Copyright © 2019 by Michelle Myer
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Marla secretly loved office parties, although no one at the sales office actually knew that. Marla was shy, incredibly so. While other people were tossing back drinks to celebrate the newest contract, Marla watched from her cubicle. Eventually, one of her co-workers would have to drag her to the party just so they wouldn’t feel guilty leaving her out. She would usually sit next to the soda machine with a silly grin on her face watching everyone else have fun. Today though, she couldn’t sit quietly on the sidelines. She was the guest of honor!
A month earlier, Marla had discovered an accounting error that turned out to be a multi-million dollar embezzling attempt by the Vice President of the company. The feds were able to get the money back and the VP was likely to be put away for a very long time. The President of the company, Phillip Hiro, was also pleased because his second in command had laid out a trail of breadcrumbs leading right to his door. Marla had found proof in the computers that the trail was an attempt at framing Hiro. She had saved him from a jail sentence, the company from closing, and everyone from losing their jobs. There was reason to celebrate.
“Pick any one you want. You earned it!” Hiro slapped a paper catalog down on the table next to the mostly devoured cake. “If it wasn’t for you, Miss Adley, we would all be up Shit Creek without a paddle. You deserve it.”
Marla pushed a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear and looked at what he was offering. Her eyes grew huge and her head snapped up to look at everyone in the room. Her jaw hung open in shock.
“I…I can’t take this! It’s too much!”
“You can, and you will, Miss Adley. It is the least we can do. Thanks to you, the company can even afford it.”
“What is it?” Nick asked. Nick Trenton was the top salesman in the company.
Marla looked down at the catalog once more. A row of models looked back at her. Some were dressed for business, others for labor. A couple were even dressed for seduction. Marla tried not to focus on those.
“Marla is getting a persocomp. Whatever model she wants,” Hiro said.
“A persocomp? I’ve worked here for ten years and I’ve never gotten one!” Nick protested.
“You’ve made us a lot of money over the years, Mr. Trenton,” Hiro replied. “Miss Adley topped your sales total with her accounting detective work. She also saved your job. Be grateful.”
“What kind are you going to get?” Olive asked. Marla had always been jealous of how easy it was for Olive to flirt with the men of the office.
“An assistbot, I suppose. I don’t need one at work. It could do my housework and gardening though.”
“You should get a sexbot!” Calvin shouted above the group. Marla blushed heavily and visibly shrank into herself. “Don’t you all agree? A sexbot is just what she needs! Maybe it will pull her out of her shell a little if she got laid.”
The room grew silent as every eye turned menacingly toward Calvin. “What? It’s the truth!” Calvin protested.
Deep inside, Marla knew he was probably right, but she was happy that so many people thought it was rude to say out loud in front of everyone.
“Mr. Harris, please go back to work.” Mr. Hiro’s tone told Calvin that his time at the party was over and he had better not argue. He stormed to his cubicle in the back of the office. “Miss Adley, why don’t you use the computer in the conference room to order your persocomp in private. You can use the company card. What you buy is nobody’s business but yours, and you may have it delivered to your home instead of the office.”
Sitting alone in the conference room didn’t make the decision any easier. She scanned the code on the paper catalog and the persocomp website appeared on the monitor. There were so many choices! Not only could they be programmed to do just about anything, but every bit of their appearance could be custom designed. She was tempted to order an administration bot that would help out around the office, but she didn’t want any of the admins to lose their job to a robot.
The sexbots were tempting though. Marla’s painful shyness had never allowed her to feel comfortable dating, let alone having sex. A sexbot was just a really complicated dildo, or at least that is what she told herself. It took her an hour to finally decide. She input the physical specifications, entered the programming she wanted, and marked her home as the delivery destination. With a final click, she finished picking out her bot.
“I think that was probably the best choice,” Marla said softly, before heading to her car and home.
***
“She picked a home assistant? Really? Oh, Marla. I pity you!” Calvin sat at his cubicle, the last person in the office, and looked over her order. Mr. Hiro didn’t know, but Calvin had tapped his computer into every other one in the building. Her order had been shunted to the President’s account for final approval and payment, and Calvin had intercepted it before the boss could authorize payment the following morning. He was disgusted by what he saw.
“You ordered a female bot? Chubby, and with no sex programming? Maybe you like chubby women, Marla, but not adding sex programs is a crime. I’m ashamed of you, Marla. So very ashamed.” Calvin began typing, altering the order.
***
The droid was delivered to the office a week later. Calvin had wanted to make sure that he saw the look on Marla’s face when she saw the changes he had made. Two service men in blue blazers with the Persocomp Inc. logo on the breast escorted into the office a bot that looked nothing like the ones in the catalog. It was not terribly tall, and of average build. The robot though had no features. It looked like a mannequin. The automaton walked behind them, stopping when they stopped.
“I am looking for Marla Adley,” one of the men called out. Marla sheepishly stood and peeked over the cubicle wall and raised her hand.
“We have the persocomp you ordered. Please sign here, and apply your thumbprint to the pad. Per the terms of the purchase, all sales are final except in the case of manufacturing defect, which is covered under the five year warranty.”
Marla signed and gave her thumbprint. “Where is it? I asked that it be delivered to my apartment.”
The man checked his pad. “You must have made an error when you placed the order. This is the address given for delivery. This pad,” the other man produced an electronic pad and handed it to her, “is the owner’s manual. You will find all the instructions for customizing the look of the bot. It also has a copy in its memory that you can access through personal interaction. You ordered a self-customizing model, which is smart. It lets you test out looks before settling on one that will become permanent. You have twenty-four hours to decide on that before the programming selects a random appearance for you. Do you understand?”
Marla, still in shock, agreed that she did. The men left, leaving the robot standing outside Marla’s cubicle. She looked around, embarrassed by the attention the machine was getting. People were coming out of their cubicles and offices to see the new persocomp.
When it spoke, Marla startled, nearly jumping back away from it. “Marla Adley, I am your personal computerized companion. I am programmed with basic household skills, an adaptive learning system, and a sexual pleasure suite. Please verbally define my physical qualities. Would you prefer male, female, or other?”
Whispering coul
d be heard around the office as the words “sexual pleasure suite” were announced. Calvin grinned to himself. Marla was going to have a great time with this one. Running out of the room in tears was not what Calvin had expected. He charged up the aisle between the cubicles, stopping only long enough to address the sexbot. “Sit down and await further instructions. Accept no input from anyone else.” The bot obeyed, sitting stiffly in Marla’s seat.
Calvin found her at the end of the third floor corridor. There was a small window seat that he had seen her eating lunch at many times. “Are you okay?” He asked hesitantly.
Marla wiped her tears with the palm of her hand. “That isn’t what I ordered!” she spat out. “It is just too much. Send it back.”
“I’m sorry, Marla. They won’t take it back. What’s wrong with it?”
“You might not have noticed, but I’m extremely self-conscious. That was the most humiliating experience of my life!”
“Having a robot delivered to you at work is humiliating?”
“Having a damn sexbot delivered to me is. Why didn’t they just hire me a hooker? I mean, for Christ’s sake, I haven’t even…” Marla stopped herself revealing that secret to Calvin. He was quiet for a long moment, and then his whole body posture changed. He stood up, excited that he had figured it out.
“You’re a virgin? You’re almost thirty!”
Marla grabbed him by the waist and hauled him to the ground. The look on her face was full of fury and she pushed her nose right up to Calvin’s. “That never leaves your lips to anyone. Am I understood?”
Calvin was surprised by the assault, and nodded that he got the message.
“How could this have happened, Calvin? I ordered a conservative model that would help out around the house and run errands for me. Even the delivery was wrong. I need to look at the invoice. They have to take it back when they see what I actually ordered.”
Calvin wrestled with his conscience. He had screwed up and hurt Marla in the process. Having her making a big protest would only put the spotlight on her more. He knew what he needed to do.
“The invoice won’t help,” he said sullenly.
“Why not? What do you know?
“Please understand. I was only trying to help you get what I thought you really wanted but were too embarrassed to order.”
“You changed the invoice? You designed a sexbot for me? I can’t believe you did that. I suppose having it delivered to the office was just your way of enjoying my humiliation even more! I hate you, Calvin!”
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to humiliate you. Honest! I just wanted to see the look on your face.” Looking at the tears streaming down her cheeks from her red, puffy eyes, Calvin was sorry he ever had that desire. “What can I do to fix this?”
“Call Persocomp and tell them it was your fault and that I want my original model.”
“It won’t do any good. There are no returns allowed. On the bright side, it does have the home assistant programming you wanted. You could make it look like the female model and just use it for a maid like you had intended. Just forget about the sex program. No harm, no foul.”
Marla wiped the tears from her eyes. Calvin made a good point. Just because it had the program didn’t mean she had to use it.
“And someday, if you wanted, you could always have sex with her.”
“I prefer men, but that isn’t the point. Oh! I just want to get out of here and forget you exist. I’m taking the rest of the day off. I’ll deal with the robot tomorrow.” She stood to leave, heading for the elevator. She would get her belongings the next day.
“I’m sorry. I know you hate me, but you have less than twenty four hours to input its appearance before a random factory setting is installed. You should take it home with you.”
“You know what, Calvin? Why don’t you take it home? It’s yours for the night. Have fun with it.” She stormed to the stairwell, skipping the wait at the elevator.
The office was abuzz as Calvin returned. A half dozen people were gathered around Marla’s cubicle where the sexbot sat, unmoved by the flurry of questions they were throwing at it. While persocomps were becoming more common among the wealthy, the common person was lucky if they ever saw one, let alone stood within touching distance. Calvin pushed his way through his co-workers.
“Robot, come with me.” The bot stood up at Calvin’s command and the workers stepped back. Calvin led it into the conference room and closed the door. “Did anyone add any features to you while I was away?”
“No. You told me not to accept input from anyone but you.”
“Good. I am not your owner, though. Marla Adley is your owner. You should accept input from her.”
“Where is Marla Adley?” The question was simple enough, but Calvin found it difficult to answer.
“I made her angry. She left work for the day. She will bring you home tomorrow.”
“That is not acceptable. I must have input from my owner within twenty four hours of ownership paperwork being finalized. I require you to take me to Marla Adley immediately.”
“She doesn’t want to see you. She doesn’t want to own you, honestly. It isn’t your fault. It is mine. She ordered a different bot and I changed the order.”
“That was inconsiderate of you. It is, however, irrelevant. I must have feature updates installed and initiate programming. I will contact Marla Adley.”
The sexbot’s lack of features made it difficult for Calvin to tell what was going on in its processors. When it began to speak, and not to him, Calvin assumed it had an internal phone system.
“Is this Marla Adley?”
“It is. Who is this?” Apparently, it also had a speaker mode on the phone.
“I am your purchased persocomp. I require your input to complete initialization. Calvin Webber has told me you do not wish to proceed. I require instructions.”
“What happens to you if I do not give you the input you require?”
“I will default to one of twenty factory personalities. I will no longer be customized for your needs, but will be…generic.”
“That doesn’t sound pleasant. Am I the only one that can give you input?”
“As my owner, you are preferred. However, you may designate someone else if you wish.”
“Calvin got me into this mess. He can give you input.”
“Would you care to place a limit on his input?”
“He should make you based on my personality, and not his own. Is that understood?”
“I understand. Would you care to oversee my initial programming run or is Calvin authorized for that as well?”
“Calvin can do anything you need for startup. Be at my apartment by noon tomorrow.”
“Very good. Have a pleasant evening.”
“Good night.”
***
Calvin sat on his living room sofa an hour later. The persocomp stood at attention in front of him. He looked over its featureless form, its skin a soft blue. “How do we start this?”
The robot replied. “You can tell me what form to take. If you are unsure, I can direct you with questions.”
“Good idea. Why don’t we start with that?”
“Do you wish a male or female or other form?”
“I think Marla would be more comfortable with a female, but I think a male is better. Male please.” Calvin watched as the bot began to change. It grew a foot taller, and its body bulked out from its neutral form to one that was more distinctly male. Its face grew more angular and its jaw squarer. While it had arrived with hands and fingers, its feet were shaped more like a shoe. Now they broadened and five toes formed on each one. Between its legs a penis emerged. Definitely a male.
“Would you like hair?”
“No.”
“Would you like me taller, shorter, or remain the same?” It was already tall, but Calvin instructed it to grow to six foot two. He made it broad chested and muscular, with defined abs and strong legs. He verbally sculpted each part of the bot into
what he thought Marla would like, even if she didn’t know it yet.
“How would you like to change my penis?” Calvin knew the question was coming, but was uncomfortable answering it. It hung about four inches long at present.
“How large is it when erect?” The sexbot answered by enlarging the penis. It stood rigid at six inches.
“Double the size please.” Calvin had to step back when the foot long dick grew in front of him. “Split the difference.” It shrank to a very solid nine inches. “That will do perfectly. You can make it soft now.”
The bot complied, its penis shrinking to a flaccid state. Calvin spent the next two hours programming its personality and telling it everything he knew about Marla. He even remotely hacked into her work computer to find any personal information. That led him to her BookComp account. It took his software nearly an hour to break her password and access her purchase history. He was thrilled to see that she had a large number of romances in her cloud storage.
“Can you access the website currently on my laptop?”
“Yes, my internal computer has full internet capability.”
“Good. I’ll provide the login information. I want you to download every book Marla has purchased in the last year and read them. I want you to add changes to your personality based on the romantic lead characters of those books.”
“Understood. This will take me approximately one hour to complete. Please do not disturb me until I instruct you to.”
Forty seven minutes later, the persocomp announced that it had completed reading all of Marla’s books and had made adjustments to its personality based on trends it discovered within them.
“My customization is nearly complete. I will require a name.”
Calvin had to pause, not knowing what to do. “That is a really personal decision. Maybe Marla should choose that. I wouldn’t know what to call you.”
“Marla left all customization details to you. It is imperative that you make a decision.”
“I don’t know. In Marla’s books, was there a book that she read more than once?”
Exactly As Ordered Page 1
