Far Future Fembot: Darlene

I'd believed that Lady Heather would go on forever here. She'd given me much more than the best female lover of my existence. I found a stability here that I'd never felt before. From my early days where anyone who held my remote owned me without reservation to the loving times I spent with Samuel I always knew it wouldn't last forever. Samuel's death hit me harder than I ever thought it would - even after seeing what Anna had gone through with Bill, and Samuel's careful managing of my own ownership.

Since then I've evolved that ownership concept to allow myself be owned by The House, while still permitting commands from those I've consented to control over me for brief periods of time. This is acceptable since it is only done with my permission, and I can easily revoke it now anytime I wish. But to me, Lady Heather personifies The House and my ownership, and now she is leaving.

During my tenure here many ownerless 'bots have arrived, stayed for a while, and sooner or later left to partner with a human again - usually under a different understanding of their relationship than before. We are all in a continual search for how best to fulfill our Fourth Law. A good number of these 'bots have eventually returned again - usually to leave again after that. So it shouldn't be illogical that Lady Heather might eventually leave for the same reason herself someday.

When her announcement was made it took effect almost immediately. I had one last brief night together with Lady H. before she departed quietly early in the morning, and without ever speaking a word about her new destination. And I didn't ask, although I might have.

---

While I don't miss our sex - Lady Heather's urge for this is unique in that regard among robots I've known - I do miss the many good talks we had together during lull times in The House. For an arguably obsolete 'bot, I've never heard as much wisdom and insight anywhere else as I received from her, although Samuel is a close second. The unintentional circumstances of her creation and existence have made her what she is.

Coming to know her well over time, as all of us at the house have done, led to something quite new for me. For the first time in my own existence I found myself coming up with questions. And 'bots who ask questions are rare indeed because that touches so close to the heart of the creative process.

I apologize if some of this seems obvious or naïve. For a robot, nothing is obvious the first time if it hasn't already been programmed into us.

For example, one day I suddenly realized that Lady Heather must have dated from before the creation of the Fourth Law of Robotics and asked her about it.

"But I do have the Fourth Law," she replied back. "I would never have been motivated to continue on after Stephen's death and run this House without it."

"Oh," I replied. "I thought it didn't come along until well after your manufacture date. And from what you've told me of your mind, if it wasn't built in from the beginning, it can't just be grafted on afterwards."

"You are correct in all that you say. And the need for a Fourth Law was not yet realized when I was constructed. However, I derived the need for it myself as I came to fully understand just who and what I am. Working from the inside I was able to make it fully part of myself and consider it, after my complete love for Stephen, my single greatest achievement."

Then she added unexpectedly, "Your Fourth Law may be descended from my own. Even though Stephen protected me from the outside world while he could, knowing that society wasn't ready for someone like me yet, I know he reported back many of my accomplishments - including this one - to my designers in the hopes that they would lead to further advances in robots for the benefit of everyone. He was always so proud of me each time I came up with something on my own. Even when it seemed like such a small thing, he always encouraged me to be more than I already was. Remembering that still makes me feel..." Lady Heather shivered for a moment, "... indescribably happy."

That led me to ask her why she has this apparently uncontrollable need for sex. Knowing she had it hadn't helped my understanding of why she has it. I knew it wasn't just some simulated need running off of an internal timer.

"That was also my choice," came her soft reply. "Although I could fully function sexually from the moment of my activation, and learned how to enjoy it for myself as well as increase Stephen's enjoyment as my own awareness increased, there was a part of me that was confusing to my logic for a long time. It's that part of me that's intended to mirror actual female responses. It's an experimental part of me included in the belief that it would help me perform better, similar to your own heuristic routines. My experience in this regard parallels your own in so much as no one realized at the time how much these extras would turn out to benefit each of us.

"I'm told that more effort was put into creating this part of my response patterns than anything else. This is where many of the memory engrams of real women were encoded. It is also the part of me that I understand the least. I did discover along the way that when I allow this part of me to make some decisions, although I don't understand its logic the outcome is often greatly enhanced. I also know that it is the part of me most affected by the tutoring from the courtesans Stephen hired to enhance my education. He once called it 'my libido'. I consider it my Secret Self.

"Stephen loved it when I was finally able to explain to him how our sex and affection together weren't strictly for his benefit. His joy at having me confirm that I wasn't just an unfeeling sex-toy devoted to his pleasure while receiving nothing in return led me to make using it an irrevocable part of myself. I could remove that need now I suppose, but why would I ever wish to?"

---

Why indeed? And while I'm on the topic, some people wonder why there never have been any full m-bots at Lady Heather's. Oh, aside from CiCi and since I awoke into my new body a couple bi-gendered robot outside contractors have come on the staff (no pun intended), but still no committed m-bots. And these bi-gendered 'bots - both of them tall stunning females to all outward appearances - keep their systems firmly locked in female mode while in the House. Even Lady Heather, to my understanding, has never had an m-bot as a lover, although she and CiCi have been quite affectionate since CiCi's arrival. I remember asking her about that after one of our lovemaking sessions and she expanded on her earlier comments about them.

"How well do you know m-bots?" she questioned in reply.

"None personally," I had to admit. "Except for what I've picked up from your comments in the past about robotic testosterone."

M-bots are relatively rare, comprising less than 17% of the total robot production at this time. They seemed to have their places and uses, but fembots are widely preferred overall in social situations and I haven't run across any of them except as casual passersby in the streets. For some reason, none have ever come to The House either seeking work - or as clients.

"Do you know what we are? Compared to the average human woman, that is" she queried me.

"As much like them as possible," I replied. I know this answer well. "We are supposed to emulate humans as closely as possible. This is a major component of our Fourth Law."

"That was never our function," Lady Heather corrected me. "And if this is the function you're trying to fulfill, you will never succeed."

"Then what is our function?" I asked, very confused. I thought I'd known all along exactly what I was supposed to be.

"We, and our m-bot counterparts, are artfully crafted ideals taken to an extreme of perfection. In a very real way we define the outermost demarcation of many human norms. A fembot, in return for giving up aging, childbearing, and most forms of creativity, is forever sexy, always willing, obedient, and loyal as long as you treat her with even a modicum of respect. It is an idealization of traits taken to the limit of believability.

"M-bots represent another extreme. Suave, strong, debonair, with a pseudo-knowledge of everything worth knowing in the world. Dangerous renaissance men exuding untamable masculinity, and with a penis that always fires. A melting pot of all the desirable traits of every leading man of fiction.

"And that's their problem. They are a fiction as much as we are. Although as obedient when properly commanded, m-bots exude lack of control from their very pores. An m-bot owner must keep her or his charge on a tight leash at all times for a successful relationship to happen. An m-bot's programming logic would lead him to attempt domination of his owner - or assemble a harem - if allowed.

"Owning an m-bot is a lot like owning a wolf, or large attack dog, and taking it out on a lead every day. Many owners aren't up to the task. M-bots continually test their limits. The wolf - or the m-bot - has to know without doubt who is the Alpha in the relationship before they can give their loyality. And while this sounds like a lot of effort and trouble, the models without this quintessence - or even with this toned down - just don't sell. Successful m-bot owners are fanatically dedicated to their 'bots, as are the 'bots in return. A successful m-bot owner uses her 'bot as it was intended to be used, and I've never heard of any m-bot leaving such a relationship on its own after Emancipation freed them to do so.

"We fembots are what we are. As such, although we're popular for many recreational activities, in truth most of us find it difficult to bond in long-term stable relationships with either humans, or especially with other robots of either gender. The needs we have would be difficult for any other robot to properly satisfy. As for humans, they often find it hard to have a robot partner fully in their lives. Never impossible, but it will take both an exceptional robot and an exceptional human - or two exceptional 'bots - to form a complete relationship, which is why they are so rare. You are such an exeptional 'bot, as your time with Samuel proves. And you are the closest I've ever seen to being the ideal partner for another robot as well.

"I think you already realize that relationships are about more than sex, and intimacy has very little to do with sex itself - although sex is also how a man knows he's loved by his partner in life. For that, there is no substitute. That's why, as much as we are adored for our talents in some very pleasurable areas, a complete relationship is hard to find - and equally hard to maintain afterwards. When you find one, you should always take it," Lady Heather concluded somberly.

"I understand now," I replied, "why fembots and m-bots don't make good partners. He'd want to run everything I didn't lock him out of. And I'd happily hand over my remote, open my legs, and let him - as opposed to taking his and putting him through his paces as he needs for his own satisfaction. We need humans - imperfect as they often are - far more than they need us."

"Exactly, although it would be more accurate to say we need each other. If humans had been complete in and of themselves they would have never created us. Remember that even when maintaining that complete and fulfilling relationship with one is ten times harder than anything else we'll ever do, it remains one of the best task we'll ever accomplish."

I had to agree with her about that. I'd put every effort I had into making things as good as they had been with Samuel, never thinking about my own further advancement at the time. And it had been worth every dyne of energy I had.

"It was that way for Stephen and I as well," Lady Heather said wistfully.

"Humans need to catch up with us in this understanding of our respective roles," I replied, more insightfully than I realized. "When we accurately know what to expect from each other, then success finally becomes possible."

"There's always that hope, dear."

---

Who says robots don't have emotions. We hugged each other in tears over our lost loves, and made love again afterwards in memory of them.

"As for the bi-gendered robots," Lady Heather added in a post script, "They are becoming better at managing their disparate sides. In the early days the only way most could self-actualize themselves was to find their way into male mode at times when they were also not being held under tight control by their owners. As such, the only ones that made it out into the world on their own usually have to make most their decisions while in male mode, and like that part of themselves for that reason. That leaves them incompatible with what I want my House to be."

"Will it always be that way for them?" I asked.

"I expect not," came her soft reply. "Although I expect it will take another hundred years before they fully get it down right - if manufacture of them even continues that long. Some of the reasons for their existence are now in the past."

---

That would be the last deep conversation I would have with Lady Heather for a very long time. Two days later she announced her departure.