Gynoid

Gynoid: Part 1

Toby inserted the memory card and battery pack into the back of her neck, flipped on the power switch, and closed the slot. There was an electronic humming and the girl in the rectangular crate uncurled herself from the fetal position. She sat up, her pink nightdress rustling softly, and looked around the room until her eyes fixed on Toby. Immediately she smiled at him, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. Sitting at his desk, Toby felt his face grow warm.

"Greetings." said the girl. "I am a Xingke Robotics Company gynoid, Yintu Companion model, personal designation Ariel. My serial number is MA6540032B, registered to Dresden Paris Crimson for private use. My functions include housekeeping, childcare, and sexual relations. It's a pleasure to meet you." The girl spoke each word in a clipped sort of way, always placing stress on every second syllable. When she listed her functions, she said them quickly and unstressed, as if she were parroting back something someone had taught her to say.

Toby watched as she stood up, stepped out of the crate, and bowed low to him. His stomach did a backflip as he saw her bare shoulders, her breasts pressed against each other by the fabric covering them. "N-Nice to meet you too," he said as she stood up straight. "And call me Toby."

The girl Ariel said, "I will call you Toby from now on. Okay?" Toby realized she was asking him for approval and nodded his head. Ariel smiled again, and then asked, "What may I do for you, Toby?"

"Er..." Toby blushed and looked away before glancing back again, taking her all in. She was almost exactly his height and looked to be around fifteen or sixteen, the same age as him, with lightly tanned skin and shiny black hair that ended just above her shoulders. She had dark, almond shaped eyes, long eyelashes, a small button nose, and brilliant white teeth that shown between a pair of soft pink lips. All this was wrapped in a bright-pink babydoll dress with a short frilly skirt and tied around the back with ribbons so that it clung tightly to her frame, as well as a yellow pendant that hung from a choker around her neck. She was so beautiful, it seemed impossible.

But of course, that was the point. She was a gynoid, a robot designed to look like and imitate an actual human girl, and one Toby had himself designed, picking out each of her physical characteristics so that she would be as appealing as possible to him.

This thought made him wonder, not for the first time, what the hell he was doing. Toby knew the reputations of people who got their own androids and gynoids. The robots themselves were limited in what they could do and where they could work. Due to the public's fear of robots taking their jobs, one of those safe places to work was the sex trade, where the law saw robots as the same as sex toys. The people who used those sort of sex toys, especially the ones who got their own private ones, were said to either be freaks who couldn't get legal sex any other way, or the pimps and madams who rented their property out to those freaks.

Under normal circumstances, Toby wouldn't be anywhere near a gynoid, let alone order one and have it in his room with him. He didn't want people, or himself, to think he was a freak, when he already had enough problems interacting with others to begin with. But what could he do? He'd dug himself into this hole, now he had to dig himself out.

Ariel said something, startling him from his thoughts. "Um...what did you say?" he asked.

"I asked why you assigned Ariel as my name designation." she said, still smiling.

Toby stared at her, his brain unable to process the question. When the neurons finally connected, he said, "Um...I thought it was a nice name. Everyone these days likes Asian names or weird names like Brick or Waterfall. Ariel was...not that." he finished, feeling lame. Then he added, "Why do you ask?"