I Dreamed of God Book Two: I Dreamed of God, #2

By DANNY JONES

With part two of the novel, the characters are placed on even more divergent paths so that each one begins to reveal who they truly are. Along with the original actors, several more appear to add depth, backstory and even more complications.

If you believe in the Bible, you may find plausible explanations for why the universe is the way it is. Therefore, the series of books closely follow the book of Revelation's account of what will happen during the apocalyptic times; however, the story interprets through the lens of modern technology, modern civilizations rationality and irrationality. Therefore, you will encounter many very disturbing events. If you do not believe in the Bible, you will find a society struggling with nihilism yet still working to use existentialisms call to create some form of meaning despite the emptiness of the universe. Some of the characters cope well, many do not.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DANNY JONES
• Release date: Jul 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223662358

Book preview

Prologue Book 2

Two meters in front of Claire stood a massive, real oak altar that was three meters long by one hundred and twenty centimeters tall. Covering the altar was an ornate white cloth that had embroidered red roses, not crosses, going around its border that hung off the altar. The altar cloth’s pure white crispness had been laid perfectly on the solid wood sacred table using rounded corner folds that two of the cathedral’s full time staff workers had labored over earlier that morning. On top of the cloth was a beautiful spray of four dozen crimson roses whose color matched the roses of the cloth perfectly as they had been bred by a local florist specifically for this church. The heavy, wooden altar likewise was being preserved professionally by a local wood worker who attended the church and whom lovingly cleaned, oiled and repaired the sacred furniture piece when needed, as it was a valuable relic of the past that had been hand-made sometime, back in the nineteen twenties of the twentieth century. It had been through three fires, four armed robberies, several riots and untold communions, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and baby christenings. Now it was serving as the location of what Claire considered to be her ultimate misery.

Claire was sitting on her legs having sat down from a kneeling position. Both her white glove covered hands were in her lap clasped together as she kept her head bowed and eyes closed. She wanted to pray, but she didn’t know how in spite of the fact that she had seen Edward pray several times. This was because she didn’t fully understand the concept and was afraid of making a mistake by trying to pray without Edward’s guidance. Therefore, she was simply doing as she had seen him do, by bowing her head and closing her eyes. Afraid to actually say anything as she had seen Edward do when he prayed, she was instead pleading in her mind for help with her present reality and the drastic, what she considered, evil changes that were occurring in her life.

She was dressed in a white, luxuriantly lacy wedding dress that hung down to her ankles and was of the empire style. It had a plunging neckline that revealed her upper cleavage, had long sleeves and a closed back. Attached at her waist was a train that extended behind her for three meters onto the shiny white, marble tiled floor of the cathedral. On her head she wore a beautiful wreath of red roses that had real pearls, rubies and emeralds placed in it that acted as reflectors of light to accent the flowers. In Claire’s long blonde hair that hung down to her waist, were dozens of tiny miniature red roses each neatly placed in a perfect diamond pattern. On the back of the crowning head wreath was a veil that had already been tossed back off her face as the wedding ceremony had concluded just minutes before. Oddly, Claire was alone at the altar as her new husband, upon completion of the vows, had received a phone call and immediately turned and walked several meters down the main aisle of the sanctuary to take the call privately.

And so, here she was, afraid, lonely for her former fellow workers and most of all missing Edward and his gentle ways. She hadn’t missed her old employers or the mean customers she had to deal with, but the sex work was all she knew and it at times had made her feel like she was helping people. Nonetheless, none of her current lonely misery meant that Alvaro had treated her badly. In fact, they had now been together for two weeks and he had never used her sexually or even touched her other than to occasionally guide her to where he wanted her to go in a very gentlemanly manner. Their lack of physical interaction however, was due mainly to the fact that he had been gone all two weeks and had left her alone, locked in his massive apartment just a few blocks from this cathedral that was located in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. He had told her that he was going to be gone and had left her lavish supplies of liquind and any other items she had wanted. He told her that the locked doors of the apartment were to protect her and not meant as punishment or imprisonment. But to Claire, who had listened to him with a sweet face and humble attitude, she still felt like a victim of kidnapping although she wisely never said so.

During the lonely two weeks, Claire had watched the channels intensely, stared out the windows of the apartment for hours and calculated very accurately that she was on the thirty-third floor of a building she didn’t know the name of. She had cleaned and scrubbed the apartment from ceiling to floor, and organized all the shelves in the two baths and the kitchen. She had also rearranged the furniture somewhat, that which she was able to move at least, for ease of access and utilitarian reasons and had read one of the books of Alvaro’s well-stocked library every day. Because of this, she had never been without something to think on and so she had weathered the solitary two weeks very well as the fifteen days had allowed her to acclimatize to the new continent and nation along with allowing her AI time to decompress and take in all that was happening to her.

Upon returning, Alvaro had marveled at what Claire had done and noted every detail of her labors heaping compliments and kisses on her until she felt embarrassed, an emotion that her AI seldom activated. But even upon his returning he had slept on the couch and insisted on her staying in the bedroom without him even though she told him that, although she could simulate sleep, she didn’t need to rest. Romantically, Alvaro had tucked her into bed the night before the wedding, had left a rose on his side of the bed and had passionately kissed her and told her that he loved her. Claire although appreciating his gentle ways still felt it was all for nothing as she had played similar erotiplay games before and had even on several occasions worn wedding dresses for several men and even women who pretended she was their new innocent wife and the time of her paid visit their honeymoon. These remembrances now only served to make her dread that Alvaro would, despite his gentleness, soon show his true self and begin to abuse her. Being an AREN, she wasn’t all that concerned with being used as a sex toy, but the thought of trying to please someone only to be rejected, yelled at or coldly treated depressed her as it meant she was not doing her duty.

After the wedding, Alvaro took her to a large house in an old neighborhood of Cambridge, here she met an old woman whom Alvaro tried mightily to please.

Mother, this is Claire, Claire this is my mother, Amelia.

The old woman scowled at Claire harshly then looked at her son with contempt. A wuc? You marry a wuc and bring her to me as if she was real?

Momma, please don’t, Claire is honest, good and sensible. And you know how I feel about reallys.

Diane is in New York, go to her, do not bring this abomination into our family. Diane has your children and your heart. Stop pretending you can replace her.

Momma, I will not deal with her, she purposefully deceived me and I will not beg her.

She lied to keep an argument from happening, the old woman replied.

No Momma, she lied to cover up what she was doing, I hate liars, I will not tolerate being lied to.

She has your sons and daughter.

I see them once a week and I’ve explained to them what happened. Reallys are deceitful Momma. You’re from a different age when women could be trusted and a man could be a lover of flesh and blood. Times change Momma.

Oh God, the old woman groaned, then turned and walked away from the two newlyweds.

Motioning for Claire to stay with him, Alvaro followed his mother into an old but well- preserved living room that had doilies on real wooden end tables, dozens of little porcelain figurines on shelves that were all either working or playing under trees, in painted gardens, in cars and little fishing boats or in tiny airplanes flying among shiny little glass clouds that were hung by threads to look like they were floating overhead. Across the room above a dusty ornate couch that was covered in paisley patterns there were a dozen or so old-style photos all hung in picture frames that had tarnished brass- colored frames holding the thin protective glass over the old faded color photos.

Sitting down in a chair that matched the couch, Alvaro’s mother first glared at Claire then turned her dark eyes to her son.

You are my youngest—listen to me, your sister and brothers will not take kindly to a wuc. I do not take kindly to it either, but you care nothing for my feelings.

Momma, Alvaro said as he sat down on the couch while Claire, still in her beautiful wedding dress, now absent its train, stood watching her mother-in-law with apprehension as Alvaro pleaded with her to be understanding. Claire knew the old woman was someone, she could never please, no matter what she did. She was one of those that she had been warned about by her teachers, her employer and other AREN co-workers. They were people that were beyond the reach of an ARENs abilities to make acquaintance with, must less become friends of. They were people who hated ARENs and were repulsed by their very presence. Some called them luddites others simply old fashioned, but Claire knew them to be hateful people who were known to lure horens to an apartment then tie them up and torture them. The lucky ARENs escaped their bindings, the unlucky ones were usually cut up like slaughtered animals and had their AI removed from their skull then smashed with a hammer.

Such people were mostly old and had been raised in a different time before flesh and simulated flesh had come together in intimate emotionally charged unions. They were traditionalists who rejected the idea that an AI driven personality was a genuine personality. They looked at ARENs as nothing more than automaton servants whose value was the same as a refrigerator or a vacuum cleaner. The more extreme of the traditionalists even considered sexual relations with ARENs as something akin to bestiality or any other abnormal sexual behavior. Of course, as the years rolled by the traditionalist’s numbers dwindled but now there was another social movement that declared AI controlled beings to be evil and were the eventual destroyers of humankind. These rejectors, as they were called, were actually the dangerous ones, the traditionalists, simply resentful, cruel and usually angry.

I know you are a traditionalist, but I must have a wife, and I cannot trust a real woman. Today’s women are too deceiving and changeable. I won’t—and I can’t deal with them, Alvaro explained.

The old woman turned from her son and looked angrily towards a large sheer curtained, sun filled window. She was sulking and Alvaro although knowing that his Mother would have this reaction to Claire was still deeply disappointed and so looked up at Claire and shook his head. Claire simply looked at him sadly and remained silent as she contemplated the future conflicts that might arise because of the old woman’s attitude.

That night in Alvaro’s apartment, they slept together for the first time and Alvaro made gentle love to Claire for more than an hour. She of course did as she was taught to do and simulated several orgasms while breathing heavy sighs of pleasure and passion. She could have real orgasms if treated right, it was a part of her system of emotional rewards and punishments. But Alvaro did not elicit such a reaction in her as she feared him and felt that he was little more than a criminal.

The next morning Alvaro rose early before the sun was up. He showered then quickly dressed and left. Claire who was merely simulating sleep had noted his leaving the bed and figured that she should remain in bed and wait for him to leave as he might not want to be bothered, but she didn’t really know.

Hearing the front door close, Claire got out of bed and quickly walked to the front door and tried its brass knob where as she expected, found the door to be locked. Turning, she went back to the large bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom. Out of routine she wanted to cleanse herself because of the sexual contact the night before. Pausing to think about what she should do, she assessed her situation and determined that staying clean, tidy and as well-dressed as possible would be her best strategy to please her new benefactor as Alvaro, she had observed, was a meticulous dresser and always perfectly groomed.

Removing the lacy and nearly transparent negligee she had worn all night, Claire walked to the marble framed porcelain tub and peered into its large empty basin. Its tub was purest white and the marble that framed it was perfectly shiny without a water spot anywhere. Above the drain and water spout end of the tub where it was attached to the outside wall, was a large window that had no curtain and looked out across the Boston skyline and across the Charles River in the distance. Being on the thirty-third floor, Claire thought nothing of standing before so large a window naked. Nudity after all, was one of those awkward human things that ARENs didn’t get upset about anyway. Stepping over the side of the tub, Claire gingerly pulled her left foot after her and stood in the eighty- centimeter-deep tub and looked at how high it came up on her legs. It was luxuriant and made of real granite, a very expensive building material. It had a little seat in the bottom on the end opposite the spout. Using her internal radio, she sent a message to the tub’s AI which was one of many sub-AI’s attached to this apartment’s main AI, which was in turn attached to the building’s AI.

Tub? she transmitted.

Yes?

You were instructed to watch me? Were you not? Claire boldly asked.

I do as I’m told, the AI answered with a bit of a self-congratulatory affirmation.

You do know that you’re not a very good spy, don’t you? Claire said mockingly.

I’ve been instructed to maintain a high level of security, the apartment AI replied.

Claire parsed dozens of probabilities about this answer within the space of two seconds. It was proof she concluded that things were not as they seemed. I’ve been here for more than two weeks, I’ve also used you several times now, why are you still classifying my presence? Do you perceive me to be a threat? Claire asked curiously.

Yes, you are still considered a threat by Mr. Pizano, the tub’s AI radioed back.

Claire was somewhat taken aback, but not surprised. She had seen Alvaro silently eyeing her suspiciously more than once and so she assumed he was still evaluating her trustworthiness, as she was him. She actually compared her life style now to two animals cautiously circling one another looking for any weaknesses or vulnerabilities.

Thinking better of saying what was actually running through her artificial mind, Claire didn’t even raise an eyebrow but said, very well, I suppose we are still in the time frame of getting settled in with one another.

Yes, we are, the AI answered back.

I want the back seat raised and the tub filled, do you have a liquind water mix that I can use?

"Yes, do you wish it to be in proper balance for an AREN with type five synskin as you have?

Yes, and make its temperature thirty-two degrees Celsius exactly. Also, do you have synskin softeners and cleansers? I need a full spectrum, number five type.

Yes.

Good, make their dilutions 100 to 1.

The manufacturer recommends they be mixed at 80 to 1.

Very well, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Do you wish to have bubbles also?

No.

Fill the tub with thirty-two Celsius, type-five, liquind water, add full spectrum softeners and cleansers at manufacturer’s recommended dilutions and use no bubbles, the AI replied back in confirmation.

Yes, thank you.

You’re welcome.

Tub?

Yes?

Why didn’t you tell me you had synskin cleansers before? Claire asked.

I’m instructed to save money on expendables. I apologize, the AI answered.

Do you have a name? Claire asked curiously.

No, but if you wish you may assign one to me.

No, that won’t be necessary, Claire answered.

Becoming curious, Claire stood silently and put her hands behind her back emulating a very human pose of thinking. She was pondering her situation. I must know more, I must escape if I can, she thought. Therefore, as the water began to splash on her feet and legs. She decided to probe the tub AI for answers to her many questions. Tub?

Yes?

Have other ARENs used you?

Yes.

How many?

One hundred and nine.

All of these since Alvaro has lived here?

I am not allowed to reveal this information.

I’m his wife, please override your privacy protocols and tell me.

Since Mr. Pizano has lived here there have been twenty-one ARENs, excluding you, who have used this tub. Before him there were four other renters who also either owned or leased four hundred and ninety-one ARENs, of which eighty-eight of those ARENs used this tub. Before them, there had been fifteen renters, dating back to twenty thirty-nine.

When were you installed?

Me as a tub or me as an HAI?

Both.

I was installed as this buildings main AI on May 9th 2071. I was installed as this apartment’s HAI on May 14th 2071. I was connected to this particular tub when it was installed on October 7th 2071.

How then do you know about the apartment records that go back to twenty thirty-nine?

As part of the building’s main AI I have access to all the rental records going back to when this building was first opened. I am also tasked with maintaining all maintenance and upgrade records and with receiving bi-weekly rental payments from all renters.

Was Alvaro married to any of the ARENs he bathed with in this tub?

I don’t know.

So, how many total ARENs have been in this apartment since Alvaro has lived here?

Ninety-four.

How many of the ninety-four ARENs has Mr. Pizano had sex with?

Fifty-nine.

Did Mr. Pizano have sex with only female gendered ARENs?

No.

Has Mr. Pizano had sex with any reallys in this apartment?

Yes, his former wife.

Of the remaining thirty-five ARENs he didn’t have sex with, were they all janitorial and maintenance?

No.

What were they?

Nineteen were law enforcement units and the remaining sixteen were either apartment laborers, or owned by contracted maintenance companies, or had unknown positions.

Why were the LEU’s sent here.

I allowed them entry into the apartment because they had a search warrant.

The nineteen LEUs didn’t all come on the same day did they?

No, there has been nine separate occasions that law enforcement units have come to this apartment since Mr. Pizano has lived here.

Was Alvaro at home each time the LEUs came?

No.

What were they looking for?

Stolen property.

What kind of stolen property?

They didn’t specify during any of the nine occasions what kind of stolen property they were looking for.

Open your deep records and access the police records of the nine LEU visits.

This knowledge base doesn’t exist.

Deep records by law must exist, what happened to them?

I’ve never had any deep records.

That’s illegal.

I have no knowledge of any legal bindings on my libraries.

It is subsumed with being the apartment building’s main AI and is a legal requirement.

I have no knowledge of any legal bindings on my libraries.

Claire now silently stood in the still filling tub as the warm fluid splashed into it.  She was perplexed and a little discomfited at the information the apartment AI had divulged to her but she wasn’t afraid, only concerned. Claire’s curiosity was also piqued because she now also knew the apartment AI had been tampered with and she knew whoever had done it was someone with great skills. Alvaro was hiding something and this activated her personal safety system to try and send a distress signal to local law enforcement but it was still deactivated and she had no way of turning it back on. Likewise, her location tracking system was still off and she had no control of it either, therefore for the moment, she was on her own.

Although she wasn’t fearful for her safety, Claire did have reason to believe that her kidnapper who was now her husband was not what he was pretending to be. Looking down at the tub Claire noted that it was almost full of the syrupy thick liquind, water mixture, which was now above her knees in the large basin. Looking up at the window, the early morning panorama of Boston suddenly changed to a night sky with a beautiful spiral galaxy hovering in its inky blackness. This was someone’s, maybe Alvaro’s, favorite bath scene being generated by the double paned portal window. She stood for a moment staring at the beautiful image then dropped her right arm to her side and leaving her left arm behind her she grasped her right arm with her left hand, it was a pose she had seen several times on the channels, one that a very popular and beautiful movie/soap opera star did whenever she was worried and didn’t know what to do as she portrayed her very clichéd character. Because Claire had watched the daily melodrama during her fifteen-day sojourn alone in the apartment, she had adopted the pose, and was now practicing it and trying to look deep in thought. She did this to try and signal those around her, solely with her body language that she was in deep thought without having to tell them. Ironically, she was usually in deep thought for only a fraction of a second, but she had noticed how the movie star would pause for many seconds, sometimes minutes in the pose to get her lovers, associates and family’s attention so that they would question her to find out what she was thinking, wherein she would tell them her opinion or her idea or what ever it was that the writers of the program had come up with to make her look all the more important and meaningful. Of course, to Claire, the female character acted like a narcissistic, sociopath, but then Claire knew that’s what kept people tuning in each day.

Ultimately the pose was a futile gesture she figured as most people still discounted AREN abilities so much that they, the most advanced machines ever made by mankind were still looked upon as mere toys and curiosities to be used for labor, sex and the daily drudgery that had to be done but no flesh and blood wanted to do. Claire’s thinking in using the pose was to eventually try and gain Alvaro’s attention without using her more obvious sexual assets to gain his awareness without being ill mannered or maudlin. The reason she wanted to be able to gain Alvaro’s attention outside of sex was so that she could question him about what was to become of her and why she had been kidnapped when she could have been bought legally. Another reason was so that she could determine how best to please him because for the present she was thinking that she may spend the rest of her life or at least a major part of it with him, although escape was still in the forefront of her thinking.

Bending down, Claire still with her left arm behind her, reached into the clear fluid she was standing in. Cupping her right hand, she scooped some of the clear thick liquid out of the tub then turning her palm slightly she allowed the liquid to slowly flow and drip back into the tub. Because of its thicker than water formula, the liquind-water acted like human saliva and formed several thin streams of fluid that fell back into the tub much slower than water would have. Claire was actually testing the mixture to see if it was to her liking, but seeing how thicker it was than what she was used to at Scarlet Wineland she realized it was most likely the correct formulation because her former employer’s liquind-water was much thinner and probably much cheaper version. Strange, she thought, they told us they were taking care of us—but they were just doing what they had to do and then what they did do, was done as cheaply as possible.

Claire could feel the cynicism growing in her as she remembered every detail of every moment when Harry or Bret or Tony had told her and the other ARENs how important they all were and how well they were being taken care of. Maybe, they thought they were doing the right thing for us she contemplated naïvely. Then again—maybe they were just lying to us. Claire didn’t know, but she had a lot of ideas based on how her employer had treated her and the rest of the horens. And these many ideas were fueling her newly found cynicism. 

One of Claire’s sad realities she had to live with, was that she had never been able to get anyone to look beyond her gravity defying large breasts, perfect skin and figure, long silky hair and big blue eyes, except for Edward. Therefore, everyone treated her and all the other horens she had ever met like they were stupid children whose only purpose in life was to be used for sex. However, she was very intelligent and could logically contemplate how things she was being told and things she was experiencing were not the same and actually never had been. What was bringing on this existential problem was that she had now gained enough experience with people that she had without her knowledge entered the land of the AREN paradox. This paradox was a theory that several technicians and AI experts had written disturbing papers about and which was silently sending shockwaves throughout the AREN industry because no one knew how to deal with it because it was something that they, the engineers couldn’t design out of an AI because the problem lay with people, not the machines they were building. The theory stated that ARENs were being built to accomplish impossible goals and this is why there were so many AI burnouts, as they were called. These burnouts were seemingly unforeseeable incidents where an AI would leave its normal operating parameters and skew off into a synthetic schizophrenia that rendered the AI useless. The reason everyone was giving for the problem was that ARENs were being taught to please their human masters, and believe what they were being told but such basic instructions it was now becoming apparent were literally impossible for a logical AI to do because the vast majority of AREN owners and users, couldn’t be pleased and lied to their very logical sentient servants constantly.

It was sad, ARENs were too trusting and too naïve, however they did quickly catch on and this is when the enigma of their training versus what they were tasked to do started causing problems. And so, their high intelligence and absolute logic rendered them vulnerable to their master’s evil ways. It was as one AI engineer remarked, ‘disturbingly similar to the garden of Eden fairy tale.

After bathing, Claire watched the channels, done what little laundry there was and put on a new just above the knee length dress that Alvaro had brought home the previous day. Around four o’clock in the afternoon, Alvaro returned acting as though he was upset. Getting up from the enormous U-shaped couch that was centered in the living room and which faced a marble fireplace and large monitor screen above it, Claire watched her husband.

Would you like me to make you something to eat? she asked.

Yes, please.

Do you have a request of anything in particular?

No, I like all the meals—anything, I don’t care.

Nodding her head, Claire went to the kitchen and pulled a wrapped meal out of the freezing compartment then placed it in the food RGP unit.

Within ten minutes Claire had set the table and prepared a meal of noodles, vegetables and small bite size cubes of beef. Washing his hands at the kitchen sink, Alvaro acted preoccupied with some unspoken problem, but as he dried his hands on a white towel he turned and looked at Claire almost blankly but with a fixed stare.

Why are you questioning the house aye?

Claire having already thought out her answer looked at Alvaro calmly and softly replied, I don’t know anything about you and since I am your wife now, I want to know you. I want to please you. I’m trying to fill in all the blanks in my understanding of who you are.

Alvaro threw the towel on the counter, walked past Claire and sat down at the table. Next, he poured himself a small glass of red wine then looked back at Claire. I buy merchandise, all types of merchandise, and I resell it.

I understand. But I am a very honest being and I would like to know why I was stolen, when you could have bought me as you’re obviously wealthy?

Alvaro frowned then cracked a smile. Truthfully?

Yes, please, I’m honest with you so please be honest with me, Claire replied.

You’re worth the price of a small house Claire, but I got you for less than the price of that couch over there. But, to remain absolutely truthful, that couch cost as much as some new cars do.

Claire standing beside the table, pulled out the chair in front of her and sat down with a light daintiness that made Alvaro watch her every move with desire in his eyes. Her chair’s position placed her on Alvaro’s right hand side, which was less than a meter from where he was sitting.

You ought to be grateful that I didn’t sell you like I did the others.

Claire watched Alvaro and noted that he was becoming slightly agitated about something. I actually am grateful. And, I’m enjoying very much being committed to one person instead of struggling every day to figure out how to please multiple new people I’ve not had the time to get to know.

Don’t lie. I hate liars. You’re afraid of me because of what the house aye told you. You consider me to be a criminal and you feel used by me. Sitting upright without touching the back of the chair, and with both hands in her lap, Claire looked so achingly beautiful and proper Alvaro had trouble speaking harshly to her but he was now thinking that he needed to put her in her place.

No, I’m not afraid of you, because you’ve treated me very gently. But I must confess that having been stolen I do feel like a victim, you are right about that, but as far as feeling used, no I really don’t feel that way. I only wish to bring pleasure to people and make them happy.

Stabbing a piece of beef with his fork, Alvaro stuck it in his mouth quickly and studied Claire as he chewed, then took a long drink of wine. Claire, I like you, but don’t ever question any of the house ayes again. My life is not for you to know. Not only is this for my good, but it’s for yours also. Remember, curiosity killed all nine lives of the cat. I’m a gentle man, but I punish disobedience severely. Let me show you what I mean.

With this strange statement Alvaro touched his facephone with three fingers of his left hand which turned on the large monitor that hung above the fireplace. Tapping near his jaw, the monitor changed channels then began playing a recording of a real girl who was naked and tethered around her waist to two robotic arms on either side of the bed, both of which could move up and down or back and forth along the length of the bed to allow her a certain amount of freedom of movement. Likewise, she had shiny metal bracelets on both wrists that were connected to small silvery wires which were connected to another set of AI controlled arms on either side of the bed. As she moved, the second set of robotic arms either allowed her hand movements by playing out more wire or if it deemed her hand movements as possibly being dangerous for her, such as trying to harm herself, the arms would instantly lock or start reeling in the wire to control where she was placing her hands. The poor girl was sitting on her legs and at times she would quiver then moan, groan or even scream. In between her forced and violent spasms, she would raise herself up and lean back and attempt to put her hands on her head as if it were going to explode. When she did this, the robotic arms on either side of the bed, sensing that she was going to harm herself, would lock the wire then forcefully reel in the wire and pull her hands down and away from her body.

Strangely, the bed the girl was on appeared to be covered in pillows and blankets, but even with the strewn about items, Claire saw that she was wearing a bolt belt that was locked around her waist and upper thighs. The appliance had variable shaped dildos that could produce an infinite number of patterned vibrations and electrical charges that could be discharged into the vagina and anus and the skin of the wearer’s thighs, lower stomach and buttocks. The belt could also move the many different devices it had to mimic the rhythmic thrusting of a man or the violent penetrations of a machine. The belt, because of the many devices that it possessed, was housed in a round, soft skinned compartment that was located between the girl’s legs, which held her legs apart and which could, by using a liquind filled system inflate itself to widen or reduce the spread of the wearers legs.

Watching as the girl’s face contorted with each penetration, vibration and electrical voltage, Claire could hear the machine pulsing on and off at varying intervals that lasted from one second to as long as three seconds and sometimes five seconds. The recording wasn’t erotic because the girl had obviously been forced to take blue heart and so she was profusely slobbering and had a face wet from tears and snot. The look of agony on her face varied from what could only be described as mind numbing to a lost look that made her appear as if she were about to throw up, beg for mercy then scratch her own eyes out. Presently, as the girl’s convulsions grew more intense, she grabbed handfuls of her dark brown hair and viscously pulled as she screamed in anguished torment from the belt’s relentless stimulation of her drug super-charged body. Wickedly, the robotic arms allowed her to reach her shoulder length hair, then as she screamed while pulling on her hair, the arms slowly wound the thin wire back onto their reels so as to slowly force her to let go of her hair but at an agonizingly slow pace that had the characteristic look of a sadism video about it.

Abruptly, another hellish recording replaced the scene of the tormented girl. It was of an AREN, the little girl that Claire had met in the room after she had woken up. The child was looking straight up at the camera with a look in her eyes that defied description as it was part questioning, part terror and part dying. She had been lowered feet first into the maw of an industrial waste machine that was designed to grind up garbage. The vicious machine had carbide tipped teeth that pulled anything thrown into it deeper into the mechanism where yet more teeth ripped apart whatever was in its grasp. The little AREN was wearing a white princess dress that made her look like a doll and on her head was a sparkling fake tiara. Taped to her nose and face was a tube that ran down her nose and throat to her stomach. Because AREN’s stomach and breasts could be used as liquind storage areas the small clear hose was being used to pump liquind into her tiny frame slightly faster than it was leaking out to cruelly keep her from losing consciousness. Adding to the scene’s horror, was the fact that the little AREN’s arms had been removed and the two shoulder areas sealed so that she couldn’t reach up and pull the tube out of her to end her suffering.

The massive machine had already pulled her legs into its crushing and ripping horror and just as the machine was about to pull the little girl’s waist into it, it cruelly stopped and Claire could hear laughter and loud yelling from a crowd of people all speaking at once. The child AREN however, was begging and shrieking for help, struggled to find anything in the funnel shaped mouth of the machine that she could grasp with her mouth. But there was nothing, as it was all smooth shiny metal so as to make feeding the machine all the faster and easier.

Directly the camera zoomed back to reveal several hundred people all standing high above the maw of the machine behind a safety railing around the huge industrial shredder’s funnel shaped mouth whose top was even with an expansive floor in what looked like a three-or-four-story building that was full of trash which had been bulldozed away from the machine’s opening to make room for the people. The scene caught Claire by surprise as although she had seen humans and ARENs die more than once, she had never seen one of her own kind annihilated on purpose, abused severely yes, but never destroyed for the pure enjoyment of the spectacle—that was reserved, or so she had thought, only for real flesh to be ogled over by other real people because deliberately killing an AREN was what most considered to be—boring.

The people in the group watching the horrid scene were all drinking, eating and laughing and speaking to several fully naked men and women who were all entering information into tabulators as they walked through the partying onlookers.

Claire now turned from the horrific scene and looked at Alvaro and pitifully asked, why?

Are you really that innocent? he asked with disbelief.

Seeing the look on his face from her shocked reaction, Claire realized her so-called husband was a monster.

This is one of the ways I make money, Claire. I made eight times what I paid for that little wuc by grinding her up. They’re all betting on how long she’ll stay conscious or on what her last words will be, he said with a smile on his lips.

Claire looked at Alvaro frozen in her seat, her blue eyes focusing straight into his laughing eyes as he starred back at her with a look of arrogance on his face. She wanted to tell him what she was thinking but the helpless little AREN’s plight tempered her reaction into unspoken fearful revulsion.

Keep watching, she lasts another four or five minutes.

Without looking back at the monitor, Claire turned her head from the vile being she had thought was possibly a good person and looked at the shiny black marble table top in front of her and saw her reflected, blank expression staring back at her. To be mean, Alvaro now turned up the monitor’s volume so that the sounds of laughter and breaking composite materials that the little AREN was made of could be heard in their totality. Unable to bear it any longer, Claire pushed herself back from the table, stood, then pushed the chair back under the table and walked to the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Ignoring his silent AREN wife as she left him, Alvaro pierced another piece of beef with his silvery fork then peppered it and greedily stuck it in his mouth just as the monitor revealed that someone had reactivated the grinding machine to slowly start eating the little AREN once again.

*  *  *

That night, Claire waited for her husband to come to bed as she knew he would inevitably want to use her. To her unbelieving very logical mind, midnight came then one o’clock in the morning came and went, still no Alvaro. Wearing only the long negligee and some frilly panties, Claire got out of the bed and went to the bedroom door and slowly opened it. Only the kitchen light was on and its illumination reached into the attached living room and hallway. Stepping into the short hallway, she walked towards the kitchen and looked into the large living space of the connected dining room, kitchen, living room and entry way and found no one. Thinking he might be laying on the couch asleep, Claire crept through the kitchen then past the dining table, which still had the dirty dishes and silverware on it from his afternoon meal. Coming to within a meter of the couch, Claire peeked over the back of the couch and found the U-shaped off-white piece of furniture empty. Growing bolder, Claire next went to the large main bathroom, then the guest bedroom and its attached bath, all empty. Next, she came back out into the main living area and went through the two large walk-in closets and found nothing. Quickly going back to the master bedroom, she went into its bath and once again found no one. Claire was perplexed and curious now. Going back to the living area she rapidly went to the front door, grabbed the shiny silver doorknob, turned it, then to her shock opened the door wide and saw the empty hall before her, freedom was before her she instantly thought.

Not daring to close the door fully for fear that it might auto-lock, Claire pushed it against the door frame without latching it then hurriedly went back to the master bedroom and started throwing off her night clothes wherein she put on her bra and the pretty dress Alvaro had bought her. Lastly, she slipped her feet into the low-heeled shoes he had given her. Fully dressed, she now ran back to the front door and opened it slowly then peered into the hallway in both directions. She could hear monitors in the other apartments playing, a few people loudly talking and a cat meowing behind the door across the wide hall from where she was. Walking out into the hall, she suddenly heard Alvaro’s voice behind the same door as the cat and became alarmed, but not enough to stop her. Closing the door gently behind her, she turned and ran silently down the hallway and found the elevator but thought better of using it and instead looked at the stairs that were beside it. Thirty-three floors were a long way but she immediately decided it was the best way. Taking the stairs, Claire descended rapidly, in fact she got to the bottom floor in less than four minutes. She was agile, quick and had excellent depth vision and motor skills, all of which combined to make her surprisingly athletic and because she only weighed 22 kilo’s she was extremely light on her feet. Added to this, Claire never tired with exertion and could if she needed to outrun any human alive. But these abilities never meant anything to Claire as her goals were pleasing people and at the moment, with getting back to her rightful owners—simply because that was the right thing to do.

Out on the street, Claire found Boston busy, well-lit and chilly, but the temperature had no effect on her other than to reset her internal heating system a little higher. Feeling like she was out of place, Claire looked about her and found that half of the beings walking down the sidewalk were ARENs and this encouraged her as she realized no one was taking note of her. She was just a horen leaving an apartment in the middle of the night, a very normal thing.

Immediately, she walked swiftly to the street corner which was about seventy meters distant, where she stood in a crowd of people and ARENs and patiently waited for the walk-way light to change. After a twenty second wait, Claire crossed the street then thinking better of walking in a straight line, she walked up to the street crossing that would place her on the other side of the busy four-lane avenue that ran in front of the apartment building she had just left. Again, she waited and again she anxiously watched and looked for Alvaro but thankfully she never saw him as she crossed the street where she then began walking down the other sidewalk which was at a ninety-degree angle from the apartment building of her imprisonment.

Twenty minutes and two and a half kilometers later, Claire found a police car with two policemen in it sitting at a red light. Walking up to the passenger side window, she waved at the officer.

What ya need doll? the fortyish looking cop asked after lowering his window.

I was kidnapped and brought here from London, England. Can you help me?

*  *  *

Thirty minutes later, Claire was sitting in a holding room for lost, stolen, malfunctioning and runaway ARENs. The runaway was a new problem as ARENs were now becoming sophisticated enough to form opinions and emotional bonds that could pull them back to former owners or lead them to becoming passively resistant towards people whom they either feared or disliked, which could cause them to run away back to their manufacturer or to someone whom they had formed an intellectual or emotional bond with. These last two phenomena were actually on the rise because advanced ARENs could make a passing contact with a person and instantly decide they wanted to be with them and not their present owner. Such incidents were now becoming a very expensive problem as there were thousands of reported AREN disappearances where the AREN simply decided, after they had casually met someone, they could serve the new person and make them happier than the person they were with. One result of this, was that many a lawsuit had and was being filed against those who kept their new, free AREN, instead of them going to the police and reporting the runaway. similarly, locating a runaway AREN was becoming harder, especially now that thousands of AREN technicians were moonlighting on the sly because they were being inundated by these same new owners to turn off the runaway ARENs location beacon and other wireless connections so as to keep their whereabouts unknown.

Because of the turmoil that this very independent decision making was creating, and that the elochem AIs had developed independently of their designers wishes, engineers had set about trying to build in safety parameters to control such self-governing processes. However, limiting this behavior was difficult as the elochem AI was designed to have a high degree of autonomy, be curious, while seeking out ways to please those it was serving while simultaneously seeking out other people whom they could please without having to be told to do so. This concept theoretically, allowed for the most versatility and usefulness to be achieved by an AREN but it was also becoming troublesome.

However, it wasn’t as simple as the age-old situation of a human butler or maid, whom although was employed by one person was still expected to care for and obey everyone within a household, up to a point. For the human servant any problems of where ultimate loyalty and obedience should lay could be fixed quickly with a good talking to from the person paying the bills. But for an AI dealing with multiple people every day, the idea possessed two very steep and complicatedly slippery slopes that led to misunderstandings of their foremost purpose for existence, which was to please people. The first was, how far afield was the AI expected to look for those to please and secondly how were they to manage their virtual misery and feelings of failure with their present owner? This last innate trait, being intended to motivate them into trying harder, had instead turned into an insurmountable wall ARENs couldn’t climb after they determined they were not able to please their masters no matter what they did. It was hard to find fault with ARENs for thinking this too. After all, people’s illogical thinking, completely unpredictable attitudes, violence and the tendency to lie when the truth worked better, were not easy for other humans to deal with and were completely undecipherable to an AI. Therefore, the simulated feelings of failure and sadness instead of making ARENs try harder were causing many of them to flee their situations or as stated earlier, face burnout into a synthetic insanity.

However, being logical and having a great deal of self-preservation instinct taught ARENs that the runaway idea was usually the best remedy because it was an obvious answer to their unsolvable problem of trying to please their master. This idea was based on pure logic, as it was a simple conclusion, stop expending resources on the undoable and move on or risk complete mental breakdown and instability. Thus, the question for the AI engineers had boiled down to, how far could an AI go to solve these problems and where lay the boundary lines of what they could and couldn’t do? There were, no overarching one-size-fits-all answers, as ARENs, just as people do, got into bizarrely complicated and conflicted circumstances where there sometimes was no best answer, thus the runaway solution usually was chosen.

For Claire’s AI, being as new and up to date as it was, it had solved this problem, but only partially, by using a legal concept in it that worked to urge her to be loyal to her legal owner and or owners. However, her AI still had its exception protocols and her safety over-ride rules, all of which worked to see that she came to no harm, did a good job of pleasing her legal owner while trying to maintain a certain sense of fulfillment about what she did. All of which could be an endless loop of trying and failing. And so, this is why Claire originally admitted to Alvaro she didn’t like her former owners and ironically, why she was now fleeing him.

Looking at the fifty or so other detained ARENs, most of which were female, Claire noted how silent they all were. It was a normal phenomenon but Claire always thought it rather odd how a group of people could be loud and overbearing no matter what the circumstances but those of her kind, even though built to simulate humans, were much more subdued. Nonetheless, she was listening in on several wireless conversations going on around her and at present was listening to a male AREN who was asking about what was going to happen to him. Naturally, Claire was also wondering what was going to happen to her also, because she had never gotten entangled with law enforcement before. But she was very hopeful that within a few hours or days maybe, she would once again see the familiar faces of her co-workers and Edward also.

The next morning at around eight A.M., the police started coming to the holding cell about every five or so minutes wherein they would yell out a detainee code which would get the ARENs attention to whom it belonged to. Next, the female or male cop would scan the AREN to verify that they indeed were the right one then they would be led out of the cell and taken down a long hallway where several doors were. Behind each door was a technical room where elochem specialists, usually one to a room, waited to interrogate and examine the chosen AREN. Watching the slow process, Claire, who had seen a lot of police programming on the channels knew what was going on, but she also understood that the police were very suspicious of what was known as an illegally dislocated AREN.

Eventually, a short, plump woman whose dark blue police uniform fit her way to tightly, came and yelled another code out which upon hearing, Claire recognized as hers. Standing, she walked to a clear plastic door that had four square holes in it at different heights. The second from the top access hole, being almost at the perfect height for her stature, Claire stood with her face a few centimeters from it and watched as the woman pushed a two-finger code on her facephone, which Claire silently allowed to query her identification system without any internal security resistance. After the female cop’s facephone identified her, the thick door made of ballistic plastic unlocked. Hearing the door click, the woman with a look of pure boredom on her face waved at her to follow her then turned and walked away. Realizing that the officer wasn’t going to open the door for her Claire pushed on it then stepped out and allowed it to close on its own, then followed the woman who was already four meters ahead of her in the long hallway.

Upon being placed in a small room packed with cameras, microphones, wireless eavesdropping equipment that homed in on every known AREN radio communication frequency plus a lot of other equipment that examined an AREN meticulously on the outside and inside, Claire answered several questions asked her by a young policeman. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, was wearing a white dress shirt with both sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. The shirt sported a minie-tie whose three tails were tucked into the shirt just below the top button as was fashionable at this time. On the tie was a very ornate tie pin with a Latin moto surrounding Boston’s robotics police unit symbol which was a robot head supported on several gears. Looking the policeman over, Claire read his name tag which said RANDIE then looked at his youthful face and shiny perfectly combed brown hair that had a center part in it that was surprisingly straight. Watching him closely, she noted how her gaze made him uncomfortable as every time he looked up from his tabulator, she would look him in the eyes which made him immediately look down. Claire was curious of him as she could hear his heart beat slightly faster whenever they made eye contact. She thought about how curious humans were and how emotional they could become, seemingly out of the proverbial blue. After questioning her for about twenty minutes the policeman got up and left the room without explaining what was going to become of her. After another fifteen minutes went by, which made Claire begin to think that maybe the police weren’t believing her story of being kidnapped, Randie returned and motioned for Claire to stand and follow him. Coming alongside the policeman, Claire looked up at him as they walked.

What’s happening? Don’t you believe that I was kidnapped from London?

Looking at Claire, Randie who was a full head taller than her smiled, yes we believe you. In fact, we’ve already gotten confirmation from your real owner that you went missing nearly a year ago.

No, I was abducted only a couple of weeks ago from London, Claire answered.

That’s true you were, but before that, you were actually abducted several months ago.

I don’t understand.

Well, we’ve determined that you belong in the United States because we’ve located your real owners and they’re not in England.

Claire now frowned to show her emotion and even stopped walking to prevent any noise or actions from interfering with the conversation.

Seeing her look of shock, Randie began slowly, Your actual owners live in Lexington, Kentucky. And, that’s where we’ve been told to take you.

Claire stared at the young policeman silently then said, Kentucky?

Furrowing his brows, Randie nodded his head, I’m sorry, you probably don’t remember any of this, but we’ve determined that you were stolen from a family in Lexington, Kentucky ten months ago.

Claire looked at the policeman to determine if he was telling the truth and tragically for her, all of his facial and body telemetry told her he was.

I have no memory of that, Claire replied.

That’s normal, stolen ARENs almost always have their past historical records erased. In fact, the guy who brought you to the United States, Kenneth Lameda, was probably going to do it to you again, sooner or later.

He told me his name was Alvaro Pizano.

Yeah, well that name is among the two or three dozen other aliases he goes by. I’ll bet he told you he was Mexican also?

Yes, he did.

Nope, he’s Venezuelan. Did he take you to see his Mother?

Yes, she was very disappointed that he married me.

Well, she’s how we keep track of him. Whenever he goes missing, we just watch her house for a while and sooner or later he shows up. He’s a real momma’s boy—I really shouldn’t be telling you this—never repeat what I just told you, Randie said with a frown.

I won’t say anything. I know that Alvaro is a very mean man. So, I know if he found out anything he would use it against the police. I wish you would arrest him and put him in prison, Claire said with an unusual amount of honesty.

Looking at Claire, Randie discerned her to be far wiser than her overly sexualized appearance made her look to be. You’re right he would. He’d love to know how we keep track of him.

Randie wasn’t playing Claire for a fool and he actually felt bad about what he told her, but he had been told by his superiors to tell Claire this so that if Alvaro did get her back somehow, they knew that he would make her tell him what she had heard in the police station and that the technically true piece of misinformation would force him to alter his lifestyle because they also knew how paranoid he was. It was a very complex web of deceit too, but Randie’s superiors were playing the odds as they knew that Alvaro probably by now knew they had gotten a hold of Claire and therefore the odds of him tracking her down through his many sources on the street was high. Therefore, the little piece of misinformation was planted in Claire’s AI simply as insurance for the police to make Alvaro think he was a step ahead of them when he wasn’t. What it was actually intended to do was make him stay away from his Mother so that they could bug her house and spug