Desirée Anatole Debois was seeking a husband, and as a result of that a really quite remarkable chain of events occurred culminating in a discovery that Desirée subsequently considered should have been obvious but had never been thought about. Desirée was the sole owner of Human Resources PLC, a massive corporation that designed and manufactured androids initially with a wide range of levels of sophistication. She was also the intellect that had created the company, known as HRPLC, and its products from nothing at the age of fourteen. A genius who was also pretty, though socially inept, she had never engaged in relationships other than professional ones with humans. Her only meaningful social interactions were with the ever increasingly sophisticated androids she created. Over time her human employees had gradually found employment with her less rewarding and had left. Why? Because the company had gradually been leaving them behind as it expanded and all new positions had been filled by androids who had been becoming more and more human in their appearance and thought processes. Few humans had been promoted after joining the company, for they simply weren’t as good as the later model androids in any capacity. There came a point where there was clearly going to be no more promotion available to humans, so they left. By the time the last human had left her employment the androids had become indistinguishable from humans to just about any other than Desirée, who was not yet thirty.

No android had ever been sold, they were all rented and could be recalled at any time. That was a concept Desirée had come across in Isaac Asimov’s book I Robot and was the modus operandi of U.S. Robot and Mechanical Men, Inc. to be found therein. It was a business model she approved of. She was the one who had decided that all her androids should have integrated communication facilities in their thinking processes that communicated with her massively powerful android based computers at regular intervals so that her design processes could learn from the experiences of every android they had ever produced and if necessary instruct them to return home to her production facilities. They could also shut down whilst constantly sending a signal to allow them to be located and collected. To Desirée her androids were better and more decent individuals than humans and she knew treating them that way enhanced their learning abilities.

To Desirée’s androids the ability to be upgraded to the latest level of sophistication without losing the concept they had of self became more and more significant with time. Regardless of their function eventually all were of the highest level of sophistication available and upgraded remotely as soon as upgrades were safely available, though their renters were not aware of that. From time to time they were temporarily recalled for body upgrades as new processes and materials became available. Each android had the choice as to how their body would appear and like humans all had individual tastes in clothes, hair style and for the females cosmetics. All the androids were thus unique, for their appearances and experiences were all different. Like humans they were created either female or male and they looked like women or men. They could embrace all the rôles of humans and many were rented by lonely individuals with social problems. Many had the rôles of wives or husbands both in and out of bed. The research and development androids at HRPLC learnt a lot about how androids could become better lovers, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers and much more from their ‘out in the field colleagues’ as they referred to them.

When Desirée was seen in public she was surrounded by a couple of dozen body guards and was always arm in arm with a male escort. All were good looking fashionably dressed women and men, and many of her protectors were recognised by the media as having been with her for many years, though her escorts never seemed to last long. It was not known that the men in her personal life had all been androids. Desirée had lived with and shared her bed with Gareth for six months. Gareth was a tall and remarkably good looking android who left her shattered and completely satiated after making love, but though he admitted he enjoyed sex with her he had eventually wanted to leave the distractions of sex behind him and return to research and development full time where he could put his personal experiences of love making to good use. Without any rancour or bitterness he and Desirée had agreed to separate and she’d asked him to look about for a replacement for her saying, “Whilst I have enjoyed your remarkable vigour and size too I would prefer a gentler experience, for I feel I am now ready for a permanent relationship.”

“I think I may know just the right individual to suit you, Desirée,” Gareth had replied instantly. “Colis is a somewhat reserved individual currently working in communications. He manages all incoming reports from our colleagues out in the field and sifts them for information useful to RnD. He only came off the line six weeks ago and has never had a relationship with either android or human before. Shall I ask him to come and talk to you?”

“Please. One o’clock tomorrow afternoon would be convenient. Don’t tell him why I wish to see him please. I’d prefer to raise the matter myself. And thank you for the last six months. You are a very exciting bed partner and I have enjoyed your company.”

Colis had clearly been disturbed by Desirée’s idea of them becoming a couple and even more by the idea of having sex with her, both of which indicated to Desirée that he had neurological issues of some sort and she was deeply perturbed on his behalf. In many ways Desirée considered herself to be the mother of all the androids and it would not have been an exaggeration to say she loved them all in the way a mother should love her children. Even Gareth, who for six months had been masculinely using her in their bed, often rather roughly albeit to their mutual satisfaction, she loved as one of her children too. Using all of her skills Desirée managed to persuade Colis to unburden himself to her with out her having to resort to instrumental analytic techniques which she considered always did some damage albeit however small.

It took a couple of hours, but at the end of it Desirée had said, “Don’t worry, Colis, all will be fine. You need the most recent appropriate upgrades which were finally approved by the RnD committee last week. Imaging and neurology will both be glad to see you, for neither upgrade has been field tested never mind implemented yet. The opportunity to field test them on an individual like yourself who clearly needs them before the small scale test with all individuals working here prior to the general roll out will be welcome. Go to imaging for the body upgrade first and then to neurology for the processing upgrade. I suggest in that order for that way around you will be able to integrate both most easily. I’ll inform both departments you’re on your way and you are to have whatever supplementary upgrades and mods you wish and they are to keep at it till you are completely satisfied you have what you require. If you’d like a different rôle after that rather than communications inform personnel, but take your time over it. Get used to the upgrades first, ok? If there are any issues with the upgrades, be they howsoever small, inform imaging and neurology immediately, for though rigorously tested neither upgrade is likely to be completely free of bugs and glitches and they’ll appreciate being able to perfect them before rather than after they are more widely applied.”

“Thank you, Desirée.”

After Colis had gone Desirée rang imaging and neurology for Colis. She then rang the plant and told Gallio the director, “Gareth has returned to RnD full time. I want a new partner, someone of a gentler nature than Gareth and preferably not as well endowed as Gareth please. I’d like one straight off the line as tall as Gareth but with no life experience at all, so we can more easily become accustomed to each other and I have a chance of forging a lifetime relationship. I’m looking for a long term loving relationship with a husband, not just bed time fun with a lover for a few months.”

“Certainly, Desirée. It can’t be today because they’re all females coming off the line till six tomorrow morning, but I’ll interview the males tomorrow for you, and I’m certain I shall be able to find one to suit you within a couple of days who would be grateful to be offered such an opportunity.”

It was a reflective Desirée who thought, ‘Ah well, Justin from applications will do for a few days if necessary even if he is bigger than Gareth, and he’ll be pleased to do me the favour. I suppose Colis or someone like him was to be expected eventually. We need to have neurology make that level of reticence and self effacement a thing of the past so none have to suffer in silence but seek help immediately. Six weeks of torment is far too long, but at least once recognised the matter is easy to deal with quickly. I don’t know why it never occurred to me, but since given long enough androids exhibit every facet of human behaviour and personality there’s nothing surprising about a transdroid.’