The morning goes by quickly as many people come and go in the shop. No one tries to rent any today, but Flint is not worried. For some reason, he seems quite happy today and not disheartened by his lack of sales. At lunch time, he puts an “out to lunch” sign on the door and heads to the workroom. As he steps in the door, he is reminded of his “problem.”
“Oh, right,” he says snapping his fingers, “I almost forgot about you.” He playfully slaps her on her butt. Tapping the collar again, the light turns green and Kate stands back at attention. Weird, she thinks, I thought I saw him leave the room, but now he is in front of me. He has his tablet out again as he digs through his bag. While searching for an icon on the tablet, he finds a protein bar and tries to open it one handed. Not sure how to balance both, he extends the bar to Kate. “Open this!”
Kate knows what he wants and is not really interested in helping. However, her hand extends to accept the bar. She then tears the wrapper off. He takes it back from her as he sets the tablet back down. He stands up and grabs something behind Kate. Coming back in front of her, he has what appears to be a large name tag or plate. Holding it near the tablet, it changes from random letters to read: “Kate.” Coming closer to her, he unbuttons her top with one hand, as if he has done this many times. Kate can feel the cool AC air blowing on her chest and stomach, but it does not chill her.
He gets a good look at her for the first time. She is about 5'8” which is within the standard range for a robot. She is a white “female” with brown hair and hazel eyes. Like most of the robots, she has a stunning face with a decent body. Her chest is probably a large B, which is smaller than he would like, but her 24 inch waist and 32 inch hips make up for it. With his free hand, he pushes her bra straps away from her chest. The other hand has the name plate, that he puts next to her skin just above her average cleavage.
Kate can feel the cold metal on her skin. She has seen robots with name plates before, and it never occurred to her that she would need one. He peels off a sticker on the side and pushes it into her skin. She can feel her skin absorb the metal as the adhesive melds them together. Setting the sticker wrapper down, the name plate hangs from one end attached to her chest. He makes a move to close the name plate, pushing it into her chest. “Guess we need to get you registered now.” She can see his face right in front of hers, but the metal name plate seems very permanent and very painful. Its beeping sound, flashing lights, and pointy connectors all seem intent on piercing her to the core. I don’t want that thing installed in me, she pleads in silence.
Like he heard her, he stops. She breathes a sigh of relief until she sees the devilish grin on his face. Uh oh, she thinks, I might have wanted the name plate over whatever he is scheming now. “You know, Kate?” He asks. “I could use someone like you in my store on the other side of town.” Looking her up and down, he continues, “Well, you might need an upgrade or two.” Clicking a “switch” on his tablet, the nameplate releases her skin and he sets it down. “Hmmm,” he mumbles, “definitely two.”
During his lunch break, he sits at a computer looking up various upgrades in the Life-Like-U system. Kate stands at attention behind him, unable to move, even though she has tried. He is looking up chest upgrades, voice upgrades, walking upgrades, and all sorts of other things. If he does even half of what he has looked up, she worries, no one would ever recognize me. The screen beeps at him, causing him to say, “Well, lunch is over for me, so I better see if I can make some money to upgrade you.” He taps her collar, causing it to turn yellow. Kate slumps over again, with her ear piece saying: pause, pause, pause. She did not even have a chance to protest, or really think it through, before she is “paused.” Flint leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Kate stands with a slight slump in the dark, as Flint enters the well-lit showroom.