Westry Bay

"You really mean that, Mariena?" Julia asked.

"Yes. I mean it. WE mean it. You gave Ian to us. We don't want to give him back. We want to keep him, to love him, to enjoy him. We don't want to go back to being bored at Westry Bay where only the three of us recognise each other as people instead of machines. We ARE people. Ian thinks we are."

Mariena's arms hugged me. I nodded again.

"We want him," Jiao said. "We want to be with him. He knows what we are and it doesn't matter to him. It does to Alan. It even does to you, Julia. You don't treat us as human. You told us, Julia, to try to get Ian to reveal secrets about his work. That's what YOU wanted. We didn't. We liked Ian too much even to try."

"From the moment I first met him," Mariena said, "Ian behaved towards us as you and Alan never did. He reacted as if we were women, women he found attractive, worth kissing, and more importantly worth listening to."

Jiao pointed at my erection again.

"That saluted all three of us instinctively. It still does even now Ian knows we are androids. That is an automatic reaction to women that Ian finds attractive. We may not be human. That thinks we are. So does Ian."

Julia stood up and began to walk around the room.

"You don't know what you are asking. How can Ian marry Mariena? You don't exist as people. You have no birth certificates. We made all three of you in a laboratory more than twenty years ago. None of you appear on any official records."

"If Ian can have working but fake credit cards, and duplicate passports in different names, creating identities for us should be easy for a government research establishment, Julia," Ingrid said. "You can do it. You could do it. You SHOULD do it. For your friend Ian as well as for us."

"But..." Julia started to say.

"No buts, Julia," Mariena said. "You are the one who is compromised, not Ian. We three could walk out of here and prove to the world that we are androids. You couldn't stop us. You don't have the control of us that you have of those half-humans at Westry Bay. You designed the control out so we could act independently. You can communicate with us but you can't order us without our consent. Now you are hoist with your own petard. We CAN act by ourselves. We WILL -- unless we get to keep Ian, the man we love,"

Julia slumped down on the edge of the bed.

"I think it is time that Ian should speak for himself. What does he want? Mariena? Please remove Ian's gag."

Mariena untied the gag and threw it off the bed. I swallowed a couple of times before I could speak.

"I want my friends, Julia, and I want Mariena as my wife." I said before Mariena's hugging arms almost squeezed the breath out of me.

Julia looked shocked.

"You can do it, Julia. If you need help with your research the four of us could work with you as independent sub-contractors cooperating but uncontrolled by you. That way we get to live together and you get the results you want. I think you already know that the experiment has been a success even if the outcome was unexpected. You and Alan have made people, three women that I love. As people they should be able to choose what to do with their lives."

All four of us looked at Julia. She sat still for several long minutes.

"You win, Ian, Mariena, Jiao and Ingrid. They ARE people. One of them will be your wife and all three will live with you. I hope you don't regret it as you grow older, Ian."

"We'll grow old with him," Jiao said. "Our apparent age is easily modified. If Mariena is a well-preserved woman apparently ten years younger than Ian, and Ingrid and I are her younger sisters-in-law, we can live together. I and Ingrid have the skills to alter our appearances subtly to age appropriately. When Ian eventually dies, which won't be for a very long time with three very skilled women to look after him, we'll return to Westry Bay for deactivation. Is that acceptable?"

Julia nodded slowly.

"Can I be released, please?" I asked plaintively. "I want to kiss my fiancée and sisters-in-law."

Julia turned her back as Jiao and Ingrid eased me out of Mariena's nightdress and untied the satin securing me. Mariena massaged my arms and legs before I pulled on trousers and a t-shirt. The three of them kissed me quietly and softly.

"I'm dressed, Julia," I announced.

She turned around. She looked sad and contrite. I couldn't resist. I looked at Mariena, who nodded. I took Julia in my arms and kissed her.

"Thank you, Julia," I said, "for giving me three wonderful women to love."

The End.