The Enemy of My Enemy? Pt. 1/Chapter 6
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Kye was taken aback by Stan's glee and then realized where his hands were holding the android's nude body and he felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to... I mean, I know that you want to use her body for Portia."
Stanley started to laugh. "What are you talking about? You just saved my ass! Besides, I haven't switched their bodies yet." A huge smile still spread across his face, "I don't know about you, but that was a RUSH! Dude. I love it when they attack and want to hurt me, but can't! He-he-he."
"You've been down here too long, you crazy bastard!" Kye started to laugh, too, when he saw that he did get "excited" and tried to hide it.
Stan stood up and started to walk to the console then turned off the equipment. "Don't be shy, Kye. Follow me; I got something to show you." He went to the door that he entered from when Kylan arrived and Kye followed him to the back area.
Portia was lying on a rolling table with her chest opened. Her face, her hair, and hard-drives were laid out with care on clean sheets. Kye had never seen her circuitry exposed like that before or any of the other android Girls'.
The incision to her thorax was similar to the "Y" used in the autopsy of a human and so was the anatomy of her muscular and skeletal systems, but that's where the similarities ended. The main drivers, CPU's, and back-up power supply were located behind the protective rib cage which opened on hinges. Kye could even see the primary gyro, lubricant pouches and muscular operated pumps behind her abdomen. The base of the watertight voice emulator was visible at the bottom of her throat cavity.
The muscle lubricant was refilled through the navel while other lubricants were loaded through other cosmetic fixtures, such as the urethra, as needed. The entire skeleton also acted as a rechargeable powersource.
"Isn't she a work of art? You know, whether natural or artificial, a well-tuned machine is a beautiful thing." Stan seemed to be in his own world.
Kye was surprised to learn that the brain was not located in the head. The head mostly held circuitry for the senses. Kylan felt strange to see Portia's disembodied face so lifeless and know it was really her. Her removed face was almost the entire front half of her head. The face section went behind the back of the jawbone, her ears, temples and forehead. The fore-skull and muscle lay bare where the hairline would have been.
It was even more eerie to realize it was her disected body lying so casually on the table. "I didn't know androids have so many muscles," Kylan said as he curiously looked inside her perfect form.
"There are even more muscles in humans. An android's are more efficiently designed to get the same range of movement," Stan spoke kindly. "Replico also did an ingenious job of isolating the facial ones from the neck." He saw that Kylan was surprised, "What? You thought the face just popped off? The throat and inner-mouth behind the teeth are usually standard but the hardest part to seal when putting a face back on. I usually do that first. Because of the skull size, though, not all faces sections are compatible with other models, but most of them are. Did you know that I had my Portia's face custom designed?"
"No." Kylan had never seen another android that looked like her. But since hair styles, and skin or eye color were so interchangeable, he didn't really think about it.
"Yeah," Stan continued. "There was a woman who was about thirty years old when I met her, but she had already re-married by that time. I swear, I loved her the moment I saw her but, realistically, we had nothing in common. She had no interest in me. I guess you could say that I became obsessed and managed to get some very good pictures of her... some video footage..."
Stan hung his head in shame, "I even used Phil's connections to get an MRI of her bone structure from her medical records. Replico did the rest for a hefty fee." He looked at Kylan. "Three-dimensional molds are easy to do if you have enough data to feed the right equipment. Anyway, I want you to realize that I cared about her too much to try to come between her happiness. When I turned to Replico, I was desperate and I thought that I was somehow doing her an injustice, but I felt empty and needed to fill that void."
Kylan listened in disbelief as Stan looked at Portia intensely. "At first I was bitter and wanted to get revenge at Life for bringing her into mine. I ordered the finest body they had, a very limited edition Miss Universe winner. And what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. I didn't really know what to expect but when Portia arrived, I fell in love all over again, but this time I could set the parameters. Her personality, her likes and dislikes, skills... everything!" Stan reflected, "Even her love."
"I thought that they were incapable of true emotion." Kylan was shocked by Stan and couldn't believe what he was hearing but didn't want to provoke him.
"In a way, they are," Frances Stanley explained. "There is a difference between compulsion and desire but sometimes it's hard to tell, and sometimes it really doesn't matter as long as the outcome is the same. To say that Porsh has true emotional satisfaction from our relationship is stretching it, but she always manages to make things interesting. Like I said, I set the parameters, but I left a lot of room for self-discovery and development.
"For example," Stan mused, "she doesn't really understand why having a sense of humor is pleasing and gives her fulfillment, only that it does. That's enough for her. And that's enough for me." Kye was beginning to understand why she acted so human most of the time and why Stan devoted so much time to her ongoing development. "You know what? She even asked if she could keep the blonde hair on for a different look, but I love her thick red hair so much that she changed her mind and said that she'll just put on wigs to keep things spunky! She's too cool. The pubes are just cosmetic and won't be a problem." Stan picked up her main hard drive, a large shielded crystal cube. He held it tenderly. It was as if he was holding her very soul because, in a way, he was.
Kylan was curious. "Why don't you just upload her data into the new drives?"
"No," Stan said, "hers are special. I created hers so that they can simultaniously read from more than one side to enhance her abstract logic abilities. It's more than multi-tasking; it's as if she has several minds working on things at once. This makes her capable of creating her own thoughts by linking the information. she'll never totally freeze and no one can override her or shut her down but me," he said definitively, but became quiter once again. "I'm going to need to install all the special circuitry, too, but it should just fit into place... and I don't want to risk losing any of her."
"What was her name?" Kylan asked. He was still trying to absord Stan's confessions. Stan didn't open up very often and Kye was seeing a side of him that he rarely showed anyone but Portia.
"Huh?"
"This woman that you fell in love with. You lied to me, dude. You had once told me that Portia was just an advanced experimental model you had ordered and then installed all your favorite attributes. Now there's this mystery woman that you claim to have loved even though you never got close to her." Kylan tried not to sound too critical, but could not hide it.
Stan didn't get mad. He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "I never, EVER believed in love at first sight until it happened to me and I STILL couldn't believe it," he said in disbelief. "Listen. I'm probably more horny than a drunk teenager, but I know the difference between love and lust!
"Her name was Patricia, if you must know, and her last name doesn't matter because it changed when she got married," Stanley said flatly. "I thought the name 'Portia' made a nice homage to hers. Besides, I liked the irony of it. That's the name of a Shakespearean heroine but it's also the name of an arachnid predator. The portia spider is one of the greatest hunters on Earth. It can adapt and think just like my Girl.
"My Portia was my salvation and I truly believe that I'm happier with her than I could have been with Patricia. Even though Pat had her whole history that made up her character, I had to be real and accept that it wouldn't have worked. I think you know what I mean even if you don't realize it. That's why I brought you back here." Stan gently rested the crystal back on the clean sheets and walked towards a nearby shelf.
"What are you talking about?" Now it was Kylan who sounded defensive.
"Here." Stan handed Kye a device that looked like a cross between a net-ready cell phone and a remote control, and it had a small paper taped to it. "I saw the way you were looking at the Monique when you brought her in and I also saw the vague resemblance. The first thing I thought of was Phil, but the second was Daniella."
"You have lost it! I don't know what you're talking about." Kye started to leave.
Stan stopped him and looked at him intensely, "Look. Whether you want to hear it or not, Daniella was a bitch."
"You're right; I don't want to hear it!" Kylan said angrily.
"She used us! Then when things calmed down Topside and the wymyn had it all worked out just for themselves, she left us, and I'm glad she did. She never even gave you a chance, Kylan! That's all you asked for was a CHANCE. Just because you were five years younger than her she always looked down on you. She kept calling you 'Kiddo' just to belittle you. Then as soon as that punk, Armando, shows up she goes and gets pregnant! Below ground is no place to raise a kid, anyway, so 'Good Riddance' to all of them!" Frances Stanley said sternly.
"Well she never ratted us out!" Kylan sounded desperate.
"What? And be an accomplice?! She didn't give a damn about you or any of us even after everything you did for her. I'm sure she forgot all about us as soon as she started living the good life. You saw her on the fucking news! Her and that scumbag with their sob story about being trapped in a bomb shelter while the only thing that kept them going was their 'love' and the hope to give their child 'a better life.' The wymyn ate it up and they became fuckin' celebrities. They got everything handed to them! There was no turning or looking back after that."
Kylan fell silent. It was a painful memory, but Stan was right. Kye still had feelings for Daniella and remembered the good times they had although she would never be intimate with him. She made things more bearable and gave Kye a sense of purpose during the crucial days after the chaos began, but she always made him feel like a child no matter what he did. Stan was the only human who really had faith in him and appreciated all of his efforts. He shared all of his resources with Kylan and taught him how to survive. Together they used the robots to make a home for themselves and the others whom they eventually came across. Those who gained enough trust to be shown The Lounge. But everyone had to do his or her part.
"I'm sorry, Kye, but it's the truth. She never did anything to help while she was here and never offered any once she got connections Topside. But I found a use for her." Frances Stanley seemed vindicated.
"Stan. Stan, I know you mean well, but please don't push this. I say we're even already. I don't know exactly what you're getting at, but I don't like where this is going, so let's drop it." Kye pulled the paper from the device. "So is this the number for this communicator?"
"No, man. That's your new girlfriend's phone number. Surprise! I suggest you memorize it. You can do voice commands and talk to her from around two miles away in the tunnels, or you can use the screen or control panel to enter codes too, but I fused her power button shut like all of our Girls. Go ahead and take her for a spin! I hope you don't mind if I kicked the tires a little!" Stan put up his hands as if he was about to be hit.
"Forget it, Frank. I don't need a servant to boss around to make me feel like a man. She's not the real thing, anyway."
"AND...?!" Stan looked disqusted by Kylan's comment. "SO...?!" he challenged. "Why do you think I told you about Patricia? It's not about having a slave. Sometimes Portia gets pretty harsh with me and gets on my case about things. But she is programmed to only do that when I deserve it and she does it for my benefit. If I ask her to stop, she stops! But she's always pointing things out to me that I might have missed. Sometimes we even disagree. Sure, her programming won't allow her to ever betray me or get jealous, but SO WHAT. We're partners, we're lovers, but most of all we're friends. I'm not ashamed of her or my lifestyle. So don't get 'Holier than Thou' with ME. And don't deny yourself a little piece of happiness, because we can all use as much as we can get!"
"I didn't mean to insult her -- she's different -- I actually respect her. She can think and she's helped me out when I needed it," Kylan stammered.
"So has Anja and the other Girls. They may not be as sharp as Portia but they can all carry on a good conversation. They all have there own unique personality thanks to the data I saved. I saw to that. Hell, you've even had your fun with them and I don't see why you don't do it more often. All of the other guys love them and some have even asked if they could start earning exclusive rights to one." Stan hit a nerve. "Maybe you wouldn't be so uptight if you let yourself enjoy their company. The Girls don't mind if you just walk up and touch as long as they're not too busy. They don't get offended if you stare at them."
"Haven't we had this conversation before?" Kylan was starting to get restless.
"Yeah, but this time I think that you can have something more meaningful. The only thing Daniella was good for was more research. I put her voice and character into the Monique, only your 'Daniella' will be more reasonable!" Stan became more subdued, "She'll be just as sarcastic and annoying as she ever was but we can change her programming or add anything you want. Her drives can't handle Portia's advancements though. Still, she'll act even more human than the other Girls."
"No thanks. Just put her in The Closet with all the Girls we have in storage or the ones on stand-by. Here's your toy back." Kylan tried to hand Stan the control device.
"No. You keep it," Stan said. "Just think about it, that's all I'm asking. I hate to think that you're so lonely out there. I know it's hard for you to see some of the human females, but they all came here to be with their men. Heh-heh. The straight ones anyway."
Stan hoped he was getting through to Kylan, "Hey, if you want to customize any of the other Girls, we can do that. How about Anja? She's cute and I know you like her. You get along pretty good with her; it's just that I've never seen you look at her the way you did with the Monique. Plus, the M-67 is one of the most durable and finest models that they ever created."
Kye was hesitant, but kept the remote. "I'll think about it."
As he walked out the door into the lab, Stan followed him and they both looked at the blonde female robot lying twisted on the floor. "Kylan. Could you tell Anja to come in here on your way out? I'm going to need her assistance and she knows what to do."
"Sure." It was going to be a long day.
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