Free Man or Machine: 2 (Body Electric) by Electra Shepherd Page B

his muscular-looking physique and his warm, drawling voice. Cally was right; these new, improved robots were far from predictable.
    “I can’t help noticing,” said Dallas, “that you’re turned-on.”
    Her body was suddenly very warm. “Is it that obvious?”
    “It is to me. And I was thinking, I can help you with that.” He put his hand on hers and stroked the back of it with his thumb.
    Ilsa had to admit it, his touch felt good. It was meant to feel good. And she was, after all, hugely sexually frustrated after seeing Dallas and Hal in action yesterday. Not to mention all the visual fantasies of Hal in the bath and/or shower.
    And to be totally honest, she was also turned-on from having dinner with Hal. Sitting across from him, watching him. Arguing with him.
    But was it right to have sex with someone when you were turned-on because of someone else?
    Dallas ran his hand up her bare forearm. Her skin goose-bumped.
    “Did you like what you watched us doing yesterday, baby?” he murmured. “Did you like watching me and Hal touching each other? Naked on the bed, blowing each other?”
    “I did,” she said. She could never admit that to Hal but Dallas was safer.
    “I really liked it. It taught me a lot.” He stepped behind her and began massaging her shoulders, which were stiff from slouching over her keyboard all day. “It makes me think, though, that I have so much more to learn.”
    She closed her eyes. His hands were skillful and felt wonderful, exactly the right balance between gentleness and firmness.
    She had built Dallas as a companion. It was unfair if she didn’t give him a chance. And he was a wonderful lover…well, at least the twenty-six percent of him she knew about firsthand.
    She owed it to him to teach him as much as she could.
    “What would you like to know?” she asked, her voice a bit rough.
    “I’d like to expand my data set on sexual pleasure and orgasms.” He kept massaging.
    “You’d like to know what it’s like for a woman?” She took a deep breath. “Sure. I’ll wear electrodes on my head for you, Dallas, if you think it would help.”
    “Thank you, baby. I appreciate it. Actually, I was thinking it would expand my data set even more if I could share the experiences of a woman and a man simultaneously.”
    Ilsa opened her eyes. She twisted her head to look up at Dallas’ softly glowing eyes. “You want to be connected to two people making love to each other?”
    “Our last experiment taught me that it was most fulfilling when I was part of the experience myself.”
    “You want to have a threesome ?”
    “You got it, baby.”
    “With—with me and—”
    “You and Hal are the only candidates. Blue is a robot like me; although he has much to teach me, he can’t give me unmoderated experiences that are uniquely human. And from what I’ve gathered from his and Cally’s relationship, they’re happy balling each other and don’t want an extra dick in the mix to kill their buzz.”
    “But—but Hal and I—we don’t do that.”
    “You used to.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “You remember, don’t you, Ilsa? Do you remember what this feels like?” Dallas’ voice was a near-perfect imitation of Hal’s pitch, tone and English accent. Ilsa gasped.
    “And our cocks are, as Hal also said, remarkably similar. It isn’t difficult to extrapolate the facts.”
    “Um, Dallas. The thing is. I mean, I think you sort of have to learn that for humans, it isn’t always easy to resurrect past relationships once they’ve been finished. Hal and I broke up for very good reasons and—”
    “But you’re still hot for him, aren’t you? I saw you watching him. You had to bring yourself off.”
    There didn’t seem to be much point denying it.
    “And Hal wants you too. You’ve already fucked each other, via me. This would merely be a step further.”
    “I’m not so certain about this, Dallas.”
    “Hal is a man of science. You’re a woman of science. And I’m a thing