3
Ava quietly opened the door to Cassandra’s bedroom to deliver coffee, just as she did every morning. Usually the maidbot found her mistress still in bed, but on this day she was up early. Thus it was that she was wearing panties and nothing else when Ava entered. A few weeks ago, she would have been terribly embarrassed about her maidbot, which was really her son Spencer, witnessing her in this state.
Since then, however, Cassandra had come to realize that maidbots have programming to handle exactly this kind of situation, and trusting in the system produced the best outcome. She began to regard this Ava much the same as the android Ava after which she was named. Accordingly, the maidbot averted her eyes, set down the coffee, and quietly exited, thus properly implementing protocol for this delicate situation.
Cassandra treating her son as merely another maidbot was definitely aided by the changes in Ava’s appearance. She had meticulously designed the old Ava a couple years ago, and the new Ava had come to resemble those specifications quite closely. The similarity was produced by allowing nanobots to perform cosmetic adjustments to Spencer’s anatomy: his hair color, eye color, skin tone, jawline, and numerous other small changes were tweaked. Spencer already had a little bit of moobs before, and the system was now depositing additional fat there to produce a demure A-cup. Add to that the makeup and the maid uniform and the upshot was that Ava scarcely resembled Spencer at all.
Indeed, the only interaction between Cassandra and Spencer was when she deactivated the maidbot system to do a check-in conversation, making sure he’s still OK and wishes to continue serving as her maidbot. At first they did these daily but they had fallen off and now took place roughly once a week. Cassandra still insisted on doing them even after Olivia, the engineer assigned to help the maidbot relationship work smoothly, went so far as to add extra steps to the maidbot app discouraging the practice. No such check in was happening today, however, so she briskly walked past Ava out the door without saying goodbye.
With that, Ava began her household duties. Laundry was up first; she loaded the machine up with her mistress’s whites and started it. Next she went to the sink to do the hand-washable items, most of which were bras. They could take a long time to dry, so getting them started early seemed important to the system’s scheduler.
When he first started being a maidbot, sometimes Spencer would find himself thinking about how inappropriate and demeaning it was for him to be handling the unmentionables that support the breasts from which he once suckled. Now, such thoughts generally did not intrude; Ava focused on washing each item with care, noting any areas with soiling or wear that required additional attention. As one bra after another was hung to dry, she derived quiet satisfaction from a job done well.
Later that morning, Ava found herself also walking out the front door of the condo. This had happened before, when she took the trash down the hall to the service room for the floor, but this time she walked past the rubbish chute. Although nobody else was around, Ava lowered herself in a curtsy to hold her collar near an access control panel, thus summoning the freight elevator.
Spencer was confused at this unprecedented turn of events. What he could not know was that the system was making plans for the evening’s meal and found itself unable to contact the grocery delivery service. A labor dispute with gig economy workers was erupting and left it unavailable, so the system adjusted by sending Ava to pick up essential foodstuffs from a nearby store.
Reaching the ground floor, Ava proceeded toward the building’s loading dock, encountering another maidbot in a hallway. Apparently this is how servants come and go. A doorway opened onto an alleyway a short distance from the street.
It didn’t take Ava long to walk the couple of blocks to the grocer, although certainly the idea of being out in public in a frilly maid outfit felt quite unfamiliar to Spencer. The list of items needed was reasonably short: scallions, three cloves of garlic, and a few other produce items required for the evening meal. The cashier clearly was not surprised to see a maidbot shopping, and after the items were totaled Ava bent down to hold her collar to the point-of-sale terminal. A single bag was enough to hold it all, and so she left the store to walk the short distance back home. What Ava failed to notice was the man following her.
Returning to the alley behind the building, Ava felt uneasy but wasn’t quite sure why. As she approached the service entrance, she heard a noise behind her and felt a hand at her neck. The unseen attacker deftly unhooked the maidbot collar, then caught her now-uncontrolled body as it slumped forward. Spencer, having control again, began to struggle, kicking and flailing his arms. He’d never been much of a fighter, but the attacker was apparently so startled that he roughly dropped his victim to the ground and fled the scene.
Feeling some pain from the impact, Spencer struggled back to his feet. What just happened? And what should he do now? Do the police handle attempted crimes on maidbots, and how would they respond to a maidbot who is really a human? Would he or his mother be in some sort of trouble? He just wanted to get back home and then figure out how to handle this situation, so he ran to the service door.
Firmly locked, the door would not budge. He looked around and saw no one. Maybe he could run around to the main lobby of the building? He didn’t have an ID or anything else that would show he belonged there, so that would be at least embarrassing and maybe worse. Looking next to the service door he saw an access panel like the ones he saw before.
Retracing his steps, about ten feet away he found the control collar his attacker had dropped. He rushed back to the door, eager to get inside where it was safe, but when he held the collar in his hand to the access panel nothing happened. He still couldn’t get back in. Thinking briefly, he realized what he needed to do.
Spencer replaced the collar upon his neck. Nerves caused his hands to shake as he reached behind his head to work the clasp. Once it was closed, the system’s control returned immediately. Ava crouched down with newfound poise, retrieved the bag of groceries, and held her neck near the access panel. This time the door unlocked.
A few hours later, Cassandra got home with Olivia. They were rapidly speaking to each other about the day’s events.
“…sneaks up behind the maidbot and unhooks the collar. This leaves the bot helpless, so they can just carry it away and take it somewhere to chop up for parts,” Olivia finished.
“Oh my goodness, that’s terrifying!”
“It’s a rather unsophisticated attack but it does happen, and obviously sets off alarms immediately. In this case we can only imagine what would have happened if your son hadn’t been able to get away.”
“Maybe this is a sign that using Spencer in this way is a bad idea and we need to stop all this.”
Olivia took a breath. “I totally understand your concern and you’re a caring mother for raising that thought. If you decide to do that, then I will of course assist you in making that happen in the best possible way for Spencer.
“That said,” she continued, “let me tell you what I recommend. When we spoke on the phone earlier, I saw that Ava was safely back in your apartment, but in a state of agitated hypervigilance. Fortunately, the collar can suppress the secretion of stress hormones and other aspects of how the brain operates, so I made some adjustments.”
“Yes, you said something about that before, remind me of the details?”
“Ava is in rest mode in her pod now. Precognitively the adrenal glands are being blocked; in the higher brain I’ve replaced the usual dream sequence with the simple idea that something bad happened but it’s over now. The system is essentially providing trauma intervention therapy at this point, so we should consider carefully whether it’s a good idea to take that away. Indeed I suggest minimizing changes to Ava’s routine for a while.”
“I see. Still, I can’t bear the thought of anything like this happening again.”
“I agree, and to that end we want to make some improvements. There are a couple things we can do right away; the first is to add a registration label to deter theft.” Olivia rose and began to walk toward the kitchen.
“A label?” Cassandra asked, following.
“It’s a theft deterrent, an indication that this unit is registered and tracked, making it difficult to resell associated parts. In the case of a volunteer maidbot there aren’t any parts to register, but the would-be thief doesn’t know that. It’s not perfect but it’s something we can do right now if you wish.”
“Definitely, I want to do whatever we can. So how does this work?”
Olivia walked into the maidbot closet as she spoke. “We place a tattoo with a barcode and the logo of the tracking company on the back of Ava’s neck, right here,” she said, indicating a spot just above the collar of the otherwise-nude figure sleeping upright in the maintenance pod.
“Like branding cattle.”
Olivia smiled. “I wouldn’t call it that, and the process is different. I suppose in some sense the goal is similar: discourage maidbot rustlers.”
Cassandra chortled at the joke. “Are there any downsides we should be concerned about?”
“I mean, the tattoo is permanent, the whole point is that it can’t easily be removed. Spencer might not want to have it there after he finishes being your maidbot.”
Cassandra realized she hadn’t recently considered this eventuality. “But it can be removed, right?”
“The process is a bit painful and leaves some scarring. Or he could just wear turtlenecks,” Olivia cracked.
“Right now I just want to improve the safety situation, so let’s go ahead and do the barcode.”
Olivia pressed a few buttons on her tablet, waking Ava and causing her to step out of her maintenance pod. She pulled a device from her bag. “So this automatically inks the tattoo pattern. I just press this button…” Olivia frowned as an error message appeared.
“Is something wrong?”
“So I was going to just make a dummy barcode which doesn’t correspond to a real maidbot registry entry, but the inker won’t allow that, it requires the maidbot registration to be completed first in order to obtain the serial number encoded in the tattoo.” She moved back to the kitchen and pulled out her computer.
Cassandra followed. “A real maidbot registration? That seems a bit overkill.”
“It is, but we can just power through it. Most of the basics I can fill in from your existing data, with this location as Ava’s home address and with you officially designated as her owner.”
Spencer, standing in the maidbot room naked, was within earshot but only just now waking up. He definitely took some concern at what he was hearing. He and his mother had bantered about her being his owner now, but this no longer felt humorous.
Cassandra voiced similar concerns. “Does it have to be phrased that way? Can’t we call it ‘guardian’ or ‘employer’ or something?”
“I’m afraid this registry software was written before the recent surge in volunteer maidbots and hasn’t been updated. I wouldn’t worry about it, we can fix it later.”
Cassie paused. “I guess that’s OK.”
“Great. I need you to sign with a thumbprint here, and I’ll countersign as the notary. Also I’m required to give you a copy of this form describing the procedure for transferring the unit’s registration to a new owner, should you see fit to sell Ava,” Olivia teased.
Spencer definitely did not like the sound of that part.
A few minutes later, the two women were inspecting the fresh ink. The barcode was not large but definitely added a machinelike element to what was otherwise a human appearance.
“Looks like a properly registered maidbot to me!” Olivia exclaimed. “Now, moving on, the weak point in this incident was the collar itself; anybody can simply remove it and break the connection to the system. Well, not the wearer because the system won’t allow that, but anybody else.”
“Yes, that does seem like a vulnerability. So what’s the high-tech remedy here?”
Olivia smiled. “So our labs are working on some product redesigns to improve this situation, but what we can do today is a decidedly low-tech solution.” She reached into her bag and retrieved a small padlock.
Cassandra verbalized the same thought that Spencer was having. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I know it might seem a bit crude but this is a high-security device, sized to replace the collar’s clasp perfectly. It will make it much more difficult for anybody to attempt a repeat of what happened to Ava today.”
“Putting my child under lock and key. I don’t know about this…”
Cassandra held her newborn son tightly to her chest, waiting in front of the hospital for her then-husband to pull the car around. Her first birthing process left her exhausted but emotionally connected in a way she hadn’t anticipated, and gazing down at Spencer’s face she felt a loving bond unlike anything she had known before.
Without thinking, she began to enter the car with the baby still in her arms. Her husband had to remind her that wasn’t a good way to drive with an infant, and they had a brand-new baby seat in the back. It was with reluctance that she let go of her son, but she placed him in the carrier, tightened the straps, and buckled him in place. He fussed a bit at the lost closeness and new restriction, but she recognized these restraints were needed to keep him safe.
Cassandra took a deep breath. “OK,” she said as though still trying to convince herself, “we should do it.”
Olivia fumbled with the back of Ava’s collar. “This is a little awkward, I need a third hand. Can you grab that lock and put the shackle through both of the rings I’m holding?”
Cassandra steeled her resolve. She picked up the lock, carefully threaded it through the two loops, and squeezed it closed. Only when she heard the thunk of the mechanism engaging did she breathe again.
Olivia gave a quick tug to confirm the padlock was now properly secured, then pressed a small item into Cassie’s hand. “This is the key, so store it somewhere safe. Make sure not to lose it, or Spencer might be stuck as a maidbot forever!”
Spencer was not amused, but Olivia pressed some buttons to return him to the pod. To help with his trauma recovery she keyed in some adjustments to his dream sequence to permit the rare treat of multiple orgasms tonight.
On her way out, the engineer summarized their current status. “OK, we’ve made a couple of changes. I’ll follow up with our lab tomorrow and see what else we can do to keep Ava safe. Rest assured we are doing everything we can to provide the best protection for your maidbot.”
The next morning, Ava woke as usual, feeling particularly refreshed by Olivia’s programming modifications. She noticed a sensitivity in the skin above her collar, but couldn’t see that part of her body in the mirror. When she bent over to make the bed she also noticed the weight of the padlock at the back of her neck. After a couple hours she had gotten accustomed to these changes, and any feelings of annoyance were replaced by a warm sense of being protected and cared for.
Being summoned to the front door to greet a guest was a common occurrence for Ava, but on this particular occasion the guest's identity shocked Spencer out of his maidbot bliss. It was Betty, the girlfriend who dumped him shortly before he moved back in with his mother.
“Hello ma’am, this way please,” Ava said, her even voice not revealing the shock Spencer was experiencing. What is she doing here? Will she recognize me like this?
“Thank you, Ava,” responded a voice Spencer hadn’t heard in months. Betty followed, carrying a medium-sized cardboard box.
I forgot Betty has been here before, and met the android version of Ava. She thinks I’m her, which is probably just as well.
They arrived at the living room where Cassandra was waiting and welcomed Betty with a warm hug. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! Can I offer you some tea?”
My mom always did like Betty. I could tell she thought Betty was too good for me, and in the end I guess she was right.
“You too Cassie, you too. And yes, I’d love some.”
“Ava, please bring us a tea service.”
In a way Spencer felt relieved to be made useful, but his fevered thoughts continued. Did mom send me out of the room to protect my feelings? Or did she just want tea? Will she reveal what’s become of me? Oh my gosh, my sister threatened to send that video of me to Betty, did that happen?
Back in the living room the ladies continued chatting. “I came here because I have some of Spencer’s things, they got mixed in with mine when packing. He and I haven’t communicated in a while, in fact nobody seems to have heard from him, but I’m told he moved back with you. Is he here?”
Cassandra avoided the last question “Ah, that explains the box. What’s in it?”
“A lot of it might just be junk, but it includes some of his college papers and diploma, as well as some souvenirs from trips we took together. Also a couple pieces of jewelry that I figured he should have.”
“Jewelry? I didn’t know he was into that.”
“It’s nothing, a pair of necklaces, each half a heart, that fit together. He bought them for us to wear to symbolize our love. It’s kind of cheesy but at the time I loved it because I loved him.”
“Say no more, I can take care of those things.”
“Thank you. Spencer was a good guy, but it became clear that our life journeys were taking us to very different places. I’m not sure where his path will lead but I hope it works out.”
“Yes, I understand what you’re saying. I do feel that he’s finding his place.”
“So he’s doing OK? Did he find a new job? His old firm was so cutthroat and I could tell it stressed him out, and I genuinely do want the best for him.”
“I know you do. I feel like the details of my son’s life aren’t really mine to share, but yes, I suppose it’s fair to say he found a new role that better suits him.”
As though on cue, Ava returned with the tea service, and then was dismissed to continue other duties. Washing the floor-to-ceiling bedroom windows that looked out over the city, Spencer couldn’t help but speculate about what more they might be discussing. When Ava later returned to remove the tea service, neither Betty nor the box she brought were anywhere to be seen.
“Hello Ava, it’s very nice to see you again,” Olivia said while walking in the door.
“Good afternoon, nice to see you too ma’am. This way please,” Ava responded while leading the visitor to the living room, where she found Cassandra waiting. A visit from Olivia was routine, but Spencer knew she had to be there for something relating to him so he couldn’t help but consider what might be changing this time.
“Olivia, so lovely to see you. Thank you Ava, that will be all.” The maidbot left the room to resume her other duties.
Olivia went right into engineer mode. “I took a look at Ava’s metrics and she seems to have recovered from the attack she suffered two weeks ago. Thanks to our nanocranial therapy we’ve been able to mitigate the kind of emotional challenges that sometimes follow a trauma like this. Have you noticed anything concerning?”
“No, she seems to be getting along OK. As you suggested, I’ve been trying to take it easy on her, avoiding disruption to her routine or the stress of deactivations.”
“That’s great to hear. What about the security improvements we put into place?”
“Ava’s skin around the barcode seems to have healed nicely. I find my eyes linger there when she walks away from me, it really underscores the bot in maidbot.”
“I suppose it does! Let’s talk about what comes next. I know I promised you that I would do everything I can to keep Ava safe, and that’s what brings me here today. Maidbots are vulnerable in a few different ways, one of which is their more … personal areas. Since all android maidbots and most volunteer maidbots are female, the work that’s been done on protection has focused primarily on them; we have a personal protection shield we’ve recommended for some time.”
“I didn’t know that; I don’t think my android-Ava had one of those.”
“No, it was supposed to be added as part of the maintenance she was undergoing when the parts crisis hit. Now, it turns out that there is a version of the personal protection shield being developed for our male volunteers, but it’s not yet fully ready. I’ve spent the past week going to bat with our executive team to get approval to have Ava serve as a beta tester, and yesterday they finally said yes.”
“So you want to give Ava a chastity belt.”
“We prefer not to use that term, but I think you’ve got the gist. This will prevent unauthorized access to Ava’s private parts.”
“So is this one more key I have to put in my safe deposit box?”
“No key, it integrates with her maintenance pod, so it can be automatically secured in place each morning and removed at night during her resting time.”
Cassie nodded. “So are there any potential problems I should know about with this chastity belt?”
Olivia decided not to correct her a second time. “As I said, this is a prototype. So I’ll need to take detailed measurements to make sure it’s being fitted properly to provide both security and comfort, and we might need to make adjustments if there is pinching or chafing. After a while we’ll assess the result and see if it’s ready to be released to manufacturing.”
“OK, I appreciate you getting Ava approved for this. How do we proceed?”
“So I can take the measurements and do the fitting today, and we’ll go ahead and do the install. I’ll monitor how it’s going and let you know if I need to come back.” Olivia stood and grabbed her case of equipment. “May I summon Ava to meet us in her maintenance pod?”
The women went back to the kitchen, where Ava was also arriving. “Ava, could you get me a glass of ice cubes and bring them into the maidbot closet?” Olivia asked.
“What are the ice cubes for?” Cassandra asked.
“Ava, enter your maintenance pod,” Olivia directed. As the maidbot began to remove her uniform, Olivia donned a pair of medical gloves and retrieved a few measuring tools.
“Since this is a prototype,” Olivia continued, “we are being particularly careful about getting the fit just right with the male anatomy. To that end I need to take careful measurements in a variety of different, um, situations. You may prefer not to be present for this part.”
Cassandra decided to take Olivia’s advice and took leave. Ava removed the last of her clothing, stood in her pod, and closed her eyes. A giggle erupted as the engineer realized that android-Ava was originally specified as being devoid of public hair except for a well-defined landing strip; the nanobots did the best they could to replicate this, but when associated with a penis the resulting appearance was somewhat comical. Still, the absence of hair around the scrotum would be helpful in reducing the risk it might get caught or tangled in this new device.
Olivia took a tape measure, calipers and a body protractor to take detailed measurements of Spencer’s thighs, buttocks and genitals. The procedure was very thorough, measuring circumference, girth, droop, angle, you name it. She even used the calipers to measure the distance between his butt cheeks in a standing position and the diameter of his starfish.
Once she completed the base case, she then took out her control tablet and induced an erotic dream; after a few minutes she was looking at a throbbing erection, and repeated her measurements. She noticed that Cassandrea seemed to keep returning to the kitchen and wondered if she couldn’t help but be curious about the fitting process.
With the measurement of the stimulated case complete, Olivia pressed a few buttons on her tablet to end the dream. She retrieved the ice cubes and gently held them to Spencer’s testicles. It did not take long for his erection to subside and everything to contract. Once this was complete she took a third set of measurements, the shrinkage case, and entered everything in her tablet.
The tablet performed some calculations and spit out a series of sizing values for the new apparatus. Olivia pulled out a small power screwdriver and adjusted the chastity belt to fit properly. The belt was a simple design; a rounded metal cup in the front supported and protected the penis and testicles, with a metal strap around the waist and a crotch strap which blocked access to Spencer’s butthole. A thin layer of neoprene inside the metal elements cushioned the skin. This was clearly not designed to torment the wearer, as some are, but to protect the wearer with as little discomfort as possible. The design could be both simpler and more robust than other chastity belts because maidbots don’t need to go to the bathroom.
The maidbot engineer activated the groin saddle device in the maintenance pod and attached the fitting device to it. With a thunk and a whirr reminiscent of an impact wrench, the chastity belt was deftly installed onto the maidbot. It was held on with rivet-like connectors that could only be unfastened by the fitting device.
Olivia reawakened Ava and directed her to resume her duties. The maidbot did notice a sense of restricted movement in the areas the belt covered, but just as with the other security improvements, in a short time she had acclimated to the change and regarded it as a sign of being looked after and valued by her mistress.
10 am: Call Spencer to wish him a happy birthday
Cassandra looked at the event notification on her office computer. She had configured this annual reminder several years prior, after she had forgotten to phone her son and felt guilty about it. Now she was feeling guilty for a different reason.
I can’t throw him a birthday party, she thought. Nobody would even recognize him and he would be profoundly confused. He can’t eat a birthday cake. I can’t even really give him a gift. What kind of mother am I, unable to celebrate my only son’s birthday with him?
Cassandra considered messaging Olivia, with whom she had not spoken for a couple of weeks. She hesitated because she knew what the response would be. Olivia would say that maidbots don’t have birthdays, Ava is doing well, and reminders of Spencer cause anxiety for Ava. Relief from worry is a greater gift than anyone could hope to find in a store.
Rather than merely dismissing the notification, she found herself clicking on the next button over, “delete recurring event.”
Whoops, I didn’t mean to do that. Or did I? Maybe I did. Reminders of Spencer cause anxiety for me, too. If I can give Ava the gift of relief from worry, am I not worthy of that gift as well?
Cassandra looked around her office, finding three framed photos of Spencer she had displayed there after removing them from her home at Olivia’s suggestion. She gathered them, thanked them for their service, and added them to the box of items Betty had given her. After stashing the box on the top shelf of a storage cabinet, she resumed her workday with a newly unburdened spirit.