Her eyes opened to greet the cool morning light piercing through the blinds. She took in a deep breath to capture the scent of her lover beside her. She scooted closer to him and brushed the hair from his still sleeping face. It was her guilty pleasure to watch him sleep, but Janie knew she had to wake him. She kissed him lightly and he let out a short groggy moan.
“It’s time to wake up babe,” Janie whispered in the softest of tones. “And if you don’t get up I’m just going to keep kissing you till you do.”
Timothy cleared his throat.
“That’s not much motivation to get out of bed.” He whispered back attempting to cuddle his way past the obligations of the day.
“I know, but you need to get up.” She then kissed her way down to his neck and with a deep breath she pressed her lips to him and blew out against his skin.
After a girly yelp he was awake, and reluctantly made his way to the bathroom.
As he walked she bounded from the bed and wrapped her arms around him kissing him again.
“Hurry up sleepy,” she chirped. “I’m making breakfast!”
He turned and looked at her, her body was perfect in every way imaginable, so perfect that the line between what she was and what she wasn’t blurred.
In the kitchen, Janie tied the back of her apron began to cook the food with methodical efficiency, eggs cracked without a wayward shell shard, even the pancakes were exact replicas of one another. While it was only a meal for one, the portions were large enough for two.
She cleaned the kitchen as she cooked, making sure the counters were spotless and that everything gleamed with cleanliness. The smile on her face was the unmistakable smile of love. Everything she did, every motion, every rhythmic breath taken was centered on her love for Timothy. Her mind wandered to the night before, the dinner she cooked, the love they made. So lost in her train of thought that she didn’t even realize she knocked the spatula into the dirty dishes in the sink. The splash of the spatula reminded her that she was about to take the bacon from “perfect” to burnt. So without a second though reached into the pan, pulling each of the sizzling strips of bacon out with her bare hands.
Timothy walked in just as she pulled the last strip out of the pan.
“Oh baby, no!” Timothy exclaimed, rushing up to her.
“Careful,” she said, in her usual calm tone. “I don’t want you to burn your self.”
He grabbed her hand and led her to the sink to rinse her fingers.
“Baby,” She smiled. “You’re so sweet, but please go eat, your food is going to get cold.”
He inspected her fingers closely; there were two deep burns all the way through her fingertips, while there was no permanent damage a glint of metal could be seen through the wound.
With her unburned hand she placed her fingertips under his chin and brought his eyes to hers.
“Baby, please go eat, I will repair this as soon as you leave.” she pleaded, quickly putting two fingers to her forehead. “Scout’s honor!”
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply, something she felt was most called for. He ran his hands down her back and with all the excitement was just now realizing that she was naked under the apron.
“Still naked are we?” timothy asked as he sat down to eat.
“Of course,” she replied. “You love when I’m naked, I love you, so it only makes sense that I should always be naked for you.”
“I most definitely do,” he said finishing a bite of food. “But you’re walking around with all the blinds open.”
She turned her back to him and looked over her shoulder.
“You said I looked beautiful in the morning light.” She pushed her hands up the back of her head and through her hair. “So it only makes sense that I combine them all.”
As her hair lifted from her neck the metal on the access port at the top of her spine glinted in the light. Her hair cascaded back over the port as her arms stretched out.
He laughed as he finished another bite.
“You realize the neighbor kids will be drooling at the windows if it gets out you’re doing your own nude cooking show.” He joked, wiping his mouth with the napkin he set on the plate.
“You worry too much, besides, as long as you see me I’m happy.” She said as walked across the kitchen intending to kiss him again. “Hey, you didn’t finish…” she pouted.
“Sorry baby, but I think I overslept somehow,” he sighed. “Your time clock must be off, I’ll recalibrate you later tonight.”
“Ooooooh,” she sighed with playful seduction. “Recalibrate me baby.”
They both started to laugh as he searched for the motivation to leave for work. With a muttered growl he began walking towards the front door.
“Ok you, I’m off to work so make sure you throw some clothes on today.” He instructed.
With his hand on the doorknob he turned and kissed her again.
“You mean I can’t just lay around naked till you come home?” she giggled kissing him on the cheek.
He tried to shake his head free of naughty thoughts.
“I have way too much to do around here. Windows to wash, lawns to mow, a kitchen to clean…”
“And fingers to repair” he interrupted.
“I said I would.” She sighed. “Now scoot you.”
As the hugged their good byes she whispered into his ear the most heartfelt ‘I love you’ she could give and he returned one to her.
She stood in the doorway and watched him drive down the street, as he drove out of her line of sight she noticed one of the neighbors across the street staring at her. Without blinking, the woman just glared at Janie with contempt. Janie just smiled and closed the door, making sure to wave her naked butt at the woman.
Janie walked back into the now empty house and assessed her daily chores. Through her eyes she could see the hologram like image of the list floating in front of her. The list ran through her head as she resorted the list to her satisfaction in order to maximize her day’s efficiency. She paused her sorting for a moment then quickly moved ‘finger repair’ to the top of the list. She knew it would make him happy to know she made the repairs and making him happy was what she lived for.
Janie made a short trip around the house to hang up the apron and slipping into some clothes. She sat down in Timothy’s home office to begin repairs on her fingers. She set down the repair kit and the can of Re-gen-nex and fished around the side of the computer for her interface cable. As she pulled the cable out from behind the computer she brushed the dust off the cable. A new task appeared on her chore list, ‘dust behind computer,’ and was quickly sorted along with the rest of the tasks. As she worked on her hand the computer monitor began to cycle through all the different computer files she was accessing. At first it was her own schematic, she cycled through the pages until the screen stopped on the chapter of skin repair. She applied the Re-gen-nex to the burns a waved another lighted device over the wound. The skin began to bubble and slowly form back into the shape of her finger. As the skin finished growing back she shut off the light and examined at her fingertips.
“Perfect,” She whispered.
The computer screen quickly began jumping from web site to web site. She scanned through all the most popular women’s magazines. Cosmopolitan’s articles on “how to be a better mate,” Red Book’s article on “surprising him tonight,” she even skimmed an adult magazine or two, but they offered nothing she didn’t already know. While scanning the news paper for topics to discuss during dinner later that night she came across and article that filled her with concern. Immediately an e-mail box opened on the screen and she sent the article to Timothy’s work address. She turned to read the screen with her own eyes; she looked down at the “system update” icon and quickly closed it. Janie shut down the computer and removed the cable from her neck. A new task appeared on her chore list, it was sorted with the possible dinner topics for the evening.
She took a deep breath, and felt her mind fill with thoughts of Timothy again and any concerns she had over the article faded away. She then focused on the next task on her list. She cheerfully strolled through the hallway looking up at the pictures on the wall. She stopped and smiled at the pictures of the two of them together. She stroked his cheek in the picture recalling the moment in her memory. She replayed the video of their vacation together from her memory, she marveled at how beautiful she thought he was and it filled her with happiness. She blew the picture a little kiss and walked back into the bedroom where she flopped down on the bed and took in a deep breath, inhaling his scent. She then rolled off the bed and began pulling the sheets from the mattress. She knew he loved the feeling of fresh clean sheets, loving him the way she did even made the act of laundry blissful.
From time to time she often found herself glancing at the clocks scatter through out the house. She had her own internal clock, but regardless she checked anyways. Every day she anxiously awaited his homecoming.
After a long day of waiting, she finally heard his car pull into the driveway. This was her favorite part of the day, she knew any moment he was going to walk through that door and she could just smother him with affection. She primped her self in front of living room mirror by front door, she was already perfect, but she wanted to be sure. Her chore list reappeared and she began moving all the tasks that she didn’t finish to tomorrow, this was her time with Timothy and she didn’t want anything to distract her.
He pushed the front door open slowly only to be surprised as Janie jumped out from behind the door.
“Hi!” she exclaimed. “I missed you so much”
She threw her arms around him and squeezed him; it felt like forever since she had last seen him, even though she knew it had only been ten hours and fourteen minutes. While kissing his cheeks she realized that he wasn’t returning her affections as eagerly as usual. She scanned through her memory of the times he had behaved like this. His shoulders slumped, his breathing was heavy, and he kept burring his face in her neck. Her temperature sensors indicated no signs of fever, which led her to the conclusion that he was troubled and depressed.
She pulled his head back and looked into his eyes, her eyes welled with tears. It pained her to see him so sad, she kissed him and ran her fingers through his hair.
“Oh baby,” she whispered. “Talk to me, what’s wrong?”
Timothy pulled a crumpled print out of the e-mail she had sent him earlier that day. She stood there without moving, she scanned the article again in her memory and waited for his response.
“It’s something I knew we’d have to deal with eventually,” he sighed.
She took the briefcase from his hand and looked around the room for a place to set it. She bit her lip as she searched for the right thing to say.
“Can we discuss it after dinner?” she offered.
A pathetic smile crept past his melancholy lips as she led him to the kitchen. There on the table was the dinner she lovingly prepared, every utensil polished to a shine, everything cooked exactly to his liking.
Timothy ate slowly, chewing each bite thoroughly. While he was partly convincing himself that he was savoring the delicious meal, Timothy knew that he was really trying to prolong the inevitable. Janie just sat across from him, the empty plate in front of her was a reminder to the table’s occupants that the discussion they needed to have was still waiting. Eventually all eyes were focused on the empty plate before her.
Timothy stopped eating.
Without a word Timothy stood up and started toward his home office, he gestured for Janie to follow him, which she did. She paused at the vacation pictures on the wall and smiled, a tear tickled past her lip.
They sat down in front of the computer and powered it up.
While the hard drive clicked and hummed, Timothy reached for the cable at the side of the computer. Janie rolled her head to the side and flipped her hair over her shoulder, exposing the access port on the back of her neck. He handed her the cable and she clipped it into the access port, after a few keystrokes Timothy took his hands away from the keyboard, setting one hand on her knee.
“Could you please pull up that news article for me,” He asked, caressing her knee.
She had already stored the article in her memory, but she listened to him reread the article to her:
“Technological Slavery Alive In The United States
WASHINGTON- President Clemmons signed the bill today making it illegal for any person who owns a Synthetic Human to tamper with the machine’s “Free Will Protocol” in order to misuse or mistreat the Synth.
The president also went into detail stating that misuse and mistreatment of a Synth is not limited to that of “sweat shops” and “hazardous labor,” but also to that of prostitution and degradation.
“Synths are being reprogrammed as mindless sex slaves,” The President announced to congress. “Slaves who are controlled by their very consciousness.”
Timothy trailed off and turned his attention back to Janie.
“The people they’re talking about on the news completely deleted or rewrote this code to turn their Synths into mindless slaves,” he stated.
Janie rolled her eyes.
“Is that what that old biddy across the street and her
Synth-Hatingcronies think of us?” She scoffed. ““
mindless… well un-lucky for you I’m anything but mindless.”
“There is something I never told you,” Timothy interjected. “Pull up your Freewill Protocol and the Default Freewill Protocol.”
She did so, placing the two windows side by side. She became instantly aware of where he was going with the conversation, but didn’t say a word. Timothy pointed to the screen to where he modified the code. Janie closed her eyes and looked away, but she could still see the screen inside her eyes.
“I didn’t take away your free will, I did tamper with it. I changed the code so that every logical decision you make will always be based on your feelings for me,” he whispered.
Janie covered her mouth as tears began to stream down her cheeks.
“I made you love me,” he confessed.
Her mind raced through millions of different thoughts and memories, everything he said was true. The way she cooked, the way she cleaned, the vacations, the sex, everything was always because how much she loved him.
“Early this morning, a patch was sent out to all Synthetic Humans as part of the daily update package to set their Freewill Protocol’s to default,” Timothy explained. “After the update you’ll have the choice to love me or not”
As she tried to regain her composure Timothy moved his hand from her knee and began moving the computer mouse. He brought up the screen for her update and moved the pointer over the update confirmation box.
“Will I…” she cleared her throat. “Will I still love you?”
“Well,” he replied, staring down at the keyboard. “I have no idea what you’ll choose, but I know I love you too much to let you go through the rest of our lives never making that decision for your self.”
Janie pulled her chair closer to Timothy’s and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him softly. She then set her head on his shoulder, running her hand down his arm. Her hand embraced his on top of the mouse, she took in a deep breath, inhaling his scent and closed her eyes.
Exile
Original_exile@hotmail.com
