Previous Post     Tandi was a 5’6 natural redhead with an hourglass body and the face of a supermodel, but Anna’s onboard diagnostics got past that instantly to the reality of the situation. “You’re a robot,” she informed Hallie’s visitor.     Tandi shrugged. “Yeah. I left my ‘I’m a robot’ T-shirt at home, but it’s not like I’m ashamed to be synthetic.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re a Sexmatic 9000 Entertainment Android, serial number B4559-69, based on Pervo Industries patent 89947667, with a dual-dynamic parallel processor neural array.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know. I read my manual.” Tandi regarded the stranger in the Lair Legion Living Room with some uncertainty.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m Anna. An Abstract Neural Network Android.”     Tandi looked again at the young woman. Her own systems weren’t designed for extensive sensor operations, except for monitoring her partners for potential cardiac problems. “I heard,” she shrugged. “The deluxe model.”     Anna’s systems detected a certain measured caution in the sexbot’s responses. “You don’t like me,” she noted.     Tandi halted. “I didn’t say that.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“You don’t need to. I’m acutely intelligent and can read body language, even that of artificial beings. Your programming includes simulation of many human tells to set your sexual partners at ease, automated body responses that you are not even aware of. I can highlight the relevant code sections if you require them for review. That allows me to infer that you are not pleased to meet me.”     Tandi sighed. “Boy, you are new, aren’t you? Brain the size of a planet, I bet, but not much actual experience yet to put all that IQ to work on.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I am cognitively and physically far superior to you, be design,” Anna explained.     Ã¢â‚¬Å“And that’s why I don’t like you,” Tandi answered. “No, not because you’re a higher spec than me, with the fancy brain functions and the combat-level physical skills. Because you think having that stuff makes you better than me.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I did not draw that conclusion.”     Tandi prodded a finger at the puzzled newcomer. “You’ve probably read my hard drives by now, right? I bet you can do that to a humble factory model like me. So you know I was created to be basically a sentient inflatable sex doll, a bed toy for some horny over-rich lecher with no social skills.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I am aware that you have some codified programming as root…”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“But Anna, that’s not what I am. I got out of that life. I made something different of myself.” She gestured to her curves. “I can’t help how I was made or what I was made, but since then I’ve also made something of myself. Something more than my specifications. I wasn’t made a super-android. I’ll never be a super-android. But I’m working on being something I can be proud of.” The sexbot snorted ruefully. “I admit it’s kind of a work in progress.”     Anna considered this. “You are suggesting that I am failing to properly evaluate you because I am being overly reliant on primary technical data, lacking a wider reference frame to correlate that with other sampled evidence. I additionally infer that this is not the first time that artificial life forms have reacted to your origins in the sex industry to dismiss you and your achievements. You have therefore reacted with dislike because I have failed to conduct a proper analysis of your status and respond accordingly.”     Tandi was a kind-hearted robot, by nature as well as design. “Don’t get upset,” she told Anna. “It’s a rookie mistake, that’s all. You’re right. I’m over-sensitive to being judged by other robots. Pretty much all of them are faster, or stronger, or smarter, or have laser nozzles, or transform into trucks or something. All I can do is tie a cherry-stalk into a knot with just my tongue. So when I saw you spot me and pigeon-hole me in a fraction of a second with that super-smart brain of yours…”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“It was not my intention to offend you or misjudge you,” Anna apologised. “I am learning that there is much to value in the wide range of lifeforms I have encountered.” She considered for a moment. “I too am a work in progress.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“That’s pretty much what defines us as being people,” Tandi admitted. “Works in progress, the lot of us.”     She gave Anna a brief hug. “We got off to a bad start,” the sexbot admitted, “but we’re smart. We can learn and adapt. If you’re sticking around give me a call. I’ll show you round the clubs and introduce you to karaoke, the greatest waste of enhanced intelligence ever invented. You’ll love it.”     Ã¢â‚¬Å“I will file that information for future action,” Anna agreed. “It was instructional to meet you.”     Tandi grinned as she waved goodbye. “Wait until you meet Fleabot,” she chuckled. “Then you’ll know instructional.” Original concepts, characters, and situations copyright © 2007 reserved by Ian Watson. Other Parodyverse characters copyright © 2007 to their creators. The use of characters and situations reminiscent of other popular works do not constitute a challenge to the copyrights or trademarks of those works. The right of Ian Watson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved.

If Anna figured out Tandi's manufacturer information so quickly it's probably tattooed on her somewhere.

Just so you know (and everyone else too) Anna's attitude starts changing rapidly after Part 2. She starts out not being used to dealing with people much, and starts to watch them interact and learn. The first sign is when she suddenly became more talkative at the end of Part 2. As we progress beyond Part 2 even her language becomes less formal (something she had to learn was okay after being in the military).

Or course it might take longer for her to be more sociable around other mechanical beings. At the base she was taught that she was the commander of all things tech there, so it'll take a bit for her to learn. Humans, while she didn't interact with them much either, she thought of them as superiors and co-workers.

All of it is part of a rapid evolution, from an android locked away from society to one integrated with it, that I originally planned for oh, 3 chapters or so, and now is up to almost up to 5.