"We'll Ask Dr.Know..."

by

Lady Neferankh

This story is dedicated to Matrix Refugee

Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, or any of the characters or ideas it contains.

The phone rang.

Cammie rolled over and moaned. She reached out, clawing at the sheets, and then the the cool rounded edge of her night table until she found it.

"Miss, Miss Etwolls ?"

"What?" she snapped.

"We've sent up one of our cleaning service mechas to your room, but it can't get in because of the lock on your door."

"Oh." she shoved herself up one elbow, and peered--squinting her burning eyes, towards the door.

"Hang on," she reached inside a drawer in the night table, groped around, and pulled out a remote control, she pressed several buttons, and a beeping sound came from the door. " it should be fine now." she said, and collapsed back onto the bed.

There was a rattling of wheels as a cleaning mecha entered the room, pushing a cart laden with dusters, brooms, and cleansers, Cammie moaned and and squirmed in her bed, trying to bury herself in the sheets.

The mecha came to a stop near the entrance to the kitchen, and proceeded to turn its attention to first sweeping up and disposing of some shards of broken glass, and then eliminating all the sticky red traces of spilled wine from the night before. Next it focused on scouring the counters, tabletops, walls and one window that at night, provided the fortunate onlooker with a view of the plaza.

Cammie moaned again and turned over, trying to block out the sound of dishes being put away or chairs being shoved back into place. The sound of her cell trilling though, caused her to sit bolt upright. Blond and black streaked hair falling in front of her face and partially blinding her, she glanced around wildly--where had she left it last--? Oh yes, in her purse, of course, she rolled out of bed, groaning reluctantly as she did so, and staggered over to a nearby chair, where a fat designer handbag hung. She plunged a hand inside and pressed a button.

"Hello?" she said impatiently, though not quite as crabbily as she had answered her first phone call of the morning.

"Oh...honey, Logan,...you remembered? Yeah, yeah I'm fine--no I don't--when--you're driving into town--what do you mean--ohmigod-they moved up Spring break--no way!! " She let out a little shriek and threw herself back on the chair grinning widely, "Tonight--look--no--lemme show you the place--I've been here a thousand times, it's fantastic--we can meet at...um...Throb, Throb has great food--and music. Yeah, " she let out a little mock-sigh "Well you know, a girl's gotta focus more on the food and music--and not so much on the other stuff, like when she was single...Oh honey...of course I don't mind. Sure, sure, I love you too." She kissed the phone's receiver and there was a faint beep as the other party disconnected.

With a slight sigh, though there was now a smile playing about her lips, she set down the phone and went to look at herself in the mirror, she cocked her head, as though slightly dissatisfied, then reached for a bottle on a shelf by the mirror and shook out several pills, which she swallowed without chewing, she then picked up a brush and ran it down her hair absently.

From the next room, came the low hum of a vacuum, she glanced in the direction of the humming, it would be a while before the mecha was finished, then looked at herself again in the mirror, this time she seemed less displeased with what she saw, she sat down, and proceeded to apply some tanning foundation, it'd be hours before another human saw her--but she didn't want to get sloppy.

Half-an-hour later, she'd finished with her makeup, and managed to round up some items she'd dropped carelessly the night before, her favorite necklace had some wound up under the bed, and a shoe had been found hanging from a lamp in the kitchen and brought to her by the cleaning mecha. As she finished giving her hair one last gentle tug with the brush, she studied her now carefully made-up self in the mirror, then glanced down at what she was wearing, a white blouse with a low scoop neck and little glittery red hearts scattered across it, and a low-rise, semi-transparent green skirt with thick fringe. Last night's outfit.

She pulled off the blouse, yes, there was the red--unglittery stain in back where someone had shoved his pizza when the dancing got rowdy at Fridays.

She was about to undo her skirt when there was a chime from the doorway, she glanced at the clock on the dresser, 4:30, Joe must be here already.

"Come in!" she yelled, remaining seated at the dresser and staring down at the stained blouse with a slight scowl--it wouldn't wash out, and it might be trouble to buy a new one--these had been from a limited collection--

The sound of footsteps and the glimpse of movement caused her to look up. The lover robot she had ordered was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.

"Miss me?" it asked, it spoke with a British accent, the kind that was the default for this model. Some people found it annoying, but Cammie didn't mind, personally, she thought this make was one of the nicer-looking ones-she loved the cute chin--and those eyes!

She jerked her head impatiently, and leaned back "I want a shoulder rub. " she sighed. "I'm sooo tired."

Cammie threw her blouse over her shoulder and leaned back, closing her eyes in anticipation, she sighed as the even, regular movements she had expected worked there way into her sore muscles, "Oh God...last night..." she heaved a deep sigh "...and now Logan's coming tonight, I have to take him to--"she smothered a yawn " Throb..." she sat up and opened her eyes abruptly, the lover robot shifted its position slightly so the massage could continue. "You've been to Throb, haven't you Joe, do you know when they open?"

"At 6 PM, in 1 one hour, 17 minutes."it responded, never pausing in its work.

"Right, that's good, gives me plenty of time to--" she murmured, she reached into her purse, and pulled out the cell phone once more, " ...I don't have anything planned, " she said pressing several buttons and staring at the tiny screen. " so that means I can..." her eyes suddenly spotted something and widened. "Oh my God! " she screamed. "The project!!"

She leaped to her feet so quickly that she toppled the chair and caused the robot to move back as though startled. "The project was due tonight--at 8--I have less than two hours to--" She glanced about--then ran towards the closet, and began yanking out various tops, finally she seemed to come across one that satisfied her and pulled it on.

The lover robot watched as Cammie darted about the room, extracting books and papers from various hideaways, and finally shoving them all into one of her handbags.

"C'mon!" she yelled at him, " I only have three hours to finish this. Oh God--look you stupid thing, carry this. " she thrust the bag into the hands of the robot, and headed for the door, the cleaning mecha had left, leaving an unrecognizably tidy apartment in its wake, but the door was still open. She sprinted through the doors, pausing only to make sure the mecha was following her, and ran for the elevator.

"I can't believe this is happening to me, " whispered Cammie, she leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, and chewed her lip in anger. "Dr. Know is such a rip-off..."

The elevator stopped finally at the lobby, which they crossed swiftly, and a few minutes later, were out in the darkening streets of Rouge City. All around them, businesses were turning on their signs, and music could be heard, pounding wildly from every direction--never in tune--as if engaged in a violent wrestling match for the attention of passerby.

Finally the wise, welcoming face, outlined in neon blue came into sight--"at last" muttered Cammie--and they were inside the place.

They entered one of the rooms, and Cammie sat down in one of the chairs. The lover robot did the same, placing the handbag on the floor between them.

She shoved several newbucks in the slot, and pressed the large round button which read "Ask Me Anything", there was a whirring noise, a flashing of blue lights, and a hologram appeared, and began spouting the usual nonsense about all the available "categories" , Cammie ignored the talking head and reached into her handbag, she pulled out a notebook, flipped through it, and shoved it at Joe. "Here, read these questions--but not until I tell you to. "

"Yes miss."

She felt around a bit more, pulled out several more books, and then said "Now."

"Number one, " the robot began to read out carefully in its standard British accent"...how did news reports of the first Warming floods reach the United States..."

This continued for the next two hours, as Dr. Know showed them official looking texts onscreen, drawn from historical journals around the world, the place was used to catering to desperate college students, and so assembling a bibliography from the articles proved little difficulty.

"...number ten, " the lover mecha continued, Cammie was bent over her computer, typing frantically, almost finished--almost finished--she'd just have to send it out, and it'd be over--" how did the initially unsuccesful attempts to rescue flood survivors, lead to the development of the amphibicopter?"

Part 2. To be continued