Mirror Image Part 9

[Sthurmovik]

Here we go, chapter 9 and another HUGE plot twist.

Please let me know if this chapter feels rushed. I didn't really feel the need to do much with Freya's empty shell as it was basically just Rolland and an inanimate doll. Also, let me know if it feels that things seem to work out a bit too easily for Rolland. Everything he does is completely plausible, but didn't want to get bogged down explaining it. I think I got a good balance, but let me know if I didn't.

Anyway, enjoy. Please comment.


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Chapter 9

Cursing as he fumbled with his key in the door, Rolland burst into his apartment and rushed over to be with his new Fembot companion. She was just like she he had left her, standing there, fixed gaze straight ahead as if she were in standby mode waiting to be activated.

"Unit FX-1, initiate command mode, access code A43B77EDC825092AB.....", droned Rolland through the cumbersome 80-character that protected Freya's systems.

"Command Mode Activated, AndroTek Model 3600 Series S synthetic human shell, systems check complete, awaiting command," stated the shell's emotionless voice.

"FX-1, kiss me."

"Invalid command, please restate."

"Unit FX-1, please come here and kiss me."

"Invalid command, please restate."

"Hmmm, that's odd," blinked Rolland. "Maybe I need to mark it as something other than a system command. Unit FX-1, process instruction, come forward and kiss me."

"Unable to process verbal instruction, processor matrix not detected."

"Um, that's not good," fidgeted Rolland. "Um, Unit FX-1, process instructions, step forward, lean towards my face, press your lips against mine."

"Unable to process verbal instruction, processor matrix not detected."

"You've fucking got to be kidding me, it didn't fucking vanish. FX-1, unlock processor bay."

With a hiss the rounded square seam formed on her chest below her breastmounds. Rolland pulled off the heavy panel and tossed it on the bed.

"FX-1, remove heatsink on processor matrix."

"That function is not supported."

"Argh!!"

Struggling to keep his frustration in check Rolland carefully disengaged the cooling solution on FX-1's processor matri. Swinging it out of the way Rolland gasped in horror.

"No....it can't be," pined Rolland as his eyes examined the blank, featureless square of crystal, devoid of the intricate patterns that had so mesmerized him before. "She was a program. She was just fucking software!! WHERE DID THE PROCESSOR GO!!!"

Rolland knew where it had gone. He had assumed that Freya was just a chunk of code, stored on a file, executed on the futuristic processor matrix, but he knew he was wrong now. Freya and the processor were linked and when the Extractor had turned her human it had left behind only a blank slate, a poseable doll with BIOS support.

"Well," proclaimed Rolland with an uneasy chuckle, "who ever said life was supposed to be easy. I spent three fucking years on that Extractor, I can easily spend three decades on a bit of sexy hardware. No use crying over spilled milk."

He reached out and took FX-1's hand, then leaned in and kissed her expressionless face and neck.

"Hang in there FX-1, I'll find a way to get you back," said Rolland, picking up his laptop. "Now's where's your USB port."

Unlike the Extractor, the AndroTek Model 3600's systems were an engineer's dream. Using the suit interface Rolland was presented with a near endless array of interface screens, each providing intuitive access for all of the shell's systems. With a touch of a finger Rolland could open a panel, or activate the power core. In the processor bay he found a Universal Port Adaptor that configured itself to connect with the USB cable from his laptop and then popped up a storage device on his desktop that contained a remote interface program allowing him to explore the systems from his laptop. Rolland soon found himself sitting for hours playing with his new toy.

"Oh man, this is better than my XBox," exclaimed Rolland as he clicked through the device page for the SenSure 410 Vaginal interface clicking the various vibrational settings. "I'm going to have to find some way to run some scripts on this body, that would be a nice starting point."

Rolland was mentally developing a general plan for eventually being able to work up some sort of rudimentary AI. The code running on the shell's crystal processors was much more intuitive than x86 assembly or even the current gold standard C# or Java, given 10 years of hard work Rolland was sure he could develop a companion able to return his love and attention, but for now, Rolland was content to just browse all of the systems and API's available for him to play with.

"Woah, defence systems, what's this?" said Rolland, clicking on the menu item which pulled up a diagram of what looked to be her bodysuit armour and activating the directed energy dissipation field. "Ha ha, shields up captain. Oh, here we go," he mused, clicking on an info box pointing to her arm. Rolland managed to look up in time to see the shell's left arm begin to glow, then morph into a wicked looking baster that could have come right out of the prop department of the Sci Fi channel. Rolland blinked, not certain about the reality of what had just happened. He double clicked on the infobox and a smaller window opened showing all sorts of stats like charge level, output, temperature and a small box with a cross-hairs superimposed on a live feed from the shell's visual processors.

"No....fucking...way. It's like she's straight out of Metroid."

Pressing a little arrow button he watched as the blaster-arm slowly slewed up, then moved it back down eventually focusing the cross-hairs on a bare patch of the far wall. Due to a habit formed by years of playing first person shooter games Rolland instinctively clicked the "Fire" button. There was a sharp crack followed by a sizzling sound as a bright blob as plasma shot from the cannon and impacted the wall, detonating what had previously been a 3 foot circle of brick and showering the room with red clay confetti. As Rolland coughed on dust and cursed the mess he would have to clean up a small voice in the back of his mind began to shout that something was wrong, using the shell was not a game and anything with this sort of weaponry was deadly serious. However Rolland didn't care, Unit FX-1 had merged sexbot dream come true to explosion producing man toy and there was nothing that could force Rolland to examine the potential ramifications of his actions.

Three weeks later the honeymoon was over and the memories of what Unit FX-1 had been capable of versus what she was now were beginning to gnaw at Rolland. He had tried scripting some fun sexual routines, but trying to get the shell to act as anything more than a doll with a vibrating pussy and warm tits was proving to be exceedingly difficult. To even get the shell to successfully take a step Rolland found he would have to code the entire subroutine taking input from the pressure and balance systems and sending specific commands to dozens of muscles. He tried to access the shell's filesystem, but the vast majority of data, petabytes worth of priceless knowledge, was encrypted with a key now locked away forever in the organic mind of Freya.

"There's just no way I can do this, I'd need a fucking robotics degree and a research team," said Rolland pounding the keyboard as hundreds of folders bearing the little lock icon flashed up on his screen. "I could get partners...but...nobody could ever keep my unit a secret. I don't even know where to start or who to even ask for help."

Rolland was beginning to confront the possibility that he had made a mistake. Freya may have been using for her own ends, but she was from a highly advanced civilization of androids, maybe that was just how she would treat any "barbarian". If her human fetish was a deviation that needed to be hidden didn't that imply that other's of her kind were into the sort of fembot play that he himself found so incredibly erotic? Rolland began to feel trapped. Even if he wanted to get Freya back and pretend what he did had been was an accident how could he possibly get her free from the authorities and changed back?

"They probably have her locked up in some mental hospital," snorted Rolland to himself before pausing. The thought of Freya in a padded cell made him feel sad. "Nah, I mean they don't just lock people up for amnesia, I'm sure she's fine," Rolland lied to himself.

Then, just as he was about to turn in for some much needed sleep Rolland found an unencrypted folder that he had never seen before. Inside were a number of files that appeared to be some application, but in a folder marked "Compiled" Rolland saw a several terabyte file named "JAs4M1n3Q77i01.pai." Double clicking it brought up a system interface screen he had never seen before labeled "AI Pre-Initialization Seed JAs4M1n3Q77i01." It didn't take Rolland long to realize what this file was.

"Personality attributes, analytic abilities, emotional spectrum....this is some sort of seed that can turn into an AI. Look at all the attributes, creativity, logic, sexual desire," murmured to himself as he scrolled down the page. "Forget Freya...I can make a new Freya....no, forget Freya...a new," Rolland glanced up at the seed ID, "Jasmine. I'll name her Jasmine."

Rolland began to click around and tried in vain to find some way to change the values. He wanted his perfect fembot, not another android bitch who would just betray him. However no matter what he tried he couldn't find a way to change anything.

"Why would they have all these attributes, but no way to edit them? Do I need some sort of pro version?" Rolland pondered, cognizant that he lacked a connection to an inter-dimensional Bittorent.

Going back to the shell's BIOS Rolland hunted through menu after menu until he found the system he was looking for. It was marked AI Initialization and from the options it was clear that Freya's shell had a capability for some sort of android reproduction. A self test declared the system 100% operational, it had no need of an inhabited processor matrix. All he had left to do was tweak the Jasmine seed and his salvation came in the form of the "Open with" command that allowed Rolland to select an editing program that was reminiscent of Emacs. Like its domestic counterpart it came with a rudimentary development environment. It wasn't much, but with Rolland's sizable talents he was able to understand the huge mass of AI code and dive in to make his changes.

First there were the basics, increasing the sex drive, loyalty, selflessness, all the good traits of a proper fembot. His real breakthrough was discovering how sets of training data were processed at the time the seed was compiled. This data would shape how the AI's decision trees and pattern matching systems would develop. From that Rolland observed there wasn't much training data attached to the seed as he found it. Rolland correctly assumed that the new AI's were left to develop on their own with a minimum amount of instinctual overhead. However raising a fembot would be much harder and less reliable than simply programming one from the beginning.

"Here you go Jasmine, let's get you started on a little light reading and a comprehensive collection of art," quipped Rolland as he cut and pasted his entire ASFR folder and linked it into the part of the AI seed that would develop personal interests. "And of course we don't want you wasting all of that knowledge on just anybody," said Rolland as he copied and linked all of the digital media he had of himself, some specially recorded that morning. "Just have to tie up some loose ends and then I can get your compiled and born.....just hope it won't take 9 months."

It took three more days for Rolland to double check his work and make sure he hadn't miss anything. Something worried Rolland, programming Jasmine had turned out to be surprisingly simple, no reason there shouldn't have been a graphical interface with sliders, check boxes and attach file buttons. If this was an android reproductive system what parent wouldn't want to ensure they get the child that would best fit their needs or the needs of society? It made no sense to Rolland as he looked down at the remote android shell interface running on his laptop. The pre-complication code check had just returned showing no errors or warnings, everything looked good. Taking a deep breath Rolland clicked "compile."

"Goodbye Unit FX-1, hello Unit JAs4M1n," said Rolland, leaning back in his chair as the crystals in the processor bay flickered to life and the shell begin to breathe to dissipate the heat. Feeling something stir in his pants Rolland retreated to his bedroom, excited about what the morning might bring.

Ten mornings and a trip to Subway later Rolland saw that the progress bar on the AI Initialization screen had reached 100%. The busy processor crystals were dark, the shell was quiet. Gently embracing the new unit and taking her hand, Rolland reached into the processor bay and pressed a small reset button. LED's began to flash, changing from red to yellow to green, the processors flickered, the shell took a deep breath and the bot's eyes flew open. The bot scanned around the room, her eyes then focused on Rolland as an almost dreamy expression formed on her face.

"Hello, you must be Rolland. My designation is Jasmine. I am pleased to meet you."

"Happy birthday Jasmine," said Rolland reaching out and gently touching her cheek. "Welcome to the world."

[Section_Eight]

"Unit FX-1 had merged sexbot dream come true to explosion producing man toy"

I never, ever thought I'd laugh out loud on a site like this, but I have.

[Baron]

I've kept quiet until now, but here's another GIANT KUDO for a most engaging piece, Sthurmovik.

As one of the Greybeards here, I wouldn't be too rattled if previous chapters didn't generate much or any response; it really isn't a "barometer" that's reliable for guaging audience response. Sometimes they enjoy in silence, sometimes they speak up, sometimes they're just not interested. I'm not knocking anyone, mind you - this is just how this place has worked ever since Noid got things going 12 { !!!} years ago. All you need to do is keep an eye on how many views each installment has; this is what I generally have done for some time now. Raw numbers don't lie! But they don't produce the type of feedback you're looking for, either. The number of views is just a generality, and you're looking for how well the story has moved a given reader, good, bad, or indifferent.

If any right or wrong buttons have been pushed, the readers will let you know one way or another, although it might not necessarily be in the form of a specific response to a specific posting. Back when I was doing regular Reviews here, a lot of them just warranted a simple "Thank you," although just as many sparked some lively discussion. Then too, this place does have slack times when we're all busy offline, or whatever. Look at it as a natural ebb/flow situation; it'll keep you from beating yourself up over the quality of your work.

With all that being said, I'm really digging the "opposite angle" approach that seems to be part of your theme with this tale. Why wouldn't {or shouldn't} a parallel-Earth AI society have the same quirks as us organics? And I agree with the Bhudda/reincarnation analogy; I think you've extrapolated it into the AI framework rather well so far. All in all a fine piece of writing. You're helping me get over my own spate of writer's block with your efforts. Please keep up the good work - it would be a cryin' blue shame if this piece didn't eventually become a whole, in the end. And again, thanks for what you've done so far. First-rate stuff for sure!!!

[Sthurmovik]

With all that being said, I'm really digging the "opposite angle" approach that seems to be part of your theme with this tale. Why wouldn't {or shouldn't} a parallel-Earth AI society have the same quirks as us organics? And I agree with the Bhudda/reincarnation analogy; I think you've extrapolated it into the AI framework rather well so far. All in all a fine piece of writing. Mr. Green You're helping me get over my own spate of writer's block with your efforts. Please keep up the good work - it would be a cryin' blue shame if this piece didn't eventually become a whole, in the end. And again, thanks for what you've done so far. First-rate stuff for sure!!!

Thanks for the feedback, I hope I don't disappoint with how the rest of the story goes. I've given it the mental sniff test to make sure it doesn't fly off in some weird direction and dropped subtle clues and hints to anyone wanting to play at home.

The next Freya chapter might take an extra day to produce.

Here's a little food for thought I'll pose for you and the other readers. Analyze what Rolland just did...and then consider what sort of person he would be if he did that to an organic woman.

[Adon]

Well, I know that if I didn't sympathize with Rolland before, I sure as hell am not right now. We see a few pangs of conscience from him, but he still seems to be so wrapped up in himself that he's not really grokking just how badly he violated Freya in his bitterness. And yeah, her being an android does play a large role in that... he is kind of using it to justify a revenge that far outclasses the initial crime. Again, not to suggest that Freya WASN'T being a bitch. She was. But Rolland appears to be using the 'well, she's not really REAL' bit as a justification... though it seems to have thinned for him a little.

Overall, I really do hope the other shoe drops for him. As of the end of this chapter, things are going just a liiiiittle too well for him at the moment.

[Sthurmovik]

Well, I know that if I didn't sympathize with Rolland before, I sure as hell am not right now. We see a few pangs of conscience from him, but he still seems to be so wrapped up in himself that he's not really grokking just how badly he violated Freya in his bitterness. And yeah, her being an android does play a large role in that... he is kind of using it to justify a revenge that far outclasses the initial crime. Again, not to suggest that Freya WASN'T being a bitch. She was. But Rolland appears to be using the 'well, she's not really REAL' bit as a justification... though it seems to have thinned for him a little.

You should have sympathy for Rolland in that he was a desperately lonely individual who was put in an impossible position that blurred the lines between reality and fiction. It's like when a poor family or poor country suddenly comes into a lot of wealth. They aren't equipped to handle it and things end badly.

To Rolland Freya came to represent all of those girls that had always treated him like crap. Even tho Freya's slight to him wasn't all that bad, he had a lot of pent up resentment. He honestly feels this is generally win win. The bot gets her human fantasy and can go spend her time clubbing and fucking jocks, he gets his perfect dream companion.

Keep in mind that Freya's sin is effectivly breaking the Prime Directive. Even tho she's not bound by that, the concept exists for a reason. When you expose people to something completely outside their contextual experience all sorts of bad things happen. It's not right just to blame the natives and call them barbarians.

Overall, I really do hope the other shoe drops for him. As of the end of this chapter, things are going just a liiiiittle too well for him at the moment.

::Tents fingers::