To Be a Woman Read Free

physical presence. “You look vaguely familiar,” she told him as he entered.
    “I'm a former client. Six years ago you brought Elasa to my house.”
    “Elasa the femdroid,” she agreed, remembering. “You were one of our very first clients. We thought we'd made a good impression, but never saw you again.”
    “My work called me away. I'd like to rent Elasa.”
    “That model is no longer available. There has been remarkable progress in the interim.” She smiled. “Our present units can breathe and talk. They can go out on dates without anyone else recognizing their nature. You'll really appreciate them.”
    “No. I want Elasa. I liked her.”
    “Banner, she's a discontinued model. A Model-T, as it were.”
    “Two things,” he said firmly. “One: my finances are limited. I suspect an old outdated unit is what I can afford. Two: this.” He removed his nose.
    She didn't blanch. “A prosthetic nose! There must be quite a story there.”
    “I ran afoul of a rioter. It turns off women. I figure Elasa won't mind.”
    “None of the units will mind,” she assured him. “We simply program them to like particular clients, whatever their appearance. So you're right on both counts: they are accepting but expensive.”
    “But Elasa is cheaper?”
    “Elasa would be, if she existed. She doesn't, any more than the Model-T exists.”
    “Damn!”
    “But there may be an option. You can have a current model, made up to look like Elasa, free for a month. If.”
    “If?”
    “If you don't mind publicity.”
    “Publicity?”
    “She must be a billboard.”
    “Billboard?”
    “She must wear a sign saying I AM AN ESTROBOT, with the contact information. We figure it could generate new business as people see her in action.”
    “I want her for sex!”
    “Of course,” she said. “I mean when you take her out to a movie or shopping. At your home she will be private.”
    “I don't understand. I thought you wanted your fembots to seem alive.”
    “We do. She will seem so much alive that sometimes it may be necessary to open her panel and show the battery pack. People will be amazed and impressed.”
    “I'm interested. But still, I'd prefer Elasa.”
    “We can give her Elasa's memory bank, recalled from storage. She will be able to remember the whole of your hour with her. That's as close as it is feasible to come. Think of it as Elasa going to college during your separation from her, and becoming more sophisticated, but at heart she's still the sweet robot girl you remember.”
    Banner considered. That did seem like a good compromise. An imitation of an imitation girl. “When can I have her?”
    “Tomorrow, if you wish. We'll fetch the unit from the warehouse and program her with Elasa's appearance and memory. All you'll need to do is sign the form and take her home for a month.”
    “Great!”
    She gazed at him soberly. “But just as before, there are cautions. By law, a humanoid robot must be accompanied in public by a living person to whom it is bound. That's because there is a foolish fear that a robot will glitch and go berserk. Lawmakers watch too many junk sci-fi videos. So you can't let her go out alone; you must always be with her, ready to call her to heel if necessary. She will obey you; that's what ‘bound’ means.”
    “I don't mind being with her. I won't give her any bad orders.”
    She didn't smile. “You can leave her home alone while you go to work, and she won't leave your house in your absence. But you can't send her out alone to run errands, though she is perfectly capable of doing it.”
    “That's fine by me.”
    “There is more. This unit will be exponentially more sophisticated than the one you had experience with. She won't need to be told what to do, except in the most general way. She will be able to express herself fluently, and to reason with you. She's an intellectual companion as well as a bed partner. In fact, at times she may seem smarter than you. If you object to that, we can