Just as Human Read online

  Just as Human

  by Virginia Greene

  Copyright 2013 Virginia Greene

  All rights reserved.

  Just as Human

  Book design by Virginia Green

  Cover Image Provided by Amazon Stock Images

  Alex Farrington stood beside the surgical table, running his fingers through his long, auburn hair. He pushed the loose strands out of his light brown eyes and tucked them behind his ears, frowning as he stared at the woman’s body that lay before him. His fingertips ran along the length of her arm, his eyes fluttering closed.

  Everything had to be perfect. The months of research, the thousands of dollars he poured into finding every single part. Of developing the synthetic skin. He may have been a world renowned scientist, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get lonely, every once in a while. His current robot companion, named Carla, was falling apart, joints creaking with the need for oil and her body metallic. As many times as he tried to repair her, there was always something else.

  That was why he decided to build Carla a new body. One that looked human. Felt human. Carla had even claimed she was human, once, before she fell into his possession however many months ago. With the way she spoke, and the way she reacted to his speech, he didn’t doubt it. There had always been something different about her. Something that had drawn him to her.

  Over time, Alex had grown attached to the six foot tall shiny metal woman who had somehow become his only confidant in the world. Carla didn’t sleep; so when he didn’t, either, he always had a companion to talk to. Someone to bounce ideas off of. Someone to help keep him grounded as his work grew more and more complex, daunting, and dangerous.

  He was a genius -- supposedly, Alex thought bitterly to himself. Despite his supposed intelligence, there was one problem he couldn’t quite solve no matter how much research he did. He placed his hands on the edge of the table, leaning on it as he studied Carla’s new body once more. Her long, dark hair spilled around a round face, full lips parted and taking on a painted look. Her eyes were closed, as if she were sleeping.

  Alex needed to transfer Carla’s consciousness from one robot to the other. Sighing, he pushed himself away from the table, taking a moment to circle it once more. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he had a sleeping woman lying there on the surgical table. A naked woman he could simply take advantage of. A modest sheet covered her body -- and with all the work he had done to perfect that very body before him, every detail had been burned within his mind.

  In fact, he could still feel the material he had used to construct her more intimate areas. He had even tested various materials on those nights where he couldn’t sleep, and talking to Carla had done nothing to soothe his mind. Those nights were the worst, where thoughts of her pushing him down onto his bed were the only ones to consume his mind.

  He didn’t even know if she desired him the same way he did her. It didn’t matter. A new body, one that didn’t require repairs, would be enough. It would have to be, anyway. Seeing her smile as opposed to just hearing it in her voice -- that would be more than worth the hours spent behind a computer, researching this and that. With one last backwards glance, Alex moved towards the stairs leading out of his attic workroom.

  He traversed the length of his second story quickly, knowing that Carla liked to retire to the spare bedroom at night. Despite the fact she couldn’t sleep, she did often rest her tarnished body whenever she could. Alex lifted his hand, poised to knock on the door as it opened. Carla stood before him, her glowing red eyes focusing on him. “Couldn’t sleep, Alex?” she asked. If he didn’t know better, Alex would say she sounded concerned.

  “Not exactly,” he answered, clearing his throat. He shoved his hands in his pockets, dropping his eyes to the floor. “I have something I need to show you. Could you come upstairs with me for a minute?”

  Carla remained where she was, her stare never once leaving Alex’s face. He could feel the heat of it on his cheeks. “Couldn’t it have waited until morning. Alex?” she asked, stepping out of the door. Alex heard the creaking within her joints, the scream for more oil, more maintenance just as loud as ever.

  Alex shrugged, turning on his heel. “I recently finished a project,” he said, sidestepping her question for the time being. “I figured it might be relevant to your interests.”

  “My interests are serving my master,” she said in response. Alex thought he heard her scoff to herself. “I’m a robot, not a human being.”

  “Ah, but you told me that you used to be a woman, didn’t you?” Alex asked, walking back towards the stairs to the attic. He smirked to himself, keeping his hands in his pockets as she followed him. “I certainly don’t view you as a robot, either.”

  “Who knows whether the memories I have are real or not,” Carla answered, her monotonous drone sounding almost bitter. “They’re so faded, now. I don’t even remember what my body looked like -- if I had a human body, at all.”

  Alex nodded, sucking on his teeth for a moment as he took the stairs two at a time. Carla may not have remembered, but with the months of research and weeks putting Carla’s new body together, he had researched strange robotic phenomena over the past decade. One story stood out strongest of all, of a woman whose sick body had been replaced with a robotic one.

  Sure, it sounded fabricated -- and maybe it was. However, the girl in the photographs had been beautiful. Alex had done everything he could to replicate her, and that replication now lay on the surgical table in his attic. Even if Carla wasn’t the girl in the story, she would have a body most natural women would envy.

  “What’s all this, Alex?” Carla asked, a strange note to her voice. Her red eyes focused on the form lying under the sheet, her arms held loosely at her sides.

  “It’s a new body,” Alex answered, rubbing his temple with his thumb. “For you,” he finished, causing Carla’s red eyes to focus on him yet again.

  “Don’t be silly. I don’t need a new body,” she snorted, shaking her head. “Especially not one that looks so...human.”

  “You remember being human,” Alex said, shrugging his shoulders. “Why not give you a new body that isn’t falling apart?” He walked over to her, putting a hesitant hand on her cold shoulder. “I built it just for you, Carla. Think of it as a gift.”

  “I’m a robot, Alex. We don’t need gifts,” Carla muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. “What do you expect me to do with this body, anyway?”

  Alex glanced down at the floor and shuffled his feet. Somehow, he didn’t think Ride me until I can’t remember my own name, would go over so well. “I want you to enjoy it,” he said after a while, clearing his throat.

  Carla nodded, moving towards the surgical table. “So what do we do now?” she asked. She moved the bed sheet some, her features unmoving, just as someone had designed them to be.

  “I have to transfer your consciousness from your current form to your new one,” Alex muttered, shoving his hands back into his pockets. He stopped himself from shuffling on his feet again, instead moving to pull out another surgical table and gesturing for her to lie down on it. “If you want to, of course. There are some risks involved.”

  “Like?”

  “Like it might not even work,” Alex said, frowning to himself. “I might not be able to replicate the programming you were set with.”

  Carla studied him for a moment. After a while, he heard something akin to a sigh escape her sound-box. “I’m willing to take that risk,” she said, lying down on the second table. She folded her hands on top of her stomach, her eyes dimming. “I will go ahead and shut myself down, now.”

  Alex grunted in response, watching as Carla’s eyes dimmed all the way to black. He didn’t waste any time, hooking up var
ious wires and connections between the two now completely still robots before him. Each connection had to be perfect, and he referenced his research multiple times as he moved between each connection.

  After what felt like hours, it was time to make the switch. Alex wrung his hands, chewing on his bottom lip as he flipped the first of many switches. With the quiet hum now filling the room, he moved onto the next switch. His lungs burned, reminding him to breathe. The last switch almost didn’t budge, though that might have had something to do with the shaking in his hands.

  He consulted his research again as he waited. Transferring a real human consciousness shouldn’t have been possible in the first place. He knew that. All he was doing now was moving a hard drive from one body to the next. That’s it.

  He kept telling himself that as he waited. Carla always booted herself back up. She often never shut herself down, in the first place. After a few minutes, he started tapping his fingers relentlessly on his desk before reorganizing the various pieces of paperwork in front of him.

  “Alex?”

  Alex jumped, turning around in his chair to look over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he realized that Carla had spoken to him with her new voice. Her new body shifted on the table, hands moving to the sheet to hold it in place as she sat up. Her eyes, now green and glowing, blinked and squinted, her mouth forming a slight frown.

  Every motion looked entirely human. Even the way she sat on the table, her eyes now focused on him, felt entirely too real. “Carla?” he murmured finally, facing his chair towards her.

  Carla nodded, her long, dark brown hair falling into her face some as she did so. She swung her legs over the edge of the table, long and lean and moving perfectly. She continued to hold onto the sheet with one hand, the other moving along the length of her legs. “You -- you didn’t tell me I would be able to feel things,” she said, her expression changing slightly. Her voice was no longer that monotonous drone, instead sounding like an average woman’s voice.

  “What do you mean?” Alex asked, getting up from his seat. “The physical sensation of touch?”

  She nodded again, her fingers now tracing circles into the table. “Does my skin -- feel like skin? It’s been so long, I don’t remember what it felt like.”

  “You can touch me, if it’ll help you compare,” Alex said, offering his arm. He tugged his sleeve up to his elbow.

  Carla reached out, the pads of her fingers sending shivers down Alex’s spine as they moved the length of his arm. “How did you --?”

  “Lots and lots of research,” Alex answered, pulling his arm away. He avoided her eyes as he spoke. “I’ve been wanting to make sure you had a body that would function the way it’s supposed to and one that looked and felt real.”

  Carla didn’t say anything, instead brushing her hair out of her face. She then sighed, glancing down at her body. “Did you intend for me to wear any clothes?” she asked, looking up at him again. This time, she smiled and slid off the table, standing in front of Alex. The sheet hugged the curves of her new body.

  Alex let his gaze wander for a moment before gesturing towards some clothes he had set aside in the corner. “Of course,” he said, thankful that his voice didn’t crack. “I’ll go ahead and leave so you can get dressed.”

  He made to turn on his heel, but Carla grabbed his arm, holding him in place. She then moved in close, her new form a couple of inches shorter than her old one. Her lips brushed against his own, soft and even warm for a moment. “I don’t think you actually want me to get dressed,” she breathed as she pulled away. “Tell me, Alex. Just how...’functional’ am I, now?”

  “Fully,” was his quick response. He wished the heat in his face would die away, but he ignored that as best he could as he watched Carla’s every move.

  She turned her back to him, pulling the sheet aside as she bowed her head, possibly to study herself without flashing Alex more skin than necessary. “So -- that part should work as a normal woman’s, right?”

  “In theory,” Alex muttered, tearing his eyes away from her. Instead, he focused his attention back on his desk, shuffling already organized paperwork around. “I didn’t have any real way to test it.”

  He felt hands on his shoulders as Carla pressed against him, one of her hands trailing down his front and picking at the buttons of his shirt. He could feel her artificial breath against his neck. “Would you like to test it now?” She turned him around, pushing him up against his desk as her hands roamed over his clothed chest. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Alex, even when I was in that other body.”

  Alex’s his breath caught in his throat at her words, a familiar warmth filling him as he noticed Carla still wore only the sheet that had originally covered her body. Those green eyes of hers flashed, her smile almost predatory as she slipped between his legs, her hands ghosting along his thighs. “I don’t -- I don’t know what you’re talking about, Carla,” he managed, wishing his pants didn’t suddenly feel so tight.

  Carla laughed, her smile widening as she unbuttoned his shirt. “You’re an awful liar,” she teased. One hand rubbed against his crotch, eliciting a small moan from Alex. “You built me this body so we could have sex, right? A lonely man like yourself -- why else would you make sure I looked and felt so lifelike?”

  Alex’s cheeks burned as he nodded his head. He reached out, hesitantly placing his hands on Carla’s hips. “Does that -- does that bother you?” he asked.

  Carla just moved closer to him, the thin sheet slipping lower on her body and barely covering her chest as she did so. She pushed his now unbuttoned shirt off his shoulders, revealing Alex’s bare chest. “As long as I have the right to tell you no, I have no issue you with you wanting me, Alex,” she answered, kissing along the edge of his neck.

  Her hands were on the buckle to his belt. She undid it swiftly before sinking to her knees, kneeling before him. As she pulled him free from his pants, Alex found himself holding his breath in anticipation. Green eyes glowed, a playful smile on Carla’s lips before she teased her tongue along the edge of his swollen head.

  He gripped the edge of his desk, knuckles quickly turning white as he tossed his head back and groaned. It had been so long since anyone or anything had touched him in this way. Alex fought the urge to bury his fingers in Carla’s thick, synthetic hair, and instead whispered, “You can say what -- whatever you want, Carla.”

  Carla swallowed the head of his cock in response, teeth grazing against the tip and causing him to yelp. The pain excited him -- made him crave for her to take more of him in her mouth. If he hadn’t been the one to build her from scratch, he would have assumed the mouth around him was entirely human. Her tongue moved along the underside of his length, drawing out another moan or two from Alex.

  It wasn’t long before he did thread his fingers through her hair, pushing her mouth further around his cock. He didn’t know how many nights he had imagined seeing her like this -- didn’t know how many times he got himself off to the very thought of her pleasuring him the way she was now. Just as he thought he might explode, Carla pulled away from him.

  She grabbed his hand, tugging him away from the desk and switched places with him. Without a word, she let the sheet fall to the floor, revealing her naked form. It didn’t matter that Alex had seen it countless times before, seeing Carla moving before him in this body -- the little sway of her hips as she walked, the way her breasts bounced with her movements -- made his cock ache with need.

  He hesitated in dropping his pants to the floor, but when he did, he kicked them to the side. He closed the distance between the two of them, capturing Carla’s lips with his own. He almost wished she had made him come; then he would have been able to taste himself on her lips and tongue. With one swift movement, he pushed her onto the desk, spreading her legs and teasing her clit with his fingers.

  The other hand found a nipple and squeezed, causing Carla to moan against his mouth as they continued to kiss. He broke away from her, trailing his tongue al
ong the edge of her neck and shoulders before kissing his way down to her other breast. He swirled his tongue around the sensitive nib before sucking on it lightly.

  Carla let out another moan, leaning further back on her hands as Alex continued to pleasure her as much as possible. He listened to her breathing, relishing in how it’d hitch whenever his fingers pressed a little harder against her clit. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t human -- she responded to his touch just like any other woman would.

  Soon he began kissing down her stomach, eventually kneeling in front of her just like she had him, only moments ago. He pulled his fingers away from her, which earned him a whine in protest. As he spread her legs wider, he breathed against her soft skin, causing a slight tremor to run through her.

  He moved in close, letting his tongue slip between her soft folds. She arched her back, pressing herself against his face as he continued to tease her with his tongue. He tried not to think about the number of times he had dreamed of tasting her like this. Her body shivered around him, her thighs tensing the louder she became.

  Soon, her moans and gasps were the only things Alex could hear. Her nails dug into his scalp as she rocked her hips to better match the movements of his tongue. With one, sharp cry, she shuddered against him, her hand going slack in his hair. Alex chuckled to himself and pulled away from her, his fingers replacing his tongue.

  As he stood up, he slipped his fingers inside her, rocking them in and out of her. He watched Carla’s face, her expression of bliss quickly changing as he began to overwhelm her with continued attention. She pulled him in close, kissing him with slow, lazy passes of her tongue. The kiss ended as she moaned, and he thrust his fingers into her as hard as he could.

  The flurry of hands and lips roaming over sensitive skin just heightened Alex’s senses, making him hyper-aware of every sharp intake of breath and subtle movement of Carla’s body. At some point, she pushed him away from her, his fingers still slick from being inside her. He found himself stretched out on the surgical table, Carla climbing on top of him and raking her nails down his chest.