Editor’s note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.
*****
The lighting in the creator’s lab was low. Doctor Christof Dowd made sure it was, because a project he’d been working on for exactly three galactic years was about to come to a successful end. It took a great deal of work and fine tuning, but he was sure the manufactured human drone he’d developed would pass inspection.
He’d relocated to planet Lomlod for the special raw materials there. The Lomlods, or Lommies as most space faring humans called them, were an annoyance, sure, but the raw life enhancing substances that could be found across the world in abundance and remarkable purity saved him a quarter of his budget.
Those savings meant he had more money to spend on licensing patterns and technologies from other, much larger labs. He was also able to save enough so he didn’t have to sell the ship he arrived on. He actually expanded it so his entire lab and manufacturing centre would fit inside. If the Lommies got too restless, or if he needed materials from another part of the planet, he simply lifted off then landed somewhere else. It was perfect.
That wasn’t the only thing that was perfect. His subject, only known as Zero-Zero-One, was absolutely perfect. At least, he thought so. The Doctor took a moment to admire his handiwork as Lord Tagen scrolled through his creation’s implanted knowledge. Her form was fully mature, she even had a nice head of blue-pink hair which he was sure she’d enjoy. Suspended in maturation solution, it looked like she was sleeping peacefully. All the knowledge he could afford was written into her enhanced biological brain. Her feet twitched a little, and he wondered if she was dreaming.
Doctor Christof Dowd’s financiers, The Biolords, sent Lord Tagen to be the final judge for his work.
Christof added a great deal of information that they didn’t demand, he was certain most of it would become standard once The Biolords saw how useful it was in a new human drone.
That was, until Tagen shook his head and scoffed; “No, no. What is this?”
Dowd looked over the Lord’s shoulder at the console. “It’s a little touch of humanity. You know, an appreciation for the arts, some extra entertaining abilities. You told me this wasn’t supposed to be your average drone. I have it in my notes here where you complain about how boring every crop of drones are.”
“But it says here she can sing, even dance adaptively. How is that useful to a drone that we need for high gravity environments? How does it improve her adaptability if we decide this unit is assigned as a soldier?”
“Look, there’s all kinds of base memories that support hundreds of roles with a deep focus on soldierly pursuits, high mechanical and software aptitudes. Adding a little entertainment and an appreciation for the arts was an easy afterthought, and who knows what kind of good could come from drones that have some creativity. Improvisation isn’t just something she’s capable of, it’s going to be a tendency. One that will make her invaluable. She’s so well rounded that I would go as far as to say that she could be general purpose.”
“General purpose,” Tagen scoffed for a second time. “Drones aren’t supposed to be able to replace real humans. We don’t want them to be able to do anything better than us. That would be almost as bad as a general artificial intelligence, and we quit using those for a reason.”
“Yeah, paranoia,” Christof grumbled under his breath.
“What was that?” Lord Tagen asked.
“Nothing, Lord, just a little cough. Back to my point; no one has to know that she has the potential to replace any human. Given a role and a little discipline in the beginning, she’ll take on any set of duties you teach her, especially if you give her initial tasks right after she wakes.”
“This drone is so intelligent that it could demand individual rights, or worse; to be paid for its work.” He scrolled through her secondary features and stopped. “Wait; why does she have an enhanced pleasure response?”
“To assist with training. She reacts well to most positive physical stimuli and encouragement. This is so punishment isn’t the only method of behavioural correction. Her personality development is such that she can even form emotional attachments for people in authority, even other drones, enhancing loyalty and unit cohesion. That’s valuable in any kind of team”
“Well, I see benefits in that, but she’s far too feature rich for our standard drone uniforms. This one would require a breast reduction immediately, if she were used in the field.”
“This is the female version of the drone. I gave her an appearance based on a high beauty standard on dozens of worlds. You said the drones were boring, so this is one of the ways that we…”
“Spice things up? Distract the commanders? Complicate the social fabric of households? Cause a whole lot of frigging in the rigging?” Lord Tagen asked, shaking his head and returning his full attention to the list of capabilities and features in front of him.
Doctor Christof Dowd snickered at the last a little, then realized that Lord Tagen was absolutely serious. “No, sorry, Lord. It wasn’t my intention to distract people. I…”
“You, sir, are a bit of a pervert. I suppose genius comes with its quirks, so I won’t share your little flaw with the other Lords, but you should just pay for your own companion type drone if you want to grow your own girlfriend. I’m afraid you’ve deviated too far from the design requirements. You’re going to have to wipe the pattern from the database, de-register her so your folly doesn’t get noticed by the media or someone in government, then flush it out.”
“Flush her out? Zero-Zero-One is practically human. Given the right stimuli, she has the ability to develop emotions and relationships that go as deep as anyone.”
“That’s part of the problem, now isn’t it? I have nine ex-spouses! Do you have any idea what kind of alimony I have to pay every quarter? The last thing I need are attractive drones with emotional attachments and natural charm walking about. Someone like me – a merciful kind of man with a particular weakness for lovely people – would eventually turn his personal guard into a harem. If they all have the potential to be as bright as this one does, then they’d eventually campaign for equal rights, and then I’d have a real mess on my hands, wouldn’t I? I know, I know, that’s a very particular sort of example, but this appealing little model would become popular, to be sure, and they’d be used as gardners, maids, security guards, maybe even talk show hostesses. We can’t have that class of drone upturning the whole social fabric when they start realizing how smart they are. I suppose you programmed them to have a sense of independence?”
“No, Zero-Zero-One doesn’t like being alone for long periods. She actually prefers to be in the company of others and will like learning from them. I programmed her to be helpful and mindful of the needs of others.”
“That’s worse! Imagine having a drone who becomes your friend because they’re so companionable and helpful. One could fall in love with this thing if it’s half as much of a joy as you’re saying. No, I see temptation in that tube, and far too much potential to be a drone. Perhaps you could dumb her down a little though? We could use her for some kind of domestic product?”
“The basic memory matrix you commissioned is in there as well,” Christof sighed, aware that if he lied about the memories that were implanted, he could face decades of prison time for deceiving a member of the government. “You know, the base memories that allow her to use weapons, certain vehicle controls, you know. The minimum set of skills you said were required to…”
“…yes, yes. It’s a shame then. Send her to the recycler for processing back into basic bits and whatnot. Then you’ll take off straight away. I hate this planet, with its squat little smiling aliens. This is all making me sad. You said you had pudding and Laddon Rum aboard? I’ll have some of that before we review the next drone. Tell me it’s a base model, please. I don’t think I could stand flushing another one of these.”
“Oh, it’s exactly as ordered. Just a standard drone type with memories of new technology training. Barely a step ahead of the last one,” Tagen replied with a sigh. He programmed the system to flush Zero-Zero-One out of her tube then down into the recycler. He couldn’t stand the thought of her perfectly alive body getting pulled apart, though. He hesitated over the controls.
“Well, as long as you got that stupid habit of the military drones making knock-knock jokes out of this version, I’ll be happy,” the Lord said as he turned away.
Christof took the opportunity to switch the recycling systems off, then redirect Zero-Zero-One’s flush path to the ship’s waste system. They were over the deeper part of the Niderver Bog. She had a good chance of surviving a fall from the waste tube to the surface. He made sure he wasn’t sending his creation to a grinding, chewing, recycling system one last time then flushed the tube. “It’s a shame, it really is,” he said as he watched the fluid and Zero-Zero-One drop through the hatch in the bottom of her maturation tube. He signalled the bridge to leave for orbit immediately.
“Dowd, did you fix it?” Lord Tagen asked as he walked through the door leading to the hospitality section of the ship.
“What?” Doctor Christof Dowd asked. “I sent her to recycling.”
“No, the knock-knock jokes. Did you program them out of the soldier drones?” Lord Tagen asked.
“Oh, I didn’t have the budget to go looking for that bug, sorry,” Christof replied. He took one more look at the empty maturation tube, felt his heart ache, and silently hoped that Zero-Zero-One would find her own way somehow. At least there was enough rum aboard for him to drink himself all the way to a blackout a dozen times over.