How to Date an Android

Chapter 10 Part A, revised

But not Barbara, there are no visible flaws. She must be one of the most advanced models in existence.

Wow. This was really incredible. Eventually I made it over to her.

"Hi Jack!" she beamed full of sending out a happy like feeling. She stopped washing the dishes and wiped her hands off on a towel.

"Hi Barbara," we shook hands. She had a pretty good grip too. Maybe they must have had them practice handshakes thousands of times just to figure out the right weight and balance in the grip. There's a difference too in how a robot should be able to just put a hand out and how she's put real feeling into it. It's hard to imagine how they studied handshakes...

"Are you wondering how we learned how to simulate handshakes without being detected as inhuman androids?" she winked at me briefly.

My face and eyes, and where I was looking, must have betrayed what I was thinking about.

"The thought had crossed my mind. And some other things too," I said.

"It wasn't too hard to figure out because you were glancing at my hands for a while," she noted.

That's interesting. If she were a feminist she would have accused me just now of looking at her breasts; which I wasn't. I feel a bit more relieved.

"Well, once you realize how complex and huge the amount of energy it took for something to evolve it makes you wonder how we even got this far," I said.

"You're right. Sorry it got late last night and I had to go. My supervisor has a curfew so I don't get lost or stolen," she said.

"It's OK. And I wanted to ask, do people steal androids?" That part surprised me. I hadn't thought it could be done without getting caught. But I hadn't thought riots would be breaking out a month ago either.

I had no doubt androids would be coveted enough to be stolen. But how would they even do that, when androids could practice 'self defense'. And do self defense more than a human.

"If they can figure out that you're an android yes. There are people that hijack androids and then resell them on the black market. Also there are people that have targeted this body from thinking I was a pretty human girl too. So the curfew is so they can make sure I'm safe," she noted in clipped tones.

"So just so you know, I have been censored from disclosing too much about how androids work internally on anything that might reveal a patent we hold or its design to a potential competitor. I can go over some things, but a lot of the designs our competitors have tried to steal many times. So even though I did have a curfew and that's the official excuse, the truth is I'd triggered a security protocol program. That's why I had to cut the meeting short and report to my supervisor. I can't disclose more about how we are built beyond what's necessary," she said warning me.

"Did they ask you about our interview last night then?" I asked.

"Yes they did. They worried about why you were so interested in it on a technical level," she said flatly.

"I'm sorry. I only meant to... want to know how real you were and if our intentions and goals were compatible," I said. "But we don't have to go too technical. I don't want to make you guys unhappy. If I can think this android is an artificial person and not a toaster. Then I can think that this will work," I said not bothering to hide my concern. I believed I was careful and 'calculating' enough to not have to hide the truth and still be able to observe.

"That makes sense. I think I did provide the answers you were looking for already," she replied coolly while she sat. I noticed she also had some bottled water, which she took of sip of. She offered one to me from her bag, which I accepted. It was just normal plastic bottled water and nothing extraordinary about it right from the grocery store. Of course I needed water for my biological system, and she needed it for her hydrogen fuel cell battery.