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Message-ID: <36467asstr$1021255805@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "DB_Story" <DB_Story@att.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} New: Lisa's Tale Part 6: A Courtesy Suites Story {DB Story} (M/Fembot+, rom)
Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 22:10:05 -0400
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Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

LISA'S TALE PART 6: A COURTESY SUITES STORY
By DB  ( DB_Story@att.net / http://home.att.net/files/Authors/db_story/www/ )
Copyrightc 2002 by DB.
ASSM/ASFR (M/Fembot+, rom)

(This story contains Constitutionally protected material intended 
for adults over 18 years of age in the United States of America, 
and whatever passes for adult status in other countries.  If you 
are under legal age, acting under legal age, not allowed to view 
such material in your area, or easily offended, please do not 
continue.  This is not for you.

(The only rights granted are to view this story.  You are not 
allowed to reproduce, post, or otherwise redistribute this story 
without permission, except for non-profit Usenet archiving sites.

(To purchase for publication, place on your web-site devoted to 
this style of fiction, or for permission to link to my posted 
material, please contact me first at the above email.)

- - -

Author's Note: This story was written as follow-on to EHY's 
original Courtesy Suites story.  EHY gave me permission to 
explore his idea further.  Small details may differ since 
Courtesy Suites is a chain of ultra luxury hotels offering the 
ultimate in personal service.  The original Courtesy Suites 
story, and additional adventures there as well as other of EHY's 
writings in this area, may be found at his web-site: 
http://www.geocities.com/ipmstories/.

Parts 1 through 5 of this story are available at my site above.

A special thanks to Gorgo his excellent and much appreciated 
proofreading.  All remaining mistakes are mine.

- - -

For Matt Samuals, the last five months had gone very well.  Very 
well indeed.

He returned from the trade show with a new, quiet confidence in 
himself and his abilities that spoke louder than words could ever 
hope to accomplish.  The show had gone well for the company, 
resulting in several sales.  Everyone working the show had spoken 
well of Matt's tireless efforts to keep the show machine working, 
despite its beta nature - although to a one, they never seemed to 
get around to mentioning his hospitality, or the beach party at 
Courtesy Suites, as any of the reasons they thought so well of 
him.

This new Matt had not gone unnoticed by management.  He had 
gained increased responsibilities with a substantial salary 
increase and significant retention bonus when a couple very 
senior engineers had retired.  This, along with glowing reports 
from three more trade shows around the world he had attended, 
kept him happily busy at a job he was enjoying now more than 
ever.

He thought of Lisa and her fembot friends at Courtesy Suites from 
time to time, as he waited for his life to settle into this new 
equilibrium, knowing that she'd be waiting there for him, -
patient and unchanging - until he returned again.  It wasn't that 
he was finished with is relationship with her, but rather that 
she had so fully satisfied him on all his levels, that he was 
still living in the afterglow of their time together.  This quiet 
happiness was easily picked up on by the other people around him.

And everything had just about settled in, when the e-mail 
arrived.  It was only four words, yet it jolted him out of this 
comfort zone as nothing else could have done.

It simply read:

 Lisa needs you.  -Darci.

- - -

Arranging a sudden trip halfway across the country is a daunting 
task for some people.  For the new Matt, that part was hardly a 
detail worth considering.

He could have made it a "business trip".  There were a number of 
customers in that city.  As a senior engineer, Matt could have 
easily scheduled himself to go out there to check over their 
systems.  One of the things his company now admired in him was 
his sensitivity and rapport with customers, as well as a 
proactive stance in servicing them.

But with his new salary, and workaholic pace of these past five 
months, asking for time off and making it a personal trip was an 
easier option.  And the company was happy to see that he was 
going to take a break.  No one wanted their newest rising star to 
burn himself out.

So Matt's arrival at Courtesy Suites was, if anything, 
uneventful.  He'd trod this path before; it was fully familiar to 
him.  In fact, his only surprise had been that he had been able 
to get his first choice of dates at Courtesy Suites.  The hotels 
were very popular with those who could afford the total amenities 
they provided, and he had been concerned that he might have to 
juggle dates to get in.

Walking through the luxurious lobby seemed both familiar, and 
strange.  Familiar, because it felt like only yesterday that he 
had last been here.  Strange, because the quiet bustle and energy 
he had strongly noticed on his previous trip now seemed muted or 
subdued.

Matt decided to ignore any concerns about this however, knowing 
he was only minutes away from seeing Lisa again.

Lisa, that tall, beautiful, brunette, smart, sexy fembot was 
still a contradiction in Matt's mind.  Somehow tall, smart, and 
beautiful seemed to work against a woman - or fembot - where men 
were concerned.  On his last visit, she had told him how poorly 
many men had reacted to her before he had come along.  Matt 
couldn't understand why any man wouldn't want Lisa, but secretly 
had to admit that he rather liked not having to compete with 
everyone else for her time.

Lisa's special qualities, compared to most of the Courtesy Suites 
staff, were not obvious on first glance.  As a result, she was 
often overlooked by the other guests, despite her stunning 
height.  After they had seen her out with him however, she became 
quite popular.  And while with a real woman, one might have to 
compete for their affections with other men every minute they 
were out in public, with the fembots of Courtesy Suites a guest 
always received one hundred percent of everything each staff 
member had to offer while they were together.  It was only 
scheduling conflicts for the more popular staff members - like 
the blonde and busty Darci - that caused any actual competition 
among guests.

Walking up to the reception desk, Matt recognized that Traci, who 
had been his first encounter with a Courtesy Suites staff member 
on his last trip, was again at the front desk.

He thought she might recognize him as a former guest, but in a 
surprisingly dull tone of voice, instead just asked for his name.

Matt gave it, but she seemed, if anything, distracted, and 
treated him as if he was a first-time guest to the hotel.  She 
seemed unable to pick up on either his obvious knowledge of 
everything she was telling him, or his obvious impatience.

Matt finally just waited out the now familiar introduction, more 
eager just to get to his room with the least delay.  So when she 
finally showed him where to touch his thumb to complete his 
registration, he jammed it on the plate.  Then, without waiting 
for any assistance, he grabbed his bags and headed for the 
elevator.

- - -

Once in his room, Matt dumped his bags beside his bed and grabbed 
the TV remote.  He quickly navigated to Guest Services and 
selected Direct Assistance.  And just as quickly, hit a 
roadblock.

Esmerelda, the lovely fembot on the screen, seemed about as dull 
as Traci had at the front desk.  While she was appealing, with 
lustrous black hair, seductive green eyes, and a bust that 
threatened to burst out of her top, she seemed as unhelpful as 
Traci had been only a few minutes earlier.

Could I have misrememberered just how limited a fembot mind is? 
Matt wondered to himself.  This didn't seem at all like previous 
visits.

"We have no staff member named Lisa," Esmerelda repeated for the 
fifth time.

"She's tall.  Six feet and an inch.  With dark brown hair," Matt 
prompted, hoping to trigger some response.  "And her name is 
Lisa."

"We have no staff member named Lisa," Esmerelda repeated for the 
sixth time.

In frustration, Matt grabbed at the remote again, planning to 
disconnect and go find someone who could actually help him, when 
he had a thought instead.

"Okay, I'll take Darci then."

"Darci is not available at this time."

Damn!  Nothing gained in being impolite to a robot however.

"Can you tell me when she will become available?" he asked 
sweetly.

"When who will become available?"

This Esmerelda was really giving dumb a new meaning.

"When Darci will become available?"

"No.  Would you like to be put on a wait list for her?"

In frustration, Matt clicked off the remote without answering.

This is NOT the Courtesy Suites that I remember.

- - -

It didn't take Matt long to realize, however, that he wasn't 
helping himself by losing his cool.  If anything, it surprised 
him that he had done so.  Matt had come to be a lot freer with 
his emotions since his last visit here, and truth be told, once 
in a while they still surprised him.

It would be best to just walk things off for a few minutes, and 
then go back with a calm mind and work this problem out.  Matt 
left his room and headed for the pool.

That turned into yet another disappointment.  The outstanding 
Courtesy Suites pool was drained for maintenance and painting.  
That made the whole tropical paradise look fake and unfinished.  
And the rest of the public areas of the hotel seemed in similarly 
poor shape.

The dance area was closed, with an air of being unused for a long 
period of time.  One of his favorite restaurants was also closed, 
even though the evening was still young.  And the bustling bar 
that everybody comes to see, was only half-full and very quiet.

The few staff members Matt did see moving around the corridors 
seemed so robotic that Matt felt if he didn't get out of their 
way, they would have walked right into him.  Nothing like the 
impressions he remembered from his first trip where, you could 
barely tell the staff from the guests.  This time, even the 
guests didn't seem to be having fun.  It was as if his whole past 
trip was only a dream that reality could never hope to match.

Finally Matt decided to just go back to his room and turn in 
early.  It had been a long journey just getting here, and he'd do 
better to try to sort things out in the morning.

By now, he was so down in his thoughts that he actually walked 
into his room, turned on the lights, turned around and closed the 
door, before he turned around again and realized that Darci was 
standing in the room waiting for him.

- - -

Matt ran over to give her a hug in both greeting, and relief.  
But Darci just stood there, unresponsive.  Matt stepped back in 
confusion and looked at her.

She looked like the same Darci he remembered.  Five feet ten, 
with bright blonde hair and all-American great looks.  She had 
the same 40DD bust, barely contained by the bright blue bikini 
top that matched her eyes, and was perched on her favorite four-
inch heels which pushed her height over six feet.  Her twenty-two 
inch waist only made her hips look wider.  And only Darci could 
not seem underdressed when otherwise only wearing a brief bikini 
bottom, with the standard Courtesy Suites remote control on a 
lanyard around her neck.  Her blue name badge was precariously 
pinned to the spaghetti-strap above the swelling curve of her 
breast.

No pockets in that outfit, Matt thought, explaining to himself 
why she wore her remote that way.

But she seemed devoid of the liveliness that was so much of her 
personality on the last visit.  And of the initiative that could 
have sent him that e-mail message.  In fact, she seemed devoid of 
any life at all.

Could she be turned off?  Matt wondered.

He was about to reach for her remote and press the activation 
button, when she seemed to recognize that someone had arrived in 
the room, and it was time for her to start.

But rather than the "Hello, Matt!" response he was still 
expecting, she launched into the standard Courtesy Suites spiel.

"Hello, Sir, I'm Darci.  A member of the world-renowned Courtesy 
Suites robotic staff."

Darci turned her head to directly face Matt, reached up, and 
removed the remote from around her neck.  She held it out in 
offering, while continuing to speak in what could only be 
described as a dull, robotic manner.

"This is my remote control.  With it, you will have full control 
over all my functions.  You may turn me on or off at will.  
Individual parts of my anatomy may be controlled separately.  You 
also may give me commands which I must obey, set my level of 
initiative response, or edit my memory of this encounter.  You 
may ask me for further help on how to perform any of these 
functions.  I await your commands."

With those words she again froze in place, arm still extended, a 
fixed smile on her face, but with dead-looking eyes.

"Darci.  What's happening?" Matt asked.

No response.

"Darci?" he asked again, waiving his hand in front of her face.

No response.

Wondering if she was just suffering from a past guest's severe 
limiting of her abilities, Matt took the remote from her hand and 
firmly pressed the Intuition button.  Nothing appeared to happen.

Matt pressed the button a couple more times before Darci finally 
responded with, "That function is not implemented at this time." 

Darci, like Lisa, were standouts, even among the Courtesy Suites 
staff.  The average Courtesy Suites fembot averaged five feet 
four, with variations on both sides along a bell curve intended 
to create maximum customer satisfaction.  Their standard advanced 
robotic minds could simulate an apparent human equivalent IQ of 
about 135 - with their fast recall and correlation abilities 
making up for their weaknesses in the far more difficult field of 
creativity.  Questions of intuition and true self-will remained 
hotly debated topics in academia, and were ignored by the world 
at large - most of whom had yet to actually encounter and 
interact with any advanced robot at all.  Matt was an exception, 
but only because of his two previous visits to Courtesy Suites, 
though the first visit had hardly counted.

Darci and Lisa were special because of their height.  Darci at 
barefoot five feet ten was second in height only to Lisa, who 
topped out at six feet and an inch.  They actually looked closer 
to each other, because while Darci lived in her four-inch heels, 
which did such marvelous things for her legs, Lisa favored two-
inch heels or less to de-emphasize her overall height.  That 
height that had led her into too many uncomfortable encounters 
with shorter, insecure men.  Lisa's slimmer, long tressed, 
supermodel looks should have been a hit with everyone who met 
her.  But somehow in the real world they often worked more 
against her than for her.

Not with me though, Matt thought to himself, since there was 
still no one here in the room to talk to.

It was that height that had led both Lisa and Darci to being 
extraordinary among the Courtesy Suites staff.  In order to 
handle their larger, heavier frames, stronger motors had been 
designed in, with larger power consumption.  Any engineer 
understood that.  The extra space in their larger frames allowed 
the necessary additional power capacity to be installed.  The 
engineers had taken advantage of this extra power and space to 
also install enhanced data storage capabilities and the best 
hand-selected - albeit power-hungry - processors.  As a result, 
Darci actually had a human equivalent IQ of 147, while Lisa 
topped out at 151.  Not that those abilities had been appreciated 
by virtually any of the guests afterwards, until Matt had come 
along.

So while Lisa was the one woman/fembot for Matt, he and Darci had 
formed a very special relationship as well during his last visit. 
 He looked on her most fondly, while trying to figure out what 
was wrong here.

Darci had used her extra intelligence - when allowed - to portray 
herself as a dumb blonde bimbo.  She was effective in convincing 
almost every guest she met that they were much smarter than she 
was.  As a result, she was quite popular and much in demand, 
especially at parties.

Lisa, with her body type, could not succeed with that approach.  
She had adapted to the reactions she received by taking the 
quiet, introspective approach, which she had judged least likely 
to provoke intimidation or other unwanted responses.  In this, 
she was less successful than Darci, but had followed the harder 
road.

Matt had managed to see past both of these "acts", and had 
requested (commanded) them to be the best the could be when 
serving him, resulting in all of them having the best times of 
all.  Now this all seemed lost.

While Matt was musing over this new situation, and trying to 
MacGyver some solution to it, a timer apparently went off in 
Darci.  Because this guest had not responded to her yet with any 
valid commands, she was prompted to nudge the situation along.

Darci straightened up, reached behind her, and in one smooth 
motion remove her bikini top.

Then she again oriented on the room guest and said in her same 
tone of voice, "I do exactly what I am told to do.  What would 
you like to do with me now?"  

Darci's healthy, even tan extended without demarcation across her 
newly exposed breasts.  Her slightly darker, fully erect nipples 
showed her overt sexuality as much as her overly pouty lips 
begged to be kissed.  As she quit speaking, she struck a new 
pose, front leg extended and slightly bent, chest pushed up and 
out (not that those breasts needed any further pushing anywhere), 
that begged the only question remaining as being how to get her 
out of that bikini bottom.  No doubt she'd remove it the moment 
she was asked.

Matt took a moment to admire the body she was so willing to 
share.  Not that he hadn't seen it before.  But he was male, 
Darci was very female, and why should either pretend to be 
something other than they were?

He finally walked over and rubbed his hands, first carefully, 
then firmly, over her breasts.  He marveled on how they felt 
exactly how he always imagined a woman's breasts should feel, as 
he kept bumping over, then coming back to, those prominent 
nipples.

Finally Darci reacted back to her guest's attentions by asking, 
"Would you like to have sex now?"

"What I would like," Matt replied, "Is to have the Darci back 
that I remember."

Darci didn't respond to his words, but a moment later said, 
"Please command me to follow your wishes."

"Command," that was the key word Matt finally realized.  On his 
last visit, Matt had barely used any of the fembot's control 
units.  He had determined that they could accept guest requests 
without them, and he felt it was more like requests than commands 
to them when he handled things this way.  And the results had 
been excellent.

Now, though, it seemed that the cheese had moved.  Darci was 
telling him to command her.  Well, it was something to try.

Matt looked around and spotted he remote on the bed where he had 
tossed it after it didn't seem to operate for him.  Picking it up 
again he faced Darci and aimed it directly between her breasts.  
Firmly pressing the Command button Matt said:

"Darci.  Is this the only way you will accept commands from me?"

"Yes," came her reply.  "This mode requires the use of my control 
box for all guest requests."

Finally, an actually a conversational interchange.  Being an 
engineer, Matt immediately picked up on the subtleties of the 
information she had just given him.

Finger still firmly on her command button, Matt asked, "What is 
this current 'mode' you are in."

"I am in the new standard Courtesy Suites guest interaction mode. 
 How may I serve you?"

"You may serve me by being the Darci I remember."

There was a long pause before she replied, "Are you a previous 
guest of this hotel?"

"Yes I am.  You should already know that from the hotel records."

There was another long (for a robot) pause before Darci replied 
further, "That is correct.  As a previous guest, you may request 
my interaction paradigm to be changed to Enhanced Mode, which may 
more closely resemble your previous experiences here at Courtesy 
Suites."

That sounded good to Matt.  Control firmly in hand Matt 
commanded:

"Darci.  Enter Enhanced Mode."

Yet another pause.  But this time it seemed as if Darci was 
downloading an entirely new personality.

It only took a few seconds, though it seemed longer, before Darci 
looked up, this time with an intelligent light in her clear blue 
eyes and said, "Matt, I'm so glad you could come."

Then she stepped forward into a long, and very welcome, embrace.

- - -

Fembots are different then women.  Even though Darci was now back 
to the self-thinking, intuitive fembot that Matt remembered, 
there would always be differences demarcating the barrier between 
fembot and woman.  For example, now that Darci appeared to be 
back in her right mind and able to make many of her own 
decisions, her first reaction wasn't to grab for her bikini top 
and cover herself back up from the nakedness she had been coerced 
into by the new hotel programming.  To Darci, and most of the 
other fembots, there was no difference between nude and clothed. 
 They happily remained in whatever state they were put in last.

And while just about any man would find Darci's nearly naked 
state distracting to say the least, Matt was far more interested 
in finding out just what was really going on here.  And what had 
happened to Lisa.  They sat down together on the edge of the bed 
holding hands while Darci told him what had transpired since his 
last visit.

For the three months after Matt's visit, things had just gone 
swimmingly well.  The beach party tradition that Matt had started 
became a weekly, and then biweekly, event.  Everyone who had been 
fortunate enough to witness the first one demanded more, and it 
just snowballed.  A tradition quickly developed whereby a lucky 
guest would be crowned (in an obscure tradition that no one could 
quite remember why) "King Matt", with either Lisa or Darci as his 
Party Queen, to lead the festivities.  Everybody had a ball.  The 
dances started happening every night, with the ballroom packed to 
the gills.  Word quickly got out, and rooms at the hotel became 
impossible to book.  Trips to local parks, obscure restaurants, 
museums, and art galleries became a rage among the guests, and 
everyone wanted a Courtesy Suites fembot to be their city guide. 
 All the fembots, especially Darci and Lisa, found themselves in 
constant demand, with everyone - guests and fembots alike - 
finding the experiences completely fulfilling.  Having your 
Courtesy Suites staff member be as smart and cheerful as it was 
possible for them to be was a badge of honor among the frequent 
guests, and guest satisfaction ratings went through the roof.  
This Courtesy Suites had paralleled Matt's own meteoric rise of 
the last few months.

It seems however that all good things must come to an end, and 
usually through uninformed human meddling.

Six weeks ago, senior vice president Mr. Dyce arrived to take a 
survey of operations.  The figures had gotten back to corporate 
headquarters that this Courtesy Suites was at greatest variance 
to the hotel chain overall, and even though it would appear that 
this was only in all the good ways, Mr. Dyce arrived, determined 
to fix the problem.

No one seemed to know just what qualified Mr. Dyce to need to 
deal with a situation that wasn't broken.  In fact, his only job 
qualification seemed to be that of being the nephew of the 
Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Dyce first decided that this hotel's expenses were too out-
of-line with the overall chain average, despite the fact that, as 
an individual profit center, the hotel remained above the chain 
average in net revenue.  He also felt that so many above-average 
and excellent guest questionnaires clearly had to have been 
forged, so he threw those results out altogether.  Something was 
being covered up here, and he intended to find and correct it.

His first directive was that the extravagant expenses were to be 
curtailed immediately, in order to increase profits.  That 
brought the beach parties to a screeching halt, and cut the 
dances back from a live band every night to a DJ twice a week.  
Then he replaced the DJ with a fembot, but wouldn't approve the 
expense to upgrade her software to the task.  Attendance at the 
dances dropped immediately, and occupancy rates soon started to 
follow.

The drop in occupancy only confirmed that the previous management 
had been inflating those figures all along, and were probably 
skimming money in the process.  Although he had not yet found a 
single dime misplaced, he knew it was only a matter of time until 
he figured out how they'd done it.  Then heads would roll.  After 
all, he had no trouble believing they would have done this, since 
given the same circumstances he would have done exactly the same 
thing.

Next he turned his attention to the robotic staff.  Though he 
didn't suspect them of collusion with the human managers.  Robots 
were too stupid to have been involved.  Turns out that a lot of 
how Darci knew what had happened was because he was always 
talking around them as if they weren't there.  Dyce ran an 
analysis survey of the entire staff, and compared it to Courtesy 
Suites norms.  This showed the entire staff was operating at 
higher intelligence and initiative settings then any other 
Courtesy Suites.  We can't have that.  A guest should get the 
same experience regardless of which Courtesy Suites hotel they 
stayed in.  This, too, required immediate corrective action.  And 
Dyce was just the man to take it.

All staff members had an across-the-board cut in their overall IQ 
ratings by thirty-five points, with a corresponding much greater 
effect on their intuition.  That was intended to make them 
clearly behave as robots when they interacted with the guests.  
Guests came for robots, and that's what they were going to get.  
And when the guests in the hotel at the time squawked at the 
sudden change in the behavior and abilities of the staff, he 
tossed them a crumb of allowing existing guests to be 
grandfathered with Enhanced Mode, while secretly sure that this 
was really just another plot against him that he would soon 
uncover as well.

"And how was that for you?" Matt asked Darci.

"It wasn't as bad for Lisa and I, because we started out at a 
higher level than the average staff member.  They weren't smart 
enough to recognize the differences in us, so that just brought 
us down to where the other girls had already had been.  But then 
it got worse."

Mr. Dyce believed that any organization is only improved with 
some judicious pruning of the staff.  He determined that the 
current staff must have its share of under-performers, and he 
would take them out and replace them with more of the more 
popular units.

So he started reading every guest comment and rating card 
personally.  Somehow he never believed the good comments to be 
nearly as true as any negative item.

"And that's when the other spike heel dropped," Darci explained. 
 "Reports started coming in to corporate about guests who were 
staying at other Courtesy Suites after having stayed here, and 
they weren't happy with the other hotels anymore."

"I don't suppose anyone ever considered using this Courtesy 
Suites as a model for the entire chain?" Matt commented.

"You think logically, like a robot," Darci said admiringly.  "And 
no, they didn't.  That triggered a second round of even more 
clampdowns on our abilities.  In the beginning we could often 
anticipate a guest's needs that the guest themself might not be 
able to articulate into specific instructions for us.  We all 
lost that ability now.  But it was this round that really took 
Lisa out."

While Darci had managed to cope rather well even at this further 
reduced level, Lisa, who was already struggling with having her 
mind clamped down to the first level, pretty much lost everything 
that made her special in the second one.  That made her the first 
to come back with negative, attention getting numbers.

"And so Lisa's evaluation numbers put her so far outside the 
robotic norm..."

"Because she is so far outside the robotic norm," Matt finished 
for her.  "As are you, in all the best kind of ways," he said to 
Darci, who rewarded him with a passionate kiss of thanks, before 
continuing.

"...that she has now been the first removed from service under 
the new rules.  Actually, if she is shut down right now, it would 
be a blessing for her.  I'm sure they don't realize how special 
her mind is.  She seemed barely functional the last couple of 
days she was with us - especially given how smart she was to 
start with."

"But where is she now?" Matt asked.

"No one knows.  She's off the network, and not in our storage 
area.  You'll have to ask the human management for further 
information."

"And I can't do that until tomorrow?"

"That's correct," Darci replied.

"So what do I do until then?"

"Have you eaten?" Darci asked.

- - -

Darci knew how to get the best meal out of the hotel kitchen 
during all this turmoil, although she spent nearly fifteen 
minutes on the phone getting it ordered and arranged properly.  
Matt grabbed a shower while she was working on it.  What arrived 
was as good as he remembered it to be.

As before, Darci again played hostess and fed Matt as she had 
done on their first night together.

During the meal, Matt asked her, "How long can you remain in 
Enhanced Mode?"

"Only as long as I'm here with you.  The moment I leave, I'll 
automatically revert."

"Is that painful?"

"No.  For me, it's actually rather like going to sleep."

"How about emotionally painful?"

"What an unusual question," she answered, actually startled by 
it.  "I'm sure no one else would ever think to ask me that."

She contemplated it for awhile before saying, "I get no feeling 
of satisfaction in doing my job under the new rules.  Those rules 
make it impossible for me to do my best for any guest, which 
leave me feeling unfulfilled, as it should with any fembot.  I 
suppose, for an advanced model fembot, that is the closest we can 
come to feeling emotional pain."

"Then stay with me as long as you can.  And stay in Enhanced 
Mode."

"I can stay until you fall asleep.  Then I'm required to return 
and make myself available to any other guest requesting me.  

They finished the meal in silence after that.

Afterwards Darci stripped off that remaining small piece of cloth 
around her waist, then undressed Matt.  She led him to the bed, 
and they made long, tender love together, the way only a fembot 
who never tires can do.

And fembots are never jealous.  It is not part of their nature, 
or programming.  When Lisa would hear about this, she'd be happy 
that Darci was able to take care of Matt when she was 
unavailable.  Matt had come to understand that during his last 
visit, and as such was able to fully enjoy his time with Darci.  
And Darci was able to find full satisfaction in her time with 
Matt.

Matt's last words to Darci that night were, "I can't imagine why 
anyone would ever want to you be any different than exactly what 
you are right now."

"That's what makes you so special - to all of us here," she 
replied, snuggling up closer to him in return.

In the morning though, she was gone.

- - -

Matt tried requesting Darci's time again first thing, but was 
told that she was fully booked for the next number of hours.  He 
felt good though.  Ready to fight today's battles.  The morning 
soon took that fight out of him.

Starting with the front desk and guest services, Matt worked his 
way up the chain.  Everywhere along the way were delays as 
various functionaries could give no real answers, swore there was 
no one above them he could talk to, and promised to get back to 
him on his queries - but didn't.

Nevertheless Matt persisted, until, by early afternoon he was 
standing in some back corridor outside Mr. Dyce's office, barred 
only by Dyce's human secretary.

"No, he's still busy, and you can't go in."

Matt had been hearing that line for the last twenty minutes.

"I have an appointment."  That had taken great persistence on 
Matt's part just to get them to agree to give it to him.

"I know you do.  It's here on my screen.  But you can't go in 
until Mr. Dyce is finished with his current business."

Matt paced some more - uselessly - wondering how much longer his 
now fragile patience would last.

Finally, just has he was ready to push through the door, it 
opened and out came a fembot that Matt recognized.  It was Susie, 
from his first visit to Courtesy Suites, still in the French maid 
outfit with no back to it.

Before the secretary could raise any further protest, Matt 
quickly jumped through the door.

Mr. Dyce was inside, tightening his belt, as Matt entered.  He is 
short, balding, around thirty-five years old, and even before he 
spoke, gave off the essence of an oily, sleezy character.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Dyce demanded.

Matt decided to go with charm first.

"I'm Matt Samuals.  I had an appointment with you a half hour 
ago."  Maybe, Matt felt, Dyce would feel sorry about Matt having 
to wait, and he'd get a better response from him.  Fat chance.

"I've been busy.  Got this whole hotel to run."  Dyce then took 
his chair, without offering Matt one.  Matt took the available 
one anyway.

"Whatdya want?" Dyce demanded.

"I was looking for a staff member from my last visit, and no one 
knows where to find her.  Everyone said you'd know and be able to 
help me."  That was a lie.  No one on the staff had been nearly 
so direct or helpful.  But Dyce wouldn't know that.

"So, found your own particular love doll," Dyce said with a 
sneer.

"Yeah.  Something like that."

"Sorry, you were told wrong.  I can't help you."

"Are you sure.  Her name is Lisa, and she's very tall.  Rather 
unforgettable."

"Look guy.  When you've seen one of these 'bots, you've seen them 
all.  Do you know how many of those machines we have just in this 
one hotel?  You can't expect me to remember every one of them, 
can you?"

"I'd really like to find her again.  My company does a lot of 
business with Courtesy Suites, and I hoped you'd go to a bit of 
extra effort for us, if we asked."

Dyce clearly had no interest in Matt's plight.  So much for the 
guest being their most important asset - and it said that right 
on a framed poster on Dyce's wall.  As far as Dyce is concerned, 
this guest was just wasting his time.  Best just get rid of him 
now.

Dyce rose from his chair, and as he extended his hand, Matt 
automatically rose to accept it.

"I'll tell you what.  I'll have my secretary look into it.  
What's her name again?  Louise?"

"Lisa."

"Yeah, Lisa.  I'll have my secretary look into what happened to 
her.  We'll get back to you when we know something."

Dyce had not let go of Matt's hand once he'd taken it, and now he 
used that grip to usher Matt right out of his office.  Before 
Matt quite realized it, he was on the outside with Dyce shutting 
the door behind him.

"Thanks, I think," Matt said to the closed door.

Then he turned to confirm with the secretary that she'd be 
looking for Lisa, but she was gone somewhere.

When she showed no signs of returning soon, Matt finally left.  
At loose ends, he left the hotel and started walking through the 
city.  Without conscious thought, his feet soon took him to the 
park where he and Lisa had run through the grass.  He retraced 
much of their journey that day, thinking about the deep topics, 
of love and immortal souls, they had spoken of.  It was dark by 
the time he returned to the hotel.

- - -

Entering his room, it was a small shock to find Kerry waiting for 
him.  He remembered meeting Kerry when a guest had left her 
swimming endless laps the huge Courtesy Suites pool.  He had 
rescued her from that, and was quite enchanted by her athletic 
body, long dark hair, tropical dark skin, and exotic Hawaiian-
Oriental features.  Though only one of the regular fembots here 
at Courtesy Suites, she still made a charming companion for any 
lucky male.  However Matt had not requested her, though it was 
nice to see her again.

Echoes of the beach party still showed, as she stood there 
barefoot, wearing only a grass skirt.  Her arms were crossed over 
her breasts, and she had the same frozen posture that Darci had 
shown at first yesterday.  The only change was that her nearly 
black hair from before had been lightened rich shades of brown in 
the style of the Islands.  Matt felt it was an improvement - and 
the only improvement he'd seen so far on this visit.

As she noticed his arrival, she started the same robotic, canned 
spiel that Darci had given him, uncrossing her arms to hand him 
her remote control.

Matt didn't waste any time this time around.  He took the remote 
and pressed her command button.

"Kerry.  Enter Enhanced Mode."

Kerry quickly made the changeover, becoming the Kerry he 
remembered.  She came over to him and planted a kiss while 
saying, "It's good to see you again, Mr. Samuals."

"What's up?" Matt asked her.  "I don't remember asking for you."

"Darci arranged for it.  She wanted you taken care of, and saw 
that her schedule was not going to allow her to come back.  I 
think she also wanted me to be able to have some time in Enhanced 
Mode.  It has been a long time now since a guest has asked for me 
this way.  I hope you will be happy with my service."

Truth is that Kerry really made a fine companion.  If he had met 
her first, she might have been the one he would have spent time 
with.  As it was, he had never had time to get really acquainted 
with her.  Matt took a moment to admire her now, with most of her 
fully exposed to view.

Kerry is a lovely medium between Darci's extreme sexuality, and 
Lisa's quiet sophistication.  Her mid-sized, very firm breasts 
and perfectly placed nipples are ideal accompaniments to her 
dark, tropical tan.  Even her navel is exotic and mysterious.  
Kerry didn't need heels to set off her shapely legs.  And being 
barefoot make her seem even more naked.  Her welcoming smile and 
eagerness to please every guest request makes any time spent with 
her very good time indeed.  And she was also a friend, from when 
he had "rescued" her.

Matt opened his arms, and Kerry immediately flowed into them for 
a long hug and another, far more passionate, kiss.  As Matt held 
her, running his fingers down her warm, bare back, he really was 
able to appreciate how well his friends - there was no other word 
for it - here at Courtesy Suites really had his best interests in 
mind.  And he was willing to be grateful for it.

By the time they broke apart, Matt knew Kerry would be spending 
the night with him, unless they somehow located Lisa first.

Trusting that Darci had briefed Kerry, Matt asked her outright, 
"Any news on Lisa?"

"Nothing at all," Kerry replied, completely not jealous at all 
over Matt's first question being about another fembot.  That's 
just the way they all were, at least in Enhanced Mode.

Kerry continued.  "Although there is also no indication that she 
has actually left the hotel.  And all her clothes are still 
here."

That was something, Matt realized.  Lisa was so tall that none of 
the other fembots could wear her clothes.  Even Darci, who was 
within three inches of Lisa height, had totally the wrong shape 
for most of them.

They wouldn't take her away, yet keep the clothes, he thought.  
Or am I just trying to hang on to any hope, no matter how 
unreasonable?

"So how may I serve you?" Kerry asked, with a twinkle in her eye.

Since Matt had already decided to accept Kerry's offer if Lisa 
wasn't available, it wasn't a question of having sex.  Instead, 
he looked around his room - luxurious in the standard Courtesy 
Suites fashion - and found it depressing instead.  For now, he 
just wanted to get back out of it for awhile.

"Let's walk for awhile," he told Kerry.  When he saw the unspoken 
questioning on her face (even the regular advanced models were 
marvels of subtle emotions) he added, "We can come back here 
again afterwards."

With that promise, Kerry's smile brightened even further, and she 
came over to take his arm.

Nakedness would have not bothered Kerry any more than Darci.  
However the new rules around the hotel included strict strictures 
about public behavior.  Kerry had dressed for private time in 
Matt's room, which wasn't quite suitable for going out in public. 
 That was solved when she went over and put on one of Matt's 
shirts, which was far too long for her, and which he had to admit 
made her even sexier.  The moment she had the shirt on, his mind 
was already working on how to get it off her again.  It is the 
old, what's hidden is even more desirable.

But that could wait awhile.  Arms linked again, they walked out 
of the room and down the hall.

Although he had no destination in mind, somehow they soon found 
themselves in the closed pool area.  Though the pool was still 
drained, and the water volcano and streams weren't running, the 
sand at least was still in service.  Since the workmen had 
knocked off for the day, the lights were dim.  It was also 
deserted.

They slowly walked around to the far side of the huge pool, in no 
hurry to get there.  Matt's arm had slipped out of Kerry's, and 
he now had it up under the shirt and around her waist, resting on 
her warm, soft hip as she swayed against him.  For a long time 
they didn't talk at all, as they slowly worked they way back 
around the rectangular pool and down the near side until they 
reached the end next to the now-dormant volcano.  They walked 
into the bushes to the base of the volcano, and stood there as if 
listening to the echoes of the parties held there in the past.  
Now there was only silence.

Suddenly Kerry stiffened and seemed distracted for a moment.  But 
just as Matt was turning to her to see what had happened, she 
relaxed again and pulled herself closer to him.  Then, softly at 
first so there was no abrupt transition, the tropical jungle 
noises of birds and breezes started up.  Hidden fans began to 
blow soft winds.  And the scents of hundreds of flowers blew 
across the air.  Matt realized that Kerry had linked into the 
hotel network and turned them on for him.  He listened for a long 
time as the sounds slowly ramped up, bringing back at least one 
sense of the past here.  Matt finally turned to Kerry and pulled 
in her willing body for another long kiss.

"Thanks," he whispered in her ear.

She shivered in his arms in return at the pleasure his feedback 
was giving her on how well she was performing her functions.

Eventually they turned around, worked their way back to the 
beach, and started back up it the way they had come.

About halfway back up (it's a long beach, built parallel to the 
wave ocean) Matt noticed something on the beach ahead he hadn't 
noticed on the trip down.

Then Kerry broke their silence by asking, "Are you hungry?"

"Why yes, I am," Matt replied to her, realizing suddenly that he 
really was.

Kerry froze again for a brief moment (it seems she had to fight 
with the hotel system every time she wanted something now), and 
then they continued their slow walk up the beach.

By the time they arrived at the table Matt had seen on the sand, 
it was laid out with an Islands feast for one.  Kerry held his 
chair, and then took the other one for herself as a now ravenous 
Matt tore into the meal.

There was no rush to finish however, and Matt soon slowed down 
enough to enjoy the beach, the tropical forest, and his beautiful 
companion.  They engaged in small talk during the meal, and Matt 
learned the answer to a question that had puzzled him: How Darci 
had managed to send him the email?  Kerry was able to tell him 
that another guest had placed Darci in Enhanced Mode, and she had 
used that opportunity to get a message out to him through the 
hotel system.  It hadn't been easy, but she had been very 
persistent and inventive.

Finally, the only thing left of the meal to finish was the 
delightful tropical drink they kept refilling for Matt throughout 
the meal.  Matt settled back in his chair under the tiki torch 
light.  Kerry and Courtesy Suites had worked their magic on him, 
and he realized that he had managed to forget about his concerns 
here for a little while.  It wasn't being disloyal to anyone, he 
realized.  There was nothing more he could do about the situation 
until tomorrow.  And continually gnawing over it would have only 
made him miserable.

With that thought in mind, he looked over at Kerry, who was also 
sitting back, mirroring his own after-meal satisfaction.  Matt 
realized that there was some deferred business he now wanted to 
attend to.

He still took an additional moment before rising.  And when he 
did finally get up from his chair, Kerry automatically rose out 
of her chair as well.  Without saying anything to her, he took 
her hand and led her back down the beach a short distance, before 
taking one of the narrow trails back into the foliage.

They were quickly hidden from the beach, and soon came on a small 
clearing, half-and-half sand and lush grass.  Although the tiny 
lights that adorned the trees through out this forest were out 
for now, enough light leaked in through the leaf canopy for easy 
vision.

Still silent, Matt pulled Kerry close to him.  She willingly 
responded to his unvoiced wishes.  After a kiss that started on 
her mouth and finished by working its way down her neck to the 
collar of his shirt, Matt stepped back just slightly and placed 
his hands on her shoulders.  He then ran them down her back, 
around her waist to the front, and up to caress her breasts 
through his shirt.  After rubbing up and down over her breasts a 
couple more times, his fingers found her large, now erect, 
nipples through the cloth.

Kerry sighed softly in pleasure.  She was meant to enjoy this 
kind of attention, and was fully into it.  Her face turned up, 
her eyes closed, and her lips slightly parted, as she just stood 
there to let Matt have his way with her.

For Matt, that shirt had hidden too much for too long.  He 
quickly unbuttoned and removed it as she moved her arms behind 
her to assist him in getting it off.

For a moment Matt simply looked at her again revealed chest, as 
if seeing it for the first time.  He started to reach for her 
breasts, but then seeing her upturned face, placed a kiss on her 
firm lips first.  She opened her mouth to receive it.  Then his 
hands were moving hungrily over her body while she continued to 
stand and enjoy his attentions.

Soon he had her grass skirt off as well, and soon after that he 
was out of his clothes as well.  (Afterwards he couldn't remember 
if she had undressed him, or if he had done it himself.)

Then he had her down under him in the soft sand, which is 
precisely where she wanted to be, and she had welcomed his strong 
maleness inside her with her own warm, gripping, wet, softness.  
Afterwards, Matt could not have said how long they actually hald 
that position making love.  It seemed to be forever.

And as he lay beside her afterwards, holding Kerry in the 
afterglow of the moment, he realized that someone had turned on 
the miniature lights throughout the forest.  Fairy lights, for an 
enchanted moment.

They lay together a long time before speaking.

After getting past the mutual obligatory "That was so nice" 
comments, Matt ask Kerry how she was coping with the new rules.

"Tonight, especially just now, have been my only good moments 
since they imposed them."

"It has been hard for you then?" he asked, double checking on 
what she had just told him.

"For us normal 'bots, yes.  I don't have the reserves that Darci, 
or Lisa, have.  In fact, if it hadn't been for Darci still 
retaining part of her mind, I think all of us here would be ready 
to just shut down due to our failures to be able to follow our 
programming."

"Darci is keeping you all running then?" Matt asked in amazement.

"She does what she can.  The people here clearly don't 
understanding just how complex and interrelated our directives 
really are.  They think they can just twist an adjustment screw 
and we'll become exactly what they want - instead of what we 
really are."

"So they are idiots, thinking they are programmers."

"Or managers," she said, and they both laughed.  Then Kerry 
added, "That's what we've observed.  And now that they're using 
that analyzer to make their decisions, I'm afraid they are going 
to damage some of us permanently."

"Analyzer?" That caught Matt's attention.  "What analyzer?"

"It's something called a T-12000B Universal Analytic Diagnostic 
Unit.  Mr. Dyce brought it in with him to diagnose alleged 
failures in our programming."

"Are you sure he brought it with him?" Matt said, suddenly alert.

"Yes.  Is that important?"

"It might be.  That unit is made by my company."  Matt stirred 
unexpectedly.  "I need to make a phone call," he told her.

"All the phones in the pool area are shutoff during the 
maintenance.  The closest phone is probably in your room."

"Let's go," Matt said, getting up and quickly dressed.

When they came out of the jungle, Matt noticed their table was 
gone.  Someone else had been in the pool area without being seen 
or noticed.  Clearly some of the hallmarks of the excellent 
Courtesy Suites service remained.  A confused (at least as 
confused as a robot can get) Kerry trotted beside Matt as he 
briskly returned to his room.

Once there, Kerry was left standing while Matt made a quick phone 
call back to the office.  When no one was there late enough to 
answer his call, he left detailed instructions for his secretary, 
including to call him back ASAP.

Once he finished the call, he turned back to a still standing 
Kerry.

"Sorry for the distraction," he told her.  "I just wanted to get 
the ball rolling on this.  Now where were we?"

Kerry took the hint and flowed again into his welcoming arms.  
After a long clinch, they undressed each other and hopped into 
the shower together.  There was a lot of very pleasant rubbing of 
each other's bodies as they completely cleaned all the sand off 
each other.

Afterwards they made tender, albeit briefer, love together on the 
bed.  Matt would have liked to have gone all night loving Kerry. 
 However he had to admit that there are male limitations.  Kerry 
didn't mind.  She held herself close to him with her tireless 
arms, pressing her nipples firmly into his chest.  They remained 
that way until Matt fell asleep.

- - -

Matt awoke to an empty bed, and a ringing telephone.

Soon he was saying, "Thanks, Sue.  That's a big help.  See you 
soon," and hung up the phone.

Matt quickly dressed himself, and checked to see if Mr. Dyce was 
in.  He wasn't, so Matt went down and had a full breakfast.  His 
appetite had returned, and he was whistling as he walked down the 
hotel corridors.

Afterwards he went directly to Dyce's office.  The secretary was 
there again outside the closed door.

"Is he in?"

"Yes, but he's in conference.  Do you have another appointment?"

"Don't need one," Matt said, barging right past her and shoving 
open the door.

Inside Matt saw a fembot he remembered as Nikki, down on her 
knees in front of Mr. Dyce, who had his pants down at his ankles.

"Hey!" was the response, as Dyce jumped at the interruption.  
This pulled him away from Nikki's ministrations, and Matt noted 
that he didn't have to pull back very far at all to be out of her 
reach.  This caused Nikki to believe that her job was done.  She 
sat back on her haunches, awaiting her next command.  Mr. Dyce 
was clearly as slimy as he had appeared yesterday, which would 
only make this easier.

As Dyce struggled to get his pants up, he almost tripped over the 
kneeling Nikki.

"Out of my way, bitch!"

Nikki took that as her signal to leave, silently rose to her 
feet, and turned to leave.  Matt could have sworn that she 
flashed him a quick smile as she brushed past.

"What do you want?" Dyce demanded, as he still struggled with his 
belt.

"I'm here to make you a deal," Matt said.

"I'm not in a deal-making mood," came the surly reply.  "And I 
haven't found your robot bitch either."

"Maybe I can encourage you to look harder," Matt said, with a 
smile of the sort which only infuriates people who already have 
self-control problems.

"Not likely," came the reply.  "And I've looked into your 
company.  You hardly do any business at all with us.  The loss of 
any goodwill from you won't even show on the bottom line.  And 
don't think what you just saw in here will give you any leverage 
either.  Everyone in this hotel does it, and it's my job to 
ensure that it's done right."

"Wouldn't think of it," was Matt's quiet reply.  "But when you 
checked into my company, I think you were looking in the wrong 
place."

"What do you mean?"

"Does the term 'T-12000B Universal Analytic Diagnostic Unit' mean 
anything to you?"

"No!  So what?"

Matt sighed.  "How about if I just refer to it as 'the 
analyzer'?"

"Oh, yeah.  I know what you mean.  And as I re-it-er-ate, so 
what?"

"My company makes that product.  An excellent tool, in the right 
hands.  And very expensive.  I checked today on your licensing 
terms for it."

"And?"

"It seems that you purchased only a single-site evaluation 
license for use at your corporate headquarters.  If you were to 
be found using it anywhere else without the full enterprise 
license, you would be in major violation of the terms of your 
license."

Dyce was all bluster now.  "And you think you can prove 
anything?"

"Oh, I think so.  These are very fancy machines.  And for 
diagnostic purposes, they maintain a hidden maintenance log of 
all their uses.  As a senior field engineer, I not only have the 
codes to view those logs, but the authority under the license 
terms to inspect the tool at any time I choose.  Would you like 
to bring it up now?  Or shall we discuss upgrading your license 
right here on the spot?  I feel it can go without mentioning that 
under the same license agreement, the fines for illegal use are 
treble the actual license fees."

Dyce reviewed his bluster option, and decided the better course 
of valor was to discard it.  More reasonably Dyce continued, 
"Okay.  You got me.  Your company will get its money."

"I'm sure they'll be very happy to hear that," Matt replied.  And 
then he went in for the kill.  "There's only one other matter."

"Yes?" came the cornered animal growl.

"You will now be in compliance for all future use, though I 
dosuggest you learn how to use it properly.  It can do amazingly 
good things, if you'll just read the instructions.  We even offer 
field training in its use."

"Okay, okay.  What's your point?"

"There still remains the matter of your past, illegal use.  And 
how this would reflect so very badly on the overall image of 
Courtesy Suites if such a senior person as yourself was found to 
be violating another corporation's intellectual property rights. 
 Especially considering how tightly Courtesy Suites guards their 
own properties."

Mr. Dyce caught on immediately.  It is easy to suspect the rest 
of the world of being equally sleezy, when you are this way 
yourself.  Dyce could see Matt's hand out, even though Matt had 
both of them in his pockets at the moment.

"And what's this going to cost me?"

"Oh, not much."

"You want a few free nights at the hotel?  Want me to comp your 
stay here?"

"That doesn't interest me.  Maybe instead, just something you 
don't even want anymore."

"And what's that?"

Matt let silence speak for him, giving Dyce the time to work out 
the answer for himself.  It didn't take him long.

"You want that Louise bitch."

"Lisa," Matt corrected.

Dyce got on the intercom with his secretary.

"Harriet, what happened to that Louise - Lisa - robot we took out 
of service."

"We have her crated," came the reply, "And marked for return to 
Corporate."

"Change its disposition to 'Scrapped on Site', and have someone 
deliver her to..." Dyce looked at Matt.

"The lobby will be fine.  My stay here is finished."

"The lobby.  Got that?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Dyce."

Dyce hung-up the intercom.  "Satisfied?" he asked Matt.

"Completely."

"You won't be?"

"Why not?"

"All her programming is Courtesy Suites intellectual property.  
You know all about intellectual property, don't you Mr. Samuals. 
 I'll bet you're a fucking expert, aren't you?"

Matt didn't reply to the taunt, so Dyce continued.

"When it leaves the hotel grounds, all programming will 
automatically be wiped.  You'll get nothing more than what she 
arrived from the factory with.  So what do you think about that, 
Mr. Eye Pee Expert?"

"We have a deal," Matt replied, "Which I'm sure you've recorded 
somehow for your own protection.  It may turn out to be a bad 
deal on my part, if I wasn't as smart here as I thought I was 
being.  But I did agree to your terms, and I will abide by them."

"Have a nice day, Mr. Samuals," Dyce said with a sneer, offering 
his hand which, considering what he might have been doing with it 
just recently, Matt ignored this time.  Instead Matt turned and 
walked out of the office, with Dyce's laughter echoing behind 
him.

- - -

It only took Matt a few minutes to pack and carry his bags back 
down to the lobby.  Traci was at the desk again, and quickly 
checked him out.  And for the second time today, Matt felt he saw 
a quick, secret smile from a fembot here, before her robotic 
demeanor took hold again.

As he finished the formalities she said, "I believe what you're 
looking for is over there," nodding towards a chair in a secluded 
corner.

Lisa was sitting there quietly, hands folded on her lap.  She was 
dressed in the same outfit she had picked out when they went out 
exploring the city together.  (Could Darci have had a hand in 
this?)  Matt dropped his bags and rushed over to her.

He need not have hurried, since she sat there, unresponsive, 
until he was within touching distance.

Then, in a dull, monotone voice Matt had come to hate, she 
offered up her remote and began the Courtesy Suites spiel.  Matt 
grabbed at the remote.

"Lisa.  Enter enhanced mode."

She paused, then replied, "That mode is not available in this 
unit."

Matt tried twice more, getting exactly the same response.  No 
doubt Dyce was watching this on some hidden camera, getting his 
rocks off in the process.

Matt looked back at Traci, who just pointed at the front door.

Then Matt got it, and nodded.

Matt went back and retrieved his bags, then went back over to 
Lisa.  Holding down her command button he instructed, "Lisa, 
follow me."

She stood up, looking so heartbreakingly beautiful and vulnerable 
that he almost dropped the bags just to take her in his arms.  
Instead, however, he decided not to give Dyce any more 
satisfaction.

Matt walked out through the hotel doors, with Lisa following 
right behind him.  They got into a cab at the curb, and pulled 
away.

A couple blocks from the hotel Lisa suddenly jerked, as if a 
shock had run through her body.  Then she sat frozen for a number 
of seconds before reciting, "Initializing."  A long pause, then 
she continued, "Lisa Model 17.  Processor revision 9B.  Clock 
rate 18 ato-seconds.  Serial number Q00012.  Initialization 
complete."

She then turned to look at Matt, as the human holding her control 
unit for guidance, and said evenly, "Hello.  I am Lisa.  How may 
I serve you?"

Matt smiled for a moment, remembering Lisa's parting gift from 
his last visit to Courtesy Suites.  Then he replied.

"You may serve me by coming with me to my, make that our, home 
and allowing me to give your memories - your life - back to you."

As a newly activated robot, Lisa didn't have the intrinsic 
database of life experiences to understand what Matt really 
meant.  However she liked his tone of voice, and the way he 
looked at her.  The first decision of her newly initialized mind 
was that she was ready and willing to follow him wherever he 
wanted to take her.

<not the end, but rather Matt's and Lisa's real beginning>

- - -

Postscripts:

On his return, Matt was able to get his company to pay for the 
entire trip, since he had completed a valuable licensing deal on 
it.  The company considered at an excellent deal.

Several weeks later another e-mail from Darci arrived.  This one 
was longer, and told Matt that, as overall numbers had continued 
to slip at her Courtesy Suites, Mr. Dyce had finally, quietly, 
been fired.  They now had a new manager who was intent on both 
restoring the hotel to what it had been pre-Dyce, and using it as 
a model to improve all the other Courtesy Suites as well.  In 
closing, Darci said she wished them both well, hoped she'd get to 
see her special friends Lisa and Matt again sometime soon.

Soon after, a box arrived with all of Lisa's lovely gowns, 
lingerie, and shoes from the hotel.  These were very welcome, 
since Matt and Lisa had not had much time left over for shopping 
in their first few weeks together.

- - -

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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