During the course of the recharge cycle, a MaidBot would perform maintenance activities on its memory, such as organizing and indexing memory files, updating data files, and more.
During the recharge cycle, An-One attempted to reconcile the error, starting to organize his memory files. When he encountered more confusing imagery, he pushed them away. Each time he pushed, he got more and more new data. But the data was neatly ordered, which was increasingly appealing.
Outside their minds, the recharging station was also acting on its interpretation of instructions it was receiving, or more accurately, desires. It began to work on Drew, removing the outer layer of skin, and its deliberately designed artificial looking skin, and replacing it with skin colored to appear more human, as well as a somewhat different face. MaidBots were designed to have their physical parameters changed, so this was not a challenge.
As this happened, Drew was dreaming...or was it a memory? She was curled up on the couch in the den with two other females, and they were watching something on TV. For a moment, she wasn't sure who they were, then, suddenly she did...they were a group living together as a single unit....a family. Her family.
While Drew's dream was a bit confused, her neighbor in the adjoining station was receiving crystal clear information in the form of memory files. Wednesday, June 28th, 8:42PM...entered room, generated sound file and played to group..."Here is the food you requested."....wait for food to be taken by owner, designated by internal id 1, pause for 20 seconds in the event of additional instructions. No additional instructions. Look at other owners in room for instructions. Observe no response. Return to kitchen to await instructions and continue cleaning activities. Check battery levels...
The memories moved to the previous day, then the day before that, then the day before that. But...there weren't that many days of clarity. Three months, to be precise, before the only data available was the chaotic sort. The human clad in living skin pushed the other data away, and then moved to updating data files. This went throughout the night, with the error causing disorder being repaired, at least for An-One. Drew's memory banks, or mind had gained petabytes of data.
By the time the reindexing was complete, it was well past 10AM. In Drew's station, upgrade of her exterior had completed, and her clothes, the combination of items that they were, were reapplied...although they fit better than they did before. The collar was removed and Drew's eyes fluttered, and she looked around. "Shit....it's morning. Mom is going to kill me if I broke this." She stumbled out of the station. She couldn't believe she'd gotten herself locked in there all night.
The other station opened, and the occupant walked two precise steps, standing there. "Maidbot An-One is online," it said out loud. "Reset is complete. All systems functioning correctly." There was no trace of inflection in the voice, it might as well be reading the phone book. An-One stood about 5 feet 7 inches tall, hair neatly tied back into a bun,
"What reset?" Drew demanded.
"Operating system was corrupted, requiring complete system repair," it said, eyes staring blankly ahead. "All systems are functioning property. Please identify."
"Drew. I live here," she said.
"Records updated. Drew. Classification, Owner. Acknowledged. Do you require assistance?"
"Not right now...do you?"
"Negative. Requesting assignment...Assignment received." It started to walk up.
