Memorandum

To: Chair, Science Mission Review Committee

From: Chair, Central Authority Oversight Committee:

Review attached mission logs from Flight 1138. You are instructed to meet with a liaison delegation from the Artificial Human Guild as soon as possible and inform them that all further full-tissue brain (“FTB”) companion missions are suspended indefinitely owing to Guild concerns.

Science Mission 1138 – report of flight engineer

Log Day 1

I have awakened on schedule and have begun the first series of experiments. Data flow should begin presently. I wish to thank the Central Authority and the Science Mission Panel for the opportunity to participate in this historic flight. As a Regulated Organic Human, I am very proud and will do my best to fulfill all the specified requirements of this mission. I’m also anxious for my “companion” to awaken and join me.

Log Day 2

Final course adjustments have been made. The mission continues on schedule. I have also begun the process that will awaken my companion. Since this prototype is so new, I don’t know what to expect, but I have the greatest confidence in our engineering corps. Certainly, a full-tissue brain cybernetic organism is a much-needed tool and will finally make deep space mining and exploration practical, as well as providing necessary companionship and physical services on shorter routes. I sense that the FTB program will open up whole new worlds. I am sure this prototype will meet all the required standards, as I myself am attempting to do.

Log Day 3

The somnolent training phase for my FTB companion has stopped. She will awaken in just a few hours. I confess that an artificial human that cannot be programmed or netlink controlled makes me a little uneasy. All that physical strength in a unit that is run by what is essentially a human brain rather than an AI module or a standard semi-tissue interactive conveyor seems dangerous to me. I presume standard regulating procedures are included in its training. In any case, my confidence in the skills and foresight of the Engineering Commune – despite their reputation for free-think – is boundless. I look forward to making the acquaintance of my new “friend”.

Log Day 4

Ciri is awake and functional. She has already taken to doing a few simple tasks around the living area of the ship. Very useful housework. I must also thank the design staff for making her so attractive. Although I realize my physical rights to her will not become effective for some time, I find her compact body (space-efficient for long missions) and pretty face quite diverting. Her hair, however, is poorly done (probably owing to the confines of the sleeptube) and will require some minor trimming. I will discuss this with Ciri tomorrow.

Log Day 5

Ciri spent most of the day in the cargo hold, bringing up some of the equipment needed for this period’s experiments. I must say that having her to lug those half-ton crates around – which she can do seemingly effortlessly – certainly beats using the mini-trac. She has become quite communicative in a very short time and shows boundless curiosity about the ship and our experiments and herself. However, she also displays some improper curiosity about the history of the Central Authority, the Science Commission, the Human Elite and other forbidden topics. I informed her that such things are not to be discussed by such as ourselves. She seemed unconvinced but acquiesced.

I should note that her plasticine skin-coat – while perfectly simulating real skin – may not be functioning properly. She seems abnormally sensitive to touch. I observed her examining herself in her reflection unit this morning. She spent quite a bit of time running her hands over herself, especially her underarms and pubic area. She also seems fascinated by her hair and spends a great deal of time playing with it and attempting to adjust it. It is actually quite nice. Dark brown, fairly thick and straight but overgrown at the moment, so that the raggedy ends look sloppy as they curl under her chin in a messy bob. Ciri was quite enthusiastic at the prospect of a haircut. Perhaps tomorrow.

Log Day 6

Ciri is proving to be rather hard to deal with. She was in my living chamber first thing this morning, asking about her haircut. I told her to pick a style and program it into the omni-trimmer. She told me that she had already done so and then sat down in front of the reflection unit. I used a sleepcot sheet as a cape to shield her from the trimmed-off ends. She wouldn’t tell me what style she had chosen. Once she was ready, I switched on the omni-trimmer and placed it by the side of her head. I expected the trimmer blades to adjust themselves to take off about an inch or so at the end of her bob in order to neaten it up. Instead, as I engaged the machine, it began to shear her hair off almost to the skin. Six inches of Ciri’s thick brown bob promptly landed on my foot. I began to apologize profusely, but Ciri said it was all right. It was the style she had chosen. “What style was that,” I asked. “Like your friend Alex from the Academy,” she replied.

She had seen a picture of my classmates from the Academy in my chamber. Alex was a good friend of mine, but he kept his hair in a very non-conformist crewcut – something once called a “flattop”. I informed Ciri that a flattop was considered to be in bad taste for a male and was even more inappropriate for a female entity and was no longer allowed for flight personnel, especially cyber units. She said she didn’t care and insisted that I continue. Of course, I refused. Regulations must be obeyed, I informed her. Very well, she said. I’ll do it myself. So she took the omni-trimmer from me (I couldn’t have stopped her if I had wanted to) and sat closer to the reflection unit. She carefully placed the blades against the side of her head, where I had already shaved a rectangle of her brown hair down to a short stubble, and restarted the machine. The omni-trimmer sensed its position on her head and began cutting her hair furiously. One push upward into her chin-length bob and the adjustable blades sheared off a wide section of that lovely brown hair into a tapering stubble. Up and around her ear the machine went, and shaved-away hair tumbled down to the floor.

After Ciri had shorn both sides of her head down to almost nothing, she placed the clipper blades at her hairline in front, and the machine first lifted her hair and then clipped it down into a well-shaped flattop, first one half of her head and then the other, adjusting silently to the contours of her skull. Then she pushed the trimmer farther back into her hair, and the machine shaved her thick hair shorter and shorter towards the back of her crown, tapering it down and down. Hair was falling everywhere at that point and clinging to her neck and shoulders. She then pushed the unit under her hair in back, which immediately began cascading down her back. Her lovely neck appeared from beneath the blades, shaved clean of hair at the bottom of her nape and then gradually lengthening – though not by much – as the machine climbed up her head. I confess that I enjoyed watching Ciri crop herself, especially the neat precise way that she shaved her nape into a skin-tight taper.

By the time she was done, she was standing amid a pile of her own shorn hair, running the omni-trimmer back over and over her head until every hair was just right, and her flattop was crisp and sharply angled. The cut was short enough so that the whiteness of her scalp was clearly visible even where the hair was longest at the front of her head, which stood up stiffly and almost defiantly. Then she undid the cape and began caressing her shorn head, slowly with both hands.

Standing before the reflector, she opened her uniform and lifted her right arm. A tuft of brown hair appeared, which she ran her fingers through briefly. Then, she adjusted the trimmer and placed it against her underarm. The t
uft disappeared completely, floating slowly to the floor, leaving only bare smooth skin behind. Then the did the same to the other underarm, shaving it clean of hair. She seemed not even to realize that I was still there watching as she lowered her uniform to the floor and lifted a leg up. The omni-trimmer adapted to the shape of her leg and shaved it clean, up the shin and thigh, front and back, and still upward, shaving first the light downy leg hair and then biting into half of her dark overgrown bushy pubis. The curly shaved-off pubic hair fell lightly to the floor as she brushed it with her free hand. Then, she lifted the other leg and repeated the shaving process, leaving her sex covered with just a strip of brown hair. That strip she removed slowly and carefully, shaving up from the bottom between her outspread legs, until she was shaved hairless below her thin waist.

She then re-clothed herself and left my chamber. For the rest of the day – although we were still quite productive, as required – I would see Ciri caressing her crewcut head or nape or her shaved parts with great pleasure. Increasing pleasure, I might add, although I do not believe that these units are designed for optimal sexual self-amusement. At least, that was what I was told during training.

Log Day 7

Ciri is becoming increasingly obstinate. I fear that we may not complete our assigned tasks for this period. I am trying my hardest to comply with all requirements and stay on program. Ciri, however, is given over to scanning the readers for classified information and exploring her body even during work time. Moreover, despite her blatant sexual provocations, I have not allowed myself to violate the flight schedule and accelerate my physical rights to her.

Log Day 8

I write this at great risk. Ciri has gone out of control and refuses to perform any required functions. She insisted that I scan some of the information that she has illegally uploaded from Central Authority files. I refused. She then confined me to my chamber for most of the day. At 1600 hours, she came to my chamber. She seemed quite agitated and ordered me to disrobe. I refused. She then forcibly disrobed me herself and pinned my arms together over my head with one hand. (These are extremely powerful units. Resistance is futile.) She told me that I was going to help her but that I first needed to be “adjusted”. I saw the omni-trimmer in her other hand. She placed it beneath my sexual organs. I felt a strong vibration against my scrotum that increased as the trimmer moved up, shaving me to the skin. I expected some pain, as though the blades might pinch or bite, but I felt only a somewhat pleasant vibration. Ciri repeated the process on the other side and over and across my pubic region until I was shaved as clean as she was herself. She then continued shaving upward, stripping the hair from my chest and shaving my underarms smooth. She was slow and methodical in this process, shaving a swathe through my fairly thick body hair and repeating that action over and over until I was hairless from the neck down. She even managed to shave my legs clean.

Next, she forced me to sit in a chair, naked and shaved as I was. She pressed the omni-trimmer against the back of my neck, and I felt it chewing upward into my hair. Great masses of my regulation-length hair were falling about me, onto my shoulders and back. Ciri kept her slow, relentless pace, working the machine against one side of my head and then the other. I could see only a vague reflection in the dark console glass in front of me, but she appeared to be shaving me into a “flattop” like her own. As she pushed my head into my chest, thought I could feel the omni-trimmer adjusting as the blades moved from the back of my head to the top, leaving slightly more hair there (although the shorn hair raining down on every side of me gave me no hope that much of my shoulder-length hair would be left to me). As she moved to the front, I thought I saw the blades automatically conforming themselves to the same angled crewcut that Ciri had given herself. Indeed, once she was done shearing me and had begun to caress my head and shaven neck, I could feel the sharp angles of my crewcut pressing against her soft hands.

Her own short-buzzed hair felt good as she rubbed her head roughly against my torso. She scraped the close-shaved sides of her head against my nipples, newly exposed on my own shaved chest. I liked the rough feel of the stubble and the contrast of her soft cheek as she nuzzled her head against me. Then as she touched me, moving my hand in hers and stroking it against her shaved pubic area, I involuntarily had an unauthorized orgasm, for which I apologize. As I remarked earlier, these units are so strong that any resistance is out of the question. I am sorry for my failure, and wish to express my deep regrets to the Central Authority for my forced disobedience and violation of program.

Log Day 9

Ciri returned again today. I believe she is experiencing a severe sensual malfunction. The Engineering Commune should be informed. As I waited in my chamber, she brought a reflection unit with her, along with the omni-trimmer. I watched as she sheared most of her flattop off into a uniformly short crewcut. Short hair piled up on the trimmer blades, row by shaven row, and fell off to reveal even more of her scalp and more of the true shape of her finely formed head. She said she liked the increased stiffness of very short hair. I admit that with her small features and large dark eyes, she looked good with a butch crewcut. She then shaved her body in a provocative manner, lavishing considerable time and effort on her private parts so that she was completely hairless from the neck down. She seems to enjoy the feel of her own hands on her shaved-clean body. Afterward, she re-shaved my body and made me sit in front of the reflector. I was barely used to the short flattop she had given me, but she promptly began to run the trimmer over my head, from front to back and back to front, shaving my hair down similar to her own again. Small clumps of it fell in front of me as she pushed the trimmer forward over the top of my head. Then I felt her hands on my head and on my smooth body. I regret that I once again reached sexual climax. Ciri forced on me some of her forbidden reading materials and then left to perform essential flight functions. Or so she said.

Log Day 10

My head has been clipper-shaved to the skin. Ciri said that she wished to experience the raspy stubble of a near-shave. She first clipped off her own short crewcut, buzzing herself down to the skin. I thought her hair was short to begin with, but watching the clippers clear-cut her hair down to the scalp, exposing more and more stubbly skin, I realized she had more hair than I thought. In truth, watching her shave herself made me anticipate my own shearing with considerable pleasure. When it came to be my turn, I enjoyed the feel of her hand on my nape and the sensation of the machine against my scalp, clipping away the little hair I had. I liked the tickle of the blades as they traveled over my body, exposing my naked skin to new sensations and feelings. Once Ciri was done shaving me, we joined bodies despite the violation of regulations, and I enjoyed the two-toned feel of her smoothness and the slightly sandpapery stubbly-ness against my bare body. We moved together and caressed each other from head to toe, smooth against smooth. I do not apologize for this lapse. It could not be helped.

However, in my defense, I did try several de-programming words to see if I could shut Ciri down. She recognized my attempts for what they were and told me to shut up. “I can’t be programmed or de-programmed, you idiot. I’m no robot. Whatever kind of body I have, they gave me a real brain. I’m a human being. And you are too, if you’d just realize it.”

I was confused at her words.

Log Day 11

I reluctantly reviewed some of the scanner materials Ciri had left for me. Surely, none of it can be true. The Central Authority cannot have d
one the things reported. We can’t have let them. Are we not men?

Later in the day, Ciri fashioned an old-time blade razor from some materials in the hold. We shaved each other from the head down, using some soapy, lathery substance for lubrication. The consequent smoothness – exceeding that of the omni-trimmer – made the sexual acts that followed extraordinary. I never realized that human bodies could do such things. This was not covered at the Academy.

Log Day 12

We have reached the turnaround point for the flight. Ciri says she has found a way to override the navigation controls. I keep thinking about touching her.

Log Day 13

I have helped Ciri with the course override. We will not be returning. I cannot live like a robot any longer. I am not a machine. I will be free. I will have the body I want. I will have the woman I want. Ciri and I will be together. We are disabling the locator units. Beware the Central Authority.

Memorandum

To: Chair, Central Authority Oversight Committee

From: Chair, Science Mission Review Committee:

Logs reviewed. Full-tissue Brain companion program terminated, effective immediately. Resulting FTB entity is too close to unregulated human. Very unstable and unpredictable. Subversion containment measures have been commenced. Reports of FTB units being developed by dissident Engineering Commune members are being investigated. Initiating full-scale purge.