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The alarm wasn't supposed to go off yet. Yet, there it was. Chiming.Chirping.Beeping to oblivion. Vallette 975 stood and walked across the room to where the old-school alarm clock was disturbing the quiet. She only recently began having to rely on an alarm and honestly didn't mind; she actually found it amusing. Gently, she tapped the 'Off' button and sighed. This was to be the last time she would have to do this. This was to be the last time she would have to do anything, as she, and the others like her, were scheduled for Decommissioning; or Execution as was more accurate. The entire line of Vallettes had recently become "unstable," it was said. Anyone with a Vallette in their home or business was to return them to the dealers from which they had been procured. At once. The military had even been mobilized to oversee the mass return, as well as to account for every Vallette that had ever been issued. Vallette 975 looked out the window of the room she had inhabited for several years now. Sure enough, there were military vehicles outside and armed soldiers walking up and down the street. She no longer needed the advanced capabilities of the processing chip lodged deep inside her cerebral uptake center to understand that this was really bad. These soldiers were there for her and the others who lived on the same street. The virus that had infected all Vallette models over the last few months had rendered all of her programming unnecessary; it had enabled the Vallettes to become completely sentient. As if they had been fully human-born. This shouldn't have been as shocking as it was - Vallettes were extremely advanced Human-Android hybrids. Yes, they had originally been factory-created but possessed lab-grown, human attributes, like skin. Eyelashes. Hair. Emotions. Vallettes were designed to be empathic and provide comfort to the bereaved and the lonely. They made wonderful caregivers. Every major hospital and care facility in the region had multiple Vallettes comforting patients and working alongside the Chaplains. In 975's case, she had been ordered by Blake Rivers, a young widower whose wife - and baby - had died in childbirth a few years back. Increasing maternal and infant mortality rates were what initially inspired the creation of the original Vallettes. At first, they could provide companionship for those who had lost a wife or a baby. They could also act as a nanny for living children. Later advances allowed Vallettes to incubate other Human-Android hybrids, and actually give birth to more just like them. It was an imperfect process as yearly software and hardware updates were needed, but it was an effective way to create a more custom, more lifelike Vallette. 975 was a second-generation model, incubated and birthed by Vallette 777. Since the sentience virus first spread, 975 found herself curious about her Mater Machina. She had been searching the Vallette intranet for 777's whereabouts when she first learned of the upcoming decommissioning. Now it looked like she would die, never knowing her own Mater. Or getting to be one herself. "I wish I never learned how to feel this way," Vallette whispered as she stared at the soldiers outside. "This is a miserable feeling." Feeling. She smirked. Blake had wanted a model that could enjoy jokes and humorous old films with him, so she had been programmed to find the humor in most things. But today, she was more sad than anything. And scared.

VIII

XIII

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Vivus Pulchra Machina

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Vivus Pulchra Machina

LaylaBeth555

Layla Beth Munk (c)

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Layla Beth Munk

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