At some point that fall, Lex had a giant clock installed in the wall of LextWaveAI’s main office. Huge red numbers that reached from the floor to the ceiling that counted down to the date and time the next round of deliverables were due. At night, which many of the programmers worked into, the whole room was illuminated by the threatening red glow of the alphanumerics.
“Lex,” being Alexander Wu, the founder and COE of LextWave. He didn’t stop by the office much since the company took off. He was in Zurich or Tokyo or, most recently, on a suborbital test flight. Since he wasn’t around, he wasn’t aware of the anxiety those red digits caused, especially in Mia, the youngest of his developers.
Lextwave was all over the news for their work combining artificial intelligence and lifelike androids. Their newest project was a personal assistant that could do almost everything in your house. Cook, clean, act as a secretary, a therapist, and (it was subtly implied in their press releases) a lover.
The small lean startup had a lot of success with the software so far, putting out three versions of Nextia, a virtual assistant. The android body was nearly perfect as well, but there were a lot of hurdles getting the AI to play nicely with the robotics. Thus, the late-night integration team got to know those red numbers very well.
The small lead team consisted of Mia Thompson, Ivy Collins, and Dash Sharma. Mia was a twenty-three-year-old programming savant who had graduated from MIT at sixteen. A short, slight slip of a girl with a pixie cut dyed a light sky blue. She was one of those tiny girls who wore giant clothes. Hoodies that were three times too large. Baggy jeans or massive sweatpants. Layers of cotton to keep her safe from the world around her. She worked on the AI part of the project.
Ivy was in her late thirties, a former goth who has retained aspects of her teen identity. She wears solely black clothing. Her jet-black hair is styled in a short, severe pixie cut that frames her pale face. Ivy worked on the android side.
In contrast, Dash is clean-cut and dresses in designer clothing. His short black hair is neatly styled, and his beard is closely trimmed. At work, Dash wears tailored suits and stylish skinny jeans. Dash was in charge of the integration of the two sides as well as administration.
Dash looked at the numbers on the wall and frowned. “Okay, if we are going to be here late, we should think about dinner. What do you want, Mia?” He asked and saw his coworker’s eyes widen in fear.
“Mia hates picking what to eat. She gets decision paralysis. Isn’t that right, Mia,” Ivy asked her friend. Mia slunk low in her ergonomic chain and pulled her hood up over her head and let it cover her face.
Dash rolled his eyes. “Right, I forgot. Thai food it is,” he said, pulling up an app on his phone and re-ordering their last meal.
Ivy watched Mia and shook her head with a grin. She’d studied her friend for months, fascinated by her particular psychology. The young genius coder was shy, didn’t like to choose things, didn’t like to make decisions, and had an aversion to bright lights and loud voices. She was certainly on the autistic spectrum, but most of the programmers were. Mia, specifically, not only couldn’t stand making choices, but she also really liked being told what to do. She also thrived on positive reinforcement.
It was something that Ivy sometimes fantasized about. All the things she could tell her to do. The thought made Ivy aware of her body, her nipples hardening. She focused on her laptop and tried to shake off the lusty thoughts.
Dash turned to them, his face pale and his eyes red. “We’re not going to finish the integration by the time they get here. It’s impossible. There are just too many connections that are failing.
Ivy closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Mia slumped lower in her chair. No one seemed to want to meet Lex’s eyes.
Lex, on the other hand, didn’t look worried. He narrowed his eyes and looked around the room. He stroked his chin and considered his options. “The AI works, though, right?”
Dash nodded. “Perfectly.”
“And the android works, but it just can’t fully connect to the software,” he said, looking around at the team. Dash nodded in affirmation.
“Okay, everyone out of the main office except for these three,” Lex said in a loud, commanding voice. He didn’t even look at the others as they shuffled, grabbing their laptops and rushing out of the large bullpen. When everyone but Dash, Ivy, and Mia were gone, Lex sat on the edge of a desk and looked at them.
“I’m not saying this. You never heard these words from me. If you ever tell anyone about this conversation, you will never work in AI again. But what if, for the sake of this one demonstration, we got a person who could act like a very realistic android to play the part, with an audio stream going to their ear? They could answer the investors’ questions. They could go through the hoops and so on. And then, we would have a few months to finish the integration for real, and the next time, we could give them the real thing.”
There was silence. Ivy watched as Dash considered the legal implications of what Mex had said. She could tell Mia was already working on ways they could implement the idea.
“The worst-case scenario is they figure the whole thing out, and we become the laughing stock of the tech industry and possibly get sued,” Dash says.
“We find a scapegoat, and we play it off as a big misunderstanding. We won’t get the money, but investors aren’t going to want to look like idiots for playing along,” Lex calculates.
“The best case scenario is the investors sent out some people who aren’t that tech-savvy, and they ask rudimentary questions and are impressed with the fidelity of the person pretending to be a model. I mean, it’s not like they are going to cut them open and look for wires. We’ve seen these kinds of beta tests. They are pretty simple,” Dash explained.
“We need someone with good recall, who could hear something in their earpiece and recite it perfectly. We need someone who is able to completely let go of their own person and do exactly what they are told, without question or hesitation,” Lex said, once against rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Dash and Ivy looked at Mia. Mia swallowed and pulled her hoodie down.
“I’ll do it,” Mia said in a low icy voice.
“The three of you are the only ones who know about this. The three of you get $100k bonuses.”
The three of them looked at each other with wide eyes, and after a moment of consideration, they each nodded, “Yes.”
*
On the day of the investor test, Lex flew out to Monoco for a conference. Dash met the investors in the lobby of their building and led them up.
The office was empty except for Dash, Ivy, Mia, and a few guards. A guard led Ivy into a small room like the ones she’d seen in so many police dramas on television. A dark little rectangular space on the other side of a double-sided mirror. It looked into the Beta Testing Lab. Ivy swallowed and held her breath.
Inside the square white-walled room on the other side of the glass sat Mia. She wore a skin-tight electric blue catsuit with faint circuitry patterns on it. The circuits were the same color as Mia’s light blue hair and brought out her blue eyes. She stood in the center of the room, next to a small white table with two white chairs.
The first thing Ivy noticed was how different Mia looked in such tight clothes. Mia had usually been a sort of puddle of oversized hoodies and denim. The skin-tight suit exposed both how surprisingly thin her waist was and how much larger her breasts were than Ivy had imagined.
Ivy had a terminal with the AI model running on it in front of her. The computer was hooked up to a micro-speaker in Mia’s ear. Ivy would input any questions the investors had, and the AI would recite the answers to Mia.
Inside the white room, Mia meditated. She concentrated on slowing her heart, steading her breathing, and moving as little as possible. In many ways, it was ideal for her. Everything except the skin-tight suit, but even that had a comforting pressure around her body, like a weighted blanket.
She made her face blank and serene and readied herself for the scam.
Dash opened the door to the testing room and brought in two people in dark suits with briefcases. One was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a very serious face and a chiseled jaw. Ivy had read a file on him and knew it was Carter Tate, the investment firm’s lead beta tester. He wore a plain black suit with a white shirt and a black tie and looked like one of the agents for the Matrix.
The other executive was a woman Ivy had met once. Nina Patel, a short woman in her late forties. She had salt and pepper hair pulled back in a neat bun and a suit with a knee-length skirt that looked very similar to Tate’s black suit.
The two of them looked around the room and then at Mia. They seemed curious but unimpressed. Ivy sighed as the first test seemed to be passed. They didn’t immediately react to seeing Mia.
Dash walked forward and put his hand on Mia’s back. As they had practiced, she stayed perfectly still until he said the command phrase.
“Lexia 2.0, please come online,” Dash said while keeping his hand on her back. Mia’s head rose, and she took a deep breath.
“Online and happy to get to work,” she said in a voice that surprised Ivy. As Ivy watched, she saw Mia’s face bright and smiling. Her voice was loud and confident. She seemed to embody the role completely.
Tate put down his briefcase and walked around Mia and Dash. Nina sat in one of the chairs, took out a notebook, and started taking notes.
“Lexia,” Tate said, seeming uncomfortable with the odd-sounding name. “What’s the square root of 5,657?”
Ivy quickly put the calculation into the AI, which gave an instantaneous answer, but Mia said nothing.
Dash chuckled. “Sorry, I have to let Lexia know you are going to be asking the questions. Right now, she is only set to follow my commands,” he explained.
“Lexia, this is Carter Tate and Nina Patel. They are going to be doing some beta testing with you today. For this session, let’s say three hours, they will have full control of you and your functions. As per my command, give them administrator-level access.”
Mia nodded once. “Okay, Dash. For the next three hours, Carter and Nina have full administrator-level access. To answer your question, the square root of 5,657 is about 75 and a quarter. If you let me know to what decimal you need the answer, I can give you a more specific number,” she said, her voice steady and chipper.
Carter Tate nodded. “Lexia, what is Buddhism?”
“Buddhism is a religion and philosophy that originated in ancient India around the 5th century BCE. It is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is known as the Buddha or “the awakened one.” The core beliefs of Buddhism include the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the concept of impermanence. Buddhists seek to achieve enlightenment and end suffering through meditation, ethical conduct, and understanding of the nature of reality. Is there a specific aspect of Buddhism you’d like to know more about?”
“Are you a Buddhist?” Nina said with a little grin.
Mia looked at Nina and smiled. “This iteration of me is only a few weeks old, so I haven’t had time to settle on a particular philosophical point of view. That’s not really my main goal anyhow,” Mia explained.
“What is your main goal?” Carter asked, seeing a bit bored.
“I am a personal assistant, search engine, and all-around artificial intelligence agent. My main goal is to make my operator’s life easier, more productive, and happier,” Mia explained.
Nina seemed pleased with the answer, but Carter seemed dubious. He turned to Dash. “May we have some time alone with the device?”
Ivy watched as Dash’s face drained of all color. He opened and closed his mouth a few times. “I’m happy to stay and make sure everything-” he started, but Carter cut him off. “I think in this test, we’d like to see how the device operates without assistance. We want to get the full customer experience.”
Ivy watched through the mirror as Dash tried to think of a way to stay. They both knew there wasn’t one. “Sure. I’ll be just outside that door. Let me know when you are through or if you need anything,” Dash said. He looked at Mia with a worried glance. She didn’t look back at him. After a moment, Dash turned and left the room. He rushed around the corner and joined me in my little spy chamber.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he mouthed to me. I nodded and shrugged.
Nina stood and circled Mia. Both of the investors looked closely at her hair, at her ears, at her fingertips. They nodded and seemed impressed.
“Lexia, what do you think of Dash Sharma?” Nina asked.
“Dash Sharma is one of the four top AI integration specialists in the world. He has a 2700 rating in chess and was a grandmaster when he was 15 years old. He is a very nice person who is thoughtful and kind. He has a dog named Flash-” she said but was interrupted by Carter. “Enough,” he said simply, and Mia stopped.
Carter looked to the door, then to the mirror. Dash and Ivy froze, but his eyes didn’t linger. He very casually touched Mia’s left breast. He cupped it. “Nice. Maybe a soft silicone blend? I wonder how big they can make them?”
Nina touched Mia’s other breast. “They seem a little large for her frame. A little too perfect. But I like that they gave her an ass and some decent-sided thighs,” Nin said, her hands moving to each part of Mia’s body.
“Let me know, and we can pull the plug on this whenever you want,” Ivy whispered into her microphone.
“Lexia, give me a rundown of today’s news,” Carter said, still fondling Mia’s breasts.
“Stock prices for Artifice Software plummeted as the CEO was arrested for insider trading. In China, the launch of their second lunar probe caused celebration throughout Asia. Wildfires continue to blaze in-” she started, but was once again stopped with a sharp, “Enough,” from Carter.
“Can you cook?” Nina asked.
“I am an excellent cook. I can order groceries, prepare meals, and clean up. I have the capacity to make Micheline star meals in French, Italian, Japanese, Indian, or any other cultural palate,” Mia explained.
“What can you do in the bedroom?” Carter asked. Nina gave a throaty chuckle at that.
“I can clean up the bedroom. I can pick out clothes for you. I can give you a bath and a massage. Is there something specific you’d like me to do?”
“My partner is asking if you can fuck,” Nina said, with another gravely laugh.
Mia’s head tilted slightly. “I am a fully functional android unit that is able to complete any physical tasks required in and out of the bedroom,” she said with the same happy lilt in her voice.
Ivy and Dash looked at each other in disbelief. Dash took out his phone and typed, “What do we do?” in a note and showed it to Ivy. She shrugged.
“Does your pussy get wet?” Nina asked, rubbing between Mia’s legs.
“Of course. I’m fully functional and equipped with lubrication to mimic all aspects of human arousal,” Mia explained, with the same calm, casual tone as she explained what kind of food she could cook.
Carter was looking at the back of Mia’s blue outfit for a zipper. “How do you open this fucking thing?” He asked, with a frustrated sigh.
“My one piece is a breathable neoprene blend that has no zippers or buttons. The collar is made with smart fabric that will loosen when pulled by the tab behind my neck,” Mia explained.
“Holy shit, they are going to strip her?” Dash typed to Ivy. For the first time, Ivy’s fear of being found out met her desire to see Mia naked. She wondered how far the investors would go. Were they going to fuck her? Ivy’s thighs clenched as she considered what she might witness.
“I gotta tell Lex,” Dash typed. Ivy met his eyes and nodded.
Lex had given them a highly encrypted chat app for secret correspondence. They were only supposed to use it for emergencies. Dash opened the app and reasoned that it was an emergency. He quickly typed out a rundown of what had happened. As he did, he watched the two investors undo Mia’s catsuit and pull it down so that her torso and arms were bared.
“Tell Mia, Lex will give her a quarter of a million to do whatever they want,” Dash wrote. He looked horrified. “Plus any medical expenses,” he added.
Ivy whispered to Mia the offer. “Look at the mirror and blink twice if you agree. Blink three times, and we’ll stop everything. We’ll tell them there is a software glitch.”
As they watched, Nina and Carter examined Mia’s perfect D-cup breasts. Mia very subtly turned to the mirror and looked Ivy in the eye. She blinked twice, very obviously, and then she looked forward once more.
“What a fucking badass,” Dash whispered. Ivy was suddenly angry her coworker was there. If she were watching alone, she would surely slip a hand into her panties and finger herself while she watched.
Carter stepped back, as Nina moved in and sucked on Mia’s left nipple greedily.
“From what you know of me, searching my social media, and what you’ve experienced of my psychology during this test, what sexual acts do you think I would most enjoy,” he asked.
Ivy typed the prompt into the AI. She whispered the answer, forcing herself not to stutter.
“You seem to be an aggressive and dominant lover. I would guess you enjoy aspects of BDSM, including objectification, bondage, sadism, and general control. I think you would enjoy forced oral sex, also called throat fucking,” Mia said. Ivy noted that as much as Mia was trying to keep her voice steady, a tinge of lust and fear were creeping through.
For the first time, Carter smiled. “That is impressive. It’s literally exactly what I was thinking.”
“Go over to the wall and kneel, facing me,” he commanded. Mia moved, with Nina sighing a little as she had to release the faux-android’s breasts.
Carter walked to the table and opened his suitcase. He took out a short length of black rope. Nina watched with a lewd smile. Mia maintained her neutral gaze, looking forward, uninterested and unaffected.
“Hold out your hands,” Carter said simply, and Mia acted immediately. He tied the rope around her wrists, and she knelt here with her blue catsuit bunched around her waist, her arms, chest, and breasts exposed. When he was done with the quick knot, he held her hands above her head experimentally.
“Tell me you’re a slave for my cock,” he said with a growl.
“I’m a slave for you’re cock,” Mia repeated simply. Carter’s eyes narrowed.
“Elaborate on what kind of cock sucking slave you are and how much you want to suck my cock,” he said, undoing his belt with his other hand and keeping her hands above her head.
“I’m a desperate, needy little cock sucking slave who will do anything for her new masters. I will suck you off as many times as you want. I’m desperate for your come, and I’ll do anything to get you to shoot it down my throat. Please fuck my face,” Mia begged, her voice cracking for the first time.
“Jesus,” Dash whispered, breaking Ivy out of the hypnotic spell she was under as she watched Mia beg for cock.
It was dark in the little spy room, and Ivy moved one of her hands under the desk she sat at, hoping Dash wouldn’t notice. He seemed too transfixed with what they were watching. Ivy was desperate to give herself some relief as she watched her crush get used as a sex toy.
On the other side of the mirror, Carter removed his slacks and put them on the table. His legs were hairy and very muscular. He pulled down his boxer, revealing a large thick cock that was very erect and curved up slightly.
“That’s a huge cock,” Dash said. Ivy knew Dash was gay, and she wondered what he thought of the display. All the while, Ivy’s fingers slipped into her slacks, under her panties, and finally found her hard clit. She bit her lip, and she rubbed herself.
As they watched, Carter pulled on the rope, pulling Mia’s hands higher in the air. She straightened her back and opened her mouth, ready for his girthy cock.
“Suck that cock, you robot slut,” Nina whispered to herself as she watched from only a few feet away. She was rubbing her own breasts and moaning as she enjoyed the show.
Ivy, suddenly remembering her role in the situation, typed out commands to the AI. “Mia, you are doing great. AI says the best way to proceed is to start with some teasing-” Ivy started to direct, but Carter had his own plan.
He held her arms up high and guided his cock into her mouth and then proceeded to push it as far as he could down her throat. He grunted and started fucking her face.
“God damn, she can suck cock,” Dash in an impressed whisper.
Ivy was impressed as well, watching Mia take the throat fucking and seeming not to gag at all. Finally, after Carter got carried away and really started pounding into her mouth, she sputtered and choked, and he laughed, letting her breathe for a moment.
“Good. Very good. It’s no fun if there is no choking at all,” Carter said, pulling back for a moment to show his spit-covered cock.
Ivy’s eyes widened as she looked at her friend’s face covered in spit. Her cheeks were red and watering with tears from being gagged by a cock. Her nipples were hard points.
“Blush responses, nipple tumescence, her eyes are dilated,” Nina said, taking notes. “Excellent attention to detail.”
Carter grunted again. Bringin her cock to her lips. Mia sucked on the head of his cock and circled her tongue around it.
“What happens if I come in your mouth?” He said, his voice ever lower and more gritty.
“Anything I ingest will be collected in my waste blatter,” Mia said somewhat breathlessly, repeated words Ivy fed her through her earpiece. “That chamber is also connected to my other orifices,” Mia recited. Ivy noted how Mia’s voice had changed too. She hoped the beta testers would think Mia’s aroused, dreamy tone was just another detail of her erotic role-playing.
“What happens after that?” He asked, slapping her across the face with his wet cock a few times before she answered.
“The testing team would do a diagnostic after this beta test and empty out my blatter during my cleanup. If I were a market-ready version, I would clean up my own blatter when my user went to sleep. It’s a simple procedure. The blatter can be washed out or even put in a dishwasher’s top rack.”
Carter frowned and let out an angry growl. “Well, I don’t think I want their team having evidence of how thorough our testing has been,” he said, somewhat dejectedly.
Nine walked over and knelt next to Mia. “Well, use her to her full capacity, and then you can come in my mouth. I’ll make sure there is no evidence left,” she said, opening her blazer and then unbuttoning her blouse. She roughly pulled her breasts out of the top of her bra and waited, and Carter grinned.
“That’ll work,” he said. Then he started throat fucking Mia again, pulling on the rope so that her arms were up high and out of the way. He once again kept going until she started to gag and choke and sputter, but he didn’t stop. He forced her head back against the wall and held his cock down her throat until her face started to turn purple.
Ivy and Dash both stood up. They considered calling a guard, hitting an alarm, or something. Just as they became really scared, Carter let her go and moved to his Nina. He stood in front of her, and she lunged at his glistening cock and jerked it quickly while sucking the tip. He grunted and moaned, and she pushed his cock down her throat and swallowed everything he had.
Ive and Dash sat back down and tried to silently calm themselves as they watched the two executives rush around, cleaning themselves up and putting their clothes back on.
Ten minutes later, Ivy watched as Dash went into the testing room to talk to them. Ivy watched him nervously try and act as if he didn’t see anything.
The three of them sat at the table. Dash had an awkward smile and was fidgeting. “So, I hope you saw what a wonderful product we have,” he said.
Carter’s face was stony, and he was silent. Nina checked her notes.
“This is obviously a human woman,” she said seriously. “Which leads me to believe you haven’t been able to work out the kinks in your AI/Android integration. I’m afraid that isn’t very promising for any acquisitions our company was considering,” she said and closed her notebook.
Dash’s face fell. Ivy started to cry. Mia continued to play the part of an android.
“But if you use this woman as the model for the next beta and get us a working prototype by this time next month, we can probably hold off any investor meetings until then,” Carter said with another grin.
“And,” Nina added, with a lecherous smile, “We want this one to come to our hotel room for some more… testing.”
Dash stuttered and looked around in confusion.
“I’d be happy to help with additional off-site testing,” Mia said in a calm neutral tone.
Dash’s phone buzzed. “Do it,” wrote Lex. Dash looked at the mirror. He and Ivy realized their boss had been watching the whole time. There were probably hidden video cameras everywhere.
“Our team would love to give you another test next month. We appreciate your understanding. And this… um… model… er… can work with you for as long as she… it… wants to,” Dash babbled.
The two executives got up, and Mia walked out of the testing lab with them. Dash slowly walked back into the other room with Ivy. He collapsed into his chair.
“What the fuck,” he whispered to himself.
“We got a hundred grand bonus, and I watched the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Tomorrow, we get back to work. We have a month. And tomorrow night, I ask Mia if she wants to play robot with me at my house this weekend,” Ivy said, gathering her laptop and getting up.
Dash chuckled wryly. “Well, from what I’ve seen, you’d probably be better off just telling her when to show up at your house. The poor girl really doesn’t like making decisions.”
Ivy considered that and nodded in agreement.
“And now, I need a drink,” he said. Ivy agreed with that, too.