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I had a feeling our pottery instructor Irina was too good to be true. My wife Kristin thought I was crazy, though admitted she also thought Irina was strangely Barbie doll-esque in her appearance. My suspicions were finally confirmed during last night's session when she started repeating herself.

"Use smooth, steady... steady, consistent pulls. Stiff clay, stiff clay, stiff... stiff... stiff..." she trailed off, frozen for a moment, save for one rapidly blinking eye. With each repeated word, her torso would sort of twitch, repeating the same movement of her shoulders and head.

Kristin looked up from her vase with an air of concern. I cocked an eyebrow.

With the awkward movements, one of Irina's precariously suspended dress straps fell from her tanned, blemishless shoulder. Though she either didn't notice, or didn't care.

"...stiff...stiff clay will make it simpler to... to... to..."

She froze in place once more, and I swear I could hear something sizzle and crackle in her direction. Smoke began rising from her parted lips, and a small panel opened above her breasts, betraying her true, artificial nature.

As my wife gasped and jumped up from her wheel, staring fascinated at what was now obviously a malfunctioning android, my gaze drifted over Irina's synthetic cleavage and my curiosity turned to what other features and functions this particular model might offer...