The Metal Maiden Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

believe you’re a fembot without seeing your wiring.”
    She smiled. “Which is ironic.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it is fake. I don’t use a battery pack the way my prior animation did. My whole body is a capacitor storing the power I require.”
    Banner laughed. “All part of the demo! Are there any other apertures you can show, that aren’t on your torso?”
    “My limbs can be removed, and my head.”
    “You don’t want to remove your head in public. That would really freak them out. But what about a hand?”
    “I can do that.”
    They returned home, put away the groceries, then went out to another mall. When someone inquired, Elasa was ready. “Yes, I am a machine. I was assembled in the shop. See, I have no blood.” She took hold of her left hand with her right, pressed a hidden stud, twisted, and the hand came off, showing only the metallic connections. She let the person hold the hand, verifying its nature.
    Others collected, as before. “You certainly seem real,” a woman said.
    “I am real. I merely am not alive. But if you rent a unit like me, she will pretend to be alive if you ask her.”
    “I’d like to have an estrobot like you,” a man said. “If she--”
    “She would be excellent in bed,” Elasa said. “We are crafted for sex.”
    “Oh!” a woman said, shocked.
    “What, don’t like the competition, honey?” the man asked snidely.
    The woman stalked off. That could be mischief.
    But Banner was willing to bet that the shop would receive a number of calls. Elasa was doing her job. And he was doing his part, facilitating her public exposure.
    Sure enough, a woman with a press hat approached, trailed by a man mounting a camera. “I’m from WARP TV. May I ask you some questions?” she asked.
    “You may,” Elasa agreed. “I will answer them.” There was a certain literal streak in her.
    “Please give your name.”
    “I am Elasa. It is a contraction of Electronic Associates.”
    “Is it true you are not a woman but a machine?”
    “I am a female machine,” Elasa said.
    “You look completely human. Can you demonstrate that you are not?”
    “Yes.”
    There was a pause. “I mean, please do so,” the woman said, faintly nettled.
    Elasa twisted off her hand.
    “I was thinking of the other demonstration.”
    “I have been cautioned not to do that in public.”
    “This is not public. It’s an interview.”
    Elasa glanced at Banner, seeking social guidance. He suffered a passing siege of mischief. “Do it,” he said.
    Elasa opened her shirt and then her breasts, showing the fake battery pack as the camera whirred.
    “It looks so real,” the woman said. “Until it isn’t.”
    Elasa closed the panels. “The breasts are crafted to look and feel real. You may squeeze them if you wish.”
    “Thank you,” the woman said, evidently somewhat taken aback. She did not touch a breast. “This has been an excellent interview.” She hurried off, eager to turn in her scoop.
    “Wow!” a bystander murmured.
    It was on the local news that night, cutting off only as Elasa began to open her shirt, then switching to the view of the battery pack. Her bared breasts never quite showed.
    “I wonder how many units that will sell,” Banner said as they watched.
    “I can inquire.”
    “Do it.”
    In a moment she had the report. “Three thousand two hundred and forty nine queries in the past fifteen minutes. Five hundred and sixty nine commitments to rent.”
    “That should please the shop.”
    “They are extremely pleased.”
    “You’re really doing your job.”
    “It is your job, Banner. You are facilitating the publicity.”
    “You could have done it without me.”
    “I am not allowed. I must be seen in public with you.”
    Oh. He had forgotten. “Aside from that stupid law.”
    “It is more than that. They want me to demonstrate that I can function in human society on my own. Apart from the unit locator, I have no direct contact with the shop unless I initiate it. You are