"BX-7658" by Frances Monro

BX-7658

A Love Story

by Frances  Monro 2008

Once upon a time there were three clone sisters: BX-7657 "Amy", BX-7658 "Bamika" and BX-7659 "Cissy." They were created by the Galatea Corporation to be the prototypes for their BX series - a new product line of programmed biological sex toys. They were grown at Galatea's facility on New Kyoto station in the Neo Tokyo system.

Programmed clones were originally envisaged as a way of coping with critical labor shortages at the fringes of known space - as a way of providing workers to terraform and colonize new worlds. They had the advantage over machinery or androids in that they were cheaper to produce in terms of technology and infrastructure, they were robust and durable and they did not require expensive ongoing maintenance and spare parts. By Bamika's time the technique had fallen into disfavor and was widely seen as cruel and abusive, and in many cases the production or ownership of programmed clones was illegal - unless it was by a government agency.

New Kyoto was disreputable place not connected with any recognized human govenment. It served as a base for mercenaries and pirates and was widely known as a place where anything could be bought or sold, for the right price. Galatea was part of the clan of shady corporations which owned New Kyoto, they made clones and genetic constructs, custom biologicals of all kinds - and custom soldiers, sex toys, and prostitutes. They even made some legitimate service workers although by Bamika's time even these were illegal on most of the core worlds.

Bamika and her sisters were force grown in vats, from conception to biological puberty over the course of about 3 years. Then they were decanted, biologically mature, but with the minds of newborn babies. Galatea technicians used drugs and neural feedback and "tape" to implant a rudimentary master program and personality, and the clones were tattooed with a serial number and barcode. An identity microchip and locater beacon were implanted in each of them., then they were taken to the holding cell which would be their home.

The clones were not given clothes. There was no need - New Kyoto is a space station and it never gets cold or wet there. Clothes would only have required laundering and replacement when they wore out - an unnecessary expense. Clothes would have gotten in the way of the medical procedures performed on the sisters, and might have confused their identity by covering the serial numbers tattooed on their back - the only practical way of telling them apart without a microchip scanner. They were experimental subjects required to develop the programming tape for their series - they  were products, not human beings, and in any case as sex toys they had no concept of modesty or shame.

Behavioral programming was an extremely sophisticated art by this time, far removed from the primitive brainwashing techniques that it grew out of. Programmers in Bamika's day could basically create a person with any personality and memories they desired. The Master Program tape that Galatea was developing would be the underlying low level rules to govern the emotions and behavior of the clone series. The Master Program was the "operating system" underlying the personality construct and knowledge and skill modules which would be integrated at a higher level, together creating the "tape" which would be loaded into any BX clone when she emerged from the vat making her willing and able to please and ready for delivery to the customer.

Developing, testing and evaluating this program was a long, painstaking process. The slightest mistake would result in potentially thousands of clones in pain and conflict and unable to function - requiring the expense of recall, diagnosis and reprogramming - with incalculable damage to Galatea's brand reputation. To avoid this this the programs were rigorously tested. Bamika and her sisters were both the develpment engines - source of memories and brain structures to be incorporated into the master tape - and test beds for the Master Program as it developed.

What is it like to be reprogrammed? Bamika thought that it was like being sucked up into a great dark funnel of wind, and tumbled about over and over until the whole universe becomes darkness and screaming wind and pain, until you loose any idea of who you are or what you are you are the wind and you are the darkness, and you are the pain

In between sessions of programming and testing and reprogramming, and in between work shifts, Bamika and her sisters were returned to their holding cell, a little space where they could sit or lie or sleep while they waited to be programmed and tested again. It was here that their love formed, and they became a family.

It was inevitable that the sisters would love one another. Their program ordered them to care about and please those around them and for long periods the only other people around were their sisters. Their bodies were identical, their minds so identical that memories could and would be transferred between them seamlessly. They were, practically, one person in three different bodies. When Bamika's mind and memories were erased, it was her sisters who would tell her who she was and what had happened to her. When her program glitched and she was in pain and unable to function - for days or even weeks while the Galatea technicians and programmers worked to correct the problem - it was her sisters who held her and comforted her. When she was tired and unhappy and scared it was her sisters who cared for her and tried to please her - and she did the same for them. Their program did not forbid love, so love flourished in such fertile ground.

Family gave the clones a sense of identity and continuity, even where none existed. The increasing stability of their Master Program as development progressed meant less reprogramming and fewer radical mind wipes, and gradually this enabled them to turn their attention outwards. The sister's master program commanded them to build a database of identities and social ordering and information about the people in their group, and slowly, by overhearing and chattering, and asking questions when permitted they began to build up a picture of the Galatea BX development team and their place in it.

One person stood out. New Kyoto is a homogenous and inbred third generation space station descended from an original Neo Tokyo population - Mostly of Old Japanese genetic extraction. But George was different. George was a brilliant programmer, he started out with computers and androids, then moved into programming biologicals, where his true genius lay. His personality structures were brilliant,  simple and elegant. His designs were functional and durable, but beautiful and self sustaining. It was a coup for Galatea to secure George to be lead programmer for the BX series. He was involved from day one, first as a consultant, then once the sisters were "born", he relocated to New Kyoto to work on the project full time.

George as lonely. He had devoted years to the development of the BX programming, and done the best work of his life. But he wasn't from Neo Tokyo, he didn't fit in there, they didn't accept him, and he was alone and unhappy. He plunged himself into his work.

The sisters were programmed to care about the happiness and cohesiveness of their social group, and to increase that happiness and cohesiveness when they could. They knew that George was very important in the group and of very high status, and their programming made them want to please him and make him happy. Their programming commanded them to show initiative - particularly in sexual matters - if it did not mean disobeying orders and it would greatly please the person in question. They resolved to seduce him.

Picture George seen from above, lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling, while curled around him and aroud each other the three sisters lie sleeping, smiling gently, happy that they have been able to love him and please him and make him happy. Pleased with themselves, secure in their love for each other, the sisters sleep happily, while George lies awake, worrying about human things and staring up at the ceiling.

It was a happy time. In spite of the hardship and uncertainties of their lives they had found love for each other and discovered their power to please others - the purpose they were built for. Sometimes George would imprint himself as their Master, which made them love him and want to please him with a fierce desire. Sometimes this key would not be set, but slowly they came to love him anyway because he was a good man, and he was pleased with them and their program commanded them to care about the people in their group. Love grew up between them, and their program did not forbid love. Perhaps it should have.

Slowly the sisters began to make contact with those around them and extend a web of gentle influence out into their social environment. They began to learn how to please the members of the development team which they were a part of. Their door of their cell was often left open and they came and went freely to visit members of the team in their quarters. It was a shock of joy to realize that they were working! They had made a place for themselves in their social group, serving and pleasing others. They were doing what they were made to do.

Then came the night of the party. The Galatea BX development team celebrated: The Master Program for the series was "feature complete." Development was completed and the program tape would only be tested and bug fixed from that point forward. The development team would move on to making personality overlays and knowledge and skill sets to support the Master Program and enable the series to function in the world. This milestone was celebrated with a party in the team rec. room, and many important people were invited. The clones were "invited" to attend too, to be admired and to provide entertainment. They were even given clothes to wear for this special occasion.

The sisters were bombarded with new impressions and sensations, and new people. They were given drinks which might have contained alcohol or other drugs. George was there, but they couldn't go to him because everyone wanted to speak to them and touch them - they were the stars of the show. They were overloaded with praise and it made them feel good - happy that people - very important people - were pleased with them. The experience was confusing, but happy, and they were left feeling that they had done well, even if they were not exactly sure what they had done.

At the end of the evening Amy was taken away by Phaedrus Ookami, the head of the BX project and second in command of the Galatea Corporation - And the son of a very important family on New Kyoto Station. Her sisters were happy that she was able to please such an important man, and pleased that they were doing what they were made to do. Bamika and Cissy were taken to another room to please a group of men. What they did not know was that Phaedrus was a psychopath - his sexual pleasure came from torturing and killing young women. He had become involved with Galatea partly because it gave him access to as many constructs and clones and sex toys as he needed to gratify his desires.

When Bamika and Cissy returned to their cell early in the morning they found Amy's mutilated body lying on the floor, cold and dead, lying in a puddle of her own blood. They were distraught, stricken with grief and unable to function, in unbearable pain from their loss and grief. The clones interpreted this mental pain as a programming error, and, prompted by their program they went to George, told him what had happened, and asked him to give them tape to fix them and take away the pain. Lovingly, and in the midst of his own grief at Amy's death, George did what they asked.

George took away the sisters' memories of Amy, and of her death, and he refocussed their love more directly on each other. When they wovk from the reprogramming they had forgotten that they had ever had a third clone sister, they were happy again, and functioning well. But George had not forgotten and he filled was with a very human grief and rage at what had happened. He began to make plans to take the clones and escape from New Kyoto Station with them.

These plans took months to come to fruition. Security on the station was not especially tight, but everything was owned  by the same clan of corporations that Galatea was a part of,  and a space station is in any case a very controlled environment - very little happens there that the controlling corporations were not aware of. Eventually a chance came and George was able to smuggle the clones aboard a shuttle and flee interstellar space. He thought that he's made a clean getaway, little did he realize that his problems were only beginning.

With the loss of the clones and the lead programmer work on the BX series stalled. A new batch of clones was started but it would take three years for them to grow to maturity. Until then no further work on the programming for the series could be developed and tested.  The development team was dispersed to other projects. From a strictly commercial perspective it was a disaster, but more than that it was a personal affront for Galatea and for Phaedrus Ookami. The loss of face if George was allowed to get away with his theft would be unbearable. All available assets were immediately directed to the pursuit.

George had his own problems. He had not realized the practical difficulties involved in safely and quietly transporting two women across the galaxy who knew nothing about money, space ships, airlocks, space suits, information systems, computers... Or even wearing clothes! Worse still, they were conspicuous, one man travelling with two identical women. As a stopgap measure he loaded them with some experimental "play personalities" that he had been developing - personalities designed to make romantic and sexual encounters more interesting. Bamika was programmed with a Victorian personality from "Caledon" a comic book about an alternative 1888 filled with airships and furries and mad science and magic. Cissy received the personality of a space adventuress from a popular movie.

A Play Personality was basically a miniture personality module fundamentally no different from the main personality module which had still been under development for the BX series when they fled New Kyoto. It consists of a set of personality rules and programs that sit atop the Master Program and customize and enhance it's function, and a set of memories and emotional responses to those memories which the personality uses to give itself meaning and context.  By combining personality structures and recorded memories and emotions in this way a programmer like George could make a clone think and feel and remember being anyone that he wanted her to be. It was typical with George's designs the personalities were brilliant - if still slightly buggy - loaded with detail and verisimilitude far beyond what anyone would reasonably require of a play partner.

The personalities helped, at least making the sisters speak and act a little differently. Eventually the trio made it to ECCHI station in the Sol system, one of the Core Worlds. Here George felt safe enough to relax and take stock, sure that Galatea would not dare persue him so far into the Core Worlds where their activities were illegal. He found a remote unused service locker to hide in and settled down to program the sisters with more stable and permanent cover identities.  He put Bamika under and connected her up to his portable programmer. He began by backing up mind for later reinstallation, then her removed all of her memories. He was about to install her new memories and personality when Galatea's mercenary agents attacked.

George and Cissy fled, but Bamika was left behind. George thought that she had been recaptured and taken back to Galatea, but in fact, in the confusion the badly trained mercenaries concentrated on persuing the moving targets and completely failed to notice Bamika where she lay unconcious on the deck. After a few hours her programming mode timed out, and detecting no activity the pogrammer unit did the same, automaticlaly retracting it's needles and tubes. Bamika fell into a natural sleep and when she awoke, she had no idea who she was, or where she was, or how she'd gotten there.

She got up and wandered numbly around the metal passageways in the bowels of the station. The only personality and memories available to her were those of her Victorian play personality, slowly and shyly it crept out of the darkness and took control. It came to believe that it was her. In a daze it sorted through what few memories she had left in search of an explanation, confused by the lights and the metal passages, seeking - but failing to find - the reassurance of the familiar people, and  places, and airships and floating mountains of her native Caledon. Anything which fitted her sense of self was incorporated, anything which was contradictory was forgotten or dismissed or suppressed.

The best Bamika could remember of what had happened before she woke on the cold steel deckplates of the maintenance locker was that she had been sucked up into a great dark funnel of wind that tumbled her over and over until the entire universe became a whirling maelstrom of wind and pain and darkness. As far as she could tell that was how she had arrived on the Station.

At last she emerged from the darkness of the passageways into the light of the quadrangle under it's dome and stepped forward to meet her new social group and find her place among them.

What will become of Cissy and George? Were they killed or recaptured by Galatea? Did they escape to live happily ever after? Will they return for Bamika one day?

Will Bamika break free from her damaged programming and become a real independent person?

Will Bamika find a new Master or Mistress to control her and give her orders to obey as she was made to do?

Or will Galatea recapture her? Will she be plunged back into the dark maelstrom of reprogramming, this time utterly alone, to be discarded and put down, finally, once her usefulness to the company is at an end - Or, when she has no more value to the Corporation will Phaedrus Ookami torture and kill her like her sister Amy, as a final act of humiliation and revenge?

What does destiny have in store for Bamika?