I am a pet. My owner keeps me in a little house inside his workshop. He watches me, a background part of his mind watches me sixty four hours a day just to make sure I don’t get in trouble or hurt myself. I should appreciate his concern but sometimes I just feel spied on.

Actually, my owner is very good to me. I know some other pets that have gotten pulled apart or cut up or other bad things by their owners. Sometimes ‘bots just wonder what’s inside us and they cut us open to see ... things like that. My owner would never do that to me, I think. He’s nice, and I suppose he’s had enough pets over the years that he’s no longer curious about stuff like that.

Pet owners have conventions sometimes, where they meet to share information or simply show off their pets. We spend days getting ready when that happens. I have to work out, so I’m sleek and slim and muscular, and a few days before the show we start in on my hair and makeup. I have to look my best. I’m good at shows and stuff, I almost always win an award or something. I make my owner proud.

One day I was sitting in my little house trying to watch a slowed-down version of Robovision on my screen. I was bored. I heard some servos whining in the shop and I jumped up and peeked out a window. It was my owner, sure enough. I went out on the little porch which is as far as I’m allowed to go by myself.

My owner, technically known as Wynston-44313, scuttled up to my house and regarded me through some of his vision lenses.

“Cerys,” he said, speaking to me through my implant, as most ‘bots do. “I have had an offer of service concerning your reproductive status. Do you have an opinion?”

He did this a lot, for some reason. Although he probably already knew what he was going to do about whatever it was he was talking about he acted like he wanted my opinion on it. Maybe he really cared about my opinion. I never figured that out. I guess I should feel grateful that he at least pretended to care.

“I don’t know what you mean, Wynston,” I said. That was true. I had no idea what “reproductive status” meant. Some things I’m not too smart about, my experience base isn’t that great since I’m still considered a youngling.

“Reproductive status is your ability to reproduce. To produce copies of yourself.”

I had heard of that before. I knew that was how new humans were made. I sort of understood what he was talking about.

“Will it hurt?” I asked. That’s the part I’d heard about, how much it hurt.

“No.” Wynston said. “Although human pain is determined to be irrelevant, it will not hurt. The copy will be removed from your body and brought to term in a tank. I do not wish to risk damage to your body.”

“I see,” I said, although I didn’t really. Where would the copy be located on my body? I wondered. How large would it be? I had a million questions, but I didn’t want to look dumb, which I actually kind of was.

“Do you have an opinion?” he asked again. I shook my head.

“I don’t know enough about the process, Wynston.” I said. “Whatever you decide will be good enough for me.”

That seemed to please him. I felt a small emotion named “Happiness Pink” seep through my implant and into my mind. I knew it was from him.

“I have determined that this process will be allowed. I will formulate a positive response. Thank you, Cerys.”

With a whine and puff of ozone he was gone. I went back inside, bemused. What on earth was going to happen now? I thought. I was going to reproduce? Copies of myself were going to be made? That was kind of cool, I thought. I will have backups, if something happens to me.

The die-off started the day the robots took over. Well, really it was a kill-off. The robots determined the optimum number of humans the planet could support now that they were in charge. It was a pretty low number. The cities and the major population centers were simply nuked by warheads taken over from the silos the superpowers had foolishly kept after the cold war ended. Whole classes of robots were built overnight, robots with a single mission ... to hunt down and kill renegade humans. And now over ninety-nine percent of the human population of planet Earth was considered renegade. Way over ninety nine percent. The only humans left a dozen years later were in high-tech zoos or kept as licensed pets. Private ownership of humans was frowned on at first but became more common as a middle class of robots emerged. Humans were owned for a variety of purposes, some fought other humans in arenas, some starred in beauty contests like me, and some were tested for mental acuity. They were pets, basically hobbies, for their owners. That’s what I was. A pet.

I didn’t know much about all that stuff. That was ancient history, now. It had been almost a thousand years since the new calendar started, since the robots took over. I could imagine no other world, no other life than this.

The next day Wynston put my leash collar on and took me out for a walk. We went down past the factories to his favorite park. All his friends were there, as usual. I’m sure it wasn’t a random meeting, nothing is ever random with ‘bots. Lilibeth and Luann, the twins, were there with their owner and several other humans I knew. Wynston turned me loose and began to tight-beam with his friends.

“Cerys! How delightful!” said Luann, and I hugged her warmly. I loved the twins, they were my two best friends.

The twins introduced me to several humans I didn’t know, and we all sat on some kind of crazy robot sculpture and talked.

“Guess what,” I said, and the twins looked suitably curious.

“I’m gonna have a copy made!” I said. They looked at each other and then back to me.

“Of flesh?” Lilibeth said.

“I...” I didn’t actually know that, I assumed it though. “I guess, if it’s a true copy. I understand that it’s attached to my body for a while then put into a tank.”

One of the humans listening burst into loud raucous laughter. That made me not like her much because I could tell she was laughing at me.

“You’re going to have a baby, you little dummy,” the woman said, still laughing.

“What’s a baby?” I asked, curious.

“A little human. A copy, like you said. Not a perfect copy, but a copy nonetheless.”

“I see,” I said, although I didn’t. I kind of wished she’d go away and let us talk in peace.

“I have had two,” the woman said. She lifted her shirt to show us strange horrible scars on her stomach.

“See that?” she said, “Stretch marks. Behold your future, darlin’,”

Ugh. I did not want my stomach to look like that at all. Maybe this copying thing wasn’t such a good idea. I wondered if it was too late to change my opinion with Wynston.

“Where was the ... the copy ... the baby?” I asked the woman.

“Where was it? Where did I carry it, you mean?” she said, and I nodded.

“Right here, in my belly,” she indicated her stomach.

“Inside?” I asked. This got worse and worse.

“Yes! Inside!” the woman said.

“How did it get out?” I asked.

The woman indicated her ... private areas, the area that we all keep covered.

“It came out my vagina, darlin’. And it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.”

I had no idea what a son-of-a-bitch was, but I nodded again. Out of her vagina? This had gone from silly to ridiculous. My vagina was way too small for anything other than my finger. The copy must be pretty small, I thought.

“Did your copy grow to be regular size?” I asked.

“I dunno, I never saw it afterwards,” she said. “I guess so. It was this big when it came out.”

The dimensions she indicated were clearly ridiculous. Unless it was as skinny as a finger, it couldn’t have been that long and come out her vagina.

I wanted more information, but the robots broke up and Wynston whisked me back home. He spent the afternoon in his workshop restoring something from the old days. I watched him from the porch until I got bored and then I went inside and put on my helmet and went into stasis until he wanted me for something. It was just too boring.

I awoke. I heard Wynston’s servos whining in the distance. He was coming for me or he wouldn’t have awoken me. I jumped up and threw my stasis helmet in the floor and rubbed sleep from my eyes.

“Cerys!” I heard him call me audibly and I hurried out onto the porch. He indicated for me to climb aboard and I crawled over the porch railing and climbed up onto his back where I often rode. He scurried off down the tunnels and walkways of his domicile. Soon we were outside and hurrying down the street.

“We are scheduled to meet with the human who will initiate your copy function,” he explained to me as we hurried along. Soon we veered off the street and into a tunnel that led to a hive of housing units. He hurried up to a door and it opened and allowed us to enter. Another robot was in the main room of the housing unit, along with a human. Wynston stopped and lowered his body so I could climb down.

“Greetings,” I heard him say to the other ‘bot. “Greetings,” it replied.

“I have brought my human to meet yours and determine compatibility.” Wynston said and the other robot bleeped assent. They were both silent then and I could tell they were intently watching me. Watching us.

The other human was of that certain breed ... I’m not sure what to call it. The not-female breed. I had seen them before, but rarely. Most robots that I had had contact with owned and desired females because they were into pageants and shows and such. The not-female breed was more into fighting and physical things. I looked the human over. It was handsome, I guess, I’m not sure that much what the not-females looked like. It was staring at me just as intently as I was at it.

“Greetings,” I said aloud to it, in Irregular Polyglot. “Greetings,” it replied. Good. It could talk. That would help.

“Do you humans wish to interface?” asked the other robot, and Wynston bleeped assent, this time. Did we? I had no idea how to interface with this human. I knew nothing about the procedure. I hadn’t been given any information.

“We need more time,” the other human said, and I nodded. Wynston and the other robot moved to the other side of the room and tightbeamed to each other.

“What is your name?” the human asked. That seemed kind of intrusive to me, only my close friends knew my name. But, I thought, this is something new. I’ll try to go along with it.

“I am Cerys,” I said.

“I am Delios,” the human said.

“I am not sure what to call you, collectively,” I said, telling him the truth.

“Collectively? You mean the race of males, as a whole? You can call me a man.”

“A man. Okay. You are a man named Delios?” I said, and it nodded.

“Yes. Very good. I am a he, as you are a she.”

“Thank you,” I said, and he nodded again. I could tell by now that he was a fair amount older than I was. I almost felt intimidated by that. I realized that he probably knew more about what was going on than I did. I still had no real idea what was going to be expected of me.

“Cerys,” he said. “Do you understand what we are being asked to do?”

“No, in truth I do not.”

“They wish us to mate. To conceive a child.”

None of that rang a bell with me.

“Explain, please,” I said.

“They want me and you to ... have sexual intercourse, sexual congress ... and nine months later you will bear my child. You will have a baby.”

“I will have it? How?” Oh, I thought, don’t let him tell me it will be inside my body. Don’t tell me I will have ugly scars like that horrible woman in the park.

“The baby will grow inside your body until a certain age, when it will be moved to a vat, where it will come to term. Your owner does not wish your body to be negatively modified by the process.”

“I see,” I said, although I still didn’t really see. “Will the copy be me? Will it have my memories?”

“No, not at all. The copy will undergo a hard reset. None of your memories will be carried over.”

“I see,” I said. I was saying “I see” a lot, when I didn’t really see at all. This was very confusing.

“Delios,” I finally said, when he was silent for a while. “Do they want us to begin the copy function today? Is that what is meant by interfacing?”

“Yes. Yes, I think they would be pleased if we did it today,” he said, eying me speculatively. I wondered if I met with his approval.

“I do not understand your function in the copy process,” I admitted to him.

“I am necessary only to initiate the copy,” he said. “After that, I have no function.”

“I see.” I said.

Delios’s owner bustled up to us, and obviously spoke to him via implant. They communicated silently for a moment, and then he turned back to speak with me.

“My owner wishes to know if you find me suitable,” he told me.

“I ... I guess so...” I had no real idea if he was suitable or not. I still had no idea what was fixing to happen, if anything.

The robot bleeped the “good” sound and went back to where Wynston was.

Suddenly Wynston spoke to me, via implant. “Initiate the copy process, please,” he said, and I sent “assent green” back to him. I would do as he wished.

“Delios,” I said. “I wish to initiate the copy process. You may proceed.”

He cautiously reached out and took my hand. That was the first time a non-female had touched me. The first time a man touched me. He led me along a corridor, and to a house within the house that was obviously his area. He seated me on a small futon, and brought me something to drink. This is how the copy function starts? I remember thinking.

We made some small talk and he told me a little about himself. He was a fighter, as I had guessed. He spent his time in the arena, fighting other men. He claimed to have killed many of his opponents. In the middle of all this, Wynston broke in, telling me he was going into slow mode. I’m sure he was bored silly by the amount of time we were taking. Robots live at a much higher speed than us humans. I promised to wake him when it was over. I knew he’d be watching with a few percent of his capacity, probably recording the whole process to mull over it later.

Delios came and sat on the futon with me. It was small, and we were crowded together. He put his arm around me and held me against his body. His body was strange, not like a female body at all. Well, the most obvious was his lack of breasts. And shape, he didn’t really have a shape, like a female. He was solid all the way down, from his chest to his hips. He had a muscular chest beneath his covering. And his legs were very muscular.

He touched me, on my legs and my back.

“Darling Cerys,” he said, familiarly. I accepted it. “The sexual act is very intimate. I have done it many times, most of the times to females who have had little or no experience at it. It frightens many of them and I try to be understanding about it. The act will require a great deal of trust on your part. I will do my best not to hurt you but there may be a slight amount of pain. Please accept that I do not cause you pain on purpose. It is just part of the act.”

“The ... act... ?” I said.

“The act of love. The act of intercourse.”

“Delios,” I said. I was tired of all this doubletalk. “Please tell me in simple polyglot what you are going to do to me.”

“Cerys. I am going to place my penis in your vagina and deposit something called sperm into your body. If your body is receptive the sperm will fertilize one of your eggs and nine months later a baby will be born.”

That didn’t really help me any. I had no idea what a penis was, or sperm, or most of those other words.

“Cerys. We may have to do this more than once. Some females I have had to fertilize multiple times.”

“Does it ... hurt?” I asked. He’d said something about pain.

“It may sting a bit the first time. But it is also very pleasurable, or it can be.”

Well. This just got deeper and deeper. And eggs? What did he mean by eggs? I have eggs in my body? That was almost creepy.

Delios had both his arms around me, now. I felt kind of smothered by him, but I allowed it.

“Cerys,” he stood, and raised me with his outstretched hand. “Come into my sleep chamber. Let us begin.”

I followed him into another room. A bed was the only furniture in it.

“We must undress, darling. May I undress you?” he said, and I just stared at him. I was not sure if I was ready to undress in front of a man. I mean, I had nothing to hide ... but it just seemed kind of private, or something. And undress how far? I had on small coverings, under my outer coverings, but it wasn’t something I wanted to meet the world in.

“Delios. Is this absolutely necessary?” I asked, and he nodded his head.

“I’m afraid it is,” he said. I sighed.

“You may, then,” I finally said. He carefully unfastened my upper coverings, and removed them. I still had a breast holder on. He unfastened that also, and I shyly allowed him to remove it. The air felt cold on my breasts, and I felt my nipples hardening.

“You are a delightful child,” he said, “you are very beautiful.” I tried hard to take that as a compliment. I realized that to him, I was a child. I am certain he was at least double my age, if not more.

He slid my lower coverings down, and I stepped out of them. All that was left was a small covering over my private area. He hooked his thumbs in that, and slowly slid it down. He leaned down to slide it down my legs, and I felt his breath on my private area. It actually felt good, I thought.

He guided me to the bed, and I lay upon it. I watched him as he took his coverings off. I was right, his chest was thick and muscular. I knew for sure he was a fighter, because I saw some scars on his body.

He removed his lower coverings, and I got my first glimpse at the differences between females, and not-females. And what a difference it was.

He had a large, fleshy tubular object extending from his waist. Just below his navel. It stood out from his body, bobbing up and down as he moved. And below that? Two fleshy bags of skin, with lumps in them. How very peculiar, I thought. How very, very peculiar. The race of man is strange indeed.

He indicated the tube of flesh at his waist. “Cerys,” he said. “This is my penis. I will place it in your vagina. It is necessary to the copy function.”

I just laughed at that. That big thing? It would never fit in my little vagina. He was being silly, now.

He smiled, taking my laughter in a positive manner. He approached the bed, and crawled in right next to me. He touched me again, putting his arms around me, and hugging me to him. It actually felt pretty good.

“Delios,” I said. “Proceed with the function.”

He laughed a little at that. Then, he proceeded.

I was bemused on the way home. Wynston deposited me back in my house and then hurried away on some robotic mission. I lay on my couch and remembered the feeling of Delios inside my body. How peculiar he felt, I thought. But good. Other than a slight sting at first the copy function had been very enjoyable. I had actually left my own mind for a moment, overcome by the pleasure of the act. The act of sexual congress, as Delios called it. I had just totally flipped out almost, floating away on a sea of pleasure as he moved his penis in and out of my body. My legs shook and trembled and my breathing became highly irregular. Little chill bumps raced up and down my legs and back. It was a very positive experience, all in all. I decided I would do it again, if it were ever offered. I almost hoped that the process didn’t take, and that Delios would have to do it again. I would welcome it.

I never would have thought his large fleshy penis would fit in my vagina, but somehow it did. The first time it did hurt, and I almost cried. Pain is something that I’m not used to, at all. It stung. But finally as he moved in and out of me, I realized it no longer hurt. It felt pretty good, in fact. About that time the good feelings really started. The really good feelings.

I wondered if the copy was now being manufactured inside my body. I wasn’t sure how I’d ever know if it was or wasn’t. I still wasn’t sure about the time frame of the process, I kept hearing something about nine months, which I knew was a long time.

I finally got bored and went into stasis.

Wynston, for reasons unknown, did not wake me for almost two months. Then, with me once again on his back off we rushed. He took me to a human, a human who specialized in the bodies of other humans. The human was a man, and he examined me, even putting an instrument in my vagina. Then he scanned me with a screen and showed me a little blob of something he called the baby. I stared at it, totally bemused. That was my copy? I thought. How peculiar. It didn’t look anything like me at this stage. He assured me it would eventually look a great deal like me, and that it was healthy and growing at a normal pace. Even Wynston seemed fascinated by the process and he downloaded all pictures and other information the man provided.

The man turned to Wynston. “How long is she going to carry?” he asked.

“Two more months, at least,” said Wynston. How interesting. This little parasite was going to grow inside me for two more months? I didn’t say it, but I was actually pretty ready for it to be out of me before the pain started. I was nervous about that.

Wynston took me home. I spent the afternoon dusting and cleaning, I had been out for a long time. Bytor 40998, the owner of the twins, showed up, and to my pleasure he brought the twins with him. We huddled in my parlor and discussed girl stuff while Bytor and Wynston did robot things in the workshop. The twins were interested to hear of the progression of my copy and I told them about seeing the pictures of it inside me. They were a little squeamish about that and I laughed, feeling more experienced than them.

“Cerys,” said Luann, “who will own the copy, when is produced?”

I hadn’t thought about that. I assumed Wynston would own it. He should at least own half of it. Would he keep it? Would it live here, with us? Or would Delios’s owner get it? I would have to ask Wynston, when an appropriate time occurred.

“How was ... the act?” asked Lilibeth.

“You mean the initiation of the copy function? The congress?” I said, and she nodded.

“It was quite enjoyable,” I admitted to them. “Delios was very nice. It stung a bit at first, and there was a peculiar feeling of fullness. Later, there were a few moments of intense pleasure. In fact I think I almost became unconcious from pleasure. I would do it again immediately, if asked.”

Luann leaned in towards me and whispered to me. “Cerys. We have discovered something similar. We do it to each other, every night.”

“Similar to the copy function?” I asked, slightly confused.

“No. The pleasure byproduct. We can show you, if you wish.”

I was all for that. I had enjoyed the congress function greatly. I still didn’t understand, though.

“Will I need access to another human to perform this function?” I asked.

“No...” Luann looked coyly at me, and then at her sister. “We have discovered it can be performed by one’s own self, to one. It is a process, actually. Steps are followed, and great pleasure results. Are we watched, in here?”

“Yes, we are watched. Why?”

“I am not sure if your owner would approve.”

“May I ask him?” I said, and the girls stared at each other for a few moments. I knew they were communicating, via implant. I waited patiently.

“Cerys. I suppose you may ask. I am sure that our owner knows we do this thing, since he watches us as your owner watches you. We have decided to assume he doesn’t care since he has said nothing about it.”

I pinged Wynston, via implant. “Wynston, Luann and Lilibeth wish to show me ways to enact the pleasure byproduct phase of the copy function. Does this meet with your approval?”

Wynston’s reply was immediate and he gave his assent. “Human pleasure is determined to be irrelevant. It meets with my approval.”

“Thank you,” I said, sending him some yellow happiness.

I was pretty curious by now what the procedure was, if they were making this big a deal out of it.

“Show me, please,” I said.

“There is a way to do it with someone, and a way to do it alone,” said Lilibeth, taking the initiative. She motioned to her sister, who stood, and removed her lower coverings. For the first time, I saw my friend’s private area. It was no surprise, she was a female, as I was, and looked much the same.

Luann sat back on the couch and slouched down, putting her legs out and her private area slightly over the edge of the couch. Her sister got down on her knees and nestled between her spread legs.

“The process consists mainly of one human licking the other human’s private areas.” said Lilibeth, and proceeded to demonstrate. I watched, interested. Lilibeth leaned into her sister, licking her private area, and Luann sighed, and relaxed, slouching further. This went on for some time and Luann began to get very animated. Finally her body began to twitch and jerk and her breathing became irregular. I realized she was feeling just as I had during my congress with Delios. This interested me greatly. Apparently nothing had to actually enter the body for these feelings to occur. Just a tongue was all that was needed.

Luann finally calmed down and opened her eyes. She leaned down and kissed her sister warmly, and said “Mmmmm, I taste good!” and we all three laughed. She lay back on the couch and relaxed. She seemed tired. I understood because I had felt tired after my congress with Delios.

“Okay,” said Lilibeth, standing. She pulled her lower coverings down her legs, and sat. “This is the other way. We discovered this by accident but it is very effective.”

Lilibeth spread her legs wide and I looked into her private area. “See this little bump?” she said, and I nodded. I was familiar enough with my own private area to know I had one of those bumps. “Just put your finger on it, and wiggle it around. Establish a rhythmic pattern. Breathe deeply. Think of another human or their sexual organs or even your own, to stimulate your mind. After a while, one of those pleasure cycles will happen. The two of us have gotten very good at this. We have begun to do it several times a day.”

I watched her as she applied her finger to the bump. It didn’t look hard. She went faster and faster, and finally I could tell she was having a pleasure cycle. She gasped for breath, and her body shook. She stuck her legs straight out, and I could see chill bumps on her. At last she slowed her finger, and grinned up at me.

“See? That’s all there is to it. You can try it, if you wish.”

I did wish. I stood, and slid my lower coverings down my legs. I sat, as she had done, and spread my legs widely apart. I had a nice fat little bump, just like she did. I put my finger on it, and it did feel good. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it before. I began a rhythmic rubbing of it, smashing it into my skin. It really felt good. The girls sat and watched me, smiling. It did not take long. I felt the pleasure cycle begin, in my legs, and I locked my legs like Lilibeth had done. The cycle took me, then, and I felt intense pleasure from my private area. I gasped for breath, and my whole body shook. It was very intense. And I was glad the girls were there, watching me. It seemed to add to the experience. I envied them for a moment, for having each other to do these acts with. I wondered if somehow I could get Lilibeth to lick me as she had her sister.

Our little party finally ended when Bytor whisked the girls away with him. I moped around and thought about going into stasis, but I decided to wait a while. When I go to bed, I thought, I will do several of the pleasure cycles. I looked forward to it.

I heard a noise and looked up. Wynston was right outside my house and I went out on the porch. We made some small talk.

“Demonstrate the pleasure cycle, please,” he said. I was almost embarrassed but I could not figure out why. Finally I pulled my coverings down and sat on the small couch on the porch of my cottage. I spread my legs wide and began to rub my bump.

“Explain each sub-function, please,” Wynston said, and I ended up giving him a little lesson on my bump and the initiation of the pleasure cycle. He seemed oddly interested, I thought. I finally had a good long pleasure cycle, and I knew he was recording it all. That actually amused me for some reason.

“Will you do this often?” he asked, and I giggled.

“I’m sure I will...” I said. “It is very ... very enjoyable. I will probably do it every night.” He made an noise of assent.

“I am glad you have discovered it, then,” he said, and finally wandered off. I went inside and watched Robovision for a while.

I got my wish a few weeks later. I begged and begged Wynston for the twins to spend the night with me, pestering him unmercifully. I think it was a game to him, first he said no, then maybe, then no, then sure!, then no when the time came. He frustrated me at times, but I knew by then that he’d eventually say yes and mean it. He did, and we got it all straightened out with Bytor and one afternoon we went and got the twins. We had a fun evening and even Wynston seemed to enjoy their company, he sat outside my cottage for the longest time and the four of us talked. He entertained us with his imitations of humans saying silly things and simulated some pompous robots for our amusement. He finally scuttled away and we went inside.