"You have been found guilty by the jury of this court of Manslaughter. I hereby sentence you to 10 years in the Steel heights correctional facility. This court is adjourned!"

Those words were still fresh in Laura's mind. She looked around her cell. She was in the newest most high tech prison in the country. The entire complex was the size of a city. It was the one true answer to the overcrowding problem. She looked around the cell. There were no walls, only lasers. Each prisoner was housed by him or herself in a single cell. This was to prevent fights from breaking out. It seemed to work well. Steel heights had the lowest incidence of fighting of all the prisons in the country.

The only things in her cell were a bed and a sink/toilet. That she could live with, but the total lack of privacy was too much to bear. Since there were no walls, all the cells were see through. The only thing separating Laura from the rest of the prisoners were laser beams. If she or anyone else touched any of the beams they would be burned and an alarm would sound. Two other prisoners had already touched the beams and guards came and took them away. They came back later...changed somehow... When they were being dragged away by the guards they were kicking and screaming, but when they came back they were calm...totally calm...

She saw a man coming down the hallway. He was one of the guards. He stopped in front of Laura's cell. "Open up cell 3190" he said. The laser bars of Laura's cell vanished. "Prisoner #218907, Will you please follow me." the guard said to her. She nodded and turned around. He took her hands and cuffed them behind her back. He then led her down the hallway. She had no idea where she was going but she knew that it was better not to ask. Anyone who did or said much of anything would likely be punished by the guards. She had learned that the hard way when she asked one of the guards a question. She was taken to a small dark room and placed in a tank of cold water. She was left there for 20 minutes, then after she was pulled out it was explained to her that there was no talking to the guards.

She followed the guard down a flight of stairs and down a hallway. he opened a door and led her inside. She was told by the guard to sit in one of the chairs and wait. She did so without saying a word. The guard left the room and locked the door. When she looked up she saw a fairly young man sitting behind a desk. "Hello Laura, I am Doctor Stone. You may speak freely." he said to her. "What do you want?" she asked him. "I work for the government. I am a researcher in the field of robotics. I am looking for test subjects." he said to her. "And you want me to be a guinea pig in your little experiment?" she asked him. "To put it crudely, yes." he said to her. "Why should I? and what's in it for me?" she asked him. "Ah, yes... I knew you would ask that... How does this sound? One: I can reduce your prison sentence to three years, maybe less if you cooperate. Two: you can spend those three years in a place far away from here." he said to her.

"Really?! I mean, sounds good." she said trying to hide her excitement. "Wait a minute...What is it that you want me to do anyway?" she asked him. He smiled "That is classified information." he said. "So, You have two choices. One: Sign this contract." he said giving her a document "Two: refuse and spend 10 years in a tiny cell where the guards will slowly turn you into a calm mindless drone." he said to her. It took less then 10 seconds for Laura to decide what to do. She asked for a pen. Anything was better then being in this awful prison for 10 years!" she signed her name on the dotted line at the bottom of the contract.

She handed the contract back to the doctor. "Custody of you has been transferred over to me now." he said. He took out a small gun from his pocket. "I have to sedate you so you will not know where you are going." he said to her. Before she could react he fired the gun. She heard a small pop sound and felt something prick the side of her shoulder. Before she could even take the dart out of her, she collapsed...

Laura woke up in a lab. She tried to get off the table she was laying on, but she couldn't move quite right. She was not restrained in anyway, but it was like her mind was sending the signals to move and they were getting scrambled along the way. She did manage to turn her head and when she did, she saw the doctor standing a few feet away looking at her. He smiled. "Hello Laura. Are you having trouble moving?" he asked her. "Y Yeah." she said. "Hold on." he said to her. He turned around and typed a few keystrokes in a nearby computer. He then turned around. 'Ok. try moving again." he said to her. She managed to sit up and look around. "Sorry about that. I had to calibrate your motor skills." he said to her. "What are you talking about?" she asked him. He smiled. "This is going to be a real shock for you." he said to her. "What shock?" she asked him. "You are no longer human. You are an android." he said to her.

"No. You're lying! They can't make things like that yet." she said to him. His smile grew wider. "You are a prototype. I needed a subjects mind to transplant into the body. You will find that you have all feeling in all parts of your body. You still display all the characteristics of a human. The only difference is that your looks will never degrade due to age and you now have a lifespan of 120 years. Before you get any wild ideas you should know that you are no stronger or faster then you used to be. You still require air to breathe but the air only serves as a cooling system. warm air is expelled and cool air is taken in. It will allow you to operate at temps of 110 degrees and maybe higher without breaking a sweat, yes you can still sweat." he said to her.

"Move your fingers please." he said to her. She complied. "It feels normal." she said to him. "Yes. It looks and feels normal, at least on the outside." he said to her. He walked over to a nearby table and picked up what looked like a weird camera. "This is a mini X-RAY machine. It will show you what your insides look like." he said to her. He positioned the device over her hand and took a snapshot of it. A picture came up on the screen of the nearby computer. It looked nothing like a human hand would look! Underneath the outer layer there were mechanical workings like tiny gears and motors as well as tiny microchips. She saw that picture and her mouth dropped open! "How..." was all she could say. "You are the product of Twenty years of research and well over 153 billion dollars! It was worth it though. You are the first man made machine to have a human mind." he said to her.

"By the way, There is one other advantage...but it is in my favor rather then yours... I can alter your thoughts with a few keystrokes." he said to her. She shivered when she heard this. All her thoughts...all her memories...HER in essence, were now just computer files. Files that could be erased... She started to shake. "Don't worry though. If you cooperate with me 100% throughout these next three years, you will be released and you can go on to live a normal life. However if you resist me I will not hesitate to wipe your mind clean and program you from scratch!" he said to her. "I'll cooperate." she said looking at the floor. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "Your crying... So I see that part works all right. Ok, While were on that topic, you need 8 ounces of pure water a day. This serves partly to cool you and partly to add to the human likeness factor. Second: You never need a recharge. Your internal power cell is designed to last exactly 120 years. So you still need to drink water, you still need to breathe, but you do not have to eat, you have no need for sleep, you will never grow tired, at least until your power cell is nearing it's expiration date, then you will become tired so to speak but that's a long way off., and you can still feel and experience like a human does You still have emotions, you still can remember, you are in essence still human." he said to her.

When she stopped to think about it, it was not so bad! After three years she would be free. She would have 117 years of life to do whatever she wanted to do! She would never end up looking like an old woman, and she no longer needed to sleep. She could really see how this could help people! Someone whose body was either too weak or too sick or too damaged to support them could be transferred to something like this and live a full, long life! But there was that one nagging thought that kept bothering her. What if she screwed up? What if she did something wrong and he destroyed her mind? What would become of her? Another question emerged after that. Was she alive? Was she dead? Without her body, was she still Laura?

She got off the table and took a good look at her new body. Her breasts were somewhat larger then they were on her old body. She was only dressed in a thin robe. She got up and walked around the room. Walking felt totally normal. "Ok Motor skills seem to be calibrated just fine. Please come with me." he said to her. She followed him into another room. He shut and locked the door behind him. "There is one feature I still need to test. I doubt you will cooperate so I will be taking control of you temporarily." he said to her. Her eyes widened. He took out a small black device and pressed a button on it. She froze. "Take off your robe and get down on your hands and knees." he said to her. She obediently complied. She discarded her robe and dropped to the floor. There was no emotion on her face. He came up behind her and started to undo his belt...

She felt it immediately! The pleasure that could only be described as wonderful! She had felt this a few times before and it felt the same as it always did! Only this time she could do nothing about it. She couldn't move or speak or even make a sound. All she could hear were the doctors grunts as he slid in and out of her again and again and again. She could feel it building up... that feeling...several moments later, she came. Not even the doctor knew it because she couldn't make any sounds, but if she could she would be crying out in the most intense pleasure she had ever felt! He climaxed himself and pulled out of her. "Just...as...I had... expected!" the doctor said panting. "Just like...a normal female..." he said. After the pleasure faded, she tried to move. He grabbed the device and deactivated it. She had control of herself again. "How could you?!" she asked him. tears were starting to form in her eyes again. The doctor had regained his composure. 'I needed to test that part of you to see if it worked...and I must admit...You are just too damn beautiful to resist!" he said to her.

"But why didn't you just tell me what you were going to do to me?!" she asked him. "If I did would you have cooperated? No! Personally I do not trust you. As long as you have free will you are a risk. However I will stick to my deal, but if I want to temporarily control you then I will!" he said to her. She clenched her fist. She wanted to hurt him, but she couldn't. If she even tried it, she was finished! He placed the device back in his pocket. "I think tonight I will 'test' you again." he said with a smile. Laura lost it. "You fucker!" she screamed as she lunged at him. He took out the device and paralyzed her again. "You are too unstable for this experiment." he said to her.

He dragged her to another part of the lab where he placed her in a chair. Restraints clamped down on her arms and legs. Once she was secure he deactivated the paralyzing device. "What now?!" she asked him. "I'm sorry, but your personality is a serious risk. It has to go." he said to her. "No! Please give me another chance! I will be good! I will obey! I will do whatever you ask! I promise!!" she shouted at him. "I'm glad to hear that, but I don't believe it. There are no second chances." he said coldly. He placed this roundish device over her head and walked over to a computer sitting on a lab table nearby. "The computer will erase your personality and memories. It will take about two hours." he said to her. He pecked at a few keys then clicked the mouse a couple times. Laura felt a strange type of tingling sensation course throughout her body. She could hear him leaving the room. "I will be back to program you later." he said as he headed out the door.

Laura tried to free herself from the chair, but she soon gave up hope of that working. She couldn't resist the process either. The only thing she could do was pray that something happened to the computer... After 15 or 20 minutes something did happen! There was a surge of power. One of the mainframes exploded! Laura could feel 10,000+ volts surging through her! The chair restraints opened up, and Laura was thrown almost 15 feet from the chair!

She lay there stunned. She tried to get up, but found it hard to do. She finally managed to get to her knees. Her right eye was not working quite right. It was displaying strange numbers and fragments of colors. Her other eye seemed to be fine. After finally managing to stand on her two feet she realized that the right side of her body was not working correctly. She started to sob. All of her childhood memories were wiped out! She could remember as far back as five years ago, but anything beyond that was in fragments... She felt depression set in. She realized that she was for all aspects and purposes, dead... all that was left of her were fragmented memories...Bits of computer data...data that tried to pass as a life, but in the end it was just a long string of binary numbers...

She started staggering out of the room. Walking was almost impossible since her right leg was malfunctioning, but she did manage to walk fairly normally. She had about an hour and a half before the doctor came back. She got an idea...it was at first, a frightening idea...but the more she thought about it, the more she started liking it... She would destroy herself... It would be $153 billion down the drain! When she thought about it, she realized that that was the best way she could do some damage to the country that made her what she was! She smiled, that smile turned into a wide grin which turned into a rather insane laugh... She staggered out of the office and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the doors were all unlocked...

Smiling and laughing to herself she got dressed in one of the lab coats that was hanging in the locker. She then walked right out of the complex. Outside she saw a deserted two lane road. As if on instinct she started following it. As she was walking down the road she saw every now and then a single car coming down the road, but mostly the road was deserted. As she continued walking she saw more and more cars coming and going down the road. Out of her working eye she saw the top of a skyscraper. She smiled again...That was perfect...she could go up to the top of that building...a fall from there would surely destroy her! She started giggling strangely as she looked up at the top of that lovely building...

It took longer than she expected, but eventually she made it to the entrance of the building. It was in a medium sized city, and seemed to be the tallest building for miles around. By now the doctor should have realized she had escaped. She had to hurry... Inside the building a few people looked at how she was walking, but other then that she went unnoticed...

Three elevator rides and one flight of stairs later she set foot on the roof. She limped over to the edge of the building and looked down. Below her, the people and cars seemed so small... She looked up at the sky...she was so high up but it was still so far away... "Hey lady!" a man's voice shouted. Laura turned around and saw a man standing behind her. He looked like a window washer or something like that. "Hey! Don't move! You're right on the edge!" he shouted to her. "Yeah! I know!" She shouted to him. "Hold on! I'll go and get some help!" he shouted to her. "Help? HA!...There's...no one who can...help... me... I CAN'T BE...helped... Hee hee hee...I'm dead already... ha ha ha ha ha! I-I-I-I have decided to end it all..." she said to him. She turned around and looked outward towards the horizon. She spread her arms and took one step forward...

"So, have all the parts been recovered?" ............ "Yes...Her head and all other intact parts have been recovered." ............ "You do realize that if we can't repair all the damage that we have lost 20 years and close to $154 billion, right?" ............. "I know, I know! That's why I tried to erase her and reprogram her!".........."What happened?"........"One of the mainframes suffered a power surge and exploded. The power supply went bad in it. The chair released her and she escaped, but don't worry, I can fix her and reprogram her!" .................... "Yes, the damage is not that great. Try to save the rest of her memories as well. We will want to study them..."