Far Future Fembot: Darlene

Lady Heather remains to this day the most amazing fembot I've ever met. She is also the oldest. And the more I learned about her story, the more amazed I've become.

Lady Heather was constructed before the days of mass production that made robots like me affordable to all willing to expend the necessary effort to own them. Her owner was so rich that other quite wealthy men and women called him "The Rich One".

In the days when robots were still being built one at a time by hand, no expense was spared in her construction. The smallest details were attended to with exquisite perfection. And not just her body. She had the best mind, best software, and best human teachers afterwards to help her reach her fullest potential.

Money can buy a lot, and in this case it got its full value. Robot brains initially were hand-grown crystalline structured devices. There was as much art as science to the process. They were grown, tested, sorted into functioning and non-functioning bins, and used appropriately from there. The yields of functioning minds in the early days were horrible, which is why the process was eventually changed into what has been used in minds like mine ever since.

Lady Heather's owner optioned three entire months worth of production. They were grown, tested, sorted, and embargoed until he came and made his selection.

Only one hundred and sixty-eight fully functioning units were produced and spec'd out to the highest standards over that period. He could have waited for more, however he also knew one can wait forever and the perfect moment still will never arrive.

He pored over the results of each test on every mind. Five were virtually perfect within the ability to be measured. These were more the result of lucky accidents than good manufacture. And then, to everyone's surprise, he didn't select any of what consensus among the rest of the engineers watching him felt were the best candidates. Instead he took one very close to them in every test, but with the tiniest measurable flaw. No one understood his choice, and he refused to elaborate on his reasons for this then — or ever.

While the brains were being prepared, the construction of her body had received equal care. Not satisfied to not have no obvious flaws, he insisted on no microscopic ones either. Every detail was pushed to the finest quality to the limit of inspection.

The sensor network of Lady Heather's skin has eight times the sensitivity and resolution of any comparable model — including models that have come long after her. It took three tries to get it made properly.

And the first body they showed him he simply rejected outright. It was beautiful, perfectly symmetrical, and had none of the slight differences from left to right that create true beauty in the human form. He had them go back and introduce a bit of random asymmetry into her form and textures. They grumbled about all the extra work. He simply opened his wallet again. The body he finally accepted put the first one to shame.

Despite his insistence on every small detail, even those beyond the ability to be perceived without expensive laboratory equipment, he did not alienate the designers he worked with. Somehow instead he inspired them. Soon they sought to outdo each other to make this the best robot ever produced. And when they reached that frame of mind, he stood back and let them do what they alone could do best.

No mass produced robot would ever exhibit this level of painstaking loving detail. Few buyers could ever afford it. And of those who could, most would not consider it worth the effort. But there did exist, in one man's vision brought to reality, true measure of what a robot could be.

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Her builders never knew how well they had succeeded. After they activated her they realized she was something beyond special, and kept her as long as they could manage it to study. She was given every programming advantage possible, and it was a sad day when she left them to live in her new owner's very private mansion.

Lady Heather's education didn't stop there. She loved to learn, and her owner did more than just stand back and give her the opportunity. He brought in the best people to teach her, and kept them there in luxury as long as necessary.

At what point she crossed the line into true awareness and self-will was never recorded. If you'd asked Stephen, the man behind it all, he would have simply replied, "From the first moment I had her activated." It may well have been true.

They lived many loving years together, their privacy the best money can buy, in a relationship society was not ready to accept. And Lady Heather only improved with time.

Lady Heather might well be the oldest sentient robot still continuously functioning.