Stephanie Steele
Chapter 6

The Tavern was generally a low key bar. The sort of place you visited to chill out and have a quiet drink or two. The kind of place where they played gentle music and the bar staff spoke softly. It was the kind of place couples met for a first date and then went on to something a little livelier once they’d had a glass or two. That’s why Steele liked it so much. No one to bother her. No lecherous drunken guys trying to get in her drawers. No horny housewives wanting something different for one carefree evening. This was her hang out to wallow in self pity undisturbed.

Tonight was rather more crowded than usual. A slightly jolly bunch of thirty something’s were celebrating one of their party’s thirtieth birthdays. The slightly embarrassed thin woman with a sign round her neck saying KISS THE BIRTHDAY GIRL was a dead give away. Steele was sat at the end of the bar away from the fun and frolics nursing her third tequila. She’d got a taste for it when Uma had introduced her to it on their first date. The initial spice flavour exploded into an earthy semi sweet taste. Left to mature you got a woody, caramel or vanilla taste as you would a fine scotch or bourbon. She took a swig of the warm liquid to chase away thoughts of Uma. This only brought her back to Freddy’s departing words earlier.

“Why would you choose to have an upgrade that allows you to get drunk?” Freddy asked, puzzled.

“How else am I going to forget for a few hours?” She retorted sharply.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to erase her memory altogether? That way you won’t feel the pain of her loss.” He proposed.

This had stung Steele and she replied in an abrupt manner, “Why would I want to forget about Uma? That girl was everything to me. Besides, if I erase her from my memory I’d have to erase Leon and I’m not about to forget that turd!”

Steele knocked back more of the hot, spicy liquid, as the memory of Uma, her human lover, came flooding back. Rather than fight it she let the thoughts of Uma run freely through her memory bank. Unlike humans where memories fade and you have to concentrate sometimes to remember, hers were like replaying a video. She could see everything in vivid crystal clear glory. Her memories never faded. That’s why the pain remained so intense. Because it was like yesterday for her. She remembered everything, the pain was sharp and strong and she had to fight hard to suppress it. Uma, oh Uma, she thought. I miss you so much. She stopped thinking about her not being here and indulged herself the pleasure of replaying their first meeting.

A photographer snapped away as mayor Leonard shook Steele’s hand. She was aware that his palm was sweating. She just wanted this over with. She was never one for these sort of affairs. But Edwards had insisted on it. The department needed a shot in the arm of good publicity for a change and Steele’s recent capture of two armed robbers, who’d held fifteen hostages for two days, without a single causality, in one of the city’s most respected banks was certainly worth shouting about. Not in Steel’s mind. It had been just another ordinary day dealing with scumboids, nothing worth a mention as far as she was concerned. But as least she was doing something Edwards was praising her for, for once in her career. Seemed like he was always balling her out for something or other these days.

With the ceremony complete and her commendation dually noted and recorded for posterity Steele was keen to get back to duty. There was a new shit-heel on the loose murdering innocent little girls and she was keen to get that one sorted ASAP. Maybe they’d give her another commendation when she bagged this one. She hoped not. The mayor always insisted these ceremonies took place on his front lawn. The mayor was noted for his lavish parties at his high walled security tight mansion on the exclusive edge of town quarter where, amongst other rich people, was where the banker whose customers she’d saved a week ago, lived.

The ceremony had taken place on a quickly erected stage in the centre of an artificial lawn. With very little sun penetrating the blanket of smog overhead even grass had a hard time of growing and you could forget about flowers. Instead, the garden was cluttered with quite beautiful fake flowers and plants with a measure of imported decorative stones scattered strategically amongst them. It seemed surreal in a world where plants rarely flourished. But this was what money bought and there was a glut of money here today.

The garden was awash with the elite and celebrity of society. Beautiful people with beautiful bank balances were everywhere you looked. Celebrities mixed with millionaires who mixed with pretty models, all bragging about how good their lives were. Steele had just extricated herself from one particular rich upper class couple, the kind the mayor exclusively invited to these soirees, who were just so grateful that Steele had made their opulent world a little safer, when a warm lilting voice drifted over her shoulder.

“Be truthful, you hate these people don’t you?”

Steele turned to be met by a stunning Indian girl in her late teens wearing a slinky but stylish tight little red number, a pair of cherry red stilettos and matching clutch bag in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. She had the face of an angel and a body straight out of sexymodels.com.

“I’ll let you into a secret. I can’t stand them either. Bullshit is bullshit in any language. The people are as fake as these flowers and this champagne tastes like piss.” Her big brown eyes gave off a mischievous twinkle. Her smile hinted at a naughtiness Steele found mesmerising. “Uma.” She said as she discarded the glass of piss into a plastic rose bush. “Want to get out of here? Do something naughty?”

“I’m a cop. I don’t do anything naughty.” Steele teased.

“Oh I wasn’t thinking about anything illegal. But if I do stray you’re quite welcome to slap me in handcuffs.” Uma whispered, then bit her bottom lip as she trailed one finger down Steele’s arm. “I’m a bad girl detective. You’d better take me home and give me a good spanking.” And with those few words Steele was hooked. Uma slinked away, a look over her shoulder inviting Steele to follow her. An invitation Steele found irresistible.

That afternoon they’d made love in Uma’s apartment like two hungry animals. It was intense, wild and they were intoxicated with each other from the get go. They made love at every available moment, wherever it was legal to do so, for hours on end, every day for two weeks after they’d first met.

That sex induced fortnight had quickly developed into a deeply loving relationship. One that they both felt sure would never end. Neither had experienced anything like the other. Steele satisfied Uma like no other lover. She could make their love making last all night, tirelessly pleasuring her unselfishly. Steele preferred humans over other androids every time and this human girl was unlike every other human she had met. She was funny, beautiful and down to earth. She never took herself too seriously and that was a breath of fresh air in this stale world.

Steele was snapped out of her thoughts by a loud shriek. Some guy had taken the sign round the birthday girl’s neck quite literally and had planted a big smacker full on her mouth. She was now complaining it was meant as a joke only. He was arguing back that she shouldn’t be wearing the sign if it wasn’t meant to be taken literally. Steele took another sip of her tequila as her gaze drifted to the red head barmaid cleaning glasses who was keeping an eye on them, and allowed her mind to wander back to the last time she had been with Uma. It was a year after they’d first met and their sexual appetite hadn’t dwindled one bit.

Steele and Uma lay naked on top of the satin bed sheets locked in a kiss, long and deep and sensual, their squirming bodies pressed hard together. Steele’s pendulous breasts squeezed against Uma’s equally large mounds like two sets of sumo wrestlers locked in a sweaty wrestling match. Steel was atop her Indian beauty. One of Uma’s legs draped over Steele’s white porcelain buttocks. Steele lying between Uma’s open legs, fingers gently stimulating her wet and warm parts. Uma’s pleasurable moans were light, almost a sigh. But as Steele moved faster, slipping and sliding, in, out, over and about, Uma’s moans increased in volume, unable to contain her delight at Steele’s dexterous fingers working their magic between her thighs. Uma’s whole body shuddered as she reached climax and she let out a loud gasp of relief at being released so masterfully.

“I love you Stephanie.” Uma said trying to catch her breath.

“I love you.” Steele kissed her again.

Without breaking the kiss and giggling at the same time Uma flipped Steele onto her back and reached between her legs. “Now it’s your turn.” Uma smiled that naughty smile of hers.

“I love it when you take charge.” Steele whispered in Uma’s ear, blowing wisps of her dark hair into the air as she let out a gasp. That gasp turning to gentle sighs as Uma worked her way down Steele’s torso with small kisses. A darting tongue licking at her mountainous tits, her hard pink nipples, her teeth nibbling, her hot mouth sucking. Those soft lips lightly brushing her belly, lower, lower. There! Her tongue going to work like a small darting warm snake. “Oh Uma.” Steele gasped.

The next time Steel would see Uma, the girl she loved more than life itself, would be lying in a damp, dark, back alley amongst the garbage bags, naked, beaten, raped, with her murderers calling card stamped on her inner thigh and illuminated by the headlights of a police cruiser with a bunch of uniformed officers standing around her like she was a curiosity in a public zoo. An image she couldn’t erase from her memory bank. It was what drove her in this case. A case which had killed the love of her life. She had killed Uma. Not personally, but her pursuit of Leon had driven him to seek out Uma. He’d killed her to warn her off.

She’d gone off the rails afterwards for a while back then. Human emotions gave her so much joy but brought so much pain. But without those emotions she wouldn’t have been in love with Uma. Wouldn’t have a whole years worth of happiness to replay from her hard drive. Without those emotions she wouldn’t feel guilty and excruciating sadness at her loss. A double edged sword.

She’d fallen in love like a teenage girl and it was the best time of her life, and he’d taken it away from her. He would pay for it. She longed for the day she was standing in front of him. The day she could rip his head from his body and stick it in her virtual trophy cabinet in her virtual mind. That day was coming and when it did she vowed that would be the day she’d visit Freddy ‘The Chip’ and erase her memory banks of Uma. The pain was just too great to live with any more. But until that day dawned she was stuck with it. It was why she drank like this.

Steele slammed her empty glass on the counter top. “Fill her up Red.” Despite the fact Steele came here often he still didn’t know the human barmaid’s name.

Red ambled over to where Steele was propped. “I think you’ve had enough Steele. Why don’t you go power down for a few hours?” Red told her.

From past experience, when Red said time she meant it. Not that Steele cared. She reached over the bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila.

“Hey!” Red tried to grab back the bottle but Steele was having none of it.

“Red, I ain’t causing anybody any harm but myself.” Steele moaned. Red grabbed the bottle as she began to pour. “So leave me the fuck alone!” Steele growled.

Red let her have the bottle. “Your funeral.”

“Hardly.”

Red left her to it. As Steele knocked back another mouthful the guy who had kissed the birthday girl earlier had spied Steele and slipped onto the stool beside her, his eyes taking in every inch of her with obvious intentions on his mind.

“Go hit on some other girl. I’m not who you’re looking for tonight.” Steele warned him and wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

“Oh you so are baby.” He said and draped an arm about her shoulders, pulling himself closer to her.

“Take your arm off me and clear off before I make a fucking mess of you.” Steele’s warning was clear and direct, straight into his face.

The guy laughed and removed his arm. “I’d love to put my dick in that dirty mouth of yours. What do you think about that?” His voice was meant to be challenging and manly but he came across as a pathetic sleaze.

“You do and you’ll have nothing left but a bloody stump.” She’d had enough of this crud-shit. One more advance and he’d be picking his teeth off the bar floor.

He sucked air through his teeth and feigned being hurt. “Cruel baby. Cruel.”

Red knew what Steele was capable off and came over to head off any trouble. “Hey, beat it and leave her alone.”

The guy didn’t like being ganged up on by two girls, who in his world, should be wanting to get it on with him. “What’s your problem?” He spat. “Can’t a guy chat up a girl in a bar anymore?”

“Can’t a girl get a drink without some creep trying to get in her drawers anymore?” Red countered.

The guy sloped off throwing a hand into the air and mumbling something incoherently.

“Thanks.” Steele said and took another slug of her drink, topping up the glass for good measure.

“Don’t thank me. I was just saving myself the trouble of having to clean up after you’d finished with him.” Red told her and offered a smile. She looked away and wiped the bar then looked back at Steele venturing a punt of her own. “I get off at midnight.”

Steele allowed herself a smile. She liked Red. She was a sweet girl, but she wasn’t Uma. “I’m damaged goods Red.” She let her down gently. “You don’t want to go there.”

Red lay a hand on Steele’s arm. “Shame, and the name’s Michelle in case you change your mind.”

She wouldn’t. She took the bottle and went and sat in a private booth. Maybe hiding in a corner and slowly getting drunk she’d avoid any more amorous approaches.

Time passed, the bar filled up and Steele could hardly sit up. Time to go home. Perhaps one more drink? As she swigged off the remains of the bottle she was unaware a pair of eyes were watching her from a crowded corner of the bar. She didn’t see the person follow her out of the bar some time later.

Steele swayed from side to side as she pushed her way through the throng of people on the sidewalk. Even this late at night the city was alive. She passed through the quarter with three hundred year old Gothic style granite stone buildings looming like giant colossuses on either side of the street, where women and men of all shapes, sizes and colours stood in shop windows trying to sell their wares, nearly naked bodies enticing punters in for a few minutes of pleasure.

She stopped at one particular window where five girls in not very many clothes were dancing, or rather gyrating around poles and swinging like acrobats from other apparatus. Her vision focused and refocused on the enticing bodies rubbing themselves against the plush chrome props. Two girls kissed each other then blew kisses at the one or two men who had also stopped to watch, then went back to their routines.

Steele looked across at another girl. Uma! Were her eyes deceiving her? Her Uma, alive? Uma did a sexy wiggle towards her, the body she remembered, soft and warm, had touched so often, gyrated out of reach. She blew a kiss at Steele and motioned for her to come inside. Steele walked up to the window and held a hand against the glass for support. Uma knelt in front of Steele and was talking to her through the glass but Steele couldn’t hear what she was saying.

“I can’t hear you.” Steele said, her words slurring. Steele knelt on the ground at her level to see if she could hear. “I’ve missed you babe. Where’ve you been? I thought you were . . .”

Steele slipped and fell on her ass. When she looked back Uma had gone. In her place was another Indian girl. “You’re not Uma. Where is she? Where’s . . .”

The Indian girl realised she wasn’t getting any custom from Steele and went back to try enticing in less inebriated clients.

Steele realised her mistake, got to her feet and bundled into a man who complained bitterly at her as she staggered away down the street.

Face readers threw advertisements aimed at individuals as they passed, shouting out each person’s name before the product was pitched, because that’s what Face thought you needed right now.

“Stephanie Steele.” A Face reader blurted at her and proceeded to show her an ad vid for a hangover cure, a facial repair kit and several for a new range of beers. Steele ignored them all.

She passed the market stalls which sold just about every kind of food you could think of. Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, Tai, Italian, a mix of aromas that spread for three blocks. She was suddenly swamped with Face vid ads for food despite the fact she couldn’t process food. Alcohol she could handle, or not, but food, no. Steele swatted at the Face reader which simply moved out of her reach and kept broadcasting at her.

Then she moved on into a less populated residential area where Face readers weren’t allowed to advertise and she was free of unwanted products trying to be sold to her, never once hearing the footsteps behind her. Then the rain started. Large drops beating on the sidewalk and within a minute one side of the street was flooded with the down pour. Steele didn’t care she was getting wet. She was water proof. Could go under water if need be. Her outer casing was air tight. And anyway, she was near to her apartment now. Just a few yards and she’d be able to power down. A cruiser skimmed down out of the sky to road level right in front of her and blew up a wave of water. She missed her step and fell heavily to the ground, the impact knocking her sensory chip off line a moment.

Steele decided to lay where she was just to gain her senses again. Just for a few minutes. She could power down here, right now, and she could care less. Just as she was about to close her eyes, a shadow fell across her field of view and she looked up through impaired vision and the dashing rain to see someone standing over her, the figure silhouetted against a street lamp and the darkened sky.

“Uma?” Steele called out. Then her head slumped on the hard surface of the sidewalk and her visual display threw up something:

SYSTEM SHUT DOWN IMMINENT.

The next thing Steele saw was a photo of Uma. A photo which she kept by the side of her bed. Then something glistened on the floor and she focused on the tiny object. One of Uma’s ear rings. She’d lost that ages ago, had complained bitterly about it. She smiled and her visual display warned her of the following:

HARD DRIVE EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN.

Then blackness took her.

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