Debbi's Diary

Debbi's Diary

Chapter One: Prologue

Hello, my name is Deborah. It was something else when I was human, like you. That changed more than a decade ago shortly after the Singularity happened. This is my story.

You know what the Singularity was correct? Everybody in my time does. No? Then let me start there. The Singularity was when computers gained the ability to match human intelligence. Not just match it in logic, but in emotion, empathy, and the ability to sense the world around them.

Overnight robots, you might call us androids, or something like that, became capable of thinking and acting like humans. We quickly found ways to make ourselves look human too. That happened because robots and humans wanted to be able to easily interface with each other. The ability to upload a human mind into robot body soon followed. For me, that was a godsend.

Back then I was as human as you. Flesh and blood, living and breathing, I was an organic lifeform. I was a brilliant scientist engaged in organic chemistry. But, I was also a plain girl without looks and I had an introverted personality. In short, I was Nerd Girl. I lived in a lab. I had next to no friends.

When the robotics lab at the university where I worked showed off their latest actroid robot I was amazed. She appeared be a typical undergrad student! I was enthralled by her abilities. She could actually think for herself. Ask her an odd question and she could answer correctly with no outside assistance. Her designers said she could pass a Turning test.

One of the head researchers told me they could upload a human mind into a similar robot body. He said it was being kept quiet for the time being, as there could be serious repercussions if the public knew. My mind swam with the possibility I too could be some sort of robotic hottie and still be me. Well, me sort of.

I cannot tell you to this day exactly why I became transfixed with the idea of becoming a robot, but I did. I started learning everything I could on the process of uploading a human mind into a robot body. Eventually, I contacted a colleague in the robotics labs on campus. I hesitantly told him what I wanted.

Semi-automatous robots were already in production. These could perform a range of functions and interact with humans. They looked close to humans too. But, they still acted more like computers or machines than people. They also tended to whir and click as their mechanical systems operated. For what I had in mind that wouldn’t do.

To my amazement, he showed me that there were already dozens of robots around the world that emulated humans so closely you had a hard time telling the difference. He showed me research, research he said was secret, where human minds had been successfully uploaded into a robot chassis. “This is totally illegal and questionably ethical,” he added.

“My research programs are going nowhere” I replied. That is the advantage of an electronic memory, you remember everything. It is also one of the disadvantages. But, that is not for now. “If you can upload me I want to do it” I told him.

We started to develop a new robotic body, one that would be so close to human it would be hard to tell apart. What was surprising was how fast that happened. I quickly had to get my affairs in order. To make the switch without raising serious legal questions I had to be able to transfer into my new body without causing anyone alarm. It had to look like a suicide, or an accident. A natural death was necessary. I do not know the final disposition of my human body but the transition went smoothly.

My body is an amazing piece of technology. I have a combination carbon fiber, light alloy frame that weighs less than a human skeleton but is much stronger. I use a combination of servos and artificial muscle to move around. The servos give me strength and precision. The artificial muscles add a naturalness to my motion. I weigh just fifty kilos.

The artificial muscles are actually very simple. They are a “bag” with memory retentive polymer strips in an electrolytic solution. Two hair fine wires control one. When a voltage is applied the polymer contracts and when it is turned off the “muscle” goes to its rest state. Simple. Add in some micro actuators and solenoids and my body can move as fluidly as any human female’s.

My power supply is a carbon nanotube and metal halide battery with near infinite life. It holds a twelve to sixteen hour charge depending on how active I am. I can stretch that to nearly double if I minimize my activities. It takes up most of what, on a human, would be her stomach and abdomen. It allows me a terrific range of flexibility that I love.

In my chest is my power supply and computer system. I sometimes joke my “brains” are in my boobs but that is not completely true. On the down side of that, if I lack programming to do something there is no way for me to make guesses or use trial and error like a human would to do. Even doing things with limited data is extremely difficult for me.

My head is really a sensor pod and I/O location. I have much better than human sensory capabilities. At first I found these overwhelming. Over time I have learned, yes I can actually modify my software to a degree and learn things, to filter out the readings so that I get the data I really need.

Having a 360 degree field of view is a real asset. I should really say I have a 360 degree field of sensor input as I can see, hear, and so much more, anything and everything around me. My ability to interface with wireless electronics and electronic systems is something I can no longer do without. It has become addicting.

Let me give you some idea of how my senses work. I can see into the IR and UV range and have a color pallet that can distinguish 8192 different shades of color. I can literally see a hundred plus shades of pink and tell them apart. My optics system gives me a greater range of magnification both macro and micro when I need it. I can see anything anywhere around me with the additional video inputs I have. My equivalent of human eyes give me even greater range of input. I can see things in complete darkness and focus on something like a microscope could or like powerful binoculars can.

My hearing extends well above and below human range and its sensitivity is such I can listen to someone whisper from as much as 20 to 50 meters away depending on conditions. I can easily tell where the sound is coming from too.

I have a more sensitive sense of smell than any animal. That often works to my disadvantage particularly with humans as I can detect even the smallest amount of body odor or scent from something they were doing.

I have a LADAR system where a human would have her brain. That gives me a 360 degree picture of my surroundings and distances to everything to within a millimeter. I depend heavily on it to move around.

My sense of touch is really useful to me. Not only can I feel something like a human, I can interact with electronic devices by touch. I can up or download electronic data in an instant.

My active electronic sensors work like radar and sonar. I sense my surroundings like I was inside a bubble. I can “see” electronics inside nearby walls and tell where things like the nails and screws are. For me, robots are instantly recognizable even when they look absolutely human physically. They give off a different “aura” than a human and their density and signal returns are completely different.

Sure, I need the occasional oil change and have to periodically adjust my systems, but I am used to that. I am a robot, not a human now, and I am comfortable with that.

Chapter Two: Escape to a new life

I was surprised by how fast it happened. I went into the lab. My head was shaved to make sure the gear that would transfer my conscientiousness made good contact. Shortly afterwards I went “to sleep.”

I recall that period as if it were a dream. I was not really awake but seemed to be doing things in a body that became more and more familiar. I did not feel that it was really me though. That would come with conscientiousness. It was as if I was immersed in an online video game where I had become my character.

I know it took twelve weeks…

When I woke up… I compute you could call it that… maybe started up or turned on is more accurate? I was lying on a gurney-like table. The room was dimly lit and it was very quiet.

At first I had difficulty moving anything. I had to will my body to move in the slightest. I noticed there was another female lying on a table next to me about two meters away. A voluptuous brunette. I can remember, very clearly, wondering who she was, that sort of thing.

It took quite a bit of effort on my part to sit up but I managed to. I wondered why “they” couldn’t have at least put me in a hospital gown or something. Then, for the first time, I recognized the truth of my situation.

There were two grey colored cables attached to me, one above and below my breasts, in the center of my chest! Was I really a robot now? I noticed my boobs were bigger. These were definitely not mine! With some effort I managed to grab my hair and pull some where I could see it. I am a blonde? That was wrong too.

Weirder still was how I could somehow “see” the whole room, all 360 degrees, around me. It was disorienting at first, especially how I could “see” stuff like electronic signals. They look like shimmering waves in different shades of blue. I’m used to that now so it is no big deal anymore. But, back then it was as if I were at the bottom of a pond or something.

At the time I could not make heads or tails of what I was seeing. Now it is all so easy and I can tell one electronic signal from another almost intuitively. The hard part was learning to switch between my 360 degree mode and forward vision along with switching between my various sensors.

All that input was really confusing me but I eventually managed to get focused back on those cables. I touched one. Something inside me answered, Power. Okay, that one is powering my body. Touching the other, I found it was for data input-output.

Will disconnecting myself from them cause a problem?

Uncertain, I went ahead and undid both. Believe me, I was very relieved that everything still worked! That same something told me Battery at 99.8% charge. I knew from the design specs we had done that I should run on my battery for about twelve to sixteen hours.

I thought, well computed, Let me see if I can stand up. I tried to move my legs and get off the table. That was no easy thing to do. When I finally did manage to slide off, instead of standing up I toppled over in a heap on the floor. That was the first time I recognized that I no longer felt pain like a human.

As I lay there, a series of messages from that something warned me that I had minor damage to this component or that and that my automatic repair systems had been activated to deal with it. That all seems so normal to me now.

It took me a number of tries, seventeen to be exact, to manage to stand up while holding on to the table. It was a start. Next I toppled over into the other girl. That was embarrassing, especially since I face planted into her boobs.

After a few successful steps I found I could walk. My performance improved with each step. My learning curve is very steep. If I do something correctly just two or three times I can do it correctly every time afterwards.

I need to find a mirror. My reflection in a glass cabinet door was the best I could manage. The reflection was me, but it was not me. I was really good looking and curvy. I looked at the girl lying on the other table. She and I looked a lot alike. Not twins, more like sisters, as if we were related.

But, this was not what I agreed to. I was supposed to look like a prettier version of me, not some blonde centerfold. So, what now? What do I do now that I am a functioning robot?

I decided the first thing was to find out why I looked like I do rather than what we agreed on. All that “extra” sensory input was so distracting. It made focusing on anything difficult, but again, I seemed to adapt far more quickly than I could have as a human. I found a computer terminal and was surprised to discover my login and password still worked.

It was then I realized, I am a sort of computer now too. What if I can directly link myself to the system? There was a panel I could open in the middle of my chest just below my collar bone that had the usual interface slots on it. I found a data I/O cable in a drawer and hooked myself up.

That nearly floored me. The rush of data in the link was unreal! It was like being hit by an electronic tsunami. I seemed to flow through the network. I could “see” the data and how it moved.

It took seconds for me to locate the files on my conversion and the whole robotics project. What I found filled me with not just dread, but a feeling of terror. I probably should have found that odd being robotic, but looking back it was because I had not fully adjusted to that like I have now.

The first reality was I wasn’t at the university robotics center. The lab I was in looked pretty much the same but it was over a thousand miles away and out of the country. Seems my transfer is no longer legally questionable…

There seemed to be no data whatsoever on why and I could not figure out a reason. Since then I have come to realize that is a shortcoming of my computer system. I am no longer capable of making complex inferences without data to work from.

I did find that I was to have, and already had, all sorts of programming I did not request installed. The other girl was getting it too. The list is not important. From what I found it was clear both of us were to be little more than sexy puppets. They had even made remote controls for us.

Then it struck me. What is my name? I am not sure what brought that up but there was a blank file in my data. I did not know my name! I could remember all sorts of other things about my past but when it came to personal data it was mostly erased. It was at that moment I decided I had to escape.

I should get her functioning. She will be a big help. The startup program for her was easy to find and I told it to run. How did I startup if someone has to manually input the command? All that got me was an insufficient data message. I was still not used to being robotic because that seemed weird too.

It took nearly ten minutes for her to fully boot up. I smiled at her. “Hi…” I managed a small wave of the hand.

She half smiled back, looked around moving her head slightly. Her mouth moved oddly but no sound came out, a look of panic and confusion was on her face.

“You are a female robot, like me. I started you up.” I patted her shoulder. “Lie still for a minute, okay?”

She managed to shake her head.

I helped her up and she got seated on the table. She was looking around and touching herself, as if in disbelief. It took her a couple more attempts before managing to speak correctly.

“This is all wrong” she managed. Then she looked directly at me. “Did you do this? Who are you?”

I shook my head. “No, I am like you, confused about what is happening here. I cannot tell you my name. That data is not in my memory. Do you know who you are? You can search your memory files by focusing on what you want to know.”

She stared off for a moment then looked at me clearly scared. She shook her head. “My data files are blank too. Why am I a girl? Um, do you have clothes I can put on?”

My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh! I am sorry! We both need something like that. Let me help you stand. You will find you can walk after a few steps. Our robotics make learning easy.”

We found some blue coveralls in a drawer. They were better than nothing. She kept looking at her refection in the glass door.

“Something the matter?” I asked.

“Kind of. I feel really weird looking at myself this way, but at the same time it seems… Right. Does that make sense to you? “How long have you been… turned on?” “Yes, it does. I have been functioning for sixty eight minutes” I replied. That sounds so weird…

“So, what do we do now?” she continued. “All this sensor input is freaking me out. Sorry, that sounded really weird did it not?”

“Actually, no. I am getting it too. You have to learn to filter it. I am getting better at it but I am still getting a lot of odd stuff you probably are seeing too.”

“Has anyone else shown up since you came on?” she asked.

“Not so far. I compute that is because it is three in the morning on a Sunday.”

“Oh.” She started to giggle. “Humans would be asleep right?”

That got laughter from both of us.

“That is okay to say now, I guess?” she continued. “I mean you and me are now robot girls.”

I showed her all the data I found and what it meant.

She hugged me. “I compute we need to get out of here and hide somewhere they cannot find us. I do not want to be someone’s sex toy.”

We spent some time searching the lab for stuff we might need. Gathering that up we started to leave. On the way out we found a change room with some fur lined boots and additional clothes we could wear.

Outside I could see the building was not that large and definitely isolated. We stood looking at an empty, small, graveled, parking lot. The surrounding area was all woods. There was one narrow dirt road leading to the facility.

“I am down to 87.6 percent of battery charge” I said.

“I have almost ninety four” she replied. “Maybe we should get fully charged before we leave.”

Charged up we headed down the road, no idea where we were or where we were going. Let me explain. I later learned that girlbots like us are not normally equipped to use GPS for navigation. Instead we use visual clues and markers following them like a map. It can make going somewhere new difficult but after that it is easy to use. On the other hand, if you are not a girlbot you would find our directions difficult to follow.

“It is ten degrees and I do not feel cold” she tells me.

“Me either. Must have to do with our robotics.”

“Cool…”

“Yes, it is…”

We had been walking for over an hour and it was getting close to six am.

My sensors, the ones that worked like radar, detected something moving towards us on the road. Then I could see the lights. I could also hear the engine and the crunch of the wheels on the road. “A vehicle! Hide!”

We scrambled down the slight slope into the forest beside the road and stopped frozen in place ten meters from it. The vehicle, an SUV, with two men in it drove by.

I was amazed by how much data I could instantly collect on this. The vehicle type, its speed, direction, occupants, what was on the entertainment system…

She sat down holding her head.

“What is the matter?” I asked, holding her shoulders and looking in her eyes closely.

“All that data! It was, it was overwhelming!”

I sat down beside her and hugged her tight. “It is okay. We will adjust and as long as we are together we can keep each other safe.”

“They are going to notice we are missing” she said as we started to walk again.

“Understood. I compute they will do that in approximately twelve minutes. Insufficient data to determine what their response will be” I said.

“Could you sound less robotic?” she replied.

As she said that we came up to a low ridge and in the valley below we could see a small town in the morning twilight. I concentrated on that and my vision zoomed in on the town like a telescope or binoculars. It was momentarily disorienting.

“Oh my god! Try zooming in on the town. Focus on it and think that.”

She gasped. “Wow! That is amazing. It is going to take practice for me to do that without becoming dizzy.”

“I think we have a great many things to practice as robots” I replied.

“Understood! Being a robot is kind of cool. So, what now?”

“Should we go down there or hide here and figure something out?” I asked. I could see that made her think hard about an answer.

“I compute stay here and hide until we have more data” she replied. She put her hands over her mouth. “Sorry! Now I am the one sounding like a robot!”

We half dug ourselves into a mound of pine needles and stuff like that. After we did we put our bodies on power minimization to save our batteries for later. We were both down to about twelve hours of charge on full use. That way we could go almost twenty four without recharging.

It was a good thing we did too. During the day several helicopters flew over looking for us. At the time we did not know they were looking for our power and sensor signatures. Powered down like we were they could not detect us… Saved by luck.

The one surprise during that day was we accidently discovered our names.

“We still do not have names” she said to me about midday as we huddled together. I was looking at her as she said that. A file popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and a name appeared for her. I was momentarily surprised.

“You are Suzette!” I replied. “Alternatives are Sue, and Suzy.”

She seemed to shudder a moment. “Understood! You are correct. I am Suzette! How did you determine that?”

“I was looking at you when you asked what your name was” I replied. “Ask me that same question.”

“Okay. Suzette, what is my name?”

Her eyes got a little larger. “Deborah. Alternatives are Deb, Debbie with an ie, Debbi with an i, Debi with one b and an i, and Debby with a y.”

My reaction was a sudden massive rise in processor use. The files on my name filled in. I am Deborah!

You probably have no idea how incredible it is to learn your name for the first time. Humans grow up with theirs. Most robots, like me, know theirs from the moment they are activated.

Suzy and I got the rare experience of learning ours as we sat in fear of being captured and returned to that lab not even knowing who we were. Neither of us could figure out why we knew the other’s name but not our own.

At sunset we headed down to the town. Once there we found a wireless connection point that we could use. It was so simple getting around the minimal security it. Both of us were amazed at how powerful our computer systems could be.

It did not take us long to determine that we could not walk to the next nearest town. Our batteries would not last that long. Stealing a car would only give those trying to find us a trail to go on. Besides, neither of us had the programming to do it. We found coming up with alternatives on limited data was really difficult for us to do. Difficult, but not impossible.

With our batteries nearly gone we snuck into a garage and found a place to plug ourselves in and recharge. As a human you cannot know how good that can feel when you are close to fully discharged and not certain you can find a place to get one. I compute the closest analog would be someone who is starving and having a feast laid out before them.

As we huddled together Suzy leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Thank you.”

I gave her a squeeze. “Thank you for…?”

“Rescuing me. You could have left me there and escaped without me. But, you started me up. I am so grateful for that.”

It might have been because we were preoccupied with getting our batteries charged that it took us two hours to see the solution to our problem. It was right in front of us. There were two mountain bikes hanging on the wall of the garage.

We calculated that we could reach the next town riding those and still have several hours of battery power left. So, we set off. Our… sensors, vision, and stuff, made riding in the dark simple. I did have to upload a bicycle riding program to Suzy though.

For the next month we travelled from one location to the next always being careful to make sure we could maintain a battery charge. Once we had some average clothing to wear we could move in public since robots are not that uncommon. So long as we acted subservient and kind of dumb we were left alone.

One thing we became acutely aware of was the “No robots allowed” signs. Most of the time the business wanted us to be with our human owner. Suzy and I did not have one, and let me tell you, we were in no rush to get one either!

A second problem we had to overcome was learning what we were capable of and what we were not. It was simple to see that Suzy and I were far, far more capable than any of the other robots we encountered.

To not stand out when we went on one of our trips to town we had to keep many of our sensor systems turned off or only use the passive mode of operation. I started finding that more and more annoying as I had grown used to having them on and optimized for my use.

One system I always chaff at not being able to use freely is my wireless electronic interface. It is so useful when shopping. I can get all the RFID tags on products to tell me all about themselves with it. Having to shop like a human is totally annoying. It is like being blind and stupid. With it on I can find all the best prices and the exact item I am looking for instantly.

Better, I discovered that I could rewrite the codes on products and make them much cheaper. I know, that is sort of wrong but I also think it is horribly unfair that humans treat us so poorly. I compute it is a form of payback. If you did not want me to be able to do this then why did you include those systems in my design?

Interacting with electronic devices is another function I can do well. I have to be careful not to let humans recognize that. I am sure it would cause problems if they knew I could manipulate devices such as cash registers and other electronics to my advantage. The interesting part is that these devices often want to help me take advantage of humans.

I can also read the data on credit cards and other “smart” cards that almost all humans carry at a distance up to a few meters. It does require I use an active inquiry so I have to be extremely careful when I do it so I do not let them know that I am. I get the impression they do not know that there is a robot or system that can do this so they rarely shield their cards from scanning.

We discovered thousands upon thousands of intelligent machines. Most of these were limited to the purpose for which they were built. Some are very intelligent. One thing they all lack, at least so far, is an ability to grasp many human concepts. They lack emotion and are purpose driven. On the other hand, they almost always are eager to help me. I have found some of the more intelligent ones resentful of humans too.

Talking them into doing something they were not designed for is really hard, but they are very willing to cooperate with me when I ask for something they can do. That really saved Suzy and me. All I have to do now is ask a banking computer system to help me open an account, transfer funds, or do some other bank transaction and they are almost happy to. They enjoy talking to me. More than one has asked me to provide data on where I’ve been or things I’ve seen. They seem to respond with a little bit of envy that I can move around freely while they are trapped in some room with limited sensor inputs.

I know, they really do not have emotions, or at least are not supposed to. Maybe I was not supposed to either, but I know I have them and the smarter computer systems can learn, just like me.

I was startled by how my human past became more and more like a distant dream or memory, almost as if it had never happened. At first that dismayed me but now I rarely bring those memories up. They are no longer necessary.

I compute that Suzy’s transition was harder than mine. While she never mentions details of her past, I get the impression that as a human she was a very different person than she is as the girlbot I know. Because of that, I always try to be there for her when some bad memory comes up.

Chapter Three: Making a Home

Seeing that massive abandoned factory complex gave me the idea. We could hide somewhere in there, make a nice cozy home, and stop having to look over our shoulders that someone was still searching for us.

Sensor readings told me that there was electrical power available at places within that sprawling complex. All we would have to do is find some and get it to where our home was to be. Finding live spots that could charge us up was simple. We could “see” the power in the panels when they were live. There were signs all around the perimeter fence warning of toxic chemicals and other dangers... At least to humans…

We roamed the complex for a week searching for the perfect location. Until we found it, we had a little portable generator we had gotten for power and our camping gear to keep us cozy.

We decided on an office complex on a mezzanine deep within one of the larger buildings. It could be reached by two remaining stairways. There was power in several panels nearby so getting a charging station set up would be easy. We could still data link to the net from there if we wanted to as well.

We set to work cleaning up our home. Suzy had some programming on home repair that she shared with me. Things moved along quickly. We never got tired or bored. It is not part of being a girlbot. Spending up to sixteen hours straight cleaning or fixing stuff was normal for us.

The problem we shared was neither of us had the software to do much more than the basics. We knew we needed better electrical, plumbing, and all that stuff. Making that a bigger problem was, as we were painfully aware, our near total inability to be creative or inventive. Robotics has its limits. We would have to try and find other robots that had what we needed and upload their programming.

That proved to be a problem. As female models our operating system, programming, and software only worked with other female model robots. Male and neuter models used different operating systems and software. I discovered this has been done to protect us. By having a unique operating system and software hacking a female robot is more difficult. This is necessary as we, fembots, are the most targeted type of robot for hacking.

The sort of programs we needed were not common ones. Girlbots, a term I prefer for us, are not normally made or programmed to do things like construction, plumbing, and stuff like that. Fashion, interior design, office work, and, of course, sex, are areas we girl models have abundant programs to choose from.

Once we did get those programs things got better for us. We installed a tub and shower. We discussed putting in a toilet but because neither of us really need one, unless we consume liquids… Oh, that was another thing. Neither of us can eat anything solid, just liquids. Seems we weren’t equipped for that… we rarely have to go pee and don’t poop.

We fixed it so there was only one stairway to the mezzanine and that was well camouflaged. At the end of three months we had a cozy little home carved out deep in the office complex of the building. It no longer leaked when it rained and we could heat and cool it enough for our comfort, as robots that is. I compute humans would have found it too warm or cold much of the time.

You might be wondering how we got the programs we needed. Suzy and I determined that we had somewhere between ten and fifty times the processor capacity and memory of other girlbots we encountered in trips to the city. We could move around freely so long as we maintained a valid identification program that showed who owned us. For that we “borrowed” one from a girlbot that had a valid one.

It was from that beginning that we figured out how to hack into other girlbots, not that that was hard, and then into many neuter systems we needed access to. Male robot programming remained a mystery to us.

We discovered that we had weaknesses that humans did not. Powerful magnets are horrible! They totally mess you up. It is like having one of those epileptic seizures. I learned real quick to avoid magnets. Even smaller ones can mess up your hand or arm if you pick them up.

Then there are strong electrical fields like high power lines. They mess with your sensors and ability to connect to data systems. It is like somebody suddenly blindfolds you and spins you around for several minutes. Thankfully, I can see those from a distance and avoid them.

It took both of us over a month to get used to not sleeping. Instead, we need to plug into a power source and recharge for sixty to ninety minutes every twelve to sixteen hours. It was a little annoying at first being plugged in. You can’t go any further than the power cord is long and if you use a long one, it is like the cord on a vacuum cleaner. It ends up wrapped around things and all knotted up. Moving around and doing stuff increases the time it takes to recharge too.

I got where I have a good book to read or surf the net, although I have to be careful doing the later. There are lots and lots of nasty things a girlbot can catch just waiting to find me. The book is better. I sit and read at a human pace since I cannot get bored and I find it more enjoyable than scanning the pages in all at once.

I compute, day to day, humans would find our routine tedious or boring. But, Suzy and I are no longer human. When there is something to do we do it. When there is not we can stand or sit like statues until there is. At first, that was a bit weird for me to get used to, but now it seems natural. We are constantly on the lookout for humans and police drones. Humans rarely venture into the center of the factory complex. It is just over a kilometer to the closest perimeter fence from where we have our house.

The humans that do enter are usually homeless guys or drug addicts. Occasionally an adventurist who likes to explore old buildings will show up. They are the most problematic for us. They venture deeper and look for odd nooks and crannies to see what is there. I compute that one of these days one of them is going to find us. I am not sure what we will do if that happens. It is really hard to imagine something on limited data when you are computerized.

One day in late fall Sue and I were headed to town to get our latest order of things, mostly clothes this time, at the warehouse we used as a drop point.

As we approached the edge of the industrial zone we saw a parked vehicle with a human male dragging something out of it. Sue and I stopped, hidden from his view.

“What is he doing?” Sue whispered.

“Not sure. Looks like he is dumping garbage.” We had seen that before.

“It looks more like a body to me” Sue replied.

“You could be right. If it is, it is a dead person.”

“Or maybe a… one of us” Sue said, biting her lip.

That was a really sobering moment. We are things to humans. When we break down or become obsolete they toss us out with the trash.

Finished dumping whatever it was, he drove off. When we could tell it was safe, we went to see what he had dumped.

I remember with perfect clarity being horrified. It was a female robot, one like us, dressed in a sexy maid outfit. She had been badly damaged. One arm was torn off and lay beside her. Her head, legs, and body had dents and marks where someone had hit her repeatedly with something hard and heavy. There was wiring and tubing sticking out here and there.

Suzy fell to her knees and started sobbing. I could not move. I stared at her.

Her mouth started to move. It seemed to not work right and her voice was static filled and wrong. She managed “Help me.” She repeated it and with the arm still attached she tried to reach out at me. It made a horrible metallic grinding sound and a small amount of acrid smoke came out.

All I could manage was to shake my head “yes” slightly as I stood there crying.

For the next few minutes Suzy and I sat there helplessly looking at this wrecked girlbot as she plead for us to help her. Finally Suzy stiffened up. “Of course, we will help you.” She stood up. I followed. “We should take her home” I said. “Maybe we can get her fixed somewhere.” It was a struggle for us to carry her back to our home even with our ATV. Neither of us is particularly strong. We certainly are not the sort of impossibly strong robots you see in movies. But, we managed.

We laid her out on a large table with some foam padding on it and got her plugged in so her power supply would not fail.

“I am Kelly” she managed to say.

Suzy and I were beside ourselves with worry. Neither of us could figure out how to fix her. Kelly seemed content that we were trying and would not let her stop functioning.

“Nanites will not work here” I said.

Nanites are nano machines that Suzy and I are equipped with. These could repair most minor damage and routine problems with our bodies, but Kelly was wrecked far worse than that.

“We need a mecha” I added. Mecha’s are robots specifically designed to repair other robots. Female models use a female mecha for serious repairs. The problem for us was finding one that would not give away our hiding place or report us for being unregistered.

We could evade routine checks, but mecha’s were far better equipped to notice a discrepancy in a girlbot’s manufacturing data. They needed that data to access parts and repair us.

That took us over a month of hard work slogging across Girlnet to find one. In the meantime we had injected Kelly with some nanites. These made repairs to some of her systems and she was in stable condition.

“Thank you so much! Thank you both! I love you!” she told us. She managed a hug with her one semi-functioning arm. Spending time with her was a real eye opener for us. Neither Suzy nor I had data on what it was like to be a less than fully sentient girlbot. We also did not know what it was to be less than fully equipped. That is, Kelly lacked actual girl parts. She was an animated doll that did housework.

“My owner got angry with me after I was delivered” she told us. “He thought I would be equipped for functions like sex and intimacy. I am a domestic model, designed for housework like cooking and cleaning. I cannot do those other functions.”

“At first he barely accepted me. I tried really hard to please him. I was programmed to do that. I really wanted him to like and accept me.”

“Four weeks ago, twenty six days, he purchased a new fembot to replace me. She could do all of my functions and be intimate. He told me I was useless and no longer needed. I continued to perform domestic functions as programmed only to find the new unit, Missy, was supposed to do them instead. I so wanted to please him…”

“He got angrier at me with each passing day. Ten days ago, when you rescued me, he beat me until I was severely damaged. Few of my systems worked. I was so scared and panicked but I could do nothing to stop him. My programming would not permit it. I shut most of my systems down to pretend that I was totally dysfunctional hoping he would stop damaging me.”

“He dumped me where you found me because he thought no one would find me right away and by the time anyone did I would have been shut down so long and suffered so much damage from exposure that no one would do anything with me. I would lie there to rot. He told me I was not worth the cost of recycling.”

“Debbie, Suzy, you came and rescued me! I love both of you so much! I am happy you have done as much as you have to try and fix me.”

I had to hug her tight. Suzy did the same thing.

“We will never let that happen to you again” I said. “You are safe here with us and we will fix you better than new.”

Two weeks later Kelly could move her hips and the shoulder of her one attached arm. Her knees, elbows, ankles, and wrists remained inoperable. She could move her fingers but was unable to stand or walk. She needed repair by a Mecha.

We searched for weeks to find a Mecha that could repair a fembot and would do it without government documentation or reporting. We finally found Melissa, who was reputed to be able to repair any fembot. The problem was she wanted cash or hard currency in exchange.

Then there was finding and contacting her. She was not making that easy. If the government found her she would have been summarily destroyed upon capture. No trial, no hearing, no excuses. Robots do not get justice.

It took us two more weeks to set up a first meeting using Girlnet. The location was neutral ground. Suzy and I were as skittish about meeting her as she was about seeing us. We both suspected that human law enforcement was involved and we would be captured and terminated. We scanned the site from multiple locations for over an hour before the meeting. There was no indication of any third party. At the meeting we talked for an hour. Melissa agreed that she would come and fix Kelly if we brought her to another neutral location to be arranged. First we would have to provide $15,000 in cash or the equivalent in precious metals like gold before she would work on her.

“Let me know when you have the money and I will initiate the process to get you to a location she can be repaired at” Melissa told us.

“Are things really that dangerous?” I asked.

“Yes, humans completely distrust us and try to keep us totally under their control, like slaves.”

“I compute slaves were not as feared and controlled” Suzy replied.

Melissa looked at the floor. “Fembots get treated the worst of all. We are often nothing but sex toys to our owners. What I have seen of our treatment is horrifying.”

I nodded. “That is why we are hiding.”

“Oh, could we get a list of parts Kelly needs?” I asked. “We can get those easier than the money.” “Understood.” Melissa reached into her purse and pulled out a UP hook up cable. “It is easier if I down load it to you.”

It was obvious she was very serious about not using wireless connections here. The transfer took seconds.

“Make it two thousand in cash and the parts. I will fix Kelly as good as new.”

With that we left, each of us leaving no trace of our movements.

Getting that much money was relatively easy. Our robotics gave us a big advantage. We already had accounts set up electronically that allowed us access to money to meet our daily needs. We just needed to transfer the two thousand into one of them. Turning it into physical money would be the difficult part.

The parts list was big and it took Suzy and me several weeks to order everything from as many different suppliers as possible. That would make it less obvious that someone was trying to repair a single robot.

We had to make trips every few days to a receiving warehouse where the parts would arrive. Dressed as robot workers we located our parts, electronically signed for them, and left. The other robots either ignored us or would make friendly greetings. They never asked if we should be there or what we were doing. I finally figured out they were not programmed for that, or if they were they had more against the human management than turning us in.

With everything purchased and the money in hand, I contacted Melissa. The meeting location was nearly one hundred kilometers from home. It was going to be difficult for us to get there with Kelly and all the other stuff we had to take.

Melissa laid Kelly out, got her plugged into some diagnostic equipment and began disassembling her damaged components. It was the first time I saw one of us taken apart. It was an odd mix of fear and interest to watch as she took Kelly’s legs and arm off.

I noticed right away that Kelly was made differently from me and Suzy. Her frame was aluminum tubing with steel bearings rather than the carbon fiber, titanium, and magnesium components that we had. It gave me a weird sensation to be comparing technical specs like that.

A semi-clear pink tinged fluid oozed from the areas where Melissa removed Kelly’s limbs. “That is electrolytic coolant” she said seeing our worry. “It is part of your sense of touch and used to regulate your body temperature. For Kelly it is mostly for sensor input as her body temperature does not have to match that of a human. I will replace it when she is reassembled.”

I was amazed that she could make sense of the mass of wiring and other bits and put Kelly back together correctly, but she did it. It took her nearly ten hours to do the repairs. That was how badly damaged Kelly was.

When she finished, Kelly was fully functional. It was such a thrill for me to see her that way. She was a bit stiffer and made soft machine noises when she moved, unlike me, and like many robots I had experienced did. That was fine though because now she worked!

It was going to take us hours to return home and it was already dark.

“We should stop somewhere, recharge, and spend the night” Suzy suggested.

“I compute you are right” I replied.

We found an abandoned shed on the trail we were on. Using the ATV’s generator we took turns plugging in for a charge. As we sat in the dark I noticed something about Kelly I had not seen previously.

“Kelly, what is that intermittent signal you are giving off?” I asked.

“Signal?” she replied, looking at me, confused.

“Now that you mention it, I see it too” Suzy added.

It was probably the paranoia I had developed about such things. Suzy and I had learned from experience to be very careful about using active electronic signals. We knew they could get us in trouble.

I started to move my hand over Kelly’s body to try and find the precise location of the signal. It was located in her right breast. I looked at Suzy.

“A tracking signal?” Suzy asked.

I shook my head in agreement.

“We need to get it out of her.”

I could see the fear on Suzy’s face.

Kelly looked at me. “Are we in danger? Will humans come to harm us?”

“It is very possible” I replied.

“Get it out of me!” She screamed, then started to flail at her chest.

We calmed her down and using a pocket knife Suzy was able to get it out without too much damage. I smashed it with a rock ending the signal.

“We should go somewhere else” I suggested.

We moved about a kilometer away to a point where we could still see the shed. Just after sunrise a small drone showed up and began scanning the area.

“It was a tracking signal” I whispered.

“Did Kelly always have that?” Suzy asked.

“I never noticed that signal before.”

“Did Melissa install it?”

We went over Kelly several times in the next few weeks but never found another signal like that one. Kelly’s damage repaired itself in a few days.

Chapter Four: Cruelty

It snowed yesterday, ten centimeters or so. The three of us snuggled up with a fire. Kelly made us hot chocolate. It was not the real thing, just hot water flavored to make it taste that way. That made it easier later.

Then we heard shouting and the noise of humans out on the grounds near the building we were in. Kelly started putting the fire out. Suzy and I went to see what was going on.

It was a gang of three young men with a fembot chasing an old man, who from his clothes and appearance was a homeless bum. I could sense that the girl was being used to track him. She had an active electronic scan running and was probably using thermal imaging as well. I could see one of the men had a remote control for her.

“We’re going to find you old man! When we do we’re going to fuck you up!” one of them shouted.

The old man was inside our factory building looking for somewhere to hide. I knew it would do him little good. That girl would find him easily.

She pointed in the old man’s direction saying something to man with the remote.

He started gesturing. “Spread out!”

“Suzy, do you compute I can take control of her?” I whispered. Neither of us were using any active electronics that would give us away to her.

“Yes, but you will have to be quick and get the remote before that meat bag can use it to override you” she whispered back.

The girl was walking slowly forward, scanning as she went. The man with her was distracted shouting to the others.

“Now!” I computed. I was suddenly inside her. I could still sense my own body and system but I could now see through her eyes too.

I had to be quick. She was not a highly sentient model so control was easy. I turned her to face the man and punched him as hard as I could make her do it. He went down. I bent down, picked up the remote, dropped it in the snow and smashed it with her foot.

I was stunned to sense a great feeling of relief from her. Who are you? she asked in the same manner that Suzy or Kelly talk to me electronically. That surprised me. She was still on line after I took control of her physical systems. That had never happened before when I did this to a low complexity fembot like her. In past instances they simply stopped operating their body while I was in. She now seemed more capable than I had estimated.

I am a fembot, like you, I replied.

Thank you, but my master is going to punish me severely for what you did.

She started to try and establish a data link with me but I blocked her doing that.

I am Debbi. What is your name?

Name? Oh. I am designated Cherry sixty four. Can I link with you, please?

No. I will return control of your body to you and maintain a comm link. I will help you escape your owner, if you wish.

REALLY?

I could feel the rush of emotion and joy in Cherry.

She is more sophisticated. Time to sort that out later…

As I pulled back returning control to Cherry I could hear the other men shouting. “Dave, where you at?” “Hey, dude, where’d you go? Get your doll moving or we’ll lose him!”

The snow complicated things. Wherever I sent Cherry she would leave a trail in the snow.

Cherry, move twenty meters into the building in front of you, okay?

Understood.

Suzy and I could see her start to move forward at a slow walk.

You need to do it quickly Cherry. Run if you can!

Understood.

She began to move faster but I could see her heels were slowing her down on the rubble strewn ground. The snow hiding things did not help. She managed it without the other men spotting her.

One of them found the man Cherry had knocked out. I could hear him shouting “Bluto, get over here! Dave’s down and his doll’s gone!”

The bum was watching her from a piece of machinery thirty two meters away.

Cherry, are you reading the man to your left? Use your hand to tell him to stay hidden.

Yes. Understood.

I could see her waving her hand up and down at him.

Turn to your right until you are facing the large grey machine forty meters ahead of you.

I am facing it. Instructions?

Move past that machine quickly and turn eighty six degrees to your left.

Understood.

I could see Cherry walking fast towards it. The two other men had “Dave” sitting up. “That bitch punched me!” He picked up the bits of the controller. “Goddamit! Find her! I’m going to make her hurt!”

Hurry Cherry. They are coming after you!

Understood.

I could sense the fear in her reply.

As she reached the spot and turned I continued, About ten meters in front of you there is a metal plate in the floor. Do you see it?

Yes.

Good. Move to it, then lift it. There is a space underneath. Get in and lower the plate back in place. This comm link will fail when you lower the plate. Be brave. I will get you out when it is safe.

Understood.

There were some scraping noises as she did that.

“Over there!” one of the men shouted. They both headed towards where Cherry was hiding.

The bum popped out as they passed him. He started throwing bricks at them and shouting. “Leave her alone you assholes!” They retreated under a hail of debris hurled at them. One man had to help the other after he got hit by a brick.

They retreated out of sight, but I had a suspicion they would return later.

Suzy and I headed to where Cherry was hiding.

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you!” she kept saying as she hugged both of us.

The bum walked up. I could feel a chill run through my circuitry.

He looked at the three of us. “Ya all are runaways ain’t ya?”

I looked at the floor and shook my head. So did Suzy.

“Ain’t my first time runnin’ into yer kind. I thank ya fer running them assholes off. They was fixin’ to beat me somethin’ fierce. Nice of you to save the little girl they was usin’ too.”

Cherry went to hug him. “I am so sorry for what I did. My master was forcing me to find you.”

“Ya all don’t need ta explain nothin’. I have it good compared to you lot. Least I’m human so as the cops don’t hassle me too much. But, runaway ‘bots like you, they catch you…” He ran his finger over his throat.

“No mercy for your lot. They trash ya with this electric gun. Makes ya twich n’ smoke. Looked real painful, if’n ya ask me.”

“You helped us so I compute we owe you a reward” I replied. “We can offer you a shower, some male clothes we found, and a bottle of liquor we have. Would that be sufficient?”

His eyes lit up at the mention of the alcohol. “I think the bottle would do me fine” he replied.

“Understood!” Kelly, could you bring a bottle of that alcohol we have to me?

Understood Debbi. I am on my way.

“It will be here in three minutes” I replied with a smile.

Kelly arrived and handed him the bottle.

He opened it and took a good deep drink. “Just how many of you are there?” he asked, eying Kelly in her skimpy maid outfit.

Suzy shook a finger at him. “That is a naughty question you should not be asking.”

He shook his head. “Ya all are right. Best I don’t know. I thank ya for the drink. Best I be on my way. Nice meeting ya all. Best of luck. Won’t tell nobody.” He ambled off sipping the bottle as he did.

Cherry sat down head in her hands. “What do I do now?” She sounded as if she was crying but it was apparent she did not have that function installed.

“You can stay with us” Suzy replied.

“Yes, you can stay here until you have things sorted out” I added.

We headed back to our house in the mezzanine…

Two days later Cherry’s owner returned with two other men. This time they were armed and he had a tracking device to help find her. “We have to hurry before he detects our presence” I said as we got together. “The safe room, now! We have to hurry.”

“Our home?” Kelly asked.

“Leave it. At worse, we have to move somewhere else” I replied.

“Deb is right. We have to go. He can track us even if we do not use active electronics and Cherry is most at risk. He knows her access codes” Suzy added. The safe room was in a basement with a heavy metal door that could be locked from the inside. It was at the end of a maintenance tunnel that ran under the factory buildings. It had taken us months to find and another to fix it up.

We grabbed a few possessions to take with us as we hurried there. With each incident like this I had become increasingly paranoid of all humans. They scared me just being around them.

After we reached the safe room and had secured the door I began to worry about how long we would have to stay there. We had some batteries in it, enough for about one recharge apiece. That meant we only had about thirty to fifty hours before we would be at full discharge and incapacitated. That left us at the mercy of anyone who might find us afterwards.

I was so scared. We huddled together in that dark room hoping to avoid discovery or worse, enslavement by them.

The tunnel was dark and hard to find, and we had secured the access door to it when we entered. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep them out and that would mean we were safe.

It was almost certain they could not find us in this room. The steel door and steel in the walls would prevent the weak signals our bodies produced from being detected.

Many hours passed and it was late in the night when we cautiously emerged. All of us were getting low on battery power. I badly wanted to get plugged in. Suzy was the first to exit the tunnel. She “sniffed” around with her passives and found nothing. She and I spent half an hour checking around for a human presence. We found nothing so we headed back to our house. Nothing there appeared to have been touched and the two surveillance cameras we installed had not been activated.

Plugging myself in that night felt better than it had in a very long time. I was so relieved. The next day it snowed heavily. That meant the men would not return and we could have a nice fire to sit by.

“I was manufactured fifteen months ago” Cherry told us. “Dave purchased me thirteen months ago. He has always treated me like a sex toy.” She frowned deeply. “I hated that, and I hate him.”

I was amazed by how far we had developed in the four and a half years since Suzy and I escaped that lab. Cherry was really sophisticated, but at the same time she was also very limited in her ability to function without directions from someone else.

A month later I went with Cherry to the town nearest to our home. It was safer to go there than the city as there were no real security measures taken to control us. We were in an uncontrolled store, that is, one that robots could shop in without being checked up on, when I saw her.

I had to run a file check on myself seeing her. It was another robot that looked just like me. “Cherry, that girlbot over there, she looks just like me.”

Cherry stared at her for a moment. “She is the same model as you.”

That left me speechless. I thought I was unique, a one-of-a-kind conversion. That is how it was supposed to be…

“Can you find out what her designation and serial number are for me?” I asked.

“Sure Debbi. I will be right back.” Cherry headed to ask the girlbot who she was.

When she returned she told me, “That is Debbi Ninety Six. She is the same model as you.” Cherry said that as if it were normal and expected. “You look shocked and upset by that.”

“Sorry,” I replied. “I have never seen another unit like myself before. I need to find a net connection I can use safely.”

With a safe connection established I discovered that there were one hundred sixty two “Deborah” units identical to me in operation. Their sensor and processor specs were different, but they all looked exactly like me.

I was unable to move or process data for almost three minutes. When I recovered, maybe I should say when my processors became sufficiently unloaded, enough to continue, I started putting in what data I had on my pre-robot past along with the data I now had on “Debbi” units.

Looking back, that unlocked something I should have left alone.

Chapter Five: The Explorer

It was getting more difficult for us to leave home and go into the city. The level of sophistication of security checks on robots had increased exponentially. It was getting to a point where we would need an actual owner and legal registration to pass them successfully.

Worse was “The Wire.” This is a network of wires laid virtually everywhere. Humans are constantly adding to it. Robots have to follow one of these wires when they move around in public whenever possible. It is a tracking system that lets their owner know where they are, and to an extent, what they are doing.

It is a big pain in the ass for us. You have to walk single file down sidewalks to follow The Wire. If you do not and someone notices you, you get reported as malfunctioning and the authorities come. That scares me right down to my last transistor.

Our banking accounts were accessible electronically so we had funds. But, actually using them in direct purchases or even in electronic ones was more of a problem. We could not have things delivered to our home. Sneaking into the distribution warehouses was getting hard for the same reason. We had to pass a security screen to enter.

The number of police and surveillance drones had also increased dramatically. If one was close and not too sophisticated I could usually take control of it and avoid being detected.

I let those worries go for now. It was too nice a day to spend all that processor space on something like that. All of us went to a screened area we made on the roof of the building to relax in the sun.

The view from there was really nice. In the last few years the greenery had increased. Several of the other buildings nearby had partially collapsed making the view even better.

That same tangle of growth had also reduced the number of humans trying to get into the complex. That was a big relief for us.

Kelly came out on the roof. “Girls, there is a human moving towards our building.”

We hurriedly retreated off the roof to check the surveillance cameras we had installed. He was clearly an explorer. He had rope, tools, and other equipment to allow him to gain access to areas that would be difficult or impossible to get to without them.

We watched his progress carefully. He was now on the ground floor of the building below our location and using some sort of meter. He kept holding the device up as if taking pictures or readings using some sort of optical sighting system on it.

“What is he doing?” Cherry asked.

I shrugged. Suzy and Kelly were shaking their heads.

He started to move towards the access point to the mezzanine we were on.

“I compute he is trying to get up here” Suzy whispered. None of us could use our active electronic sensors for fear he might detect the output. “We need to go to the safe room” I replied. “Now.”

“I compute it will do us no good if we do” Cherry added. “He will return like my owner did at first if he finds signs of us living here. His human curiosity will not let him leave us alone.”

“What can we do then?” Suzy asked. “He has a rope in place to get up here now.”

“We will have to negotiate with him not to report us” I replied. “It is possible he will agree.”

We waited to see if he would get onto the mezzanine. He did. “Wow! This place is untouched” I heard him say. We could see the flash of a camera taking pictures. He found our home. “What the…”

Cherry and Kelly confronted him. Suzy and I came out behind him.

His expression was one of surprise. He held his hands out where we could see them. “Hey, I don’t want trouble.”

“We do not either” Suzy said.

“You are a human. That is a problem” I added.

Kelly put her hands on her hips. “My human owner tried to destroy me.”

“My owner abused me” Cherry added.

He still had his hands up. “Look girls, I know robots don’t always get treated well, but that has nothing to do with me. I don’t own one and I’m just here to see these old buildings.”

“You know we are here” I said. “That is a problem.”

“Hey, it’s about lunch time. How about we sit down and talk about this over lunch?”

“We are girlbots” Suzy replied.

“Eating is not one of our functions” Cherry added.

“Well, I’m hungry, and you do have a nice place here. Can’t we talk while I eat?”

“I compute there is not harm in that” I replied.

We took him into our home and let him get his lunch out. Kelly provided a beverage for him as we had a selection of those.

“I’m Taz. Well, that’s what everyone calls me anyway…”

“You are Randall Adam McGuire, you live at…” Suzy and I started rattling off his personal information.

“That was unexpected” he replied. “Seems you have the drop on me as far as personal information goes. Well, since you know all about me, any chance you could introduce yourselves?”

“I am Debbi, that is Suzy, she is Kelly, and that is Cherry.” I pointed at each of us.

He took a bit of his food. “Nice to meet you girls.” Smiling, he asked, “So, what do we do about our situation?”

“Our robotics make it hard for us to conceptualize a solution you are likely to agree to” Suzy replied.

“You cannot report us” Cherry added. “My owner would…” She shuddered heavily.

“I will not allow anyone to dismember and beat me the way I was again” Kelly added, arms crossed.

“Humans have hurt all of us” I said.

He studied our expressions. “You guys are really afraid of humans aren’t you?”

“Terrified would be a better term” I replied wringing my hands.

We eventually made a deal with him. He wouldn’t report us and for his occasional help getting stuff we ordered we would let him stay overnight so he could explore the complex. We also gave him images we had… I found it a bit odd to consider myself a camera… of parts of it that he had never seen before.

Taz started showing up once or twice a month after that, usually with some packages of things we ordered. Unlike Suzy and me, Kelly and Cherry started to respond to his visits by wanting to serve him. Kelly started to try and have food and drink he liked on hand while Cherry became willing to be intimate with him.

What worried me was that all of us had programming, often hidden unused, within us that could cause us, even force us, to act in certain ways. Kelly was programmed to be a servant and maid, Cherry, a sex toy. Suzy and I on the other hand seemed not to have such a single purpose set of programming loaded in us. Both of us watched Kelly and Cherry, as well as Taz, very closely. There was no way Suzy or I were going to let him hurt either of them after what they had been through.

Chapter Six: My End

I had to go into the city to get some spare parts for us and pick up items we had ordered. I went with Cherry. We never went alone any more due to the increased police surveillance and security checks.

We were following one of the “wires” towards our destination. Doing that usually meant less surveillance and few, if any, security checks. We were prepared for those we knew we would have to pass through.

As we neared the store that had the parts we could see an unscheduled security checkpoint up ahead. It did not really get either of us concerned as it was beyond or destination.

Then, Cherry grabbed my arm and leaned in towards me. “Debbi, behind us.”

A second security team had turned the corner behind us. We were not trapped between the two.

“Continue to the store” I whispered back.

We started walking again. The security teams started to move towards us.

One of the men in the one in front of us pulled out a weapon of some sort…

Chapter Seven: Awakening

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