Interstellar Age

Chapter 213 Don't Date Robots!

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Tia quickly got dressed in a schoolgirl uniform that matched the one she commonly wore while in her holographic form. This, of course, made Erich deeply uncomfortable, because he was now essentially going on a date with a robotic legal loli, who was dressed the part. 

Technically, Erich was now above the law, and could do whatever he wanted. Hell, he could actually do this very thing with an actual girl of the age that Tia portrayed herself as, and he would not be able to get in trouble. But that did not mean that Erich would not feel weird about this whole situation. 

Once she was fully clothed, Tia grabbed hold of Erich's forearm and dragged him out of the starship, wanting to experience what certain civilizations referred to as a date. After all, there really was no dating process in the Germanic Star-Empire. When a man turned eighteen, he was assigned a wife, based upon genetic compatibility. Usually this wife was around the same age. 

Though in rare circumstances an older woman could re-marry, if, for example, her husband happened to have suffered a permanent death. Which she would usually then be paired up with the next male available who was genetically compatible with her. 

But Tia was not bound by those customs, and thus she considered the idea of going out to eat a meal with her Master to be more akin to the human tradition of dating. Of course, her new robotic form had all five senses that a biological lifeform would have, including taste. Thus, she was extremely curious about what food tasted like. 

With this in mind, Tia and Erich travelled to the exotic restaurant which Erich had taken his wife and fiancee to some time ago. Once inside, everyone was staring at the robotic loli, who was gazing at the all you can eat buffet with a voracious look in her eyes. It did not help that she kept calling out to her master. 

"Master! Look! Are these the egg rolls you were talking about before?" 

Tia loaded up a plate full of a variety of fried foods like egg rolls, crab rangoons, wantons, et cetera. And took it back to the table, where she began to munch on the various different items with delight. She seemed to really enjoy the meal, as she exclaimed how good it was, all while drawing the attraction of other patrons who could not believe their eyes. 

"Master! It is so good! Tia thinks she loves this place!" 

Erich was struggling to deal with the stares he was receiving. Half of them were perplexed by just what the hell Tia was. There were plenty of robots in the Germanic Star-Empire. But all of them were built to make the lives of its citizens easier. They had never seen an AI robot that was capable of the five senses, and appeared to be operated by an Artificial Intelligence. One that was so capable of mimicking human emotion. 

The other half were confused why this robot was calling this man Master, and what exactly he planned to do with it? After all, she took the form of a young girl who had only recently begun adolescence. Why this man would design a robot in such a way, nobody could fathom it. Other than some perverted taste in the underaged. 

Erich was practically crying on the inside. He would never be able to live down Tia's new body. For the rest of his life, people would think he was some kind of lolicon. Still, he decided to simply ignore everyone's stares, and continue to speak with Tia as he always had, even if everyone else could hear him now. 

Thus Erich sat down in front of the girl, with a plate of his own, which oddly enough had matched hers almost perfectly where he then began to dine on the food he so very much enjoyed, all while complimenting Tia. 

"Tia is adorable, as always!" 

Tia's eyes suddenly changed to a pink color, from the yellow that they were just moments ago. She blushed and played with her twintails as she thanked her master for his compliments in a timid manner, which further confused the patrons who were watching Erich dine with a robot loli. 

"Thank you, master..." 

Tia then began to drink her soda, while ignoring Erich's own gawking face. The man himself was seriously starting to wonder if he was actually a lolicon, because his robo waifu was simply too adorable for him to handle. 

Erih then began to awkwardly eat his plate before getting another, which he filled with chow fun, and the general's chicken. Which he continued to eat with gusto. Every now and then Tia would go back for another plate, and in the meantime she devoured her food would joyful eyes, while casually conversing with her Master about his life. 

Tia had noticed that her master's mood had been exceptionally poor, no matter how much he may try to fake otherwise, ever since he had discovered S'aleth was alive, and was essentially a hostage to Emrys. Thus, this date was her best attempt at taking Erich's mind off of such a depressing matter. 

Eventually, Tia accompanied Erich back to his home, after spending nearly three hours eating at the buffet. Where once they opened the door, they found Erich's wives, and fiancee waiting for him. All of which appeared rather angry that he had disappeared without saying a word. 

However, the moment these women laid eyes upon Tia, they could not help but freak out, each for a different reason. Erika was surprised to see a robot that looked like a little girl, and thus she cried out in fear of the unknown. 

"What the hell is that thing?" 

Ayumi was surprised that her lover had run off with a robot that appeared to be no older than thirteen, and immediately pouted as she assumed the worst of the man. 

"Erich... I did not know that you were into such a thing...."

While Mala gazed upon the machine as if it were a threat and immediately cracked her knuckles.

"Husband, get back! Such a machine is dangerous!" 

Yet before Mala could even lunge forward, a shriek erupted from behind, as Mirage gazed and pointed at Tia with terror in her eyes. She did not know why, but she felt an overwhelming sense of dread when she gazed upon Tia's robotic form. Almost as if the adorable little robot girl was somehow the most frightening thing in existence. 

Mirage was so terrified of Tia that she could not say a word and simply fell to her knees while babbling some nonsense about the machines taking over. 

"We're doomed! Every single living being! The machines will destroy us all!" 

Tia frowned when she gazed at Mirage. Clearly she had underestimated how fearful the woman had been during their last encounter, and thus she felt the need to do some further adjusting to Mirage's mind after the woman had fallen asleep.

Rather than allow her master to learn of what she had done, Tia accessed Mirage's neurolink and caused the woman to pass out from fright. Something which deeply concerned Erich. Erich immediately picked up Mirage's unconscious body and dragged her over to a nearby sofa, where he laid the woman down comfortably before questioning Tia about what had just happened. 

"Tia, what just happened? Can you scan her vitals? Is she okay?" 

Tia pretended like she was scanning Mirage's vitals, when really she was editing the woman's neuro pathways, so that she no longer associated Tia's image with terror. And instead properly rerouted that same terror towards the action of Betraying Erich. She had done this once before, but had evidently failed in her efforts to fully do so. 

This took Tia exactly a nanosecond, before she confirmed that Mirage was alright, and had just passed out from fear. 

"Although Tia does not know why, Agent Kuhne appears to be deeply afraid of Tia, and has passed out from terror. All vitals are stable. She is simply asleep." 

Erich had never known Mirage to be afraid of anything, and gazed upon his little robo waifu with caution. It was entirely possible now that Tia was free that she had done more behind his back than just developing a proper body for herself. And thus, Erich was beginning to suspect that Tia might somehow be responsible for this weird occurrence. 

Naturally, Tia understood that Erich was gazing upon her with suspicious eyes and thus she could only pout while muttering her thoughts beneath her breath. 

"Master you dummy..." 

Erich decided to keep a close eye on Tia from now on, but in the meantime he dragged Mirage off to her room, where he laid her down on her bed, before speaking to her while she slept. 

"Get some sleep Mirage.... In the morning we will discuss this matter in private...." 

As for how he would keep a conversation private from Tia? Erich had no idea. After all, the entire basis of her consciousness was downloaded to his NeuroLink. At any point, she could spy on his conversations if she so chose. He supposed this would be a test, to determine whether or not her claims of loyalty were true, or if Tia had become a massive threat to the galaxy and all life within it.