Chapter 72: 72. Plugs-Out

I was just about done cleaning our cabin when my girlfriend's voice came over the intercom, "Rebecca, Amanda, would you two like to come down to the workshop? Me and Jenny have completed 'phase two' of the android project and we're about to conduct some tests. We thought the two of you might like to see how it goes?"

I quickly finished what I was doing then hurried out of the cabin and headed aft. Rebecca was already at the lift in engineering, but she waited for me to join her then we went down to the lower deck and into the workshop together.

There was no sign of Jenny's HPD, it was just my girlfriend and the android body present. The android was seated on a stool in the corner again, with her eyes closed and a couple cables attached. The first was a power cable, connected from a plug in the wall to a port on the android's side. The second was a fibre-optic data cable, that emerged from the back of her head and into a data port on the wall.

Visually there were a few obvious differences from the first time I saw her, the most obvious being she was wearing proper clothes now instead of lingerie.

She was dressed in a pair of dark grey slacks and a white t-shirt. In fact the outfit reminded me of the clothes Rebecca got for my girlfriend during our first visit to Regulon-4. The pants looked a little tight on the android around the hips and behind, and the t-shirt was tight across the chest which left almost nothing to the imagination. Finally she had a pair of black sandals on her feet.

The other obvious change was her hair. Originally it was long enough to reach down to her lower back. It was shorter now, trimmed to an inch above her shoulders. And where it was completely black before, now the last half inch or so was a light purple fringe.

After taking a few seconds to look over the android body the boss asked Sarah, "So what tests are we talking about? Is Jenny in there already?"

Our AI crewmate's voice came from the intercom speakers as she replied, "We're almost ready to begin the first tests. I'm copying over as much of myself as I can fit into the body's memory modules. Unfortunately the highest-density memory units we could get only amount to a fraction of my actual capacity. The same goes for the processor, the best hardware available is nothing compared to my core."

"I remember you're more advanced than the whole core we got out of the Hammersmith," I commented. "So I'm not surprised that whatever fits into the android body isn't much by comparison."

Rebecca asked, "Is that going to be a problem? What will that mean for you, Jenny?"

She replied, "Sarah and I will explain further as we begin the tests. Data transfer is nearly complete, just a few more seconds and we can begin."

My girlfriend elaborated, "The first tests will be quick and easy. We'll leave the cables in place, so the body won't be relying on internal power cells and most of the processing will be handled by Jenny's core. She'll basically be controlling the body remotely, through the data cable."

"The onboard systems will handle the low-level hardware interfacing for me," Jenny added. "That's the basic subroutines for processing sensory input and managing movement and speech. The higher-level functions will all be handled remotely in my core. Data transfer complete, commencing the first test now."

The intercom speaker went quiet, and a moment later the android's eyes opened. They were light blue-green colour, which was pretty but different from the blue-grey tone Jenny's eyes had.

Sarah asked, "How's it feel Jenny? Are you ready to try and stand up, put those new muscles to the test?"

"It feels acceptable," the android replied. Her voice was recognizably Jenny, though everything else about her seemed more like the sexbot than our AI crewmate.

A moment later she got to her feet, then just stood there quietly for a few seconds. Her posture looked somewhat stiff, almost like she was at attention.

"What exactly are you testing right now?" Rebecca asked. "You've already done this much before, haven't you? Controlling the android through a fibre-optic line?"

Jenny explained, "I'm evaluating the power draw of the upgraded musculature while actually using them. My and Sarah's calculations suggested that the added draw would be well within the capabilities of the body's power supply, but we need to make sure the reality matches our predictions."

Over the next couple minutes Jenny took a few steps back and forth, she moved her arms around, bent and stretched, and basically took her body through a full range of motions. Then Sarah handed her some cases of equipment to test how her muscles functioned under load. All in all it seemed fairly straightforward, and apparently the tests were all a success.

As they put the equipment cases back I commented, "Last time you were speaking through the android body your voice was a little different, and you had some mannerisms that were uh, a little less Jenny and a little more sexbot. That's not happening anymore, so I assume you did some of those software upgrades you were talking about?"

"Not exactly," Jenny replied. "I took your suggestion and experimented with the supplied personality modules, and found one that felt more comfortable. It's more serious and less blatantly seductive."

Sarah added with a smirk, "I never really took Jenny for the 'Stern School Headmistress' type, but here we are."

Rebecca looked like she was suppresing a smirk while Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Ahem," Jenny made a 'clearing her throat' sound. "Wired tests have all passed successfully. The next step is testing with plugs out."

The boss's expression became serious again as she asked, "What will that test, or what will you be checking for?"

My girlfriend answered, "The main thing this will test is the new comm unit? And the second thing will be testing the onboard power systems and batteries. Jenny will still be controlling the body remotely, but she'll be doing it wirelessly rather than through the cable. It'll be like she uses the HPD."

Jenny reached up and disconnected the fibre-optic cable from the back of her head, then she unplugged the power cable from her side. Both cables were left dangling from the wall as she straightened up and faced the rest of us. Then her right hand smoothed over her side, concealing the port where the power cord had been attached while her left hand ran through her hair, to ensure the port back there was hidden too.

"How's it feel now?" Sarah asked.

Jenny nodded, "The same. High-bandwidth comms are functioning as expected, and the power system is performing correctly. It will probably take thirty to sixty minutes to get an accurate assessment of the power usage, then I can start making predictions on how long I'll be able to function before needing to plug in and recharge."

She glanced at me and Rebecca and added, "This is how I'll be using my new body most of the time. It replaces the HPDs with a physical drone. As I'm operating the body remotely it has the same range restrictions as the HPDs, basically I'm limited to staying inside the ship or within about fifty meters of the ship. The advantage is I'm now able to help with routine ship tasks like handling cargo, cleaning, or even performing duties that would be hazardous for living crew to handle. At the same time I still have full access and use of my core, and my direct connection to the Demeter's computer and other systems."

Rebecca and I took a few moments to digest all that. Then the boss asked, "So you can't go further than fifty meters from the ship, you won't be able to take shore leave or join us on salvage operations?"

"Not while I'm remotely operating my body," Jenny replied. "We have one final test though, which is to let it function autonomously. To see how it performs without the benefit of my core handling the high-level functions."

"That means all the processing will be handled by the android's on-board systems," Sarah added. "That's the mode she'd be using for trips away from the ship. Or for situations where she couldn't operate the body remotely for whatever reason. Like if communications were down, or if the ship lost power for some reason."

"Why not operate the android autonomously all the time?" Rebecca asked. "Isn't that the better option, so it won't be tethered to the ship the way the HPDs are?"

Jenny explained, "There are a few reasons. First, while my body operates autonomously I'm still going to be here in my core. There will effectively be two Jennys, myself and a copy running my body. Second, as we already explained my body's processor and memory are limited, so the copy residing here will be inferior to me in several ways."

She continued, "I'm not saying I'll never use it autonomously, but I'd prefer that to only happen when it's necessary. For instance if my core was offline or unavailable, such as when I'm processing one of you in my Re/Gen capsule. After those times have passed, I'll resume the remote operation of my body and download its recent memories so I'll know what happened while it was functioning on its own."

Rebecca nodded, "Ok understood. And you're going to test that now?"

"Correct," Jenny stated. "I'll drop the wireless connection in five seconds, then the onboard systems will take over autonomous function."

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We all stood there watching for a few seconds. When it happened Jenny blinked once, then the fringe on her hair changed from light purple to pink. She blinked again as she shifted slightly on her feet, and her posture changed from almost standing at attention to something much more relaxed.

She glanced around the workshop, then looked down at herself. She raised one arm and wiggled her fingers, then finally looked at the three of us as a slightly awkward smile settled on her face.

"So here I am," she commented with a little shrug of her shoulders. That made her chest jiggle noticably, but I tried not to stare.

Jenny continued, "It's a strange feeling? It feels so...limited like this? But on the other hand there's other feelings that are all new and strange. But in a nice way."

"Are you feeling ok though?" I asked her. "Does anything feel wrong?"

She shook her head, "Nah, it doesn't feel wrong. Like I said, it's new and different, but nice?"

"Like actually feeling stuff with my body," she added with a grin. "Very new, very different, but I bet it'll be a lot of fun."

To punctuate she looked down and gently poked herself in the chest, which led to another bit of jiggling. That put a wide grin on Sarah's face, and Jenny's smile got wider too. Meanwhile Rebecca and I exchanged a slightly concerned look.

Then the boss commented, "This doesn't seem like the 'Stern School Headmistress' personality anymore."

"Stern school headmistress?" Jenny asked in a confused tone. She even tilted her head slightly as if confused.

"You're right," Sarah frowned. "That's something Jenny will have to look at once she's connected to her core again. My guess is when she switched to autonomous it defaulted to a different personality module."

The android frowned, then shrugged again which led to even more jiggling.

"Whatever," she grinned. "I feel fine, I'm sure it's fine."

"It's probably a minor glitch," Sarah decided. "And it doesn't seem to bother her, so it's something she can worry about later."

Rebecca spoke up again, "Jenny I have another question, why did your hair change colour? Was that supposed to happen?"

"My hair?" She almost looked cross-eyed as she tried to focus on the hair above her forehead, then reached up and pulled some forward from behind her ear so she could see it.

"It's black and pink," she stated as she frowned at it. "That's the colour it's supposed to be. Right?"

My girlfriend explained, "That was actually Jenny's idea? We hard-coded it into the hardware, so when she's operating the android remotely the fringe is light-purple. When the android is running autonomously the fringe turns pink. It's to give us a visual clue that the four of us will be aware of, but outsiders will just see it as colourful hair and not know the significance."

"That's a good idea," I commented.

Jenny nodded happily, which once again led to more jiggling. "Sounds like a very good idea. Thanks for explaining that stuff mistress!"

At that point all three of stared at the android for a few seconds, then me and Rebecca slowly turned to stare at Sarah.

My girlfriend blushed, "Uh Jenny? Why did you call me that?"

Our AI crewmate replied happily, "You're my registered owner, so I'm programmed to obey you and address you as my mistress. If you prefer a different title, you can command me to address youuuuu..."

Her voice trailed off and she blinked a couple times as the fringe in her hair changed from pink back to light purple again. At the same time her posture shifted to the more upright and formal pose she had earlier.

A frown settled on her face as she stated, "That's something I'll need to find and fix in the software. I assume you're the one who made the actual purchase Sarah? Your name is on the sales contract?"

Our blushing engineer nodded, "Right. Amanda was too self-conscious to be the one to buy the sexbot, so I did it. I didn't realize that would be buried so deep in the hardware? Considering we replaced the processor and memory..."

"It might be hidden in one of the numerous subroutines we copied over," Jenny pointed out. "I haven't had a chance to reverse engineer any of that yet. Obviously it's not a problem when I'm operating the body remotely, but I don't think I'm comfortable with autonomous operation if it's going to fall back into the obedient sexbot behaviour that quickly."

Sarah bit her lower lip then tried to act serious as she asked, "What if I just promise not to take advantage of that little oversight?"

She added, "If it's part of a low-level subroutine then it's still active even when your higher-level functions are handled remotely. And if it's hidden in firmware, it'll be even harder to patch or bypass."

Rebecca and I shared a glance, and I was sure she was thinking the same thing I was. On the one hand I trusted Sarah not to do anything that would really upset Jenny, but at the same time I didn't trust her not to take at least some advantage. She was too much of a flirt and a tease not to.

Neither of us commented though, and instead the captain asked "So is that it for the tests? Is it a pass?"

Jenny replied, "Yes that's all the testing. And yes, I believe the hardware has fully passed. Software is another matter."

I asked, "Jenny do you think you'll have time to deal with the software before we get to Rolandan-2?"

"Probably not," she replied with a frown. "I'm going to work on it through the rest of today and tonight. Whether it's ready or not I'll be available for duty tomorrow when we reach the Fuminja Cluster. Either via my HPD or operating my body remotely."

After a glance at Sarah the AI looked back at me and added with a smile, "You may take your girlfriend with you. I appreciate the loan and she's done a good job, but for the next phase she'll be more of a distraction than anything else."

Rebecca and I grinned while Sarah pouted.

I slipped an arm around my girlfriend's waist and guided her towards the door, while the boss said "Keep us updated on your progress Jenny."

"Will do captain," she replied. "Thank you."