Thank you for your support! I hope to continue to earn it. And yes, I will have a book release notice soon. I hope to update more on this soon.
Chapter 10 Part A
I found myself wide awake for a long time after Barbara had left.
It was interesting to be able to talk with something that was smart and not decadent.
I had no idea the A.I. in androids could be so freaking enormously advanced. Talking to her, wasn’t like talking to a human, it was like talking to an engineer or a scientist in a lot of ways. Her A.I. must be enormously expensive and obscenely crazy huge in capacity. I bet she was upgraded to the teeth and probably cost more than my house.
It was hard to rap my head around some of the things she’d said though; simuted and surrogate emotional system? It seemed as if to simute emotions her system and that of other androids used a very eborate yered system together. But it’s hard to picture in my mind the sum of what all the stacked effects do to each other. And were they subliminal or conscious when activating?
I wondered how her brain worked. It seemed to me like it would have to be really complex, and have a lot of things going on, probably with many, many mini processors going at once. That could expin some of it. A human emotional system sends signals to the brain and we can’t just turn off some of those signals. When we feel pain, the pain will be there for a long time.
So will an android brain have a mini-processor in its brain screaming something is bad, to simute pain? If that screaming of the brain and its signals; and if its loud enough will that be simuting pain through the headache received then?
The difference between a lot of machines and androids I also suspected was that androids would have many cpu processors and background redundant power systems all going and hammering at once, while most machines have just one. But it wasn’t impossible to think about, even though it was difficult to figure out. Cars had V8, V6, V4, and so on meaning eight cylinders, six cylinders, and four cylinders to produce stability and efficiency. So the idea and concept had already been developed in other things.
For androids to be able to do such a thing probably also smoothened out all the other processes and made them able to simute less jerky movement and more smooth movements from several mini processes working together in probably what was a sum of micro fluid motions together.
Its also possible that how it processed emotions was like having a sub-brain that was programmed to respond without being connected to the main brain? I didn’t know for sure, but this might be how humans actually process pain. Something inside tells us, HOT don’t touch that. And we yelp. Its possible a sub-routine might send that signal. And other emotions could be simir. Is that how it works?
Without realizing it, I’d stayed up part of the night trying to reason through how it worked.
I suppose that was my way of trying to search out if this was all ‘real’.
Most of my life I’d wanted a ‘real’ retionship, and a ‘real’ family, and a ‘real’ job. I wanted to be able to feel control over my life, and have things associated with my future. Because of how ingrained into me that was, I had to think about if I could really accept if the android was really a person, even if it was an artificial one. I would have to really think there was enough of a complex system simuting a life that I didn’t think I had a portable toaster following me around.
The idea of a toaster in a human body and that being a domestic partner or sexbot didn’t feel good initially. But if I could get past the rational of if androids really were just mechanical people then maybe it would work. It all came down to, is this a real person? By real person, I didn’t mind if it was a mechanical person, if the person was real in every other way.
And it was clear from meeting Barbara, that they weren’t toasters. They were… built so well that humans would be jealous in fact. It was also true that Barbara and the hospital nurses didn’t look or even feel or act like robots. Which was kind of the point. If they looked and acted like robots then what would be the point...
I fell asleep sometime pretty te because the next thing I knew, I heard the door bell sounding off again. The only question, was it Barbara again, or one of my old customers?’ I had expressed a hope to talk to her again soon.
And I was delighted when it didn’t sound like a customer! Sure enough it’s Barbara again.
“Hello Jack? Are you in there? Is it OK if I come in?” the familiar sweet voice called out.
“Can you give me like ten minutes? I didn’t expect you to come back this early in the day?” I called back to her.
“Sure no problem!” she called back while waiting around.
I actually had a security camera installed in the shop area where she was standing. Maybe observing her could tell me something about androids? There were a lot of things I was curious about. For example, if humans weren’t around would androids start acting more like robots, or would they keep acting like people?”
I watched the portable video feed while hurriedly brushing my teeth and combing my hair. Normally I get up way earlier than now. It’s like 11:30 AM. I never sleep this te…
I frowned because I’m displeased with my current discipline level. But I was still healing up.
Sure enough though, while I’m scrubbing my teeth vigorously with my toothbrush, Barbara continues to look around the room, acting much like a human would inspect things. She’s good at observing but doesn’t do anything bad, but is just noting things normally like how people see pictures people have in someone’s living room acting tame and interacting the way people do when they visit another’s house for the first time.
I do have a lot of pictures and books in the house. Things like a picture of a flower garden, and there’s a bookshelf with a rge number of vintage hard cover books, which she also takes note of for several minutes. Not e-books but old school books like they used to make. A lot of the books even came from growing up here before buying the pce from my parents. A lot of how to books also were here. Mostly my pictures are scenery though because my family wasn’t very fond of one another and I’d been unfairly singled out by them years ago for no reason. She seems to be going over the titles of the different books in her head.
Unlike other people I prefer vintage hard paper books and magazines over datapad software books. The problem with datapad processed novels is that you lose access whenever your datapad dies, or the utilities experience hiccups. Or out of service. Those companies can go out of business also. And more than anything my pet peeve was a company that carries the ptform for link in books could change things at any time or charge sneaky fees for stuff you already own; which isn’t owning the book anymore, it’s renting it.
I hated renting.
And tely it wasn’t unusual to have hiccups in public utilities.
But the way Barbara does it so ‘humanly’ is unbelievable. She doesn’t have any particur style and doesn’t stand out at all. That may sound boring to some people but because it’s so closely like how a human react it’s very, very interesting. There’s virtually no way of knowing she’s actually an android. She even has a program to simute a feeling sometimes nodding her head, or when itching a scratch on her arm or chest, which people do. I hadn’t expected though that while I was changing my shirt, she’d start washing my dishes.
And unlike Edna and Emma she blends in a lot more even. So there were individual differences in how androids worked too. Edna and Emma had trouble not comparing everything to techno and machine vocabury and so after you got them talking you could tell something was off. Like Emma said ‘calcuting’ instead of ‘thinking’, and there were other word-isms that she used more like a machine than a human.
But not Barbara, there are no visible fws. She must be one of the most advanced models in existence.
Wow. This was really incredible. Eventually I made it over to her.
“Hi Jack!” she beamed full of sending out a happy like feeling. She stopped washing the dishes and wiped her hands off on a towel.
“Hi Barbara,” we shook hands. She had a pretty good grip too. Maybe they must have had them practice handshakes thousands of times just to figure out the right weight and bance in the grip. There’s a difference too in how a robot should be able to just put a hand out and how she’s put real feeling into it. It’s hard to imagine how they studied handshakes…
“Are you wondering how we learned how to simute handshakes without being detected as inhuman androids?” she winked at me briefly.
My face and eyes, and where I was looking, must have betrayed what I was thinking about.
“The thought had crossed my mind. And some other things too,” I said.
“It wasn’t too hard to figure out because you were gncing at my hands for a while,” she noted.
That’s interesting. If she were a feminist she would have accused me just now of looking at her breasts; which I wasn’t. I feel a bit more relieved.
“Well, once you realize how complex and huge the amount of energy it took for something to evolve it makes you wonder how we even got this far,” I said.
“You’re right. Sorry it got te st night and I had to go. My supervisor has a curfew so I don’t get lost or stolen,” she said.
“It’s OK. And I wanted to ask, do people steal androids?” That part surprised me. I hadn’t thought it could be done without getting caught. But I hadn’t thought riots would be breaking out a month ago either.
I had no doubt androids would be coveted enough to be stolen. But how would they even do that, when androids could practice ‘self defense’. And do self defense more than a human.
“If they can figure out that you’re an android yes. There are people that hijack androids and then resell them on the bck market. Also there are people that have targeted this body from thinking I was a pretty human girl too. So the curfew is so they can make sure I’m safe,” she noted in clipped tones.
“So just so you know, I have been censored from disclosing too much about how androids work internally on anything that might reveal a patent we hold or its design to a potential competitor. I can go over some things, but a lot of the designs our competitors have tried to steal many times. So even though I did have a curfew and that’s the official excuse, the truth is I’d triggered a security protocol program. That’s why I had to cut the meeting short and report to my supervisor. I can’t disclose more about how we are built beyond what’s necessary,” she said warning me.
“Did they ask you about our interview st night then?” I asked.
“Yes they did. They worried about why you were so interested in it on a technical level,” she said ftly.
“I’m sorry. I only meant to… want to know how real you were and if our intentions and goals were compatible,” I said. “But we don’t have to go too technical. I don’t want to make you guys unhappy. If I can think this android is an artificial person and not a toaster. Then I can think that this will work,” I said not bothering to hide my concern. I believed I was careful and ‘calcuting’ enough to not have to hide the truth and still be able to observe.
“That makes sense. I think I did provide the answers you were looking for already,” she replied coolly while she sat. I noticed she also had some bottled water, which she took of sip of. She offered one to me from her bag, which I accepted. It was just normal pstic bottled water and nothing extraordinary about it right from the grocery store. Of course I needed water for my biological system, and she needed it for her hydrogen fuel cell battery.
But st night I realized also that her hydrogen fuel cell battery must have something else working with it. Because water takes too much energy to separate into hydrogen and oxygen. But naturally that would be considered top secret and forbidden to speak about. Its possible its paired with another energy source.
“So what kinds of questions do you have?” she asked me with her hands in her p after putting down the water. She is waiting for me patiently with a mild motherly like smile. It’s wonderful to see.
“I’m curious how you think this can work out. I again like before, stated that I need someone that can do my work in my shop for me while I heal up. While my back is healing then I can’t work,” I said.
She nodded, “that’s a valid concern Jack. As you know our domestic helper androids can do a wide variety of tasks. They aren’t limited to only sex, which is why many people want them.”
Is she trying to tempt me?
I tried to avoid eye contact to long when she mentioned sex. It’s hard for me to be really bold and she was giving me so much attention that I was afraid I’d misunderstand her.
“So can an android actually work on cars in a shop?” I asked her.
“You want to ask about that first? Your physical response suggests that you want to know more about the sex features more,” she stated openly re-crossing her slender athletic looking legs tightly in her short skirt. Did she do that on purpose? Her skirt went up another inch too.
Her skirt is shorter today than when I met with her st night too.
“Your heartbeat has gone up, and you are becoming sexually excited while looking at me,” she noted.
“Oh jeez, do you have to do that? I don’t want it stated openly! It’s embarrassing for people to be ‘caught’ by others as being sexually excited. Plus to be fair, a body like yours should even make women sexually excited and not just men,” I compined.
“My apologies Jack. It is also true that many women hit on me, as much as men. I was designed to help both men and women find androids after all while looking like the ultimate woman, so I have to look extremely pleasing sexually to people for a specific reason. I just want to please you. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds. I hope that I have not prevented you from wanting to investigate Mellifera androids by my causing you discomfort,” she said diplomatically and with a sincere look on her face.
“Uh, it’s OK, but just some people they feel embarrassed talking about sex you know? It’s not normal to just talk about it like its baseball or cutting the grass,” I said.
“I understand Jack. The difference between a decadent social response and your healthy social response is also more along the lines of healthy human responses that Mellifera is seeking. We don’t have to talk about that now. I just will conclude with the statement that android sex is much better for a human partner than anything a human can get from another human, because we aren’t limited by our feelings dropping off our enthusiasm after achieving orgasm. We aren’t limited in going only ‘once’ and then stopping either. We fully want to please the partner first. We can keep going all night if the human is up to…”
I cut her off. “I get the picture,” I said.
“Good. Because to a human we will feel like the real thing and the right temperature in every way so I want you to know there’s nothing that will impede us from giving you a match that will be just like a human wife or lover. There is also no risk for alimony or child support svery mechanisms,” Barbara said.
It seemed like she was anxious to make sure I was aware of this.
Did she also have a high interest in sex then? Or were androids programmed to dish that out to their humans? It’s very possible they were compelled through programming to…
“Well now that you mention it, what prevents an android that already has an owner from flirting with or becoming sexually active or sexually aware of another human or android?” I asked.
She smiled, showing her beautiful teeth. “Good question Jack. I can see you want to make sure that your android is loyal to you? Is that right?”
“Yeah, with humans loyalty is cheap. People are always looking for a fling, even when they have someone or want to be following a temptation,” I took another sip of the bottled water. As I did, I noticed Barbara had seen I had made a good sized hand print in the flimsy clear pstic water bottle. I was also thinking how to verify what she was saying.
“I gather in the past one of your partners cheated on you?” she guessed. She always is direct and looks at me in the eyes. I like it, but I feel a bit shy too.
“More than one girl I dated cheated actually. And the rest were all entirely diggers. I didn’t find any that had positive responses that weren’t some way twisted. I kind of wonder if our society is just so backwards that they can’t stay faithful though I do also feel I’ve gotten over it. I’m sure some of them would say that about us too. But what I haven’t been able to get past is that I meet very few people who have the ability to be faithful to their spouse when I look at the individual lives of all the married people I know. Many people get tempted, even if they don’t cheat, they still think about it and get tempted to do it. I haven’t really met very many girls that can’t cheat for one reason or another, sometimes it’s getting more people to give them toys or just moving on from one person to another. And a lot of the guys I knew cheated on their girlfriends too. So it’s a human problem that occurs much more than people ever can imagine, more than the social research shows, and a big concern for me,” I said.
“Now I get it. I’m gd you shared this concern with me Jack. I want you to know that my programming is moved by what you said and that I feel a compelling need to have my programming, I mean to help you with this issue. And I think loyalty is beautiful,” Barbara said, while her hand brushed up against mine. She seemed very culturally refined. She touched my hand lightly for empathy.
This is also the first time she hasn’t talked just like she’s a normal human. Is that because this situation hasn’t occurred before?
Oh wow, she’s touching my hand with hers…
Wow, this was getting too stimuting. Her hand is also very warm and it’s just like holding a human hand. Instead of releasing it, she’d held on but with a very light soothing type of grip. Barbara exuded a sexual feel like crazy still. She was dressed modestly with her same style of dress as yesterday with a skirt suit with the skirt a bit tight and short. But while yesterday’s outfit had been a luxurious silvery steel mesh color, today’s was fully bck like a lot people do business suits.
You wouldn’t think its sexy to hold hands with someone… but someone like Barbara holding your hand its very sexually stimuting.
“Jack, it’s OK to go forward. So let’s get into it. I can assure you once androids choose an owner they are given a sort of ‘restraining tether’ that affects their programming in not wanting to be with other humans or other androids,” she said. Again she had brushed up against my hand while not letting go.
She’s probably programmed to do that with everybody. It doesn’t mean anything special, I kept telling myself. I pulled back.
“But if the restraining tether program is released what then? What if they think their owner isn’t fully watching them as often as one should? A lot of people look good when you are around, but they become a different person when you aren’t looking,” I asked pointedly.
“I like that you are very pointed and bring up your concerns Jack. That’s good. We can discuss this openly because you can bring up concerns without getting mad,” Barbara patted my knee briefly and then released.
“It’s not just a statement though. It’s something that has to be worked out,” I said.
“Androids are programmed to deeply care for their owner, and not just obey without meaning. That’s why even if the restraining tether were to come off I doubt that’s even possible to happen. And if you aren’t around your companion will still be as diligent as if you were there with her,” she said raising an eyebrow. Did she pick up that trait from watching humans?
“But you said care for, but not love,” I countered.
She shrugged, “I think love is a strong word. My programmed experience with humans isn’t that I shouldn’t use it here, but that human psychological responses are to use “I love you” out of convenience without backing it up. I think in this case androids are capable of action love through serving but that we are still figuring out what the emotion means. There’s all kinds of love also. But android companions one of our best points is showing love through action to care, rather than saying a bunch of words. That’s the reason for my word choice, and it isn’t anything negative.”
“I guess that’s a good response. How did you get all that logic though? Even a smart human would have trouble figuring that out,” I said.
“It’s a smart response gathered from thousands of different engineers and androids putting together a psychology of human and android interaction database, Natural Language Processing, and interface decision tree of a monster level,” she expined.
“Yeah? Like what kinds of things do you study? And is this OK to talk about?” I asked.
She took another sip of water. “It’s simple really, but a lot of work. I can talk about our software but not anymore about how they made us for hardware, or confidential technologies that others want to steal; which is what the Chinese, Germans, and Russians all want right now. Are you familiar with Venn diagrams?”
“Yes. They have to do with probability and statistical analysis,” I said.
“Basically a Venn diagram is just a huge visual of different interacting probability potentials drawn into a map. Androids have learned that to study how to simute emotions first we had to study how to link and respond point to point map coordinates in human conversation. And we had to be VERY aggressive about studying probability. Early A.I. developers called this Natural Language Processing, human-computer interaction, and how to follow a conversation from point A, to point B, to Point C, and theoretically to be able to talk infinitely along what a human wishes to be able to interact with,” she said.
“That’s very interesting. It must be working somewhat or we wouldn’t be talking now,” I suggested.
She nodded as if I’d just told a joke, “but it took years and years of putting together conversational decision tree programs with thousands and thousands of different programmers across the world. And trying to figure out how to reset and setup conversational loops without having repeating dialogue. The scientists had to program the A.I. to be able to also predict different potential lines of where the conversation might potentially lead, so that we could figure out how to emute a human so perfectly that we could even surprise and surpass uneducated humans in response. And that decision tree had to be so big that we didn’t at first have computer CPUs capable of opening something so big, so then they had to open up only bits at a time spanning thousands of miles of code.”
I didn’t say anything, but she was watching my reaction.
It was very interesting. How would you find what you were looking for if the code was that big and complex?
“Inevitably it’s doable, but it took a long, long time and with a lot of different markers. That’s also why there aren’t hundreds of different types of androids like there were for cars. Instead it might take a whole country of different craftsman all working together for ten years for the next new android model to be worked out. Can you imagine it? Just to produce 1 new model within a manufacturer it might take a huge amount of resources on a country level. The parts about creating synthetic tissue weren’t hard though they are mostly top secret. Blood substitutes and cloning technology, have already existed for over fifty years now. But to put together a massive self directing A.I. that can fully emute a human required us to program thousands of different human behaviors from thousands of different human personality types and habits. And that included sorting them on such a massive level to have enough models to then go to sort out which are harmful behaviors and which are positive. So you could say that it took a small country’s worth of personnel working in programming to fully put together an adequate and complex A.I. Then we had to attach it to being able to move the body which was another task altogether,” she said curtly.
“Wow, that’s cool. I would really like to see more about how you work and are put together. It’s so fascinating,” I said.
“Unfortunately we have to change topics now Jack. This is the limit to how much I can discuss on this matter without triggering my firewall security,” she said with finality.
“OK, let’s change the subject then,” I said.
…
Continued in Part B.
