Free Coral-600 by Roxy Mews Page A

you.”
    â€œI am considerably above the age of consent for sexual interactions, Quinn.”
    He just pulled me closer. “And it is obvious that you have all the right parts to participate in those interactions, but you know as well as I do that fully automated pleasure bots are outlawed.”
    It didn’t matter how strong he was then. I pushed him until he released me. “I am not a pleasure bot. I am Coral-600, and my artificial intelligence is much smarter than your real intelligence if you think describing me as a mindless sex machine is remotely appropriate.”
    I forced a slow and deliberate pace as I went back to Paisley. I wanted to run, but my biometal legs ran too fast and it would be obvious I wasn’t supposed to be in this place. I was mechanics. Up until Quinn had spoken to me, I had felt like I was an appropriate member of this group. Now I could not push aside the fact that I was different. Fitting in here wasn’t great data and amusing any longer. Now I just felt like an imposter. The people who knew me, or would get to know me, would never accept me as a member of this group. Quinn enjoyed me, at least sexually, and even he couldn’t accept me.
    I was a machine, and tonight I was shown that no matter how much my AI advanced, everyone would always see me as a pile of metal.
    My vision blurred. I was…crying. Again. The excessive fluid leaked down into my sinus cavity and I grabbed a napkin off the stack at the bar to clean myself up. I was grateful that my tears were normal. There were some robots who leaked only their lubricating fluids. My lubrication beverage was pink. Crying in neon pink would have had me tossed from this human-only establishment in a second.
    â€œCoral? Honey, are you okay?” Paisley approached me and kept her voice at the level of a concerned friend, but I could see by the large amount of the sclera visible around her iris, it was obvious to me that she was worried about my functionality.
    â€œI would prefer to return home, Paisley. Can we go now?”
    â€œUm…okay. Let me go get Quinn and—”
    â€œNo. I wish to return separately from Quinn.”
    Paisley’s eyes went from very wide to very narrow slits. “What did that ass do?”
    â€œIt was the words he used. Not his ass.”
    Paisley looked at the small piece of plastic in her hand and tossed it to the bartender. “Pay for a round for everyone at the bar before you give this back to the ass working his way off the dance floor right now.”
    While I filled Paisley in on what Quinn had said, the bartender came back over.
    â€œI can’t charge a card that’s not yours at your request, ma’am.”
    Paisley leaned over and whispered something to the woman. The bartender leaned back with her mouth open. “Fuck him.” Then she rang a loud bell. “Free round for the bar!”
    I walked out with Paisley and she got us a cab.
    â€œWhat did you tell the woman at the bar to make her use Quinn’s credit card?”
    â€œI told her the truth.” A cab pulled up and we both slid in. “I told her the asshole called you a prostitute.”
    â€œA pleasure bot is not the same as a prostitute. I am mechanics, and it is time I stopped trying to pretend I am not.” It would be much more convincing if I could stop leaking from my eyes.
    â€œCoral, you may be mechanics, but you are not a mindless robot. You are more genuine, and more real than any human I have met since I started working at the palace.” She brushed my hair from my face.
    Two people had touched my face tonight. The touch from Paisley didn’t ignite my skin sensors like Quinn’s touch had. This time I felt…I don’t know what I felt, but it affected some of my circuitry deep inside my body. There was so much pain that could be caused with words. I wondered why humans bothered with speech. They should use blunt instruments to get their