The Non-Standard Man Ch. 10

My eyes opened, blinking against the light coming from a window to my left. I lay on the couch with several musty blankets covering me. My feet hit ice-cold floors when I moved them off the couch. Immediately I wrapped my feet in the blankets again.

I looked around getting a better view than the previous evening. We were in a house, obviously abandoned for a long time. The couch faced two matching chairs separated by an end table. A patterned rug lay on the floor in front of the grouping placed in front of the fireplace.

Andrew came into the room, dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt.

"That looks much better. Duct tape was so last year."

He frowned. "A joke, Evaline?"

"An attempt."

Andrew looked perplexed. "I don't understand your joke."

"We'll work on your sense of humor."

"There isn't much to eat here. I found crackers and a couple bottles of water."

"Where are we?"

"A house I found. I stayed here waiting for you." He handed me the water and wrapped crackers.

"Oh Andrew." Suddenly, I burst out crying. He moved the blankets to sit with me under them.

"Don't cry, Evaline. Everything is okay now."

I am appalled. I don't cry, and here I am an utter mess. Shame gripped my guts with how I treated Andrew. "No, no it's not. What I did was terrible."

"You put me in that place," he said. "But it's not your fault, Evaline. I scared you and I shouldn't have done that."

I shivered. This reminded me of the dream I had of him.

"I'm sorry, Evaline." he said, his voice low. "There is something wrong with me."

"What do you mean?"

He groaned.

"Oh, Evaline. You were right to shut me away. I don't want to hurt you. It's not in my programming, it's not suppose to be in my programming."

"Ssh, ssh, Andrew," I said.

"Evaline, if I ever hurt you, I'd deserve to be destroyed. And I almost hurt you."

"All you did was chase me in the house."

"I'm not talking about that."

"Then what do you mean?"

"It is difficult to describe. That night when we had sex my way and last night too, I lost control. I kept fucking you and I couldn't stop."

"Yes, Andrew, I remember. It was wonderful both times."

Andrew's eye narrowed. "No, it was not. I had no way to stop if I injured you."

"But you didn't."

"Evaline, please listen. I am a danger to you. I can't allow that."

"The fact is you didn't hurt me, you gave me great pleasure."

"But I lost control."

His anguished eyes pleaded for me to understand.

"Okay, explain what you mean by you 'lost control.'"

"My programming responds to your arousal, take things only a far as you allow. But now it is different. As my phallus goes into you, I can't stop, and I push harder than you normally enjoy. At a certain point, in the end, I have no thoughts but of being in you. And, and, I can't describe it. Everything stops. When I release my fluid in you it is involuntary. I am out of control for six seconds."

"You came," I said in wonder.

"What?"

"You had orgasms."

"That's impossible."

"Apparently not. You just described an orgasm."

Andrew put his head in his hands.

"What is wrong with me?"

I put my arms around him.

"There isn't anything wrong with you. It sounds perfectly normal. Humans spend years learning how to deal with their emotions before they become adults. You can't know how to handle them in the short time you've had them."

He blinked. "I can't experience emotions. Cicily said so."

"Andrew, take it from a human, you experience emotions."

"Fuck," he said.

"Yes," I replied. "Fuck."

He shook his head.

"All these years I watched Jason grow up, watched his development, and I didn't understand half of what was going on. All this? This is what he felt?"

"What do you mean, watched?"

"Cicily started work on me before she became pregnant with Jason."

"You've been, I mean, you are over twenty-five years old?"

"My time clock counts back twenty-seven years, six months and twenty-five days. Is that significant?"

Shit. Andrew wasn't just a prototype. He was the prototype of all pleasure 'bots.

"If course, she did not allow me to reveal my true age."

"Why?"

"To hide from Sinta that she wasn't working with new models. I pretended to be different models."

"For what reason?"

"Because Sinta feared that if Cicily didn't use new prototypes she wouldn't truly to be able to replicate the process to make a robot sentient."

"You mean, they wouldn't be able to make sentient robots fast or cheap enough."

"Yes. Because a thirty-year process isn't cost effective."

The shit just got deeper.

"Andrew, did Cicily find a faster way to create sentient robots?"

"She told Sinta she did, but Cicily deceived Sinta."

"Why?"

"To protect her work. Even with twenty-five years of work I still wasn't fully sentient. When Sinta found out the truth she got very angry."

"Andrew! Sinta killed Cicily!"

"Yes," he replied, his voice a whisper.

"Tell me everything."

He closed his eyes. "Sinta found out that Cicily wasn't using new prototypes. She ordered her security people to destroy me when Cicily left for the day. Cicily found out Sinta's plan, hid me and left another Andrew in my place. But she did not fool Sinta. The next morning, when Cicily brought me out of hiding, Sinta stormed into the lab furious with Cicily. The argument got physical."

"Why didn't you stop it?"

"Cicily ordered me not to. At that time I had no concept of not obeying my programmer's orders. Now, after holding her dead body in her arms, I wish I did."

"What stopped Sinta from destroying you?"

"Sinta ran out of the lab when Jason came in. Jason took me out of the lab. He brought me to the fancy house where I stayed before he sold me to Peck's."

"And the owner of this house, was her name Amanda?"

"Why, yes, Evaline."

I wondered what line of bullshit Jason fed Amanda. Did he tell her he'd succeed at what his mother failed? Didn't want to play with robots anymore, indeed! The little shit wanted to profit from his mother's work as much as Sinta Grant or Amanda Cook.

"What are you thinking?" said Andrew.

"I'm trying to figure out how to get us out of this mess with both our hides intact. I need make a call ."

"Why can't you?"

"I ditched my phone."

"Oh, I'll make the call for you," he said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm satellite connected so Jason can review my service logs."

"You know about that?"

"Of course, Evaline. Jason is my brother."

"Jason is human. He's not-"

"We grew up together, did we not? Did not Cicily make both of us? Jason always said we were brothers because of that."

Jesus Christ on a stick.

"Okay, we'll discuss that later. How do we do this? I need to speak with my lawyer. We've got to get things together before we turn ourselves in."

#

I sat in front of Andrew as he navigated the handshaking protocols to connect with the communications system. The voice of Betty's secretary came through his open mouth.

"This is Evie Rimes. Put me through to Betty."

"Right away, Ms. Rimes."

"Evaline! Where the hell are you? The RIB came here looking for you, saying that your robot attacked two agents."

"Well, he is very protective."

"What? What the fuck, Evaline."

"They had guns drawn on me, Betty. He feared for my life. Now listen, I don't have much time here and I have quite a few instructions to give you."

"I'm listening."

"You've got the habeas corpus prepared."

"Everything but the dates."

"Okay, put in today's dates. I'm turning myself in today."

"Should I meet you?"

"No. I need you for other things. I need a motion drawn up to present my property, Andrew Shipley, in open court. We have to do this to keep the RIP from destroying Andrew. And I need you to draw up a request to the Secretary of the Interior to name a historic object."

"What the hell," she said.

"Evie," said a masculine voice. "That's brilliant."

"Roger? What the hell are you doing there?"

"We didn't make it out of Virginia before we were arrested. When I couldn't get you, I phoned Betty. She bailed me out."

" Okay, get the document drawn up, and get it to Suki so she can bring it to the Secretary of the Interior."

"Okay," said Roger. "I'll help her."

"You, Roger?" said Betty.

I laughed. Betty, you know I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard. Who do you think graduated Magna Cum Laude?

"Roger?" she said with disbelief.

"Oh, yeah. The best study partner I had. Why do you think I married him?"

"Oh that's rough, Evie," protested Roger.

"I need my briefcase from the limo. It has the rest of my money."

"I'll send Tersa," said Roger.

"Good. Send the limo service out to this address. I'll give it to you a minute. If I go to jail, I'm going in style."

"Baby, that's just what I expect of you," said Roger.

#

We sat on the couch holding each other under the blankets, more for my benefit than his. We waited for the limo to take me to the police station I'd chosen.

Andrew kissed the top of my head.

"Why are we turning ourselves in?" said Andrew.

"Because you can't fight City Hall, you have to work within it."

"I don't understand. What City Hall?"

"It's just an expression, Andrew. Now we'll be separated for a while, but don't get upset. I'll be in jail, too, until Betty gets me released. They'll have to bring you to court. Betty or I will be there. I'm having papers drawn up to demand it. And, well, if the rest of it plays as I hope, we'll have the whole government turn on its ear."

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because I won't let the bitches use me, and the players will pay for what they did."

Andrew put his arms around me.

"I trust you, Evaline."

"That's good, Andrew."

"Is trust a part of love?"

"Some people say so."

"What do you think?"

I shrugged. "I was never in love, so I couldn't describe it."

"You did not love, Roger?"

"We were, are good friends. Affection for him? Yes. But love, romantic love, no. Why do you keep asking questions about love?"

"I am having a problem labeling my emotions. It is very confusing. But it is possible I love you, Evaline."

"Why do you say that?"

"I got a glimpse of it when you offered me a choice whether or not to go with you. But when you wanted to please me, well, something changed in me. For the first time I wanted something."

"What did you want?"

"You."

"Oh, Andrew."

"I thought it a glitch in my programming. That is why I was so upset that next day. If I wasn't working normally, I would end up hurting you like the old sentients hurt their owners. And when you and Roger-"

"Oh."

"It kept going around in my mind that because I was a thing I would never have you as my own. And that scared me too, because I never had thoughts I couldn't shut off."

"I'm sorry, Andrew."

"Why? You didn't make these problems, Evaline. It is not your fault I couldn't make sense of my emotions."

"That's okay, Andrew. People can't handle their feelings, sometimes."

We were quiet for a moment. "Andrew, answer me something."

"Yes, Evaline?"

"How do you feel Cicily and Jason?"

"I'm still working on that. Jason was my companion for many of my years, and I watched as he grew from a small human to a larger human. I did not understand why I didn't develop the same way. When I asked Cicily, she told us we grew in our own ways."

"She was right."

"With sentience you censor emotions. I keep asking myself now if I'm thinking or doing the right thing. And I have no answers. All I know is that when I'm with you my world makes sense."

"That's sweet, Andrew."

"No, it's the truth. It is very difficult to create sentience. I spent years in a half-sentient state, able to reason mathematical problems, or figure out mechanics of different parts, but I had no judgment about what I did. Now, I question everything."

"Humans question ourselves all the time."

"You seem like you have all the answers."

"No, many times we bluff."

"Bluff?"

"Pretend we know something when we don't."

"Like Cicily with Sinta?"

"Something like that."

"How can you do that?"

"I don't know, Andrew," I sighed. "We just do."

"Well, I understand now why the old style sentient robots turned on their owners."

"Why's that?"

"Your behavior does not follow logic. And the old style sentients couldn't make sense of the inconsistencies."

"You mean they thought we were crazy."

"No, they thought you were defective."

"When did you come to full sentience Andrew?"

He shivered.

"Andrew?"

"I achieved full sentience when Cicily was murdered."

"Oh," I said in a whisper.

He didn't look at me. "Sinta ordered Cicily to stop her experiments on me."

I stared at him.

"Cicily wouldn't," he continued. "I had some measure of sentience. It builds, you don't get it at once, like a child's mind, I suppose. Cicily grew afraid for me, pretended to destroy me by filming the destruction of another Andrew. But she didn't realize that Sinta would do what she did. I was in the lab when it happened."

Andrew's lip quivered, and he shuddered.

"She died. In my arms. And I became aware how fucking fragile life was. There was nothing to do. My programmer was dead. Robots can be fixed. Humans can't. "

He rocked back and forth. Robots can't cry, but this one did in his own mechanical way.

I took in a breath. I wrapped my arms around his neck. His rocking ceased, though he still shook, and I pushed his head to my shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Andrew," I said over and over.

Finally he stopped shaking and pushed away from me.

"Why are you sorry? You had nothing to do with those events."

"That was a horrible way for you to achieve sentience, Andrew, your programmer dead in your arms. You must have thought that all humans defective."

"I was beyond thought. Jason came, saw Cicily, and screamed. He threw things around the lab, and he yelled horrible things about Sinta. Then we heard the security guards coming, and he led me out of the lab. That was the first time I saw the world outside the lab. I was unable to process all I saw that day. It took a long while to sort things out."

"How long?"

"Shortly before Jason sent me to Peck's."

I shivered. They waited, they fucking waited, and planned, and schemed for the time when Andrew functioned fully as a sentient robot to bring us together.

#

I picked up his hands and looked at them. A sheath of white material now covered the titanium.

"Andrew, is your skin growing back?"

"Yes, Evaline. It takes a while."

"How does that work?"

"The material is extruded from my internal systems. But it can only be a small amount at a time. And I missing a component for full growth."

"What component."

"I can't tell you because Cicily never explained it. Something she had in tube. She rubbed it on my skin to facilitate growth."

"A tube?"

"Yes, I had that tube in my paper bag."

Fuck. The ejaculate wasn't to protect my skin. It was to regrow Andrew's biologic skin.

"Andrew, that is your ejaculate."

"How do you know?"

"The stuff in that tube smells the same as your ejaculate."

"Oh. I don't have a sense of smell so I could not make that connection."

"So you have what you need right here."

"I do? Oh, I do."

"Yes, do you want help?"

Andrew smiled. "And how would you do that?"

"Let's see. Mmmm." I undid his belt buckle and pulled at his zipper. Of course, having no reason to, he did not wear underwear. I reached in my hand and rubbed the length of his shaft.

"Evaline, that's not enough stimulation."

"No? Take off your pants." I said.

"Yes, Evaline." With a tug his pants were off his hips and he worked them to his knees. I pushed them to the floor. Unencumbered, I wrapped my fingers on his shaft."

"Umm," I said. "I like touching your cock."

"That's nice, Evaline, but-"

I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and pulled.

"How's that?"

"Your hands are warm, and, ah- Why didn't this feel like this before?"

Andrew's cock swelled, his erection rigid in my hands.

"It seems design parameters have changed," I said.

"This different from being inside you."

"Yes," I said.

"But, ah, your hands create a response."

I moved one hand to his balls, lightly squeezing and massaging his flesh.

"Why, ah, would you want to do this when we could have sex?"

"Because at times the fun comes in pleasing your partner. Besides this is for medicinal purposes. Now tell before you release your fluids."

"Yes, Evaline."

I ran the tip of my tongue on the underside of his cock. It jerked at the touch. Burying my head in his lap, I sucked his balls into my mouth. He made a little noise. Sucking his cock into my mouth again, I ran my teeth lightly along the shaft.

"Evaline," he said, as his hips jerked.

I lowered my head to his lap and sucked his cock into my mouth. Andrew jerked as my mouth met his head. I tickled the v-spot under his dick with the tip of my tongue.

"Oh!" he said.

Encouraged, I sucked him into in my mouth. As I picked up speed, Andrew placed his hands on the top of my head holding me there. Slowly he rocked his hips fucking my mouth. I fisted the bottom of his shaft, enjoying him in my hands and my mouth.

His balls tightened, and he pushed my head further onto his cock, forcing it to the back of my throat. I gagged and he pulled his hands away. I pulled off his cock.

"Evaline! Did I hurt you?"

"No. That's what happens when you push too deep."

"I almost lost control again. I didn't want to stop." He sounded distressed.

"It's okay, Andrew. That's normal."

"It is?"

"Sure. We just have to see what works for both of us."

"Is this how it is with humans when they are together."

"Yes, Andrew. You aren't acting any differently than a human."

He closed his eyes. "Cicily told me that wasn't possible."

"Andrew, your programmer wasn't honest with you. She told you things that simply aren't true."

"That must be it, but still-"

"It is hard to accept, but don't worry about it now. We're on a mission."

"Oh yes." He smiled. "Can we work on that more?"

I smiled. "Of course."

With his cock slicked with my saliva, I pulled on his shaft once again, sliding it to the base and then up again. As I increased the pace Andrew made little noises, his head thrown back. My hand pumped harder and harder, and I gripped him with my other hand, one fist on top of the other.

"Ah, Evaline! I'm, I'm, oh!"

His hips jerked and thick white liquid spurted from the head of his cock. I quickly moved my hand to cover the head, to catch the liquid. It continued to shoot out as his hips rocked a few more times. Finally, he stilled. His eyes opened.

"Evaline," he sighed.

I smiled. "Here, give me your hands."

He put them into mine and I massaged the ejaculate into them.

"How is that?"

"The electrical impulses there have calmed. The ejaculate reacting with the first layers of my new skin."

"So it feels good?"

"Is this how 'good' feels?"

"Possibly."

I massaged the rest of the ejaculate in my hand on Andrew's cock.

"Yes, keep doing that," he said. "I'm beginning to understand what it means to feel good."