Married Separately

Here it is: the twisted, dark ending to the Sophia Maidbot stories. This should be the last "official" commission for Sophia from TFMonkey This is definitely not something I normally write, but since so many of you wanted it, here it is. Hopefully you enjoy how it turned out.. Story continued from Sophia Maid to be a Maidbot

So many things in life happen, and we never really ask “what if,” especially if the situation turned out well. For those that do, let's backtrack on our story of Sophia. We know she has Evan and a look-alike maidbot, and of course, a wedding coming up. Let me take you back to a seemingly innocent afternoon at her house.

While planning the wedding, her and her soon-to-be sister-in-law were out doing errands. Well, actually, her maidbot-as-her was out with Sophia's soon-to-be sister-in-law. Sophia was home and had activated her administrative privileges to be herself while the maidbot was away. She could not wait to try on the dress, and she had just finished when the others came home and the house system forced Sophia into maidbot mode. Life went on and the wedding was gorgeous!

But, what if the house system had malfunctioned and not placed her in maidbot mode. She would have had to pretend to be a maidbot, which is nothing new, yet her sister-in-law had a secret that was not brought to light in our first story's ending, and if questioned about it, she would not admit it. You know how you can keep a secret from yourself, stealing away that it is not real. Now that Sophia is pretending instead, she does something that opens the door for a devious plan to unfold, and while it was mostly accidental, lives can be altered forever, even by a seemingly innocent betrayal. And this plan...well, perhaps maybe you should read it for yourself.

It's the day before the wedding, and so much has been planned and done, yet there still lies so much to do. Elise, Evan's sister, and Sophia have spent the entire afternoon shopping. They have had to pick out the perfect shoes with the perfect flowers with the perfect bracelets with the proper sugar packets (not everyone likes sweet tea). Sophia has not gotten to know her sister-in-law very well, but she is coming to like her more and more.  Actually, for the last couple of days, Sophia-maidbot has been the one going out with Elise, and Sophia has been enjoying the experience with the nightly syncing of their databases. As far as I can tell, Sophia thinks to herself, I would have done exactly what she did and I think this new friendship is going to work.

Sophia has just finished cleaning up the mess from an overflowing toilet, while Sophia-maidbot and Elise have enjoyed their afternoon. As she starts to put away the cleaning supplies, the front door bell rings. She had requested the house system leave her in control of herself today, knowing that Sophia-maidbot is out for the day, and she enjoys being in control every now and then.

Walking stiffly to the door, she opens it to see a courier-bot at her doorstep. “Greetings, maid-bot,” the courier-bot says, “The customer service department of Elegant Wedding Dresses has sent a package.” Sophia notices the courier-bot is 'male' and wear a standard gray jump suit. It is loose fitting, but it is somewhat shiny. Hmmm, she thinks while taking the tablet in the her hand to sign for the package, I wonder if it is latex like her outfit.

Returning the tablet, she takes the package in her outstretched arms. As she looks to thank the courier-bot, she notices that he looks familiar. Pausing, she looks closer at him, then with a wink, the courier-bot says, “Wow, I almost thought I fooled you.” Sophia breaks character with a laugh, “Evan? Is that you?” He chuckles as well, stepping into her and hugging her. She drops the package so that she can properly hug and kiss him.

“What are you doing here?” she asks between kisses. He replies in a mumble, “Delivering a package, obviously. And having some fun with my soon-to-be wife.” She nods her head and continues to kiss him longingly, the package long forgotten. She closes the door with her foot, as they continue to make-out. She can feel his loose shiny clothing rubbing up against hers, and while it may not be that sexy to look at, she is turned on by his spontaneous appearance. “I just had to see you, and I knew this would be the one way to sneak past my sister, who seems to be spending more time with you than me.” She giggles at his ruse and replies, “Well, she is out with my maidbot, so you are free to...oh!” She feels not just his two hands on her butt, but also a third party is poking her in the front. He pulls back a little to say, “Sorry 'bout that...you're pretty hot in your uniform.”

Breaking away from him, she says while picking up the package, “Only 'pretty hot'? Well, you should see me in this,” holding up the box, “This is the wedding dress for the maidbot, and it is incredibly hot.” He raises an eyebrow while coming back for more. She dodges clumsily and backs towards the stairs, “But maybe you aren't interested?” she says with a fake pout. Scooping up her and the box, Evan carries them both up the stairs.

Time becomes irrelevant at this point, as Evan and Sophia enjoy each other completely. Their outfits were quickly removed, and they soon found release in each other's arms. While they lay on the bed, he asks, “So, how does it feel to get some from the courier-bot?” She replies in a monotone voice, “This unit is programmed to say 'yes'.” They laugh at the joke and kiss again. “Sooo,” he adds, “Can I see you in the wedding uniform?” She winks at him and reaches for the box.

It opens easily, and she begins putting on the outfit as she removes it. The all-white corset has sparkling beads sewn into it, showing more cleavage than she wanted for the wedding, but it will be the maidbot and not her. There are no panties, save a microskirt that covers just enough of her butt. The all-white shoes are actually latex stockings that go up past her knees, with the same beads sewn into the top. The all-white gloves extend past her elbows and contain beads sewn around the wrists. There is a headband and veil, but it only covers her forehead. Stepping back, she holds out her arms, saying, “Do you take this maidbot to be your wife?” 

Evan can barely contain himself, as she looks so incredibly sexy in that outfit. Her every curve just makes him want her more and more. Rising from the bed naked, he replies, “Oh, I most-certainly do.” He moves in to kiss her when they both hear the door open and freeze: from downstairs they can hear two female voices. “Oh snap,” Evan whispers, “My sister! She will freak if I am here today... bad luck and all.” 

“Anybody here?” Elise shouts up. They can hear Sophia-maidbot saying something about 'a van'. “Yikes, they know someone is here besides me, quick get dressed and act robotic.” As he starts putting on his uniform, he asks, “Shouldn't you be a maidbot right now?” Looking down at her self, she scratches her head, “Yeah, why hasn't the house system switched me over since both me and the maidbot are here?” Before she can say anything, she hears Sophia-maidbot ask, “House, please send maidbot to the front foyer.”

Sophia feels a slight tingle and begins to stiffen, but then it goes away. “Uh oh,” she says, rubbing the back of her neck, “Something is not right... it didn't work. I'll go down, pretending to be the maidbot. And,” thinking to herself, “Why don't you hop into the MaBOI? It will give me an excuse why you are up here.” Evan seems a little hesitant to step in, but when he hears footsteps at the bottom of the stairs, he steps in with a noticeable 'gulp'. As it powers up, Sophia quickly leaves the room to head downstairs.

When she gets to the top of the stairs, she realizes she has made a mistake. Seeing the facial expressions of both her maidbot and her sister-in-law, she knows that wearing the wedding uniform was not a good thing. “Why that little toaster,” Elise says with a frown, “It put on her uniform early.” As Sophia-maidbot agrees with her, she says something that awakens a hidden grievance, “Seriously, she is not supposed to be flaunting her maidbot-of-honor dress until the wedding day.” Elise furrows her brow further, thinking, and the fact that you have a maidbot as your maid-of-honor instead of me is just not right.

Trying not to show that she understands what is going on, she replies, “This unit was following house protocols when the courier-bot requested a signature for the package delivery.” While Elise continues to frown, Sophia-maidbot says, “I guess it needed to verify the package was correct before signing for it.” Elise looking at Sophia in the maidbot dress thinks, so this artificially curved robot gets top billing while I stand looking on from a distance. As Sophia-maidbot shrugs her shoulders, she asks, “So, where is the courier-bot?”

Nodding her head as she finally gets to the bottom of the stairs, she replies, “The MaBOI is cleaning his uniform from an earlier delivery.” Sophia-maidbot questions that and begins to go upstairs. “Say, Elise,” she asks with her back turned to them both, “Could you help the maidbot out of the maidbot-of-honor dress?” 

Elise sees the wedding maidbot and cringes on the inside: she does not want to give up her maid of honor spot to a machine. Now to be fair, she was really not that upset at first, and maybe if asked and she had to speak it outloud, she would deny it. But, at this moment, with nothing to stop her, she has a brief flash of genius with a touch of wicked. 

During this entire time, Evan has been in the MaBOI for the first time ever. It successfully stripped him, even though he had barely got into his uniform, with him squirming quite a bit. The machine began to clean his skin...all over. He was fine until the scrubbing brushes and hoses got to his manhood. Knowing this robot was designated as a male, the MaBOI handled him differently. He was able to keep himself calm with the light brushes with the water jets, but then the machine began massaging it as it cleaned it thoroughly. Since this part of a robot could be the dirtiest from use, the MaBOI has 6 subroutines dedicated just to that purpose.

Evan was trying to keep his stiff posture, but he was climaxing before he realized it. The machine took note of that and had to restart the subroutines from the beginning. It never questioned that the robot in the MaBOI was not an actual robot, so the expelled fluid seemed odd, but within normal cleaning parameters. Fortunately, the normal sounds of the machine drowned out his gasping and panting.

Nearly done with its second pass of cleaning, Evan finally relaxes as he is completely polished from head to toe. Stealing a glance down inside the machine at himself, he notes his manhood is sparkling at him. He marvels at its hairless beauty (as the machine cleaned it all off), then curses himself for such a feminine thought. Must be the stimulating soap, he figures.

As the cycle nearly finishes, Sophia-maidbot walks in the bedroom. Evan is not sure which one she is, so he maintains his posture. “Wow,” Sophia-maidbot whispers, “This courier-bot is hot. I mean, he looks good enough to eat.” Walking up to the MaBOI, she looks down into the machine, missing the blushing face of Evan. His newly waxed cheeks hide some of the reddenning, but if she looked up, she would know he is a real person.

He can hear her whistle while staring down at his naked body. “Oh my,” Sophia-maidbot marvels, “He is huge. So incredibly...oh my, I'm thinking some dirty thoughts right now.” The house system though malfunctioning, can tell Sophia-maidbot needs to be converted into Sex-bot mode. However, Elise's presence in the house prevents that from occurring. However, the house system needs to prevent a compromising situation with the courier-bot. Pausing Sophia-maidbot, the house system runs her backwards. To Evan, this looks very confusing. At one moment she is staring at him, the next, she is looking up and walking backwards. She even speaks her words backwards.

As she gets to the door, she stops. At that moment, the MaBOI has finished with Evan, dressing him back in his shiny, loose-fitting coveralls. He steps out as she steps in. “Courier-bot, did the maidbot sign for the package?” Evan, still confused by what just happened, but not wanting to mess up anymore, replies in a monotone, “Yes, customer. The package is verified.” Sophia nods her head and says, “Then you can go out the front door, and do hurry it up.” Evan nods his head and walks stiffly out the door.

Just as the MaBOI finished him, Elise was doing some finishing of her own. With just her and the maidbot (or so she thinks), she quickly lifts up the small, shiny-white skirt of Sophia. Confused, Sophia thinks, what is she doing? She can just command me to remove the outfit.

Elise puts her hand on the intruders. Twisting the blue-glowing knob on the front, it begins to flash. Crouching down, Elise sees the digital display read 10 V. Turning it more, it reads 100 V. Finally, she turns it further, so that it displays 1000 V. Without delaying, she presses the button in. Sophia feels 1000 Volts of electricity discharge into her from the intruders internal battery.  The overload severs numerous electrical connections in her brain. With her brain in shut down, she collapses, unconscious.

Elise says, “With one broken robot, there will be only one maid-of-honor.” Looking up the stairs to see no one, she begins to strip the limp form of Sophia.  She has her stripped and curled up into a ball on the couch as Evan gets to the bottom of the stairs. Without even glancing at him, she continues to gather up the outfit. Evan, not wanting to make eye contact, walks out the front door to the van. He is driving away by the time Elise meets Sophia-maidbot at the top of the stairs.

“Here we go,” Elise says, handing over the dress, “But, I think there might be something wrong with your maidbot.” Sophia-maidbot replies, “Well, the house system can check her while we put this dress up. Come on, I'm sure it's nothing serious.” Elise shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly and goes into the bedroom to help who she believes is the real Sophia.

Fortunately for Elise, her accidental frying of Sophia will be fixed soon, as the house system had already registered a problem with its connection to Sophia. The maidbot company was sending over a technical crew to see what they can do. Since it is a Friday, their offices will close for the weekend, so by the time the technician-bots pull into the driveway, they will have been given new orders: retrieve the broken robot for automated repair in the weekend-running factory.

Unaware of her surroundings, Sophia's curled up form is placed in a transport box. She has been in one before, and while it is uncomfortable, and somewhat claustrophobic to be curled up into one, she does not even notice this time. The technician-bots discuss the situation to Sophia-maidbot and Elise. “What?!” Sophia-maidbot says in disbelief, “You can't fix her until Monday?” Elise has a slight smile as she puts in, “Seriously, we NEED this maidbot for the wedding tomorrow.” The technician-bots can only reply with their base programming, “The company is sorry, valued customer, but the damage to this maidbot's operating system is extensive and will need a complete overhaul. With it being a Friday afternoon, the main repairs will be automatically, which takes 24-48 hours, at least.”

Sophia-maidbot cannot believe her ears. Elise puts an arm around her, genuinely feeling sorry for her, as she does like Evan's fiance. Sophia-maidbot leans into Elise and asks, “I cannot believe my plans are ruined.” Elise hugs her and says, “They aren't ruined, Sophia. You will think of something, I'm sure. I mean, if there is anything I can do...” Sophia-maidbot processes that and asks, “Too bad you wouldn't fit in that outfit for the maidbot.” Elise chuckles with Sophia-maidbot, knowing her taller, thinner frame would not even hold up the Sophia-fitting uniform.

The technician-bots pick up the box and leave the house, having no stimulation from the ladies to cause their programming to keep them there. As they go, Sophia-maidbot embraces Elise and says, “I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but... Elise would you be my maid-of-honor?” Elise puts her arms around Sophia-maidbot and opens her mouth to reply, when Sophia-maidbot adds, “I really should have asked you before, and I'm not even sure why I didn't. Please say yes.” Elise looks down at her and smiles broadly, “Nothing would give me more joy than to be the maid-of-honor in Evan's wedding.” Sophia-maidbot hugs her tighter then leans up and kisses her on the cheek. “You are the best,” and breaking free of each other, they rush upstairs like two little girls to try on their dresses and get ready for tomorrow.

Sophia is delivered to the weekend-running factory within 30 minutes. She is deposited on a conveyor belt, while the box is unfolded around her. Her curled up form is stretched out, face down on the conveyor belt. A long wire and cable is inserted into her control chip on the back of her neck. The factory cannot get a valid reading from the control chip. Deeming it faulty, Sophia is send to a different part of the factory for a new one.

The old control chip is easily removed, and if she had been more aware, she would be free of its control. However, her brain was still trying to recover from the massive electrical discharge, and has not fully taken in her dilemma. The newer model control chips are a bit bigger, so the automated system inserts it with ease, but would have been excruciatingly painful for Sophia, if she were fully aware of it. Since it left a dark mark on her skin from implant, she is then sent to a different part of the factory for skin repair. This strong feeling of discomfort begins to bring her around, her brain working feverishly to repair the problem with its ability to think. Since skin repair is a common problem, she is queued up with a hundred other bots, waiting their turn on the conveyor belt.

The next morning, as her control chip is covered properly (along with some other patches of skin replaced due to scratches and scrapes), Sophia-maidbot covers hers with the lacy collar of her wedding dress. As Sophia is finally flipped over for further testing, Sophia-maidbot twirls around in her dress. The machines spin around Sophia, making gear-moving noises, while Elise and Sophia-maidbot giggle in their morning-time schedule of preparations.

With Sophia plugged into the conveyor belt's connection, the factory runs a series of tests on her operating system. Oh, she thinks, what happened? Again, the factory cannot get a valid signal, so Sophia is uploaded a new one. What is that ringing in my head? She wonders. This fails and so her database is dumped and an attempt to restore it is initiated. However, the severed connections will not be repaired naturally, and she needs a medical doctor. The factory sees only a robot that has a broken database. What's going on? Sophia's mushy brain cannot handle any new information at this time, and since she is being placed on the donation list, it appears she will never be given any new information again, nor any means to repair her “broken” brain. I feel like I lost---more data is removed in the file clean-up, leaving her thoughts fractured. 

Something's not---she does not finish her thought, as her personality is completely wiped from her. The factory leaves only her basic animatronic functions. Any identifying markers in her memory are now downloaded to the factory's storage. It will be kept there for 48 hours, and if nothing has been done about it, it will be deleted without recovery (they can hardly keep all the important data stored in their vast cyber-vaults without adding a single robot's data). Her internal system is given a grade of 'D', then she is sent to be cleaned and waxed. From there, her picture she will be placed on the company website where she can be “purchased” by a non-profit organization. Until that time, she will be placed in a storage pod.

As Sophia is fitted for a silver catsuit for storage, Sophia-maidbot's finger is fitted with a shiny ring. As Sophia's face lights up due to a camera flash for the website, Evan's face lights up with a similar flash as he looks into Sophia-maidbot's eyes for another picture of the happy couple. As Sophia enters the storage pod, Sophia-maidbot and Evan enter the limousine, and while Sophia follows her path to a boring future, the happy couple follow a path to the airport for 2 weeks in the Caribbean.

About one week into the couples honeymoon, Sophia is pulled from storage and send to packaging. A history museum on the east coast needs a Hispanic robot for one of their exhibits. Since they have paperwork on file for being a not-for-profit organization, Sophia is donated to the museum. Once the museum covers the shipping costs, Sophia will be on her way to them. Even after a week in storage, no brain activity can be noted. Sophia cannot walk by herself nor even speak at the moment. All her higher order functions were either deleted or made inaccessible by her mushy head. Her catsuit is replaced with a nearly transparent panty and bra set. The shiny material appears to be some type of plastic wrap, making it disposable after a single use.

As packaging finishes her for transport, the problem with Sophia comes across the Quality Control Manager's desk. He notes the reason for her being donated, but also notes that the company has not made restitution for this act. The patron Sophia is an excellent customer, so they will have to do something. Fortunately, the manager thinks, Sophia has a maid-like-her maidbot on file, so they can make a new one and upload the base programs, even the human personality that she wants. He adds a new upgraded sexbot program to the list (almost whistling to himself), knowing that her new husband (whatever his name is) will really enjoy it. Feeling a sense of accomplishment having solved this problem that could have ended in a lawsuit, as the public is not aware of their robot-donating practices, the manager leans back in his chair and takes a long drink from his fruit water.

Signing the document digitally, he sets in motion the replacement of Sophia's maidbot (not realizing it was Sophia herself he replaced) being delivered within the week. A new Sophia-looking maidbot with all the standard programs, plus the human personality of Sophia, and the additional updates at no charge are included in the email he sends out to her, along with having it printed on a card with his digital handwriting. He smiles to himself, I love this job and making people happy.

As the real Sophia is loaded onto a transport plane, Sophia-maidbot and Evan get on a luxury plane for home. In a layover, Sophia-maidbot's luggage actually passes Sophia's transport container. For a few brief seconds, she is but a few feet from items that belonged to her just a week or so ago. Sophia is reloaded onto a plane, just as Evan and Sophi-Maidbot walk onto theirs. Eventually, Evan carries Sophia-maidbot across the threshold of their home, as Sophia is carried into the back door of the Hispanic History Museum. Evan believes he could not be any luckier... Sophia-maidbot's program tells her the same thing... Sophia's luck has yet to run it's course.

Sophia is unloaded in the museum by an elderly gentleman. He admires her Hispanic features and removes her disposable, traveling underwear. He puts a stamp behind her left ear and under her left foot. He pushes fluid removing plugs into her front and rear holes, covering them with a simple plastic pantie set. Her breasts are covered in a cotton strap to reduce their size slightly. She is placed in a full length traditional dress. It has a white, off-the-shoulder top, a brightly covered dress from the waist to her ankles. Her hair is done up with loose curls falling about her face. Her make-up is light and permanently applied with acrylic paint. Finally, her boots look out of place, but they lock onto the platform, so they are not traditional at all.

The man steps back and admires this Hispanic beauty in front of him. “The Esmarilda exhibit will be the talk of the town once she is put in place.” He calls a robot to him from out front, another donated one from the same company that Sophia was. The male robot picks her up and takes into the museum. At this time of day, it is rather quiet. Unfortunately, the man admits to himself that is rather quiet every day at every time.

Arriving at her exhibit, Sophia is placed onto a short platform in a traditional Mexican-style kitchen. The man locks her shoes onto the platform. He powers it up and Sophia finds her thoughts beginning again, as she stands up stiffly. What is going...Where am... her thoughts trying to make sense of all this. The man pulls out a remote and starts typing into it, “Alright, let's get the introduction right,” click click. 

Sophia says in a heavy accent, “Hallo, eye am Ezzmeerehldah.” The man smiles broadly. Esmarilda, she thinks, I am Esmarilda. He punches in a few more commands, and Esmarilda starts twisting and speaking and making stiff gestures. “Ah, perfect,” he says proudly. I am Esmarilda, she thinks, welcome to the Hispanic History Museum. I am here in the kitchen making some delicious Mexican meals for you. Come try them!

He sets her on a special cleaning and refreshing cycle. He knows the older models need fluids added and replaced and removed daily, so Esmarilda will have to be serviced daily, like all the other robots in the museum. He turns her off, causing her to slump, head down. He walks away, adding, “Just gotta add you to the database and you are ours.” Within 30 minutes, Sophia who is now Esmarilda is owned by the Hispanic History Museum.

Back at her old house, Sophia-maidbot and the new maidbot are interacting perfectly. Whatever glitch the house system had had been fixed, so Evan has no idea which one is which at any time. Both maidbots are swapped regularly between human personality and maidbot personality. He does note the new sexbot program, and enjoys it multiple times a week. He finds that sex with Sophia-maidbot in human personality is very primal, so he still prefers “doing it with a human.” They keep her cleaning service, while Evan keeps his job, and they make more money now than they know what to do with. They have free time at night for each other, and have Elise over weekly for dinner and a movie.

The next several months go by quickly for the newlyweds, until one afternoon, Evan comes home to see a technician van in the driveway. This happens occasionally, so he is not alarmed by it. Walking in the garage door and into the kitchen, he grabs a bottled water and sees the technician with the front half of the maidbot open, circuits and such hanging out. “Wow, that looks like a mess,” he says impressed. The technician stands up and replies, “Yep, they are complicated but quite dependable, so this is a strange problem.” Evan tilts his head and walks towards him, “Oh?”

As he leaves the kitchen, he comes around the corner to see that the technician has another maidbot with the front open on it. They both look just like Sophia. “Wait, there are two of them?” Evan asks confused.  “Well, yeah, you got two and here are the two, but their software got jumbled up somehow and froze up their hardware.” Evan protests, “Uh, no, I have one maidbot and one wife, where is she?” The technician replies looking at his tablet screen, “Actually, it says here you have two made-like-you maidbots. Both were purchased in town and have been serviced by us exclusively.” Evan drops his water bottle, nearly screaming, “NO, I don't. One maidbot, one wife! Where is she?” The technician, feeling a little worried now, weakly hands over the tablet. As Evan looks at it, Elise lets herself in through the front door. She can instantly tell something is wrong with Evan, not even bothering to close the door.

As Evan hardly acknowledges her, he says, “This doesn't make any sense. It says we got a replacement for our second maidbot while we were on our honeymoon. We only had one!” The technician raises his hands in surrender, replying, “Uh, sir, I'm just here to work on your maidbots.” Elise comes closer as Evan yells at him, “I only have one! Singular!”

Elise touches his arm, with a concerned look on her face. He swings to her and says heatedly, “When was the last time you saw Sophia?” Elise thinks back, still concerned but unsure of this scene she walked into, “Well, I was here last Friday for...” Evan stops her short, “No, that wasn't her, that was the maidbot.” Elise looks at him surprised, “No way, I mean, she acted just like Sophia. You mean...” Evan cuts her short again, “Yes, yes, she pretends to be a maidbot for fun. It relaxes her. Now think... when did you last see Sophia as a human?”

Elise ponders it more. “Uh, I don't know,” she stammers, “I thought I saw her as a human last Friday.” As their conversation turns in a downward spiral, the technician knows he is not in the right place. He slowly backs away from the brother and sister, trying to not draw any attention. He knows the maidbots are not functioning at the moment, but he does not care... something is not right about this, so he sneaks out the open front door, closing it softly behind him.

The evening goes from bad to worse, and Evan throws household objects around the rooms in frustration. Elise tries to help him piece together the mystery, but she had no idea Sophia was also the maidbot sometimes. They asked the house system for help, and it provided dates and times when the maidbots were synced, but nothing more.

In desperation, Evan asks the house system to go further back in time. Eventually, he finds some proof from the house system that Sophia was alive and well the week of the wedding. Using some of the saved pictures from security cameras (Evan did not want to spring for the upgrade to save videos instead), he feels sure she was in the house the week before the wedding. Using the service logs from the maidbot company, he now sees that the maidbot was serviced the day before the wedding. Looking at the data files and maidbot serial numbers in the house system, he determines that his honeymoon was spent with a maidbot, meaning his wife was sent to the central control factory and they sent back a replacement maidbot instead.

“Why?” Evan asks Elise. “Why did Sophia not get returned?” Elise is just as puzzled and concerned for Sophia, and in this moment, she has a thought. But this thought is not what she wanted to have. This memory is one she wishes she could now forget, because now, she realizes it was her that fried the real Sophia. Her prank has turned from funny and helpful to miserable and hurtful. Elise says, “Maybe she was miscatalogued or something, and put into storage. Let's go find her!”

The next few days, Evan and Elise try to find out what happened to Sophia. The maidbot company is less than helpful, as their records show that they returned the maidbot to Evan. He tries to explain that this is not the same one, but they say it is. He busts into locked doors, searching records after records to find Sophia. He is eventually thrown out of the building... twice in one day. When he tries to reenter the next day, he is arrested. Elise fares no better, as she sneaks in during a shift change of the security. She is also caught and released the first time, but then arrested on the second time. Since both have excellent records, they are released on bond and a warning.

Evan falls into depression, unable to come to grips with the fact that he has lived months without his wife, and he didn't even know it. He learns from some data mining, that some maidbot companies donate old robots. From this, he looks at city hall records of newly gifted robots. Elise and him spend hours pouring over the files, eventually finding a possible match: a Hispanic robot “purchased” locally for a museum on the east coast.

Esmarilda continues to rotate back and forth in a large room filled with other animatronic robots doing the same thing. Her arms moving stiffly, as if she is lifting something and turning something else. “Before automatic ovens, a Mexican-speaking senior would have to work long and hard in the kitchen making traditional Hispanic meals.” Sophia knows in her mind that what she is saying is not quite right, but she cannot get past following the physical commands to move in the same way every time all day. She tries to say something besides her programming, but every time, she says 'mexican' when it should be 'hispanic' and vice versa. Huh, she thinks, vice versa is a funny--- “Welcome to the Hispanic History Museum!” And her loop continues, pulling her along, even though there are no customers today.

Having already been fired from his job for not coming in for weeks, Evan goes on a road trip to find Sophia. He drives through the night and into the next day. He arrives at the city, but his online map will not show him where the museum is. Not giving up, he asks around town at local restaurants and stores, hoping to find out where it is. 

On the next day, an old man points him in the right direction, saying something about how sad it was. Evan leaves him and runs the 32 blocks to the museum location. He comes up to the location, sweating and out of breath. What he sees is not what he expected... he figured it would be an old building, but instead he finds a heap of burnt rubble. Stepping onto the property, a man in a yellow vest and hardhat asks him to step back. Evan simply asks what happened here. The man replies callously: a fire... three days ago... electrical lines faulty... fortunately, no one was inside but old robots.

Evan sprints into the rubble, some of it still hot from the fire. His shoes being to melt, as he re-ignites part of the blaze from unearthing smoldering pieces. The man in the yellow vest screams for him to stop, but Evan can hear nothing: he must find Sophia. Firefighters are dispatched again, as the blaze begins anew. Police officers also come this time to subdue Evan. He will not come easily, so they use excessive force to pull him to safety, as what's rest of the building burns brightly. The firefighters minimize the damage, and Evan finds himself in jail again.

Blackened skin from soot and charred feet from standing in fire, Evan slumps onto the cot in the prison cell. “She's gone,” he mumbles, “She's gone.” The admitting officer gets little from him, and based on his reaction to being nearly burnt alive, she believes he is crazy, or perhaps ran out of medication for a condition. Either way, she can have him processed out tonight to an asylum, freeing up this cell for the next idiot who breaks the law.

Weeks later, Evan's family still mourns their losses. They lost a son with a promising career and such a caring heart (he has yet to be released from the asylum, and his new court date was pushed back to early next year). They lost a daughter with a lively spirit that filled the room with laughter (she left a note that she could not live here with what she had done, and hopped a train, leaving town for places unknown). They lost a daughter-in-law whom they had come to love dearly, even though they had not known her long. She was so beautiful, so put together, and she seemed to love Evan with all her heart (she disappeared after their honeymoon, and no one knows where). What perhaps makes it worse, is that no one has any proof that anyone has died. They can mourn the loss of 3 family members, but there is hope that they may not be too far gone. So they cannot truly mourn the loss, so they do, but they don't... instead, they go on, but they don't.

So, you can see, one simple “mishap” can change the course of a family from a fairy tale ending to a scene out of a Shakespeare tragedy.