Project Orchid

New York has never been more brilliant. From the driver's seat of your Honda Pantheus it's a blur of neon glows and the strobe of office windows seen between concrete traffic pylons. In your wake it's all a river of light and the sense of euphoria you feel as you step on the accelerator can only be matched by the ravenous curiosity about your late night rendezvous.

The courier was waiting for you at the office. Nondescript, black suit, the kind of pro that would never be seen making deliveries anywhere outside the glass towers of downtown Manhattan. Scratch that, maybe Tokyo, but he would have been shorter and well-armed. The package he handed you was barely more than a polymer envelope, vacuum-sealed with a pull tab. It beeped once when you opened it, no doubt notifying someone miles away that you had just taken an interest in their special delivery.

"Meijer und Weiss, GmbH" The name meant nothing to you, but inside was a lithsheet with a directional map to a facility in Albany. The carrot was an offer for six thousand Euros just to sit down and have a chat with some suits from M&W.

The map glows softly from the passenger seat next to you. You glance over and take the interchange that it urgently wants you to follow, leading you with gentle but persistent tones to traverse the pre-planned route.

Outside of Manhattan's restricted airspace you pull the car into cruise and it lifts smoothly from the asphalt, wheels retracting into housings on the underside. The skim to Albany is quick and the skylanes nearly devoid of passing cars outside of the Seven Burroughs.

The facility is a four story blacked glass sprawl, covering at least fifty acres of prime woodlands. You are ushered in to a meeting room and told to wait by a blank-faced security guard who treats you like you're practically a prowler he caught in the lobby. A few minutes pass and a trio of dark suited figures enter the room. The youngest is a dark-haired woman with sharp Eastern European facial features and cold gray eyes that are probably implant jobs from Zeiss. She shakes your hand limply and says that her name is Katherine. A slightly older and paunchy man introduces himself with a smile as Gregor Hauser, and runs nervous fingers through his thinning hair after shaking your hand. The final man is tall and muscular, but obviously older than either of his coworkers and with graying blond hair and a weathered face. You are a bit surprised when he introduces himself as Heinrich Weiss.

You sit down around the conference table and Katherine explains why you have been asked to join them.

"Thank you for coming," she has a faint German accent, "we have selected you as the best candidate to assist us in the alpha testing phase of one of our advance artificial intelligence programs."

You're a bit surprised, you did some hacking and government work almost five years ago but it's not really your area of expertise.

"I'm sure you are as busy as we are so let me be concise. By remaining in this room you are tacitly agreeing to not disclose anything said. This unspoken consent is legally binding."

You nod.

"Good," she continues, brushing a lock of hair from her face. "We have developed a third generation AI under the auspices of 'Project Orchid'. We have already tested it under adverse conditions in most capacities, but one of the most difficult for us to simulate adequately is sexual play and sexual intercourse."

You swallow, but Katherine continues on with virtually no emotion.

"Before we begin memory core duplication of Orchid and production in current generation automaton chassis we need to fully gauge its capabilities. This is where we would like you to assist us. We are willing to extend an offer for 10,000 Euros per session until the alpha testing phase is completed."

"When can I start?" You say, almost without thinking.

"You can start tonight," explains Gregor Hauser as he pushes a lithsheet across the table to you, "but you must sign all of these releases and let us know what your preferences will be."

You pick up the sheet and the stylus handed to you by Mr. Weiss and begin filling out the forms.