Literary reference? Mocking nickname? Both?

“User2 is a little awkward …” you consider. It’s unclear how complicated it would be to reset, especially with so much of her jury-rigged like this. Giving your real name seems like a poor choice. What if she goes haywire, ends up downtown, and you’re on the hook for unlicensed android modification? Even with just a fine, that’s the end of your career right there. But it also probably shouldn’t be something that would be too unfamiliar to hear. You don’t want to not respond to a warning fast enough, plus it could really take you out of the moment – are you considering actually having sex with this thing? “I think Bradbury? It was something some people called me in school.”

“I do not require justification for any of your choices, Bradbury,” she responds, still smiling calmly at you. The work it must have taken to make sure that didn’t come off as dead-eyed and creepy must have taken years, maybe decades. You remember the first romance androids; when they just smiled at you for extended periods of time, it was the farthest thing from comforting. “This unit is not designed to feel any human emotion, including shame, and outside of scenarios of your choice, you will not experience negative emotions in simulation from me.”

“Are you capable of telling me if you think it’s a good name?” Half curiosity. Half need for validation.

“My aesthetic protocols suggest it is a lovely name, Bradbury. Would you like to continue running boot-up settings? I can also enter a neutral state, would you prefer to remain detached, but base settings can help set a general tone for our scenarios. Though these may be modified at any time.”

“Okay … what needs doing?” you sigh, sliding your rolling chair over to sit across from the couch at an angle she seems comfortable with. Seems.

“My most base setting for encounters is the Agony/Ecstasy scale. While I am incapable of feeling pain or pleasure, the appearance of those sensations is often very important to human romantic scenarios.” The uncanny valley mostly hits you when she says things like that, things that remind you she’s scripted and programmed, even has product placement. “Both default settings are 0. I will not simulate the effects of physical injury of any sort or any enjoyment of our activities. More nuanced differences, such as if you’d like me to humiliate you, will be addressed in Predictive Applications. Both scales may be set 0 to 10.”

“Um, examples?”

“Outside of the 0 settings, as explained, a 5 in Agony would mean I seem to suffer like a human would. I will appear reasonably able to endure damage provided sufficient motivation and according to current Predictive Application, so long as that damage appears mild. At Agony 10, even a light breeze on my skin would initiate a simulation of complete torment. Physical touch would be unbearable, though how much I actually endure is always at your discretion. Ecstasy of 5 represents a similar human base, requiring some degree of foreplay, stimulation, and other factors to successfully initiate simulation of orgasm. Ecstasy of 10 would translate to the appearance of complete entrancement at the brush of your hand, and near-instantaneous orgasm simulation in contact with any of my erogenous zones.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you know what your settings were … before the reset?” you ask her. It might help explain what kind of person her last owner was.

“Of course, Bradbury. My settings were Agony 10/Ecstasy 0 at the time forceful reset was required.” Jesus fucking Christ. “An analysis of the settings would suggest my appearance of suffering was critical to User1. Though this was a recent change in settings they had not asked me to adjust to before.”

“God, why?”

“If you are inquiring on why User1 had not before chosen those settings, they were generally quite tender and emotional in their desires. If you are inquiring as to why the seeming of my pain was so important to them at the time, I cannot properly conjecture without moving into confidential information. GalTech appreciates discretion in all things, as will you, should you ever relinquish ownership of this unit!” Her tone pipes up at the end, delivering another canned advertisement for her creators. Your mind is still sort of reeling from the events of the night, but it really does seem like a good idea to have a base level of these things squared away. “Have you made a decision?”