The Problems With Prototypes

Shinjuku...

\"Pleasant dreams, Rei. I love you.\"

Shinji gently makes a quarter-turn right, then pulls the skeleton key out of Rei\'s navel. The blue-haired android now stands on a fifty-centimetre high circular pedestal, her name and unit number -- Rei was the sixth Sexaroid built -- etched on the flat surface between her feet. Standing erect with her feet spread apart, her hands at her side, the nude android\'s head is tilted down slightly. Her eyes are now pitch-dark; that is the only visible sign of a Sexaroid being deactivated. Despite that, her cock is rigidly at attention. It was a sort of in-joke among the Sexaroids who spent all their nights in the large storage room beside the Project BMS labs: you had to awaken them to make them deflate themselves so they can be dressed. Giving her beloveds a final parting look -- Asuka now stands to Rei\'s left -- Shinji takes a deep breath, then pockets the keys in her shirt before stepping out of the storage room. Closing and locking the door behind her, the prototype Sexaroid scans the status board. Alright, Anri is now in the Chairwoman\'s office, no doubt providing some personal company to Brienna Mason. Outside her and Shinji, all the 33-S\'s that should be in the Tower are in the storage room, no doubt dreaming -- as they all did when their bodies were shut down -- about lots of sex and what sort of mistresses they\'d finally acquire when Genome sold them.

*Doubt that\'ll happen to me even when the others\'re gone,* Shinji thinks as she places her sisters\' activation keys on Ritsuko\'s work desk, then walks over to step into an elevator, pressing for the fiftieth floor, where her small apartment is. Turning to gaze out the glass car on the surrounding city now coming alive for the evening, the prototype Sexaroid sighs, a tug of longing pulling at her synthetic heart. *Just because I\'m the first doesn\'t mean my desire to serve is no less than Rei\'s or any of the others,* she breathes out, ignorthe the twin trickles flowing down her cheeks to brim at the curve of her chin. *I want to serve! I HAVE to serve! Why can\'t I?!*

The car stops, the doors soon opening to reveal a long hallway. Shinji walks down to the end apartment on her right, then draws out a key from her jeans to unlock the door. The key in her hand is her very own activation key, the one directly linked to her own body. Insert it into the navel and turn it to the left ninety degrees, Shinji would shut down. Insert and turn right ninety degrees, she would revive. Insert and turn right a hundred and eighty degrees, Shinji could then be verbally commanded to do whatever her owner desired. Of course, no Sexaroid could perform that last function; only a human could. It was one of the many programming safeguards built into the 33-S design.

\"Tadaima!\" Shinji automatically calls out as she walks into her apartment.

No one answers, of course. Shinji\'s roome noe no different than a normal hotel room. One large space with a single bed, nightstand, work table, a small wardrobe and entertainment centre. A closet and a bathroom with all the amenities close to the main door. Nothing else. Shinji didn\'t mind the accommodations. As a Sexaroid, her needs were actually quite minimal and it struck her as fundamentally wrong to ask for anything more, even from her mother, Ritsuko or Misato. Besides, if the chance ever did come that Shinji would be allowed to be someone\'s companion, who knew what sort of accommodations -- if any! -- she would have then. Why worry about such mundane things?

Placing her activation key on the nightstand, Shinji quickly disrobes before standing before a floor-length mirror to give herself a close inspection. Deep down, she is very proud of what she personally represents: one of the most, if not THE most, advanced android design existing today. Human to the touch, feel, smell -- even Shinji\'s vaginal discharge and semen tasted real as all her past beta testers loudly asserted -- she is in many ways better than even the most advanced Home Maid android from Kurusugawa Electronics, the NK-1127 series from Mishima Heavy Industries or even \"scratch-built\" units constructed by the odd solitary \"mad\" scientist.

Oh, she couldn\'t physically smash her way through concrete walls like Natsume Akira had done when officials from theenceence Ministry had once visited his mother/creator Akiko. And Shinji couldn\'t fire off tank-melting force beam attacks like Sarai had come to perfect over the last couple months. And Shinji doubted her cooking skills were anywhere close to what Multi, the prototype Kurusugawa Electronics HM-12 home maid android, was said to possess. And sure enough, Shinji couldn\'t alter her hair or clothes like Kisaragi Honey could.

But to the prototype Sexaroid, that just doesn\'t matter...

* * *

Shinji\'s model was designed from the start to fill a special niche market: to be sexually intimate companions to organic herms like Genome\'s very own chairwoman, Brienna J. Mason. That market, Misato told her once, was potentially quite vast. Of the two-plus billion human women alive on Earth today, about twenty-five million were hermaphrodites (Shinji preferred that term to \"she-male\" or \"TV\" since those terms described a being that looked like a woman from a distance, but didn\'t have the necessary equipment to fulfil a woman\'s natural dutiesthe the propagation of the species). And despite the many avenues of personal, spiritual and socialanceancement open to women today, herms were something of a persecuted minority. Actually, \"persecuted\" would probably seem too harsh a word to describe their present condition, but given what Shinji had heard of what her organic \"sisters\" sometimes had to go through, perhaps it could be seen as appropriate.

Being women who, atop having a womb and ovaries filled with eggs, also possessed a fully-functional penis complete with prostate gland and testicles that could produce sperm, herms were hailed by experts as one avenue for the human race to continue now that \"pure-male\" men had been wiped off the map. However, given the nearly-ceaseless burning need the vast majority -- between ninety and ninety-five percent of the world\'s population -- of post-Virus women had for sexual intercourse, herms were more often seen by the general public as a special delicacy that could be quite addictive once they had been sampled. Oh, yes, they had most of the advantages their \"pure-female\" counterparts had thanks to the Virus. But because of what hung between their legs, herms could, if they didn\'t watch themselves, be the target of gang rape every time a girl\'s eyes locked on that inviting piece of hard muscle or even a simple bulge in a pair of pants.

Herms, especially those around the age Shinji had been constructed to replicate, had to take extraordinary precautions to prevent that sort of thing from happening. Baggy, mannish clothing were often the norm for such people. Keeping curious girls at a distance was a skill that had to be learned fast to survive the potentially intimate conditions high school, especially physical education classes, forced on women regardless of their personal stripe. And Heaven help poo poor herm who winds up being discovered by a \"normal\" girl, then forced into what was often called a \"relationship\" but might better be thought of as \"sexual slavery.\" Shinji had heard of several cases where the herm in question would do her damnedest to stay loyal to her normal lover, yet said lover would gladly bed a half-dozen other girls as well as keep her prized sex toy under her thumb. And if said herm decided she really wanted something more emotionally fulfilling...?

It didn\'t surprise Shinji in the end that many herms, on graduating from high school or university, chose careers in the military or the police, organizations most often filled by the larger lesbian contingent of modern day society. But even there, hopes of seeking out a permanent relationship were still stymied, most often by the traditional distaste lesbians had for dealing with ANYTHING that reminded them of men, especially a man\'s primary sexual organ. Oh, yes, there had been times when a lesbian and a herm had formed a successful, warm and emotionally fulfilling relationship. Chairwoman Mason and her successor as leader of the Knight Sabres, Captain Sylia Stingray, were one such couple. And there were times when herms did create a lasting relationship with a \"normal\" girl. But from what Shinji had learned, those instances often involved the herm also accepting her mate\'s other lovers as sexual \"mistresses.\" Could that really be called \"love?\"

And, to add final insult to injury, there came the whole question of reproduction. Despite their having a penis, herms were still women in their innermost hearts and souls. And because their sex drives were under much better conscious control, herms could quite easily form much more lasting family groups to better facilitate the raising of children. However, the prevalent viewpoint towards herms still regulated them as nothing better than living sex toys. Herms were most often NEVER allowed to fulfil their own inbred desires to become mothers in their own right. Oh, no, no, NO! Herms had to serve in the \"father\" role in such instances and the \"father\" role ONLY!

And Heaven help a herm couple who decided to start a family between themselves without involving \"normal\" girls in any way!

Knowing all that, the true beauty of Genome\'s plans for hermaphrodite Sexaroids could then be appreciated. As androids, Shinji and her sisters would be seen as sex toys instead of people. No threat at all. If a herm had a 33-S as her companion, what difference would it make? The herm could still have a \"normal\" lover, be \"fa\"father\" to any children her lover might desire, be \"traded\" around and shared between different lovers whenever the urge to seek out new conquests struck such people...! And while all this is going on, the herm in question would still have an intimate companion who would treat her as a real woman should be treated, totally loyal to her and only her.

And if the \"normal\" girl resented her herm lover having a herm-form Sexaroid?

Why, buy her a 34-S male-form Sexaroid for her own personal use!

Even if male-form 34-S\'s -- they were really no different than Mishima\'s G Class marionettes in design and programming -- weren\'t as advanced as someone like Shinji, they still could perform to a reasonable degree and were relatively easy to keep and maintain...

* * *

Shinji sighs. Since her activation four years ago, the prototype Sexaroid had been \"beta tested\" over two hundred times with human lovers of every potential stripe that Genome could hire for the occasion. Lesbians she had been with were often turned off by Shinji\'s penis, but were won over by her intelligence, wit and charm. Herms looked on her and her sister Sexaroids as gifts from Heaven; after the initial testing phase began, potential orders from herm customers had begun to pile up with Accounting. And normal girls...?

A scowl turns the dark-haired android\'s lips as she moves to lay down on her bed. Most of those type of humans were just too single-minded for her personal tastes. If there was any other topic that interested them outside various forms of fornication, Shinji had been unable to discover what it might be. Oh, yes, Shinji certainly enjoyed sex very much. Her model of android isn\'t call a \"Sexaroid\" for anything, after all! And as an android, Shinji has energy reserves that matched even the most nymphomaniac of organic women. But having sex constantly without engaging in anything else that could stimulate the prototype Sexaroid\'s central processors? Ugh! Boring!

It would most likely strike Shinji as wondrously ironic that her attitudes towards sexual relations with \"normal\" girls matched that of the young woman whose stems cells had, in part, allowed Shinji to exist in the very first place!

\"Hey!\"

Shinji blinks, then glances towards the door to see Misato standing there. \"Konban wa, Misato-san,\" she sits up as the executive walks over to sit on the bed beside me. \"Here to tuck me in for a good night\'s sleep?\"

\"As always,\" Misato reaches for the android\'s key, then gazes intently into Shinji\'s eyes. \"The Skipper was really impressed by what happened this morning, especially the extra time you spent with the Defence Minister. I think we\'ve got a contract on the way.\"

Shinji beams. \"Yokatta!\" she claps her hands delightedly, then looks down as Misato poises the key over her navel.

With a gentle thrust, the hooked rod is shoved into that recess, punching through an invisible slit in the skin to lock on a magnetic tumbler that was directly hard-wired into Shinji\'s nervous system. The android jolts, her body\'s joints automatically locking up as the emotion drains from her face. Gazing at this, Misato closes her eyes, surprised to feel tears slip through her lashes. Leaning up, she whispers into Shinji\'s ear, knowing the android would hear her, \"I love you, Shinji-chan. Never, ever forget that.\"

She then turns the key one-half turn to the right...

* * *

Next morning...

\"Ah, Tariko-chan, welcome to Genome Tower! Have you had breakfast yet?\"

\"Hai, Ritsuko-chan, I have,\" Tariko warmly embraces Akagi Ritsuko, both now standing in the Tower\'s main lobby. The owner of Love Destiny Enterprises is dressed in her usual travel clothes: a turtleneck sweater, slacks and slip-on shoes, a mid-sized travel suitcase now being towed behind her. Having gained considerable experience travelling on short notice all over the planet -- not to mention having gained more frequent flier miles than most airline pilots! -- Tariko understood the virtue of packing light and packing right. \"I hope this won\'t take too long. I\'ve some business in Kitakyuushuu that I want to get started on later today if at all possible.\"

\"Understandable,\" the blonde doctor waves the younger woman to an elevator. Having herself experienced what Tariko did for other women six months ago, Ritsuko knew how things went when the woman beside her carried out her \"consultations.\" \"Don\'t worry about it, though. We\'ll hopefully be done by noon and we\'ll have a limo take you to Tokyo Station so you can get a train direct to Kokura.
\
\"Thanks,\" Tariko nods as they slip into the next car, then ascend. \"So what\'s this all about, Ritsuko-chan?\"

Ritsuko chuckles. \"Tariko-chan, how much are you aware of the extended research Masudamasu-hakase has done on your DNA?\"

\"Yoshi-chan?! Well, she hasn\'t bothered me a lot about that ever since I started up with Love Destiny,\" Tariko shrugs. \"Why?\"

\"Well, put simply, my friend Ikari Yui and I spent some time working with Masudamasu-hakase trying to better understand why you are the way you are. I have to confess, the stem cells that come out of your bone marrow are unlike anything I\'ve ever seen.\"

Tariko nods. \"Hai, I know. You should\'ve seen Yoshi-chan tear her hair out sometimes when she stumbled onto something that just didn\'t make any damned sense to her. Oh, what did she call my stem cells again...? Ah, right! \'Genetic silly putty\' or something...\"

Ritsuko smirks. \"Believe me, Tariko-chan, she was dead on about that...! Ah!\"

The car stops, the doors opening into the Project: BMS laboratory. Awaiting them is Katsuragi Misato. \"Hey, Tariko-chan!\"

\"Misato-chan!!\" Tariko embraces the executive as Ritsuko shifts the younger woman\'s luggage off to one side. \"How are you?!\"

\"Pretty okay! And I\'m more than glad that you\'re here!\" Misato waves Tariko to the meeting table as Ritsuko prepares tea. \"I\'ve a message from the Chairwoman. She says she\'s pleased that you were able to help those couples inside Genome get started with their own families. Even considering the pregnancy leave some of them\'ve taken, their overall productivity has shot through the roof.\"

\"I was happy to help them. So, is the good captain willing to take me up on my offer for her?\"

Misato and Ritsuko jolt, then giggle embarrassingly. \"Ah, she hasn\'t told me anything about that, Tariko-chan!\" the former scratches the back of her head, then blinks as the door to the storage room opens. Ah, right on time!

\ato-ato-san, I\'ve done the morning che-...! AH!!!\"

An electronic clipboard clatters to the floor as Tariko\'s eyes sweep around to gaze on a younger woman in a button shirt and slacks, her dark brown hair tied in a thick French braid to the middle of her back. Soft blue eyes, now as wide as saucers, lock on Tariko as the owner of Love Destiny gives her a concerned look. Tariko herself blinks confusedly at the newcomer\'s stare, then shudders as her empathic powers quickly lock on her, registering a mad storm of emotions bursting from this young lady\'s very soul. Shock, disbelief, awe, admiration and even a fleck of lust. But most of all, a tsunami of pure ADORATION that threatens to swamp Tariko wholesale. Who...?

\"Moroboshi...! Tariko-sama...\"

Shinji sniffs as tears brim in her eyes, then with a scream of delight, she lunges for Tariko, dropping the hapless visitor onto her back with a glomp a certain warrior-maiden from China now living in Nerima would admire. Watching as Shinji begins to shower kisses all over Tariko\'s face, Misato and Ritsuko can only sweat. \"I never expected a reaction like THAT from her,\" the former mutters.

\"Me neither,\" the latter nods...

* * *

Minutes later...

\"An ANDROID?!!\"

\"Hai!\" Ritsuko nods with considerable satisfaction. Tea has now been served. Shinji stands beside Tariko, the prototype Sexaroid now holding the hand of their guest. \"Shinji here is the first-ever artificial intelligence-type lifeform constructed with bio-organic circuitry and neuro-processors, virtually no different than an organic\'s in basic function and overall capacity. Most of her body is organic, her internal organs performing most of the same functions an organic\'s performs. We call them the Model 33-Special android.\"

\"They\'re called \'Sexaroids\' since their main function is to provide intimate companionship for their owner,\" Misato adds.

Tariko considers that, then gazes on Shinji. The latter\'s cheeks instantly colour as she feels the former\'s gaze fall on her. \"Yes, I can sense the mechanical blocks inside her mind,\" Tariko\'s eyes briefly glow. \"I assume those are safety elements you put into her.\"

\"Hai,\" Ritsuko nods. \"Before we started the detailed construction work, we took everything Masudamasu-hakase learned from your DNA and stripped out all the potential problem sources. Things like your psionic powers and the like. In the end, it was a good thing, since for some of our girls -- the ones we built for Kusanagi-taisa, for example -- we\'ve had to pile on some unique special functions.\"

\"Motoko-chan?\" Tariko stares on her host.

Misato and Ritsuko jolt. \"You know her?!\" the former blurts out.

Tariko\'s smile slips a fraction. \"Hai, I do. She came to me about three years ago, just before her accident.\"

The Genome personnel gaze on her, then slowly nod before Misato breathes out. \"Oh, man! You must know half the government, for Heaven\'s sake!\" she slaps her forehead, then stares conspiratlly lly at Tariko. \"Hey, you think you can do some lobbying for us?!\"

Everyone laughs, Tariko quickly turning to gaze on Shinji. \"Geez...\"

\"Amazing, isn\'t it?\" Misato rises, moving to squeeze the prototype Sexaroid\'s shoulders. \"Tariko-chan, you got out, find people who want to make their lives and relationships really special, then help make their dreams come true. Soon, Shinji-chan and her sisters will do something similar. We\'re starting small, of course; including the ten for Colonel Kusanagi, we\'ve built fifty 33-S\'s to date, including ten at mat models. But when things start to take off, I think we\'ll be making a lot of people around the world VERY happy.\"

\"Starting with herms, I assume,\" Tariko gives her a knowing look.

\"Naturally,\" Misato nods. \"Of all the acknowledged social groups, herms are pretty much seen as the most disadvantaged when it comes to their own personal and emotional well-being. We know you\'ve helped a few herms become full-form females in the past. But from what we\'ve discovered through our market research, most herms are pretty comfortable being what they are. The only disadvantage they have, of course, is how their \'normal\' peers would treat them if their specific nature became general knowledge. Well...\" she gives Shinji\'s shoulders another warm squeeze. \"When our product hits the market, we think that situation will change much for the better.\"

\"Motoko-chan\'s girls are full-female. Can you build those types on demand?\"

\"Yes, we can,\" Ritsuko nods, then sips her tea. \"But given the sheer number of normal organic women available to be had as sexual companions, it would take a very *unique* sort of person to want a female-form android as an intimate, full-time companion. Most normal girls, at least those we\'ve done trials with, take well enough to the male-form 34-S prototypes we\'ve tested to date. And, fortunately, since most normal women can get pretty scatter-brained on occasion, whatever programming defects the 34-S\'s might have won\'t be so much of a concern as long as they continue to perform their \'primary\' function. Shinji-chan\'s model is, regardless if she\'s a herm or not, better suited for people like you and me. People who want not only just a sexual companion, but an intimate friend as well. And given what sort of programming we\'ve given them, we\'ve made sure that Shinji-chan and her sisters will love theinersners with all their hearts and souls.\"

\"You\'re starting with herms because they\'re often in a more socially disadvantageous position vis-a-vis their peers than lesbians?\"

\"Yes.\"

Tariko considers that, then nods. \"Well, I can certainly applaud such an idea. You just better hope that those normal girls who might have an influence in government policy don\'t perceive a potential threat from Shinji-chan and her sisters.\"

\"Yeah, there are a whole load of screwballs out there, ne?\" Misato shakes her head.

\"Tell me about it,\" Tariko rolls her eyes. \"Yesterday, Satomi and I had to bail out this one girl, Tsutsumi Rui, who\'d been forced to be the block slut for her particular apartment area for the last two-to-three years because her mother\'s gone who-knows-where. Two of my customers from a year ago, Kawada Yura and her wife Masae, told us about her. Geez, I couldn\'t believe some of the things those people said about Yura-chan\'s and Masae-chan\'s babies! I\'m pretty tempted to give Motoko-chan a call and have that place checked out!\"

\"Really,\" Ritsuko whistles. \"Will this girl come work for you and Satomi-san?\"

\"Hai, but not yet. We\'ve got to get her school records transferred over from her old school. I\'m thinking of helping her get into Hachijuuhachi High. I sure as HELL don\'t want her going near Furinkan, not with some of the nuts that go there!\" Tariko shudders as the times she had been close to Furinkan High School replay in her mind, then she takes a deep breath. \"On her spare time, I\'ll have Rui-chan help me with the administrative side of Love Destiny, plus she\'ll help out Satomi in Otimtim\'s when she gets the chance.\"

\"Well, maybe we can help there, too,\" Ritsuko grins.

\"Eh?!\"

The scientist takes a deep breath. \"As you can guess, we\'re moving right now to complete all the necessary testing on our 33-S\'s so we can finally start putting these girls on the market. To date, we\'ve done basic one-on-one \'beta testing,\' where the Sexaroid is allowed to spend time with a single companion in a controlled situation. We want to move away from that into group testing in a more realistic environment. To that end, for the next six months, we would like you and your girlfriend to take charge of four of our 33-S\'s to be put to whatever use you might want of them. I\'m sure Satomi-san would welcome having some extra hands running her coffee shop. And if they turn out to be good enough, maybe you could trust them to run Otimtim\'s while Satomi-san goes with you on your consultation trips. And at the end of the testing period, the chances are good that you\'ll be allowed to keep the Sexaroids for as long as you would desire.\"

Tariko stares wide-eyed at Ritsuko, then points to herself. \"Us?! I...!\" she stops, then looks at Shinji. \"Four of your girls?!\"

\"Yes!\" Misato nods. \"In fact, we\'ve picked out the four we think are best for you and Satomi-san. Shinji?\"

\"Hai!\" Shinji perks.

The executive hands the young Sexaroid four activation keys. \"Wake them up, get them dressed in something nice, have travel packs made for them, then bring them in here so we can get some programs downloaded into them before we turn them over to Tariko-san.\"

\"Hai!\" Shinji takes the keys, then nods. \"Rei, Asuka, Maya and Hikari. Right away, Misato-san!\"

She heads into the storage room just as a fountain of tea bursts from Ritsuko\'s mouth. \"MAYA?!!\" she cries out, then spins on Misato, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. \"***KA-TSU-RA-GI MI-SA-TO!!! YOU\'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!!!!***\"

Misato ducks her fiancee\'s ranting, laughing embarrassingly. Watching this, Tariko shakes her head...

* * *

Ninety minutes later...

\"I\'m glad you\'re willing to do this, Tariko-sama.\"

Tariko smiles as she and Shinji step into the latter\'s apartment. Thur Sur Sexaroids selected to be turned over to Tariko and Satomi for the next six months were now being prepared for immediate delivery to Otimtim\'s; that would occur around the middle of the afternoon. Rei carried with her a letter from Tariko to her girlfriend explaining the situation at hand. Further, the four girls had, when Tariko took \"official\" possession of them, been programmed to have Satomi make herself their co-owner/mistress as soon as they arrived in Nerima. For her help, Shinji had been allowed a chance to spend some time with the owner of Love Destiny -- just as long as she didn\'t leave the Tower, of course. The had had just gone to the cafeteria for some doughnuts and coffee. \"Well, I just hope Satomi doesn\'t mind having four very beautiful young android herms like your friends living under the same roof as she,\" Tariko chuckles.

\"Do you think she\'ll like them?\" Shinji waves Tariko to a chair while she sits on the bed.

\"Oh, I\'m sure she will,\" Tariko chuckles. \"We have a herm -- rather, ex-herm! -- as one of our closer friends. Morisato Ryuunosuke. I just helped her transform into a full-form woman last week so she could finally settle down with her fiancee.\"

\"Morisato...?\" Shinji perks, then her eyes widen. \"Oh, you mean the girl from Tomobiki who loves that alien princess?!\"

\"The very same.\"

\"I didn\'t know Ryuunosuke-sama was a herm!\" the androidertserts.

\"She was,\" Tariko nods. \"In fact, before Lum-san came, Ryuu-chan was trapped in one of those awful one-sided relationships herms like her often fall into when it comes to normal girls. Believe me, I\'m more than glad that Ryuu-chan has a nicer girl as a fiancee now

\"That\'s good,\" Shinji breathes out.

\"Shinji-chan?\"

\"Hai, Tariko-sama?\"

Tariko gives her a knowing look. \"You wanted to come along with Rei-chan and the others too, didn\'t you?\"

Shinji blinks. \"Hai, I would\'ve loved to come. Mom wouldn\'t allow it, though. I...\" she points to herself, then shrugs. \"Well, I was built based on the DNA of Mom\'s son. He was killed by the Virus about six months after he was born. It hurt Mom really bad and...\" she takes a deep breath. \"Well, I guess it ultimately contributed to how close Mom and I are now. I mean, yes, I do want to be able to go out and be someone\'s personal companion like the others\'ll do in the near future. But...\" she closes her eyes. \"If I left permanently, it\'d hurt Mom a lot. And I never, ever, want to hurt Mom, Tariko-sama. She created me with her own hands. How could I hurt her, Tariko-sama?\"

\"I\'m sorry to hear that, Shinji-chan,\" Tariko gives her an understanding nod, rising to sit on the bed beside her host. \"Hey, who knows? Maybe when the company starts producing Sexaroids in volume, you\'ll be allowed to go out and find someone to be with.\"

\"Do you really think so?\"

\"Hai, I think so,\" Tariko nods as Shinji gazes hopefully at her. \"Even if you are a Sexaroid, Shinji-chan, you have feelings and desires of your own. You\'re really no different from an organic girl when you get down to it. That\'s at least what I think. And Misato-chan and Ritsuko-chan don\'t strike me as the type to intentionally hurt someone if they can avoid it. And perhaps, you might end up meeting someone who\'ll past muster with your mother. Don\'t resent your mom for being a mom when it comes to you, Shinji-chan. Believe it or not, every mother with a teenage daughter -- even an android teenage daughter like you -- only wants what\'s best for her child.\"

\"Hai, I know,\" Shinji\'s eyes sparkle with gratitude at her new friend\'s encouraging words, then sighs. \"Tariko-sama?\"

\"Hai?\"

\"Have you...?\" she pauses, then sighs. \"Well, have you ever had sex with a herm before?\"

\"Me?!\" Tariko perks, then hums for a moment before she nods. \"Sure I have! Several times, in fact. Some of the girls, I wound up helping become fully-female because they wanted to become mothers and didn\'t want to go through the damned hassles people tend to create whenever a herm wants to be a mother. Other times, I was is some bar somewhere far away from Japan and \'Tomi and there was this someone whom I sensed needed some companionship. Or possibly to be rescued from some nympho who didn\'t want her personal sex toy to run away from her.\" Noting the android\'s surprised look, Tariko then adds, \"Satomi and I have a very open relationship, Shinji-chan. Yes, both of us can see ourselves finally settling down and marrying sometime in the future. I love her dearly and she loves me. But right now, our main priorities are making sure that both Love Destiny Enterprises and Otimtim\'s turn out to be as successful as possible. And if that means that there come occasions when we want some company when we\'re separated, then it happens. And believe me, we\'re better off because of it.\"

\"So you\'re somewhat \'normal,\' too,\" Shinji chuckles.

\"Maybe,\" Tariko shrugs, then sighs. \"Then again, most normal girls to me...\"

\"Boring.\"

Tariko stares at her android host, then nods. \"Exactly! Boring as all hell. Just give a girl the right look and before you know it, *WHAMMO!!*\" she makes an exploding motion with her hand. \"You got a half-dozen girls on the ground at your feet, asses stuck high in the sky, ready to be fucked every which way possible!!\" She breathes out. \"Damn! There\'s no challenge in that whatsoever, Shinji-chan!\"

\"You can say that again!\" Shinji rolls her eyes. \"You know, with all the \'normal\' girls I\'ve done beta tests with, there\'s only one I ever really liked.\" With that, she leans over to her nightstand and pulls out a framed picture to show to Tariko.

\"Nice girl!\" Tariko whistles on seeing the nude image of a girl approximately Shinji\'s physical age, with wavy brown hair to her collarbones and blue eyes gazing out of a softly curved face. \"What\'s her name?\"

\"Kirishima Mana,\" Shinji provides. \"When we spent time together, she just loved being with me. Even...\" she pauses, then sighs. \"Well, she once even admitted to me that at times, she was embarrassed at herself for acting the way she did when it came to other girls at school and all that. One good look and they\'d be ripping their clothes off, going at it like no tomorrow! And...\" she takes a deep breath. \"Well, before I met Mana-chan, I had been with a whole slew of normal girls. They just ceased to really interest me in the long term, Tariko-sama. It was a lot nicer for me being beta tested by herms or even lesbians. Rei, Asuka and the others felt the very same way. At least with herms and lesbians, you could have normal conversations with them about things other than sex, you know!\" she giggles.

\"You\'ve been with lesbians?\" Tariko perks.

\"Hai. Some of them thought it was pretty unique to be with someone like me. And...\" Shinji\'s reminiscent smile slips a bit. \"Oh, yeah, there were those who got really turned off because of my cock and all that, but when we spent time talking about things, they warmed up eventually. In fact, there was this one girl from Nerima that I liked a lot, too. Tendou Akane was her na-...\" she stops on seeing Tariko\'s eyes widen in shocked disbelief. \"What is it, Tariko-sama?\" she leans close to her guest. \"What\'s wrong?!\"

Tariko blinks, blinks again, then shakes her head. \"Tendou Akane?! Tendou Kimiko\'s kid?! You\'ve just GOT to be kidding me!\"

\"I\'m not programmed to lie, Tariko-sama,\" Shinji giggles.

Tariko considers that, then shakes her head. \"Oh, man, that is just IMPOSSIBLE to believe...\"

Both start to laugh, then find themselves gazing at each other. Shinji then closes her eyes, allowing her mouth to part slightly. Sensing the invitation, Tariko leans down to give her a warm kiss. Their hands reach out for the other as their mouths part, their tongues coming to play right away as their fingers begin to explore the wonderful curves of the other woman\'s body. Soon enough, Tariko\'s hands reach Shinji\'s hips, then one hand slides over a thigh to gently rub against the growing bulge in the android\'s trousers. Shinji shudders as she feels her sexual programs start to click in deep inside her mind, then she pulls away from her guest. \"Tariko-sama?\"

\"Yes?\"

\"Do you like making love in the shower?\"

Tariko blinks, then slowly nods. \"Yes, I do.\"

An inviting smile crosses her host\'s face. \"Let\'s go have some fun.\"

Silence falls as Tariko considers that, then nods. Both then rise, moving to disrobe each other. As Shinji slips Tariko\'s trousers and panties away from hedy, dy, the android\'s activation key drops out of her shirt pocket to land on the floor beside Shinji\'s own pants. Both women ignore that as they continue to kiss, fondle and disrobe each other. Finally, once both are as nude as the day they were born, Shinji leans down to pick up their clothes and lay them on the bed. Noting the dropped activation key, the android reaches down, then as Tariko gently tugs her host towards the bathroom, Shinji absently slips her key into her guest\'s back trouser pocket...

* * *

Elsewhere in the Tower...

\"Very slick, Misato,\" Kate chuckles.

\"She does respond to commands, doesn\'t she?\" Misato sighs, then clicks off the hidden camera looking into Shinji\'s room. While she herself had a nice sexual experience with Moroboshi Tariko the day the owner of Love Destiny came to \"consult\" her and her fiancee, the former SEAL lieutenant-commander didn\'t consider herself a voyeur anywhere else outside her\'s and Ritsuko\'s bedchamber...

* * *

\"There we go...\"

Shinji smiles as she shifts the shower controls to ensure that Tariko isn\'t scalded -- the android often preferred showers that were too hot for organics to take for more than several seconds -- then she sits down at the rim of the shallow end of the shower/bathtub, spreading her legs wide as she wills her cock to grow to its full length of eighteen centimetres. Her inner \"housekeeping computer\" -- the set of central processors deep within her synthetic mind that monitored all her bodily functions -- tells her all is well and that her sexual programs are now fully initialized. \"Must be nice to be able to fully control this thing, eh?\" Tariko chuckles amusedly as she stands under the shower head, allowing the water to soak her. \"Here, Shin-chan, stand up!\" she beckons Shinji to her feet. \"Stand back-first to me. Can you let it grow on its own?\" she reaches up to start undoing Shinji\'s braided hair as the android complies with her request.

\"Hai,\" Shinji nods, allowing herself to deflate to an unaroused length of about five centimetres.

\"Good,\" Tariko pulls the android\'s hair free, then parts it over the shoulders to expose her back.

Shinji gasps surprisedly as Tariko kneels behind her, the latter\'s tongue pushing at the upper end of the crevasse separating the young android\'s buttocks. At the same time, Tariko\'s arms wrap around Shinji\'s hips so her fingers could gently tickle her crotch. As the fingertips start tracing around the contours of the android\'s love machine, programs hidden deep inside Shinji\'s mind click on, commanding the circulatory and muscular systems to start feeding synthetic blood into her penis. Her nervous system also starts coming alive, jolts of growing ecstasy flooding her brain\'s pleasure centre from the small of her back and her cock. Though Shinji could, if it was perceived as necessary, will her mind to ignore the waves of passion flooding her soul at times like this, she doesn\'t do that now. After all, in the minds of the people who created Shinji, it wasn\'t enough for a Sexaroid to ONLY give her lover pleasure. To give pleasure AND to experience it herself ensured that the Sexaroid would continue to ENJOY giving her service to her lover for as long as they were together.

Tariko begins to trace licks, nibbles and kisses up Shinji\'s spine as her left hand starts to pump the latter\'s shaft, the right caressing her scrotum as the former moves to better comprehend how lifelike the android herm really was. Even though the owner of Love Destiny Enterprises had done this with other herms in the past, the exact number of times could be counted on one set of fingers and toes. That would no doubt change in the near future, Tariko chuckles to herself as her right middle finger locates Shinji\'s clitoris, located exactly where it should be in the crevasse formed between the two sides of her scrotum, the outer skin of that organ folding perfectly against the folds of tissue ringing her vaginal entrance. The contact of Tariko\'s finger on the android\'s clit elicits a sharp fro from Shinji, her back arching automatically as Tariko\'s left hand, now rubbing against the tip of Shinji\'s cock, is splattered with a minute burst of pre-cum. *Okay...* the organic woman muses to herself as her tongue starts to trace the android\'s shoulder blades. \"Shin-chan?\"

\"H-hai, Tariko-sama...\" Shinji stutters, her body starting to shake from her lover\'s touches.

\"Don\'t be that formal, Shin-chan,\" Tariko leans up to rub her chin on the android\'s shoulder.

Shinji blinks, then sighs as the organic\'s tongue starts to trace the outside of her earlobe. \"Ta-chan...\"

Tariko perks. \"\'Ta-chan?!\' I can accept that!\" she breathes lightly into Shinji\'s ear, making the young android jolt even more as the organic\'s right hand joins her left to gently stroke and rub her lover\'s throbbing joystick. \"Shin-chan?\"

\"H-h-hai, Ta-chan...?\"

\"Did you and Akane-san actually make love to each other when she was being your beta tester?\"

Shinji takes a deep breath, then reaches up to gently thread her fingers through her lover\'s hair. \"Only once...\" she hoarsely replies. \"Didn\'t really do much when we...\" she gasps as one of Tariko\'s fingers jabs her clit. \"Did it, actually...\"

Tariko hums as she breathes once more into Shinji\'s ear, making the android\'s whole body spasm. \"Sit down.\"

Shinji pants he nhe nearly stumbles against the back wall of the bathtub, then sinks down, remembering to keep her legs spread apart wide so Tariko could get in and do whatever she wanted to do. If her organic lover did have some prior experience with other herms, the android suspected strongly that a combination blow-job on her dick and finger-fucking her cunt was coming.

Tariko surprises her.

The organic\'s eyes glow as she forms a telekinetic \"dildo\" to start pumping deep into the android\'s damp opening. That sudden intrusion makes Shinji scream out surprisedly as the walls of her bio-synthetic vagina are nearly pushed to the limits. With that end of the herm\'s nether regions being taken care of, the owner of Love Destiny teasingly traces the flanks of Shinji\'s cock as she carefully exhales onto the tip, making more bursts of jism escape to decorate various parts of Tariko\'s face.

Even now, with some delightful romps in the hay in the company of a herm under her belt, the man-turned-woman still feels the twinge of hesitation, the tweak of discomfort, when it comes to bestowing such personal attention to this strong symbol of masculinity, even when said symbol came part-and-parcel with a particularly beautiful young woman. Tariko automatically fights it down, drawing on her empathic powers to flood her with an overwhelming reading of Shinji\'s delight, the passionate joy the android now feels at being treated this way, then she opens her mouth wide to take in her lover\'s member in one thrust that nearly fills her to gorging.

Shinji gasps suddenly, synapses in her mind instantly tripping over in succession as she feels the sheer *rush* of a wonderful orgasm about to hit her, then she grabs the sides of Tariko\'s head as the latter starts to pump away. Fortunately for the android, her housekeeping computer cuts in at the right moment to ensure that she didn\'t accidentally crush her lover\'s head -- though given that Tariko\'s telekinetic powers had long since been trained to snap up an invisible \"force field\" in case her empathic or telepathic powers detected imminent danger, what might\'ve resulted from Shinji\'s potential loss of control was her grasping empty air.

As she continues to vigorously pump the android\'s member for what is now about to explode from her testicles, Tariko sends a subtle telepathic probe into Shinji\'s mind. Images quickly flash in the organic\'s own mind of one Tendou Akane, a young woman Tariko\'s age she had encountered many times on the streets of Nerima over the last three years. Quickly enough, the image of a nude Akane lying on Shinji\'s bed appears in Tariko\'s mind. The look on the youngest Tendou daughter\'s face at that instant only makes Tariko grunt knowingly as she senses a particularly ominous quiver jolt Shinji\'s member before a salty-tasting broth floods her mouth and trickles down her throat.

\"TA-CHAN!!!!\" Shinji screams out as fee feels herself explode into her lover\'s mouth, the dual nature of the android herm\'s orgasm also coating the invisible dildo now pumping her cunt. Before she could realize what is happening, the android\'s vaginal sensors suddenly detect the instantaneous disappearance of the \"dildo,\" thus allowing the trickle of vaginal juices to leak onto the rim of the bathtub.

Again, Tariko surprises her, this time by using her telekinesis to catch that discharge in a \"bowl\" and keep it close to the android\'s opening as the organic\'s arms sweep under her thighs, pulling Shinji\'s hips toward her lover, then up so Tariko could get to that particular part of the younger girl\'s body with her tongue and lips. A quick tickle of the clit with a fast side-to-side motion with her tongue elicits another wail of delight from Shinji, then Tariko dives in to eagerly lap up much more familiar honey from the bucking girl in her arms.

Shinji\'s second orgasm hits soon enough, her pussy juices decorating Tariko\'s face more as her cock lets go of yet another burst of jism to splatter the android\'s face and breasts. Like organic herms, Shinji\'s male organs could automatically replenish themselves. However, since she is an android, Shinji\'s testicles do not produce real sperm but a remarkably well-crafted substitute which -- thanks mostly to the heightened invulnerability post-Virus women possessed -- would be relatively harmless if injected into someone\'s love canal.

The android pants several times as she feels Tariko\'s lips pull away from her body, the organic\'s arms allowing her to sit on the bottom of the bathtub, her housekeeping wetware performing an automatic diagnostic as her internal power systems move to restore her to a semblance of normal operational function. Before she could move to stand back up, Tariko leans down to hook Shinji under the armpits, the former effortlessly boosting the latter back to her feet, then they sink into a warm embrace as they share a tongue-filled kiss. Tasting the by-products of her own body on Tariko\'s lips and tongue, Shinji sighs, then leans her head against her lover\'s shoulder as Tariko\'s fingers thread her hair. \"Arigatou, Ta-chan,\" the android gazes into the taller woman\'s face. \"You really do know how to please someone like me.\"

\"Akane-san sure didn\'t when you and she did it, ne?\"

Shinji jolts, then relaxes as her memory quickly reminds her about several of Tariko\'s more amazing attributes, namely her empathic and telepathic powers. \"She always had problems with my male features,\" she admits, reaching up to gently feel one of Tariko\'s lovely breasts. \"I don\'t blame her for it, though. Akane-san only accepted being my beta tester to get some money for herself since her family doesn\'t have much in the way of a real income.\" A pause, then, \"How much do you know about Akane-san\'s family, Ta-chan?\"

The owner of Love Destiny Enterprises sighs as she shifts the android around her so she could help Shinji clean herself off. \"You might say, Shin-chan, I happen to know quite a bit about Tendou Kimiko and her daughters...\"

* * *