How to Date an Android

Chapter 13 Part A (revised & reworked)!

"Easy, easy," Barbara coaches.

"Its fine," I tried to brush her off but she's persistent.

At length we finally get to my recliner which is perfect because I can just sit on the edge of it in upright position and then use the controls to lower it so I can rest. I've already exercised over two hours and I'm surprised when Barbara has a cool wet towel she's taken from my linen closet and is sponging off my forehead.

And all that after she'd spotted me as I sort of fell into the chair first.

"Wow, that's nice," I said.

It feels heavenly having a super woman catering on you like this. If only I could get her to sit on my lap that might be fun too, but that's obviously a delusion that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

"Just rest easy Jack," she said.

"Yeah..." I did feel a bit sleepy now too.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to see how you are doing and follow up but it seems I caught you at a bad time," she said. She did her best to give me a concern look for what her programming could do. It's pretty amazing again, better than a human's look.

"No, let's talk," I said.

"Are you ready?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I've come to the conclusion that an android is what I need," I said.

"Great! Let's take care of it!" she said, giving me a 'thumbs up' sign.

Wow her programming is like...so close to a human it's spooky.

"So did you choose a model and the appearance yet?" she asked. She has an amused expression.

Is she wondering what I'll pick?

"Nope. That's the hard part. The soft modification downloads are what's holding me back in deciding," I said.

"Ah, I get it. That happens to quite a few customers. When they have a complication situation and a budget, then they worry about maximizing everything," she noted.

"I see. Well you might be able to help me work that part out. But I'd need you to be worrying about me not your company if you do so," I said.

She nodded, "I get it. You are worried about a conflict of interest. That won't happen. Because you see androids are built to surpass the faults and greed of humans. Our programming tells us to look out for humans too. To care for humans is our mission."

Ouch. That part stung a bit in some ways. I was a human too, but she was right. We were the animals on this planet most prone to violence.

"Should we begin?" she asked, sitting across from me with her legs crossed in her skirt suit.

"OK. So I definitely need a mechanic shop or mag auto repair technician mod installed. Do All of those have those?" I asked.

"Negative."

"Oh? I thought all of them could do that?" I frowned.

This changes things then...

She saw the frown as a challenge to work out, "Carinol doesn't have a mechanic mod. So right off that model is out."

Ouch. That's the most affordable. I feel some pain now.

"OK. Good. It didn't seem good to not ask if that model might have a possibility of being phased out later."

"I also see you probably won't be able to afford the Liga. But I have to say that the android part of me sort of felt bad when you mentioned being phased out. Do you think that could happen to some of us?" she said.