Closed for Christmas - The Shop

The Small Business Chronicles: Closed for Christmas - The Shop

Chapter 1: Morning routine (8am-9am)

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Jack slowly woke up from his sleep and blindly searched for the blaring alarm with his hand. It finally found its target and silenced the noise. He breathed a sigh of relief once the alarm was off, setting a mental reminder to purchase an alarm with a less annoying alarm…one he would likely forget in a few moments time.

Jack looked at the clock. 8am: the same time he woke up every day. The date on the clock read December 25, 2135: Christmas day. If Jack were an ordinary person, he would have gone back to sleep and enjoyed his day off, but he was not ordinary. He was about to crawl out of bed before a noise behind him attracted his attention and put a smile on his face.

There was a lovely woman with dark colored hair in the bed beside him and she was beginning to stir following the disturbance the alarm caused.

“Hmmm, good morning,” she said, waking up gracefully and stretching contentedly.

“Good morning dear,” Jack said, rolling over and planting a kiss on her waiting lips.

“You know what day it is?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes…my favorite day of the year,” he answered back.

“Mine too,” she agreed, “Did you want to stay in bed with me a while longer?” she offered.

“I’d love to,” Jack said, “but I’ve got a lot of work to do, and my new employee is arriving later,”

“Alright, I’ll get up and start breakfast for you and Henry,” she smiled, pulling the covers off herself and getting up out of the bed. She put a robe over her scantily clad body and headed for the bedroom door.

“Thanks Gabby, I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he told her, also crawling out of bed.

He slowly took off his pajamas and looked out his bedroom window at his back lawn with the heavily wooded forest at the perimeter for several minutes before sighing and heading into the shower.

Jack was a rather ordinary looking man in his early 30s. Though he was still relatively young, his piercing green eyes framed by his jet black hair gave the impression that he was far older and wiser than he appeared to be.

Jack got out of the shower a few minutes later, taking much less time than he would have preferred. He quickly got dressed in a comfortable pair of work clothes and then headed out of the bedroom into the kitchen, where the smell of his wife’s delicious cooking invited him.

“Mmm Gabby, that smells good,” Jack said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before sitting down at the dining room table; she had already loaded the latest news reports on his tablet.

There was a young boy, approximately 8 years old, also sitting at the table, reading a book on advanced physics and engineering principles.

“Merry Christmas Henry, did you sleep well?” Jack asked him.

“Yes Jack, Merry Christmas,” Henry responded. Henry stood out in the room because his blonde hair and foreign features gave clear evidence he was not related to either Gabby or Jack. Jack was close friends with his parents after they learned their son, like Jack, was a genius. When they died in an accidental fire, Jack was granted legal guardianship of the boy in order to cultivate his growing intellect.

“Are you looking forward to presents later tonight?” Jack asked.

“Yes, but I’m also looking forward to the parade later,” Henry answered, “Do you think you could go with us this year?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not Henry,” Jack apologized, “I’ve got to thank all my employees for the hard work they’ve done for me the past year,”

“It’s alright Jack, I understand,” Henry said, just as Gabby came to the table with their breakfast, a delicious mix of potatoes, ham, and bacon covered in cheese.

“Hmm, I wait all year for this meal of yours Gabby,” Jack said, once they were all seated and eating the delicious meal.

“Well, I wait all year for this day too,” Gabby said with a knowing smile.

“I know you do,” he smiled back.

“I wish I could get my presents now,” she playfully pouted.

“I know,” Jack said regretfully, “Maybe someday we can be like most other families and open our presents in the morning, but until I can get some more help around here, this is the way things have to be,” he said, looking at Henry.

“Don’t worry Jack, I think I’ll be able to help out in a few more years when I am bigger,” Henry said.

“Don’t feel pressured to get bigger,” Jack said, “Just get smarter,”

Henry just nodded his head and continued eating.

After they all finished eating, Gabby quickly cleaned up the kitchen while Jack got Henry ready for the parade. Just as he had Henry all bundled up to protect him from the cold and snow, Gabby finished up in the kitchen and came out to join him.

“Henry, you’re looking pretty snug,” Gabby smiled as she saw him, “We’re going to have to buy you some new cold weather clothes later, if that’s alright with you dear,” she said with a sidelong glance at Jack.

“Go ahead Gabby, he is starting to outgrow them,” Jack agreed, “Aren’t you going to bundle up dear?” he asked.

“Yes, give me a few moments,” she smiled, heading into the bedroom. A few moments later, she came out bundled in a fashionable down parka with a cute looking forest green hat and matching scarf and gloves to compliment her green eyes.

“You look nice dear,” Jack said, giving her a kiss, “You keep Henry safe,” he told her with a serious look in his eyes.

“I will,” she responded with equal seriousness.

Jack then walked both Henry and Gabby to the door, opening it for them so they could head out into the cold. A thick layer of snow had fallen overnight, but the heating elements in the street and walkways had melted it to give people a safe path to walk on. Jack’s front yard was just as vast as his backyard, extending several hundred feet forward to a gate leading out to the main highway.

As Gabby and Henry headed for the car, Jack called out to them. “Have a good time!”

“We will!” Gabby called back, and then she climbed into the car and drove off with Henry into town.

Jack watched as the car pulled out of the driveway and into town, then he closed the door and headed into his bedroom. He put on a light jacket and a hat and then headed outside himself. He walked a short distance from his front door and then followed a second path that went off to the right towards a small building at the outer corner of his property. He pulled a passkey from his pocket and waved it over the security panel, unlocking the door and letting him in.

Closing the door behind him, Jack found himself in what looked like a small office. There were a few old fashioned filing cabinets next to a small array of data processing terminals. There was but one desk in the room, and sitting behind it was a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties. The odd thing about her was that she was completely motionless, looking as though she had frozen in place.

Instead of heading over to her, Jack merely smiled and then walked through a large door into a loading dock. There was another young woman standing motionless near the loading door control. Again, Jack merely passed her with a smile and passed through another large door into what looked like a general store. There was a large checkout stand with yet another motionless girl, but Jack headed straight for the front doors, where he unlocked them and walked out into the gated parking lot.

From the lot, Jack could see the highway and the motel and strip malls that neighbored him. This general store had been built by Jack’s great uncle in the center of the sprawling town, on a highway that connected the commercial/downtown district in the northern part of the town with the residential district in the southern part of town. A vast forest lay at the foot of a mountain on the eastern side of the road, where Jack’s property resided, and there were farmlands on the western side of the road.

After breathing in the cool, fresh air, Jack smiled and head back in. He closed the door behind him and then walked into the checkout stand to look at the girl. From inside the checkout stand, he could see a power cord running from the small of her back to a port in the floor. The girl standing motionless before him, as well as the other two, were androids.

Jack smiled at her as he pulled a tablet from his pocket. He activated it and then said, “Well, let’s get started,”

Chapter 2: Sarah (9am-10am)

The instant Jack activated his tablet, the entire shop came to life, including the employees. Lights popped on, the heaters activated, and the girl in front of him slowly started moving. A few moments later, she was fully activated. She turned and looked at Jack with a smile on her face.

“Merry Christmas Sarah,” Jack smiled, putting the tablet away.

Sarah was built in the form of a young woman in her early twenties. She had very thin blonde hair that went down just past her shoulders, and innocent blue eyes. While she was 5’7, she had the appearance of someone who was short because she had a stout hourglass figure.

“Merry Christmas Jack,” Sarah said with and excited look, “Do I get my presents first?” she asked.

“Yes Sarah, you get yours first,” Jack told her, “But only because your condition is more serious than the others,”

“I know,” she said, turning to look at her power cord. Several months earlier, she received a mild electric shock from a power surge caused by a lightning storm. While it did not completely destroy her systems, it unfortunately destroyed both her batteries and her ability to charge a battery; she could still receive power through the AC cord, but that effectively trapped her in the checkout area when before she could move about and assist customers.

“Well, today is the day you finally get fixed,” Jack told her.

“Yay!” Sarah said, giving him a hug.

“I will of course need to disconnect you from here first so I can take you down to my workstation,” he reminded her.

“Oh, I know,” she said, “But how will you get me there?” she asked, looking down at her body, “After all, I’m not exactly light,”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have Kat help me out with your body,” Jack said, pulling his tablet out and summoning Kat with it. A few moments later, the girl from the loading dock silently walked in; she had a more muscular physique than Sarah.

“Kat, could you get your hand truck and help me bring Sarah down to my lab?” Jack requested.

Kat silently nodded and disappeared back into the loading dock, returning moments later with the hand truck she used to unload boxes from the regular shipments they received. She came to a stop right next to Jack and waited for his next order.

“Alright Sarah, talk to you soon,” Jack said, reaching down and grabbing the other end of her power cable.

“Alright,” Sarah said, just as he pulled the cord out. Her face immediately went slack as her systems went offline. She would have fallen over if the servo mechanisms throughout her body didn’t lock into position.

“Alright Kat, I’ll lift and you secure her,” Jack said, carefully grabbing hold of Sarah’s lifeless body from the front. Once he managed to lift her up a few inches, Kat maneuvered the hand truck underneath Sarah’s feet and allowed Jack to lower her onto it. Kat then secured Sarah with the straps on the hand truck and gave Jack a thumbs up.

“Thanks Kat, you can follow me now,” Jack said, walking with her through the doors into the loading dock and into the office, where the girl behind the desk was now active and working on her computer.

“Merry Christmas Jack,” the girl said with a friendly smile.

“Merry Christmas Rachel,” Jack smiled to her, heading past the door he had come in from and towards another door. He waved his passkey over the security panel and then stood back as the doors opened, revealing an elevator.

Kat wheeled Sarah in ahead of Jack and then Jack pressed the control to have the elevator descend. The elevator descended several levels down before finally opening into what looked like a makeshift fallout shelter.

Jack smiled as he remembered his Great Uncle Mortimer showing him this place for the first time. He had built it when WWIII got started in fear that a nuke would wipe out most of civilization. While death was widespread, it never reached the states so he reconverted his fallout shelter into a makeshift workshop where he worked on robots for nearly four decades before his death. Now, Jack used it to work on his own androids, as well as those belonging to clients he took on from around the area.

Jack walked into the largest chamber where the examination table and diagnostic equipment where set up. Without being ordered to, Kat unstrapped Sarah from the hand truck and stood her up next to the table.

“Thanks Kat,” Jack said, turning on all his equipment, “You can head back up now, I’ll send Sarah up to get you when I’ve finished with her,” he told her.

Kat was silent, but there was a look of gratitude on her face as she walked up and gave him a hug. She then silently wheeled her cart back onto the elevator and took it back up.

Once Kat was gone, Jack took Sarah’s power cable and plugged it into the power port located at the base of the examination table. Sarah instantly came back online and adjusted to her new surroundings.

“Alright Sarah, I need you to disrobe,” Jack said clinically, hooking a cable up to his workstation and preparing to get started on Sarah.

“Ok,” she said, and she carefully took her clothes off, being careful not to get her power cord tangled. It wasn’t long before she stood before Jack naked.

“Thanks Sarah, now lay down on the table on your stomach,” Jack ordered.

Once she did so, he walked over and tapped the center of her back. Instantly, numerous blue lights lit up beneath her skin, displaying basic diagnostic stats and outlining the various panels that could be removed. He tapped the control to remove her entire back panel, stepping back as the lights illuminating that panel lit up briefly and then went dark. With the seam now visible, he dug his fingers in on both sides and lifted the large panel off, revealing her inner mechanisms.

Because she was still online, all her systems were humming with life. As often as he had seen Sarah like this, he was still impressed at the level of detail Spaztec had added to make everything mimic human bodily functions. He did not waste much time admiring her mechanisms, as he had a timetable to adhere to. He focused all of his attention on the lower portion of her back, where her damaged batteries and power control systems were located.

“Sarah, I’m going to keep you online for this, but I’m going to need you to disable your personality programs and load into diagnostic mode,” Jack said, plugging the cables from his diagnostic station into the rear data port on her main CPU casing.

“Alright,” Sarah said in her usual pleasant voice, then she straightened up and said, “Diagnostic mode enabled,”

“Good,” Jack said, “I want you to run a full diagnostic on your systems and save it to the he diagnostic terminal to compare to the new components I’m going to install in you,”

“Understood, running diagnostic…diagnostic will finish in five minutes,” Sarah said in an emotionless tone. From that moment she fell silent, though Greg could still here her components humming away…the humming got louder due to the extra resources the diagnostic was utilizing.

While the diagnostic was running, Jack couldn’t help but reflect on how he had come to possess Sarah…

Sarah used to be a Perfect Friend model Mark II created by Spaztec for a lonely college student. He based off of several women that he had been infatuated with, which was part of the reason for her stunted appearance. She served him well, helping him with his homework, taking his notes when he was sick, and having sex with him. All was well with him and Sarah until he happened to fall in love with a real woman. Suffice to say, she did not want Sarah to be around, and he lost interest in her anyway.

Fortunately, Spaztec had an android auction site for android owners to sell off their androids to people who could not otherwise afford a customized model. Jack learned very early on in his career to frequent this site, as it gave him cheap and unique androids to test his skills on. He had a very special place in his heart for Sarah, because she was the first one he bought. At first, he merely tinkered with her, taking the discarded components from other androids he fixed as part of his job and using them to upgrade her.

When he took over ownership of the shop, he adjusted her programming so that she could operate a cash register and give friendly customer service to anyone who came to his shop. It was actually a brilliant plan, because aside from the minor repair costs associated with her, she earned him money and neither desired nor required a wage.

Under normal circumstances, an android wouldn’t care whether it received upgrades or not, but Jack used a genius bit of programming and word play to “trick” them into wanting upgrades. He told them that the better they worked, the more money they would make and the more money they made, the better the upgrades they would get and the more work he could do on them. Because working on them pleased him, they interpreted it as one of their prime functions and consistently improved their efficiency each year, earning him more and more profit.

Because the shop was open every day of the year but Christmas, he saved as much money as he could each year to give her and the other androids upgrades, repairs, and overhauls on that day, with one day set aside each summer to perform major software updates.

“Diagnostic complete, results saved to diagnostic terminal,” Sarah said, breaking him from his trip down memory lane.

“Very good,” Jack said, refocusing on her power system, “Now to give you your presents,” he smiled, tearing the old battery out.

It took him only a few moments to completely remove her old power systems. It was fortunate that she could still receive power via the power cable, because having her systems online made it easier to tell if the repairs he was doing were working.

Jack placed the old power system in a protected container, since it required special safety considerations before it could be properly disposed of. He then brought a similar box that contained a new power control system and battery that were in much better condition. It was quick work to install the new systems, and he was immediately alerted to the success by Sarah.

“New hardware detected, running compatibility check…compatibility confirmed…power systems online and fully functional,” she reported.

“Very good Sarah,” he smiled, seeing the new power system light up with activity, “I want you to reconfigure for rapid charge,” he ordered.

“Warning, rapid charge is not recommended and may damage power supply,” Sarah droned.

“Understood, override safeties and execute my command,” Jack said, making a mental note to disable the safeties.

“Acknowledged, reconfiguring for rapid charge,” Sarah said, then the lights on her power system started blinking rapidly, “Current charge at 10%...25%...40%...60%...80%...Power now at full charge, all batteries functioning properly,”

“Excellent!” Jack said, rubbing his hands together excitedly, “Now for the real test,” he said, walking over and pulling the power cord from her open back, “Sarah, confirm power retention,”

“Retention confirmed,” Sarah reported.

“Very good, you may reconfigure for normal charge now,” he told her, and while she did, he walked over to the diagnostic terminal and loaded several programs into it. “Sarah, I have some software updates and new customer service programs ready for you to load,” he told her.

“Accessing terminal…programs found, now installing,” she reported, then she fell silent. Jack monitored the installation on the terminal and also overwrote some of her files manually on occasion when he felt she didn’t install them properly.

“Installation complete, now initiating reboot,” Sarah said, and all the systems powered down in her open panel.

Jack took advantage of her downtime to disconnect her from his terminal and reattach her back panel. Once the panel was in place, he tapped the flashing icon on the flesh and watched as it re-sealed itself. By the time the seam was gone, Sarah’s systems were back online.

“Reboot successful, A.I. updated…new customer service programs installed,” Sarah reported.

“Very good, now get off the table and stand at attention in front of me,” Jack ordered.

Sarah did so swiftly and efficiently, showing off her perfect naked body. Despite her stunted appearance, she was still very attractive. Before he married Gabby, Jack had engaged in sexual intercourse with her on many occasions, and wished he still could, but Gabby got awfully jealous of him paying so much attention to the androids as it was and he did not wish to see her reaction to him banging one of them.

Still, he could not help but admire her body and he played around with her large breasts for nearly five minutes before letting them go.

“Well Sarah, I just have one more test for you to run,” Jack said conversationally, taking his control tablet from his jacket and loading Sarah’s remote. Perusing through her preprogrammed commands, he found the one he wanted, labelled: customer_service.haca and had her load it.

“Welcome to Brown’s General Store, my name is Sarah, how may I assist you today,” Sarah said in the pre-programmed greeting.

“Very good, looks like everything went well,” Jack congratulated himself, “Sarah, switch to personality mode,” he ordered her.

“Loading personality…personality loaded,” Sarah said, and then her friendly smile returned, “Ah, I’m detecting a functional power source now, thank you,” she said, walking up and giving him a hug; Jack struggled to control his reactions, since she was still naked.

“Don’t mention it Sarah,” he told her, patting her bare back before separating himself from her, “Now, as much as I enjoy working on you, my favorite android, please try and be more careful this year,” he pleaded with her, “I’d really like to perform some nice upgrades on you next year rather than repairs and replacements,”

“I’ll try my best,” she promised.

“Now, get dressed and then head up and let Kat know I’m ready for her,” Jack said, “But first, give me a kiss,” he added.

“Yes sir,” she smiled, giving him a friendly kiss before putting her clothes on and heading towards the lift.

As he watched her hips swaying from behind, enjoying the view, Jack began mentally planning for his next session with her next Christmas, and for his impending session with Kat.

“One down, two to go,” he thought to himself.

Chapter 3: Kat (10am-11am)

Jack had just enough time to reset the diagnostic console for Kat’s intended repairs and updates before he heard the sound of the lift opening up and Kat’s footsteps walking into the room. She silently walked up to Jack and stood at attention.

Kat was built in the image of a woman in her mid-twenties and was rather tall for a woman, standing at nearly six feet tall. She was also rather muscular and very well endowed; she used to be a personal trainer model. Jack had to restrain himself every time he worked on her because she was, for lack of a better word, hot! Her fiery red hair perfectly framed her playful face with her brown, almond shaped eyes.

“Thanks for coming so quickly Kat,” Jack said absently, still working on the terminal, “Are you ready for your presents?” he asked.

Kat said nothing but instead gave him a big smile.

“That’s what I thought,” Jack smiled back, “Now I’ve got several things I’m going to be doing to you, but the first thing is to fix your voice,” he told her, “Sit down on the table please,” he ordered.

Kat silently complied, efficiently sitting up on the edge of the table.

“Alright Kat, I’m going to remove your head now,” Jack warned, stepping around behind her.

Kat prepared herself by bracing herself on the edge of the table with her hands. Jack parted the hair at the back of her neck and tapped the sweet spot in the middle, causing the sub-dermal control circles to appear. He quickly tapped the top circle and waited for the mechanisms in her neck to finish decoupling. He then grabbed hold of her head and pulled it straight off, releasing a slight hiss of air from her last breath. Once he had her head firmly in his hands, he carried it over to his work area and set it down carefully on its side.

With her head safe on his desk, he turned back to Kat, who had relaxed her position on the table. Jack could never quite get used to seeing these androids headless. Despite their robotic nature, they still looked perfectly real on the outside and it kinda creeped him out, and oddly turned him on at the same time.

“You still with me Kat?” he asked her.

Again, Kat did not speak, she instead gave him a thumbs up.

“Good, I’m going to keep you online for this,” he said, grabbing some tools and walking over to her open neck. He had been planning for this for several weeks, ever since her digital vocal synthesizer failed. He quickly located the device and pulled it out, causing Kat to jerk a little bit.

Kat had been a personal trainer android custom made by a former professional athlete who had been injured during his sport. He purchased her to assist him in physical therapy, though because she had been made in the image of a hot woman, he also used her for sex as well. It was during a rather intense session of oral sex that he penetrated her a little too deep and caused permanent damage to her vocal chords, eliminating her ability to produce humanlike vocalizations.

Still, she had the backup digital voice synthesizer that usually only kicked in when her head was removed, and he contracted Jack to repair her, though he did not wish to spend the thousands of dollars to purchase a custom replacement for her vocal chords, so Jack reconfigured her digital voice synthesizer to work even when her head was attached.

A few months later, a bunch of weights fell on the actor, crushing his spine and paralyzing him from the waist down. He was able to sue the company that made the weight lifting machine, since a design defect caused the accident, however even with all the money he received in settlement, he could no longer keep Kat; he was now impotent and could not even appreciate her sexually.

The athlete knew of Jack’s interest in her and offered to sell her to him at an affordable price, an offer Jack willingly accepted. Jack still occasionally corresponded with the man, who was still living in an assisted living facility in Central Oregon a few hours away.

Jack also never bothered to replace her vocal chords, since as a custom model, any parts for her would be very expensive…even with his consultant discount. Once he took over the shop, he saw her enhanced strength as a personal trainer model would be useful so he reprogrammed her to work in the loading dock lifting and unpacking boxes and keeping track of inventory. Due to the nature of her job, not assisting customers, her digital vocal synthesizer was more than adequate. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be used so frequently, and in the middle of chatting with the regular delivery man, it cut out and she had to get Rachel to assist her.

Jack decided that not only would he be repairing the voice synthesizer, but he would also be replacing her vocal chords to prevent the synthesizer from future strain.

“Alright, I think I’ve got it,” Jack finally said, replacing the last of the micro-components in the tiny voice box and reattaching the cover. He then carefully reinserted it back into her open neck and stood back. “Alright Kat, try and speak,” he told her.

It took a few moments, but finally Kat made a sound. It sounded garbled at first, but finally Kat’s digital voice emerged.

“g..ing…esting…testing,” Kat’s voice merged in a digital garble.

“Hold on, let me try something really quick,” Jack said, leaning back in and poking his tool into the synthesizer. He tweaked a few of the exterior dials and then stood back. “Try again,”

“Testing…testing,” Kat’s lovely voice emerged in digital form.

“Very good!” he congratulated her, giving her a hug that she willingly returned, “It’s good to hear your voice again,”

“It’s good to be able to speak again,” she countered.

“Indeed,” he said, “Now I have a few software updates for you to install, though they shouldn’t require much time,” he told her, “Can you connect to my terminal wirelessly?” he asked.

“Standby,” Kat said. After a few moments, a window popped up on the console confirming Kat’s access codes. “Connection complete, I have detected the files,” she reported.

“Good, please initiate download and installation,” he told her, “While you are doing that, I will be replacing your vocal chords so you can speak normally again,”

“I look forward to it,” Kat said, then she started the download and fell silent.

While she was performing the download, Jack wheeled his chair back to the work area and picked up her head, which was still laying on its side. He set it upside down gently in his lap and pulled a few different tools out of his kit. The open end of the bottom of Kat’s head was nothing more than the continuation of her neck. On the edges were the artificial musculature and the connection point for her metallic spine and computer connections. In the middle was the tube that air passed through, and the focus of Jack’s attention.

There was a small latch at the base of the tube that Jack uncoupled with his small tools. This released the tube from the rest of the head, allowing Jack to carefully pull it out. The tube itself was several inches long and contained the highly sophisticated vocal chords that differentiated this class of androids from competitors. Other manufacturers simply sufficed with a voice box, but Spaztec preferred to have their androids vocalize the same way humans do.

Jack placed the damaged tube down on the workbench and pulled a brand new one from a box that had been delivered several days earlier. If Kat were one of the more common androids, parts like the throat tube would have cost much less, but being a custom model, parts had to be custom made. It cost Jack a considerable amount, but profits were up this year and it would prevent Kat from having any further issues with her voice synthesizer.

“Installation complete, now initiation reboot,” Kat’s voice sounded, distracting Jack’s attention momentarily.

“Well Kat, once you’re back online, I should have this all done,” he said, inserting the new tube into her head and sealing it in place. With the job done, he held her head up in his hands, admiring the realism; her face was still frozen in its usual playful smile.

“Reboot successful, A.I. updated, resuming personality,” Kat said in an emotionless tone, “Ah, have you finished?” she then asked in her usual tone of voice.

“Yes, time to see if it worked,” he said with a tone of excitement, walking over to her with her head in his hands. He brought it down carefully over her neck and then clicked it into place. Once he tapped the lowed sub-dermal circle, he heard the connections clicking into place and then the panel vanished.

Her head came back to life almost instantly, and she quickly took in a deep breath of air. She let out a few bursts of air, seemingly exercising her new throat tube before finally speaking.

“Testing…testing,” she said in a clear, human voice, “Wow, I can speak again!” she said excitedly.

“Indeed you can dear,” he told her with a big smile on his face, watching her reaction as though she were a little girl receiving a present.

He too was excited, since this was the first time he had ever heard her vocalize before. Although her voice sounded more or less the same as when it was emitted from the vocal synthesizer, the absence of the digital alterations made it sound more natural.

“You have a lovely voice Kat,” he complimented her.

“Thank you Jack,” Kat said, leaning in and giving him a friendly kiss.

“It’s my pleasure,” he told her, “Now, we still have a bit of time left,” he said, looking at the clock and seeing he still had about twenty minutes, “How are your primary servo joints doing?” he asked, “Any stress from bending and lifting over the past year?”

“A little,” Kat said, after running a quick diagnostic.

“Well, might as well repair it,” Jack said, “Get undressed and lay down on the table,” he told her.

Kat complied instantly, unlacing her steel-toed work shoes and removing both them and her socks; Jack always liked looking at feet, and Kat’s were very nice. She continued by removing her jeans and the simple top she was wearing.

“You can leave your panties and sports bra on,” Jack told her, once she was only standing in her underwear. Under normal circumstances the male part of his brain would have allowed her to keep undressing, but he knew if she were naked then he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his work; he still admired her large cleavage barely contained by the basic sports bra she was wearing.

Kat merely nodded, giving him a knowing smile as she laid down on the table.

“Alright Kat, I don’t have time to disengage your limbs myself,” Jack said, getting his tool kit ready, “Could you please disengage your arms and legs for me?”

“Certainly Jack,” Kat said, and her face seemed to zone out as blue lights flashed on her thighs and biceps, revealing seams. “Both my arms and legs have been disengaged,” she reported moments later.

“Very good Kat,” Jack said, pulling each limb off and laying it next to her torso.

He then pulled a calibration tool from his kit and started working it on the servo mechanisms embedded on both the mechanical openings on Kat’s torso, and the ones on her limbs. The servo mechanisms helped to augment her humanlike musculature, but they still took the brunt of the energy when she moved around or lifted heavy objects and occasionally needed to be recalibrated to prevent permanent damage.

It was rather quick work, but he didn’t like performing this type of maintenance on a more regular basis because if he did anything wrong, it could easily turn into hours’ worth of work. He did rather enjoy working on the limbs themselves, because every minute calibration caused the digits on them to twitch.

After nearly fifteen minutes, he put his tools away and started reattaching her limbs.

“Well Kat, I think you are good for the next year,” Jack said, clicking her legs back into place, “Try not to do anything to damage yourself too severely and maybe next year you will get some nice upgrades,” he added, clicking her arms back on.

“I’ll try my best,” Kat said, in exactly the same tone Sarah gave him an hour earlier, causing Jack to smile.

“You can get dressed now,” Jack said, and then he heard his mobile beep, so he pulled it out of his pocket to see who it was; it was a message from Gabby:

“Hey Jack, the parade is almost over and I am taking Henry to one of the restaurants in town,” it read, “I want to give you one of your presents early. I am allowing you to have sex with one of your projects today…just one. See you in a few hours!”

Jack smiled as he read the message. Normally Gabby was pretty jealous about him spending this much time with his employees. He hoped this meant she would give him some great sex later that night!

Jack almost stopped Kat from getting dressed, since she was very hot. But, then Jack thought about his next repair session, with Rachel.

“I haven’t had the pleasure of doing her yet,” Jack thought to himself, smiling as he did so. “Thanks Gabby,”

“I’m dressed now,” Kat said, breaking him out of his reverie, “Am I done?”

“Oh, yes,” Jack said, regaining his focus, “You may go, and please let Rachel know I’m ready for her,” he said.

“Alright, and thanks for the presents,” Kat said, giving him a friendly smile before turning and heading towards the lift.

Jack watched her leave with the same interest as Sarah; Kat looked just as good from behind as she did from the front. Now he had only a few minutes to prepare himself for his session with Rachel.

Chapter 4: Rachel (11am-12pm)

Jack heard the sound of the lift coming down a few moments after Kat reached the top. It was not surprising since the lift was right next to Rachel’s desk, and Rachel was the “smartest” of his employees. Smart wasn’t really the right word to use though, it was more that she was programmed with more algorithms to handle her duties. As a matter of fact, she was the only android employed by Jack that he did not have to alter the original programming for; she was made to be a secretary and he used her as a secretary.

Rachel was slightly more than a secretary though. While she did act as Jack’s secretary for clients requesting his android repair services, she was also programmed managed the shop. Despite the fact that managing the shop was not an intended service offered by the original secretary programming, Jack was surprised with how little tweaking he had to do to her; she did an awesome job!

The lift finally reached the bottom and opened up, depositing the lovely form of Rachel, who gracefully made her way into Jack’s repair chamber.

“Ah Rachel, I’m so glad I made you so punctual,” Jack smiled as she stopped in front of him, “Are you ready for your presents?”

“Yes sir,” Rachel smiled nicely; unlike the others, she always called him sir.

Rachel was built in the form of a lovely woman in her late twenties. She had a rather ordinary appearance with an ordinary height; even the woman’s dress attire she was wearing was rather ordinary. She had dark brown hair tied neatly behind her head, but the most striking thing about her was that she wore glasses, not because she needed them, but because the person she was based on wore them.

Unlike the other androids, Rachel was built in the exact image of a real person…in Rachel’s case, she was based on a woman who died in an accident. The real Rachel was partnered with her sister in a small business they started together several towns away. For several years, they ran it successfully, but then Rachel’s car went off the road during a storm and she was critically injured. Before she died, Rachel gave her sister permission to have an android made in her image, and with the best personality and memory scans available at the time.

Jack had fond memories of working on Rachel during her time at her sister’s company. Her sister actually treated Rachel like her real sister, since the Rachel robot had her sister’s basic memory and personality programmed into her.

Things went rather well for those two, until times got tough and they were forced to fold their business. Unfortunately, folding the business meant that the sister could no longer afford to keep or maintain Rachel, so she offered to sell Rachel to Jack, since she knew he was interested in her. Jack was pleased to buy Rachel, and he still sent the sister a post card every year; she had moved back East to be with her family and had since married.

“Very good, then please undress and sit on the table,” Jack told her.

“Did you want me to remotely connect to your server?” she asked politely, unbuttoning her blouse.

“In a moment,” he said, getting the software upgrades he had for her ready, “There are also a few hardware upgrades I will be giving you,”

“I can’t wait,” she said, now removing her shoes, stockings and pants.

“Also, Gabby gave me permission to have some fun with one of you girls,” Jack added, “I decided to have some fun with you,”

“I’m flattered,” Rachel said, now removing her remaining clothing and standing before him naked.

Rachel’s ordinary appearance extended to her anatomy as well. Unlike the other two, her breasts were a more modest size. This was one of the main distinctions between androids customized by people and those based solely on real people. Jack could always tell when someone had customized their android because inevitably, they were made with large breasts. He didn’t mind, but it was refreshing to see an android like Rachel every now and then with a more realistic figure. About the only issue he did have with people requesting big breasts was that the added weight often led to increased stress in their back servos…they didn’t realize they needed to request additional structural reinforcement.

Rachel often tricked customers as well, in the few occasions were her presence was required on the sales floor and she had to deal with a customer issue, nine times out of ten the customer was surprised to discover she was an android. When asked, most people said it was the glasses, but some also mentioned her modest figure. Jack was always pleased when people mistook his employees for real people.

“I’m curious Rachel,” Jack said, finishing up on his diagnostic station, “Did you ever receive the office romance programming?”

“No I didn’t sir,” Rachel answered, sitting on the edge of the table, “I am capable of running those programs if you choose to install them in me,” she offered.

“Believe me, I will,” Jack smiled, adding the office romance programs to her download list, “Alright Rachel, you can initiate remote access now,” he told her.

“Standby sir,” Rachel said, and after a few moments, a window popped up on the diagnostic terminal confirming her access, “Connection established, I am detecting the files,” she reported.

“Good, I want you to start downloading and installing those files,” he told her, “but first I want you to lay down and disengage your arms from your torso,”

“Understood sir,” she replied, laying down on the table. She then initiated the separation protocol for her arms, causing the blue lights to flash briefly before leaving the seams. “My arms have been disengaged and I am initializing download,” she then reported.

“Thanks Rachel,” Jack said, pulling both her arms free from her torso and setting them down on his desk. He spent a few moments admiring the beauty of her arms before getting his tool kit.

He then pulled a tool from his kit and aimed it at the wrist of Rachel’s left forearm. A small laser emitted from the tool and cut through the skin and musculature, revealing the metallic bone beneath as well as a few cables and wires. Once he did the same thing to the right arm, he attached clamps to both skin flaps to hold them open and then he got to work.

One of the many benefits to having Rachel performing her original programming as a secretary model was that she did not have to engage in much physical activity. As such, the only physical stress she accumulated was to her arms from working on paperwork and the computer all day, much in the same way humans contracted carpal tunnel syndrome. While she did not experience pain in the same sense as humans, it nonetheless reduced her operating efficiency.

“So Rachel, what work were you getting done up there?” Jack asked conversationally, repairing the components in her left arm; every time he moved his tool, the fingers on the hand twitched.

“I was getting our systems ready for the new prices that will take effect on the New Year,” Rachel responded; while she was downloading the updates, she could still communicate.

“Hopefully people aren’t too upset, but it is only a 1% increase,” he said.

“Well, with the new customer service programming you are installing into me, I should be able to attend to any complaints that might arise,” Rachel responded.

“What is the status of my shipment?” he then asked her, now working on her right arm.

“It should be here in about an hour,” she answered.

“Good,” Jack said, finishing up in her arms and tweaking the laser tool before aiming it back at the arm. A different colored beam emitted from the end, this one resealing the skin and musculature until not a trace of the incision was present.

“I have finished downloading and installing the files,” Rachel reported, “Would you like me to reboot now?”

“No,” Jack said, “I need you to open your abdominal access so I can upgrade some of your sub-processors,” he told her, “Once your panel is open, I want you to shut down,”

“Understood,” Rachel said, and moments later the seam for her abdominal panel lit up and left the visible seam behind. Then, she promptly shut herself down.

“I hope some of these updates and upgrades make you a little less formal,” Jack then said, pulling the panel off and taking a look at her processor assembly.

After a few moments, he located what he was looking for and carefully pulled out several sub processors. Once he had them secured in an antistatic field, he pulled an antistatic delivery bag from a nearby shelf and pulled out an equal amount of new sub-processors. While they looked similar, he knew that they would give her a 15% boost in performance and efficiency. They clicked into their slots effortlessly, eliciting a sigh of relief from Jack.

He shuddered as he remembered a time he had accidentally purchased the wrong sub-processors for an android he had worked on in the past, and because they were incompatible, the force at which he inserted them damaged the connections, giving him hours of repair work to do.

With the new hardware installed, he pressed the manual power button on her CPU. Once he saw the components activating, he placed the skin panel back in place, as well as both her arms, and then waited for her A.I. to come online.

“New hardware detected, running compatibility check,” Rachel reported in an emotionless tone, “Diagnostic complete, hardware compatibility confirmed…processor efficiency improved by 15%...now loading A.I.,” she finished, and then a few moments later, her personality came back online. “Ooh, I’m really feeling that upgrade,” she smiled, sealing her panel and her arms and then sitting up.

“How do you feel?” Jack asked.

“My arms feel much better, and I’m able to access information more quickly,” she responded.

“Good, and the new software?” he asked.

“Successfully installed,” she smiled.

“Good, then I want you to run office_romance.haca,” he told her.

“Okay Jack,” she smiled, and then her whole body seemed to relax, “Oh, I feel so much better now for some reason,” she said, absently running her hands down her body in a proactive manner.

“I can see that,” Jack smiled, getting turned on by her preprogrammed advances, “Let’s go somewhere a bit more comfortable,” he suggested.

“Good idea,” she said, happily jumping down from the table and following him.

The two of them walked in the opposite direction of the lift leading out of the large repair chamber. The repair chamber had originally been designed as a large free space in the otherwise functionally efficient shelter. The hallway they walked down had several sub-chambers off to the side, including a kitchen, three bedrooms, and two storage rooms. Jack had extensive stores in the two storerooms, so he had to use a few of the bedrooms for additional storage.

“Here, I think this one is free,” Jack said, opening up one of the bedroom doors. He made it a few feet inside before coming to a quick stop. There were two female androids inside, both inactive and both built in an Indian ethnic appearance. “I guess not,” he smiled, walking back out.

“Who were they?” Rachel asked curiously.

“Just some pet projects I’ve been working on,” Jack said evasively, “Hopefully someday they might be working for me,” he added.

“I can’t wait to meet them,” Rachel said absently, though at present her only concern was fulfilling the programming her new office romance software was giving her.

Jack walked down to the next bedroom, though that one was also occupied by a few inert androids. Finally, he opened the last bedroom and smiled, “This is one is free,”

“Good,” Rachel said, rushing in ahead of him and sitting down on the edge of the bed inside, “This bedroom looks like it has been slept in. Do you sleep in here?” she asked.

“Sometimes,” Jack admitted, closing the door behind him, “I’ll occasionally pop in here for a power nap when I am working on several projects at once,”

“Too bad we couldn’t have some fun in your bed,” she said coquettishly.

“I know, but I don’t think Gabby would appreciate having to clean up after us,” Jack said, “Anyway, why don’t lay back while I undress and then I’ll start on the foreplay,”

“Yes sir,” Rachel smiled, casually laying down on the bed, continuing to feel her own body as she did.

Jack made quick work of his clothes and quickly joined her on the bed. He had always wanted to do this, but Gabby would never have allowed him. He began by examining her lovely feet, they were quite warm and of all the girls, hers were the most feminine looking. While they were warm and even slightly moist, they did not have a realistic odor. Although all the girls were advanced enough to support the optional body odor secretion, he chose not to give them that option since the secretion tanks had to be replaced on a regular basis and were somewhat costly.

Rachel giggled slightly as he played with her feet, not because she herself was ticklish, but most likely because the real Rachel upon which she was based was. He then let his arms caress her smooth, womanly legs, eliciting a content sigh. He then moved up to her vagina, which was very neatly groomed. He played around with the opening for a bit before moving further up and playing with her breasts.

“So Rachel, how would your ‘sister’ react to seeing us together like this?” Jack asked, continuing to feel up her entire body.

“She would probably be jealous,” Rachel said, pausing to moan, “She had a bit of a crush on you,”

“Really?” Jack asked, stopping his advanced.

“Oh yes,” Rachel said, “She occasionally created situations that would elicit a malfunction just so she would have an excuse to call you over,”

“I always wondered why she was always calling,” Jack said, the situation now dawning on him, “I mean, when I finally purchased you from her and was able to run a more thorough scan of your systems I found them to be quite sturdy,”

“The real Rachel would have been attracted to you to,” Rachel then added.

“That’s good to hear,” Jack said, “Are you ready for me now?” he asked.

“Yes,” she smiled, spreading her legs and holding herself open with both hands.

Jack quickly inserted himself inside of her and then they both began working themselves. They rolled around a few times in the bed to get in a comfortable rhythm. Jack caressed Rachel’s smooth back and even squeezed her pert behind. All Jack could think of while he was penetrating Rachel was how long he had wished to do this, but his love for Gabby was too strong…now strengthened by her allowing him to do this.

The two of them finally climaxed a few minutes later and collapsed into each other’s embrace while they caught their breath…though Rachel’s breath was serving to cool off her systems, not send oxygen to her brain.

“Did you want to have another go?” Rachel finally asked, breaking the silence.

Jack almost took her up on it, but suddenly his stomach rumbled and he was reminded of the time. “No, I haven’t had anything to eat in a few hours and you should probably clean up and continue prepping the systems for the new prices,”

“Oh alright,” Rachel pouted, then her behavior changed back to a more professional state, signifying she had terminated her office romance program, “Is there somewhere I can clean up?” she asked, pointing at the sexual juices still wet on her crotch.

“Yes, this place has a decent shower,” he said, “All the rain water, as well as waste water from the main house collects into a storage tank that this place purifies,”

“Good,” she smiled, getting to her feet, “Would you like to shower with me?” she then asked playfully.

“Sure,” he smiled back, “Follow me,” he then said, leading her out of the room and across the hall into another room, in which there was a rather simple bathroom. “Before we get in, we should probably remove your glasses,” he suggested.

“Good idea,” she said, and she allowed them to grab hold of them on both sides.

He pressed in on hidden latches behind both ears, releasing the glasses from her head. Jack gently placed the glasses down on the sink and then looked into Rachel’s un-bespectacled face, admiring her eyes. Rachel could see just fine without the glasses, their only purpose was to allow her to resemble her donor.

“Rachel, you look quite lovely without your glasses,” Jack told her.

“I know, but they are a part of me,” Rachel said.

“I know,” he said, “Let’s get clean,” he then said, opening the shower and turning on the water.

Although Rachel was no longer running the office romance program, she still made their shower an intimate experience. She let him clean her back and rubbed her hot, wet body against his. If he didn’t have to worry about the fresh water in the storage tank running out, we would have stayed in there forever, but regretfully he shut off the water after 15 minutes and helped Rachel dry herself off. Fortunately, Rachel’s artificial hair stayed conditioned so she did not have to spend an hour making herself up.

“Well Rachel, that was really fun,” Jack said as the two of them returned to the repair bay, “I hope Gabby gives me permission to have fun with you again,”

“I hope so too,” Rachel agreed, picking up her clothes and getting dressed.

“Can you get my usual lunch ready once you get back up?” Jack requested, “I have a few more things I have to get done down here,”

“Certainly Jack,” Rachel smiled, no longer acting subservient…Jack wasn’t sure if it was the A.I. update, or the sex, but he was glad she was treating him more familiarly. Once she had her clothes back on, she gave him a quick hug and then headed to the lift.

Chapter 5: Lunch (12pm-1pm)

Jack spent a few minutes securing his diagnostic station and resetting it for his next project. Once the terminal was prepared, Jack got his clothes back on and headed for the lift.

“Man, I should have asked Rachel to send the lift back down,” Jack said aloud as he waited for the lift to return to the bottom. Now that the sexual ecstasy had passed, he was suddenly ravenous and was eager to have his lunch.

The lift arrived a short while later and he quickly entered it and rode it to the ground level. Rachel was back at work behind her desk, typing away on the computer. She gave him a friendly smile when she saw him exit into the office.

“Sarah has your lunch up front…Jack,” she said.

“Thanks Rachel,” Jack smiled, and he continued walking out into the loading dock, where Kat was now inventorying their stock.

“How’s your body doing so far Kat?” Jack asked her, stopping momentarily to observe her work.

“My body is doing fine Jack, thanks for asking,” Kat said happily, continuing to work.

“Oh, I almost forgot, I got you something else,” Jack said, and he picked up a box with Kat’s name on it that had been left near her recharging station, “Open it,”

“Okay,” Kat said, and she opened the box with the same efficiency as the others and then pulled out a small article of clothing, “What is this?” she asked.

“It’s a back brace,” Jack told her, “Humans where them to reduce the strain on their backs, I want to see if this helps over the next year,” he explained.

“Very well, thank you,” Kat said, lifting up her shirt and allowing Jack to strap the back brace on her.

“You’re welcome,” Jack said, tightening it and then lowering her shirt down over it, “Now this may slightly inhibit your movements, but I’m sure it won’t take you long to adapt,” he told her, walking back in front of her.

Kat merely stretched out a bit and then smiled, “I already have,”

“I knew you would,” he laughed as he walked towards the shop, “Carry on!” he shouted back, heading into the shop.

When he entered the shop, he found Sarah tidying up the area surrounding the cash register. Jack could also see the object of his attention: a deli sandwich and bottled iced tea. Before he reached the sandwich though, he stopped as he saw Sarah using a cleaning solvent.

“Sarah! I thought I told you to use the protective gloves when you use that cleaning solvent,” he scolded her, “You know that stuff can degrade your artificial skin and I don’t want to have to pay for replacing your skin,”

“I’m sorry Jack, I’ll remember next time,” Sarah said, setting down the supplies and heading into the nearby restroom to wash her hands. Once she returned, she put on a pair of cleaning gloves and resumed her work.

“It’s okay, it’s been a while since you were able to clean this area,” Jack smiled, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite, “I’m going to go and eat outside,” he then told her, seeing the weather outside had warmed up a bit, “Let me know immediately if Rachel needs me,”

“I will,” Sarah assured him, and then Jack took his sandwich and bottle of iced tea and walked out the front doors.

The area out front was a gated parking lot. His uncle had been burgled and robbed a few times, so he invested in a 20 foot tall iron security gate, with poles that retracted into the ground of the entrance and exit during the daytime. Jack sat down on one of the benches in front of his shop and enjoyed his lunch and the scenery.

Jack sat there in silence eating his lunch for nearly 15 minutes before a noise to his right alerted him. It was the owner of the motel next door to him and she was tapping on the security gate. She was a woman of advanced years, though the way she carried herself showed she could probably keep up with even the fittest young person.

“Ah, Mrs. Ellison, how are you today?” he asked, getting to his feet and walking over to the section of gate she was standing behind.

“Oh, the same,” she shrugged off, “This is the 97th Christmas I’ve lived through and they don’t interest me as much as they used to,”

“I can only imagine,” Jack smiled, as he’d only been around for 32 years, “So, have you got news for me about my offer?” he asked.

“Yes, my lawyer and the bank have all approved, but I need to talk it over with my family tonight…they’re coming here to visit me,” Mrs. Ellison said.

“I see,” Jack said, “Well I’ll keep my fingers crossed then,” he smiled.

“You do that,” Mrs. Ellison laughed, “You know, Morty would have been so proud of the way you’ve handled his business,” she added with a sad sigh.

Jack merely nodded his head as the memories of his Great Uncle Mortimer came flooding into his mind.

Jack was born in central California in a region known as Silicon Valley. His parents knew very early that he was a prodigy, and they did everything to cultivate his growing intellect and skills. He quickly made his way through school, making few friends along the way. He was in high school before he turned ten, and that was an extremely awkward experience for him.

Just before he graduated at age 12, his parents were killed in a fire while he was at school. Upon graduating, he still required guardianship, and the only relative willing to take him in was his Great Uncle Mortimer, an eccentric member of the family. It turned out that Mortimer too was a genius, though the other members of his family shunned him. He had always been impressed by the news of Jack and was eager to take him in.

Jack spent six years at a northern California college getting his Masters and Doctorates in Cybernetics and Mechanical Engineering before moving back down to Silicon Valley to intern and train at Spaztec Industries, the developers and creators of the fully realistic androids. After five years of proving himself, he earned an independent license to repair on his own and retained a freelance status with Spaztec Industries to assist them with various software/coding issues.

Over the following five years, he accumulated income by traveling across the western United States performing repairs for high profile clients, and also accumulated two custom androids, A Perfect Friend model, and a Personal Trainer model, from clients who could no longer afford to maintain their highly realistic female androids. After tinkering with them and restoring them during his free time at his Uncle Mortimer's home, his Uncle Mortimer suggested they might be able to earn Jack some extra money by working for him at the shop he tended. The extra money they earned him allowed him to acquire a Secretary model from a client whose business went under.

About a year later, his Uncle Mortimer was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, so Jack stayed with him to tend to his needs, since he had no other family or people to care for him.

Upon his death, his Uncle Mortimer left him everything, and since he had no outstanding debts, Jack didn't have to worry about anything. He assigned his Secretary model to manage the shop, while the Personal trainer handled the stockroom, and the Perfect Friend model was the cashier. With the android employees handling all the tasks, Jack was free to handle his repair work in his Uncle's old workshop, and fix coding issues sent to him by Spaztec. Jack’s only close family now was his wife, a cousin living up north, and Henry.

“I can only hope I can continue running the business for many years to come,” Jack finally said.

“I know you will,” Mrs. Ellison assured him, “Now you go enjoy the rest of your day and I’ll let you know what my family says later this evening,”

“Alright, thanks Mrs. Ellison,” Jack said, and he walked back to the bench while she walked the short distance back to the motel office.

Jack sat back down and finished his lunch. Just as he finished it, he saw a delivery van pull into his driveway and down the side road into the loading bay. He didn’t wait long to head back in, tossing his trash and heading back inside. Sarah was still cleaning the nearby shelves, but Jack headed straight back to the loading dock, where Rachel was personally handling the receipt of delivery while Kat was unloading a rather large container.

“Hey Jack, good to see you again,” the delivery driver called out to him while Rachel was busy signing the delivery pad.

“Good to see you two Cole,” Jack called back, “I really can’t thank you enough for making this delivery on Christmas,”

“Don’t mention it,” Cole shrugged, “My housewife model hasn’t had any issues since I last sent her to you, and she even learned a few things too,”

“Well, who says handing out a few free upgrades doesn’t get you favors?” Jack joked.

“If there’s anything else you need, you just give me a call,” Cole said, once Rachel finished signing the papers.

“Thanks Cole!” Jack called out as Cole jumped back into his vehicle. Cole simply gave him a smile and then drove off.

Once Kat secured the loading doors, the three of them walked over to the large container.

“What is it Jack?” Kat asked, looking at the unfamiliar markings on the box. She was used to the regular deliveries from the company that delivered them produce and sundries.

“Our new employee,” Jack smiled, “Get it down into my lab Kat, I’ll be down shortly,”

“Right away,” Kat said, and she quickly got her hand truck and carted the container towards the lift.

Chapter 6: Serriah (1pm-2pm)

Jack quickly finished signing off on Rachel’s paperwork regarding the delivery. Just as he finished, Kat returned to the office level with the now empty hand truck.

“I’ve placed the container near your workstation Jack,” Kat happily reported.

“Thanks Kat, go continue whatever you were working on before,” he told her. She briefly acknowledged his order with a smile and a nod before returning to the loading dock.

“Is there anything you’d like me to start working on up here?” Rachel asked, seeing Jack was about to head onto the lift.

“Just get your systems configured for a fourth employee,” Jack told her, “I’ll send you more information as I start working,”

“Understood,” Rachel said, and just as Jack stepped into the lift, she added, “Have fun!”

Jack could only smile at Rachel’s programmed enthusiasm. “I will,” he called back, just as the doors closed.

Once the lift reached the bottom, Jack quickly made his way back to his workstation, seeing the Kat had placed it conveniently nearby. Jack could barely contain his excitement as he sat down at his work chair and checked on the status of the programs he’d left running during his lunch break; the program was complete.

“Alright then, let’s get started,” Jack said, rubbing his hands together as he got up and approached the container.

He spent a few moments sizing it up before pushing it back a few inches and then placing his right hand on the built in and allowing it to scan his hand. A few seconds later, the scan completed and confirmed his credentials. The container promptly began unlocking itself with a series of clicks and whirs before finally hissing open with a cloud of packing mist escaping.

Once the mist finished evaporating, the form of a lovely woman was revealed. She was packed rather securely, and comfortably, in a perfectly fitted slab of packing foam in an exactly shaped mold of her body. Jack paused briefly to admire her rather petite body.

The woman inside looked to be in her mid-twenties and was of some mixed European and Asian heritage. She had wild looking black hair that went down to her shoulders on the sides with long bangs that nearly obscured her eyes, giving her a playful look.

Unlike a typical android fresh from the box, she was wearing more fashionable clothing rather than the generic clothing they usually arrived in. She was wearing a pair of ordinary sneakers with thin, white ankle socks over her small, size six feet. She was also wearing an equally ordinary pair of slightly worn out looking jeans, and her top was a blue, long sleeved waffle tee with a red, lacy undershirt for color blocking and a fashionable scarf to finish off the look. Overall, she looked like an average looking college girl that had been put in stasis and shipped to him, though Jack knew full well that she was an android.

The reason Jack was excited about working on this new android was for a completely different reason from his usual passion for repairing and tinkering with androids. Unlike the other girls, who he had acquired over the years from various individuals after they had already been used, this new android was brand new and already installed with the latest hardware and software updates.

She had only one thing in common with one of his current employees. Like Rachel, she too was based on a real person, a woman named Serriah. Unlike Rachel, however, Serriah was not based on someone who was dead, but on someone who had volunteered her image, personality, and basic memories.

Jack felt like he had won the lottery when he found Serriah on the Spaztec auction site. There were not too many people interested in her because she was an ultra-custom partier model built to very specific specifications. Only true android enthusiasts such as Jack would have been able to enjoy her, because she would require extensive reprogramming to satisfy the needs of a new owner.

Jack carefully pulled her free of the foam mold and then easily lifted her petite body up onto the table. He lifted up her shirt a little so he could tap the area of skin just above her navel. To his satisfaction, the sub dermal control panel lit up, signifying that Serriah had been fully charged before being delivered. Jack let out a sigh of relief, because waiting for an android to charge up for the first time would take hours.

Jack quickly navigated the panel and pressed the activation icon, booting up Serriah’s systems. Most people would probably not have even heard the sound of her systems booting up, but Jack’s ears were sharp and he knew exactly what to listen for. In this case, he was listening to her systems to ensure everything sounded right.

“Wow, you’re a thing of beauty,” he finally said with a satisfied look, hearing the last of her components turn on for the first time before settling into a lower pitch sound that was drowned out by her body’s built in audio dampening systems coming online. He stepped back just as her A.I. came online.

“Spaztec Partier model, serial number PM183457 coming online,” she announced in an emotionless tone, “Running first time startup diagnostics,”

“So far, so good,” Jack said, looking slightly apprehensive. This was one instance where he was slightly out of his element, since with but one exception, all of the androids he had ever worked on were used and required either repairs or minimal reprogramming. That one exception had been more than three years ago, and not only was it a different class of android, but there had been many technical improvements made over that time that could have altered the first boot sequence.

“Diagnostic complete, all systems functioning properly, now starting first boot procedures,” she reported, and then she sat up and scanned the room until she found Jack, “Hello, my name is Serriah, my designated owner is listed as Harold Kring, you do not fit his defined parameters,” she said with a confused look.

“I’m sorry, but your intended owner died before he could take ownership of you,” Jack reported, “His estate sold you to pay for his funeral and other outstanding debts,”

“I see,” Serriah said, “Please provide the ownership transfer code provided by my manufacturer to transfer ownership to you,”

“Hold on,” Jack said, and he quickly rifled through the compartments on his work desk before finding the sheet of paper he wrote the code on; he could have simply saved it onto his computer, but he didn’t want to risk a computer error wiping it out because otherwise he’d have to wait eight days to reacquire it. “The code is: Alpha, Gamma, Epsilon, Phi, Zero, Three, Theta, Kappa, Omicron, Two” he finished, reading it verbatim from the paper.

Serriah spent a few seconds processing the code before nodding her head and saying, “Code confirmed, ownership protocols are unlocked and ready for new ownership parameters,”

“Very good, please access the diagnostic terminal to receive my ownership details and your new programming,” he told her, relaxing in his seat.

“Access confirmed, would you like me to overwrite the previous owner’s memory configuration?” she asked.

Jack thought about it before answering, “No, I’d like to enjoy the same personality you were programmed with,” he decided.

“Very well, I estimate the process will take up to thirty minutes,” she reported, then she fell silent as she began downloading and installing the multitude of updates and programs Jack had prepared for her.

As she downloaded the files, Jack monitored her progress on the computer, even adding a few things he had come up with on the spot. He was pleased with how fast he was able to reprogram her, but given he’d had nearly a month to prepare for her arrival, he’d had plenty of time to write the new programs and code that she was now processing. Jack was really happy, because so far, his entire day was going exactly as scheduled.

After he finished adding a few extra programs to her download queue, he brought up the biographical details of her original owner and the girl upon which she was based.

Harold and the real Serriah were childhood friends that were very close. They went everywhere and did everything with one another. One would think they were even a couple, except Harold was gay and Serriah was a lesbian. Due to their homosexual nature, they treated each other more like siblings and were in some ways even closer than a couple would have been.

As they grew older, their interests slightly diverged, but they still spent a great deal of time together. Serriah was a very successful businesswoman, and Harold was an accomplished mechanic. Serriah’s success eventually landed her a promising promotion, though it was a job based in China, so she would have to leave Harold. Knowing he would be sad without her constant presence, she agreed to commission a Spaztec Partier android in her image and with her personality and basic memories to keep him company.

Unfortunately, just before the android could be delivered, Harold died of an undetected brain aneurism. Because the Serriah android was a custom job, there was no way for a full refund to be given to the estate, but with the real Serriah’s consent, her duplicate was put up on the Spaztec auction site and Jack wasted no time in purchasing it, after successfully passing an interview that the real Serriah demanded before allowing a stranger to have an anatomically correct android of her.

Part of the reason he was interested in the Serriah robot was the fact that not only was she a partier model, but she also had the personality and memories of a skilled businesswoman. For the job he intended on her filling, he hoped the adaptive partier algorithms and the business skills would offer a very interesting combination.

Just as Jack finished reviewing Serriah’s biographical file, she finished installing her new files. “I have completed installing all the files in the diagnostic queue, would you like me to reboot now?” she asked.

“Yes, but please reboot into your programmed personality,” he requested.

“Understood,” she said, then her head bowed down as her systems rebooted into her installed personality. A few moments later, they came back online and her personality came online shortly thereafter.

“Hello Jack, my name’s Serriah, your new Partier model,” Serriah greeted him with a nice smile, dropping to her feet and outstretching her hand. Jack was pleased to discover that she had a rather cute voice when she was not in robot mode.

“Pleased to meet you Serriah,” Jack said, taking her petite hand and shaking it, “I take it you’ve assimilated all the new programming I wrote for you,”

“I have,” she told him, sitting back down on the edge of the examination table and swinging her legs back and forth, “I still have about 95% of my original programming, plus everything I need to perform the job you have assigned me with in your shop,”

“Very good, and are all of my ownership protocols in effect?” he asked.

“Yes, I am programmed to respond to all voice commands given by you,” she answered.

“Alright, I’m going to give you a test command,” he told her, and after she nodded her head, he said, “Serriah, kiss me,”

Serriah instantly complied, dropping back to her feet and approaching him. She then moved in towards his face and planted a quick kiss on his lips before backing off. “Was that good?” she asked.

“Actually, it wasn’t,” Jack admitted, feeling it was a little dispassionate, “Tell me, what sexual preference are you set at?”

“My sexual preference is currently set at lesbian,” she answered.

“I see, because of your donor,” he said, smacking his head, “Please reset your sexual preference to bisexual,”

“Alright,” she smiled, and then a few seconds later she said, “Congratulations, I am now bisexual!”

“Very good!” he said, laughing despite himself at her enthusiasm, “Now kiss me again,” he ordered her.

Serriah immediately complied, this time doing it with more playfulness and passion. Her lips pressed against his and found the perfect pressure to settle at. He then felt her tongue probing around in his mouth until she gave him a perfect French kiss.

“Damn, were you programmed to kiss like that, or is that all Serriah?” he asked, once she broke away.

“It’s Serriah all the way,” she said proudly.

“Well, you were great!” he said, catching his breath, “Just don’t tell my wife I said that,” he added.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her,” Serriah said, pretending to zip her mouth shut.

“Good,” Jack said, “Now that I have confirmed my ownership protocols are in place, I want you to add Rachel as an authorized user,” he told her, “I know it’s unusual for you to have another android as a user, but her job is to function as your boss,”

“I understand,” Serriah said seriously.

“Good, and I also want my wife Gabby added as an authorized user as well,” Jack added.

“Very well,” she nodded.

“Good, and now for your attire,” he said, looking at her ordinary street clothes, “I’m sure that Serriah likes those clothes, but the job I’m having you do is a little bit on the professional side so I will need you to switch into more professional clothing,”

“Aww, do I have to?” she mock whined.

“I’m afraid so,” he told her.

“Okay,” she said, “Do you have any clothes for me to wear?”

“Yes, I bought some for you a few days ago,” he told her, getting up and walking into one of the storage rooms, coming back moments later with a box with a set of neatly folded women’s dress clothes.

“How thoughtful,” she complimented him, taking them from the box and examining them. It was a simple white blouse with a thin black sweater to wear over it, paired with black slacks, black dress shoes, and black stockings; Jack had even included a set of black silk underwear. “These are actually quite nice,” she complimented.

“Gabby helped me pick them out,” Jack admitted with a slight blush, “I wanted something that would look professional, but also something that you could move around in with relative ease and comfort for extended durations of time,”

“Well, these should work out quite nicely,” she smiled, “Would you like me to redress now?” she asked.

“Yes, then we need to head up to introduce you to everyone,” he told her.

“Okay, I’ll be quick then,” she said. She then started undressing, pulling off the clothes the real Serriah had selected for her. It was only a few moments before she was completely naked, and then she reached for her new clothes.

“I think we can wait a bit longer,” Jack suddenly said, admiring her lithe, naked body.

“I thought you might feel that way,” she smiled, putting her new clothes back in the box and turning to face Jack, flaunting her body sexily.

“Hey, can you blame me for seeing all the attributes of my new property?” he smiled coyly.

“No, I can’t,” she surrendered.

“I’ll be quick,” he promised her, walking up to her and eying her up and down.

Jack reached out and fondled both her breasts, admiring the texture and the modest size, much like Rachel’s. Jack had personally repaired, upgraded, or otherwise examined countless androids, and each time he could tell the ones based on real people, because they’re breasts were proportioned more realistically.

He then let his hands continue their exploration of her body, gently caressing her smooth skin on her arms and torso before finding her smooth pussy. Jack was very intrigued by the sensation, since Serriah was his only android with a shaved pussy. He gently teased the lips before withdrawing his hands.

“Are you done?” she asked, looking slightly turned on by his exploration.

“Yes,” he said regretfully, “Just one more thing.” He then leaned down and embraced her, feeling her soft back and even giving her buttocks a light squeeze before breaking apart, “Welcome to the family,”

“Thanks,” she smiled gracefully. With a subtle nod from Jack, she turned back to the box and began putting on her new clothes. A few moments later, she stood before him in her new professional attire. “How do I look?” she asked, slowly turning around so he could see her outfit.

“Very professional,” he complimented her.

“Good, I hope I impress all of my customers,” she said hopefully.

“I’m sure you will,” Jack told her, sitting back down, “Now about that,” he started, “Unlike Kat and Sarah, both you and Rachel are the only employees I have that are capable of eating,” he told her, “But, unlike Rachel, you will occasionally be required to eat and drink, in order to better interact with human clients,” he told her.

“I understand,” Serriah said, “Then you wish for me to deactivate my ingestion and digestion systems most of the time?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered, “I know that you and Rachel are capable of converting food and drink into useable energy, but it also has the added effect of adding more regular maintenance and for the time being, I simply can’t afford to regularly maintain your digestive systems,”

“That makes sense, I suppose,” Serriah shrugged.

“I have already arranged for a second recharge port to be activated in the checkout stand area, next to Sarah’s,” he explained, “Now, unlike the others who are all set to heterosexual mode, you are the only one set to bisexual mode,” he continued, “As such, please try not to…uh, come on to any of them as it might confuse their systems,” he finished delicately.

“I’ll try,” Serriah promised.

“Good, then let’s go up and introduce you to the team,” he told her. He then got up and walked with her into the lift.

“I can hardly wait,” she said excitedly, just as the lift doors closed.

Chapter 7: Team meeting (2pm-3pm)

When the lift reached the top and both Jack and Serriah exited out, they found Rachel still hard at work reconfiguring the shops systems. She looked up from her work when they exited the lift and gave Serriah an inquisitive look. “Is this our new employee?” she asked.

“Yes Rachel,” Jack answered her, putting his hand on Serriah’s shoulder, “This is Serriah, a freshly reconfigured Partier model,”

“I’m pleased to meet you Rachel,” Serriah said cheerfully, walking over and shaking Rachel’s hand.

“Likewise,” Rachel said with a smile, “And what may I ask is your intended job here?”

“I’ll explain that to all of you in a moment,” Jack interjected, “Rachel, could you please follow me to the shop?” Jack asked, “We’re having a team meeting,”

“Okay,” Rachel said, saving her work on her computer and following Jack and Serriah through the doors.

“Team meeting Kat!” Jack called out, since Kat was outside the loading door disposing of the day’s trash.

“Okay!” Kat called back, quickly reentering the building and closing the loading doors. She gave Serriah only a fleeting glance as she followed the group into the main shop, where Sarah was still cleaning up.

“Team meeting Sarah, let’s all meet at the checkout stand,” Jack called out. Sarah silently acknowledged him, setting down her cleaning supplies and removing her gloves. The three of them joined up at the customer side of the checkout stand while Jack and Serriah went into the stand.

“Alright team, for the past few weeks I’ve been telling you about a new employee I had ordered,” Jack began, “Well, here she is: Serriah, a reconfigured Partier model,”

“Hi,” Serriah waved cheerfully.

The others waved back, though considerably less enthusiastically than Serriah.

“I think it goes without saying that Serriah here was based off a real person,” Jack added, prompting looks of understanding from the rest of them.

“So, what is her job going to be?” Rachel asked again.

“Well, her intended job is to run the shops new gift shop,” Jack said, and before the others could interrupt him, he continued, “I know we don’t have a gift shop yet, but if I get the good news tonight that I’m hoping for, we will soon,”

“What good news?” Rachel asked.

“I’m sure you are all acquainted with Mrs. Ellison from the motel next door?” he asked them. They all nodded yes…except for Serriah, who didn’t know anybody yet. “Well, you also know she is rather old and has been having trouble keeping the motel running at peak efficiency,” he explained, “For the past few months, I have been negotiating with her and the city to take over ownership of the motel so that she can retire with her family back East,”

The girls spent a few moments processing that information before responding. “So, would we have to work there too?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Jack answered, “I already have a couple androids in my lab that I am planning on placing there: a refurbished secretary unit as the motel manager and receptionist, and a refurbished perfect friend unit as a maid,” he explained, “I am also considering purchasing a Mark I personal trainer unit to act as a security guard,” he added.

“Why?” Kat asked.

“Over the years, Mrs. Ellison has had to contact the police several times due to people attempting to…bother her guests,” Jack explained delicately, “Unfortunately, since we are in a remote part of town, the police take a while to get here and having a security guard would speed things up,”

“Oh,” Kat said.

“I have a question,” Sarah said, “If you are going to be adding four new employees, including Serriah here, are we going to have to work harder for upgrades each year?”

“Not necessarily,” Jack answered, “Obviously the Mark I personal trainer wouldn’t have any remaining upgrades left, so it would only require normal maintenance,” he explained, “Also, the motel will make more than enough money once I bring it back to full capacity and retrofit the utilities,” he continued, “Finally, the gift shop I’ll be adding will also bring us more income,”

Sarah merely nodded while Rachel seemed to add the figures up in her computerized brain, using all of her secretary model algorithms. “How are you going to pay for the costs of purchasing and retrofitting the motel, not to mention the gift shop?”

“First off, Mrs. Ellison is selling the place at an extreme discount. Secondly, I’ve already applied for several loans to cover the retrofit costs, as well as the extension of the shop,” Jack explained to her.

“What extension?” Rachel asked.

“Oh, I forgot to mention,” Jack said, slapping his forehead, “The shop is going to undergo a fairly major renovation. What is now the loading dock will be converted into the new gift shop, and the new loading dock will be added onto the other side of the building in between us and the motel, connecting to the storage room of the motel management building,” he explained, “Our office will also be changed a bit as well,” he added.

“Interesting,” Rachel said, “I’ve always thought that my office could use a new look,” she smiled.

“What gifts are we going to be selling?” Kat asked.

“Various arts and crafts produced by some of the artisans living in the area surrounding us,” Jack answered, “Also, some of the gifts that are normally sold at city hall,” he added, “Actually, most of them,” he laughed, “Apparently most people passing through don’t bother to stop by city hall, so they haven’t even been selling well,”

“And that’s what my function is going to be,” Serriah chimed in, “My partier algorithms mixed with my host personalities inherent business skills are perfect for me to sell these gifts to passing tourists, as well as to negotiate prices with the individuals providing the gifts,”

“Well, it sounds like we won’t be getting the gift shop for at least a month,” Rachel said, “What is she going to be doing in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, Serriah will be assisting Sarah with the cleaning, and will assist Kat with stocking merchandise, if needed,” Jack answered.

“Don’t worry, I have been adequately programmed,” Serriah assured them.

“We’ll see,” Sarah said, “My programming makes me a bit of a neat freak,”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Serriah said.

“Anyway, I can assure you all that if the acquisition is successful, this whole business will improve and there will be more than enough money to go around between all of you,” Jack announced, “And it is all thanks to the hard work you’ve put in over the past few years,” he continued, “I’m sure Uncle Morty would be proud of us,” he finished, just as he received a text on his mobile. He paused briefly to read it:

“We’re just finishing up downtown and should be home in about an hour, see you soon dear,”

“Well, looks like my family will be home soon,” Jack said, putting away his mobile, “Let’s show Serriah around for a bit before you continue your tasks,”

The meeting then ended, with the group walking about the shop showing Serriah where everything was, and explaining what part each of them had in acquiring it, stocking it, and selling it.

After Serriah was completely settled in, Jack spent a few moments giving them their final instructions.

“Alright you gals, you know the drill,” he started, “Keep doing what you’re doing until six, then plug yourselves in and shut down until we open tomorrow at nine,”

“Yes Jack,” they all said in unison, bringing a smile to Jack’s face.

“I’ll be in the house if you need me,” he said, heading to the loading dock. He then headed out through the same door he entered in several hours earlier, heading through the front yard of his house via the same path as before. He noticed it had slightly warmed up, though there was still snow piled up all over the place.

As soon as Jack reached the front door, he paused briefly, took a deep breath of air and then let out a content sigh before opening the door and walking inside, whistling a Christmas jingle.

Chapter 11: Nighttime Routine (8pm-Midnight)

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