quickly found the source; Gabby’s garden. She was adding a few small fruit trees to her greenhouse.
Smiling, he slowly made his way over and peeked his head in. He’d had the greenhouse built for Gabby the previous summer so she could grow some of their own food and save the business money. With the advancements in botanical science over the past century, one could now grow a full weeks’ worth of herbs and basic vegetables in a matter of days.
Gabby was currently overseeing the transplantation of a pair of hybrid trees, one of which was genetically designed to grow a variety of citrus fruits, and another that was designed to grow a variety of berries.
“Wow Gabby, those look nice,” Jack commented, walking up behind her and planting a kiss on her cheek.
“Thanks, honey!” she beamed, “I know you’re trying to save money, so I saved up on my allowance to purchase these babies,” she said, affectionately patting both trees. The trees were being expertly planted by a team of botanists.
“Is your presence required out here?” he asked, “I’d like to go over a business decision with you.”
“They’re almost done,” Gabby told him, “Why don’t you go inside and heat up some leftovers?” she suggested, “I’ll be inside in a few minutes.”
“Alright dear,” he smiled, giving her another peck on the cheek before heading into the house.
It was a school day, so Henry was away at school. Normally it would be unheard of for a Housewife model to make their owner get their own food, but her programming currently dictated that the new trees were a higher priority due to long-term benefits, so she was able to override her own protocols. Jack didn’t really mind either way. As he heated up the pasta from a few nights earlier, he absently thought of the first model androids who would have had a logic error in this same situation.
By the time the pasta was properly reheated, and Jack had set a place for both Gabby and himself, Gabby walked in and joined him at the table. As they ate, they broke the ice by discussing their days, since Jack had been pretty busy with Annina. Finally, Jack felt comfortable broaching the subject of the Kaley Cuocos he wanted to purchase.
“So dear, I was browsing the auction site and happened across a trio of personal trainer models.”
“I see,” Gabby said in a neutral voice; she was used to hearing statements like this. “Are they custom models, or are they based on real people?”
“They’re based on real people,” Jack answered, “More specifically, they’re all based on the same person: A 21st century actress named Kaley Cuoco,”
“Hmm, why would you want to buy three androids that all look alike?” she asked with a curious look.
“Well, I was hoping to purchase them for the motel…as sex bots.”
“Sex bots?!”
“Yeah, there’s three of them, one for each floor,” Jack explained, “They also come with the variety of hairstyles the actress had during her career, so if anyone wanted a little variety, we could provide it.”
Gabby didn’t respond, clearly processing the possibility of purchasing androids to use as sex bots. Finally, she said “I’m not sure, wouldn’t they need to be tested frequently…it sounds like they may be a money pit.”
“Well, I doubt that we would have quite that many people desiring a sex bot, but if it got busy, they could easily be re-tasked to assist Rakhee with cleaning the rooms,” he assured her, “Besides, we’d be getting them for about 67% off by purchasing them as a trio, since Spaztec really wants to move them out of their warehouse to make room for more desirable merchandise.”
Again, Gabby didn’t immediately respond, her jealousy subroutines most likely taking up a bit of her active memory, “I’m not sure I feel comfortable with you having to test them out on a regular basis,” she said, “I know what you say about the whole ‘squeezing off your dick’ thing to other people,” she said, using finger quotes, “But I know better.”
Jack sighed dramatically, knowing she would bring that up. Fortunately, he had a secret weapon. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve been working on a project that will significantly reduce the amount of sex I have with my androids.”
“Oh, what is it?” Gabby asked with a curious look.
“Well, I was planning on saving it for next Christmas, but I suppose if it will help my case, I can show it to you now.”
This of course had the desired effect on Gabby. She immediately put on a happy expression as Christmas had literally come early. “Ooh, can I see?”
“Well, if you insist,” he said, hiding a smile as he got up and led her to the lab entrance. They waited patiently as the lift descended, but they finally exited out into the residential portion of the lab. “Oh, I almost forgot…the sheets in here will need cleaning,” he told her with a guilty look.
Gabby said nothing, but gave him a look. Still, her programming recognized she was going to be getting a gift, so she didn’t comment. They exited out into the lab portion of the lab and Jack stopped at the same table he was working on before Annina arrived. “Well, here it is,” he told her, pointing at a cloth covered mass on an examination table.
“May I see it?” she asked politely.
“Sure, I’ll even let you do the honors,” he told her, gesturing at the sheet.
“Okay,” she said with an excited look, then she gently grabbed the sheet and slowly pulled it off. She let out a soft gasp as she saw what lay beneath, then, after a few moments of stunned silence, she turned and gave Jack a smile, as well as an approving nod.
As Gabby continued examining the contents under the sheet, Jack absently pulled out his tablet and confirmed his purchase of the three Kaleys’.
The Small Business Chronicles continue in Off-season - The Motel
Season One Closed for Christmas - The Shop | The Repair Shop - Part 1 | Off-season - The Motel | The Repair Shop - Part 2 | Slow day - The Cafe | The Small Business - End-of-Year Review
Season Two Homefront - The House