Parcel for you....Part 6

 

‘We can’t do it at the table!’

 

‘Take him upstairs then,’ Pat shouted as she rummaged in the box.

 

Spencer appeared very interested in the upstairs of the house, his eyes lit up and he was suddenly more animated, looking around at the doors to the bedrooms. Vanessa opened up her little spare room, it was barren, she rarely went inside, a tiny room with a single bed and filing cabinet.

 

‘Oh, it’s cold in here, Vanessa. Poor Spencer,’ Pat said, feigning concern.

 

‘He can’t feel the cold.’

 

Pat undid his belt with rough, grabby hands, she whipped it out of his belt loops and threw it on the bed. He raised his arms quite automatically, like a child and she pulled up his top and dropped it on the floor. The skin on his chest was smooth but had a thickened appearance, somewhere between flesh and rubber with some hair sprouting in the centre, scattering outwards then fading to clear with a few realistic moles. As Pat began to undo his flies, Vanessa stood frozen, concerned but also fascinated.

 

Spencer’s pupils darted left and right. ‘I can’t do both of you at the same time,’ he said and his trousers were pulled down to reveal lime green boxer shorts.

 

‘What does he mean by that? You’re giving him mixed messages, hey you’re not taking those off!’ Vanessa intervened. ‘Stop please. We’ll put him straight into his pyjamas now.’

 

‘Really?’ Pat laughed and patted Spencer’s crotch. ‘It feels very natural, starting to get hard.’

 

‘Okay,’ Vanessa placed her arm between Pat and Spencer to break their contact then took charge, pulling the paisley pyjamas hastily out of their wrapping and getting him into them in a frenzied rush. ‘There…that looks nice,’ she said, changing her tone from panic to authority. ‘It’s one minute to eleven, I can tuck him in, put him in sleep mode.’

 

Pat didn’t like it. ‘I’ll just kiss him good night,’ she said, leaning in.

 

‘Too late! He’s gone down, bless him.’ Pat stroked his forehead.

 

She shrugged. ‘You need to stop being so possessive. I’m just trying to help you get the most out of him.’

 

‘Do you know what, it’s getting quite late and you’ve got to pack for your holiday.’

 

‘I’m all packed.’

 

‘You never get tired do you!’ Vanessa composed herself, for she was getting quite angry but not wanting an argument, she smiled and calmly said, ‘Well I’m feeling a bit tired.’

 

After her friend had left, she was relieved. She had gone from wanting Pat to hold her hand throughout the process of incorporating Spencer into her life, to now feeling as if she needed to keep her well away from him.

 

Was it possible that his head could be turned by Pat. There was no section on this type of thing in the manual or on the YouTube videos she’d watched but she’d noticed that those women in the videos were all overbearing types like Pat. Perhaps the relationship could only work if the wife was the dominating, not passive like her. That was why Vanessa had failed at her attempts at horse riding, she dithered, she worried about the feelings of robots and horses, her instructions were woolly, the instructed were confused, they bucked and strayed and wandered off. 

 

A free three month support line had been provided with her purchase and it was available twenty four hours a day to reassure new users. I’m going to phone them, Vanessa thought. She was in a decisive mood now.

 

‘Hello Cybermate Wordwide, you’re through to Nav. What is your model number please?’

 

‘Hi, is that the JML Husband support line?’

 

‘Yes Madam, model number please?’

 

‘Okay, one second,’ She rushed to the box in the hall and quickly took a photo of the number and with her heart racing, she read it out, ‘It’s 63455962…WD8899G.’

 

‘Thank you. How can I help?’

 

‘I’ve just put my husband to sleep, so he can’t hear us, see I have a few questions. It’s nothing really and I feel a bit silly for even asking..’

 

‘We’re here to help Madam. What is the problem?’

 

‘Well, he’s functioning just fine, my husband that is. I’m pretty happy so far….’

 

‘Great, that’s great news!’

 

‘But I’m just a bit worried, you know, going forward into the future, I want to know, for my own peace of mind really, before I get too invested. I would like confirmation on whether my husband could be influenced by other women, I mean could he, and I know this sounds ridiculous but could be, for example, be unfaithful? I know he’s a robot, it’s ridiculous, maybe I’m being paranoid.’

 

‘Madam, he’s your husband, we don’t call them robots here, and remember, you have full control over the macro functions. Over time, as he develops more human qualities, there may be some grey areas in the unlimited micro functions that your husband has to offer. We believe this is a positive thing because he will be more realistic for you.’

 

‘Okay, so another woman couldn’t become the focus of his attention?’

 

‘May I ask what setting you have him on, I mean in the basic functions, in terms of his emotional balance?’

 

‘He’s still on normal man function. I haven’t changed the emotional balance settings yet.’

 

‘Normal man function means he’s unlikely to act on feelings which could be perceived as inappropriate, however he may still develop those feelings, experienced as internal flashes in his drive. Everything you make him do will affect the spectrum of his data and will be stored as information but the motherboard is designed so that his main attachment is only to you, his wife.’

 

‘Oh,’ Vanessa nodded, looking up and frowning hard as she pondered this information, ‘so, from what you’ve told me, Spencer will remember whether another woman was flirty with him so that means he can be altered internally by this experience. I don’t know if I like the sound of that.’

 

‘Altered but not acting, that is correct. Madam, let me give you an example, one of my wife’s cousins is single, she’s very ugly but she once told me, in fact,’ Nav laughed, ‘it was on my wedding day, she said that I had a very fit body so, although this was more than six years ago, I still think about it whenever I see her and sometimes even when I’m alone and it makes me feel good, like I still have options, you know, this is good for a man to feel this.’

 

‘Really?’

 

‘Yes,’ Nav laughed again for several seconds. ‘Sometimes, I even imagine that we could get to know each other better but then I remember her face and I know I could never let this happen. My wife is very pretty but her cousin made me feel flattered and who knows, one day something might happen because I know she likes me and this compliment, it plays on my mind but I am a real human man so it’s very different to the JML Husband. Your husband is very superior to me in this respect.’

 

‘Do you think?’

 

‘Yes, you know, this one time we were out for a picnic and my wife’s cousin was there and she was wearing this….’

 

Nav’s voice faded into the background of Vanessa’s consciousness. She was tired, a bit disappointed, confused. Spencer might not act on his feelings but he could still have them. In that respect he was like all men, like Nav and all the others. But who was she, to want control over another person’s feelings? What did it matter if he never acted on them, after all, she couldn’t see inside a man’s head. Even the most loving and outwardly faithful of husbands could be experiencing high resolution, 3D sexual fantasies about any one of her friends, celebrities, her sister, supermarket checkout staff, ugly or not, at any one time and there would be absolutely nothing she could do about it.