The Heart Goes Last

Stan is introduced to the team and given a tour of the facilities by the team leader, Budge. Possibilibots are sex robots that can be custom ordered to look like a specific person: a celebrity, an unattainable crush, or someone that would be deemed socially impermissible, like a family member. They come in a variety of models and their attitudes and personalities can be programmed.

Throughout the tour, the team debates how lifelike they are and if they are good enough to replace the real thing. Much of the production is done by robots on an assembly line, but the finer details are done by human hands in Customization. Here, Stan notices that one of the possibilibots has a photo of Charmaine next to it. He asks who ordered it, and the guys tell him it is for one of the higher-ups and they have to make sure they do not screw it up. Budge says they have to “tiptoe through the tulips” with it (432), which is the signal phrase Stan has been waiting to hear, revealing Budge as his contact.

Aurora accompanies Charmaine home after the CAT scan and stays overnight to provide “support.” The next morning, Aurora informs her they are going shopping, as she needs something black to wear to Stan’s funeral. Later, before they leave for the funeral, Aurora informs Charmaine that a special guest is on the way. Charmaine instinctively hopes it is Max, but then fights her urges because he is not trustworthy anymore. She is surprised when she sees Ed get out of the car, and wonders what he wants from her.

In the car ride to the funeral, Ed offers his condolences and support for Charmaine. He leaves his hand resting on her arm and she can tell by the way he looks at her that he is interested. She wonders how she can use it to her advantage.

The funeral is overflowing with guests, and Charmaine is escorted to a seat that is front and center. Ed gives an impassioned speech about Stan’s sacrifice. Aurora accompanies her home and intends to stay for the foreseeable future to offer Charmaine grief therapy. When they arrive, Jocelyn is there and formally introduces herself as Max/Phil’s wife and Charmaine’s Alternate. She also reveals that Stan is still alive and instructs Charmaine that she has a role to play in helping them out. They want her to get close to Ed, who already has his sights set on her, and monitor what he is doing.

Stan’s tour ends in Wardrobe and Accessories. There are a lot of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe costumes, among a host of other celebrities. There is also a bin full of knitted blue teddy bears, which he is told are for the line of kiddybots. Stan is disgusted by this revelation, but the team suggests they might actually prevent harm. They are also one of the most popular lines of possibilbots, meaning they create jobs and earn a lot of profit.

Budge ends the tour and takes Stan aside to give him the mission details: He is going to be disguised as an Elvis possibilibot and shipped to Las Vegas. Budge refuses to tell him who they are working for but does reveal that he is working with Conor on the outside and will have a guide sent with him to provide support along the way.

The guide turns out to be Veronica, who has undergone an experimental neurosurgical operation that has been developed as a solution to the limitations of robots. The procedure aims to make it possible to “customize” people—in other words, it wipes any attachments they might have and makes them “imprint” on the first person they see post-operation. Since the subject will fall head-over-heals in love with the person they see, the idea is that they will not feel exploited, even if they did not consent to the procedure in the first place. However, Veronica’s procedure went awry because the man that ordered it was not there when she woke up. Instead, she locked eyes with one of the blue knitted bears—placed beside her bed by a nurse as a comfort item—and she imprinted on that. As a result, she is incapable of feeling anything toward men.

That night, Stan and Veronica put on their costumes and are loaded into shipping crates heading for Las Vegas. The documents he is supposed to smuggle out are on a flash drive hidden in his costume’s belt buckle.

Charmaine goes to dinner with Ed at the same restaurant she and Stan ate at the night before they signed up for the Positron Project. She has practiced ways to come across as vulnerable but inaccessible with Jocelyn so that she can keep him interested but at a distance. To establish power, Ed intimates that he knows Stan did not really die in an accident, but that he will make sure no one else finds out. He also offers her a job working for him as his personal assistant.

Charmaine’s first few weeks of working for Ed are largely uneventful. He does not make any moves and mostly ignores her, and there is very little work for her to do. She does some reconnaissance for Jocelyn but does not find anything incriminating. Ed is happy that the project is expanding even more and is now being turned into a franchise. He goes to Washington to meet with some senators. Jocelyn and Aurora meet with Charmaine every evening to check in.

One night, Jocelyn shows Charmaine footage of Ed going to see the possibilibot he is having made in her image. It is essentially complete, and he asks for it to be delivered the next day. Jocelyn has one of the techs sabotage the bot, which causes Ed to have an accident and get his penis stuck inside it the next day. He is sent to the hospital infirmary but survives the ordeal.

After an uncomfortable ride in a small crate, Stan arrives in Las Vegas. He is unboxed by a group of gay Elvis impersonators and soon realizes Veronica is not there with him. The Elvis impersonators all work for an agency called UR-ELF (Elvis Lives Forever) and have been hired by Budge to take care of him and provide cover.

Stan has no idea what he is supposed to do next, so he eases his way into working for the agency. They assign him to the Ruby Slippers Retirement Home and his job mainly consists of delivering flowers to the elderly in palliative care. Stan wears his Elvis costume at all times so that he is less likely to be recognized by anyone.