
Annie's successor
AN-1, model NRX-E, Revision 1.3, or “Annie” as Andy liked to call her, was busy cleaning the house. The out-dated fembot moved in weird mechanical, albeit female perfection. She did not have the life-like silicone skin or petaflops of computing power as modern androids do. Her design was much simpler. Metallic frame, plastic shell — only her head looked human when she wore her wig — which she usually didn’t. She was an old-timer even as Andy bought her for a couple of bucks three years ago.
Ding dong! — The abrupt ringing of the door bell made Annie instantly stop her housework. Carefully she laid the shirt she was preparing to put into the washing machine back onto the bed. Answering the door was top priority now.
Ding dong! Knock knock! “Hello? Anybody there?”
Mid-step, Annie stopped moving - only for half-a-second or so. Her processors worked hard to analyze the voice of the unexpected visitor. After scanning through the database of the about three dozens of individuals known to her, she concluded she did not know him/her. At this point her AI did not even figure out if the visitor was male or female.
“Helloooo-hooo? Ding dong!”
Annie formed a friendly smile and opened the door.
“Uh… Hello…” the girl at the door seemed to be a bit disappointed.
(time: 11:57 AM, selecting salutation…) “Good morning,“ (scanning. Type: human>generic>female, Name: unknown. Features: blonde, Gender: female, Age: 18 — 24) “Miss…?”
“Is Andy at home?” the girl answered.
“I am sorry; Mr. Meyer is not at home at the moment. Maybe I can help you, Miss…?”
“When is he going to be at home? I have a delivery for him.” The blonde woman played a bit with her curly blonde hair.”
“Mr. Meyer is expected to return at 2:30 P.M. But I am authorized to accept deliveries for my Master Andrew Meyer,…“ Not knowing the visitors name gave Annie’s AI stress again. “Miss…?”
“Well. Sign here please!” The woman held a PDA and a stylus in front of the robot woman.
Without touching the stylus, Annie used her Wi-Fi connection to interface with the tiny device. Quickly a barcode appeared on the screen. “Delivery to: AN-1NRX-E V1.3. Thank you for buying at RoboDepot”, the visitor and the PDA spoke in unison.
“May I enter now?” Not waiting for an answer, the strange woman entered the flat.
Annie could not make sense of the situation - staring for about 4 seconds into the now empty stairway. “Did Master order anything? Where is the box?” Her AI finally gave up. “Sure. Come in.”
“This is a nice place. You seem to keep it well.”
(Compliment detected. Select: smile; response variant…. #00289) “Thank you very much”, came Annie’s randomized response. “… Miss…?”
“Oh excuse me… Where are my manners? I am AN-28 model X2000, Revision 3.0, Sexual Companion Android. Property of Mr. Andrew Meyers. Registered to AN-1NRX-E V1.3.”
The computer in Annie’s chest began to run hot. “Nice to meet you, Miss….. AN-28.” Didn’t she clearly identify the visitor as human female? Annie had not been outside since Andy had bought her and all her prior memory had been erased. Android technology must have improved significantly over the last 8 years. “I do not understand. You said you have a delivery for Master Andrew, Miss AN-28?”
“Geez, I am the delivery, silly! Andy bought me as his sex companion! Didn’t he tell you?”
Annie took her moment to check her database. “No, he did not... You are a sexual companion android?”
“Yup! And I’m fully equipped… can’t say that about you”, AN-21 pointed at the hip of her plastic counterpart. Annie did not understand the insult. Instead of complicated sexual programming, smelly lubricant tanks and ultra realistic artificial fleshy organs, her own hip hosted only her huge battery, lots of wires and the control systems for her legs.
“Mind if I look around a bit?” the new bot asked.
“…… No.” Annie’s field of vision began to fill with a couple of error messages. Why would Master Andrew order another fembot? Didn’t she work hard enough to clean the house? The shirt on Master’s bed came back to her task-manager, aka “mind”. Dropping everything, she went into the bedroom to pick up the dirty shirt again.
Standing there, she looked at Andy’s bed for a moment; scanning its dimensions. It was a huge bed, 1.8 x 2.0 meters. It would effectively accommodate enough room for two, maybe three persons. Annie never actually thought about it. Her own place at nights was the charging station in the small alcove across the room. “(replay: ‘Sexual Companion Android’…’fully equiped’.. ‘Property of Mr. Andrew Meyers’…) Her plastic hand moved down and touched the area between her legs. “(replay: ‘can’t say that about you’….)”. The messages in her field of vision worried her. Flawless operation of her program was at risk.
Suddenly AN-28 rushed in and triggered Annie’s AI to stop analyzing its confusion. “Hey!! Is this his bedroom? Whoo, nice”, the sexbot jumped onto the bed. “That’s comfy! Wow, is that cotton?”
“Yes. This is Master Andrew’s bedroom. Yes, this is cotton… Please, AN-28. I just finished making the bed.”
“Awww come on. Work, work, work. Is that all you can do?”
“I help Master Andrew with the apartment. He is very happy with my work.”
“Come up here, that’s fun!” the sexbot kicked away her high heels and jumped up and down like on a trampoline.
“Please, AN-28. I just finished making the bed.” Annie said in the same tone. “You will damage Master’s bed if you continue.”
“Nonsense… Andy and I will horse around here much more… Hehehehe”
Annie did not really understand the concept of fun. So she figured there was no use in arguing with her successor for now. Her hot running processors decided to continue to do what Annie could do best: the laundry.