Book Chapter - The Comfort Drone (Patreon)

Book Chapter - The Comfort DroneJust outside one of the unoccupied testing cells, in the adjacent observation lounge separated by tinted observation windows was one of the maintenance workers, putting the final touches on her most recent passion project. After weeks of toiling, she finally held up her finished AI, letting out an exhausted sigh as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead. The young woman had no words, simply chuckling to herself happily as she held the chip above her head, looking up at it as if witnessing a dream come true, her mature brown eyes gleaming in the fluorescent office lights.

Running her fingers through her short red hair, a smile spread across her bright red lips as she simply savored this satisfying moment. The woman wore the usual lab attire, with the lab coat and dress shirt and all, though she preferred to wear a tight leather skirt with semi-transparent leggings on this particular day, as she had finished her shift hours ago. Suddenly, she was startled by the sound of the metal entrance doors opening on the other side of the room, as the bright lights from the hall briefly blinded her. Metallic, slightly rubbery footsteps could be heard as a tall dark silhouette entered the room, one too high in stature to be human.

Once the woman’s eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that it was Rei-Uno, stepping into the room with her hands on her hips as she slowly approached the lone lab worker. “Good evening Miss… Alara was it?” the android asked politely as she stood beside the table. The young woman looked up at the android, still not used to being in the presence of her much taller superior. “Yes ma’am, Alara is my first name.” she responded, unable to hide her nervousness as she spoke. “Yes, I’ve come to inform you that your reservation for this lab ended 30 minutes ago, from this point on, the room can only be used for testing and trial runs.” the android explained in a polite tone.

The woman took a moment before she was able to respond, as she couldn’t help but be slightly intimidated by her robotic superior. “I-I understand, that’s why I put the finishing touches on my project, it’s finally ready for testing.” Alara explained, holding up her finished chip with a slight stutter in her voice. Rei-Uno immediately analyzed the chip with her optics, and it didn’t take her long to recognize the intricate and complex wiring embedded into the device, immediately taking interest. ”Oh?” she exclaimed softly, scratching her chin when she realized it was an AI of some sort.

As the android reached down for the chip, the young woman couldn’t help but finch as her superior leaned down towards her, before taking the device in her rubbery hand. Rei-Uno kept herself bent over to remain at the human’s eye level, as she continued to look at the computer chip, fixated on it as she looked at it from every angle she could. “Interesting, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly did you have in mind for this little trinket?” she asked, regaining eye contact with the young woman. Alara’s nervous expression quickly faded as her eager grin returned, tapping her feet as she looked as if she could jump out of her shoes from excitement.

“I’m happy you asked Miss! I-I have the prototype waiting in the other room!” Mid Sentence, the young woman excitedly stepped her way toward the containment cell entrance, her heels loudly clacking along the marble floor before stopping halfway. Taking a deep breath, Alara got a hold of herself and turned around to face her superior again. “If… Would you like to see it ma’am?” she said in a polite tone. Rei-Uno chuckled as she stood back up, still gently holding the chip in her glossy fingers. “Of course.” she replied stepping forward. “It’s been such a slow day, and I’ve been dying to see something interesting before I power off for the night.”