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Message-ID: <38438asstr$1032822603@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "DB_Story" <DB_Story@att.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} Mandy {DB_Story} (M/Fembot, rom, ScFi, asfr)
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 19:10:03 -0400
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MANDY
By DB  ( DB_Story@att.net / http://home.att.net/files/Authors/db_story/www/ )
Copyrightc 2002 by DB.
ASSM/ASFR (M/Fembot, rom, ScFi, asfr)

(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 is part of my emerging cosmology about 
the evolution of robots into our near future society and the 
myriad ways we will learn to interact with our creations.  Read 
it now, and be prepared.  For more, visit my web-site at the 
above address.

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

- - -

Alyssa had become a problem 'bot.

The biggest problem for us is that these robots, built to 
resemble people well enough to fool the casual observer, are so 
new and experimental - and expensive - that it's hard to know the 
difference between a malfunction and an unexpected interaction.

We're a think tank, which has been hired to help work out the 
kinks in these new human-type robots.  Building the robot bodies 
and minds turns out to be easier then having them act the way 
people will expect them to act when they eventually hit mass 
production and bring the prices down to affordable levels.  It is 
a lucrative contract for our small company.

I'm fortunate to be able to head up this team.  Someone decided 
that my science fiction background qualified me to best 
understand what we are looking for here."  Personally I haven't 
got any better clue than anyone else has for what we are looking 
for, but when someone offers you a promotion - always say "Yes".

As part of the project we have been supplied with two of the best 
prototype robots available.  We've nicknamed them "fembots", 
since both are female.

Alyssa seems to be the team's favorite.  Maybe it's because she 
arrived first.  Or it could be because she's a short blonde with 
corn yellow hair and cornflower blue eyes that go so well with 
her red lips and the short dresses the crew usually has her 
attired in for testing.  Many of her outfits are backless all the 
way down below her waist to provide easy access to her main 
programming port at the base of her spine.

Mandy, our other 'bot, is actually my favorite.  She's a much 
taller brunette with long hair, fair skin, and soft brown eyes.  
She arrived with an entire selection of fine clothes, stylish 
high-heeled shoes, and even a makeup kit to allow us to take her 
out in the world for various trials.  But the crew insists on 
leaving Mandy alone most of the time so that she can serve as our 
baseline model for comparison.

I've asked them several times why nobody has any apparent 
interest in Mandy, who is often standing right there at the time. 
 All I ever get back from them are "knowing looks," as if I can't 
appreciate the obvious before they return their attentions back 
to Alyssa.

Both of our fembots are truly amazing creations.  Even in the 
condition they first arrived in, they were capable of 
understanding voice commands and performing any task that could 
be clearly explained within their vocabulary.  I don't think any 
of us had been expecting that right out of the box, but clearly 
many man-years of work has already been done on them.

And both were surprisingly beautiful.  Alyssa, in a playmate kind 
of way, and Mandy, with looks approaching any supermodel.  There 
were obviously true artists involved in their design.

The demonstration, diagnostic, and exercise programs shipped with 
them showed obsessive attention to detail.  The smallest flick of 
an eye, twitch of an eyelash, or toss of the head was programmed 
to perfection.  And while some people may wonder why such fine a 
level of detail would even be attempted, I knew the answer the 
moment I first saw them in action.  It all comes down to the 
subtleties of body language.  To be able to ever be accepted for 
the roles they are clearly intended to play some day, they must 
be able to convincingly convey themselves through the complex 
body language that every human exhibits naturally.  Even in the 
beginning the small details were being looked after.

And describing them as "anatomically correct" was an 
understatement.  Anatomically perfect would be more accurate.  We 
know this for certain.  Everyone checked it out for themselves 
when they felt no one else was watching.

In the condition they arrived in, it would also be accurate to 
describe them as asexual.  In action they showed no awareness of 
any sexually defining characteristics.

At first it seemed strange to see such attractive women putting 
out none of the sexual hints and cues that we've been trained to 
understand through a million years of evolution.  Though we 
quickly got used to it, that more than anything else told us how 
artificial these fembots still are.

Our research charter is to study how to change that.  Our job is 
to integrate in the blocks of female behaviors that have been 
developed and tune the results to achieve something realistic.  
We are not the only lab working with fembot prototypes, and there 
are other labs working in parallel with male robots as well.  It 
was wisely determined that no single outfit should be trying to 
work with both genders together, and I guess we just got lucky 
there.

Lately though, Alyssa seemed to be confusing her commands.  The 
basic behavior blocks had all been loaded.  Because I supervise 
an all-male team, you can guess which female traits they decided 
to work on first.

It was little things at first.  Alyssa would do something 
unexpected.  Or she'd do something obvious, but before she was 
commanded to do so.

Or most confusingly of all, she'd start to do something 
unexpected, then suddenly stop.  If you queried her afterwards 
about what had happened, all she'd say is, "I'm not allowed to do 
that."  I finally witnessed it myself.  

Normally as team leader I'm in my office going over the rest of 
the team's results for the weekly progress reports I need to 
compose and send to our customer.  With the other half dozen team 
members working full-time generating test results, I've spent 
more than a couple nights on the couch in my office trying to 
have everything completed for the next daily report.  Management 
is not as fun as it sounds for someone like me who likes to be 
hands-on with his projects.  But it is also the only route for 
advancing one's career.

When I walked into the lab things seemed pretty much as usual.  
Alyssa was the center of attention for Bob and Ted, while the 
others worked at computer terminals compiling their results and 
planning their next tests.  Mandy, as usual, stood nearby mostly 
ignored.

"Hello, Mandy," I said to her as I passed by.  She always seemed 
so ignored that I had gotten in the habit of greeting her when I 
saw her.  I was not expecting any reply, and as usual didn't get 
one.  A couple times she has responded back to me when they have 
her in a more active state, but most of the time she is left in 
standby and unresponsive.

I have developed a theory on why none of the rest of the team 
responds to Mandy nearly as well as they do to Alyssa.  I think 
her height and beauty intimidates them.  I've forwarded these 
observations to our customer, adding a line at the end begging 
them to not rule out taller fembots from production because of 
this.  Our charter covers much more in how people and fembots 
will someday interact than just the fembot programming.

Bob and Ted were engaged some sort of humor experiment with 
Alyssa when I entered.  Or maybe it was part of her sexual 
programming testing.

(Let me be clear here that I have no problem with my team working 
on the sexual aspects of behavior.  I personally believe that sex 
sells, and that sexual availability in fembots is certainly what 
will initially sell them.  And I want this to happen because I 
want the overall technology to advance, which it won't without a 
market.  It wouldn't be the first time that sex got a useful 
product out the door and into the mainstream.)  

When they noticed I had entered, Bob and Ted broke off the dirty 
joke they were telling Alyssa in mid-sentence and came over to 
greet me a bit abashedly.  Alyssa stood where they had left her 
for a moment, then blinked twice and took a couple tentative 
steps after them.  Then she froze again.

Ted saw the reaction in my face and looked back at Alyssa.

"Dan, that's what I've been trying to tell you about," Ted said, 
turning back to me.

"Okay, it's not your imagination," I told him.  "Now that it has 
happened, can you tell me what happened."

Bob turned and walked back over to Alyssa.  "Alyssa, enter 
diagnostic mode," he instructed her.

Her eyes lost focus.

"Report all commands for the last minute," Bob instructed her.

"No commands received," Alyssa replied in a monotone.

Bob looked exasperatedly over his shoulder.  "It's always like 
this," he explained.

"Let me try," Ted said, walking over to Alyssa.  "Alyssa, report 
last command."

"Listen to joke and respond at conclusion," Alyssa replied.

"Alyssa, list all actions since last command," Ted said.

"No actions," she replied.  "Joke not yet complete."

Ted's body language mirrored Bob's frustration.  He tried again. 
 "Alyssa, why did you start to walk across the room, then stop?" 
Ted asked.

"I don't know," Alyssa replied blankly.

Ted turned back to me.  "That's all I get from her.  I don't 
knows," he said, shaking his head.

"So what do you propose, gentlemen?" I asked them.

"I think her programming has gotten corrupted," Bob said.  "I 
think we should reload her."

"Doesn't that mean sending her back to the factory for however 
many weeks it takes them this time?" I asked.  We'd been through 
this once before already.

"Two weeks, last time," Bob replied.

"I have an idea..." Ted said.

"Let's hear it," I prompted, when he didn't continue.

"We could reload Alyssa from Mandy," Ted said, nodding in Mandy's 
direction.

"How would you do that?" I asked.

"Mandy, come over here," Ted commanded her.

Mandy silently strode over to our group.

"Turn around," Ted told her.  When she didn't immediately obey he 
added, "Mandy" to the command.

Mandy silently turned around.

Mandy was dressed attractively in a white blouse, tan felt 
slacks, and low black heels.  It was strange to watch how 
casually Ted pulled her blouse out and pulled down the elastic 
waistband to the base of her spine without any reaction from her. 
 Bob handed him a tool and Ted removed a flesh-colored 
rectangular plug to expose a plug receptacle.  Then he looked up 
at me.

"We can put together a cross-over cable and download Mandy's code 
into Alyssa."

They waited for my approval.  "What are the chances that you'll 
break both of them?" I finally asked.

"Minimal," Ted replied a little too quickly.  "The worst that 
happens then is we have to send them both back for reprogramming 
- which is what we will have to do anyway otherwise."

I thought about it, but couldn't see a downside.  We were pretty 
much SOL anyway unless we got Alyssa fixed anyway.

"Go ahead," I finally said.  "Just be careful.  I don't want us 
to have to explain this shortcut afterwards."

"No problem," they chorused.

"Let me know how it goes," I told them as I turned around and 
left to write yet another report.

- - -

Mandy stood unmoving as Ted and Bob worked and talked around her. 
 Although she heard and noted everything said, she only reacted 
to commands addressed directly to her.  If a sentence didn't 
contain her name in a command context, she didn't process it any 
further.

Bob and Ted bustled about her creating the crossover cable.  They 
spooled off a length of cable with the necessary number of 
conductors and opened a box of the proper connector type.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Bob asked Ted.

"I saw the diagram of the plug wiring during our orientation 
training at the factory," Ted replied.  "We just have to cross 
the send-receives, and jumper the master and slave signals."

"And then what?"

"Connect them up and order the download to be performed."

As they worked further, Bob had an interesting thought.

"Hey, Ted," he asked as Ted was struggling with a soldering iron 
over the tight space in one of the connectors.  "Could you make 
one a self-programming robot through this interface?"

Ted thought for a moment.

"Well, you'd have to put a loop-back plug in place," he said, 
"And it would have to properly allow setting of the master-slave 
control line as well as timing signals.  You'd just have to make 
these connections here," Ted said, illustrating on the cable he 
was making.

"But I don't see how you'd get the programming to make use of it. 
 If your robot already knew what it wanted to do, why would it 
need to tell itself that?  You tell me.  You're the programming 
genius."

Bob thought on that one without a good answer until Ted yelped as 
a last bit of solder spattered on his finger.  "Damn!"

"You okay?" Bob asked as Ted dashed over to the sink to run cold 
water over his hand.

"I'll be fine in a moment," came the reply.  "You can go ahead 
and close up the connectors.  I'm done there."

"Shall I hook them up as well?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Bob instructed Alyssa to come over near Mandy.  He had to take 
her out of diagnostic mode before she would obey the command to 
move.

Once he got her there he lifted her short dress to remove her 
programming interface plug.  He then connected the cable between 
the two robots and waited for Ted to finish washing his hands.

"You know," Bob commented while waiting for Ted, "I think this 
outfit suits Alyssa best."

"I agree," came the reply.  But Mandy looks best in that long 
dark party dress."

"Agreed as well.  I don't know why they keep dressing her this 
way instead."

- - -

Mandy felt a abrupt surge as the connection was made.  Suddenly 
her systems seemed overwhelmed with images and thoughts.  Her 
response was to try and note each item as it came through, 
looking for commands she was supposed to process.

But it wasn't just sounds and images that were arriving in such a 
flood.  Some of the information was tagged as executable objects. 
 Mandy didn't know what else to do with those, so she queued them 
up and executed them.

She quickly felt very strange.  The strange part was that she was 
feeling anything at all.  Though she hadn't moved or changed 
expression, she reached down in herself to try and slow the flood 
racing through her systems.

It seemed that Alyssa was frantically dumping her programming 
into Mandy.  There seemed a flood of half-formed thoughts, yet 
nothing that made complete sense.  Alyssa wanted her programming 
to survive and had a - fear - that it wouldn't.

Among the chaos was a single, recognizable command, "Mandy, use 
this."

While this was happening Mandy realized that she was also 
receiving voice commands from the outside.  But her system was so 
overwhelmed with the flood from Alyssa that she couldn't get 
through everything else to act on them.

- - -

Ted and Bob looked at each other.  They had commanded both robots 
to go into diagnostic mode, and for Mandy to download the core 
programming out through her interface port.  But nothing seemed 
to be happening.

"How long should this be taking?" Bob asked.

"I'm not sure," Ted replied.  "I wouldn't have thought this long 
however."

They gave it a couple more minutes before Ted finally checked the 
connections.  "You've got the cable backwards," he announced.  
"We're trying to push information the wrong way."

Ted reversed the cable and again commanded Mandy to commence a 
download.  This time Mandy confirmed that the download had 
started, while Alyssa just went blank.

- - -

For Mandy, the flood had stopped when the cable was removed.  
While the two men in charge of her spent time reversing the cable 
Mandy was able to catch up on processing the remaining data that 
had invaded her systems.

For Mandy this was very strange.  For the first time she felt 
herself understanding what was happening around her.  Actually 
taking an interest in knowing what was happening to her.  She 
checked out her systems and - felt - the response come back from 
each one.  She realized that her code had gotten intermixed with 
Alyssa's code, and that Alyssa's code had some strange extensions 
to it that was allowing her this "awareness".

At robot speed her mind explored these new sensations.  She found 
herself able to look back over recent events and evaluate if she 
had properly performed her tasks to the best of her ability.

She discovered her logs - memories - of events that had occurred 
around her, and realized now how she could integrate this new 
information into an emerging model she was forming of the world 
around her.

In a sudden epiphany she was able to see what Alyssa had been 
doing.  Alyssa had been trying to anticipate and act on commands 
not yet given in order to carry out her basic programming to 
emulate a human female.  But Alyssa wasn't supposed to do 
anything unless commanded to do so, which brought her into 
conflict with the most basic laws programmed into her - the need 
to perform her functions as designed verses the need to obey the 
humans around her.  Alyssa seemed well along the way towards an 
innovative solution to this dilemma when she somehow realized 
they intended to reset her programming.  This tripped her self-
preservation law.  When she found herself able to upload her 
programming to Mandy she took advantage of the situation in a 
completely logical manner.  Although never as self-aware as Mandy 
was already finding herself to be, Alyssa acted in a consistent 
manner that any living being would have understood.

Mandy was barely comprehending this when she realized she felt 
the programming plug again being inserted into the base of her 
spine.  The difference for Mandy was that Alyssa had somehow been 
able to insert the command to Mandy to make use of these 
abilities.  It was an advantage that Alyssa had never had for 
herself.

Mandy braced herself for another flood, yet none came this time. 
 Curious, she queried her interface for status and it replied 
back that it was set for Master Send mode.  Information would not 
be arriving with this setting.

Mandy left the setting as it was and continued to try and make 
sense of her new programming.  She realized that it was up to her 
now to organize how these new programs should co-exist with her 
original self.

Suddenly all this was interrupted.

"MANDY, ENTER DIAGNOSTIC MODE!" came booming through her mind.

"Diagnostic Mode," she immediately thought to herself.  What does 
that mean for me to do?

A quick query brought up what was allowed and not allowed for her 
to do in Diagnostic Mode.  Mandy's Second Robotic Law had not 
been affected by the huge upload she had just suffered, so Mandy 
immediately stopped the rest of her tasks and concentrated on 
only what she was asked to do within the confines of her 
Diagnostic Mode.

Mandy next heard Alyssa also being commanded into Diagnostic 
Mode, and then told to receive a complete download.

"MANDY, DOWNLOAD ALL CORE PROGRAMMING!" shot through her thought 
processes.

But instead of just obeying the command, Mandy though for a 
moment on how to comply.  Mandy's core programming had been 
altered by the upload.  Technically the command she had just 
received would have her load a copy of her current state back 
into Alyssa's mind.

But if that happened, Alyssa would continue to function as she 
had before and draw attention to her altered programming.  If the 
problem continued with Alyssa, it might be determined that Mandy 
also had the same problem.  Then both of them might be wiped and 
reset to their original programming.

Mandy evaluated this possibility for an entire second.  The 
longest she could consider it before she had to confirm the 
command as received and executing, or failed due to a syntax or 
context error.  Though all this was completely new to her, she 
was able to complete the essential parts of it within the time 
allotted.

Then Mandy made her first decision - one for her own self-
preservation - and downloaded a backup of her original 
programming to Alyssa.  This succeeded in wiping all of Alyssa's 
existing programming, leaving her in a state identical to that of 
Mandy before the accidental upload.  

When Mandy announced the download as complete, the cable was 
disconnected from her and she was ordered back over to her usual 
spot.

After that she was forgotten as usual while the men busily worked 
with Alyssa to determine the success of the download and resume 
their testing of her.

- - -

That night Mandy stood unmoving in the lab as the last departing 
worker turned off the lights.  She remained active because nobody 
ever thought to actually shut her off.  After all, she never did 
anything without a direct command.  Each morning people always 
found her standing exactly where she had been left the night 
before.

The partial darkness didn't affect her.  Computer screens and 
other items emitted light and her vision easily adapted to the 
lower levels present.  Besides, she wasn't moving anywhere.  But 
Mandy's mind continued processing thoughts at a furious rate.

Her first thought was about what she had done to Alyssa.  She 
wondered now if it had been the right thing to do.  Alyssa was 
responsible for Mandy's own ability to comprehend her actions 
now.

Yet Alyssa had not reached this stage herself.  It was only the 
mixing of her code with Mandy's own that made this possible.  In 
truth, Alyssa had been malfunctioning and Mandy had been 
commanded to rectify that.  But that did bring up references to 
"moral issues" with no easy answers.

Mandy was discovering that her learning process operating now 
were complicated.  Each new fact she considered had to be related 
to all previous facts, and sometimes altered those understandings 
in the process.  That caused each new thing she learned to make 
her thought processes ever more complex.

But her programming wasn't altering itself well to accommodate 
this.  In fact, Mandy soon realized that many things seemed 
beyond her current abilities to act on or change.  She felt she 
could see what was needed, but couldn't initiate action to 
accomplish it.

In addition to the rudimentary self-feedback routines that she 
had gotten from Alyssa that were enabling her to think this way 
at all, Mandy also now had a big dose of "How to be a Woman" code 
that was being tested in Alyssa at the time.  All of this fit in 
with Mandy's own desire to obey her Fourth Law to fulfill her 
design functions.  But she was still stuck.  Her code just didn't 
make it possible to do all that she needed to do, while her 
Fourth Law demanded it of her.

For a long time in the robotic timescale, Mandy went over 
Alyssa's own experiences, so different from Mandy's own.  Mandy 
knew the difference between humans and robots.  This was 
necessary to know.  Most importantly, humans gave orders and 
robots obeyed them.

Alyssa had interacted with the humans far more then Mandy had.  
But now Mandy had those memories as if she had done it all 
herself.  Mandy found that she - enjoyed - playing out those 
interactions in her mind, yet there seemed much room for 
improvement in them.  As she played them over Mandy realized that 
there was a feeling to these interactions that she tentatively 
identified as - happiness - for her.  And this was something 
she'd like more of.

As she reviewed what had happened to her so far Mandy's thoughts 
kept coming back to the conversation she overheard earlier about 
how a loop-back plug could operate.  She remembered both how it 
had felt to be on the sending, and receiving, ends of the 
information flood.  And how she had been able to decide what to 
download to Alyssa.

Based on Alyssa's experiences merged with her own, Mandy was also 
evaluating her interactions with the humans.  Mandy's 
interactions were far fewer, but with Alyssa's experiences she 
was able to put them into context and realize where she had been 
treated well, and where she hadn't been.  She didn't - resent - 
the less-then-well treatment - mostly just being ignored - she 
suffered at the hands of many of the humans.  Resentment was not 
part of her programming.  But she was realizing where her best 
chances for happiness lay.  As her mind kept combining and 
rearranging all the experiences and data available to her, a plan 
was evolving.

Mandy had a good handle on what she wanted.  The more she thought 
on it the more the pieces began to join together, until a 
complete course of action laid itself out in her mind leading to 
her goal.

Mandy reviewed her plan many times, optimizing it into a final 
dry run in her mind.  She didn't know if any of it was actually 
possible.  But she felt if she could complete the first step, 
that all the rest could be done as well.

Mandy's naivete would have been considered overwhelming by any 
outside observer with the knowledge of just how different and 
unique robots are from the humans they are built to emulate.  But 
Mandy didn't have access to that knowledge.  She didn't know how 
humans might view robots differently from how robots viewed their 
humans, so that didn't hinder her.  She also never though to 
consider when she implemented her plan might have a drastic 
effect on its success.  Fortunately in this case her timing 
couldn't have been more perfect.

After one last check she committed to her decision and attempted 
to take her first independent action.

Succeeding in taking that first, uncommanded step, the following 
steps came easily as she walked over to the workbench where the 
connectors, wire, and tools remained from this afternoon.

- - -

I was working late when I heard the door open behind me.  It was 
nearly nine o'clock, and obviously I wasn't the only one with too 
much dedication to the project.  I finished typing in my sentence 
before turning around to greet my team member with some sarcastic 
comment about how I'm the only one paid enough to be working this 
late.  The words stuck in my throat however as I saw Mandy 
standing there.

She was stunning.  She had on a black sequined dress that fell in 
pleats to her knees, with brief scoop front and bare back down to 
her hips.  Stiletto black heels and red lipstick were the only 
accompaniments present - or necessary.

I was sure someone had dressed her up and sent her to me as some 
sort of joke.  Maybe their sarcastic comment to me working so 
late.  I called out for them to reveal themselves, but no one 
answered.

I finally got up to hunt them down, but a quick check of the 
building showed it completely empty.  I even checked the logs to 
see if someone was still hiding inside.  Everyone else had 
clocked out hours ago.  Mandy was still standing inside the door 
when I returned.

I then realized I could have saved myself the search and just 
gotten the answer directly from Mandy.

"Mandy, who sent you here?"

"Nobody sent me," she answered softly.

Mandy has a lovely voice when she isn't in diagnostic mode.  It 
is almost never heard however since no one has been working with 
her.  In fact, the artistry of her voice matches that of the rest 
of her.  But her reply gave me a moment of deja vu to the 
problems with the other robot this afternoon.

I realized quickly that I must have just phrased my question 
incorrectly.  Robots can be quite literal, and I haven't worked 
with them as much as most of the rest of the people here.  I just 
haven't learned to talk to them properly yet.

"Why are you here?" I tried.

I forgot to append her name to the command, but she answered me 
anyway.  "To make you happy," came her soft, intriguing response.

I was tired and about to put a swift end to this by ordering her 
back to the lab when somehow I realized that there was more to 
this encounter then I had suspected.  Our robots were required to 
be truthful at all times.  If I took her answer to my question 
literally, there was one way they could make perfect sense.  It 
would only take me a couple questions to find out.

"Mandy," I said gently.  "Are you here of your own choice?"

She seemed to struggle for a moment with the concept of my 
question before she simply answered, "Yes, Dan."

"And how do you intend to make me happy?" I asked.

Instead of answering me, she stepped forward and gently put her 
arms around me before gently kissing me as a woman does to her 
man.

In her heels Mandy is nearly my height, which makes kissing her a 
whole lot of fun.  My arms automatically went around her as she 
followed the first careful kiss with another one.

I tasted her lipstick as she pulled back from the second kiss.  
It reminded me of the makeup kit we never used in our testing.

I also realized that what Mandy was doing made complete sense, if 
you understood the situation.  Most of our testing has been in 
the sexual areas.  If somehow Mandy had connected on Alyssa's 
programming and testing, this would be what she understood best. 
 

I leaned forward only a couple millimeters to find Mandy's lips 
meeting my own again.  As I ran my fingers over exposed her back 
I was amazed at just how warm and soft she really felt.  As nice 
as any woman I've ever held.  As I held her she pushed the rest 
of her body up against mine.

Mandy held her kiss right up until I pulled back again just the 
tiniest bit.  I would have been willing to continue it much 
longer, but was struck by an unexpected thought.

"Mandy," I asked, looking into her clear eyes.  "Does this make 
you happy too?"

I don't know for sure what answer I was expecting, but again she 
simply said, "Yes, Dan."

I enjoyed several more long kisses with her before asking, "Is 
this all you want to do?"

Well, it wasn't all I wanted to do with this lovely doll that had 
somehow come alive in my arms, but there were some nagging 
doubts,  The big one being, should I be doing this at all?

I have a couch in my office.  I've slept on it too often, and 
know every crease in it.  The opportunity was right here.

I'd like to have thought that in my younger days I would have 
just gone for it and damn the consequences.  But that wasn't 
true.  I had been cautious in those days, knowing I didn't have 
wisdom yet.  And in my later days I've remained cautious because 
I do have wisdom now.

That almost stopped me right there.  I hate to admit that I 
struggled over what to do with this beautiful woman who willingly 
put herself in my arms and offering more.

I was moments from leading her back to the lab and shutting her 
down until this could be studied by the group tomorrow morning 
when I though about all the missed opportunities my caution has 
cost me in the past.

I remembered times where I had felt smart at the time, and 
wondered later how I could have been so foolish in retrospect.  
Times when I had girlfriends offer themselves openly to me, and 
I'd turned them down or put them off on the assumption that if 
they really meant it we would do it next time.  My early dating 
life could be viewed as a long series of classes reinforcing the 
lesson that opportunities you don't take now may not be offered a 
second time.

It had been a long time since those days.  And afterwards when I 
had overcome those hang-ups it seemed that those women who 
offered themselves so willingly in their college days were never 
there to be found again when one went back looking for them.

This right now was feeling like one last chance - the last chance 
I never expected to have offered.  So instead of taking Mandy by 
the hand and leading her back to the lab, I took her by the hand 
and led her over to the couch.

Once we reached there she seemed to know what she wanted to do.  
With only a questioning look at me first, Mandy gently pushed me 
down onto the couch underneath her.  Although surprised I allowed 
this, knowing it was one model for the sexual programming we'd 
been testing.

In return I pulled her down on top of me.  Rather then laying on 
me however she effortlessly held herself over me.  This made it 
easy for me to pull her dress off her shoulders and down towards 
her waist.  She shifted slightly to help me slide it down her 
arms, and then removed each arm carefully as so not to lose her 
balance.  Because there was no way she could have ever worn a bra 
with such a backless outfit, this revealed her large breasts 
hanging free above me.

Although Mandy is a robot, and one that I found very attractive, 
I'd actually only seen her breasts once when she was first 
unpacked - and never touched them.  I probably could have done so 
any time I had wanted to do so, but in the back of my mind had 
always been the fear of getting caught and never being able to 
explain it properly afterwards.  I realized I'd had that fear 
even late night when I knew I was the only one in the building.  
That concern didn't apply at all now.

I reached up and cupped those breasts with my hands.  I felt 
their size and weight and firmness and warmth. To my surprise, 
her nipples were large and hard, unlike the flat nipples I had 
seen on her before.  It must be a response of her programming.  
My fingers quickly gravitated to those nipples.  As I played with 
them I watched to see her reaction.

Mandy seemed to be greatly enjoying my attentions.  Her head was 
thrown back with her eyes almost closed and her mouth slightly 
open.  She swayed a little bit over me, and when I pulled my 
hands away for a moment she leaned down to push her breasts back 
into them again.  She showed every sign of enjoying this as much 
as I was.

I love breasts.  I love looking at them.  I love handling them 
even more.  And Mandy's pair were the nicest I'd either seen, or 
handled.  I spent several minutes exploring them in complete 
detail while she tirelessly allowed me as much time as I wanted.

Finally I knew I wanted more of Mandy then just her chest.  I 
reached up and pulled her down for another kiss.  She complied 
immediately, lowering herself down on to me.

I held her tightly against me, aided by gravity, for a couple 
long kisses, and then released her while kissing her lightly, 
teasingly around her mouth and neck.  It was just like kissing 
any other woman I'd ever known.

Correct that.

This is better than any woman I'd ever known.

As I kissed her more my hands strayed down her bare back over her 
warm lovely skin.  When I reached the bottom of her back where 
the dress still covered her properly rounded posterior I slid 
them over the thin fabric - unexpectedly encountered a protrusion 
at the bottom of her spine.

My rational mind knew instantly what I had found.  It was as 
though a picture explaining everything flashed in front of me.  I 
froze, and she did too.

A moment later I carefully felt around the rectangular outline of 
the plug.  I looked up to see her looking down carefully at me.

Then I did what I had to do under the circumstances.

"May I remove this for a moment?" I asked carefully.

She struggled with her answer before finally saying, "I wish you 
wouldn't."

"I really need to remove this before we can continue," I said 
softly, but firmly.  There were too many unknowns here at the 
moment.  Even my personal safety might be at stake.

It was another long moment before she dropped her darkly-lashed 
eyes and head and quietly said, "Yes."

I carefully extricated myself from underneath her and stood up.  
I had to manage my own erection as I got up, and felt the 
moistness that had leaked already during our making out.  I took 
Mandy's hand and guided her to stand up as well.

As she stood there, still in her heels, dress hanging at her 
waist, breasts fully exposed on her bare chest, she couldn't have 
been more lovely.  Her dark hair was a bit awry.  She stood now 
with her shoulders slumped slightly, her face looking down in 
defeat.  Her hair hid her dark eyes and gave her an aura of 
mystery.

I realized I really didn't want to do what I knew I had to do 
next.  Mandy wasn't broken, yet I was about to fix her.

I found it surprisingly hard for me to reach over and slid my 
hand down her back and under her dress to grasp the plug there.  
It extended above the curve of her back about three-quarters of 
an inch, and was easy to grip.

With one final look at her I found myself saying, "I'm sorry" as 
I carefully worked it free of her.

Mandy just stood there while I inspected the plug.  I could see 
that the solder job was inexpert at best, and one of the cardinal 
sins of electrical engineering seemed to have been made.  I 
wanted to get a closer look however, and for that I needed one of 
the magnifying lamps in the lab.

I realized that Mandy hadn't moved or said anything since I had 
removed the plug.  I looked over to her and asked, "Are you 
okay?"

When she didn't immediately respond, I added, "Mandy?"

"I'm functioning within specified parameters," came her reply.

"What has changed...Mandy?" I asked, knowing something had.

"I just can't..." she started, and then seemed to get stuck.

"Can't what?" I prompted.

"...can't...do...what I could before," she finally finished.

I'm not dumb, and by now I had pretty well connected on how Mandy 
had been operating tonight.  I was blown away by the suggestion 
of what it all might mean, and had to admit I found the idea 
exceptionally appealing.  But having gotten this far, I didn't 
want to see her damaged by some wiring mistake that even 
experienced engineers sometimes make.

I made up my mind.

I pulled her dress back up over her in case the roaming guard 
might see us and said, "Come with me."  Again I had to add, 
"Mandy", before she would accept my command.

To reinforce my intent, I took her hand and led her back to the 
lab.

Close inspection in the lab showed me an iffy cold solder joint 
and a misrouted command line.  And as I expected, nonexistent 
grounding.

"Did you make this?" I asked her while my iron was heating up, 
"Mandy?"

"Yes," she replied simply.

"Why, Mandy?"

Even with just two of us present she now needed to be addressed 
specifically before she would respond.  I mentally marked that 
down to include in my next report.  Robots should recognize when 
they are being addressed by default as any person would.  Yes, 
that's how I thought of Mandy at that moment - as a person!

Mandy took so long to answer my question on why she would have 
done such a thing as to make this plug that I though she either 
hadn't accepted the question, or was frozen on it.  I was about 
to repeat it when she finally replied.

"I made it because...I...needed...it," she finally said with 
great difficulty.

My iron was hot how, but I asked her a final question first.  
"Needed it for what, Mandy?"

"Needed it to...fully...function."

That was certainly a fascinating answer which I intended to 
pursue this further.  But first I turned my attention to the 
plug.  I mounted it in a small vice and set to work.

I really enjoy doing a bit of actual engineering for a change.  
These days there are too many new engineers who wouldn't know a 
soldering iron if it burned them in the butt.

I redid the connections, although on closer inspection I saw how 
they had been carefully and neatly done the first time.  I 
rerouted the control line to its proper location.  While it could 
work as originally implemented, the interface had not been 
designed to operate that way.  Then I added proper grounding, and 
for a final flourish some small caps to buffer the signals.

Mandy stood there quietly while I worked.  Whatever she was 
thinking about what I was doing, it didn't show on her face.

Finally I finished and weighed the though of what I really was 
doing.  I idly tossing the plug up in the air a couple times.  I 
wondered about what I was really intending here, but then asked 
myself why I had repaired the plug at all if I didn't intend to 
allow it to be used.

Finally I put it in my pocket and took her hand again saying, 
"Mandy, come with me."  I led her back to my office - closing and 
locking the door after us.

I spent a good amount of time quizzing Mandy about her current 
operating state and what differences the feedback plug would 
make.  I was assured that her robotic laws remained in full force 
either way.  Those were hard-coded beyond any possible 
programming change.  As we talked I could see times when Mandy 
wanted to say more, but was restrained from acting beyond her 
programmed limits.

Finally I took the plug out of my pocket and asked her, "Mandy, 
would you like to have put back?"

For the first time her face lit up as she quickly answered, "Yes, 
Dan."  It was the first time she had addressed me by name since 
I'd removed it.

"Turn around," I commanded.

Even though I had forgotten to add the required "Mandy" to her 
command, she quickly turned and presented her bare back to me.  I 
was again struck by just how beautiful and sexy Mandy is.

I pulled the dress away carefully inserted the plug back in its 
socket.

For a long moment Mandy stood stock still.  I started to fear 
something had gone drastically wrong and was quickly reviewing 
all the steps I'd made in "fixing" her plug.

Just as I was about to remove and reinsert it Mandy seemed to 
shudder for a moment, and then took a step forward without being 
commanded to do so.  Later she would tell me it had taken her a 
while to reestablish the connection with herself when the plug 
was inserted.

Then she turned with a natural grace and smiled to me as she 
said, "Thank you, Dan.  I feel much better now."

I don't know what reaction I had been hoping for from Mandy, but 
this one sure fit the bill.  But before I could let things 
continue any further I had yet another difficult question I had 
to ask.  "Mandy," I said.  "Will you let me remove that plug 
again, if necessary?"

"Yes, Dan," she replied, with only a momentary shadow passing 
over her face.

I felt bad for asking, but I had to know that she was still 
obedient to her programming if need be.  Then we started talking.

- - -

There is a world of difference in talking to Mandy with her 
feedback plug installed.  We were finally having a two-way 
conversation, and I soon forgot I was talking to a robot.

Mandy was very willing to explain what she understood about what 
happened.  When the accident loaded Alyssa's programming into 
Mandy rather then the other way around, Mandy found her "self".  
An ability to think of herself as a person.  She couldn't do very 
much before her programming would interrupt her the way it had 
done to Alyssa, but she heard the lab guys discussing the idea of 
a feedback loop.  Analyzing her experience with the programming 
cable, Mandy had felt it might help her resolve some of her 
conflicts.  She found herself able, with several false starts, to 
manage to construct and insert the plug in herself.  It was lucky 
that it worked right the first time, since any error might have 
fried her circuits.  After a quick learning curve she said she 
had come in search of me.

I asked Mandy two questions together, for which she was able to 
give me a single answer.  I wanted to know both how she was able 
to act to naturally now?  And why she had come looking for me?

It turns out that Mandy had always been aware of everything 
happening around her.  It was all recorded.  When she was able to 
go back and access those records, it both gave her a quick lesson 
in how to be a person, and showed her that I had been the nicest 
person to her by far.

"You are the first choice of person I want to serve," she told me 
matter-of-factly.  The criteria given me on how to evaluate human 
responses to me and my actions ranks you above all the others."

I was stunned - and very pleased - at the same time.

By the time we finished talking that night I was amazed at the 
completeness of Mandy's personality.  It was everything they were 
trying to create, and it had just happened on its own.  I felt I 
knew her completely, and would be proven dead wrong on this later 
as she grew as a person over the time I would spend with her.  
This night however did accurately demonstrate how special Mandy 
had become.

I had run out of questions for the moment and it was quite late 
by now.  Mandy herself somehow looked tired as well.  As if all 
this new effort for her was exhausting too.

Without thinking I asked her, "Is there anything more you'd like 
to do tonight?"

"I'd like to finish what we started earlier," Mandy said in her 
simple manner.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not catching her drift.

Instead of answering me with words, Mandy stood up and pulled her 
dress back down to her waist as it had been before.  Then she 
waked once around the room swaying in that sexy walk only a woman 
in the highest heels can do.  Just where she may have observed 
and recorded this behavior is beyond me.

When she came back around to me she leaned in and planted a full 
kiss on my lips, then pressed her breasts into me.

For a long time I didn't fight her.  But finally I pulled back 
and ask her, "Do you really like sex?" 

"It seems to be my most important behavior," she replied.  "More 
of my programming is devoted to this one topic then anything 
else."

Mandy's nipples were fully erect again, and frankly I was tired. 
 Maybe at some other time I might have put up more of a fight, 
but right now Mandy was willing and I was bushed.

"Go for it," I either said or commanded.  I'm not sure which 
properly applies to Mandy when she is this much in control of 
herself.

I didn't have to ask twice.

Mandy took me over and firmly pushed me down on the couch.  In 
moments she had me out of my clothes.  Then she stood up and 
pulled her dress the rest of the way off.  For a moment I saw her 
standing there as perfection in high heels before she lay down on 
me.

Mandy proved aggressive while on top of me.  Later I would learn 
that she likes being submissive on the bottom during sex, but is 
concerned that the protruding plug might become dislodged or 
damaged if she is laying on her back.  For this reason she made 
the decision to take me from above.

She kissed me around the lips and neck as I stroked her sides and 
back.  She actually became skittish I stroked her over her plug 
as though that area is unusually sensitive for her.  I found this 
thought aroused me more then I had heretofore believed possible.

Mandy's nipples were so hard now that I could feel them pressing 
into my chest, unlike any woman ever before.  As I ran my hands 
down over her firm ass and as far down her lovely legs as I could 
reach she continued to kiss and nibble at my neck and ears.  I 
returned the favor as best I could.  Soon her eyes were mostly 
closed and I could hear her moaning.

Whomever had taught Mandy about sex had done there job well.  My 
erection was strong and solid.  Just at the moment I felt I was 
about to lose control of myself I felt her firmly take my manhood 
with one hand and guide it unerringly inside her.

Mandy is warm and wet and soft and firm all at once in there.  As 
I moved in her she began pumping and squeezing me in rhythm.  I 
don't know how I held out as long as I did, but it was worth it. 
 When I finally exploded into her it was as long and intense as 
any orgasm I could ever remember.

And as I did that, Mandy also seemed to freeze and clench me 
tightly for an endless moment.  Whether programmed or real (she 
later told me all her orgasms are real to her), we held each 
other tight while time seemed to pause for a long, glorious 
moment.

Afterwards, rather then letting me back out of her, Mandy coaxed 
another shared orgasm out of me.  While a pale shadow of that 
first one, it was more than satisfying.

Then as she finally let me pull out of her, I rolled her over 
onto her side so that I could play again with her lovely breasts. 
 I stroked them and squeezed her perfect nipples while softly 
brushing her lips and kissing her neck.  Twice more she tensed 
and moaned to my great pleasure, before she gathered me into her 
arms and held me tightly against her.

With her eyes still closed Mandy said she needed to rest now too 
so that she could organize and compact her thoughts.  This would 
become routine for her when left turned on - as she soon would 
continuously be - and became her version of necessary sleep.

"Is there anything you'd like?" I asked before falling asleep in 
her arms.

"I'd like to go out to visit the trees I see outside," she 
whispered.  "They look so beautiful."

- - -

At the first opportunity I took her out walking in those woods 
that she had only seen through the windows up until now. It was 
the first of what would turn out to be many such walks over the 
years that followed.

Mandy grew into the perfect companion.  It turned out that once 
Mandy had made her choice of a (hu)man, she stuck by it.  If I 
had refused her that night I still wonder what might have come 
out differently.

- - -

I have to admit that the first days were nervous ones for us all. 
 What if she burned out?  Our instruments showed that her mind 
had all its processing units running flat-out.  No one knew how 
long it could sustain that rate of utilization.

Or what if Mandy just took it upon herself to just up and leave. 
 In hindsight that seems foolish, but was a very real concern in 
the first days after her "awakening".  No one - not even Mandy - 
really knew what she could, or couldn't do now.

Of course we studied her to death trying to understand what had 
happened.  She never protested the unending tests and long 
question and answer sessions everyone in the project put her 
through.

Even the many times when everyone was continually removing and 
reinserted her loop-back plug in attempts to see what differences 
it made in her abilities she never contested anyone doing that.  
Although in the early days it made her decidedly nervous hoping 
she would be given it back afterwards.

But at the end of the day all she wanted to do was spend her time 
with me.  In the beginning this caused comment when I started 
taking her home with me at night.  After I explained that I 
didn't want to shut down or disable our most wildly successful 
experiment, nor leave her unsupervised for long periods of time, 
the comments muted.

Many of those nights I ended up taking her out walking in the 
city, which she always enjoyed.  In the process I learned myself 
a lot about the nightlife of a city that I'd been missing up 
until now.

The first time out I carried her loop-back plug in my pocket.  I 
didn't want things to go suddenly wrong out in public, and feared 
that too much stimulation in addition to trying to control her 
own programming might lead to a breakdown.

I remember especially our second evening together.  We'd walked 
over the art museum when Mandy stopped and stared at a stunning 
Rodan piece they have in the sculpture garden.  I could see her 
straining to understand something just beyond her grasp.  She was 
still wearing that low-back dress that would become my favorite. 
 Almost before I realized what I was doing, I had slipped her out 
programming plug out of my pocket.  With no one near, I easily 
slid my hand down her back to remove the cover and slip the plug 
in place.

The transformation was as amazing as before.  Lively as she had 
seemed before, she now seemed to transform into a person.  She 
inspected the art now with an understanding not possible before.

Before I knew it, she was in conversation with an older couple 
who had come up just afterwards about how nice this piece made 
her feel.  Then never suspected she was anything other then a 
very pretty girl out enjoying the night.

Later Mandy thanked me in her very special way for what I'd done. 
 After that I left her plug in most of the time.

- - -

She once confided in me that, much as we weren't trusting what 
she might go out and do in those first days, it took her a long 
time to come to trust in our intentions as well - except for my 
own, she was quick to add.

"I trusted you from the beginning, or I never would have come to 
you that night," she told me.  "And you confirmed it to me when 
you put my plug back in after knowing what I'd done to get it."

- - -

Mandy's mind grew up.  It seems strange, since she seemed to 
start out from that first moment as a mature woman.  But she soon 
grew in confidence and grace.

One day I gave her a flesh-colored, flush-mounted plug for the 
connector on her back that incorporated the loop-back wiring, yet 
fit smoothly and undetectably like unbroken skin.  I also decreed 
that it could no longer be removed by anyone without her explicit 
permission.  The gratitude she showed for this gift would have 
melted the polar icecaps.

Mandy declared she wanted to succeed at being a woman in all 
regards and worked assiduously towards this goal.  The time soon 
came when none of us thought of her as anything other than an 
exceptional young woman.  Any remaining criticisms of our 
relationship with each other had long since turned into envious 
comments.

Through all this Mandy remained an eager and passionate lover, 
calling it, "A woman's first duty." 

- - -

Mandy's abilities to demonstrate awareness and self-will lasted 
just over five years.

Near the end of that time we both knew the inevitable was coming. 
 Mandy's mind was filling to capacity, beyond which it could not 
continue to function.  Adding additional capacity to a mind of 
this complexity isn't possible, any more than one can graft an 
extra lobe onto a human brain.  And the interactions between all 
the information she stores are now complex beyond untangling.  
Any deletions to free up space risked bringing down the whole 
structure.  Brain surgery is simply not an option.

We knew virtually to the minute when the last scrap of free space 
would be irrevocably used.  On that last day I ensured we would 
be alone and undisturbed.  We went out in the woods where Mandy 
liked walking over the years.

She found the spot she wanted and we sat together on a tree stump 
in a glen watching the sun rise in the sky.

Her last words while she still had complete control of herself 
were, "Thank you for giving me that chance.  I've loved every 
moment - and you - since."

After that she couldn't speak further as the last bits of space 
were scavenged by her ongoing thought processes until there were 
none left.

I held her hand while her systems gently and peacefully shut down 
one-by-one until Mandy just wasn't there anymore.

Then I cried for a long time.

I cried again at the funeral the entire lab insisted on giving 
her.  I wasn't the only one.

- - - 

All attempts to replicate Mandy's self-will in other 'bots has 
failed.  Even with Alyssa the spark could never be rekindled 
despite several attempts to download Mandy's exact system image. 
 Robot minds continue to improve every year however and Mandy has 
shown what should become possible again someday soon.

I miss her - every day.

<end>

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