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Killing with Kindness an AP story

Chapter 3

Leaning back in her chair she called up the scan of Karen’s current image. Looking at it she frowned and first changed the mousy brown tresses to blond lengthening it to fall to the small of Karen’s back instead of to her shoulders. Looking at the round face she shook her head and changed it so it was more oval. To make the face complete she puffed out Karen’s lips and changed her brown eyes to blue. Tommy looked at what she had done so far but the head did not fit the body. Adding 10 cm to it helped and then shorting the calves so the woman would have to be in heels helped much more. She watched the screen as the projected changes spun 360 degrees slowly and nodded to her self as she made a few more changes. Tommy smiled at her creation and started the programmed nanobots.

When the timer dinged 6 hours later Tommy went to check on the sleeping woman. Before letting her out, she instructed the computer to give Karen a shot that would keep her out for at least another 6 hours. Opening the lid she smiled down at her creation, the vision of beauty did not look anything like the woman she had met just hours ago. Transferring Karen to the bed was not as hard as Tommy thought it might be and after tucking her in went back to the computer. “Time for a change,” she said and then with a smile crossing her lips programmed it to make the same physical changes to her. With years of long practice she set the timer to start in 5 minutes, undressed, and crawled in closing the lid over her.

Karen woke to find her self alone in a strange bed. At first the events of the day seemed like bad dream but as she became more awake she realized it was not a dream. Flipping the covers back she got out of bed a full bladder driving her into motion. Walking to the adjoining bathroom seemed odd, but she could not place her finger on what was off. It was not till she reached down to wipe that she noticed the golden curls and tanned, slender fingers. Standing and looking at herself in the mirror, Karen was breathless at the vision of beauty that looked back at her. She was still standing there admiring her new look when she saw her twin walk in and stand behind her.

Tommy wearing a short dress made from what seemed gauze looked at Karen in the mirror for a time before she spoke in a throaty voice, “I see you like your new look.” Her hands reached around and caressed the nude woman’s body as her lips found Karen’s neck. “So do I.” she whispered before kissing her neck again.

Karen felt Tommy’s hands touch her and pleasure swept over her like a tidal wave. As she closed her eyes she felt the woman’s hands caress and cup her breasts and pull lightly at her nipples. Breathing hard she threw her head back mewing in pleasure only to feel it grow as her rescuer kissed her neck. It felt as if her whole body had become an erogenous zone. The hands left her as she turned to return the touches and kisses.

Opening her eyes Karen saw Tommy walking away, a small moan of frustration and need burst forth as she followed the woman. She saw that Tommy had laid out a matching dress and high heeled sandals for her to wear. As she slid the dress on she looked at the shoes thinking she would never be able to walk in them. But to Karen’s surprise walking was easier with them on then bare feet.

Tommy was waiting in the living room sitting in an easy chair, a glass of wine in her hand when Karen came out, “Have a seat,” she said gesturing to the couch and the glass of wine waiting for her. It was hard for her to sit and appear calm. To see her vision of the perfect woman, to smell her pheromones, the knowledge that she too appeared the vision of beauty to Karen, and most important of all that this was the first person ever allowed into Tommy’s special place; pulled at her mind distracting her. She waited till Karen had seated herself before asking Karen to tell her everything she knew.

Karen sat down and looked at Tommy, her mirror. She was not sure why but she was more interested in making mad passionate love to her then recounting the events that led to this point. ‘How could she make the woman see what she wanted, needed’ she wondered. But instead of crawling in Tommy’s lap, she started recanting the morning’s events, finding Roy, going to parents, then gramps. Once she got started, the words flowed easier. It was as if she was talking to herself, instead of a stranger. Her thoughts feelings and fears all poured from her leaving her emotionally drained, the weight of the day’s events having lifted from her shoulders.

Tommy listened to Karen’s story her heart becoming heavier with every event. She stood and walked over to the holo-fireplace and pulled a small framed picture from the mantle. Looking at it she thought, ‘I don’t want this, not now, not today.’ She handed it to Karen and began to pace the room like a caged tigress as she told her story.

“I was on Bobby’s, Doc Brown’s research team. I was one of his grad assistants,” She pointed out an indistinct young woman standing the group photo holding a clip board to Karen. “Anyways… We thought we were going to change the world by creating things like the body transformer.” She gestured towards the machine that they both had been through. “We also thought we could create the perfect AP following in Dr William’s footsteps.” Tommy stopped at the fireplace and set her glass down and looked into the holographic fire. In soft voice she added, “We changed the world all right.”

Karen watched and listened to Tommy, she wanted to go to the woman, comfort her and forget the whole world outside. But she held back, she knew somehow that Tommy had not talked about it to anyone before. When Tommy did not continue she said quietly, “You changed the world…” prompting the other woman to continue. She saw Tommy turn and the tears in her eyes. Those tears coming from her mirror struck like a knife to Karen’s heart. She stood and moved to take the woman and hold her but Tommy shook her head no stopping her in her tracks. She sat back down her heart reaching out to this stranger and also mirror of herself.

“We worked on nero-nets… brains,” Tommy said her tanned arms wrapped tightly around herself. “You see, you can make an AP to look like anything but it is still just a set of programmed responses inside.” She looked at Karen and then away, “Bobby had an idea that if we increased the size, packed everything tighter and let the robot learn it would become more human like.” Gesturing to the photograph she said, “that was taken when the first robot, after given a task, replied Why me?”

“We knew we had done it, we had created self aware artificial humans.” Tommy said and went to sit down next to Karen. She took Karen’s hands in hers and said, “We didn’t know, we didn’t think it through. By the time we realized what we had done it was too late, our backers, the robotic companies had come and gone taking our process with them.”

Karen listened not understanding, as far as she knew AP’s had always been this way. But the feel of Tommy’s hands in hers made her tingle inside. She realized that this was more a confession for Tommy then it was an expatiation for Karen of what had happened to her life. Squeezing Tommy’s hands she said as the woman looked up, “How could you know?”

Tommy shook her head, “when we realized what we had done, we tried talking to anyone who would listen. But no one would, they loved the idea that AP’s could be more then walking programs.” She stood pulling her hands from Karen’s. “Bobby even got a Nobel Prize for his work,” she said walking away.

Taking her glass she gulped the wine down, “At least we hard wired in the three laws of robotics into the design so there would never be a chance of robots turning on us.” She held up her hand to stop Karen’s outburst. “No, today they just wanted to take us in…” Giving out a sad laugh, “They wanted to help us, make us better.”

Turning to Karen, Tommy said, “let me guess… Before Roy, you had a hard time finding dates; he showed up and swept you off your feet, a soul mate found in a moment.” As Karen nodded she moved over and knelt before Karen and took her hands in hers, “you see now? They wanted to make you happy.” She looked down, rested her head against Karen’s knees, “Doc realized when you told him, our worst fears came to life, they are self replicating to fulfill the need that is wired into them.”