Artificial Love

"You mister Scott... Anderson?" the delivery man asked, checking his electronic clipboard to confirm the name.

"Yes," Scott said, nodding. "Yes that's me." His stomach was suddenly fluttering.

"Alright. Sign here," the shorter man directed, handing the clipboard over. Scott signed using an attached electronic stylus, then handed it back.

"What you got in here, buddy?" the delivery man asked, "Rocks?"

It sounded like it was supposed to be a joke, so Scott continued as if it was. "Yeah, that's exactly it. My grandmother left them to me, god rest her soul. Her dying wish was that they be left to someone who would appreciate them."

He was met with a level, no bullshit look. "Huh. Alright then. Well, have a good day then." The delivery man started off, then paused, calling back, "Enjoy your rocks."

Scott, ignoring the departing man, immediately began looking the crate over, trying to figure out how he would get it into the apartment, and realizing that he hadn't even asked for help with it. Then again, the shorter man had not only managed to get it up to the apartment, but hadn't even used a dolly. A quick check on the back of the crate showed two small wheels at the bottom and a set of handles toward the top. It apparently was its own dolly.

With a little effort and some creative maneuvering, Scott got the large, heavy crate inside, shutting the door behind him as soon as possible. He gave it a quick thought, then locked the door, including the deadbolt, then went about the work of opening his package.

The crate was made like a clamshell, in that it seemed to have two more or less equal halves, one forming the back and bottom, the other half making up the front and top. There were several latches on either side, running down the seam between the two halves, and each was opened with a quick but determined application of force. He braced himself then, standing in front of the crate, hands on either side of the front part, ready to pull it up and off.

He breathed, chest rising and falling slowly, intentionally forcing the slower breath. "Alright, here we go," Scott muttered as he pulled the front of the clamshell toward himself.

As he caught his first look at it, Scott had a sudden, and rather powerful sense of déjà vu. The android sitting inside the crate was familiar, remarkably so. The lines of her face, curve of her jaw, the shape of her lips. He knew this face.

Reality dawned on him, however, as he realized that he recognized it because he had designed it. He had spent over an hour on the face, perfecting it, tweaking, adjusting. It was bound to seem familiar. On further inspection, he recognized the rest of the android's body as well. He'd selected every shape, every curve, even every minor freckle. It was perfect, an exact recreation of what he had selected. He had to take a minute.

After taking his minute and recovering, Scott was able to look a little more objectively. The android was just as he had ordered: dirty blonde hair, streaked with the occasional mild brunette lowlight. This had seemed to be an uncommon choice; most preferred either straight up blonde or brunette. Scott had leaned toward the middle, wanting the best of both if he could. The eyelids were closed, although he had no doubt that they'd perfectly created the exact shade of green he'd selected. The only way to be sure, though, would be to turn it on.

There were no obvious buttons, switches, controls, levers, keyholes or other forms of technology on the android's body. It had been made to perfectly simulate a female body, and so what little technical interfaces existed were well-hidden. He was finding himself at a loss as to how to turn it on, when his eyes finally found the piece of paper sitting on the android's lap. It read, in large, all-capital letters: "TO ACTIVATE YOUR NEW ANDROID, PRESS AND HOLD THE ACTIVATION BUTTON BEHIND THE LEFT EAR." This was accompanied by a drawing of the back of an ear, with a cartoon finger pressing what appeared to be a tiny lump. Scott reached behind the left ear, pushing blonde hair out of his way, noticing just how real it felt.

Somewhere above the beginning of the earlobe, hidden behind the crescent of the ear, his fingertips found a bump, small enough that his first though was that he'd found a pimple. Of course, that wasn't possible in synthetic flesh, and so he pressed gently, feeling the gentle click of a switch. He held his finger there for a few seconds, before letting it up.

There was no sound, not at first, not until the android took its first breath. The chest, naked, breasts firm and moderately large, rose once, fell, rose again, then dropped into a steady rhythm. Scott backed away, watching, fascinated and, he would later admit to himself, a little scared. He would come to think of this moment as the time that he brought a life into the world. Sure, it wasn't a true birth, but it wasn't too far off either.

After a few seconds, the android's eyes fluttered open, and Scott was initially dismayed to discover that they were not green but were, in fact, a luminescent blue. This quickly faded, though, apparently just part of the startup. In no more than a minute, the initial glowing had stopped, and the color shifted to the shade he'd selected. He was just nodding to himself, accepting the color, when the eyes shifted suddenly, focused on him.

Scott jumped, slightly, and found that he had been tense the entire time, muscles wound up, ready for action if he called upon them. He tried to force himself to relax, and finally sat on the couch, forcing himself to relax.

The android didn't take its eyes from him the entire time, even as it started to stand. Scott couldn't help but watch, his eyes drawn to the immaculate, if artificial, female form that emerged from the crate.

It stood right at five foot six inches, with that blonde-and-brunette hair falling in soft curls that were stretched more into waves, ending three inches below the shoulders. Its figure was immaculate, almost inhumanly so, with high, firm breasts that were just on the larger side. Small, pink nipples poked nearly straight forward and began to harden, apparently reacting to the apartment's cool air. Its stomach was flat and, while not muscular, was still toned and gave the impression of athleticism. The body was hairless, including on and around the thick outer lips of its vagina. Scott had intentionally ordered them that way, preferring the way that larger vulva hid the inner lips. Finally, the legs were long, shapely, again hinting at an athletic leaning, possibly a runner or even a dancer.

Scott was just taking the legs in, when it spoke.

"Hello," it said, its voice a perfect copy of the one he'd selected when ordering. "Thank you for your purchase. I am a Mark Four Companion Bot, a sub-type of the Duchess line of household service androids, and equipped with fetish modifications." There was a pause, and it was again looking at Scott, its face impassive. "Are you my owner?"

That threw Scott for a moment. He'd never owned anything like this, and the sudden realization that he did was a little... unsettling.

"Um... yes," he finally pushed out of his vocal cords. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"Very well," the android replied, punctuating it with a quick, polite nod. "In what way shall I address you?"

"Pardon?" Scott asked. Again he was caught off guard by this.

"How shall I address you? By default, I will call you 'sir', but will address you by any name you would like."

"Oh," Scott said, nodding. "Um... well my name is Scott. I don't need you... no, I don't want you to call me 'sir', so 'Scott' is fine."

The android nodded again. "Very well, Scott. What will my name be?"

Scott said nothing for a moment. This... this had not occurred to him at all, for some reason. He realized that he hadn't considered the android's name at all. "You um... you don't have a name?"

"No, Scott. We do not come pre-programmed with names. This allows our owners to give us either a name, or a designation as needed. Would you like to name me?" There was something almost... sexual about that question, although Scott couldn't exactly explain what. It didn't seem as though it was intended in any way other than what was on its face, and yet he could swear the undertone was there. Maybe he was putting it there himself.

"To be honest," he replied, rubbing his palm over his chin, "I hadn't really thought about it. Like, not at all. I guess I just assumed you'd have a name." He shrugged as he said this.

"While I do not have a name assigned, I am able to randomly choose one, if you would prefer."

"Yeah," Scott said, jumping at this option. "Yeah that would be good. Something, I don't know, not too sexy sounding, like Veronica, and nothing slutty like Crystal. Just, you know, a nice name."

The android nodded. It was the first non-verbal response that it had given. "This will take a moment," it explained as its eyes grew distant, seeming to focus on a spot somewhere behind Scott and his couch. That lasted only a few seconds, though, and its eyes quickly refocused on him. "I have chosen a name, however if you do not like it, I will choose another."

"OK, fine. What've you got?"

"I have chosen the name Molly. It matches the criteria you laid out, it is also a standard name without being overly common. Is it to your liking?"

The name instantly struck a chord in Scott's mind. It was, in fact, very much to his liking, and he said so.

"Yes," he agreed, nodding, "Yes I like that very much. You'll be Molly."

"Excellent," Molly replied, and Scott could swear that there was just the tiniest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of its mouth. It was then that he realized that he'd been thinking of the android as an "it" the entire time. But with a name now, "it" wasn't really appropriate anymore. It took only a little mental effort to get himself to lean toward thinking of Molly as a "she".

"I am ready for the next part of the setup," Molly continued. She had shifted her body weight slightly. It was an almost imperceptible change, and yet something even as small as that made her seem real. "How will I be used?" she asked, suddenly shattering the illusion that she was actually human.

"Um... I'm sorry?" Scott asked. It was a straight-forward question, especially from a machine that was built and programmed to, in some form or another, serve a human. He realized that, for a brief moment, he had forgotten that she was an android.

"How will I be used? What jobs or responsibilities will you assign to me? Considering I am a Companion Bot, I believe it is safe to assume that I will be fulfilling a sexual role for you. However, in addition to sex, I can be utilized for cleaning, cooking, household chores, shopping, household accounting..."

Scott held up a hand to stop her, and she trailed off. "I would like you to cook, and clean. And... yes, sex will be involved."

He said this last hesitantly, almost embarrassed, but it didn't seem to faze Molly at all. "I understand. As I have been equipped with several fetish modifications, I also believe that it is safe to assume that I will be expected to perform certain non-standard sex acts. Would you like to discuss the exact fetishes and acts you would like?" Again, the question was asked almost flatly, without any indication of judgement or even opinion. But why would there be? She was an android.

"Um... actually no, not at the moment. I think, um... well to be honest again, this is a little er... strange for me. I don't want to start making it even stranger. Maybe we could discuss that later?"

"Of course, Scott," Molly agreed, nodding once. "I am here for you, and so I want this to be as comfortable a process as possible. To that end, there is one more thing to set up. As a Companion Bot, I am equipped with an adaptable personality simulator. This means that, over time, if you would like, I can adjust and adapt a realistic personality that will mesh with your own, making our interactions more fluid. Would you like to activate that mode?"

It was this last feature that made GenTek's Companion Bots the best-selling androids on the market. Beyond the near-perfect physical imitation of the human form, the Companion Bots could, over time, mold themselves into a perfect companion to their owner, in whatever type of relationship the owner wanted. This was also the feature that sealed the deal for Scott.

"Yes, absolutely. I want that feature turned on as soon as possible."

"Of course. I can actually turn it on now, however, it will still take time for the personality to be generated, adapted and fine-tuned."

"Right," Scott said, nodding again. "Ok sure, about how long?"

"Typically," Molly replied, her body weight having again shifted, so that now her hip was slightly cocked to the side, "initial creation and application are possible within about two weeks. Final adjustments can take a month or more."

This wasn't bad, not at all. So she'd be a little stilted for a couple of weeks, but then... then who knew? "Perfect, that'll work fine. Definitely turn that on then."

"It has already been done," Molly announced. She turned back to the crate, bending slightly and lifting the seat on which she had been sitting, revealing a storage compartment beneath.

"One last thing before we are done. I will need to check any accessories that were shipped with me, and show you how my charging system works." She started removing white boxes that, at first, appeared to be unmarked. On further inspection, though, Scott could see small barcode labels. Molly would look at each for a second, as if reading (and he supposed that that was exactly what she was doing) and then set it aside.

She stopped on one in particular, and turned back to Scott. "I see you have purchased the male genitalia package. Is this one of the fetishes you wish to explore with me?"

Scott could feel the blood flushing his cheeks and forehead. "I... um... well..." he stammered.

"There is no need to be embarrassed, Scott. I am programmed to be accepting and accommodating, as much as possible, to all sexual fetishes. And, actually, this specific one is not even that uncommon. It is the entire reason that my model was engineered with swappable genitalia."

"I um... yeah I know. It's just that... as a guy..." He trailed off.

"It is a common misconception that an attraction to a woman with a penis is a sign of homosexuality, which itself is nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed over. However, masculine pride still tends to dictate that such a fetish is in some way wrong. I can assure you, though, that, statistically, this particular kink is rather common."

Scott said nothing, although he did nod and breathe deeply, letting it out slowly. "Yeah. That's... I guess that's a big part of why I um... bought you. It might be more common that most people think, but most people still think that it's weird. I've never really met a real woman who was um... into it. Plus, the only way to do it with a real person would be with a guy who's had a sex change, and that's not really what I'm after, you know?" He wasn't looking at her, but rather at a spot on the wall behind her, as she had done to him earlier. "If I wanted to fuck a guy, I would fuck a guy. But that isn't what I want."

Molly was nodding, trying to express her understanding. "A man who has had a sex change, and a woman who happens to have a penis are two different things, psychologically, if not physically. The fetishes are related, but not the same. I do understand that. I would be happy to fulfill that fantasy for you if you would like. In fact, I can swap parts out right now if you would like."

"Ah, no. Not yet anyway. Like I said a little while ago, this is already kind of strange for me. I think I'd like to just, you know, get used to the idea of having you around first."

"Of course, Scott," she said politely, setting the white box down with the others. She did a quick inventory of the various packages, boxes and bottles, the latter containing synthetic versions of various fluids that she would need in order to properly function.

"Then, if you'd like, we can go over my charging function, and then we are done."

"Yeah, that would be good," Scott said, again looking back to her, wiping his palm down his face.

"Alright. Generally speaking, I can handle all charging needs by myself. I do not sleep, exactly, although I can simulate it if you would like. I also do not eat, at least not for energy. I can consume food, and again I will do so if you want me to. Instead, I have an internal battery which lasts up to four days, depending on activity. After that time, I have to recharge." She held up a white elastic belt, then wrapped it around her waist, buckling it with a plastic clip just over her bellybutton.

There was a long cord, also white, which dangled from her left hip. She took it, and went to the nearest power outlet, plugging the cord in. "I can charge from a standard outlet. If fully drained, it will take just over five hours for my batteries to completely charge. Generally, I will charge myself once the battery reaches fifteen percent. However, in the event that I am unable to do so myself, you will need to fit the belt to me like this," she pointed to the belt, "and then plug me in."

Scott watched, and thought that perhaps she was being a little too thorough with this demonstration, but then came to the conclusion that it was, literally, vitally important to her. He didn't interrupt.

"Power, plus certain fluids, are really all that I require to function. If you'd like, I can even take charge of ordering my consumable supplies." She unbuckled the belt and returned it to its box. "For now, I am stocked on supplies for a month, and have a full charge. You could say that I am ready to go."

It looked like the orientation, or meeting, or whatever this was, was over, and that was a good thing. Scott really had wanted that shower.

"Great," he said, standing. The belt of his robe had come untied at some point, and it hung slightly open. "I was actually about to get into the shower just as... well just as you got here, I guess. So if you don't mind I'm just going to head in," he jerked a thumb toward his bedroom door, and the bathroom beyond. "I'll only be a few minutes."

He turned to leave, but Molly stopped him. "Scott," she said, taking a step in his direction. "If you would like, I can accompany you." Her tone was still matter-of-fact, only presenting options. Still, he found that he did indeed want the company, artificial as it may be.

"Alright," he agreed, nodding. "Yeah that would be nice, actually."

"Of course," she said, following him into the bedroom.

***

She had asked him to set the water how he liked it, then placed her hand into the stream, memorizing the exact temperature and force of the stream. "If you would like, from now on I can start your shower for you," she offered.

Scott had just hung his robe up on the hook behind the door, and stood only in his boxers. "That, uh, yeah I think that would be nice, thanks." He was again a little self-conscious as he found her eyes on his body.

Truth be told, Scott had little to be self-conscious about. He was tall, just over six feet. Like Molly, his body was athletic, if not exactly muscular. He too looked if he could have been a runner, and in fact, he spent most of his gym time on a treadmill, watching projected videos of a run through the woods. Plus, she was an android, and he knew that she wouldn't have judged him regardless of what his physical appearance was. Still, he felt like he was on display.

"If you are ready to get in, you should remove your boxers. Unless you prefer to bathe in them."

Again, no judgement, no expectation. Just a statement.

"No," Scott said, hooking his thumbs into the waistband of the underwear. "No I don't bathe in them. I... ugh... OK." With a quick movement, he pushed them down enough that they fell to the floor. With two steps, he was out of them, and totally nude.