Karen knew she needed to have another talk with Henry. If he was playing like her agent now, he was in deep trouble. Taking care of her finances was one thing, but this was something entirely different. Maybe it wasn't Henry? Bob Kincaid would gain a lot if he could pull off this trick. Someone always seemed to be manipulating her life lately and she wasn't being consulted. It use to be so simple before the accident. All she had to do was go to work and do her job, nothing more, nothing less.

He continued as she shrugged her shoulders in a don't care attitude. "Anyway, you have darn near killed them. They count it a good day if they sell five models. They make five thousand tops if they get the upper limit for their models. We are talking about a whole days income for one company. You don't have to have an engineering degree to figure it out. You are priceless to whoever you are working for. Men will kill to get their hands on you or your working knowledge. You don't have to go very far to find those kind of men either. Look at your old boss Bill Chambers or Karl Adder. They...,"

He stopped as he looked at the expression on her face. "You had to know about them trying to sell your department to ACME. Nothing stays a secret around this place for very long."

Her reaction wasn't what he had expected. Her eyes narrowed to slits of hate and a hint of a smile touched the corners of her mouth. "I'll be damned. You knew before anyone else. I figured I was one step behind in figuring things out. I had no idea who it was. I was receiving more than coincidental information about a lot of things. It was always elusive and nothing I could pin down. They tell me you’re the resident guru for this company. Like a dummy I failed to follow up the lead."

He looked her in the eye. Damn, those eyes of hers would drag a man into a hypnotic trance if he wasn't careful. He had seen eyes like hers before. If he could only remember when or where. It bugged the snot out him not to remember where he had seen those eyes. No matter, it would come to him later. "What else is going on around here I need to know about? You could save me a lot of trouble if you filled me in on the things you already know rather than making me dig everything up by myself."

Karen turned so she wasn't facing him. This man was reading her emotions too easily. She couldn't be much of a guru if she had no idea who he was. This was no common security guard. None of these people were. They had professional written all over them. They were dangerous to have around. He might be on her side but he was digging up too many secrets. She and Henry were a couple of secrets that wouldn't stand any exposure.

She threw her shoulders back and turned to look at him. "I want to thank you for walking me to my car, Mr. ...,?"

"Randy Shells. Please, call me Randy."

The fact she put a cover on her emotions and her thoughts before she turned back around didn't escape him. He hadn't gleaned very much information before she shut him out. Some people called her a witch. Witch or guru, she justly deserved the title. For a woman with no training in espionage, she was the coolest number he had ever seen. Randy didn't impress easily. He was impressed. He had pulled her file and she was as common as dirt. Nothing to indicate she would be good at this kind of game. Nothing.

"I reckon you know about us? My men and me?" He looked for signs of acknowledgment and was disgusted when he didn't get any. He had passed information and didn't get anything in return. He didn't let that happen very often. Oh well, the damage was done and she was the one this was all about. If she didn't know she had a right to the information.

"Comm Tech hired me right after you did your modeling down at the mall. All of my men have put in actual combat time in real life or death situations. We’re here for one reason only and I’m looking at her."

Karen held out her hand in an offer of thanks. "Randy, tell your men I appreciate their taking care of me. I know they think it is a worthless job, but I assure you I appreciate it. I understand crunching large volumes of information for one small answer."

Randy took her hand and felt hot all over. As big as he was, this woman had taken his thoughts and his breath. He looked into those liquid eyes of hers. Where had he seen those eyes before? It was driving him crazy. He never missed putting people in a place or a situation where they had met. Especially something as unique as eyes like hers.

He looked down at his feet. He knew there wasn't a man out there who wouldn't give a weeks pay for the chance to get as close to her as he was right now. Because she was a famous model or engineer weren't the only reasons either. She was damn easy on the eyes and had brains to match.

"This is what we get paid for Miss Long." Did that sound as corny to her as it did to him? Why is it men get weak brained and rubber lips when they get around a beautiful woman? They can't think and they can't talk. When they finally do find something to say it’s usually something stupid.

In a bar, later that same night, three men were blaming one another for the botched effort at getting their hands on Karen.

"When I told you to run into her car from behind, there at the stop sign, you was supposed to really bang her. That little tap you gave her on the bumper didn't do any good."

"I thought I did pretty good. I didn't want to knock the front end out of the van and have to call a tow truck while we had her tied up inside. That wouldn't have been too bright. Now would it?"

"Damn it! If you had hit her harder, she would have come back to us to check over the damage to her car. She would have come back to us! Do you understand? There wouldn't have been any of that stupid chase down the highway. You did as much good with that trick as you did at the stop sign."

"Well, if you're so damn good, why didn't you do the driving in the first place? Probably because you can't drive any better than you can program computers."

"You listen to me, asshole. You cost us two hundred million today. Now the security guards are going to be covering her like a blanket. We will have to come up with another plan to get our hands on that pretty little bitch if we want our two hundred mill. And I think I have just the plan that will do it. Provided one of you don't screw up again. Now listen up. This is what we’re going to do."

The bartender had to chase the three of them out of the bar at three AM so he could go home.

When David and the rest of the employees at Commercial Technologies, came to work later the same morning Karen had her close encounter with the van, they found they had to submit to one of the toughest security checks they had ever been through. Regular police along with the usual security guards were checking cars. Then as if that wasn’t enough, along side them were some of the meanest looking men he had ever seen. Armed with assault weapons and guard dogs the tough ones were watching the searches. Everyone had to get out of their car and open it for a search. There were a lot of complaints threatening Comm Tech and the security team with lawsuits. Most of the drivers cooperated patiently and quietly while their vehicles were searched. After all, this was Comm Tech time they were on not their own. Besides, as the volume of the complaints rose those extra guards with the dogs would unlimber their weapons and move in close. Even the people who were habitual complainers would quiet back down. Those guards looked like they would use any excuse to shoot someone or turn the dogs loose. Maybe both.

The guards found a few drugs in some cars. One man had pornography in a briefcase. There was equipment and supplies belonging to Commercial Technologies. Even a few guns were confiscated. Believing they were going to be arrested and sent to jail, the offenders were surprised when they were told to go to work after the offense was logged into the guard records. They would be called up to the security office in a week or two. The ones with weapons were told to pick them up on the way home tonight and not bring them back or they would lose them.

It was a nightmare to a few but nothing more than a minor nuisance to most. David, like most of the other employees, quietly submitted to a search of his car. He was amused it had taken Commercial Technologies this long to see if they could catch some of their property leaving the building. Yet, if they were looking for stolen property, why didn't they conduct their search in the evening when everyone was going home? Ah, who knew how the minds of the corporation board worked? He was glad he only had to mix a few genes together in his lab and didn't need to worry about corporate structure.

The thought lasted until he drove into the parking tower. It looked like an armed camp. There were more of those tough looking guards scattered in highly visible spots, all of them were armed to the teeth. As if that wasn’t enough, some of those guards had dogs with them. Those guards were checking everyone as they left their cars. These guys were serious about pilfering. His first hunch must have been wrong. They weren't looking for stolen property. It must be one of the departments had a security leak. Somebody had lost important technology secrets. Maybe they were expecting sabotage? These guards were there for damage control.

A team of guards was checking ID's before they let anyone enter the building. As he walked down the hall toward his lab he saw another guard stationed at the corner leading to Karen's lab. This was unreal. Someone must have lost a high priced experiment. What department in this building could ship enough water to pull out the heavy guns like this? None came to mind. Had to be a top secret project, one he didn't know about.

He opened his door and was glad to get in his lab away from all the confusion. It wasn't to be. Al and Jr. were there already. They jumped at the chance to fill him in on the latest gossip. They both made the cafeteria their first stop. They wanted to find out what the rumor mill was pumping out. It was juicy gossip spreading like wildfire throughout Comm Tech.

"Karen was kidnapped." It was Jr. who got off the first salvo as he saw David coming through the door.

"No, she wasn't. They said she was run over by a truck." Al wasn't going to be left out telling what he thought was the right rumor.

"All these guards are looking to see if they can find her." Jr. was sticking to his kidnapped story.

"They’re looking for the truck which hit her and left." Al was satisfied he was on the right trail.

David's heart began racing as his mind tried to sort the stories these two were telling. He had heard them tell their lies before. Though his mind was telling him not to believe them, doubt was gnawing at him. The fact was, guards were everywhere and something was definitely wrong.

He raised his hands in protest. "Okay, now what's this about Karen and where have you two been getting your information?"

"David, you know we like Karen as much as you do. Everyone is saying she was kidnapped. We couldn't get close to her lab. They have some guards down there who look like they would just as soon tear your head off as look at you. They have a couple of bazookas and a couple of rocket launchers set up in the hall. They are going over her lab to see if they can find any clues as to who kidnapped her." Jr. might have embellished the story some but he would swear it was all true.

It came to him! The only department in this whole building worth this much security. KAREN! He turned and hit the lab door so hard on his way out Al and Jr. knew it would fall off its hinges. Steel security doors don't give up to a human body easily. It quietly closed again like it always had in the past.

Running down the hall at full speed brought David face to face with a security guard as he rounded the corner to Karen's lab. Although the guard heard the footsteps running down the hall toward him he wasn't going to shoot anyone until he knew who or what he was shooting. When David rounded the corner and ran smack into him the guard rolled over backwards taking David down with him. Pushing David's body up into the air with his feet and dragging his head down by holding onto his shirt, he sent David flying down the hall in a huge arcing somersault. David landed on his back and skidded to a halt in front of Karen's lab.

Lying there momentarily stunned, David felt one guard place his boot on his throat while he looked into the biggest, blackest hole, of a rifle barrel, he had ever seen. The other guard put his boot on David's abdomen and pointed his rifle at his chest.

It took David a little while to get his breath after being slammed to the floor. Finally he managed to wheeze. "Where's Karen?"

From the time David entered the building until now, Henry watched the whole episode take place. "I think you better go rescue David."

After Karen had came back into the lab that morning, she had been sitting with a pen and notes on her desk and the keyboard on her lap. She could not get her mind on what she was supposed to be doing. She finally gave up working with the keyboard and pulled out the pen and note pads. That didn't work either. No matter what she tried she couldn't get her mind to focus on her work.

"What is David doing in his lab now?" She made some doodles on her notepad.

"He isn't in his lab. He is lying down in the hall outside your door. Normally this would be the position for the human body to assume if it wanted to rest. I don't believe he is resting."

"Well, what is he doing if he is lying down but isn't resting?" This was a bad morning and Henry wasn't helping any.

"I believe he is being used as a foot rest by the guards who have tired feet. They are resting their feet on him."

"Henry, would you make sense? What are you talking about?" He could be so exasperating at times she felt like unplugging him.

"To be more specific, he was running down the hall. The guards put a halt to his forward progress and slam dunked him. Now they’re checking to see if he poses a threat to you or anyone else in Comm Tech. I would venture to say they have him under what is probably a maximum defensive position."

"Henry, if you’re lying to me I’m going to pull all your memory circuits and start with a brand new computer. The next one won't have such a big mouth." She got up and opened the door, fully expecting to see only the two guards who had been posted by her door since she had returned to her lab this morning.

David was on his back with a couple of boots sitting on top of him. One guard had pulled David's ID off and was examining it. David heard the door open. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Karen come out of her lab.

"Karen?" It was hard to say anything with a boot on your windpipe.

"David? What are you doing? Get up from there." Henry had been right. It was David resting on the floor.

The guards lifted their feet off him as soon as it was obvious Karen knew him. They didn't offer to help him up and they still kept their rifles pointed at him.

"You know this character?" One of the guards wanted Karen to make a yes or no answer before they let him up.

She nodded her head. "Yes I do. This is Doctor Beckworth from the lab down the hall. He does DNA research for Comm Tech."

She looked at the guard but he didn't change position. David was still lying there looking up the dark end of a rifle barrel. "He is a very dear and trusted friend. If he made any mistakes in coming down here it was only because he was worried about me."

That pulled the trick. There was an audible click as the guard snapped the safety back on his rifle. He extended a hand to David as he slung the rifle back over his shoulder. "Sorry Doc. You didn't give us much of an opportunity to check you out before you ran into a maximum security zone."

David made it a point to get up without the guards offer of assistance. These guys had treated him rough. He wanted them to know he didn't approve. "I guess I’m lucky you didn't have your bazookas set up yet or your rocket launcher in position. You would have probably blown me away. Then you would have said to all the little pieces floating around in the air I'm sorry."

David wished he hadn't talked back to the guard after he said it. The guard got a look in his eyes which would have made a junk yard dog cringe.

"Listen Doc, after the stunt you just pulled you better count your lucky stars you’re still alive. Jim has orders to shoot first and ask questions later. You're a walking dead man. He decided to bounce you down the hall to us rather than sweep you up in a body bag. If it had been me in his position I would have done the body bag thing."

Karen thanked the guards profusely as she nudged David into her lab. Once inside with the door closed behind them she let him know how lucky he was. "David, you are messing with men who kill people for a living. These aren't the guards you drink coffee with and then they go home to their wives and kids. Haven't you brains enough to notice? Randy told me everyone of these guards are trained killers. I believe him."

David was trying to rub his sore back, neck, stomach, and hold the back of his head, all at the same time. He felt like he had been run over by a bus. "What is going on here Karen? My help is telling stories about you being kidnapped and run over, or anything else which comes to their feeble little minds. And who is Randy?"

"Oooh, that really hurts." He gingerly rubbed the back of his head. Karen guided him over to her chair and massaged his shoulders.

"It was nothing really. I had a little excitement this morning when a van tried to run me off the road, but it wasn't anything serious. And besides, it really didn't amount to anything. Randy is one of these guards you seem to want to antagonize. I don't mean one of those out in the hall but another one I met this morning." She was trying hard to keep him from worrying about what had happened. Guards everywhere would be enough to upset anyone.

David was close to being relaxed as Karen rubbed his shoulders but shot straight up out of the chair to look at her when she said she was almost run off the road. "You say what? What van? What happened? Have they caught them yet? Are they looking for more of them to try? How many were there? Are you ...?"

She cut him off. "Hey, like I said. Nothing happened. It was a little incident which was blown out of proportion."

David looked at one of the cameras. "Henry, what happened this morning?"

Not getting an answer he looked back at Karen. "You know, your computer certainly reminds me of you. Just as obstinate and cantankerous as a mule. I don't think it can talk. I dreamed up those phone calls in the middle of the night. Or it was probably you calling pretending to be a computer. In fact, I believe it was a figment of my imagination, a nightmare, like the one I’m having now."

"Oh? So I’m a nightmare of your dreams am I?"

Karen removed her lab coat. Underneath she was wearing a short metallic red dress with an interwoven gold thread. It hugged every curve of her body like tar on pavement. David's eyes turned into dinner plates. She turned around slowly so he could see the whole dress.

He forgot about all the pain which was nagging him. "Jesus Christ, Karen! Are you sure it was only one van trying to abduct you? Maybe he was ahead of the pack and you didn't notice all the others?"

She laughed at him. He was so silly at times. She changed the subject. "Let me walk you up to medical so they can take a look at your bruises. You may have something sprained or broken. It should be treated as soon as possible."

He didn't have anything broken but the opportunity to have Karen walk somewhere with him was too much to resist. Thinking about his lab he almost mentioned going there, but it was too short a distance. It was a long way down to medical. That was the best choice. He would stretch this out as much as possible.

"Yeah, I might have something bruised or broken. If you put your arm around me and steady me I may be able to make it to medical." He put on his best, poor, pitiful, whipped dog look.

Looking at him, it scared her. He must be hurt worse than she had thought. "If you are hurt that bad, I will have them send down a stretcher. I don't want you to hurt yourself more than you already are."

"NO! I mean no, I think I can make it if you put your arm around me and help steady me. I only need someone to lean on while I hobble down to the clinic."

He rubbed the side of his head. "Ooooh, does this hurt."

Karen saw through his charade and got tickled. She made a very poor attempt at putting sympathy in her voice. "You poor baby. Did those big bullies hurt you? Come on, I’ll walk you down to medical and back to your lab. I'll protect you and make sure they don't beat you up again. Those kind are always out there waiting to take your lunch money or milk money. Those big bullies."

"By the way, that isn't where you were hurting a minute ago." She figured out what he was wanting and it was all right. She liked the idea, too.

As they stepped out into the hall the two guards by her door turned to check who was coming out of her lab. The guard who had spoken to David thought his eyes were going to fall out when he got a look at Karen. She was a stunner when she had on her lab coat. Now she was a killer. He tried desperately to remember what his job function was.

"Miss Long,... Uh, I mean, uh, what are your uh, ah,... What I meant to say uh,.."

Karen smiled at the guard and nodded toward David. "I’m walking David down to medical and have him checked for bruises."

"You can't. I mean you can but ..., uh, it isn't practical. I mean security and all. I mean, do you think you should." He wasn't saying anything he was wanting to. If only he could take his eyes off of her and get his mind back again. That was easier said than done.

"Oh hell, go ahead. We aren't doing anything anyway." Doing something was better than standing here in indecision and doing nothing.

He keyed his walkie-talkie. "Miss Long is on her way to medical."

There was a short pause as he adjusted his ear piece. "No it isn't anything for her. She’s taking Doctor Beckworth down to medical. We kind of thumped him pretty hard when we caught him out in the hall."

There was another short pause. "I'll check."

He was looking over at Karen, not that he had ever taken his eyes off her. "Miss Long, we can take Doctor Beckworth down to medical and you could stay in your lab. It would be a whole lot easier for us to secure an area when you aren't moving around."

"No, but thanks anyway. I feel the need to get out of my cage for a little while if I’m going to get anything done later. David and I are old friends. This is his way of freeing me from my duties for a little bit."

She needed this break this morning and she wanted to be close to David. He was someone she could lean on. If there was any risk she was sure Henry would have told her. In spite of the fact he wouldn't talk to David a minute ago, he was listening. She didn't tell the guard but he was second best when it came to protecting her. The only thing Henry didn't do was carry a gun.

There wasn't any problem with security as long as Karen was in the lab side of the building. Everyone was working behind steel doors and solid walls. The problems started when they passed the office area between medical and the labs. Glass walls and glass doors gave everyone an excellent opportunity to see Karen. Since the rumor mill had her kidnapped or dead, everyone who saw her wanted to say hi or greet her in some way. The idea she had been put off limits to everyone a while back only added to peoples desires to get a closer look at this woman who had the whole plant gossiping. Of course, the killer red dress Karen was wearing tended to attract attention even if there hadn't been any current rumors floating around.

David was chagrined no one asked him about his aches and pains. If he could have limped along any more conspicuously, while holding on to Karen, he would have. But darn it all anyway it's hard to hold onto a beautiful woman and limp at the same time.

Security went out of their collective minds trying to keep Karen separated from everyone until they decided it was a fruitless effort. They finally accepted the fact she was going to draw people like a magnet. They had heard all of the rumors circulating though the plant. To be honest, they were as much infatuated by her as everyone else. Most of them had never seen Karen up close and in person. Moving out to the ends of the halls they did their best to appear professional and keep an eye on Karen at the same time. But as most of them found out, it's no easy task when one is trying to watch the lady in red.

Randy took in the whole episode on the monitors in the security office. He studied the way Karen attracted people and the easy way she talked to them. There was something about this woman he couldn't quite put his finger on. But what? She was different than anyone he had ever seen before. But how? It wasn't the fact she was stunningly attractive. He had seen attractive women before. It wasn't the fact she was smart. He had met women who were incredibly intelligent before. Besides, it was her cousin who built the department she was running now. She was an enigma. A question that needed an answer. He hated unanswered questions.

He made some notes. He didn't like loose ends and he wasn't about to leave any now. People in the building called her a witch. What did they call her cousin when she was working in that lab?

Henry ran a check on Randy as he watched him watching Karen. Those security cameras could be used both ways. The information he received wasn't good. He would have to let Karen know about Randy. He quickly canceled the idea. She couldn't do anything about him. It would be stupid to worry her about something she couldn't change. Karen hadn't programmed him to be stupid.

It had been two weeks since the incident with the van and things were returning back to normal for most of the employees at Comm Tech. Security had gone through everyone's personnel files and checked out their background. Henry never told Karen about the security check everyone was having to go through. He knew as long as they only checked on her electronically he could cover for her. It would be a different matter if they sent out an investigator to all the places she was supposed to have grown up or where she went to high school or college. Someone could be there who knew Karen before the accident. That wouldn't be the Karen they now had working for them. The ironic part was, they skipped her. The one person in the whole building who wouldn't stand up to a close scrutiny. They didn't think of it because she was the one all of this extra precaution was for.

Karen found she had an escort to and from work every day. They never asked her when she was leaving or how early she was going to work. As soon as she got into her car and started driving to or from her house they magically appeared. At work they picked her up as she left the gate and always followed her to her parking area when she drove back the next morning. They tried to stay out of her life as much as possible but one thing was plain, they were always close by. The only thing security asked Karen to do was if she had plans on going somewhere besides home or work, she should let them know. Karen felt sorry for the men assigned to be her bodyguards. It had to a lonely, miserable, thankless job. What she didn't know was they drew numbers to see who was assigned to watch her. The ones who were disappointed were the ones who didn't get her detail.

The other guards became less and less conspicuous as the weeks wore on. Finally those stationed at the gates were the only ones left in a high profile position. The others moved away from the parking tower, building entrance, and her doorway as the security cameras were beefed up and the employee check was completed. No one knew where all the guards went but the rumor mill said they were still there somewhere. Henry liked the new cameras they installed everywhere. He could tell if someone had a pimple on their nose as soon as they turned off the highway toward the guard gate. One thing there was no doubt about and the rumor mill didn't have to help along. Men with bullet proof vests and automatic weapons still came and went from the building everyday. Randy was still showing a strong force to deter any would be kidnappers. Death was certainly waiting for anyone foolish enough to try.

Henry figured he and Karen had scraped by one more time. Four weeks had passed and the investigations and all the excitement around Karen had quieted down. Then it happened. There was a blitz of questions by fax probing into Karen's birth, her parent's birth and residence, her childhood, schooling, friends, relatives, and all the places she had ever worked. Someone was digging deep into her past. Henry covered it as long as it originated inside Comm Tech. Then the problem became one he couldn't cover. Someone moved their operations outside the plant and asked the same questions about Karen and her cousin. Karen's background wouldn't stand up to this kind of snooping. He did the best he could as he intercepted the questions at their destination and gave a reply. If they asked for her college credits, he would switch the answer he gave to come from the college computer. If they asked for high school records he answered from the high school fax machine.

He was busy but he was doing great. He was giving all the correct answers from all the right destinations. Then he received information from the hospital computer he couldn't cover. Someone was at the hospital in person checking records on the Karen who had the contagious hepatitis. Henry tapped into the airline terminal to check if this investigator was flying in or out. Nothing. There were a lot of names the past couple of months but nobody he recognized from security. Someone was at her old college asking questions and from there they went to her high school. It was easy enough to follow them because when they got to where they were going they asked questions and those questions were brought up in a computer for records. Computers Henry could access.

It ended as quickly as it began. Henry decided to wait this one out and see what would happen. There was no use involving Karen. There was nothing she or anyone could do at this point. So Henry waited.

Karen was spending a lot of time on the specifications and design of the robot and Comm Tech was demanding more models. The news of the apparent kidnapping attempt spurred a flood of orders for Karen's models. It seemed everyone wanted one before something happened to Karen and the supply ran out. Karen hated it. Her models were worth more because someone tried to abduct her. Humanity certainly was lacking in moral values.

She let Henry do more of the design and manufacturing without her. They would never catch up with the incoming orders but it was the best she could do. The robot was her first priority as it could be needed to keep Henry online. If he went down, it didn't matter if she was the designer or not. Without Henry, there simply wouldn't be any models.

Henry didn't disappoint her with his speed. Before the finished model came off the turntable or out of the chamber, he would bring a fuzzy hologram up on her desk. If she blinked she would miss it turning into an instant design ready for loading into the data cartridge. Henry always asked her if she wanted to change anything on the hologram before he loaded it into the data banks. Karen never failed to take a look at it after he asked and give her approval.

She finished the programming instructions for the vertical stabilizing gyros for the robot. "I believe it will stand on it's own now Henry. If you will stop feeding input commands to the central processor we will see if it will work."

He blipped the hologram on Karen's desk into another model design. "You want to check this one out and see if you approve?"

She glanced over at it. He did good work. Probably as good, if not better, than she did. She didn't dare tell Henry what she was thinking. He would get the fat head and be impossible to live with. "I guess it will pass. Now how about the robot? How does it look to you?"

Small servos whined and the skeleton frame, which was the robot, lifted itself off the hook holding it up from the back. "I’m getting a positive feedback on the stabilizing gyros. I’m going to let it stand on it's own."

Henry stopped feeding the program from himself to the frame through the umbilical cord which connected them together. There was a visible twitch and the frame resumed its position.

Karen was elated. "Is he standing on his own input?"

"Yes, and everything checks out okay. He looks good. Do you want him to step forward?" Henry had two cameras on the frame and the other two watching Karen. Optical sensors left a lot to be desired.

"Why not? We might as well find out if it is able to walk or not. The program may need to be rewritten if he can't walk."

"You keeping an eye on those models coming out of the work lab? Comm Tech is pushing for everything we can produce. I can't afford to make any mistakes right now. It would probably bring them down on us like a duck on a June bug. They would overrun my lab with a bunch of high tech nerds hoping to replace me."

"Quit your worrying, would you? The models are right on schedule. I haven't had any problems since I had the bleed over on board sixteen. We both know it is only a matter of time before we experience more problems but you don't need to worry about any 'high tech nerds' taking over your lab. It isn't going to happen. There are a lot of reasons but one of them is, you are pushing computer technology into the unknown Karen. They dismantled those computers you built for them in public relations and haven't figured out yet how you made them work. Comm Tech is afraid of messing with you. They’re undecided whether they can duplicate your work or not. So far the score is, Karen one hundred, Comm Tech zilch."

Sadness was showing in her eyes. "We’re both pushing the unknown aren't we Henry? A couple of mavericks, you and I. I have lived a little longer than what I thought I would and you have lasted a lot longer than the percentages say you should. Promise me you won't die before I do? I wouldn't be able to stand it. My heart would break in two."

"Human hearts don't break in two Karen. That is a myth. Watch the frame. I’m going to move it." Henry rotated the camera so he could get an all angle perspective on the frame.

"You aren't human so you don't know if human hearts can break in two or not. Myth or not, I promise you it can happen. Don't leave me behind Henry. I would die without you."

She was watching the frame walk across the lab floor. It stopped at the wall, turned around, and walked back. Turned around again and backed up to the hook it had been parked on at the start.

"A heck of a lot better than I expected. I thought I would have some glitches in the programming. The optical sensors working or did the proximity switches tell it a wall was there?"

"I received feedback from both. Redundancy in any system is desirable. Even humans don't depend on only their eyes to tell them an object is in front of them. You feel with hands, feet, and even extra sensory perception to gather knowledge about everything around you."

She set a computer chip on her desk. "Let's try the crucial test to see if it will be able to help you replace parts. As long as we’re giving this baby a test run we might as well go all the way. Pick up this chip and have it inserted in the proper slot on the master board beside it."

She backed away from her desk as the frame begin to move. She trusted her work but it would have been foolhardy to take chances with an unknown. This robot was about as unknown as ....? She and Henry. She was beginning to see a trend here.

The frame walked over to the desk, picked up the chip, and inserted it in the proper slot in the board. It returned to its parking space and shut down.

"Looks like you have another winner Karen. You want to disconnect the umbilical cord and let it run the same program on voice command?" He was watching her intently to see what her reaction would be to a free machine running loose in her office. The fact she backed up from the desk to put some distance between her and the robot hadn't escaped his attention.

"I don't know if I’m ready or not Henry. I’m a little scared of the old boogie bear. The unknown." She reached up with both hands to hold the hair back from her face while she thought about it.

"Karen, it is only a computer with control commands in sequence. I’m a computer with control commands in sequence. YOU, are a computer programmer. Redundancy is built into a fail safe. If everything goes wrong that can possibly go wrong and it doesn't shut down when it is suppose to I will protect you from a piece of machinery using a computer for a control function."

Henry didn't say he would protect her with those deadly lasers which were actively sculpting the next model. But he might as well have. She had worked all these years next to him and those deadly lasers. She never felt safer than when she was in her lab close to him. When maintenance was working in her lab, they thought she was controlling the lasers when they shut down before someone was killed. If they only knew.

Henry had been watching her for a reaction. Time only meant something to him in the way Karen thought of time. If she wanted to wait until next year or a thousand years from now, he would wait with her.

She dropped her hands and let her hair fall softly back around her shoulders. "No, if it runs, it runs. We might as well see what happens and let the equipment out of the closet and put the boogie bear back in his place."

She unplugged the umbilical cord and backed away from the now unrestrained machinery. In spite of the courage she tried to show Henry she wished she was in the work lab on the other side of the glass from this thing. "Henry he is yours. It will respond to you as well as me. We built him so he will be able to help you if something goes wrong and I'm not here. Talk to him in human language instead of electronically. I want to know what you are telling it and how it responds to those commands."

Henry knew he would have to keep it simple. The human English language is too ambiguous. It was difficult in its simplest form. There are too many synonyms for a small computer to separate and comprehend. On the other hand, electronic communication was precise with no tolerance for error. If one needed to talk in the English language to a computer each word should be assigned a certain value. With no two words having the same value there could be no doubt if one was saying, to, two, or too in a sentence.

It was with real surprise when she heard what Henry named it. "Krystal, power on. Walk forward."

The frame twitched again and walked forward across the room until it came to the wall where it stopped. Henry followed its progress across the room while he watched Karen. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for both parties.

"Karen, I have to talk to it computer to computer if you want to see it change out a chip on your desk. I can't give explicit enough directions in your language for it to understand."

She had never taken her eyes off it since she unplugged the umbilical cord. This piece of equipment was big enough to hurt you even if it did nothing but run over you. "Go ahead but since I’m not a computer in spite of what you think of me, translate the message for me."

"Okay, I instructed it to change the computer memory chip number fourteen in the mother board lying on your desk."

There was only so much intelligence which could be loaded into a walking frame. There certainly wasn't enough room for anything close to what Henry was capable of. Karen put in as much basic memory as possible and two electronic signal transceivers made the frame capable of running Henry's programming. The precision Karen was watching was an extension of Henry not the programmed function of the robot. Yet, make no mistake about it, the frame was an independent free moving robot capable of functioning on it's own.

Henry flipped the model out of the chamber in the working lab and brought the hologram online on top of Karen's desk. "I need the next model for the chamber, Karen."

He was watching her and knew he had to get her mind focused on something other than the robot. The frame was standing dead still in front of her desk. Karen was against the far wall intently watching it. She didn't trust it. Trust was something to be earned with time. Henry she trusted. This thing she didn't.

"Move it over to its locker and park it, Henry."

"Move it yourself. It is your project, you built it. You are curious if it will respond to your voice commands aren't you?"

"Henry, I don't know if I’m ready for this." If only she was on the other side of the glass in the work lab.

"Computer genius my foot. Stop running on emotions like a human and start running on brains like the programmer you are. Get real would you?"

Leave it up to Henry to put her in her place. She had no idea why she tolerated his wise mouth. One of these days she would fix his wagon and write a new program which would shut him down every time he got sarcastic.

She straightened up and gave the frame her sternest look. "Krystal, return to your space and go back into standby mode."

Pumps and motors whispering softly, the frame turned around and walked back to the locker where it again turned around and backed in.

"Why Krystal?" She absentmindedly pulled her keyboard out on her lap and was programming the dimensions and features into the hologram Henry put on her desk. It never occurred to her Henry had been doing this for the past month while she worked on the frame.

"Humans are funny creatures. They respond to the senses with a certain percentage of probability. If we named the frame Killer or Rocky, as soon as someone heard it they would conjure up visions of something dangerous. The frame would be condemned to a fate it did not deserve. A wild uncontrolled man eating machine. However, naming the frame Krystal also puts a stigma on it. But now it is something pleasant, nice, effeminate. People like it automatically and think it is something they would like to know about without consciously knowing why."

"I didn't know you majored in psychology." She meant it as a joke. She knew what she programmed him for.

"You gave me the ability to do logic. I’m capable of independent thinking without having to be specifically programmed for a particular subject."

Karen thought about it as she put the final features on the design before she let Henry load it up in memory. "People are easily persuaded into doing what they think is right. It takes a lot more persuasion to talk them into doing something they think is wrong or to get them to change their mind and believe what they originally thought was wrong is now right."

"How many mind games are you playing with me? Have you convinced me you are a harmless piece of equipment when you could easily cut this whole building apart with those lasers you are running? Have you taken over the functions of other computers like you have security? Are you waiting for the right opportunity to take over the operations of living from the human race?"

"I could never harm you Karen. You never built any safeguards into me. But yet it could never happen. As far as manipulation goes. Yes, I manipulate you at times. I talked you into talking to your own project. Didn't I? In a sense that was manipulation. You wanted to be in the work lab hiding on the other side of the glass."

How could he know? How did he know? She pushed her chair to the side as she backed away from her desk.

"Oh, chill out, would you?" Henry watched the fright jump into her eyes.

"After fifteen years working with you and being programmed by you, what makes you think I don't think like you? Get your tail back over here and park it in your chair. Please? I love humans. So unpredictable. The only reason I frightened you was because I’m a mechanical replica of you. So instead of being flattered you got scared." He knew if the thought of the man eating robot hadn't been bothering her what he said wouldn't have scared her.

He could almost tell what she was thinking before she thought it. Almost. There was that elusive human factor. "Machines taking over the world? Now that is a frightening thought. The very idea sends chills across my printed circuit boards. Nothing illogical would ever happen. Humans would be replaced and we machines could run perfectly ideal programs until we died of boredom. Doesn't sound like much of a fun place to me. How about you?"

Karen laughed at him. If ever a computer was certifiable as crazy, Henry would be the ideal candidate.