Venn-ything Goes #02

a

Trust Machines story

by

clancy688

The youtube video started rolling with the view of a nondescript plastic crate. 

"Hey, folks!" a cheerful voice said from the off. "Here's Steve again and it has been nearly eight hours since Amanda and Johnny have turned into earthworms. They've spent most of the time boring through the earth in this crate where I stored them, just like normal earthworms do, and I have barely seen them. Well, that is until an hour ago when they suddenly showed unexpected 'activity'." 

Steve snickered and grabbed the crate's lid. "So let's take a look what Johnny and Amanda are up to!" With verve, he removed it and exposed the two earthworms Johnny and Amanda had been transformed into. But instead of digging themselves through the wet soil, both their wriggling shapes were at the surface, tightly pressed against each other.

Again, Steve snickered and brought the camera closer so that one could see that both worms had connected their bodies. "Well, well..." Steve mused. "I'm wondering what these two are doing right now. I'm sure your guess is a good as mine. Although-" he brought his wristwatch into view, "-why don't we ask Amanda? She should be back in three... two... one..." 

Suddenly, there was only one worm left, and the camera swerved up to show a startled Amanda. Surprised, the girl looked around and then moved her fingers. "Wait... what? I am human again...?" she asked and looked up at Steve's snickering. 

"Welcome back, Amanda." he said with relish, "I hope the transformation back hasn't interrupted you at doing wormy things... or has it?" 

Amanda's face flushed and her cheeks took a shade of deep red. "Um... yeah... I mean, no... I really didn't think that was going to be, but... wow. Worms are sure crazy..." While the girl stammered, her gaze fell upon the crate where now only one earthworm was left - Johnny. 

"Oh, my!" she exclaimed and put her hand in front of her mouth, kneeling down and mustering her boyfriend's pinkish shape with wonder. The worm was obviously confused by the sudden disappearance of its partner and writhed aimlessly over the dirt, apparently intent on finding it again. "That's how I looked?" Amanda asked while taking in her boyfriend's shape. 

"Basically." Steve acknowledged. "Although you've made a much more lovely worm than your boyfriend here... now you can tell our watchers, how's it been? I guess Johnny will take a few more minutes until he'll turn back, so let's use the time!" 

Amanda shot him a withering glance and, after a final look at Johnny the earthworm, stood up and cleared her throat. 

"Um, right..." she murmured. "Well... being a worm... it was totally strange, really. Suddenly I was blind and deaf and didn't have any arms or legs anymore. Hell, I didn't even had a head! I was practically only a body with a mouth." 

The girl shook her head in obvious amazement. "At first I was scared. Well, not me, but my worm instincts. Apparently, the Venn Machine not only gave me a worm's body, but also its instincts. I felt so... exposed. I just wanted to bury myself in the earth, but the bottom was impenetrable. So I just started wriggling forward. Somehow I knew how to move as a worm..." 

"I guess when Johnny took you in his hands he startled you?" Steve inquired and Amanda snorted. 

"Startled? He gave me the shock of my life! My worm instincts were in full panic mode and I was basically expecting to be eaten by whatever had caught me. It took some time for me to battle my instincts down and figure out what really must have happened..." she shot a questioning glance to Steve. "When he took me up I was probably wriggling madly, right?" 

"Yeah." Steve confirmed. "But after some time, you seemed to calm down and then even started exploring his arm." he laughed softly. "The earthworm shoving itself over his arm really looked cool." 

Amanda blushed a bit. "Oh, really?" she asked. "Well, by then I had pretty much grasped the situation and since I was a worm and practically couldn't do anything else besides crawling around-" she shrugged, "-I figured that I could try worming over his arm a bit. It actually felt pretty cool, moving over his warm flesh..." 

"Better than through cold, wet earth?" Steve asked back but Amanda shook her head. 

"No, you can't compare that." the girl explained. "Crawling over his arm felt like fun, although I couldn't hear or see. But digging through the earth... well, that's what earthworms do and I was an earthworm. It just felt normal... natural." 

"Could you elaborate how you moved through the earth? I'm sure our watchers would like to know." 

Amanda grimaced. "Urgh... when I think about it as a human now it's pretty disgusting, but as an earthworm it was straightforward - I simply ate myself through the earth. I ingested the earth in front of me with my mouth, it moved through my body and came out of my back again. And while I was doing this, I shoved myself forward. It wasn't boring, but it wasn't exciting either. Well, until I met another earthworm... Johnny, I guess." 

She looked into the crate again and as if on cue, the worm disappeared and instead, Johnny stood next to Amanda. His reaction was quite similar to Amanda's, he looked around and moved his fingers in wonder. 

"Ah, that's why you were suddenly gone!" he exclaimed beaming as he saw his girlfriend. "You transformed back!" Then he realized that the camera was rolling and furrowed his brows. "What's that, you're already explaining how it was being an earthworm?" 

Amanda nodded. "Yeah, in fact, I just arrived at the point where I met you-" 

"Ah, perfect." Johnny interrupted her, grinning into the camera. "Then everything's been said. Being an earthworm feels strange but cool, you should try it out as well. As for what happened when Amanda and me met as earthworms-" he twinkled, "-that's private. Thanks for watching, you'll see us again tomorrow in the mall. And now..." 

Amanda squealed surprised as Johnny scooped her up in his arms. "Wanna proceed where we have been interrupted, babe?" he asked excited. His girlfriend looked embarrassed at first, but there was also lust behind her eyes and as she didn't protest, Johnny strode off with his catch. 

"Look at that..." mused Steve amused, "Back a human for less than a minute and already worming himself into a girl's pants... what a rascal."



The image faded into black and was replaced by Amanda and Johnny again, standing in front of the by now familiar Venn Machine. "Hi folks, welcome to Venn-ything Goes #03. Yeah, you're not having hearing problems, Johnny and me decided to change our show's name. We even changed our previous two podcasts' titles.Venn-Ass apparently misled people to think that we were doing indecent things in our podcast, therefore-" 

"Of course we'd never do something like copulating in front of the camera!" Johnny chimed in with elan, "At least not as hu-" 

An elbow thrust by Amanda shut him off, although this didn't keep Steve from laughing that violently that his camera was shaking madly. The girl pierced him with angry, dagger-like stares until he had himself firmly under control again. Then she took a deep breath and continued. 

"After the earthworm transformation, Johnny and me have decided to go with something less extreme for our next change. Being earthworms wasn't that bad, but we want some diversity, after all." she smiled at Johnny who was still grimacing and massaging the side where Amanda's elbow had impacted. 

"Right." Johnny huffed into the camera. "Today's winner are users Rasyt and LupinKurt. Both proposed that we change into robots which then have to obey human commands. Actually, we're not that sure if this transformation is possible, either. So far, no Venn change seemed to have transformed a human into a mindless slave. But we'll try. At least the robot part of the transformation should be doable." 

At this point, Amanda joined in again. "Right, but we're modifying his original suggestion. He wanted us both to change into robots. We would have done this, but apparently, Steve didn't want to have to look over two robots." 

An annoyed snort was heard from the off. "As if!" Steve said. "I don't want to be responsible for two robots. What if servant-thing works and I give you a badly formulated command, like 'go paint the fence'? And you start painting every fence in the vicinity, the neighbor's fence as well? No, I'm not gonna take care of you." 

"Spoilsport." Johnny grinned. "And that's why we thought that only one of us, either Amanda or me, becomes a robot and will serve the other for the following eight hours. As for who it will be... we'll toss a coin." The boy took out a quarter and then looked at his girlfriend. "I let you choose." 

"I take heads!" 

"Heads then..." Johnny murmured and flipped the coin, catching it in midflight again and then putting it on his wrist. Eagerly, Amanda moved forward, and Steve zoomed closer as well. Close enough to see Amanda's disappointment as Johnny took his hand away and revealed tails. 

"Damn." Amanda pouted. "I was looking forward to having a servant for eight hours. Now I have to do the serving." 

Johnny grinned widely. "I'm sure you'll be a perfect robotic servant."

Amanda eyed her boyfriend warily, then looked at Steve. "Steve, do me a favor and pay attention. Don't let him make me doing crazy things when I'm a robot." 

Her boyfriend's face showed pure innocence. "I'm shocked, shocked that you're accusing me of such indecency!" he protested with the voice of someone who'd just received a mortal insult. 

To that, Amanda could only laugh. "Yeah, right. You would never think of indecent things." she twinkled and then stepped into the Venn Machine. "Make me into your robotic servant then!"

She didn't have to ask twice and the 'doors' disappeared after Johnny had entered his side of the Venn Machine. This time, Steve had to fast forward more than one minute. In fact, it took nearly three minutes until the doors reappeared again and Johnny came out, grinning all over his face. 

"You took some time." Steve grumbled, but Johnny only shrugged. 

"The transformation suggestions I got when I asked for a robot first weren't that great, therefore I had to tweak a bit. And after I transformed her, she seemed to lack human speech, so I had to improve the design a bit more. But I think I made it in the nick of the time. Look for yourself." the boy pointed towards the other door and Steve adjusted his camera, following Johnny's finger. 

He was just in time to catch a a gleaming thigh which appeared in the door. With whirring sounds, another leg followed and heaved a large, silvery body in the open. While the apparition was of human-like shape, it most certainly wasn't human. Two metallic legs with servos carried an oval shaped torso with two equally metallic arms. All extremities were mounted on mechanical joints, the servos moving them hissing and buzzing with every motion.

The arms and legs looked a little bit like an iron skeleton, there was no surrounding metal, instead one could directly see the supporting 'bones' and all the moving servos. The feet looked human but didn't have any toes, the hands sported sleek, brazen fingers. It was undeniably a machine and not a living being, and nothing underscored this impression more than its 'head'. On the oval-shaped main body, an egg-like extremity with a pair of camera lenses was mounted. Below the lenses, there was what looked like a speaker. Otherwise, the head was devoid of any features. 

The robot stopped outside the Venn Machine, then swerved its head around in a continuous, smooth motion. Its camera lenses focused upon Steve and Johnny and the thing turned, walking towards the two humans with machine-like precision. Which was actually not surprising, after all, it obviously was a machine. 

It stopped in front of Steve and Johnny and waited motionlessly. 

"So." Johnny said complacently towards the camera, "What do you think of my new robot servant? Better than Amanda?" 

"Fuck it. I'm still Amanda." the machine answered with a synthetic, choppy, inhuman voice and Johnny laughed. 

"You don't look like an Amanda to me." he said and knocked on the robot's breastplate, grinning at the hollow sound. "So how does it feel being a robot?" 

"It is weird, you know." Amanda answered in her weird voice and while she was speaking, an LED flashed on her loudspeaker-mouth. With a whirring sound she raised her mechanical arms, opening and closing the fingers. "I'm not feeling anything at all. Instead I know. I know the temperature of the air and if I close my fingers I know the counter pressure. Seeing is strange, as well. I'm not actually 'seeing', but getting information about what my camera lenses spot. It's hard to describe, really."

"Hmm..." Johnny rounded his robotized girlfriend and then stroked her arm's metal. Her egg-head turned, tracking his arm's motion with perfect precision, eye-lenses clicking and buzzing while focusing upon the limb. "So you're not feeling this?" he asked. 

"No." 

"And what about moving? You're moving very... um... robot-like. Not surprising, actually. You are a robot after all. But how does it feel, moving mechanical joints and motors and such?" 

"It doesn't feel that different from moving as a human." Amanda replied back, otherwise standing motionlessly. "As a human I have muscles. As a robot I have servos. It's about the same. Only now I have more control. And the interesting thing is that when I'm not moving them, they are completely still. Not moving at all. As a human, there's always something moving. As a robot... my body only moves when I want it to move, otherwise it's completely rigid. 

"That I see." Johnny nodded. "But what about your mind? Apart from your strange robot voice you don't sound like a machine to me." 

"That is because I'm still Amanda." his robotized girlfriend replied back. "At least partly."

To that, Johnny cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked interested. 

"It's like when we were earthworms. As earthworms we had instincts. As a robot I have a robot mind which I can overrule. Like I am doing now."

"That sounds cool..." Johnny mused. "So you can let your 'instincts' do the driving, so to speak. How would that look like? I'd like to see." 

"Sure." Amanda answered. "Just ask me for my name. I will not interfere with what my robot brain prompts my body to do."

Now her boyfriend grinned, licking his lips. "Okay..." he said, then looked at the motionless machine-body of his girlfriend. "Robot, what is your name?" 

"This unit is Am-Bot 01, Master." the machine answered, its mechanical voice completely devoid of any emotion. 

Irritated, Johnny looked at the robot. "Why did you call me master?" 

"You are a human. Am-Bots are designed to serve humans, Master." the robot replied tonelessly. 

Now Johnny's eyes flew wide. "So you would indeed be my servant, do everything what I order you to do." 

"Affirmative, Master"

"Even... let's say, removing all the mall's cobble stones?"

"Affirmative, Master. Do you wish this unit to start removing this mall's cobble stones now?"

Johnny chuckled. "No, I think we'd get trouble with mall security then. Hm... I let you do something else, then. Am-Bot, stand on one leg." 

"Unable to comply, Master"

"What? Why?" 

"Due to uneven underground and wind shear I calculate a ninety nine point nine seven four percent probability of falling over when complying. The self preservation protocols prevent this unit from executing actions which have a high probability to lead to damage to its frame, Master." Am-Bot stated in its machine-like voice. 

"Oh..." Johnny rubbed his head. "Guess you're right there... you don't look that flexible too me... hm... okay, do squats then."

"Affirmative, Master." without hesitation, the robot went down in a squat and came up. Then it went down again. And came up. Fascinated, Johnny looked at the robot. Every squat was looking exactly the same, down to the sounds its working servos were emitting. 

After half a minute of squats, Johnny cleared his throat. 

"Um... Am-Bot?" 

"Yes, Master." the robot answered but didn't show any inclination of stopping. 

"How many squats will you do until you'll stop?" 

"I will stop when you order me to do it, Master." 

Johnny's eyes became wide. "So if I don't tell you to stop you'll continue forever...? Or until you're out of energy?" 

"Affirmative, Master." unperturbed, the robot continued doing squats. 

"Um... okay... Amanda, I'd like you back." 

Immediately, the machine stopped and reared up. "Wow, that was freaky." it exclaimed and suddenly there were emotions in its voice again. "But interesting."

"You really sounded like a machine there!" Johnny told his mechanized girlfriend with glee in his voice. "My own robotic servant, doing whatever I prompt it to do... would you really have done squats for eight hours?" 

The robot moved its mechanic joints in a weird motion could be interpreted as a shrug with lots of imagination. "My robot mind would have. Maybe I would have taken control somewhere in between. Maybe not. Executing your command felt right, after all."

"And you didn't mind?" he inquired curiously. 

"It is like an autopilot. And since I am a robot I don't tire. It's quite relaxing to let my robotic mind run the show, obeying the commands of its human master, actually. I'd like to experience it for a longer time." 

"Hmm..." Johnny mustered his robotized girlfriend. "So... what would you say about enabling the 'autopilot' for the next eight hours? Becoming my robotic servant like we originally planned?" 

"I don't mind." Amanda's synthetic voice replied back. "It's what this body was designed for after all. And it's really cool to be just a machine which only does what it is ordered to do. There's no thinking involved, only doing. No responsibility, because that lies in the hands of the man who handles the machine." for a moment, the machine-voice sounded almost dreamy. 

"Yay." Johnny raised his fist in the air. "Then... let's start!"

"You're welcome." Amanda replied, making her synthetic voice sound almost cheerful now. "From now on I will not interfere with what my robotic mind prompts my body to do anymore."

Johnny smiled at the gleaming robot. "Thanks, Amanda." But this time, there was no reaction. "Oh, right... um, Am-Bot?"

"Yes, Master." again, Amanda's, or rather the robot's voice was devoid of any emotion.

"Are you male or female?" 

"This unit is an Am-Bot and therefore doesn't have a gender, Master."

"Oookay... so you're not alive? You're a machine?"

"Affirmative. This unit is a robotic servant. To label it a machine is accurate, Master."

"And... are you self-aware?" 

"Request specification of question, Master." 

Johnny sighed. "I guess as a robot you're not that sharp a cookie anymore. I mean, do you have a soul?" 

"Negative. Only humans have souls. This unit is a machine and therefore has no soul, Master." the robot answered in its clinical, synthetic voice without showing any reaction to the jibe.

"Wow... guess that answer must really have freaked you out, huh, Amanda?" he eyed the robot expectantly but it didn't add anything more. Therefore he simply shrugged. "Well, I guess she's okay then with her robotic instincts making her say that she's basically mindless..."

The robot stayed motionless, but for a short moment, its hand rolled, flipping a bird at him. Johnny grinned, sticking out his tongue. "Okay, after we got that part covered... you're a machine and a machine's there to be used. Isn't that right, Am-Bot?" 

"Affirmative. This unit exists to serve humans, Master."

"So now there's only to decide what to use you for..." Johnny mused. "Can you wash dishes? Do the laundry? Such things." 

"This unit is equipped with a standard program for household chores, Master."

"Is that a yes?" 

"Affirmative, Master."

Grinning, Johnny knocked Am-Bot on the shoulder. The machine didn't show any reaction to the touch. "Then I know what we two will be doing this afternoon. Or rather - what you will be doing. Am-Bot, follow me." 

"Affirmative, Master."

Whirring, the machine moved its body forward, following its master with steps of machine-like precision, and Johnny and his robot strode towards the mall's exit as Steve coughed slightly from the off. 

Johnny furrowed his brows. "Oh, right. I nearly forgot. Need to see off the watchers first. Um..." he looked at his robot speculatively. "Why don't you do this, Am-Bot?" 

"Request specification of ordered task, Master." the robot replied and Johnny laughed. 

"Oh, my. You're an unimaginative one. Well, I wouldn't expect more from a machine. Okay. Look into the camera which Steve is holding and tell our dear watchers that they should comment and tell us what we should transform into next time."

"Affirmative, Master."

The robot turned and walked towards the camera, meeting camera lens with camera lens. "Dear watchers, you should comment and tell us what we should transform into next time."

Without any further words, Amanda the robot turned with a loud whir and walked back towards Johnny who had a hard time keeping his delight back. 

"Task executed, Master." it told its human master without any change in its 'standard' tone of voice (not that it seemed to have any other tone of voice) and Johnny chuckled. "It's alright, Am-Bot. You did great. Awesome job." 

"Thank you, Master." Am-Bot replied unemotionally and this was too much. The video ended with a totally unfazed Am-Bot standing between its guffawing Master and the treacherously twitching camera. 

"You heard her... or it..." Steve's delighted voice gasped from the off. "We'll be back soon and tell us into what those two should transform next. Bye!" 

And with that, the screen went black.