Evolved(46)

“Was there any other information?” I asked her.

“No. Message complete. Have a nice day.”

I thanked her and went on my way. Jae was waiting on more information. More information on what exactly, was anyone’s guess.

I was halfway through my last class of the day when my phone buzzed in my pocket. And then it buzzed again. The entire class went quiet, and when the students realised it was my phone, there were a few sniggers and I told them to shush. I pulled out my phone, seeing a missed call and a message from the last person I ever expected to call me at work. It was Shaun. He was to only ever call in an emergency. Damnit, why did I have it switched to silent?

“Play Message.”

Shaun’s voice came through the phone. “Lloyd. Something’s wrong. Please come home.”

I felt the blood drain from my face and looked up at the class. None of them were laughing now. “Class dismissed.”

I grabbed my bag and ran for my car. I didn’t wait for my driver to ask me for my destination. “Home. And please hurry. It’s an emergency.”

He looked at me with his never-changing expression, his always pleasant smile. “Shall I notify the police, ambulance, or fire station?”

“None. Just drive. Please.”





Chapter Eleven





I raced from the car, took the too-slow lift to my floor, and ran to my apartment. I had no clue what to expect. I had no clue what was wrong. I shoved the door open, almost dropped my messenger bag, and found Shaun pacing.

He looked a mess. Well, not his usual pristine self. His hair was shaggy, like he’d run his hand through it a hundred times, his shirt was half-unbuttoned, half-untucked. His belt was on the sofa… was his fly undone?

“Shaun, what’s wrong?”

He stopped pacing, looked at me, and went back to pacing.

It was then I noticed the television. Oh dear Lord, he’d found the eight hundred channels. More specifically, he’d found the 870s, which was gay pornography dedicated for technosexuals. It was android sex: humans with androids, androids with androids… I should know. I’d watched a lot of it.

Shaun was still pacing. “Lloyd. Lloyd.”

I rushed over to him and put my hands on his arms to get him to at least stop moving. “Shaun, what’s wrong?”

“Propagation function error. Too much input. Input overload.”

I stared at him, then glanced at the TV. Porn was still playing, and a man had his android bent over a bed, taking him from behind. There was groaning and moaning, sex sounds, and grunting. Then I noticed the lube on the dining table, and his fly was undone. “Did you try and…”

“Attempted sensory output failed.”

Oh boy. He’d gotten himself into a state because he watched porn. I mean, it was almost comical. Until I realised it wasn’t a laughing matter.

Shaun twitched, and his voice was robotic. “Diagnostic check, input data and sensory error code 85100.”

Oh my God. He was in serious danger of overloading. “Shaun tell me what to do!”

“Input overload.”

“I need your control panel. What does that code mean?” I ran to the cabinet and powered up the control panel. “Search error code 85100.”

The screen blinked, then showed me the answer. Input overload error—requires sensory output or power unit down to reset.

I looked up at Shaun. “Do you need to shut down?”

His eyes went wide and he shook his head, like fear struck him at the thought. “Negative. Negative. Input overload.”

Now I was on the verge of panicking. He’d once asked me to never shut him down, and I promised I wouldn’t. Unless it was for his own safety. But there was no way I was going to reset him. I didn’t know what ‘restore to factory default settings’ meant for him. Would the Shaun I knew and loved be gone forever? “It says you require sensory output. How do I do that?”

He pointed to the television, to the men having sex. “Sensory output required.”

Sensory output. He’d told me before about his sensors requiring output signals when he’d joked about needing sex.

“You need sex?”

He palmed his dick. “Input overload.”

Oh. My. God.

Of course! He couldn’t come unless I did. He’d been watching porn for hours probably, activating his sensory input with no chance of output. He’d tried to masturbate but he couldn’t reach orgasm without me.

“You need to come.”

He seemed to sigh with relief. “Lloyd. Please. Input data and sensory error code 85100.”

“Okay,” I said, sliding my face along his jaw. “It’s okay. You’ll be fine.” I pressed myself against him and I could feel his hard-on. Which was new, wasn’t it? He was only supposed to be turned on if I was turned on, but he was definitely a lot harder than me. Then he slid his hand between us and palmed my dick. Knowing he needed me, literally needed me, was a heady feeling, and knowing I’d be inside him soon coupled with the pornographic sex sounds in the background, I was getting hard in no time.

But this wasn’t just about my need. This time, it was more about his. “The quickest way for sensory output is to activate all your sensors, yes?”

His voice was a pleading whisper. “Confirmed.”