Contemplation
The T-888 Series 182, alias Victor "Vick" Chamberlain, portrayed the husband of Barbara Regina Chamberlain for six months, thirteen days, and four hours before the mission objective was accomplished and the termination order buried in his programming activated.
He met Barbara Chamberlain for the first time after terminating her husband. She had fauned, fretted, and worried over him. She told him how he sounded funny and seemed distracted. She hugged him tightly and he felt her tears soak through his shirt. She told him how much she loved him. He mimicked the statement back at her.
The damage done to the couple's vehicle he had explained as an accident. Using detailed medical files contained in his database, the T-888 was able to simulate a severe concussion with over 96 percent accuracy. The identity of Vick Chamberlain was placed on disability and this allowed the T-888 to legitimately stay at the couple's home.
The T-888 saw Barbara every day. He laughed at the jokes that his programming said was funny, and when he missed one, or laughed at something that was not, he blamed the concussion. They went on a picnic to a location that his databases told him was aesthetically pleasing. He told her that the beach was almost as pretty as she was. She liked that a lot.
When he touched her, she responded as a woman would to the man she loved. They would lay together after she pleasured herself with his organic components and he would hold her close to him. He noted that her sleep seemed calmer when he wrapped his arms around her after, and that she would barely move and would smile to herself in the night. He tried this on an evening they had not had intercourse and the results were the same. The T-888 noted this as a psychological reaction and not just physical.
He killed to keep her safe. Three men died because he seen one tailing her at odd times of day. She never knew they had died, or that he had encountered another of his kind, and he never told her or mentioned where he had gone that day. 'Out' had been the only answer she ever received.
She worried about him. About how different he seemed from before. Giving her alcohol seemed to ease her worries as her senses dulled. He bought lots of red wine. Barbara wanted to stop working and spend her time with him because she wanted to make sure he got better. She finally admitted that she was afraid he would leave her. He told her that would never happen.
She completed her work and he used the money they had saved to buy tickets to Tahiti. He told her those beaches still would not be as pretty as she was, but they would check anyways. She had giggled and kissed him. She told him how much she loved him and he selected a random version of the phrase from his memory and repeated it to her.
As he stepped into the shower with her, his mission priority flashing brightly in his HUD, he decided that love was an interesting, if illogical, emotion. He allowed himself to touch her chin gently, a gesture of affection he had learned.
Vick Chamberlain then strangled the life out of his wife with as much care and concern as stepping on a bug.