Tears in Rain

By Mica Le Fox

Forget about those clumsy attempts to mimic humans that were interesting and amusing, but failed to convince in the 2030s, Trudy 2.2 is a new generation of artificial intelligence, the first of the Companions range developed to provide a real alternative to soul-destroying online dating in order to find a human partner.

You have to understand, she is astounding - attractive but not like a model... more subtle than that. Her skin is soft and warm but not perfect, her movement incredibly human. And we haven’t even talked about her intelligence unit. You will not believe how clever, funny, warm and responsive Trudy is... and of course she learns all the time, becoming more human every day through her experiences. I mean, she watches Peep Show on her intranet and her sense of humour develops a definite edge of wicked irony. But it’s all just for you... when you buy her, you will be the sole recipient of her affections. Guaranteed.

Yes, that’s a good time to introduce Evie, who is human... all too human, in fact. Trudy is placed with her to develop her life experience - to hang out, talk, have a laugh, go shopping, play chess with... you know the kind of thing. It's called everyday life.

But that could be the first mistake of the Companions development programme. Evie is, well, not at a good point in her life. She needs the money that mentoring Trudy will give her, but she is sceptical about a ‘robot partner’ to say the least.

Also, she is breaking up with her boyfriend, struggling to concentrate on her work as a copywriter, drinking way too much and descending into a bit of a mess generally.

Is that really what the Companions programme needs at this delicate formative stage?

But then, it would be wrong to underestimate Trudy’s perceptiveness and ability to see through Evie’s unhappy stroppiness and to begin to see value in her only too real human imperfections... of which she has many. So although it looks like the Companion is learning everything that is bad about humans, what she really learns is how complicated they are.

Trudy and Evie learn to care about each other In the most unlikely way, Trudy begins to trust Evie and asks if she will teach her to kiss and her mentor finds herself, not disgusted as she might have anticipated, but intrigued. Then she feels how soft Trudy’s kisses are and... it’s life defining time.

Tears in Rain is a sexy romance. At least I think it’s a romance... it’s so hard to tell when an algorithm is driving the actions of one half of the couple. I was also going to say it’s a lesbian romance, but again... one’s a girl and the other... just looks like one. And feels, smells and tastes like one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mica Le Fox
• Release date: Dec 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005957841

Mica Le Fox

Totally out of my depth at an academic school I mercifully discovered I could draw and blagged my way into a career in advertising and visual arts. So far, so not too bad. It's been OK, but writing has been part of my remit and I've always itched to do more, so here I am, blagging my way into book writing. It's all fiction. Fiction is often way better than real life and I spend most of my time thinking things up. But I will never try to make you accept the completely unbelievable. If you watch, say, science fiction on TV, it's alright to 'suspend your disbelief' - I do - but not to accept the unbelievable. I hope my books will introduce to you human characters (mostly) with ordinary human emotions and fallibilities. I especially like fallibilities... they are the most interesting thing about us all and certainly the best to write about. I want you to have a booky window on people sometimes making mistakes... maybe sometimes getting it right as well. And I will try to make you feel what they do, you know, like you are in their shoes... well, unless they're undressed of course. Whether I do all this well is another matter, I only write these stories so I have no idea. Anyway, it's for you to decide. Buy the books and let me know. Ha! Blagging again.

Book preview

Tears in Rain

By Mica Le Fox

Copyright 2020 Mica Le Fox

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Chapter one

Phase two really began on the doorstep of a small new-build house in a suburb of Basingstoke.

. . .

Hi Evie. You look like you haven’t been to bed.

Evie stood at the door, eyeing the two figures who waited outside.

Tara stepped forward and hugged her, then turned to include the woman who stood behind her.

This is Trudy. Trudy... my sister, Evie.

The woman inside the house looked carefully at the girl who approached and was quite simply astounded. She looked perhaps twenty-five. The right age thought Evie. She could have predicted that - but nothing else.

Trudy wasn’t beautiful, her face didn’t quite have the perfect bone structure and proportions for that. But she was attractive, with mid-brown hair tied back into a short ponytail leaving little mutinous frizzes to escape into her temples, clear brown eyes and a mouth that had an almost built-in smile. It made her seem approachable, even before she spoke. Evie also noticed her skin. It was healthy-looking and clear apart from some blemishes around her mouth and the first array of laughter lines near her eyes. Not perfect, but perfectly natural. Very convincing. A girl.

She came forward to hug Evie, who instinctively made a half step back to curtail the embrace and took her hand instead.

I’m sorry Evie. Did I get that wrong? Trudy said it quickly, but evenly – unoffended.

Tara watched the encounter but didn’t intervene. This was exactly the type of situation that Trudy needed to experience and although she considered that Evie may have been a shade harsh with her response to the misjudged greeting, Trudy would learn from it.

Evie shrugged it off with vague impatience. It’s OK. Come in.

. . .

Artificial intelligence had come on in leaps and bounds. Even back in the twenty-tens, AI was being developed as a product of comfort for all those lonely people out there, but now the sex-toys and partnering markets were really coming on-stream as many preferred to socialise online and stay at home.

People had increasingly lost the conviction to find partners in the ‘normal way’, leading first to online dating from the late twentieth century which was still, by this time, the most used method of meeting partners. But in the late twenty-twenties, the first AI dates appeared - humanoids. Clearly this could have been an application just for sex-toys and that’s where the early manufacturers headed. But things were to change.

The early models were limited in their outward appeal. Facial and anatomical construction wasn’t realistic enough, skin technology wasn’t really convincing and the ‘sensual experience’ was far from warm. Communication was also in its infancy and lacked human sophistication, but gradually the technology improved, and the ‘experience’ began to take on a much greater two-way aspect - humanoids not only provided the body, but also began to talk back.

Things began to get much more interesting by the twenty-thirties, and developers were looking beyond sex-toys to real human to AI interaction. Girlfriends. Boyfriends. Deeper relationships. Loneliness, it seemed, was a stronger market than sex.

When the first fully independent AI boyfriend was launched on-stage in California, news channels were handed a bumper story. Jessica Rickard, CEO of Charm, flirted in front of a large audience with a male android. He was quite sexy too and held a very reasonable conversation. Then they kissed - and with that the world began to realise what was going to happen in the very near future. Humanoids had kissed before, but this was far more subtle and very sensual. CNN were not sure whether to go ‘big comical’... or to play the indignant ‘this is salacious trash’ card. It was far from pornography, but it was racy and afterwards the boyfriend told Rickard she was a great kisser, then turned to cheekily soak up the audience’s applause.

Air - Artificial Intelligence Relationships - based in Hampshire, had been funded by a group of forward-thinking investors to ignore the mundane, menial applications that currently proliferated and develop a very high-end product. Their generous development resources enabled Air to put together a team of the best AI scientists from around the world, specialists in every aspect of robotics, artificial neurology, intelligence and speech. In a press release, Air ‘let slip’ that three scientists had worked for six months on a blink.

After two years, Air’s ‘Companions’ programme, using a combination of revolutionary hydratable flesh over a highly flexible carbon fibre-based skeleton and a mind-blowing control and intelligence system, was returning impressive results. The Trudy Series made anyone who came into contact with them gasp at their sheer humanness.

By this time, larger sections of the relationships sector were already catered for by more mass-produced, cheaper devices. Their interactive capabilities were limited and without significant improvement AI partnering could have been left stranded as a fad. Apart from awkward social deficiencies, lack of exclusivity meant you may have come face to face with exactly the same model as your own at the supermarket or local cafe.

Air Technology had the foresight and the budget to realise this and concentrate instead on the advanced end – the leading edge of artificial intelligence designed for a wealthy, probably more senior market and their Trudy models were the very best the world had seen.

Even large-budget military AI applications, required to perform a range of offensive or defensive functions combined with weaponry could not compete with Trudy’s sophistication, their outward appearance and social responsiveness given only cursory attention. As an Air director put it to a journalist, Trudy was not competent with an assault rifle, but you would certainly introduce her to your mother.

In the staff café, Trudy Two sat at a table, hands resting on the surface, her fingers interlocked loosely. Sitting there relaxed, she was extraordinarily lifelike; her bright, intelligent eyes moving minutely, casually observing the activity around her.

In surveys it was discovered that most people didn’t want exceptional beauty in their Companions. Rather, they wanted realism. Prettiness, yes... or subtle handsomeness for a male Companion. But not the piercing blue eyes, chiselled features and amazing jawlines modelled on celebrities as you might have expected. Trudy’s unassuming attractiveness certainly fitted the bill.

Phase two of their learning experience at first restricted Companions to the Air premises, but now allowed them to mix freely with the employees of the company. This would provide them with day-to-day language, communication and social interaction with people. It would begin to shape the individuality of each of the trial models as they learned to deal with real people on a social level in their own way.

She had been chatting to various members of the Air staff during the day. Trudies Two, Three and Four wandered around the staff canteen, initiating conversation when necessary and talking to as many people as possible. Employees had been asked to spend some time – a part of their coffee or lunch breaks where possible – broadening the experience of the Companions. As it turned out, most of the staff reported that the broadening experience was mutual.

Prior to this, phase one had lasted almost a year, overlapping and then following on from the build of their anatomy and central control functionality. It provided them with basic education, understanding of speech, responsive conversation, understanding of human emotion and perception. Each of them had, built-in, an intranet from which they gleaned information at their own pace and using their own volition. Thus, each developed a unique, if at this stage limited, understanding of the world.

Tara approached the table and sat opposite the humanoid. She put her coffee down in front of her and smiled. Are you running out of people to keep you amused?

Trudy grinned back. They’re so busy. It’s nice when they have time to chat, but I don’t want to be a pest if they just need a break and a coffee on their own.

Tara nodded. Trudy’s everyday response gave her a little jolt of excitement. It was a very ordinary thing to say... polite and considerate, but that was what made it magical. Trudy was a machine, but her response was entirely human. How would you like to go out and spend some time with someone on your own?

Dr Tara Seward, who led the team responsible for intelligence – that is, developing the Companions’ personality and intelligence, had persuaded her sister to take part in the programme. Evie had given her a flat ‘no’ initially, but then relented – her workload as a copywriter specialising in airline promotion was not heavy at the moment, so she’d certainly have some time to spare... and the six hundred pounds per session would come in handy in making up gaps in her income.

Also, explained Tara, this was ground-breaking work that would change the way people socialised and developed relationships in the future. Evie constituted an intelligent, trusted, well-connected ‘safe pair of hands’ to take an instrumental part at a formative stage of the programme. Privately, Tara also considered her sister ‘not the easiest person in the world’, inclined to be emotional, prickly and vocal, so Trudy’s relationship-building would be tested.

Evie was, in truth, not convinced about the programme and had agreed, in some measure, to take part out of loyalty to her sister. A robot husband? She was very familiar with the use of AI in customer response situations within the air travel industry, as well as with Tara’s work on AI as an alternative to conventional dating, but even in this day and age, she couldn’t quite see herself responding well to an AI partner.

But she admitted that wasn’t the point here. She was being asked to give life experience to a prototype Companion product so she should suspend her disbelief and get on with the task in hand.

Are you sure you know what you’re doing asking me to chat to your baby robot? She had warned Tara during their first discussion about her acting as a mentor. I wouldn’t want to blow her circuits with my bad temper.

But Tara had grinned and said, Yes, I considered that. Actually, you’re a complete pain in the arse, but in this context a pain in the arse might be quite useful for her.

It.

Tara laughed. OK, it. She squinted at her sister’s disapproving expression. You might be surprised at how far we’ve come with this you know.

The scientist was not going to give away the surprise entirely. She was, in a vicarious way, looking forward to the impact Trudy Two would have on her sister. Plus, she wanted the humanoid to encounter a little cynical disbelief, or even disapproval, and handle it in her own way.

Hmm. So, you’re not asking me to be gentle?

Absolutely not. Do your worst and see how she reacts. It’s all part of the process.

. . .

So now Tara and Trudy sat on the sofa chatting while Evie made coffee. As the noise from the hot water spout grew louder Evie edged closer to the door, curious to hear what they were saying. A robot and its developer chatting? That was just plain bizarre and she was fascinated to know what they were talking about. Techy gossip? How to chat up a middle-aged divorcee? Tips on dealing with a recalcitrant sister?

I bought three cups. I wasn’t sure whether Trudy Two would... um... want some. Evie spoke to Tara as she sat down and plunged the cafetière.

Tara didn’t reply but looked at the Companion, raising an eyebrow.

Trudy smiled at Evie, picking up that she was being asked to respond. Well, I can drink some liquids... and eat some food. But of course, they have no effect on my body or its operation. She spoke as if Evie was a team member being brought up to speed. It’s more of a social function.

Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t want to go on a first date and watch a bloke eat three courses on his own, would you?

No, although If he was paying, I’d forgo dessert and have the pasta choice to be polite. Also, not to fill my reservoir too much - it wouldn’t be good to get caught short on my first date, would it?

The Companion laughed with them and Evie was impressed at how natural it sounded. In fact, she was quite startled at how altogether human Trudy was.

It was, she decided, the little things. She knew that Air had employed an animator to work on lifelikeness and movement at the early articulation stage of development and now she thought about Disney’s secret of great cartoon animation... the little things. Her posture on the chair was completely convincing, with a hint of a slouch and one leg crossed over the other at an angle to the table to give herself legroom. She also noticed Trudy had a habit of kicking her foot out from the ankle as she sat... a nervous gesture? Was that built into her intelligence? It had to be and it was masterful.

Her legs in a fairly short skirt were shapely but not overly long, just normal - potential partners may not be tall so her five-foot-five was an unthreatening height. All in all, Evie would have thought Trudy was perfectly human... if she hadn’t known better.

But of course, he would also know that anything you ate would be thrown away later, and a complete waste of money.

Tara rolled her eyes in a gesture of mild impatience at her sister’s open cynicism. Yes Evie. This will still take some, well, allowances to make it work. A Companion is not a human, but believe me, it will be an amazing alternative to a human partner if that’s what somebody wants - if we’re prepared to work with it, it just might be worth it.

Evie studied her for a few moments, ingesting the rebuke, then poured two cups of coffee.

Trudy Two smiled sweetly at Evie. I understand your doubts. In your position I would feel the same, but with your help I might be able to change your mind.

Good response thought Evie, but she couldn’t imagine the change of mind.

After Tara had gone, Evie spoke with Trudy for a while, asking her about her learning experiences so far and what she hoped to learn now. The humanoid said her experiences were limited and whatever she could learn from Evie would be invaluable. She would like to go out, if and when Evie thought it appropriate – experience in outdoor situations would be new for her and very helpful, but if not, they could simply talk.

After a few minutes, Evie excused herself and went to the bathroom and, on returning, she said she had to work and asked if Trudy would mind if she left her to herself for an hour.

I’m really sorry. But make yourself at home... nowhere’s off-limits. I just have to finish something.

Trudy was perfectly polite and gracious. It’s fine. I understand you have to finish your work.

So, Evie retreated to the kitchen table with her terminal. Trudy closed her eyes