A much happier, and very interesting take on part 3.
We have seen so much more now of the mother, of what is driving her, and what is going on here. For all of this extra insight, I am still not sure how much of an accurate read I have on her, but that's part of what makes her fun and interesting to me
The feeling of distance between the mother and father, the sense of them being from different worlds, and not on the same page about their daughter as a maid-bot makes so much more sense now. The father seems distance because he is so often not there, he is barely in the house most of the time, but he is important due to his money making ways. So he has to be considered, but he is not a big emotional part of the situation.
The "coldness" of the mother has also been well explained, her initial investigations into turning Stacy into a maid bot were motivated by love and concern for her daughter, but once she came to see and understand the money making potential of all of this, that took over most of her thoughts and focus. This also naturally explains why she had her daughter serving in front of her friends, why she was happy to show her off, but wanted to do so in private, by maintaining the fiction that her daughter was still away at college.
For all of this, there is also the fact that she was happy to use her daughter as the first test subject for this new program, but I am left with the sense, rightly or wrongly, that she was more concerned with the results and the opportunity to make lots of money, and much less concerned with all of the technical details, including the memory wipe and the fact that her daughter became company property.
Mix into this the fact that she is now having an affair, probably not her first affair either, given the speed with which this all came to pass, and so much more of her emotional background and feeling makes sense.
Stacy, seeing her memories being edited, this is powerful and unsettling, but goes to the heart of what this story is, and what it is about. I do really like the fact that while other people think all of her memories have been wiped out, some of them are still inside of her, still things she knows and wants to react to, but that she is being kept in line by the control and punishment routines.
A practical point while thinking about this, you have the line:
>> Robert picked up on Stacy being punished for her thoughts, “Thank you Stacy-bot, that will be all, you can return to your other duties.”
when Robert and the mother are together, around Stacy the maid. This does not make much sense, since why would he alone pick up on the punishment, when Stacy's mother was not picking anything up? There just needs to be some indicator sent to him about this, since he is monitoring and testing her responses while she is in his house.
Seeing the mother pick up Stacy, but forgetting all about bring any clothes with her, so Stacy had to go home dressed as the maid was a really powerful moment, since we got to see both sides of Stacy's mother. On one hand very concerned about her daughter, wanting and needing to look after her. But on the other hand not really thinking things through that much, letting her week turn into 10 days, and not showing any signs of keeping on top of what was happening, or being done, to her daughter while she was a test subject for computer control.
The way Robert, the CEO, had Stacy come in while he and her mother were in bed together, combined with his general attitude towards Stacy work well, but at the same time give us a fairly easy to follow and simple character, someone who is selfish, wicked, and just focusing on what they want, and having fun along the way. Certainly someone who fits well into this world and situation.
Stacy's sister and her friends continue to be selfish, shallow air heads, so not much has changed there, but the promise of retribution, combined with the inability to really think things through or care to much make for interesting possibilities. The sister clearly loves and wants to look after Stacy, but at the same time, she is to shallow to really think through the possible consequences of her actions, and is likely to stew on Stacy coming home dressed as the maid and pretending to have been re-programmed.
Seeing Stacy's regular returns to being a maid-bot are fun, they fit, and they also give a good opening to where things could go next.
Personally I am not very keen on the final line, it just feels a bit weak, the lack of any time limit, of any safety cut off, it feels like you are giving the reader a question without offering up much in the way of thoughts yourself.
So, putting these bits together, it suggests a couple of ways forward, if you are interested. Stacy's flatmate learns about Stacy's desire and happiness as a maid-bot, but keeps this quiet and isn't sure what to make of it at first. FOr one thing, without seeing this happen, since this is a private test by the company, no one is going to believe her anyway.
Now let the roommate end up in communication with Stacy's sister, and add in a wicked sense of humour for the flatmate... Stacy's sister wants to get Stacy back, but doesn't know how, and isn't really the sort to plan.
SO they team up, the sister provides the big fancy house and plenty of guests to know both her and Stacy, and the flatmate provides the plan, along with the control headset for Stacy-maid-bot. I am thinking something along the lines of a party where Stacy is tricked into playing a rigged game, is faced with some sort of "terrible" and humiliating forfeit she would never go for, so she is pinned down, the headset is applied forcefully, the computer takes over, converting Stacy into maid-bot with some different programming perhaps mid party, and now everyone gets to witness the humiliating punishment Stacy's sister has organised for her sister the maid.
I can see Stacy's mother being both horrified and intrigued, when she comes home unexpectedly with Robert on her arm, since they encounter Stacy the maid being used as a sex slave, which is both terrible for the daughter, but a gold mine for using people as controlled robots, especially if Stacy's memory and personality is intacked while this is happening, which her sister would appreciate. *evil smirk*
