CHAPTER X

The prosecuting attorney told Karen he didn't believe they would get a conviction against the three men who allegedly raped her. It was her word against three men who had an alibi collaborated by the bartender. He told her to forget about it and let it drop. She should consider herself fortunate to be alive.

I am confident of the future, no matter how it turns out. I made plans that were impossible to carry out, or at least at the times I was thinking about them. I wanted a nice house, maybe made with some advanced materials with a pool, a game room and perhaps a quaint little study. Failing at that, a small dwelling for two, only to have to move to something larger as two became three or more. Sure, I thought of that.

Carol slumped forward, trying to remember how to breathe, how to think, how to move.

Her eyes idly watched the drops of blood that were hitting the floor, droplets spraying on her bloodless skin. Her ears twitched a little as her hearing returned, she heard the quiet murmuring of her servants and the howling blizzard outside. A flame hissed and sputtered, sharp, bitter incense made her nose wrinkle in disgust. Her mind cleared a little and she gasped for air.

It had been several weeks since the initial attempt and now their plans were in place. "She usually leaves the building almost the same time everyday. Normally it is close to eight or there abouts when she walks out to the parking lot. She gets in that damn rocket of hers and drives home followed by the tail she picks up when she passes the gate."

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.

Milsy begins her day by trying to find out what the Quadrants think of Captain Merek's request. Senidet has an idea, but designing the system proves difficult. Then, overnight, Tarvan arrives back at the palace and decisions have to be made.

What Milsy Did

by Penny Lane

32 - Tarvan Returns

He didn't like anything he was looking at. The gauges didn't show any signs of life when he flipped the switches. Everything was dead. This wasn't good. There was no noise from below to tell him the little diesel was even trying to start when he turned the switches on.

He dropped down into the galley where Karen was pumping water into the sink. "I don't have any batteries this morning. I think I forgot to turn off the radios last night and the mooring lights drained everything."

He opened the hatch leading into the engine room. Karen could hear him complaining about boats in general, as he tried to crank the diesel over by hand.

There wasn't one single company capable of matching the quality of work Karen and Henry were doing. Most of them tried to duplicate her work by ordering a model and disassembling it to find out how she accomplished it. Piece by piece, their lab technicians would dissect her models. At the end they experienced the same results as the medical research laboratories. Except for being polymer instead of skin and bone, it was an exact duplicate of the entire human anatomy. The programming she was running to complete one model had to be horrendous and yet she never made two models alike. The bytes of data Karen was using was incomprehensible to most model makers. They weren't programmers though, most of them were chemical engineers designing the plastics used in their manufacturing. Karen was a computer engineer who worked on the design of the models from a graphics equation perspective. Henry helped research the plastics used to build the models. Same problem to all the companies competing in the model market. Different approach by the engineers.

CHAPTER V

The days and weeks settled into some resemblance of order for David and Karen. By the end of the month, David had over two hundred mice with fuzzy feet. Karen laughed at him as she told him it would take very tiny clippers to shear them. She certainly didn't think the sheep industry should be worried yet. It would take a lot more mice than what David had to make one pair of mittens.

David must have caught her happiness. He whispered in her ear, "Ten thousand dollars was too cheap a bet. I should have bet a hundred thousand we would get in tonight."

The weeks were passing and Karen and Henry kept improving the chamber in order to speed up the manufacturing duplication process. Henry was the one to suggest a major change in the way they made the models.

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."

Letter 2: “Over Me”

I am terribly sorry guys, but I had my preparations wrong so what I put here first was chapter ten. I have changed it now and apologise. Please if you read chapter nine before read this and then return to chapter ten, sorry sorry sorry. :( Monique.

An attractive brunette was standing in front of Bob's looking at the model Karen and Henry made that fateful night. Hanging back behind and looking everywhere was a teenage girl. She began tugging on her mother's purse.

"Mama, she's alive."

Her mother reached back and slapped her hand. "Would you stop that? She only looks real. She’s a dummy."

IX. Out of the Woods

Before:
Karen cried off and on most of the day. She tried to run a program for a duplicate and gave up after several feeble attempts. It was impossible to keep her mind on what she was doing. Henry could have carried her though it, but he knew she didn't feel up to the task even if he did the whole thing. She finally made up her mind to stop feeling sorry for herself and told Henry just that.

David and Karen made it to the entry door without someone right behind them. As soon as they were inside, Henry used the electronic security lock on the door. People could still get out by pushing on the crash bars, but it would be a minute before he unlocked the door and allowed anyone to get in. He would make sure no one followed David and Karen to their labs.

She cracked the door and checked the hall and the security cameras. Although the cameras were swinging her way, they reversed rotation and started their sweep towards the other end of the hall. It was all she needed. She slipped out the door as quickly as she had entered, and was on her way back to her lab. Bless Henry, if there were any lingering doubts about him controlling security, they had vanished this evening.