For the Love of an Android

CHAPTER TWO

I was not expecting to find Jacinta half-naked in my daughter's bedroom, but that's exactly the scene I came upon early the next morning.

"Oh!" I said, unsure what else to say at what, at first glance, seemed like a very beautiful young woman with a nice pair of designer jeans in place but completely topless, her large shapely breasts bared and free in Lilly's bedroom. Both Lilly and Jacinta had turned to face my interruption, Jacinta's face typically implacable despite her state of semi-undress. "Um... what's going on here?"

"Dad!" Lilly admonished, the very height of six-year-old outrage. "I'm getting Jacinta dressed for the day. Some privacy please!"

Lilly quickly moved to slam the door in my face, affronted to the utmost at my intrusion upon Jacinta's privacy. I couldn't help but take in one last quick look at the android while she did so ­­- she seemed to be quite anatomically correct, her nipples large and round and very natural-looking, areola and all. Her large breasts had a somewhat heavy set, sitting upon her chest very much like a real woman's breasts would; perky, but not artificially so, not at all spherical or fake-looking once freed from the confines of a bra.

'Damn but they build them well,' I found myself thinking. I might there and then have mistaken her for a real woman, were it not for the blue circular LED shining from her right temple - the government-mandated tell-tale that this being was, in fact, artificial.

As the door swung shut, I found myself looking to Jacinta's eyes, naturally feeling guilty for stealing a sneaky peek at an unclad womanly body. Jacinta seemed completely untroubled - and fair enough too, I supposed; 'body-modesty' or 'shame' were very distinctly human constructs, and there was probably not much to be gained from the R&D required to program a machine to emulate 'bashfulness'. Yes, I had stolen a good look at her body, but it seemed she did not think any lesser of me for having done so.

In the last fraction of a second before the door slammed shut though, I thought I saw a slight change in Jacinta's expression - a very slight upturn of the corner of her mouth, almost like an amused, smirking reaction at my surprise and perving dumbfoundedness.

'BANG!' went the door, muffled sounds of Lilly's continued outrage filtering through.

'A smirk?' I found myself wondering, as I walked away. 'Can an android actually smirk? And I just took a huge perve on her boobs - why would she, why would anyone smirk at that?'

Minutes later, Lilly's door had opened and she had emerged with a fully-clothed Jacinta in tow. I sent Lilly off to brush her teeth - the task that had brought me to her room in the first place - then I found myself feeling rather awkward as I faced Jacinta, dressed now in a very fancy salmon-coloured knitted top, a tasteful contrast with the blue denim of her jeans.

"You look nice today, Jacinta," I found myself saying, for want of anything better.

Jacinta smiled very warmly in reply. "Thank you, Mister Scott," she said, without a hint of the admonition or thinly-disguised scorn that I would otherwise have expected, given the way I had blundered in on her in a state of undress only a few minutes prior.

"Jacinta," I began. "I feel so silly. I feel like I should apologise to you for, you know... walking in on you like that."

Jacinta blinked - still smiling, but seeming surprised by what I had said. "You never need to apologise to me, Mister Scott," she told me. "No offence was caused. I am not programmed to feel embarrassed or ashamed in such situations. And you are my owner, after all. You're entitled to view me in any state that you please."

"Well..." I said; for some reason, the way she had described my rights as her 'owner' made me feel very uncomfortable. "Even so... I just feel like, I dunno." I was struggling to find the words. "Like I've taken advantage of you, in some way."

Jacinta seemed, in some very minute way, almost touched by what I said, even as she kept on smiling warmly and openly. "You seem to be worried about having hurt my feelings," she observed. "That is very kind of you, but I can assure you that no harm has been done. You are a good man to be concerned - thank you, Mister Scott," she added, generously.

"Oh. Uh, you're welcome," I mumbled in reply. "But still, I don't feel right about it. I need to apologise, even if only for my own sake. So: I am sorry I walked in on you, Jacinta," I told her, feeling extremely foolish but pushing on anyways. "And I'm sorry that I... stared," I added.

"It's very good of you to say that, Mister Scott," Jacinta returned. "It's not your fault however. The door was wide open - I am not accustomed to taking measures for privacy, it didn't seem to be a concern at Mister Brad and Missus Julia's house. I will look to be more circumspect when we are changing my outfits from now on, to avoid any future awkwardness," she assured me, as Lilly returned from her tooth-brushing mission to take Jacinta by the hand.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lilly interjected, inquisitive as ever.

I looked at her, and thought quickly - 'the truth never hurts,' I decided. "I apologised to Jacinta for walking in on her while she was getting dressed," I told Lilly.

"And so you should," Lilly replied, somewhat archly - but seeming satisfied that I had done the right thing by her friend. "Come on Cint! Let's play a game."

She led the android away, Jacinta favouring me with that surprisingly warm, natural, very human smile of hers for a few seconds extra as they left.

As I was left to myself, I found myself extremely bemused. Apologising to a machine because I had stared at its boobs - the image of her, bare naked to the waist, lingered before my eyes, for which I still felt guilty? And Jacinta's declaration that I was a 'good man' - how did they program an android to say such a thing, to process such very abstract concepts and provide reassurance to their owner when faced with such a unique, peculiar situation? Making assessments and judgments of a man's character, based on how he's reacted at the sight of her bared breasts; processing the situation, and seeming to come to the conclusion that I was a good person?

"Bloody hell," I muttered to myself. "What have I gone and bought into?"

***

The remainder of my time with the kids that weekend passed by relatively uneventfully. We went out on our usual monthly treat: I ordered a skycar ride around the lake, bringing it in to pick us up at lunchtime on Sunday when the daytime demand-rates are typically at their lowest. Lilly insisted we bring Jacinta along, and I agreed with a shrug.

"I love skycar rides!" Stacey declared; she and Lilly shared the front seats to make the most of the view, and Jacinta and I rode in back as the skycar flew us around the scenic shoreline. "I wish we could do them more often."

"I know, sweetie," I replied. It was an expensive indulgence, for the likes of me, anyways; plenty of folks commuted by skycar on a daily basis, but I on my house-deposit-saving quest usually satisfied myself with a Tesla, Uber or other autocar service when I needed to attend the office. The cost per kilometre to travel by skycar varied day-to-day and hour-to-hour, based on the level of demand for autonomous flying transportation services at that time, but even at their lowest rates it still cost a few pretty pennies to put us in the sky for twenty minutes, once a month. "But if we did it more often, it would be less of a treat, wouldn't it?" I added, figuring my usual 'I'm saving for a house' riposte wouldn't go down all that well.

"I love watching all the other skycars flying by," said Lilly; even at that time of the weekend, the skies were pretty busy, with skycars flitting by above us, below us and not far either side, in what always struck me as a rather elegant mechanical ballet. "How do they not crash into each other all the time?"

"You ask that every time we come up here," Stacey groaned.

"Skycars operate under peer-to-peer parameters," Jacinta said in reply to Lilly's question, sounding a fair bit like she was reading the results of a Google search flickering behind her eyes - which was probably the case. "They talk to each other, and they always know exactly where all other skycars are in the area, where each of them have come from and where they are all going. And they organise their flight paths accordingly, giving right-of-way to whichever vehicle commenced its journey first, to ensure they will never collide."

"They also fly at different altitudes depending on which direction they're going," I added, not wanting to be upstaged by the machine. "Skycars flying southwards go up high; skycars going north fly low; skycars flying east and west fly at different, separate altitudes too."

"That's right," Jacinta smiled. "The designers of the skycar system have guaranteed that no vehicle will ever come within twenty metres of another vehicle at any time. In billions of flight-hours in the decades since skycars began service, all around the world, there has not been a single collision arising from navigational errors."

"Because they've never let us dumb humans take the controls," I threw in, with a wink for the kids. "They're all automated, controlled by neural networks and flown by software far smarter than your silly old dad."

"It wouldn't have to be too smart, then!" Stacey replied, the height of cheek.

"Yeah yeah," I returned as Lilly cackled with glee - and I caught Jacinta smiling again with delight. She really did seem to derive a real enjoyment from hearing the girls laugh and seeing them having a great time. One could be forgiven for thinking she felt a lot of love for my girls; and if she didn't actually feel it, then her makers had done a superb job of programming her to simulate all the outward signs of a very real fondness.

Whatever it was - I had to admit, it was nice to see.

Once the skycar ride was done, we ventured down to the lakeside pavilion near our local land-and-launch pads, to enjoy our customary post-flight ice creams. The kids chose their flavours, as did I; before finalising the order, I found myself looking to Jacinta. "Do you eat ice cream, Jacinta?" I asked. "Do you eat, in general?"

"I can eat," she replied, "but I won't, in this instance. I'm trying to watch my figure."

I just stared at her.

"That was a joke," she added.

"Uh, yeah," I said, as I paid for our ice creams and the service android behind the counter lined up our cones and scoops. "I... thought it was. I didn't know androids could crack a joke, though."

"It's an upgrade option," Jacinta explained. "Mister Brad thought I might be more interesting with a sense of humour."

"Oh," was all I had to say to that.

"I apologise," she frowned. "It appears that my joke wasn't that funny."

"Oh no, no, it was funny," I tried to assure her. "Or it would have been - I was just caught off guard, I really wasn't expecting it. That thing you said last night, about the lobster béarnaise...?"

"That was a joke too," she assured me.

"Aha," I smiled. "I thought so. You got me pretty good there, actually," I allowed.

"Thank you," she smiled, seeming to take heart in the fact that I had found her amusing.

The whole exchange ­- bemusing though it was, to be the butt of an android's wisecracks ­- had brought me back to something else 'Mister Brad' had said, about getting the run-down on Jacinta's many optional extras. Is that what he had been referring to - her ability to get a few sly digs in at one's expense, with a bit of a sense of humour?

I didn't have long to dwell on that though, as our ice creams were quickly served. We thanked the service 'droid - the kids always said Julia and Brad never bothered thanking androids, but I'd always told them "manners cost nothing" ­- and with a smile from the service 'bot, we went on our way.

***

Once my time with the kids was up for the weekend, I rode with them by autocar to drop them back to their mum's house. It was only a ten minute ride and the autocar was well-equipped to get them there by itself ­- autocar being short for 'autonomous car', of course - but the fretful father in me always needed to ride with them and see them to their door, making sure they were safely home before I rode back to my place. It cost me twice as much to make the return trip rather than just order in the autocar and send them back by themselves, but it seemed a worthy indulgence to be sure of their safety; plus, it gave me just that little bit more time together with them, for which I would pay any price. I still had twinges of sadness and guilt whenever it was time to give them back to Julia and Brad, and I knew I forever would.

Having returned home, upon walking past the bathroom I was very surprised to hear the shower running. "Umm, hello?" I hailed as I knocked on the closed door. "Is someone in there?"

"Hello, Mister Scott," Jacinta returned from within. "I'm just taking a quick shower."

"Oh!" I said. I saw Jacinta's clothes piled neatly on the floor outside the door - jeans, top, bra and underwear all, of course - and I chastised myself for not putting two and two together. Who else would it have been?

I had almost forgot that Jacinta was still in my house. I had become so accustomed to returning to an empty home after dropping the kids off that I had expected to find myself alone. "I didn't know that androids even took showers," I added, raising my voice to speak through the door.

"Only occasionally," she replied. "We don't need to wash as often as a typical human, given we do not need to sweat or secrete bodily fluids as you do. But we do accumulate dirt and dust in our day-to-day activities, and a quick shower is the easiest way to be rid of it."

"Right," I said, filled with wonder. Of all the sci-fi stories of my youth, none of those fantastic tales ever envisaged the need for an android to rinse itself off on a semi-regular basis. "Well then! I guess I learned something new today," I added, as a means to end the conversation - I wasn't sure what else to say, quite frankly.

"You may come in if you'd like to chat, Mister Scott," Jacinta invited.

I stood, dumbfounded, for a moment - visions of what I might see in there, if I accepted her offer, dancing before my eyes. "Oh, um, no. No thank you," I said. "I'm sure I shouldn't."

"It really is okay," Jacinta insisted. "I only closed the door in deference to your apparent discomfort yesterday morning. But if you would like to continue this conversation without having to speak through a closed door, you're more than welcome to let yourself in."

"Oh no," I said again. I was tempted to take up her offer, very tempted, my internal lizard-brain going bonkers at the possibility of laying eyes on her very fine feminine form, fully nude. "No, I don't think that would be right of me," I went on, as much as for my own sake as for hers. "It just seems... improper, somehow."

"I understand," I heard Jacinta say - and the crazy thing was, I thought she almost sounded disappointed at my polite and gentlemanly refusal to enter, to come on in and lay eyes on her. "I'm almost finished, anyway. Was there anything else, Mister Scott?"

"Uh, no," I said, quickly. "No, I'll leave you to your privacy, thanks Jacinta."

"Thank you, Mister Scott," she returned - perhaps a trifle more tersely than usual? Was there an edge of... frustration, in her voice?

With that, I left the bathroom door, heading quickly for the safety of my room. "What the hell?" I boggled. "Am I imagining it, or does she actually want me to...? No," I told myself. "No. I'm being stupid. And horny. Just a stupid, horny idiot."

Story of my life, really.

***

After finishing off and submitting my articles due for the next day, I went through my usual evening routine and put myself to bed. I didn't venture beyond my room and I didn't hear from Jacinta again; I presumed she had towelled off, got dressed into one of her many outfits, and parked herself in her customary comfy couch to power-down for the evening.

Once abed, I found myself quite unable to power-down at all. My mind was racing, asking questions, fantasising; wondering what-if, what might have happened if I had opened the bathroom door...

I could have done it. I should have done it. She had invited me to come on in, and there was no real reason why I shouldn't have done so. I had wanted to go in. I was curious. I wanted to see her. Much as I had found our encounter awkward when I saw her boobs-out in Lilly's room the morning prior, I couldn't deny that I had enjoyed the sight, very much so. She was a beautiful woman, Jacinta - or at least, a beautiful simulation of a woman.

I indulged myself in fantasy, imagining the sight of her, how she would have looked in the shower that evening. Her long, flowing brunette hair slicked back under the flowing water; those breasts, large and full, gleaming in the steamy bathroom light with water cascading over them; her curves, womanly and awesome, beautiful to behold; her sex... would it be anatomically correct, like the rest of her? It was my fantasy, so yes it was: bare and exposed, right there for me to see, framed perfectly between her long lovely legs.

I imagined her there, in the shower, looking at me as I looked at her. My arousal grew as my mind painted the picture, and I found my hand automatically wrapping around myself down below, teasing and fondling as I imagined onwards...

The look in her eye, as she beheld me beholding her naked in the shower: a very real, very human look. A look of wanting, of desire. And even as I imagined her reaching up, running her hands through her hair, her breasts rising as she did so to stand proud and full, her nipples large and just so...

'You're welcome to join me in the shower, Mister Scott,' I imagined her saying to me, looking me in the eye with that piercing android stare - a look of hunger, of yearning, of want...

And I lay back in my bed, my covers pushed down along with my pants, my cock achingly-hard in the cool open air of my bedroom as I played with myself, and played with myself, and I closed my eyes to my pleasure which built, frustratingly slowly...

"May I be of some assistance here, Mister Scott?" said a real, actual voice from my doorway.

My heart very nearly seized.

"Holy shit!" I gasped - my eyes had flown open to see Jacinta herself, in the simulated flesh, standing in the opened doorway to my bedroom and watching me as I stroked my bare cock.

I saw her fight down a smile. "I am sorry to startle you, Mister Scott," she told me. "But I have very sensitive hearing, and by the pace of your breathing and your increased heart rate, I could tell what you were doing..." And as she spoke she ventured into my room, heading towards my side of the bed.

"And I thought now would be the best time to let you know," she added, as she sat right down beside me on the bed, right by my bare-naked hips, even as I kept on boggling in silent shock. "To let you know, about a few more of the 'optional extra features' I've had installed..."

And just like that, she laid her hand upon my cock.

"Oh my God," I breathed, finally finding my voice. "Jacinta...?"

"It's okay," she murmured in a wonderfully low, sexy voice, looking down now to take in the sight of my cock in her hand - and she gave me a stroke, beautifully light and tender. "It's okay, Mister Scott," she said again, as she stroked me again. "This is part of my programming."

"Uh..." I said, as she stroked me again - and again - and again, the sensation incredible as her surprisingly-warm hand enveloped me, her technique exquisite as she touched me, held me, squeezed me lightly as she pulled on my cock, up and down, up and down.

"Well, yes, I'm sure it is part of your programming," I went on; knowing Brad, he would be exactly the kind of creep to have his android programmed to deal out ­- and absorb - all sorts of sexual nastiness. "But Jacinta: is this something you actually want to do?"