The Perfect Mate

“I’m afraid. I’ve never...I’ve never had fusion with a machine before. I know some of my friends have, but I’m...I’m scared.”

“You have nothing to fear my love. Nothing at all. I’m programmed to be whatever you desire.  I can be rough, or I can be tender. I can be romantic or I can be a simple means to an end. No matter how you like it, I will comply. I’m your Perfect Mate.”

Reyna had purchased her Perfect Mate just a few weeks ago and already she was in love with him. She had named him Jax. Was it possible to fall in love with a machine? A robot? She didn’t know nor did she care. All she knew that Jax was far better a man (if you could call a robot that) than her previous significant other.

Jax took out the trash, did all the household chores, and was totally attentive to her every need. And most important of all, he didn’t beat her. She had been down that road more than once. Jax, for all intent and purposes, was the perfect mate.

She eyed her new ’boyfriend’ and slid down her underwear. She walked slowly over to the bed and sat down on the edge. “Come to me.”

The next thirty minutes she spent in pure, unadulterated bliss. She had never felt so...so fulfilled.

“Jax, can we do it again?”

“Of course my dear. Of course. Nothing would please me more.”

“What a day! What a suck-ass kind of day! I can’t believe that bastard would go over my head like that,” Arien said.  “What the hell? If I could...if I could get away with it I’d send them all into oblivion. Maybe send them to G-76.”

“Bad day, baby?” Rini asked.

“Ha, slightly. Like I’ve worked at that rat hole of a company for ten years now and I just got passed over for head of the development department. Sonsofbitches!”

“Can I get you a drink? Maybe after a drink or two we can go upstairs and I can help you unwind. Then I’ll be more than happy to cook anything you want for dinner. Run you a hot bath, give you a very thorough washing and perhaps we can...”

“Rini, I’m so glad I bought you. You are the perfect woman. I’m so fuckin’ glad that I left my wife and all those little ingrates that we called our kids. I was so miserable. My God, how you have changed my life,” said Arien as he unloosened his tie.

Rini took his jacket off and began to rub his shoulders. “Do you like that, baby? Want me to go run you a hot, mineral bath?”

“Yeah, I’d like that very much. Rini, you are truly and irrevocably the perfect mate.”

The concept behind the Perfect Mate was very simple, replace the flawed human companion. For eons man and woman alike have searched, to no avail, for that perfect someone. After years of experiments, and countless hours of testing, the Perfect Mate, once a dream, was an obtainable reality.

The Perfect Mates were tailor made to suit any type of personality imaginable. They were built to act as if their mate were the only one in the world.  They did whatever was asked of them without question or rancor. And they were glad to do it. Their sole purpose was to fulfill every possible need of their mate. They did just that.

Little by little, the Perfect Mates integrated their way into one out of every ten households. People started preferring them to actual human relationships. There were fewer and fewer marriages, and the online dating sites all went under. The thought was why waste time on something flawed when you can get perfection.

There were, however,  the reluctant few who thought of the Perfect Mate as more of an abomination rather than a godsend. Sadly, those brave few reversed their thinking as the mania of the Perfect Mate spread like wildfire. The pursuit of tangible perfection blurred and consumed their minds.

The birth of babies slowed to a mere crawl. Before the Perfect Mates came along, there were roughly 125 million births every year. After the Perfect Mates, the rate was cut in half. And that rate will decrease by a quarter every year. Soon, the human race will be no more. All for the pursuit of perfection.