In fact, having to meet up with his new fan club, “Jack Watch,” was more strenuous.

And now, the continuation...

- - - - -

It was a Saturday, and he had the morning off. But without Allison or the kids, he wasn’t too excited about the weekend, and thought of doing some paperwork instead, thereby giving Andy a little break from red tape.

Though he knew Andy, his android deputy, didn’t ask for it nor need it, he woke up early nevertheless to work on it.

He had his breakfast, and asked Sarah to prepare his “super juice.”

Might as well get it over with, he thought. He drank the juice, sat down in the special diagnostic chair and switched on its sensors.

After a few minutes, he finished morphing and the buzzer sounded. He checked and it wasn’t a new morph. He had changed into his Taylor Sweets morph again.

He wasn’t too disappointed, though. He knew his Jack Carter morph would happen eventually. He just wished it was now.

Anyway, he took a quick shower, changed into better fiiting clothes, and knuckled down and started on his paperwork.

- - - - -

In a few hours, he had finished everything.

Ahhh!, he thought, time for some lunch!

Before he could ask Sarah, his phone started to beep with a text message. It was Andy. He said he had taken care of their “prisoners’” paperwork and they pled guilty to all the charges in front of Judge Harper. They dutifully paid all the fines, accepted the sentence of six months’ probation and community service, and the suspension of the driver’s license for six months. Andy was now bringing them to the town’s impound yard to pick up their car, and then he’ll be escorting them out of town.

Jack sent a text message back, thanked him and said he’ll see him later in the afternoon.

He noticed another text and clicked on it.

He smiled delightedly. It was Douglas Fargo, texting that he was arriving, with Holly Marten. Jack called Henry and Jo, and suggested having a sort-of get-together lunch in Café Diem, and he started getting ready.

Dressed casually in a long-sleeved blouse and vest, short skirt and cowboy boots (something that Jenna had said was a cute outfit), he was off.

Less than twenty minutes later, he parked in front of his office, dropped off the paperwork and proceeded to Café Diem.

There, he gravitated to the nosiest table, with about a dozen people surrounding it.

“Is this a private party, or can anyone crash?” he said, and everyone stopped and looked at him.

“Jack!” Henry said and shook his hand. “Fargo –“

Dr. Douglas Fargo, the ex-director of GD stood up and looked at Jack with mouth agape.

“Sheriff Carter?” he said unbelievingly. “Is that you?”

“It sure is!” Jack said, and gave Fargo a bone-crushing hug. He then turned to his companion, Dr. Holly Marten.

“Holly!” Jack exclaimed and gave her an equally enthusiastic hug.

Both were, to say the least, surprised, but were swept along by Jack’s and everyone else’s enthusiasm.

It had been at least five years since Jack and the others had seen the two, and it was a joyous reunion, even with the strangeness of Jack’s morph.

- - - - -

After a while, the crowd thinned out, leaving Fargo and Holly alone with Jack, Henry, Jo and Grace.

Grace had been giving Holly an examination, and commented that she was as healthy and normal as anyone she’s examined.

Holly blushed and thanked the doctor.

Henry apologized but he brought everyone back to the reason Fargo was there. He quickly briefed the two about what’s been happening, and showed them his tablet with all the scans he and Zane had made of the robot and its internals. Jo then told them about what she’s been able to dig up.

Holly shook her head. “That’s pretty weird,” she said, “even beyond Eureka’s standards.”

“I know, right?”

“But how sure are you that this ‘Project Ross’ is the same as this one?”

“I’m not,” she said, “but it’s the safe bet.”

“You say you can’t contact Toby, Jo?” Fargo asked.

“No. And I did my best.”

Fargo nodded. “Then I guess we need to decipher the robot’s command set on our own.”

“That’s what Zane has been trying to do,” Henry said. “Originally, he thought that the robot ran on symbolic instructions, that it used a symbolic codec similar to Andy’s, which translated robot code to common-speech statements. That was, after all, how the robot’s primary memory chips were set up.”

“But these command chips weren’t working anymore because the primary bus was damaged?” Fargo continued. “Then how did these backup chips connect to the robot’s systems?”

“Only the upper block of the bus was damaged. These chips were connected to the other side of the bus.”

“Other side? You mean the left side?”

“Yes.”

“Then did Zane transpose the signals so they’d go into the bus reversed?”

Henry looked at Fargo. “Ohmigod... Fargo, you’re a genius!” He turned to Jack.

“Jack, we’ve got to get back to GD! Fargo’s discovered how to decipher the robot’s commands!”

“He did? How?”

“Let’s just say we just needed to look at the problem from the other side.”

Jack only half understood them, but he nodded nevertheless. “Then let’s go!” he said.

- - - - -

After an hour of working, with Fargo, Holly, Zane and Henry talking in some very fast and undecipherable computereze, Jack knew he wasn’t helping. He said goodbye and said he’ll meet up with everyone later. Jo and Grace also decided to go back to work as well.

As Jack walked back to his jeep, he thought he’d do some patrol work, maybe give Andy a little break. He was sure Andy would appreciate spending some time with Sarah.

For whatever reason, his smarthouse’s AI and his android deputy were in a “relationship.” Henry said to not worry about it. After all, Sarah (which was short for “Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat”) and Andy were both AIs, and as such, had personalities and identities, as well as the ability to think for themselves. And if these “people” found it within themselves to fall in love with each other, what could he do? And should he even do anything? Did he have a right to interfere given that these were “people,” too?

The Sarah and Andy had been in this relationship for over five years now, but it had not progressed further. But how could it progress beyond the way it was now? Jack thought. There can’t be any children, and there’s no “growing old together” here. Maybe this was all there was for these two.

For Jack, that was a little sad, actually. So any time that he could give them together time, he would, and he didn’t care what these “people” did when they were together. He owed them that much.

“Besides,” Henry said, “you probably feel a bit like a father figure to both.

“Hey! No judgment here. They were both made, by design, to respond to you and to follow you. Not blindly, of course, but with all things being equal, these two would follow you through hell and back. They can’t help it. But you’re human. You feel loyalty to them, and you feel close to them.

“You weren’t designed to be objective. No human is, really. So no judgment. But you have to know it and accept it. And know that neither I nor Allison nor Jo nor anyone else is judging, nor do we nor anyone else have the right. And besides, we like them, too.”

Henry slapped him on the back that time to buck him up. He remembered it well.

No judgment...

He picked up his radio’s mic.

“Hey, Andy,” he said, “you there?”

“I’m here Boss,” Andy said. “I just saw our two juvenile delinquents drive out of town.”

“Juvenile delinquents?” Jack laughed.

“I thought it a reasonable label, “Andy said. “They are both eighteen, after all.”

“True,” Jack agreed. “Hey, listen, I thought I could take charge for the rest of the day, and you can take off? What do you think?”

“I appreciate it, Boss,” Andy, “but I don’t need time off.”

“I know that, but it’s a Saturday, and I’ve been slacking off for the past week. I think I owe you for covering for me.”

“No, you don’t, Boss. It’s...”

“Hey, since I’m not in the smarthouse, Sarah will be all alone. I think she could use some company.”

Andy paused. “Okay, Boss. Thank you...”

Jack grinned. “I’ll see you guys in the smarthouse later.”

“See you, Boss.”

He switched off, proceeded to start on one of his random patrols, and put his radio on standby for any incoming calls - whether phone, video, intercom, email, text or voicechat (one of the bennies of being the sheriff for Eureka and GD was all the high-tech equipment).

But after doing one circuit, he felt it safe to finish off the day at the office.

When he got back, he found several boxes on his desk. Apparently, Pilar had been shopping for him again. There were four big ones this time, plus about a dozen shoeboxes on the floor. He thought he got his credit card back from Pilar already, so how did she buy all this?

“Dammit, Pilar!” he mumbled, and sat down. “My poor credit card...” When he was sitting down, the pile of boxes was higher than him.

So he stood up again to put them on the floor. On the topmost box was an envelope with a letter inside – it was from Mary, of Mary’s Uniforms and Fashions, an establishment about six doors away from Jack’s office.

Mary’s Uniforms and Fashions supplied the uniforms for GD and all the businesses in Eureka, as well as performed the main prototyping and research for GD’s now-burgeoning garment, fabrics and clothing “business.” Mary’s produces much of the cutting-edge fabrics and clothing currently standard in GD, such as all their fireproof, water-proof, chemical-proof, bulletproof and other specialty clothes for their lab, EMT, SWAT and other personnel. Even Jack and Andy’s uniforms are actually sourced from them. And per their plan, they would soon be in limited production for outside commercial sales – hopefully another revenue stream to help keep Euraka afloat.

But more than that, Mary’s also produces a lot of the usual off-the-shelf and ready-to-wear clothes, including their own equivalents of high-fashion-brand attire, for the town’s residents. Out of the four places one could purchase clothes in town, Mary’s was by far the most popular. That sounded impressive, but Eureka was still a small town, so the shop probably only has about ten walk-in customers in a day.

Anyway, according to the note, Allison had approached them and explained the clothing situation Jack was facing, and asked if they could produce clothes that would fit him regardless which of his morphs he turns into.

They knew about the problem already, of course, because of the times Jack went to them to get new uniforms. They had, in fact, made one uniform that was designed to be a fit-anyone uniform, the one he first wore when he turned to his morph of Nurse Tricia Heller from GD Medical.

So they made a whole wardrobe using materials similar to the “super-spandex” they used for that one. And this even included things like underwear, lingerie, socks and stockings. They even designed a set of shoes that could sort of stretch as well. Regardless whether he ended up with a women’s shoe size six or a size twelve, the shoes would all fit when he adjusted the small mechanical control that was on the inner side of the heel of each shoe.

Mary had actually consulted Pilar Reed about the designs and styles to use, asking her help in selecting them from the various high-fashion catalogs and patterns that they had access to. After all, Pilar was the closest to a fashion expert that they had at the moment. (Jack sighed – he was going to end up being as much of a clothes horse as Pilar, or his daughter Zoe.)

So in the four big boxes, and the dozen shoeboxes, was a complete wardrobe, which would fit him regardless of which morph he turns into, from casual to sexy, from sleepwear to exercise, from sporty to formal, or from stuff to wear around the house or stuff to wear to a boardroom meeting.

Jack looked at all of the boxes of his clothes. He felt a bit sad. That Allison whad all this prepared for him sort of implied that she didn’t have much hope that he could return to normal. That idea both scared him and made him sad.

There has to be a way, Jack thought. I don’t know if I can keep on being like this.

He thought to try morphing again. Maybe he’d be lucky this time.

He went to the office’s cupboard where he kept supplies like coffee, coffee filters, cups, saucers, biscuits, creamer, sugar, bottled juice drinks and a secret stash of his favorite pork rinds.

Jack got a tall glass, a teaspoon, a packet of Tang and the sugar jar.

He started mixing up his usual “super juice,” and took his time to dissolve the sugar and the juice powder. In fact, he ended up needing to transfer it all into another bigger tumbler to actually dissolve it all.

He sighed and sat in Allison’s high-tech diagnostic chair.

Instead of his drinking the syrupy juice in one big gulp, he decided to sip it as he looked at his reflection in the mirror that he could see through the open bathroom door.

He looked quite pretty, he thought in a melancholy way, and he contemplated the possibility that there was no way back, and he would have to live out the rest of his life this way.

If it was just him, he could probably take it. But there was Allison and Zoe, and Kimmy, Jenna and Kevin. It brought to mind the fact that he and Allison hadn’t made love since he first morphed. He didn’t know if he could stand it if that was a permanent thing.

He took a sip, and contemplated that some more. He hadn’t even tried to... explore, yet. It felt wrong somehow. But maybe he just needed a paradigm shift. Could he even?

And could Allison shift paradigms, too? Could she even contemplate him being her sexual partner now?

Truth be told, Allison and the girls, even Zoe (although he had only spoken to Zoe by phone and video – they had yet to have their usual father-daughter get-together) seemed to have accepted the change, and everything was, by and large, the same, save for the fact he and Allison haven’t done it for a while. In fact, the girls seemed to like the new Jack – it was like having a daddy and a second mommy wrapped up in one. They were actually more touchy-feely with him now, and he liked that. Allison, too, actually.

But then there was Kevin.

Kev was obviously doing his best to adjust, for the sake of Allison and for Jack’s sake, too, actually. But for a teenage, almost-adult boy, Jack could sympathize with Kev. Being around a constant parade of different gorgeous women, and all of them his stepfather – Jack understood. So he didn’t bother Kev too much. He was actually proud of him for being able to conduct himself in a gentlemanly way. Well, almost, he thought, laughing. That deserved another sip.

He supposed, if he had to, he could live this way forever, and he thought his family could, as well, although he thought it likely that it would end in a divorce for him and Allison – not the bad kind, to be sure, but a divorce nevertheless.

I guess I could stand that, he thought, but it hasn’t come to that, yet.

With that, he finished off the last of his juice, praying that this time he’ll morph back to Jack Carter. He gave the cute blonde in the mirror a smile and a wink, and sat back in the chair.

He switched the chair’s sensors on and waited for the change, and in a few minutes it happened.

Nothing major really – he was already used to it by now. And when the buzzer went off, the first thing he did was look at his hands – something he did reflexively by now.

They weren’t his hands. They were still a girl’s hands.

He looked at the mirror. Yes, it was indeed another girl.

- - - - -

Dutifully, he updated the other chairs by triggering the update function, and updated the EM device as well. He looked at the “portfolio” and identified that he was now the near-clone of Dr. Emily Rosewater, one of Mary’s people in her shop, and a chemical engineer.

Jack’s Emily morph was now his nineteenth, at least according to the EM device’s counter. Too bad it wasn’t his Jack Carter morph.

He still had twelve morphs so he kept his fingers crossed. Actually, he had eleven more morphs – there were eleven more people that had donated their DNA whose morphs they haven’t seen yet. Allison and Grace were just assuming that a Jack Carter morph makes it twelve, but Jack knew there wasn’t any assurance of that.

Still, Jack resolved not to lose hope until he’s gone through all his morphs. So, until then...

His phone beeped with a new text. It seems Henry wants another confab first thing tomorrow, and he was asking Jack if he could call Allison back again.

Jack frowned but it wasn’t like Henry would do this on a whim. Fargo must have unearthed something big to warrant him asking Allison to come back.

Jack looked at his watch – it was almost five in the afternoon, and to get Allison back within the day, Allison will have to fly back.

So, Jack, with approval from Henry, booked a chartered business jet to bring Allison home. That means Allison would be back within two or three hours.

Jack then sent a text to Allison, explaining the situation. She texted back that she’ll be leaving the kids with Marcus and her folks, and will get to the airport ASAP.

Jack sent back a reply, and said he’ll just meet her at the house later.

As he tried to get comfortable in the diagnostic chair, Jack had to unbutton his shirt. Seems his Emily morph was not as slim as his Taylor morph. He got busy bringing his new wardrobe into his jeep, but he could only fit in half.

So he brought half of the shoeboxes and two of the big boxes back to the smarthouse. He then went back to the office and brought the rest back.

He then spent the next hour hanging all of his new clothes up and putting away his new underwear and shoes.

Surprisingly, it was hard work. But at least it was done. With all the clothes, he ended up taking over the guest room. But that was okay, he thought – they didn’t need a guest room in the smarthouse anymore: they had the other house for that.

He decided to take a quick shower and maybe pick something from the new stuff to wear.

As he finished his shower, his phone beeped – it was Allison texting that she was just landing, and should be home in a while.

As Jack read the text, an idea started to form. Knowing Allison, she’ll probably stop over at Café Diem before heading home, and grab a smoothie, a “vince-spresso” or maybe Vince’s version of Boba Tea.

Jack decided to surprise her and meet her at the café.

From the new clothes he just hung up, he picked a semi-casual blouse, blazer, slacks and medium pumps – stuff that seemed more appropriate for the office. And, as promised, the clothes did indeed fit her, though it was a little snug, especially the underwear, but not uncomfortably so.

He assumed that would be the case for most of the other clothes but he didn’t mind it much – it was better than buttons popping. And his morphs looked dynamite in form-fitting clothes.

He then spent a bit of time blow-drying and brushing her now-strawberry blonde hair. He didn’t bother with makeup, though he did put some gloss the way he saw Zoe do it, and went out.

- - - - -

He then went to the café, parking his jeep in his usual spot in front of the sheriff’s office.

He waved to Vincent and, acting like he didn’t know him, Jack ordered a cup of coffee and a biscotti.

So he sat at the counter waiting for Allison.

Eventually, Allison arrived. Jack saw that she had gotten a ride from the neighboring town’s taxi service, and came in with just a small carry-on.

“Hi, Vince,” Allison said. “Can I get something cold to drink? It’s been a hell of a plane ride.”

Vince nodded and came back with a large milk-colored drink with a straw. Allison plopped down on the chair right beside Jack. Jack smiled at Allison in a friendly sort of way, like a friendly stranger would at someone, and nodded.

Allison smiled back and took a sip of her shake.

“Back so soon?” Vince asked. “Didn’t you just leave?”

“I know,” Allison smiled tiredly, “but Jack called. Henry wants to meet tomorrow about something important, Jack says.”

“Oooh! It’s probably connected to Fargo being here.”

Allison’s eyebrows shot up. “Fargo’s back in Eureka already? Wow!”

“Yes. He arrived this afternoon, with Holly. I’m surprised Jack didn’t tell you.”

Allison shrugged. “It’s my fault. I told Jack not to call unless it’s an emergency.”

At that point, Jack cleared his throat.

“Sorry for eavesdropping,” he said, “I take it you’re a local?”

Allison looked at the friendly stranger. “Yes, you could say that,” she replied.

“Well, I’m just passing through town. My name’s Emily, by the way.” He stuck his hand out.

“I’m Allison.” She shook the proffered hand. Allison gestured to Vince. “That’s Vincent. He runs the café.”

Jack shook Vince’s hand as well, still acting like he was just a friendly stranger.

“Pleased to meet you,” Jack said. I was hoping to get some directions?”

“Sure.” Allison looked at the girl. She was tall for a girl, and very pretty. She seemed familiar but Allison couldn’t match the face with a name.

“I’m supposed to meet someone for a date here.”

“Ahhh. Well, what’s the name?”

“His name’s Jack Carter? We were supposed to meet earlier but I was late.”

Allison looked at the girl, with large, shocked eyes.

“You have a date with Jack Carter?” Allison asked. “Are you sure you have the name right?”

“I think so. He’s supposed to be the sheriff around here.”

Allison looked at the girl with some hostility. She couldn’t believe Jack would do something like that. And then it dawned on her.

“Jack, you dirty...” Yes - he looked like one of the pictures from the file.

Jack couldn’t hold it in anymore and exploded in laughter.

“Oh, if you could only see your face!” he said, and continued to chortle.

Allison’s anger was slowly climbing, but Jack gave her a hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

Vince and everyone in earshot started laughing and chuckling, not in a mean way, but more like laughter at someone falling for an April fool’s joke.

Allison’s anger and embarrassment slowly melted away. Only Jack could ever do that with her. She answered his hug and kissed him back on the cheek.

“You stinker,” she said with a giggle.