The Mission

"Download of programming complete." the faceless android announced as her lights flashed in a different manner.

The technician robot disconnected Rochelle from the console and made some more preparations for a while. She then turned back to her and said "Please install and execute program MU548.T85."

"Yes Maria." Rochelle replied. Her internal components assimilated the new code into her system with the customary speed and accuracy. When that task was done, her speaker once more generated a human sounding voice, saying "program MU548.T85 installed and executed successfully."

Maria looked at her with her cold glass eyes and said "How do you feel Rochelle?"

"I feel fine." Rochelle replied.

"Very good." said Maria, who's signal receiver was busy accepting more transmitted instructions from the main computer.

Rochelle #2 now had to be prepared for Monday's shift at the office. Maria's next tasks would be to apply a more appropriate and conservative style of makeup to the facemask and exchange Rochelle's spent fluid cartridges with full ones. While Maria took Rochelle's facemask and strutted over to the makeup workstation, the electronic maid was instructed by the computer to set aside the assigned clothing ensemble upstairs in the bedroom closet. Rochelle sat in the chair recharging the batteries built into her human-looking body while the other two machines worked.

Maria was soon done with the facemask, and left it at the workstation while she went back to make some adjustments at the console. She ordered Rochelle to stand and disrobe. The secretary followed the technician's instructions, again being careful not to unplug herself. the two of them then walked over to an examination table. Maria ordered the fembot to lay on top of it and removed the front of her torso. With that skin covered apparatus out of her way, Maria exchanged the fluid reservoirs one by one with full ones. The tank of carbon monoxide was exchanged for a full one too, just in case. In addition, a tank full of a fast acting nerve agent was installed next to it and connected to Rochelle's air circulation system. The use of this sleeping gas hadn't been fully specified in Rochelle's new programming, but after the setback with the false discs, more direct measures might be needed.

At the end of the preparations, Maria reattached Rochelle's torso cover, then ordered her to unplug herself and enter the recharge booth. The long electrical cord that had supplied the redhead with power was removed from its socket and fell to the floor. She walked over to the booth, stepped in and turned around. The stiff connector in the back wall of the booth found its way to the open recharge port and pushed itself firmly into position. Maria retrieved the facemask from the makeup station and latched it back on to Rochelle's head.

The sexy mechanical maid returned from upstairs to pick up the long cord from the floor and put it neatly in its place. She cleaned up the lab after Maria while the efficient brunette took her own place in the recharge booth next to Rochelle. The 60 Hz hum of electricity was barely audible over the loud beeping, clicking and whirring of the robot maid as she moved over to the more realistic androids and began the task of cleaning them. Her plastic arm - marked with gaps in the skin where parts could disconnect - moved a sponge moistened with mild detergent over the flesh coloured curves of the two beautiful women. Upon completion of that job, she finished up in the lab, collected her things and stiffly walked back upstairs to begin the remainder of her assigned tasks.

Chapter 14 - Just Another Monday

As soon as the main computer's internal chronometer indicated that it was 8 AM, the charged and ready fembots were activated. Rochelle walked upstairs to get dressed while Maria walked to an examination table to test the original Rochelle's data storage systems. The Maid vacuumed while Rochelle #2 got dressed according to her programming and got ready to go to work.

Light snow started to fall as Rochelle closed and locked the door behind her and got into her car. Neither she nor Robot Control had any idea what the day would bring. Giving up was not one of the options that had been considered, so Rochelle Prantov would have to improvise. This would test the limits of her AI software, but if she somehow was able to save the mission and steal 'Project H', the benefits for Robot Control would be enormous.

None of this weighed heavy on her head as she drove the car into downtown and toward the office building. She would have enough work to keep her visibly occupied while her sensory system did all it could to track down the real discs. Thomas King was likely to provide most of the clues she could use, whether he wanted to or not.

Rochelle parked in her usual spot in the parkade and walked the short distance to the elevators. She smiled as she greeted one of the security guards on the morning shift, and had a friendly chat with one of the young men from the mail room. She was fully charged and performing exceptionally well, giving a full impression of being an authentic human.

She made her way past hungover and sleepy coworkers to Mr. King's office. Kim wasn't in yet, and Rochelle's super-hearing couldn't detect anyone approaching. She used the time to quickly search through Kim's desk and the filing cabinet behind it. She found nothing during the quick search, and had to cut it short when she heard Kim coming down the hallway.

"Hi Rochelle!" said Kim, being her usual cheerful self. "Did you have a good weekend?"

Rochelle computed and returned a fitting greeting. She engaged her in a pleasant conversation while she took off her overcoat and hung it on the coat rack. She retrieved the memory files of Friday's work and figured out what she had to do while she kept on listening and speaking to Kim. She sat with her legs crossed, her manicured hands clasped over her knee as she pointed her head Kim's way and analyzed probability factors by the thousands.

When necessary, she nodded or made conversational contributions of her own until the moment that Mr. King arrived. Both girls immediately tried to look busy as he entered but it was obvious that they weren't yet working.

Thomas didn't seem to notice though. He wasn't his usual tipsy self this morning.

"Good morning girls." he said without looking at either of them. He made for his office door and quickly went inside.

Kim and Rochelle looked at each other for a moment. It looked like he was upset about something. With the mood now set, they were silent and got to work. They answered phone calls and did paperwork for about an hour until Thomas's voice came over the phone.

"Miss Prantov, I need to have a word with you in my office." he said.

Kim looked at Rochelle. She looked back at her.

"I hope he's not too mad right now." said Kim.

Rochelle stood up and shrugged. She walked into the office with her sexual systems coming on-line and ready to perform. She got into Mr. King's office and shut the door behind her. She made eye contact with him and made a full scan of the room while her body prepared itself for another series of sexual procedures.

Thomas took a noticeable breath and said "Have a seat Rochelle." He leaned back in his chair as the robot sat in one of the leather armchairs in front of his desk.

"I have good news and bad news Rochelle." he said. "Good news first. I've decided to give you a raise."

Rochelle's face showed a slight smile.

Mr. King continued, "You're fitting in extraordinarily well here, and you're a valuable member of our team."

"Thank you Tommy!" she said as she showed him a bigger smile.

"Now the bad news." he said. He leaned forward, looking straight into her eyes. "I'm afraid you can't call me Tommy any more."

He was silent for a moment as Rochelle's processors computed his statement.

"I have to end our little affair. I'm sorry." he said in a softer tone.

Rochelle's expression changed to show disappointment.

"It's got nothing to do with you. You're a beautiful, smart, classy lady. If I was ten years younger and unmarried we could have something special."

Regret showed in his eyes. Rochelle reflected that back to him. Her system showed him the best disappointed look it could configure while her sexual systems shut themselves down again.

"I'm grateful for every moment I had with you Rochelle, but I have to save my marriage. I don't see any reason why we can't be friends now."

The robot showed Thomas a confused look for a second or two, her eyes fluttering and growing a little moist. "This is so sudden." she said.

Thomas opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a box of tissues. He handed it to her over the desk. She took a tissue and silently dabbed at the corners of her eyes. He put the box on the desk and waited for her to finish.

A long silence followed. After that long while, Thomas looked at Rochelle. "I hope you'll still choose to work here. You're one of the best workers I've ever had."

Rochelle nodded. Her speaker emitted the sound of her clearing her throat while mechanisms inside her neck made it outwardly appear that that's what she was doing. "I'll stay." she said.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he said.

Rochelle sniffed in. "Yeah." she said.

"I'm so glad you understand. Please, let's stay friends." he said as he stood up and offered his hand.

She stood up too and shook his hand in a ladylike way. "No problem here." she said, looking only slightly disappointed now.

Thomas merely nodded once and walked over to the large window behind him. He gazed through the forest of skyscrapers to the rolling hills in the distance as the robot exited his office.

She closed the door behind her and saw that Kim was looking at her, interested in what had happened. Rochelle sat down and got to work without saying anything.

"Well?" Kim said, being at the same time nosy and friendly.

"He gave me a raise." Rochelle said. Her facemask gradually returned to show a normal expression.

"Why you look so glum?" Kim asked.

Rochelle formulated an answer fast. "I also really screwed up the Walsh account."

Kim looked a bit puzzled. "Oh."

Chapter 15 - A Dead End?

Kim and Rochelle worked in relative silence for a couple of hours. Every so often a phone rang, or a fax or an email came in, but there was nothing to urgent to distract them. Rochelle had her electronic ears trained on the sounds that came from Mr. King's office. He wasn't drinking as much as he usually did, and certainly not as much as on Friday. In fact he had cut down drastically. One shot was all he had given himself after Rochelle had exited his office.

She could also hear him taking discs out of his briefcase, and using the drive in his computer. Unprofessional words of frustration soon came from his mouth. Rochelle recorded all as she typed away at the days work and sipped on a lightly sweetened and whitened coffee. Without having to glance over at Kim, she could see in her field of vision that she was occupied by work of her own, and certainly unaware of the hardware and software capabilities that allowed Rochelle to hear what went on behind the heavy oak door to Mr. King's office.

The more she listened, the more Thomas grew annoyed. The three discs that Rochelle had scanned were just as useless to him. He picked up the phone and hit a speed-dial button to connect him with his boss. Jerry Sepeske was busy getting fatter with a client in the most exclusive restaurant in town, compliments of every tax payer in the country. His mood was jovial, but when he felt his phone vibrate he knew it had to be important. Only a few people had this number. He excused himself from the table and took the call in a hallway just outside.

"Jerry Sepeske." he said to answer the call.

"Jerry, It's Thomas."

"This better be good."

"Yeah, I know, sorry about disturbing you but I've got a huge problem. Those discs didn't copy properly."

"What?"

"They're filled with garbage. All three of them. I've got to get them transferred again."

"Jesus Christ Thomas! It's FUCKING MONDAY! You've had since last Thursday to find this out, and you call me with this NOW? What the HELL have you been doing?"

"I've had other things to deal with. Family problems."

"Don't give me that CRAP!" Jerry barked. He was turning red.

Thomas put his hand on his forehead and held on to his temples. Rochelle sorted out and recorded every sound he made. She couldn't hear Mr. Sepeske, but the main computer could use its sophisticated AI to fill in most of what he had probably said later.

"Ok." Jerry said. "I have to finish here." He looked at his Rolex. "Meet me at my house in two hours. We'll talk about all this when your review comes up."

Jerry hung up the call and returned to his power lunch. Thomas gulped and poured himself another shot.

The confirmation that those discs were in fact nothing but junk data was a good thing for Robot Control. It meant that the androids and more importantly the main computer were functioning properly. Rochelle kept on recording while appearing to work. It wasn't in her programming to make plans or extrapolate data from events and circumstances to formulate probability factors. The main computer would do that later tonight after Rochelle had downloaded her information into it.

After about an hour, Thomas abruptly left the office, saying only "Hold my calls please." as he swiftly walked by. Kim and Rochelle engaged in some harmless guessing and gossip after he was gone, and continued to peck away at their work until noon.

At lunch time, Kim got dressed to go out and invited Rochelle to spend the hour with her.

"Not today, " Rochelle responded while her processors sent signals to her facial mechanisms to make her appear disappointed. "I've got to fix the Walsh account."

"Sucks to be you. I'll bring you back a spring roll." she said as she flexed her fingers in a spritely wave goodbye and walked out the door.

"Thanks Kim!" Rochelle said as she listened for her footsteps to disappear down the hall and into the elevator.

It now appeared likely that the discs had been erroneously copied in the first place, and that Mr. King would return soon enough with the real "Project H", but that didn't stop the android from carrying out her pre-programmed duties. She kept her auditory sensors on high sensitivity to detect the sounds of approaching humans as she began a methodic and traceless search of all of the office to which she had access.

Drawers were opened, papers lifted, and files sorted through in the robot's search for anything that could be of use. Thomas had locked his office, so the search had to be limited to the work areas of the two secretaries. At 12:59, after a very thorough search, Rochelle sat back down and resumed her busy look. She had found and scanned a few DVD-Rs, but it was doubtful that any of them had anything to do with what she was looking for. The results of the search were duly written to her physical memory as the anticipated sounds of Kim's footsteps came from the hallway outside.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Rochelle thanked Kim for the roll and consumed it in a ladylike and completely human-looking way. Mr. King didn't return to the office at all. If he had returned, Rochelle would have been after him again to get to those three discs. But there was something that her limited AI software couldn't deal with. Thomas had tactfully yet firmly ended their affair. She had lost that critical private access to him and his things. She was after all only a machine, and couldn't begin to know how to get into his pants again, let alone his briefcase. The way things stood, Rochelle's electronic processors could sift through the available data for millions of years and not find a solution to that problem.

In the end though, that was not for her but for the main computer to figure out. All Rochelle Prantov version 2.0 could do now was to continue the day as usual. She joked and chatted with Kim while they did the little work that remained. When the clock struck 5 PM, they got their things and left the building like the rest of the temporarily freed workers.

Rochelle got into her car and made her way out of the parkade. The lifeless electronic cameras in her head stared out to the icy roads in front of her as her plastic and metal body drove the vehicle into the suburbs, back to Maria and the main computer at Robot Control.

Chapter 16 - A Brand New Plan

The overcast sky was too cold to drop its snow as Rochelle parked the car in front of the house. A strong and cold wind blew about her with enough force to require gyroscopic stabilization. The bottom of her overcoat flew open and up as her beautiful legs carried her expensive chassis up the path and up to the door.

When she was inside, she left her purse on the table and walked down the stairs to be scanned and let into the lab. Her fellow fembot Maria was charged and ready to transfer the electronically encoded bits of information from Rochelle's memory devices to the main computer's console. They exchanged the usual preset greetings and followed the same procedure they always did. The maid came stiffly and loudly into the room to pick up the clothing Rochelle had dropped to the floor. The harsh fluorescent lighting reflected off her glossy plastic skin as she inhumanly bent down and moved in accordance with her settings and machine-language instructions. She whirred and beeped constantly in the background while Rochelle removed her facemask on Maria's command.

The undercover android was connected via her head to the console while the main computer pulled in all of what she had experienced in the past ten hours. The maid was long gone by the time the motionless machines were finished with this task. The console's lights flashed for a very long time after this downloading session.

Maria then received the order to connect Rochelle's hard drives to the main computer. With politeness that was hardly required, she ordered the attractive faceless woman in the chair to open the access panel above her well built and titillating bosom. With that done, the data on her drives was fed into the main computer. The robots waited patiently in stillness while the main computer did its thing.

First it checked the DVD-Rs that Rochelle had copied at the office that day. It found nothing of interest there. Then it read and sorted all of the many snapshots of paper documents that had been scanned during the search. That processing job took a lot longer, but still resulted in nothing.

Then, the computer tried to figure out the next move. To its processors, Rochelle Prantov, Thomas King, Kim Janczak, and every other element of the accumulated information were just variables to be manipulated. A mechanized kind of calculus was computed with these variables, and even with the main computers considerable speed and power, it took over an hour to get to any kind of result that was non-trivial. Even after all of that, the answer it came up with would seem pathetic by human standards. Its solution: more data is required.

What it required, specifically, was more information about love. It just didn't know enough about that prohibitively abstract subject to make any further calculations or plans. So with no human beings around to guide its primitive intuition, it set itself to work on formulating the only plan it could.

The computer had access too detailed and extensive knowledge databases, all of which had been culled from missions past. It also had access to the largest pool of knowledge and data the human world had ever seen - the internet. To the computer, the logical thing to do was to comb these databases for certain key words and phrases. These search terms had been chosen according to probability algorithms that had been quite successful in the past at either predicting human behaviour or modulating robot behaviour.