Heterosexual Male

You glance over the form being displayed on the lithsheet. The majority of the fields are filled with information by the central AI unit in the building as it pulls public data on you in from the net. The remainder of the questions that you are left to answer deal with your sexual orientation. You mark that you are heterosexual, answer a few survey type questions, and then hand the form back to Katherine for authentication. A baseball-sized authenticator whirs down from its alcove in the ceiling and does a flash-scan of your retinas and face. These images appear before your eyes on the lithsheet Katherine has resting on the conference table.

"Everything appears to be in order," says Gregor.

"I can see you're anxious to get started." Katherine stands and everyone else at the table follows her lead. "I will show you to the operations planning room and we can begin preparing for the first stress test."

You, Gregor, and Mr. Weiss follow behind Katherine down a long white-tiled hallway that curves around an unseen elliptical room in the facility's heart. You reach a mirrored-glass section of wall with a door set into it and Katherine pauses to swipe her ID card and submit to a retinal scan. The dark glass of the door swings open with a "thunk" of magnetic bolts releasing and the four of you enter a comfortable almost lounge-like room full of couches and softly humming computer equipment.

Katherine pours a glass of water from a pitcher and sets it in front of you. She reaches into her pocket and extracts a small envelope, which she opens and let's a green gelatin caplet fall into the palm of her hand.

"This is our safety net," she pushes the pill across the table to where you are standing. "Inside is a transmitter array and microprocessor that will monitor your vitals at all times. Spikes above the safety limits in your biometrics will cause an immediate halt to the testing and shutdown both the simulation and the test chassis."

You pick up the pill, pop it into your mouth, and chase it with a gulp of water.

"Good. Now, if I can direct your attention to the testing arena." The four of you approach the opposite side of the room and with a woosh of depolarization the glass becomes transparent.

On the opposite side of the glass is a very large elliptical chamber bulging with what look to be unfinished ceramic tiles about the size of a sidewalk segment. On the high ceiling you can see loops of cables and several dozen projectors of some sort. More importantly you see a figure reclining on its back in a chair that closely resembles the kind you would see in a dentist's office.

"We have selected a Mark IX pleasure chassis for you." Data and images on the automaton are super imposed over your view of the room and Katherine reads along. ?It stands 5?6? tall, with blond hair and blue eyes. 40 inch bust, 22 inch waist, 32 inch hips. It has near-virginal genital design, heated exterior surface, simulated respiration and a host of additional features available in all Mark IXs.?

You gaze at what looks to be a woman on the other side of the glass. She is beautiful, of that there can be no doubt, with large perfectly shaped breasts, glittering blue eyes, smooth cream-colored skin, and lips that make you practically ache to kiss her. Her evenly colored platinum blond hair pools around her head like spilled gold and the slight rise and fall of her chest gives her the appearance of deep sleep.

?I assume this will be acceptable,? Katherine taps her lith stylus distractedly on one of the computer consoles. ?If not we can reconfigure a Mark IX to your specifications and you can return tomorrow.?

?I'm sure that is not the case,? interjects Mr. Weiss in a baritone that nearly startles you, ?perhaps you could select the scenario you would like to test this evening so that we can all go home and get some sleep.?

Katherine continues as if she had not been interrupted.

?We have a number of pre-loaded settings and matching behavioral memes for the Orchid test AI. If those are unsuitable you can take a few moments to customize a scenario that meets your needs.?