Slowly, the rest of what she had seen, but hadn't yet grasped, dawned on her. Looking down at her breasts, she held them as her mind raced in desperation searching for solid ground. Her reasoning and sanity were in doubt. A blizzard of questions and answers swirled in and out of her mind. Nothing was there she could comprehend. Questions screamed for proper answers. Her mind searched in a futile effort to snatch logic from a whirlpool of illogical, irrational denominators. There wasn’t a match anywhere.

Her mind was racing in overdrive in a quest of anything realistic it could lock onto. Numb with disbelief she leaned forward and put both hands on the mirror. It was as if she was trying to physically push the image away. She straightened up. Staring into the mirror she ran her fingers through her hair. Lifting it up and out she let it slip through her fingers and fall softly over her shoulders. Her mind didn’t believe what she was seeing or feeling. One more time she leaned toward the mirror. She looked into those liquid sapphire blue eyes with the extra long, thick, lush, lashes and exquisitely arched eyebrows. The full, attractively sexy lips, high cheek bones, and small upturned nose left no doubt.

The reality slammed into her mind like a freight train. As she turned for the door she screamed. "DAVID!"

David jumped out of his skin. Bolting for the door in the same direction the scream came from he knew the woman must have found Karen dead somewhere. Sliding through the bathroom door, he ran into the woman he found on the floor a few minutes earlier. Off balance, he threw his arms around her to keep both of them from falling. With his arms embracing her half naked body, her face so close to his he could feel her breath, he looked into those startled sapphire eyes, and realized with a quickening heart what he was holding.

David made a hop and turned loose so quickly he knocked her backwards. He reached out to steady her a second time.

She intercepted his hands by grabbing them. "WOULD YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"

David didn't know what to say. It wasn't as if he was fondling her on purpose. He was only wanting to help. "I was trying to keep you from falling."

She looked at him incredulously. "How? By running over me?"

"You were screaming."

"Of course I screamed. You would scream too if you looked like me! Just look at me!" She looked down at herself when she said it. It came to her she wasn't exactly decent. "No, don't look at me. I mean, look at how I look. No, that isn't what I mean either."

She was tugging on her lab coat and trying without any success to cover herself. With a fist full of fabric in each hand, it only came to the sides of her breasts, no matter how hard she pulled.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?”

"I didn't do anything to you! You were like this when I found you on the floor this morning." He couldn't believe she was accusing him of molesting her or taking her clothes apart.

"NO, DAMN IT! Look at what your stupid computer did to me! How could you let this happen?" Karen gave up on her lab coat covering anything besides her back and covered her breasts with her hands as best as possible. It only emphasized their enormous size and did little else.

This woman's elevator didn't go all the way to the top floor. Maybe she was on a bad trip with angel dust, acid, or LSD? Now she was accusing his computer of molesting her. Backing out the door, David tried to put as much space as possible between them before she became violent. He was wondering if he could manage her if she became aggressive.

"Lady, you have some major problems. Tell you what. You remain calm while I make a phone call. Okay?" If David could talk her into staying where she was without any bloodshed, he planned on phoning the hospital and have them send over the funny farm crew to pick her up.

What David was insinuating wasn't lost on her. "David, stop treating me like a loony. Look at me."

He thought that was an understatement. It was all he had been able to do since he found her on the floor. He guessed he could kiss off the idea of this woman staying calm. Obviously, she wasn't going to cooperate.

"This is me! Karen! Or what used to be Karen. Karen Long. Remember me, David?"

She followed him into the hallway and was still trying to inject some reality into what she was trying to convey to him. "David, listen to me. You can't call the hospital, nine one one, or anyone else. We’ll lose our jobs."

"David, what kind of DNA program did you leave loaded up in your computer last night? I used it to get a couple of aspirin for my migraine headache. I ran the program you made for me and this is what I ended up with."

His eyes narrowed to slits as a frown spread across David’s face. Complete disbelief was written all over him. Just as Karen had been a couple of minutes earlier, he was in total shock. He shook his head to clear his mind and his emotions. "Lady, ain't no way on God's green earth you will ever convince me, YOU, could possibly be Karen Long. You and Karen, along with that guy Henry must have worked a long time to come up with this one. I have to admit you had me going for a second but I ain't buying what you're selling."

"I have things to do. As much as I have enjoyed looking at you half-naked, I have to leave." He retreated into the living room as he spoke and was about to turn around for the door.

"David, please..., wait. You must believe me. I’m telling you the truth. I had a terrible headache last night. I went down to your lab to get your computer to spring for a couple of pills. I plugged the cartridge you..."

"Oh, noooo." Karen had her hand in her right coat pocket about to pull out David's card to convince him she was on the level. Her hand was wrapped around the magnetic card and the cartridge. In her left pocket, her fingers were on another data storage cartridge. With a terrible sinking feeling she realized what had happened when Oliver interrupted her in front of David’s lab.

"David, I fed your computer a program of the model Henry and I were working on last night. No wonder I had such a terrible time getting it to load the program. It kept trying to spit it back out and refusing input commands. I have to get back to my lab. Henry can straighten this out. I mean, he can make me back into me again. Oooh shit! What I’m trying to say is, he can give me back my old body. Me, Karen Long."

As bad as he wanted to escape, David couldn't take his eyes off this woman. She had to be every man's dream with a hundred pluses thrown in. He looked at the keys, the cartridge, and back to her face. It was an unbelievable story she was telling him. Looking at her made him want to believe it anyway.

"Karen, if it’s really you then you better sit down for this. We have problems I don't think you want to hear. In fact, I think we both need to sit down. I don't want to hear what I’m going to say either"

With David's sombre voice a calm settled over both of them. Karen was quiet long enough to realize she still wasn't decent. "Just a minute and let me get something to cover up with. Even though this isn't me I don't think you should be looking at it."

In a few seconds she returned from the bedroom with a bathrobe. It wasn't large enough, so she covered herself by wrapping it around the front of her. Sitting down in one of the covered chairs in the living room, she and David looked at one another in unknowing anticipation. She decided she would have to explain first if this was to be taken care of.

"Henry and I were designing a duplicate last night when I started getting one of my migraine headaches. I pulled the program you made for me so I could get your computer to pop me a couple of aspirin. Henry also gave me the program storage cartridge we made up for the duplicate we had been working on. Somewhere between your lab and mine I managed to get the two mixed up. I fed your computer the data cartridge of the model. Even though I designed your computer, I find it hard to believe it could follow Henry's complete program. I bet it had a haemorrhage coughing up those two pills."

"There isn't any problem, right? I’ll ask Henry to make up the old Karen Long and have your computer come through one more time with the correct pills. Then I will be my old self again. Right, David?" Karen was begging David to agree with her.

At last David knew who this Henry was. There was no way Karen and her computer could be running a program detailed enough to furnish the information his computer required to manufacture DNA structures. Karen and her computer only produced plastic people in her lab. Yet..., she didn't know everything he was doing, why should he take it as a given he would automatically know everything about the work she was doing in her lab?

"Karen, we have been doing DNA research for some time. Of course, that much you already knew. What you didn't know were the results of our research on the animals we have done experiments on. Oh, it wasn't much, but it represented quantum leaps in knowledge to us. I would program in a change in molecular structure after we had analysed the original molecule and DNA strands. The change might be something like a DNA splice on number forty-one DNA in Y chromosome."

"Some of our success stories were we could grow a few extra hairs on a mouse foot. I mean just that. We could grow a few extra hairs. Sometimes we could get a genetic inheritance in the offspring but not always. It takes years to get one DNA change to take root and stay in the chromosome structure. Usually it would be bred out in the following generations. It took a lot of time to get the gene splicers, along with the right DNA change into the computer."

"However, even with all the success stories, we had one obstacle we couldn't overcome. We put in a reverse program which didn't work. What I’m saying is, once the change is programmed in, we couldn't take it out. We weren't able to splice the DNA change twice in the same position in the DNA structure. In every case, there was massive cellular disruption. The results were tragic. All the test animals died."

"I don't believe I’m looking at Karen Long. If I am, we better get use to the idea this is what she is going to look like forever. It’s a one way trip."

Karen held up her hand and took a long, long, look at it. She took a deep breath and sighed. "No..., no, you're wrong. Henry can make it happen. Let's get down to the lab and get started on putting me back together."

David choked. Hacking and sputtering, he was having trouble collecting his thoughts. "You can't go down there like that! We'll never get past the gate guard."

He stepped back and admired her exceptional beauty from head to toe. "I have an idea. While the security guards are concentrating on you and their senses go into overload, I’ll get out and push them over. They will be passed out on the ground and we can drive through."

In spite of the situation, Karen smiled. After all, she designed this body and she knew exactly what David was talking about. Provided one was into looking at this kind of body. She and Henry made this particular model for one reason, to attract attention. Lots of attention.

"I don’t have a single piece of clothing which will fit this..., this..." She spread her arms out as her eyes shifted from side to side before she looked at David again. She didn't quite know how to explain what she was without sounding like something else. She was supposed to be a mannequin, or the design of one.

David stood on one leg, then the other, while Karen made a feeble attempt at describing herself. He was afraid of getting involved. He didn’t want to help her rationalize what she was trying to say. This situation was so bizarre he still didn’t quite believe it.

She gave up and decided to tell him what she had to have. "I need some clothes so I can get back into my lab. I can't go down there like this. I certainly don't have any shoes I can walk in. My feet were designed to fit a size seven shoe with a five inch heel. David, you have to find me some clothes I can wear. If I give you a list do you think you can remember everything or do I need to write it down for you?"

David felt like he had fallen into an abyss. He was sinking deeper and deeper. In spite of what his common sense kept telling him, he was beginning to think this could possibly be Karen. Looking at her killed the thinking processes.

Ah, what the hell! When in doubt, plunge ahead. "Give me your shopping list and I’ll get it filled. Provided they have your size in this town."

Karen stuck her tongue out at him. David was a good friend but she promised herself she would get even with him for his last sarcastic remark.

"I certainly don't need a tape to take measurements, since I designed myself last night. I need a forty four double D bra, size twelve dress, a size ten panties and a size seven shoe with a five inch heel would be nice. Make sure the dress is knit, with lots of stretch. I won't be able to slip on anything else."

David left with the promise to be back within the hour. If this was on the up and up, Karen had made a leap in physics and chemistry beyond comprehension. She and Henry had to have everything in the human body listed in chronological order, the DNA spirals, the chromosome links, and all the molecules. No, it was impossible.

A program capable of storing that kind of information wasn't possible. It couldn't be accomplished by a thousand programmers, much less one woman. No way could Karen have devoted the time and research necessary to acquire that amount of information. The physical aspects of putting all this data into a computer would be staggering for a university to accomplish. All the research and time required to load up one person's physical make-up? Nah, no way. She only manufactured plastic people. It had to be a mistake in his computer. But if it was his computer where the mistake had been made, how did it change her so completely? His best efforts in research were one single DNA change in one chromosome and he had been doing this for years. His program was locked up in storage files, not left in memory. Besides, one DNA change does not a whole person make.

David was still running all the possibilities through his mind when he returned. Of all the answers he could think of, not one came close to what this woman was telling him. His doubts as to his being duped or not had slipped back into his thoughts. That was the most feasible answer, but it wasn't the best answer. What could be their motive?

From the time David left to find her some clothes, to the time he returned, Karen accomplished very little. Removing her clothes, or what was left of them, proved to be a task in itself. She cut her pants off with scissors since the waist band didn't stretch enough to slip over her hips. Her blouse and lab coat were no problem, of course. They didn't have any buttons left. Their buttons were scattered across the floor where David found her this morning. She didn't have to worry about where her bra was. She usually didn't wear one. The old Karen didn't have enough breast to fill an A cup. She found wearing a brassiere a nuisance when she wasn't out in public, or trying to pretend she had enough shape to fill a dress like a woman.

Well, that problem was certainly over with, for the moment anyway. There couldn't be any doubt in anyone's mind she was a woman. Even if she was wearing a rain barrel.

Karen wrapped a sheet around herself and was waiting in the living room when David returned. He set a couple of sacks down on the couch beside her. "I called a friend who goes out to the lake or opera with me once in awhile. I asked her where I could find the items you needed. I got the feeling she thought I was getting kinky or something when I first talked to her. She said anytime I felt like dressing a woman for work, or other things, to stop by her house and dress her. I sure gave that one a lot of thought. Nice girl. Anyway, she came through for me and got me into several places where they normally don't open until after nine. These were probably the only places in town with the clothes you could wear."

"I managed to find everything you asked for, and of course, something you forgot. I picked up stockings after my friend reminded me. If you're right about everything else in the house not fitting, then I didn't think you would have any of those either. I told the sales gal I was buying my girlfriend a complete outfit for her birthday. I don't think she believed any of it. Doesn't matter. I also picked up some jewellery to go along with your dress. I never saw Karen wear jewellery of any kind, but you really wouldn't look right without it."

Karen stood up and lifted the bags off the couch. "Thanks. Don't run off. I need to ride in with you. My security pass won't get me in by myself. The guards never look at the passenger if the driver has all the right stickers and pass ID. I’ll turn my ID so they can see I have one. Unless I’m extremely unlucky, they won't even take a second look at me. I have never seen them check any of the passengers as long as I have worked there."

With a sack in each hand, she was no longer holding on to the sheet wrapped around her. Halfway down the hall it worked lose and fell to the floor. Karen stopped, looked down at the sheet lying around her ankles, and then back over her shoulder at David. He never blinked, but his eyes told the whole story.

Karen stepped out of the sheet and using her foot pushed the bedroom door shut behind her.

David broke out in cold sweats. How could he let himself get involved in this crazy scheme? Why was he letting this woman talk him into driving her to the Commercial Technologies building? Probably for the same reason the guards were going to let them through the gate. She overwhelmed the senses. If he could make a bet with anyone right now, he would make a wager the guards would never see the stickers on his car, his ID. For that matter, they wouldn't even see his car. Not with this woman riding with him.

David decided to leave while the woman who claimed to be Karen was still dressing in the bedroom and he had control of his mind. This was insanity. Driving this woman to Comm Tech would cost him his job.

His hand was on the door knob, but silent escape was not to be. Karen was good as her word. She was back almost as quickly as she said she would be.

"Good, I see you're ready to go. Its’ close to eight and the traffic will be heaviest about now. The guards will be more concerned about keeping the traffic moving than checking cars."

The dress Karen was wearing was a short, midnight blue, shimmering lurex. A silver chain belt accented her tiny waist and exaggerated her abundant breasts and curvaceous hips. The dress had long sleeves and a deeply cut v-neckline exposing a black bodice. Abundant cleavage left no doubt, this was all woman.

David found his voice had left him. He wanted to tell her he changed his mind. It was no use. Some things were impossible. Now it was forgotten and the farthest thing from his mind.

"Oh, my God!" It escaped as a whisper and wasn’t what he had intended to say.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. Everything about her was suggestive. Suggestive to what? Was it her or was it wishful thinking on his part? God, how she screwed up the thinking processes. The mind vapour locked when the eyes began looking. He knew several beautiful women. Why did this particular one trample his mind so?.

Platinum blond hair spread softly across her shoulders. Karen brushed it back as she slid her purse strap up on her shoulder, and checked her earrings. Pierced ears were something new to her. She had a little trouble finding the holes. However, she got it right and the black onyx stones, set at the end of two inch silver chains, looked perfect with her outfit.

Looking down at her midnight blue heels she slid her hands down the skirt as she ever so slightly shimmied inside the dress to help roll the wrinkles out. "Not bad. First time this morning I have been able to stand comfortably."

She glanced across the floor at David, who hadn't moved since she walked back into the room. "Come on David. Build a fire under it. Let's get going."

The woman was out the door and halfway down the side walk before David's senses came back to him. He realized she had left him behind. He caught up with her beside the car. "This isn't going to work. They’re going to take one look and know someone who looks like you doesn't work for Comm Tech."

Karen leaned over sideways to check her stockings. She slid a hand up the calf of her right leg to even out the stretch in the stocking. David's mind went numb as he opened the car door for her. No, it wasn't just wishful thinking on his part. She was suggestive.

No one in her whole life ever opened a door for her. Certainly never David before now. She was pleasantly surprised. "Thank you, David. Tell me why don't you think this is going to work? I have a Comm Tech badge. I look like a hundred other passengers who ride to Comm Tech everyday."

He reached into the back seat and pulled out his lab coat. "It isn't going to work because of .... You sure as heck don’t look like any other passengers I have ever seen before and I’ll bet a thousand dollars none of the security guards have either. Here, put this on and put your ID on the collar. It isn't going to help, but maybe it will make you look a little more official. That dress you’re wearing certainly doesn't look very damn official."

As Karen slipped on the lab coat, David checked out her attire and shook his head. He was mumbling under his breath as he stared at that beautiful hair of hers cascading across her shoulders. "There is no way this is going to work."

Karen slid into the seat and he closed the door. Walking around to the driver's side, he plopped in under the steering wheel and snapped his seat belt. He motioned for Karen to do the same. She made several attempts to get hers buckled and finally gave up. They needed some major adjustments.

She clipped her Comm Tech badge to her lapel and settled back into the seat. "Would you quit saying this isn't going to work. I’m nervous enough already and you’re only making it worse."

Starting the car and backing out into the street, David was actually relieved there was something to occupy his mind besides staring at the woman beside him. "Well, if we both get fired.... No, when I get fired I want you to know, you flushed fifteen years of my life down the toilet. I won't be able to find a job passing out free water in the desert."

Karen wasn't amused. "If I don't get a chance to get back into my lab so Henry can put me back together, then your computer flushed my whole life down the toilet. I can't look like this for the rest of my life. This kind of body doesn’t fit into my life style. I don't need these complications right now."

David pulled out onto Mileline Highway and headed for the lab. "You keep blaming me and my computer. I guarantee you, neither me nor my computer did this to you. Even if I had access to every computer in the world and all the financial backing I wanted, it just isn't possible. I couldn't design anything like you. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to begin. I don't believe Karen and her stupid jelly machine, the one you keep calling Henry, could do anything remotely similar either. I’ll admit, she was turning out some very real, lifelike, mannequins in her department, but they’re only dummies. Plastic people put in a mould and baked in an oven until done. You know, like making cookies. What she is doing isn't even close to the research necessary to begin cellular programming."

As long as he wasn’t looking at her, his emotions didn’t override his reasoning. He knew this woman couldn't be Karen Long. If he let her talk him into driving her into Comm Tech without a security pass he was going to get fired. What could possibly be her motive? An industrial spy hunting secrets about his research? Maybe a reporter looking for a story about how easy it was to get into Comm Tech? Could be she was insane? He was thinking he was insane himself to go along with this harebrained scheme. Who said insanity wasn't contagious? You get around an insane person and pretty soon you’re thinking just like them.

Karen tried a couple of more times to get the seat belt buckled, then gave up. They didn't make seat belts with her in mind. She brought her left leg up under herself as she swivelled around in the seat to face him, and leaned her shoulder back against the door. "Listen, almighty know it all, I have been running programs for years which would make your computer have a nervous break down. I should know, I wrote the programs and designed the computer you're using. Henry is more than capable of hooking into your computer and telling you where you have been messing up in your DNA testing. I also know for a fact Henry has been busy checking out everything else in the building."

She picked up David's car phone and dialled her own lab. If she was lucky it would pass the switch board up front and she would get a direct connection with Henry. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Henry knows security better than anyone in Comm Tech. If there is a way past security, Henry will know how. He can tell us how to get in."

David took a quick glance in her direction. "What is your computer doing messing with security? The only thing you do in your lab is make plastic dummies. Isn't that all you do down there?"

He realized, with great dissatisfaction, she had suckered him into believing she was Karen Long again. What was it about this woman that entranced him so? She had to be an impostor. When he looked at her or talked to her, he wanted to believe her story. His mind was telling him, 'no way' and his eyes were telling him, yes, yes, yes. Goes to show, your eyes will deceive you and lie to you. Never trust your eyes to tell you the truth, especially if a beautiful woman is involved.

Karen was disappointed when a voice came on the phone. It was Linda, the front receptionist. "Linda, I need to talk to Karen Long. Would you ring extension five four, please?"

Henry didn't require a voice analyser to know who he was talking to. "Karen, this is Henry. Even if it is coming from David's car phone I didn't know who was calling. I was going to shift whoever it was to hold and let them wait until they got disgusted and hung up. Where have you been? I tried all night to phone you. In fact I stopped your phone from ringing a couple of seconds ago. I was digitizing Linda's voice so no one would know you weren't here. Pretty good huh? I sound more like her than she does herself. Humans don't...,"

"Henry, shut up and listen for a second? I have a major problem. I need to get into the lab. I’m riding with David and we’re afraid we might have trouble getting past security at the gate. Can you help?"

Henry didn't ask what her problem was. If his Karen wanted help getting past the guard at the gate, he would take care of it. He ran a check on the employee list and security ratings for her and David. They came up with a twenty-four-hour clearance. He ran David's car through the check. All of his passes were up to date. Running Karen and David through violations showed nothing. These two were the epitome of Mr. Corporation America. Both were squeaky clean.

It took him a second to do the checks and then answer her question. "Drive up to the tower gate and come through the same way you always have. I will take care of everything. Don't stop at the gate, even if the guard doesn't wave you through. Don't stop. Do you understand?"

Karen hung up, and repeated to David what Henry told her. He slowed down for the turn off of Mileline Highway at the Commercial Technologies gate.

He didn't believe a word of it. "There’s no way you and that computer of yours could carry on a conversation like the one you just had. They’re pieces of equipment. They have memory chips, programming, and no brains to think with."

"We’re there. Sit up in the seat and try to look official. A very important official. You know VIP. For goodness sakes, don't slouch down in the seat and try to hide. It would only make them more suspicious. With a little luck we might be able to pull this off."

His eyes shifted in her direction and David shook his head. He didn't tell her what he was really thinking. No one who looked like her had ever worked for Comm Tech and the guards would realize that as soon as they spotted her. All the luck in the world wasn't going to get them past that gate guard. His research, his career, his whole life was going down the tubes because of one woman. He wished harder than ever he had left this problem at home and not became involved. How did he let himself get talked into this ludicrouscy?

Karen had no intention of slouching down in the seat, even before David mentioned it. "You pay attention to your driving and try not to look scared. Henry said he would get us through and he will."

The guard’s red phone began ringing as he waved the car ahead of David through the gate. Without looking at the car the guard automatically waved David through as he answered the phone. "Gate four security, this is Mac speaking."

Using the security camera, Henry watched as David and his passenger came to the gate and at the right time placed the call. "Mac, this is ‘THE OFFICE’. We received a notification a red Ford van might try to get through the gates without checking in for a visitor's pass. Have you seen anything suspicious yet?"

Mac took a quick look to see what he had waved through. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a car. "Nuthin ‘as gotten by me ‘ere at my gate. No body better try to sneak in on me watch. I can spot intruders before they ever turn off the effin’ ‘ighway."

Henry was well pleased with himself. "Okay Mac, they probably won't show but we wanted to make sure you were alerted in case they tried. Keep up the good work. I’ll put a note in your file. We don't have to worry about your gate while you're on duty."

Mac's chest swelled with pride as Henry cut the connection. He knew he was doing an excellent job. And, the front office had noticed.

Henry watched David and his passenger drive into the parking tower. The cameras were probably the cheapest ones money could buy and still transmit some resemblance of a picture. It didn't help when the lens were dirty and scratched. He did an enhancement. Not much better. He was doing good to make out David's car. Why did they call this security?

David didn't have any trouble finding a spot in the tower. He had his own personalized parking space. That space wasn't very close to the main building. He never minded it before. It helped him get his exercise. At times like this he realized how far his parking space was from Comm Tech proper. He sure minded the distance now.

Karen was out of the car as soon as David stopped. There wasn't any reason to prolong the inevitable. If she didn't stop and think about it, she might not get so scared she couldn't walk. She felt close to the ragged edge now.

Although they were poor quality cameras, the ones in the tower weren't as dirty and scratched as the ones exposed to the weather. With enhancement Henry took a look at the passenger getting out of David's car. Could a computer register an emotional shock? No wonder Karen needed someone to run interference when she and David came through the gate. If Mac had seen Karen, Henry doubted very seriously if he would have waved them through. In fact, the odds were over ten thousand to one. No, Mac wouldn't have waved them through.

David locked his car doors and strode around to where Karen was standing. "I guess we might as well make a break for it. We can't stand here all day."

Karen checked her dress to make sure she was in it right. She slid her hands down her waist and over her hips to smooth everything out. She turned her head over her shoulder and leaned backwards to check her stockings and heels. She would be glad when this nightmare was over. It required time and experience to act like a lady. Something Karen never had to do in her whole life. It certainly wasn’t something she wanted to start now.

The man getting out of the car next to Karen, backed up against the door and took a hard look. What he said was plain enough to David because David was having the same kind of thoughts. "Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmercy."

The woman was a magnet for attention. David took her by the arm. He had to get her inside and out of sight. "Come on! You’re drawing a crowd. What am I saying? You’re going to draw a crowd as soon as you move."

Karen fell into step alongside David, as he had a grip on her arm and literally muscled her along. She took a quick look in his direction. "What do you mean, I’m going to draw a crowd as soon as I move?"

David tried his best to look nonchalant while checking out everyone and everything around them. He was trying his best to not look as if he was looking at everyone. He spared her a quick glance. "I meant just what I said. Do you think you could tone down that walk? Your looks, your walk, everything about you invites attention like honey draws flies. It’s probably too late, but the last thing we need is someone gossiping about the drop dead, good-looking blond they saw this morning. Maybe the gossip mill won't spread all the way to the head office today."

Fat chance. There was as much possibility of this juicy bit of information not making the head office as there was of experiencing an ice blizzard in the Sahara. He tried to not think about what they were going to do when they found out who she was with. That company which offered him a sign-on bonus last month? Could they still be looking for help? Maybe, if he called them as soon as he got into his lab he might talk them into a contract before they found out what he had done? Would that contract be legal? They were pretty hard up for doctors in Chile, would they accept him there? David ran all the possibles through his mind. None of them looked promising..

For David’s sake, Karen was trying her best to look inconspicuous but it wasn't working. "I can't walk any differently than I am because I’m built this way. The body was designed with the measurements I have and everything fits into a particular programming. If I tried to walk any differently, I would look even more conspicuous."

His head snapped around and his eyes fastened on her like lasers. He was about to take a measured look from head to toe. He didn't get any farther than head to breasts. He closed his eyes. Swallowing hard, David looked her in the eye. Realizing that was a mistake, he looked away again. "Lady, there is no way on God's little green earth, you could look any more conspicuous than you already do. Every single person in this parking lot is looking at you. If they aren't, it’s because they’re brain dead or blind. The men desire you, the women are jealous of you."

"I only hope we can make it to the building before you develop a following. If we get to the lab without being spotted, then maybe, just maybe, we might get to play with the computer before someone finds us. You can bet your life they will lock both of us up for security violation."