Programmed To Protect (The Tau Cetus Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF

alike.”
    Ginger smiled back at him, an obviously delighted look on her face that made Wyatt take a step back. Despite the glorious nakedness of her perfect body, that mouth of hers was all he could see. “Are you… smiling?”
    No. Impossible. A smile signaled pleasure. Pleasure was an emotion. A robot did not feel emotion.
    What the hell was going on here?
    Ginger blinked slowly, and before Wyatt’s eyes, her smile faded and her face settled into a perfect blank. “I’m programmed to respond to verbal instructions and some visual cues. You smiled, Leith, so I smiled back.”
    Despite the relief the explanation gave Wyatt, it sounded so matter-of-fact and cold that it made him all the more uncomfortable.
    This was not the Ginger of a moment ago. This was a lifeless automaton.
    He glanced at his watch. How long had Titus Veraine been gone? Wyatt shouldn’t be loitering here with a sexbot. In fact, he shouldn’t have had sex at all. He had a job to do.
    “You said you take verbal instructions?”
    “Yes, Leith.”
    “Then… I order you back into the utility closet.”
    Ginger hesitated, and Wyatt saw her face become even more vacant. Then she turned and walked into the small utility closet. Wyatt closed the door after her.
    Hell. She’d followed his instructions without question. Why in the world hadn’t he thought to try to order her to stop before she’d performed fellatio on him?
    Who the hell was he kidding? He wouldn’t have passed that up for anything!
    Still, he felt better with the temptation of her removed. And just in time, too. Wyatt turned from the utility closet to see Titus Veraine opening the door to the programming lab.
    Veraine took one look around the room and then shot a look of blatant surprise at Wyatt. “Where’s Ginger?”
    Wyatt hitched a thumb. “In the closet.”
    The surprise on Veraine’s face grew. “Didn’t you…”
    Wyatt set his jaw, as if daring Veraine to finish the question.
    Veraine laughed, and took a step toward the utility room doorknob. “Come on, tell me. If you don’t, I’ll just ask her . Ginger is capable of quite a lot, but she can’t lie.”
    A Beautiful Doll can’t lie? Wyatt found that to be a very interesting piece of information.
    “Well?” Verain prompted.
    The grim line of Wyatt’s face hardened. There was no getting out of answering. “Yes. We did.”
    “Both fellatio and fellatio two?”
    “None of your damned—”
    Veraine laughed again. “She’s good, isn’t she? Don’t worry. I won’t tell Mr. Carron about your little…indulgence. It’ll be our secret. Consider it my ‘welcome to the company’ gift.”
    Watt kept his mouth shut, but felt his back molars grind together.
    “While I was out on the factory floor,” Veraine continued, “Mr. Carron sent word he wants me to bring you to his office.”
    “Fine.” Wyatt straightened. It was time to get to work. “Lead on. I have his instructions from the Council.”
    He followed Veraine out of the inner and outer programming labs, and concentrated on memorizing the layout of the Beautiful Dolls factory on the way back to Carron’s office. It was always useful to know your enemy’s territory, and it also kept his mind off the too-beautiful Ginger and her extraordinary sexual skills.
    The growing noise of the factory floor signaled they were approaching Carron’s office. How did the man stand that screeching sound all day long, even in the relative peace and quiet of his elevated observation room?
    Veraine rolled back the metal door, and the noise grew louder. “I have to get back to the lab,” he shouted, pointing Wyatt toward the direction of the steel stairs that led up to Carron’s office. “I have soldiers to program. You’ve already thrown me off my schedule today.” He clapped a too-friendly hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”
    Wyatt grimaced at the gesture, causing Veraine to laugh as he turned and strode back down the corridor that led toward his