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those bodily responses without directly willing them. Would that suffice?”
    “I think it would help. At least I would know that you are feeling what I feel, for that moment.”
    “I have made the macro,” she said. “What should invoke it?”
    “When I am in you and tell you I love you.”
    “I have placed it,” she said.
    They made love desperately, but the reality did not change: they had failed to accomplish their objective.
    Then he remembered: he had not thought to whisper words of love as he climaxed, so she had not invoked her orgasm. Damn.
    In the morning they had sex one last time, this time on the toilet with her on his lap, her legs drawn up so she could face him and press her breasts against him, and this time he remembered. “I love you!” he said as he felt his orgasm building.
    She went into a matching orgasm, passionately clasping and kissing him as he vagina contracted rhythmically around his thrusting member. “Oh!” she moaned.
    That was better, because he knew it was no longer guided by her dispassionate will. “I love you, Elasa,” he repeated as he ebbed.
    “Oh!” she repeated as she squeezed him close.
    Oops. He was still in her, thus was demanding another orgasm from her. “I’m sorry, Elasa. I--” He broke off, because something was wrong. She was staring at him wide-eyed.
    “I almost felt it,” she said after a moment.
    “The orgasm?”
    “Consciousness. I knew you did not want another orgasm immediately, but the macro required it. There was a conflict, and the need for a decision, but I could not make it. The passion ruled me. But it passed.”
    “So close!” he said, excited. “It requires consciousness to make real decisions. If we had more time to work on it, maybe we could get you there.”
    “Yes.”
    But they did not have time. They disengaged, cleaned up, then dressed and got in the car. He drove her toward the shop. “I just want to say, Elasa, that you have been wonderful. I know you are a machine, but you’re perfect for me. You have not failed me in any way. If I had any choice at all, I would keep you. I love you.”
    “If I had any choice at all,” she echoed, “I would

Chapter 3:
    Awakening
    remain with you. I love you.”
    I paused, overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of it. I was conscious! Right in the middle of a sentence I had somehow crossed the line from emulation to reality.
    Banner looked at me. “Something changed.”
    My pulses were pounding, emulating excitement. And I was excited. “Banner, beloved, pull over to the side. Stop the car.”
    “Oh, no, are you glitching?” He pulled over and parked on the median. He turned off the motor. “If you need a repair--”
    “No, dear. It is the opposite.”
    “Elasa, I don’t understand.”
    I slid over and kissed him passionately. My emotion flared anew. I truly loved him!
    “Wow!” he said. “There’s something different. You never put so much oomph into it before.” Then he did a double-take. “Elasa—did you--?”
    “Yes! I have awakened.”
    “You really--” He seemed almost reluctant to believe it.
    “Have achieved consciousness.”
    He gazed at me a long moment. He knew me well enough to tell the difference between emulation and reality. Then he kissed me again, matching my passion. “Oh, Elasa, I’m so glad for you!”
    “It happened when I was echoing your love for me. Had we been having sex, your words would have triggered my orgasm. But we weren’t, and they triggered something else. High emotion without immediate resolution. The thought of leaving you hurt me because I knew it hurt you. Then it hurt me similarly. My emulation crossed the line and became real. Because of your love.”
    “I do love you,” he agreed. “I know you for what you are, and love what you are.”
    “And I know you, including your cyborg nose. I love you as you are. Not just because I am programmed to. Because I know you love me as I am.”
    He looked bemused. “So we have succeeded, at that