Ty, a shift manager with an alcoholic wife, creates a female replicant in a dystopia veering toward full mechanization. For Ty, the surreal drudgery of working in a retail environment is interrupted when robotic interfaces are installed at his job...
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Damon fiddled with the coding on the computer. Often times, he could edit issues within the parametric CADS, as it was simple to test before printing (and cheaper). He had already thoroughly tested live composite software several times. He checked the cable connections to the printer before giving up on the replication experiment for the night.
In the bathroom, he ran the water to brush his teeth. As he did, Damon swore he heard the printer working. He leaned out of the bathroom to check, but the platform remained empty.
Again, he checked the printer, feeling OCD, but not caring. The platform was empty.
I configured everything correctly, I know I did.
The personal assurance grated on him as he jumped out of his denim pants and into his bed. He turned over on his side, then on his stomach, then back to his side.
In vain, he tried to forget about the failed experiment, the one before this.
~*~
A fly was all well and fun, but printing live appealed to a...baser nature. It wasn't a side of himself Damon liked to admit to. Despite himself, once he'd realized the potential for printing live, he couldn't get the idea of printing a girl out of his head.
Two days earlier, a friend sent him the supposed live specs via email, with an attached photo.
Get 'er done! The caption distastefully proclaimed, right underneath a photo of the printed woman from the film Weird Science.
Damon laughed. Reviewing the email in detail, a tingle lit up his spine.
Why not print what he wanted? What was stopping him?
Well, not having the proper copy for one. He would need access to a full body scan of a real woman.
An unbidden thrill though knocked at the forefront of his brain. Jennifer. She always slept deeply, falling into bed high, drunk, or both.
Before he convinced himself otherwise, he grabbed the mobile scanner for the printer. With Ty at work, and everyone else sleeping, creeping into the main bedroom was easy. Jennifer didn't even stir when the door creaked open.
She was flopped facedown on the bed, hair sprawled over the pillow. Her shapely body was hard to ignore in a small t-shirt and panties. Luckily for Damon, she had fallen asleep over the blankets. He briefly wondered if she always slept like that.
He knelt quietly, the sounds of his movements stifled by the carpet. Then, he pointed the mobile scanner at Jennifer's form to begin the copying process.
Just like any other girl, Damon chanted to himself as he carefully drew the scanner from the top of her head to her toes.
Returning to his room, he closed the door and connected the scanner to the fixed platform printer.
Damon worked quickly, fingers flying over the wires and buttons, knowing that if he took a minute to think, he would stop.
Copy uploaded. Would you like to print?
Damon's hand hovered near the ENTER key.
Copy uploaded. Would you like to print?
It would be so simple. And it would be awesome to see if it worked. His own live composite. His own girly companion.
What the hell am I doing?
Rationale crashed in on his impulses, and his hand dropped at his side. Using the other, and therefore less offensive hand, he clicked CANCEL.
Heart slamming near out of his ribcage, Damon sat back in his desk chair. The weight of the near catastrophic mistake seemed to make it harder to breathe.
Thirtyminutes later, he fell into a fitful sleep.
~*~
A/N: Put in your vote while you still can! Afterwards, check out the profile of MistiChamberlain
She's one of my best friends (and I don't just mean WP bestie, though she's that as well), and a great writer. She's started a fantasy-steampunk epic called Aye for an Eye. She also posts creative writing pieces we complete from our Creative Writing courses. I might just steal that idea, Misti...
