H is for Heuristic

The barefoot beauty finished up with Heather's plastic face just as the Main Computer had written the first of its instructions to Maria. The signal was sent directly into the electronic brain analog in her chest while zeroes and ones flickered fast on the monitors above the furiously active consoles.

First on the list was to get the Heather unit naked on an examination table. Verbal commands from one android to another accomplished that. Heather left a trail of perfume and pheromone scented clothing on the concrete floor for the maid to pick up. She got on the table and layed on her back - totally naked and with the electronics of her head and chest in full view.

"Heather, initiate full shut down sequence." Maria ordered.

"Yes Maria." she responded. "Full shut down sequence initiated."

Her hard drives wrote the required final bits of data as her machine parts prepared to go without electricity. A loud beep came from inside her chest as all the many lights went out.

Maria opened up the fembot's torso and hung the front cover to the side. She picked up some tools and began removing whole parts from the agent. These were layed systematically on tables behind her. Some would have smaller parts exchanged while others would be replaced entirely.

The speed at which the technician worked was at least twice as fast as a human could have worked, but it would still take nearly half a day to complete work on the Heather unit. Not only that, but Maria would also have to deal with Karen when she came home. The maid was already busy putting things away and cleaning Heather's clothes.

Further work on Denise and Anya would have to wait until tomorrow. For now, those two robots lay side by side on examination tables in the crowded lab. They were both naked, and both had various panels removed. No progress had been made on either robot, and the prototype device inside Denise remained more or less untested.

Early that evening, Karen arrived and entered the basement in the same way that Heather had. Karen too had dropped the human act, and walked around looking more like a machine.

She sat herself down in the examination chair while Maria put down her tools and walked over to greet her.

While Karen removed her own facemask on command, the Main Computer finished its highly detailed instruction sets for Maria. It held those in physical memory until the technician was ready to accept them. By the time the computer had done all that, it was ready to download data from the black-haired and blue-eyed android in the chair.

Karen's session was routine, and over with in a short time. As she stepped naked into her recharge booth, work on Heather started again.

Maria worked through the night on upgrading the pretty brown-haired agent. She installed new processors, new wiring, and almost completely replaced the data storage system. Improvements were made to the sensors in Heather's head as well as to the system that interpreted the data from her skin.

Hours later, as Maria's power drained to low levels, the robot maid walked stiffly behind her and connected an electrical cord to her recharge port. The other end was plugged into a wall outlet so Maria could both charge and complete her work on the disassembled lady on the table. New sets of instructions flowed into Maria's chest telling her not to unplug or trip over the long cord that trailed behind her.

The long late-winter night came and went, with the tireless technician working non-stop to complete her tasks. But even at that rapid pace, 7 AM came and went with Heather in no condition to go to work. At 7:35, the computer established a telephone connection with the National Archive. While Heather lay faceless, deactivated and missing parts on the table, and while Maria worked ceaselessly on her insides, the phone in Byron's office rang.

He had just gotten in to work himself. He was on his way to the office when he heard the phone. He quickened his steps to answer it in time.

"Canadian National Archive, Byron speaking."

"Hi Byron, it's Heather." the voice on the other line said. It wasn't Heather of course, but the exact same synthesized pattern of her voice produced by the Main Computer. The signal was transmitted directly over the phone line, and into Mr. Clarke's ear.

"Oh, hello, how are you this morning?"

"I'm not feeling to well, actually, I need to see my doctor."

"Oh." he said. "I hope it's nothing serious."

"Probably not, but I don't think I'll be in until later today."

"Okay. That's fine. You know, if you really don't feel like coming in today, you don't have to."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be in eventually."

"Alright. See you then. Take care of yourself, Okay?"

"I will. Thanks Byron."

"You're welcome. Bye."

"Bye. See you later."

The computer disconnected the signal and returned its focus to its own important tasks while Byron hung up and started his day. He hoped he would still be able to take Heather to lunch with him. To Hell with his hesitation and reservations.

Chapter 09 - Back for More

Throughout the morning, Byron found himself to be overly concerned about Heather's well-being. It was natural to be interested in the health of a coworker and fellow person, but he had the worried demeanor of a close relation or a loved one. It was then that he had to admit to himself that he had fallen for her.

He took a long deep breath and stood up to stretch. "It could work." he told himself.

The morning was busier than usual for him and Agnes, as they had visitors to attend to. That kept Byron's mind off of what he suspected were Heather's health problems. He thought they must be women's issues, looked after by a women's doctor. That made him think about her crotch, and the prize that it would make for him. He may have been very refined and stoic, but he was still a horny man at heart.

Things were right on schedule over at Robot Control Station 17. By noon, Maria was applying the last bits of solder to Heather's insides and connecting the last unconnected wires. Since Heather had not been given a chance to recharge overnight, the final task would be to replace the drained batteries in her thighs with ones that were full of power.

Maria closed up Heather's open panels and turned her on to her front side. With the back of her curvaceous thighs facing up, Maria pushed her fingertips into the very edge of each leg, right where Heather's perfectly round buns began. A large covering separated off of each limb up to a point just above the knee. Maria gently laid these nicely padded silicone parts aside and proceeded to disconnect the cylindrical power packs one by one. There were six around each metal thigh-bone, for a total of twelve. These parts were standard to all of Robot Control's ladies, so fully-charged replacements were readily available. They snapped into place quickly, and Maria worked just as fast to place the artificial skin back where it belonged. Nanoscopic interlocking mechanisms built into the separation points ensured a waterproof and invisible seam.

With that done, Maria turned the Heather unit back to face up and opened her chest panel again. She pushed the power button and watched as Heather booted up.

"Heather robot number 742625A activated." She said after making an amplified series of synthesized beeps and tones.

The pretty and young looking android was now in need of the new programming that the Main Computer had written. The technician wheeled her electronic sister over to the data exchange console and plugged her in via her chest panel. This time, the computer initiated the download and completely overwrote Heather's old programming. New operating system components and new drivers for new hardware got sent over the cable connection into Heather's attractive chest. Maria watched the ever changing monitors for anomalies in transferred data, using the fast chips inside of her to sort through the binary feedback.

At the end of the session, Maria unplugged the cables and looked down at the pretty girl on the table. "Heather," she said, ""please install and execute program MW270.T85."

"Yes Maria." Heather said. More lights flashed in patterns inside the open chest panel as loud beeps came out. "Program MW270.T85 installed and executed successfully."

Maria asked "How do you feel Heather?"

"I feel fine." she said, indicating that all was well within.

Heather was now fully programmed to use all of her new hardware to complete her objectives.

Careful not to trip over the electrical cord plugged into her back, Maria closed Heather's chest panel and went back to work on Anya. The very stiff and mechanical moving maidbot then walked over on cue to clean the newly outfitted agent. The see-through lace maid uniform showed off all of her plastic femininity as her servos whirred and her circuit boards beeped. She slid her damp cloth all over every exposed inch of the Heather unit's skin - a series of highly erotic movements that would have gotten the blood flowing in any living lover of ladies. To these machines though, it was no more special than tying a shoelace.

When the maid was done, Maria instructed Heather to go upstairs and get dressed. Heather obeyed the command and walked out of the cold basement lab, her perky tits bouncing lightly to her robotic strut. She got into some clothes that the maid had earlier set aside and put on a bit of plain jewelry. Next she sprayed on a touch of perfume, put on her jacket, got her purse and walked to the bus stop.

Within a few minutes she was walking on to the bus, without the need to put any of her non-vital systems on hold, and without the danger of overheating. The power regulators in her curvy hips provided stronger current to her new devices to keep them charged and functioning properly. The new drivers and the software that took advantage of them worked flawlessly to make her appear just as human as she had before, only more reliably so.

In a little while, she was back at the Archive building downtown, using her pattern recognition algorithms to identify the object in front of her as Agnes.

"Hi Agnes. How's the day been so far?" she said with more efficient and effective cheerfulness.

"Quite busy, actually." the old prude said as she tried to look like she was working. Mr. Clarke's noticeable fondness for the new girl had really gotten under her skin.

"Oh, did I miss anything exciting?" she asked, her eyes showing a touch more vibrancy than before.

Agnes shot her a disapproving look. "Nothing we couldn't handle, dear." she said. She turned her back on Heather to work on some filing.

Heather could now calculate the variables of such a situation with greater speed and accuracy. As far as a computer could, she understood that she'd be better off talking to Byron.

And of course, he was very happy to see her. She gave him an equally impressive display of synthetic happiness right back.

"So, nothing serious found at the doctor's office?" he asked as he approached.

"No, everything's been taken care of." she said. She smiled at him like she could never have smiled at him under her old hardware configuration.

Byron smiled right back, mistaking her upgraded capabilities for intensified interest in him.

"Good, good. Say, I know you just got here, but we still don't have that scanner fixed. Will you join me for lunch again?"

"Of course!" she said.

"Wonderful." he said.

He got his things, checked out with Agnes, and back to the submarine sandwich store they went.

Chapter 10 - Watched

Byron and his android companion entered the sub shop again, and were immediately put under the surveillance of Phet's electronic ears and eyes. They were blissfully unaware of being watched as Phet recorded and recognised new heat patterns coming from the Robot Control agent. For now, she wouldn't calculate their importance, but the Master Computing Device would know what they meant.

While they waited to order, Byron began to flirt with Heather again, as best as he remembered how. Although her AI software was now more sophisticated, she still wasn't programmed to flirt. She stayed friendly enough to maintain his interest though, and he thought he was getting somewhere.

This time Heather paid for the meals once they had been prepared. Byron would be sure to do that next time, he thought. They sat at their usual seat, arriving to the popular restaurant just after the lunch rush.

Byron kept eye contact with Heather longer and with more intensity than usual. Heather looked right back at him, her cameras recording thousands of high-resolution frames per second and feeding each one through dozens of different algorithms and processes to keep her CPU updated as to what he was saying - and what he meant.

She could do this now with so much more depth than before. She caught subtle jokes and puns, and laughed and smiled accordingly. Byron was encouraged by her responses, and layed the charm on thick.

He wasn't a bad looking guy. Always slim, he was now more muscular than he had been before, and still not fat by any means. And he was always dressed sharply in finely tailored clothes. His hair was regularly trimmed, short and neat. No lines or wrinkles had yet invaded his still boyish face. He looked to be around thirty, which helped to make his romantic advances to Heather a little more acceptable.

The more they talked, the more ease of style he saw in her movements, and the more relaxed they both looked. He watched her lips as she ate and as she talked. Her mouth was sexy, with full, dark lips that kept their attractive shape even -or maybe especially - as they stretched over her sandwich. Eating was a comparatively simple task, and she could do it even better now. The fembot was also able to maintain the required pace and level of conversation to keep his interest hot.

Soon, they had finished eating, and again Heather grabbed her purse and excused herself to go to the washroom. This time she navigated her mechanical body partly from memory, while Byron stole a glance at her sexy wiggle.

She repeated her usual procedure of entering the stall, pulling down her slacks and panties, and sitting on the bowl. The food disposal systems inside her quietly worked to get the just swallowed meal out of her rubber stomach. She finished up in there and came out to wash her hands. She smiled and said hello to another customer who entered the room at that time. When the android's hands were dry, she emerged from the washroom and walked back down to the seating area.

She smiled at Byron, who smiled right back. "Shall we go?" she said as she started to put on her coat.

"I guess so." he said as he stood up and put his own coat back on. They walked out of there and back through the freshly shoveled downtown sidewalks to the Archive.

Byron wanted to ask her to dinner that night, but he would be getting out of his classes late. He would wait until Tuesday.

They were apart for the rest of the work day. Byron had his own work to do, and Heather returned to her interim job of recording index numbers on reels of magnetic tape. Byron felt bad about having to give her that crummy job, but that couldn't be gotten around. That was the whole reason she was there in the first place.

She got right down and did what he had asked, without so much as a whisper of complaint. Of course, this data was almost useless to Robot Control, but in good time she would have access to those interesting paper records again.

The remainder of the work day eventually ran out. Agnes left early on Fridays, so the robot and the lonely man closed the place up and left together.

After activating the alarm system and locking the doors, Byron turned to Heather and looked longingly into her beautiful eyes. "Well, that's it for another week." he said.

"Yeah, I'm glad the weekend is here."

"I'd offer you a lift, but I have a class tonight."

"Oh, really? What are you taking?"

"It's a computer programming course. It's quite fun. Plus I'm learning a lot. Soon I'll take over the world!"

They laughed at his silly joke and looked at each other for a while. He thought of all the things he would like to do to her body, while she monitored his actions and computed possible and appropriate responses.

When Byron thought the silence had lasted too long, he excused himself, saying "Well, I'm off then. See you on Monday."

"Bye Byron." said the fembot with a wave. "Have a good weekend."

They walked away from each other and went about the rest of their days. Mr Clarke went to school while robot number 742625A returned to Robot Control Station 17 so she could be stored for the next two days.

As he drove out to the tech institute, Byron felt really good about himself. He hadn't felt like this for years. He had to admit, he was in love, and he didn't care what people might think about the age difference. They were after all both adults.

Byron was in such a good mood that he was even nice to Melanie, treating this other robot with more cheerfulness and friendliness than he ever had. She made her usual advances on him, which he deflected, as usual, to Dustin.

Things went extremely well in the classroom again. Mr Sweet made things fun, at least for the humans in the class. It was easy to learn even the most frustratingly abstract concepts from Ralph, who was as smart as he was funny.

Throughout the whole 90 minute session, Melanie's software tried to keep up with the more esoteric aspects of human interaction. For the most part, she failed. Humor did not compute, especially not Ralph's wacky style. Her exceptional performance in anything that required memory or calculation kept her doing well in the class though.

The lecture on parallel processors that had begun on Wednesday was continued today. This time, Ralph mentioned the problems of writing software for an indefinite number of processors working in sync. This just fascinated Byron. Although Mr. Sweet didn't go into it much further during the class, Byron could almost think of nothing else.

After the class was over, as the other students were leaving, Mr. Clarke and Mr. Sweet had a long talk. Ralph had brought some pamphlets from another tech institute a few hundred miles away that offered courses far more advanced than what he could teach. They talked about what Ralph thought were the best courses. They also talked about parallel processors. On a whim, Ralph gave Byron a special homework assignment to challenge him. Byron barely understood the concept behind it, let alone what kind of solution it would require. He accepted it anyway, and the two parted with a handshake.

The sun had long since set by the time Byron got down to his car. Melanie was waiting for him there.

Her electronic ears picked up the sound of his footsteps, and her processors computed that it was probably him long before she turned her mechanical neck to point her artificial eyes his way. "Hi Byron." she said.

"What are you still doing here, Melanie?" he said, getting a little worried about her interest in him.

"I'd like to offer you a ride home." she said, showing him the most cordial smile her facemask could manage.

Byron didn't know what to say. "I... don't need a ride Melanie, I have a car."

"Oh." she said. Her face remained stuck while her AI tried to deal with the situation. "So you don't want a ride from me?"

"No. Why would I leave my car here?" he said, visibly annoyed.

Melanie stood still, running her chips hot with excessive computations. "I don't know." she said.

Byron made a beeline for his car door and got in. "Stalker." he thought to himself. He started the engine and drove off fast, waving to the unmoving android as he passed her.

Melanie's software systems eventually sorted themselves out after he had turned the corner. "Ride. See you Monday!" she said to no one. She walked to her own car and started the trip to her Fembot Command base.