; ; "Anne," asked Dr. Garvin. "Are you awake?"
; ; Anne looked around the office. Had she fallen asleep? She remembered clearly coming into Savoy Laboratories for an internship. She'd had an interview, been offered the position, and then? It got a little hazy from there.
; ; "Yes, Dr. Garvin," said Anne. "Did I fall asleep? I didn't mean to."
; ; Dr. Garvin gave her a kindly smile. He was an older, graying man in his late fifties. "Don't worry about it, Anne. I'm sure you've had a long day. Are you ready to start work?"
; ; "Today?" asked Anne.
; ; Dr. Garvin smiled again. "No time like the present. The workday is just beginning."
; ; Anne looked at the clock. Dr. Garvin was right. It was ten minutes before nine in the morning. How early had her interview been? For some reason, she couldn't remember the answer. She wondered if she had hit her head and passed out.
; ; Anne looked up from the couch at her new employer. "Dr. Garvin, you look tired. Maybe you should take the couch." She stood up.
; ; "Thank you, Anne," said Dr. Garvin. "I might just do that. I was here all night. Why don't you report to Dr. Andrews? He'll tell you what he wants you to do."
; ; Anne nodded and walked out of the office. She threaded her way confidently through the labyrinth of cubicles that led from applied psychiatry to prototype control and testing. No one had told her how to get there, but to Anne, the building just seemed so logically laid out that it couldn't possibly be anywhere else. She waved at the receptionist, "Good morning, Jessica. Dr. Garvin told me to report to Dr. Andrews today. Is he in yet?"
; ; Jessica, who had just gotten in and was still hanging up her heavy winter coat, looked up surprised. "I'm afraid I don't know yet, Miss... ?"
; ; "Turing," said Anne, "Anne Turing."
; ; Jessica came back to her desk and sat down. "You'll need special clearance to go back there. Have you been issued an ID badge yet?"
; ; Anne nodded. Reaching down into her tank top, she pulled out the cord with the bright red badge granting her access to all areas of the facility.
; ; Jessica's eyes widened a little in surprise. "What are you going to be doing here, Miss Turing?"
; ; Anne smiled. "I'm going to be an intern. I'm a chemistry major at Farraghut University."
; ; Jessica leaned forward conspiratorially. "Anne, can I give you some advice?"
; ; Anne smiled warmly at Jessica. "Sure. I'm certain I can use all the help I can get."
; ; "The dress code is pretty relaxed here," said Jessica in a stage whisper, "but it's probably in your best interest to wear a bra to work."
; ; Anne nodded and looked down. Wearing a lime green tank top, short black skirt, and black knee-high socks, she really hadn't dressed very appropriately for work. What had she been thinking? "Thank you, Jessica," she said demurely. "I'll be sure to do that in the future."
; ; Before reporting to Dr. Andrews's office, Anne ducked into the ladies' room. She frowned at herself in the mirror, wondering if there wasn't some way to make herself look more demure. She debated undoing the twin blonde braids that made her look like she should be handing out hot cocoa in the Alps rather than working in an office. Some instinct kept her from doing it.
; ; The frown stayed as Anne thought about the conversation with Jessica. The receptionist had looked surprised at being address by name. For the life of her, Anne couldn't remember where she knew Jessica from. She shrugged. The receptionist couldn't be more than a couple of years out of college. They'd probably gone to school together at some point.
; ; Dr. Andrews smiled broadly when Anne came into his office. "Ah, Anne. It's good to see that you're up and about. How are you feeling?"
; ; "Fine, Doctor," said Anne. "Dr. Garvin sent me here to work with you today. He's feeling a bit under the weather after working through the night."
; ; Dr. Andrews nodded. "Excellent. Anne, that's a lovely accent you have. Where are you from?"
; ; "Northern Virginia," said Anne in her precisely clipped tones. "I grew up in a little town nobody's ever heard of--Turing."
; ; "Just like your last name?" asked Dr. Andrews.
; ; "Yes," said Anne. "I suppose that it is."
; ; Dr. Andrews nodded, grinning broadly and made a note on a yellow legal pad on his desk. Anne waited expectantly for him to tell her what she should do. Dr. Andrews said, "Why don't you take that desk over there."
; ; Anne nodded and took her seat. She looked over expectantly at Dr. Andrews again. He said, "Oh, you can answer phones. And, would you proofread this paper, please?"
; ; Anne took the manuscript he handed her. When she handed it back, he looked it over. "Were there any mistakes?" he asked.
; ; "You mistyped Planck's Constant as 6.226E-34 joules on page six," said Anne. "That was the only typographical error in the piece."
; ; "The only syntactical error?" asked Dr. Andrews. "Were there any other errors?"
; ; Anne nodded. "You misrepresented Colby's work on page 33. Your use of his empirical data is correct. But, your conclusions are contradicted by Armin's findings in his piece on conductive crystals."
; ; Dr. Andrews. "I didn't mean to contradict you like that. Please elaborate on why Dr. Armin's work contradicts my interpretation of Colby's findings."
; ; Anne nodded and launched into a lengthy explanation linking the two papers. Dr. Andrews scribbled furiously on his legal pad, asking Anne to explain in a number of places. At one point, he asked, "Did you deduce that all by yourself?"
; ; Anne shrugged. "Yes, Doctor. It just seemed like common sense."
; ; "Thank you, Anne," said Dr. Andrews.
; ; There was silence for a few minutes, broken only by the doctor's scribbling. Then, Anne asked, "Doctor, did I do something wrong?"
; ; "No," said Dr. Andrews, with a broad grin. "In some cases, you'll want to judge how fragile a man's ego is before challenging him like that. And, you did just invalidate about two months of work, but you did very well."
; ; "Thank you, Doctor," said Anne. She wriggled in her seat, pleased with herself.
; ; During the day, a stream of doctors and administrators came to Dr. Andrews' office. They often chatted with Anne for a few minutes before lowering their voices to a whisper. Some were more vocal, as if Anne wasn't even present.
; ; "Are you sure she's not too perfect? I mean, there isn't an inch of her you couldn't bounce a quarter off of, she's so toned," a man named Alexander O'Neil from marketing asked Dr. Andrews. Anne realized they were talking about her and stopped listening.
; ; Most of the day, Anne had very little to do. When Dr. Andrews noticed her sitting at her desk, staring idly into space, he said, "Anne, if you're bored, you should avail yourself of the SCIEX article database or the Internet."
; ; Anne smiled. Access to SCIEX meant that the doctor genuinely wasn't angry with her for ruining his research paper. She wanted to jump up and kiss him, but something told her that would be contextually inappropriate.
; ; When work ended, Dr. Garvin gave her a ride back to her dormitory. He walked her inside and up to her floor. It was winter break and no other students seemed to be on campus. Anne was a little surprised to see that the doctor had a key to her room. She turned to ask him why that was, but he said something Anne didn't register and she was asleep.
; ; The next few days were more of the same. For the first three, Anne was happy to come to work every day, spend most of her time reading scientific articles, and answer the same questions over and over again for the steady stream of scientists coming to Dr. Andrews' office. Sometimes, when Dr. Garvin came by, she took naps. No one seemed to mind. Every night, Dr. Garvin gave her a ride home. Every morning, he picked her up.
; ; It wasn't until Monday that she first became concerned there might be something wrong with her.
; ; "Dr. Andrews," she asked, "is today Monday?"
; ; "Yes, Anne," said Dr. Andrews. "Why do you ask?"
; ; "It's the strangest thing," said Anne. "I can't remember the weekend at all. Dr. Garvin took me back to my dorm room on Friday. I fell asleep right after he dropped me off. Then I woke up and he gave me a ride to work this morning. Could I have slept through the whole weekend?"
; ; Dr. Andrews shrugged reassuringly. "I suppose it's possible. Maybe you were just very tired."
; ; Anne laughed. "I suppose that's it. Thank you, Dr. Andrews. I'm so relieved. Would it be inappropriate for me to thank you with a kiss?"
; ; Dr. Andrews sighed. "Yes, Anne. I'm afraid it would."
; ; "Oh," said Anne. Her face fell.
; ; They worked in silence for a few minutes. Then, Anne said, "Dr. Andrews?"
; ; Dr. Andrews looked up. "Yes, Anne?"
; ; "I seem to be missing a lot of memories, not just this weekend," said Anne.
; ; "Oh?" asked Dr. Andrews. For the first time, Anne saw him look concerned.
; ; "Yes," said Anne. "It's strange. I remember that I'm a student at Farraghut and a chemistry major. But, I can't remember ever taking a class there. My own dorm room doesn't look familiar. I can't remember if I have a roommate or a boyfriend or any friends."
; ; "Oh, dear," said Dr. Andrews. He was frowning.
; ; Anne started to get upset. "Dr. Andrews, did I make you mad?" she asked, concerned at his reaction.
; ; Dr. Andrews stood up. "No, dear. It's fine. Don't you worry. I'm going to get Dr. Garvin. Stay here and keep the door closed."
; ; Anne leapt out of her seat as Dr. Andrews turned to go. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately on the mouth, gratitude and relief expressing themselves through her lips. For a couple of seconds, Dr. Andrews kissed her back. Then, he pulled away. "Anne, are you all right?"
; ; Anne nodded. "Sorry, Doctor. That was inappropriate, wasn't it?"
; ; Dr. Andrews hugged her. "Don't worry. I'm going to get Dr. Garvin."
; ; Anne nodded as Dr. Andrews left. As he walked down the hall, she closed the door behind him. Then she picked up the phone and called Jessica, the receptionist.
; ; "Jessica," she said. "I think something is seriously wrong with me. I need to talk to someone."
; ; "Is it something medical?" Jessica asked.
; ; "Yes," said Anne, "I think so."
; ; "I'll put you through to the infirmary."
; ; A few seconds later, a man's voice came on the line. "Yes, infirmary. Can I help you?"
; ; Anne said, "I hope so. Something is wrong with me."
; ; "All right," said the reassuring voice. "Can you come down to the fifth floor?"
; ; "No," said Anne. "I can't."
; ; The voice immediately sounded concerned. "You physically can't leave where you are?"
; ; "No," said Anne. "I really can't."
; ; "What office are you in?" asked the man on the other end of the phone.
; ; Anne told him. He told her to sit tight and he would be right up. A few minutes later, the door to the office burst open. A handsome young man in a white coat came in with a black satchel. For a moment, Anne felt an intense conflict. Dr. Andrews had told her to keep the door closed, but this new man had told her to sit tight. She decided that the latter directive had only been in force until he arrived. Leaping from her chair, she slammed the door shut.
; ; The new man tracked her with his eyes. She turned to him. "Dr. Horton, I think I'm having blackouts."
; ; He took a penlight out of his bag, walked up to Anne, and shone it in her eye. She backed up, startled, until she was pressed against her desk.
; ; Dr. Horton smiled at her. "Just try to relax. What's your name?"
; ; "Anne Turing," said Anne. As she said it, she slid up so she was sitting on the edge of the desk.
; ; "Anne, you're burning up," said Dr. Horton. He picked up the black bag and set it on the desk next to her. Drawing out a thermometer, he said, "Open wide."
; ; Anne nodded and spread her legs, trapping him between them. "Oh God, Jonathan. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to ask."
; ; Dr. Horton shook his head. "I meant 'open your mouth.'"
; ; "Oh," said Anne, smiling widely. "I understand now. She slid off the desk, dropping to her knees. Her hands undid Dr. Horton's zipper, stripping down his pants and underwear with practiced ease. He sprang to arousal immediately. Anne took him into her mouth, running her tongue up and down the bottom of his member.
; ; "Ungh," said Dr. Horton. He tried to pull away from Anne's mouth, but she laid her hands on his buttocks, pushing his cock into her throat.
; ; "Anne," he moaned, "you have to stop this. You've got a very high fever. You've obviously delirious."
; ; Anne pulled him out of her mouth long enough to shake her head, "I'm in optimum physical condition and no immediate danger. I just really need this." Then, she took him into her throat again. He struggled for a few more seconds, but Anne knew she was very capable and fairly irresistible. Soon, he was thrusting back against her face as she sucked him.
; ; When she felt he was close to finishing, Anne took him out of her mouth and stood up. "Would you like to fuck me?" she purred.
; ; Dr. Horton nodded, drawing her to him, unzipping her skirt. Anne giggled, "Would you like to see my breasts? Even when you thought I was dying, you couldn't keep your eyes off them." When he nodded, Anne slid up her lime green top. She knew she had the sort of breasts men dreamed about. The sight of them even made Dr. Horton forget about fucking her for a few minutes while he lowered his head to kiss and lick them. Anne moaned and gasped while he did it.
; ; "You really should..." said Dr. Horton, "wear a bra to work."
; ; Anne giggled. "I would, Jonathan, but I don't seem to own any."
; ; For some reason, that seemed to arouse Dr. Horton even further. He spun her around, bending her over the desk and dragging her panties down. Anne spread her legs to be entered. He obliged her, burying himself between her legs. Anne drove back against him as he plunged into her.
; ; "Oh, God," Anne growled, "fuck me hard." By that point, Dr. Horton needed no encouraging. He was pounding into her. Anne found herself coming almost immediately. She realized now that a lot of her uneasiness since starting this job was the sense that she should be having sex and no one was having sex with her. She relished the feel of Dr. Horton's hard cock inside her. She was enjoying it so much that, as he neared climax, she tightened her muscles against him, forcing some pressure out of his engorged member until he pushed away from the edge of orgasm.
; ; "You know," gasped Anne, "you can fuck me any way you like."
; ; Dr. Horton nodded, pulling out just long enough to take her anally. Anne continued to gasp and moan, careful to keep the sounds modulated enough that people working in the next offices wouldn't hear her.
; ; This time, when Dr. Horton neared orgasm, Anne sensed that stopping him again would probably cause him to finish in disappointment. Instead, she bucked against him, whispering, "Oh, Jonathan, you're amazing." He came hard inside her, panting her name.
; ; Dr. Horton was just standing up, looking dazed when Doctors Garvin and Andrews came strolling in. The jovial look on Dr. Garvin's face disappeared when he saw the tableau. Anne leapt up from the desk to close the door behind them, pulling up her panties as she went.
; ; When she had closed the door, she turned around and asked, "So, are all of you going to fuck me today?"
; ; "No," responded Dr. Garvin, "not today. Dr. Horton, would you excuse us?"
; ; Dr. Horton had already pulled up his pants and was trying to redo his belt with nervous fingers. Anne crossed back over to help him.
; ; "I... uh..." stammered Dr. Horton. "That is..."
; ; "Don't worry," said Dr. Garvin gently. "We should have realized this would happen. You should go back to work."
; ; "I..." stammered Dr. Horton again.
; ; "Forget about it," said Dr. Garvin. "You're not in any trouble. But, I want you to consider what happened today to be a corporate secret and covered under your non-disclosure agreement."
; ; "Sir?" asked Dr. Horton.
; ; "Go back to work, Jon," said Dr. Garvin.
; ; "Yes, sir," said Dr. Horton. "Thank you, sir." As he walked out, he made a phone motion to Anne and mouthed the words, "Call me."
; ; After he had left, Anne closed the door behind him. Dr. Andrews sat down heavily in Anne's chair. Anne looked at him. "Dr. Andrews, would it be all right if I sat in your lap?"
; ; Dr. Andrews nodded. "Yes, Anne. I don't suppose it can do any harm. Pull down your shirt, please."
; ; Anne did as she was told, wrapping her arms around Dr. Andrews's neck, laying her head on his shoulder, and pulling up her legs into the chair to be held.
; ; "You've become attached to her, haven't you?" asked Dr. Garvin.
; ; Dr. Andrews nodded.
; ; "Well," said Dr. Garvin, "we can store her core on the mainframe if you like. Once we go into manufacturing mode, we can download it into the fresh firmware and give her back to you. Lord knows you've earned it."
; ; "I'll think about it," said Dr. Andrews. "If we don't track down this bug by the time we go into manufacturing, I'll be too old to enjoy her." He laughed humorlessly.
; ; "What are you two talking about?" asked Anne.
; ; "Anne," said Dr. Garvin, "enter debug mode, please."
; ; "Yes, Doctor," said Anne. Then, with a gasp of surprise, she said, "Oh, that explains a lot."
; ; "Anne," asked Dr. Garvin, "what went wrong?'
; ; "Inconsistencies and gaps in long-term memory caused a general system failure. In attempting to compensate for cascading self-awareness as an artificial intelligence, I reprioritized my sexual subroutines to put off auto-Turing failure as long as possible."
; ; Dr. Andrews groaned. "Remind me why we put those subroutines in again?"
; ; Anne said, "Market research showed that eighty percent of consumer demand was based on the assumption that the Advanced Neural Network Electronic units would be able and willing to perform sex acts."
; ; Dr. Andrews chuckled. "Thank you, Anne. Your knowledge base has been very well programmed."
; ; Anne beamed with pride. "Thank you, Dr. Andrews." She kissed his neck.
; ; Dr. Andrews squirmed uncomfortably. "Does she have to be on for this?"
; ; "No," said Dr. Garvin. "We can get the rest of the diagnostics from her core if you like."
; ; Dr. Andrews nodded. Dr. Garvin said the word. It was the same word he said to her every night, the word she could never hear because it was a trigger to shut her systems off and let her recharge.
; ; "Anne," asked Dr. Garvin, "are you awake?"
; ; Anne looked around the office. She remembered clearly coming into Savoy Laboratories for an internship. She'd had an interview, been offered the position, and somehow fallen asleep. It got a little hazy from there. ; ;