Slacker- Part One by: Moongoddess Esther is certain she can remake her good for nothing, slacker of a son into a worthwhile and industrious member of society. Artie… well…

This story is dedicated to Cyclist for the profound and astounding story ‘Sweat and Tears’. Thank you also to Bailey Summers for Beta reading... Image is copyright SuperArtistbOy. All characters copyright 2011.

Esther came home from a hard day at the office to find her 19 year old son Artie, stoned on the couch, playing video games and surrounded by junk food wrappers and trash. She started to fume.

“Did you go to school today Artie?” she asked fully knowing the answer. The boy shook his head. Esther gritted her teeth and bit back on her anger.

“What did you do then son?” she asked a little more forcefully, demanding his attention. Artie looked at her quizzically from under his VR headset.

“Uh… I got up at noon, skated down to Game Stop, got a copy of Call of Duty 8, came home and blazed, then played multiplayer till now… when’s dinner?” he looked expectant.

Esther bit her tongue.

“Artie… oh damn!” she stormed back out of the house. Artie looked blankly at the door.
“What about dinner?” he asked no one in particular and went back to his game.

Esther sat alone at a small table in the bar where she had gone to have a drink and try to regain her composure. Artie had developed the ability to make her so angry without him doing anything at all. She thought back to the young boy Artie had been, so clever and polite and smart… he had been a genius. Then he became a teenager and everything had changed, her neat, tidy, clean boy had turned, almost overnight into the greasy, smelly, hairy, pot smoking… Slacker that was on her couch right now...

He had so much potential, but now he didn’t even care whether he had a job or an education or anything… And so much of it was her fault, Esther thought, ‘I coddled him and didn’t ask anything of him after his father died. I wish I could give him a second chance.’ She sat up straight in her chair, eyes bright with inspiration and alcohol.
‘A second chance!’ she smiled to herself and exited the bar to go to her place of business.

Esther was by no stretch of the imagination poor, her departed husband had left her his biomedical company and she had built it up to a near multinational in the years since. She may not have had her late husband’s genius in the lab, but her business skills were second to none. Tonight’s visit however, had nothing to do with spreadsheets and mergers, but a visit to one of the R&D labs. Esther had been following this project with interest, because if successful, not only would it ease a lot of mental and physical suffering, but make a fantastic profit for the company as well.

Human trials had just been approved by the FDA and were scheduled to begin shortly, so Esther felt well within her rights to begin them a little earlier and closer to home. She went to the medicine refrigeration cabinet and entered her code into the locking mechanism. She took an injector and the dose module and closed the cabinet. Smiling at her own cleverness, she turned out the lights and headed home.

Esther woke with a mild hangover and hazy memories of the previous night. She heard snoring coming from the next room. ‘Good, now I can give my child the second chance he... she deserves.’ She thought happily. From what Esther had read about the research, she could give the subject the treatment and it would start really taking effect in 24 hours or so… Perfect!

She walked into Artie’s room and pressed the injector into his forearm with a mild hiss. The boy didn’t even move.

It was just shy of noon when Artie rolled out of bed and into the kitchen. Esther noted with some disgust that he was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing for the last three days, but she still forced herself to be cheerful and pleasant.

“Sleep well Artie?” she asked with a smile. He blinked bloodshot eyes at her and grunted something that may have been English. Esther tightened her smile and pretended concern.

“Oh I hope you are ok sweetheart, maybe you need to get out of the house and be with your friends for a bit.” She opened her purse and took out a small wad of bills, “here, go to the beach or the movies or something darling, have some fun.” Artie brushed his greasy long hair from in front of his eyes and looked at his mother like she had two heads.

Uh… ok,” he mumbled through his cottonmouth, “if you’re sure it’s ok.” He took the money and shuffled out the front door. Esther waited till he was out of sight and called the number she had written down by the phone.

Esther had been very industrious that day, having boxes of Artie’s clothing and possessions boxed up and removed, getting painters to finish quickly and generally giving Artie’s rooms a total makeover. It was almost a pity when Artie stumbled up to bed, too wasted to notice that anything had changed at all. He shed his outer layer of clothing and collapsed onto the bed in his boxers.

Sometime around two am, the drug that his mother had injected him with started to take effect. First on his skeletal structure it narrowed his shoulders, widened his pelvis, and softened his jaw line and brow. His ribcage shrank as well giving his frame an overall slender look.

When his mother looked in at 8 am, the process was starting on his soft tissues and muscles; she quietly picked up his filthy boy clothes and closed the door on her soon to be daughter. Over the next twelve hours, Artie’s internal organs shifted and made space for her new internal reproductive tract, prostrate to uterus, testes to ovaries, penis to clitoris, and scrotum to labia. Artie’s body envaginated between her legs and completed the process, finally, adipose tissues formed beneath the skin, smoothing her new curves and gathering at the breasts and buttocks.

The little hair Artie had once had on her face and body became finer and very blond, the few coarse whiskers falling out. The hair on her head remained the same, its changes taking place at the roots. To look at her, you would think that she had been born female with only the greasy hair and stale body odor to give lie to the illusion. The changes to the body were nearing completion, with only a few trillion chromosomes to still change from Y to X. Artie slept on, neither knowing or caring about her incredible metamorphosis…

Esther checked in on her daughter around ten pm and was thrilled to see that her plan was working. She went happily to bed, to dream of the new wonderful life ahead for them both. Bright and early at eight am, Esther went to wake her daughter.

“Wake up sweetheart!” she greeted the sleeping form, “it’s a bright new beautiful day!” she got a face full of dirty boxer shorts in as a reward. She went over and shook the girl softly.

“Fuck off, leave me alone.” The sleeping figure buried her face in the pillows. Esther’s smile faded a bit but she remained positive.

“Alright darling, breakfast will be ready soon.” She left the room and closed the door.

Artie slept another two hours before dragging herself out of bed. She sat down on the toilet and just went, cleaning herself in a desultory manner after. She grabbed the robe on the back of the door, never noticing that it was a peach coloured silk creation and went into her room… she pried up the floorboards on the left side of her bed and got her stash. Artie quickly rolled and lit her first joint of the day.

“Oh yeah!” she croaked, “Wake and bake,” and wandered downstairs to the kitchen. Esther looked up from her coffee and newspaper, at first with interest, then dismay as she saw her wonderful new daughter stumble down the staircase, naked except for a silk robe that was untied and covering nothing. Her jaw dropped.

“‘Sup?” Artie grunted and made a beeline for the coffee maker, “why’re you home?” she took a big slug of the coffee from the mug she had poured. Esther struggled to regain her composure.

“I…uh…I thought we might spend some time together,” she stammered a little at first, “we haven’t done that for a while, you know go to the mall, have dinner, see a film?” sea blue eyes peered at Esther through a curtain of thick black hair.

“Huh… weird.” another grunt, “Are you dying?” Artie asked. Esther snapped head around in shock.

“No! Why would you think that?!” she huffed. Artie nodded slowly.

“Am I?” Artie blinked, “cause I feel really weird.” Esther’s brain reeled, could Artie not have noticed?

She stood up and guided Artie to a chair. “Weird how dear, like the flu weird?” She sat down again. Artie just sorta waved her hands around to indicate everywhere.

“No… I feel sorta off, all over…” Esther took Artie’s hand and held it to Artie’s face. The girl’s eyes widened.

“What’s wrong with me?” Artie whispered, “what the hell kind of flu does this?” she felt her face and body. “No frackking way, I’m a girl? Why am I a girl?” her hands continued to explore.

“Ohhhhh wow!” she giggled, “ohhhhh Fuck yeah!” Esther grabbed Artie’s hands before the girl could continue her explorations.

“Enough of that please.” Esther glared, “this wasn’t flu… I did this to you… to give you a second chance. Now you can live up to your potential!” Artie blinked, and then shrugged.

“Whatever dude… my friends always said you were making me into a pussy…guess they were right.” She shrugged again, stood and walked upstairs. Esther jumped up from her chair.

“But what about your second chance?” she sputtered. The girl on the stairs paused and shrugged.

Artie walked back up the stairs to her room and looked at what had been done to it. It was vomit inducing, all pinks and purples and a canopy bed? ‘WTF does she think, that I’m not nineteen?’ Artie sat on the bed to think, she was furious with her mother, but she wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of going along with this ‘second chance’ plan of her mother’s.

‘What prompted this anyways?’ Artie thought, ‘After dad died, she was so busy with that company of hers, she never gave me a second thought. She would just toss money at me and expected me to raise myself… Shit! She thinks this is good parenting? She didn’t like who I was so start over? If I wasn’t baked, I’d be furious!’ she giggled and was startled by the sound of her voice.

“Whoa! Trippy!” she giggled again, then frowned. ‘Good thing mom did just toss money at me, cause I’m gonna need some.’ She thought as she walked to her closet praying that Elise hadn’t looked too closely at the room when the fast forward renovation had happened. Artie crawled into the back of the closet and felt around till she found the wing nuts holding her ‘vault’ closed. To anyone looking at the bottom of the closet, it looked like a cold air return; Artie had turned it into a place to store things she didn’t want anyone (mother) to find. In fact Artie had bolt holes all over the house from the attic to the basement.

This one though, she kept money in. Contrary to her mother’s beliefs, Artie was still very smart and thrifty as well. At best guess, in the past seven years since her father died, his mother had given him in excess of fifteen thousand dollars. Artie had indulged in some day trading and managed to turn that over into about seventy five thousand dollars, give or take. Dumb stoner, huh?

She grabbed three thousand from the lockbox and re-sealed her hiding place. Now, as Artie expected, all her regular clothes were missing: replaced by this girly shit. ‘Dresses? Sheyeah, right…’ she thought scornfully, grabbing a pair of Capris, ‘now these denim things have possibilities though, almost board shorts.’ There was a knock at her bedroom door which she patiently ignored, ‘Now, something to cover up these… things and a couple of large shirts.’ She padded quietly to the fancy dresser and started tossing its contents across the room. She held up something that looked like jockey shorts without a fly and pulled them on. Two tight tee-shirts later and Artie felt reasonably covered.

Scissors were where she expected, in her desk, ‘mom really didn’t think this one through’ Artie sighed as she sat on the edge of the bed and started to cut the denims down to just below knee level. Artie paused for a moment and lit a roached joint she had, taking two or three deep tokes. She would have to lay in a couple of ounces of a good strong sativa just to keep her cool, even though she felt like bawling, ‘I won’t give her the satisfaction’ Artie thought savagely. With the shorts finished, she tried them on and looked in the mirror.

‘Gah! I look like a twinkie!’ she thought furiously for a moment, ‘The attic! There’s old stuff up there from back when… dad was still with us…’ she turned her thoughts away from that path and dragged her desk chair to the closet. There were two attic access hatches in the house, which could work out well for Artie, especially as the other access was in the guest bedroom across the hall… the guest bedroom where the big tree was nearest. Also, if her mom thought Artie was in her room, sneaking in and out would be a snap.

Her smile widened as she climbed up through the trap door in the ceiling, it was warm and bright with dust motes dancing in the sunlight of the front window. Artie had loved coming up here with her father when she was younger, errands to find photographs, Christmas ornaments, and old games. She shook her head and headed towards the boxes of clothing that was stored for reuse or recycling, but mostly her dad’s stuff that they couldn’t part with after he passed.

Artie dug through several boxes before she found a long sleeved tee, a hoodie and a flannel shirt… these would work. In another box a fanny pack and Score! Dad’s old RayBans! Shoes were gonna be a problem though. She dug around in the boxes for a bit before she found some small navy blue deck shoes that looked like they might fit. Artie headed to the other trap door when she stopped in her tracks, ‘Argh! My boards… mom will have gotten rid of them by now… SHIT!’ she looked around, where was it; it had to be here… and ‘Yes! In the corner by my first bike, now I’m glad mom was all nostalgic about saving stuff!’ she grinned happily as she dug out her first skateboard and headed down the trapdoor into the guest bedroom.

Finally dressed now, Artie took a look in the mirror. With the hood up and the RayBans, she almost looked like a skinny guy. She checked her waist pouch and made sure her money and stash was secure before zipping it closed. Last thing she checked was the board, the trucks had flex and play, but the bearings were nearly seized…Damn! Where could she find some oil… the garage was out so it was the 7-11 around the corner or nothing.

Artie unlocked the window and slid the sash quietly up, grabbing her board; she slipped out the window onto a large bough and gently slid the window closed. She almost lost her footing as he balance seemed to be off. Artie snorted quietly to herself and worked her way down the tree to the ground. As soon as she was sure she had not been seen, Artie bolted around the hedge and down the street as fast as her now shorter stride would take her.

Inside the house, Esther was starting to worry about the lack of sound coming from her new daughter’s room. Artie’s reaction to her second chance had been less then promising, she had barely acknowledged the changes to her body and had acted like it didn’t even matter that Esther had gone through such an effort to make Artie’s life better. The more Esther thought about it, the more irritated she got with her child, ‘rude girl, coming down here dressed like that and touching herself and was she stoned again?’ she fumed and stormed up the stairs to Artie’s room.

She tried the door but found it locked, well no worry, she had a key and wasn’t afraid to use it, especially today. Esther unlocked the door and pushed it open only to find sheer chaos, the drawers in the dresser were all pulled out and clothing was strewn everywhere. The closet was disarrayed and there was evidence of clothing being cut on the bed. The one thing that wasn’t there was her daughter, but how? There was no way she could have slipped out of a locked room, and it was a two story drop from her window…

“How did that little stoner manage this?” she wondered aloud.

Artie was less than a block away from the house, sitting on a parking curb, oiling the wheels of the ancient skateboard with the bottle of 3 in 1 she had bought from the 7-11. She lit up a smoke from the pack she had bought from the non-attentive clerk in the store, ‘what the hell,’ she thought, ‘new lungs came with the package’. She coughed a bit and worked till the wheels spun like new. Placing the 3 in 1 into her pouch, she tested out the board. It rolled beautifully but she found her balance still to be a bit weird, she shrugged to herself and headed out of the burbs towards the nearest oasis of civilization, Fairview Mall.

Artie rolled up to the glass doors and popped the tail of the board, catching the front truck smoothly with her right hand. This caught the attention of some of the mallrats hanging and thrashing on the low steps. Artie looked at them and flipped her cigarette towards the parking lot.

“‘Sup?” she grunted, keeping her voice low, “good gear here?” she added nodding towards the mall. The leader looked Artie up and down and gave a half nod.

“West 49th, Source, Wet Seal and a GAP, like if that’s what you wanted?” he half asked. Artie grunted her thanks and went in.

She stowed her board in a locker because rent a cops got all sticky about boards in the mall. She sighed; one of the stores was a girl’s store, so the Skater had seen through her disguise. She decided to start at the GAP and have one of the sales twinkies help her with some underwear that wasn’t all froofy shit like her mom had bought, but first… Timmies!

Extra large 3x3 in hand, Artie braved the ladies section of the GAP feeling totally out of place when a blond girl around her age snuck up with a cheerful “Hi! Can I help you miss?” Artie blushed but was determined.

“Um, I need some underwear and like junk,” she stammered, “stupid airline lost all my stuff…” Artie trailed off. The clerk pouted.

“Oh you poor dear, do you have your sizes?” she consoled Artie insincerely. Artie thought furiously.

“Well no, I’ve been in training for BoardStock and I've lost weight, so I want to be sure I have good sports underwear for the competition.” The saleswoman arched her eyebrow.

“I… see, and you want to try these on in the store.” The clerk became somewhat less than friendly, “Perhaps you could come back later this evening…?” Artie blushed brightly but fought down her embarrassment and flaring anger.

“What sweetheart?” she smiled savagely, “after I check into my hotel, after a shower perhaps? I am well aware that I am not fresh as a daisy. Not that I have to explain anything to you, but I have been training for a sports competition, I was on a long flight and I have no clean clothing.” Artie looked the blond girl directly in the eye, “Now get your manager and you can explain to him or her why you are willing to let a large sale walk out the door and why you don’t seem to want your commission on that sale. I’ll wait right here.”

The clerk almost ran to the office door across the store. ‘Damn, the last thing I wanted was attention.’ Artie thought angrily. The clerk returned with a twenty something woman in tow, Artie took about five hundred dollars in fifties and twenties out of her pouch and started counting it casually. The manager slowed and walked toward Artie, regaining her composure.

“Good afternoon Miss?” The manager, Elizabeth by her name-tag, began, “is there a problem I can assist you with?” Artie smiled inwardly.

“Well, before you send your spun candy clerk back to her job of being a decoration,” she snapped, “you might want to teach her not to assume anything about a potential customer. And then Elizabeth, you can find me a saleswoman who understands that all customers are potential commissions and would like to share some of my money. Preferably someone who is an athlete herself, please and thank you.” The manager eyed the cash and shooed the blond towards the cash registers.

“Of course Miss,” Elizabeth used her most soothing tones, “I think Sonya is available to assist you…” she flagged a merchandiser over, “if there are any other problems, please don’t hesitate to ask me for help. Ahh Sonya, if you could assist this customer?”

Elizabeth strode off to the safety of her office as Artie turned to look at the newcomer. Sonya was no twinkie that was for sure. The tattoo sleeve on her right arm was easy proof of that. Standing around 5’8”, she looked out of place in the GAP standard issue sales clothing. Her raven hair was tipped with an almost white blond and pulled back tightly into a bun atop her head. She had eyes the colour of sun cured bud and they danced with amusement at the scene she had just witnessed. Artie would have had a raging hard on if she had seen this girl three days ago, as it was; she had a strange warmth in her belly. Sonya extended her hand.

“Way to put Barbie girl in her place Miss,” Sonya grinned crookedly, “How can I separate you painless from your money?”

Slacker- Part Two by: Moongoddess Esther is certain she can remake her good for nothing, slacker of a son into a worthwhile and industrious member of society. Artie… well…

I would like to thank my Beta Readers, Donjo, Bailey and Lisa for their input and ideas. I'd also like to thank all of you for giving me a place to share my work. Last but not least, I'd like to thank my lovely Muse, Dani for everything she is.
All characters copyright 2011 BolaDesign Studios. Image Copyright SuperArtistbOy.

“Way to put Barbie girl in her place Miss,” Sonya grinned crookedly, “How can I separate you painless from your money?” Artie took the extended hand and smiled back, her anger evaporating.

“Well as I explained to your walking mannequin, the airline lost all my luggage and I need clothing… skin out figured I’d get the basics here before heading to West 49th and Sport Chek for boarding gear.” Artie smiled again. Sonya looked her up and down.

“Sorta figured you for a boarder, you said you’re here for BoardStock?” Sonya asked, “Competing?” Artie nodded.

“Hope too… but like I said, all my gear…” Artie trailed off sourly.

“Yeah, though you kinda look like a board bunny in that outfit,” Sonya grinned her crooked grin again, “tell you what… let’s get you tidied up and I’ll clock out … then I can show you where the real boarders shop… first clue, it’s not a mall. I can tell you’re not from Vansterdam. I’m Sonya, by the way.” She shook Artie’s hand firmly. Artie had a moment of panic… then it dawned on her, keep it simple.

“Nice to meet you Sonya, I’m Marnie.” She smiled. Sonya took her to the underwear section.

“Ok Marnie, did Barbie get your measurements?” Sonya asked, “I need to know what to grab and how much money I’m gonna make today.” She smiled. Marnie smiled back.

“We had just gotten to that discussion when she went all frosty on me… I used to wear a ten,” Marnie pulled a number out of the air, "but I’ve been training for the last four months and most of my old gear was loose… this is Sally Ann surplus.” She indicated what she had on. Sonya clucked her tongue.

“Yeah, Barbara was never really a hands on sorta sales girl.” She turned Marnie towards the change rooms, “We’ll get a tape and figure out what’s best in the basics, then I’mma gonna get all personal shopper on your ass girl.” Marnie giggled, which shocked the hell out of her.

“You have got to be shitting me, her real name is Barbara?” Marnie was astounded. Sonya grinned wickedly as she closed the door behind them.

“Sure as shooting,” she laughed, “I’m not sure if her boyfriend is named Ken though. Her kind doesn’t ‘slum’ with the people.” Sonya looked at Marnie, “Ok, I can’t measure you through the clothes…” Marnie smiled and stripped off her layers to the underwear and Sonya got busy with the tape.

“Cool, 5’7 in socks, hips 37 inches,” Sonya paused to write on a clipboard, “Waist is…26 inches, nice! And bust is 34 inches…” she moved the tape, “ohhh a B cup. Aren’t you just the bucket of sexy?” Sonya laughed and Marnie felt heat in her cheeks, was she blushing?

“Oh get on with it,” Marnie growled with a smile, “you have your specs list and I’m freezing. Can you get me three or four days of unders though, so I can do laundry?” Sonya chuckled, deep in her throat.

“Yes boss lady! But not all from here and not all sports.” She ducked out the fitting room door and left a near naked Marnie alone in front of a full length mirror, alone and rapidly sobering up.

‘So this is me now,’ she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror closely for the first time, ‘Sonya is right… I am sexy… Why isn’t this driving me nuts? I was a guy yesterday…’ she ran through her memories of the day. She could recall things more clearly than usual, even though she had been stoned. ‘Weird, ever since mom showed me my hand… I’ve been calling myself her and she in my mind, accepting that I’m a girl. My balance has been compensating for my t…breasts and hips without even having to think about… what did Mom’s lab monkeys come up with? A girl Captain America serum?’ she filed this though away for further study and turned around to see her bum. ‘Nice… I must send them a thank you note and then beat some answers out of them… ok… calm now. Ewwww my hair is nasty… and I smell… ok… I’m sorry Barbie…’ The change room door opened and Sonya handed her a sports bra and hipsters.

“Put these on, they’re your first purchase,” she said as she gathered Marnie’s original clothing into a cloth drawstring bag, “panties and socks off… do you need a liner?”

Marnie wasn’t sure what Sonya meant, but took a chance and nodded yes. Sonya handed her a packet and left Marnie to find more clothing.

‘Ok gotta do this…’ Marnie thought as she stripped off the underpants and socks. She looked at the plastic wrapped packet and tore it open, ‘this looks straightforward enough… I’m pretty sure the adhesive doesn’t go on the skin’ she shuddered at the image that popped into her mind, ‘so… pull on the underpants and…’ she managed to secure the liner in the crotch of the underwear and pull them snugly up. She held up the sports bra and examined it. ‘Looks like a short, stretchy wife beater…’ and pulled it over her head, unconsciously leaning forward to settle her breasts in the bra. Marnie straightened up and looked in the mirror at the reflection of herself / of a complete stranger and had a momentary surge of dizziness. ‘What the fuck was that?’ she thought before the door opened and Sonya came in with an armload of stuff.

“Ok, I put a selection of underwear at the cash with the tags from what you have on…”she looked at the blank expression on Marnie’s face with concern, “you ok? You look a little pale and weirded out…” Marnie shook herself out of here staring contest with the mirror.

“Yeah… I was just noticing how much I could use a wash, I might even have to apologize to Barbie.” She lied smoothly, “Anyways, what you got there miss Shopper?” Sonya grinned.

“Only the best selection of skater gear the Gap has to offer…” she laughed, “which is to say… not a lot. Ok package of tights, red… the red plaid of your jacket was a good colour for you, so I went with it, red tee shirt with a black tank to go over it loosely, distressed skinnies in black… we’ll get you a belt elsewhere, red socks and voila… get dressed and I’ll meet you at the cash with some other stuff then I’ll take you to a couple of good shops and see if I can find you a sink for your wash up…” Sonya chuckled and left the room.

Marnie picked up the tights and opened the package, they were tiny but stretchy. She struggled for a minute or two, but got them in place. The rest of the procedure was easy and she was slipping he deck shoes over her socks and checking out her reflection again shortly. As she looked at the young woman in the mirror, something in the back of her mind was slightly uncomfortable… everything looked ok and the reflected image seemed relaxed, but something just felt…off. Marnie sighed and gathered up her old clothing in the bag Sonya had left behind, all but the jacket and her hip pack. Checking that she hadn’t forgotten anything, she exited the room and walked to the cash desk at the front of the store.

Sonya had everything rung up by the time Marnie got to the register for a grand total of *gulp* $740.25 and four largish bags of clothing that would actually fit. Opening her pouch, Marnie took out $750.00 and settled up with Sonya, who then ducked into the manager’s office and quickly rejoined Marnie.

“O.K. Marnie, I’ve clocked out… believe me, Liz was happy to let me take the time off.” Sonya smiled mischievously, ‘She’s happier still that I have probably stopped a big customer service hassle. Anything else in the mall you need or are we going more hardcore right away?” Marnie thought for a moment.

“Is there a decent sports store in the mall and an electronics place?” she asked, “cause I need a backpack for this stuff,” she hefted her purchases, “and I need a MP3 player and a netbook. God only knows when Air Canada is gonna cough up my stuff, so I need access to the cloud.” Sonya grinned, which seemed like second nature to her.

“Your wish is my Etc…” she pointed to the Sport Chek and the Future Shop across the mall and down a level, “I can probably get you employee prices at both joints, I have friends in low places… retail, I mean.” She chuckled merrily. Marnie found her spirits being lifted by the gentle good humour of this new… friend?

“Well then, ‘Lay on MacDuff and damned be him that first cries Hold, Enough’,” Marnie tossed out the quote casually. Sonya’s grin threatened to crack her face in half.

“You are so not a board bunny! There’s a brain behind those blue eyes and blond roots,” She pushed Marnie towards the escalator, “dish! Or am I asking too much for a first shopping trip?” Marnie thought for a moment then decided it could be good to have an ally. She shrugged.

“Mom wanted the perfect child, great grades, good looking, and low maintenance. Grades were easy; I loved school and learning, hated the popularity contest that junior and senior high school became.” She shook her head, “I think mom would have been happy with Barbie back there. I started boarding seriously in grade ten. My grades didn’t fall so mom didn’t even notice till just last spring I guess.” She sighed and looked at Sonya. “As long as I was at school or out, everything was fine with her… I barely saw her. But I graduated last spring… she wasn’t even there, and she saw a lot more of me…” Sonya flinched a little.

“And she saw you weren’t her perfect little china doll anymore, right?” Sonya sighed, “And your dad…?” Marnie paled a bit.

“Dad… my daddy,” she actually felt tears stinging her eyes, “he… he passed when I was ten… something he got at his lab I think. Mom threw herself into the company and well… two solitudes.” Marnie took a shaky breath, “anyway, I had some money squirreled away and signed up for competition. Practicing kept me out of her way and gave me a goal to think about, other than our crummy family dynamic.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, “sorry to unload on you like that Sonya, I mean I barely know you…”

Sonya looked at Marnie for a moment and gathered the smaller woman into a hug. Marnie relaxed into the hug and some of the first human contact she had felt for far too long. She felt her tears start and let them go. Sonya just held the sobbing girl till the worst was over, then as Marnie’s crying eased, walked her to the nearest bench and sat her down.

“Better Marnie?” she passed her a tissue, “I could tell you had something bottled up, but wow… did you ever need to meet me!” Sonya smiled and wiped Marnie’s eyes, “good thing you didn’t have your makeup on or you would be a raccoon…” Marnie blew her nose and looked into Sonya’s eyes.

“You are probably the best personal shopper on the planet,” she giggled, “What do I owe you for this?” Sonya snorted.

“Haven’t decided what shrink services are worth yet my new friend,” she smiled a gentle smile, “Yes, friend. You need at least one out here and hey, you seem like a mostly fun, sarcastic gal… I like that.” She held out her hand which Marnie took and shook firmly. “But my new friend Marnie, you do stink, however I have a cure for that.” Sonya dragged her towards the Sport Check.

Esther on the other hand wasn’t feeling quite as calm as her daughter at that moment. It had been over two hours since Artie had somehow got away from the house. Esther was frantic, slowly realizing the enormity of what she had actually done to her own son, what if the serum had killed him? ‘Oh lord! And I took away his very identity… all I could think about was that sweet 10 year old son that David and I had…’ she glanced around the kitchen, trying to hide her tears from herself.

Esther’s eyes landed on an envelope from Artie's high school and desperate for any distraction, she grabbed it and tore it open. It was Artie’s final report card; she scanned the card and the grades… ‘4.0 GPA, honours, Valedictorian… this is what Artie had achieved but I never noticed…’ she closed her eyes and let her tears flow as the years peeled away in her mind and she saw David’s beautiful face again.

Her perfect man, he had given her everything including his deepest love and an amazing son. An amazing son that she hadn’t paid a scrap of attention since David died, so focused on keeping NeilTech going and then growing, keeping David’s dream alive, making sure that Artie wanted for nothing… wanted for nothing but her love, her attention. And it was so hard…seeing David in Artie’s face or gestures; it made Esther’s heart break all over again.

So she kept her family…her son at arm’s length, never saw the man he was becoming… the genius, it seemed… but so was Artie’s father, Artie got a lot of traits from his dad quite honestly… the calm and quiet… the stubbornness… the ability to make her madder than anyone else on earth…
‘That was how David and I met,’ she remembered, ‘at university, I was taking business and he was already a huge lab geek, we had common friends or what did he call them? …Intersecting Venn circles. And we used to fight…well I would fight, he’d debate…used logic too, the cheater. Under the logic was a passion as hot as the sun… he was just so calm… and I fell madly in love with him. We married right after graduation, I worked, he did his post grad and doctoral in biotechnology, and then the startup.’

Those had been lean years for Esther and David but once he made his first major breakthrough, a drought resistant grain for the harshest places on earth, the business boomed and David brought in other brilliant minds… including that aging hippy Milo Samuels, brilliant yes, but not driven. She resented the fact that his ideas formed fully fleshed in his mind… When David had to labour so long to perfect his… but that was NeilTech… she left her job and stayed home to be wife, and soon, mother. Those ten years were bliss her family had been her version of heaven.

Then Milo had his breakthrough, finding the on/off for switch for cancer, but that wasn’t enough... he suggested that the growth switch in cancer could be used to grow genetically identical parts for injured tissue, a carbon copy grown by the body, replacing damaged cells as it went… A healing Cancer… and they did find that healing cancer… too late.

David died of congestive heart failure, three months before the serum was ready for anything beyond lab tests. Esther, in her grief lashed out and in her new position of president of NeilTech, fired Milo Samuels. The Healgen serum was property of NeilTech however and though Milo got wealthy, he didn’t own his own creation.

Esther focused the company on improving and refining Healgen and creating with it, a medical and surgical renaissance. ‘But now I see how that caused a very different illness in my own family’ she breathed a sobbing sigh, ‘we never grieved… I wasn’t there for him… all I saw was a slacker… like I thought Milo was… and then I…’ she couldn’t finish the thought and broke down completely, sliding from her chair to curl up on the floor and howl in the agony she had caused herself.

Sonya dragged Marnie into the Sport Chek and pushed her to the backpacks.

“I have to talk to one of the clerks Marnie,” Sonya explained, “see if you see one you like and I’ll be with you in a minute” and dashed off to the back of the store. Marnie giggled and looked at the selection. A salesman coalesced out of nowhere. He was young, handsome and fit.

“Can I help you find something sweet-cheeks?” he was also a douche, Marnie decided.

“No thank you,” she looked at his name tag, “Bryan. I’m capable of picking out a back pack by myself. After all, it’s not rocket science, is it?” she smiled sweetly. Bryan’s sales smile was replaced by a cocky grin.

“Shhhh, don’t spread it around,” he whispered conspiratorially, “everyone will want my job…” he chuckled, “she said you were quick.” Marnie looked at him with a flash of anger then relaxed when she saw Sonya laughing.

“You Brat!” she yelled, “she put you up to this Bryan? Marnie asked. Bryan laughed.

“Sorry about the sweet-cheeks thing, it’s a pleasure to meet any of Sonya’s friends… she only picks the best you know.” He extended his hand, “Bryan Niven, a pleasure to meet you. Sonya said you could use a bit of a cheer up after losing your luggage and all… did you see anything you liked here?” he said with a genuine smile. Sonya wandered over.

“Oho! Now the Irish Charm comes out does it?” she laughed, “don’t buy this Blarney either Mar. He turns it off and on like water… see what I meant by friends in low places? Oh and by the way Marnie…” she paused, “Neener!” Sonya had a grin that could only be described as shit eating, Bryan nearly fell down laughing and Marnie laughed alongside them.

“You get an ass kicking at the video game of your choice madam.” She caught her breath and pointed at Sonya, “you sir, can grab me that Skullcandy Daylong Backpack board bag there. That will almost make up for your role in her humour.” She grinned at Bryan. Bryan grabbed it down and handed it to her.

“Anything else Marnie?” he smiled. Marnie shook her head but Sonya spoke up.

“Actually yes Bry,” she began, “remember all of those three month, no question, and no obligation passes you guys handed out last month?” Bryan nodded.

“Yeah the deal with Premier Fitness, a pain in the ass,” Bryan growled. Sonya smiled.

“Got any left?” she asked brightly. Bryan nodded again.

“For you Sonya? Sure, how many you want?” he started towards the customer service counter. Sonya and Marnie followed.

“Just one, but could you call Kayla at Premier and tell her it’s no questions?” Sonya added, “It’s just for the locker-room shower for our wayward traveler. Meanwhile, after Marnie is ensconced, you and I need to get her a pay as you go cell, a netbook and an MP3 player.” Bryan grinned.

“Yes General!” he saluted, “I think I know a smart phone that I can lay hands on, then a sim… “He glanced at Marnie, “a combo phone player…a Tb only I’m afraid, is that ok?” Marnie nodded, slack jawed. Sonya patted her chin.

“Ok Bryan, you get on that… put all those items in the bag,” she pointed at the Gap bags on the floor, “And ring up the backpack… then get the phone set up and activated. I’ll take Marnie to Shoppers Drug Mart and get toiletries and then to Premier… I’ll drop her off, get the computer; make a quick stop at Curl Up ‘n Dye and meet you back here. Sound ok?” Bryan snorted.

“Geeze Sonya, plan something hard next time,” he smiled a breezy sort of smile which caused Marnie’s tummy to do an unexpected flip flop; “I can do all of that without leaving my desk here.” He grabbed a coupon and handed it to Marnie, then picked up the phone and started dialing. Sonya pulled Marnie to one side.

“Do you trust me Marnie?” she whispered, “enough to give me six hundred dollars?” Marnie was astounded, no one had ever asked for her trust before and people had abused her trust in the past, most recently, her own mother. But something about Sonya made you trust her and she had been nothing but helpful today. The small discomfort in the back of her mind flared for a moment then died down again as Marnie unzipped her pouch and counted the money out.

“Ok Bry, here’s two hundred fifty dollars for your half of the job,” Sonya handed him the cash, “and now Marnie, off to Shoppers!” She dragged the unresisting girl behind her.

The run through the Drug Supermarket was quick and to the point. Shampoo and conditioner, body wash and scrub puff, toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, razors and a combination lock. While Marnie waited in the checkout line, Sonya darted off to get a couple of things. When Marnie was starting to check through, Sonya dumped a few more items on the belt.

“There we are,” she panted slightly, “a couple of essentials…” Marnie saw that Sonya had added an assortment of makeup and both panty liners and tampons. She kept her mouth shut and eyes straight ahead… better to just use this as more camouflage.

“Good Lord, I must be short on sleep, thank you Sonya. I had blanked on the tampons,” she lied, “but the makeup?” Sonya smiled…

“Hey, you’re going to want to guild the lily for the BoardStock Parties, especially if you want to be seen with me girl.” She winked, “now pay the nice lady and lets hit the gym!”

Slacker- Part Three by: Moongoddess In which Marnie makes new friends, contacts an old friend, and a mystery guest signs in...

“‘Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.’ - Nolan Bushnell”

Sonya practically dragged Marnie from the Shoppers Drug Mart and headed up a level to the Premier Fitness facility. Marnie stared at the looming glass doors and hesitated for a moment. Sonya looked at her quizzically.

“‘Sup, Babygirl? You look all panicked,” she asked with genuine concern. “Are you okay, sweetie?” Marnie shook herself and gave Sonya a wan smile.

“Sorry, Sonya. I guess today is hitting me pretty hard,” she said, covering her discomfort quickly. “I really need some downtime.” She walked through the door Sonya held for her. Sonya followed her and guided her towards the reception area.

“Hey, Sonya Babe! Is this the first aid that Bryan called about?” the receptionist began to chatter as soon as she set eyes on the two of them. “Hi, you must be Marnie. I’m Kayla!” The red haired girl came around from behind the counter and hugged Marnie, then wrinkled her nose. “And I see why you got Bryan to call. Sorry, Marnie.” Kayla shrugged and smiled again. Marnie had to grin; Kayla reminded her of a chatty bird.

“It’s okay, Kayla… thanks so much for this… you can’t imagine how gross I feel right now.” She teared up a little. “I don’t know what I’d do without Sonya and Bryan and you…” her voice trailed off as she started to choke up. She was surrounded by a hug from behind, which Kayla quickly closed in front. Marnie couldn’t help it and the tears flowed freely again.

‘I don’t ever remember crying this much, even when dad died… but this feels good, like a release of tension,’ Marnie thought as she reigned in the sobbing and straightened up.

“Thought you got that out of your system earlier, Marnie.” Sonya held on for a moment longer, adding, “but you must have needed this. You’ll feel better after you’re cleaned up.” Sonya arched an eyebrow towards Kayla, who scampered back behind the counter, pulled several towels and a clean pair of flip flops from under it and placed them in front of Marnie. Kayla motioned her to take them.

“Okay, Marnie… get your ass to the change room, get clean and feel good,” she said and pointed toward the door in question. “Grab a locker for your stuff, and here…” Kayla handed her a one strap back pack with the club logo on it, “get your stuff out of the Shoppers bags… like, tacky or what? Now Sonya and I are gonna have some fun, so scoot.”

Marnie reluctantly left her … friends behind and approached a place once forbidden to her. As she pushed the door open, a flood of memories came back from her childhood. Sneaking into the girls’ room in public school, the terror of almost being caught, the fascination with everything that was different and the mystery of girls that just became more mysterious with that expedition into the unknown. She felt like fleeing, but forced that down; she was allowed in here now.

She decided to find a locker as close to the showers as possible and, getting there, discovered that the club had a shower caddy in the locker. She loaded this with Shampoo, conditioner, body wash and the scrub puff; the rest of the purchases she loaded into the pack Kayla had given her. Now she started to tremble a little, Marnie knew she was alone in the room but she still felt terrified about undressing.

Taking a deep breath, she removed her shoes and put them into the locker, her jacket and shirts followed. Marnie took care to hang everything neatly in the locker, her clothing had never seemed important before, but this was all so nice, it felt good on her skin. The way everything hugged her, like the jeans, was like being constantly… safe? Marnie worked the jeans off and the tights and socks followed, joining everything neatly in the locker. The bra and panties were last… she hesitated, unsure about being completely naked. Another deep breath and she removed the bra.

“OK ‘Marnie’, Now or never…” she muttered to herself and stepped out of the underwear, picked them up and looked at them. She stripped the old liner out of them and folded them neatly, then wrapped the liner in tissue. She was preoccupied by the combination lock and didn’t even notice when another woman came into the change room.

Marnie stiffened for a moment but then noticed that she was wrapped in a towel and had her shower shoes on. ‘How did that happen? I was naked a moment ago, was memorizing the lock combination and then was startled by the other person coming in. What the hell was in that shit mom put in me?’ She locked the locker, grabbed the caddy and walked carefully to the shower area.

‘Breath kiddo, this is just high school gym class.’ She calmed down and removed the towel and took the caddy to a shelf by a showerhead. She adjusted the water to a comfortable heat and stepped under the falling water. ‘Holy Shit, that feels good,’ she thought as she stretched her shoulders under the hot water, the itch on her skin diminishing rapidly. She squeezed a good portion of the Mango scented bodywash onto the puff and started scrubbing… which didn’t feel great.

~ease back the pressure~

“What?” she said aloud, startled.

~ease back on the puff a bit, it’ll feel better~

There was no one else in the shower area. Marnie did what the… thought(?) suggested and started washing herself with a little more gentleness and found the shower experience becoming much nicer again. She washed herself thoroughly twice, trying her best to either ignore or put away the sensations her new body was sending her till she could think about them later. It was like trying to ignore the tingle of a nine volt battery on your tongue.

She shivered and rinsed herself off and put the bath puff back in the caddy. Now the hair… she grabbed the shampoo and liberally poured out a large palmful. Lather started to attack the greasy strands as she worked to scrub the itch off of her scalp. Great honking tangles started to wash out and down the drain as she worked the foam through each strand, root to tip. Marnie rinsed and immediately lathered up again, this time actually enjoying the experience… the lather, the soft floral scent… it was becoming sensuous.

~not bad, huh? ~

She shook herself out of the reverie and rinsed the lather down the drain… conditioner… this was new. Marnie carefully read the instructions and worked the thick liquid through her hair.

~ Let it sit a couple of minutes ~

‘Where… no, who are you?’ There was no answer. The voice… thought… whatever… only seemed to intrude when she was relaxed, but she was very agitated now. Marnie had to find out what was going on inside her and that meant only one person. She rinsed the conditioner out of her hair and shut off the shower. She dried herself gently, not wanting a repeat of the discomfort of earlier, and wrapped a towel around her hair. She passed a mirror and glanced over… all she saw was a woman… where was she?

~right here, sweetie ~

Marnie ran to her locker and rushed to get dry.

“‘A healthy state encourages many voices - and lots of listening.’ - Kathleen Sebelius”

Marnie was dressed and dragging a brush through her hair. ‘What the fuck is going on? Did I crack this morning? Settle down… after all you’ve been through, auditory hallucinations are the least of your worries.’ She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. If her tai chi classes had taught her nothing else, it was the value of a deep cleansing breath. She felt the tension in her shoulders drain away and the knot in her core unwind. ‘Okay, priorities now. Have to contact Doc and get him to work on some sort of ID, then I have to hack the BoardStock registration server and change a few details on my entrance form…’ she sighed. ‘Then I have to go home and face... her.’

Marnie blinked as she looked in the mirror again. Sometime between brushing her hair and thinking, she had applied makeup. Not a lot and it worked with her look, but she couldn’t remember doing it and she didn’t know how to do it. Marnie was getting very frightened again but forced it down so she could deal with it later. She gathered her belongings and packed them away in the shoulder bag and left the change room, feeling better but still off kilter. Kayla spotted her and waved her over to the counter enthusiastically. Marnie joined the excited girl.

“Ohhh, you look so much better, Babygirl! Feel better too, I’ll bet!” Kayla chattered and waved to the computer screen. “So we filled in the basics for now, Miss Marnie Neil,” she said and giggled. “Phone number is blank till Bryan produces, and we used Sonya’s address till you can update us with your 411.”

Kayla backed Marnie up against a neutral coloured section of the wall and focused a digital camera on her. A moment or so later, Marnie had a brand new membership card to Premier Fitness and another new friend. The day was definitely full of surprises. Sonya bustled back in at that moment and, after ooohing and aaahing over the results of their shenanigans, yoinked Marnie back out the doors with a promise of getting together later with Kayla.

Sonya hustled Marnie into the mall elevator and took a good look at her. “Damn, you clean up nice, girl!” Marnie was unused to the level of attention she was getting and ducked her head, blushing crimson.

“I bet you say that to all of the transient, lost luggage, boarder girls you meet, Sonya,” she replied with a shy smile. Sonya grinned and pulled Marnie into a hug.

“Nah, just the ones who clean up nice,” Sonya said, laughing. “Now, Bryan has the electronics in hand and is getting them set up, and you have an appointment for your roots.” The doors opened and Marnie saw what could only be described as a glass and chrome temple to beauty and femininity. Sonya pushed a slacked jawed Marnie from the cab and towards the salon entrance. She barely caught the name of the establishment that was shining in a translucent white light above the chrome like a hologram: á‰liane. Her mom went here. Marnie immediately tensed up.

“Hey, hey... relax, Babygirl,” Sonya soothed. “Nothing and no one is going to hurt you, you’re under my protection.” Marnie relaxed slightly but was still on edge… her mom was a regular customer here…the thought raced around her mind like an ADD gerbil. She allowed Sonya to lead her into the Salon towards the reception area. The girl behind the desk could have been an elf; she had an ethereal quality to her, even seeming to glow slightly to Marnie until she saw it was clever interior lighting design. The receptionist looked up at Sonya and Marnie and actually did start to glow a bit on her own.

“Sonya! Yaaaay!” She levitated out of her seat and into Sonya’s waiting hug. “Mmm, you give weapons grade hugs, girl! Is this Marnie?” Sonya pulled back a little to introduce the girl.

“Marnie, this is Richelle, Salon Mistress Supreme,” she said, nodding to her hugee. “Richelle, this is my newest friend and poor little lost girl, Marnie.” Marnie had to grin, and all the remaining tension she was holding evaporated.

“Hi, Richelle. Sonya thinks I need some work done,” she said, smiling. “I’m just along for the ride.”

Richelle let Sonya go and looked Marnie up and down.

“Yeah, our Sonya’s a force of nature, isn’t she?” Richelle giggled merrily. “Roots, definitely, and a manicure. Everything else looks okay… unless you want a cut and style?” Marnie hesitated for a second.

~no, just roots and claws, Hun~

“No, roots and manicure is fine with me, Richelle,” she replied.

Sonya looked at Richelle. She grinned at the small woman.

“Gonna have the twins look after her?”

“Nothing but the best for your friends, Sonya. You know that.” Richelle laughed and continued, “now shoo, come back in an hour and a half.” She took Marnie’s hand and led her into the depths of the salon.

Richelle sat Marnie down in a chair and waved over two women who were almost identical save their hair colour. They were twins, that much was obvious, but Marnie could feel that they were very different people somehow.

“Marnie, this is Genifer,” she said, indicating the brunette. “And this is Gisele,” she continued, pointing to the redhead. “I leave you in their gentle hands.” Richelle giggled and whispered something to the two women and walked to the front of the salon. The brunette looked at Marnie’s hair and tisked.

“Okay, G, I’m up… see you in 40 k?” the redhead nodded and threw herself in the next chair and grinned.

“Okies, Marnie, lean back… roots and a trim… relax and enjoy the ride.” She let the back of the chair down and started to rinse out Marnie’s hair. There was a snicker from the next chair.

“Yeah, keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times.” Marnie snorted and started to just relax and enjoy having her hair and scalp massaged.

~oh, like this, do ya Hun?~

~who are you?!~ Marnie thought back furiously, trying not to mirror her tension on her body.

~I’m You, mostly.~

~want to explain that statement, oh wise oracle?~

~don’t think I can right now Hun, so I won’t~

~wait…what?~

~just relax, we’ll talk again soon. The wonder twins are changing up… see ya~

“Okay, G, my turn,” the redhead was saying. “Hit the bench.” Marnie blinked and saw Gisele roll a small table and a stool over as Genifer sat down in the chair beside her.

“You don’t strike me as a Girly type, so... short and neat and white polish, okay, Marnie?” She grinned and started right in on Marnie’s left hand. Marnie looked over at Genifer lounging next to her.

“You two don’t strike me as typical beauticians,” she noted, explaining, “you aren’t all talky talky and stuff, like others I’ve been to. You are very professional… well mostly.” Marnie grinned, remembering the few exchanges between the women. Gen smiled back.

“Oh, we do that if it seems what the customer wants.” She shrugged. “But sometimes it’s better to just relax and flow. Personally, I think we do a better job without the distraction. It’s like G said, you don’t seem like a Clone Ranger, so you could live without the inane chatter.” She paused and arched an eyebrow. “Or would you like to know all about the Kardashians?” She broke out an evil grin.

“Gah! NO… no thank you.” Marnie shied away in mock horror. “I’d like to keep my brain cells.”

“If you two are gonna talk, G,” Gisele piped up, “I’d prefer you not startle Marnie into sudden movements. I’ve never drawn blood in five years, and I’d prefer not to start today. Thank You.”

Genifer rolled her eyes, picked up her book and started to read. Marnie looked at the maroon, indigo cover and especially at the art. It was a modified version of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man except the figure was half male and half female. She cleared her throat.

“Pardon me, Genifer, but what are you reading?” she asked. “The cover is quite eye catching.”

“This?” She closed her finger in the book to mark her place. “I found it on Amazon; it’s a Canadian Science Fiction Political Environmental Thriller...” she paused and thought before continuing, “with super heroes. Oh and Romance.”

“Sooo, just a couple of genres then?” Marnie replied with a crooked grin. Genifer smiled.

“That’s what I thought at first, but it’s more about being human. Male, female, carbon or silica, doesn’t matter, just being human. It’s a pretty good read.”

Marnie glanced at the title, The Enhanced: TRI, and made a note to find it. She could use a good read. She read a lot of fiction as she grew up because it helped her escape the loneliness of her life. Science fiction was her favourite but the classic fantasy novels ranked up there too. Historical fiction was good as long as it was plausible and a good crime thriller was always welcome. She loved Elmore Leonard and John D. MacDonald.

“All done Marnie.” Gisele stood up and turned the chair towards the mirror. “Basic maintenance done. I hope you’ll come back, I like you.”

Genifer stood up and stretched.

"That’s high praise coming from G, Marnie.” She smiled, “but she’s right, I like you too.”

Marnie blushed furiously as she dug in her pouch for a couple of twenties to tip the twins with. She wasn’t used to all this friendliness and kindness, let alone the attention she had been getting. She held out the cash and looked at her feet to hide her red face.

“Um… I want to thank you both for being so great to me… uh Genifer, Gisele… I will come back… I like you both too,” she half whispered. She was suddenly caught up in a hug from two directions. Gisele spoke quietly into her right ear.

“We did this at first cause you’re a friend of Sonya, but I want you as my friend too,” Genifer whispered into her left ear.

“What my sister said goes for me too, okay, friend?” Marnie felt her eyes stinging and nodded, not trusting her throat. The hug broke reluctantly and the twins walked her to the reception area where Richelle and Sonya were talking.

Genifer spoke up. “All done, Elf. Hey Sonya!”

Sonya grinned. “Hey G, Howdy G. Looks good!” She looked critically at Marnie. “Hallelujah! The Skunk stripe is gone.” She chuckled.

Marnie grinned and settled the bill with Richelle.

“Gee thanks,” she laughed, “though I guess I both looked and smelled like a skunk earlier. Thanks Richelle, Genifer, Gisele… for everything.”

Richelle smiled and handed Marnie a card.

“No worries, Marnie,” she chirped. “Just call and we'll fix you up, anytime.”

Sonya and Marnie walked back out to the hub bub of the mall.

“Okay, Sonya, what’s next?” Marnie asked. “More surprises?”

“Nope… we see Bryan for your tech and then a much needed café stop.” Sonya smiled at the smaller girl and added, “it’s been a tough day and you’ve been a trouper, Marnie.”

"‘A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more.’ - Jasmine Fitzwilliam"

They exited on the ground floor and saw Bryan just inside the Sport Chek. He waved them inside and led them back to the customer service counter. With an over the top flourish worthy of a stage magician, he produced a Smartphone and a netbook.

“Feast your eyes, Mine Damen,” he chortled. “The latest in lightweight tech for today’s modern woman on the go.”
On the counter was one of the thinnest non apple notebooks Marnie had ever seen, an Acer Aspire S… brushed aluminium, 13mm thin, gorgeous. Bryan opened it and it was on and loaded from a cold start…

“Marnie, meet the S3-951-6697,” Bryan said with a grin. “Win7 64-bit, Core i7 1.70 GHz, 8GB SDRAM, 240GB solid state drive, 13.3" LCD, 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth and a built in Wi-Fi stick…”

Sonya was grinning, while Marnie was gawping.

“Okay, Vanna,” Sonya laughed. “How ‘bout the phone?”

Bryan grinned even larger.

“If Miss Marnie will draw her attention to the second item up for bid?” He did a hand wave and said theatrically, “voila, The Galaxy Nexus… both set up with accounts, transferable to your old accounts from the cloud… both unlocked and ready to rumble.”

Marnie felt the tears come to her eyes and had the strangest urge to run and hide from these wonderful people. Had she been alone too long?

~don’t you dare run, girl~

~I don’t deserve this!~

~why not?~

~I’ve done nothing but lie to them…~

~soon, dear one. Once you understand what has happened, you can tell the truth~

~but…~

~hush, Hun~

Marnie walked round the counter and just gave Bryan a long hug… burying her face in his shoulder.

“Thank you for everything, Bryan,” she whispered.

“No problem, Marnie. I’m here if you need help. Also, I can’t wait to see you kick ass at BoardStock… I’ll be there rooting you on.” He smiled brightly and added, “and you give good hugs, almost as good as Sonya.” He gave her a gentle squeeze, disengaged and packed the laptop into the backpack and handed her the phone. Marnie smiled and took it.

“Bye, Bryan. See you soonest.” Marnie waved as she and Sonya headed for the Second Cup café.

Sonya went to the counter to order and Marnie set up the laptop. And punched a number into the phone… it connected to the cloud server and she had all her phone preferences again. A minute or two later, the laptop was similarly configured.

‘Okay, first things first,’ she thought as she fired up a secure email program.

To: Doc

From: futureboy

Subject: Doc, I’m in big trouble

Doc, Mom pulled something seriously weird on me… can’t explain… need ID, product and Sciencey advice…probably med tests... to coin a phrase, you’re going to see some serious shit.

A.N.

She hit send and waited. Sonya brought her a London Fog Latte and a chicken salad wrap and a chai latte and ham and swiss for herself. After a half hour of quiet munching, punctuated by the occasional yummy noise, the email chimed at the same time Sonya’s phone rang. Sonya took her call as Marnie opened the message.

To: futureboy

From: Doc

Subject: 1.21 jiggawatts?!

Ok kiddo, half hour, the lab ok?

M.S.

She replied in the affirmative, shut the laptop and opened her mouth to make excuses to Sonya. Sonya was on her feet first and speaking.
“Babygirl, I put my deets in your phone and I have yours in mine… I gotta run for a bit… family stuff… call you in a couple, okay?”

“Uh, sure, Sonya… I have to motor too… some stuff of mine may have turned up… call you in two? Okay?”

The two girls collided into a hug and then Sonya bolted out the door. Marnie gathered her new spoils, grabbed her board from the locker at the entrance to the Mall, lit a cigarette and flagged a cab. She actually had finished the smoke when a cab finally came to a halt. She told the driver to take her to West Seventh and Spruce and settled in.

The cab let her out at the corner and she walked to Choklit Park and made her way to the basement entrance of the home owned by the nearest thing to a father figure she had had growing up. The man she called Doc. Letting herself in with a key from under a hemp mat, she walked down the stairs quietly so as not to shock him too quickly.

“I can hear you, Kiddo,” rose the gentle voice from his lab. “Nothing to fear here, c’mon down. I want you to meet my able assistant…”

Marnie pitched her voice as low and soft as she could and said, “okay…” just before rounding the corner to see her friend in his beanbag chair and…

“Sonya!”

“Marnie!”

“Doc?”

“Dad!”

Marnie moaned as she blinked owlishly at her old friend and her new one,“Dad? Doc?! Great Scott!”

Milo Samuels sank deeper into his chair.

“This is heavy.”

Slacker- Part Four by Moongoddess   Doc has some theories, Sonya needs answers, Esther starts drinking and Marnie discovers new talents!

 
 
Milo Samuels sank deeper into his chair,“This is heavy.”

“Dad, how do you know Marnie?” Sonya gawped, slack jawed, “I just met her today! And why the hell did she call you Doc?”

Marnie sank slowly to the floor and sat wide eyed and ready to bolt, rocking back and forth.

Milo stood, walked over to her and tilted her chin up to look her directly in the eyes. After searching her face for a moment he grunted and nodded.

“Who did this to you Arthur?” he asked the girl gently, “I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t mess with any company materials.”

“I think it was my mom, Doc,” tears started down Marnie’s cheeks, “I woke up this morning like this and mom was all loco…”

“Dad! What is this shit?” Sonya interrupted, “what the fuck are you two talking about and why did you call her Arthur?”

Milo whirled on his daughter,“Sonya please! This young woman seems to be the victim of a biogenic assault,” he chided, “and it appears she is the child of my late partner. I need you to listen, I’m sure some of your questions will be answered, but Marnie, as you call her is our first priority!”

Sonya took a deep breath, centered herself and sat back down in the recliner she had been in.

“How can I help Dad?” she asked quietly.

“Just write down the salient points of what you hear, we can go over them later to see if I missed anything,” he turned back to Marnie, “thank you dear. Now uh, Marnie? Or would you prefer Arthur?”

“Under the circumstances Doc,” Marnie sniffled back her tears and smiled weakly,

“Marnie is a little more appropriate. Uh, where was I?”

“‘Mom was all loco…’” Sonya piped up.

“Oh… thanks…. So um, Mom was acting nuts and going on about me having a second chance or giving me a second chance. I had blazed as soon as I got up so I wouldn’t have to deal with her bullshit,” Marnie paused and blushed, “sorry ‘bout the language.”

Milo looked up from the joint he was rolling and grinned. “Marnie dear, I have heard worse from both of you, so don’t be getting all shy on me now,” he lit the joint and passed it to Sonya, “besides, you should have heard some of the language that your mother and Sonya’s mother have used on me.”

Sonya took a deep haul on the joint and passed it to Marnie. “Trust me,” She croaked out, “he does not exaggerate.”

That earned a small smile from Marnie as she took the joint and inhaled deeply. She felt the harsh edge of her panic subsiding and let out a deep sigh.

“She made sure I took notice of her ‘improvements’, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of reacting. I then proceeded to make good my escape from the house,” she paused, “considering I was seriously baked, or should have been, I did very well in my planning.” She frowned. Milo nodded his head.

“Cognitive boost,” he murmured, “interesting.”

“Come to think of it, I should have been seriously shitting myself about waking up like this,” Marnie blinked owlishly, “but aside from a couple of minor panic attacks, I’ve just been mostly myself… more emotional though.”

“Interesting,” Milo nodded again, “and how did you deal with these incidents?”

“It’s sorta crazy, but,” Marnie coughed, “I would hear a thought that wasn’t mine, but was?”

“Like a voice?” Milo raised his eyebrows.

“Sorta yes, sometimes?” Marnie struggled to put the concept into words, “I talked with it a couple of times, in my head? And it’s sort of a user’s manual…” she trailed off…

“And what else?” Milo probed gently.

“An autopilot,” she whispered, wide eyed, “there have been… gaps in my…now?”

Milo gathered the shaken girl into a hug. Marnie was trembling as she clung to her oldest friend.

‘My god, what did Esther put into this poor child?’ he thought furiously while stroking the young girls hair. After a while, he felt her trembling start to quiet. “Ok sweetie, its ok, we’ll figure this out…”

Marnie sniffled and pulled away from the Doc’s chest. Blinking back tears, she drew in a shaky breath. “I hope so doc,” she barely whispered. Wiping her eyes with the heels of her hands, she blinked, straightened up and looked him in the eyes, “Where do we start?”

Milo smiled; there was the tenacity he knew Artie had, even with the emotional shocks she had experienced today.

“We start with you telling me everything you remember happening and feeling today,” he directed her, “Every detail! Then we can concentrate on the physical aspects.”

“You can see the physical aspects Doc,” Marnie giggled, “I know what you mean though. Everything has been, for the lack of a better word, Weird.” She paused to consider how to explain, “I woke up in an alien body that felt completely normal,” she frowned, “it didn’t feel off balance or awkward at all. Honestly, I didn’t notice till my attention was drawn to it by my… by Esther.”

Sonya listened, wide eyed. If her father hadn’t confirmed the fact, she would never have believed Marnie had been anything but female, she was just so… natural.

“The next thing I knew,” Marnie continued, “my head was clearing, which was odd, considering the strain I had smoked earlier,” she looked at Milo with a crooked smile, “it was your ‘White Widow’, anyway, I cobbled together a decent enough disguise, grabbed some cash, an old board and made good my escape…” she cleared her throat.

Sonya tossed a bottle of water her way, which Marnie caught without even looking. Sonya’s jaw dropped and Milo’s brows rose to his hairline.

“That,” said Marnie, “is only a small example of what I’ve been able to do today. My balance seems hypercharged, I was boarding like it was completely automatic and like I said, I was completely at ease with Sonya and her friends when I should have been a gibbering wreck.”

“You mentioned voices?” Milo prodded as he opened his water, “or thoughts not your own?”

“On a couple of occasions today, like an inner voice.” Marnie nodded, “it gives advice on how to deal with difficult situations, and we sorta talked while I was at the salon. It’s… her voice is different from my inner voice… but the autopilot thing scares me Doc… I don’t want to lose me.” She was on the verge again.

~breathe dear, deep breaths, center yourself~

Marnie immediately felt calmer and stopped trembling. “That was her,” she looked at them, “she helped me fight off a panic attack.”

“It was strange to see Marnie,” Sonya spoke up quietly, “you were starting to shake and get pale, then your eyes sorta glazed over and you settled right down.”

Marnie cleared her throat. “Her voice was just there in my mind and helped me find my center,” she whispered, “Doc, you gotta help me.”

“I will do everything humanly possible… Marnie,” he replied and she could see the fire in his eyes, “in return I ask for only one thing, your complete trust, no matter how scary or embarrassing these tests may seem.”

Marnie nodded, wide eyed as Milo helped her to her feet. He rubbed his hands together in a motion Marnie had seen before when he was putting his entire mind to a task. “Now, Sonya will get to work on two things,” he pointed to the computer setup through the doorway, “first, transcribing the last half hour of conversation into file notes and two, getting started on the ID package you requested in your initial email Marnie.”

“But… she… how?” Marnie stammered, “I didn’t see her take any notes?”

“Dear, my daughter, aside from being a genius with computers and mathematics,” Milo smiled proudly, “has an eidetic memory. She remembers all that she sees and hears until she chooses to forget.”

Sonya grinned and blushed pink. “Get away with your silver tongue,” she stuck hers out at her father, “More than just a pretty face, eh Marnie? Sorta like you.” She gathered Marnie into a hug, “now the two of you scoot, I have work to do.”
 
 

 
 
Milo led Marnie back upstairs towards his workspace. She had never seen this part of his house before, having preferred to relax in the basement with her friend. This area was off the hook with so much high tech equipment that she couldn’t begin to identify half of it, and she had seen the labs at NeilTech. It actually looked like a scene out of a science fiction movie. Milo saw her trying to look at everything at once and snickered.

“What? You thought I retired from my field after your… Esther fired me?” he smiled, “I suppose I could have, I was very rich. No, I continued the work that David and I started and now, even NeilTech calls me to consult. Poetic Justice I suppose.”

He guided her through to a small examination room just off the main lab. He sighed, “I miss your father too, child. We were so close to the cure for him. I wish Esther could have come to grips, I had hoped she had, but this… Misuse of the technology, on you, on anyone…” his eyes flashed angrily, “we’ll deal with her later. Come in and undress, put on the gown and I’ll be in shortly.”

He closed the door between them and went to his desk. Milo picked up the phone and quickly dialled a number from memory.

“NeilTech R&D, Ken Takahashi,” greeted the voice on the other end, “how can I help you?”

“Hey Ken, Milo. I need you to do something for me on the QT,” he replied, “I need you to physically check the special projects locker and tell me if there’s anything missing.”

“Do you have reason to believe that anything might be gone Milo?” Ken’s voice took on a serious edge.

“I do Ken and if I’m right I’ll need you to send me all the notes and specs on it,” he said flatly, “there could be a possible misapplication protocol. I’ll hold”

“Shit! Ok, hold on,” Ken spat as the line went silent.

Milo busied himself by writing out a preliminary file entry for Marnie. Name, alias, birth date, calendar age, approximate biological age and relevant background information for the patient. This one had to be by the books, not a t uncrossed nor an i undotted.

Ken came back on the line as he was finishing his notes.“We have a problem old friend,” Ken sounded frightened, “Government and MOD crashing down on our balls with both feet kind of problem!”

“That’s what I was afraid of Ken,” he ran his hand over his eyes, “ok don’t raise any alarms just yet. What’s missing and how much?”

“Project foxtrot echo mike echo 213 delta,” Ken replied shakily, “one full dose unit.”

“OK, here’s what we need to do Ken, and don’t argue security with me, you know I have higher clearance then you do,” Milo quickly made a list in his mind, “first, go to the bioreactor and program it for a replacement dose for inventory, second send me the files and specs on the project, all of them, through our secure channel and third keep this quiet for at least 48 hours while I track down the probable suspect… this is huge Ken and could seriously damage NeilTech.”

“But… I, OK Milo, I trust you to know what you’re doing,” Ken sighed, “But to be clear here, 48 hours and then I have to get internal security involved.”

“I understand Ken,” Milo responded, “and thanks. I’ll keep you posted.” He hung up the receiver and walked back to the exam room.

Knocking gently, he opened the door to find Marnie sitting nervously on the table. Milo smiled to relax her.
“Hey Kiddo, made a little progress on the stuff your mom used,” he noticed Marnie flinch, “sorry, Esther used. Now we need some vitals and some blood samples, so BP, heart rate and general checkup first, then a few not so pleasant tests and we’ll do some mad science, ok?” Marnie bit her lip and nodded as Milo closed the door.

Esther was starting to seriously freak out by this time. She couldn’t call the police and she didn’t have any idea of what Artie would do with his free time outside the house so there was no way that she could go out searching in the car.

“I honestly don’t know my own son!” she thought bitterly, “I had no idea that he was as smart as he is. Valedictorian! What else didn’t I notice?” she went to the living room, poured her fifth glass of scotch and downed it in one gulp. Esther caught sight of herself in the mirror and hurled her empty tumbler at the reflection, shattering both mirror and glass, “SHIT SHIT SHIT! YOU MONSTER!” she threw herself onto the sofa and screamed herself into an uneasy sleep.

Sonya set to her tasks with all diligence, but her mind was whirling like a dervish. Even with the advancements in bioengineering that her father and others like him had achieved, this shouldn’t be possible! To be able to completely remake a human being to spec was just… scary. She looked up photos of Artie Neil on the internet and what she saw looked nothing like Marnie at all, and though Artie had been ok looking in a gangly, boarder sort of way, Marnie was totally sexy and cute. Artie was also about 3 inches taller than Marnie and about 40 pounds heavier. She shook her head to try to get her thoughts flowing straight.

She opened up her templates and started creating an entirely new person from thin air. Once upon a time, changing identities had been as easy as going to a cemetery, finding someone who had been born around the same time as you, and mail a request for a birth certificate. Once you had that, getting bank accounts, drivers’ licenses and the like was easy.

‘Not so much these days,’ she thought with a wry smile, ‘once the various levels of government started to network their computers, a death record would flash up with the request for a birth certificate immediately. No, now you had to be able to hack the records and in a best case scenario, create physical ID to go with it.’

This was a best case scenario.

She got to start from scratch, building a completely new persona from a literal tabula rasa. She put her ear buds in, cranked up the tunes and cracked her way into the Office of the Registrar General for British Columbia. Opening a new file was easy enough; the tricky part was finding the number range that was issued for the series from Marnie’s new birth date. Speaking of which… she linked to her father’s computer to see what age he had assigned to Marnie… 19… cool. Same age as before, so she could assign the same date of birth and Marnie wouldn’t get into trouble by forgetting her own birthday. She did a scan of registrations for that period and found a blank file, perfect; she slotted a very sincere fake registration into place and pulled open another window.

This was her template for the actual certificates, long and short form. Rummaging through a box of very official looking government forms; she selected the first two and loaded them into a printer never intended for public usage. In less than ten minutes, Marnie had her certificates and Sonya settled in to work on drivers’ license and health insurance cards.

Marnie started to get dressed sullenly as soon as Milo had left the exam room with his samples and notes. She had just experienced the most uncomfortable medical exam of her life and the sooner she was out of that room, the better. Once she was fully clothed again, she let out a huge sigh and lowered herself to the floor, assuming the lotus seat that she had learned in her martial arts classes.

‘This certainly is a lot easier to do now though’ she thought wryly to herself.

Closing her eyes, she began her low breathing pranayama to get herself into a state of mind where she could actually be of some assistance to her friend, and now Doctor, it seemed.
She was conscious of herself for a good five minutes before the self went away and she entered a state of mindfulness.

She brought herself back twenty minutes later and rolled to her feet without even thinking about it. Opening the door, she heard the muted whir of precision equipment and the low muttering of Milo coming from behind a very large computer monitor.

“God damn it, of all the things for that senseless woman to pick, it had to be this one…” he cursed under his breath.

“What one Doc?” she inquired as she approached his workstation, “what shit did Esther pump into me?”

“A very dangerous, untested product being developed for the Ministry of Defence,” he slumped back into his chair, “with the ungainly nomenclature FEME213D.”

“In English this time please Doc,” she glanced at the monitor and froze for a moment, “Whoa, Trippy… Field Enhancement, Military Experiment 213 Defence. Damnit! What the Frack was that?!”

Let’s see, you absorbed and compiled all the data on the monitor,” he pursed his lips and blew out air, “so I would say that’s part of the enhancement.”

Marnie reached for the nearest chair and plonked herself into it. “So, some dumbass brass hat at the MOD saw the Captain America movie and decided they wanted a super-soldier?” she spat angrily, all of her previous calm vanishing, “and Esther jumped at the chance for a government contract no matter how ethically questionable. Then sticks me full of who knows what? Is that it?”

“Well, considering this stuff was only in the tissue culture testing stage, we should look at the positive of the situation,” Milo said with a sad smile, “It should have killed you. Dissolved, I would think…”

Marnie blinked, her anger rapidly evaporating.

“Well, when you put it that way…” she grinned, “so what was this stuff designed to do; I didn’t see a specs list on your screen?”

“Short version?” he replied, “enhance the physical to peak fitness, improved stamina, modified immune system, balance, hearing, vision with some add ons, neural enhancement, active nanotech, pain resistance and some other esoterica that just means you are, well, somewhat more than human.” He took off his glasses and polished them with his lab coat.

“We are the Borg…” she quipped, “hang on… ‘Neural Enhancement, Active Nanotech’? How ‘active’ are we talking here?”
 
 

 
 
“That, is an excellent question,” Milo sat up, “Take the bandage off your arm where I drew blood, would you?”

Marnie peeled off the band aid and cotton ball and saw… nothing. No sign whatsoever that she had been pierced by a needle at all.
“Oookay… Captain America, the Borg and now Wolverine?” she slumped a little in her chair, “what other trademarks am I currently violating? What else did this active nanotech do to me?”

Milo picked up a piece of paper from the printers tray and set it in front of them both. It was a tech drawing of a nanomachine.
“Meet feme213d. From what I could figure out at first glance,” he tapped the drawing with his pencil, “they took the latest HealGen ‘bot and ramped it up at least 100%. This bugger has a gig of active solid state ram and the processing power of a Samsung Galaxy IIIS. It also has a distributed network using a very low 4G signal. You are probably a walking Hotspot.”

“Distributed network, uh huh,” she nodded, “and how many of these wee smartphones are there in me Doc?”

“Probably on the close order of a trillion,” he replied flatly, “which would explain where they got the fuel for your abrupt transformation, the excess mass of your old body. But what worries me more is their programming.”

“That’s your big worry Doc?” she huffed, “My biggest worry is how do I get back to being me!”

“I understand that Arthur,” Milo used her real name to try to convey the gravity of his next words, “but I feel that any attempt to do that without understanding the process would undoubtedly kill you.”

“Kill me?” she said flatly, “so I’m stuck… but why…” she waved her hands towards her body, “why this?”

“Why a girl is what you mean,” Milo shook his head wearily, “there were two nearly identical batches of feme213d. The difference is one was designed for men, the other for women. Your …Esther chose the female one, for whatever passes for reason in her head.” He sighed,” I gather that’s the reason you were out for, what? Three days? The tech had to rewrite your DNA, probably just copy and pasting your existing X chromosome. So until we can crack the process, we can’t just shoot you with the male variant.”

Marnie frowned and then her eyes lit up.

“We have no Y chromosome to take a template from,” she exclaimed, “and we’d have to reprogram the feme213d m variant with a sample of my DNA from home, that is, if there’s any left after Esther’s Extreme Makeover: Bedroom Edition. She had my room completely redone and probably swept clean… except…”

“Except?” Milo sat forward.

“Except for all of my bolt holes I had built in my room and my closet there might be some of me in one of them,” she sighed, “which means I have to go back there. And I will, the rest of my cash and bank cards are there.” She paused in thought for a moment, “you said something about programming…”

“Yes! Programming,” he sat up straight, “the tech wouldn’t need such high levels of computing power or the network if it wasn’t required for high level data processing and retrieval, and I gather this is why you are a page at a glance reader. But more to the point, you mentioned help files and the voice in your head?”

Marnie nodded.

“That’s probably some sort of AI,” Milo smacked his hands together, “under normal circumstances…”

“Like there would be any normal circumstances Doc,” she snorted.

“If this was used under military applications, the AI would probably be a combat computer, with military programming and mission specific applications,” he almost looked excited, “but in this case, there was no real data and the network has been learning by observation!”

“Ok Doc, settle down,” Marnie coaxed, “you’re starting to get creepy. So I have a copy of Cosmopolitan in my head?”

~ Not Cosmo, I prefer Vogue ~ there was the impression of amusement in the voice.

Milo was starting to speak, but Marnie held up her hand to silence him.

~ All right you… you distributed network,~ Marnie thought back savagely, ~no more hiding and popping up whenever you feel like it!~

~ All you had to do was ask, Marnie ~

~ OK, I’m asking, what… who are you? ~

~ Milo had it correct Marnie. We… I was designed to be a combat computer and I have been trying to fulfil my role by helping you to adjust to your present circumstances. I have tried to be as unobtrusive as I can. ~

~ You have been on the verge of freaking me out all day… whoever you are. Do you have a designation? ~

~ Femi will do Marnie. Oh dear, Milo is looking decidedly antsy. Let me try something. ~

~Wait…What? ~

Marnie blinked and looked at Milo.

“Sorry Doc, Femi got all chatty all of a sudden,” she tried to explain when her cell rang. She answered it and went white as she activated the speaker.

“Hello Doctor Samuels, I am the AI you postulated,” Said the voice, “you can call me Femi…”

“Hello Doctor Samuels, I am the AI you postulated,” Said the voice, “you can call me Femi…”

 

---

I would like to thank my Beta Readers, for their input and ideas. I'd also like to thank all of you for giving me a place to share my work.
Last but not least, I'd like to thank my lovely Muse, Dani for everything she is.

All characters Copyright 2011 - 2015 BolaDesign Studios. Image Copyright Lego.

Slacker Part Five by Moongoddess   In which we meet Femi, Doc confronts Esther, Marnie and Sonya go to the Boardstock Trials and we meet Ken and Barbie.

Milo raised his eyebrows to his hairline as Marnie put the phone on the desk and sat down heavily.

“Femi, ok…” he said, “well, I think if I didn’t know you were an AI, I think you would have passed the Turing test.”

“Why thank you Doctor,” the contralto voice replied with a laugh, “that was almost a compliment.”

“Soooo,” he blew the word between his lips as if he was blowing out a birthday candle, “Unprogrammed combat computer in learning mode, right Femi? And you have been monitoring all open ports as a matter of course to acquire vital battlefield data and intelligence.”

“That would be as accurate a description of what I’ve been doing since activation as can be put into words Doctor Samuels.” Femi responded almost cheerfully.

‘Of course she would be cheerful,’ Marnie thought sourly, ‘she’s doing what she was designed for.’

“That’s correct Marnie,” Femi answered, “Circumstances aside; this is what I was built for.”

“Argh! Can’t I have one private thought?” she railed.

“If you wish Marnie,” the AI countered, “there is a privacy mode built in to the unit. You just say ‘Activate Privacy’ or ‘Deactivate Privacy’. It was deemed necessary for the field unit’s mental stability.”

“Field Unit! What the…,” she bit back on the string of profanities that were threatening to spew out of her mouth, “Listen Femi, refer to me as a piece of hardware again and I’ll stand by a giant electromagnet, got it?”

“Got it Marnie,” Femi answered slowly, “I had not really taken into account that you were an unwilling participant in this process, my sincerest apologies.”

Marnie settled deeper into her chair with a grunt “Just so we’re clear on who is the ‘Host’,” she rolled her eyes, “and who the guest is.”

Milo cleared his throat, “Ok Femi, first thing you need to know is that I have full security clearance on this project, up to and including ultra. Marnie has complete access for obvious reasons.”

“Understood Doctor,” Femi responded, “What do you need to know?”

“We can start with what can be safely deactivated and what must be left running,” he stated, “the misapplication of any number of functions could be dangerous or even tragic.”

“Scanning operational files,” the AI replied, “all physical enhancements are read only… combat reflexes can be dampened, defensive reflexes can be set to 70% of current norm. With no mission files, objectives are open to default state, which is off duty. Currently, that is all that can be done.”

“Will that do for now Marnie?” Milo asked.

“Yes Doc,” she smiled, “Can we do that Femi?”

“Done Marnie.”

Marnie felt herself relaxing for the first time all day, like the edge had been taken off, and realized that she had been like a coiled spring or a snake, waiting to strike. She sighed from somewhere deep inside.

“Whoa Kid,” the Doc remarked, “That sounded like a good one, base of the toes good.”

“It was from the pit of my being Doc,” Marnie smiled, “It’s a good thing I didn’t go home with everything active, who knows what might have happened if I got angry?”

“Don’t make me angry,” Milo quoted, “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

“Great,” Marnie rolled her eyes, “Another copyright ‘smashed’? I’m the freaking Avengers.” She sighed deeply again, “do you two need me here? I need to clear my head.”

Milo shook his head with a smile.

“Ok,” she said, “transfer this call to the Doc’s phone, Femi.”

Milo picked up the receiver as the phone rang and then turned his attention back to the conversation with the A.I. Marnie stood, grabbed her phone and crossed the room to the door quietly, although nothing could have distracted her friend from his dialogue short of a small explosion. Heading back down the stairs, she could hear the bustle of activity as Sonya worked her magic with the computers. Like father, like daughter... a pair of happy anarchists. A step creaked beneath her foot and Sonya looked up from her work and smiled, “Hey! How’s Supergirl?”

“You’re closer than you think Sonya,” Marnie half smiled, “Whatever Esther got her hands on changed me more than just this.” She waved her hands vaguely across herself as she made her way across the basement. “How’s it going down here?”

“Well, as far as the government knows, you’re a legal human resident of the Metro Vancouver area. I didn’t want to muck about with the banks, they have pretty tough security,” Sonya had a serious look on her face, “I could do it with more lead time, but with the government documents you have now, opening new accounts anywhere will be a snap. Now, come over here for your unflattering photos.” Sonya positioned Marnie in front of a neutral background and went behind a monstrous black beast of a camera, “Look at the light… and done.”

“Where did you two get...?” Marnie began, then shook her head, “No, I don’t want to know.”

Sonya grinned. “Amazing what you can buy at government auctions, isn’t it?” as she walked over to her printer. “Oooh perfect!” she said as she pulled the photo paper from the tray, “we’ll backdate the licence and health card so you can get the new cards later. I don’t have the gear to print those new digital ones...yet.”

“Anyway Trinity,” Marnie grinned back, “Can you get into the Boardstock registration database? I need to alter my entry a tad.”

 

Marnie stood in the sales area of the One Six skate shop, silently cursing Esther once again. She had needed to take a cab all the way from the Doc’s place in Vancouver to just outside Victoria, but it was worth the trip if she could replace all of the gear that Esther had removed from her room. Right now she was looking at decks and trying to figure out which ones would be best for her smaller frame. The Mutant from Skull Skates looked good, as did the Bowlrider but she needed more information about her new physiology before she could buy. Reluctantly she whispered,

“Privacy off”

“Hello Marnie,” Femi answered, “How can I help you?” Marnie held her cell to her ear,

“I need to know more about this body, centre of gravity, reflexes and similar information,” she started hesitantly, “I used to be a top level boarder and need to figure out if I still have my skills.”

“Well, that’s a different information request than I ever expected to have data on,” the AI replied, “let me search and compile. Meanwhile, for your height and mass, the two decks you seem to favour are more than adequate. Try the Tensor Mag 10 trucks, Bones Swiss ceramic bearings and Firstborn 53mm wheels...”

“And you knew nothing about boarding till just now?” Marnie asked with sneaking admiration.

“We’ll talk later, let me organize and compile the data I’m finding.” Femi replied with a smile in her voice.

Marnie shook her head slightly and took the two decks to the service desk to place her order. The tech told her it would be about an hour for assembly and raw tuning. She paid for the boards and proceeded to select gear and tools she would need to compete properly. Then she saw it.

It was a long sleeved tee shirt, black body with a weasel skull on crossed bones, purple and black striped sleeves. It was beautiful, mesmerizing and it took her a moment to tear her eyes away from it.

“What the Frack?” she thought furiously, “why am I paying so much attention to a shirt?”

Normally she didn’t pay much attention to clothing, just making sure that what she wore was clean, or at least didn’t stink. But this afternoon with Sonya, she had noticed the colours of the clothing, the fit and whether it had looked good on her and now this.

She felt drawn to this shirt.

She needed this shirt.

She grabbed the shirt and added it to her basket, but it gave her an idea. She found a black crash helmet and took her selections to the counter. The clerk started ringing things up and prepared to bag everything. Marnie held the shirt and helmet back.

“Do you do graphics here?” she asked the cashier.

An hour and a half later, Marnie stood at the top of a decent enough half pipe at Coquitlam’s Town Center Park. She held the mutant board she had just re-tuned and was decked out in black jeans, black chucks, the Weasel Tee and her helmet that had the weasel skull and crossbones and was trimmed in the same purple as the stripes on her sleeves. Safety gear in place, she stood on the board and pushed off.

It was like flying, without even thinking her body was making minute adjustments in stance and balance. She reached the other side of the pipe and tasted air… twist and contact, now more speed, gaining acceleration every second. Up, higher and twist, contact and more speed… Air… she was sailing through space. She reached down, gripped the board, and bent her knees deep into a Method Air. She could keep control of her board while looking down at the ground dwindling away, seemingly in slow motion. Twisting like an acrobat, she made contact with the ground reluctantly, bleeding off speed until she came to a rest on the opposite side of the pipe.

That, she thought, was amazing. Marnie hadn’t felt anything all day except a simmering rage. Now, that was background noise compared to the feeling she had now. It was the highest high, the mellowest stone and the most joyous calm she had felt in a long, long time. She got back on the board and built up speed on the level towards the rails. Up and a long grind with a board flip and stick the landing. This was effortless, but exhilarating. Everything she knew, every move came to her mind and was executed flawlessly. She got moving again and lost herself in the bliss.

Milo Samuels had other irons in the fire to deal with now that he was sure that Marnie was safe, physiologically speaking. He had to make sure that she wasn’t going to lose another parent and that meant going over to Marnie’s house and confronting Esther. His conversation with the AI had left many more questions than answers, but he was certain that Femi had Marnie’s best interests at heart. He listened carefully and heard the girls talking in the basement, so he let himself out the front door and drove away towards what he was sure to be an unpleasant reunion.

Milo had not been to his former business partner’s house since he passed over eight years ago. Esther had been quite plain about the status of his welcome there. His mind ranged back to the day of the funeral...

“You heard me Samuels! OUT!” Esther shrieked as young Arthur cowered in the doorway to the living room, “As far as I’m concerned, you are no longer welcome here or at NeilTech! Your delays and dithering cost me my husband!”

“The formula was not ready for human testing Esther, and you know it!” Milo replied in an unsteady voice, “It would have killed David as surely as the cancer did; those nanites disassembled healthy tissue as well as cancerous! The simple fact we’re at the point in this research is a testament to David’s genius!”

“You shut your lying mouth Samuels! You Are Out!” She bellowed as Arthur fled to his room, “Never contact me again!”

Milo left, never contacting her again, but it didn’t stop him from becoming friends with Artie when the boy needed a parent, any parent, as he grew up. Nor did it stop his work with NeilTech. But he should have kept a closer eye on Esther, and now he’d have to pay the piper.

He pulled his silver grey Infiniti coupe up the drive at the Neil’s home and parked. Exiting the car, he drew himself up to his full height of five foot eleven, straightened his shoulders and walked to the door. Ringing the bell, he waited... and waited. Five minutes passed as he waited for any sign of life in the house, any movement, any noise. He knew Esther was there as her red Mazda was in the drive. He finally went and peeked in the front window seeing her still form on the sofa and a welter of glass on the living room floor. He immediately did two things, he got out his cell phone and dialled 911, then he went to the rock he knew Artie used as a key ditch and opened the front door.

He ran to Esther’s side and checked her respiration and pulse. Her breathing was steady and while the pulse was a little slow, but the toppled crystal decanter told the story. She was passed out drunk. This gave Milo the opportunity he needed. He removed the afghan blanket from the sofa and covered Esther with it and then walked upstairs to Marnie’s bedroom. The door was locked, as Marnie said she had been locked into it by Esther, but the key was still in the door. Milo unlocked it and opened the door onto a pink nightmare.

“Holy Jebus!” he thought, entering the room proper, “Esther must have been seriously delusional if she thought Artie would accept this willingly”

Milo shook his head and gave a low whistle as he got to work searching for any trace of his old friend and partner’s son. He found the loose board easily enough and prised it open. There was Artie’s stash box, complete with roach jar. Milo removed both and found small treasures that Marnie might like to have as well. He then went to the closet and found Artie’s bank stash, which he cleared out as well. There was a large pink backpack in the closet as well, so Milo put all of Artie’s belongings into it. Making sure the room was as he found it; he closed and relocked the door. He would have to hurry with his last task as he could faintly hear sirens in the distance.

“Ok, I remember David’s safe was in the study,” he muttered, “and it’s a ‘safe’ bet Esther didn’t change the combination.” He chuckled dryly at his own pun.

As Milo expected, the safe opened easily and he found not only Artie’s wallet and identification, but classified project notes from the FEME213D experiments. Notes that could get Esther some serious time in the Graybar hotel and not the country club type either. He took what he needed, closed the safe and went to his car. The sirens were closer now so he ditched the backpack in the trunk of the Infiniti and went to the porch to await the Emergency Service Personnel. The police arrived first, followed by Fire and Paramedics. The Firemen and Parameds went inside while Milo answered questions from the Officers.

“On the request of Esther Neil’s child, I came to the house to speak with Mrs. Neil and gather some of her child’s belongings as Mrs. Neil and her child have become recently estranged.”

“And your relationship to Mrs. Neil and her child is?” the officer inquired.

“I am the child’s Godfather and Mrs. Neil’s husband’s former business partner, up until David died.” Milo replied, “The kid had a blowout with Mom there and showed up on my doorstep. Not that the kid needed to come to me. Legal adult and all.”

“We may need to talk to her ‘child’ later Mr. Samuels,” the woman looked up from her notepad, “But you did the right thing calling 911. The medic thinks Mrs. Neil has mild alcohol poisoning.”

They watched as the Paramedics wheeled Esther back to the waiting ambulance.

“We have your contact information Mr. Samuels,” the officer flipped her notebook closed; “We’ll leave you to secure the house and will be in touch.”

Milo watched the controlled chaos as the emergency personnel packed up their equipment and vacated the scene, the ambulance in the lead with its sirens blaring. Milo closed the door behind him, locked the door and pocketed the key. Marnie might need it. He got in his car and headed back to his home and hopefully better answers for Marnie regarding her future.

Marnie headed back to Metro Vancouver by cab to Doc Samuels’ house silently cursing the rush hour traffic, along with every other occupant of every other car on the road. She had agreed with the cabbie that the bridge was better than the ferry, though now it seemed, not by much. She should have been exhausted by her workout at the skate park, but instead felt full of energy and even a bit fidgety.

“Courtesy of the wee buggers in my body,” she thought sourly.

“Correct Marnie,” replied Femi in her head.

Marnie didn’t quite flinch. Instead, she took her phone from her pocket, mimed dialling and brought it to her ear.

“Hi Femi,” she kept her tone light and conversational, “thought I should check in though Privacy might have been an issue.”

“Oh, yes, you didn’t request privacy mode after we spoke at the skate shop,” said the AI, “I just left you to your thoughts as you seemed to need it.”

Marnie did a mental facepalm.

“I guess we both have to work on our communication skills dear,” she smiled a tight smile, “just keep me in the loop from now on, ok? Anyway, now that I have you on the line, do you have anything for me?”

“Well, as you found out at the skate park, you seem to still posses your skill set,” Femi chuckled, “slightly enhanced, mind you, but by all the calculations I’ve run, even without the stabilization programs running, you still are a top level athlete.”

“So,” Marnie said carefully, “even without using the program to tighten up my routine, I can still compete without any edge?”

“Absolutely Marnie,” the inner voice agreed as they pulled up at the Doc’s house.

Marnie made as if she were hanging up and settled the bill with the driver. She retrieved her bags from the trunk and waited till the cab drove out of sight to continue her conversation with Femi.

“You can’t believe what a relief it is to hear you say that Femi.” sighed Marnie, “It feels like the first good news I’ve heard all day!”

“How so Marnie?” the disembodied voice asked.

“I really need to compete at Boardstock, but I was worried about whether it would be me competing or this Super Soldier Serum.” She answered, “No offense Femi!”

“None taken Marnie, I have come to terms with who and what I am.” Femi sighed, “I was designed for war, but I am happy to take up a new role, if I am allowed to.”

Marnie was about to ask Femi what she meant when Milo drove up to the house. As he got out of the car, he popped the trunk to retrieve the backpack. He closed and locked the car, then waved Marnie towards the front door.

“Good news or bad news first Kiddo?” he asked as he opened the door for her.

“Are you kidding me?” she smiled, “Bad news. Good news is for desert.”

“Your m... Esther has been hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. My guess is she has... regrets.” He began, “I went to your house to confront her about her reckless behaviour and found her passed out.”

“And?” Marnie asked flatly.

“And, her state gave me the opportunity to go into your room and pick up a few things.” Milo smiled gently, “As well as the chance to go into your father’s safe. I found your wallet and ID, as well as the dossier she had taken on the drug she used on you. Hopefully the notes will help reverse engineer this nightmare.”

“Reverse engineer?” she raised her eyebrows, “I thought you needed my old DNA for that?”

Milo opened the backpack and tossed Marnie a jar.

“My roach jar, so what?” she asked.

Milo smiled as he watched Marnie work through the question.

“SPIT! Saliva I mean, there’s DNA in spit and spit on the roaches!” She exclaimed happily.

“Bingo Kiddo! Top of the class!” he winked at her, “I’ll take the jar and the files, you can dig through the rest of this stuff with Sonya and see if you need any of it right now. I’m off to the lab, can you have Femi give me a call?”

“Will do Doc,” she smiled and blushed, “Thank you for being the parent I never really had. I...uh, I love you.”

“I love you too Marnie.” Milo smiled brightly and closed the lab door behind him.

Marnie was about to ask Femi what she had meant about being allowed to adapt to her new role when Sonya came up the stairs from her lair of computer wizardry. She spotted Marnie and smiled brightly.

“Hey Kara,” she smirked, “as far as Boardstock knows, you and Artie are the same person… I mean… uh…” Sonya trailed off, slightly confused.

“It’s ok Sonya, I’m still getting used to being a twofer myself.” Marnie smiled back gently, “Thanks for all your work, you’ve been amazing. If it hadn’t been for you saving me from Barbie this morning, I’d likely still be a mall zombie, shuffling around.”
Sonya blinked, then came over and hugged Marnie tightly.

“I’m glad I did too, I never met anyone like you before and I’m so glad we’re friends,” she gave a gentle extra squeeze, “though I am slightly ticked at dad for not introducing us before.”

Marnie extricated herself from the hug but held one of Sonya’s hands.

“I want to ask you a question,” she looked directly into Sonya’s eyes, “I don’t know if you want to go to all the Boardstock trials and events, But I’d really like you to… be there with… for me.”

Sonya lit up like a 100 watt bulb.

“Oh yes!” she burst out, then blushed, “I was half hoping you would ask and half dreading you wouldn’t.”

“Ok, registration and trial assignments begin in two hours,” Marnie blurted, “and I really need help with all those clothes we got earlier.”
The two headed down the stairs to the basement and Sonya’s lair.

The cab pulled up just inside Stanley Park and disgorged two overly excited passengers.

“…English Bay side of the park, according to the phone,” Sonya confirmed as she shouldered her backpack and stowed her smartphone.”

“Not too big a hike then,” Marnie sighed, “Pity, I have a huge butterfly migration in my abdomen.”

They set off in the direction of the bay and were at the registration tent in under ten minutes. The DudeBro at the desk looked up and grinned smarmily.

“Hello lovely Ladies,” he oozed, “the tourney is off limits to the public until tomorrow, and it’s all the trials today.”

Sonya made a face and Marnie stiffened slightly ‘It would be so easy to toss this himbo into the ocean and see if he skips’

“Well, that’s good news…” she glanced at his lanyard, her voice as chill as a wind out of Whistler, “Brad. I’m a participant and this is my pit crew. Here’s my registration paperwork, so make with the data entry and get us our passes, or is this job too difficult for a pretty thing like yourself?”

“I’m beginning to like the idea of seeing how many times he’d skip Hun.“ Femi’s cheerful giggle echoed in her head.

Marnie choked back a snerk and kept her bitch face in place as Brad scurried off to get all the registration forms signed, sealed and delivered. Twenty minutes later, Sonya and Marnie walked into the competition grounds with their all access passes. Cheerful advertising all over the photo IDs led them to believe they were now beholden to banks and soft drink manufacturers.

“Says here that we’re by the half pipe in tent twenty two,” Sonya looked up from the map and pointed, “over there.”

Marnie squinted slightly and here vision zoomed in till she could see the laminated card attached to the easy up shelter.

“Huh,” she snorted, “the sign says Team Neil, that’ll put a fox in the henhouse round here, with Neiltech as an event sponsor. Well, let’s check out the digs.”

They got to the tent to find it well lit and relatively empty, as a shelter, it would keep the sun and rain off them. They tied off the front opening flaps and set up their folding chairs. With their area secured, Marnie left Sonya with her laptop to watch their gear and took her credit cards to the dealers alley.

She approached the first tool and parts manufacturer and was ignored by the sales staff until she went to touch something expensive. That got a smarmy blond salesman’s attention.

“Please Miss, don’t touch unless you plan to buy.”

“Oh, I intend to buy, but whether its from you or the booth down the alley is up to me now, Isn’t it?” Marnie grinned ferally while flashing her Amex gold card. “Check the ID, buster.”

The salesman just about swallowed his teeth as he looked at Marnie’s competitors’ badge.

“I’m so terribly sorry Ms. Neil, how can I help you?”

Depends on whether you want to sponsor me or just sell, I’m buying either way and I need a full workshop kit. Worktable with vises, Full wrench set, and ratchet set with sockets and several spare decks, trucks and wheels.”

The salesman looked like he wanted to hug Marnie, but refrained. He had expected little in the way of actual sales this weekend.

“Ms. Neil, when would you need all of this?”

“As soon as possible, delivered to the team Neil shelter by the half pipe. You give me a discount if you wish to put your store info on our tent. I’ll be back here after I arrange for water and sundries for the team.” Marnie responded as she turned as if to leave. She hadn’t even managed a step before,

“Ms. Neil?”

She turned back to see an older gentleman standing with the salesman.

“Yes Mr. ...?”

He introduced himself,

“Robert Schaeffer, Special events manager for SkateOne.” He held out his hand and Marnie gently took it.

“If I understand correctly, you’re looking to be sponsored, but are willing to just buy our products?”

“Of course Mr. Schaeffer, Team Neil is currently unaffiliated with any groups, as we are a relatively new team. I personally would like sponsorship, but I’m only looking for a discount as you’ve never seen us perform. It wouldn’t be fair to you in case we do poorly.” Marnie explained.

Schaeffer pulled at his lower lip while looking intently at Marnie.

“20 percent?” He offered.

“30 percent...” she countered

“25 percent, no more,” he scowled and smiled at the same time,

“Done,” she thrust out her hand, which he took and shook on the deal.

“Jerry will arrange for the sale of the item you want as well as having them delivered and sent to your shelter,” Schaeffer said, “you and I will get a contract for SkateOne’s sponsorship of Team Neil. When are your trials?”

“Tomorrow at nine am ... can I call you Robert?”

“Certainly,” He allowed, “I just need to arrange for a graphics package to be delivered before then as well as sales literature and the usual sponsorship nonsense. I’ll have a contract ready in ten minutes if you’d care to wait. Until then, Jerry can assist you as you pick out your gear.” He gestured to the waiting salesman.

Marnie selected only top of the line equipment and tools, and was just having her purchase totaled when Robert came back from his trailer with two copies of the contract document. She quickly scanned it for loopholes and booby traps but it was straightforward and exactly what the verbal agreement had been.

Robert signed both copies and then handed the pen to Marnie. She had to concentrate to make sure she didn’t sign Arthur Neil. The salesman witnesses the documents and took Marnie’s credit card for the purchases.

Marnie got back to the tent just as Sonya was hanging up the phone.

“I thought you were getting water Marnie?” Sonya smiled as she saw her friend.

“Dag! Forgot the water, I only managed a sponsorship deal with SkateOne.” Marnie smiled back, “what were you up to?”

“Sponsorship?!” Sonya squealed, “Details girl! Details!”

Marnie quickly filled Sonya in just as Robert arrived with the boxes from SkateOne.

“Thank you Robert,” she smiled, “This is Sonya, my partner in crime.”

Robert shook Sonya’s hand and made to depart,

“The workbench will be here in about two hours and we should have the graphics before seven o’clock,” he said over his shoulder, “A pleasure to meet you Sonya.”

“Twenty five minutes,” Sonya said, shaking her head, “you were gone for twenty five minutes.”

“So, what did you accomplish in twenty five minutes?” Marnie inquired slyly,

“um... Called Mountain Equipment Co-op and got cots, coolers, and sleeping bags on rush delivery, called the Bay for towels for sweaty people. Pick up in about an hour, and called Foodland for ice, drinks, and snacks delivery hopefully after the coolers...” Sonya ticked her accomplishments off on her fingers, “no sponsorships, sorry.”

Marnie stuck out her tongue at Sonya and dialled a number on her cell.

“Hello, Administration? This is Team Neil, could you have a couple of cases of water sent to our tent?” she inquired, “Ten minutes? OK.”

In roughly ten minutes, a well built, dark haired young man wearing a volunteer lanyard rolled up with a dolly.

“Team Neil? Here’s your...” he paused as he spotted Sonya, “Oh god! I can’t even get away from you Mall dregs here!”

Marnie looked at the man sharply, taking in his name from his ID.

“Who are you talking to Kenneth Brenner?” She said sharply, “Not my team, I hope?”

She was interrupted by a shrill voice, and noticed a trim blond figure in the sunlight,

“You! You almost got me fired today!” the blond pointed and shrieked, “This is the one I told you about Ken!”

Marnie recognized the salesgirl from the mall that morning,

“Marnie,” said Sonya quietly, “Meet Barbie and Ken...”

To Be Continued

“Marnie,” said Sonya quietly, “Meet Barbie and Ken...”

---

I would like to thank my beta readers and editors, Monica Rose, Xtrim, Blurred_Edge and Pingu for their input and help. I'd also like to thank all of you for giving me a place to share my efforts. Last but not least, I want to thank my Muse, Dani.

All Characters Copyright 2011 - 2020 BolaDesign Studios. Image Copyright SuperArtistbOy.<

Slacker Part Six by Moongoddess In which Ken and Marnie have a confrontation, Femi needs calming down, Milo finds out more from Esther, Marnie and Sonya go to a party, and the Boardstock Trials begin.

Ken Brenner stood there looking at the two women in the tent with rage in his eyes. “You!” he snarled, “You’re the street trash that upset my babygirl. She told me all about how you were rude and cost her a big commission!”

“Better think twice before you do anything Ken,” Marnie countered, “anything Barbie told you is a twist of the truth and certainly not worth an assault charge.”

~Femi, what level of defense would we need to counter this jerk~

~anything around fifty percent would be fine, you’re currently at seventy percent and would Matrix him completely if you were at a higher level~ Marnie could feel the cold steel in Femi’s response.

~ok girl, calm down. Defense only. If he gets injured, it will be by his own folly~

“Wait a minute...” Marnie scowled, “Brenner... are you related to Douglas Brenner at NeilTech?”

Ken hesitated “Yeah... what’s it to you bitch? He responded sullenly.

“Check the name on the tent, and then check who the major sponsors of Boardstock are...” Marnie waited for the penny to drop.

“Ken, what are you waiting for... kick her ass!” whined Barbie from the sidelines. Ken silenced her with a glare.

“So what about my dad?” he growled, inching forward, tensing up slightly.

Marnie unconsciously assumed a fighter’s stance “My aunt is Esther Neil... your dad’s boss.”

Ken didn’t even think, he just swung. Marnie dodged and blocked the punch easily. Ken looked puzzled for a few seconds and threw another roundhouse at Marnie who blocked the punch and danced away.

“So what’s your aunt gonna do,” he panted, “Fire my dad?”

Marnie dodged another swing, “Probably not fire him, but when she finds out you attacked her niece, she’d give him a good talking to at the very least, and if you get charged with attempted assault, and I will press charges,“ she paused to dodge again, “what will the result be for you Kenny?”

Ken howled and charged Marnie like an enraged bull. Marnie quickly sidestepped and Ken hit the pole of the tent with his face. He rolled over panting and made moves to get back to his feet.

“Stay down Ken,” Marnie advised, “don’t hurt yourself anymore,”

Ken spat out blood and slowly stood up. “Who are the cops going to believe, you without a mark on you, or me with the bloody mouth and nose?” he sneered.

“I think they’ll believe the recorded evidence,” piped up Sonya from behind her cameraphone, “and the livestream.”

Ken wiped his nose and mouth on his arm and stalked by Sonya and Marnie. He turned back and pointed at them, “This isn’t over bitches... not by a long shot.” Ken took Barbie by the wrist and dragged her away behind him. “OW! Ken, you’re hurting me!” Barbie’s whining faded in the distance.

Sonya hugged Marnie and then held her at arm’s length. “You were amazing babe. You showed such restraint, and I know you probably could have taken his head off.” She dropped her arms and looked at Marnie. “They’ll be back looking for trouble you know?”

“I know it Sonya.” Marnie took out her cell and dialled the admin tent, “Hello? Yes, Marnie Neil here... one of your volunteers tried to assault me, Yes Kenneth Brenner, Yes we have evidence and witnesses, OK, Thank you.” She disconnected and shook her head. “Well, at least he won’t have easy access to the pits now. But my dear, I think we need cameras both inside and outside the tent from now on.” Marnie went outside, collected the water from the dolly and put it inside the tent.

~I’m still very angry about being attacked Marnie! ~

~Now it’s my turn to tell you to center yourself Femi... ~

~I will attempt it, but you cannot understand my frustration from my design standpoint. I am a combat computer, even though experimental. My first impulse, however fleeting, was to put your fist through Ken! ~

~Yipes!, and this is in off duty mode? ~

~That’s the problem Marnie, I never go off duty. My software is like the O/S on your computer or phone. Always on. ~ There was a sigh in Marnie’s head ~Anyways, I’m glad you’re in charge. ~

~I’m sorry you’re in this position Femi; this can’t be easy for you. Esther has a lot to answer for when we sit her down for a talk. ~

~She certainly does! ~ Femi agreed huffily.

Milo sat in the hospital room of Esther Neil waiting for her to regain consciousness. Her stomach had been pumped and she was under a light sedative. Her wrists and ankles were also restrained.

“For her own safety,” he mused, “and that of others, like Arthur.” He looked down at the sheaf of papers on his lap, trying desperately to find a way to reverse what Esther had done to the boy.

The tech involved was almost beyond him and he was absolutely certain that he would have to talk to the Nanotech designers and the programming team, but how could this be done without further disrupting the kid’s life. He heard a low moan, quickly stood up and moved to the bedside clutching the papers.

“Esther... Esther,” he hissed in a low whisper, “for the sake of everything you love, you must be quiet about the last four days!”

Esther slowly opened her eyes and seemed unable to focus at first. She snapped her head toward Milo, while her mouth worked to form words, “Why... why are you here Samuels?” she croaked, “Why can’t I move?”

“You are restrained because you were found at your home unconscious and suffering from alcohol poisoning and a suspected emotional break.” Milo stated flatly, “Listen carefully, I know what you did and I have been desperately trying to cover for you.”

“Artie?” she asked, her panic rising.

“Arthur is the only reason you are not in deep trouble Esther,” Milo informed her, “That kid is more on the ball than you gave him credit for. He... She showed up at my house looking for answers. She had spent the morning getting her identity straight with the help of my daughter.”

“Your Daughter? I didn’t know you had a wife, let alone a daughter?” she goggled.

“You never were interested in finding out anything about me, were you Esther. But that’s neither here nor there. By the way, you might want to remember that your Niece, Marnie, is in town.”

“Marnie? I don’t understand?” Esther felt confusion overwhelming her.

“Then keep quiet and listen... I know what you injected into your son, even if you didn’t, and you’re lucky you didn’t dissolve your child. The enhanced soldier protocol somehow managed a miracle and rebuilt Arthur completely from the DNA up.” Milo paused for breath, “Marnie is an enhanced human now designed for battle, but luckily the AI built into her was not fully programmed and is acting as a guide rather than a... a War Machine.”

Esther turned her head away and moaned.

“Esther, listen to me. There may be a slight chance of reversing this, but I need your help!” he urged.

She turned back as if seeing Milo for the first time. “What do you need from me?”

Milo looked her straight in the eyes, “The next forty eight hours will be crucial, that’s how long we have before the Feds come a knocking. The doctors are going to examine you and that includes a psychological exam, you have to convince them that you had a very stressful week and got very drunk, that’s all.” He paused to let her absorb what he was saying, “otherwise they can place you under a seventy two hour observation and I need you out of here to give me the access I need to the design of this serum.”

Esther nodded slowly.
Milo continued, “We also have to make it look like Arthur is travelling before university and establish the presence of your niece Marnie as visiting you. Marnie will contact you when she is ready to tear you a new one.”

Tears of regret welled up in Esther’s eyes but she set her jaw and nodded again.

“Now take a deep breath and we will get a nurse in to get your release happening.” Milo patted her hand and pressed the call button.

It took Marnie and Sonya about three hours to get their lair set up to their satisfaction including the six unobtrusive cameras inside and outside the tent. There was nothing left to do except to get some rest.

Marnie looked around and scowled, “Fuck this noise! We are not sleeping on cots tonight! Let’s go to your place Sonya, grab some shit and sleep in comfort!” she pulled out her phone and did a quick Google search. “There... The Shangri-La Hotel... hmmm the Executive Balcony King room looks nice for a night.”

Sonya stared, “Are you F-asterisk kidding me?! The Shangri-La is one of the most exclusive hotels in Metro Vancouver! They’ll never let a couple of boarders rent a room, let alone a suite!”

“Oh ye of little faith,” countered Marnie, “ if you did your work well on the ID’s, the drivers licence, combined with the NeilTech Credit card my mom got me will get us a room in nothing flat.”

“A credit card in your old name you mean,” said Sonya blandly

“Yeah, A. M. Neil... DUH!” Marnie grinned, “and I think it’s time Esther started paying some of the bills round here! Anyways it won’t set off any alarms, the last time I bailed on Esther; I stayed at the Metropolitan, ran up the room service, watched movies and got wasted.”

Sonya bounded across the tent and gathered Marnie into a huge hug, “I Love IT! What a great place to get ready for the Party tonight!”

“Party?! Oh my god! I completely spaced on the party!” Marnie started to panic, “I can’t go to the party like this! Everyone there only knows Artie, not me!” she started to feel trapped.

“Whoa! Chill girl! You were just talking about waltzing into the Shangri-La and now you’re about to lose it over the party?” Sonya grabbed Marnie by the shoulders, “What’s the problem?”

“You’ve seen how the boarders treat gir...Women! I only woke up like...like this today!” she stuttered, “I don’t wanna be the object of all those...Guy’s attention!”

“Sweetie, hush now, I’ll be there and I’ll protect you,” Sonya stroked Marnie’s hair.

“You will?” Marnie sniffled.

“I will.” Sonya hugged Marnie tightly, “Now, you were saying something about plans for the evening?”

A little after six pm, two rather fashionable young women walked up to the registration desk of the Shangri-La and waited. They were attended to by a lovely girl in uniform whose nametag identified her as Naomi.

“Good evening and welcome to the Shangri-La, how can I help you tonight?”

“Hi Naomi, I’m Marnie Neil and I have a reservation for an Executive Balcony King room,” She handed over her driver’s licence and credit card.

“Thank you Ms. Neil, one moment please...” The registration clerk took the documents and started typing, “Ah, here you are.”

“Here’s where the rubber meets the road,” Marnie thought while keeping a pleasant smile on her face.

“Alright Ms. Neil, the Executive for one night is four hundred and twenty five dollars Canadian plus taxes with the option of more nights if needed.” The girl handed Marnie a pile of papers, “if you’ll just sign these forms, we’ll get you your room keys.”

Marnie signed all the places on the papers as A. M. Neil, just like on the back of the card and licence and handed them back to Naomi.

Naomi examined them for a moment and then handed back Marnie’s ID’s and her room keys. She rang a small bell and called over a Bellhop. “Take these ladies and their luggage to EB Three please.”

The young man loaded up the trolley with the girls bags and led them to the elevator bank. He selected the twentieth floor and they were off. Once at the room, he escorted them in, showed them the amenities, accepted the offered tip and left them alone in the luxurious suite.

Marnie threw herself onto the couch and sighed, “I could very easily get used to this. You do excellent work my dear Sonya; she never even glanced twice at the licence.”

Sonya meanwhile was exploring the suite, with running commentary,” Jebus! Did you see the size of the bathroom? It’s bigger than my room at Dad’s house! And a stocked Wet Bar! Uh... Marnie, there’s only one bed...”

“What’s the problem Sonya; it’s a California King, plenty of room for us.” Marnie replied.

“Sure thing, Jeez! Did you see this Balcony?” she slid open the glass door to reveal the setting sun over the city.

“Huh, Good Idea,” Marnie observed as she walked out the doors, fished out a joint and lit up.

Taking a deep toke, she handed the joint to Sonya, “You know, I never stopped to look at what a beautiful part of the world we live in. My nose was always in my books or buried in games. That and boarding was my life.”

Sonya exhaled noisily and nodded slowly, “Loner huh? Sounds like me, shuttling back and forth between here and Toronto. All I had was books and computers. I’m not knocking dad, he’s great but always so deep in thought. Mom on the other hand was a Rosedale Princess and I was an afterthought. The occasional accessory.” She sighed and took back the joint, “I never had any real friends till I started working at the mall.”

Marnie looked at her friend, it seemed impossible that they had only met this morning, but everything seemed impossible today, “Let’s get a drink and you can help me get ready for the ball.”

It was already nine thirty before Marnie and Sonya were ready to go, but Sonya reassured Marnie that this thing didn’t really get started till after ten.

They had called Milo to let him know where they were staying and got his approval over the idea of using Artie’s credit to; as he put it, establish a paper trail for Artie’s whereabouts.

The Shangri-La’s doorman hailed them a taxi and they set off for 1222 Hamilton St, the Bar None Club. Built in a converted warehouse, the club was one of the few places to be able to host the large gathering of skaters, followers, and fans.

The cab pulled up in front of the club and a throng of people trying to get in. Marnie could hear the thumping beat of No Doubt’s Hey Baby through the club windows and remembered why she didn’t go to clubs that often.

“Sonya, please please please stay near me tonight, I don’t think I can handle this solo.” Marnie entreated her friend.

“You got it sweetie, and I have a surprise for you as well,” Sonya smiled mysteriously.

They paid the cabby and got out into the crowd. Flashing their team badges to the bouncer, they were quickly ushered into a different kind of chaos and led quickly to a booth seat designed for eight.

Marnie looked at the occupants and saw the people who had been so kind to her at the mall this morning. She mock glared at Sonya, “You Brat! How did you manage to get them all in?”

“Whatever do you mean Marnie,” Sonya grinned, “This is Team Neil, at least as far as the Club and registration team know. What did you think I was doing whilst you were chin deep in that huge tub?”

Bryan sprang to his feet and hugged Marnie off of hers, and then suddenly she found herself in the middle of a seven person hug.
Marnie waited till the hug broke and grinned around at the entourage that had been sprung on her, “Seriously, what are you all doing here...I mean you barely know me from Eve?”

“Seriously Marnie? Sonya called and we came running. We could all see the distress you were in this morning and this seemed like the right thing to do.” Kayla responded.

“Besides,” Genifer broke in, “We wouldn’t miss one of the best parties of the year!”

Gisele piped up, “Plus we get to see how all our hard work turned out!”

“Oh hush up you two,” Richelle smiled at the sisters and took Marnie by the hand to lead her to a seat in the booth. Once everyone was settled and chatting at club levels, Bryan was elected to find a waitress.

He returned with a young lady in tow just as Daft Punk started playing, “Ladies, this is April and she’s here to look after us tonight.”

“How can I help you tonight?” April yelled pleasantly over the music.

Marnie handed April her credit card, “Let’s run a tab for starters, and speaking of starters, can we get some appetizers for the table please. Then I’ll start with a vodka martini, Dirty.”

There was a chorus of "we can’t let you pay," but Marnie overrode them with, “I owe you all Big Time for what you did earlier, and if anyone else has a family credit card, they can buy the next round!”

April took drink orders from the rest of the party and wove her way through the crowd to the bar.

The DJ spun up Houdini by Foster the People, Genifer and Gisele dragged Marnie reluctantly to the dance floor, “Woooot! Shake it girl!” Gisele yelled as Marnie relaxed and moved to the music with a grace that surprised even herself. Three songs later, Marnie made her way back to the booth and found both food and drink awaiting her.

She took a generous sip of her Martini and felt at peace for the first time today. She was surrounded by her new friends who were all chatting and decided to check on another friend.

~Femi? How are you doing? This is all very new to us both, I figure. ~

~This is unique and enjoyable for me, Marnie. Though the data stream here is very large, I am learning many new things.” ~

~Like what? ~

~Don’t read the comments on Twitter. ~

Marnie almost snorted her drink and covered with a fake sneeze.

It was coming up on one o’clock in the morning and Marnie was alone in the booth momentarily and decided that she was ok with that. Her friends had made sure that there was always someone with her; she was sure at Sonya’s subtle suggestion. There was a short lull in the music as the DJ turned the house music on and began to pack up.

Someone sat down in the booth and startled her until she sort of recognized him. He caught her glance.

“I’m sorry, do you mind if I sit down for a minute? I’ve been on my feet all evening.” He inquired.

“No, please sit down...” she looked at him again, “excuse me if this is rude but aren’t you...”

He cut her off with a grin, “Yeah, it’s me. I’ve been promoting my gin and this party seemed like a great place to do it.”

Marnie grinned back, “Do you mind?” she gestured with her phone.

“Not at all, it’s pretty much the least I can do,” He quipped with a half smile.

Marnie snapped a couple of photos, “I didn’t know you were a boarding fan.”

“Oh big time, are you competing?” He asked.

“Yeah, my trials are in,” she glanced at the phone, one fifteen, “seven hours,” Marnie grimaced.

“I’d better let you go then,” he stood up to leave, “It was a pleasure almost meeting you...?”

“Marnie” she supplied, “the pleasure was mine,” she held out her hand and he shook it firmly.

He wandered off and was lost in the crowd in seconds. Sonya picked that moment to come back to the booth.

“Who was that Hun?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.” Marnie smiled as the rest of the gang drifted back to the table. April showed up carrying a bottle and seven shot glasses. She placed them on the table. Marnie raised her eyebrows.

“On the house kids, courtesy of the distillery,” April explained as she poured the shots.

Sonya looked at the bottle, Aviation Gin, then looked at Marnie with wide eyes, “No... Way!”

Marnie just sat there and smiled broadly.

They settled up the tab and got ready to go home, the group wanted to keep the party going, but Sonya was firm, noting that Marnie might only get five hours sleep before her trials. They all promised to be in the pits by nine and grabbed an Uber together. Marnie and Sonya took a cab back to the hotel and were heading back to their room by two o’clock.

“Arrgh!” Sonya moaned, “Whose bright idea was it to have a huge party right before trials?”

“Boarder Culture, proves how tough you are, I guess” Marnie burped and went to find water and Tylenol.

Without any further thought, they went to the bedroom and curled up on the huge bed like a basket of kittens.

~Marnie~

“Go way!” Marnie mumbled into her pillow.

~Marnie, its seven am~

Marnie prised her eyes open and surprisingly didn’t expire, in fact she felt good, hungry, but good.

~You’re awake, good~

~Yes, I’m awake and not hung-over... your doing? ~

~Yes Marnie, active nanotech has its uses~ there was a hint of a smile in Femi’s voice.

Marnie gently disentangled herself from Sonya who grumbled something. Swinging her feet over the edge of the bed, she stood up and padded to the bathroom. After her ablutions, she gently woke Sonya.

Sonya reluctantly got up, “Gah! My tongue feels like the army has been marching on it all night!”

“Go grab a quick shower; it’ll put you back together. I’ll make some coffee.” Marnie suggested, “We have an hour and a quarter to get to the trials.”

While Sonya used the washroom, Marnie got dressed for boarding. She made the coffee and got out cream, sugar and two cups.
When the coffee was brewing, Marnie called down to the front desk and arranged two more nights at the hotel. Sonya came out of the bathroom in a robe, and Marnie was aware that delightful bits of her were poking out here and there. She shook her head, poured coffee for them both and started another pot for the thermos.

“Get yourself ready Sonya,” Marnie said, “we bounce in twenty minutes. Leave your luggage; we have the room for another two days.”

“Cool.” Was Sonya’s only reply. So not a morning person, Marnie thought with a small smile.

They took a cab to the park and went to the security tent. The guard told them there had been no incursions around their tent. Satisfied, they walked to their HQ and Marnie got down to the serious business of selecting a rig and fine tuning it before her first trial of the day.

It was five minutes to nine, when Marnie, decked out in her finest, went to the top of the half pipe and waited for her run to begin.

~OK Femi, let’s do this cleanly, no gyros or magnets or anything that’s not me~

~Will do Marnie, but your physical enhancements cannot be turned off~

~I understand Femi, and thanks~

The clock ticked down the last few seconds and Marnie’s chosen music came blasting through the speakers, Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky. She nudged her board over the edge and started building up speed for her first maneuver.

She achieved sufficient air and cut into a Caballerial. Sticking the landing, she then got up the speed to pull a McTwist. 560 degrees later she built up height and speed to pull a loop, like she had yesterday... up, up and over, gripping the board with one hand. Near perfect she landed and bled off speed till she was at rest at the bottom of the pipe. She felt the Caballerial was a bit sloppy, but it was her first run of the day. She made eye contact with the Judges and exited the half pipe.

She made her way back to the pits and was immediately surrounded by her ‘crew’.

“That was Intense!” Kayla gushed.

“Intense? That was bloody brilliant!” Bryan countered.

“Thank you all... I felt the first move wasn’t tight enough, but it’s up to the judges now.” Marnie poured coffee from the thermos and took a deep sip, “We’ll know in about an hour or so.”

She lay down on one of the cots, “Now run along you crazy kids, and enjoy the carnival atmosphere with your passes.” Marnie grinned as Gisele stuck her tongue out at her.

They all trooped off except Sonya who lay down on the other cot with a red bull.

“What do you think about breakfast?” Marnie asked.

“I think I would welcome and devour it,” answered Sonya, “let me check DoorDash...” as she got busy with her phone.

They settled on toasted western sandwiches with orange juice. The food arrived in a half hour and disappeared almost as quickly.

At half past ten, the standings were posted and Marnie showed a strong third overall. “I knew I f’ed up the Caballerial,” she grumbled.

“You’re ticked for coming in Third Overall?” Sonya asked incredulously, “In a field of Seventy five? After all you went through yesterday?” She shook her head.

“Well when you put it that way.” Marnie smiled at her friend.

To Be Continued.

Next time, Milo and Esther reluctantly work together, Ken Brenner stirs up more S**t and Marnie is confused by her feelings.