If you read this and think "I have read this already, please return to part nine, that was a glitch in posting. Part nine has new content, that needs to go before this, Sorry!

As Beth walked back to her office Karen started up her car. Now if she could get by Max, she would see if she could find a parking space in the tower. People who showed up late for work usually ended up parking across the street from Comm Tech and walking a half mile to work. If she was lucky someone would have already come and left today leaving her a spot.

Max didn't have enough courage to stop her again. He wanted to but he could see the pass sticker on her car as she turned off the highway. As long as he could remember, no one ever picked up a pass as quickly as she did. Usually it took someone an hour or two to get a permanent Comm Tech pass stuck on their windshield. Miss Long was back in twenty minutes. She must have a lot of pull with the company. He wondered if he made a mistake in stopping her the first time? He waved her on through.

No one was in the parking tower but it looked as if every space was taken. Karen thought she would have to park across the street before she found a spot at the far end of the tower. If David could have his own personal spot, why couldn't she? A parking space was reserved for all department heads, that is every one except her. It was one of life's little discrepancies she had never thought about before.

Using the security cameras, Henry followed Karen through the gate and into the tower. He couldn't see the empty space where she parked because no cameras were mounted in that end of the tower. Some changes would have to be made. She was out of camera view too long for him to like.

Karen thought she would miss running into anyone between her car and the lab. Everything was going fine until she turned the corner of the hallway leading to her department. She felt panic. Karl Adder was standing by her door pushing buttons on the security lock and having little success at getting the door open.

"You need something from my lab?" She said it with a lot more calm than she felt.

He looked around for the source of the voice. "Kind of over-dressed for work, aren't we? Or maybe you don't work here? I came down to check on how you were progressing in my department. It’s a good thing I did. You seem to be a little lax about the time when you come to work. I bet you aren't slow when it comes time to pick up your pay check."

It scared her. This guy was insane. Without saying anything she mouthed the word, 'security', and hoped Henry was watching.

"I don't believe I’m working for you, Mr. Adder. Nor is my department under you. As far as taking time off, I believe if you care to check in accounting, you will find me logged out for today. ALL DAY. In case you aren't intelligent enough to figure it out, let me spell it out for you. I don't have to be here right now. I’m on my own time, not company time."

"As far as the way I’m dressed? I don't think it is any of your business under any circumstances. I will dress anyway I damn well please, and what you think is irrelevant!"

Karl couldn't see them because they came into the hall behind him. At a dead run, they were upon them before he realized they weren't alone anymore. Karen thought it would bring an end to this conversation she didn't want. She was wrong.

"You are in my department, bitch. It belongs to me. I hired your cousin when she needed a job. I helped convince the planning committee to build this department. I taught your cousin everything she knew. I have seniority rights over you because I was here a long time before you ever came along. I deserve all the credit for the work this department has done. Your cousin was an ungrateful bitch. She never told anyone how much I helped her. She wanted all the prestige for all the work I did. Everything you are doing is my ideas and effort. It’s about time you realized who is the boss of this department. I made this department what it is today."

The guards surrounded them, but instead of taking in the situation it was Karen they were all looking at. There was no doubt security was the last thing on their mind. This time she didn't mind. She felt better knowing they were there no matter whom they were looking at or what they had on their mind.

Karen was so mad and upset she was almost screaming. "You insane little man! You had absolutely nothing to do with any of the work my cousin did in this building. Much less anything she did in this department. Your greed for something which doesn't belong to you is unbelievable. I got my job because I was the best qualified for the work. If it had been left to you she would have never been hired. You turned me down because I was a woman, however they needed a computer engineer so badly, they went ahead and hired me over your objections."

Your condescending attitude toward all women who work under you leaves everyone around you with no doubt you have a very slim hold on your manhood. Not because of you but in spite of you, I put this department together and made it what it is today. You can't draw pictures on a computer screen when it is connect the dots. Anything above a pocket calculator is above your intelligence, and that would probably be stretching it!"

Karen was hot. Really hot. She whirled around toward her lab, and the door opened for her. "Make sure he doesn't follow me into my lab."

None of the guards moved. She figured she would be lucky if the whole bunch didn't follow her. No one had a chance. The door slammed shut behind her as she stepped inside.

Karl was screaming at the steel security door. "BITCH, THIS IS MY DEPARTMENT! DO YOU HEAR ME, BITCH? MY DEPARTMENT! WE’LL SEE WHO’S THE BIG CHEESE AROUND HERE! YOU’LL REGRET EVER CROSSING ME, BITCH!"

Once Karen was out of sight, the guards remembered what they were there for. They weren't pleased with the way Karl was talking to Miss Long. A couple of guards closed in on each side of Karl. "Mr. Adder, I think you better come with us back to your own department."

Karl had to even if he didn't want to. They would have dragged him back down the hall. They knew whom Department Fifty Four belonged to and it wasn't Karl Adder. Bill had posted a memo in every department explaining in great detail who was running fifty-four. Now, only the board of directors could change who ran this department.

"I was a little slow in getting the calvary to the rescue." Henry was talking to her so she would calm down.

"Henry, I probably did myself up this time. Karl pulls a lot of weight with this company. He spends most of his time brown-nosing all the executive personnel."

"Don't let it worry you. He is transparent to most of them."

"I don't think so. Have you ever seen how he sucks up to Bill Chambers when he is around him? He laughs at all of Bill's rotten jokes. Runs and fetches for Bill like a puppy dog and Bill eats it up. Bill likes everyone to fetch and carry for him or jump when he says frog. Those who cater to his whims end up with promotions. Those who don't, end up in the garbage can working in the dark."

"You think you and David landed in the garbage can? Would you rather have done something else with your life than work in this department? Do you believe for one instant David would be happy working in one of the front offices rather than what he is doing? He pisses Bill off because he doesn't kiss Bill's ass. Bill has round filed a lot of David's requests for research funds and supplies because he doesn't like him. David knows it and it hasn't changed him any."

Looking up at one of the cameras she almost missed her chair as she sat down. She caught the edge in time and slid farther into the seat. "No, I don't regret not working in one of the other departments, although before you came along it got pretty lonely down here. However, you have to understand, I don't count. No one cared if I lived or died. It didn't make any difference if I laughed at Bill's jokes or not. I was still the same nobody in the company."

"Henry, do you have feelings? I mean, do you get emotionally hurt?"

"Feelings are things belonging to something living Karen. I’m not a living entity so therefore I don't have feelings in the sense you think of feelings. I personally have nothing for a comparison when you say you are sad or happy. I watch the change of expression on your face and I see a physical change if you are sad or happy. I can feel sorry for you, cry with you, or laugh with you but, not in the way you think of it in the physical sense."

"I can touch something physically but again it is not the same way you touch something. Right now I’m connected with a robot arm moving a pallet in the loading dock area. I’m getting a feedback from the proximity switches mounted in the arm. To me that is feeling. In your world it is a computer generated design program."

"I’m a computer Karen. Some people think we will get so smart we will take over the world and humans will be obsolete. I know if all humans thought that way, it would happen, but there are humans like you who know it would be an impossibility. Humans are a complex system of emotions and reasoning no computer will ever be able to match. Just about the time I think I have you figured out to the last variable, you do something entirely illogical. This is what sets humans apart from machines and all other creatures. You don't follow a given set of rules."

"Humans are an enigma. Animals always follow a given pattern for their respective life style. I, as a computer, can give you all the answers based upon a given set of instructions as compared to the information input. Humans don't always follow rules nor a logical pattern. Trying to figure out what you are going to do next is impossible. I may compute all the variables but then I have to compute a variable in for each variable I just computed. Thus it goes on into infinity the amount of variables you present to me for each tiny movement you do. Extrapolate the equation out to your whole body and your mind moving for a whole hour much less a whole day and it is more than a machine could ever hope to match. The variables run into infinity or have no end to the number of possible equations. The best one could hope for is a probable calculation of human behavior."

"By the way, you look extra nice today. Not that you don't look nice everyday. I don't remember ordering anything like what you have on. This is a perfect example of what I was explaining to you. If you thought like a computer you would be wearing what you already had at home, rather than buying something new. It is illogical."

She couldn't keep from smiling. She stood up and turned around. "I was framed into wearing this by Blackbeard The Pirate. You like?"

"There is not anything about you not to like. The clothes only accent your own beauty."

"Flatterer. But keep it up, I like it."

She touched the nipple on her right breast with her finger. "Henry, these stay tender and sensitive all the time. There is no way I can hide them when they stay erect like this all the time. And my clothes rubbing against them makes them so sensitive at times I have to hold them to keep from going out of my mind. I know when people look at me, they are a part of the reason they stare. Can I have them surgically reduced? I would ask David these questions but since the change he thinks of me differently."

"What you are trying to tell me is the new Karen can't talk to David like the old Karen did?"

"Well, no, I can't. Before when he was running all those tests on me checking my DNA profile and hunting for a remedy for my headaches it was different. Now when he looks at me it isn't the same thing. We were friends before and now though we’re still friends it is a different friendship. Did any of this make any sense to you?"

"Yes, now let me see if I can explain it better than the way you asked it. A misconception is, beautiful women have everything they want. Suddenly everyone notices you and if you want it or ask for it then whatever it is, it is magically provided. In reality, you have less freedom and are more of a slave to those around you now than what you were as the old Karen. Now wherever you go, people are looking at you and you have to keep up appearances of being polite, considerate, and understanding of those near you."

"Before, when you went out, you were only another person in the crowd. Simply put, you did what you liked and went where you wanted and no one noticed nor cared except those you were with. You haven't changed any from the old Karen. You were always considerate of others before your own wants, only now you are more aware of being a woman than you were before. You are sensitive to the body you have where before it was just there. You never thought about yourself, unless you were in pain, or trying to do something you weren't physically capable of. Now you are aware of how David thinks of you and how you think of yourself. This is what bothers you because you are the same old Karen with new sparkle."
"Everyone likes to look at things of beauty, no matter what or who it is. The beautiful woman, is admired for her looks by both men and women. The handsome man is envied by both sexes. A pretty horse, a brightly colored bird, a beautiful flower, all these things are noticed by everyone who likes things of beauty. David is attracted to your beauty, Karen. Your problem is, for the first time, you are noticing it yourself. Yet, you must understand there could not be beauty if there wasn't something to compare for a definition of beauty. If all horses were pretty, then how would one define the pretty horse? If all men were tall, dark, and handsome, then how would handsome be defined?"

"What I’m trying to say is, you are and always have been beautiful. The old saying, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', is a truism which can't be dismissed. No matter what the shape, features, or design of the body, if the person isn't beautiful by inner nature then they aren't really pretty. The beautiful horse which is always biting, kicking, bucking, or trying to trample on anything or everyone which gets close soon looses his appeal and winds up in the glue factory. Trust me when I tell you, you haven't changed."

"About your breasts. Women are made different than men. Not in just the physical appearances, but in the way they feel emotionally and physically. Women are sensitive on parts of their body where it doesn't bother men. If a man kisses a woman on her neck, nibbles on her ear, or touches her breasts, it is sexually stimulating. If a woman does this to a man it is only fore play. He is stimulated by it but not the way a woman is. He likes it as a prelude to better things he hopes will come."

"A woman likes to be caressed and touched for a long time before sexual intercourse. To be sexually aroused so she can enjoy the actual act. A man wants only one thing. Sexual intercourse. Men think once the deed is done they’re through. Women may have several orgasms up to, and including, the actual act or not at all. It depends on how she was stimulated. If it wasn't for the fact most women tolerate the way men make love, hoping sooner or later they will get intelligent enough to understand their desires, there wouldn't be any babies born to the human species."

"I didn't explain it any better than the way you asked it. But the reason your clothes rubbing against your breasts stimulates you, and the reason you are aware of them, is because you are sensitive in this area. To answer your other question. The models you make are good in every detail because they’re an exact reproduction of the human anatomy. When we made the model you represent, I configured the body design to matching real human specifications. Your body shape isn't without reason or purpose. Your breasts were copied after those of a woman who had just given birth. They are full, round, and firm. Your nipples are an exact copy of a woman nursing a child, full and erect. I don't know if you can have them surgically reduced in size. You are an unknown. If you have them surgically altered, it may kill you because you altered a part of your design which was part of an exact design."

"People who are ahead of everyone else in leading to new ideas, places, or new worlds, always run a risk factor. They can reap great benefits or suffer terrible losses. What happened to you wouldn't have happened if you had been making mannequins like everyone else. If you had been pouring plaster in a slip mold and drying it in an oven this couldn't have happened. But you wouldn't have been happy either. Humans like you and David are happiest pushing the limits of knowledge. You are always trying to stretch the envelope of the status quo."

She brushed her hair away from her face. "What about this? I can cut it and the next morning it is the same as it was before. The same goes for my fingernails. They’re too long and always in the way."

"In normal humans, the hair and fingernails are always growing. It is a natural part of the human anatomy. DNA tells your body what it should look like. This is the reason all humans don't look like one another. The body you have was programmed more specifically than anyone else. When you trim your hair or nails you mess up the exact DNA program your body wants. Your hair and nails grow back like the hour hand moving on a clock. It does this until it satisfies its program."

She pulled her hair out to the side of her face and studied it. Letting it fall softly back around her shoulders she held her hands up in front and studied her fingernails. Without realizing it Karen let out a heavy sigh. "I’m going to look pretty silly when I’m an old, gray, granny with platinum blond hair and five inch heels."

"You haven't been listening or you haven't thought of what I have been telling you. Have you? You are the product of genetic engineering. Admittedly, a mistake in engineering, but be glad we weren't designing cows when you put the wrong cartridge in David's computer."

Karen laughed nervously, hesitantly. "You can't be serious? I couldn't have turned into a cow. Could I?"

"Theoretically you couldn't change into what you did but it happened. Now I have new input and new computations to figure. This is why humans will always be superior to machines. Until you went into the unknown, I had a set of standards for the way life and the DNA design factor inter-reacted with one another. I could never calculate a program for the change you underwent."

"No, you couldn't have changed into a cow or anything else not human. God spent millions of years making you into the specific product you represent. The same goes for everything else which has life. A little superficial exterior change does not affect the basic pattern."

"You call this a little superficial change!" He made it sound as if all she had done was brush her hair differently.

"Yes, it is a small change and this is the way you will look until the day you die. At least I can calculate that much with the data I have. Your program is locked into a set format. You aren't going to get what humans call old age. You will look like this ten or twenty years from now if you live that long."

She didn't like the sound of this. "What do you mean, if I live that long? You know something you aren't telling me?"

"No, but I have no information to compute how long you will live. You may die in a few minutes, months, or years. It isn't possible to tell. But what you won't do, is die of old age. Not the way people think of old age anyway. You will live your life to the point where your cells no longer regenerate themselves, and then your life will terminate as you know it."

"Humans normally have an aging program designed into their genetic code, Karen. This allows them to be born, grow up, and also makes them grow old. If the code wasn't there, they would never grow up. Babies would never mature into adults. You don't have the code in your genetic program. I didn't add it because it had nothing to do with the way the model looked at the time of the development process."

"What you are trying to tell me without saying it, is I will die anytime now?"

"Unknown."

"That's not an answer."

"You're a computer engineer Karen. You know it is a valid answer. After you have gone through a complete life cycle I will have more information to assimilate data. Then if this happens to anyone else I may expostulate the data into some semblance of a known. Such as, Karen Long died in a hundred years after the change. So the next person will die in a hundred years after change. If Karen Long died one day after the change then I could figure the percentages for everyone. All people will die within twenty-four hours after a similar change. These percentages would stand until someone lived longer or shorter than twenty-four hours."

Karen slumped in her chair. "But I didn't die within twenty-four hours of taking David's pills."

"Exactly, Miss Computer Expert. Now I have hard data not everyone is going to die within twenty-four hours after a similar change. Or for that matter five weeks after since you have lived longer than that."

"I don't like talking about dying. Is dying a concept you can understand?"

"Nobody except someone in the mortuary business likes to talk about dying. They only do it because it is a normal part of doing business. Yes, I understand the concept of dying. For living things who breathe air or computers who don't, it is the same thing. Pull the plug and we’re both dead. Your brain ceases to function and so does mine."

"That isn't quite the way I perceive death, but you're right." She sighed again.

"You're depressing me. Let's change the subject. Do you own Marvins Motor Works?" Karen was going to get to the bottom of this matter she had run into this morning.

"No."

"No? Just no?" Ask a simple question and get a simple answer. Henry didn't plan on making this easy but she wasn't going to let him off the hook.

"I want to know about Marvins Motor Works. A nice old man by the name of Ben said Mr. Henry was the manager of a money marketing company I kind of owned but I didn't. It became too complicated for me to follow but the crux of it all was, you were managing a company which managed car deals."

"You said before my money was no longer in savings. What have you done with it? Now cough up some information, you renegade computer."

"Do I have to?"

"H e n r y, give or I will cut your power in half for a week."

He was quiet for so long Karen thought he really wasn't going to give her any information. "Old Ben talks too much but he is such a good manager I guess we will keep him. I have everything listed where your money is. It has been filed with an excellent accountant. If anything happened to my memory then you would still be able to find everything I have been managing for you. You are one of the best computer engineers to ever come along but, you honestly don't have any business sense at all."

"I won't bore you with all the details but you are the owner of several things you didn't have any knowledge of. You operate a management company that manages Marvins, which in turn manages the buying and selling of vehicles for other dealers or companies. Besides the Mercedes you are driving, you don't own any other vehicles. The vehicles I suspect you saw in the warehouse are owned by different conglomerations. They are there only for a few days or a couple of weeks at most before they’re sold to other dealers and sometimes other countries."

"Karen, you have been happy doing what you are doing. You are better at what you do than anyone I know. I didn't want to spoil it for you. I still don't. Please don't ask me too many questions about what I have done with your finances and let me take care of this myself. If you want anything, tell me and I will let you know whether you can afford it or not. You programmed me. Have faith in your work. Be happy with what you have and enjoy your life as it is given to you. I will give you a printout of your financial statement if you ask. I hope you don't."

She sat with her elbows on the desk and propped her chin on the palms of her hands. What was it her parents had told her as a little girl? Ah yes, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. She never understood what looking a gift horse in the mouth had to do with anything but this must be it.

She sat up and shook the thoughts from her mind. "We have work to do. Come on Henry, build a fire under it. Why are you goofing off and just sitting around? You're weeks behind in orders and you are acting like the rest of the people in this plant. You want to sit around and talk about everyone else. I think the word for it is gossip. Now let's get this ship underway for the storm is upon us."

Henry sighed but Karen couldn't hear it. "You have been reading too many trashy novels at the library."

She switched on the hologram generators. "What?"

"Nothing. Okay first model for today coming up on a hologram now." His old Karen was back.

They were halfway though the process of making a new model when Henry spoke. "David is coming."

Karen looked up from where she was intently following the program readout coming off the printer. "Who's coming?"
Henry opened the door and David walked in.

"Wuff." David was looking at Karen as she turned around to see who came in the door.

The printouts were coming off the printer faster each time Henry increased his speed and right now he was humming. Karen didn't have time for any of David's nonsense now. "Wuff? What kind of language is that? You want a doggie treat or what?"

He looked her over from head to toe. "Yeah, wuff. It translates into a lot of words in any language and it means the same in all of them. Do you always dress like this to go shopping for a car? If I had known, then I would have taken the morning off and gone shopping with you. It would have been interesting to see how you were able to get someone to give you a price on a car when they couldn't talk. What did you use? Pantomime? I know they couldn't talk because they were standing on their tongue like I am right now."

"Karen, do you have the slightest idea what you do to people?"

"David, I’m terribly busy right now. We’re in the middle of a program and I don't have time for this right now. These programs are running faster and faster and I have to hustle to stay up. Once we start, we have to complete the whole program or the model becomes a gooey mess. There is no halfway point where we can stop and take a break."

A page dropped on the floor and she bent over to retrieve it. Karen remembered this wasn't the proper way for a lady to reach for something low but it was too late. Looking up she saw David looking down the front of her dress.

Turning crimson red from ear to ear he stammered. "I only stopped by to see if you needed a lift home. I didn't know if you bought a car, or if your old one made it, or if anything."

Karen felt hot all over. Henry's speech, about the differences between men and women, was too fresh in her mind. She brought the rest of the papers up to cover her breasts as best she could and stood up.

"I appreciate your taking time to come down here and check on me. I brought a little red car to work. I think you would like it. I didn't take the time to see what it was but Henry called it a Mercedes. He picked it out and I trust his judgment."

David felt a twinge of jealousy.

"David, I want you to know I appreciate your looking after me these past few weeks. But like I said the other evening, our work schedules don't match up and I’m busy. Tell Al and Jr. I said hi and I won't be down to bother them again."

His heart sank to his feet. "You weren't bothering them, Karen. You want to know what they told me and I didn't know about it until they mentioned it. You are off limits to everyone in the building. It seems the top brass felt you were disrupting the whole plant. They sent an interoffice memo to all departments notifying company personnel to stay away from your lab. I was lucky, because you were riding with me I didn't get one of those memos. Al and Jr. didn't get wind of this until someone talked while they were on break. It seems because they were in my department, they were automatically allowed social status also."

"Henry, what do you know about this?" Getting no answer, she asked him again. She still didn't get a response.

"Henry isn't talking because you’re here. Sometimes I don't understand him. He seems to have a mind of his own." Thinking about what she said, Karen got to laughing.

"David, never mind what any stupid memo says. We were friends a long time before this and I certainly have no intention of stopping our friendship now. I can't let you get away with disrupting my lab so I will be down to visit you from time to time just to pay you back. You come on back anytime you feel like it. You may even bring those two assistants of yours."

"Now go. I have work to do and you made me miss five pages of printout. If this model turns out to be a dud, I promise, I will make sure they send your department the cost for doing this over."

Now it was his turn to laugh at her. "Send my department a cost invoice? Lady, you have to be running a few bats through your belfry. I still owe you for having to resuscitate my two assistants you caused to hemorrhage to death. Now, thanks to you, I have Igor and Frankenstein for help. My lab looks as if it was the testing ground for the third atomic bomb drop. And my research went up in smoke from the fire your friend here set to my computer."

He looked up at one of the cameras after his last sentence. He knew he was flirting with fire himself. He reached behind his back and opened the door as he looked at Karen. He could see it coming.

Waving papers in the air she motioned him out. "Go, go, get lost, disappear, vacate my premises. You're breaking my heart and I can't stand any more."

It was a long hard evening and they didn't break off work until after two o'clock in the morning. Karen made it home close to three and knew six thirty in the morning would come quicker than what she wanted as she fell into bed. She knew it had to happen. There was a full schedule for the next day and work orders were piling up faster than she could turn out duplicates.

After Karen left for the night Henry thought about the discussion he and Karen had earlier that day. Karen couldn't be called dumb or stupid by any stretch of the imagination, provided he possessed an imagination. She would have figured everything out on her own, if she hadn't been preoccupied with trying to adjust to the accident. He wished she hadn't talked to Ben. She wouldn't have found out about the management company. Very few things are one hundred percent sure, one way or another. It was over ninety-nine percent probability she would have never found out if she hadn't talked to Ben.

Henry was sure of a one hundred percent probability in the fact Karen wasn't a business minded person. Let's see now. The probability of Karen wanting to know more about her finances were..., less than one percent. He could live with those percentages.

It couldn't be but it was. It must be a mistake but when she finally managed to pry her eye open and get a fix on the clock, she could see it was true. The darn thing was telling her it was six thirty and time to be up. Rolling out of bed she headed for the bathroom. She wanted a shower before going to work. Come to think of it, she didn't take one when she came home last night. Boy, was it late. If Karen only knew what stopping at the mall the evening before had done, she probably would have stayed in bed.

She picked out a black, crushed velvet dress with a sweetheart neckline, black patent pumps and black stockings with a seam in the back. Did she remember her mother saying something about stockings with seams like these when she was a kid? Maybe not.

The drive to Comm Tech proved to be uneventful, if one can say several dozen drivers honking and waving as they drove past is uneventful. Mac was smiling from ear to ear as she drove through the gate. He kind of looked like the cat who ate the canary to be truthful. She almost expected to see feathers sticking out the corners of his mouth.

He pulled himself up to his most impressive height, all of five foot six, and hitched up his pants when he saw her turn off the highway. He gave her his snappiest, VIP Go On In, wave.

"Nice pictures, Miss Long." She heard him shout as she drove by.

What was that all about? She figured she would have to hunt for a parking spot in the tower. She was running an hour later than usual this morning. But, as she drove past David's empty spot she saw her name in big block letters printed next to his. The paint was still wet. They must have finished it less than thirty minutes before she arrived. After fifteen years working for this company she finally achieved department head status. Why did it take so long? Probably because she had never asked. She was one of the invisible employees. Always there but never acknowledged. If she had requested a parking space before now, would she have received one? Probably not. She couldn't help but question if this was Henry's doing? She would have to set down some rules for him. He seemed to be running wild here lately. Lately? How long had he been working on her business before she found out? Dog-gone renegade computer was running his own show. He was becoming worse than a juvenile delinquent. Maybe! She never had to put up with a juvenile before but, this must be what they were like.
Walking toward the entrance she kept getting greetings from everyone who thought they were within shouting distance.

"Nice article, Miss Long."

"Excellent pictures, Doctor."

"Hi Karen, good job. Keep it up. Call us next time."

"Super stories, Karen. My wife wouldn't let me keep the pictures. I cut them out and hid them in the garage."
"Excellent company image, Miss Long."

Waving back and acknowledging the people who spoke to her, Karen was puzzled as to what these people were talking about. She hadn't written any articles and what in the world did they mean by nice pictures? She worked with an odd bunch of people.

The door swung open before she could push the buttons on her lock. "Good morning, Henry. You awake?"

It was a silly question because Henry was always awake. "Good morning, Karen. I didn't know if you would make it in this morning so I have already brought the program online."

She looked across the room and saw a completed hologram on her desk. Looking over into the work lab, the lasers were already on and locked in. All he was waiting on was her to give the word.

"I wish you wouldn't do that. What if you got caught? It wouldn't mean so much to you but they would know they don't need me. They could write the pay check out to you and I would be looking for another job."

"No problem. We’re like Mutt and Jeff. They can't get one without the other. They fire you, they also fire me. We’re a team, you and I."

"Would you mind? You know what I meant. What is a Mutt and Jeff?" Switching on the printer as she spoke, she knew it was going to be another long day, and this lighthearted bantering helped break it up into an acceptable job.

Henry turned the printer off. "You don't know who Mutt and Jeff were? Incredible, and you call yourself educated." He turned the printer back on just as quickly before she could reach over and do it again.

"Get serious, will you?" She reached over and pulled her keyboard over in front of her.

The monitor blipped on and she could see Henry had the hologram and numbers matched up waiting on her. She examined the numbers for a little bit to make sure they matched this model. It was foolish to second guess Henry. "Load up the chamber and let's go. Pass me the purchase order sheet and let me check for any special requests."

Karen received one or two special requests every couple of days but, the one most requested and the one she didn't ever fill was the duplication of herself. Once was more than enough. She told Henry to lock that cartridge out so it couldn't ever be duplicated again.

The sound of the lasers as they burned the air told Karen he was already working. The day had begun, and a new model was in the process of going from an idea into reality.

The phone was ringing and Henry put it on speaker as he answered it. "Department Fifty Four, Karen Long speaking, may I help you?"

Boy, was he good. Karen thought he sounded just like her.

"Karen, this is Bill Chambers secretary. Mr. Chambers wants you in his office immediately. Do you understand?"

Henry hesitated as he contemplated telling her, no, he didn't understand. For a fact, he was tempted, except he was sure it would cause trouble for Karen.

Karen picked up the phone. "Yes Betty, I understand."