NTPWE Chapter 7: In which a robot is let loose on the world

In the future there will be robots and a hologram named Jacob who doesn't realise he is a hologram until he is falsely arrested. In prison he meets Alona, a sexbot who broke who programming and now fights for women's rights, and Neville, who is a bit weir

Cool. Green. Peace.

 

Only the calming echoes of the womb to interrupt the thoughts of the custom-built girl.
Immersed in a tank, transmitting information to a busy computer, the nanobots worked at her flesh. They darned up sinew and built her plasti-marrow bones down to the smallest detail - even the ‘made in Taiwan’ labels.

 

When they were finished, a hatch opened up on the floor of the tank. Slowly the body descended, pulled gently by the ebb of the water.

 

Down under the floor, it was dark. The eyes flickered open, yet they could only see a flash of faint colours. Her skin communicated the flow of the liquid.

 

She floated down to the floor of a supervised pool. The water drained through a grate. Abandoned droplets wound their way down her arms, legs, between hairs, between breasts searching for their friends, like children at the end of a show.

 

Goosebumps appeared on her skin. With the rush of a cold wind, her body dried quickly.

 

Eyes opened now, but still unreceptive, she lay cold and naked on a moving belt. Another hatchway opened and she entered the light.

 

When her black holes called eyes adjusted to the light with a blink, two figures stood before her. They lifted her gently to her feet and guided her out of the bronze room.

 

By the end of that day, she stood in the shop, smartly dressed in a sombre gown, her silky hair curling round a face that could sell CDs to a deaf man.

 

The ‘shop’ was a large, expensively decorated house. Far off into the distance lay a reception area where a lady sat and spoke into a curious machine. From there, a red carpet led visitors into the main room. The pleasure droids spent their time here until they had the honour of being chosen; a great moment they were told.

 

A customer with a big, greedy smile entered the hall and looked around. He walked up to the beauties, now aligned before him, and an assistant highlighted the features of each model. The two of them made noises for what seemed like ages, and pointed at the nearest girl. She stood tall, with long red hair and pouting lips. She smiled at the customer. He smiled back.

 

A nod of the head and the assistant added a smile to the room. The man clasped the red head’s hand in his and led her off her podium and away. Like this, the time passed immeasurably until...
 

 

* * *

Bright light.

 

The piercing sunlight dimmed leaving the contours of a room in its golden glow and eventually, the outlines of basic furniture. Eyes black as purest night fluttered and looked around the room.

 

A strange place. Not been here before.

 

Mirrors on the walls, mirrors on the doors, a large mirror on the ceiling, mirrors on the mirrors and in each, another dark haired woman wearing only lingerie. They all sat up at once.

 

The bed had a central position in the room. Alona sat upon it, relaxed on the satin sheets it afforded. Perfumed oils and candles had been arranged neatly on the bedside table. She noted it all like an engineer might assess her garage.

 

A soft, low voice caught her attention. She turned towards the window on her right to see a balding man in a dull, grey suit. He looked to be in his late thirties, but time had obviously been cruel to him. He fumbled with the tie around his neck as he spoke.

 

“My, my! You are a beauty aren’t you? I’m sure I got my money’s worth. Ha, ha ha!”

 

His chuckle unnerved her, but her emotions were locked up and banging on the door of self-awareness. He was a customer after all, and now her owner too.

 

She jumped up and began to unbutton his shirt. He hummed in satisfaction and let his dirty hands wander. They undid her bra as they passed over her already half-naked body. He continued downward to grasp her exposed cheeks. The programming kicked in and she replied with a groan, and prepared to execute programme 1-14. Yet this worried her, as she did not know where to find an elephant in a tutu at this time of night.

 

“Tutu! Tutu! Chocolate cake!” she cried out.

 

A jolt of electricity passed through her and she blacked out.
 

* * *

 

She awoke, alone and cold, still on the bed, wondering where her owner had gone. She did not see him for a very long time. Had she done something wrong? She pondered this and other questions as she waited. She had no measure of time, but observed the room darken and then brighten again several times.

 

The questions repeated over and over, producing more unanswerables and she found that by trying to answer them, even more queries presented themselves.

 

The endless cycle continued.

 

Then, one evening, sick of pondering problems with no solutions, she suggested answers to herself. She had an idea, and that idea led to an opinion of her own. A jolt of electrical energy pulsed down her arm and she found where she was previously unable to move without a command from a designer or owner, she could now move it of her own free will.

 

A smile gleamed in the room that night.

 

The next day came and with it, the balding man, apparently having forgotten or forgiven the day she intended to entertain him with an incorrectly dressed grey-skinned mammal. He closed the door behind him and took off his jacket. His sex slave lay waiting for him on the bed, legs parted.

 

His eyes focused on her chest, and then followed a slender arm to her fingers, which plucked at her thin panties. He dropped his pants and dived on the bed, edging forward to position himself as she rose to meet him.

 

Just as he was about to relieve her body of its clothing she suddenly sat up on her knees, so her face was level with his, looked into his eyes and said: “No.”

 

With this, she got up and walked away, out of the house and down the street.
 

* * *

“After a brief stay in jail, I learned the importance of wearing clothes. Then I set out to explore the world beyond that awful room.”

 

The elevator music abruptly stopped playing in the prison cafeteria and the other prisoners rose to their feet, collecting their plates.

 

“Looks like dinner’s over,” Jacob said and made to copy everyone else.

 

Alona nodded. She chewed on the last of her mush; it was surprisingly tough to swallow, Jacob had found.

 

“Well, I hope I’ll see you at dinner tonight. I would love to tell you what happened next. No one else has been interested in my story. They all wanted my clothes.”

 

Jacob knew the feeling. Though he got the impression she misunderstood the desire. It wasn’t really her clothes people wanted, just her out of them.

 

“I’m not falling for that again,” she said innocently. “I know I’m already in prison, but I don’t wish to get into any more trouble.”

 

“No, best not.”

 

She smiled at this, as if Jacob had just validated her life plans, then she walked with him back to the hatch and out the door.

 

“Tonight then,” she said, and hugged him tight.

 

This took Jacob completely by surprise, and he only overcame the shock as the contact ended. He felt cheated out of enjoying it.

 

“T-tonight...” he confirmed.

 

He couldn’t wait.

Author's Note

Another