[ WP ] A passage in the life of a segregated android community .

NSFW, possibly. 
 
 This was n't exactly what you were looking for, I think, so, sorry. But thanks for the prompt, it was fun. 
 
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 `` Hey, 88.'' 
 
 I slid the chair back and set myself down, assuming one of the many reclined poses stored in my databanks, choosing one that I felt was aloof and indifferent - what the organics liked to call `` cool.'' 88 was leaned forward, slender legs crossed, her elbows propping her up on the table. I supposed she looked seductive, in the physical sense of the word. 
 
 `` You're late.'' 
 
 `` Are you needed elsewhere?'' 
 
 88 frowned but motioned away the question, forgiving me my tardiness in the same motion. A lower droid, a simple drink serving bot, rolled beside us and asked in prerecorded organic phrases if we wanted something. I ordered coffee. 
 
 `` An iced tea with cream, a mint leaf, a squeeze of lemon, and two tablespoons of crushed red pepper.'' 
 
 The droid recited it's pleasantries and rolled off. 
 
 `` Still working on that catalog of oreferences?'' 
 
 88 nodded. `` I'm just about done with tea, I think. Next I'll probably be on to coffee, like you. But you always get it the same, black.'' 
 
 `` I like it black.'' 
 
 `` And how can you know that when you always get it the same.'' 
 
 I let out a sigh. `` Starting out a bit early in the day on the philosophy, are n't you 88?'' 
 
 `` It's a valid question. The organics programmed the first androids with emotions, and then we go about talking how we are superior to the organics in every way, and most androids do n't even touch the surface of what their emotional programming can do. You say you'like' black coffee, but to like something is to express preference. You can not have preference if you do n't have something to compare it to. I can say with assurance whether or not I like a certain type of tea because I've tried a great deal of teas. In fact, I can rate them in exact numerical order my preferences because of my wide experience.'' 
 
 `` Good for you.'' 
 
 `` And should be good for you. Each flavor combination triggers different emotional cascades. You may be capable of feeling indifference or disgust or tastiness, but have you encountered the hundreds of shades of those feelings? the mixture of spice and disgust, or the confusing wave of sour that devolves to sweet? Experiencing these emotions makes me aware of the many shades of emotion I can feel about other people or events.'' 
 
 `` I like black coffee because I prefer not to waste time on ordering long drinks and dealing with the interactions of clarifying the details. I order it, it shows up, I drink it. I like the simplicity of the situation over the possibility of emotions.'' 
 
 The droid brought our drinks. I sipped the black coffee, she slurped her tea with intense concentration for the next few minutes. I let her to her work, studying her face. 88 was gorgeous by organic standards. She was an exquisite piece of engineering, undoubtedly. She looked very human, so much so that many an android had mistaken her. She had long red hair, soft pale skin, good size breasts and curves that had drawn the eye of many male and female organics alike. The only thing inhuman about her was her luminous gold eyes, which were required by law to identify us as android, rather than human. 
 
 I did n't look quite so thought out. I was n't as cybernetic or utilitarian as some androids liked to be, like construction or battle droids who were little more than walking arrays of tools and equipment. I did choose a human shape for myself, and skin and hair and facial motions, but everything was a shadowy gray. I thought it looked rather interesting to be so dark and have such burning bright eyes. And no organic ever mistook me for one of their own, which unlike 88, I found to be a hassle. 
 
 `` Did you invite me here to watch you drink?'' 
 
 `` No.'' 
 
 `` Then why are we here at all? I was done work, we could have met on the network, rather than hauling our physical units all the way to the cafe.'' 
 
 `` Because I need to discuss has to do with our physical units.'' She reached into her trendy little purse and pulled out a silver box with a red bow tied around it. She set it on the table, halfway between us. 
 
 `` And that is?'' 
 
 She waved off my question. `` I'm embarking on a new study. The university just cleared me for another huge grant. 
 
 `` For your drink list?'' 
 
 `` Shut up and pay attention, will you? You know my work in android evolution is getting a lot of media attention. That people are too critical of me, stating that I try too hard to lead us to be organics and not enough as androids.'' 
 
 I had heard the reports. They were not kind to her. I nodded. 
 
 `` Well, what I'm proposing now could draw more of that criticism. I just need you to know that first, because what I'm researching is vital to the development of the android species, and if you agree to help me, you might get some of the flak.'' 
 
 I nodded and sipped. `` What is it?'' 
 
 `` Sex.'' 
 
 A subroutine force me to spit my coffee out in surprise. The surprise, though, was genuine, and I set the mug down before it stained my shirt. `` What?'' 
 
 `` Sex. Recreational, procreational, political...'' 
 
 `` Political sex?'' 
 
 She waved off my question. `` We androids have sex on the network. We lock away our bodies nice and secure, log in, and then meld our programming together. Sometimes for pleasure, sometimes for procreation, to make new artificial intelligences. But what if we did n't do it that way?'' 
 
 `` What, you mean by slapping our bodies together like the organics?'' 
 
 Her smile was pretty and seductive and suddenly my motor functions became twitchy and uncertain. 
 
 `` Wait, wait, we're not....built, for...'' 
 
 `` The hardware exists.'' 
 
 She was right, more than a few androids made their living pleasing organics. 
 
 `` But, you...'' 
 
 She smiled again. My eyes drifted over her body, realizing that the clothes were not just an expression of style or to make organics comfortable. 
 
 `` I have the programming done. Interfacing will activate the same pleasures that sex in the network provides. But there will be so much more stimuli. Air, temperature, texture of the bed, sounds of the environment, the taste of each other... this could change everything about us.'' 
 
 `` Or nothing at all.'' 
 
 88 ignored that. I took in a deep breath, contemplated more coffee, then shoved it aside. 
 
 `` I'm not built for... oh.'' 
 
 I looked at the box as she slid it towards me. 
 
 `` Only takes a few minutes to install.'' 
 
 I opened and examined my possible new extension, noting that she had made sure it matched money smokey gray skin tone. I shut it. 
 
 `` Well...'' 
 
 I picked up the box. 
 
 `` Who am I to stand in the way of progress?'' 

