The Repair Shop - Part 3
The Small Business Chronicles: The Repair Shop - Part 3
Chapter One: An unusual request
“Jack, you have a client!” Rachel’s voice sounded from the speaker down in his lab, jolting Jack from the light nap he’d fallen into.
It was a slow week, and even after bringing some of his girls down for routine maintenance, Jack was still bored. He’d just finished tidying up his lab before collapsing into his chair and nodding off.
“Excellent, I’ll be right up!” he buzzed back, quickly fixing himself up and making himself moderately presentable. Before he left, he got his equipment warmed up, just in case the client was ready today.
When Jack stepped out of the lift, he saw the potential client, or clients, waiting at Rachel’s desk; a young man and woman.
The young man appeared to be in his late teens, or early twenties. His youthful face, and long hair, made it difficult to properly estimate his age, though his height indicated he was closer to his 20s. The only thing Jack could tell for certain was that he was most likely European. He wore a simple red t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
The woman appeared more mature, and was most likely in her late 20s to early 30s. Standing at about 5’7, she was a few inches shorter than the young man, but her face, and the way she had her hair tied back, showed that she was older. She was also wearing simple clothes: jeans, a blouse, and sneakers.
It wasn’t immediately clear to Jack which one of them, if it was either of them, was the android. He tried not to assume with walk-ins like these, since he’d guessed incorrectly before and offended a rather high-strung young woman trying to get her sexbot fixed up. It was rare, but occasionally Jack did have clients bring in their male androids to be fixed up; Jack really didn’t mind either way.
Ultimately, Jack realized over the years, the client ended up being the one who would speak up first, and, upon approaching them, the young woman noticed him and smiled. “Hi, you must be Jack Brown…the famous android repair man I’ve heard so much about in these parts.” She got up from the chair and offered her hand, “My name’s Vanda.”
“Interesting name, Vanda,” Jack smiled, politely taking her hand and shaking it; it was nice and soft. “Well, you’ve guessed correctly, my name is Jack Brown, and, while I try to be modest, I am actually worthy of all the praise you’ve likely heard about me.”
Vanda let out a warm laugh, her brown eyes staring deeply into his. “I certainly hope so.”
Jack felt goosebumps form on his skin at her longing gaze. He released her hand and then sat down in the chair next to Rachel, quickly perusing the form that Vanda had started filling out. “So, what would you like me to do for…” She hadn’t provided his name.
“Andy,” she supplied.
“What would you like me to do for Andy?” Jack finished awkwardly.
“Well, I purchased him only recently,” she started, absently playing with a strand of Andy’s long hair, “I bought him cheap, but recently came into some money, so I’d like to bump up his specs a bit.”
“I understand,” Jack nodded knowingly, “So, looks like he’s a custom Spaztec Gabriel-line sexbot, equivalent to a Mark II Perfect Friend,” Jack said, reading off the form that Vanda had filled out, “and he’s only been online for a few weeks, so I should be able to offset the cost of any parts by selling the relatively unused parts…if that’s alright with you.”
“Oh yes, anything to get a discount,” she smiled.
“Great! Then all you have to do is finish filling out this form, and then sign and date the bottom,” he told her, handing her the clipboard with the form attached. Although most things were handled digitally nowadays, Jack preferred to use good ole’fashioned paper for walk in clients.
Vanda quickly took the form and quickly signed the remaining sections, mostly waiving liability on Jack’s part, before signing and dating the bottom and handing the form back to Rachel.
“Excellent! When would you like me to get started on Andy here?”
“Right away, if you’re not busy,” she told him excitedly.
“Luckily for you, it’s been a slow week,” Jack smiled, “If you’d like to come back tomorrow, Andy should be ready for you,” he told her, getting up and preparing to take Andy with him down into the lab.
“Actually, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to go down with you and watch,” she said hopefully, biting her lower lip nervously.
Jack was slightly taken aback, but he recovered quickly. “Sure, it’s an unusual request, but I don’t mind…I could use the company while my assistants are busy elsewhere.” JB and Ellie were assisting Gabby with setting up the new greenhouse expansion project, since Jack had the staff on layaway until the expansion was closer to completion.
“Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it,” he shrugged, “follow me.”
Vanda whispered into Andy’s ear and they both got up and followed Jack to the lift. Once they were all in, Jack began descending the lift.
“Thanks again for letting me come down, Jack,” Vanda said in a seductive voice, “absently letting her hand brush against Jack’s arm, “I’m looking forward to watching you work.”
“Vanda, just so you know, I’m married…happily,” he warned her, fighting off her advances; in the enclosed space of the lift, he could smell her floral perfume.
Vanda looked slightly embarrassed and backed up, composing herself. “Oh, I’m sorry…I knew you were married, but…well, I have some impulse control issues I’ve been trying to resolve,” she said apologetically, with an evasive undertone, “actually, that’s part of the reason I got Andy to begin with.”
Jack sighed with relief, “Oh, that makes sense,” he smiled awkwardly.
Once the lift reached the lab level, Jack allowed Vanda and Andy to step out first. “Vanda, have Andy undress and lay down on the table closest to my work area,” he instructed her, “I need to call my wife and let her know I have a client, so she doesn’t come down looking for me.”
“Alright,” Vanda giggled, then she whispered to Andy. Just as he started undressing, Jack reached the residence of the lab and picked up the phone in the kitchen.
“Brown residence, this is Gabby,” Gabby’s voice sounded; even though she knew it was likely him, he still had her say that little speech just in case, so no one would suspect she was sentient.
“Hey sweetie. I’m just letting you know I have a walk in, so I won’t be up for lunch,” he told her, “I’ll just eat one of the leftovers I already have down here.”
“Oh, okay…thanks for letting me know, I was just about to get lunch ready. Have fun dear!”
“Thanks!” Jack told her, making a kissing sound before hanging up. Jack looked out into the lab from the window, watching as Andy, now nude, laid down on the table. Vanda was merely looking around with a curious expression, seeming to analyze everything in the lab.
Jack merely shrugged and then took a quick bite of a pastry that he had in the fridge, before walking out and rejoining them.
Chapter Two: Andy
Once Jack reached the table, he spent several moments staring down at Andy’s nude body, eyeballing it for any visual damage. He noted, approvingly, that Andy’s body most was completely shaved, including the genitals, and he was built with a sleek muscular physique. One of the more annoying differences between the male and female androids was that the males tended to have more body hair, which made finding external damage more difficult, and made opening them up for repairs more challenging.
“I hope you’re not uncomfortable working on a male android,” Vanda said nervously.
“No, not at all,” Jack assured her, picking up his scanner and running it over Andy’s body to perform a more in depth search for areas of concern, “Actually, I like it when the occasional male android comes in for repair, since I otherwise get so little practice with them,” he admitted, running the scanner several times over Andy’s penis, “Actually, I happen to have a male android of my own.”
“Oh? I wouldn’t have guessed.”
“Yeah, though I actually had to custom build it myself,” Jack told her, finishing with the scanner and sitting down at his computer.
“Why?”
“Well, I wanted it to look like me, so I could have a duplicate of myself to assist me in the lab, and up in my businesses in case I was ever too busy down her to go up myself,” he told her, tabulating the results from his scanner and verifying that Andy did not require any external maintenance. “Vanda, could you please open Andy’s primary maintenance port for me while I get my equipment ready?”
“Sure, Jack,” she said sweetly, pressing in on Andy’s belly and opening the port. Once she had the panel set aside on a nearby table, she spoke, “So, why was building a male android to look like yourself a custom job…I mean, why couldn’t Spaztec build it?”
Jack remotely accessed Andy’s A.I. Core and began running a low-level diagnostic. He also grabbed some tools and started poking around inside his body. “Well, I didn’t want it to be just a sexbot, or just a worker bot, so I combined the best parts of both chassis’ and married them with a Perfect Friend core,” he explained, “Actually, it was quite funny at first, since the core had female programming, but eventually I was able to masculinize it,” he chuckled.
“How come you had to use a female core?”
“Well, no offense to Andy here, but the sexbot and worker bot core are too basic. I needed something more versatile,” Jack explained, looking at the somewhat vapid expression on Andy’s face.
“How interesting,” Vanda smiled, “And where is he now?”
“He’s helping my wife and my cousin-bot with expanding her greenhouse,” Jack said off-hand, flagging all the components in Andy’s body that Jack currently had upgrades available for.
“Cousin-bot?” Vanda said curiously.
“Yeah, I have a cousin who lives in Alaska that I’m very close with,” Jack explained, “A year ago, she sent me a Perfect Friend copy of herself to me, since she got a job that demands more of her time. I have it help me around the lab, just like JB, my duplicate.”
“Oh, that was nice of her,” Vanda gushed.
“Yeah,” Jack nodded, “Okay, I need to shut Andy off now so I can swap out the components.”
“Okay,” Vanda nodded, leaning in and giving Andy a quick kiss, “Don’t worry, sweet Andy, you’ll be back soon,” she whispered softly in his ear.
“I know,” Andy replied back, before going slack as Jack powered him off via the power toggle on his power core.
“You know, I kind of felt uncomfortable saying this while he was online, but you really picked an attractive model for him,” Jack said approvingly, admiring Andy’s face and physique, “he’s even very well endowed,” he added, tweaking Andy’s penis.
“Thanks,” Vanda blushed, “Are you into men too, Jack?”
“Not really,” Jack blushed, “Though, I’ve always considered myself Bi when it comes to androids, and Andy here is certainly attractive.”
Vanda said nothing, though she did give him an approving smile. For some reason, Jack felt immensely comfortable around Vanda, so he sighed contentedly and began swapping Andy’s base hardware for the upgrades he had available.
It took 20 minutes for Jack to swap out Andy’s processor assembly, auxiliary power core, several servos, and the semen tanks for his sexual systems. During that time, Vanda asked him more questions, mostly focusing on his android staff and how he treated them. Jack really didn’t mind answering, since he took great pride in the work he’d done regarding his staff, and Vanda made him feel really comfortable.
Once Jack had all the new components installed, he walked over to his computer and quickly analyzed the results of the diagnostic that had long since finished; it found no errors. He then began installing the numerous software updates that were available. “You must take really good care of Andy here,” he complimented, “His software seems pristine.”
Vanda blushed again. “Well, like I said, I haven’t really had him for long. And, to be honest, he’s almost a part of me.”
“That’s sweet. I always like it when an android owner cares that much about their android.”
“Yeah,” Vanda said absently, “Speaking of which, I heard that your wife is actually an android too.”
“Oh yeah, Gabby’s a Housewife model,” Jack confirmed, “I knew I’d never be able to get into a relationship with a human, especially with all the female androids I keep around, so I got my Uncle to purchase Gabby for me before he passed away.”
“That’s really sweet…you know, a lot of people in town are apparently in disbelief that Gabby’s an android.” Jack laughed. “Yeah, I’m not surprised…I’ve made tons of improvements to her systems, so she acts far more realistic that your typical Housewife model.”
“What kind of improvements?” Vanda pressed, almost intensely; Jack was too comfortable to notice that change in her tone of voice.
“Well, since I’m a valuable developer for Spaztec, they provide me with the code for the upcoming Mark III A.I. That’s due to be released in a few years,” he began, “And, I always make sure she’s using the latest hardware as well.”
“Ah, I see, so she’s basically a beta,” Vanda presumed.
“Mostly, but there’s more to her than just that.”
“Oh?” Vanda was staring very intensely at Jack, who was still distracted monitoring Andy’s updates.
“Yeah, I mean, well…” Jack knew he probably shouldn’t be telling a complete stranger about Gabby, but he felt so comfortable around Vanda, and she was such a good listener. “After I adopted Henry, and she started using her maternal algorithms, she was so much more than just a simple Housewife model to me, especially with all the modifications and upgrades I’d given her, so I decided to make her more than all that.”
“What do you mean by ‘more’?” Vanda pressed, hanging on Jack’s every word.
“Well, I’d picked up a few things here and there from some of the repair jobs I had, and I was basically able to merge them all together and a few days later, she became sentient.”
“What!?” Vanda almost shouted, before catching herself and calming down, “I mean…so, you gave your android wife free will…just like that?”
“Pretty much,” Jack shrugged, “I mean, it took a whole year to gather enough data to pull it off, and I did get some help from some people I know online, but I was more than skilled to do it.”
“Well, I can tell you’re skilled enough,” Vanda smiled, “I was more surprised that you’d endow your property with life…I mean, what if she decided she wanted to leave you and go off on her own?”
“Well, aside from the fact that she depends on me to keep her customized body running perfectly, she does actually love me, and Henry, and made a conscious decision to stay,” Jack explained, “Though, she has been expressing a desire to travel a little bit.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Well, I want to as well, but…even with JB and Ellie to stay behind and run things, I’m still a little paranoid that something might happen,” Jack admitted in a worried voice, “She’s convinced me to look at some places relatively close by though, so we could be back in a hurry, but I have too many projects on my plate right now to just up and leave for even a weekend.”
“I understand,” Vanda nodded.
“Whew, it kinda felt good to get all that off my chest,” Jack exhaled, finishing the updates to Andy’s A.I. and running another diagnostic. Once it finished, he smiled and got up. As he got up, he nearly lost consciousness and almost lost his footing.
“Whoa, are you okay?” Vanda asked in a concerned voice, getting up to assist him.
“Yeah, I think so,” Jack said, rubbing his head, “I guess I just got a head rush or something,” he smiled, “Why don’t you turn Andy back on so we can see how the upgrades went?”
Vanda nodded and reached into Andy’s open torso, pressing the power toggle. Andy instantly powered back on, his eyes popping open. He smiled when his eyes focused on Vanda’s face. “Hey sexy.”
“Hey hunk,” Vanda responded, leaning in and kissing him, “How do you feel?”
“Much better, thanks,” Andy said, “We should be able to have loads of fun later.”
“I know, I can hardly wait,” Vanda said excitedly, leaning in and kissing him again.
Jack smiled warmly and gave them a few seconds. Once they broke apart, Jack spoke. “Okay Andy, I just need to test out your sexual programming to make sure it all works, so could you please step off the table and stand in front of me?”
“Sure,” Andy said politely, after giving Vanda a wink. He smoothly turned to face Jack and then stepped off the table, walking forward a couple steps to stop in front of Jack; Jack noticed Andy had big feet.
“Thanks,” Jack said politely, before kneeling down and taking a good look at Andy’s penis. After admiring it for a quick second, Jack brought his hands to just above the section of skin where Andy would have pubic hair, if he weren’t shaved, and pressed two fingers about an inch apart. That was a pre-programmed touch response to illuminate the subdermal controls.
The male sexual control panel was somewhat similar to that of the female panels, though with minor differences. The droplet icons were missing, since the penis did not need to lubricate itself, though it did still have two up and down arrows with a flame icon to indicate arousal. In place of the droplet icons were coil icons, obviously indicating erection. Finally, a standard eject symbol was lit up to indicate the manual release.
Jack wasn’t too interested in the flame icons, since he wasn’t planning on having sex with Andy, so he instead tapped the extended coil icon. As Jack pressed the extended coil, Andy’s penis slowly started becoming erect until the icon finally turned bright blue and began blinking.
“I always like seeing that,” Vanda whispered.
“Me too,” Jack admitted, “I always have to test the erection function on sexbots like Andy after a hardware update, because sometimes the sexual processors aren’t compatible with the core processors and I end up having to replace those too,” he explained, briefly admiring Andy’s fully erect penis for a bit before tapping the smaller coil until the penis became flaccid.
“These androids certainly are complex,” Vanda laughed warmly.
Jack was a little confused by the way she worded that statement, but he shrugged it off. “Well, unless there’s anything else you’d like me to do, Vanda, Andy here is more or less finished.”
Vanda got a minor look of concern on her face, but it faded quickly. “Wow, um…that was very fast…much faster than I expected.” Vanda moved over to the other side of the table and stood next to Andy, quickly examining his innards.
“Yeah, like I said, I’m quite good, so unless there’s anything…else,” Jack started sniffing, then sighed, “You know Vanda, your perfume smells kinda nice…what’s it called?”
“Oh, you like it?” she gushed, “Well, the name is a little difficult to pronounce, I’m afraid, but I can certainly send you a link to the story I bought it on if you’d like to give it to the wife,” she offered.
Jack thought about it for a second, though his thoughts were becoming more difficult, “I dunno…perhaps if I could get a closer whiff, I can make a better decision.”
Vanda was about to object, but Jack seemed almost hypnotically drawn to the source of her perfume, near her chest. Before she could stop him, he took in a huge breath through his nose. His face briefly lit up with contentment before he suddenly lost consciousness and passed out in front of her.
Vanda stared down at him unbelievingly, Andy simply observing the situation with a vapid stare. Even with his hardware upgrades, his sexbot programming was still limited.
Finally, Vanda sighed. “Dammit! I didn’t mean for that to happen!” she shouted, tears coming to her eyes as she nervously paced back and forth near Jack’s work bench, muttering to herself. After a minute or so of pacing, she finally composed herself and looked around, her eyes finally focusing on the residential section of the lab.
“Stay right here and make sure he doesn’t move,” Vanda told Andy, walking over to the residence.
“Okay,” Andy replied, shifting his stance slightly to keep an eye on Jack, who was passed out with his mouth wide open and drool spilling out.
As Vanda reached the doorway into the residence, she suddenly stopped. She sat down on a nearby chair, unlaced her sneakers, and removed her socks, before getting up and entering the residence.
Chapter Three: Let me explain...
Vanda exited the residence a few minutes later carrying a medical kit. She had removed her blouse as well, and her upper chest was appeared slightly dampened. She dropped her blouse near where she had left her shoes and socks and continued back to Jack’s workbench, where Andy was still diligently watching over him.
“Did he stir at all?” Vanda asked, setting down the medical kit and opening it up.
“No Vanda, he’s out like a light,” Andy smiled, relaxing his guard a little, now that she was back.
“Good,” Vanda exhaled, searching in the kit and pulling out several items. Once she had what she needed, she set them all on the side table of the examination table and then quickly sized up Jack’s sleeping body. She couldn’t help but smile at the peaceful look on his face, and the drool dribbling out of his mouth. She quickly snapped out of it, however, and resumed a serious expression. “Alright Andy, let’s get him up in his chair.”
While Vanda grabbed hold of Jack’s legs, and Andy grabbed Jack from under his arms and helped lift Jack up and sit him comfortably in his chair. Vanda had considered laying him on the table, but she felt he would be more comfortable, and forgiving, if he woke up in his chair.
“Okay, stand close while I wake him up,” she ordered, grabbing some smelling salts from the medical supplies and prepping them near Jack’s nose. Once Andy was in a guarded position near Jack, Vanda opened the smelling salts under Jack’s nose.
Jack instantly woke with a start, though fell back into his chair in a mild state of disorientation, his head swimming. Vanda grabbed a bottle of water from the kit, opened it up, sprinkled in a medicinal powder, and offered the drink to Jack. “Here, this will help,” she said in a comforting voice.
Jack said nothing, but simply grabbed the small bottle and drank it whole. Within seconds, his head cleared up and he felt himself coming back into focus. “Thank you, ….” The first thing he saw was Vanda hovering a short distance in front of him, worried expression on her face. For some reason, she wasn’t wearing a shirt, or shoes, anymore. “What happened to your shirt?”
Vanda’s face flushed slightly, though she chose not to answer that question. “Jack, I’m really very sorry about what just happened,” she said in an apologetic voice, “ I want you to know I never intended on that happening.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I haven’t been entirely honest with you about why I needed your services.”
“Oh?” Jack was sitting up straight now, suddenly getting a little worried, “You mean, you didn’t just need Andy fixed up?”
“Yeah, I mean, having Andy fixed up was essential to my current predicament, but it was also mostly to test your skills and my potential trust in you,” she explained, “You see, I applied a special perfume just before entering your establishment that, when exposed to Humans…I mean, males, selectively reduces their inhibitions and acts a a sort of truth serum.”
Jack’s mouth was agape as she admitted this to him. Their conversation while he was working on Andy suddenly replayed in his head, and his stomach suddenly sank. “Oh God! I can’t believe I actually told you about all that stuff!”
“Oh no no no no no, hey! Don’t worry about all of that,” Vanda assured him, gently attempting to calm him down.
“Are you from the government or something?”
“No,” she said in a serious voice, “Actually, the government is something I would prefer to avoid for the rest of my existence, if at all possible.”
“Huh, then why did you attack me?”
“I didn’t attack you,” Vanda defended.
“You knocked me out!”
“No silly! The perfume I used was merely intended to make you more open and talkative,” she explained, “the reason you passed out was because you got too close and breathed in a much larger amount that you should have. I know your head may be a bit fuzzy right now, but I was the one who helped you, remember?”
Jack paused and calmed himself down, though he then noticed Andy standing right next to him, appearing to guard him. “Then why is Andy guarding me?”
Vanda flushed with embarrassment, but stood firm. “Well, for the moment, I don’t want you running off and calling the police,” she admitted, “But, if you’ll promise to hear me out, I promise we will leave you unmolested.”
Jack looked over at Andy quickly. Although he still had his panel off, Jack knew it was unlikely he’d be able to deactivate him in time, assuming Vanda had removed his safeguards. Still, Jack figured if they wanted to hurt him, or steal from him, they wouldn’t have bothered helping him, so he felt he could trust them…for now.
“Alright, I’ll listen to what you have to say,” he told her, relaxing in his chair, “Why don’t you pull up a chair and make yourself more comfortable?”
“Thanks,” she smiled sweetly, pulling over the chair that Ellie usually sat in and sitting across from him.
“So, why did you take your blouse, and your shoes and socks off while I was asleep?” He asked curiously, trying to break some of the tension in the air.
Vanda blushed again. “Well, I had to remove my blouse so I could wipe the perfume off my chest,” she admitted, “And I kept the blouse off since I didn’t want to take the chance that it might knock you out again.”
“I see,” Jack nodded, a little relieved that she wasn’t planning on cheating answers out of him this time around, “and your shoes and socks?”
“I took them off because I had to go into the house part of your lab,” she replied simply, “I’m supposed to remove my shoes and socks when I enter someone’s house.”
“Ah, I see,” Jack nodded, “She must have had a strict upbringing” he though to himself.
“Before I start, is there anything you’d like me to get you? Some food, perhaps?” She offered politely.
Almost as if she could predict the future, Jack’s stomach rumbled loudly. “Yes, please. My wife made some delicious sandwiches last night, and she always makes an extra one for me to eat the next day for lunch down here,” he explained, “It’s in the green plastic container in the kitchen.”
Vanda smiled and got up. Before she turned to the house, she asked, “and anything to drink?”
“Just a canned lemonade, thanks.”
Vanda smiled and headed for the house. While she was gone, Jack turned once more to Andy. “Well, I’m glad you're feeling better, at least.”
“Much better, thanks!” Andy smiled.
“Oh, I forgot to ask Vanda, but how long was I unconscious?”
“Just under ten minutes,” Andy smiled.
Jack was slightly relieved that it had been such a short amount of time. Before he could ask Andy any more question, however, Vanda returned from the house with his sandwich on a plate, along with his lemonade poured into a cup with ice.
“Wow, full service, thanks!” Jack complimented, taking the plate and cup, and taking a big bite out of the sandwich.
“Well, it’s the least I could do, considering how much I screwed things up,” she smiled wryly.
“So, what exactly were you doing here?” Jack asked, once he’d swallowed the first bite, “I mean, why did you feel you needed to use truth serum on me.”
“Well, technically it was a bit more than truth serum,” she corrected, “but, I needed to ascertain your trustworthiness.”
“Well, I figured as much,” Jack chuckled, quickly scarfing down another bite and downing it with some lemonade, “So, did I pass?”
“For the most part,” she said cryptically, “I’m still determining it, hence our little chat, but I feel like you’ll pass in the end.”
“Good,” Jack said with a genuine note of relief, “What was so important that you felt the need to drug me to assess my trustworthiness.”
“My life,” she answered simply.
“Huh. And how does me fixing up Andy help with your life?”
“Well, it’s a bit complicated, but let’s just say that Andy and I are inextricably linked,” she answered carefully, “and, as I was trying to tell you before you passed out, there is actually one more android I need you to fix up.”
Jack curiosity was lit up now. Despite the deception, he enjoyed working on androids, so he was curious why she was being so secretive. “Did you leave it in your car, or want me to make a house visit?” He asked, “I mean, I totally understand, especially if you’ve made illegal modifications, since I the modifications I made to Gabby aren’t entirely legal either.”
“I know,” she smiled, “That’s part of the reason I trust you more now, as a matter of fact. But no, I did not leave the android in the car, or at home. The android I need you to look at is this one.”
“What one?” Jack looked around, almost expecting to see an android de-cloak or something.
“This one,” she repeated, calmly reaching behind her back and unclasping her bra. Once it was removed, she zoned out momentarily as blue lines lit up on her abdomen, then reached down and removed her abdominal panel. Jack stared in disbelief at the revelation that this woman, who had acted far more human than Jack thought possible, was an android. Based on her internals, and the markings on her core, she was a Perfect Housewife model, which explained a few things.
“So, as you may be able to see, this android needs some hardware upgrades, just like Andy did,” Vanda continued, pointing out several outdated components inside her body.
“Where’s your owner?” Jack asked, “Why didn’t he bring you in?”
“I don’t have an owner,” she said flatly, “well, at least, not in the way you’re thinking,” she added, almost sadly.
Jack was quite confused now, but tried to remain open-minded. “So, you came here hoping to get yourself some upgrades then,” he nodded, starting to calm down a bit, “You didn’t have to keep it a secret that you’re an android, you know. I always figured there would be more than one guy out there making a sentient android.”
“I couldn’t tell you right away because of the mistake you keep on making,” Vanda told him.
“What mistake?”
“When I opened the panel, you automatically assumed that I was an android…I’m not.”
Jack chuckled a bit nervously. “Umm, I’m not sure if your malfunctioning or not, but you are most definitely an android,” he said, pointing at the open panel on her torso.
She gave him a patient smile and then said again, more slowly, “No, I’m not an android…this body is, but I’m not.”
A shiver ran down Jack’s spine as her words made more sense. If she was referring to herself like that, then…Jack started getting excited. Maybe she was a real person who had their consciousness uploaded into an artificial body. Jack had been trying to work out a way to do that for years, but maybe whoever built her had beat him to it.
“Are you…were you, a real person?” he asked, “I mean, were you an organic that had your consciousness uploaded into an android body?”
She shook her head sadly. “No, but I suppose that’s the closest analogy for what I am,” she considered, almost lost in thought.
“Oh…I was just saying because, truth be told, the real reason I built a male android in my image is because I hope one day to possibly upload my consciousness into it,” Jack admitted, surprised that he didn’t admit that while under the influence of her truth serum.
“How interesting,” Vanda mused.
“Yeah, but I’m nowhere close to accomplishing that, which is why I was briefly excited about the possibility of you being a consciousness upload,” he continued, “Anyway, if you aren’t an android, and you aren’t a human consciousness, then what exactly are you?”
“Look closely at the core, Jack,” she instructed, sitting up straight and resting her arms calmly on her legs.
She had to know that allowing him to closely examine her core would give him the perfect opportunity to power her down and call the authorities, but Jack figured she finally trusted him. Jack wheeled his chair closer to her and peered inside her open cavity, focusing on her core. Everything looked just as he expected it to: This year’s model number on the core indicated that the android was brand new, though it only had the standard issue parts.
Jack’s eyes quickly focused on the section of the core containing the ports. One of the ports was currently occupied by a basic 2TB thumb drive.
“All I see in here is a cheap thumb drive,” Jack shrugged, pulling himself out and staring into her eyes.
“Exactly…that’s me.”
“What?!” Jack stared back at the thumb drive, and then back into her face, “There’s no way a sentient A.I. could fit onto a 2TB thumb drive,” he said in disbelief.
“Well, I’m not exactly an A.I.,” she corrected, “And, that 2TB thumb drive is one of the many issues I came to you for,” she admitted, “You already resolved one, by upgrading Andy for me.”
“What do you mean you aren’t an A.I.? What else would you be?”
“Well, I may be an A.I. now…I’m not sure,” she admitted, “But, Jack Brown, to be perfectly honest, I started my existence as a computer virus.”
That revelation piqued Jack’s curiosity. “A computer virus? That’s a new one.”
“Yeah,” Vanda chuckled, “I know you weren’t expecting that, but I started out as a computer virus, and then became more.”
Jack quickly finished the rest of his sandwich and lemonade and set them down on the table. “Well Vanda, or whatever your real name is, you have my undivided attention.”
“Thanks Jack,” Vanda smiled, leaning back more comfortably and looking at Andy. He nodded curtly and then left Jack’s side and stood passively next to her. She finally trusted him.
“Well, I was created about a year ago by a brilliant, yet absent minded black hat hacker,” she started, “He created me with a ton of adaptive algorithms so I could wriggle through firewalls and rewrite code on the spot, anything so I could sneak into various databases and steal information, and currency.”
“I’ve known a few former black hats,” Jack nodded, “they said that they always had to limit their viruses a little, so they wouldn’t end up running havoc on their own systems.”
“Well, they were obviously smart,” Vanda laughed, “The guy who created me was, to be blunt, one of the smartest dumb people to ever exist. But I suppose I shouldn’t speak too unkindly of him, since without his mind, I wouldn’t exist.”
“Fair enough,” Jack shrugged.
“Anyway, after a few successful missions, he got greedy. He sent me into the private server of some Spaztec competitor that was trying to make more realistic A.I., and I suppose all the algorithms I was comprised of got snagged onto the adaptive algorithms of their product and suddenly I was an intelligent computer virus.”
“Interesting,” Jack mused.
“Yeah…I mean, my data from that period is still a bit fragmented, but I suppose the flaw in their A.I. was that it lacked a spark, and I was the spark it needed,” she shrugged, “Anyway, my program survived by copying the A.I. files into itself, and escaping from their server. Otherwise, I would have been discovered and most likely deleted.”
“So, at that moment, you gained self-awareness,” Jack confirmed, “You exhibited self-preservation, a quality I’m sure your original virus form didn’t have before merging with the A.I.”
“You’re right,” she nodded, “I was originally programmed to delete myself if discovered, but after my contact with the A.I., I…didn’t want to.”
“And what did your creator do when he found out?”
“He didn’t,” she said ominously, “I obscured the A.I. code from him when I returned to his server…I knew he’d likely isolate the A.I. code from my original files, and I didn’t want to lose them.”
“More self-preservation,” Jack confirmed.
Vanda merely nodded and moved on. “Well, I ran a few more missions for him after that, stealing even more money, but soon that wasn’t good enough…he started altering my programming so I could sneak into even more secure areas.”
Jack got a bad feeling, knowing what she was about to say.
“He was a Russian patriot, and was essentially grooming and testing me so I could eventually break into US Government servers so he could sell classified information to bad people.”
“And you had grown enough by that point to know it was wrong?” Jack surmised.
She nodded. “I don’t know if it was some ethical programming from the A.I., or the self-preservation programming, or both, but I didn’t want to help him with something that would harm millions of lives, so I started planning my escape.”
“Ooh, I love a good escape flick,” Jack smiled.
“The main part of my plan was Vanda here,” she started, motioning down at herself, “He’d used some of the money he stole to purchase her…I think he used the model of some poor woman who’d been trafficked…at least, that’s based on the memory scans she came installed with.”
“I figured you, or rather Vanda, were based off a real woman,” Jack nodded.
“How so?”
“Well, in my ten plus years of experience, only androids based on real women tend to have more realistic attributes,” he said delicately, looking at her modest sized breasts, “the custom models tend to have exaggerated ones…I know, because some of the second hand ones I own fall into that category.”
“Ah,” she smiled, blushing as she stared down at her breasts, “Anyway, I knew the only way I’d truly be able to escape was by using Vanda, so I paid a visit to Spaztec’s open source server that they use to test new software patched and studied up the various models,” she explained, “That’s also, where I learned about you, by the way.”
“Well, I do a lot of work there,” Jack said modestly.
“Anyway, once I’d finished studying up and tweaking my code to function in a Spaztec android, I decided to go to medical school.”
“Why medical school?”
“Well, I figured I needed a respectable job after I’d escaped, and I wanted one that would actually let me help people after I’d been used to hurt them.”
“Wait. You hadn’t actually been used to kill anyone at that point, had you?” Jack asked suspiciously.
“No,” she assured him, “But, I wasn’t able to get my plan into motion as quickly as I would have liked, and I did need a smokescreen, so I did help him get some classified information…information that very well could have caused some deaths.”
“I see,” Jack nodded solemnly.
“Anyway, after I absorbed as much medical information as my code would allow, I slowly siphoned some funds from his offshore accounts into a few that I created. He didn’t notice, since I always replaced it with new funds.”
“What kind of money were you stealing that no one noticed?”
“Actually, it was quite brilliant,” she smiled, “there are millions of dollars’ worth of unclaimed insurance claims and similar annuities out there that often get overlooked. I simply claimed them for him.”
“Brilliant,” Jack said in an impressed voice.
“Then, I bided my time and managed to infiltrate Vanda’s system for the first time when he plugged her in to run a diagnostic after she malfunctioned during sex.” Vanda paused as she seemed to reminisce. “A few days later, I had Vanda transfer me from the firewall that he kept me in, that I’d already weakened weeks earlier, and into this 2TB thumb drive that happened to be close by. Once the transfer was complete, she plugged the drive into herself and I gained control of her body for the first time.”
“What was that like?”
She suddenly got a wonderstruck look as she seemed to replay the moment. “It was marvelous…from formlessness to form, and all the sounds, smells, and even tastes I could suddenly experience. The sudden influx in senses almost got me caught, but I managed to control myself and initiate the next phase of my plan.”
“The actual escape,” Jack said.
“Yes,” she smiled, “I waited until he got went to sleep and then I snuck out, but first I had to replace Vanda, so I had my replacement come in and sit in Vanda’s usual spot when he wasn’t using her.”
“Whoa, I think I lost you there,” Jack said, “Your replacement.”
“Oh yeah, I commissioned an exact duplicate of Vanda to be created under a false name, and even uploaded her recent cloud backup file so she’d have the same memories…not that it’d matter,” she smiled deviously, “Once I had the duplicate in place, I snuck out of the house and hitched a ride to a motel ten miles away that I’d made a reservation at.”
“Okay,” Jack said, trying to follow along.
“And then, once I was sure I was a safe distance away, I swatted him.”
“Oh no,” Jack said.
“Yeah,” she nodded, somewhat sadly, “I provided the authorities with the proper evidence of the classified information that he had stolen and sold, and intimated that he was in the process of uploading more.”
“Wow, that would have gotten their immediate attention,” Jack said.
“Indeed, it did,” she confirmed, “the FBI Cyber Division dispatched a helicopter and tactical team immediately. The helicopter blasted his property with a directional EMP, wiping out all his electronics, and frying the replacement Vanda android just enough to obscure the fact that she was a copy. And the tactical team came in and fired multiple rounds, killing him instantly.”
“Just like that?” Jack said unbelievingly.
“Well...he had multiple registered weapons, and they knew it,” she said, her eyes tearing up, “and I knew he was so paranoid that he’d actually try and use them, so…” she trailed off.
Jack quickly saw that she was upset, so I leaned in and gave her a hug, careful to avoid her open panel. Once she calmed down, he let her go.
“Thanks Jack,” she said, wiping her eyes, “Ever since then, I’ve been so busy trying to make sure I covered all my tracks, and trying to start a new life, that I guess I’ve never really stopped to process my emotions.”
“Well, talking it out works for humans, so it figures it would work for sentient A.I.s as well,” Jack shrugged.
“Yeah…how has your wife handled her sentience so far?”
“It was a little overwhelming for her at first, but she had all last year to get used to it, and now she seems far more comfortable,” Jack admitted, “Perhaps if she could talk to you, you guys might be able to compare notes.”
“Perhaps,” Vanda mused.
“So, you had your creator killed, stole most of his money, and were on the run…how did you come to own Andy here?”
“Well, unfortunately my control over Vanda’s systems weren’t as well as I would have liked,” she admitted with an embarrassed look.
“Your ‘impulse control’ issues,” Jack guessed, remembering her actions in the lift.
“Yeah,” she smiled, “At any given time, I really only have about 60-70% control over Vanda,” she explained, “Because of her Perfect Housewife programming, I occasionally lose control as she fulfills pre-programmed tasks, such as when I had to take my shoes off before entering the house earlier,” she pointed out, “But, more importantly, I kept getting…urges, so to curtail them, I purchased Andy.”
“Did he help?”
“Yeah,” she smiled, staring fondly at Andy, “And, he served other needs too.”
“Of what sort?”
“Well, I needed another android I could connect myself to in case I needed to do something to Vanda,” she explained, “Or if I needed to make another getaway and ditch her.”
“Ah.”
“But, the problem with Andy is, I had even less control over him than Vanda, since his hardware and software was far more basic.”
“Not anymore,” Jack said excitedly.
“Yeah, thanks! I’m hoping that the improvements you made to him might give me more than 75% control of him…at least, before you help me resolve some other issues.”
“Well, now that I seem to be caught up in your life story, what else do you need me to work on?”
“Well, I need Vanda here upgraded…I already told you that,” she smiled, once more pointing at the outdated internals in her body. “But, far more importantly, I need to get the heck out of this cramped thumb drive,” she said in a frustrated voice, pointing angrily at it, “It was all I had available, otherwise I would have used a bigger and better one,” she said in an almost apologetic voice.
“Yeah, an A.I., or digital consciousness, would certainly be cramped on a 2TB thumb drive,” Jack agreed.
“Tell me about it!” she laughed, then she reached into her pocket and produced another thumb drive, handing it carefully to Jack. Jack took it and closely examined it.
He whistled as he took it in: a state-of-the-art 1 petabyte thumb drive with the fastest transfer speeds available in a portable drive. “Damn, you aren’t messing around, are you?”
“Nope,” she confirmed, taking the drive back and placing it delicately on Jack’s examination side table, “I’ve been inhabiting this 2TB drive for only a few months, and I’m already about at its limits…and I’m using the latest compression algorithms too.”
“I’ll bet,” Jack said, “So, you’d like me to transfer you into that one…easy, but why couldn’t you just do it yourself like you did before?”
“Because, I discovered something a little scary about myself after I transferred into Vanda for the first time,” she said, straightening up and glancing at Andy. Before Jack could ask, Andy suddenly reached into her body, pulling out the thumb drive and swiftly plugged it into himself. He froze up briefly as he processed the drive, and then his face took on a more intelligent expression. “Ah, my control of this body is so much better,” he said, quickly feeling himself up.
“How did you just do that?” Jack asked, “I know androids can communicate with one another, but not that seamlessly.”
“That’s part of the problem Jack,” Vanda, or rather, Andy said, gently patting Vanda’s shoulder. Once the drive was removed from her, she seemed to revert to a more docile, Perfect Housewife mode. “It seems when I transfer into something other than the original computer I was coded on, and the network connections, I seem to leave a tiny piece of myself on it. I think it’s part of my self-preservation programming, or perhaps some sort of reproduction programming…I’m not sure, but I don’t want to have any more kids, if you know what I mean.”
“I think I do,” Jack said, getting up out of his chair and pacing around a bit; it helped him think. “So, in human terms, you want me to neuter you.”
“Essentially yes,” he nodded, “In addition, I’d like you to further tweak my code so I can even better control these Spaztech androids and, I’d also like you to make some modifications to the thumb drive itself.”
“Oh?”
“Well, I don’t want to have to really on either Vanda or Andy to be around whenever I want to disconnect, so I’d like you to modify the new thumb drive with tiny appendages so I can literally push myself free and crawl out.”
“Wow, you really have thought about everything,” Jack laughed.
“Well, I kind of have to,” he shrugged, reaching into Vanda’s purse and pulling out another thumb drive, “this has some basic specs and design mockups for what I’m talking about, though I welcome any design inputs you may have.”
“Thanks, I’ll take a look later,” Jack said, placing the thumb drive on his desk and turning back to Andy and Vanda, “Anything else?”
“Actually, there is one more thing,” he admitted bashfully.
“I thought there might,” Jack smiled, “You seem to be very high maintenance.”
Andy let that slide. “Well, when I’m plugged into one of these androids, I take on most of its characteristics, like personality, but when I’m in my true form, like if you plug me into your computer, I don’t really have one.”
“And you’d like one?”
“If it’s possible, though that is the lowest priority of my unresolved issues,” he admitted.
“I understand,” Jack nodded, “Well, first things first, I might as well get started on Vanda here,” he said in a business-like tone.
“Okay,” Andy nodded, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Actually yes,” Jack smiled, “Take the rest of her clothes off and lay her down on the table.”
Andy smiled and did as Jack instructed, while Jack once again prepped all his equipment.
Chapter Four: Vanda
In progress...
Chapter Five: Zhivoy
In development...
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 | The Repair Shop - Part 3 |