Real Man, A; Mirror, Mirror Read online

  As she lay beside him she realized that she felt like she was lying in bed with a human, not a machine. If she hadn’t known better, she’d swear he was breathing. Cyborgs didn’t breathe. They didn’t have lungs.

  Wondering if she was just imagining things, she held her breath, listening, hearing the shallow, even breath move in and out of his chest. The hair stood up on the back of her neck.

  She came up on one elbow, staring at his chest, hard. It was moving!

  After a few moments, she settled back, wondering if his creator had told him the truth about himself. She was sure Nico wouldn’t be able to lie—she thought he wouldn’t. Cyborgs weren’t programmed for it—so she knew he’d told her what he believed to be true, but it seemed too fantastic to be believable.

  On the other hand, he did seem to be learning. He was curious. He’d actually seemed to enjoy the food she’d given him. He could’ve been mimicking someone enjoying food, but she didn’t think so.

  Besides, he’d initiated his inspection of her himself. She’d undressed him and she knew he’d been imitating her when he’d decided to undress her, but, afterward, once he had undressed her, he’d immediately assessed that they were different and the difference had made him very curious.

  Yawning, she finally turned over and went to sleep.

  Hands on her ankles sent a jolt of alarm like an ambulance siren through her subconscious, lifting her from sleep to jolting awareness so fast her brain didn’t really awaken. Opening her eyes to bright sunlight filtering in the room, Marina’s eyes immediately filled with tears. She blinked, squinted, and finally made out the blurry shape of a man’s head and shoulders at the foot of the bed. “Nico?”

  “Yes?”

  Releasing a gusty sigh that was part relief, part irritation, she settled back, closing her eyes and immediately, almost, drifted away again. Her legs were lifted straight and parted abruptly. She grunted as her inner thighs protested. “Wha’re you doing?”

  “Looking.”

  “Oh,” she muttered sleepily.

  He released her legs and they dropped to the bed. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, a very large finger was rammed unceremoniously into her pussy. Her eyes opened like saucers and filled with tears again. Her reflexive instinct was to close her legs, but the effort seemed to go unnoticed.

  “Is this the hole designed for my genitalia?”

  Blinking, she managed to lift her head, feeling mixed signals coming from the sensitive nerves in her pussy, alternating stabs of delight and discomfort. Slowly, Nico came into focus. His head was between her legs about a foot from her pussy. “Wha’?”

  The finger was moved around experimentally, sending more powerful jolts of pleasure through her. An involuntary groan worked its way up her throat. “Stop!”

  He withdrew the finger. Before she managed a sigh of relief, the finger began flicking back and forth across her clit. “What is this for?”

  “Ohhhhhhhhhh!”

  The flicking stopped and his head bobbed up. “This causes pain?”

  Marina licked her lips, trying to catch her breath. “No,” she said shakily.

  He flicked it a couple more times experimentally and, despite all she could do, another moan of pleasure escaped her. The finger was then dragged down her cleft to the mouth of her vagina and inserted again. “This produces an excretion?”

  Marina’s cheeks flooded with color. “All right. The biology lesson is over, Nico. Stop! Right now!”

  She thought for several unnerving moments that he was going to ignore the command.

  Finally, he removed his finger and sat up.

  Dragging herself up the bed, Marina put her legs together and pulled the covers over herself, glaring at him. “Before you start getting any wild ideas about learning anything more, we need to get one thing straight. I don’t know if you’ve been programmed to perform as a pleasure droid or not, but I don’t fuck machines … only real men.”

  He frowned, tilting his head to one side while he studied her face and then the cover over her lower body. “I am a real man.”

  His cock stood erect, doubling in size.

  Marina stared at it in surprise. Finally, she dragged her gaze from it. “You are a cyborg. And that’s only one step up from a droid.”

  “I am a real man,” he insisted.

  His cock thickened and grew another two inches.

  It took an effort of will to drag her gaze from it.

  “You are NOT a real man!” Marina said more forcefully. “You will nev….” She broke off. She didn’t really believe she could hurt his feelings, but she felt mean to say such a thing anyway. “Never mind. Let’s just say you’re not my type.”

  His cock went flaccid, as if she’d wounded his ego. “What is type?”

  Marina yawned and stretched. She wanted nothing so much as to roll over and go back to sleep, but she had to get to work. “Never mind. You wouldn’t understand if I tried to explain it.” Rolling out of bed, she left him and staggered into the bathroom, her eyes half closed.

  She was relieving her bladder when he grasped her knees and parted them. “What are you doing now?”

  “I’m going to clobber you if you don’t stop studying me!” she said indignantly.

  He was crouched in front of her, but at that, he looked up. “Why?”

  Marina sighed. “I’m relieving my bladder. Real people have to.”

  He was still computing that when she pushed him out of the way and climbed into the shower. “This is the discomfort in the lower area of the torso?”

  Marina ignored him. After a moment, she heard the distinct sound of gushing water. Startled, she peered out of the shower, gaped at him a moment in surprise and then ducked back into the shower. She wouldn’t have guessed he was that anatomically correct! What had his creator been thinking?

  She’d just begun to relax again when he stepped into the shower with her.

  “Out!”

  He climbed out again, but stood just outside, watching every move she made.

  Marina glared at him. He was starting to get on her nerves!

  By the time she’d gotten dressed, she was beginning to feel ashamed of herself for her impatience. The whole world was new to him. There was no room for doubt that he’d been given artificial intelligence. His curiosity was a clear indication that he had and he was investigating everything around him. She sat on the bed and watched as he dried himself, missing almost as much as he got.

  Finally, she got up, took the towel and finished drying him. She watched critically as he dressed himself, but he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. “I should pick you up a couple of changes of clothing. If it’s going to be at least a week before your creator comes back, you don’t want to wear the same thing every day.”

  Patting him on the back affectionately, she gathered her briefcase and headed out the door.

  He followed her.

  Tossing the briefcase in the seat of the hovercraft, she escorted him back into the house, led him toward the couch in her living room, and told him to sit. After turning on the videocom, she showed him how to use the controller and handed it to him. “I have to go to work, and you can’t come. You can entertain yourself with the videos, look around the house … or the yard, if you like. If you get hungry … feel the need for energy, help yourself to whatever you like in the refrigerator …. Just don’t eat too much. It’ll give you a stomach ache.”

  He stared at her throughout the monologue, blinking, looking around, studying the controller. He looked so lifelike it sent a shiver along her spine. It was getting to be really hard reminding herself that he wasn’t a real man.

  “Did you understand?”

  “Yes. I must stay here.”

  She ruffled his hair, smiling at him. “Good. I’ll be back this afternoon,” she finished, patting him on the cheek.

  She found herself worrying about him while she tried to work. Finally, when her lunch break rolled around, she called the house. The trans
mitter rang and rang. She’d just decided to give up, when the screen lit up.

  Nico stared at her, his brows lifting in surprise. “Marina.”

  She smiled. “Everything OK?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll be home about five.”

  He nodded and the screen went blank.

  Shrugging, Marina ate her lunch and returned to work. She couldn’t help but be a little uneasy about leaving him alone in the house all day, but he seemed to be all right. Finally, she dismissed it, but the uneasiness returned when she headed for home.

  Food smells assaulted her the moment she opened the door, most of it the smell of burned or scorched food. Overlying it, however, was a much more welcome smell. Dropping her briefcase, she followed the smells to the kitchen, halting abruptly on the threshold.

  The kitchen looked like a disaster area. Nico was standing at the range. He turned when he heard her gasp. “I have cooked.”

  “From the looks of it, everything in the kitchen.”

  A look of surprise ran over his features. He turned, looking around the kitchen. “The first attempts were not successful,” he said finally.

  “So I gathered. The kitchen’s a mess!”

  “I will clean it.”

  “Yes! You will!” Marina said tartly and went into her room to change into more comfortable clothes.

  Nico followed her. Standing in the doorway, he watched every move she made with patent interest.

  “I like the female body,” he said.

  Marina looked at him in surprise for several moments then chuckled. “It looks like you’ve got that part about being a real man figured out. Just for future reference, though, that’s too ambiguous a statement to make to a woman who’s just undressed in front of you.”

  “I like your body.”

  She smiled. “You are a clever fellow.”

  “It makes this body feel strange things when I look at you.”

  She couldn’t help but blush. “A compliment is always nice,” she said dismissively.

  He tilted his head. “A compliment is a polite lie, is it not?”

  “Not always. Maybe sometimes, but a person can usually tell when it’s a polite lie and then it doesn’t make them feel good. If you want to make somebody feel good, you compliment them on things you admire that are true.”

  He thought it over. “It was true. Why does it do that?”

  Marina frowned. “I don’t honestly know. If you were a real man, I’d say it was because you were physically attracted to me.”

  “I am a real man.”

  The moment the words were out of his mouth, Marina’s gaze went right to his crotch. Sure enough, the erection was there. “How do you do that?”

  He followed her gaze. “I do not know. It happens.”

  “When you lie.”

  “I am not programmed to lie.”

  Marina thought for several moments his cock was going to burst the seams of his jumpsuit. Unable to take her eyes off of it, she said, “I thought you told me you had artificial intelligence?”

  “I do.”

  The erection went down. This time, however, it did not vanish. His cock merely shrank back to a more normal size. Fascinated, Marina searched her mind for another question. “Are you a virgin?”

  He thought about it for several moments. “No.”

  His cock swelled again.

  Marina was torn between amusement and … she hated to admit it, interest. “I think you are a virgin.”

  “No.”

  Again it grew in girth and length.

  She was tempted to see just how big it could get, but she decided she’d ‘played’ with it enough. “Never mind. I doubt your creator expected you to learn anything about sex when he told you to go out and learn.”

  “I am supposed to learn to be a real man.”

  Marina stared at him a long moment, but, as tempting as it was to pursue the matter, she couldn’t get around the fact that he wasn’t, in truth, a real man. “Sorry. You’ll have to learn that part somewhere else. What else did you learn today?”

  He frowned. “I prepared a meal for us.”

  “I saw that.”

  “Why can I not learn that part from you?”

  “I already told you why.”

  He frowned, looking displeased, disappointed, and thoughtful at the same time. Finally, he seemed to dismiss it. “Come. The food will not be good if it cools too long.”

  To Marina’s surprise and pleasure, she saw that he actually had prepared a tempting meal. Apparently, as he’d said, it had taken some trial an error, but he’d figured it out. Taking a seat at the table, she tasted the food cautiously. “Hey! This is really good!”

  He smiled.

  Marina stared at him. For the first time, instead of a mechanical reflection of her own smile, she saw that he actually looked genuinely pleased. The smile, instead of being a slight curling of his lips, seemed to light his entire face, making his eyes sparkle. “You are … so handsome when you smile like that!” she said before she thought better of it.

  “Thank you.”

  After a moment, she returned her attention to her food. “What else did you learn today?”

  He frowned. “I studied emotional drama on the videocom. I am still confused.”

  Marina chuckled. “You watched soap operas? I can imagine. You do realize that that is just acting? And not very good acting a lot of the time.”

  “Acting?”

  “They pretend to feel things they don’t actually feel. It’s like you do. I smile. You smile. I frown. You frown. You don’t actually feel anything. You’re just copying what you see.”

  He frowned, obviously computing what she’d said. “I am designed to feel. I have both biological sensors and electronic sensors. My biological sensors function precisely the same as …..”

  “A real man?” Marina asked gently.

  He blushed.

  Marina nearly fell out of her chair.

  Rising abruptly, he left her at the table and went back into the kitchen.

  In a few moments, Marina heard the clatter of pots and pans and the rush of water. If she hadn’t known better, she’d think she’d hurt his feelings. She tried to dismiss it and finish her meal but found that her appetite had abandoned her. Finally, she got up and moved to the kitchen door, peering inside. He was moving around the room with an expression of anger on his features, snatching pots up, dumping the contents into the garbage can, and then slamming the pots in the sink.

  She studied his stiff back for several moments. “Hey! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to … uh … hurt your feelings.”

  He stopped and turned to look at her. “I am not a man. I do not have feelings to hurt. I am only imitating an exhibit of anger.”

  Marina was more than a little taken aback. She studied his face carefully, but it was completely expressionless now. “Because I said something that required that response?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Yes.”

  She should have been relieved. Instead, she felt a strange sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach and the certainty that he was lying. She had hurt his feelings. He was trying to pretend she hadn’t—which was so truly human in nature that she felt disoriented for several moments. “Even if it didn’t really hurt your feelings, I’m still sorry.”

  He nodded, forced a mechanical smile, and returned his attention to cleaning the kitchen.

  After a while, Marina gave up and left. She discovered when she went into the living room to relax in front of the videocom that she couldn’t find anything she was interested in watching. She watched a news program for a while, listening to the sounds coming from the kitchen, and finally began flipping through the channels again.

  She never watched the soaps. She didn’t know why she paused the videocom on one, but she watched the couple fucking each other silly all over the set’s living room for many moments. It wasn’t terribly good acting, but she found herself becoming aroused as she watched them wre
stle, pant, and thrust.

  How long had it been since she’d indulged in a purely carnal relationship, she wondered?

  Obviously too long if she could respond to a cyborg.

  Flipping to another channel impatiently, she decided it was high time she put herself back into circulation. She could afford it. She’d just been too caught up in work to realize she was in need of a good lay. Shrugging, she turned off the videocom and went into her room. Turning on the transmitter, she looked up several dating services and went through the clips for a couple of hours. There were plenty of men currently available, but somehow she just couldn’t seem to find one that appealed to her enough to make a selection. Finally, deciding it was just too late to call one over, she turned the transmitter off and got up to get ready for bed.

  The kitchen had grown quiet some time ago, she realized when she returned to her room. She could hear voices from the living room and realized Nico had gone back to watching the soaps. Shrugging, she went to bed. She found, however, that sleep eluded her and, after a while she got up again, went into the bathroom, and popped a sleeping pill.

  She was out like a light almost the moment her head hit the pillows.

  * * * *

  Nico settled on the couch and studied the drama playing out on the videocom. He found that strange sensations were still circulating inside of him. He’d identified them as anger and hurt, but Marina had said they were not. He wondered if she was right, and, if she was, why he felt—not right.

  Finally, deciding he could not correctly compute the input, he looked down at the control. There were many channels, but Marina had programmed three as her preferred channels to watch. He had no interest in the program he had been staring at but not really watching. Depressing the button, he looked at the videocom again. Two men were performing sexual acts on a woman. He studied them, leaning forward so that he could catch every expression and every movement. As he watched, he realized that his heart had begun to beat faster. His chest felt tight and he had to breathe faster to adjust to the rapidly pumping blood. His penis began to throb and when he looked down, he saw that it had swollen. Pain and excitement began to surge through him, making him lightheaded.