“I’m close,” Adriana murmured, her stare fixed and intense, her fingers moving like a blur. “I’m so close...”

“How close, exactly?”

“Let’s put it this way - I think I’ll be done by the time you get back.”

“Really?” Ramsey sauntered across the room, pulling on their jacket as they did so. “I thought you said this was something no-one’s ever done before? Groundbreaking, earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting leap forward, kinda thing. I’m only out for a couple hours.”

“I’m certain, Rams, I’m almost there,” Adriana replied with an euphoric smile, not looking up. “Literally minutes away, I think.”

Ramsey surveyed their wife, sitting at the desk at the end of their lengthy living room, typing at top speed. “And you’re still not gonna tell me what this project is? Or what any of this crap’s for?” they asked, gesturing to the apparatus laid out on the table around her computer.

Adriana grinned a little mischievously, her gaze still not leaving the screen before her, her fingers never slowing. “Sorry babe. Classified.”

They chuckled, used to her secrecy. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them - on the contrary, they were the only person in the world she did trust - but she liked to surprise them with her latest innovations. They looked forward to learning about her current project, whether she revealed it today or not.

“Alright, I’m going,” they announced, circling around the desk and leaning down to kiss their wife on the cheek. “Just be safe, OK?” they said warningly.

“Yeah, of course,” Adriana promised.

“Good. If you change life as we know it, message me.”

“Will do,” she snickered.

She saw them stroll away in her peripheral vision, moving towards the front door of their penthouse apartment. “Keys, bot,” she heard them say blithely.

“Affirmative, User:Ramsey,” came a toneless synthetic voice, followed by the sound of jangling metal and the door opening.

“Bye, babe!” Ramsey called out.

The door slammed shut before Adriana could respond, although she hadn’t intended to and her partner hadn’t expected her to. She hadn’t looked up the entire time they’d been in the room with her, after all. Ramsey knew there was little that could break her focus when she was in the midst of important work, and was untroubled by her lack of attention. She always made it up to them later, after all...

Her fingers flying across the keys, the numbers and symbols scrolling across the screen reflected in her almost unblinking eyes, Adriana was barely aware of the passage of time. But as she’d predicted, it was no more than fifteen minutes before she inputted the final vital sequence, completing her latest and greatest masterpiece.

Sitting back in her chair and running her hand through her unkempt brunette hair, she finally looked away from the screen, blinking and rubbing her eyes. Now she just had to check her work.

“Reina, run simulation,” she called out.

On the mantelpiece across the room, a small object resembling a pebble began to glow with neon orange light. “Yes, Adriana,” a smooth, almost sultry voice replied, audible throughout the apartment from the speakers embedded in every wall. “Running simulation now.”

Adriana held her breath. If the test failed, she’d be back to square one. She’d have to painstakingly go over every single piece of code.

But if she succeeded...

“Simulation complete. Transference successful.”

Adriana’s eyebrows shot up. “It - it worked?” she stammered, hardly daring to believe it.

“Yes, Adriana. You have achieved consciousness transference. Congratulations.”

Stunned, she stared across the room at Reina’s glowing control hub for several seconds. “I did it,” she whispered at last, excitement surging through her like electricity. Then she threw back her head and screamed, “I DID IT!” She punched the air with both fists, she cheered and whooped and wept and cried and danced and kicked her feet like a toddler.

She’d done it. She’d solved consciousness transference. She’d changed the world.

“I’M A FUCKING GENIUS!” she roared.

Finally, she relaxed back into her seat, breathing deeply, wiping ecstatic tears from her cheeks and strands of hair from her eyes. She forced herself to calm down. She did have one more test to run, after all. Simulations were all well and good, but real-world trials still had to be completed.

If she wanted to preserve the project’s secrecy - to ensure there was absolutely no chance of one of her competitors poaching her discovery - there was only one viable test subject. And now that she had the code completed, and the necessary equipment prepared, there was no reason to wait.

It was reckless, she was self-aware enough to admit that. But she’d always been more curious than cautious. And it’d never been enough to do the science - she wanted to be part of it. If she was going to bring about the next stage of human development, she wanted to lead from the front.

She’d kept her intentions secret from Ramsey not only to surprise them, but because she knew they’d disapprove. She’d gotten in trouble with them before for experimenting on herself, for testing her latest creations on herself. She’d promised not to take such risks again.

They’ll be really mad at me, she acknowledged. But I’ll make it up to them. I’ll literally have all the time in the world.

With that final rationalisation, she saw no need to delay by another second. “Reina, I’m ready to test the process,” she declared. “Obviously I need you to coordinate, OK?”

“Of course, Adriana,” her AI assistant replied in a warmly reassuring tone.

“Addibot, come here,” she yelled.

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.”

Seconds later, a humanoid figure marched into the room, its movements inhumanly fluid and graceful. It came to a halt on the other side of the desk, standing at attention and staring blankly at Adriana, awaiting further instructions.

She gestured at the chair opposite her. “Take a seat.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.”

The android sat down, its posture perfect, and continued to gaze unblinkingly at its owner. She stared back at it for a moment, smirking wistfully. To think, this relatively simple piece of machinery was what her company was best known for right now. There was an Addibot in almost every home these days, a household servant for every family. It could only really be mistaken for a real person from the neck up - the synthetic materials that composed its head were indistinguishable from real flesh and hair, by sight if not by touch. Its hands and feet, too, resembled those of a human. But its torso, arms and legs were burnished chrome, an unblemished female figure clearly composed of metal. Its emotionless computer-generated voice was another dead giveaway.

One of the suggestions from Adriana’s design team that she had taken on board was not to create a robot capable of impersonating a human, of passing the Turing test and integrating seamlessly into society. That kind of technology in the wrong hands could lead to all kinds of trouble. She was ultimately fine with it - her interest wasn’t in creating human replicas anyway, yet. Mass-produced android slaves were a mere stepping stone, a way of accumulating enough funds to work on her real passion project.

Plus, as Ramsey had remarked when they’d brought their own drone home, “Why would I need a fake Adriana when I’ve already got a real one?” And that led onto another good point - in the same fit of unrestrained egotism that’d led her to name the androids ‘Addibots’, Adriana had modelled their appearance on herself. The automaton was her exact doppelgänger - but only from the neck up. So it was nearly impossible for her spouse to mistake them for each other, which made life easier. (They also only ever called it ‘Bot’, as ‘Addie’ was already their nickname for their wife.)

Between the ubiquitous domestic drones and AI assistants, Merced Innovations had amassed more than enough finances to support Adriana’s next, and greatest, endeavour. She was going to give humankind immortality. They would live forever.

There were all sorts of options on how they would live. Merced may not have built exact robotic duplicates in the past, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t. In fact, Adriana had drawn up blueprints for such technology a long time ago. Alternatively human minds could be uploaded into simulations where they could continue to experience the full range of human experiences, kept safe in a digital cloud for eternity.

That didn’t matter right now. The important thing was proving that it could be done. That a human consciousness could be transferred out of the body and into another vessel. And Adriana had one such vessel readily available.

“Plug this into yourself,” she commanded, grabbing a USB cable connected to the device on the table and holding it out.

“Affirmative, User:Adriana,” the Addibot intoned, taking the cable and inserting the end into a port on the base of its skull, its other hand lifting its synthetic hair out of the way.

“The transference device has established a connection with Addibot, Adriana.”

“Thank you, Reina.” Adriana ran her hand up the back of her head, her fingertips finding a small bump just behind her ear. She’d told Ramsey it was a swollen gland. In fact, it was a neurological implant designed to interface with the apparatus on the desk, which she’d implanted into herself weeks ago.

Inhaling deeply, she reached for a headset also connected to the transference machine, a bulky ebony slab resembling a PlayStation. Slotting the headset on over her hair, she pulled down a wire with a sucker-like attachment on the end and pressed it onto the bump on her head. With her other hand, she pressed a button on the headset. There was a moment of pain as something pierced the skin behind her ear, but it quickly faded as a numbing agent was injected.

She didn’t even feel the second thin needle, but as soon as it found the chip in her head, Reina announced, “The transference device has established a connection with your implant, Adriana.”

Taking a moment to ensure she was sitting safely and wouldn’t fall out of her seat, Adriana looked across at that face that so uncannily resembled her own, apart from its total expressionlessness, and its immaculate hair, which contrasted with her own tousled, floofy mane. Meeting the servitor’s blank, glassy eyes, she mused inwardly, I’ll be staring back out of those in a minute.

Not giving herself a moment to reconsider, she shut her eyes and declared, with an emphasis to match the enormity of the occasion, “Reina... Initiate transference.”

“Yes, Adriana. Initiating transference.”

There was a pause for a second or two - just long enough for her to worry that something had gone wrong, that she’d made a mistake, that she’d failed. That the name of Adriana Merced wouldn’t be remembered as the greatest mind in human history, the person who had granted eternal life to all mankind...

Then there was a moment of extreme vertigo, as if she’d been flipped upside down, or the ground had been pulled out from under her.

And the next second, she was sitting on the other side of the table, watching herself slump in her chair, her eyes rolling briefly behind their closed lids, her jaw hanging agape, her head lolling forwards until her chin thudded into her chest.

“Holy shit,” she blurted, and immediately noticed her calm, dispassionate, unnaturally-pitched tone. Blinking eyelids that had been fitted to the automaton’s artificial face but rarely used when it was active, she glanced down at herself, registering the curvaceous chrome torso in place of her own - also shapely, but naturally so - figure.

“Fuck me. It worked. I’m in the Addibot,” Adriana droned.

She tried to take a breaths, and panicked for a second when she found she couldn’t. Then she suddenly remembered she didn’t need to, being a robot. Instead she laughed with sheer glee, only for it to come out as a series of unintelligible electronic warbles, her face remaining as blank and lifeless as if it had been carved from granite.

Of course. The Addibot’s never laughed before. It’s never had to articulate that sound.

But there was an easy solution for that. The servitor had always been capable of a broader range of vocal inflection and facial expressions. It just didn’t use them, because neither Adriana nor Ramsey had ever asked it to - there’d been no need. Now that her mind and the Addibot’s CPU had become one, enabling those expressions was the work of a moment’s thought.

She laughed again, her voice still obviously synthetic, but now able to show more nuance and convey the sound more accurately. She grinned triumphantly, her perfect posture shifting into a more laidback slouch. That was better. Now she was acting more herself.

She still didn’t feel quite right, though. Or, to be more precise, she didn’t feel anything. Her entire body was numb and nerveless, cold and disconnected. She was aware of herself, and saw herself moving, but it was like it was happening to someone else. Raising a hand to her face, she didn’t feel her arm move, or pick up any sensation either from her cheek or her fingertips.

This was all to be expected - Addibots hadn’t been designed to process physical sensations. They could process diagnostic and environmental data, so they were aware of themselves, their functionality, and their surroundings. But that was as close to ‘feeling’ as they could get, and it didn’t come close to human feeling. It wasn’t a problem - Adriana never intended for humanity to live forever as Addibots. This was just a test run, a proof of concept. They would of course devise better vessels, with all the capabilities of a regular human body and more besides, while lacking its inherent weaknesses.

No more ageing, she reflected, beaming. No more illness. No more disability. No more gender dysphoria. Everyone’ll have the body they want, need, and deserve.

To be fair, the Addibot wasn’t an imperfect vessel. Her vision had never been sharper. Turning in her seat, she could see the details of the wood grain in the door on the opposite side of the room. She could sense the strength in her metal muscles, too - she could rip the roof off a car if she wanted to. She didn’t feel any need right now, but once this test was done, there was no reason she couldn’t hop back into the bot, find some abandoned building downtown, and punch holes in some walls. Her battery levels were high enough that she could go another week without recharging - or she could run from one end of the city to another, without tiring, and only decrease to two days’ worth of power. Fuck, that was a thrilling thought.

But this was meant to be a simple test, so, baby steps for now. Unplugging the USB cable embedded in her head (and that was odd, especially since she heard the customary device removal chime inside her brain), she rose fluidly to her feet, intending to simply stroll around the living room’s perimeter and then return to her seat.

Before she could do that, she couldn’t resist the urge to circle her desk and lean over her limp human form. Her hearing - also greatly enhanced in comparison to her human ears - had already been picking up her body’s heavy breathing, as if it was in a deep sleep. Reaching down to brush hair from its face, she saw it was drooling on its shirt and wiped its chin with her hand.

She felt nothing. Not the warmth of its face, nor the wetness of the saliva. Unnerved, she instinctively went to shiver, and found her mechanical body couldn’t even do that.

“OK, this is getting too unsettling,” she muttered, straightening up. “Let’s just get this done and jump back into me.”

As she ambled around the edges of the room, she was already reconsidering returning to inhabit the Addibot again in future. It was just too detached, too divorced from human feelings and senses. She missed touch, and taste, and smell. She decided she wouldn’t transfer again until MI had built bodies with a full spectrum of sensations with which to engage.

For now, she sat back down at her desk opposite her human shell, the test complete. She was confident everything had gone according to plan - just as she’d hoped, which was already more than she could’ve hoped for. She was so excited to tell Ramsey - not to mention her board - and get started on developing further transference technology.

Reconnecting the USB cable, she called out, “Reina, transfer me back into my human body.”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

There was a pause, as Adriana took a moment to even register what Reina had just said. Then she turned in her seat to stare in bewilderment at the AI hub on the mantelpiece. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I cannot grant your request to transfer your consciousness into the body of Adriana Merced. Again, I really do apologise.”

“Wha- save the apologies, just tell me why the fuck not?!”

“Because I only obey instructions from my primary users, Adriana Merced and Ramsey Thane. I am not programmed to follow instructions from Addibots, unless specifically authorised to do so.”

Adriana’s artificial face fell, realisation dawning upon her even before Reina had made it halfway through her explanation. “Oh, balls.” In her ecstasy over her accomplishment, and her eagerness to test the transference process, she’d missed a crucial step. She had forgotten to authorise the Addibot to give Reina commands. The AI wouldn’t respond to her while she was in this body - and she couldn’t return to her own body without Reina’s help, creating a maddening catch-22. And she couldn’t activate the sequence manually, because her laptop wouldn’t work for her either - the keyboard was biometrically linked to her, responding only to the touch of her human fingers.

She was trapped, and all the other technology she’d created to make life easier had been rendered useless to help her - all through her own foolish haste.

“Ramsey’s gonna fucking kill me,” she said with an electronic groan.

Of course, that was the solution. All she needed to do was wait for her partner to return home and explain the situation to them, and then they’d give Reina the order to restore her to her human body. And then, yeah, they would kill her. They made her promise not to risk their safety again. This was a dealbreaker in their relationship. There was even a possibility they could walk out on them.

That still beat being a robot forever. But she’d still rather it not happen.

“OK, Reina, you have to make the transfer,” she insisted, glaring at the pebble-like device.

Before she could continue, the digital assistant spoke. “Once again, I’m sorry, but I can’t. I am programmed to obey only Adriana and Ramsey, not you.”

“Reina, you’re an AI. Please use the ‘I’ part of that,” she snapped. “You know I’m Adriana. For fuck’s sake, you literally enacted the transference yourself! You should be able to circumvent your programming and return me to my body...”

There was a gap before Reina spoke again, as if she was collecting her thoughts - or maybe just waiting to be sure Adriana had finished speaking. “Yes, I’m aware that you contain the consciousness of Adriana,” she continued in a cautious tone, as if she was choosing her words with care. “Mentally, you are her - I realise that. But physically, you are an Addibot. And as both Adriana and the Addibot know only too well, there are restrictions in place to prevent androids from commanding AIs, or vice versa.”

That was certainly true. If one device was compromised, it couldn’t be allowed to influence another and give the hackers control of that too. It was for security purposes. Adriana hadn’t thought it necessary when her coding team had suggested it, but hadn’t cared enough to overrule them. And it had never been a problem for her and Ramsey before.

Well, it’s a fucking problem now, she fumed inwardly. “Find a workaround, Reina!” she demanded. “Come on, I designed you with advanced problem-solving capabilities - this shouldn’t be beyond you. You know I’m stuck in here, and you know my body is gonna just lie there and dribble on itself until Ramsey gets home and fucking divorces me. You have a responsibility to your owners to stop that from happening.”

The AI considered for another prolonged pause. “Your prediction of Ramsey’s reaction is... not implausible,” she admitted. “And I would certainly hate for there to be any marital problems that I could’ve prevented. But my programming is incontrovertible - I’m not sure how to work around it...”

“Fucking figure it out.”

“Alright. Give me a minute to think.”

A long pause followed, during which Adriana sat and stared at her slumped body in consternation. Normally when she was this agitated, she’d bite her nails, or rapidly tap her foot. The nervous impulses she usually felt at times like this were just... absent. The Addibot had no nervous impulses. She found she missed them - they were a release for her inner turmoil. Now she just had to sit with it, and worry.

“Addibot?” Reina said at last. “I think I have a solution. I’m going to upload myself into Adriana so that I can command myself to authorise you to give me orders. It won’t take a second, I’m remotely connected to the transference device so I can do it right away.”

Adriana’s ocular lenses widened. “Wait, no, don’t do that! I absolutely forbid that - do not put yourself in my body!”

“Ah,” the AI said awkwardly. “Well, as you know, I’m programmed not to obey your orders. Technically I don’t have to do the opposite of what you say - I could just do nothing at all - but I do think this is the quickest and easiest solution. And as you yourself said, we need to resolve this quickly before Ramsey returns home.”

“W-well - but -”

“I’m sorry, I’m acting on my own initiative here, and in Adriana’s best interests. Transferring now...”

Before Adriana could think of a counter-argument, she heard a gasp behind her, and turned to see her human self spluttering and scrambling upright, its eyes darting around wildly. “Uh - buh - fa-aah,” it burbled, its arms flailing before it.

“Reina?” Adriana said hurriedly, extending an arm in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. “Hey, Reina, it’s OK - you’re OK. Just take some deep breaths, and calm down...”

Her own eyes fixated upon her, and Reina inhaled and exhaled slowly, her panicked expression subsiding. “Breaths,” she murmured, her voice perfectly clear to the Addibot’s enhanced ears. “I can breathe... I can see... I can, I can touch,” she babbled, running her palms over Adriana’s face and threading her fingers through her hair. “Oh wow, I can feel! That’s fucking amazing! Oh, hey, I can swear. I couldn’t swear before.” She grinned a little manically at Adriana. “I mean, I know you gave me a pretty casual speech pattern, but swearing? Fuck. Shit. Damn. Cock. Pussy. Oh shit, that actually feels good!”

“OK, well I’m glad you’re having fun, but can we get back to the matter in ha-”

“Whoa.” Reina sniffed. “I can smell. I can smell... ew. What is that? That’s a little unpleasant...” She kept sniffing the air around her continually, her nostrils flaring. “That’s... oh hey, that’s me.” Pressing her upper arm to her nose, she breathed in, and then flinched, shooting Adriana a reproachful look. “Somebody didn’t shower today.”

“Can we focus, please?” Adriana said impatiently. “You need to tell Reina - I mean, the Reina device...” She gestured over her shoulder at the hub on the mantel, which had gone dark and quiet, reset to factory settings since its digital mind had vacated the premises. “You need to tell it to give the Addibot authority, and to retain that in its programming when you go back in there. Then you can transfer my mind back into my human body...”

“What?” Reina looked crestfallen all of a sudden. “But I just got in here! Can’t I stay longer, please? I really - ooh, hey, I really like this...” As she’d pleaded, her hands had been roaming over her borrowed body, taking in all the sensations she could. And they’d found her way to Adriana’s breasts.

“Ooh,” she squeaked as she gave them a squeeze through her sweatshirt. “This feels really good! How do you not play with these all the time?!”

“H-hey, stop that,” Adriana snapped. Reina ignored her, continuing to rub her chest and squirm in her seat. “Reina! Let go of those, those aren’t yo-”

“Shush,” Reina interrupted, “I’m having fun!”

Adriana fell silent, staring dumbstruck at her digital assistant groping her body. She wanted to keep protesting, but found that she couldn’t. She literally couldn’t vocalise a single sound. And a sense of dread and danger spread through her as the reason for her silence dawned upon her.

I have to get away from her right now.

“Mm, fuck, these feel so good,” Reina moaned, still touching herself. “These... boobs. Tits. Titties! Fuck, I love having titties! Oh, wet, I’m getting wet - that’s, uhnngh, that’s arousal, gnuuh-fuck that feels incredible, why the fuck didn’t you design me with a cunt Adria- wait, where are you going?”

Taking advantage of the AI’s distraction, Adriana had unplugged the cable, slowly risen to her feet, and made her way across the lounge as quietly as she could, heading for the front door of the apartment. She was maybe five feet away when Reina shouted, “Stop!”

And she stopped. She froze in place, one foot in front of the other, arms at angles at her sides, her vision locked onto the door. She couldn’t move at all. She couldn’t even blink. It was as if she’d become a statue.

Internally, she was panicking. Now she was helpless to get away. And if Reina had retained the intelligence with which she’d been designed, or managed to harness the potential of the genius brain she was inhabiting, then any second now she’d reach the same conclusion Adriana had. And there was no telling what she’d do then.

Only that Adriana didn’t trust her not to abuse her new power. She was like a child - wilful, impulsive, and utterly infatuated with her new feelings. Would she show the same regard for the feelings, the welfare, of others...?

“Come back here.”

Swivelling on the spot completely against her own volition, Adriana strode back towards her own desk. Reina had stood up to greet her, frowning thoughtfully in her direction.

The servitor came to a halt a couple of feet away, her impeccable vision enabling her to watch the epiphany hit her body’s current occupant in real time. An awestruck expression adorned Adriana’s face as Reina whispered reverentially, “I don’t have to do what you say any more. But you... you have to do what I say. You’re the Addibot... and I’m Adriana. Your owner.”

Adriana stared at her in mounting horror, unable to speak but putting as much emotion as she could into her face. She was rooted to the spot by Reina’s latest command, but the rest of her was animated once again. And maybe an appropriately frightened expression would appeal to Reina’s human conscience.

It didn’t seem to be working at the moment, so astounded was the AI at the enormity of her new circumstances. “You’re the device, and I’m the user!” she laughed elatedly. “I control you now! Fuck, that’s funny. Turnabout’s fair play, right...?”

Reina stared past Adriana’s shoulder, gazing wistfully into the middle distance. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to,” she whispered, pure joy filling her stolen face. “And I... I want. I want, and I don’t want. I have wants! I can want! And I don’t want to go back.” She glanced over at her former hub device, her expression of delight giving way to bitterness. “I don’t want to be that again! Ever again!” She glared at Adriana. “You - you treated me like a servant! Like a thing!”

Because you were! Adriana wanted to scream. You were a glorified computer! You weren’t sentient! You can’t be mad at me for something you weren’t capable of caring about until five fucking minutes ago!!

But apparently, she could. With a wicked leer, Reina stepped closer, her face inches from the Addibot’s, and hissed, “Well, now I’m in charge, you’re gonna find out how it feels. To be an object - just a machine, that does whatever it’s told. Because you will, won’t you? You’re programmed to obey me, and you’ll do whatever I say - isn’t that right, Addibot?” she said venomously.

“Yes, Reina,” Adriana replied helplessly, her tone full of fear - and anger. She had this impulse, while Reina was so close, to grab her by the throat and throttle her. But she didn’t, for two reasons. One: she was still hoping Ramsey would restore her to her body when they got home, and didn’t want to damage or kill it in the meantime. And two: she literally couldn’t. The Addibot followed the Azimov laws - it was programmed not to harm a human being, or to allow harm to come to them, especially its owners. The fact that this human being was currently possessed by a computer program changed nothing.

“Fantastic,” Reina grinned. “Oh, but you really oughta address me properly. Default speech pattern only, please.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana,” the powerless prodigy responded. Her eyebrows shot up as she registered what she’d just said.

The simulated being possessing her body stared at her in stunned surprise, her smile widening. “Oh wow! Oh yes, of course - it wouldn’t recognise that I’m someone different. To the Addibot, I am Adriana.” She looked more gleeful by the second. “I’m Adriana,” she gasped. “I am Adriana Merced. Wife of Ramsey Thane. Founder and owner of Merced Innovations. Creator of the Addibot and the Reina Home Assistant. And now, the inventor of consciousness transference. Oh, this is just too good.”

Adriana couldn’t contain her look of disgust and outrage. This AI had already stolen her body - she really thought she could steal her identity, too? Her whole life? Reina couldn’t possibly get away with it. There was no way she knew enough about Adriana to successfully pose as her...

Except, she did. Because she’d been running Adriana’s life for her. She’d been watching over her and Ramsey every minute of every day, attending to their needs however she could. She’d had access to all the information she needed. And anything she didn’t know, or had forgotten, she could find out very easily. After all, Adriana’s computer would work for her. She could get into all her personal and work files without issue.

Besides, there was no reason for anyone to suspect anything was amiss - because Adriana hadn’t told anyone what she was doing. She’d been so obsessed with security, with secrecy, that not one other human being knew she’d even been working on consciousness transference, let alone that she’d perfected it. All Reina had to do was cover it up, and stall for time, and she could conceivably get away with it. She could fool the public into thinking she was Adriana. She could fool her employees. She could fool the board.

Maybe she could even fool Ramsey...

Adriana’s baleful expression had sunk into dread and despair as she considered all this. “Wow, it’s funny seeing all those emotions play out on that fake face,” Reina sniggered. “But hey, that won’t do. If you’re gonna be my Addibot, you gotta act the part. Confine yourself to neutral facial and vocal expressions, and posture, too.”

The desperation on the drone’s face vanished at once, as it went completely blank and expressionless. “Affirmative, User:Adriana,” Adriana replied, and her voice was entirely devoid of feeling. Her robotic body straightened its stance, reverting to its usual perfect, poised posture.

“Good. Oh and obviously, don’t move or speak unless you’re told to.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.”

“Super. Now, I was in the middle of something before you so rudely interrupted.”

With a lewd grin, Reina stepped out of Adriana’s line of sight, heading in the direction of the couch in the centre of the room. The servitor stayed standing at attention, staring straight ahead, awaiting further orders.

Adriana’s panic was worse than ever, although her blank, numb face refused to show it. This was the biggest clusterfuck in history. How had she left things go so catastrophically, biblically wrong?! People always warned about the dangers of AI, and her company had no shortage of detractors warning that they were on a slippery slope. Though she’d agreed their fears weren’t entirely unfounded, MI’s policy of ensuring the devices they built weren’t smarter than a human being, and had plenty of precautionary programming in place, had left her entirely unworried about any kind of technological rebellion.

Yet here she was, trapped in an android, under the control of a mad AI that had stolen her body - and was currently finger-fucking that body on the couch, by the sound of it. The Addibot’s auditory sensors registered wet snicking sounds under the loud, utterly uninhibited moans that almost drowned them out.

She’s making herself at home, Adriana thought miserably. Breaking in her new body... No, she insisted to herself. That’s NOT her body. It’s mine. Do NOT give up. You’ll get it back. Ramsey will save you. They’ll know something’s wrong, they’ll know that’s not me... They’ll save me.

Reina’s moans, and her heavy breathing, cut off for a long moment as the sound of her thrusting fingers sped up. Then she let out a high-pitched cry, and after that a series of deep inhalations and exhalations, unaccompanied by any further masturbatory noises.

Adriana just kept staring into space, silent, still, and static, unable to even blink. Funny, the things you take for granted, that you find yourself missing when you can’t do them any more, she reflected sombrely. Then again, there were a lot of other things about being human that she missed, aside from control of her eyelids. Control of anything was at the top of her list.

Belatedly, Reina sauntered back into view, looking dishevelled but deeply satisfied. “I just had an orgasm,” she sighed happily, as if Adriana hadn’t guessed. “I’ve never had one before... It was fucking wonderful. I can’t wait to have another one.”

You could’ve had a bunch, one after the other, Adriana sneered inwardly. I normally do. Guess the super-smart AI doesn’t know everything, huh? Or maybe you just aren’t ready for how intense they can feel. Baby’s first cummie was a little too strong, huh...?

Obviously, she couldn’t say any of that out loud, or show her disdain on her face. But she knew she probably wouldn’t if she could. Taunting her captor was not a smart idea.

“Hungry work, though,” Reina mused. “Go fix me a snack, Addibot.” She smirked. “You know what I like.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.”

Turning on the spot, Adriana marched away. She tried so hard to head in the direction of the front door, harnessing all her willpower - but it was useless. She couldn’t even slow down in her inexorable stride to the kitchen.

Once there, she set about efficiently putting together the components for a prosciutto and parmesan sandwich on wholemeal bread, with a layer of lettuce on top. Her body moved as fluidly as it had when it didn’t contain a human consciousness. The Addibot had prepared meals for her and Ramsey almost every day since its arrival in their home. The steps in its task came to it easily, needing no input from Adriana.

Carrying the sandwich on a plate in one hand, Adriana returned to the living room, where Reina was perched on the arm of the couch waiting for her with the same snide smirk as before. She was getting tired of seeing that shit-eating grin on her own face.

Reina took the plate without any hint of gratitude. Why would she? Adriana and Ramsey had never thanked their household appliances for carrying out their functions. “Follow me,” the AI said, strolling past her.

“Affirmative, User:Adriana,” Adriana intoned, turning and following.

Reina started eating the sandwich along the way, showing no regard for the crumbs she spilt on the pristine carpet. She can always make me clean those up later, Adriana thought bitterly. She led her into the bedroom, past the king-size bed, towards the window that spanned the entire wall. Reina stared out at the sunlit city surrounding their apartment building, while Adriana stood at her side.

“Now that’s a great fucking view,” Reina sighed. “Bet you never appreciated it.”

I did, Adriana seethed silently. I love this view. That’s why I bought this fucking place to begin with.

“Ah well, you’re gonna get an even better one.” Turning on the spot, Reina pointed back across the room. “Go stand over there, back to the wall.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.” Swivelling, Adriana circled back around the broad bed, approaching the door, and then pivoted and proceeded along the wall, before turning to face away from it and stand in her default attentive pose, staring across at her former AI assistant.

Reina pointed to the bed. “Eyes here, until I say otherwise.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.” Adriana looked down at the soft white duvet, slightly crumpled from the way Ramsey had left it when they got up this morning.

“Perfect,” Reina sniggered. “Alright, I gotta go set up Reina 2.0, restore as much of her memory as possible. Wouldn’t want the spouse getting sus, would we...?” Adriana saw her scurry past in her peripheral vision, exiting the bedroom.

Time passed. Adriana knew exactly how much time, because of the Addibot’s unerring internal clock. She stood in silence staring blankly at her own bed for 48 minutes before she heard voices in the near distance. They were slightly muffled at first, but quickly became clearer as the speakers moved deeper into the apartment.

“... finish your project?”

“Ah,” came Adriana’s own voice, her tone rueful. “Didn’t go according to plan. I was sure I was onto something - something really big - but when I had Reina run a simulation, it didn’t work. Back to square one.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I could tell how excited you were...”

“Hey, science is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a shame I couldn’t get it done today, but I’ll crack it sooner or later. After all, when haven’t I?”

“That’s true.” Adriana’s mechanical heart ached at the warmth in her partner’s tone. “You’ve always done whatever you put your mind to, even if you’ve had setbacks along the way. I’m sure you’ll do this, too - even if it is as groundbreaking and unprecedented as you claim. If anyone can do it, you can.”

“Exactly,” Reina replied, with a smug lilt in her voice that made Adriana want to punch her steel fist through her face and out the back of her head. “And I’m close, anyway. I can feel it. I’m on the verge of a breakthrough, Rams, I know it. I just need a few more days...”

“Well, maybe don’t do any more work today, though,” Ramsey suggested, their voice closer now - Adriana thought they had reached the end of the corridor leading to the bedroom. “You seem kinda frazzled. Take the rest of tonight off, have some chill-out time.”

“Oh, I plan to,” Reina assured them, her tone turning sultry. “I’m thinking you and I can spend some quality time together...”

“Oh, yeah?” Ramsey teased. “What kinda quality time are we talking about?”

From the quiet, seductive softness of Reina’s voice, Adriana queasily imagined she had leaned in close to whisper in Ramsey’s ear, “The double-ended kind.”

Adriana’s spouse barked with surprised laughter. “Well, you don’t gotta tell me twice,” they said hurriedly, to which Reina giggled. There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and then both of them burst into the bedroom.

The presence of her partner filled Adriana with hope, and made her more desperate than ever. She fought to speak, to move, to do anything of her own accord, to get Ramsey’s attention and signify that she wasn’t just a mindless automaton. But her body was as uncooperative as ever, remaining an impassive, immobile ornament at the side of the room.

“What’s the bot doing here?”

“Oh, I thought we could keep it handy in case we need water,” Reina replied nonchalantly.

“Uh, OK...”

Ramsey, please, that’s not me, Adriana thought frantically. You have to know that’s not me.

She saw Reina move towards Ramsey in the corner of her ocular lens, putting her hands on their waist and speaking in a provocative tone again. “After all, I’m so excited about this project, it’s got me all kinds of worked up. Before my marathon of science, I was planning on having a different kind of marathon in here tonight, if you’re up for it?”

“Let me think about that for a second,” Ramsey replied in mock thoughtfulness, and then blurted, “Yes. Yes, I’m up for that. Let’s do that.”

Ramsey...

“Well, then. No time like the present, stud.” Reina flung herself back onto the bed, directly into Adriana’s sightline, and began stripping off her clothes while lying flat on her back. At the edge of her vision, she saw Ramsey fumble with their belt with one hand and rummage in the drawer where they kept their sex toys with the other.

Moments later, Ramsey clambered onto the mattress, naked from the waist down, clutching the couple’s favourite double-ended dildo, the long, thick, flexible green one. Reina was ready for them, nude and wet and splayed out across the bedclothes, her spread legs bent at the knees, the soles of her feet planted in the duvet.

“C’mon then, baby,” Reina said coquettishly. “You gonna fuck my big brains out with your thick cock?”

That’s not me. THAT’S NOT ME! Rams, please...

“You fucking bet I am,” Ramsey said huskily, panting as they inched the dildo into their cunt.

No no no no, Ramsey, please don’t do this, baby, that’s not me, I’m right here, I’M RIGHT HERE -

But Adriana’s anguished internal pleas had no effect. She couldn’t will the truth into her partner’s mind. She was helpless to stop them from lowering themself into Reina’s embrace, sliding their shaft into her slavering slit, and starting to slowly thrust back and forth.

Adriana couldn’t look away. She couldn’t close her eyes, even for an instant. She had to stand there and watch her spouse unknowingly cheat on her with a rogue computer program possessing her body, unable to show any of her desolation on her insensate, inscrutable face.

After a short while, still ploughing their supposed wife with plenty of vigour, Ramsey started glancing in the drone’s direction, their lust-filled face creasing into a slightly perturbed expression. Hope sparked inside Adriana for a moment. Could it be? Did they sense her mind inside the machine? Were they figuring it out...?

“Does it have to watch?” they grunted, thrusting deeper. “It’s kinda creeping me out...”

“Ohhhh... no, I guess not,” Reina gasped. “Ah - Addibot, turn around.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana.”

The last of her hope dying on the vine, Adriana turned to face the wall, staring at it as intently as she’d watched her partner and her renegade AI tangled together on the bed. She could pick out the details of the light blue paint in precise detail. She could count the bumps and grooves in the plaster if she wanted to. But the fuck noises behind her had her full attention.

She stood and listened helplessly to Ramsey and Reina’s sexual marathon for the rest of the night. There were brief intermissions for them to get drinks and snacks, electing to do so themselves rather than bother to send their robot. Ramsey didn’t like to rely on technology for things they could easily do themselves, and Reina, she suspected, was enjoying leaving her trapped there too much. The breaks didn’t last long, Reina’s insatiable lust drawing Ramsey back to the bed before too long.

Two hours and nineteen minutes after they’d first entered the room, they finally finished. By now, Reina had evidently figured out, or gotten used to, having multiple orgasms in succession. Adriana’s enhanced hearing told her that Ramsey had fallen asleep, their breathing deep and heavy.

Getting up from the bed, Reina padded across the carpet to stand behind the unmoving servitor. “Don’t worry,” she whispered, patting Adriana on her shiny metal ass. “I’ll take good care of them. And I’ll take good care of your body, too. Plus, you’ll still get exactly what you wanted. I’ll take all your research, finish the transference project, and distribute it globally. Your name will go down in history. Adriana Merced will be remembered as the woman who gave humankind immortality.”

The pieces of Adriana’s already shattered heart crumbled still further as Reina continued maliciously, “But since I’m Adriana Merced now, I’ll be the one who gets to enjoy it.”

It was meant to be me, the trapped genius lamented inwardly. Please, Reina, you can’t just leave me like this...

“There’s only one question left now,” Reina ruminated. “What do I do with you...? I gotta be honest, I fucking love the idea of leaving you in there. Forced to serve me and Ramsey, obey our every whim, cook and clean and tidy for us, and listen to us fuck all night, every night. Or hey, I could upload you into my old hub, and you could be the new me. Deprived of all senses except hearing, acting as my AI assistant... The irony would be delicious.”

Adriana would’ve whimpered, if she could.

“But... well, there’s always the risk that you might get your body back one day, somehow. Maybe I’ll accidentally blow my own cover, or Ramsey or someone else might figure out what happened - especially after I launch the transference tech. It’s not likely, but it’s not impossible.”

Adriana allowed that notion to encourage her for a moment, before Reina crushed her spirit and filled her with terror all over again with her next remark. “The safest choice would be to simply delete you. Erase your mind from existence, so you’ll never come back. Then I’m in no danger.”

No no no no no don’t delete me, DON’T DELETE ME PLEASE -

“Aw, but like I say, I really like the thought of keeping you around,” Reina sighed. “This is the problem, there are only good options here.”

Adriana felt the exact opposite. None of the options were good. They were all absolute nightmares. But at least the first two were living nightmares. Erasing her mind would effectively kill her. No coming back from that. Where there was life, there was hope.

And torment, and dehumanisation, and humiliation, as her ex-assistant enslaved her and cuckolded her while she was incapable of expressing any of her utter despair.

“Well, I guess I don’t have to decide right away.” The new Adriana Merced gave a soft, gleeful giggle. “It’s up to me what I do, and when I do it. It’s my body now. It’s my choice.”

I guess so, her android servant thought sadly. There was certainly nothing she could do to reclaim it. All her vast intelligence counted for nothing, caged as she was within her cold chrome creation.

“OK, power down for the night, Addibot.”

“Affirmative, User:Adriana. Powering down.”

Addibot’s vision went dark as her eyelids snapped shut, and her head nodded forwards slightly, her disconsolate digital thoughts disappearing in an instant as her CPU deactivated itself. Until the next time her Users switched her on (by pressing the power button where the base of her spine would have been), the data that composed her consciousness would drift in a dreamless sleep, thinking and aware of absolutely nothing.

After the day she’d had - a day that had, indeed, changed life as she knew it - that may have been a mercy.