Tokyo Love by Diana Jean Read Free Book Online

throat. “Specify analysis.”
    “Probability of physical attractiveness to subject, 97.9%. Eye shape, 96.9%. Eye color, 99.8%. Structure of nose and cheekbones, 87.9%. Structure of chin, 95.6%. Voice intonation, 99.6%. Structure of—”
    “Stop, please. Just stop.” It was just the data from her cortex scan. But how could that make a replica of Yuriko? What did that
mean
?
    The PLC’s eyes focused again. “Is there a problem?”
    It could be human error. Yuriko did work in Quality Control. She undoubtedly had gone through every skin graft and hair fiber and eye color and face structure available and signed off on their quality. She probably hadn’t intended for it all to culminate into a PLC that looked exactly like her. But subconscious human bias could have played a role.
    Granted, it wasn't Yuriko’s job to look at every finished product. If she had looked at this PLC, wouldn't she have been surprised? Wouldn’t she have realized it had to be some mistake? When they had talked earlier that evening, Yuriko hadn’t looked like she had the freakiest day of her life. She didn’t look like she had come from work after seeing herself as a PLC.
    Something was wrong. A mistake, a glitch in the system.
    Kathleen stared at the PLC again. Maybe her face wasn't the same? Yuriko’s hair wasn’t that distinctive from other Japanese people Kathleen had met. Blue eyes weren’t common at all, but Kathleen did admit she liked blue eyes. Brandon had blue eyes. She hadn’t met that many Japanese people; she was still probably suffering from the dumb foreigner stereotype of thinking every Asian person looked the same. Maybe the hair and the eyes just reminded Kathleen enough of Yuriko to mistake the rest of it for her. She had to be freaking out for no reason.
    Kathleen sucked in more air and, quite calmly, attempted to push away those alarming thoughts.
    Of course, it only brought to the forefront that the PLC was still a woman. And that only brought her back to the edge of a spiraling despair. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
    The PLC didn’t speak, but her expression was open, waiting for more.
    “I need to … I am not a good candidate for a beta. This was way too personal for me to accurately judge. I should have insisted someone else perform this test. This is a total disaster. I’m going to lose my job.” She clutched her beer. It wasn’t helping her. She probably had too much adrenaline coursing through her for it to relax her.
    “Why would you lose your job?”
    Her voice reminded her of Yuriko's, but Kathleen forced herself to ignore that. It was just a coincidence. That wasn’t the real problem right now. “Because I can’t interact with you like a customer would! This test is totally meaningless and flawed and when we release you to the open market in six weeks it will be a disaster!”
    The PLC frowned. “Why can’t you interact with me?”
    “Because you are severely flawed!”
    Now the PLC looked a little affronted. “Flawed?”
    “You are a woman! I’m interested in men!”
    “Bisexuality is a real thing, you know.”
    Kathleen glared. “I'm
only
interested in men. Besides,
you
are a robot, a Personal Love Companion. I cannot love you! And I’m sorry, but I’m really freaking out!” Kathleen pressed her forehead into the table. She took a few steadying breaths and when she was sure she wasn’t going to start crying, she looked up.
    The PLC was resting her head on folded hands on the table. She looked at Kathleen curiously, her blue eyes contemplative. “Kathleen … did you want to fall in love with me?” Her voice was soft, and something about it soothed Kathleen’s frayed nerves.
    “Well … no. I just need to collect data.”
    The PLC smiled slowly. “Then why are you freaking out? You just need to test me, figure out my kinks and rough edges, right? I know you’ve played your own love sims before. Aren’t I just a more complicated one?” She reached out, her fingers closing