Introducing the Perfect Wife

Introducing the Perfect Wife

Part 1

I felt like I was floating through the med center. It was a wonderful feedback loop of being programmed to be happy, and happy because I was programmed. I was halfway back to the transfer room before I realized the clicking noise was my high heels on the tile floor. My body didn't feel any strain or difference in balance. When I opened the door, Dr. Ngoepe was in the transfer room… with my body on a tray pulled out from the pod installed against the wall. I didn't remember exiting the lower pod in my new body. I must have been in one testing mode or another with my personality and memory shut off.

It was definitely enough to clear my head and make me focus.

The doctor was removing my feeding tube, or at least the feeding tube for my human body. I was me, but that body was me too. My head was covered in a plastic shell with what seemed like hundreds of thin wires feeding back to the pod. I still had my hospital gown on, and a few wires were fed under it to monitor my vitals. I looked thinner. I looked older. I looked like I was still breathing. And Dr. Ngoepe was smiling. Without the mask, goggles and hairnet, she looked stunning. But why would a gynoid look less than stunning?

"Hey there, UX-49a4." In my heels, and her in flats, I must have towered over her by 30 cm, but I didn't feel in control of the situation. I couldn't stop staring at my old body. I couldn’t stop wondering if it was my ‘real’ body.

"Hi Doctor." I wasn't feeling verbally coherent at the moment.

“Please, you can call me UX-0118.”

I couldn’t tell if it was a joke. And that made me wonder if becoming a machine killed my sense of humor. No, I was just stressed. Or maybe I was missing some subtext that she thought of herself as a machine first and doctor second.

“Or you can call me Brittney.”

Alright, the machine part just became less likely. “OK, Brittney.”

“Feeling distracted?”

I nodded, "Why am I - my old body - still alive?"

"It's important to make sure the recipients of your donated organs are ready before we pull the plug. But they are now. Unless you’re having second thoughts."

"You could undo this?" I didn't really want it undone, but I was having trouble with the situation.

The doctor snickered, "oh, not at all. Your biological brain is irreversibly damaged now. I meant if you were having second thoughts about being an organ donor. Maybe you wanted to hold a funeral with it." She pointed to me. The old me.

I shook my head 'no'.

"Do you want to do the honors? It's just the one button." She pointed to a switch on the pod. I didn't know why she was torturing me like this. I was starting to feel like I wasn't myself anymore. That was Elizabeth Cochrane, and I was a machine purpose-built to replace her. I was a thing that inherited her identity. The part of me that wanted to be a perfect robot was delighted. The parts of me that wanted to be the perfect woman and wife wondered if it was possible to be those things if I was just a copy.

I was stuck, so I just kept staring at my old body. After letting me stew without a response, Dr. Ngoepe flipped the switch herself. The body didn't twitch. It just stopped breathing. My eyes darted over to the health monitor on the pod. Everything was flatlined.

"That was fast." I had a few living will cases early in my legal career. Usually the person could still go on a little while without the machines.

"Your brain stem is mush too. The probes were the only things sending electrical signals to your organs to tell them to work."

“So I’m dead.”

“That is a philosophical question.”

I couldn’t stop myself from uttering, “No shit.”

Brittney didn’t look offended, “Do you know the Ship of Theseus Paradox?”

“Yeah, if you replace all the parts of a ship one by one, is it still the same ship?”

“Seems appropriate.”

I mulled that over, “I assume you have an opinion.”

UX-0118 started removing the vital sign sensors from the body. “We replace cells all the time. You only had a handful of cells that were there when you were born. Someone with a prosthetic limb isn’t less of a person.“

“The problem there is that we aren’t being replaced by identical parts.”

“Your biological cells weren’t identical either.”

I could appreciate a good technicality as much as the next litigator, but it was a bit of a stretch. “I was expecting a sharper dividing line between old me and new me.”

“That would make it easier. But it wouldn’t be much of a stress test for your psyche if this was an easy question.”

I blinked and I stared down UX-0118. “This is just a test?”

“If you’re going to have an existential crisis that breaks your brain, it’s best to have it when your neurologist is in the room.” She smiled at me. “But to answer the big question, I am exactly as much Brittney Ngoepe as I want to be.” She pulled a sheet out of a cabinet and covered my old body. “Which is usually the amount my owners want me to be.”

I was surprised enough about the casual admission that it took me a bit to notice the plural noun, “Owners?”

I didn’t have time to look away before she tugged down the front of her scrub pants enough to show me the Sunny Valley Cybernetic Services logo printed just above her pussy. “I’m medical equipment.” Her smile had turned into a huge grin. “The people who own the medical center own me. Not legally, but functionally.”

I thought about being owned by more people than just James. Once again I felt the tension between wanting to be an object, and wanting to be the perfect woman. There was something appealing to being just an asset on a balance sheet.

UX-0118 pulled her pants back up. “It’s why I wanted to meet with you instead of letting a nurse do it. I know what it’s like to balance being a professional woman with being someone’s property. I’m guessing your first meeting with your husband as your owner went well.” For the briefest moment, I was concerned that she knew what James had done to me. But thinking about the feeling of servicing him… I started grinning too. “It was one of the best moments of my life.” It was instructive, how thinking about serving calmed me down so well and so quickly.

“And one of his too, I’ll bet.”

I was a little embarrassed. It was more about how I had acted before the transfer than how I acted after it. I just nodded in agreement.

Brittney took a card out of her front pocket and started writing on the back, “We have a little club for gynoids programmed like us. Nothing too formal, just a time to vent and brag.” She set the card down on top of my old body.

I didn’t know how I felt about it. Intellectually, it made me wonder how many robot women had been reprogrammed to be happy little toys. And as much as I complained about James behind his back before, doing so now seemed wrong. But a group of women who knew how to be perfect women, perfect wives, and perfect robots at the same time sounded like a great way to be a better gynoid for my owner.

“I’ll have to ask my owner for permission.” Even if it was the right thing to say, I felt my face flush. I hadn’t asked for permission to do much of anything since I was 15.

“As a good robot should.” Brittney took a few steps to the side. “But your owner is waiting.”

Ah yes, the entire reason I came back to this room. My purse and street clothes were stashed here. I walked past the pods and bent down to put my thumb on the locker, but it unlocked before I made contact.

“RFID in my wrist?”

“Yup, right now it’s just sending your chassis ID, but you can fiddle with your settings to make it do more.”

“I guess my thumbprint is different now.” I took a look at my thumb. There were still swirls of ridges there, but I couldn’t tell just from looking if they were different from my human prints. That wasn’t important right now.

I took my phone out of my purse and turned it on. A week’s worth of notifications made it buzz to the point I just put it on top of the locker and ignored it. I looked over my shoulder to check if Brittney was going to give me some privacy as I undressed, then decided it was really dumb to care if a doctor saw me naked.

I kicked off the heels and slid my lingerie off. It was the first time I had really taken a moment to examine my body from inside it. Hot fucking damn. Every square inch of my skin was smooth and perfect. No moles, no ingrown hairs, no fat bulges, no tan lines, just smooth curves. I might have made a little purring sound as I let my fingertips move over my stomach and hips. I adjusted the angle of my head to look at my bikini line. There was a white line along my groin that went over my hip. If I didn’t know that it was the seam between the panel of skin covering my left leg and buttcheek and the panel around my torso, genitals and arms, I would have confused it for an old, curiously placed scar. There was a similar line on the other side to make it all symmetrical. I ran my finger over it and I could feel just the slightest rise to my skin at the join. I smiled when I saw the serial number and manufacturer logo on my left hip. I had intended to hide it with a simple UV treatment, but now I wished it was in a more conspicuous place. Maybe not my forehead, but maybe on the inside of my forearm. And while I was there, I had to take a moment to touch my new pussy. The outer labia were as smooth as the rest of me. I waxed myself before getting married, and it was never this smooth. No hair follicles had been installed.

Mmm, installed.

I had to spread the outer labia to see the inner. I saw my pink folds and my erect little clit just like I had designed them. But my first thought wasn’t to masturbate and see how sensitive I was, it was how much James was going to enjoy sticking his dick inside me. And yes, my second thought was about how good my new pussy was going to feel, based on how amazing it had felt to give my owner a blowjob.

I smiled. James owned this pussy. These legs. These curves. I imagined my body with piercings and tattoos that he desired. Things that wouldn’t be visible at work. Reminders I was his. My old body had no tattoos or piercings, but this wasn’t an aesthetic desire. If only James had a logo he could stamp on me...

Brittney coughed to break me out of my daydream. “Trust me, I know the first few days after activation are intense, but we both have places to be.” She smiled. It wasn’t a judgment or an order, just a friendly reminder.

I nodded and pulled out the bag with the clothes I had bought for my new body. I felt a little embarrassed by my selection. The light tan-colored cotton bra and panty set was functional, but God was it boring. It wasn’t like I needed something durable to hold up a big pair of breasts or keep a maxipad in place. It felt naughty, but I put them back in the bag. I pulled out the taupe-colored Capri pants and sighed. I always dressed like I was going to run into a client. Or maybe I dressed like a middle-aged woman who didn’t want to advertise how lumpy her body was. As fun as it would be to walk outside in just the gown from my activation, it wasn’t really an option. I slid the pants on and then put on the dark blue top I had bought. I was a little pleased I had screwed up the length. There was an attractive centimeter or two of skin between my top and my belt. There were no sleeves, just two thin straps over my shoulders.

I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed that the top was too loose and too dark to really see my nipples. I smiled at the thought of flashing my tits at James in public, so maybe it was nice that I could make it a bigger surprise.

I sat down to put the heels back on. I could go through my shoes later and decide what could be thrown out, but these were reasonably casual. I had felt like a genius for asking the manufacturer to keep my feet the exact same size, but at that moment I felt like I needed to purge every scrap of clothing the old me thought was ‘nice’.

UX-0118 had been waiting patiently while I dressed, “Just a word of advice, don’t buy too many clothes right away. You and your owner are going to go through a bit of trial and error about your new style. And there’s always the possibility he’ll decide your chassis needs tweaking. Let’s just say I didn’t start with these cantaloupes.” She chuckled and groped one of her large breasts.

But I didn’t feel inadequate. James didn’t seem all that concerned about breast size when we were designing my body. He was mostly concerned about making sure I didn’t look like Grace or Melody. And with my legs. But those looked great. Maybe he was concerned about irritating me before and would have new suggestions now.

I did feel bad about shutting down some of his other ideas. I should have agreed when he wanted inhuman channels for my pussy and ass. He was the one that was going to be using them, I was such a bitch to say ‘no’. Who was really going to find out if my anus had undulating ridges?

I once again let myself imagine James modifying me. I thought of being awake, not feeling it as they cut into my skin and pulled away my original robot pussy. I imagined a technician letting me inspect the bumps and ridges inside my new cunt before sliding it between my legs and sealing me back up. And I imagined it all happening because my owner ordered it.

I didn’t think I’d soak through the front of my Capris, but I willed myself to stop lubricating anyway. I could always turn it back on if James needed me to. I thought about what to do with the bottles of lube in my nightstand. Maybe I could fill myself up with them, or let James do it…

The realization of what I had done broke me out of the daydream. I had changed my own settings. I didn’t need training, I just instinctually did it. It was programmed into me. I cycled through some options. I turned off simulated blood flow for a few seconds. I shut off my breathing, then realized it wasn’t much different than holding my breath. I was enjoying the feeling, but a look at Brittney reminded me I shouldn’t indulge myself too much just yet.

My purse and other stuff could stay in the overnight bag. I stood up and retrieved my phone. I tried to remember the last time I had gone a week without answering work emails. It was probably back before I was working. Add in school emails and… shit, was it elementary school? And all it took was being unconscious. I checked for texts from Yves and Ida. Yves had sent me a courtesy ‘let me know how you’re doing when you’re feeling up to talking’ text, but there were no panicked ‘call me immediately when you get this’ messages. Nothing from James or my three girls, but Charlie had sent a ‘Hi Mom’ text three days ago, followed two days ago by a ‘we can talk later’ text. Technically I could set things up to receive calls and texts in my chassis, but it seemed even less like a worthwhile idea now than it did before my conversion.

I threw my phone in the bag. I spotted the card Brittney had left on my body and gingerly picked it up before slipping it into my pocket. I could almost forget I used to be inside the body under the sheet. The longer I was a machine - the more I enjoyed being a machine - the less stressed I got about the philosophical implications of everything.

Almost on cue, a nurse came in and asked if she could take away the body. Dr. Ngoepe nodded and there I went to be carved up as pieces and parts for other people. Or maybe just people. I was going to be rolling the question around in my mind for a while.

“Anything else before I’m dismissed, UX-0118? Do I need to be escorted out in a wheelchair?”

She smiled, “I think you’ll be fine, UX-49a4. My number is on the card in case you have any questions or just need to talk.”

I turned to the door, then turned back to the Doctor, “Thank you for your kindness and special attention to me. I’m sorry if I was a little rude earlier. I really do appreciate your work and the invitation to meet other women like us.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Brittney walked forward to leave the room with me.

“And I know it’s your programming, but thank you for reprogramming me. I can’t imagine being happier with the personality I wanted - the one the old me wanted.”

UX-0118 laughed, “That’s even more my pleasure.”

Part 2

Leaving the medical center felt so anticlimactic. Despite everything that had happened inside, it was still a grey building sharing a large parking lot with more grey buildings. I lifted my face toward the clear sky and felt the heat on it. I smiled at the thought that after living here for over 30 years, I could stop worrying about sweating through my blouse or needing a shower at lunch. My internal temperature was on the high side, but not close to the red. I kept my face up and started thinking about things like fluid levels. It really made me feel like a machine to just ‘know’ what was happening in my body.

James honked the car horn to get my attention. I could have walked to the parking spot, but he was treating me like I had undergone major brain surgery or something like that. I could feel the difference in my posture as I went toward our reasonably-priced sedan. For maybe the first time in my life I was unequivocally happy with the way I looked, and I’m sure it showed.

I saw myself in the tinted passenger side window. It was the first time I had seen my new face. I mean, I had seen the simulations, I had seen it frozen in the transfer room, but I hadn’t been near a mirror before. Even in a poor reflection, I was impressed by the job they had done on my newly-blue eyes.

But I didn’t want to keep James waiting. As soon as I opened the door and saw him, I felt better. And I had already been feeling good. I wasn’t self-conscious in the slightest about how much I was grinning when I sat next to him, set my bag at my feet, and shut the door.

If he hadn’t started pulling away from the curb, I would have started making out with him right there.

“You look great, dear.”

My heart soared. “I feel great.” I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“Everything go alright with the doctor?”

I debated how much to tell him, “Clean bill of health, or all systems nominal, however you want to put it. She actually invited me to a little get-together with some of her friends.”

“That’s great. I’m sure the kids will be excited to see you.”

“Did you plan something?”

“They’re waiting for us at home.”

I was initially disappointed that sex was off the menu in the near-term. But if my owner wanted it, and my kids wanted it, I could set my carnal needs aside.

“All of them?”

“Olive is calling in from New York, but the rest are here.” Only James called our daughter Olivia ‘Olive’.

“Do you mind if I check my face? I haven’t had a chance to look in the mirror since I woke up.”

“Oh really? Sure, take your time.”

He probably had no idea how much ‘take your time’ meant to me. I flipped down the sun visor on the passenger side and took a better look at my face. I really did look like I belonged on a magazine cover. Maybe I wouldn’t wear quite so much eye makeup at work, but the face itself was flawless, like it had never had a sunburn or a pimple. And I supposed it hadn’t. I made a few faces at myself in the mirror, checking my stunningly white and straight teeth in the process. I couldn’t help but hear James chuckle.

I turned to him, smiling, “I need to be sure this face can do more than suck cock.”

He blushed. I never talked like that before. I found that I liked talking that way. From the side I couldn’t quite tell if he liked it or not. If not, I’m sure he could warm up to it. He owned a cocksucking machine now, after all.

I turned my head to the side and saw the thin white seam along my jaw line and below my ear separating the skin of my neck and torso from the skin on my face. I lifted my head to see where the line continued, hidden by my chin. I felt behind my neck, and could just barely feel where the seam was at the bottom of my hairline, and the other seam traveling down my spine. That was the seam I saw when I first saw my chassis...

James got to the onramp for the highway and let the car take over driving. The windshield darkened to match the tinted side windows. But the earlier thought about being owned brought a question to mind. And now he’d be able to focus on an answer.

“We probably should discuss a few things about how I should act before we meet the kids.”

James had begun to lean toward me, but went back to his seat and sighed, “I suppose so.”

“I’m guessing you don’t want to tell them that you own me now.” I still got that little thrum of pleasure from saying that last part.

“Yeah, that would be a bad idea.” He gave it a beat, “I don’t think it would be good to tell anyone.”

I thought about Yves and Ida. I wasn’t sure if they needed to know. There wasn’t a lot of case law about synthetic humans as legal representatives, but everything I had read indicated I would be treated the same as I had before. As long as it didn’t impair my work performance, it was none of their business. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone… Or I’ll ask you first if I think I need to tell someone. And I’ll restrain myself unless you tell me everyone else around me knows.”

I thought about serving drinks for James and his buddies as they watched football, wearing nothing but heels and stockings. It was one more thing that sounded appealing, until I realized that sort of thing would get around our social circles fast. And doing something that inviting for other men didn’t feel right either.

“Sounds right. Although I really don’t plan on telling anyone.”

I nodded and let a few beats pass with nothing but the road noise around us. Since we were talking about it, I decided to really talk about it. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why did you want me programmed to be a machine?”

“You are a machine.”

I tried my best not to roll my eyes at him. “I meant I had already agreed to be a better wife, why did you decide to add programming to make me your property? I’m not mad, I want you to get what you wanted from me.”

He sighed, “You’re going to be mad.”

I smiled, “That’s unlikely.”

He was avoiding eye contact. “I was on some message boards for men with gynoid wives.”

This wasn’t starting well.

“And so many stories were about how things didn’t change. Their wives were still stressed. They still had arguments. They were still their own worst critic. I.. I knew you wanted to change, you wanted your life to change. I tried to get you to agree to deflate your ego, but you shot that down.”

He must have been talking about the dominance and submission stuff in the perfect wife programming that I shot down. I didn’t interrupt him. He needed to talk, so I needed to listen.

“I didn’t think you’d let me add this programming to you once you were a robot, so I had them add it during your initial programming.”

It was hard for me to tell if that would have been true. Maybe a taste of truly putting James and the kids first would have made me willing to get deeper programming. I swallowed my instinct to defend my honor.

“I want us to be happy, and you probably would have found a way to make yourself miserable.”

That cut close to the bone. I thought of the times I had stewed angrily during a vacation because something had gone wrong.

“Or you would have found some loophole like you only needed to be someone’s perfect wife. Someone with a yacht or a 12 inch dong.”

I chuckled just a little. “I’m not sure I want to be around saltwater with this grade of joint sealant anyway.”

He smirked at me.

“If you want, I can be your happy toy all the time. I can just pretend to be Liz in public - when necessary.” It was probably a little selfish of me. James could solve my little existential crisis and I didn’t have to do any mental heavy lifting. And it was kind of amusing to think of a gynoid sextoy running a law firm.

He gave it some thought. I believed he was actually going to ask me - to tell me - to surrender my humanity to him. And I’d do it. Maybe not immediately like flipping a switch, but I’d try my best to consider Elizabeth Cochrane to be some woman who donated her memories to me and died in the process. I’d be a fresh, guiltless robot built for my owner’s pleasure and it started to sound appealing.

“No. You’re still Liz. You’re still my wife.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself too.

“Is that what you want, or what you think you should want?” I rubbed my hand on his thigh.

He didn’t move it away. “It’s what I need to believe.”

I leaned in and gave him a little kiss. “You did the right thing.”

“Hmm?”

“We’ve been together for almost 30 years, I know when you’re feeling guilty. You have nothing to feel guilty about. I love being like this. Just sitting here with you makes it a great day. And obeying you is... it makes me feel like my world is perfect.”

“You’d really be fine if I treated you like nothing but a walking sexdoll?”

I nodded. “Especially if we’re talking about ‘in private’, I want to be treated in whatever way makes you happiest.”

“But if I ordered you to get giant tits, blonde hair and thick lips installed, you’d do it?”

I didn’t want to wreck my career and lose that substantial income, but I didn’t think he wanted the full rundown of ‘if’s.

“If you insisted, and didn’t care about the consequences, I would look however you want me to look. After all, technically these are your tits, not mine.” I lifted my top with my free hand and flashed him, even if I didn’t have much to show. I think he was about to get an anime-style nosebleed.

I started unzipping his fly, “Never feel shy about giving me a command. I want to obey you. But I also want to keep my career intact. If I say no, please understand it’s not because I’m angry or offended.” I moved my hand inside his fly. Mmm, just feeling his growing erection made me light-headed with joy.

He let me play with him for a little bit. I wasn’t being aggressive with my fondling, it was almost entirely over the boxers. Then he spoke.

“Masturbate for me.”

It was a direct command. My world stopped while I evaluated it. I thought he’d like a handjob more, but that wasn’t my decision. There was no reason to delay.

“This unit obeys.” It wasn’t some automated response, but pretending it was gave me a little shiver of pleasure.

I removed my hand from my owner’s lap then scooted forward in my seat so I could straighten myself enough to unbutton my capris. With a quick motion they were below my knees. I turned my lubrication back on and started rubbing my pussylips. It was hard to distinguish the physical pleasure my fingers were generating from the emotional pleasure I was getting from obedience.

I moved my finger to my clit and moaned softly, slowly licking my lips. I turned my head to see James’ reaction. It made me smile to see his eyes so wide and his mouth hanging open a little.

“This pussy belongs to you.”

He tried to work some saliva back into his mouth. “All of you does…”

Oh fuck did that feel nice to hear. I started moving my hips, grinding on my hand and working my clit faster.

He watched me some more before he could speak again, “...It’s not an act.”

“Mmm, no sir.” I stuck two fingers inside myself and it felt only slightly less nice than flicking my bean. I explored the walls, seeing if there was a spot more sensitive than the rest, but it was all uniformly amazing. I started arching my back and hips off the seat and moaning more loudly.

“Don’t cum until I say so.”

Another direct order. I felt stuck on the upslope toward my peak. I didn’t mind being stuck like this, awash in pure, uninhibited pleasure. I didn’t think he wanted me to stop masturbating, so I kept going. I lewdly moved my hips in the air for my owner’s benefit. “This unit obeys.”

“Call me ‘Master’”

“Of course, Master.” That felt so nice to say. A lot of things were feeling nice at the moment.

“You look so good like that, my little fuckdoll.”

If I was allowed to cum, I definitely would have then and there. It was affirmation more satisfying than any compliment or award I had received in my life. “Thank you for letting me use this dollycunt for my own pleasure, Master”. I’m not sure where ‘dollycunt’ came from, but it fit.

The car started beeping and I slammed my butt back in the seat. I turned my head trying to figure out what was happening.

James yelled out a quick ‘fuck’ and faced forward in the driver’s seat again. It was just the alarm that the car was ready to exit the freeway. My head was still fuzzy from the pleasure, and I giggled at my own confusion.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you make that noise.”

“What, a laugh?”

“That was a giggle.”

I wasn’t making any movement to pull my pants back up. “It seems fuckdoll-appropriate.”

He gave an amused huff at that and took the offramp.

“Do you want me to keep going?” I started rubbing my clit again.

The next huff was less amused, “Get cleaned up, we’ll be home soon.” I took it as disappointment rather than irritation at me.

I reached into the glove box to find some tissues. “We could always pull into a cheap motel…” I sniffed my hand out of curiosity. My fingers didn’t really smell of anything.

Another unamused grumble, “The kids are waiting… I shouldn’t have told them we were on our way.”

I figured that would be the response. I wiped down my hand and pussy then realized something else felt wet in the seat. I lifted my rear to check and there was a colorless wet spot where I had been rubbing my butt. I puzzled over it and then started giggling again.

James looked over briefly, “what?”

“My ass lubed up so much it made a little wet spot on the seat.” I reached below myself to wipe there too.

He smiled, “I guess that’s why it’s there, after all.”

I pulled my pants back up and re-buttoned them. I flipped down the mirror for a quick hair check and I looked good as new. You couldn’t tell I had just been deep in the throes of pleasure.

James looked a bit more pink in the face. He got even more pink when I leaned over and whispered into his ear, “I want my first climax as a fuckdoll to be when you cum inside my tight virgin asshole, Master.”

He almost missed the turn into the driveway. I was very proud of myself.

Part 3

But I felt a little guilty as we pulled in. I really didn’t want to see the kids. I wanted to properly fuck my owner and explore my new body. But it would hardly be the first time James and I set aside our wants to make the kids happy.

I got out of the car and did one last check of my clothes. I followed James to the front door, rather than entering through the garage. I walked inside and…. Nothing.

James shouted, “We’re here!”

Someone shouted back, “We’re in the den!”

For a brief moment I considered yelling out a lie that my legs were backordered and I couldn’t walk there. I waited a few extra moments to see if they were interested enough to get off the couch. At first I was irritated at the kids, but that didn’t seem to stick. Then I saw the look on James’ face and started getting irritated at them again. With that little disappointment I followed James toward the back of the first floor of the house.

I walked into the room and yelled “Surprise!” before doing a twirl.

Olivia’s face was on the TV, with one of her friends lurking behind her. The rest of the kids were at least off the sofa and facing me, but keeping clear of the TV.

Melody, my youngest, spoke first “Wow, you look great, Mom!”

“You’re moving very well.” Grace’s husband Pierre was next. I wasn’t fond of the implication that I would be moving like a stiff automaton, but I could chalk it up to him being a moron rather than him being passive aggressive.

“Your body is taller than I thought it would be.” Charlie was very intently looking at my eyes. I think he didn’t want to be checking out his Mom’s hot body.

“You saw the renderings, dear.”

“I know, but that’s on a screen.”

Olivia unnecessarily shouted, “Are you feeling alright? Any light-headednesses?”

Only when your father’s cock is in my mouth, sweetie. “No, I’m feeling great; The best I’ve felt in years.”

James went to get a beer. I could feel myself start to turn to get it for him, then realized how suspicious that would look.

“Do you need to sit down?” Pierre again.

I shook my head, “Only if you want to.” I thought about how much battery life I had left, and immediately learned I could go another 5 hours at this level of power usage.

Once James was back in the room, Charlie and Melody felt comfortable picking their open beers up off the table.

“Grace, how does her skin feel?” Olivia shouted again.

My eldest blushed and stepped forward, I smiled and held out my arm. She took my index finger and inspected it on its own, before moving up to the back of my hand, then my forearm.

“Warm, flexible, really smooth. I don’t know if I’d be able to tell it’s fake if I didn’t know it was fake.”

I supposed that wouldn’t be the last time someone called me ‘fake’.

Grace kept feeling it for a little longer than necessary. She snapped out of it well enough to go grab her drink.

“I unpacked your equipment and set it up in the basement, Liz”. Pierre smiled like a puppy. I always thought he was compensating for Grace not getting along with me. It didn’t make me any more impressed by him. I mean, he was a ForEx analyst. He might as well be a professional coinflip guesser, he’d have the same record of accuracy.

“Thank you, Dear.”

Olivia was doing her best to remain part of the conversations while phoning in, “Not in the bedroom?”

He handed me a little kit, about the size of a clutch bag, labeled “Access/Repair” on the side. “Not enough amps up there. I basically had to wire in a new circuit breaker for her maintenance station.”

I unzipped the bag and pondered if I could get someone in the next day to make sure the house wasn’t going to catch on fire when I plugged myself into the fast-charger. The bag had a few chemical vials, some empty vials, two proprietary cables, and a tool with a craft knife blade at one end and a flat squared-off metal piece at the other. I wondered what I was supposed to do and at least knew step 1: pour 15 ml of jar A and 10 mL of jar B into an empty jar. It looked like it was for sealing up skin, or opening it up.

Thankfully, no one was asking me to strip out of my skin just yet.

The rest of the night went like that. The kids would poke at me a bit, ask me questions about how I was feeling, then drink some more. Someone threw some frozen pizzas in the oven. I told everyone they weren’t tasty enough for me to go to the hassle of emptying my oral intake reservoir after eating a slice.

Which meant Charlie had to spend 30 minutes making poop or bulimia jokes whenever there was a lull in conversation. Olivia got in an only slightly better jab about not being the first lawyer to spew shit from their mouth. I let them have their fun.

Grace stayed uncharacteristically quiet and uncharacteristically sober. I tried to get her to open up a bit, but that was a tall order with the entire family in the room. But at least we weren’t actively fighting each other.

I even got to show everyone how I could do a trickle recharge. Melody visibly winced as I took the small tool from the kit and cut into my armpit. There was no blood, and everyone got a small peek inside me before watching me stick a cable in there. I spent the rest of the night with my arm on the back of the sofa. I was going to need to experiment with the best way to have my arm at my side when plugged in.

But what I really wanted was my Master. I was so happy being next to him on the couch, but it just killed me that I couldn’t snuggle against him as tightly as I could. Why couldn’t I have been that type of woman before? He was my husband and yet it would have been suspicious if I wrapped myself around him. It’s not like I was going to start giving him a lap dance.

Okay, there was a small chance I would’ve grinded a bit on his lap given the opportunity and a lapse of concentration.

Olivia tapped out first, but she was also dealing with a time difference. Charlie was getting a little wobbly, so I used that as an excuse to end the evening. Melody would have her room, Grace and Pierre would have the guest room, but Charlie was going to be sleeping on the couch.

I only wished the guest room wasn’t across the hall from the master bedroom. I had my top off and my arms around James as soon as the door clicked shut. I wanted to make the walls shake with the sounds of my moans and let my Master know how he made me feel. Instead I had to whisper and constrain myself.

“I’ve been waiting all night for this.” I started to get his shirt off. I wanted to call him Master, but I definitely didn’t want anyone in the family overhearing that.

“This is the nicest family evening we’ve had in a while.” He reached between us to feel my breast before kissing me. I didn’t care about anything else but pushing my chest into his hand and kissing him back. I didn’t think about the ways I couldn’t serve him at the moment, I just luxuriated in the feelings I got from serving him in the ways I safely could.

I kicked off my shoes and started working on my pants while taking care not to disengage from the kiss and groping. I could feel my mouth, ass, and pussy get ready for sex. Whichever he wanted, I’d give him.

Well, not give. Whichever he wanted was his to take and use.

I had my pants around my ankles when he whispered into my ear, “get on all fours, on the bed.”

I was thrilled to obey. I didn’t even wait to get my feet out of my pants. I waddled over and got on my hands and knees, ass pointing at my Master. Only then I worked the last of my clothes off and let them drop.

James reached between my legs and for the first time touched my pussy. My brain lit up with pleasure, broken only by the realization that I moaned more loudly than I should have. I chewed on my lip and simulated heavy breathing as I moved backward and tried to push my cunt into his hand.

“Please fuck me, baby.”

Instead he dipped two fingers into my channel. My entire body twitched, but I kept the vocalization to a minimum. I needed to tell him at some point that I didn’t need foreplay anymore, even an abbreviated version.

“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

I felt so perfectly satisfied that I barely noticed the fingers exiting my cunt. Master was happy with me and if it weren’t for my orders, I might have gone boneless with contentment and melted into the bed.

I looked over my shoulder “Being a robot makes me so happy, you can’t even imagine.”

I made a happy little growl as James got naked. He was, not surprisingly, already hard. I rested my head on the bed and reached back to spread my buttcheeks apart.

“You really want me to?”

“Absolutely.”

I quivered with anticipation as I felt the cockhead make first contact against my backdoor. I had never been this excited for sex. Even when I lost my virginity I was more nervous than aroused. And it wasn’t like our wedding night was the first time James and I had sex. I fought the urge to push myself back and around James’ member. It felt better to let him decide the pace.

It felt better that he was using me.

My anus was slick and flexible enough that he had little trouble stretching me out. It was toe-curling pleasure and I stifled another loud moan. It would have been so easy to lose myself in the pleasure. It was like every happy thought my brain could generate was happening at once. But even so, I had to keep control. Master didn’t want the kids to know, and frankly I didn’t either. But it meant I had to fight - just a little - against the pleasure.

James is not big, but he felt like a perfect fit inside me. I flexed my asshole around him, and tried to keep it in rhythm with his thrusting. I didn’t even think about making it good for me. I didn’t need any help for it to be great. But my Master deserved the best sex possible.

I toed that line between being loud enough that James knew I was enjoying myself - a lot - but not so loud that any of the kids would be upset. I felt James hand rubbing my hip. It took a minute for me to realize he was rubbing my manufacturer information. That made me squeeze hard on him.

I didn’t keep track of how long he lasted, but I felt him starting to speed up.

“Don’t pull out.” I said softly between the moans. I didn’t know if he was planning on pulling out, but after telling him to pull out more than once during sex, I thought he’d like to hear that.

James was never very vocal during sex, but he let out a hell of a grunt when he finished inside me. I braced myself for an orgasm that never came. I would have made James keep going with his tongue or hands in the past, but now I didn’t mind.

Once I could feel his cock stop twitching, I slid off and moved so I could gently lick him clean. I looked up at him and tried to communicate that I was happy to do this. My brain kept lighting up from the extended sexual contact. He had this weird smirk on his face as he watched me luxuriate in the taste of penis. I don’t know if he could see his jism slowly leaking out of my asshole, but I could feel it. I didn’t mind the feeling one bit.

As soon as he sat on the edge of the bed, I snuggled up against him. I just felt better when I was touching him.

He spoke first, “Was that alright?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but it was the best sex of my life. Is there anything I could do to make it better for you next time?”

“That was already great.”

I felt like my head was filled with happy little butterflies. “Any time you want, baby.”

“I was going to talk to you before about how you were acting tonight.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“The opposite. I can’t remember the last time we had all the kids together and no one started screaming at someone else.”

I thought back too. I hadn’t insulted Pierre’s intelligence - to his face. I hadn’t criticized Grace for dropping out of college. I hadn’t made any snide comments about Olivia living in a poly household. I hadn’t brought up Charlie’s DUI. I hadn’t even mocked Melody for her plans to major in Dance at college. Those were examples, but I pushed the buttons of all the kids. I could justify it as tough love to get them to improve themselves, but maybe I was just a bitch.

“I’m sorry I was so terrible to everyone for so long.” Those dark feelings I had before the conversion started to come back, partially blotting out the feelings Master elicited in me.

“You weren’t terrible. But you are … were a bit abrasive. Everyone still loves you.”

I wasn’t sure that was true, but I didn’t want to drop that on Master.

“We never discussed how I treated the kids.”

“I thought it would start a fight. And I never wanted to fight you.”

I loved this man so much. I loved him as much as I always should have loved him. I wished I had been this way for him during our entire marriage. I got off the bed and onto my knees on the ground. I bowed my head.

“I promise to never make you afraid of speaking the truth to me again.”

“I’m happy the programming worked.” He stroked my cheek and I turned my head into it. Any eavesdropper could think he was referring to the bland half-measures the human-me had agreed to. James and I knew better.

“Better than I imagined.” I rested my head on his thigh. “Do you want to go again?”

Master said yes and spread his knees further apart. I planted soft kisses on his penis and gently fondled his balls. I kept myself lubed but took my time. I wasn’t rushing to get him hard so he could go again while my arousal was still high, I’d be ready no matter how long it took. I smiled that I was thinking about fellatio as something I got to do, rather than had to do.

After 20 minutes, he was ready. I stared up at him and spoke softly, “How about I get on top?” It wasn’t the degree of supplication I wanted, but it got the point across. He nodded and it took me barely any time to hop up and nudge him onto his back.

I straddled him and reached between my legs to guide him inside my pussy. I grinned as the heavenly feeling of completeness washed through my body once Master’s cock was inside it. I started to moan softly, moving my hips while playing with my tits. I didn’t need the extra stimulation, but I thought it would be titillating - no pun intended - for Master.

I kept my bounces short so Master wouldn’t slip out of me. I looked down to see if he was enjoying himself. He stared at me like he viewed magnificent vistas on the hikes we used to take: awed by the beauty. My cunt squeezed around him extra hard.

I was concerned that he would go soft before cumming again. Everything melted away except keeping the noise down and the cock hard. For brief moments, I forgot I had any other body parts except a pussy.

I wasn’t concerned that I didn’t climax, regardless of how much pleasure I was feeling. This was all about Master. A few additional thrusts and I felt him deposit another load of cum inside me. I rolled off and snuggled next to him. I whispered into his ear ‘Thank you’.

I offered to keep snuggling him until he fell asleep, but he admitted that he liked sleeping alone. He hadn’t mentioned that in 30 years, but I accepted it gladly. I went into our closet and fetched myself a silky black robe to wrap around myself and preserve my modesty for the kids. The amount of extra room available inside it made me happy.

I kissed Master goodnight and snuck back into the hallway. I couldn’t see or hear anyone, but I tried to stay quiet. Halfway down the hall, I accidentally triggered the motion detector on the picture frames on the wall.

My mom and her mom had hung family photos on the wall, so I did the same in my house. I at least upgraded the tradition to using digital photos rather than hard copies. There were 25 frames on the wall, each cycling through pictures from one of the years since Grace was born. There were posed portraits, both of the entire family and of each of us individually. There were shots of us in front of one landmark or another. I could chuckle at it now, but I remembered not being amused at taking a 10-, 8-, 6-, and 3-year-old around London.

I spied a candid shot of me and Grace at the beach when she was 2 and I was pregnant with Olivia. I was trying to apply sunblock to us but Grace was screaming bloody murder and I looked ready to commit that murder. James thought it was cute.

There was another candid shot of me squeezed into a cocktail dress, trying to get the camera away from James. Another with me and all four kids after a day at Disneyland. Melody was asleep and everyone else looked exhausted.

Was I smiling in any of these, except when posing? Was anyone smiling in frame with me? How long had I been miserable?

The thought crept in again, how long had Elizabeth Cochrane been miserable? If I felt so happy, could I be the same person with the sour disposition in the photos?

I finally did see one of myself genuinely smiling. It was at the party right after Yves, Ida and I started the firm. I didn’t know if that made things better or worse. I could be happy, just not around my family.

I stood there a long time watching the images cycle. Viewing things long enough, I could find some counterexamples. But it wasn’t enough to change the assessment. Elizabeth may have loved her husband and kids, but work made her happy. But being with James made me happier than anything else. The difference was so fundamental that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be Elizabeth.

Part 4

The thoughts were still bouncing around my head when I went downstairs. Fortunately Charlie could sleep through anything. It was something I had liked when he was young and hated when he was a teenager. I snuck past him, through the kitchen, and down the stairs to the basement. I left the lights on and counted on my new eyes to amplify the dim light.

Pierre had indeed hooked up the maintenance station. It was the size of a tall bookshelf with doors on front and robot arms on each side and on top of it. I checked the back to be sure Pierre had secured it properly to the wall. The last thing I needed was to have my new chassis crushed.

I was hoping that my chassis would give me instructions on how to check if everything was wired correctly, but no such luck. The lights on the side of the station were green, so I had to assume it wasn’t going to immediately explode.

I instinctively knew I had to be naked for this. But that was as simple as shucking my robe and draping it over the washing machine. I rolled my shoulders nervously and turned my back to the machine.

“Nightly maintenance required for Unit UX-49a4. Authorization Naughty Kangaroo Gnome.” I tried not to shout it, even if I didn’t think I’d wake anyone.

The station whirred to life, but I didn’t flinch. I couldn’t move at all. I could only tell the arms of the station had grabbed me by the shoulders based on the noise, and by the way my frozen view shuddered briefly. I heard the third arm moving but didn’t know what it was doing. It sounded loud to me, but I could hope it wasn’t so loud two floors up where almost everyone was sleeping. I experienced a few more jerks, then the sound of pumps being used to move fluids either in or out of me, probably both. If that was happening, they must have split open the skin on my back.

I wasn’t told that the machine was analyzing my logs, I just suddenly knew it. I let the station do its job. And just like I knew it had started, I knew it had completed with no errors. And that’s when everything went dark.

Just as suddenly, everything was light again, except I was facing toward the station now. Its robot arms were back in place. I could tell my battery was at 100%, my lubricants were at 100%, my fluid reservoir was empty, and I had gone through a standard low-water external cleaning. I ran my tongue over my teeth and thought I could taste the spearmint.

It was also 2 hours later. I smiled. I hadn’t slept like a person, I had been shut off like a machine. I hadn’t taken a shower, I had been cleaned like an appliance. I hadn’t taken a pee, I had my system flushed.

I sighed and moved a hand to my pussy. I was an object and I loved it. With Master asleep, I didn’t feel bad about a little self pleasure. He wouldn’t be awake for hours. I got on my knees and started exploring my remade pussy. It felt great, but not as great as doing it in front of Master. That was probably by design. I thought about fucking him more as I fingered myself. I don’t think I had ever thought about James while masturbating when I was a human.

I stopped myself from thinking again about the differences in the biological and mechanical versions of myself and tried to just enjoy the sensations. I could feel my excitement rising, but I could never get to a peak. It was fun to keep trying, though. I just had to bite my lip to stop anyone from hearing me moan.

After 45 minutes, I was getting a little concerned about why I couldn’t reach climax. I don’t know if I remembered or if my chassis told me that James had ordered me not to cum until he said so. And he didn’t say so. I wasn’t angry about it, I just felt turned on that he could control me like that. I wondered if I could get truly angry at him now. I decided it was a dumb thing to worry about and even dumber to try to make myself angry at him.

No one would be awake for hours, but I was totally alert. I thought about masturbating some more, but I decided I really should be productive and answer emails. I also should have either grabbed my phone or my laptop before coming down here.

I threw my robe back on and tried to be quiet coming up the stairs. My office was on the first floor, which meant I had to slip past Charlie. As I got close, I could tell by his breathing that he was just pretending to sleep. This wasn’t some super-robot sense thing, it was a Mom thing. I blushed at the thought that he had heard me masturbating… extensively. It occurred to me that I was supposed to put his needs before my own, and I wondered if that extended to - well - adult things.

I had thought about what Charlie was doing with his girlfriends before, now I thought about being the one sucking his dick. Thankfully, I found the idea revolting. Putting him before myself didn’t mean everything was on the table. Then again, it was probably against my fidelity programming too. I thought about fucking a young movie star that had featured prominently in my past masturbation sessions. It didn’t feel all that exciting, but it wasn’t revolting.

I peered over the couch at my son. I was actually happy that I had helped him get out of a harsher penalty for drunk driving. I had been mortified at the time, but Ida's husband Louis had convinced the prosecutor the injury to the guy in the passenger seat wasn’t worth an enhanced charge, especially if the knee could have been messed up in 100 other ways at or after a frat party. I clearly remembered the resentment at being put in that position. Now I felt like if I had influence, it was good to use it to help the people I love. I mean, it didn't really hurt anyone else.

“Are you ok, Mom?” Charlie had stopped pretending to sleep.

“Yes dear, just on my way to the office.”

“In your robe?”

“Home office, dear.” I needed to do some clothes shopping. Maybe I’d do that instead of emails… no, I’d rather shop in person.

“Okay… I’m sorry about the vomit jokes tonight.”

“Don’t worry about it, Honey. I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

He didn’t say anything for a few beats. “It’s fine.”

Maybe he had heard me downstairs. Eh, he could get over it. He was a grown man, he could accept that his mom had sexual needs as much as any other woman. And if he didn’t know women masturbated, he was going to figure it out sooner or later. “Go back to bed dear. But let me know if my typing is bothering you.”

I carefully opened and closed the office doors. They were French doors, so I didn’t turn on any lights. I had to readjust my chair to account for my taller chassis and smaller ass, which was more gratifying than irritating. I instinctively reached for my glasses before realizing I wouldn’t need them. And I didn’t care at the moment if viewing a laptop screen with almost no ambient light was bad for my eyes… or optical sensors if you prefer.

I’m a ‘clean inbox’ sort of person, so it hurt me just a little to see ‘999+’ emails there. I started at the bottom, with the emails trying to get my opinion on something before I went in for my conversion. Most of those resolved themselves on their own while I was under. I scheduled some polite ‘thank you for handling this’ emails to go out once the workday for everyone else began.

I skipped the ‘when you get back, look at this’ emails for now, and deleted the junk mail about office events I had missed. But there was one event scheduled to happen in a few days that I stopped on. Yves had scheduled an evening event at his home to celebrate my return and my transformation (his words, not mine).

It wasn’t surprising that Yves was hosting the party. He was always looking for an excuse to justify the size of his estate. That’s my description of it, probably not his. But when you have 11000 square feet across three buildings on a 3 acre lot, I think I have the right idea. Oh, the benefits of being from old money.

Normally, I had to be dragged to these things, even when I wound up having a good time at them. Now I imagined walking around as a piece of eye candy, and all the men thinking how lucky James was to have me. I had never been beautiful before. I imagined showing all those people that I was a machine now. Sure they would have been told, but now they would know. And all the other women would wish they could be a gorgeous machine like me. They could curse my wealth if they wanted to, but I wouldn’t have to curse their beauty and youth anymore.

I was going to need a new dress: One that showed the maximum amount of skin allowable at a professional event.

The sun slowly rose and the rest of the house started to wake up. I promised myself at one point I would wait upstairs to be Master’s cocksucking alarm clock, but I had missed my opportunity today. I stopped working to make coffee and pancakes for everyone. The kids were a little surprised, but it felt good to feed them. I even had a little coffee and decided I really was just consuming it for the caffeine. I could still make it for James, though. I went upstairs and put on some actual clothes. It was just jeans and a blouse, but I still spent a few minutes admiring myself in the mirror before coming back downstairs to continue working. The maintenance station had removed my makeup, but I was happy to see how beautiful I looked without it. I didn’t bother putting any back on.

Charlie left to go back to campus. Melody headed off to school. Pierre and Grace got out their own laptops at the kitchen table to do some work. James parked himself in my office, answering a few emails on his phone. I couldn’t bear to tell him how distracting his presence was. I wanted to bend over the desk and have him fuck me. No, I wanted to be on all fours on the desk, frozen in place, while he ran his hands over my chassis before he ordered me to move to the ground and obediently suck his dick.

I was getting work done, but damn I wished I could be working nude for Master’s enjoyment. On the other hand, the warmth between my legs was making the busywork easier to manage. I thought about it. I still wanted the firm to do well, but now it wasn’t just to prove my own worth, it was to make me worthwhile for Master. Intellectually, I knew James loved me. Emotionally, I was thrilled at the thought of being more valuable to him.

Mmm, a more valuable possession. An asset with increasing value. Framing things that way, I could almost ignore my arousal and barrel through my workload even faster. Before too long I had addressed all my emails and prepared a to-do list for the ones that still needed a more detailed response.

I gave Yves and Ida each a personal call. Both went about the same way. They asked how I was doing, I sang the praises of being a robot. They updated me on the high-value cases they were personally overseeing. They asked for pics of the new chassis and I said I’d reveal myself at the party. They asked when I’d be back in the office, and I said next Monday, on schedule. They tried to hide their surprise that I was healthy, in town, and not working followed by congratulating me for finding some work-life balance.

After all that it was still only 11 am. I went to the kitchen and asked Pierre and Grace if I could fix them lunch. They said they’d be fine with cold cuts from the fridge and I didn’t push them.

I went back into the office and gave James a big kiss before he could look up from his phone.

“What was that for?”

“Just because I love you.” I mouthed the word “Master” after it.

His eyes darted in the direction of the kitchen, but he did start grinning.

“All caught up?”

“Not really, but it can wait. How about we go dress shopping? Maybe go to that sandwich shop?” I slid into his lap perpendicular to his legs and draped an arm over his shoulder.

“I’ve got a meeting with the Shining Hope Center about preparing their year-end reports. Why don’t you take Grace?”

“She’s working.” I stuck out my lower lip and tried to make a cute pout, “and I’d rather go with you and let you ogle me in different outfits.” I started slowly flexing my ass cheeks and moving subtly in his lap.

He adjusted his arm to wrap it around my waist. “Ask her anyway.”

Whether he meant it as an order or not, I took it as one. And I got that delicious feeling of focus from being commanded. I leaned in to give him another wet kiss.

“Be right back.” I was off his lap before he could protest or change his mind.

The conversation with Grace was short. She barely looked up from her screen to tell me she was too busy today. She also didn’t offer to go with me after she was done today or tomorrow, so I got the hint. Really, I wasn’t too surprised. Neither of us had really enjoyed clothes shopping. It wasn’t a mother-daughter bonding thing for us. On my way back to my owner I tried to think of what was a bonding thing for us. I came up with ‘cute office supplies’ and not much else.

I moved back onto Master’s lap, “She’s working.”

He rolled his eyes at me a little. The repetition may not have been as playful as I intended.

“I don’t want you going out alone. I know you feel fine, but let’s not tempt fate here.” He rubbed my back. I no longer had soreness there for him to workout but the contact was so nice. “Where did you want to go?”

It was a good question. I had a tailor for my work outfits, but I went to regular old department stores and discount resellers when buying stuff for me. I didn’t know where to buy something to best accentuate the body of a young fashion model as opposed to buying something to hide the lumps of a 50-something mother of four.

“I.. I think I’ll need to investigate.”

“While I’m at work, you can try on all the clothes you ordered and see if they need alterations. Then figure out a good place to buy an outrageously pricey dress.” He smiled and moved a hand to my breast.

I sighed happily, moving my chest into his hand. I got another little buzz from being given an order.

“But for now, I need to go.”

I pouted again, but got up. I gave him another kiss and followed him out of the office. He went to the garage and I went upstairs. It wasn’t until I was naked in my bedroom that I realized I forgot to ask Master about rescinding his “don’t climax” order.

“Well, fuck.” I said to no one in particular.

Part 5

I pulled out the blazer and skirt combos I had ordered before my conversion to fit this chassis. They were still in the dry cleaning bags they had been delivered in. They ranged from black with grey pinstripes to grey with black pinstripes.

“I am such a fucking old lady,” I mumbled to myself.

I popped the tags off a black bra and panty set, and picked out a white blouse. As I was rolling on a new pair of pantyhose, it occurred to me that I wasn’t feeling that buzz from obeying an order. I kept going, and everything fit perfectly. Almost like they had been provided with an exhaustive list of my dimensions…

I even put on some heels to see how I looked in the full outfit. I was definitely going to be confused for an intern. But that was a glass 1/10 empty way of looking at it. I stood in front of the full length mirror on the closet door and posed. I had just proved to myself that my body would look sexy even in a brown paper bag. I went to the bathroom to put some makeup on. It wasn’t quite like I was letting my chassis control my hands, but I was confident I wasn’t going to poke my eye out or smear anything despite applying everything with record speed. I had done all these motions before, my chassis was just giving me an assist.

I didn’t normally bother with this much eye makeup, but if the result was going to be this good after two minutes of effort, I’d have to reconsider. I might even have to start watching some makeup tutorials with Melody. Lord, I hadn’t watched many of those in the last 25 years.

I went back and continued my little personal fashion show. I left on the same blouse and tried on all the skirts and jackets. Everything looked perfectly professional. They were definitely cut in the waist for a woman’s curves, but not meant to lewdly accentuate them. I still looked like a billion bucks, but it was boring. Necessarily so, but still boring. I opened up an extra button of my blouse, but it didn’t help much.

I looked at myself in the mirror while wearing the last set: a solid tan ensemble that would really need a different blouse and pantyhose when I wore it. I saw my face and realized the smile was gone. I didn’t look angry, just relaxed. Being beautiful was getting to be routine, and the thought brought the smile back. But the relaxed look also made me want to experiment with something else.

I adjusted my posture to maximize my balance, looked forward into the mirror, made my expression as neutral as I could and started switching things off. No breathing. No heartbeat. No blinking. No eyes watering. No face twitches. No movement at all. It produced the intended effect. I looked like a very very expensive mannequin, modeling business wear.

The only sound was the A/C humming away and every now and then someone in the kitchen would adjust their chair or make some other noise. I turned off my hearing. It was only a small improvement to the experiment, but noticeable. I turned off my tactile sensations. That was a lot more disorienting than I thought it would be. It was a floating sensation different from the light-headed joy I got from obedience. Any distress I felt didn’t show on my face.

I tried shutting off my vision first, then the tactile sense. That was a little better, like my brain wasn’t trying to overcorrect for not being able to sense if I was about to topple over. I shut off my taste and smell too. You don’t notice that neutral taste until it’s the only thing you have.

That left me shut off from the world, alone with my thoughts. It felt weird. I don’t know what I was expecting. I had features, so I wanted to fiddle with them. I guess I thought it would be more arousing than it turned out to be. It was a series of inhuman actions and an inhuman experience, but I felt more like a floating brain than a robot.

It got me thinking about why I wasn’t more aroused by trying on the outfits. It was an order from my Master. I really enjoyed it, but I should have enjoyed it more. I tried remembering what I was actually told. I didn’t mean to do any fancy, but suddenly I felt like I was reliving the moment. And it was a moment, just the few seconds it took to replay his words, then it was back to the void.

I immediately understood that he gave me permission to try on the outfits here, but ordered me to find a store for my new party dress. That explained the initial buzz. But now I was more interested in what had just happened.

I tried to remember something else. I thought about showing everyone my armpit charging port last night. Nothing happened. I thought about something vivid but more distant, like giving birth to Grace. Nothing happened. I remembered it the way I normally would. Then I thought about asking Grace to go clothes shopping.

Boom. I was in the kitchen. I couldn’t change the view, or do anything, but I could relive it. And I could see Grace’s shoulders droop when I asked her. I didn’t notice it the first time, probably since I was eager to get back to Master. This time I caught it. She was having a really tough time with the new me.

I replayed it, and tried to relive other memories with Grace. It didn’t take me long to figure out it didn’t work for anything before my maintenance session. Now I was really disappointed I hadn’t given James a blowjob this morning.

It was easy to lose track of how long I had spent in the void, but it was time to turn things back on. I started with my tactile senses and felt something soft against the back of my head. I turned my hearing on and heard feet shuffling. I figured I had been shut down for longer than I thought and someone had found me. I turned on my vision and sure enough I was staring at the ceiling.

I briefly considered just staying frozen. But no, people were worried about me.

I turned taste and smell back on then started turning on motor controls, followed soon by turning the lubrication in my mouth back on. My mouth tasted horrible. I turned my head and Pierre nearly leapt across the room in surprise.

“She’s awake!” He yelled out the door before dashing back over to me. “Is everything okay?”

I sat up and realized he had unbuttoned my jacket and blouse, probably trying to find a way to check what was happening. I patted myself down before closing everything up. At least he hadn’t tried to slice open my skin looking for problems. And he hadn’t sliced my clothes to get to my armpit. I kept turning on the little things that helped me simulate being human.

Grace and James barreled into the room. I was surprised James was home. I didn’t think I had been out that long.

“I’m fine, everyone. I was experimenting with turning systems off and I lost track of time.”

Grace looked pissed. “What if something had happened like a fire? We shook you and moved you and you didn’t respond at all”

I resisted the urge to shout back at her. “You’re right, I should have had someone with me, especially since I’m new to this body. I discovered some new features and spent more time with my senses off than I originally intended when I shut them down.”

James sighed, “I’ll call the conversion center and try to cancel the house call.” I had disappointed Master. That was crushing. I felt like throwing myself to the ground, weeping and begging for forgiveness. I turned my tears off just in case and tried to hide at least some of what I was feeling.

Grace huffed and stomped out of the room. I felt bad about that too. Pierre asked, “Do you need any help? Do you need to get back down to the maintenance station?”

I shook my head no “I just need to get dressed in something more casual.”

He nodded back and left the room. I checked the clock. I had gone dark for maybe an hour. It must have been real shitty timing and Grace looked in on me right after I turned off my hearing. I realized James shouldn’t have been done with his meeting yet. That meant Grace called him and pulled him away.

How could I have been so fucking self-indulgent? Of course they would freak out. I must have looked like I had bricked. I could have spent 15 fucking seconds looking up how to set some alert so they could wake me up. The fact that my chassis helpfully gave me instructions on how to set a decibel trigger to re-engage certain functionality really didn’t make me feel better.

I changed back into the jeans and top I was wearing in the morning and headed back downstairs to face the music. James was on the phone. Grace and Pierre had their noses back into their laptops. Grace didn’t even acknowledge me. So I did what I usually did, I went into my office and did some work.

But unlike what I usually did, I focused on doing the parts of my job that didn’t involve managing people. I knew I wasn’t in the right headspace to do it fairly. And if my interpretation of case law involving foreign assets held in the name of the plaintiff purchased with funds from a joint account sounded a bit mean in the draft, I could clean it up later.

James came back in to check on me. “Got the house call canceled, no charge. The center finished their meeting without me and the templates look fine. So no harm done.”

My lip quivered. I felt so grateful that I didn’t hurt Master as much as I could have, but I felt guilty all over again for making him go through that effort. And I felt so lucky to be forgiven.

“I am so. so. so. so sorry, Honey. Do you want me to lock out that functionality? I did figure out how to set it so people can wake me up, but I might screw that up too.” If I hadn’t disabled my tears, they’d be flowing. I didn’t want Master to feel bad that I was upset. Maybe this would be just enough to show him I knew I was wrong.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. But no more experimenting on your own, okay?”

I wanted to get on my knees and say ‘Yes Master, this unit obeys’. Instead I nodded and said “Absolutely. I’ve learned my lesson.” The little buzz of pleasure I got from being commanded made me feel guilty too. “How can I make it up to you? Can I make dinner for everyone?” James still handled most of the cooking duties, but I could follow a recipe well enough. I thought about doing it just for him wearing nothing but an apron and spending his entire meal beneath the table, slowly enjoying his cock while he enjoyed the food.

“I think that would be nice. There are some chicken breasts thawed in the fridge.”

I didn’t complain that it wasn’t an order. “Eat at 7?”

“That’ll be fine.”

I smiled and got closer to him. “That’s quite some time from now.” I ran my hand over the front of his pants.

He smiled back, “I should be working on fixing things with Shining Hope.”

“And I could be working too.” I gave him a kiss, which he returned. I could feel my angst disappearing. I reasoned that if Master wasn’t angry with me, I shouldn’t be angry with myself. And wallowing in that anger wasn’t going to help me serve him. That just made the negative emotions dissipate faster. It wasn’t natural, but neither was I.

James broke the kiss and leaned into my ear to whisper, “Go upstairs, shut yourself in the closet. When you hear me snap three times, come out and give me a blowjob.”

I pushed myself against him and gave him another kiss. There wasn’t just the thrill of being ordered, Master was treating me like a robot. And I got to play out a fantasy of his - I assumed - even after I had screwed up.

I could have kissed him forever, but I was under orders. “Can you give me 5 minutes before you come up?”

“Sure.”

I tried to be casual going up the stairs. I didn’t think we were going to entirely fool Grace and Pierre, but me giggling and dashing to the bedroom would be waaaay out of character, regardless of if I felt like doing it.

My clothes were on their way off as soon as I was in the room. He didn’t request it, but I didn’t want anything to get in the way in case he wanted more than oral. Plus I wanted him to see the manufacturer information on my hip.

I dashed into the bathroom to touch up my makeup. I didn’t care if it was going to get messed up in short order, I wanted to look my best for Master.

Looking at my face, I started to ponder what scenario he wanted. I easily could be the giddy plaything for him. Or I could be an emotionless sex drone for him. That wouldn’t be hard to pull off either.

I looked at my eyeliner pencil and got an idea. It was a little tricky doing it in the mirror, but I wrote “UX-49a4” in black above my left breast. I smiled at my reflection and then watched the result as I started shutting off microexpressions and my face went slack. I shut off my blink reflex too. Looking like that, I doodled a barcode on my forehead too. It wasn’t great, but it got the point across.

I grabbed some hairpins and hustled into the walk-in closet. I made sure my hair wouldn’t fall out of place as I listened for James to come in and summon me. At first I positioned myself on my knees, between James’ slacks, like I was something stowed away for when he wanted to use it. Then I started worrying if I could hear James when he came in and when he snapped, so I got back up and stayed near the door, trying to figure out if I could peak through a crack between the door and the jamb.

Standing there, it occurred to me that this was something I could have done when I was still flesh and blood. Sure, I wouldn’t have been smoking hot, or as good at keeping a straight face, but drawing robot identifiers on my body and giving him a blow job wasn’t pushing any manufacturing limits. I silently lamented the time wasted on pride and power dynamics.

Something else was nagging at me. I realized I hadn’t completed the order to find a dress for Yves’ party. There wasn’t anything I could do about it right now, it just gnawed at me. It gnawed at me more than the thought of uncompleted work gnawed at me before. The only thing that stopped it was hearing the bedroom door slowly open, putting a different order front and center.

I tried not to make any noise as I waited for the signal to serve Master. I heard his clothes come off. I heard him at least sit on the bed. And then nothing. If he was enjoying making me wait a little longer, it was just making me hotter.

Three snaps. My hand was immediately on the doorknob. I made a quick decision to walk stiffly and robotically into the bedroom rather than swing my hips. Master was sitting at the foot of the bed naked, which meant I needed to take a few extra steps to reach him. He had his phone in his hand, the back of it pointed at me. It was obvious he was shooting video.

When I was in middle school, my mom told me about the time when she was in high school where her best friend had let her boyfriend film them having sex. Within a week he had shown it or sent it to all his buddies, who sent it to their buddies until just about everyone who wanted to see it had seen it. Her friend dropped out and finished her degree with virtual courses.

I always suspected my mom, who joked about her virtual high school graduation, had been the ‘friend’ in the story. Either way, I had never taken a picture or video or myself nude, or let any of my partners do it. I had described it as a hard limit to James when we were dating.

I took a little pride that I didn’t flinch at the camera now.

I said nothing. My face remained blank. I could see James working some saliva back into his mouth at the sight of me. I maintained eye contact as best I could when I knelt and spread his knees a little further apart before starting to stroke his dick with my hand. I ignored the camera and focused on Master, feeling him grow fully hard in my grasp.

I smoothly leaned down to lick the cockhead before taking the shaft between my freshly painted lips. I could hear his heavy breathing. I kept my eyes down and my attention focused on his penis. I fondled his balls and took my time. There was no work to do, no camera to worry about, no other orders, just the simple pleasure of giving fellatio to my Master. It was better than physical pleasure, it was pure emotional satisfaction to hear Master groan softly.

Considering there were other people in the house, I didn’t bother trying to extend the session by slowing down when I felt James get close to climax. I bobbed my head a little faster and enjoyed the sense of accomplishment I felt when his cum erupted in my mouth. I ran my tongue around his softening member before removing my mouth from around it. I looked up at him - which meant looking up at the camera - with my mouth open. I don’t know if I had seen it in a porno ages ago or just heard about it, but I let James and the camera see the spunk in my mouth before I swallowed it into my fluid tank and opened my mouth again to show it was gone.

Master wasn’t saying anything, so I figured playtime was over. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I started re-activating things. I had a big smile when I opened my eyes again and asked “Was that what you wanted?”

James smiled back, “More than what I was expecting.”

I ran a finger over the unit number written above my breast, “Do you like my little customizations?”

“They’re a very nice touch.” I think James realized he hadn’t stopped the video, since he started fumbling with his phone.

“I was thinking you could make this one permanent…”

He was a little pink in the face from everything else, so it was hard to tell if the idea made him blush. “Seriously?”

I opened my mouth to talk about how he could do anything he wanted to my body and mind, but there was that fraction of a percent chance someone would overhear and get suspicious. Actually “you could” instead of “I could” was already suspicious now that I thought about it. Instead I just nodded.

“I’ll think about it. Let’s clean up.”

James needed a shower, but all I really needed was to wipe off the bar code and serial number then touch up my lipstick. I headed downstairs and poked my head into the kitchen. Grace and Pierre didn’t lift their heads from their work, so I went back to my office. I did a quick check of my phone for urgent messages, and after finding none I started searching for reviews of fashion boutiques.

I got some text messages over the next hour, but ignored them. Then I got one from Dr. Ngoepe.

<Hey Liz, it’s Brittney from Sunny Valley. Doing your 24 hour check-in. Is everything ok?>

Wow, it really had only been a day.

<Feeling great! Had a little problem fiddling with my settings earlier, but it’s been amazing.>

<Have you logged into the SVCS secure message system? I’d like to know more, but privacy is required.>

<No. I’ll log in now.>

I had a few good leads on where to find a dress tomorrow, so I felt like my orders from Master were sufficiently finished to move on to other tasks. I logged into the SVCS Web site like I had before I became a gynoid. There was a chatbox pop up as soon as I was in the secure area.

<Hey there, UX-49a4!> <Are you still logging in on your laptop?>

I looked around the room for a camera. <how did you know that?>

<Session information. And everything sounds different when you’re talking to a browser instead of another unit.>

<I’m not comfortable hooking my brain to the internet…> I hoped Brittney would understand.

<Suit yourself, but trust your doctor here. There’s an airgap between your brain and the networked part of your chassis. It would be like hacking your laptop by showing images to your camera.>

I almost understood that <I’ll look into it later.>

<Is your owner enjoying his new toy?>

I peeked to be sure no one was looking.

<As much as he can. I spent most of last evening with the kids. One of which is in the kitchen with her husband and one of which should be back from school in an hour. >

<OK, so you don’t want anyone peeking over your shoulder.> Our conversation before my last statement disappeared. I assumed that was Brittney’s doing.

Another message from UX-0118 appeared <So what was the problem earlier? I saw you had an urgent service call requested then canceled.

I spent a few minutes typing up a description of the event and letting her read it.

<Oh wow, I’m so sorry that happened to you right off the bat. But don’t feel too bad, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Did it make you feel like a machine?>

<during, yes. I was too busy apologizing to Master afterward to think about it in other terms>

We spent some time talking about the memory replay I had stumbled across, some times UX-0118 had frozen in public, and ways to gently nudge an owner to do something in his interest. Then Brittney started a new topic.

<When are you going back to work?>

<I’ve gone through some emails, but I’m back to the office Monday. Friday night one of the other partners is hosting a party for me with a lot of friends and staff.>

<ooh! I love reveal parties! Do you know what you’re going to wear (if anything :-p)>

I smirked at the idea of walking in there nude, standing on a coffee table and freezing in place. <One of my commands was to find a nice dress to wear. I want it to be as revealing as I can get away with.>

<Are you sending shoes too?>

Well that’s a bit odd.

<Thanks for pinging me, UX-0118, but I need to get dinner started.> I smiled, I already felt like such a little homemaker and I hadn’t even started cooking.

<Great talking to you too UX-49a4. Ping me back if you need anything. The Perfect Wives Club is excited to meet you, if you’re still interested.>

<I’m guessing that’s the name of that group of machine women you mentioned before.> It was catchy.

We exchanged some information about time and place, then Brittney logged off. I checked the more official messages from the conversion provider and logged off too.

I walked into the kitchen, brought out the cutting board and started slicing chicken and veggies. Grace looked up from her laptop just long enough to make a comment about how surprising it was I knew where the cutting board was.

Preparing the meal was surprisingly pleasant. Even if I wasn’t going to be eating it - or maybe not much of it - I got that well-being feedback from doing something for my husband and kids. I wasn’t going to go all 50s housewife, but I wouldn’t mind it if James wanted me to take over this chore when I had time.

Grace and Pierre logged off and moved to the den for a little bit to watch some TV and decompress. Melody was home by then, so she helped me set the table and get everything lined up for the people with stomachs to build their fajitas.

I poured myself some wine - mostly out of habit - and took my seat at the table first. I enjoyed the taste, but I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get a buzz from it. I wasn’t really expecting one, but I had hoped there was another feature of my chassis I had missed. Everyone else sat down and weakly complimented me on the meal. I didn’t mind, I figured I’d get better. I picked a piece of James’ chicken off his plate, popped it in my mouth and chewed it thoroughly. I wondered if the chicken was bland or my palate had changed. Maybe both.

That evening, the main event was going through my manual. I had downloaded my manual before the conversion, but hadn’t read it. After reading a little I decided it was going to be a better use of my time to go through it when I actually had a chassis to reference.

Everyone downloaded it to their phones, picked a section, and started reading. And whenever someone came across something interesting, they’d tell the group. Every now and then, we’d do an experiment on me. Obviously nothing invasive, but there were a few things to check out. Everyone got a kick out of how much my singing voice had improved. Locking my limbs in place until they were moved by someone else was more fun when everyone knew it was intentional.

I found out that me ‘knowing’ stuff was one form of communication from my chassis. I switched to a head’s up display and got a few chuckles as I moved my head around to see if the floating yellow text moved with me. I found I preferred just knowing I was at a 60% charge rather than looking at my battery status in the lower right corner of my vision.

I also got a great chance to freak everyone out by popping out my eyeball. We found the instructions on hooking the optic connector to other camera devices, but couldn’t think of any useful applications. I removed my upper teeth like a pair of dentures to a similar amount of unease. Melody joked that I had turned into an old lady after all. I was wondering how it would affect oral sex, and if there were any interesting replacement pieces.

The downside was when I found features that I’d love Master to test, but not with the kids in the room. The instructions on how to shut down my mind and revise my ‘preferences’ made me squeeze my thighs together. I hoped no one else caught me doing it. I also had to suppress a giggle at the euphemism of “administrator directives”, separate from the instructions for reprogramming me. I could get an “administrator directive” to do something, and my instinct would be to obey, but I could resist anything too out there. Editing preferences meant that I wanted to do those things or think that way. There were all sorts of warnings about only doing it with expert supervision.

Grace still didn’t seem fully at ease, but she was a lot less reserved than she was the night before. Maybe knowledge of how my body worked made her less intimidated by the process. There was no magic, or deal with the devil, just engineering.

We retired a little earlier than the night before. I had sex with Master again, but with a little less urgency. It still felt unbelievable. I had offered to get on top, but we had some nice missionary sex instead. It filled me with butterflies when he said he’d rather see my lovely face than use my asshole.

I cleaned him off with my mouth, and Master said he was satisfied for the evening. I had my robe on and was heading to the door when I heard the moaning. Either Grace was trying to compete with me, or Pierre was giving it to her extra hard.

“Do you hear that?” I whispered to James.

“Nope.” He rolled over.

I snickered and stayed in the room. I didn’t want the sound of the door to disrupt them. I laid on the bed with Master, wrapping an arm around him. “This does remind me of something.”

“If you’re thinking of the time my Dad walked in on us while carrying Charlie, I’d rather not be reminded.”

“Not that, do you remember in the car, when you ordered me not to climax until you said to climax?”

“...Yeah…”

“You haven’t ordered me yet.”

James sat up in bed and turned to me, “You haven’t cum yet?” He put a hand over his mouth, after saying it a little louder than he intended.

I shook my head “no”. The moaning stopped… Master and I waited… then we started hearing the guestroom bed creak again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It never came up.”

“Wait, you said it was the best sex of your life, and you didn’t cum?”

I snuggled up closer to him and spoke softly, “Being with you, sexually pleasing you, it’s so intensely satisfying now. I didn’t think a climax of my own would add to the experience very much.”

James rubbed his temples and spoke softly back, “Still, I want you to tell me if there are any orders like that that are lingering, ok?”

“That’s the only one.”

Master smiled at me. “Kneel on the ground, pleasure yourself for one minute, then climax.”

My head swirled as I got the order. And I obeyed. I got on the ground, opened my robe, spread my legs wide and let him watch. I started teasing myself and licking my lips. In short order I decided it was better to move my arm so I was reaching between my legs from the back and using my other hand to tease my nipple. It gave Master a better view. Master lay there on his side, smiling at me as my hips writhed in the air.

Then the world went white. I don’t know if it actually overloaded anything but for a split second I had an out-of-body experience. The pleasure reward overwhelmed everything else I was thinking or feeling. I’m not even sure if I cried out, and if I did how loud it was. Considering Master was still smiling at me, I guessed it wasn’t very loud.

I stood up and licked the extra lubricant off my fingers. Then I walked over and gave him a kiss. “Thank you”.

“My pleasure, baby. Turn the light off and when you think Grace and Pierre are done, go downstairs for maintenance.”

I smiled at the double order and nodded my assent. It was a little fun, standing there in the dark, waiting for everyone else to do what they needed to do before I could do my nightly routine. It felt right, rather than an imposition or a chore.

The night was uneventful. I hooked up to the maintenance station then got some more work done. The messages were coming faster now that people knew I was around enough to answer them. I quietly snuck upstairs to wake James up with a blowjob, but he had gotten up before his alarm. Not me, the one on his phone.

Grace and Pierre took the two-hour drive home in the morning. With Melody at school, I took the opportunity to close the blinds and walk around the house naked. It also meant I could act like James’ obedient robot wife. It was really fun when he snapped his fingers and I stopped typing in mid sentence so he could fuck me on my desk. It was almost as fun when he ordered me to fix him lunch, place a grocery order, or bag up the laundry for our service to pick up.

Maybe this couldn’t be our lives forever, we still had bills to pay, but it was so nice to have a day where I could just be his machine. I had that floaty feeling in my head even when Master wasn’t in the same room as me.

I threw on something casual before Melody got home. Fortunately that coincided with the delivery guy arriving with Brittney’s packages… all three of them.

Soon enough, it was Friday afternoon. I stood in the mirror and admired the dress UX-0118 had sent. It was floor-length and a solid charcoal gray. And while I might have initially dismissed neutral tones, It did fit with the “I’m a robot” motif. The top was held up by two thin straps over my shoulders and in the front was a solid piece from my neck on down. In stark contrast, the back was almost entirely uncovered - the two thin straps were the exception - down to just above my butt. The front of the gown got wider the closer it got to my waist, enough that it hugged and covered my hips. And it left my arms free to open up the access points in my armpits.

The back may have been risqué, but it did have a purpose. The extra box UX-0118 had sent contained a large clear plastic… I suppose ‘insert’ is the best word. The seam up my back was left open and the skin on either side attached to the insert. From the bottom of my hairline almost to my rump there was a 10 cm wide window into the mechanisms inside me. Mostly it just exposed grey synthetic muscle, but it was very exciting to show everyone, with certainty, that I was a machine now.

I turned around and tried to get better looks at what the maintenance station had done. The gown didn’t have a lot of extra fabric around my legs to flow outward as I spun. I was definitely going to need pictures.

I checked my makeup in the mirror again. I had put on some silver eye shadow and more mascara than normal to compliment the dress. I also had my hair pinned up so it wouldn’t obstruct my spine window. But I did leave two strands dangling down to frame my face. The maintenance station was also a fair hairdresser.

Part 6

James needed a shower, but all I really needed was to wipe off the bar code and serial number then touch up my lipstick. I headed downstairs and poked my head into the kitchen. Grace and Pierre didn’t lift their heads from their work, so I went back to my office. I did a quick check of my phone for urgent messages, and after finding none I started searching for reviews of fashion boutiques.

I got some text messages over the next hour, but ignored them. Then I got one from Dr. Ngoepe.

<Hey Liz, it’s Brittney from Sunny Valley. Doing your 24 hour check-in. Is everything ok?>

Wow, it really had only been a day.

<Feeling great! Had a little problem fiddling with my settings earlier, but it’s been amazing.>

<Have you logged into the SVCS secure message system? I’d like to know more, but privacy is required.>

<No. I’ll log in now.>

I had a few good leads on where to find a dress tomorrow, so I felt like my orders from Master were sufficiently finished to move on to other tasks. I logged into the SVCS Web site like I had before I became a gynoid. There was a chatbox pop up as soon as I was in the secure area.

<Hey there, UX-49a4!> <Are you still logging in on your laptop?>

I looked around the room for a camera. <how did you know that?>

<Session information. And everything sounds different when you’re talking to a browser instead of another unit.>

<I’m not comfortable hooking my brain to the internet…> I hoped Brittney would understand.

<Suit yourself, but trust your doctor here. There’s an airgap between your brain and the networked part of your chassis. It would be like hacking your laptop by showing images to your camera.>

I almost understood that <I’ll look into it later.>

<Is your owner enjoying his new toy?>

I peeked to be sure no one was looking.

<As much as he can. I spent most of last evening with the kids. One of which is in the kitchen with her husband and one of which should be back from school in an hour. >

<OK, so you don’t want anyone peeking over your shoulder.> Our conversation before my last statement disappeared. I assumed that was Brittney’s doing.

Another message from UX-0118 appeared <So what was the problem earlier? I saw you had an urgent service call requested then canceled.

I spent a few minutes typing up a description of the event and letting her read it.

<Oh wow, I’m so sorry that happened to you right off the bat. But don’t feel too bad, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Did it make you feel like a machine?>

<during, yes. I was too busy apologizing to Master afterward to think about it in other terms>

We spent some time talking about the memory replay I had stumbled across, some times UX-0118 had frozen in public, and ways to gently nudge an owner to do something in his interest. Then Brittney started a new topic.

<When are you going back to work?>

<I’ve gone through some emails, but I’m back to the office Monday. Friday night one of the other partners is hosting a party for me with a lot of friends and staff.>

<ooh! I love reveal parties! Do you know what you’re going to wear (if anything :-p)>

I smirked at the idea of walking in there nude, standing on a coffee table and freezing in place. <One of my commands was to find a nice dress to wear. I want it to be as revealing as I can get away with.>

<Are you sending shoes too?>

Well that’s a bit odd.

<Thanks for pinging me, UX-0118, but I need to get dinner started.> I smiled, I already felt like such a little homemaker and I hadn’t even started cooking.

<Great talking to you too UX-49a4. Ping me back if you need anything. The Perfect Wives Club is excited to meet you, if you’re still interested.>

<I’m guessing that’s the name of that group of machine women you mentioned before.> It was catchy.

We exchanged some information about time and place, then Brittney logged off. I checked the more official messages from the conversion provider and logged off too.

I walked into the kitchen, brought out the cutting board and started slicing chicken and veggies. Grace looked up from her laptop just long enough to make a comment about how surprising it was I knew where the cutting board was.

Preparing the meal was surprisingly pleasant. Even if I wasn’t going to be eating it - or maybe not much of it - I got that well-being feedback from doing something for my husband and kids. I wasn’t going to go all 50s housewife, but I wouldn’t mind it if James wanted me to take over this chore when I had time.

Grace and Pierre logged off and moved to the den for a little bit to watch some TV and decompress. Melody was home by then, so she helped me set the table and get everything lined up for the people with stomachs to build their fajitas.

I poured myself some wine - mostly out of habit - and took my seat at the table first. I enjoyed the taste, but I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get a buzz from it. I wasn’t really expecting one, but I had hoped there was another feature of my chassis I had missed. Everyone else sat down and weakly complimented me on the meal. I didn’t mind, I figured I’d get better. I picked a piece of James’ chicken off his plate, popped it in my mouth and chewed it thoroughly. I wondered if the chicken was bland or my palate had changed. Maybe both.

That evening, the main event was going through my manual. I had downloaded my manual before the conversion, but hadn’t read it. After reading a little I decided it was going to be a better use of my time to go through it when I actually had a chassis to reference.

Everyone downloaded it to their phones, picked a section, and started reading. And whenever someone came across something interesting, they’d tell the group. Every now and then, we’d do an experiment on me. Obviously nothing invasive, but there were a few things to check out. Everyone got a kick out of how much my singing voice had improved. Locking my limbs in place until they were moved by someone else was more fun when everyone knew it was intentional.

I found out that me ‘knowing’ stuff was one form of communication from my chassis. I switched to a head’s up display and got a few chuckles as I moved my head around to see if the floating yellow text moved with me. I found I preferred just knowing I was at a 60% charge rather than looking at my battery status in the lower right corner of my vision.

I also got a great chance to freak everyone out by popping out my eyeball. We found the instructions on hooking the optic connector to other camera devices, but couldn’t think of any useful applications. I removed my upper teeth like a pair of dentures to a similar amount of unease. Melody joked that I had turned into an old lady after all. I was wondering how it would affect oral sex, and if there were any interesting replacement pieces.

The downside was when I found features that I’d love Master to test, but not with the kids in the room. The instructions on how to shut down my mind and revise my ‘preferences’ made me squeeze my thighs together. I hoped no one else caught me doing it. I also had to suppress a giggle at the euphemism of “administrator directives”, separate from the instructions for reprogramming me. I could get an “administrator directive” to do something, and my instinct would be to obey, but I could resist anything too out there. Editing preferences meant that I wanted to do those things or think that way. There were all sorts of warnings about only doing it with expert supervision.

Grace still didn’t seem fully at ease, but she was a lot less reserved than she was the night before. Maybe knowledge of how my body worked made her less intimidated by the process. There was no magic, or deal with the devil, just engineering.

We retired a little earlier than the night before. I had sex with Master again, but with a little less urgency. It still felt unbelievable. I had offered to get on top, but we had some nice missionary sex instead. It filled me with butterflies when he said he’d rather see my lovely face than use my asshole.

I cleaned him off with my mouth, and Master said he was satisfied for the evening. I had my robe on and was heading to the door when I heard the moaning. Either Grace was trying to compete with me, or Pierre was giving it to her extra hard.

“Do you hear that?” I whispered to James.

“Nope.” He rolled over.

I snickered and stayed in the room. I didn’t want the sound of the door to disrupt them. I laid on the bed with Master, wrapping an arm around him. “This does remind me of something.”

“If you’re thinking of the time my Dad walked in on us while carrying Charlie, I’d rather not be reminded.”

“Not that, do you remember in the car, when you ordered me not to climax until you said to climax?”

“...Yeah…”

“You haven’t ordered me yet.”

James sat up in bed and turned to me, “You haven’t cum yet?” He put a hand over his mouth, after saying it a little louder than he intended.

I shook my head “no”. The moaning stopped… Master and I waited… then we started hearing the guestroom bed creak again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It never came up.”

“Wait, you said it was the best sex of your life, and you didn’t cum?”

I snuggled up closer to him and spoke softly, “Being with you, sexually pleasing you, it’s so intensely satisfying now. I didn’t think a climax of my own would add to the experience very much.”

James rubbed his temples and spoke softly back, “Still, I want you to tell me if there are any orders like that that are lingering, ok?”

“That’s the only one.”

Master smiled at me. “Kneel on the ground, pleasure yourself for one minute, then climax.”

My head swirled as I got the order. And I obeyed. I got on the ground, opened my robe, spread my legs wide and let him watch. I started teasing myself and licking my lips. In short order I decided it was better to move my arm so I was reaching between my legs from the back and using my other hand to tease my nipple. It gave Master a better view. Master lay there on his side, smiling at me as my hips writhed in the air.

Then the world went white. I don’t know if it actually overloaded anything but for a split second I had an out-of-body experience. The pleasure reward overwhelmed everything else I was thinking or feeling. I’m not even sure if I cried out, and if I did how loud it was. Considering Master was still smiling at me, I guessed it wasn’t very loud.

I stood up and licked the extra lubricant off my fingers. Then I walked over and gave him a kiss. “Thank you”.

“My pleasure, baby. Turn the light off and when you think Grace and Pierre are done, go downstairs for maintenance.”

I smiled at the double order and nodded my assent. It was a little fun, standing there in the dark, waiting for everyone else to do what they needed to do before I could do my nightly routine. It felt right, rather than an imposition or a chore.

The night was uneventful. I hooked up to the maintenance station then got some more work done. The messages were coming faster now that people knew I was around enough to answer them. I quietly snuck upstairs to wake James up with a blowjob, but he had gotten up before his alarm. Not me, the one on his phone.

Grace and Pierre took the two-hour drive home in the morning. With Melody at school, I took the opportunity to close the blinds and walk around the house naked. It also meant I could act like James’ obedient robot wife. It was really fun when he snapped his fingers and I stopped typing in mid sentence so he could fuck me on my desk. It was almost as fun when he ordered me to fix him lunch, place a grocery order, or bag up the laundry for our service to pick up.

Maybe this couldn’t be our lives forever, we still had bills to pay, but it was so nice to have a day where I could just be his machine. I had that floaty feeling in my head even when Master wasn’t in the same room as me.

I threw on something casual before Melody got home. Fortunately that coincided with the delivery guy arriving with Brittney’s packages… all three of them.

Soon enough, it was Friday afternoon. I stood in the mirror and admired the dress UX-0118 had sent. It was floor-length and a solid charcoal gray. And while I might have initially dismissed neutral tones, It did fit with the “I’m a robot” motif. The top was held up by two thin straps over my shoulders and in the front was a solid piece from my neck on down. In stark contrast, the back was almost entirely uncovered - the two thin straps were the exception - down to just above my butt. The front of the gown got wider the closer it got to my waist, enough that it hugged and covered my hips. And it left my arms free to open up the access points in my armpits.

The back may have been risque, but it did have a purpose. The extra box UX-0118 had sent contained a large clear plastic… I suppose ‘insert’ is the best word. The seam up my back was left open and the skin on either side attached to the insert. From the bottom of my hairline almost to my rump there was a 10 cm wide window into the mechanisms inside me. Mostly it just exposed grey synthetic muscle, but it was very exciting to show everyone, with certainty, that I was a machine now.

I turned around and tried to get better looks at what the maintenance station had done. The gown didn’t have a lot of extra fabric around my legs to flow outward as I spun. I was definitely going to need pictures.

I checked my makeup in the mirror again. I had put on some silver eye shadow and more mascara than normal to compliment the dress. I also had my hair pinned up so it wouldn’t obstruct my spine window. But I did leave two strands dangling down to frame my face. The maintenance station was also a fair hairdresser.

Melody was downstairs in her waitress uniform when I descended the staircase.

“Damn, Mom.”

I smiled at her, “There are definitely benefits to not eating or breathing.” I did an additional little spin.

“What’s that on your back?”

The smile never left my face, “Oh, just a little add-on my neurologist sent me. Can you take some pictures?”

Melody’s stunned look gradually faded as I posed for about a dozen photos.

“Can I post these?”

“Sure thing, sweetie. Just don’t use any dirty hashtags like ‘robomilf’ or whatever.”

Melody turned pink and rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, I’m not Charlie.”

I turned toward the garage and turned back when Melody continued, “Does that hurt? I mean, being exposed like that?”

“I wouldn’t say it hurts, it just feels weird when I move my shoulders since the skin isn’t where I expect.” I shrugged, and moved a hand over my head, which made it feel like my dress was moving a lot more than it actually was, and into a weird position across my back. “Do you want to touch it?”

Melody didn’t say yes, but when I turned around she approached and gave it a feel. I didn’t feel her hand on the insert, but I felt the insert move slightly.

“This is so weird, I can see where your hoses connect.”

It was mostly grey muscle back there, but some of my lat muscles were missing to leave a gap for access deeper inside my body. “Am I losing my mystique?”

“It’s going to take a lot more than this to get used to you looking my age.”

I swallowed a snarky comment based on her aging and me staying the same. “Same here.” I turned around. “How about we have some mommy-daughter time tomorrow before your shift?”

She narrowed one eye. I knew the look. It was the look I gave the kids when something didn’t add up. I think it was me using the term ‘mommy’ without making my voice drip with sarcasm.

“Doing what?”

“I was going to go clothes shopping. I have some gaps in my wardrobe.” I thought about swimsuits, but maybe James would like to do that with me. Or he might just like me texting him photos.

“I’ve got a shift at 6, but we can go before then.”

“Sounds great, honey.” I leaned in and gave her an air kiss near the cheek.

“Have fun at the party.”

I grinned, “I’m sure I will!”

Melody left, and it widened my behavioral options considerably. James was still upstairs showering and getting dressed and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I thought about kneeling, but I didn’t want to risk messing up my dress. I got the trickle charger and ran the cord from the wall outlet near the bottom of the stairs to my armpit. It wasn’t going to give me too much extra juice, but I thought it would add to the tableau. I stood at the foot of the stairs, crossed my hands in front of me, closed my eyes, bowed my head, and waited.

I found patience a lot easier now, especially when I was doing something to please James. I didn’t shut anything down, I just didn’t do anything.

I didn’t keep track of the time either. I lifted my head and smiled when I heard Master finish descending. “Hello Master, are you ready to go?”

He was smiling back at me as he unplugged me at the arm. “I’m ready when you are.”

I gave him a light kiss on the lips. “Some of us don’t take all day getting ready.” I gave him a wink to further indicate I was kidding.

He rolled his eyes at me, but was smiling. “Come on, I don’t want to keep your adoring public waiting.”

Part 7

I walked to the car ahead of him so he could see the insert while I was in motion. He took the opportunity to squeeze my ass. Right about now even the g-string was feeling like too much fabric between me and Master, but going commando would - once again - have been suspicious.

I got into the car and checked my purse. Makeup. Phone. Repair kit. Charging cable. The feminine essentials. About then it started hitting me that this was my first time out of the house since I came home from Sunny Valley. My first time as a machine interacting in person with people outside of medical staff, my family and a delivery guy.

“Do you think this is smart?”

James kept his eyes on the road. “What do you mean? The party?”

I wanted to say ‘what else could I mean’, but I kept it inside. “Yeah. I should have done a lunch thing with just a few people first. Ease into this.”

“Do you want me to turn around?”

I thought about it. It felt weird ordering James to do something. “No. I’m just worried I’m going to say something and blow our little secret.”

James reached over to pat my thigh. I felt better immediately. Not good, just better. “If the kids don’t suspect anything, we’ll be fine mingling for a few hours.”

“But the kids know you and wouldn’t expect that you would reprogram me like this. My coworkers don’t trust you.” As soon as it was out, even if it was true, I felt bad at the way I had phrased that.

James didn’t look too pleased either, “UX-49a4, enter maintenance mode.”

I quickly confirmed the order to my chassis. I wasn’t aware of any shutdown period. One moment I was staring at a traffic intersection, the next I was staring at Yves’ house. I did a subtle self-check to figure out if Master had used me during the trip. My dress didn’t seem out of place, and I couldn’t taste any jism, so probably not.

I looked over at James checking his tie in the sun visor mirror, “Was I being annoying?” The reset had calmed me down.

“Hmm? No, I just thought you’d appreciate being shut down.”

I felt so lucky to have such an amazingly sweet owner. I never properly appreciated how sweet he was when we were equals. I felt bad that I couldn’t brag to everyone about what a great owner he was.

“Thank you, M-.. Honey.” I realized mid-sentence that I hadn’t done a check of who might be close enough to the car to hear us despite the soundproofing. I gave him a little kiss on the cheek, nothing strong enough to transfer my lipstick onto his face.

“I may have given you a few suggestions.”

I squeezed my thighs together. I wished I could let my lube flow so he could see how soaked I could get at the idea of being mentally manipulated by him. “Do you want to keep them a secret?”

He smiled, “You really don’t know what I said while you were in maintenance mode?”

I smiled back and shook my head ‘no’. I could figure out what was new in my running list of orders, but I didn’t know what he had done to me yet.

“Then I’ll let you find out, my little sexbot.”

God, it was going to be hard to get through this party without pulling him into an empty room and showing him what a good sexbot I could be. If only I wasn’t the guest of honor…

“Do we need to go over anything else before we go inside?” I wasn’t going to start this event by admonishing him for calling me something that might reveal how I was programmed.

“Not really. If I feel the need to excuse myself from a conversation you’re having, don’t follow me around the room.”

“I understand.” I thought about following him around wearing nothing but a collar and leash. But that would have to be one more unfulfilled fantasy. It was probably good to make it explicit. There was no one at this party I wanted to be with more than him.

I let James get out of the car first. It was still neat to walk in heels and feel as well-balanced as I did in bare feet. I think it was as much to show off as anything else when I sped up, turned, and started walking backwards to talk to him. “Remember to check your phone for any fault alerts.”

“Yes, dear.” He did it in a funny little voice, followed by a smile. I was smiling when I spun back around. I had intentionally gotten us here early, and we were one of the first few cars in the driveway, behind the catering truck. I also figured we’d be among the last to leave. It made for a short trip to the front door.

It took a minute, but Yves answered the door. I assumed that his jaw dropping at the sight of me was involuntary. Behind him a few men and women in black button up shirts and black pants were busying themselves setting up some small tables and chafing dishes.

“Liz?”

I tried not to laugh, and did a twirl on his doorstep. “In the silicone flesh. May I come in?”

“Of course!” He stepped out of the way and I walked in. I faced away from him for a little longer than I normally would, assuming he’d be taking a long look at my spine. I found myself examining the wait staff. It felt good to be hotter than those college students.

“Does that hurt?” I had to give Yves the same explanation about my spine window I gave Melody. And I could tell he was having trouble speaking to me and not letting his eyes wander down my body.

“Do you need me to change the temperature?”

“Nope, I’m fine. Or ‘well within operating limits’” I smiled at him. Yves smiled a little less than I did.

We walked past and beneath the grand staircase to the big event room on the ground floor. The room extended upward to both stories of the main house, with big glass windows looking out onto the pool area and the additional buildings beyond. The couches, chairs, and other tables that populated the room when I visited Yves casually must have all been moved elsewhere.

“Do you need to be near an outlet?”

“I’ll be fine. James can get the jumpstarter from the car if the need arises.”

“Seriously?”

I sighed a bit, “No, I’ve got 7 hours of charge left. Unless you want me to do windsprints or cartwheels tonight, I’ll be fine. And I’ll probably be showing people my charging port all night and getting a few watts here or there that way.” I emphasized the point by lifting my left arm and showing Yves the open slit in my armpit.

He visibly flinched before offering to get me some wine. I had him get both James and I a glass. It would at least give me something to do with my hands.

James leaned into my ear “I don’t think Yves realized I was here.”

I snorted as Yves came back with the wine. The break left him more composed and he started asking questions about what I’d need to work in the office. That led to a conversation about scheduling, and a conversation about equipment the firm would purchase and a conversation about if we should plan on more associates with machine bodies and if we should actively recruit androids and gynoids.

It was a long enough conversation that guests started arriving and circling me. I probably should have made a sign with Frequently asked questions and answers.

“Yes, I feel great.”

“No, the insert in my back doesn’t hurt.”

“Yes, you can touch it.”

“No, you can’t remove it.”

“Yes, I did have some psychiatric changes made during the transfer.”

“No, I won’t go into details.”

“Yes, I did pick a taller body, it’s not just the heels.”

“No, I can’t bend steel with my bare hands or run 100 kph.”

“Yes, I’d recommend Sunny Valley for ‘your friend’s’ conversion.”

“No, I can’t get you a discount.”

“Yes, I am happy with how it turned out.”

“No, I’m not worried about my new ‘brain’ degrading.”

On and on like that. I think everyone there asked me at least a few questions and mingled with me for a little while. A few people did make comments on my dress, but I think they just wanted to look at my body. I didn’t mind the stares.

About the only person who didn’t come up to me was Ida. She joined some conversations close to me, but never actually inserted herself into the circle of folks talking with me. I almost called her over, especially when one of the junior partners asked a question about how mandatory retirement ages in contracts would apply to machine-uploaded individuals like me. Maybe I should have been offended that he thought I had been close to that age range before, but I took it in the spirit of curiosity with which it was presented.

James lasted through about 30 minutes of the repetitive questions before excusing himself. I don’t know if it was the order, or just the stimulation of having so many people around me, but I didn’t find myself missing him as much as I did when I was at home. It was a positive sign for when I had to go into the office.

The caterers revealed the more substantial food was now available, and I took the opportunity to visit the powder room. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the big smile welcoming me in the mirror, but I was just a little bit. I did a little touchup work to my face and checked my dress. That’s when I realized I was seriously nipping out.

I had been fine at home, but now there were two obvious little tents on the dress at the tips of my breasts. I tried tugging on the dress, and it didn’t help. I reached into the dress and confirmed that my nipple was really hard and erect, about as stiff as it could get. And it also felt really nice to touch.

I thought about resolving the issue and came to a few conclusions. First, this was very likely something Master had ordered. Second, based on the dress I was obviously not wearing a bra, so the outline of my nipples wasn’t providing any new information there. Third, who cared? It wasn’t like the dress was sheer or anything. There weren’t any old ladies or little kids out there to scandalize.

So I didn’t fix it. I walked back out to the party and checked on how James was doing without me. He was discussing electricity prices with someone and I made a comment about whether it was going to be cheaper in the long run to charge me or feed me. That got a small laugh and people started to surround me again to ask about my conversion.

It got later and the party began to wind down. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time it was so late and I wasn’t the one trying to get home. I wouldn’t have minded going home and fucking Master, but I was also fine being the center of attention.

For the first time that night, Ida approached me. I smiled at her and she didn’t smile back.

“Can we talk in private?” Ida motioned her head toward the stairs and the bedrooms on the second floor. I excused myself and followed her up. We found an unoccupied room and Ida made sure to close the door behind us.

I positioned myself in the center of the room, near the bed, and turned to speak, “So what’s up?”

Ida reached into her purse and pulled out several folded sheets of legal-sized paper with a blue cover sheet. She held them out to me. “Take a look.”

I grabbed it and unfolded it. It was an order to appear for a psychological evaluation. And my name was on it.

My smile was immediately gone. “What the fuck is this?”

“I want someone to check your programming, and I didn’t think you’d agree to it on your own.”

I felt dissociated for just a moment. I wasn’t sure if I was afraid of what someone might find, or just furious at Ida. Probably both.

“You’ve got no right to have someone poke around in my head.”

“According to our partnership agreement I do.”

“If I’m behaving erratically, sure. But I’m not. I haven’t even gone into the office yet.”

“You’re definitely behaving differently.” Ida stared me down like she stared down deadbeat dads.

“Oh, fuck you. I’m happy. That’s not a reason for a psychological evaluation.”

“Maybe not, but your husband holding the keys to your brain definitely is.”

Now I was getting more worried. “What do you mean?” I didn’t want to give Ida any additional information unless it was necessary.

“James has full authority over the software simulating the old Elizabeth Cochrane.”

I felt myself sneer just a bit. The insinuation that I was just a copy was crystal clear. “So?”

“Don’t play dumb, he can change whatever he wants about you.”

“It’s an emergency thing, a safety measure, in case I have a glitch.” I hoped she would buy the line of thinking like I had. I was too upset to fantasize about being reprogrammed. That was probably a good thing at the moment.

“It doesn’t have to be. James doesn’t need to prove you’re incapacitated to make changes.”

“We’re not starting down this road, Ida. I’m not going to go through this every week because you don’t trust James. Or go through this every time we have a disagreement. Trust me. I’m just the happy version of Liz.”

“Are you hiding something?”

“Save it. That’s barely any different from the old ‘if you’ve got nothing to hide, you don’t need privacy’ excuse.”

“Yves and I have a right to know if you’re James’ puppet.”

I started shouting, “For fuck’s sake, Ida! Do you have any idea what you sound like? I spend less than a week not obsessing over work and you think I’m a brainwashed puppet?”

“You’re getting awfully defensive.”

“You are fucking infuriating right now. All this is in your head.”

Ida kept her calm. “The order is still valid. If you don’t go through with it, it’s a breach of the partnership agreement.”

“You’d really kick me out of my own firm - our own firm - because of this.”

“I think I’d have to.”

I emitted an exasperated sigh that turned into a growl. “Weren’t you the one excited about getting gynoids as clients? You think they’re going to like being treated like this?”

“That’s clients. I’m not personally liable for their actions the way I am with a law partner.”

I don’t think I was actually getting a headache, but I was feeling emotions that normally gave me a headache. It was enough to make me rub my temples. A plan was forming in my head.

“How about we talk about it instead of getting psychiatrists and subpoenas involved?”

Ida adjusted her posture, but didn’t say anything further.

“That idea of programming, you’ve got it wrong. Understandably wrong, but wrong.”

“Do I?”

I didn’t know if this next part was true, I hoped it was close enough that Ida couldn’t prove it false, “There are limits to what James - or anyone - can program into my brain. The new stuff has to work with the old. What exactly do you think he’s programming into me?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I need to find out.”

“Alright, what things do you think he might program into me that would be a problem for the firm?”

“He could tell you to lose a case intentionally.”

“He could tell me that now.” I took a step closer to her. In these heels I could force her to look up at me.

“He could force you to throw a case.”

“Why would he do that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter? You want to invade my mind. That’s not something you should do for shits and giggles. If you can’t conceive of a reason for him to do it, even in the abstract, it’s highly highly unlikely he’ll do it. You’ve known James for what, 20 years? Does he strike you as a man who does something on a whim?” I didn’t want to think about how quickly Master may have made the decision to make me his property. It didn’t help my case.

“He could disagree morally with our client and want them to lose.”

“We do almost entirely divorces and probate, Ida. We aren’t arguing in front of the Supreme Court. When was the last time you and Louis got into an argument about taking a case? And both of you are lawyers so you know what you’re talking about. James doesn’t know squat about these things.”

“Someone could threaten him or pay him off.”

“They could do that now. Wouldn’t you think twice about taking a case if they threatened your husband?” I smirked, “And If it’s a bribe big enough for James to risk my career it’s probably a bribe big enough for me to risk my career.”

Ida’s lower lip was getting tight. It was the face she made when she was losing an argument. “I don’t trust him the way I trust you. He could make you embezzle money from the firm.”

“He helped design our financial controls, Ida. Robot or not, I’d get caught. Can you at least accept that I trust him? I wouldn’t have stayed married to him for so long if he wasn’t trustworthy.” Yes, he had betrayed my trust by turning me into property, but it was for my own good. I could trust that he loved me.

I handed the court order back to Ida. She took it. “I can’t understand how you could do it- How you could agree to have someone wield that much power over you.”

I let myself blush and tactfully ignored the ‘agree’ part of her statement. “I’ll be honest, I find it pretty hot. In a bedroom sort of way.” I found it hot everywhere, but it was better to leave the breadcrumbs for a plausible alternative explanation for my behavior.

Ida blushed too, “I.. I didn’t think you and James were into that sort of thing.”

I shrugged, “I think it’s pretty common for type A people to enjoy submission in private. A break from reality, you know?” No sense in telling her I didn’t enjoy it before. It was plausible and that was enough.

Ida was suddenly struggling to keep eye contact. “Sure.”

“Just between us girls, I think I was programmed to like giving head just as much as regular sex.”

“TMI, Liz. TMI.” We both chuckled. “I think that’s the first time you ever mentioned sex to me. I mean, you having sex.”

Crap, I might have gone too far. “It must be the body. Now I actually look like someone that has had sex.”

“I think thefour4 kids were a dead giveaway.”

I smiled. “So are we good?”

Ida looked at the paper, “I’m keeping this handy. If I see anything suspicious, you’re getting this order.”

This was probably the best I could have hoped for. “Understood. Not much different than if I was having a nervous breakdown. Or continuing my previously scheduled one.”

“Was it really that bad?” Ida flipped the court order in her hands.

“I dunno. It’s hard to have perspective. I know I’m just infinitely better now. Did you think some more about doing this yourself?” I struck a little pose.

“Me? I think I’m still going to wait for the tech to get better and cheaper. Louis is thinking about it though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he has that heart condition. It’s not serious, but you never know.”

“Well let me know if you want me to set you up with my conversion neurologist, she’s an absolute delight.”

Ida nodded along. “Sounds good.”

I put my arm on her shoulder. “If anyone deserves to have a perfect husband, it’s you.”

I probably got carried away again. Ida gave me a strange look, but didn’t ask any more questions. All in all, I felt good. It was a different sort of good from when I served Master. It felt a lot more like the pride I felt when I was human. I had used my smarts to defuse a tricky situation with someone who was no dummy herself. Aside from some motivations, my additional programming never really entered into it. For maybe the first time since I first activated, I felt like I was wholly Elizabeth Cochrane and not UX-49a4, the copy of her.

And that’s when I got the low battery warning. It wasn’t at an urgent level, but it was now a nagging feeling in the back of my head. I resented the intrusion into my happy thoughts and the resentment didn’t immediately fade.

I pondered that and loitered a bit so Ida could go downstairs first. She must have gone straight to her car, since she wasn’t there when I rejoined James. I wrapped my arm around his and snuggled up against him while he was talking to Yves about lithium mining. I didn’t really give a shit about that, so I rested my head on my husband’s shoulder. I couldn’t tell if Yves was amused at the action or just a bit jealous.

I told James about the low battery once there was a break in the conversation. It was a good excuse to thank Yves for hosting the event and get out of there.

Once we were in the car and on the road, we felt more comfortable talking.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” James said.

I fiddled with getting my charging cable connected to the car console and inside my armpit, “Absolutely. I hope you had a good time.”

“I did. It’s a weirdly nice feeling seeing everyone ogle you and know you’re going home with me.” He placed his hand on my thigh. “Did you look at your list of commands?”

“No, but I’m assuming the nipples were one of them.” I sighed happily and lightly rubbed them both through the dress.

“That’s one. Any complaints?”

“Nope! Can I look at the others?”

“Sure, there was just the one other one.”

I instinctually called it up. ‘You are a brilliant, beautiful and confident woman and have no reason to be afraid of your coworkers or what they think.’

It was so sweet it almost brought a tear to my eye. Then I started to wonder if I had felt more human because Master had ordered me to feel that way. And as I fell into that rabbit hole and stared at the lights from the other cars, I gave up.

I wasn’t going to be my old self ever again. I was never going to resolve whether or not the old Elizabeth was dead. I could only be the new Elizabeth. And I had to admit the new Elizabeth was better. Woman, wife, robot, sexdoll, whatever, I was better. Driving myself crazy wasn’t helping anyone, especially Master.

I looked over to him, and thought about our wedding. I thought about reassuring that old version of myself that she was making the right choice. It may have been bumpy. It may have been a little out of my control. But I was so happy being owned by this man.

“May I make a suggestion, Master?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t think Melody is really expecting us at home. You could take me to a hotel and use me however you want.” I would probably have to fuck him with the charging cable in my armpit and stay plugged in all night, but it would be worth it.

His eyes drifted away from the road for a moment, “Do you really want to do that now?”

“Yes, Master. Serving you would make this night complete.”

END

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