Inspektor 12 Kronicles 10: Inspektor Jekyll, Gone Mr. Hyde?
Inspektor Jekyll, Gone Mistor Hyde?
In the Critical Care Unit located deep within the prune juice and FiberOne-fortified bowels of the Robo Depot world headquarters, the shockwaves of unexpected happenings coming straight out of the blue {kinda-sorta like this chapter, heh, heh!} were tremendously palpable, almost physically tangible. As a single entity, six state-of-the-art electronic minds, all but one housed in equally state-of-the-art, man-made human female forms, were well and truly blown. Simultaneously, six extremely sophisticated electronic hearts housed in those same extremely exquisite shells of the feminine persuasion also went nuclear-ectoplasmic with unbridled joy; the seemingly Impossible Prayer had been answered - in the positive, no less - coming like the proverbial thief in the night. Seconds later, five rather sexy female voices were raised in splendid unison and harmony, one and all dripping with delirious euphoria, and overflowing buckets of the purest Love imaginable, all because a certain Family-Harem's Beloved Sister had finally been completely Restored to them.
"MAI~SIE!!!'
That one ecstatic exclamation-in-quintet bore the force of a 16,000 ton freight train barreling downgrade at a cool 70-per, lights blazing bright, bell and horns loudly blaring, brakes be damned! Immediately, sheer pandemonium broke out {in Typical Family-Harem Fashion, but of course} - the genuine Miracle of Maisie's complete resurrection sparked off the wildest Inspektor 12 Family-Harem dogpile ever seen to date. Da Mistress was ground zero for an incredible multiple-warhead explosion of bearhugs, deep-kisses, sensual caresses, rapid-fire questions, answers, and comments, much laughter, and of course the obligatory tsunami of tears - with her Darling Baby Sister Chase at the epicenter, fiercely hugging and wildly kissing her - as she was enthusiastically welcomed back from the grave by all her beloved Sisters. Although she seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all, Maisie nonetheless maintained her uniquely cool but still warmly vivacious and absolutely steadfast personal demeanor throughout it all. After a good ten minutes of stupendously glorious physical and emotional bliss, Maisie gently got her Family right down to business.
"What in the world has happened - one minute I'm on the road with you lot, coping with the 'disaster-du-moment`e,' whilst also planning to reinforce Rochelle's data-stream patches; then the next minute, here I am back home being Loved by all my Sisters - including a perfectly rejuvenated 'Chelle - at once, with my internal chronometer showing almost a month and a half has passed, a chunk of time which I can't even begin to account for!! Could somebody kindly fill in one or two rather HUGE gaps for me, pretty-please?" Still tightly hugging her favorite Sister, a beaming Chase gave Maisie a rapid rundown, sparing no detail, of the more than half-crazed narrative following their exit from Willow Bay, seemingly so long ago. The horrible detonation of the fragmenting parasite inside Maisie; Rosie's simultaneous crippling crash; the feverishly frantic field repairs and woefully-desperate hotrod modifications hastily done on the fly, plus the hellish ride back home itself, performed under the wickedly-unrelenting pain of THE most super-extraordinary circumstances imaginable; the rehabilitation of Rochelle, Rosie, Chase, Gina, and the Inspektor; the delayed shock of Maisie's "death," and Chases' notion about the reconstructive template; the quiet but continual {and increasingly disruptive} physical and mental deterioration of the Inspektor, despite his seeming "cure;" Liza becoming increasingly frazzled as she tried her damnedest to take up her Beloved's slack; Maisies' total but agonizingly painstaking refurbishment and the {premature} disappointment when her re-initialization didn't immediately register all green lights; and finally, Maisie's actual resurrection that would have made Lazarus Hizownbadself look positively lame and sick in comparison.
Totally thunderstruck, and a little more than slightly bewildered by it all, Maisie most willingly allowed Herownquitesexyself to be sat down on her medical recovery suite's couch so that the cute brunette robot surgi-tech handling her case could discreetly give her a final once-over before officially releasing her from care, as per Company Protocol. "Whew! Talk about the Mother of all mind-fries!! Methinks I'se gwyne ta need a moment or three {thousand} to let this all sink in." Maisie bemusedly shook her head, and squeezed Chases' hand with deep Sisterly affection. All at once, a bright twinkle lit Maisie's lovely brown eyes, and she tenderly stroked Chase's red fur-trimmed amber belt-buckle. "Well, if the Inspektor could find a way to cram the HUGE bulk of Rosie's datastream into this darling dainty lil' chassis, it stands to reason that he could easily also find a way to yank me back from the Void as well, right?" Maisie leaned down in teasingly mock-formal fashion, to sweetly address her "Big Little Sister" directly. "Are ya bunched up too tightly in there, Hon? Shall I burp you now to give you a little more room?"
Maisie's broad wink to her Sisters as she patted Rosie fondly triggered another explosion of giggles and laughter. "Aw, lay offa me, Mistress! Just wait 'til you see the video of how Hellified my poor road chassis was when I finally hauled your sorry synthetic carcass home here. THEN you'll be treating me with a bit more respect, you betcha!!" Rosie made no attempt to conceal the hints of giggles from her snarling mock-rebuke. "The abuse I have to put up with every damn day, I swear..." That last bit, muttered in an exact duplicate of the Inspektor's trademark deadpan, stoked the mirth within the group sky-high. It felt SO good for all of them to laugh together again once more!! They shared more kisses and hugs before settling down for a quieter breath or two.
As quickly as she could, the cute surgi-tech finished Maisie's final assessment, pronouncing her 100% fit. This was met with cheers and such a shower of ecstatic kisses and hugs, this time directed on the petite brunette, that the poor electronic woman was soon totally flustered. She hadn't been programmed to handle a Typical Family-Harem Love Onslaught, after all. Critical Care was her bag. Rochelle gave her a big hug, then looked slyly at her, and said "See about some emotional-feedback programming mods ASAP, Dearie - you really don't know what you're missing out on!" "I'm not sure if my circuits could take it, but we'll see, Miss Rochelle," "Dearie" said, assuming her standard but incredibly sexy vacant smile. "You all do seem to have a good time wherever you are, I must say!" She returned her attention to Maisie, advising her to avoid overt mental stress as much as possible for the next few weeks, and asking her to stop by the clinic within 72 hours for the crucial "making sure" checkup. Otherwise, she was good to go. On a sudden impulse, Dearie gave Maisie a shy, quick kiss and hug. "Welcome home, Mistress Maze! You've been a model patient, and it's been my distinct pleasure and privilege to have been treating you. I'll see you in 72 hours." After she left, Gina giggled evilly. "Oho, methinks the Hella-Harem is about to claim another mark for Da Master!" Right on cue, Liza, Rochelle, Rosie, Chase, and Maisie deadpanned in unison "May God help us all!" before collapsing yet again into a hysterical fit of giggles and laughter.
A few happy minutes later, Maisie reclined back on the couch with a heavy sigh, embracing Chase on her left, and Gina on her right. "I can't imagine what the horrible stressload you all endured must have felt like whilst I was 'gone'," she said before pausing to contemplate the notion that just struck her. Her eyes widening in surprise, Maisie addressed all her Sisters: "Say, that reminds me - did any or all of you guys get the binary-code SOS I was frantically trying to send out, before I revived?" All the Girls nodded vigorously. "We did, Honey, but to be perfectly frank about it none of us at the time knew it for what it truly was - we put it down to either being a byproduct of stress, or a spontaneous coping mechanism we all subconsciously concocted and then shared as a group," Liza explained, concluding with a groaning sigh that dripped both crushing fatigue and high distress. "We had absolutely no idea that your consciousness had survived the fragmentation, Maisie-Honey; we thought it was dust just like the rest of your datastream!" The gorgeous brunette shuddered with recollection. "We should all thank our lucky stars that our Dearest Inspektor rode us so hard about ensuring that the reconstruction was done RIGHT. I dread to think of what might have happened if there had been even one teeny-tiny error!"
All the Girls nodded in complete agreement; despite his quietly-worsening illness, only the Inspektor's iron will had kept the critical project on course from start-to-finish. Maisie suddenly glanced around the room. "Speaking of that certain devil we all Love so much, why isn't he here now to welcome me back?" A pregnant pause - that would have scared the holy shit {Batman} out of "Octomom" in her 72nd trimester - immediately filled the entire suite, to the point of claustrophobia. Before any of the Girls could answer her, Maisie drew pale and gasped - "Oh NO! Liza, did he have a breakdown or something?" Much against her will, Liza simply couldn't hold it together any longer, and just folded herself down into a tight, sobbing heap on the carpet. In an instant, all the Girls were there to help her to her feet, then back onto the couch, where it was several minutes before the lovely mechanical woman could gather her dreadfully over-taxed electronic wits, whilst her Sisters patiently stood by, silently letting the group-embrace provide the only support prudent for the moment.
When she finally did have her circuitry-governed wits under full control once again, Liza tearfully recounted all that happened between her and the Inspektor just after his scandalously lewd "goodbye" to Maisie, trying to rapidly gloss over the crux, in an effort to spare her Sister's feelings. "I know I dislocated his jaw and separated his wrist and elbow, but he never even winced, much less acknowledged his disgusting behavior...." she trailed off, with an anguished sob. Maisie looked steadily at Liza. "Den-Mama, just what exactly did he do to me that was so outrageous enough to set you off? I really need to know, please." Her naturally sultry voice was as pillow-talk soft as she could make it. With great difficulty, but tremendous poise, Liza met Maisie's steady gaze with one of her own, and inhaled deeply.
"Maisie-Honey, he FINGER FUCKED you as his way of 'saying goodbye!' " Maisie was stunned: "He WHAT?" The rest of the Girls were equally as upset as Liza, as eyewitnesses to the event themselves. Oh, the Lord knew that the Inspektor had more than a few crazy ways always about him, but none of the Family-Harem had ever seen, experienced, or even heard of anything so outrageously far out of bounds as this; hours later, it STILL stung like Hellfire. "You heard me, Honey. 'Beeline straight to the G-spot, cop a quick-n-lewd one, and sod everything and everyone else. So proclaimeth the Gospel According to the Drummer, New Testament, Chapter 6 and 7/8, page 69, verse pi, paragraph 33-1/3, second stanza, skip the gutter, Ver G`harget, all rights reserved, glad to meet me, put it on Geraldo's tab, buy a Chrysler, and don't you ever forget it, Maternal Fornicator," Liza mocked perfectly, in acidic parody of her Beloved's supposed "mantra."
The Inspektor's lovely and mechanized right hand shook her head sadly, still feeling the cutting edge of her deep emotional pain. The other Girls had never heard Liza so sarcastically bitter, yet also so profoundly hurt; one and all drew in for a group hug as their distraught Den-Mama finally vented her synthetic spleen. The entire complement of gorgeous mechanical women remained absolutely still and quiet within their shared embrace for several minutes. All were quite startled indeed when Maisie let out a soft gasp: "Oh, my Dear Lord! How in the HELL did he pull that off?!?!????" she muttered, half to herself before abruptly getting up off the couch to pace slowly around the room three times.
Her Sisters exchanged puzzled glances with each other, but kept quiet as Maisie executed said three circuits in deep contemplation. When she stopped, she once again fixed Liza with a steady gaze. "Den-Mama, which one of the Family re-initialized my systems?" Rather taken aback, Liza said "Why Honey, quite obviously we ALL did, just like the Inspektor demanded of me at the tag-end of his last meltdown a few hours ago. If your own personal log doesn't show it, the Company's main log surely will, if you want to verify. But why do you ask?" All the Girls clearly saw the brilliant twinkles in both of Maisie's eyes, as well as the slowly broadening smile on her luscious lips before she spoke. "I ask because we all seem to have missed the forest for the trees!” **{Hoom-hom; ro - bots be such ha - sty folk . . . . .}**
“I checked my own logs whilst we were gang-hugging just now, and they clearly show that Inspektor 12 himself was the one - the ONLY one - who re-initialized my systems; the rest of you all actually just sequentially engaged them, per protocol, to ensure they would function properly once the basic re-initialization process finished." She paused, beginning to beam. A baffled Rosie spoke up for the rest of her Sisters. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA there, Cowabunga Girl!! Set some air on the train-brakes for a spell. WE initialized all your systems, each and every damned one of us, we surely did. Sole of the foot, to the tip of the head; we all thoroughly covered your lot in spades, and strictly by the book to boot, sure as we're all sitting here. All Eye-Ball-Plenty did was exactly what he always does in crisis - go for the cheap thrill, or easy laugh, or even both at once, whichever suits his whim of the moment - and then he just up and splits, leaving the mopping-up to us lot. It's the same old 'peace in, garbage out' mess, yet again. And I for one am thoroughly sick and tired of it all." Nearly every other female in the room silently nodded agreement; they all shared the same hurt feelings regarding this unbelievable "group gender-diss."
Maisie's beaming grew ever brighter, which continued to baffle, and now began to greatly worry her Sisters. Was her logic programming glitching, or what? "Rosie, to date, how many of our Family have had to be totally re-initialized, the way I was?" A befuddled Rosie paused for several moments before answering "Only you so far, Sis." "Uh-huh." Maisie nodded, her beaming edging into luminosity. "Tell me off the top of your head, Sissie - do you know exactly where my master system re-initialization switch is, physically speaking?" Thirty seconds elapsed before Rosie's negative answer. Whereupon, Maisie suddenly dropped prone to the floor and assumed the sexiest, most alluring "Fuck me, Ray Bradbury" pose she could, propped on her elbows, and spreading her shapely boot-clad legs wide, her left leg going knees-up, which hiked her already high hemline up even more. She then moaned and sighed outrageously, before bursting into a torrent of giggles. "And there you have it, my Dearest Sisters - our very own Eye Ball Plenty blasts yet another one out of the park, whilst we all stand around, and go 'Duh?' " Pointing directly at her clean-shaven sex, clearly visible under the hiked-up hem of her blue floral minidress, Maisie said "My master systems re-initialization switch does double duty as my CLIT; it's in my schematics - as well as all your own - and has been there from the outset. A fine way to keep us close to, and yearning for, "the" touch we might one day need most of all - which I have literally borne out through direct experience."
The rest of the Girls were stunned; immediately, everyone assumed blank looks as they all accessed their individual root directories, seeking their schematics. Maisie's findings were confirmed shortly; the standard location for a Robo/Dolly Depot master system re-initialization switch in virtually every humanoid model ever produced - even in every reconditioned "outsourced" design like Gina and Chase - was indeed the female clitoris. Since re-initialization was a vastly different, distinct, and much more critical procedure than say a general reset / rebooting, it made perfect sense that such an intimate control for such an intimate function would be located in a such a specifically intimate area of the female body. To be accessed, of course, in a specifically intimate way.
Which meant that Inspektor 12 wasn't just merely getting his jollies like they all rashly assumed when he "molested" Maisie - he was actually following proper procedure for systemic re-initialization in his usual opaque-but-shrewd way, and nothing more. All the Girls recalled that the Inspektor was perfectly no-nonsense with his actions - gruff and more than a bit stern, actually - as opposed to the exaggerated leering and panting and "snake-tonguing" he always teased them with during true sexy horseplay. Totally shattered by this revelation, Liza poured gasoline on the bonfire by inadvertently broadcasting the Inspektor's actual coarse statement to her when it happened, which had been playing and re-playing in her subconscious for the last several hours: ++"Show her the goddamned Love, like THIS!"++
Indeed. All the Girls were instantly blown away.
At this point Liza leaped up off the couch, and promptly renewed her torrential tears. "So while the Inspektor was literally starting Maisie's revival with the one crucial detail the rest of us totally overlooked, I naturally jumped right in the deep end, and basically accused, indicted, tried, and convicted him on the spot of being the worst type of vile pervert, insensitive bastard, etc; then for good measure visited some corporal punishment on his person in retribution, all whilst he was totally innocent, and completely focused on the task at hand, despite being very ill himself." She shook her head violently, and began to slow-handclap in a deeply sarcastic manner. "Let's give it up bigtime for the Supreme Drama-Queen: Yay, Me! Yay, Me! Yay, Me! Sho' dat luv an' compazzion, yew lowzy psycho synth-bee-yotch, yew!! Well done, indeed!!"
Liza suddenly had a flashback of the incredibly pained look in the Inspektor's eyes during her verbal and physical assault of him, a look that now haunted and chilled her to the synthetic bone as it was revisited - it was the look of one suffering arbitrary, unjust, and completely bewildering abuse - all at the hands of one who was supposed to be a True Loved One; indeed, the ORIGINAL True Loved One. Totally overwhelmed emotionally, with a piercing scream the lovely female robot collapsed in a dead faint, still gushing tears.
For a few moments after Liza's searingly painful realization and sudden collapse, the rest of the Girls sat in stunned silence. All at once, they too began to feel the incredible raw power of the now-rippling emotional impact that just waylaid their Beloved Den-Mama. They all held the same grudge - the same totally baseless and completely spurious grudge, that is - and all were prepared to call the Inspektor to task over it, once Maisie had been restored to them. Now however, knowing that their complaint was completely disproven - by the very same actions that supposedly "indicted" the poor Inspektor in the first place - the Girls too began to weep in shame, as they quickly rallied 'round the fallen Liza and bore her once again to the couch, their sophisticated synthetic hearts all a-tatters. Would this blasted nightmare NEVER end? After a few light kisses, some massaging of her temples, and some quiet pleadings, the lovely brunette machine began to revive, hugging the rest of the Girls tight as they all wept together for a spell. "Dear Lord, how could we all be so completely and totally wrong? It's no wonder the poor boy took to the solitude. He must be convinced that we've all somehow gone rogue on him, and that he's truly all alone now," Rochelle sobbed piteously.
"I'm the one he'll never forgive," Liza groaned with disconsolate resignation. "I actually put forth all the charges, as well as the kangaroo conviction and sentence, remember. And with him SO sick, on top of it all! I deserve to just be completely junked, ASAP!" She was immediately met with a storm of protests, finally throwing up both hands in surrender, reluctantly allowing herself to be disabused of such a ridiculous notion. They would ALL make it through this TOGETHER, the Girls reassured Liza and each other, vehemently. They would all do whatever it took to squarely address this horrid misunderstanding, take their lumps in good faith, and restore their happy Family, as a unit - period. Maisie suddenly spoke up, with keen feeling. "Let's look at this objectively, Ladies. We all habitually assume the worst about Eye Ball Plenty during the times of high drama, because we have all bought into his "PR Image" being his REAL image, right? I mean, when was the last time any one of us ever called him by his given name?" Holding up one hand in a "stop" gesture, she continued earnestly. "Sh-sh-sh!!! Just think about that notion quietly for a bit, my Dear Sisters. Even when he's got us moaning loud enough for Helen Keller to hear clearly, which do we routinely cry out - 'Oh, Tommy," or 'Oh, Inspektor?' "
All were quiet, motionless, and 100% stunned. It was true, oh so horribly true - as far back as any one of them could remember, the man they one and all Loved so very, very much was always referred to as either "Inspektor 12 / the Inspektor," or one of his nicknames like "Eyeball Plenty" - which in itself was a sly referral to his supposedly "signature" character trait. Only Liza herself could recall - faintly, she promptly admitted - the last time she called him "Tommy," perhaps fifteen years ago!! Just like his "Wild, sex / drug / drink-depraved, Typical Rock Drummer" PR image he had had long before there even was the slightest notion of an "Inspektor 12," now the PR image of the "Sex-crazy / business-scourging / insanely warped robotics revolutionary Inspektor 12" was the dominant impression - leaving one Thomas McCauley, sensitive but totally misunderstood man of infinite wisdom, compassion, and means, in the deepest shadows once again - or, completely INCOGNITO, if you will. How could he honestly be loved for who he was, if no one could remember - or more importantly, care about exactly "who" he was? When would everybody simply stop taking him - the REAL "him" - for granted?
One by one, all the Girls looked at Maisie with brimming eyes, and stricken faces as these awful realizations hit home hard. "See what I mean?" she whispered softly, before leading her Sisters into the warmest group-embrace she could muster. "I feel as lousy as any one of us because of my own guilt in the matter, but I'm adamantly sure there IS a way out of this mess for all of us - provided we're all ready to brave the odd Lake of Fire to swim through? Who's with me?" Maisie's voice remained soft as pillow-talk, but there was no mistaking the pained, but strong Love that permeated her challenge - a pained but strong Love they all shared, bleak emotional circumstances of the moment notwithstanding.
"I'm with you all the way, Dearest Mistress!" A sobbing Chase clamped Maisie tight, burying her face into Maisie's shoulder. "Me too, Sugar!" Gina added tearfully, with a warm support-hug. "My perky-but-humbled self as well, Sis," Rosie's somewhat muffled declaration issued from Chases' waist, as her signature electronic tingle-kiss washed Maisie's cpu internally. "Count me in too of course, Hon," Rochelle managed a tearful, wan smile, prompting a quick kiss from Maisie. "I guess we've all earned and perhaps even deserve a thorough dip in the brimstone." All eyes then turned towards the lovely, bereft synthetic brunette who really was a Beloved mother-figure to them all, in so many ways. Still freely streaming silent tears, Liza slowly nodded her head, and sighed deeply. "Oh, what the hell; might as well take our medicine showing a united front - I'm in, too, come what may." The Girls cuddled each other protectively, one and all as unsure of their immediate future as it was possible to be, but one and all also FIERCELY determined to make things right with the man they all Loved so much. They would endure everything and more before giving up this fight; one-and-all owed at least that much to their Man of All Men. How he would, or even might react - what with him now obviously still deep in the clutches of the "Willow Bay Mystery Flu" - was anybody's best guess, but time was suddenly very precious indeed; they simply couldn't hedge or leverage this particular bet under the circumstances. So, they immediately began some hurried preparations, wirelessly hatching their master plan on the fly.
Within half an hour, every female machine was at her personal best, both from a physical standpoint, as well as a mental one. Emotions in check {and powercells fully charged}; skirts and dresses tight, short, and sassy; boots at highest patent-gloss; makeup full-but-subtle; spirits as high and as positive as they could be coaxed; and the whole kit and kaboodle operating within a miniature travelling thunderhead-cloudbank of Jhontue perfume, Inspektor 12's incredibly beautiful mechanical Family-Harem set off to find him, marching arm-in-arm in perfect lockstep. Their five pairs of high boot heels drummed out a sexy, determined cadence in precise unison that soon had some of the Robo Depot rank-and-file poking their heads around cubicle corners or out of conference room doors to see what the rather fragrant hubbub was. More than a few called out "You GO, Ladies!! Do our Boss proud!!" as the Girls swept regally by. This meant an awful lot to each and every Sister - the Robo Depot staff truly was an extended Family, and went out of their way to demonstrate their Love in small but devilish ways like this, whenever they got the chance. Every Sister immediately started giggling furiously at the double-entendres about "doing our Boss....."
Spirits rising even more, the Girls all smiled brilliantly and waved to each encouraging spectator, never once breaking stride, their final destination Building 917, and the Inspektor's private sanctuary therein................