Literature
Prequel to My Unexpected Maid
Perhaps, we need to go back before we go forward. Eric and Mira went to the same high school. Mira was the beautiful, popular student, while Eric was the very average, easily forgettable student. Mira did not want to be a cheerleader, but that was expected of someone who was popular, so she did it. She had to be cheer captain and made it by being something on the outside that she really wasn't on the inside. Eric, on the other hand, was exactly on the outside as he was on the inside, which made him the brunt of many jokes and teasing. He just didn't want to play by "the rules".
Mira had to date the captain of the football team, even though she did not really like him. The good news is that he was not as interested in her, as more of the appearance of her around him. He was not mean to her, but there was no real affection between them. If asked secretly, they would have admitted that they were fine with it, because they were both trapped by society. Eric did not date anyone, as he could never manage to get the nerve to ask a female for anything. Like all of the other boys, he fantasized about dating a cheerleader, knowing full well that it would never happen.
What was not being said? Mira liked Eric, and Eric liked Mira. She saw a genuine person in Eric, and she longed for that. Eric saw someone who was as pretty on the inside as she was on the outside, and no one seemed to recognize that but him. However, neither could ever find a moment to truly connect, other than the random times they would get to interact in class. Neither could manipulate those interaction times, as society had them stuck in their corners, but they could certainly enjoy those brief moments. They figured they would never see each other again after high school.
As expected, Eric found success after graduation in high school. His intelligence found a home at the university. He began to see that his low point was high school, and that his future was on the way up. Mira could not reclaim her popularity and influence, as she was now a small fish in a very big lake. She pushed harder, but found no traction, and eventually realized that she might have peaked in high school. With that in mind, she stopped at the campus bookstore one fateful day and inadvertently set her new path just by being too depressed to move.
That afternoon, she was wearing her usual school-color polo top with khaki shorts. She signed up to be a new student ambassador her sophomore year, as that seemed to be what former high school cheerleaders did. Perfect hair to go with the perfect smile that matched the perfectly laundered uniform was the look she gave, with just the right amount of confidence to all the incoming freshmen on the tour. Today though, she was feeling her empty present and future, which one might call "depressed". She was standing in the clothing section of the campus bookstore, looking at some t-shirts. She had one in her hand with the other hanging from her other arm.
She was thinking about life and reflecting on her next steps. She was not exactly depressed, but she was definitely feeling down. So, she sort of stopped in that pose, her mind processing while her body decided to stop doing anything productive. It was not like she was forced to stand there unmoving, rather she just did not have the desire to move. As she stood there for several seconds, she took no note of the world moving around her.
In her "frozen state", a mom visiting her freshman daughter walks by Mira. She takes note of the shirt hanging from her arm and reaches out and takes it. She looks it over and then hangs it back on Mira's arm. Mira, so lost in thought, did not really notice. The mom then walks away and happens to see a college-age worker walking by, wearing an identical outfit to Mira's. "Uh, excuse me," she says brightly, "But I think your worker bot has stopped." She points at Mira, who seems to have moved very little in the past couple of minutes. The young man sighs heavily and replies, "Thank you...I'll tell someone." The mom takes pride in having helped out and then walks on with a confident strut.
The worker does not want to talk to his manager, so he decides to deal with the issue. He walks over to Mira and removes the shirts from her hands and hangs them back up. As he does that, she looks up at him slowly, wondering what he was doing. I don't really want or need them, she tells herself, but he has no right to just take them off me like I'm a clothing rack. "Return to charging station, sales bot." Mira looks at him with confusion. What did he just say? What did he call me?
When she doesn't comply with him, he looks at her nametag and says, "Mira Bot, comply with human commands. Mira Bot, return to charging station." At this point, she figures out she has been mistaken for one of the many humanoid robots around campus. They do wear similar, if not identical, uniforms to hers and the thin boy in front of her. She starts to protest, but then she notes a tingling deep within her she had not felt before. It was a good feeling, but she was not sure why. Maybe I'm not completely empty on the inside, she ponders.
Deciding to play along for some fun or maybe a change in the normal, she nods her head, checks his nametag discreetly, and says in monotone, "At once, Human Jason." She turns around and walks away somewhat stiffly. She can hear him say under his breath, "Dumb as a rock, but hot as a goddess." She cannot help but smile as she walks towards the worker lounge where she has seen robots come out of before. Nice to know I haven't lost all my charms, she thinks with a sigh. As she goes around a rack of clothes, she can see that Jason is still watching her, making sure she makes it back to the charging station.
Great, she sighs to herself, I was hoping he would ignore me once I complied with his commands. She decides to keep up her ruse, as no one has paid her any attention yet. The walk is not far from where she is at, so this will not be hard to keep pretending, and of course, she reasons, it is not very busy at the moment, so that helps. As she nears the employee lounge door, she can hear steps behind her. She wants to turn around and check, but a robot would not do that.
She enters the employee lounge slowly, having been in there only once before. As an ambassador, she had stopped in for a bottle of water one day last summer after she had forgotten hers following a long walking tour. She recognizes the small kitchen area and couches with another door on the far wall. Seeing that nothing has changed since she last came in, Mira knows that door is to the robot-only room, so hopefully whoever is behind her will not notice that the door doesn't...oh, the door opened for me automatically. Committed now and still not sure who is behind her, she continues walking through the lounge and into the next room.
The "robot room" is rather dark and larger than expected. Along both walls to her right and left are circular stands with robots standing straight up on some of them. In the middle of the room's floor is a yellow square flashing, so she figures she should keep walking towards it. She sees another yellow square flashing next to it, so then she stops unsure of what to do.
She looks around seeing several humanoid robots wearing a uniform similar to hers. They are male and female of the same polo and khakis. Even their shoes are the same, as they are simply white crew socks and white tennis shoes. Each one has their eyes closed with a neutral facial expression. Nothing is moving, until she sees something out of the corner of her eye.
A male robot walks around her, and then she realizes that he was walking behind her. She watches him stand on one of the yellow squares. Lights from the ceiling shine on him, specifically his name tag. "Steve Bot, step to station 3 for recharging." The male robot blinks for a long time, then turns around to walk over to the middle station on the right. That station is dark, but once he steps on it, it starts to light up. He stands on it, facing the station, then the circle he stands on rotates so that he now faces the room.
As soon as it stops, the station next to his goes dark, and the female robot that was standing there steps down. The voice from the ceiling says, "Steph Bot, activate customer service personality." Mira watches the female robot blink passively, but then opens her eyes brightly, smiling broadly. In a cheerful-but-still-somewhat-monotone voice, she says, "Complaint and ready to serve!" Mira watches Steph Bot follow the orders to report to the sales area by stepping towards the door. Mira decides to step aside to make sure they do not collide.
She steps on the other flashing yellow square accidentally. The light from above shines down on her. She worries it will hurt or cause an alarm, but she does not notice anything strange from the light. "Mira Bot," the same monotone voice says, "Is not registered at this site. Updating database." Snap, Mira thinks, I'm glad it didn't throw me out, but at the same time, I don't need to be in the database. She turns to leave as Steph Bot walks out but then she sees another employee, a human one, in the lounge. Hmm, might not should leave just yet...
"Mira Bot, step to station 2 for recharging." Mira is torn now. How far do I take this pretending, and why do I get a slight thrill every time that voice calls me Mira Bot? She figures it cannot hurt her, so she turns to walk over to the station that Steph Bot just vacated. Steve was 3, so this should be 2, she reasons. Carefully, she steps onto the circular stand.
With both feet on it, lights come on the control system she is facing, and then she watches the room rotate slowly. She holds her stiff posture as she does just what Steve Bot did. When it stops spinning so that she can face the room, she can feel a tingling coming up in her feet. She giggles slightly, "Kinda tickles." That must be the recharging process, so I'll just stand here a few minutes and see if I can leave then.
The male robot to her left steps down as his station darkens. "John Bot," the voice states, "Robot to human ratio is within limits, return to charging station." Mira watches the robot turn completely around and step back onto the circular stand it had just left. She then watches it rotate around as the lights come back on, putting it right back where it was.
Mira decides she better wait a bit longer before trying to leave. She then sees two hoses drop down to the left and right of her. It sprays her polo front back. She notes the smell of flowers as it continues to spray all her clothes. She then notes another hose drop and does it again, but now her clothes seem to be moving on their own. She takes a moment to watch the wrinkles in her clothes disappear. Wow, she marvels, they just ironed my outfit while I was wearing it. As the hoses retract, she mumbles, "This is great...I feel like I just stepped out of the shower."
The next hose drops to spray her exposed skin, followed by a small spinning brush. Within minutes, her arms and neck have been cleaned and now have a slight glassy look. Her face gets a different hose, which cleans and updates her make-up. Fortunately, she does not wear much, and neither do the robots. She keeps her eyes closed throughout the process as that is what recharging robots do.
At this point, she takes note of her overwhelming arousal. The longer she has been treated as a robot, the more excited she has become. If she stays here long enough and the machine keeps messing with her, she just might climax right here. She hopes that does not happen, but then a small part of her wonders what that might feel like, as it goes to freshening up her hair. The machine does very little, other than rebrushing and reattaching her hair band.
Looking around the dark room, she can make out that each robot now has the words "overnight storage" behind their head, as the floor now has a mist covering it as the temperature in the room has dropped dramatically since she has come in. Why is it so chilly in here now, and what does overnight...ow, that tingling in my feet just got sharper. Okay, she continues to process her situation, that is starting to hurt a bit. I'm not sure I want this overnight storage thing to happen to me, as this could be bad for my health, so she figures it is now or never. With her upper body now shivering, she steps down onto the floor, her feet already reacting to the lack of stimulation from the lit circle she was just standing on. Pulling her arms around her, she tries to rub warmth back into her body. The machine has not noticed her stepping off yet, so she figures that the machine can only do so many things at once. "And to be fair," she whispers shakily, "I doubt the programmers expected a robot to step off."
As feeling starts to come back to her arms and legs, she can see the mist slowing down from the station she stood on, as more and more lights come back on the panels that were around her. The circular stand starts to flash with lights, followed by the voice from the ceiling. "Mira Bot," it says, "Return to station 2. Unauthorized exit has been reported to human technicians." Nope, she says to herself, I'm out of here. "I'm not interested in staying the night in your refrigerator."
The door opens for her, as the ceiling voice repeats the same message it had said previously. The employee lounge is empty and much warmer than the room she just left. The robot room door slides behind her as she steps to the employee lounge door. She does not bother slowing down, so she pushes it open, almost hitting a man wearing coveralls walking by. "Oh, sorry," she exclaims, as he simply grunts, "Third time I've been called to this room today...stupid machines." He barely notices her as he storms to the room she just left. Figuring he does not need any made-up explanation, especially since she is wearing what humans and robots would wear that work for the school, she walks quickly towards the exit of the store, her heart still pounding from possibly being caught.
As she gets to the exit, she sees one of her ambassador friends in the same outfit as her. She smiles at her, as her friend remarks in passing, "Wow, you look so fresh for it being so late in the day, girl." Mira chuckles and says thanks as she continues to hurry out the door. She catches her faint reflection in the glass doors on the way out, and notices that she really does look like she just stepped out of a salon, with her refreshed hair and make-up along with her "crisply ironed" outfit. Her heart is still pounding until she gets out the door and the summer heat envelopes her, letting her know she is free and safe.
Over the next few days, Mira would deny the "event" happened. She avoided the student center and fortunately had no tours the rest of the week. She focused on her classes, which she had been neglecting, allowing her the opportunity to distance herself from what happened that afternoon. However, she found that the further she got, the less believable it seemed. Really, she told herself as she walked past the student center two weeks later, there is no way that could have happened. Why am I so nervous about going back in?
Later that day, she walks into the student center to get something from the bookstore and merchandise area. She walks through the door and nothing happens. She picks up the chewing gum she likes without a problem. She ignores the humanoid robot restocking the shelves and pays for her gum without incident. As she walks back outside, she takes in a big gulp of air, not realizing she had been breathing so shallowly while inside. See, she tells herself breathlessly, no problem.
Her experiment turned out to be timely, as she was asked to lead a tour that following day, which would take her through the student center in her uniform. Encouraged by her last visit, she confirms her availability in the ambassador app and takes the tour. As expected, it went without a hitch, but she did not enjoy it as much as she used to. She is not sure why, but something was off. She was not sure what, until she caught herself staring at one of the humanoid robots helping a customer as she walked by. What if it was all a dream, she asks herself as she feels a slight tingling from her thoughts of being mistaken for a robot, a really good dream.
Deciding she needed to put this all behind her, she turns and walks into the merchandise area again. As always, it is well-lit and spacious. The afternoon is a busy time, so there are people all over the place. She walks around aimlessly, unsure of why she came in or what she was trying to prove. It was a dream or fantasy, not real...definitely not real. She breathes out a heavy sigh, and decides there is only one way to prove that.
Taking a deep breath, she starts walking towards the employee lounge. I'm not gonna embarrass myself and pretend to have powered down, she tells herself firmly, if that is what really happened. She is not stopped or questioned as she enters the short hallway into the employee lounge. She checks over her shoulder, but everyone seems busy. Back in the employee lounge, it looks just like it did when she was last in here.
Again, no one is inside, so she is alone with no one watching her. Towards the back, the robot room she has been in before...or has she? So far, all of this looks familiar. Feeling that tingling again, she knows she cannot stop now. She has got to follow through with this crazy plan, so she walks towards the door. The door probably won't even open, she tells herself. However, it slides open as she nears it.
When it does, she can feel a part of her memory opening up. She remembers the room looking just like it did before, dark and cool. She can see a few lights blinking along the walls and can barely make out human shapes standing along the walls. She stands there, unsure if she wants to go in, but she hears the lounge door opening slowly, so she commits to walking in. I can't let anyone know I'm doing this, she then corrects herself, even though I've done this already.
Inside the room, the door slides closed, and she knows without a doubt she has been here before. This has all happened before, so she almost does not think about it as she walks to the flashing square on the floor in the middle of the room. She takes a quick look around the room to see that only two robots are here, so the rest must be in use.
Once on the square, she sees the expected lights scanning her and her name tag. "Mira Bot," The familiar voice comes from the ceiling,"Step to station 7 for recharging." She is unsure of which one that might be, until she notices a dotted line being illuminated from the ceiling to point her to the left. Must be an upgrade, she figures as she steps towards the charging station. The coolness in the room is lost now, as she feels warm inside from being commanded to the charging station.
She steps up and sees the station light up as it spins her around. She feels comfortable this time, and welcomes the tingling that almost tickles her feet and lower legs. "Charging," she mumbles with a smirk. She can see the hoses from before come down, as her outfit is cleaned and "ironed" while she wears it. Her exposed skin gets a lovely polish, then her hair and make-up are refreshed. She tries to hold in her excitement, but she cannot deny the warm tingling all over her body now. Her chest rises and falls as each step taken by the station turns her on more and more.
The hoses retract like before, and she tries to continue to ride the feeling. I wouldn't need much more, she tells herself, just command me again, please. Unfortunately, the charging station is content with her progress, so nothing else is done to her. She stands there like a robot would, slowly calming her breathing and rapid heartbeat. She is not sure how long afterwards, but the sliding door opens and two humanoid robots walk in.
They move to stand on the two yellow squares on the floor. Each one is directed to a charging station, so Mira watches them go through the same process she just did. Somehow, it feels right to be standing here like them, waiting for the next command. As those two are finished, another two come in, with the same thing happening to them. I wonder how late it is now, Mira ponders, because I might want to get out of here before closing. The "overnight storage" procedure is not something I would like to repeat.
As she contemplates her exit, two more humanoid robots come in, followed by a technician in coveralls. Uh oh, she thinks in alarm, what is he doing in here? He walks over to the other side of the room, as the two robots are sent to be on either side of Mira. She can see out of the corner of her eyes as each one is refreshed like she was recently. The male robots are completed quicker, as they do not have make-up to be reapplied.
The charging station continues to tickle her feet as the technician walks over to her side of the room. He checks something on each charging station, so he has to lean past each robot. Mira holds her stance, as the man slightly brushes against her while looking behind her. She can feel his warmth so close to him, then she hears him mumble, "Mmm, I remember her...they built a fine backend on this model." Mira warms slightly, unsure if the feeling is from the compliment of being inanimate or sexy.
Unfortunately, her slight smile does not go unnoticed. The technician states, "Huh, mechanical twitch or software glitch?" With her eyes closed, she cannot tell what he is doing, but he leans back over on the other side of her now. She can feel the tingling from the platform she is standing on change slightly, and then she feels something lighting up her face. Is that his flashlight, or is it the machine?
Her face warms more, and she cannot stop herself from smiling now. In fact, her cheeks broaden out wider than she has ever done before. She is trying not to smile, but she cannot stop herself. She then feels something plastic wedging in between her teeth, like a tongue depressor. It slides from side to side, fortunately not coming close to her throat or it might choke her. With her eyes still closed, she hears, "Well, no voltage flowing here, so maybe a capacitor was still charged?"
The light on her face intensifies as her eyes can no longer stay closed. Her lids open wide to a man staring right at her. With no control, her eyes turn left slowly. They then turn back to the right. Once they face forward, she notices them going cross, focusing on the tip of the man's nose. "All functioning right, so that must have been it." Unable to blink, she has to stare into the bright light, which begins to dim quickly. At that point, whatever force on her face was released, and she can feel her eyelids closing, and her mouth returning to her regular position.
At this point, the feeling she had not noticed building in her pushed her over the edge. Holding in her moan, she feels the wonderful warmth of a perfectly smooth climax. She does not even notice the cold mist falling around her this time, nor does she try to hide her quickly rising and falling chest this time. The technician is distracted by other things, so he does not notice that he is not the only one moving in the room. Mira almost purrs with delight from the most wonderful feeling she has ever had.
The technician steps to the door and takes a quick look back. "Temperature lowered for optimal electrical efficiency for the night," he states as he checks the box on his tablet, "All charging stations working properly, so it's time for me to clock out." The door slides behind him, leaving the room in silence and a thin fog on the ground. Mira waits until she can feel the pin pricks coming up into her feet, before stepping down. Her body heat had been fighting against the cold temperature of the room with her arousal, making it possible for her to maintain her "motionless" posture. The room seems to not notice, as she stumbles out the door when the coast is clear, still breathing heavily with a smile on her face.
Mira has to admit now that she is addicted. She wants more and more to be treated like a robot, an android. She has other responsibilities, so she cannot do this all the time. She is still in college with a job and rent and financial debt, so she cannot do this all the time. However, if she gives up her free time, she could "get her fix" almost daily. She just needs to pick the right time and place. Even though it has gone well at the campus bookstore, she really should be thinking of other campus buildings that use human-looking robots that do not have so many ways to interact with people. By limiting that, she can reduce her chances of getting caught, which would end her ability to satisfy this craving.
After a couple of days, she thought she might try the science labs. When she was a freshman, she took Biology and Chemistry, and she recalls a human-looking android setting up the lab equipment. They did not wear the same polo and khaki uniform, but if she could get the right outfit, she should be able to replace a working android with ease. The opportunities to get caught "in her robot game" would be drastically reduced.
These are the thoughts going through her head as she walks down the stairs into the lower level of the Science Building late in the afternoon. Biology is taught on the first and second floors, while Chemistry is taught on the third and fourth floors. There is a fifth floor, but it is a smattering of minor sciences. Each department keeps the majority of their equipment in the basement for shared use. That is also where the androids are kept, Mira recalls from her bit of research.
Her ambassador badge will open most administrative offices, so it was no shock that it opened the equipment and android area in the basement of the Science Building. Checking both ways while in the public hallway, she steps into the private area. With the door closed behind, she scans the room.
The room is not well-lit, but it is filled with shelves and shelves of equipment. Each shelf has a label with a barcode for easy storage and access. She walks down one of the many aisles, recalling some of the things she had used a couple of years ago, but not really remembering how they worked or what they were for. "But," she whispers to herself, "I don't need to know that, just what to grab and where to take it."
She gets to the back of the warehouse-looking room to find a similar sliding door that the campus bookstore has. Like in the other building, it opens for her immediately. She looks behind her into the quiet room she just walked through, to then enter the humming room in front of her. As she expected, it is set-up like the other, but smaller.
There are four android stations here with a new station in the middle of the room. She notes there are two empty stations on one wall, with the far wall having a male and female bot in their storage pod. All those stations look identical to the others in the campus bookstore, but the center-of-the-room one seems more intricate with folding metal arms and tubes all around it. Each of the tubes are labeled with letters and numbers that make no sense to her, so they could have anything inside of them. She also notes it must not be "overnight storage" time yet, as the room's temperature is still normal.
As she walks around the center station, a light from the ceiling hits her name tag, scanning her. She smiles slightly, I wondered how long it would take for that to happen. A voice from the ceiling like she has heard before states, "Mira Bot registered for Science Building. Enter prep station." Well, that part worked as planned, she tells herself, now let's see what the prep station does.
Figuring it must be the new station in the middle of the room, she steps up into it. The prep station immediately lights up and scans her again. The green light hitting her makes her tingle slightly, as it must be more intensive than the regular scan. A display screen to her left starts to spit out words and symbols. While most of it seems like gibberish, she can read a few things. Not realizing she was holding her breath, she lets it out when she reads words like "uniform", "foot wear", and "safety gear". None of those seem scary, and that proves her theory, that the prep station is for external use of the androids only.
After the scan, she sees a small suction cup being dropped in front of her face. The black circular cup looks like a child's safety dart connected to a wire. She watches it as it twists slightly and moves towards her forehead. It probably has to do with checking that her location does not change during prep, she reasons. Feeling safer, she lets it attach to her forehead. She can feel a slight hum coming from it and tingling sensation like there might...might be...there might be...pause for preparatory phase.
Mira's facial expression goes completely neutral as the metal arms around the prep station unfold and begin to come towards her. She makes no movement, as each arm carefully removes her clothes. She finds her body moving out of her control to aid in the removal of her outfit. Fortunately, she had come from a campus tour, so she is wearing her polo and khakis, which the prep station immediately recognizes, so it has no trouble removing them.
Once she is naked, the prep station sprays her down with a blue mist. For a brief moment, her skin turns blue, but then a fan blows from above her, pushing the liquid off her. A green mist follows with another blow of the fans. All of the liquid, which is not much in volume, drains back into the machine through the grated floor. The final mist is an orange color, but it is not removed. It sticks to her skin and dries in place, giving her body a natural looking tan, evening out any skin imperfections she might have had.
The prep station then proceeds to put her in a skin tight wetsuit. The black, shiny material is stretched over her standing body. From ankles to neck, her body is completely wrapped up, then zipped up from the top of her butt to the top of her neck. Every curve of her body is highlighted, and she looks like she might go scuba diving now.
Two clips are placed on the back of her ankles, causing her feet to move into a tiptoe posture. Yellow boots with a zipper in the back are slipped on her feet. The soles are very thick and they have a clunky, utility look. They are zipped up and the zipper is snapped behind a clasp at the top, ensuring it does not come undone.
Yellow gloves are pulled on her hands and go halfway up her forearm. There were hidden slots in the wetsuit, which the gloves connect to, making it all one piece. To match the boots and gloves, a hair band is put into her hair, pushing her hair out of her face. A heavy mist hits her hair, giving it a shiny look, as if it were made out of plastic.
The final piece is the lab coat. A shiny white lab coat is put over arms and around her shoulders. It is carefully buttoned up the one side, which is tailored to show her narrow waist. The lab coat comes about halfway down her thighs, so there is some level of modesty.
Mira continues to stand in the prep station, looking every bit like a scientist and maid rolled into one. The material she wears looks very thick and sturdy, so it can withstand chemicals, liquids, heat, and cold. She continues to wait for the final addition.
An ear piece with a small arm and antenna comes down to be attached into her right ear. The small arm has a tiny screen that stretches out in front of her right eye. The antenna sticks straight up and probably not much above the top of her head. The suction cup releases from her forehead as words are now being fed into her ear piece. At first, the words make no sense, but then she starts to understand what they are saying. It is like the gibberish was some kind of shorthand, but once your brain figures it out, it makes sense.
Mira can now fully appreciate her new look. She can see and feel the tight uniform all over her body. When she shifts her weight, the suit seems to hug her in a new way. She steps down onto the floor out of the prep station and purrs louder than she meant to. I've never worn a wetsuit, she thinks as her eyes close in excitement, but I might sign up for scuba classes next semester if I get to wear one of these. She walks slowly around the prep station, enjoying the feeling the suit gives her. The boots are not overly comfortable, but they feel like she could drop a brick on her toe and not feel it.
Opening and closing her hands are a challenge, as the gloves seem too thick. Maybe, she reasons, I just need to work them out. As she tests this, she realizes she is being given instructions. Let's see, she thinks, I'm supposed to walk over here and pick up Mira Bot's Administrative Uniform Beta 5. Huh, I had no idea it had such a long name.
She gets to the other side of the prep station, and she finds the outfit she walked in wearing is in a clear plastic bag, sealed shut. Her name tag is clearly visible inside. She reaches out and grabs the bag and follows the instructions to carry it to the wall and put it in Drawer 175 Compartment B. She walks slowly, enjoying the commands given her. Fortunately, the computer seems in no hurry, since she had to stop to let out a soft moan from her satisfying climax.
Oh, that feels so good, she exclaims to herself, as she bends over slightly from the release. Gathering her breath, she continues to the cabinet and puts Mira Bot's Administrative Uniform Beta 5 away. She closes the drawer to receive new instructions. Hmm, she thinks, it looks like I get to load up a cart for Dr Shandekar. With a stifled giggle, she walks to the sliding door and out into the equipment room.
Once there, her tiny screen lights up and starts feeding her directions. A virtual green arrow lights up the floor to lead her to the carts. Pulling it from the wall, she pushes it to a series of shelves. The screen reads the bar codes and tells her what to pick up. Following like a good little robot, she puts the Scanning Microscope 3200 GX on the cart. Once complete, she is instructed to do that again. Eventually, she has a dozen on the top of the cart. The screen and words never said how many to get. It simply said what to get.
She is then directed to push the cart to another series of shelves. Bacteria AD5HY on lower shelf to be added to bottom of cart, Mira notes. She squats down to retrieve the small bacteria plate from the lower shelf, but then she finds instructions being given to stop and try again. Huh, she wonders, why would it want me to try again?
She repeats her movement, but then it stops her. The words are saying Mira Bot is using "improper technique", and then the screen shows Mira Bot the right way. Nodding slightly, Mira Bot keeps her legs straight and then bends almost in half to get Bacteria AD5HY. Mira Bot stands straight up then bends in half again to load it on the cart. The command returns her to do the same thing, so she bends in half to retrieve Bacteria AD5HY, stands straight up, and then bends in half to put it on the cart.
Mira Bot does not know how many she is to get, so she follows the commands properly now. The bending motion is very enjoyable, so by the fifth or sixth one, she finds a small release that causes another soft moan from her lips. By the time she is done, her body is quivering from the number of climaxes. Fortunately, she completed that task correctly and is being directed to the service elevator against the other wall of the room from the android stations.
With no sense of urgency, Mira Bot pushes the cart along the concrete floor. The only sound in the room is the squeak of her boots and wheels of the cart. At the elevator, she notes there are no buttons on the outside to call the elevator. A light hits her on the right side near her shoulder, then the door opens, revealing a rather large elevator. As she walks inside, she looks down to see some kind of name tag printed into her lab coat. Ah, Mira Bot processes, that makes sense.
There are no numbers on display, so she is not sure what floor she is on, but it does not matter to Mira Bot. She steps out into the public hallway, pushing the cart. She passes several students in the hallways as they move to class. They are talking about things that concern them, but they completely ignore Mira Bot. For some reason, that makes Mira Bot happy.
Following the virtual indicators, Mira Bot enters a lab down the hall on the left. As she walks in, a small dark skinned man looks up from his desk. He barely acknowledges her as she walks to lab tables in the back of the classroom. The front has desks facing a whiteboard, and the back looks like a science lab.
Dr Shandekar states in a soft voice, "Place one microscope and one plate on each table." Mira Bot sees that the "microscope" means "Scanning Microscope 3200 GX", and that "plate" means "Bacteria AD5HY". Mira Bot states, "Acknowledged." As she stops at the first table, she feels a hand on her left butt cheek. As she moves around, she feels it squeezing her softly. Oh my, Mira exclaims, that little...little...replacement of vocabulary...continue executing Dr Shandekar's command.
Mira Bot finds a sense of emptiness come over her, as she completes her tasks. She bends, retrieves, and places each item. The touching of Mira Bot registers no emotion now, as there is no emotion to be had by an inanimate object. Mira Bot does not count the number of tables, as the instructions are for only one table at a time.
With an empty cart, she turns to leave the lab when Dr Shandekar says, "Wait." She stops and waits for his next command. "Your uniform has come undone, allow me." Mira Bot feels Dr Shandekar pulling the lab coat down over her butt cheeks, and then he buttons the front back up properly. When did Mira Bot start to come out of the proper...ignore...ignore...wait to be released from Dr Shandekar's service before leaving the room.
"There you go, now back you go." He steps back as Mira Bot pushes the cart out into the hallway. She ignores his facial expression and walks slowly to the elevator. Once again, it opens for her and takes her back to the basement. Mira Bot puts the cart in its place and walks to the android station room. Once inside, she is directed to an empty station. The earpiece is removed and stored outside the storage station, as a cooling mist falls on her. Within moments, she is encased in a thin layer of ice from the storage station. Her last command was "stand by", so Mira Bot does just that.
Mira is not sure how long she has been standing in the storage room for androids. Her face is cold, like she has been staring into the refrigerator with the door open, but the rest of her seems comfortable. She starts to recall her plan to be an "android" today, and her scheme of getting into the Science Building's storage area. I think it worked perfectly, she thinks to herself as she feels a satisfaction in her arousal. She cannot directly recall it, but she knows her body has experienced a lovely climax, or maybe more than one. Either way, she feels wonderful.
She cannot see around the room clearly, as it seems darker than it was when she entered earlier. She can feel the temperature has gotten much colder, and there are two other androids across from her. A slight fog covers the floor, as it is partially illuminated by lights from the pods. Without moving her head, she tries to look around the room with her eyes only. It does not appear to have anything moving, as one would expect, but she notices the slight pain from the station's charging floor is not like the other's that she stood on. Maybe that is what woke me up, she ponders.
Feeling stiff from standing still for so long, she pulls her arms up and steps rigidly out of the pod like Frankestein. After a couple of steps and flexing her arms and hands, she starts to feel more normal, or perhaps, more human, she giggles to herself. This all seems familiar now, she tells herself, I must have succumbed to the subliminal voice commands of that earpiece. I've not worn one before, but I know the psychology department uses them for research. She had just stepped down from the storage station without issue, which she expected. The campus bookstore has a stricter system due to the high use of their androids, while the Science Building might go hours without using any androids.
"The question is," she asks softly, "Can I get the prep station to redress me, or will I have to do it by myself?" She walks over to the cabinet to retrieve her clothes from where she was commanded to put them earlier. They are still perfectly sealed in the clear plastic bag. She decides to step into the prep station and see if it will activate.
As she steps into the unique station in the middle of the room, she expects something to happen, but nothing does. Huh, she wonders, it didn't even register me stepping inside it. "Maybe," she ponders, "It has a sleep cycle as well, figuring there is no way an android would step in there when all are in overnight storage." She tries pressing some buttons, but nothing happens.
Disappointed, she steps out of it. "Guess we do it the old fashioned way," she murmurs with a smirk. She steps over to the cabinet and sets her bag of clothes down. She then moves her right hand to unbutton the lab coat, but she doesn't. Huh, why can't I grab the button? She tries again and again, but it is like her hand refuses to work whenever she attempts to grab the big white button. She holds her hand out in front of her, flexing easily. She then moves it to the button, and nothing happens.
Perplexed, she tries her left hand, which is at a more awkward angle, yet the same thing happens. Testing her left hand, she knows it works fine. Yet, neither hand seems to want to work around the button. Letting out a heavy sigh, she steps over to a keyboard and monitor mounted into the wall. "Surely my hands aren't that cold," she reasons.
Facing the terminal, she attempts to type on the keyboard, yet her fingers refuse to work. "What in the world?" Now she is getting a little concerned about her inability to do normal things. None of this makes any sense, she tells herself while flexing her hands again. As her brain begins to work on a theory, she decides to try one more thing. She walks over to the door, and it slides for her easily.
The equipment room looks the same as it did earlier. There are no windows in this room either, so she still has no idea what time of day it is. She moves to a nearby shelf and picks up a pair of gloves that look to be thermally protective. Without any issue, she picks them up. Hmm, well, let's try one more thing, she tells herself. She steps over to an intercom system against the wall. It has a simple push-to-talk button and a keypad for inputing a number to call.
She reaches up to enter a number, but as her index finger gets closer, her hand goes into a neutral pose, almost going limp. As she moves it away from the keypad, she finds she can move it as normal. "Great, my subconscious mind still thinks I'm an android," she says with a heavy sigh, so that means I cannot do anything that an android can't do, like punching a keypad or talking on the intercom. Most likely, once I get this uniform off, I'll be fine, but I don't know how I will do that.
If I wasn't trapped, she tells herself, this would be kinda cool. My mind thinks I'm an android, so I'm still a robot in some ways, even though I'm not. Looking around the quiet room, she adds, "That still leaves me stuck here." How do I get myself out of here without being caught?
The answer presented itself some time after she returned to the android storage room. She felt a sensation in a body organ that robots do not have. I've never been so happy to need to use the bathroom, she tells herself with a relief. Like a switch in her head that went the other way, she feels some level of control come back over her body, as her bladder continues to protest its capacity. Mira smirks as she begins to remove the lab coat with ease.
Nothing to hold me back now, so I just need to get out of this before I make a mess of myself. She slowly peels everything off, as if it had started to adhere to her skin permanently. It might have been the material or the very different temperatures between her skin and room. Regardless, she had to tug and pull to get it all off of her. Fortunately, her regular clothes were in a simple plastic bag, so she was able to tear into it without issue.
Within a few minutes, she is dressed in her regular clothes, starting to warm up already from the exertion. She decides she should keep the Mira Bot uniform here, so she puts it in an empty cabinet drawer where her other uniform was. She does not bother to check on anything else, as she hurries out the sliding door with quick, short steps. "Oh, I hope the bathroom down here isn't far."
Soon, she steps out of the building into the pleasant night. She has a much relieved look on her face, as walks along the sidewalk from the building. With her smart watch back on her wrist, she now knows she must have been in "storage" for several hours, as it is well after midnight now. Fortunately, she tells herself, I had nothing else planned for the night, and I don't have to be to class before 10am today. Content with her executed plan and the nice night to be walking, she steps confidently across the well-lit campus. Even at this hour, there are plenty of walkway lights for safety. She breathes a sigh of relief, enjoying her "hobby" more than ever.
Over the course of the next few weeks, she finds a healthy rhythm with the Science Building androids. She shows up in the late afternoon after her last campus tour, gets a refresh by the prep station, and is typically sent off to deliver or set-up a lab. Fortunately, most of the professors are not as touchy-feely as the first one, so she gets to enjoy being Mira Bot with all the wonderful mini-climaxes throughout.
There are times when it is not as enjoyable, when there is nothing for her to do. There have been a couple of times where she was properly dressed then sent to storage immediately. While her lab coat uniform insulates her well from the room cooling itself for efficiency reasons, she does not enjoy being stored as much as she does in serving. The only bonus is that her mind will start to fall in line with the "programming" more quickly each time, so she gets a solid nap which is better than any sleep she can get in her apartment.
For whatever reason, this week she has been unused. As she walks back from the Science Building after midnight, she feels refreshed but unsatisfied. She has come at her usual time each day this week, and while the week before she got to do something each day, this week she has been stored immediately. The only time she is roused is when she has to go to the bathroom.
In her typical polo and khakis, she walks along the well-lit walkway between the dark campus buildings. As she takes in the quiet spaces, she hears a humming sound coming from somewhere nearby. She looks around, wondering what it is, but unable to see it. A few minutes later, she can tell that the humming is closer. As she scans the dark areas around the smooth concrete sidewalk and in between the shadowed buildings, she sees a set of blinking lights coming down a path that will intersect hers.
As she focuses on the lights and sound, she now realizes what it is: campus security. The single-wheeled robot's motor hums distinctly as it rolls quickly along the empty walkway. The blinking lights come from the shoulders, hips, and face of the human-shaped robot. The campus security are former military-grade robots, so they are completely encased in steel, segmented so that it can move arms, waist, and head. They have no feet, as their legs end with a single wheel for maximum speed. The tire is somewhat oversized and inflated with air, so that it can go up and down stairs easily, and travel at speeds along flat or rough surfaces faster than a human.
Mira notes that she sees them in the distance every now and then, but she has never actually interacted with them before. Occasionally, she will get a report on her campus ambassador account about campus security stopping thieves or vandalizers on campus. Their AI is somewhat...she ponders her next word. Crude is not the right word, as they are very sophisticated. But, they have no manners or etiquette, so they are somewhat...brash...rude...hmm, I'm basing this off what others have said. As she thinks that through, she can see the security robot turning her way and speeding in her direction. "Well," she murmurs, "I guess I'll find out first hand."
The security bot is a little taller than her, so as it rolls up closer, she can see it bending its legs to make "eye contact". The dark blue metal looks to have been polished recently, but she notes it has some scuff marks and dents along its arms and legs. The two yellow lights that act as eyes flicker every so often, as if it needed to blink. As it nears, she can see the ID number on its torso, and based on that shape and the useless bulge below its waist, she reasons it must be a "male", as if that mattered.
The robot makes a series of sounds that make no sense to Mira, but she feels like she has heard them before. She stops walking to address the security robot that now blocks her path. The robot tilts his head and repeats the strange noises. Mira's look of confusion changes slightly, as she caught a word that sounded like "name"...no, "distance"...uh, "destination"..."designation", that's it. He wants my "designation," which would be the same as name. Wonder why I'm having trouble understanding him?
"Mira," she responds and points to her name tag, just in case she needs to prove it. The campus security straightens its head and responds, "Confirmed...Mira Bot." Mira shakes her head slightly, "Actually, I'm not..." But the robot interrupts her, "Mira Bot should be in storage at this time. No current tasks are assigned." Great, she rolls her eyes, the thing thinks I'm a sleepwalking android. Of course, being caught by a human when I'm pretending to be a robot would be embarrassing, but if the whole android/robot system caught me, what would they do to me?
The communication antenna fully extending out of the security's head causes Mira to blurt out quickly, "Mira Bot being assigned to security...for supplemental assignment." The security robot rocks slowly on its one wheel like a unicyclist and responds, "No record has been made. Error in logic." Mira knows this could go either way, and she just needs to tip it in her favor. Fortunately, she knows a little bit about the android/robot systems, as it is part of her ambassador training, as new students always have questions about it.
"Campus Security IR-12 would not receive updates while on patrol." Mira knows they reduce the amount of administrative information sent out, as there is no need for all robots to know all things, which is why "his" antenna is down during the travel. They have so much software running just to complete their main task, there is no reason to bog down their processing any more with added real-time information.
Fortunately, IR-12 lowers its communications antenna and responds, "Protocol confirmed. Mira Bot to be transported more efficiently." Whew, he bought it, so now once he leaves...wait, what did he mean by "transported more efficiently"? In answer to her question, IR-12 turns 180 degrees and backs closer to Mira. She can see its back opening up to reveal a thin metal frame or harness. Before she can protest, the harness wraps around her waist and shoulders, pulling her tightly onto IR-12's back. In the span of just a second, she is attached to the back of the campus security robot, her feet dangling a couple of inches above the ground.
Still shocked by this, she finds herself whisking down the walkway she was just walking on. The humming wheel seems to not care about her added weight, as IR-12 speeds through the night. She cannot see very well, as her face is right next to the back of IR-12's head. In fact, she is so close, all she can really smell is the oiled metal from her transport.
The Security Center is very different from the other android or robot places Mira has been on campus. Security is well-lit with lots of sounds and movement, which is completely opposite to all the other android areas she has visited. And warm, she notes, nothing like the way they keep the other storage rooms at refrigerator temperatures. Keeping her head forward (as if she had a choice), she tries to move her eyes as far as possible to take in the "garage" she and IR-12 just entered.
The white exterior door rolled up like a garage door, revealing rows and rows of androids in various stages of repair or maintenance. She has no trouble seeing, as the ceiling is completely filled with LED lights. Each android pod has multiple tool chests arranged identical to the next one. Hoses extend out of the floor and rest on stands next to the tool chests. She can hear the sound of air whooshing, socket wrenches tightening, power tools, servos, and every other possible mechanical sound.
None of those bother her, because she has done this multiple times in other places on campus, except for the sound of voices...human voices. Oh no, she thinks with a skip of her heartbeat, there are real people here, and I'm sure they belong here, not like me. Not since her first time pretending to be a robot in the campus bookstore has her heart raced in fear of being discovered. She wants to be able to see better, yet it is probably best that I can't move my head, she reasons. Just a robot, she tells herself, just a robot.
Halfway across the rather large garage, IR-12 slows down and backs into a pod. Mira is released to stand on the floor like so many of the other robots. She feels like standing still is best, as nothing has given her away...yet. IR-12 waits in front of her, having turned to face her right. In a few seconds, she can see a figure walking towards IR-12.
"What do you have for me, IR-12?" The female technician says. Her light gray coveralls look pristine, as if she has never used them. Her name patch looks worn, so it has been peeled off and velcroed many times before. She is not fat, but she definitely carries more weight around than she needs, Mira tries to think in a non-judgmental way, she is not unattractive, but she could definitely do more with her light-brown-sort-of-unkept hair and lack of any make-up. "Celie Tech, this is Mira Bot, temporarily assigned to security." Celie holds up her tablet in her left hand, as she begins to scan Mira. IR-12 does not wait for confirmation, as it wheels away quickly to resume its previous duties.
"Well, Mira Bot, let's talk, huh?" Celie says without looking up from her tablet, "Why are you here?" Mira knows she has her biggest challenge yet, but how could she hope to fool someone who spends all their time with robots? Should she try to talk in monotone, or use her regular voice with a little inflection? No contractions, but does it matter? This seems like I end up caught no matter what I do.
After a longer pause than normal, she replies, "I was putting away lab equipment..." Celie holds up her hand, "Stop. End human personality program." Mira stops talking and waits with the sounds of the technicians all around her, as Celie continues her button pushing on her tablet. "Continue," she finally states. Having a moment to gather herself, Mira states, "Mira Bot summoned to the Security Center upon completion of lab equipment storage. IR-12 provided uninitiated transportation." Not sure if that works, but it sounded "robotic".
Celie nods her head. "Yeah, that mostly makes sense, except for the security transfer part. I don't see anything in the logs about that, but that can wait." She finally looks up and makes eye contact with Mira, "What cannot wait is your upgrades. You are way past due." Upgrades? That does not sound like something I want, or need for that matter. I have to get out of here when she isn't looking.
"See? Just like that," Celie continues, "I can see you processing what I said, but you still have not responded. And it could be hardware related, but I cannot get a solid reading from your servos or motors. Power levels look normal though." Mira realizes she has not said anything to her in a while, which may be part of the problem. As Celie steps behind Mira, she decides it might be time to make a run for it. All I need is for her to get out of my line of sight, Mira reasons, then I can step away. She's rummaging through the tool chest behind me, Mira thinks while using her eyes to scan the room in front of her, so I can't see her, but when I hear her walk away, I'm out of here.
Unfortunately, Mira does not get to, as Celie inserts the tip of a tool into the base of her neck. The cool prick sends electrical shockwaves all over her body, like a tidal wave or earthquake. Ow, Mira recoils, that really hurts. What did she do to me? Before she can turn her head, uncaring of whether she gets caught or not, she feels something odd in her head, like someone else is there.
"Let's do a quick download and refresh," but those words sounded like they came from inside her head, rather than from someone's spoken words. That cannot be right, yet that is what she heard, or perhaps felt. And then it happened, all of her thoughts and memories began to float away into the virtual cloud that covers the ceiling of the garage. She can sense other robots in the cloud, along with so many other things. Messages between technicians, information on the temperature of the room, Internet connectivity, and hundreds of other things. Mira can almost see the movement of the information, as she joins the virtual cloud. This is w...file closed. Awaiting Technician input.
With Mira Bot empty of basic software protocols, Celie can get to work with the hardware. Grabbing a servo gun, she steps to the front of Mira Bot. The "gun" does a simple servo swap for arms, legs, and neck. The process sounds simple, as it penetrates beneath the synthetic skin and with lightning speed, severs the old servo and reattaches a new one. New servos have wireless and bluetooth capability, so technicians or owners can get real-time information on them. For Mira Bot, she does not have any, so the "gun" removes nothing and inserts the servo in the natural electrical path of Mira's body.
Click, a servo for the right shoulder. Click, a servo for the right elbow. Click, a servo for the right wrist. Click, a servo for the right part of the neck. Celie hums a tune as she quickly snaps brand-new servos all over Mira Bot's arms, legs, and neck. "Maybe that is why," Celie mumbles to herself, "They just wanted some other department to pay for and install upgrades, so pass the buck, literally." Within a few moments, Celie's tablet begins to ping, as each new servo connects.
Although unable to think, Mira senses her arms and legs now, each one perfectly placed in her virtual cloud. She does not know why, but she knows that it is right for her to have access to that information from the cloud. Celie confirms their connections, uncaring about the holes in Mira Bots uniform from the "gun", as well as the minor bit of red "lubricant" that now stains it.
The chip in the base of Mira Bot's head begins to ping all new components. Once compliant, it begins to download all updated software protocols. Mira senses new folders being added to her cloud, but they are empty. Somehow, she knows they will be filled when her software is placed back into her hardware.
While in the cloud, Mira senses that numerous Internet searches have brought her up as a result. Many people are searching for old androids for home use. She cannot really know who they are, as it is simple web browser searches, except for one. The user Eric takes the longest time in viewing Mira's body, which is synonymous with Mira Bot's hardware. Mira's existing software (her experiences) and Mira Bot's latest software updates are appealing to Eric. For unknown reasons, Mira smiles in the cloud when thinking of Eric as Mira Bot's owner.
Like a rainstorm disrupting her, Mira falls from the cloud back into her body. New information is put where it should, old information has been reorganized for better efficiency. Mira Bot finds her hardware giving readings that are now updating into Mira Bot's vision. She is not sure why, but it seems odd to have a heads-up display now. The command chip in her head now allows her brain to receive signals from her eyes or send information to her eyes. Rather than completely overhauling her body, Celie has done the best she can to improve it for human use.
Celie walks back in front of Mira Bot. Mira Bot sees new data popping up, along with possible answers to possible questions to save processing time. Celie has a tool in her hand and asks, "What is this, Mira Bot?" Mira Bot responds instantly, having tracked the tool since it came into Mira Bot's field of view, "Kobalt-steel 10mm wrench." Celie checks the response time, satisfied. Celie asks, "Simulation mode: intruder pulls a weapon on you." Mira Bot changes stance, pulls 'side arm', and 'squeezes the trigger'. "Neutralized," Mira Bot states flatly.
"Good, good," Celie says, while Mira Bot wonders what is going on. How would Mira Bot know those things and why? "Looks like you are up to date, if it was ten years ago. We don't have a need for you, but there is always people in the private sector wanting a maid or companion. I'll put you in the 'willing to sell' bin, and if no one buys you, we can keep you here to see if we might need something after all." Mira Bot returns to her default stance, as Celie hits a few more buttons on her tablet and turns to walk away. "The integration of your software and hardware will not start until your first use or your owner buys you. Until then, you are pretty much just as you came in here." I'll order her cleaned up and put into a standard storage suit, Celie thinks to herself as she taps a few more buttons on her tablet, just in case she stays here for a while.
I don't feel now the way I felt when I came in, Mira Bot tells herself in a constant stream of text across the bottom of her vision. Mira Bot reads her own text, providing her with a literal "conversation with herself" moment. I most definitely am different now, and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Like the many times before where Mira Bot has pretended to be an android, Mira Bot will just wait for...
Mira Bot slumps slightly with her eyes closed. All high-level software functions have been stopped, while low-level software will keep her hardware from falling over. All of her new servos lock up, except for ones in her ankles to keep her upright and balanced. Numerous technicians and robots go by her, never giving her more than a glance. However, Eric sees that Mira Bot can be purchased through a third party website for a very reasonable price...a price that is too good to pass up.
