The Non-Standard Man Ch. 09

As soon as we walked away from the Androdyne demonstration room, I ordered the robot to put on Roger's coat and hat. I pulled the hat over his face.

"Let's play a game. I'm will call you Roger. When I call you by that name you will make an appropriate response."

"Do you want sex, Mistress?" the robot replied.

"Okay, say nothing."

The robot nodded his head, now forbidden to speak.

I linked my arm to his, and make sure I walked on his left side. With my body to the crowd of people in the hotel lobby, I hid his lack of slacks and shoes. I maneuvered him through the lobby and into the elevators. We rode to the third floor, and after finding room 334, opened the door, and led him inside.

"Sit on the bed, Andrew."

He did, and I sat next to him. I took off his hat, and looked into his face. It held no nuance of expression, no natural looking smile, frown or warmth in his eyes. I learned much this afternoon. Most of Andrew's sexual responses came not from programming but his marvelously sentient brain.

I raised my hand to this Andrew's head and ran my fingers through his hair, and sighed.

The robot leaned forward to kiss me, but I pushed him back.

"No," I said. "I do not want sex."

The Andrew straightened and rigidly sat on the edge of the bed.

I wanted to buy more time for Roger and Tersa. I checked my phone again for the time. They should be halfway through Virginia by now.

Suddenly, energy drained from my body. I needed sleep.

"Take off the coat and hat, and lay next to me, Andrew. When they come to get you, don't wake me, just leave with them."

He nodded his head.

With the robot next to me, I snuggled into him. He was a poor substitute for my Andrew, but the only one I had.

#

I woke when my phone range. The Andrew had left. The displayed both the time, 8 am, and the caller, Caroline.

"Evaline, Sinta Grant faxed over Jason Well's confidentiality agreement overnight. You'll never guess who drew it up."

"Well?"

"Our own founding partner, Amanda Connors."

I clicked off the call, and fell back into the pillows of the bed.

I hope Roger and Tersa got good head start. They should be at the top of Florida now, and in another five hours in Miami.

I got up, and picked up Roger's hat and coat and walked back through the hotel to the parking garage. My limo stilled waited on me. When I got in, I rapped on the privacy glass. A different driver opened the window. The company must have swapped out drivers at the end of the other driver's shift.

"Driver, we're going to Alexandria. Here is the address."

No person has screwed me as badly as the person I was on my way to visit.

#

Like many of us, I counted myself the brightest crayon in the box. Like many of us, I was wrong. I shook my head as the different angles fell one by one into place.

Maybe I'm not as sharp as I thought because I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that Amanda Connors used me. While we drove I assigned players to each of the teams. Team Androdyne consisted of Sinta Grant, Jason Wells, and my partner Amanda Connor. Team Evil Black Hats comprised the RIB. My client Liz Carruthers, and my husband played supporting roles for them.

This left Lindsey Talbot unassigned. Was Lindsey a convenient pawn or player with an ulterior motive?

I hoped to get answers from Amanda.

Amanda's house sat at the end a long gravel drive surrounded by woods. The drive ended at a circle that came to the front door of an ancient brick colonial. Bright green shutters graced the sides of each of the windows, two on each side of the door, and four on the second floor. My feet crunched the gravel underneath. I climbed the four brownstone steps that took me to the front door.

A housebot, an old T-8 model answered the door. Neither male nor female in design, it wore no clothes. It was a household appliance.

"Come inside, Ms. Shipley," the 'bot droned. "You are expected."

"Thank you," I said. The 'bot walked me towards the back of the house down a long hallway that sported an antique oriental runner. Shortly I entered a large space, added to the original design of the ancient colonial. A lit fireplace blazed warmly in the wall on the left. A couch, and two high back padded chairs sat before it. Straight ahead a tiled window stretched floor to ceiling, inset with a French doors to the right. Beyond the window stretched an elaborate garden. A long antique mahogany divan occupied the front of the window. Such antiques were rare and expensive, especially since humanity depleted most of the world's rare woods.

I walked to the divan to study the old style holo-photos that lined the top. Not unexpectedly I spotted a picture of Sinta Grant, Cicily Wells and Amanda, fresh-faced university girls, with their arms around each other, smiling for the camera.

The French doors opened, and Amanda Connor stepped into the room. In her late fifties, her blonde hair was cut in a precise bob. Her bright blue eyes were unadorned by make-up. Her pricey beige sweater and expensive camel hair slacks were timelessly elegant. Amanda represented the epitome of the upper social class that bred her.

My head jerked up when I saw the robot behind her. The robot that walked behind her fooled my heart. He was an Andrew, not my Andrew. No spattering of gray hair graced his temples, and he stood completely naked.

Naked robots were a theme in this house.

"Hello, Evaline, darling. How sweet of you to visit."

I wanted to tell her to cut the crap, but we were playing civil now, and I thought it best to keep things that way.

"Hello, Amanda. You are looking well."

"I can't say the same for you. Can I offer you a drink?"

"No, thanks."

She moved over to the couch.

"Well, let's sit then."

I sat on one of the padded chairs while she settled on the couch.

"Tee," she said. "Bring us tea."

"Yes, Mistress," replied the T-8.

"You have good help," I said.

"Yes, I do find the older models to be extremely reliable. And they are easier to repair. So many of the new 'bots have too many electronic components."

"How long have you had your Andrew?" I said.

She smiled. "He's from the first generation."

"Gee, twenty-years. And he doesn't look a day over two."

Instead of taking offense, she chuckled.

The T-8 brought in the tea and cookies on a tray, and in slow increments lowered it to the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Very good, Tee," said Amanda with a smile. "You didn't spill a drop. You may recharge now."

I forgot that the older robots needed frequent recharging.

"Thank you, Mistress," said the T-8.

Amanda poured the tea, and I did a slow burn.

"This isn't a social call, Amanda. I have bad news that will reflect badly on the firm. The authorities will arrest me soon."

"Yes," she said, almost a hum. "I know." She handed me a cup of tea.

"I figured you did. Do you mind telling me why you set me up?"

She tsked. "Such impatience. Of course, we were impatient, too, at your age. It's why we had to take such circuitous path after." She lapsed into a reverie, but then she shook her head."

"Tell me," she said. "What do you think of my Andrew?"

I settled back in the chair with my tea and shrugged. "He's an Andrew."

"Oh, he is," she said. "He's been a faithful companion these many years. Haven't you, Andrew?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Of course, he can do nothing else. Andrew, stand before Mistress Evaline."

"Yes, Mistress," he said. The robot moved to place his penis square in front of my eyes.

"Andrew, do you find Mistress Evaline attractive?"

"Yes, Mistress Amanda."

"Show Mistress Evaline how beautiful you find her."

Immediately, the robot's cock stood straight up.

I turned my head away with a noise of mild disgust.

"Go ahead, Andrew. Kiss Mistress Evaline."

"That's okay, Amanda. You've made your point. It's why I never bought one of the damned things in the first place."

But lacking a counter order from his owner, the Andrew bent over and kissed my lips. Immediately I found of the difference between this Andrew and mine. His lips were not human soft, and even harder than even newer Andrews I just encountered.

"Go ahead, Evaline. Touch his penis."

Reluctantly, I did. And found the same thing. Soft plastic, for sure, but it lacked the human texture of my Andrew.

"Do you enjoy Mistress Evaline touching you, Andrew?"

"Yes, Mistress Amanda," the robot replied.

"Very good, Andrew. Come and stand next to me again."

"Yes, Mistress Amanda."

The Andrew straightened, his cock deflated, and he walked back to Amanda and stood at the side of the couch.

"If I told him to, he'd have sex with you. And declare his everlasting love to me after."

"I know this, Amanda."

"Yes," she said. "You always were a clever girl. Your college paper on applications of the National Historic Preservation Act was brilliant. It's why I sponsored your scholarships to Harvard. Well, me, Sinta and Cicily. We looked a long time to find someone with your combination of street smarts and intelligence. Someone with nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"And that's why you hired me? Because I came from the streets?"

She ignored my question.

"It will take hundreds of years to rebuild the male population. There are those that say it can't be done. But in the meantime, what is left for us, eh? Andrew, as marvelous as he is, isn't enough. We need companions, real companions, even if they are robots."

"And you want the world to know about Androdyne's sentient robots, so you engineered this?"

"Yes."

"For what reason?"

"Why, dear girl. I had to protect my investment in Androdyne."

My stomach roiled, and it took effort not to lose my tea in a wastebasket. This rich woman led me to slaughter for the need to make more money.

"And how do I fit in with your mad ambition?"

She tsked again. "You don't know? Dear girl, you will let the world know that sentient robots can exist without being dangerous."

I stared at Amanda. And the rest of pieces of my horrible situation snapped into place.

Amanda sent Jason Wells to Talbot Pharmaceutical as a plant. That much I figured out. The suit Androdyne filed was nothing more than a platform to leak the information about sentient robots.

"You've got a problem there, Amanda. You can't prove that by me. My Andrew, which I assumed you arranged for me to meet-"

She nodded yes.

"My Andrew tried to kill me."

"Did he? Really? And where is this murderous robot now?" Sarcasm edged her voice.

"In a secure place. I won't let the RIB find me with an illegal robot."

Amanda looked over her shoulder.

"Jason? Is this possible? Did our Andrew malfunction?"

Jason Wells stepped in from the garden. Should I be surprised? I guess not.

"It wasn't on the service logs," he said.

"Service logs? You invaded my privacy?"

He shook his head. "No, we only tracked the service logs, his running program and his diagnostics. We only saw how he did, not what he did. No problems showed."

"So you didn't see how he snapped, and chased me through my house?"

"We couldn't see anything like that," Jason said unhappily.

"Well, you both fucked up royally," I said standing. "Now I will be arrested and disgraced, and your project stands as an epic fail."

"I don't understand," said Jason. "His program is running just fine."

"Is?" I said in disbelief. "Is?"

"Of course," said Jason. "I just checked it this morning on my phone while I was in your office."

"Oh my fucking god," I thought, staring at Amanda and Jason. Either Andrew was awake and aware in his tomb, or he'd gotten out and was wandering loose.

"I've got to go."

"Yes," nodded Amanda. "You've always been a clever girl. Go be clever, Evaline."

I started toward the hall.

"Oh, and Evaline?"

"Yes?" I said, turning to face her once more.

"You're fired."

I nodded my head in acknowledgment.

"Not unexpected, Amanda."

I rushed from the house and into my waiting limo, not taking the time to let the driver open the door for me.

"This is where we are going next," I told the driver.

#

In certain places you can still get burner phones. They aren't legal, not since the Communications Act of 2024 that gave everyone free phones as a public utility. With the Internet free and people calling through their computers, it was the only way to keep the dying communications corporations alive.

We paid the price of free communication in eternal vigilance. A little known fact is that there are no restrictions on the government listening in on cell phone calls. Illegal to own an unregistered cell phone, all citizens were subject to government surveillance.

Hence, burner phones were the prime communication choice of criminals.

Could you call me a criminal for having one of these things? You could say yes. Still, there was a time and place for privacy, a principle I held dear, even if the Supreme Court didn't.

I needed my privacy now.

I called my office phone. Caroline answered.

"Bug out," I said.

"Yes, I'll give Ms. Shipley the message," said Caroline with cool efficiency.

After that I threw the phone out the window onto the highway. For good measure, I tossed my own phone out the window too.

Good-bye cushy life.

There wasn't anything else to say. Even now Amanda Connors would call Tamara. My and Caroline's computers would be locked out to us.

Fuck proprietary information. Amanda Connors would not to profit a dime from my hard work. As she said, "I'll give Ms. Shipley the message, " Caroline dumped our shared computer files into an offshore server, wiping clean everything from the firm's. And no one ever noticed, but the firm's back-ups don't include my and Caroline's files. This techno magic came as a little gift from a grateful tech client.

Then she'd calmly get up, tell someone she had a lunch date, and she'd be on the next flight to an undisclosed location, under an assumed name.

For all my hopes I could live an upper middle class life, I was not an idiot.

If Amanda Connors wanted to play dirty, she'd find herself deep in the mud.

No one fucks with Evie Rimes.

I guess Amanda overlooked that part in my resume.

#

A thin layer of ice covered the snow. My feet crunched through the crust and stamped into the softer layer below it.

I don't know what I expected to see. A holo-marker projected from the ground, showing Andrew's name and the date of "death." With the ground frozen, I couldn't get him out until spring.

"Oh god," I groaned. The thought of Andrew being awake and aware under the ground was too terrible to bear.

The sound of feet crunching in the snow behind me caused me to turn. An older woman, dressed in a parka stood there.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello."

"Your loved one there?" she said.

"Yes."

"Sorry to bother you, but I work here, grounds maintenance. I just thought tell you there have been reports of a homeless person hanging around this area. Kinda spooky. "

I agreed. It was spooky. With the earth depopulated, there were plenty of empty homes that displaced people squatted in, and no one said a thing. The banks long ago gave up their claims on these properties as too expensive to maintain. In fact, filing a squatter's claim was all that was need to legally own a property. Few bothered with that since it subjected them to taxes. There was no reason for a person to be homeless.

"It might not be safe for you out here alone especially since it's nearly dusk," she said.

"Thanks," I said looking up at the sinking sun. "My car is on the road."

"Yeah, I saw it. That's why I came out here."

"No one's messed with his grave?" I said pointing to Andrew's marker.

"Oh, no, miss. We don't have those kinda problems."

"Okay, thanks."

The woman walked away, and I thought I'd do the same. But my feet stood rooted to the ground. I couldn't move. It was a strange comfort to be this close to him.

A tear slid down my cheek.

A wind whipped up, and I thought I heard my name called while it rustled around me.

"Evaline." The sound rattled through the crisp air, dry and hollow.

Oh god. Now I was imagining things.

I caught something out of the corner of my eye, and I turned my head slowly. Behind the distant stand of trees, stripped winter bare, ragged clothing flapped behind a tree trunk.

I swallowed hard. A figure darkened by the gathering dusk moved from one tree to another. The wind whipped up again, pushing the figure's ripped clothing up and around.

Only, the tatters moved too stiffly to be clothing.

"Evaline, watch out!" I heard.

Footsteps sounded behind me. I turned and found two women, guns drawn and pointed at me, coming straight at me.

"Evaline! Run!"

I raised my hands and turned to the women.

"Evaline Shipley, you are under arrest."

"No!" The figure raced across the snow as one of the women pulled my hands to cuff me.

It happened in a blur. I caught the look of Andrew's face as he tackled the officer holding her gun on me. He punched her across the jaw, and she sagged, unconscious. The other office let go off my hands and brought her gun up, but Andrew flew into her too, and slapped the gun out of her hands. With a punch he knocked her out too.

Andrew stood in front of me. Duct tape clung in torn pieces to his clothes, which were streaked with dirt and mud.

"Where have you been, Evaline? I've been looking for you."

He reached out to take my hands, but metal met flesh. Big chunks of his artificial skin were missing from his hands, revealing his titanium skeleton.

Immediately, my stomach rebelled, and my head spun. He must have clawed his way out of his grave. The thought made me sick.

"Andrew," I gasped. The earth swirled under my feet and then dark claimed my sight.

#

"You are my sunshine, my little sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

Held tightly, consciousness slowly seeped into my brain. I recognized the voice singing those words.

My eyes opened, blinking against the light that came from a fire in a fireplace to my right.

"Andrew?"

"Ssh, ssh, Evaline," he said, cradling me against his chest. He brushed my hair away from my face.

"So beautiful," he said. "I never understood beauty until I met you."

"An-"

"Ssh, ssh, beautiful Evaline."

With that he pulled my head back, and held it with his hand. Andrew crushed his lips to mine, a kiss that went father then mere technique.

It was passion.

His tongue drove into my mouth, and his tongue seeking mine, sliding against it, claiming it. With his hand he unbuttoned my coat. His fingers moved to my breast, rubbing the nipple so that it tingled and swelled. As the nub poked my shirt, he pinched and pulled it. My body shuddered with the little waves of pleasure commanded by my sensitive tit.

He buried his lips into neck, licking and nibbling in the sensitive place behind my ear and necks.

I whimpered as my pussy clenched.

His hand moved to my hips, unzipping my pants to finger my mound through my panties. His fingers pressed it and my hips pushed up, eager for his touch. My pussy gushed warmth and wetness. I needed him there. When I moved my hand to his groin I found his phallus hard. His blue eyes blazed bright in the dim light of the fire.

"I want you, Evaline."

"Yes."

He lifted me up, placed me on the couch, and pulled off my slacks and then his. He knelt in front of my open legs. With aching slowness he pushed his cock against my slit as if savoring each millimeter. My pussy screamed at that slow fire needing more. Little shocks of pleasure jolted me as Andrew seated himself inside me.

His eyes closed, and he smiled as his cock snaked its way inside me. His balls pressed against my ass. Andrew pulled back to where his cock sat just inside my entrance, holding it there, driving me crazy as my pussy craved his cock.