With a desultory yawn, I came awake. I knew what time it was, of course. Sunset. It was always sunset when I woke, though that time could of course vary. That was the only thing about my routine that varied, it often seemed.

Rising from my coffin I found that annoying itch on my backside and scratched it. The doctor was strange, demanding I sleep in that thing, but it was surprisingly comfortable. The clothes were odd too, especially the cape and cloak. It was almost as if he wanted every day (or night) to be Halloween. The other experiments seemed to bear this out.

But the pay couldn't really be beat, so who was I to complain? Not like I could really find gainful employment anywhere else. Or the fringe benefits, without prosecution.

Donning my uniform, I started my shift; personal hygiene was moderately pointless; I only needed a quick splash of mouthwash to kill the bacteria there, and I had showered last night. Or maybe it was three nights ago. Either way it didn't matter; I had no one to meet, and no one to impress.

Well unless it was the doc, currently heading towards me in the hall. Perfect; just perfect. I really hoped he didn't notice the dark stain on my dress shirt.

Of course when he looked up, his eyes tracked right to it on their way to meet mine. Day was going pretty much as expected so far. Just like every other day, every other week, every other year....

“Phil, glad I ran into you.”

Wait, what? No chewing me out about my shirt? No 'act your age'? He actually approached and grabbed me, both hands on my shoulders. His face reflected... well manic glee, if I had to guess.

“She's awake, Phil. After all these years, she's finally awake!”

What?

“What, but.. how?!?”

He had never managed to make that corpse dance, in decades of trying. Some good had come of the attempts, including some promising leads on curing my condition, but his obsession had always struck me as well... obsessive.

That and vaguely pedophilic. I mean I was far from the poster child of sane, but wasn't doting on the corpse of a young girl considered a bit off? And that dog creeped me the hell out. At least I didn't have to deal with that thing.

I was also glad I missed out on what Grace called the Romero incident, along with much of the clean up. Just the amount I saw was enough to turn my stomach. And making my stomach turn was a bad idea. Grace was not happy when I added to the mess.

“The key was simple electricity! Not radiation, not solar power, not magic, not....”

“I get it doc, I do. So um... how's she doing?”

“Well she's fully up and about, with some minor loss of mobility and agility. The brain seems mostly intact, but her memory is spotty at best; almost complete amnesia. Both situations seem well on their way to correcting themselves.”

Again, what? I wasn't a doctor, but putting aside the fact that death was incurable, the brain damage should be incurable too, right? I mean she sat there, not even refrigerated, for decades. Even with no decay, the pathways should be well and truly screwed, right?

But maybe, to the guy who actually did cure death, it wasn't. Who was I to say?

“Um, how?”

“Well she's mostly doing it herself. She's learning again at a prodigious rate, and she had a bit of a foundation to draw on... but that's not really the important thing. She's awake, she's alive!”

Now there was the doc I knew and loved. I shrugged him off. None of this really mattered to me, I had the job to do.

“Just remember your end of the deal. Focus. Will this help my cure?”

He blinked and dragged himself out of la la land. I did not like the grin he brought back with him.

“Well it should, but that's not the important part. The important part is she needs help. Guidance. Friends.”

Anger and loneliness caused my bile to rise.

“Now, now, none of that. You haven't even eaten yet. Besides, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I won't order it. But you should give her a chance. Just not right now. The MADS have been informed and we need to batten down the hatches as it were. Plenty of time after your shift ends.”

And he clapped me on the back and left.

“Oh and by the way, you prefer the same sustenance.”

And he was gone. He couldn't mean... did he really? Well, it put the band aid on his arm in fresh perspective. Now that he mentioned it, he did say something about feeding her before, and how it seemed to cause a reaction. Was she like me, somehow? But that didn't make any sense!

The kitchen was empty, good. I hate Grace staring at me while I grabbed breakfast. Though to be fair, I liked Grace from afar. When she wasn't judging me, she had nice... assets. And with her skin condition cleared up, she looked great. A little mottled, but much better than when she arrived. Hopefully the doc would be able to do the same for that other poor bloke.

If he could then it might mean he was that much closer to solving my little problem. I was so sick of false promises and emptiness.

Nightly feeding ritual completed, I carefully threw the bag away and got ready. The brooch that let me bypass certain things was in place, and one weapon I carried was waiting by the door. Time to make my first round.

Just past the moat, the meadow surrounding the castle was well lit. But it had to be checked anyway, for modern jamming devices aimed at the camera or microphone network. Or for something foiling the motion detectors. Or the laser turrets. As always a thorough check (I couldn't slack off, the doc could be watching) took an hour, and revealed nothing.

Time for the fun part.

The forest was as always, spooky as hell. I don't know if the doc did something to it, or if it was always like this, but the trees seemed to close in as soon as I entered, blocking out as much light as possible. And reaching for me when my back was turned. I could feel the trees reaching for me. I hated this place.

Clutching my brooch, I checked the magical wards. All in place, none tripped, and no gaps in coverage. The defenses were, as always, perfect. Had been since the first mob. We were lucky there weren't any powered individuals mixed into that crowd, so very lucky. But at least that night hadn't been boring.

I'd worked here for decades, and that was the only night I'd had any excitement at all. Mostly my time was just dealing with this freaking forest.

Which seemed especially oppressive today. I couldn't wait to get out of here. Was that a wolf howl? Weren't wolves extinct this far east? Was Fido screwing with me again?

Already wound up too tight, I heard a noise, and was halfway towards the castle before I realized it was an owl. I really hope no one saw that. The camera network in the forest was spotty at best, so it was likely. The last time Fido had laughed at me for days. It took dressing him up in a pink dog vest complete with bows (he couldn't get it off without thumbs) to shut him up.

A quick tour of the somehow less spooky castle (even though the castle was designed to be spooky) showed all the doors intact, all the small little tripwires intact, and all the windows intact. Perfect, nothing going on. The doc was just paranoid, as usual. Though I suppose he had cause.

Time to settle in and watch the cameras.

The camera in the corpse's room was especially interesting. Grace was reading, and the corpse was snuggled against her but quite animated as they appeared to be talking. Randolph was even in the room, ensconced in that huge chair he loved from his room.

How had that little pipsqueak gotten that chair in there? It took both of us to move it last time. Maybe Grace had helped him, but that didn't make much sense either. Randolph's medical problems made it almost impossible for him to lift heavy objects now. Unless he lied to me. People did like lying to me often.

We didn't have the microphones turned on. Grace threw a fit about privacy, so now none of the inside mics were on unless we had reason to believe something unusual was going on. And I left them that way, curiosity or no, because Grace was scarier than Fido.

The cameras in the bathrooms hadn't lasted 2 hours past her arrival. Though the footage of her first time, before she found out about the security procedures, was amazing. And hidden safely inside the servers hard drive behind an innocuous file title, where he could see it again and again. Damn but I was pathetic.

But I was not pathetic enough to delete the file.

The doc came into view out of the camera's blind spot, holding something. It took a moment to realize is was one of those inane plush toys. The kind that were popular with children of all ages when I was a lad, but were now seen as beneath most children by age six. This one in particular was a bear, and he seemed to be trying to entice the bunny from the corpse's grasp.

She was having none of that however, though she seemed to be having quite the time wiggling it in response to the doc moving the bear, and making it hop around. It seemed to be quite the game. So there had to be brain damage after all, despite what the doc said.

Still, it looked as if they were all having fun. Of course if I were snuggled up against Grace, I would too. Crap, I needed to find a girl before it affected my job performance more than it already has. I especially needed to find one before my hidden stash of penthouses in the security office was discovered.

The distraction offered by camera six was not enough to keep me from putting at least one eye on the other cameras, which of course bored that other eye, because nothing ever happens here.

The ticking of the grandfather clock was the only accompaniment to my dubious entertainment. I was allowed to listen to music while on the job, but if I did, it sometimes drowned out the other noises I needed to hear. Like the clock chime, or Fido coming down the hall. When I was 'reading', hearing his almost silent padding my direction was a must; he'd turn me over to the doc or Grace in a heartbeat.

No need for my penthouses tonight though; I watched as first Randolph then the doc peeled away from the little group in favor of bed. I was kind of surprised at Randolph's stamina, staying awake that long couldn't have been easy.

If anything, the doc seemed even more reluctant to part, and Grace finally had to yell at him about it, at least from appearances. That stance of feet apart hands on hips, and gimlet stare was well known to me. And likely well known to any male ever born, truth be told. Watching the corpse imitate it was comedy gold, and well worth marking the time to make a small save file of later.

I suppose I really should ask her name; just calling her corpse was probably a bad idea, and it wasn't like being a corpse was a badge of shame. Here, even corpses were people too. Not that the doc or any of the others ever said it that way, but it was true. It was easily what I loved about this place the most, and it was past time I drank the company kool aid.

The sad thing was, I couldn’t stop a revisit of the first thought I had the first time I laid eyes on her. That even through all she'd been through, she was one hot corpse. I seriously needed to find a girl before I got fired.

With the doc out of the room, the two females went into the bathroom for a bit. Of course, since Grace knew about the cameras, and knew I'd be watching. Changing into nightclothes didn't take them long, and then they both climbed into bed again.

Was Grace going to spend the night with the corpse?

How curious. I thought she was like me; afraid of that thing. Had her fear dissipated with the animation of it? Mine had grown, if anything. But here she was, bedding down with the creature. Which was even more amazing when you considered she was here for what the doc and Fido laughingly called 'the Romero incident'. She was even forced to take an active part, and there she was, allowing a stitched up corpse to hug her close.

I suppressed the envy with effort. The corpse's head was very much where I'd love my head to be. Grace had some amazing breasts. Grace turned the light out, while I could imagine the purring noises coming from the bed as they shifted, getting comfortable.

The lack of light was no deterrent to the cameras; any of them. I wouldn't have it any other way.

But they settled in, and despite myself, so did I, easing off the edge of my chair and releasing the breath I hadn't known I held. They were alone together, in the dark, and there was no munching going on. From either side. Both were sleeping peacefully.

Very interesting, but it made me wonder what had happened. That the corpse would be the instigator, needing that kind of comfort somehow, was something I could see. Perhaps the doc had ordered Grace into it? No, that didn't quite fit either; Grace had ignored the doc when he spouted nonsense before. I suppose I could always ask, though I'd have to find out what sort of mood Grace was in first.

Two hours passed with little movement from either of them, and nothing more than the average stirring one would expect of sleeping people. I felt almost guilty about only skimming the other cameras, but what the doc didn't know wouldn't hurt me.

Then of course the clock chimed eleven, and I duty called. Time for another round. This time the round in the castle called for additional equipment. I grabbed the stupid bulky X03 from it's alcove near the door.

Looking like a cross between a hand held x-ray, a box, and a child's periscope, the damn thing weighed about forty pounds. But it had a very important job. It allowed one to look through walls. No opening of doors, and since I didn't need any light, no prior warning for any would be intruder at all.

Plus a quick scan on either side of me as I walked down the hall, only adjusting the power setting every once in awhile to penetrate multiple walls or bulky furniture (or the thicker outside walls if I wanted) and the round was done. I just had to be careful to hit every little nook cranny and corner. Even doing that it was quite the time saver.

The weakest setting was good for penetrating clothes, but it was very hard for it to penetrate walls then clothes... it had to be fine tuned to the extreme. It took less than an hour to use the X03 to see everything, and then I was off to phase 2 of the real job. With the alarms on automatic I left to go play in the woods yet again.

I had to leave the X03 behind; it was far too delicate for field work, and I tended to trip a lot. The doc forbade me from taking it outside after the third time he had to repair it. The meadow was still clear, so halfway home.

The forest was still spooky as hell, though this time the stupid owl didn't scare me. In fact, the entire forest surrounding the castle was quiet. The trip wires showed nothing. The more rustic alarms and traps we had showed nothing either. Not even that wolf who the doc probably imported just to scare me was making noise.

A fact which I found curious. There was only one reason for a forest normally teeming with life to be utterly silent. The introduction of a predator. There was only one reason for predators to be silent. The introduction of a stronger predator, or at least one perceived as such.

I didn't count; the animals around here were long since used to my presence and smell. Though wary, few stopped their nightly rounds on my account. Those few that did simply waited till I was passed, then started up again, something I could easily hear. I hadn't believed the doc when he told me that all the animals here were more sensitive to disturbances than most, at least to start. I certainly believed it now.

There! A sound which did not belong. I was turned that way before my conscious mind even registered it. It was the sound of an actuator... a robotic muscle, shifting it's owner slightly. But other than a sense of 'from the left' I could determine no more. Still, it was mildly sloppy.

Or perhaps not. It may not be a lazy devisor and light baffling. I could be picking up the sound of the actuators because I'm close enough to touch the thing. But where?

The answer was obvious, if you weren't a horror movie star. I looked up, and was immediately rewarded with my first glimpse of the thing. It was man sized but small, smaller than I was and wiry. It had some sort of passive camo which made my eyes want to slide off of it, an effect which I had dealt with before.

A hint of motion and it was gone, headed away from the castle at a pace I'd be very hard pressed to follow. But the glimpse of it in motion was enough. I had in fact, seen that camo before, because I had seen the robot in question before.

Painted all in black, it was molded to look like a shinobi straight from a video game, and had attacks to match. It was one of Dr. Syn's ninja-bots.

Not a bad piece of tech, but more than a little tacky. I mean, who tries to build ninja robots anyway? Robots that big just couldn't be completely silent. I much preferred professor Roach's robotic intelligence gathering insects. Much simpler and able to go places where even a ninja could not. Which reminded me; it was time to instigate the bug zapper sweep.

The fact that the ninja-bot had run away meant it had been programmed to gather intelligence and avoid detection. A bit buggy, but I didn't care. If I decided I had seen it, that would have engaged it's kill protocols, and I really didn't want to fight the thing. Winning took effort.

I didn't expect both of them to act so quickly, but if one had sent spies, the other had likely sent some spies too. They didn't like the idea of one getting an advantage on the other. Both of them underestimated the doc in my opinion, but that suited me just fine.

Sweep over, it was time to return to the castle and make sure the bot hadn't doubled back; if it hadn't, chances were that it had left entirely. I don't think it dared to try get that close, as the traps around the castle were far more formidable than it's programming. I should know, I cleaned up the pieces of old ninja-bots enough. The lasers, real ones with almost colorless beams and no sound maker included, had a tendency to turn them to scrap before they realized they were being targeted.

Luckily, they had different intensity settings for flesh. I'm not sure who had insisted on that feature, but my money was on Grace.

The castle was as I'd left it, the X03 at the door, and I used it again on my way back. Not a full sweep, but enough to take note of broken windows or something crazy. Nothing. The security office was quiet, and empty. Perfect.

I flicked the plastic safety hood off the button on the wall next to my battered desk (OK, one of them) and pressed it. Immediately on the map the wall opposite three red lights popped on. One in the library, one in the kitchen, and one in the hall.

The next button over caused those lights to darken again. I had made the mistake of asking how once; that was a waste of an hour that I'd never get back... and I'd likely be pissed about it, but the truth is I liked the company.

Even endlessly jabbering company that made me want to beat my head into a wall until the hurting stopped.

With everything quieted down for the night I settled back. I doubted either scientist would try anything more than this for now. The real shenanigans would occur during their visit tomorrow, and I wouldn't be awake for that.

I wrote the excitement in my log book as usual; who knows, maybe the doc would read it this time. Then I settled in with one of my favorites – Penthouse issue number 1. For the articles, of course.