A Nice Lunch

A Birthday gift for R. Betty Tarrill, aka A-223-0-QZ-026!

This story contains violence.

Alert: Organic has been detected by audio sensors. Possible Target Match. The fembot’s head looked up from its phone, which simply displayed random meaningless garbage meant to look good from a distance. Its head swiveled around, almost immediately pinpointing the source of the voice. The voice sample of its target had been loaded into the robot in its mission programming phase, and it was constantly comparing the audio it picked up with its microphones to the parameters of the target voice. Its optics locked on to the target, the camera’s hidden behind its glass eyeballs translating what it saw and compared it to the image if the target it had. Organic targeted matches image of target with 87.23514% accuracy. Audio of targeted organic matches audio sample with 95.25187% accuracy. The fembot determined that this was the target with acceptable error and smiled at the young woman approaching her.

“Hi! It’s so nice to meet you, I’m from ForReal robotics. You must be Ms. Stanford!” The woman was dressed in a sharp suit, with stylish black heels and hair pulled up in a neat bun, a gold pin running through it. A bit of cleavage showed out the top of her blouse, and her jacket and pants hugged her slim yet supple figure, crowned with a smart face and stylish glasses, with a bottom rim. The fembot was seated on a park bench underneath a stone wall, and she stood up to shake the woman’s hand.

“Why yes! I’m Ms. Stanford, Persona Technologies, at your service!” The android’s face lit up, and her pale red lips smiled, her clean and white teeth visible. She had on similar, if more feminine glasses, and light eye makeup to accentuate her sparkling black eyes. Her skin was soft and silky looking, pale with a hint of blush on her face. Her hair was a lovely ginger, running down her shoulders in an orange wave. Her own outfit was a bit more risqué, showing much more cleavage, and instead of pants, she had on a shorter skirt with shear stockings, tipped with sexy and classy glossy black heels, which were integrated into her legs. “Ms. Sheffield, I presume?” The human smiled warmly. “Yes, it’s so nice to meet you.” The robot returned the smile. The two chatted for a while, getting a feel for each other, and the fembot scanned and recorded the human’s speech.

“Now, how about we go get some food, Ms. Stanford?” As soon as the statement was processed by the android’s voice processing software, it was fed into its Turing table, and the robot scanned the nearby area for restaurants that it deemed suitable for a meet up. It found a restaurant called Mort de Cou and spat out the results in a way that the human could understand.

“I know a wonderful place nearby; it has such fine cuisine! I’m sure you’ll love it!” The human nodded, and both began to walk toward the restaurant, the machine taking the lead. They arrived at the restaurant promptly and headed inside. The restaurant was large and gaudy, with several levels overlooking a central floor, not unlike a Cabaret. The two were greeted by a waiter, who showed them to their seat, and the pair chatted while waiting for their order, before settling in for business. The human spoke up first.

“Now, Ms. Stanford… from what information I have, you seem to be very assertive on buying a majority stake in my company. And It seems as if you have been very vocal about it, as well.” The android smoothed her skirt and sat up a bit straighter in her seat. Her face was both warm and hard, a product of perfect engineering.

“Yes, Ms. Sheffield, and I have an offer that you will find quite attractive. If you allow us to purchase a majority share, we will make sure that most employees, if not all of them, will remain in the same positions they were in. You would also gain access to our advertising department, as well as Persona Technologies’s full range of hardware and software. In return, you give us access to your own technology and store spaces, as well as your online presence.” The fembot smiled to punctuate the ending. The human leaned back in her seat, mulling it over. She spoke up again.

“Well… excuse my hesitation, but I am worried about your companies… dealings… in that Persona has been accused of many, many things. I’m not saying their true, simply that I am concerned about our company’s image if we were to announce that you had acquired majority stake. “The human continued talking, but the android had already started processing: her mission was to acquire a majority share in the company, and she was not going to fail. When it became clear that the other woman was going to make excuses until she dropped the proposition, so the fembot began to compute other alternatives, eventually settling on one. “Ms. Stanford, would you follow me for a moment? I need to go outside for a cigarette, and we can talk more then.”

“Why… of course, Ms. Sheffield.” The human tentatively followed the android. She walked out and led the human around a bend. Throughout the conversation, the android had slowly been releasing intoxicating chemicals through its nose and mouth, so at this point the human was more than a little intoxicated. She followed the android around the corner to an alley, and as soon as they were out of sight, the android clasped her hand over her victim’s mouth, and wrapped her other arm around her neck. While the human struggled, out of the shadow of a dumpster walked an identical copy, face blank and lifeless. She spoke in a flat tone. “Hello. I am Maria Sheffield. I am a robot.” The human’s eyes widened, and when she was released, she found there was an adhesive plastic strip over her mouth, and the two androids had positioned themselves to block her exit. They stood, at attention, staring down at her for a solid five minutes, before the copy Sheffield approached the human one, and picks her up, and stand her on her feet, before promptly snapping her neck. The human falls limply to the ground, and both robots stare at each other. Then, Ms. Stanford stares at the body, scanning for any sign of heat or motion.

“No signs of life detected.” Ms. Stanford bends over a perfect 90 degrees, picks up the body, and goes around behind the dumpster, where a collapsible incinerator was hidden. After striping the body and giving the effects to the robot, she put the body into the device, and burned it to ash. After collecting the ash, she collapsed the incinerator, and put it in her coat pocket, before the two androids walked out of the alley.

“I think it would be wonderful if Persona Technologies bought a majority stake in ForReal robotics!”

“We are so pleased that you are please with Persona, Ms. Sheffield.”