Merger 6.0

[Karel]

* * *

Its review complete, the JYC mainframe deleted the cached memory of the VG2771 unit and reinitialized its systems. The unit would return to the remaining tasks timetabled as part of the rebranding operation purged of any record of those it had already performed, or of any elements associated with them, while a single record remained on the mainframe, ready for upload to Emirati Home Office as soon as the transoceanic fibre-optic links reopened in five hours’ time. The central computer slowly powered down its dedicated personality and human emulation processors, and the second Joyce hologram, now reduced to a mute and mindless image, vanished like its predecessor.

* * *

There was a brief sound like a typewriter and a loud *beep*, and Carolyn jerked back to life. “-get ri…” she said, before trailing off and forgetting that she had said anything at all. The bubble wrap rustled in her hands as her fingers unclenched. She turned around and saw the HY3001 standing at attention, its pearly white teeth aglare, its protuberant breasts perked up with their cellophane pasties. She frowned.

Another one of these? she thought. Damn, I thought I was done already.

Carolyn reached into the carrying case conveniently spread out on the desk in front of her and selected the third-largest buttplug. It should really have been the fourth largest, but the second largest appeared to have gone missing. In any case, she stretched a pair of latex gloves over her fingers and used them to rub the lubricating antibacterial gel over the surface of the plug. I can’t believe I'm the only one they have in here doing this, she said to herself, They really should have hired some more staff in for this.

She turned to face the placid android. “HY3001,” she said, “Bend over.”

“Of course,” said the android. It obligingly stuck out its wide, smooth, hairless behind.

* * *

The pubis resembled a small, well trimmed patch of copper wire, cropped in a close “V” over the HY3001’s vulva. Something about it commanded Carolyn’s attention. She stood, staring at it, her plaster-smeared fingers poking at the curls around the edges, as if trying to glean its significance.

Then the moment passed, and she swiped crudely over the snatch with a great glob of water-soluble goo.

As her fingers rubbed the paste between the kinky strands they frequently found their way on top of the prominent bulge of the clitoris, and worked it between them as well, lingering over it, pinching it between the index and middle fingers, or between the index finger and thumb. Carolyn’s motions were slow and rhythmic, and her tongue occasionally darted between her lips as she stared into the frozen android’s lifeless eyes.

The HY3001 stared dumbly back at her, its hair tied back in a plaster-smeared, slowly-hardening ponytail, its broad, beaming mouth filled by a clear plastic mouthguard that beckoned Carolyn’s darting tongue. Carolyn licked the android’s lips as well as her own as her pinky finger prodded the double-headed dildo embedded in its snatch-

WARNING!

There was an angry electronic noise as a square portion of Carolyn’s back lifted up between her shoulder blades; this time, however, it did not twist around, but remained in place above the LCD panel below. Carolyn did not appear to notice, but she instantly broke off her near-kiss, and wiped down the last of the pubic hairs with a swift and efficient flourish. Then she took off her gloves and stood back, hands on hips, to admire her handiwork.

I seem to have become quite the expert on pussy, she thought with a smile.

With a slightly less angry noise, the protruding square on Carolyn’s back withdrew back into her body.

Her work all but complete, Carolyn grabbed the HY3001’s shoulders and bent it onto one foot, effortlessly pivoting more than gynoid's heavy mass around in a circle before setting it back down with a *thump*. A mild shudder passed upwards through the android’s flesh as its second sole struck the floor again, shaking its breasts, buttocks, thighs and calves.

Reaching for the exposed LCD panel between its shoulderblades, Carolyn quickly and efficiently thumbed in the desired commands.

INITIATE COMPLETE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.

WARNING: COMPLETE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN WILL RESULT IN TOTAL ERASURE OF ALL PROGRAMS AND DATA. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CONTINUE? YES. NO.

YES.

COMPLETE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN INITIATED. CANCEL? YES. NO.

5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

GOODBYE.

“Fiftem Fhutting Down. Good-bye,” said HY3001 FM247, perky as ever. Then its warm brown eyes closed, its lips sealed up, and its head and body tilted forward with a *hissss* of hydraulics before freezing in place, with a tiny bounce. The square patch of flesh suspended over its back twisted back over the rear LCD panel with a *whirr* and slid down into its slot, and the android did not move again.

Carolyn then set about mummifying the other robot in plastic. She took one last look at its still, motionless face, then swiftly covered it in bubble wrap, and wrapped a halo-hoop of tape in a crown around the android's head head to hold it in place. When she was finished, she slung the HY3001 over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, carried it to the corner of the room, and plopped it down on top of a pile of six similar bundles stacked in the corner. Carolyn had not remarked upon this pile before before, and she did not think about it now, or even remember it, as soon as she had turned away. Nor was there any reason to turn back. She was done.

Finally! she said to herself, snatching her phone and purse off the desk, and already thinking about the Intervision program she had been planning to watch tonight. If I make it home in fifteen minutes, she calculated, turning to her phone to check the time, I should just be able to catch the end of-

And with that, the JYC mainframe, sensing that all timetabled events were complete, placed the entire building in energy-saving mode, powering down all non-essential apparatus. The lights clicked off, automatic doors slid shut, and Carolyn froze in her tracks, her clenching hand cracking the screen and pink shell casing of her smartphone. Her expression blanked out, her eyes taking on a glassy appearance; then the servos in her jaw triggered and automatically released tension, causing the jaw to go slack and the mouth to open, giving her a slightly dumbfounded look. Her posture slouched and her arms swung listlessly by her sides for a moment before everything went completely stiff and still.

She remained there in the dark, a few short steps away from the elevator door.

[TheSpotConlon]

You can't stop here! You're so near the end!

It's a credit to your wonderful writing that you keep me hanging on even when I'm utterly terrified by the events. I can't wait to see where it ends.

[Karel]

Well, you may be in for some more terror, SpotConlon, because as it happens I'm actually nowhere near the end yet.

[TheSpotConlon]

Oh, you're very, very good. And I never can quite figure out where your stories are going. You set my nerves on edge and you make me reevaluate exactly what I'm doing here. I hate it and I love it at the same time.

More please!