Annie had been my partner about a week when something new came along. I met her creator. Doctor Sams was a woman on a mission.

It sounds corny I know but she was determined to create a market for her new super cops androids. The department liked the idea of a half dozen or so androids. The rationale was that they could be sent into any life threatening situation. K9 and Androids were much cheaper, than paying real cop's death benefits. I know they say it was to save lives but believe me it was about the money.

"So Officer Freeman what do you think about your new partner," she asked. Doctor Sams was over forty years old and reasonably attractive. She probably would have been more attractive if she wore real clothes. She was dressed in the lab rat outfit. My guess was that she wore it more to indicate her status than for any practical reason. I mean she was sitting in the cop conference room. It was very unlikely that she needed her lab outfit.

"She is as good a partner as any other rookie cop. She has a lot to learn but she does seem to listen, which is more than most rookie cops will do." I meant it. Annie was a good learner and she knew the laws and the department procedures. It was the practical things she needed to learn. She would probably never when to overlook a minor crime for the greater good, I doubted her ability to make a judgement call like that, even though her creator swore that she could learn.

"Annie, as you call her, speaks highly of you."

"I have no idea why she would do that, or even how she could form an opinion."

"Annie is a lot more human than you imagine. Even aside from that, we have this." She turned to a large computer screen. On it suddenly an image of me standing in the dark appeared. The scene from the part began. It took me only a second to see what was going on. The bitch Annie had taped me.

"I don't need to see this I was there. You do realize that my cooperation with you just ended." I headed for the door.

"Edgar don't go. We have to replay the events to help us correct her behavior. It's so that we can correct any mistaken impression she gets from you. It takes most people multiple mistakes before they can learn. We can speed that up by taking her experiences with you and enhancing them."

I stood in the doorway ready to leave before I answered. "Are you taping his?"

"No, of course not."

"You are never going to get a real cop to participate as long as you are taping us. Like it or not we aren't perfect. Unlike your machines we make mistakes, lots of them. We don't want the evidence on tape. I'm sorry I will not participate in this study any longer. You need to find yourself someone who does things by the book."

"We chose you because Annie needs your kind of street smarts. Maybe not your way of thinking every time, but your actions speak to decision making. Make a decision and live with it right or wrong, that is how problems get solved. The park incident is a classic. Your boss wanted to see if Annie could make a decision in the real world. You showed him without having to spend weeks waiting for the right situation to come along. That is exactly why I chose you."

"Well go choose someone else. I'm not going to have someone sitting behind a desk with all the time in the world reviewing my actions. I doubt many real cops will."

"I don't have a voice in judging you and if I did, I wouldn't."

"If that tape exists one day it will make it's was to some sissy cops attention. I don't need that just to help you along. There is no upside for me."

"Can't we find a way around this. I need to review those tapes."

"And I need for them to never be seen."

"How about I have her transfer the images at the end of every shift and then delete them."

"We both know you won't delete them."

"You are right I wouldn't delete them."

"You are going to have to find yourself a more orthodox cop to work with Annie."

"The chief does not want a sissy android. He wants one who can do what guys like you do."

"Well I wish you luck with that."

I left the station in a huff. The problem in not being a sissy cop was that I made decisions, then afterwards I had to figure out how to make them work. I had refused to work with Annie, so it was on me to find a rationale that wouldn't get me fired. I planned to go with, 'I'm just not the right guy for the job chief, I will just teach her bad habits.' Hell it might work It was true enough that she would learn a lot of things not in the book or approved of by the human rights people. I expect that I had a file with the civilian review board that would weigh a couple of pounds at least.

Bad guys tended to be very clumsy around me. I didn't need to have their 'accidents' on tape.