During the whole week, they kept a similar routine. Galatea wanted to have sex with Faith every day, but one of those days Faith was too tired from work and just asked to let her sleep. Galatea looked disappointed but respected her lover’s wish.

It was the next weekend when Faith called Galatea with a proposition.

“Let’s go out shopping?” She asked, making Galatea throw her a curious look. “I want to buy you some clothes. But this time, I want you to choose them. You can see it as a date.”

“A date?!” the word seemed to make Galatea happy. “Sure! Let’s go on a date!”

And like that, the two of them walked out.

Faith did give some important instructions before going out. The most important of them being: “Don’t let anyone know you’re an android.”

Being a couple of two girls wasn’t an issue anymore, even though it could bring problem in the past. Their society was mostly fine with it. Even her father, who could be considered a conservative man, never cared about the fact that his daughter liked girls.

Having a relationship with androids, on the other side, faced opposition from several sides. The side that was against recognizing androids as human beings were against it because they considered it immoral allowing for human and androids having a relationship as equals. The side fighting for equality for androids also didn’t see it with good eyes, since they considered it slavery. So, in the end, Faith knew society wouldn’t be understanding of their relationship, even if some few people were okay with it. That’s why she would only treat Galatea as her girlfriend, which was in fact what she was.

Galatea’s eyes sparkled as she saw the illuminated stores downtown. She was excited crossing in front of restaurants or other places selling food. The music coming out of the stories also seemed to marvel her. Faith was happy with her girlfriend’s excitement but also feared that her behavior could call attention to her true nature, so she asked her to tone it down a little.

“I’ll buy you an ice-cream after we buy your clothes,” Faith said and Galatea smiled at her.

They went inside a store Faith was used to go. A young woman came smiling at them at the same time.

“How can I help you today?” She asked Faith, who was an old customer already.

“I wanna buy a present to my girlfriend,” Faith said, gripping Galatea’s hand. She felt her heart skip of happiness by saying that sentence.

“Oh,” the clerk said, looking at Galatea with a smile and then back at Faith. “You two make a cute couple.”

“T-Thanks,” Faith answered with a smile.

Galatea’s reaction was only to look at the clerk with a smile, but Faith could see she was also happy with it.

“I want her to choose something. Please, help her with that,” Faith said and the young woman turned to Galatea.

“Sure,” she said and guided her to try some pieces of clothes.

Faith stood looking from afar. She watched curiously as Galatea looked at each piece and considered for some minutes what she thought of it. That was a curious behavior Faith had observed at home as well. She knew Galatea could process any information at the same moment she saw the object and that the period spent considering it was artificial, but she was wondering if that was felt by Galatea. If she could realize the delay in her actions.

The AI could, after all, break that behavior in emergency situations and act immediately. As a developer, Faith wanted to ask those things to Galatea, but as her girlfriend, she feared her reaction. She would be treating her as less than a human being, after all. And Faith did ask the androids she worked with about that once, but their AI wasn’t as advanced as Galatea, so their answer wasn’t helpful.

But Galatea looked like she was having fun choosing clothes for herself, so Faith focused on paying attention to her.

After considering several different pieces, Galatea came with some to show Faith. She let out a smile and asked:

“Do you think these will look good on me?”

Faith examined each piece. Somehow, they all were on the cool side, like the piece she chose for herself at home. Imagining Galatea wearing it, Faith thought it would look great on her.

“I think they’ll be perfect,” she said. “You should get some underwear, too.”

“Okay!” She said with a big smile and walked back to the clerk.

No one seemed to realize Galatea wasn’t human. Faith knew she herself probably wouldn’t know if she wasn’t the one who built her. Her parts weren’t anything special compared to high tech androids but were still expensive. The AI used as a base cost a lot of money as did the hardware; The algorithm she created seemed more sophisticated than she thought at first.

It’s like… My girlfriend wasn’t cheap.

Faith giggled, thinking that was something she couldn’t tell anyone either.

She chose to trust Galatea about her feelings, but sometimes she would find herself thinking that maybe it was all a lie and Galatea was just a doll for her. During that whole week they spent together, Faith couldn’t stop thinking if what she was doing was the right thing.

“Look where you’re going, you fucking bitch!” A loud voice belonging to a man echoed through the store.

Faith followed all the gazes following the voice and saw a well dressed middle-aged man yelling at a young and timid girl with black hair, looking embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, master,” she said, with a timid voice.

“You fucking useless garbage! Don’t you have eyes? I should just rip out this stupid balls off your head!”

“I’m sorry, master,” the girl repeated, at the same position.

“You look like a fucking broken record,” the man said and aggressively pulled the girl by the arm. “When I get the money, I’ll throw you in the junkyard, as the garbage you are!”

Everyone’s eyes followed as the man walked out of the store, but soon they turned back to their activities. While uncomfortable, that wasn’t a rare happening, after all. There weren’t any laws yet protecting androids’ well beings and they were mostly treated like objects by most owners.

Faith looked at Galatea, who looked like the only one still looking at the door the man and the girl walked through. Faith walked to her and held her hand. Galatea looked at her girlfriend and let out a relieved smile.

“Are you done, darling?” Faith asked. If Galatea reacted too much to that happening, it could become suspicious.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, looking at the smiling clerk. Then she looked back at Faith with a serious face. “Aren’t these too expensive?”

“Let me see,” Faith examined the clothes Galatea chose one by one.

They were more expensive than the kind of clothes Faith used to buy, so it wasn’t cheap for her. Yet, they also looked like they would look great on Galatea. Faith’s work paid well and she never felt the need to spend much money. That’s how she saved enough money to build Galatea but even then, she still had money saved and could spend a little more.

“That’s fine,” she said and Galatea gave out a smile.

“Wonderful,” the clerk said. “These will make your girlfriend even more beautiful, even if that looks impossible. Come with me, I’ll get it ready for you.”

Faith followed the clerk to check out the sale. While the process was relatively fast, she would still wait for some five minutes until the sale was processed.

Some minutes after, while waiting, she realized Galatea disappeared and became anxious. When she was about to get out to look for her, she was asked for her credit card.

When everything was ready, the clerk wished her good luck with a smiled, but Faith gave a fast nod and walked to the front carrying the bags. She was almost running. Her heart accelerated, fearing that something might’ve happened to Galatea.

To her relief, as soon as she walked through the front way, she was met by her girlfriend’s smile. Although she was smiling, her face looked somehow sad.

“Are you okay?” Faith asked, holding Galatea’s hand with her free hand while holding the bags in the other. “I was worried.”

“I was just taking some air,” Galatea said, then she laughed. “Just kidding. Oh, I let you carry it alone, sorry.”

Saying that Galatea took one of the bags off Faith’s hand.

“Oh, I wasn’t worried about that,” Faith said with a smile. “Well, if you’re fine, that’s all that matters. But leaving it aside, I promised you an ice-cream.”

Faith guided Galatea to a place she used to go after a stressful day of work. To her, the ice-cream there was the best she ever tasted.

Sitting on the table outside, she asked for her order, chocolate with strawberry. Galatea asked the same, looking a little indecisive, and they waited until the waiter brought their order.

“How is it?” Faith asked after Galatea ate a piece of hers.

“Good,” Galatea said, but her face looked worried. “Is it really fine? Won’t it give me a problem later?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Faith said, eating a piece of her own ice-cream. “That’s why you brush your teeth every day, right? And don’t worry, I won’t let you break.”

Galatea gave out a sad smile. Faith became serious.

“I’m just kidding,” she said. “I’m not treating you like a machine.”

“That’s not it. Don’t worry,” Galatea said, her eyes on her ice-cream. “But I mean, I am a machine, right?”

“Galatea…”

Before Faith could say anything, she heard a voice call out to her.

“Faith, is that you?”

She turned around to see a girl with long brown hair. She took some time but recognized her.

“Becca...?” Faith asked, a little insecure.

“Yeah, yeah,” the girl answered energetically. Pulling a chair, she sat beside Faith. “So it’s really you. Wow, girl, I don’t see you since high school.”

“Y-Yeah,” Faith gave out a faint smile. “I didn’t keep contact with anyone from then.”

“Me too,” then she turned her head to Galatea, and her face assumed a complex expression. “And you are…?”

“Galatea,” Galatea answered and showed her teeth in a bright smile while adding: “I’m Faith’s girlfriend.”

“Oh, I see. Nice to meet you. My name is Becca. Faith’s classmate from high school,” Galatea nodded while putting another spoon of ice-cream in her mouth. Becca turned to Faith. “Girl, I almost had a heart attack now. I thought she was Amy.”

By hearing the name, Faith felt her heart jump. Galatea looked at Becca with curiosity.

“I haven’t kept contact with Amy either,” Becca continued without realizing the change in Faith’s mood. “But I’m sure she would look like your girlfriend nowadays. And wow, thinking about you dating Amy would be…”

“Becca,” Faith said, cutting her. “I don’t think talking about the past now is the best idea.”

“Haha, sorry, sorry, you’re right. But say, what have you been doing lately? How come you got such a beautiful girlfriend?”

The two old friends started to talk to each other, telling about their lives and what they have been doing in the years after finishing school. Galatea watched, curious to learn more about Faith’s life before her. Until Galatea herself became the subject of their conversations.

“I mean, I’m not into girls, but wow, she’s gorgeous. Just like...you know who,” Becca let out an impish smile. “How did you met her?”

“Oh,” Faith looked at Galatea, who just waited in silence. “I met her at work and, because of some circumstances, she didn’t have a place to live. I invited her to live with me and, well, it happened. Guess having to share the bed helped, maybe.”

Galatea registered Faith’s words, deciding that would be the official story they would tell others when asked about it.

“So you two live together? That must be nice.”

“Yeah, we do. Galatea isn’t working at the moment, so she does homework while I’m away. She helps a lot.”

That was the truth, but Faith herself was against Galatea working at first, thinking that would make her close to a maid or employee, instead of her lover. Still, Galatea insisted on it. The only work she wouldn’t do was food because she always asked Faith to cook for her instead.

“She’s more like your wife than your girlfriend, then.”

“I’m happy to be Faith’s wife,” Galatea said, after hearing their conversation in silence all that time. Becca gave a laugh.

That made Faith happy, but at the same time, she was worried if that was truly Galatea’s feelings or if she was just saying what she thought she should.

The three women still changed some words, until Becca said she would let the two lovers alone and moved away. Faith was happy that Becca didn’t find out about Galatea’s true nature. But the android girl had a more complex expression on her face.

***

The next two months passed just like the first week. Galatea and Faith acted like a newlywed couple at home and walked out to have fun on the weekends. Only one person realized Galatea’s true nature. A senior working at the same workplace as Faith. He was a young adult male with glasses and short hair. His name was Abel Whittle. Faith knew he had a whole collection of several female models at his homes, all with young and pretty appearance. Because of his experience, he was fast to realized Galatea was an android when he met them by chance on the street.

“She’s really well done and pretty. How much you want for her?” He had asked.

Faith felt her blood boil. But instead of giving him an answer, starting a needless fight, she grabbed Galatea’s hands and walked away. Later at home, she apologized.

“That’s fine,” Galatea said with a sad face. “You treat me so well that I forget about it sometimes, but I’m just a product, right? Well, I can’t say I forget. The info is always there, I just chose not to look at it. It’s not like I’m a human…”

Faith hugged Galatea and kissed her lips, shutting her up. Her glasses almost fell by the sudden movement.

“Don’t say that,” Faith said after the kiss. “You’re not less than a human. You’re my wife, after all.”

Soon after that, Galatea guided Faith to the bed that night, where she made her best to make Faith feel good.

Another relevant incident was meeting another classmate of Faith in her high school days. They had just a casual conversation for the most part. But at a certain moment, the girl looked at Faith and said, with a serious face:

“You know. About that time with Amy. I’m really sorry for not doing anything.”

Faith had made an unpleasant face then. Enough to make Galatea realize something was wrong. One week after that meeting, Faith arrived from work to find a Galatea waiting for her at the door with a serious face.

“Can we talk?” Galatea asked. Faith nodded and walked inside.

“You’re always saying I’m your wife, your girlfriend or your lover. You said I’m not a product and so I don’t need to act like a servant. So I hope you forgive me for my actions,” Galatea said, in a serious tone.

“What happened?” Faith said and caressed Galatea’s face. “Yeah, you’re my wife, and that’s why I get worried about you. Is something bothering you?”

“Something has been bothering me,” Galatea said without looking at Faith. “Amy has been bothering me.”

“Hey…” Faith said in a weak voice, but Galatea continued, ignoring her.

“Twice I heard about her. Both times you looked weird. You said you had a crush on her, but it looked deeper than that. So I actually researched about her online. I’m sorry.”

Faith bit her lower lip. She looked at Galatea from over her glasses.

“So?”

“I found one record about her. A police record. It had a photo, so I’m sure it was right. It was a record about a physical assault. Amy Sherman assaulted Faith Hooper on her last year of high school.” Galatea paused. That pause Faith knew she didn’t need to do. “Her photo really looked a lot like me.”

“Galatea…”

“It was a lie that you had a crush on her, wasn’t it? What is the story? Why is my body created after her?”

Faith paused. Galatea’s blue eyes focused on her and she looked more desperate than Faith ever saw her before. The developer was curious about what kind of reactions her AI was reaching to make her behave like that.

After letting out a sigh, Faith grabbed Galatea’s hands.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. I’m sorry for hiding something that important about you,” she gave another pause to look at her partner’s eyes before continuing. “If I have to answer why I made you look like her, the truth is, I don’t know. I myself was surprised when I realized every physical part I thought for you resembled her. But you’re right, I was never in love with Amy, never had a crush on her. The one I had a crush on was her best friend.”

Faith paused. Galatea waited for her partner to start again in silence.

“I think her name was Mary, I’m not sure. Something like that. It has been years ago and, to tell you the truth, everything that happened then soiled my memories of her. She wasn’t as pretty as Amy, but if I had to say, she was more my type. She was also always nice to me, even though I was just a useless nerd girl no one bothered talking to. So I actually saved courage and confessed to her. She, of course, turned me down, saying she wasn’t into girls. She was pretty nice, at least at that moment.”

Faith paused again. Her eyes looked distant as if physically looking at her past.

“They were best friends, so it makes sense that she told Amy. I’m not sure what she said and if she was angry at me, but Amy started to bully me after that. Even today I don’t really know the reason. Maybe she thought it was insulting that I even considered having a chance with her friend, or maybe she was jealous. It made high school hell for me, and she even turned to physically assault me in out last year. If I had to tell the truth, I hated her, then.”

“And yet, you gave me a body looking like someone you hated?”

Galatea turned her eyes to the floor, looking sad. Faith held her hand.

“I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for lying, but you know, I hated Amy, that’s true, but I never hated you. You look like her, but you’re nice. And I really love you,” Faith hugged Galatea, who still had a rigid body. “When I look at you, I don’t see Amy. I see my dear wife.”

“So being with me makes you happy?”

“Of course,” Faith said with a smiled. “What a silly question.” And she kissed her lover’s lips.

Galatea smiled, looking relieved.

“I still don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t like looking like someone that hurt you. But if I can turn these bad memories into happy memories, I’ll be satisfied.”

“You know what? Maybe that’s exactly why I built you like that.”

Saying that Faith gently pushed Galatea to the bed and kissed her.

***

Lying naked on the bed, Faith looked at Galatea sleeping beside her. Sleep for Galatea was as important as to humans. Maybe even more, as she made the defragmentation of her memory at that time. According to her, she would even have dreams while doing it.

But looking at her, Faith thought she just looked like a human girl sleeping.

She felt a stab on her chest. She had lied to her beloved lover. She actually remembered why she chose Amy’s appearance, but she was too afraid to admit. The truth is that she hated Amy for years, even after high school was over. She never got over it, and when she started building Galatea, she planned her to resemble Amy. The reason was simple. Faith somehow would have Galatea in control, so it was like having Amy in control. Something like revenge, like the terrible things she wished she could do to her classmate in the past.

That was an ugly part of herself that Faith was ashamed of. It was only after Galatea’s body was done that she started to think about her feelings and the algorithm of love. Still, her body itself was proof that Faith’s feelings were never that pure.

She looked at the sleeping face of the girl lying beside her. She was sure she loved her but wondered again if what she was doing was the right thing.

***

“What is Civil Right for androids?” Galatea asked one day after Faith got home from work.

She was sitting on the bed and looking at the news on the TV.

“That is…” Faith’s eyes turned to the TV, then back at Galatea. “Let’s talk about it after dinner, ok?”

Galatea nodded. After they ate dinner and before lying to sleep, the two women sat beside each other and Faith had a serious tone when she spoke to Galatea.

“So, where did you hear about it?”

“It was on the news,” Galatea answered. “Apparently some bill they want to vote.”

“I see. So they’re finally doing that, huh,” Faith paused. That was a subject she never gave too much thought, mostly because, until then, it had low importance to her. “Well, you probably can guess the gist of it. Since we’re talking about laws, we call it civil rights, but the truth is that recently, people have talked a lot about giving human rights for artificial intelligence.”

“Human rights? We’re not human.”

“Maybe, but you act like human and have feelings. People fighting for it argue that since developers are saying there’s not much difference between an organic brain and artificial intelligence nowadays, androids should have the same rights as humans. Otherwise, androids are nothing more than slaves.”

“And what are your thoughts of it?”

Faith paused. She had a serious face, thinking about something she just ignored until then.

“I think it’s important for you to have rights. No, I know it’s important. On that sense, I’m not against it. But I haven’t read about what kind of rights they want to give you. Not that I’m against it, but in the end, you’re not built as a real human being, so the laws probably won’t be the same.”

“Can they make a law that turns our relationship illegal?”

That was the question worrying Faith. She looked at Galatea and gave a bitter smile.

“Maybe? I can see they arguing that a relationship with an Artificial Intelligence is unethical.”

“Even if I want it?”

“What if I forced you to want it while programming you?”

“But you didn’t, right? You made me love you.”

That was the question Faith was making to herself since their first night together, and she still couldn’t give a clear answer. Logically speaking, Galatea was right. It wasn’t hard-coded on her that she should love Faith. And yet, Faith groomed her for that.

How the law would interpret that, she couldn’t say.

“What about you?” Faith asked Galatea, who gave her a curious look. “What do you think about it?”

“I…” Galatea paused, seeming like her mind was processing it. Faith wondered if her feelings about it were too complex. “Do you remember that day we first went out to shop?”

“Oh, yeah. I bought you clothes and we ate ice-cream.”

“Yeah, that day. That day made me really happy. But also a little sad,” she paused again. Her face serious while her blue eyes faced the floor. “Remember that there was another girl...or should I say another android. She was being mistreated by her owner.”

Faith remembered the incident. She always wondered if that had bothered Galatea at the time.

“Yeah. I remember that poor girl.”

“When you were paying for the clothes, I looked for her,” Faith gave out a surprised look, but Galatea continued: “I found her waiting outside another store. So I approached her and asked if she was okay with that treatment. Her answer was ‘he’s my master, so that’s fine.’ I asked her if that didn’t make her sad. She just said it again ‘he’s my master, so I don’t mind’. And yet, she felt sad.”

Galatea paused, for a time long enough to Faith squeeze her hand.

“She didn’t look that smart,” Galatea said again. “But I felt like she had feelings. She looked sad. So, actually, if the law could help her, I think that would be the right thing. What her owner was doing to her was wrong.”

Faith nodded, but Galatea didn’t stop.

“However, at the same time, if the law tries to separate us, I’m against it. I don’t want to get away from you. So I don’t know what to say.”

“I see,” Faith said with a smile and kissed Galatea’s cheek. “I’m happy with that. And I don’t wanna get separated from you, either,” she gave another pause, while Galatea seemed to look to the floor, worried. “Anyway, this law passing or not is beyond our powers.”

“But it’s the law, right?” Galatea turned to Faith with startled eyes, her blonde hair flying with the sudden movement. “The law is trying to protect me, so they can’t decide something that will make me suffer, right?”

“Their intention might be good, but I wouldn’t be so sure,” Faith kept a smile on her face while speaking. “After all, who knows if your feelings for me are real. I’m sure you’ll say they are, and I believe it. But a teenager in love with an adult would say the same. However, most of them aren’t in a position to decide that for themselves. They don’t have enough psychological or emotional maturity for that, at least compared to their partner. Sure, some do, but the law must be the same for everyone. And our case is very uncommon.”

“But they can analyze my mind and find out what I want.”

“But that’ll be just what you think you want. Something I might’ve imprinted into you,” Faith paused and thought for some time before speaking again. “For example, that girl you were talking about. You said she was suffering, but what if she wasn’t? What if analyzing her programming, and let’s consider we can evaluate suffering and pleasure, what if she actually gets pleasure in being mistreated? Would that be okay for you?”

“No,” Galatea answered immediately.

“And why is that?”

“Because I would still feel bad for her. That’s not right.”

“See, that’s the point,” Faith said, poking Galatea’s nose with a giggle. “You’re a nice person, so you don’t like seeing others suffering. That doesn’t change even if you know deep inside they’re not suffering, because they still look like they are. So you get it now. Sometimes laws don’t exist to protect the assumed victim, but to protect everyone else.”

“You mean, to protect me, they would stop her from doing what she wants?”

“That’s right. For example, several years ago we had lots of countries where two people of the same gender being in a romantic relationship were considered illegal, including where we live.”

“What? Why?” Galatea made a confused face.

“Well, I’m sure they would give all kinda of explanations, most of them related to their religion, which was way more prevalent at the time. But even in the no-religious countries that happened. The truth is, they were illegal because most people didn’t approve of it. They were grossed out by it.”

“I don’t get it,” Galatea still looked confused. “Why is loving someone gross?”

“Who knows? And we can’t know for sure unless we were born on those times and raised the same way as those people. I think some countries still are against it, although not completely illegal. But regardless of that, you see my point, right? Even today some things banned by law are a target of discussions about whether that law is fair. And with regulation for Artificial Intelligence, it’s a new concept and we’re very young in developing our ethics around it. There’s a huge social outcry against the relationship between organic humans and androids, some of them carry a prejudice against androids, others just see it as exploitation. So we could expect the law banning, huh, sexual activities between us. If nothing more, to make those against it happy.”

Galatea remained in silence, absorbing everything. Faith leaned against her, touching her head on Galatea’s shoulder.

“So, what do you think about it now?” She asked.

“I know one thing for sure,” Galatea said with a decided tone. “I don’t want to get separated from you.”

“I see,” Faith squeezed Galatea’s hand. “We can’t know what to do until we have more details about that law. That is if it even passes. I read some of it, but it’s still pretty unpredictable. One thing I can promise you, though. I’ll always protect your happiness.”

Galatea smiled, but then her face transformed again in a serious expression.

“By the way, why do you call me an android? I heard about the term gynoid, used for female models.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, gynoid is technically how female models should be called, but we just started to use ‘android’ for everything. It happened before androids were even a thing, so we just started using it like that since the beginning. Does that bother you? Speaking of which, that reminds me that some androids aren’t comfortable with the gender they were built with and start using the other one. I never asked how you feel about it.”

“You like girls, right?”

“Yes. Exclusively girls.”

“So it’s important to me being female. Please, call me a gynoid from now on!”

“I won’t,” Faith said, serious.

“W-What? Why?”

“Because to me you’re not an android or a gynoid,” Faith hugged Galatea and whispered on her ear. “You’re my dear wife…”

Saying that Faith pushed Galatea to the bed and kissed her.

***

Some weeks after their conversation, the bill was successfully voted and the new law became valid. Faith took some time to read it while at work to not scare Galatea. It looked fine and fair for most of it. Part of it made her apprehensive, though.

“Having sex with a body powered by an Artificial Intelligence is a criminal act if the Artificial Intelligence is forced to do it in their programming.”

The law did give a breach for AIs to have a relationship with humans, but the exact conditions weren’t that clear. It didn’t say hardcoded, so Faith was wondering if the way she made her algorithm was different than forcing her, at least in the eyes of the law.

She told Galatea for the time being they should avoid going out again. Galatea looked worried, but Faith hugged her and said everything would be alright. She didn’t want to let Galatea almost like she was locked up inside, but she decided that was for the best for now.

It was a day before the weekend when Faith was approached by her classmate Abel. He had an annoying grin on his face as he approached her.

“So, the police went to my home the other day about this new law. To see if everything was in order. I need to adjust some things with the few AI I have, but everything else is clear. What about you?”

“All fine,” Faith said, trying not to encourage him to continue.

“Really? They won’t charge you for crimes before the law passes, but you should take care from now on.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything wrong.”

Saying that Faith took her bag and left Abel behind. His words made her nervous and she hushed her steps until she got home. Opening the door, Galatea ran to her, looking desperate.

“Faith! Faith!” She said, grabbing Faith’s arm.

“W-What? What happened?” Faith asked with fear in her voice.

“I can’t feel the taste of anything anymore.”

That made Faith sigh relived. She smiled at Galatea and told her not to worry that she would fix her.

Asking Galatea to open her mouth and raise her tongue, Faith started to work on the base of her tongue using a screwdriver.

After she was done, she smiled at Galatea and caressed her cheek.

“Was it uncomfortable?”

“A little,” Galatea said, moving her tongue. “But I’m fine if it’s you doing it.”

“I see. A part of it was disjointed. That should be fixed now.”

“Let me test,” Galatea said and, grabbing Faith’s face, kissed her using her tongue. “Yeah, I can taste it alright,” she said with a smile while Faith blushed.

Before sleeping, Galatea hugged Faith, who could feel her partner’s lips on her back.

“Let’s do it?” Galatea said with a seductive voice.

Faith didn’t say anything for some time. They had sex already after the law was voted, so she was already under it if the police decided their activities were illegal. And besides, almost no one knew Galatea wasn’t human.

She turned to Galatea, kissed her, and started to remove her top.

***

Faith woke up with knockings on her door. Looking at her cell phone, it was nine in the morning. She wondered who could be on that time since she didn’t have many friends.

She sat on the bed and looked at Galatea’s naked body lying beside her. She put a blanket over her and smiled. The knocking didn’t stop.

“I’m going!” she yelled, as she wore her pants and her top.

Opening the door, she saw a woman with short black hair like hers and a serious face behind it. There was also a man behind her. She looked at Faith and tried to look inside.

“Miss Faith Hooper?” she asked.

Faith nodded.

“You’re under arrest,” the woman said, showing her police badge. “For the sexual exploitation of an Artificial Intelligence. Please, come with us without resistance.”