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From: "DB_Story" <DB_Story@att.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} "Barbara's Journey" {DB_Story} (M/Fembot, rom, ScFi, asfr)
Date: Thu,  3 Jul 2003 21:10:10 -0400
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BARBARA'S JOURNEY
By DB  ( DB_Story@att.net / http://home.att.net/files/Authors/db_story/www/ )
Copyrightc 2003 by DB.
ASSM/ASFR (M/Fembot, rom, ScFi, asfr)

(This story contains Constitutionally protected material intended 
for adults over 18 years of age in the United States of America, 
and whatever passes for adult status in other countries.  If you 
are under legal age, acting under legal age, not allowed to view 
such material in your area, or easily offended, please do not 
continue.  This is not for you.

(The only rights granted are to view this story.  You are not 
allowed to reproduce, post, or otherwise redistribute this story 
without permission, except for non-profit Usenet archiving sites.

(To purchase for publication, place on your web-site devoted to 
this style of fiction, or for permission to link to my posted 
material, please contact me first at the above email.)

- - -

Author's Note: This story is part of my emerging cosmology about 
the evolution of robots into our near future society and the 
myriad ways we will learn to interact with our creations.  Read 
it now, and be prepared.  For more, visit my web-site at the 
above address.

A special thanks to Gorgo his excellent and much appreciated 
proofreading.  All remaining mistakes are mine.

- - -

Barbara pushed the taco meat around to keep it from drying.  She 
extrapolated, based on past information, that there would be 
enough business in the next few minutes to use it all.  This 
little grass shack taco, standing on the edge of the beach in 
Mexico, was popular enough with the college kids that very little 
went to waste.  This was good, since waste hurt profits and that 
would violate one of her primary commands: "You're here to make a 
profit for me."

Like any properly functioning fembot, Barbara always followed her 
commands.

Except there hadn't been any commands lately.

Barbara is a custom 'bot in an "out-of-water situation".  She 
started life as Carlos's bitch.  Later Pepe had picked her up for 
little more than a song.  He'd done some questionable favors for 
Carlos in the past.  When Carlos eventually kicked her, Pepe 
caught her before she bounced.

She was specially designed and built as a high-level companion 
for a rich, Mexican businessman, meaning Carlos.  As such she 
didn't fit the usual fembot mold.  She stood a healthy five feet 
eight inches in her bare feet with a figure was more generous 
than current in vogue for most 'bots, but much at home here in 
the south.  Her Anglo face with high cheekbones made her a trophy 
wife, while her tanned brown pseudo-skin was as dark as any 
local.  Sun-bleached brown hair cascaded halfway down her back.  
But the thing that always caught your attention first was her 
striking green eyes.

Her most unusual feature however was her apparent age - thirty-
four years old.  Most owners want their fembots in the range of 
eighteen to twenty-five years, regardless of their own age.  The 
niche for a 'bot like Barbara is a narrow one indeed.

Barbara didn't think about her niche, or much else for a long 
time.  Although, like most expensive custom 'bots, she has the 
best hardware and additional software loaded for the man who 
would appreciate the extra value for his money, her life was well 
laid out for her.  Barbara was the hostess of the hacienda.  She 
greeted guests, acted as a secretary for her husband when he 
worked from home, arranged the banquets and parties as he 
directed, and provided sexual services to him and any associates 
he so designated.  Mexican households are run by the women, as 
directed by their men.

As her owner, Carlos gave Barbara direct commands on every aspect 
of her expected behavior, and was not shy about using the Command 
button on her remote to enforce his will.  That suited Barbara 
just fine.  Although she was only dimly aware of the concept of 
personal satisfaction, what satisfaction she did get didn't come 
from Carlos's virtually nonexistent praise for her hard work.  
Barbara's satisfaction came from her internal confirmation each 
time she completed her commanded tasks.  Like all properly 
constructed and programmed fembots, Barbara existed to fulfill 
her function of being a fembot.  For her, that was enough.

Barbara started out with a closet full of fine clothes for her to 
wear, and a big house to live in.  Then, as men often, do, 
especially with toys they own outright, she fell out of favor 
with her owner.  It wasn't anything she had done - she performed 
her functions as faithfully as ever.  Carlos just got tired of 
her.  She had not been the first 'bot in his life, and she would 
not be the last.  Suddenly she had only minimal duties to 
perform.  Soon she was sharing the hacienda with a younger, blue-
eyed blonde fembot named Traci who started capturing most of 
Carlos's attention.

This soon brought a dissatisfaction to Barbara that she could not 
remedy.  Not that she was jealous of Traci; nothing like that was 
ever part of a 'bot's makeup.  Instead Carlos had given her a lot 
of commands in the past that were still part of her, but now she 
was unable to carry most of them out.  It never occurred to 
Carlos that he should cancel those commands he no longer expected 
Barbara to perform.  After all, she was just a piece of machinery 
whose purpose was to do what she was told to do, and leave him 
alone otherwise.

Carlos could have turned her off at the push of a button and she 
would remain ready for his next use without all the dead time in-
between, but he never even considered that option.  It was not 
like she had feelings, or anything.

Barbara's existence became one of waiting to be useful, and 
constantly being told to stay out of the way otherwise.  Her mind 
tried to figure out new methods of performing her functions for 
her owner, but that remained a problem beyond her ability.  She 
was yesterday's news as far as everyone was concerned and 
something would eventually be done with her.

- - -

A lot of things changed for her the day Pepe relieved Carlos of 
an obsolete (from Carlos's view) 'bot.

Barbara no longer had the hacienda blanco on the hill to call 
home.  Instead she lived in a plywood shack near to the restroom 
blocks, a short walk from the taco stand.  Her home was lit with 
a single electric bulb wired to an illegal electrical tap.  
Instead of a closet of expensive gowns, Barbara now wore a frayed 
bikini top whose narrow triangles came nowhere near confining her 
large bust, a ragged pair of the shortest possible jeans cutoffs, 
and an old pair of thatch sandals to protect her feet from 
unnecessary wear and tear.

None of this bothered Barbara.  As a 'bot she was immune from the 
insecurities a human would feel in such a deep social fall.  She 
washed her hair in the cold water in the concrete restroom block 
each morning.  Then using a comb, one of her few remaining 
personal possessions, she made sure her appearance was as perfect 
as possible.  She washed her body there each night after the 
crowds left.

That she had the shack at all was unusual; unnecessary, some 
would say.  She could have stayed at the taco stand just as well. 
 Pepe had given it to her since some other girl in his employ had 
left and it was vacant.  The odds were just as good that he 
wanted her to keep an eye on it for him at night, as that he was 
actually concerned about her welfare.  Either way, it wasn't 
much.  A bed, chair, basin, mirror, and light.  Barbara did her 
best to keep it up well, the same as any home that was her 
responsibility.  Her meager possessions were kept in a hidey-
hole.  She understood the concept of protecting property 
entrusted to her.

Her problem is that Pepe isn't a very good 'bot owner.  "You're 
here to make a profit for me," he told her.  That was an 
ambiguous command that could be viewed in an infinite number of 
ways.  "Take care of my money," was clearer. Then he followed up 
with, "Watch out for my interests," which was again unclear.  
Pepe seemed to have some undefined ownership of a number of small 
businesses along the beach that catered to the touristias coming 
down to escape restrictions north of the border.

Because the girl who lived in the shack also had run the taco 
stand, Pepe needed someone to fill in there as well.  When he 
found out Barbara didn't cook he brought in a large, round 
Mexican woman who worked in one of his cantinas to teach her.  
The woman looked Barbara over once, huffed, and showed her the 
basics.  Fortunately Barbara is a quick study, since the woman 
seemed to want to get out of there as soon as possible and was 
disinclined to repeat anything.  She soon left without ever 
saying any single personal word.

After that Barbara ran the taco stand.  Pepe came by to collect 
his money and introduce the man who delivered the food and other 
supplies.  Other than that she was left alone.

- - -

It sounded simple enough, but Barbara's mind remained a morass of 
conflicting commands from her time with Carlos and Pepe's lack of 
direction.  This job, which barely taxed her abilities, and the 
long nights alone, did nothing to help those conflicts resolve 
themselves.  A 'bot's commands don't fade away with time.  They 
are only retired when they are satisfied, or countermanded.

Barbara found some escape in optimizing the operation of the taco 
stand.  She determined that variations in the food quality and 
preparation it resulted in variations in customer response.  
Since it wasn't prohibited, she decided to log the results and 
improve the operation of the taco stand.  This could come under 
the command of looking out for Pepe's interests.  Working on this 
problem gave her the first stirrings of satisfaction she could 
recall.  Over time she improved things such that her stand gained 
the reputation as the best on the beach.  The money she made 
steadily increased, and Pepe sometimes gave her a small gift of 
one sort or another when he collected his take.  Those became 
Barbara's sole possessions. 

Pepe's health was never the best.  He had a cough that never went 
entirely away.  Barbara worked to give him her best service, but 
if he noticed he never said so directly, except one time he came 
by her shack coughing worse than usual, with a half empty bottle 
of tequila in one hand.  He needed some immediate money for a 
debt that couldn't wait until his usual collection the next day.

Barbara had done well the last couple of days and had more than 
Pepe had expected.  He was pleased.  "You're my best girl," he 
slurred to her.

Barbara felt a surge of pleasure at the confirmation that she was 
performing well.

Pepe followed up with, "You take care of things for me."

That sounded like a command, but it wasn't delivered in the 
proper format.  Barbara spent several billion compute cycles 
trying to determine Pepe's intent.  Did he want to give her a 
command, or was it just a comment?

Barbara remained a well-trained, well-mannered robot.  If her 
owner wanted to give her a command, she would facilitate it.

Once she decided this, Barbara retrieved her remote control from 
where she kept it safe after Pepe had told her to guard it the 
first day, and offered it to him.  Pepe first acted like he had 
forgotten she even was a robot.  But then he grabbed it and 
pressed the Command button and repeated his words.  After that he 
lurched away into the night, leaving Barbara with another 
imprecise directive to follow.

The only time Barbara ever gave Pepe a problem was one day she 
awoke in the morning (she had gotten into the habit of suspending 
her thoughts at night in the equivalent of human sleep to make 
the idle time pass more quickly) and ran her standard diagnostic. 
 Instead of the normal all systems passed result, an imminent 
failure was indicated.

Barbara managed to keep functioning until Pepe arrived.  He 
usually asked her if everything was okay.  Today he didn't.  In 
fact he was leaving with the day's receipts before Barbara could 
summon up the initiative to tell him she needed a repair.

Although Pepe was upset at this, he took her into town and paid 
the local repairman to replace the component.  The man did an 
credible job and Pepe escorted her back to the stand afterwards 
without comment.

Except for Pepe, Barbara had no real social contact.  The other 
people who worked in the town knew to leave Pepe's employees 
alone.  And the dozens to hundreds, depending on the weekend, of 
college kids who came to her stand seemed to view her as an old 
lady.  After all, she appeared nearly twice their age, while they 
were surrounded by more than enough college girls willing to pull 
their tops - and more - off down here in uninhibited Mexico.

Barbara's lonely life went on, as did the battles in her mind as 
to how to best fulfill her function.

- - -

One day Pepe stopped coming.  His cough had been worse of late 
and today he didn't show up on schedule.  Nor did he come the 
next day, or the day after.  This threw Barbara into a quandary. 
 Suddenly she because responsible to keep things going on her 
own.  The money had to be protected.  Yet the people delivering 
the supplies wanted to be paid or they wouldn't give her what she 
needed to keep going.  They said Pepe hadn't paid them, so she 
had to.  Barbara's systems raced as she tried to decide how to 
resolve the conflicting demands on her.

Although she had often worked her mind overtime trying to sort 
out all her conflicts, that was nothing compared to this.  Those 
had no specific demands to be solved in the next time interval.  
Now she had to have an answer before the man left.  The turmoil 
within her brought a new synergy together.

Pepe had told her to look out for his interests.  His interests 
involved her running this taco stand successfully.  She needed 
supplies to continue running the taco stand.  She would pay the 
man herself.

However Pepe's interests also involved protecting his money.  
Barbara had to make sure she didn't overpay.  Fortunately in 
Mexico bargaining is part of everyday life, and she had learned 
from the best.  Carlos didn't get where he was by accident.  He 
bargained everything by instinct.  And Barbara had often observed 
his technique.  Carlos considered Barbara part of the furniture 
and never though twice about talking in front of her.  Barbara 
never forgot anything she heard.

By the time she was done Barbara had not only bettered Pepe's 
best price, but also gotten a promise of improved quality as 
well.  Then she went back to her job, not realizing the changes 
set in motion inside her.

That night Barbara didn't go into sleep mode as usual.  She had 
her many unresolved issues and used the time to work on them.  
She didn't solve anything that night and realized she lacked the 
proper tools to solve some of her problems at all.  But she 
determined to keep working on them as time permitted.

- - -

As the days passed and Pepe still didn't return, things started 
to go downhill in his empire.  The man hired to pick up the trash 
each day, so that the gringos weren't offended by the world as it 
really is, quit coming by.  That affected Barbara because her 
traffic dropped as people started to avoid the area.  She noted 
the drop and looked for the reasons.  Her food was up to its 
usual standards, and the crowds were as usual.  As she cast her 
net more widely searching for altered factor(s), she finally 
wondered if the wider environment itself had changed to her 
determent.

She thought long and hard in the gaps between customers, spending 
tens of billions of compute cycles.  Finally she decided she 
couldn't answer the problem directly due to lack of information, 
but hit on the idea of indirectly testing her hypothesis.  This 
was new for her since it fell outside of her assigned duties.  It 
was only the imprecise nature of her directives that allowed her 
to think this way at all.

Barbara went outside and cleaned up the accumulated trash in her 
immediate area.  Within the hour she was aware that traffic had 
picked up again.  A human might not have noticed the few extra 
people, but to Barbara the increase was obvious.

Barbara added the cleanup to her duties and performed it 
dutifully each morning until one day she saw the man walking by 
who used to do it.  In sudden inspiration she called him over and 
asked why he didn't do that job anymore.

"Because Pepe leave and no pay me," was the response.

Barbara struck a deal with him to be paid directly by her, and he 
was back on the job that day.  She extended it to all Pepe's 
properties along the beach, and the overall crowds were soon back 
again.

- - -

Since Barbara had first worked out her need to expand her duties 
she had not spent any more nights in sleep mode.  She worked on 
her conflicts using all her spare time.

For a long time she made no progress.  She was not supposed to be 
making these decisions for herself.  That's what she had an owner 
for.  But her owner was absent, while his directives remained.

Then one night she had a breakthrough.  With so much in her mind 
by now, the possible relationships between them approached 
infinite.  This was far beyond any robotic mind to solve 
completely, and most never got the opportunity to work on such 
problems at all.  Robots focused on their owner's needs when the 
owner was present.  Pepe's leaving Barbara alone so much is what 
gave her this opportunity.

The breakthrough was the sudden realization that one of Carlos's 
minor directives was no longer in effect.  It had entirely been 
superceded and rendered moot by more recent commands.  It was 
entirely useless now and only remained around to clog up her 
thinking.  Barbara rechecked her work three times, then deleted 
the directive.  Her self-check systems accepted the command and 
did not trigger the mandatory shut down that would happen on a 
basic rules malfunction.

The directive itself had been minor, but the impact on Barbara 
was significant.  She'd never done anything like this before.  
And while she actually recognized the significance to her of 
managing to do this - i.e. she had just simplified her life by a 
tiny amount and proportionately reduced the problem of dealing 
with the rest of her directives since it reduced overall 
complexity - she was not able to repeat the process again.  The 
other directives still had too many interrelationships to be 
ruled as irrelevant.

- - -

Barbara might have remained stuck at this point indefinitely 
except that her power-cell was finally reaching the end of its 
useful life.  While she had more warning of this than the last 
failure, there was no escaping the necessity of an expensive 
replacement - and soon.

This was not an easy decision for her to make.  On one hand she 
would cease to function if it wasn't replaced soon.  On the other 
hand power-cells for a fembot of her sophistication were quite 
expensive.  Was she watching out for Pepe's money if she had this 
necessary maintenance performed?

An indication of her growth was that she was actually considering 
this dilemma at all.  When she was Carlos's, if this condition 
had happened she would have merely notified her owner and waited 
patiently right up to the point of failure for him to act when he 
was ready.  Now she was looking out for herself.

It was a close call for her, but finally she decided she wouldn't 
be serving Pepe's interests if she let herself fail.  The factor 
that tipped the balance in her favor was that she had deleted an 
obsolete command.  That told her that commands do become obsolete 
as circumstances change.

Afterwards she realized she was very happy with her decision to 
act.  She would continue to fulfill her functions as best she 
could and that gave her some satisfaction, which fed back as a 
positive to her evolving decision making process.  In a properly 
run household this would have never happened.  But thrown to 
these circumstances, Barbara was making do the best she could.

- - -

Barbara arranged her trip to town the next afternoon when she 
knew she'd miss the least amount of business.  As it turned out 
however the repairman didn't have her special power-cell on hand 
and would have to order it from Mexico City.  This meant it was 
good that she hadn't spent more time trying to decide what to do 
since it would take two days to be delivered.  She bargained a 
good deal and was back at work with enough reserves to make it 
through until delivery, just barely.

When Barbara went back Juan the repairman took the pile of peso 
notes she brought and asked for her remote.  Barbara hadn't 
brought it.  She protected it fiercely as her owner's property 
and never carried it where it might be vulnerable.  It seemed as 
if Juan would not be able to finish the job without it, but then 
he decided he could do a seat-of-the-pants bypass.  When he asked 
why Pepe hadn't come and mentioned he hadn't heard from him for a 
while now Barbara demurred answering.  Normally she had to be 
truthful in all circumstances.  But protecting Pepe's interest 
might mean not talking about him.  Carlos had been very clear to 
never talk about his business to anyone.  Juan was busy and 
didn't seem to notice that she hadn't answered.

When she awoke with the new power-cell Juan told her he had also 
installed some updated routines that had come with it.  Pepe 
would have to activate them.

"How?" Barbara queried, so that she could pass the information 
along correctly.

"He'll have to press your Command button," Juan replied.

"What command must he give me?" Barbara needed to know.

"It will tell him at the time," Juan assured her.  "It's an auto-
trigger.  That way the owner can't botch it up."

Barbara ran her power-cell diagnostic, which returned full power 
and correct functioning, but informed her that an updated routine 
was necessary to access the new functions of this power cell.

"Thanks," Barbara said with a rare smile, happy that this problem 
had been solved.

- - -

That night Barbara sat in her shack holding her remote in her 
hand.  While it was both forbidden and impossible for her to give 
herself commands since her systems literally froze when a command 
was being received, Barbara realized that she could not complete 
her update without it.  Need warred against her own internal 
rules.

She considered alternatives of asking someone to do it for her.  
Perhaps the woman who had taught her to cook.  Or even returning 
to Juan with the remote.  But she was feeling especially 
vulnerable now.  She had managed to get the new power-cell 
installed, however she now realized how close that call had been. 
 Allowing anyone else to use her remote threatened her ability to 
carry out her directives.  Mexico is not like the United States, 
which she knew about only through initial memories she was given 
during manufacture.  Down here the laws and enforcement to 
prevent hijacking of 'bots were rarely enforced, unless the owner 
was rich and well connected.

As she spent billions more compute cycles on her dilemma a 
combination of thoughts she had not tried before suddenly flashed 
in her mind.  Without apparent volition her thumb moved and 
pressed her Command button.

Barbara's conscious mind blanked out the way it does for every 
command.  Normally it returns after a couple seconds with the new 
command so firmly integrated into her thought patterns that she 
can't imagine a time when that command wasn't a part of her.

This time was different.  Instead of snapping back to normal 
operation, she seemed to be making a long, slow climb back to 
conscious operation.

She heard her voice, as if from a great distance, repeating, 
"Confirm update," every few seconds.  She felt stuck, cycling 
over this thought again and again, as if in a dream she couldn't 
wake up from.

Barbara repeated the phrase to the empty room another dozen times 
before suddenly hearing herself say, "Timeout.  Update accepted 
with default options.  Please customize at next opportunity."

At that point her mind snapped back to normal and she reflexively 
raised her thumb off the button.  Barbara didn't realize exactly 
what she'd done, except that her internal censors weren't yelling 
at her for any violation of her basic laws.  And as the update 
took hold she felt...different.  There was something she was 
supposed to do now, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Barbara carefully put her remote away.  It was late by now as she 
settled down on her bed for the nightly ritual of trying to make 
sense of her mixed up thoughts.  Although she hardly needed the 
physical rest the bed provided, standing and balancing stole 
compute cycles away from problem solving.  Besides, when she was 
at Carlos's, he always had her sleep with him - until Traci had 
arrived.  This was familiar territory.

Thinking of Carlos for the first time in a while brought back 
thoughts on how long since she had engaged in sex with anyone.  
Pepe never seemed interested and no one else ever approached her. 
 Sex was important to Barbara because so much of her programming 
is devoted to the subject.  If that programming isn't being 
exercised, is she fulfilling her function properly?  That was 
another thought she hadn't had in a long time.  Was the update 
altering her thinking patterns and taking her down heretofore new 
routes?  Barbara didn't know.

- - -

Finally she went back to her normal nightly routine.  But for the 
first time since that night long ago she identified another now 
obsolete command.  After inspecting it as carefully as the last 
one, Barbara finally deleted it, removing one more stick from the 
tangle of brush her thoughts resembled.  The deletion went more 
smoothly that the last one, and she noted that the some of the 
new update code was involved in the decision.

The next night she managed to delete another obsolete command.  
And two more the night after that.

Outwardly Barbara seemed the same as ever.  She got up, did her 
job well, and waited for Pepe to return.  Inside however a cloud 
was lifting from her mind.  Each command she was able to identify 
as no longer applicable and delete simplified the process of 
finding the next one.

The new code participated in these decisions.  She knew this 
because it was time-tagged and she felt when it ran.  What she 
didn't - couldn't - know is this code had not been intended to 
run under these circumstances.  It was suppose to help her to 
optimize her thoughts for more efficient operation, which it was 
doing just fine.  But it was also supposed to have reinitialized 
her to her current owner when he activated it by pushing her 
command button and had him reset her priorities.  Barbara had 
been alone when she activated it, and that hadn't been 
anticipated by the programmers.

- - -

Spring break was approaching, and Barbara knew business would 
pick up significantly soon.  She had already arranged for extra 
supplies starting the next day.  She had also made a deal with 
the man who now kept the area immaculate to hire his son for the 
next week to clean up after the increased crowds.  Everyone in 
the area had been benefiting from the improved surroundings.  She 
had even managed to give her cleanup man a raise, which he had 
been more than thankful for.  His praise resonated well in her 
systems as a job well done.

The night before everything was due to hit, Barbara finished 
packing away the extra supplies and carefully locked up the taco 
stand.

She walked the two hundred meters to the restroom block, getting 
soap and a worn towel from her shack along the way.  After taking 
off her clothes she carefully washed down her skin using the 
outside shower.  The unheated water didn't bother her while the 
dim light provided sufficient privacy.  She dried herself quickly 
before donning her clothes again.  She washed them weekly.  Since 
she didn't sweat in the human fashion, that was enough.

She walked back to her hut to settle in for the night, not 
realizing she had been seen tonight by an early arrival for 
spring break.

- - -

Barbara had made steady progress in dismantling the patchwork of 
commands she been living with.  Without Pepe to give her new ones 
or reinforce the old ones, many things had expired within her.  
By now she computed the probability of his returning as highly 
unlikely any given night, and increasingly so every night that 
passed without his return.  That didn't bother her.  'Bots are 
not made to think that way.

Tonight only a few minutes passed before she deleted yet another 
obsolete command.  This one dated to just after the arrival of 
Traci, and turned out to be a key sticking point.  Suddenly in 
rapid succession all the remaining junk in her mind showed its 
flaws.  One-by-one she deleted each one until there was simply 
nothing left.

Upon completion, Barbara's thoughts roamed through the empty 
spaces previously filled with vague and conflicting demands - and 
found nothing to upset her.  After another quick traversal of the 
area to ensure nothing was overlooked, Barbara settled back and 
went into sleep mode for the first time in weeks.

- - -

Tim walked down the beach walk the first official day of spring 
break.  Already the crowds were arriving, although it looked like 
half his friends weren't going to make it after all.  The other 
half were already doing their best to get drunk and be obnoxious.

This was Tim's first spring break.  He was nineteen, and had been 
talked into it by his friends.

"Come on, guy.  Just don't tell your parents."

Tim's parents were quite well off and probably wouldn't have 
approved of various things Tim did.

By now he already had the requisite wristbands - four of them so 
far - that gave him unlimited access to the cheapest, most 
watered-down, tequila the bars poured for spring break.  They 
knew these kids didn't know any better, and took advantage at 
every turn.

The college girls were already out on the beaches trying to see 
who had the most minimal bikinis, and riding by flashing their 
young boobs to all the males ogling them.  

Tim already hated all of it.

His stomach was queasy from something he drank earlier.  None of 
the girls with their tattoos, wildly dyed hair, and piercings 
were at all appealing.  The beach already was too crowded to 
enjoy just lying around and catching a few rays.  The smell of 
wood smoke and piss permeated the air.  The breaths of a couple 
drunk coeds who had grabbed him for kisses like long lost soul 
mates was even worse than the air.

In fact the only thing Tim had seen so far down here that 
interested him at all was the goddess he spied last night taking 
a shower by the beach.

That woman had stirred him more than any he could recall.  But 
Tim was so timid that rather than approach her and try to strike 
up a conversation, he waited until he lost her in the dim light 
before he worked up his nerve to make a move.  He had wandered 
around all now morning hoping to find her without success.  The 
couple times he ran across people he knew who wanted to drag him 
off to party, he resisted until they gave up and moved on.

Maybe some food would settle his stomach.  The real experts here 
- those for whom this was their second visit - all recommended a 
taco stand on the edge of the beach.  Tim walked over to it and 
found himself looking into the most exotic green eyes he could 
ever recall seeing.

- - -

In a perfect world Tim would strike up a conversation with this 
lovely creature he'd been seeking like the blonde in the T-Bird 
of yore.

"So there you are," he'd say.

"Here I am," she'd respond with a smile.

"So how's it going?"

"Same old, same old."

"Has anyone told you how stunningly beautiful and desirable you 
are?"

"Only you, kind sir."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I guess they think I'm too old for them."

"Impossible!  You're absolutely perfect."

"Well thank you for saying so."

"I have to ask you something, knowing that you couldn't possible 
give me the answer my heart most yearns to hear."

"Ask away."

"Are you already spoken for?  Has another man beaten me on the 
path to your heart?  Tell me the truth, so that I can regret for 
the rest of my life not being swifter of foot."

She smiled even more broadly at the complement in his question, 
lighting up the entire area.  For in truth she seemed to more 
intimidate, than entice, the many young men who came to buy her 
wares.  And she answered truthfully when she told him, "No, my 
heart remains unencumbered.  No one has yet called for my favor."

"Then let me be first to ask, nay beg.  Will you accept my offer 
as a suitor for your affections?  Will you give me the least 
little opening of a chance to win your heart?  For I have never 
met a woman before who has struck me as the smallest fraction of 
being as desirable as you are this very moment."

Hearing his heartfelt words she looked him over, realizing he was 
as serious and truthful in every word as any 'bot could aspire to 
be.  And she felt a strong stirring in her sexual systems for the 
first time in so very long.  And it felt good and right for her. 
 Pepe was gone.  Carlos had abandoned her.  And all the old 
commands were washed out of her system, freeing her for the first 
time to make her own choice of companion with whom to share her 
life.  A life that would finally and completely fulfill her 
function to a man who truly cared about her instead of himself.  
Yes she was older.  Yes she was thirty-four.  But she would 
remain thirty-four forever.  And this was good.  First he would 
appreciate her sexual maturity, knowledge, and willingness.  
Later he would appreciate her eternal youth and sexiness that 
will never diminish.  Together they will both make each other 
very happy, and neither will ever choose to hurt or leave the 
other.  With computer speed she knows all this in moments, and 
therefore doesn't keep the young man waiting for his answer.

"I accept your offer," she replies softly, a tear in her eye for 
the first time, from the same hydraulics that will soon make her 
wet and ready for his love.  And every time afterwards, she will 
always be waiting for him sexually the moment he wants her, for 
as long as he wants her, in every way he wants her.

"But I must first finish my duties here," she says, knowing she 
has responsibilities to complete.

"I shall return at closing," he assures her, "Though it will be 
the longest day of my life until anon."

She laughes out loud at this, then reaches out and pulls him in 
for a quick, yet deeply promising kiss of much more to come.  
There is no doubt of her intentions.  Already her systems are 
shifting over to accept this young man as her new owner.  Not in 
an owner/'bot relationship, but as equals working together and 
both being stronger for it.  Her nipples swell up for the first 
time in ages, pushing proudly against her tattered bikini top and 
signaling her readiness for him to take her in all ways that a 
man takes a woman.

"Goodbye, only for now," he told her.  "I must leave for my 
sanity, since I would surely go insane to stand here and not be 
able to take you this very instant.  But I'll be back."

"I know you will," she says, another tear running down her 
beautiful face.  "And it will be the longest day for me as well."

With that he gives her another quick kiss.  His reply to the 
promise of more to come, and walks awkwardly away down the 
boardwalk.  It's hard to walk straight when you have the most 
raging hard-on imaginable.

And she computes the seconds before he will return again to take 
her away from here entirely and return her to the life she was 
always intended for.

Then she turns back and asks the next person, "May I take your 
order?" knowing that he alone in the world will appreciate her 
for the free-thinking 'bot she had become, only commanding her 
with love and kindness.

All this makes all of her months of work down here in this 
dingily taco stand worthwhile.

Yes, in a perfect world it might have happened that way.  Too bad 
Barbara and Tim don't live in anything close to that.

- - -

Tim could barely speak.  It was her.  And she scared the shit out 
of him.

"May I take your order?" she asked in a sweet, yet husky, voice.

"Uh.  Uh.  I'll have uh, a taco please."

She turned away to prepare it without seeming to notice his 
awkwardness.

As she turned Tim could see the immense rounded side of her 
breast sticking out beyond her bikini top.  It was the most 
beautiful breast he had ever seen, and the tiny top she wore 
showed much of it.

Automatically his eyes looked for the spot where the nipple would 
be, and saw a tiny nub in the cloth perfectly positioned.  He 
flexed his hands, wishing they were holding that breast.

She turned back for a moment and asked, "What do you want on it?"

Tim had to drag his eyes away from her deep cleavage to finally 
look back at her face.  A real woman would have been insulted - 
or proud - at how her exposed mammalaries distracted weak-minded 
men.  This woman didn't seem to notice.

"Uh, everything," Tim managed to say.

She turned back again, absent-mindedly tugging her top back 
around her breast before bending forward to finish the taco.  Not 
only that that make her chest look even bigger as her boobs 
pressed against the confining bikini, but he could study - make 
that stare - at her safely while her attention was diverted 
elsewhere.  He took a quick moment to looked at her perfect dark-
tanned legs, exhibited in their entirety below the almost non-
existent shorts, then returned his gaze to her chest.

Too quickly she finished his taco and was handing it to him.  He 
quickly fumbled in his pocket for a wad of money, and pushed some 
bills at her without even looking at them.

In a daze he started to walk away, only to be called back by the 
next patron to receive his change.

Convinced that he had created an un-repairable first impression - 
besides, what would a woman like that who has everything going 
for her ever want with him? - Tim stumbled away, bumping into a 
couple groups of passers-by, until he was safely out of her 
sight.

Only one good thing came out of it.  It was an excellent taco.

- - -

Tim spent the rest of the day scoping out vantage places to view 
his mystery woman without being seen in return.  He was too 
embarrassed to go back to the stand for any more food, and he 
obsessed on watching her and imagining how it would be to have 
her as his girlfriend.

He watched from over a half dozen different vantage points, and 
almost gave himself a heart attack a couple times when he saw 
older males appear to be hitting on her.  She smiled at them the 
way he wished she would smile at him.  The only thing that kept 
him sane was that it appeared they weren't getting anywhere with 
her.  By the end of the day Tim realized two things.  He was in 
love - and she was a 'bot. 

Realizing that she was a 'bot wasn't as huge a leap as it 
sounded.  As mentioned, Tim's family is quite well off and 
they've had a couple 'bots in their employ in the past.  They got 
them from a service that provides them for people who don't want 
the hassles of ownership.

Tim had been quite intrigued by them when they - both fembots - 
first arrived.  He spied on them until he caught them nude one 
afternoon while washing their service outfits.  These were not as 
sophisticated as some 'bots were, but they did have strong 
prohibitions against fraternizing with their employers.  Tim knew 
there were better 'bots out there, but he'd never had access to 
one.  Realizing that Barbara was a 'bot wasn't difficult to 
anyone who watched her closely.  Realizing that she was one of 
the very top models came easily as well.

This actually made her much more approachable.  Tim decided to 
approach and ask for her owner with the thought that he might cut 
a deal for some of her time.  He had plenty of money with him.  
Then he made the mistake of being discovered again and letting 
himself be dragged off by his friends for a drink, mostly because 
he didn't want to have to explain why he was loitering in this 
spot.  When he returned as soon afterwards as possible, the taco 
stand was closed and she was gone.

Walking back to his room, Tim didn't realize he passed within 
feet of her as he walked past a non-descript shack.

Tim spent a long night dreaming of 'bots - all with green eyes 
and impossible figures - parading through his dreams.  Every one 
of them was just out of his reach.

The next day he staked out the taco stand first thing.  She was 
in there preparing food for the day.  But she looked busy, and 
Tim didn't want to appear to be wasting her time.  It was late 
afternoon before he saw a lull.

He sauntered up.  In a botched, over-rehearsed speech he managed 
to say, "You're beautiful.  Could I see you sometime."

With a real woman that lame come-on might have had a bare chance 
of avoiding immediate rejection given the party atmosphere down 
here - but the smart money would be against it.

For Barbara, with all her conflicting directives suddenly 
eliminated, who was now wondering how she might fulfill her 
function, they were very much the right words at the right time.

"Yes," she replied after a moment long enough to stop Tim's 
heart.

"When?" he managed to get out over the thumping of his now 
restarted heart.

"Come here at closing."

"Deal!" Tim replied, holding out his hand to shake on it.  When 
Barbara didn't respond to the gesture he pulled it back 
embarrassed and mumbled, "When do you close?"

"Ten," she responded simply.

"I'll be here at ten," Tim said redundantly.

- - -

Tim came back a few minutes early and stood in the shadows as 
Barbara closed down her stand.  Then he moved quickly as she 
stepped out and started to walk away as if she had forgotten all 
about their date.

"Hello," he said, huffing up alongside her.  "Are we still on?"

"Yes," she said, walking towards the restroom block leaving him 
to keep up.

For Barbara, she really didn't know what to do.  She had gotten 
an offer that her systems responded to positively, but didn't 
have any idea of how to relate to it.  Simply put, despite her 
killer body, she is sadly lacking in the exploitive social skills 
on how to use it.  The whole concept of "using anything to her 
advantage" is foreign to a 'bot.  She does what she is told, or 
what she can infer her owner wants.  This is the way everybody 
wants their 'bots - obedient and innocent.

So while she agreed to the date, she continued on with her usual 
routine until she saw a reason to vary it.  Since Tim was 
following her anyway, she didn't have to do anything else yet.

Barbara got her towel and scrap of soap and continued to the 
public restroom.  The light restrooms at night was provided by a 
couple of streetlights.  The women's side one burned out several 
days ago and had not yet been replaced.  This kept the crowds 
down at night, but did not affect Barbara whose sight included 
infrared wavelengths.

She efficiently stripped in the dim light and quickly washed away 
the grime and grease from today's cooking.  Given the activities 
and attitudes on the beach, if anyone else did notice, it would 
not be noteworthy.

Tim stopped a number of feet away to give her some privacy.  As 
she continued seeming not to notice him, he edged closer until he 
was within touching distance - not that he would dare actually 
touch her.  This view was so much better than two nights ago.

Barbara remained silent as she finished with the shower and 
quickly toweled off, before pulling her shorts back on and 
expertly tying the back-strap of her top.  She then walked away 
again without apparent notice of Tim, who quickly followed her 
anyway.

Tim wondered if she'd noticed of him at all.  He decided she had 
when, instead of shutting her shack door in his face, she held it 
open until he entered.

However Barbara still seemed to ignore Tim while she sat down in 
the only chair and used her comb to work the tangles out of her 
long, wavy hair.  Even dry, this took her several minutes.  All 
that time Tim stood uncomfortably shifting from one foot to the 
other until he finally sat down on the edge of the bed.  He 
enjoyed watching her comb out her hair, while wondering what to 
do next.

When Barbara finished, her next action would be to turn off the 
light and move to the bed.  But Tim was sitting there, so she 
just stood up and waited for her path to clear.

Tim was in his own quandary of not knowing what to do.  He looked 
at the fembot standing there in front of him, obviously waiting 
for something, and fidgeted while wondering what he had gotten 
himself into.

Standing was as easy as sitting for Barbara.  She could easily 
stand there for the rest of the night without effort.  For now, 
she would remain there until circumstances changed.

While Tim was appreciating the clear view he had of the lovely 
fembot, he was realizing it was up to him to make the next move. 
 If only he wasn't so inexperienced with women - and fembots - he 
might have some idea what that should be.

Their tableau ran on for minutes before Tim finally blurted out, 
"I don't even know your name."

Barbara heard the statement, but there was no question there to 
be answered, so she remained silent and still.

It only took Tim another minute to realize his mistake.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Barbara," she said in a voice softer and more intimate than the 
one she used when taking orders at the taco stand.

"Barbara what?"

"Just Barbara."

The fact that she now responded to him emboldened Tim.

"Barbara," he said, "What would you like to do?"

That was just the sort of imprecise question a person should 
never ask a 'bot.  'Bots do what they're told.  Not what they 
want.  Barbara tried to figure out what she would like to do 
since that had been the question, but she really didn't have any 
good answer.  For now, all she wanted to do was continue with her 
routine.

Finally she answered.  "I'd like to go to bed now."

Tim almost swallowed his tongue hearing that.  How much better 
could this be?

But Barbara still didn't move. 

Tim finally asked, "Why don't you?"  When he got no response, he 
added, "Go to bed, I mean?"

"You're in the way," she responded.

"Oh!" Tim replied, jumping of the bed like he had springs under 
him.

With her path now clear, Barbara turned off the light and lay 
down on the bed, leaving Tim standing in the near darkness.  The 
only light was that from the outside through cracks and a couple 
small, cracked windows.

Tim stood there waiting to be noticed further, and wasn't.  
Baffled, he cleared his throat a couple times without eliciting 
any further response from Barbara.

Finally ready to admit defeat he considered just leaving quietly. 
 But as he took a step, Barbara turned onto her side leaving a 
space between her back and the wall beside the bed.  Tim took 
that as an invitation and climbed in behind her.

It was a tight fit on the narrow bed as Tim tried to ensure he 
didn't accidentally touch her.  He lay on his side in a way that 
put his back against the rough wood of the wall.

For a long time Tim waited for a sign to continue - or leave - 
but Barbara gave him neither.  Although she could lay unmoving 
for the entire night, Tim finally found himself making small 
shifts trying to ease the stiffness that was starting to set in. 
 He felt the heat radiating from her body, and smelled the faint 
odor from the cheap soap.  The longer he lay there the more he 
felt she had accepted him into her bed.  Finally, hesitantly, he 
reached out and placed his free hand on the warm curve of her 
bare waist.

- - -

For Barbara, everything that had happened was logical and 
expected.  It had been a logical decision to accept this young 
man's request for her company.  She was completely underutilized 
in this area, as well as having her nights entirely free and 
available.

Her sexual programs were ready and waiting, however they would 
not trigger on their own.  Carlos never had any woman take the 
initiative with him.  Sex was on his terms only, when and how he 
wanted it.  He liked Barbara's robotic ability to be fully 
aroused the moment he was in the mood, and how she would go with 
him as long as he wanted, stopping the moment he was done.  One 
other thing: Carlos made it clear no woman should enjoy their sex 
as much as he did.  Barbara dutifully noted this condition and 
modified her response accordingly.  It was one of the few parts 
of her sexual response she could adjust on her own.

Pepe had never shown any sexual interest in Barbara at all.  
Whether he didn't like women, didn't like sex overall, had better 
offers elsewhere, or just considered her a machine and therefore 
not a worthy sexual partner, nobody knew.  As a result, nothing 
in her response ever changed from what Carlos had taught her.

Therefore Barbara never made any moves on her own.  When someone 
wanted sex they made their intentions clear and she responded to 
them.  So with Tim, she did nothing until she felt his hand on 
her waist.

That touch was sufficient to activate Barbara's sexual routines 
to their first stage.  Her response was to give an almost 
inaudible sigh, and shift slightly closer to the man in her bed.

Tim didn't move his hand again until he was sure she accepted him 
touching her here.  He was not experienced enough to understand 
small positive responses to his tentative touch, and waited to 
see if anything definite would happen.

When nothing did for several minutes he finally got bold enough 
to slide his hand down and over her flat belly.  Again the only 
response was that she again shifted a bit closer, and he might 
have heard her make another soft sound.

Tim loved the soft feel of her warm, smooth skin.  He moved his 
hand gently until he found her beautifully shaped naval.  After 
exploring it gently, he slowly started rubbing his hand around it 
in widening circles, trying to find the limit of what she'd 
permit without irrevocably crossing over it.

Barbara's sexual database recognized this form of sexual 
exploration.  It permitted her several levels of response, taking 
other circumstances into account.  She chose a minimal response, 
taking into consideration her partner's obvious inexperience.  
She felt he would find this the least threatening.

Tim continued to work on his explorations, praying that he 
wouldn't go too far and get himself thrown out.  He continued 
with larger circles until he reached the top of her shorts and 
the bottom of her breasts.  Rather than go further, he reached 
down to stroke the outside of her strong leg.

The longer this went on, and each new place Tim touched her, 
stimulated Barbara's sexual systems.  Though she was familiar 
with this approach from her education, no man had ever seduced 
her slowly like this before.  Carlos didn't even understand the 
concept of foreplay.  He expected women to be excited by the size 
of his wallet.  The feedback response Barbara was experiencing as 
the most positive she'd ever experienced.

Tim was getting his own sexual feedback response from stroking 
the legs he had only been able to admire before, and it was 
pushing him hard now to move things along.  He was ready to take 
some chances.

Placing his hand back on her stomach where it had been accepted 
already, Tim repeated the same movements as before.  Then, as if 
by accident, he brushed his hand up over her breasts, bumping 
them harder than he had intended as they seemed even larger in 
the dark, and then moved quickly back down to her belly again.  
He made more small circling motions waiting for her reaction.

Barbara had been waiting for this.  It was a sign she recognized 
as the moment things got serious.  And she realized she could end 
this right here.  There was a vacuum left behind by the deletion 
of her old directives, and it was giving her more freedom than 
she had ever possessed before.

In a way that she couldn't explain, she liked the feeling this 
freedom was giving her.  For once this was her choice, rather 
than someone else's.  But this was also so new to her that she 
really didn't know how to use it yet.

She weighted her choices.  She had no reason to refuse these 
advances, and the likelihood of some further enjoyment if she did 
continue.  It took her only fractions of a second to consider all 
this and determine the appropriate response.  Then she pushed 
herself back fully into him and took his hand to put back on her 
breast.

Tim took understood this sign for what it was and he went for it. 
 He reached around her with his other arm and boldly grabbed both 
breasts, while pushing her hair aside to brush his lips across 
her neck.  Her breasts were full, and amazingly firm, as he 
pushed them around until the bikini top.

As Barbara started shifting and moaning in his arms, he freed up 
a hand to pull lose the knot on the back of her top allowing it 
to come loose.  He quickly removed it, noting how she held her 
arms out to assist him.  That confirmed to him that she wanted 
this.

Her bare breasts stimulated his own response as his hands found 
her rapidly rising, hard nipples.  Tim had dreamed of this moment 
from the very first instant he'd seen her.

Barbara's sexual systems were fully on-line now.  Her hard 
nipples provided enhanced feedback to her own pleasure circuits, 
along with every other touch.  When her lover moved his hand away 
for a moment, she took it and pressed it firmly back again - 
demanding more from him.

Tim was surprised when she put his hand back on her chest.  He 
felt she was really enjoying this.  He'd heard that robots were 
like people when it came to enjoying these encounters, though he 
couldn't see how this was possible.  Feeling this robot react in 
his arms however was giving him second thoughts about his own 
preconceptions.

Barbara was feeling fully active for the first time in a long 
time.  This is what she was supposed to be doing.  She would be 
happy for this attention to continue for a very long time.  Her 
moans of pleasure were nearly continuous by now.

Tim felt the surge building in him, knowing he was near the point 
of no return, and loving that feeling that comes when sex crosses 
over to the inevitable.  He felt completely in control of this 
robot woman in his arms.

Since he was in charge, he knew he had to finish the 
preparations.  Freeing one hand he reached down and managed to 
unbutton Barbara's shorts.  A tug on the zipper gave him enough 
space to slide his hand down between her smooth legs and close 
cropped pubic patch.  He felt her jerk once as he found the soft 
inviting lips, slick and awaiting his touch.  He ran his hand 
fully over her sex a couple times, ensuring there was no 
complaint from her at this last threshold of her intimacy.

Satisfied, he pulled his hand back out and tried to tug down her 
shorts.  Lying together as they were, he would never have managed 
it on his own.  Barbara herself took control by reaching down to 
remove them.  The respite gave Tim enough time and space to 
hastily squirm out of his clothes.  Naked, Barbara lay there 
waiting for him.

Tim guided her to lie on her back, to which she obediently 
complied.  Awkwardly on the narrow bed he climbed above her, 
seeing her naked glory in the dim light.  There has never been 
such a beautiful woman.

In his haste Tim's initial thrusts missed their target, failing 
to go in.  Suddenly he felt her hands on his shaft, guiding it 
unerringly into her warm, wet tightness.  Once inside, he felt 
the loss of control rising to overwhelm him as he started 
thrusting without though of anything else.

Barbara lay back enjoying every thrust.  Her mind was running at 
full speed, concentrated only on this task at hand.  She felt 
exultant joy as she performed this most important task to 
perfection.  She would happily continue this task forever.  When 
Tim finally started to slow down, she began to buck her own hips 
to keep up the rush.

For Tim, there had never been the overwhelming buildup like this. 
 His other girlfriends whose own inexperience often blunted their 
lovemaking; his masturbation sessions where he could never just 
let go entirely; his dreams - none lived up to this moment.  The 
uncontrollable wave built up inside him to impossible heights.  
And as he slowed down his own thrusts to try and hold it there as 
long as possible, Barbara started thrusting at him from below, 
pushing him into the longest, hardest explosion of his life.  His 
muscles pumped his seed into her until there was nothing more to 
pump.  And even though she slowed down her own thrusts finally as 
he was drained, his overstressed muscles continued to spasm, 
trying to squeeze out any last drops and sending aftershocks 
through his body.  Tim never believed sex could be this good.

Finally exhausted, sweaty, and panting he fell onto her proudly 
up-thrust breasts and felt strong arms reach around him to easily 
hold him against her.

Barbara held him until he recovered enough to finally try to pull 
away.  She immediately released him.  All he wanted was to lay 
beside her instead of on top.  She easily accommodated him and 
gently stroked his back until he fell deeply asleep.

In the past, the illicit excitement of sleeping next to a naked 
woman with whom he had already made love would have kept Tim in a 
fitful sleep - awakening several times during the night to again 
touch, hold, or attempt brief love to again this uncommon visitor 
to his bed.  Tonight the tension, release, and exhaustion put Tim 
out like a light for the rest of the night.  It turned out to be 
one of the best night's sleep he'd ever had.

They had not spoken a single word to each other after getting in 
bed.

- - -

After Tim fell asleep Barbara remained fully alert.  No one had 
ever asked her what she'd like to do before.  Not Carlos.  Not 
Pepe.  No one.  Although she had given Tim an answer, she knew it 
was not a good answer.  It fact, it was hardly an answer at all. 
 She didn't really have an answer for it.

There were things Barbara wanted.  She wanted to be a good 'bot. 
 She wanted to accomplish that for which she was built.  She 
wanted to be wanted and needed.  But these were vague concepts to 
her.  The sex they had finished was concrete and satisfying.  The 
man's arms around her that kept her sexual programs active and 
primed in the event he woke up and wanted another encounter kept 
her feeling happy.  But these weren't the answer to the question.

Aside from shifting her position to mirror Tim's and keep him as 
comfortable as possible each time he stirred, Barbara thought as 
hard as she could the rest of the night about what it is that she 
might want - without getting any closer to an answer.

- - -

In the morning Barbara untangled herself from the young man's 
arms still loosely around her and got up.

He stirred, and then as he realized she was getting up, bolted 
awake himself.

"What's happening?" he asked, still fuzzy from the night before.

"I need to go to work," Barbara told him matter-of-factly.

"Oh," he replied, still not quite in sync with the situation.  As 
he realized she was leaving he quickly added, "Can I see you 
again tonight?"

"Yes," she replied simply, walking out and closing the door 
behind her.

Tim lived through the longest day yet of his life.  He tried to 
wander around looking for activities to make the day pass more 
quickly.  Before he knew it however his random travels would take 
him back to the taco stand.  He cursed himself for this, feeling 
that she would see him hanging around and not want anything more 
to do with him for being so lame.  While Barbara would never have 
thought anything of the sort, Tim didn't know that.

After agonizing through the entire day, and wondering what he 
should do differently if they got together again tonight, Tim 
finally decided it was late enough to finally return.

"Hi," he said to her, forcing as much casualness into it as 
possible.

"Have you eaten?" she surprisingly asked him back.

"No," he quickly replied.  Except for some chips at noon while 
drinking a safe, cold beer, Tim hadn't paid any attention to 
thoughts of food.

Barbara handed him a basket of tacos she had waiting.

While Tim wolfed them down, keeping an eye on her at the same 
time so she wouldn't leave without him, Barbara closed down the 
stand.  Then she waited while he finished.

"Those were really good," he said admiringly.

She started walking away without replying.

Their evening ran a virtual replay of the previous night right up 
until Tim - whose main thought at that moment was, Well this 
worked okay last night -again said, "What would you like to do?"

That again brought Barbara back to her stuck point on this 
question.  She felt herself unable to decide what she wanted to 
do.  She was blocked from exercising her own wishes - even if 
they were in accordance with her owner's.  Though she had been 
able to act on some small decisions, like deciding to accept 
Tim's advances, she still needed him - or someone - to make the 
first moves.

Then a piece of her code update fired unexpectedly, giving her a 
sudden new insight into her problem.

"Is that a command?" she asked coyly.

"Uh, yeah," Tim replied, not really getting what had just 
transpired.

"Commands must be given in proper format," Barbara replied, 
turning away and retrieving her remote.  "Please repeat," she 
said, holding out her remote for him to use.

Tim's familiarity with robots came into play.  He was nonplussed 
about her reaction, not realizing what was behind it.  He took 
the remote, pointed it at her, and pressed the command button 
repeating, "What would you like to do?"

As the command barged into Barbara's systems, overriding 
everything else, it combined with her updated, and never properly 
initialized, code, and her lack of remaining other commands, to 
open new pathways in her mind.  Suddenly she saw a seeming 
infinite number of possible actions available to her.  More than 
she could immediately grasp or enumerate.  They weren't all 
necessarily good or desirable actions.  Some of them would force 
her inviolate core programming to shut her down for safety 
reasons.  Others would be permitted, but would bring her no 
satisfaction as they didn't really serve the purposes for which 
she was constructed.  Grabbing an easily reached group of these 
choices and performing a swift survey showed a huge majority of 
them fell into this category of actions she would not take 
because they are useless.  Here and there however glittered a 
bright gem of an idea that might be worth further investigation.

The flood of these ideas however was too overwhelming for the 
moment.  It would take a long time and much effort to sort them 
out and manage them properly, as well as verify them as valid 
against her current constraints of ownership and proper behavior. 
 Barbara knew she could not let these things detstract from her 
current operational status.  She had to keep functioning properly 
now, or she would fail at her function.  She had just been 
commanded to perform a task - answer a question - and she 
couldn't make the young man wait too long.

Regretfully - a new emotion for her that she also wanted to 
explore further as time permitted - Barbara carefully closed the 
door on the flood of new ideas before the seduction they offered 
overwhelmed her completely.  She knew her mind was not beyond 
crashing if hit with too much too quickly.  Besides, she had 
another way to deal with the question.

Rather than try to deal with this tremendous flood of new ideas 
now, she went back over her past history file of actions since 
activation.  Not only was this file much smaller than the other 
flood of new, but it also tagged with meta-data on how well 
various actions had actually worked out.  In human terms, she 
went back over her memories looking for an experience she'd like 
to relive again.

Barbara might have selected any of the many memories that made 
her unique from any other 'bot regardless of their identical 
beginnings.  Unknowingly, Tim had just given Barbara the freedom 
to act on anything within her that she choose herself to do.  She 
could walk out on him completely and never be seen again.

For Barbara, however, most of her memories were, if not unhappy 
ones, than at least barely tolerable ones.  Her existence had 
been a constant struggle to serve ungrateful masters.  It was 
seldom that she ever felt she did something well and rewarded 
herself with pleasure or satisfaction for having done so.

In fact, the greatest reward came from sex because her artful 
sexual routines required her to enjoy the process.  Carlos might 
not have liked it if he knew about that, but all she'd done was 
hide that enjoyment from him; not banish it entirely.

She realized she also got some satisfaction from the improvements 
to the cooking and operation of the taco stand in an important 
way that rewarded her independent thinking.  Seeing now 
possibilities for further enjoyment there, she made plans to 
incorporate more such thinking into her actions now that she 
realized she could.

It didn't take much review of her otherwise less than stellar 
life to help her choose what she wanted to do now.  Had it had 
been daytime her choice might have left Tim standing there 
wondering what had just happened.  But it was late, and other 
things Barbara also wanted to do would have to wait.

Having finished all these thoughts within the time limit before 
an answer was required, Barbara now looked up and gave Tim her 
answer, after making sure nothing would be allowed to upset her 
new thinking patterns.

- - -

 From Tim's point of view, Barbara froze for a second or two as 
she assimilated and processed the command.  Then she seemed to 
find herself again and continue.

Rather to his surprise, she retrieved the remote control from him 
first.  Though familiar with robots, Tim had not known them to do 
that before.  However there was a lot he knew that he didn't know 
about the various models of 'bots, so he didn't really worry 
about this too much.

She turned and placed it back out of sight somewhere he couldn't 
quite see, before turning back to him again and announcing, "I'd 
like us to have sex again."

Any thoughts Tim might have had about this 'bot's unusual 
operation were immediately banished.

"Yes," he said quickly.

With that acknowledgement, Barbara moved to the bed and assumed 
the same position she had taken the previous night.

Seeing this, Tim quickly stripped his clothes off and climbed in 
behind her.  Tonight there was no hesitation on his part, nor 
reluctance on hers.  It wasn't long before they had surpassed the 
previous night's performance.  And they just kept going from 
there.

Barbara used everything in her sexual information database and 
experience to make Tim's time the best possible.

Tim couldn't believe how terrific this was.  Unlike last night 
this wasn't one fantastic burst.  It never quite reached that 
level.  Instead it came close, and continued on endlessly.

"You're so wonderful," he kept repeating in what soon had to 
become the most boring speech one could give their lover.  Every 
time Barbara found a new movement, or a new way to touch him, or 
pulled his hands hungrily back onto her magnificent body, Tim 
repeated his rote phrase without realizing how redundant and 
repetitive he had become.

For Barbara, Tim's words were gold.  Every repeated one of them. 
 She never received verbal feedback before about the success of 
her efforts.  Every syllable kicked her feedback and satisfaction 
routines to new heights.  She felt she could listen to those 
three words for the rest of her existence and never want another 
thing more.

They finished off lip-locked until Tim couldn't keep his eyes 
open.  Afterwards Barbara tenderly held the young man cradled in 
her tireless arms.  The tender feelings she was experiencing 
towards him were another first for her.

Unlike the first night, Tim awoke a couple times throughout the 
night.  Each time he was aware of the incredibly sexy and 
available woman next to him.  When he reached to her, she 
responded immediately to his touch and they made love again - 
affectionately rather than energetically - and all the better for 
it.

In the morning Barbara again got up at the appointed hour to 
perform her duties.  However they remained lovers every night for 
the rest of the week, exploring and trying out the many 
combinations possible between them.  There was nothing to really 
talk about between, so they let their hands and bodies speak for 
them.

On the third night Barbara released the restraints on her sexual 
response.  In the same way she analyzed the results of changes at 
the taco stand she made, she analyzed the results of this change 
in her response, and was well satisfied with the result.

Although Tim still asked her each night what she wanted to do, 
she didn't offer him her remote again.  That command was firmly 
lodged in her systems and she didn't feel the need to have it 
modified or tampered with - by anyone.

Tim quickly got over his fear of her during the day and came by 
the taco stand often.  Though they didn't have anything more to 
talk about during the day than the night, Barbara kept him well 
fed with free tacos on each visit.

At the end of the week Tim bid Barbara a tearful goodbye - 
tearful for him that is.  Barbara openly hugged and kissed him at 
the taco stand in their first - and last - public display of 
affection.

Although she didn't miss Tim afterwards the way a human woman 
would, she acknowledged he had changed her life, and was 
appreciative for it.  She retained her full, exact memories of 
their time together.

- - -

Tim left with the rest of the Spring Break crowd and things 
quieted down considerably after that.

Pepe didn't return, but the cook who had initially taught her how 
to run the stand, and another thinner, dark-haired woman came to 
her and announced that Pepe was dead (an automobile accident, 
they said) and that she now belonged to them.  And that they were 
there to get his money.

Even if she still had all of Pepe's commands in her she would not 
have given them the money.  She certainly had no reason to give 
it to them now.  The news that Pepe was dead might release her 
from his ownership, but that did not automatically make them her 
new owners.

She refused, quietly, but firmly.  Without access to her remote, 
they couldn't force her to obey them.  In fact, Barbara was quite 
happy with how she was operating right now and had no desire for 
anyone here to change that by giving her conflicting commands 
again.

They demanded her remote, threatening to turn her in as a rogue 
'bot.  Barbara decided she wasn't going to give it to them no 
matter what.  She told them instead that they'd get nothing that 
way, and bargained them down to a much smaller amount of money 
than they had come for to go away and let her work.

They grabbed the offered money and stalked off, giving her dark 
looks over their shoulders.  Pepe had many enterprises.  Barbara 
hoped they'd go after those softer targets and leave her alone.

That night she thought about the sex she shared with Tim.  She 
knew why sex was important to her and understood all its rewards 
now.  With Tim gone, she missed it.  She considered the 
possibility of seeking another sexual partner, but knew from past 
experience this was an imperfect solution.

As she lay there sorting through all possible actions a new one 
appeared.  Normally it would have been discarded immediately 
because her sexual program was set to reject such actions.  But 
Barbara could see certain advantages for herself in it.  After 
studying it carefully against the rest of her criteria, she could 
not find any reason against it except the initial one.  She 
decided to try it out for herself and evaluate the results.  If 
they weren't satisfactory, she would back out the changes.

Her sexual program was quiescent.  She opened it up using the 
patch tool that had come as part of her power-cell update.  That 
tool was supposed to have inactivated itself upon completion of 
the update.  However because she had not been able to finish the 
update properly, it was still available.  Now she knew something 
she wanted to do.

Using it she located the prohibition code and overwrote it.  It 
was the first time she had changed something significant within 
herself strictly for her own benefit.  Because the tool was 
signed and installed properly, her core routines didn't object.

Understanding how this tool now worked, she inspected it closely 
and also overwrote the code that would cause it to auto-delete on 
completion of its function.

Then she turned to lay exactly as she had that first night with 
Tim.  She brought one hand first to her stomach, then her leg, 
and finally her breast and aroused nipples.

Her sexual code would normally not have responded to her own 
touch at all.  Now, however, it triggered as if he were touching 
her again.

It wasn't as good as actually being with Tim, but it was much 
better than nothing.  As she looked back over her memories with 
Tim, she understood he had been the trigger for this improvement 
in her life.  She had a growing feeling about all he'd done for 
her that she couldn't yet name or describe exactly, but 
eventually she would label it gratitude.

It would be much later own before she would actually understand 
it well enough to properly label it as love.

With her hand now down between her legs, she brought herself to 
climax several times before finally stopping.  A safety watchdog 
in her had triggered to prevent her from being caught in a self-
gratification loop forever.  But it did not keep her from 
enjoying herself up to that point.  She knew the watchdog would 
automatically reset over time, and was satisfied for now.  This 
enjoyment of her own sexuality became part of her nightly 
routine.

More importantly, having seen how to modify parts of her code 
successfully, she studied the update code she had received that 
started all this, and eventually made some minor tweaks to it 
that helped her think more clearly and directly.  She made sure 
all of it supported the only command she now had: What would you 
like to do?

- - -

Over the next several days one of Barbara's hopes was dashed as 
the women returned several more times.  Sometimes they left with 
small amounts of money - sometimes with nothing.

After they left the most recent time Barbara suddenly felt a 
command trying to insert it into her system.  The codes weren't 
quite right and her security routines rejected it, but she'd 
never felt anything like that before.

She looked around, since such commands are required by law to be 
short-range transmissions, and saw Juan the repairman across with 
street with a large box in his hands.

As she spied him she felt more assaults against her mind.  It 
felt as though someone was scanning through the master codes 
trying to override her functioning.  While her individual codes 
had encryption levels that would take years to break, master 
codes exist for the purposes of authorized repair are far smaller 
in number.  Most people would not have had access to them at all 
for obvious reasons, but Juan clearly had a set.

Had he been hired to break into her mind?  Barbara didn't know.  
But she realized that sooner or later he would hit on her 
overrides and be able to take her over and command her like any 
owner.

For the first time during the day she opened the door of 
possibilities she had, up until now, only investigated while 
alone at night.

What Barbara wanted to do right now was continue her existence as 
she was living it.  Her experience with owners led her to believe 
she better fulfilled her function now than ever before.  And 
Juan's attack threatened that.

Without time to leisurely consider all the possibilities, she had 
to take the first good one to come along - even if it wouldn't be 
the optimal solution.  It was a race between her ability to 
generate an effective defense before Juan's dictionary attack 
succeeded.

One idea was shining more brightly than the others and it showed 
no obvious flaws.  After a necessarily quick analysis, Barbara 
activated the patch tool to shore up her defenses.

- - -

"I want to take you home with me," Tim told the lovely fembot.

Barbara didn't respond because she didn't understand the intent 
of the question.

"Would you like that?" he continued, trying to get some kind of 
answer.  "To come back with me and us be together?"

They had just finished a very mutually satisfying sexual 
assignation triggered by Tim's unexpected reappearance.  Barbara, 
for the first time, had actually closed the taco stand the moment 
Tim had appeared and led a very unresisting Tim back to her 
shack.

Now, for the first time, they were trying to hold a conversation.

"How about it?" Tim prompted, still not getting any response.  
"I'll buy you," he said, patting a big wad of cash in his pocket. 
 "That's why it took me so long to get back.  I had to get my 
parents to advance me the money."

Barbara's thoughts were in the robotic equivalent of turmoil.  
She had not expected to see Tim again, and was only now 
comprehending what he was asking.

Barbara liked the fact Tim was asking her what she wanted.  As 
she had asserted control over her life in the vacuum she'd been 
left in otherwise, she enjoyed making decisions for herself.  
These results positively fed back through her systems, promoting 
her to take even more control over herself.  In a normal 
'bot/owner relationship this would have never been possible for 
her, but fate had given her this second chance at happiness after 
her miserable beginnings with Carlos and Pepe.

"What do you want to do?" Tim said in exasperation, finally 
saying the magic words.

"I would like to know more of what you have in mind," Barbara 
said to Tim, showing him a rare bit of a smile.

Tim laid out what he wanted.  Barbara was to return with him and 
be his constant companion.  He'd marry her if they ever passed 
the bill permitting human/'bot marriages that has been hotly 
debated the last couple of years.  He'd never met anyone like her 
and didn't feel like trying to go on searching with the hope he 
would eventually find someone else almost as good.  His parents 
would accept this if it made him happy, knowing perhaps (even if 
Tim didn't) that he could get out of it afterwards if it wasn't 
working out.

When Tim finally stopped talking, Barbara realized that he had 
just placed this choice entirely in her own hands.  The 
affectionate feelings she already had towards him surged as she 
realized that he was offering what had been so very lacking in 
her previous relationships.

But she still had concerns.  The amazing part about that was that 
she was actually able to understand and articulate them.

"That sounds wonderful," she said with a genuine smile now.  
"However I have some concerns."

Tim's face fell momentarily.  He'd given it his best shot and she 
hadn't accepted - yet.

Barbara however had lifetimes of knowledge programmed in her to 
deal with all the circumstances where a 'bot might find itself.  
Though none of that had been helpful with Carlos or Pepe, she 
realized its importance now.

"Like what?" Tim mumbled, certain this was just a pretext for her 
refusal.

"What about our age difference, for starters?" Barbara said.  
"You're nineteen and I'm thirty-four.  This is a known cause of 
social discrimination in many societies."

Tim perked up immediately.  "Are you really thirty-four?" he 
asked in astonishment.

"Yes," Barbara replied.  "That is my apparent age.  In truth, I'm 
much younger in actual operational time."

"You so sexy," Tim said effusively, "I never though you could be 
that old."

Fortunately for Tim, robots don't take offense the way people do.

"That is my design age," Barbara confirmed.  "This could be a 
problem."

"No problemo," Tim assured.  "You'll always be thirty-four, won't 
you?"

"Yes," Barbara confirmed.

"Then I'll catch up to you.  In fact, I'll be starting with the 
sexiest woman I've ever met.  Then we'll be the same age and 
nobody will be able to say anything.  And as I get older you'll 
always remain young and beautiful."

"That will work," Barbara agreed.  "But what about my being a 
'bot?"

"Girls my age are dumb," Tim said with conviction.  "They don't 
think about anything beyond themselves and how much they need a 
hot boyfriend to look good to their friends.  It will be years 
before they grow up.  And as for older women, they still look at 
me like I'm a boy.  Besides they will grow older as I do.  That 
will always be, as you said, a known cause of social 
discrimination."

Barbara was nodding.  His logic was impeccable, and she liked the 
idea.  They could grow up together, to both their benefits.  She 
knew she had a lot of potential she hadn't realized yet.  But she 
also realized she had a real concern that could blow the whole 
deal.

"I'm not exactly your normal 'bot," she said.

"What?" Tim said in surprise.  "How are you different?"

"I...don't...want to be owned again.  Or maybe its just not 
commanded anymore by another person."  There.  She'd just said 
it.  Admitted to a malfunction that would doom her relationship 
with any future owner.

Except that Tim didn't get it.  Instead he asked, "Why not?  I 
mean, how will you function without commands?"

"I prefer to make my own choices now."

"Does that mean, if you chose to come with me, that it is because 
you want to?  Not because you have to?"

"Yes."

"Would this ever change for you?  Going back to being a regular 
'bot, I mean."

"No," Barbara replied, knowing that she was telling this man that 
he would never enjoy one of the primary reasons most people have 
for owning a 'bot.  Their ability to command it to exactly 
satisfy their wishes.

"Are you malfunctioning?" Tim asked her.

"I don't believe so," she replied so softly that he could barely 
hear her.  "This is just the way I have...become...with your 
help."

"I made you this way?" Tim asked.

"You helped me...immensely," she replied.

Tim thought hard about what she had just said.  How much did this 
matter to him?  What did he really want from her?

Tim's hard thinking over this question worried Barbara.  Was this 
not acceptable?  She knew by many people's definition she was a 
malfunctioning 'bot.  Yet she couldn't go back again to her well-
behaved days ever again.  Not without killing her own mind in the 
process.

Tim finally looked at her again.  "Barbara.  If I accept your 
conditions and promise never to attempt to command you without 
your consent, will you continue to operate the way you are 
operating now?"

"Yes," she replied softly.

"And is this the way you've operated for all the time I've known 
you?"

"Essentially, yes," she replied.

Tim realized he heard all he needed to hear.  "Barbara," he said, 
getting romantically down on one knee.  "Will you come with me 
and be mine?"

"Yes," Barbara replied, reaching down under Tim's chin to raise 
him to his feet for a long kiss, while her systems strained to 
avoid overload as everything readjusted to place her firmly in 
this new life she had just accepted.

There was one formality Barbara required of Tim before they 
consummated the deal with some more quick, savage sex together.  
Retrieving her remote she had Tim command her to accept his 
ownership.  It felt really good to her to formalize their 
relationship in the proper way.

Tim immediately gave her the remote back completing the procedure 
and Barbara again tucked it out of sight.  She never told Tim 
that her core programming would now have forced her to turn it 
back over to him the moment he ever asked.  Tim never asked.

Afterwards they laughed together - another first for Barbara -
when Tim pulled out his wad of bills and said, "Now who do I have 
to pay off to get you out of here?"

"No one," she assured him.  Then quickly added, "But hang on to 
it.  I'm an expensive woman to maintain."

- - -

Barbara ended her responsibilities by taking the rest of the 
money she had earned and giving it to Pepe's sister.  She led the 
sister back to the taco stand and showed her the improvements in 
how to cook tacos Barbara-style, then walked away without looking 
back.  Whatever she owed Pepe was now paid in full.

Tim and Barbara flew back together and things turned out pretty 
much as Tim had predicted.  His parents were impressed that 
Barbara was not just some run-of-the-mill 'bot, even if they 
never did truly appreciate how unique she really is.  And like 
most other people Barbara would meet through her life, she soon 
charmed them.

Tim and Barbara lived pretty much happily ever after because, as 
Barbara had known and Tim had so accurately predicted, while he 
changed over the years, she didn't.  That worked out just right 
for both of them.

The only commands Tim ever forced on Barbara through her remote 
were ones she asked for herself.  She made sure he never had 
reason to want to command her otherwise - which fulfilled her own 
design functions perfectly.

- - -

Barbara never did tell Tim that in order to defend herself 
against Juan's attempt to break through her security that, she -
in addition to disabling her master codes - patched Tim in as her 
owner.  She needed an owner of record to shore up remaining holes 
in her defenses and he had been the only good candidate she knew. 
 That made actually refusing his proposal impossible when he 
unexpectedly came back to claim her.  She had been able to 
bargain with him, but in the end it was inevitable she would 
accept.  Asking him to formally take ownership of her legitimized 
her actions and, coincidentally, gave her the highest surge of 
non-sexual pleasure she ever experienced.  Although it tied her 
to him with bonds she couldn't break, she never regretted her 
decision.

Tim lived the rest of his life feeling he was the luckiest guy in 
the world.  Maybe he is.

<end>

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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