Ethan moved the cart to a concrete wall and put his hands on his hips. Carter asked him, “What do they make here?”
“Computers?” Ethan said, shrugging, “What else do they make at these Silicon Valley offices?”
James gestured to the back wall. “Let me shut off the main.”
“Okay, boss,” Carter said.
While they set up, Ethan approached Mason. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Mason smiled at him, opening a locked door near the front entrance.
“What do you guys do here?” Ethan was always curious and loved technology.
“Want to see?” Mason’s smile was full of pride.
“Sure.” Ethan glanced back at the workmen who were locating the wiring they were going to tap into.
Mason opened the lock and turned on lights. As he entered, Ethan surveyed the space. It was an office without windows with two computer terminals and work stations. Hanging spotlights illuminated each desk.
It wasn’t very interesting, so Ethan shrugged to himself.
Mason kept his smile and signaled for Ethan to keep following him. The young man stood at an inner door.
Ethan looked at the computers which were in sleep-mode with the company’s logo on it as screensavers.
Mason unlocked the inner door and turned on more lights.
Ethan stood at the doorway, hearing his coworkers in the open space outside the two rooms, shouting to each other as they began working.
Mason gestured for Ethan to enter.
He did.
“Holy shit.” Ethan looked around the room and it appeared to be either a mannequin factory or a Hollywood prop room. Life-like parts were everywhere; rows of limbs, torsos, heads, wigs, and boxes of computer chips were stacked to the ceiling.
Mason touched the torso of one robot and its eyes opened.
Ethan jumped before he could prevent it as the bright blue eyes located him in the room.
Mason’s smile was sly, and slightly knowing.
Ethan tried not to be afraid.
The robot was definitely looking at him, no question about it.
“Hello, Ethan F. Reegan.”
Ethan gasped and pointed to himself. “What? How?”
“He has facial recognition.” Mason laughed. “So, if you have a photo posted on any social network, he’s going to ID you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ethan approached the desk the bisected bot was propped up on.
“I am Sam.” It smiled.
“Say hi.” Mason kept chuckling.
“Hi.” Ethan was stunned at how lifelike the expression and facial movements were. He looked at the other parts in the room, but this robot was the only one actually ‘turned on’. He glanced at a table near the wall and noticed a lower half, anatomically correct.
“Yo! Ethan!” was called from outside the room.
Ethan thumbed behind him. “I have to work.”
“Okay.” Mason smiled and plugged a USB wire into the back of the bot’s neck.
“Be careful working, Ethan,” Sam said.
“Huh? Sure. Thanks.” Ethan caught himself talking to a robot and shook his head as he left the room.
He rejoined his buddies, and got to work on installing the electrical system for the new space. Carter approached him. “What did you find out?”
“They’re working on some lifelike mannequin. It’s fucking crazy.”
“Geeks.” Carter chuckled. “Gotta love ‘em.”
Ethan tried not to be freaked out about a blue-eyed computer that knew his name.
~
Ethan ate his sandwich while sitting on a folding chair. No one else had gone into the occupied offices but him. So, none of these guys had seen the dummy…or robot…or?
It was no ‘dummy’. It knew who he was. How freaking weird was that?
As he chewed his ham and cheese hoagie, Ethan wondered about a future like he’d seen in movies. Where men were replaced with A-I machines in every aspect of life.
He’d watched the news, he knew it was out there. Everything from cloning extinct prehistoric species, to robots doing manual labor, the future was indeed upon them.
He stuffed the last bite into his mouth and held a bag of chips to his lips, chewing the broken crumbs. He balled the trash and then drank from a bottle of water.
As his team finished the wiring, the second half of the crew framed the room and added drywall.
He stood from the folding chair and took his trash to a receptacle. Then, entered the office where he knew a restroom was located. As he did, he heard talking coming from the interior room.
Peering behind him first, Ethan took a peek.
The two young men were working on that…that…man?
They had assembled him, joining his lower half with his upper half. The robot was lying prone on a table.
“Hello, Ethan.”
Ethan jumped out of his skin as the two young men turned to look at him, since the robot was the one who greeted him. “Holy shit.”
Mason waved him in. “Ben, that’s Ethan.”
“Hi, Ethan.” Ben glanced his way from under magnifying headgear.
Ethan moved closer, standing next to Ben as he appeared to be sewing the top layer of skin to the lower layer. “I…I can’t believe how lifelike he is.”
“He’s awesome.” Mason patted Sam’s thigh and to Ethan, the sound was as if he was touching skin and muscle. “How did you learn to do this?”
“A ton of research.” Mason beamed proudly. “I handle the mechanics and brains, while Ben is a master of molded faces and body parts.”
Ben took a break from his ‘sewing’ raising his magnifying headgear up. “We’re lucky. Most of the hard work has already been done. We’re just fine tuning.”
“What will you use him for?” Ethan noticed the bot staring at him. It was eerie as fuck.
“Everything.” Mason laughed. “He’s an all around kind of guy.”
Ethan noticed the A-I had a very accurate set of genitalia. He was average, not ridiculously hung, which Ethan thought made him all the more realistic. Not only that, the bot had appropriate body hair.
When the dick began to swell, Ethan choked and backed up.
Mason said, “Sam? Do you like Ethan?”
“I like Ethan.”
“Holy shit.” Ethan kept retreating. “He…he can do that?”
“He can do anything.” Ben patted Sam’s arm. “Okay, Sam. Calm down.”
Ethan noticed Sam look at the ceiling and then his cock did indeed, soften. “Is he gay?”
Mason and Ben cracked up with laughter. “We don’t know yet,” Mason said, “That’s completely up to Sam.”
Ethan thumbed behind him. “I’d better get back to work.”
“Be careful, Ethan,” Sam said again.
“I will.” Ethan shook his head at answering that… um… thing? But, it was so real!
He stopped at the restroom first, then returned to his work.
Just as he was about to unscrew a stationary fixture from the main power line, he paused. Does that robot know something I don’t? He removed his volt tester, and sure enough, the wire was hot. That would have been quite a jolt if he had touched it.
“Did someone turn the main on?” he asked.
“Shit.” One of the guys raced over to the panel and said, “Okay. Sorry. I was just testing the new fixtures.”
Ethan glanced back at the room where the men were working. Nah. Just coincidence. He went back to his wiring.
