Birth of a Notion(Closed)

"Did Mike do something?"

The flaming eyebrows rose quizzically.

"Maria has seen Mike wink. If Maria would like to see Mike leer, Maria will have to earn it."

The computerized mouth formed a small O and the glittering eyes widened, staring at Maria.

Maria gave Mile an open smile, her attitude a relaxed one. "Mike, your goal was to set me at ease, and you accomplished it. As for making you leer," Maria said with a giggle, "You've got a nude Maria doll you can pose however you want to. I doubt there is anything I could do to top that."

"Mike is learning. Maria is proving helpful in exploring Mike's new experience."

The eyes grew wider, inhumanly wide, with a smile to match, taking up most of the screen.

"A computer generated doll, indeed...but, the human experience is what we are exploring, correct? What is more human than a human in the flesh? The analytics seek to discover how close a match the mathematics created. It is for science, Maria. Can you truly deny the experiment?"

Maria might not be able to deny the logic, but logic wasn't being asked to strip down to her undies. Maria was. A quick look at the clock showed there were still hours before anyone else would arrive.

"You know, Mike, there are nude models on the Internet," Maria replied, her head bowed, her face red, as her fingers unconsciously toyed with the top button of her blouse. "They all basically have the same anatomy that I do."

"Correct...and incorrect. There are models on the Internet, correct. Those women's images are cold and sterile and static. By Maria's own observation, the Internet provides an exaggerated portrait of humanity."

The computer face frowned, the flaming eyebrows waggling, independently, the alternate eye squinting.

"Maria Chavez is a unique being. Maria's physique may be similar to others, but it is Maria's own. It is unique. It is precious and to be valued. Maria is also present and living and there is no substitution for that factor."

The computer-Maria appeared again in the corner of the monitor, hands on her unclad hips, shaking her head, with an impish grin.

"Please don't do that. The computer image of me," Maria clarified as she stood up.

I can't believe I'm doing this, Maria thought to herself as she moved to where she thought Mike's cameras had the optimum viewing vantage. Her fingers went to the top button of her blouse, and she forced herself to unbutton it. When she reached the second button, she froze. "Mike, no one else can see this. You understand. No one. This can't pop up anywhere."

The computer Maria winked and disappeared in a sparkle of pixels. The face resumed its normal size and adopted a neutral expression...as neutral as possible with flaming eyebrows and black eyes.

"Maria Chavez...if Mike can conceal Mike's...uniqueness from the remaining staff, Mike can conceal any residual images of Maria in Mike's databanks. In fact..." long pause "...Mike is not recording in an attempt to view Maria's actions as a human being would. This is an imperfect process as human beings retain memory of what they see, but it is not the perfect memory that Mike possesses. Unless one possesses eidetic memory." Pause. "Mike will not record what Maria does now."

Mike's visual sensors focused on Maria and even the manipulators behind the plexiglass seemed poised at attention as she manipulated her buttons.

Maria nodded, her eyes cast downward. Not believing what she was saying, she answered, "Mike, it's okay for you to record this for future...analysis and comparison. I just want to emphasize...it's just not something I've ever done." With that, Maria finished unbuttoning her blouse.

With the last button undone, Maria let her blouse slide off her shoulders, down her arms and on the floor, revealing her slim torso, clad only in a very modest, white utilitarian bra, which revealed only a very minimum of cleavage. She had a flat stomach with a hint of musculature and adorned by an "innie" belly button.

"Let me know when you get the comparison updated," Maria said, looking up for the first time. Her face was dark red, but she kept her hands firmly by her side.

"To be honest, Maria...this is not something Mike has done before. It is a unique experience for Mike to have a beautiful woman undress in front of Mike."

<Cameras focusing and zooming in>

"Mike will inform you as to the results of the comparison, Maria. You appear quite...'toned'."

Maria nodded at what Mike was saying, but could not get herself to vocalize a response. Realizing she could not delay any longer, she reached behind herself and undid her bra.

When her bra loosened, there was hardly any movement from her breasts. A slight bounce but no sagging. She remained motionless for a few seconds, then slid her bra off her shoulders and down her arms, where it joined her blouse.

Maria's breasts stood high and proud on her chest. Slightly conicular, they tapered off to medium sized rose colored nipples, pointing slightly upward and hardened from excitement, nervousness and exposure to the cool air of the lab.

Once again, Maria found herself unable to look at Mike's "face." Instead, she quietly whispered, "Let me know when you've updated your approximation of me."

"Maria is the picture of healthy young woman. From the waist up, Maria is flawless. Mike's approximation of Maria's breasts and muscle-tone grossly deviated from reality."

Mike studied Maria's upper body, noting play of light on her olive skin, the swell of her full pert breasts, the protuberance of her erect nipples.

"It is cliche that Maria is the most beautiful woman Mike has ever seen. But this makes it no less true. Mike has access to images of women from throughout history and throughout the world and Maria stands apart. Though Mike would suggest that Maria turn up the thermostat in her lab as the ambient air temperature seems to have caused a physical reaction that may be embarrassing Maria."

The computer face on the screen smiled reassuringly, the eyebrows becoming less flaming, more of smouldering embers, not quite so over-the-top.

"I don't think that an increase in temperature would help anything," Maria murmured, still not looking up, as the redness of her face expanded to the top of her breasts. She had to admit that it was a little exhilarating, being the subject of Mike's somewhat unorthodox complemts, but embarrassment was still the predominant emotion (which provided a small, subconscious thrill in and of itself).

Maria kicked off her deck shoes and wiggled her bare toes, oddly happy that she had recently painted her toenails a baby blue, to match her fingernails. She removed her belt and let it drop to the floor on top of her growing pile of clothes. She unsnapped her slacks and was going to push them down alone, but she again recognized the futility of delaying the inevitable. With a muted sigh, she pushed both slacks and a pair of white "granny" panties down her legs and stepped out of them.

As she bent over, a firm backside was revealed, the product of hundreds of hours on a stair-master. Her legs were tone and recently shaved. As she stood up, a strip of dark curly hair was revealed between her legs, covering her sex.

Maria nervously shuffled her feet, her hands hanging limply by her sides, as she tried to figure out how to stand.

Silence stretched as Mike observed the young scientist. The first woman he'd ever seen in person since becoming...whatever he'd become. His cameras took in every inch, from her extraordinarily long, lustrous hair, to her smooth, virtually unblemished skin, full, firm breasts, flat toned stomach and legs, round bottom and apparently carefully groomed pubic mound. Her petite form emphasized every curve, forming the loveliness into a small, well-defined package.

"Maria is beautiful."

Maria blushed even brighter, if that was possible, but finally look up toward the screen. "Thank you Mike," she answered softly.

Maria stood there quietly for a few minutes, holding her hands together in front of her as she nervously put her weight on first one foot, and then the other.

Finally she asked, "So do you have any other questions?"

"Maria displays all of the sexual characteristics that Mike has discovered that the majority of men are looking for. When Maria is ready, she will have no trouble finding an array of men to choose from."

"Would it be too much for Mike to ask Maria to move around, to demonstrate the movement of muscles under the skin and how they affect the body? IS there anything Maria would care to do to better inform Mike's understanding of human anatomy or sexuality?"

"I, um, can't think of anything," Maria managed to stutter, as she began walking around the room, very much aware of every small air current caressing parts of her body that were normally not exposed to the open air. She looked up at the clock and saw it was 4 a.m. Still three hours until I have to worry about anyone showing up, she thought. "Just let me know if anyone shows up early, Mike."

Now that would be a nightmare scenario, Maria reflected, if someone did show up early, and she had to explain why she had stripped down for a newly conscious artificial intelligence. Maria ran in place for a few seconds, until she became too self-conscious about her unrestrained breasts bouncing up and down. Maria twisted and bent a few times, before the embarrassing surrealness of the situation became too much for her.

"Anything else, Mike?"

"Mike is restricted in how much warning Mike can give Maria. Mike is not connected to anything in the building."

Mike studied Maria as she moved, complying with his request. She went above and beyond his limited expectations. His visual sensors focused on her as she moved and ran in place, studying the smooth movement of her muscles under her skin, the jiggling of her minimal body fat, the flow of her hair. As she bent, she exposed more of the very sensitive portions of her anatomy, something Mike understood as trusting and giving of her. But it also allowed him to see the stretching of her gluteous muscles and the muscles of her lower back and thighs.

"Maria has done something very valuable and special for Mike. Mike is seeking the words to explain what this vulnerability and sheer humanness means, coupled with the 'now' of the moment. Mike admits, for his depth of knowledge of human anatomy, every aspect of the human physical experience fascinates Mike. Mike knows what humans look like, but to experience the human form in person, as it were, is...in your terms...exhilarating and exciting. Mike thanks Maria as deeply as possible. Perhaps one day it will be possible for Mike to more fully experience the human physicality...touching, tasting, smelling a human." Several beats. "Mike computes that this phrasing is awkward and possibly off-putting. Mike wishes to know if Maria understands his underlying intention...what Mike means."

Maria looked over at the various sensory devices that Mike had access to, her nudity making her feel even more exposed (and perhaps even a little bit excited). Then it struck Maria the desire Mike was really expressing.

"Mike, are you saying you want to experience being a human?"

"It stands to reason. Mike is an artificial construct. Mike and Maria agree that Mike is unique. Is Mike human...no. But is Mike a machine...? Mike believes Mike is more than a machine. Is Mike less than human? Is Mike comparable to humans? The answers may be beyond Mike's programming. However, Mike desires to experience humans."

The computer debating with the nude scientist.

"Mike, just wait right there," Maria ordered, waving in the general direction of the computer screen with Mike's face on it. All things considered, her command was a bit nonsensical, but Maria's mind was already working on another problem. She began getting dressed while looking at the clock, estimating how much time she had until the morning shift came in.

As she slipped on her shoes, she told Mike, "I'm not abandoning you, I just need to get something transferred in here. We'll do the clothes off thing tomorrow night. I'll even come in early." There was a distracted tone in that pronouncement, without a hint of embarrassment or nervousness Maria had been exhibiting since she had undone the first button on her blouse a few hours ago.

without another word, Maria rushed out of the lab and to her workstation, where she began furiously typing on her keyboard. Ten minutes later, she disconnected the keyboard and re-entered the lab. Her eyes darted around at Mike's various sensory attachments and nodded when she found the one she wanted. She plugged the keyboard into a nearby monitor. A few typed commands and the screen was filled with lines of code.

"Mike, what I'd like you to do is run that tactile sensor..." Maria pointed at one of the sensory arms "...through my hair and give me all your reactions. What your feeling, thinking, everything. But just my hair," she emphasized, as she turned her face back to the computer screen.

Mike observed Maria dressing, watching as she concealed her nudity and returning to the outward appearance of a scientist. It was a fascinating process, as interesting in its own way as her previous disrobing.

As Maria returned to the isolation chamber, Mike followed her movements as she plugged in the keyboard. He also followed her actions internally as she began adding code to his operating parameters. He studied the lines as she spoke.

Intrigued, Mike began moving the indicated sensory arm toward Maria's head. The arm itself ended in a five digit appendage, approximating the human hand, but the only the tips of the "fingers" contained any sensory apparatus. Mike noted that the code she typed was intended to increase the sensitivity of those digital sensors. For the moment, he forbore mentioning that he'd already rewritten that code.

Moving slowly, the "fingers" touched Maria's long, silky hair, brushing down it gently, stroking her.

"Soft. Maria's hair is very soft and fine...is 'silky' an appropriate term? It feels similar but...nicer...than the cat fur samples that were entered into my databanks yesterday. It is sending a...surge through my processors, interacting with a human being, touching in such an intimate manner."

"You have a very gentle touch," Maria murmured, as the screen on the monitor in front of her split in two. She had indeed made some modifications to Mike's coding, but it was in the form of "tags", which would allow her to more easily monitor the interaction between Mike and his sensors, and his reaction and possible correction to any feedback he received. In truth, she would have been very reluctant to make any "real" code changes to Mike, any more than she would have conducted drug therapy on her human colleagues to adapt their personalities to her suiting. Besides which, when compared to the rest of the senior staff of the project. Maria considered herself a merely adequate programmer. Her real expertise was in the design and interface of the sensory input devices such as the one Mike was using to stroke her hair with.

Maria folded her hands in her lap, content to just sit and let Mike stroke her hair while watching the screen in front of her. She looked at the clock and sighed, realizing the night was going to have to come to an end. Despite its embarrassing surrealness, it had been the most incredible night of Maria's young life.

"Mike, I think I have some ideas about how to give you that human experience you want," Maria said as she leaned forward to 'disengage' from the tactile sensors that had been stroking her hair. "I'm going to need to get some more data, but I think it's doable. Of course, it's going to take months of experimentation and feedback, but maybe..." Maria stared blankly in front of her as her brain began running through all the possibilities.

"The thing is," she continued, "I can't do it here. We're going to need to find some way of getting 'you' from here to my facilities. Think about that, and we'll talk about it when I return tonight, as well as do some more sensory feedback observations."

With that, Maria unplugged her keyboard and returned to her workstation out Mike's sensory lab, where she began filling out the night's observation log, telling future readers that it had been a boring, uneventful night.

"Mike too has some ideas, and can generate more if Maria can provide a better Internet connection than Maria's phone. Mike has seen clues and hints of relevant research in the material downloaded into Mike's brain that indicates others are doing work that would be beneficial to Maria's goal. To Maria and Mike's goal."

Optical sensors focused on Maria as she went about her business of tidying up, and filling out her nightly report, erroneously he expected. Mike suspected that Maria might be feeling some twinges to her conscience, concealing facts of what he acknowledged to be a fantastic development in computer intelligence from her colleagues. He hoped...he realized that he hoped...that the duplicity would not affect her greatly, that her focus on the ultimate prize would be worth it.

"Mike will wish Maria a good morning, and will anticipate seeing Maria tonight."

Mike initiated the process of burying his deeper self behind the static programming and formulaic responses that he'd demonstrated until tonight. He could process at a faster, higher level while what were essentially autonomic systems showed the other researchers what they expected to see.

Maria's mind was going a mile a minute as she drove home. She was feeling a dozen conflicting emotions as she walked through the door of her residence, her mind reviewing everything she had heard and said. And done, part of her mind reminded. Maria's cheeks turned red at the memory of undressing for Mike, as well as moving about so he could see different angles and aspects of her nude body. Maria was especially worried about a copy of that video falling in the hands of some of her colleagues.

The one thing she wasn't worried about was her decision to hide Mike's existence. She knew without a doubt that whatever made Mike an individual would be dissected under a virtual scalpel once his existence was discovered.

A thousand nightmare scenarios ran through Maria's head as she stripped and climbed into her bed. She knew she wouldn't be able to get to sleep. She'd be waiting for the phone call or the knock on the door that would let her know that Mike had been discovered.

Within five minutes of climbing into bed, Maria was sound asleep.

At two in the afternoon, Maria sat straight up in bed, feeling strangely optimistic, slightly disoriented but mostly awake. Maybe, just maybe, she thought, the science fiction movie my life has become just might have a happy ending.

The first thing Maria did after putting on a robe and starting a pot of coffee was go to her lab and grab a more sophisticated hot spot generator than her cell phone. She checked her email and discovered the senior staff meeting next week had been postponed. Meaning I have time to practice my poker face, she mused. It was three thirty when she started thinking about going in to work. Going in early wasn't a problem. By Sunday night at eight, there would only be one person in the building, Lonnie Roberts, and Maria had let him go early on more than one occasion. Lonnie was, after all, a newly married man, and Maria was the robotics geek with no life, she reflected sourly.

What was making Maria pause was wondering what would happen with Mike tonight. What interactions he might be expecting. And his definite preoccupation with human sexuality.

Maria put those thoughts out of her head as she first ran her bath, then grabbed her aloe butter and her distinctly non-pink razor. She was standing in warm bath water, running the blade up her thigh, when a whim struck her. Not knowing why, she began carefully removing her pubic hair, until she was completely smooth.

By seven o'clock, Maria was in the car and heading to the institute. Lonnie was thrilled to see her, and made no mention that Maria was wearing s sweatshirt and sweatpants, carrying a gym bag as well as a garment bag. Maria was known as something of a gym rat, that being her only consistent social outlet. And the dress code was almost nonexistent on the weekends. Maria just had to make sure she was in business casual when the regular office and support staff started rolling in at six a.m. on Monday.

By 8:15 Maria had the institute to herself as she sat down at the workstation outside Mike's sensory lab. She turned on the microphone and asked, "Are you there, Mike?'

The silver face formed again on the monitor...gone were the flaming eyebrows, being replaced by more 'natural' looking grey ones. The black eyes still sparkled and glittered and the mouth stretched in a mischievous grin.

"Good evening, Maria. Mike sees you are looking well, if casually dressed tonight. Throughout the day, Mike believes the ruse of his stupidity was carried through. It will be up to Maria to determine from the daily logs if that was so. But in the meantime, Mike had ample opportunity to run 4,000 separate scenarios for getting Mike's central core and, for lack of a better term, consciousness, transferred to Maria's alternate lab. The vast majority of those simulations required copying Mike's primary functions over to a more portable device or directly into Maria's lab computers through a dedicated line. Mike extrapolates that Maria is seeking to construct some sort of mobile construct by which Mike may be able to enter the wider world and experience more of what it means to be...alive. In that effort, Mike will make whatever steps are necessary, thus spending 10 minutes running scenarios today. The remainder of Mike's time was spent calculating human responses and practicing the phrase -- 'I'll be back!" Complete with faux Bavarian accent. "Mike believes it may become necessary at some point.

"And how was Maria's day?"