The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android

The Android Became a Human

Who Became an Android

A Dexter Duff Mystery

Scott William Carter

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The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android by Scott William Carter, September © 2010. Originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September 2010.

Smashwords Edition. Electronic edition published by Flying Raven Press, October 2011.

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction, in whole or in part in any form. This short story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android

The last time I saw Ginger, she was sporting two breasts instead of three. Personally, I thought her breasts were perfect before, but I know that with some guys you could never have too much of a good thing.

When I stepped out of the shower, she was sitting there on the edge of my bed, decked out in a silky red number with a slit up the side that showed plenty of her long legs and a plunging neckline that definitely revealed too much of a good thing. Steam wafted out from the bathroom and rose from my bare skin. I was naked except for the towel around my waist. Outside my tinted floor-to-ceiling window, a constant swarm of Versatian hoverpods hummed and whizzed past, everybody in a hurry to get somewhere on a planet where everybody supposedly came so they didn't have to hurry.

I need your help, she said.

No hello. No how have you been. No sorry for breaking your heart, emptying your credit account, and taking off with your ship and your entire twentieth century holodisc collection. The last time I saw her, I was stepping into a shower. Now, five years later, I stepped out of one and there she was.

You have a strange sense of irony, I said.

Huh?

Never mind. How'd you get in here?

She shrugged. Bribed the desk clerk. I'm pretty sure he thought I was a hooker.

"You are a hooker," I said.

She made a tsk-tsk sound. "That was another life. I'm a respectable woman now — married to one of the richest stepdock manufacturers in the known universe. And you can kindly stop staring at my breasts, thank you very much. It's not that uncommon."

"Sorry. You know, I am working here. I didn't ask for you to barge in on me."

You're working? In a place like this?

I'm checking the security system for the hotel.

Ah, she said, and waved her hand dismissively. Since when does Dexter Duff stoop to grunt work like that?

A lot of things have changed since you ran out on me, Ginger.

She made a pouty face, sticking out her lower lip and making her eyes wide. In the old days, I found that look irresistible. Now it just looked childish, which was probably what it was all along. Oh, dear, she said, you sound bitter. I was hoping that was all water over the bridge.

Under the bridge, I said.

Whatever. Look, if you want to take me to bed, let's do it, and then we'll get all the tension out of the air.

You just said you were married!

She shrugged. It's not like he'd care. He doesn't care about anything any more. That's part of the problem.

"Oh, I feel so sorry for you.