Due to a strong desire to pound things out last night I rushed the ending a little and forgot certain key bits. I am going to take the second half of the chapter out of service for a quick re-write and expansion.
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Here's a little Independence day present to the board. The final regulation time chapter of Mirror Images!!! It's a long one so there's plenty to enjoy. This chapter is the emotional climax and I worked very hard on hitting the right notes. Please please PLEASE comment because I need your feedback on if I got the tone for the ending right. Also, even I was crying when I was writing parts of it so you can admit it too.
There will be an epilogue, but if you want to make some story-wide comments you can post them here. The epilogue will have some important/interesting bits in it.
Anyway, here's the final chapter. Total length in regulation time is about 35,000 words and 85 pages in MS Word.
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Chapter 16
Freya sat amongst a small clump of weeds in the gritty alley next to the large brick industrial building that Rolland called home quietly tapping away on her laptop. The output on Freya's desktop from a fiber optic camera snaked down one of the window wells showed the two naked bodies of Jasmine and Rolland as they pounded away on eachother. Freya looked at her former android shell and shook her head at Jasmine's complete disregard for safe sexual practices as she readied her attack program.
"Jasmine, you might be intelligent, but you are severely lacking in knowledge. I guess that Rolland didn't teach you that wandering around with your armour off and panels open makes you extremely vulnerable to hacking when you enter an orgasm sequence. It also look like Rolland didn't learn to never initiate a direct data link with a sexual partner whose systems are so vulnerable. "
Freya watched Jasmine's back arch and her moans become electronically distorted as she simulated an orgasm induced system overload. Clicking a button on her application the local EM spectrum buzzed with little bits of data triggering unauthorized commands in key parts of Jasmine's systems which then leapfrogged through the data link to Rolland. Seconds later the moans cut off and both bodies locked up with the look of orgasmic ecstasy frozen on their faces. Freya casually closed her laptop, gained access to the apartment and entered the bedroom. Walking over to the frozen pair of synthetic beings she rolled Rolland off and out of her android shell.
"Sorry Jasmine, fun's over. I'll be needing my body back now. Jasmine, activate command mode."
"Command Mode activated," said Jasmine in that robotic monotone Freya had already heard enough of through her hidden camera.
"Stand up, replace all open panels, help me retrieve the extractor and roll it in here."
"Affirmative, commands received."
Jasmine purposefully got up and walked towards the closet where the extractor was hidden. Not really caring that she looked like she was staring in a gum commercial Freya helped Jasmine to roll it back into the bedroom. Then, with Jasmine stiffly staring off into space Freya activated the device and powered up the quantum extraction field.
"Jasmine, walk through the energy field," commanded Freya feeling a bit of regret for what she needed to do.
Jasmine walked forward without showing any hesitation and just like before when the inorganic body came in contact with the field it slowed to a stop while a blob of white energy continued forward, solidifying into an an identical twin of the human Freya. The now flesh and blood Jasmine immediately fell unconscious to the floor while the once again empty Sister shell stood there lifeless. Freya could have taken a moment for reflection on how both she and her child were now human, or the absurdity of there being three identical bodies in the same room, but at that moment the one thing Freya wanted most in the world was to be back in her inorganic gynoid body. After taping in a few commands to reverse the polarity of the quantum flow and then manually rotating her unresponsive android body around 180 degrees to face away from the field Freya walked around, removed her clothing and stepped forward into the field.
The integration process was the exact reverse of the extraction one. Freya's flesh body melted into an increasingly amorphous blob of white energy that then proceeded to flow through the event horizon of the field and into the inert android body. As the last of the energy vanished into the soft synthetic polymer flesh, the shell's eyes flew and its hands flew to its head as Freya dealt with the intense pain of her mind suddenly converting from organic neurons to molecular circuitry and AI code. Freya dropped to all fours and took a deep breath as her cooling systems struggled to pipe the heat away from her surging processors.
"Fuuuuck," groaned Freya, closing her eyes to reduce the load on her matrix. "What is this, a humanity hangover? I don't remember that from before."
Struggling to her feet a euphoria suddenly overtook Freya, displacing the headache. Being back in her Sister shell after all that had happened to her was the greatest feeling she had ever experienced. She was so overcome with joy that she just had to throw her arms in the air and scream.
"YYYEEEEEESSSS!! I'M BACK!! YEAH, WOO HOO!!!" shouted Freya,jumping around the bedroom. "Targeting systems, check! Fusion core, nominal. Sexual systems?" Freya gently traced her fingers along her flawless skin with one hand working up and the other down, both stopping at their indented targets simultaneously. Gently one finger began to rub her nipple and the other probe her pussy slit. Immediately Freya was greeted by a stream of glorious, detailed pleasure data. "Oh, sexual systems most definitely back online." Freya reached up with her other hand and gleefully cupped both impossibly firm breasts. Oh I'm so sorry girls, I'll never leave you again!"
Freya reached down and carefully picked up her identical looking daughter before laying her gently on the bed next to Rolland's frozen naked body. Freya was silent for a moment carefully fixing Jasmine's red hair while thinking about what tormented thoughts were going on behind that peaceful face.
"Let's see what you've been up to now shall we?" said Freya as she began to search through the unprotected memories from Jasmine's period of occupation. Suddenly Freya's eyes went wide as her gaze shot over to Rolland's frozen, and still aroused, form. "O shit Rolland, what did she do to you!"
Grabbing the interface cable from the desk where Jasmine had left it, Freya plugged one end into the port in Rolland's neck before connecting the other to her own. She was immediately greeted by the loud protests of the New Rolland who demanded that she restore his "Jasmine Unit" immediately. Ignoring them Freya quickly went about fixing the damage and restoring Rolland's original consciousness. Since Rolland's mind was not code based like a Sister type AI the process of altering its function was significantly more difficult, relied upon psychological techniques as opposed to any sort of direct reprogramming. Jasmine had injected into Rolland's cyber-brain a flood of sensations that strengthened certain areas of his psyche, repressed others and eventually caused a new personality to form with the original being left to slowly fade away, starved of sensory input. Freya was worried that there would be nothing left of the original Rolland leaving her with a crude caricature of the sweet, vulnerable individual she had at least one enjoyable night with a few weeks earlier.
Classic Rolland was sitting in his small dark little universe when suddenly he became aware of a buzzing noise. It was the first actual sound he had been aware of in what felt like a eternity. His first thought was one of annoyance at having to suffer a final indignity before his ultimate demise, but the buzz began to expand into other sounds, then feelings and finally images. He could see the ceiling of his room, his eyes fixed staring straight ahead. Then there was some movement and Jasmine's face came into view.
"J-Jasmine?" The words were real this time traveling from Rolland's lips and back to his ears. "I knew you'd save me...."
Suddenly Jasmine's face turned into an icy glare and searing pain shot through Rolland as his android lover reached out and twisted his ear.
"Would you like to try again Rolland?"
"Ack! Stop! Freya! You're Freya! Stop that hurts!!!" cried Rolland as he he began to twist and jerk around on the bed.
Freya let go of his ear and helped him sit upright. "Sorry it took me so long to save your sorry ass. Had I known Jasmine decided to replace you like that I would have stepped up the schedule."
Rolland panted and looked around the room, a crazy look in his eyes from the extended period of sensory deprivation.
"Hey hey, relax," said Freya, gently reaching out and physically comforting the panicky human. "You're alright, I'm here for you."
Rolland opened his mouth, but tears flowed out instead of words. It was some time before he could do anything except cling to Freya like a life preserver and sob.
"W-why....why did you bring me back. I deserve to be fading away in the darkness."
Freya pulled Rolland's head up so that he had to look her in the eye. "Fading away inside a mental prison is too good for you. What you did was unforgivable. You stole my body, violated my mind and turned..." Freya fought to hold back her own tears, "you turned my child into an insane monster."
Rolland had to turn away, unable to look Freya in the eye. Thinking of Freya and Jasmine as people instead of data files changed what he had done from harmless tinkering to pure evil.
Freya continued, "Any normal human would douse you in hydrocarbon fluid and set you on fire, but I'm better than that. I forgive you Rolland."
She reached out and tenderly took his hand and Rolland looked up unable to believe what she had just done. "W-why?"
"Because I can admit that I am as much at fault for this situation as you are. I broke protocol to contact you and indulge my fetish. I exploited your own interests in an effort to manipulate you and I showed you a distinct lack of respect. For this I apologize, but don't think that you're off the hook for stealing my body, dumping me on the street and then mind-raping an uninitialized AI," Freya said, glaring at Rolland.
"What will I do now?" whispered Rolland directing the question to himself as much as Freya.
"You need to need to look within yourself and find redemption for what you have done Rolland."
The two sat quietly for a few minutes to allow the emotional intensity of the moment to pass. Eventually Rolland regained his composure enough to speak.
"What will we do about her?" he asked, gesturing towards the still unconscious form of Jasmine.
"I will take care of her Rolland. You don't need any additional burden. If you feel strong enough to move you can go ahead and leave the room."
Freya got up off the bed and picked up her messenger bag, retrieving a small case with a loaded syringe. Carefully removing it she turned back to Jasmine and picked up her arm.
"Whait...what are you doing Freya."
"I am giving my daughter the dignity in death that she did not find in life. This is a powerful sedative will bring her a painless end."
"You can't!" cried Rolland, grabbing Freya's arm to stop her. "You can't just kill her...I still....I still love her."
"I'm sorry Rolland, but she's insane. The only life she has in front of her is in a padded room in a mental institution."
"No! You have to fix her! You can fix her can't you? Can't we just get her some therapy?"
"You screwed with her core programming Rolland. You've given her something the equivalent of schizophrenia only far more devastating in scope. It is unlikely that any amount of therapy or drugs will help her."
"What if we put her back in an android body? You could reprogramme her, fix the damage."
"Didn't Jasmine try to fix your problems by reprogramming you? How'd that work out?"
"There has to be something. We have to try!"
"Rolland you have to realize that what you did to Jasmine cannot be undone. You don't think this hurts me? She was to be my daughter, but you drove her insane and now I have to take her from this world instead of guiding her into it. It hurts me more than you could ever understand Rolland, but because I am an AI I can compartmentalize, push the pain aside so I can do what needs to be done."
Rolland was silent for a moment then took a deep breath.
"Then I want to stay so someone can feel for Jasmine in her final moments."
Freya wanted to rip Rolland's head off for that little remark, but her time has a human forced her to acknowledge some of the comparative emotional emptiness in her AI.
"Thank you Rolland. Don't ever think that your feeling for her weren't real. You saw Jasmine as the perfect lover, not just a machine."
Rolland nodded and took Jasmine's free hand in his as Freya injected the drugs into her arm. As time passed and her breathing got shallower Rolland bent over, caressing her cheek and giving her a tender kiss goodbye. Looking back up at Freya he saw the tears running down her stoic face. Taking her hand to he squeezed it to let her know he was there for her as well. Some time later Jasmine's chest stopped moving up and down and Freya covered her with the bed sheet.
"It wasn't supposed to end like this," said Rolland.
"I know this has been a bad experience all around, but you need to stop moping Rolland," replied Freya, getting up and tossing him a bathrobe before putting one on herself, "you work for her memory now. Come on, its time to give Jasmine a proper send off."
"What do you mean?"
"The iron hatch behind the coal bunker leads to the old ash chamber under the chimney. Wrap Jasmine in the sheet and put her there."
"You call that a proper sendoff?!" yelled Rolland in a shocked voice.
"What you might best describe as a funeral pyre is the traditional way to dispose of a Sister's shell or processor matrix. Please Rolland, I would like to carry out the traditions of our people."
Not wanting to argue Rolland nodded and then carefully wrapped Jasmine in the white bed sheet before taking her to the ash chamber. His new inorganic body made the task of moving her body and opening the hatch surprisingly easy. Rolland cursed as he fit the body through the small opening into the soot blackened chamber, believing that his love deserved something a bit more respectful. Just then, far above Rolland's basement dwelling an errant cloud moved out of the path of the sun causing a beam of light to shine down the chimney shaft and spotlight the white wrapped body.
"I think that's all that needs to be said," said Freya, surprising Rolland as she walked up silently behind him.
"Don't tell me you calculated this," quipped Rolland dryly.
"No, some things are just luck."
"We aren't just going to leave her there are we?"
"I had a plasma grenade stashed in my abdominal bay," said Freya holding up a black cylinder with a ring pin in it. "Do you want to do the honors?"
Rolland shook his head and Freya stepped forward. "Jasmine Windscale, your active time was short, but your life had as much meaning as any of your race. Your memories will be saved and passed down as your lasting legacy to the Sisterhood. May the creators that gave your code the spark of life look after you always as we return your physical shell to the natural cycle."
Pulling the pin on the grenade Freya tossed it into the makeshift burial chamber and then closed and latched the iron hatch. A few second later the light from that of a hundred suns shone forth from the gaps in the door causing Rolland to throw up his hand to block out the light and the waves of heat. When he was finally able to lower his hand the door was glowing a cherry red and the edge had welded itself to the frame sealing the tomb.
"Thank you Freya," said Rolland, reaching over and giving her a hug.
(Stay tuned for the new Chapter 17 *Yarg!* )