A five foot eight inch hologram of Rowan's boss was pinching its nose and breathing deeply. The technician was the only living worker in Pax Orbis's most popular brothel, and his boss was light years away, behind the safety of the great interstellar minefield.
Electra was wearing a leather bustier and a black leather skirt. Any part of her body that could be pierced was pierced with various studs and rings. The hand that wasn't pinching her nose was holding a long cigarette holder which had more ash than tobacco hanging off the end.
"You're telling me that the aliens shredded the cuck robot which made it burst into flames? Repair parts are two months out?"
"I'm sorry Electra, I mean boss," Rowan said. "There's not much in his remains that I can salvage. The 3d printers are getting his shell back up to a passable level, but he had an internal meltdown, he needs a new brain."
"Rowan, your deep space outpost is responsible for almost a third of our business. The higher ups are going to skin me alive when I tell them this."
"I'm sorry, the alien species have a hard time controlling themselves when they get on a roll."
Electra took a long puff on her cigarette and thought. "We're going to need to install autocannons in the rooms now and put up warnings everywhere that damage to company property is not permitted. Fuck, how much is cuck play as a percent of your business Rowan?"
"Almost half, and it's growing as well."
The white haired woman slammed a fist on a table that the hologram didn't project, the ash on her cigarette dropped and fell like gray snow. "We need to figure out a way to keep revenues up while the parts are coming in."
"Could we bring in some flesh and blood talent?" Rowan asked.
"Ha! Convincing you to go to Pax Orbis took months and triple hazard pay, and that's only for a technician, Rowan. It would be too little too late. Also, we would have the risk of the man quitting, even under contract as the job is dangerous."
"I'm so sorry Electra, I wish I could be of more help. You know I asked for a back up cuck months ago."
"Yeah yeah, I don't want to really hear that anymore. We have to think of solutions, not complain. Hey! I've got an idea. Why don't you take up the role of cuck during these sessions?"
"Me!" Rowan yelled. "No way, never in a million years."
"I'll double your pay while you're on the job Rowan, we need this bad. The quarter is coming up and we can't have a single incident ruin our numbers."
"They ripped the robot to shreds! What do you think they'll do to me?"
"Put in the autocannons and you'll be fine." Electra waved her hand dismissively. "And if you don't insult them, they won't get mad."
"Come on Electra, do I look like a sex worker to you?" he asked, pinching his belly.
"I'll get you a gym membership." Electra raised her finger and said, "I know what will convince you. What if I got you quarterly excursion rights to Avior 7?"
That sentence made Rowan sit up. "No joke? Do you swear?"
"I'll make the company go through to the station command and get you scheduled. We'll have to see if there's camping equipment we can send you."
"Don't worry about that, the human section has plenty of gear left over after the exodus." His eyes darted left and right. "I want it in writing. I want a hard copy in my hands before I do a single thing. I know how much real workers get paid these days, and since I'm taking a risk, I want more."
Electra smiled. She looked like an imp who just convinced a man to rob a store. "You have my word, it'll be in your mailbox by the end of the day."
"Alright, fine. I'll have to go to storage and requisition the targeting systems and guns to set up in the rooms. I'll have to break the news to Carmen and the others."
"Thank you Rowan, I'm going to put you in for employee of the month." She waved as her hologram faded away.
"I'm honored."
…
Rowan sat on a wobbly stool in the briefing room of the brothel in front of the talent. Twelve cyborgs with bodies like pornstars sat wearing bathrobes and looked up expectantly at the only real human they ever talked to before coming to the station. Carmen sat in the front row and wore her signature naive smile, playing with her pink hair with her index finger.
"So to sum this up, if customers are asking for any cuck play scenarios, I'll be taking the place of Connor until the replacement parts come in and I give him an overhaul."
Several of the cyborgs gasped and covered their mouths, Carmen said, "That's so awful for Connor, he didn't deserve that brutal treatment."
He's only an android, Carmen. Why not worry about me, the human being forced into this? Rowan replied, "Yes, the company is very concerned with the treatment of our resources and so has asked me to install lethal security auto systems to prevent this from happening in the future."
Carmen smiled, nodded, and said, "That's wonderful to hear. Us girls are always a bit scared of some of the rougher customers. I also want to speak for all of us when I say that we're excited to be working with an actual human."
Rowan scratched his head and smiled, saying, "I don't know how much I'll actually be working with you, I'll just be in the corner watching right?"
"Actually Conner didn't just do that," Carmen replied, blushing. "And even if it was just that, I had to develop an emotional bond with Conner in order for the scenes to work well.
"Emotional bond?"
"You see, these aliens are very perceptive. They can tell someone faking emotional responses. If you and I were to work on the same scenario, we would have to do some preparation work so that when we act, it doesn't look fake."
"How did you and Conner work this out? I thought you guys all went to sleep after I headed home."
Carmen looked down and poked her fingers together. "Everyone would sleep together. I mean we would connect over the network and we'd all hang out. It's not the real thing, but it really helped with my contextual memory. That's the real reason why the customers keep coming back."
"They really want the male to suffer, and not fake it," Rowan said.
"It's still acting darling, but spending time together makes it easier to access those emotions."
Rowan nodded like he understood. He never could determine if the AI in the girls actually had emotions or were just exceptionally good at mimicking them. Each day he worked here it became harder to force himself to think that they weren't real people, but it was required for the job or you would have a mental breakdown.
Rowan sighed and said, "I don't have a bio-port installed in my head, so I can't run simulations with you."
Carmen approached and took his hand and said, "You don't have to worry about that Rowan, I just need to move in with you and that context will build up soon enough. I'll then share what I've learned with the rest of the girls and they'll incorporate it into their models. Once I think I've got it, I can go back to sleep at the brothel again."
A brunette girl with lots of piercings shrugged and said, "I don't think he's got what it takes to last in the business. Let the androids do the work, it will be better for all of us."
"I agree, Siren, " Rowen responded. "We just need to get this going for a few weeks while the parts come in, then it can all go back to normal."
"What's our first job together Rowan?" Carmen asked.
"Tomorrow evening, we've got a mantisoid couple that asked for you specifically."
The rest of the cyborgs catcalled and whooped at Carmen, making her blush.
Siren clapped and hollered, "They're throwing you right into the deep end, aren't they Rowan? You're going to have a first night of work you'll never forget."
"Why, what's wrong? I don't usually watch all too often."
Carmen guided Rowan out of the briefing room and shouted to the other girls, "Come on, don't spook him. Siren, you're taking the front desk while I work with Rowan. Girls, we'll only have vanilla scenarios, if there's a malfunction you can always reach Rowan through the comlink and we'll come back to the brothel." Turning to him, she added, "You and I are going to have to work really hard to develop a good rapport. I've downloaded a bunch of data on what to do on the station."
"Carmen, I can't take you out. The aliens won't give you a moment's peace. They might even assault you."
She winked at him and squeezed his butt, "Leave that to me sweetie."