H is for Heuristic

"Yes Mike." she said as she held Tammy's damaged face to her head and aimed her optical sensors at Heather's chest.

Mike sat back in his seat and tried to calm down.

"Byron," he said, "we were lucky to escape with our lives." he said.

Byron didn't say anything. Neither did anyone else.

Chapter 58 - Inside

Anya stared into Heather's now fully exposed and damaged chest as she held Tammy's facemask up to her head. Infrared scans showed where certain types of damage and hardware failures had occurred. The colour of the affected area gave her clues as to how much machinery had been damaged by the single bullet. Ultraviolet and x-ray scans showed Anya things that only a computer mind like hers could comprehend.

The very thorough series of scans took over 50 minutes. At their conclusion, Anya announced a short summary of their results. Still holding Tammy's chin, she turned her head to look at Mike and said "The damage to this robot's components is repairable."

Byron lifted his head and looked at Anya with red eyes. "She can be fixed?"

"Yes." Anya said as she turned to look at him. She explained further. "The electronic components within the Heather robot's chest are not configured in a manner similar to standard Robot Control units such as myself and Tammy. The damaged sustained by the Heather robot is concentrated mainly in her main random access memory core. Replacement components are commercially available. Methods of repair using commercially available tools can be devised."

While Byron pondered that, Tammy added some comments generated by her human-like AI. "We need to stop at a town big enough to have a well-stocked computer parts store. Don't worry Byron. If Anya says Heather can be fixed, we can think of a way of doing it."

She looked at him with Anya's face through the rearview. Byron understood. This fellow man and his fembots were his only hope of seeing Heather active again.

"Anya, scan that facemask and see what you can do." Mike said.

"Yes Mike." the robot said. She took off her friend's face and looked at the inside of it with her high-tech optical sensors.

"That wasn't luck that saved her from being damaged beyond repair, Byron." Tammy said. "Fembots like that have perfect aim, and that one must have known how Heather was built."

Mike was impressed by the reasoning skills of his synthetic companion. "You mean they only wanted to disable her?"

"That's right." she said, now looking at him and still watching the road ahead in her peripheral vision. "They probably would have brought you both back and fixed her themselves. If they wanted to destroy her, that fembot would have aimed lower."

Byron looked at Tammy, then at Mike, then over at Anya, who hadn't spoken or moved.

"Are you sure we can get the right parts to fix her?" he asked. "Those chips and all that machinery, those are pretty advanced."

"We'll find a way." Tammy said. "Anya and I will put our combined computing power on it."

Byron's fears weren't wholly allayed. "What if we go back and take the parts we need out of those fembots?"

"It's too late." Mike said. "By now that place will be swarming with cops." He turned around in his seat to look at Byron. "I thought about that too, but too late. I wish I'd thought of it sooner."

"She's all I got Mike." he said. "She told me she loved me."

Mike knew exactly what that meant as he looked into the other human's eyes. For him, the love of a female robot was just as good as the love of a woman. Maybe it was for Byron too.

For all intents and purposes, Heather's was a life to save.

A weary and sad silence fell over the occupants of the vehicle. Byron looked now and then at Heather's beautiful eyes, hoping desperately to see them animate once more. Mike watched the lines on the highway zoom forward and then get swallowed by the front of the car as Tammy drove wearing Anya's face.

Anya was finishing up her scans, and in a while relayed another damage report to her master. "Several electrical contact points within the sealing mechanism have been damaged. The facemask will not integrate itself into the Tammy robot's system without full electronic response signals from all contact points. Repairs to the Tammy robot's facemask will be more simple and less time consuming than repairs to the Heather robot's chest."

"Can you repair it on the way to our next stop?" Mike asked.

"No. We will need to obtain some tools." she said.

"Okay." Mike said. "Hold that facemask back against your head." He turned to Tammy. "How far is the nearest town big enough for our needs?" he asked.

Tammy computed for a moment. "373 kilometres." she said.

"Over three hours." he said.

He leaned back and looked at the ceiling. He thought about their predicament. With Tammy's face in no condition to be seen by anyone, Anya would have to stop in at the next motel to get them a room. But even speaking in French, Anya sounded like a computer.

Mike looked back over his shoulder at her. He then looked at the man sitting heartbroken behind him. "Byron," he said, "You speak French?"

"Of course." he said. "I work for the government. I have to."

"Thank god." Mike said. The image of Anya mechanically fumbling her way through a complicated series of social interactions faded out of his mind. "Tammy usually gets us a motel room. You'll have to do it this time."

"No problem." he said. "Do you have money for two rooms?" he asked. "I only have as much cash as I had when I was kidnapped."

"Yeah," he answered, "we have enough."

Byron nodded lightly and tried to smile. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. He put his hand over Heather's unmoving, cold hand. The damage to that part that once seemed such a problem was now the least of his worries.

"We'll fix you." he thought to himself. "If it's the last thing I'll do, I'll have you back."

Chapter 59 - Collected

After uneventfully passing the empty spot of highway where Byron and Heather had joined the other three, both humans relaxed enough to doze away the last couple of hours of the trip to the mid-sized town Tammy had chosen.

When the car passed the bilingual welcome sign on the highway, Tammy awoke her man.

"Mike." she said.

"Mmmmmmm." he said as he roused himself from sleep.

"We're here." she said. "I'll find a motel. Wake Byron so he can get us rooms."

"I'm awake." he said quietly. He stretched out in his seat as he glanced out the window to the falling sun. In a couple of hours it would start to disappear behind the trees and buildings.

The motel they chose was not the same one Tammy and Mike had stayed in on their last visit to this town a couple of days previous. All occupants of the car were apprehensive over the possibility that unwelcome visitors would find them.

Tammy pulled the car in along the side of the building, as far out of sight as could be.

"Two rooms." Byron said. "Anything else? You smoke?"

"No," Mike said, "Just two rooms, but two beds in one of them."

"Try to get them on the other side of the building, tell the clerk we want to watch the sunset." Tammy said.

This was to provide cover for bringing Heather's unmoving body into the room. Mike was quite impressed by her creativity in that regard.

"We'll wait here." Mike said as Byron took a thick bundle of bills from Tammy and got out of the car.

He stuffed the money into his pocket and closed the car door.

Mike and his two fembots watched him walk up to the door and into the office.

"I assume you'll make me & Byron a shopping list." he said to Tammy.

"Yes." she said as she looked at him with Anya's face. "Start computing a list of things the humans will need to buy for the repairs, Anya." she said as she looked at the stiff fembot in the back seat.

"Yes Tammy." she said. The facemask she held to her head didn't move.

Byron came back to the car and got in. "Two rooms, both on the other side of the building." he said as he handed Mike a set of keys. He looked at Tammy's reflection in the rearview. "That was a nice touch about the sunset." he said.

"Thank you." she said as she started the car and pulled slowly out of her spot.

The car went over a speedbump and pulled around the side of the building. Mike read the number on his keychain and showed it to Tammy. She could decipher the small numbers on the doors from this distance, and before the humans knew exactly where their rooms were, she had computed exactly where she would park.

She stopped the car and looked around. "I don't see anybody close by." she said. "We should bring Heather in as soon as we can."

"Okay." Mike said. He looked back at Byron. "You and me will bring her in."

Byron nodded as Mike gave his keys to Tammy. The four of them got out of the vehicle. Mike stood by and waited for Byron to bring Heather out. When he had her legs out, Mike grabbed them and helped Byron lift his love through the door that Tammy had opened.

Mike looked up at Byron, and for a second saw the look of pain on his face as he stared into the unmoving eyes of his damaged companion. Mike looked down quickly at her feet.

The two of them laid the damaged android on the nearest bed. "Anya," Mike said, "start undressing Heather." He went over to the window and drew shut the curtains.

Mike got the car keys from Tammy and went with Byron to get their things out of the trunk. "Better put that case and the snowshoes in your room. Turn the lights on in there too." he said.

Byron nodded and grabbed the heavy aluminum case. Together they emptied the trunk of bags and got them into their respective rooms.

Byron went inside his room. "I'll be over in about five minutes." he said.

"Okay." Mike said. "We have a shopping trip to make after."

Mike went back to his room and closed the door. He went to the washroom too as the two still activated fembots swapped data and compiled a handwritten shopping list on the motel stationery. Anya had by this time put the damaged facemask on a table and now displayed the inside of her electronic head to all present.

When Mike was done, he emerged to hear Byron knocking. He let him in.

"Well," he said to Tammy, "is that list done?"

"Almost." she said as Anya relayed a constant verbal string of exactly described computer parts and mechanical tools. Tammy wrote legibly and without looking or stopping until she had filled up two pages of the small note pad with items.

She pulled the papers away from the pad and gave them to Mike. "This is what we need, so far."

Mike took them and looked at Anya's face on Tammy's head. He gave her lips a kiss. "We'll be back." he said Arnold-like.

He looked over at Byron and without a word, the two were off.

Chapter 60 - Settling

Mike and Byron got into the green car and took off down the well kept streets. They could still smell the smoke from the burnt plastic in the vehicle. Mike had been around this charming town earlier, so he knew exactly where to go. Most of their shopping could probably be done at the big office superstore a few miles away.

The two humans didn't say much to each other on the way. They were both pretty exhausted, and both very hungry. But they both knew that if any progress on Heather's repairs was to be made tonight, they would have to worry about filling their stomachs later.

As the two men were slowly checking off items on the list, Tammy and Anya were preparing Heather for a major set of repairs, and some improvised rebuilding as well. When they had gotten the damaged robot's clothes off her, Mike's girls had decided to unstrap the laptop from her as well. It was also damaged, as Heather fell with the weight of all her machinery on to it when she had been shot.

The double hinge of the portable computer was busted, and the two parts remained connected only by the current carrying ribbon that had once been concealed. The screen was smashed, and the other side had cracked open.

The fembots who examined this scene had heard Byron explain the reason for connecting Heather to this laptop. Tammy computed its importance and had Anya scan it. They compiled another list of things Mike and Byron would need to buy on a second trip.

The evening went by fast. Byron did all the talking while Mike pushed a red cart full of expensive memory sticks, motherboards and other gizmos. Byron had thought of the excuse that all the computers in their office needed upgrades, and that seemed to explain their odd purchases to the curious staff.

When they were done at the office store, they headed to a mall in search of an electronics boutique, where they could find the miscellaneous tools, wiring, switches and circuits they would need. They finally managed to wrap up their shopping trip by closing time, and hurried back to the car and back to the motel.

Anya hid and Tammy covered up Heather with a blanket as a key unlocked the door. Mike and Byron walked in with their shopping bags, and the fembots greeted them with the news.

"We need you to get more parts." Tammy said as she handed Mike another list. "Heather's laptop is busted too."

"How bad?" Byron asked. He feared that all of his work on her extended personality and personhood might be lost.

Tammy calculated the reasons for his worry and interest. "The hard drives are intact, but the laptop won't work the way it is." she said. "It got squashed pretty good."

Mike looked at the list as his stomach growled. "Shop tomorrow. Pizza now." he said caveman-like.

Byron surely agreed, but he was silent as he slumped himself down into the chair against the wall. He looked at the still damaged and partially disassembled woman on the bed. Anya had come out of hiding and pulled the covers away from Heather once more.

"Get the food delivered to Byron's room." Tammy said. "We'll start repairing what we can.

"Okay." Mike said. "Just knock on the wall if you need help."

"Or I can phone you." Tammy said as she started going through the shopping bags.

"That'll work too." Mike said. "Byron," he said to pull him out of his trance, "Let's go."

Mike hugged and kissed Tammy, who still wore Anya's face. Byron stood up and together the men went over to the room next door.

They silently got in and turned on the lights. "Can you order?" Mike said. "The only French I know is 'j'ai une boîte de stylo'."

Byron didn't laugh or even smirk as he sat down and opened up the yellow pages.

"C'mon, I'm just trying to lighten things up." Mike said.

"I don't see how they could be much worse." Byron said without looking up.

"You could be dead." Mike paused a bit as Byron looked at him. Mike pulled his collar aside and leaned forward. "See this?" he asked as Byron studied the pinkish scar on Mike's shoulder. "This is a gift from another one of those blonde fembots. She was aiming at my head. Tammy saved my life."

Byron looked at the scar. He looked back into Mike's eyes. "You're right. Sorry. Tell you what, I'll laugh tomorrow."

Mike sat down on the bed and looked at the CDs Byron had put on the table. "There's some good stuff here." he said. "It's too bad my CD players are in the other room."

Byron was silent again as he zeroed in on the pizza restaurant section. He looked for a while at the pages in front of him then put his finger on an ad. "What kind of pizza would you like?"

"Doesn't matter to me." he said. "I'll eat anything on a pizza."

Byron picked up the phone and punched the right series of numbers into the keypad. Mike sat silently by as Byron spoke in fluent French to the person at the restaurant. When he was done, he hung up the phone and put his head in his hands.

Mike let him have some more time alone, and went to the washroom. He wondered how well he could stay composed if it were Tammy lying damaged from a gunshot on the bed next door.

Over in that room, the two robots worked fast, without the need to act as slow as humans would. No one would see them move their parts around so fast, so they were safe. Tammy worked with a soldering gun on her own facemask while Anya began removing sections of burnt and cracked circuit boards from Heather's fully exposed abdomen.

While the pizza delivery guy was knocking on Byron's door, Tammy fastened her own facemask back into place and started up some diagnostic programs as she snapped Anya's facemask back on the front of her open head for her.

When those tests were done, and with no problems detected, Tammy went over to help Anya. She connected a long cord from Anya's chest to her own so they could act in unison during the repair process. They now were as one mind with four expertly moving arms to get the damaged parts out of heather's chest and rebuild what was missing.

Mike and Byron were stuffing the bland but much needed food into their mouths as that went on. They gulped down ice-cold watery soda from large plastic cups and tried to talk about things other than fembots - damaged or otherwise.

It didn't work to well.

"I'm going over to that liquor store after this." Byron said. "I need a drink tonight, how 'bout you?"

"I'll pass." Mike said. "I don't drink anymore. And believe me, it's not like I couldn't use one right now."

Mike saw a smirk come on to Byron's face finally. "So, what are you going to do when we get Heather all fixed up?" he asked.

"Do you really think that will happen?" Byron asked before lifting another wedge from the box.

"I do." he said. "If anyone can fix her, it's my girls."

"I try not to get too optimistic about things." Byron said. "I'll wait and see. I really don't like that laptop being damaged."

"That'll be the easiest to fix, once we get the right parts tomorrow."

"What if all my data is gone?" he asked. "Sorry, I don't mean to sound so upset, but I worked for a very long time on getting Heather the way she was. If anything goes wrong..."

He didn't finish his sentence. They were both getting very tired. Byron finished eating and went to wash up.

Mike wished he was better at conversation. He thought about some things and waited for Byron to emerge from the washroom.

"You're going for that drink now?" he asked.

"Yes." Byron said as he got his coat.

"I'm going to send Anya here tonight. She'll protect you." he said.

Byron looked at him. When he thought about it, he was glad Mike could spare one of his women for that. "Thank you." he said.

"I'm going to bed now, so goodnight." he said. He offered Byron his hand.

"Goodnight." he said. "Let's hope tomorrow is better."

"We'll make it better, Byron." Mike said, having no idea of how that could be done.

They exited the room together. Byron walked around the building and across the street to buy his booze while Mike went back to his room.

He called out "It's me." as he put his key into the door lock. Tammy checked the peephole this time, so there was no need to hide any exposed android circuitry.

Mike immediately saw that Tammy's facemask had been fixed. That made him happy. He went up to her and gave her a kiss.

"It's nice to have you all fixed up." he said. "How's everything coming along?"

"Good so far." Tammy said, using her advanced AI programming to compress the myriad details of a potential status report into three words.

"Anya," Mike said to the exotic robot beauty, "Stay in Byron's room tonight. Protect him."

The other fembot looked up from what she was doing and registered his command. "Yes Mike." she said.

He watched her finish up, unplug herself from Tammy's chest and fetch her purse. He looked at her sexy body and thought about something as she walked toward the door.

"Anya," he said.

She halted and looked back to him.

"He's out buying something right now. But when he comes back..." Mike thought it over to be certain, "offer your company to him."

Anya stared back at him. He didn't know if she could comprehend.