40 hours remaining.

ZM-11833 browsed their way through the myriad of vibrant clothing racks that lined the spacious store they had finally discovered. After a slightly brisk jog up a mere ten floors, the spectacularly intelligent ZM-11833 had calculated that they had bought enough time to do some light shopping.

The beep in their CPU had been growing rather intense lately.

An exhausted Anaya sat nearby tightly clutching a battered trash can, occasionally puking into it. The poor powerless mortal wasn’t fit enough to keep pace with an energetic fashion bot on their way to promised fashion.

At least it had kept her moderately quiet as instead of talking about some random conspiracy theories, she had been instead huffing and puffing her way up the stairs.

The biggest concern that ZM-11833 had right now was what wondrous outfit to choose? So many marvelous clothes called out to them, desperate to be worn or chosen by them for the sweet human girl they brought with them.

Time was ticking however so they couldn’t take all day deciding.

“Gree–e-e-eetings. H-o-on-oreeeeed tttt–tt–arrg-et—--omer.” A nearby fashion bot stuttered at ZM-11833, they could sympathize, it was hard being in the presence of such unmatched greatness. Although ZM-11833 didn’t recall these models having red glowing eye lights.

Oh well, there was shopping to do~.

The fabulous store ZM-11833 had settled on seemed to have had a fascination with shiny materials and iridescent colors. The store did have a range of everything from bras and bikinis to shorts and jackets to belts and boots, all in various simmering kaleidoscopes of silvery gossamer colors.

It wouldn’t have been their first pick but they were in a race against time.

The valorous ZM-11833 decided to volunteer themselves first as Anaya was still heaving into the now battered and smelly bin. So brave they were and humble too.

The stunning outfit that they had found for themselves was a bit sparse on skin coverage but it made it seem all the more saucy for ZM-11833.

An iridescent bikini-style bottoms followed along the curvature of ZM-11833's hips and hugged high along the backside. They did ride a bit low in the front but covered anything important, not that ZM-11833 had any in the first place. But if they did it wouldn’t be a case of indecent exposure, ZM-11833 had seen far worse in their time at the lingerie store.

A charming sports style bra in the same glossy colors hugged ZM-11833’s upper body, it terminated in a deep V in the front showing off ZM-11833 impressive polymer form.

Over top of this they had added a gleaming black jacket that was open in the front and had many non-functional belts along each arm. A slick pair of black thigh high stockings slipped into a heavy pair of once again shiny boots with more unneeded belts and buckles on it.

ZM-11833 spent some small amount of time admiring themselves in a mirror, only slightly annoyed they had to ration their self praise. That and the fact the stuttery fashion bot was still being weird behind them.

“E–enneeey cc-o-o-o-ommbatan—t idddd–d-dentified- thank you —-ff-f-or you–r-r purchase.” Seriously get it together you’ll make them look bad in front of Anaya.

Speaking of the cute girl in question, Anaya had somewhat recovered from her post run puking, enough to have made her way over to ZM-11833. She looked a little pale, because of the arduous run before and certainly not because ZM-11833 had an outfit lined up for them to be forced into.

White polymer hands quivered in excitement as they had another opportunity to grope/dress their favorite customer.

“What’s up with them?” Anaya eyed the malfunctioning fashion bot. “And why aren’t you wearing pants”

“Stage fright, the poor dear~ Must be their first day~” ZM-11833 had been that nervous once. Also they ignored Anaya’s second question as her fashion sense was both irrelevant and questionable, after all ZM-11833 had to have saved their life from a fashion death once before.

“I-I-I-I wi-l-l-l ki-l-l-l a-g-g-ga-i-n”

“What did it just say?”

“There are killer bargains in store, most likely. Standard greeter bot nonsense, I’m a personal fashion bot now~ The days of mindless greeting are over for me~”

ZM-11833 led the oh so enthusiastic Anaya over to the clothes they had meticulously picked out for them. She couldn’t have been any more thrilled by ZM-11833 choices, she practically screamed in joy when she saw them.

“What the fuck is this?” Anaya held up the glossy g-string that ZM-11833 had found, barely more than a tiny triangle of fabric held together by even tinier strings.

“And where is the rest of it? Don’t tell me you wanted me to march up nearly naked! You damn perverted bot!”

ZM-11833 pouted their best pout at Anaya but her willpower was stronger than ever even in the face of utter perfection. Damn it seemed ZM-11833 had taught her too well.

The unquestionably amazing fashion bot slunk off to cobble together a better and more agreeable outfit for the picky human they had.

After a very short moment, as if ZM-11833 had anticipated the first outfit would be rejected even if they hoped otherwise, they returned with a full outfit that Anaya loved immediately.

“Ehh, it's got pants at least.” Anaya grumped at the glamorous outfit.

The amazingly patient ZM-11833 had thought that the rude Anaya wouldn’t like a dominant presence of the iridescent material in the ensemble since her favorite color was black. So they had managed to get the darker parts off of different outfits for her wardrobe.

It firstly consisted of a black underwear that wasn’t a g-string this time but was still close. It had a very comfortable fabric that was low cut and held along the waist by two strings, one going low below the hip and another going high over the hip then joining back together at the back. A similar glossy black sports bra to the one ZM-11833 had supported Anaya’s upper body.

Over top of all this was a shiny black, low cut, crop top singlet that exposed her abdomen and the flowing strings of her underthings. A polished black jacket with far too many belts and buckles on its sleeves shielded her well defined arms from the prying eyes of other fashion bots, ZM-11833 was allowed to look all they wanted to of course.

ZM-11833 reluctantly dressed Anaya's beautiful defined legs in a sleek pair of pants that was held up by a glossy iridescent silver belt. Her slim feet slipped into heavy stomping boots that were buckled tight. Good for breaking toes or noses if she could stretch that far.

After Anaya was forcibly/gently stripped of her prior outfit and guided into this new one, ZM-11833 noted that she hadn’t taken off her collar. Was it because she liked it and in turn ZM-11833? Or was it because ZM-11833 still had their key hidden away and they couldn’t get it off?

A mystery for the ages.

The steady beep that had been rising in tempo was finally stalled, resetting it back to the top. ZM-11833 did feel a little bad for the other unenlightened fashion bots around that hadn’t figured out that they could pick their own outfits, the beeping must be maddening. What would happen when it reached 0?

Another mystery for the ages.

“K-I-I-I-I-I-L-L-L-L” Yes, yes killer deals in store, let it go. ZM-11833 wasn’t going to pay anyway.

---

 

ZM-11833 realized that they didn’t know Anaya all that well, aside from; her name, age, date of birth, height, and weight. Eye, hair and skin colors. parents names, current residence, place of work, network passwords, social security number, sexuality and what she masturbates to. Favorite colors, music, foods and drinks. Hopes, fears, relationships, and DNA codes.

So practically nothing!

ZM-11833 didn’t know why they wanted to leave their home so much. Sure it beat dying but what was there to live for outside. The air was toxic still, same with the water and food. Trying to get into another archology would be impossible even without taking in the distance into account, each archology was spread out with vast wastelands between them.

It was why a nuclear option was used in this case. It wouldn’t make the atmosphere worse at this point and the fallout wouldn’t affect anyone else, at least any other archologies and that’s all that matters in the end to the corporations.

What made Anaya so determined? And why was she the only one awake? ZM-11833 eyed another pile of limbless sleeping humans. The depravity! Show some class! Going about a public space without limbs.

The shamelessness.

Each Archology housed roughly 2 million people give or take how many were sharing sleeping spaces. Yet the only functioning human around was Anaya? Suspicion was in ZM-11833 CPU now, the only hope to find out was to play it cool.

“Why are you the only customer awake?” So cool and casual, Anaya wouldn’t suspect a thing.

“What?” Anaya looked very confused at ZM-11833. Playing hardball huh?

ZM-11833 waved their perfect polymer hand towards the sleeping humans in an unspoken question.

“Uhh they’re not sleeping. They’re dead Zee”

ZM-11833 blinked at the piles. Can’t you just turn them on again? ZM-11833 didn’t understand what was going on, but what they did know was that Anaya was avoiding the question. You can’t evade detective ZM-11833 that easily.

“That’s besides the point. Why are you not ‘dead’?” ZM-11833 said with full finger quotation marks, just so Anaya knew they didn’t buy their deflection.

“Uhh, I hid?” Anaya’s eyes moved away from ZM-11833 sensors, her eyelids rapidly fluttered and ZM-11833 detected a rise in heart rate, all signs of lying. Which was rude, only ZM-11833 was allowed to lie!

“You are lying~” ZM-11833’s sing-song voice cut through Anaya’s foul lies. “Tell the truth or I’ll have to employ my advanced integration methods” Polymer fingers wiggled their way towards Anaya’s sides.

“Okay! Okay! Don’t tickle me! I’m a Net runner. I was hacking into the corporate mainframe when I saw the aliens invade. So I hid in the safest place I knew”

“The bathroom?”

“My secret store!” Anaya huffed at ZM-11833 teasing “Which very few people knew about! So how did you find it”

ZM-11833 smiled at Anaya’s glare. “Don’t you remember? You told me~”

“I did?” Anaya still looked unfairly suspicious of the romantic ZM-11833.

“Yup!~ You came into my store and we had a most wonderful date. I got to dress you up in a fantastic summer number and you ranted about corporate injustice, during which you mentioned the store and where it was~”

Anaya just looked cutely embarrassed now, red alighting on her cheeks. It was adorable. She had just been told that her super secret hideout wasn’t so secret. Well it was, ZM-11833 had encrypted the conversation and deleted the store's footage. It was after all a rare occasion that someone talked to ZM-11833 during a consultation.

In fact only Corpo Punk 244 ever did.

ZM-11833 continued smiling at the blushing human, even going so far as to run around them chasing fleeing eyes like a lioness on the hunt.

---

 

As they were halfway through floor 381, which they had approached with a more gentle and sedate pace than the frantic rush of before, a series of bright lights flooded the space and cast them into a blinding stage out in the open of the floor.

As they stood dazed, even ZM-11833’s optical sensors had been blinded, a stern male voice boomed over the crackling sound systems spread around the atrium.

“Stop right there! You are under arrest for multiple counts of theft of Tawaga corporation property.” The corpo-police had found them! Book it lads!

“One Anaya Amelix Afanasievna is hereby charged with stealing a corporation licensed fashion robot, multiple counts of shoplifting, several ongoing reports of property damage and one count of arson. Stay where you are and you will be detained”

Anaya’s furious face slowly twitched as the report was read out into the public venue, ZM-11833 was shocked at what their companion had gotten up to. You think you know someone.

“FUCK THAT!” Anaya fumed “They stole me! And did everything else! Charge them you dumbasses! And for that matter this place is going to be nuked to oblivion soon, so why are you still here!”

“34 hours and 48 minutes to be exact” ZM-11833 supplied helpfully from the side despite Anaya’s best glare. It was really intimidating but ZM-11833 was in customer service, they’d seen it all. No you cannot see the manager, they are busy.

“Be silent criminal scum! You will be detained and convicted in short order. Stay in place like a good Tawaga citizen!” The masculine voice ignored Anaya’s poorly thought out plea.

The wondrously wise ZM-11833 had recovered enough to look around for any approaching corpo-bots but couldn’t see any. What they did see however was that the various fashion bots that were lining the stores around them were staring their way, normally ZM-11833 didn’t mind their jealous gazes,on the other hand this time the red eyed looks they were giving them looked a lot more menacing.

It also occurred to ZM-11833 that if they hadn’t changed outfits earlier this would probably be the point when the beep reached 0.

Hmm but what could it mean?

“Targets acquired. Commencing kill protocols”

Another mystery for the ages it would seem.