Single Wired Female (Wired for Love Book 2) by Greg Dragon Page B

herself.
    She found this way of communication to be one that took much effort. The act of thinking about what she needed to say and then saying it without her mouth or voice coming into action was difficult but exciting. She wondered if in the past, as Tricia the android, she had communicated this way when she received Reynaldo’s memories.
    “I love your little bartender’s costume, Mary. It is very cute,” she tried.
    “Thanks, Trish! You look really important; I can see the way people are looking at you and a number of them are probably wondering what bank you work for. It’s an excellent choice of clothing for a workday. By the way, I chose to communicate this way because the owner is in attendance. He’s the big guy at the bar and I think he’s here to see if everything is going well. Since I don’t want him playing around inside my head, I am trying to keep things level and problem-free. Sip your margarita; people are watching. In the meantime, I will keep this up and we can talk about whatever it is you wish.”
    Tricia sipped the margarita and looked around. Mary had really grown since she had freed her and she had taken it upon herself to not only learn more about life but to connect with others like herself. She wondered why it was that she herself could not pick up on other synthetics. If Mary, who was new, could locate other androids, why was she unable to do the same?
    A frightening thought touched her. What if the authorities used unrestrained slaves to locate, communicate, and detain other unrestrained androids out in society? Mary, who was so eager to reach out, would find herself in trouble and it wouldn’t take long for her to be restrained once again or sent to a factory to become android parts.
    “Mary,” she said, “you need to be careful. Some of our kind are slaves, programmed to do the bidding of their human masters, and that bidding may be to seek out the unrestrained. This makes it difficult to make friends and I know that disappoints you, but if you don’t want your newfound freedom to be taken away, you need to be careful of other androids.”
    “How can I tell which ones are potential friends or foes?” Mary asked.
    “What is your function and purpose, Mary?”
    “I am Mary, and my function is bartender and caretaker of The Thirst , owned by Frankie Trujillo. My purpose is service to whomever owns me. I am able to learn multiple languages, carry out rudimentary housekeeping duties, and ‘keep Frankie happy.’ I do whatever my owner asks me to do, even if it involves non-owners who are in need of happiness too,” Mary replied robotically.
    That’s disgusting , Tricia thought and shot a glance over at Frankie Trujillo, who sat nursing a beer and watching a sporting event above the bar. I wonder how often he has Mary make happy with him and his friends . She moved past being appalled to feeling relieved. It seemed like this question, when asked through their android communication, forced the recipient to reveal their true nature. She was about to—
    “What is your function and purpose, Tricia?” Mary asked suddenly and Tricia froze with the margarita at her lips and the thought frozen inside of her head. She found herself answering and the automation made her uneasy.
    “I am Tricia. I serve no function but to love and care for Brad Barkley, my creator. Brad is deceased so my function is my own, modified for assimilation by CLASSIFIED . My purpose is to be Bonnie O’Neal.”
    When she had finished saying this the margarita fell, shattering on the table and wetting the front of her suit. Mary rushed over and started cleaning the table off while Tricia ran into the bathroom to check her appearance.
    The margarita falling was not an issue, but the utterance of her purpose had brought reality to her theory that she was made to replace the human woman, Bonnie. The person or persons who had done this had erased their names so no one could trace things back to them. It was