Peachy Keen

Chapter 10

First Tony needed to build a proper computer. He had ideas, but they needed more processing
power. Friday helped by locating bargains in parts, including components that most people didn't
know could be used the way he wanted. Harley helped by being a world-class bin diver, not that he
actually dug things out of the trash, but he knew all the cell phone and computer repair places for
miles around, and especially he knew which ones were lazy enough to pile discarded equipment in
the back alley until they had enough to be worth sending off for proper disposal.

Quasimodo, as Tony named the first usable construction, took up ten times the space it should, and
was half as fast as it should be, but it could hold and manipulate a gratifying amount of data without
blue-screening. His first project was to design bio-mechanical braces for Rhodey.

He was eating a tuna sandwich when he heard a rusty miaow, and looked down to see a skinny,
rumpled, dirty orange cat staring at him, half hopefully, half frightened. He broke off a hunk of
sandwich and tossed it to the cat, which scrambled awkwardly to eat it. The awkwardness became
explainable when he saw the cat was missing part of his back leg.

"Aww, Tripod." Tony gave the cat the rest of the sandwich in pieces, each tossed closer to him until
he had the cat sitting on his lap and attempting to purr, as if it had been so long since he'd felt like it,
that he'd forgot how. "Yeah, buddy," Tony said, petting the cat despite its unappetizing smell. "I
know. But it can get better." He smiled.

Charley loved Tripod, who turned out to be unendingly patient with leg fittings and test runs and
ribbons around his neck, and having his fur combed even when brushed the wrong way to make it
fluff. He was hell on mice and rats, though, proving that you can be gentle with your friends, and still
be death to your enemies.

"Boss, don't start machining the parts just yet," Friday told Tony once he was ready to produce
Rhodey's braces.

"Why not?" Tony asked. He was looking over his parts inventory and supply warehouses, trying to
decide what he could afford that would do the job. He still had a fair chunk of the fifteen thousand
left, but he had nebulous plans that could easily eat up his funds. "You sent Quasimodo the scans of
Rhodey's legs and all the medical reports. Why shouldn't I start? Do you think I should just send the
designs to S.I.?" He was going to do that, of course, there were a lot of people who could use
mobility enhancement, but he wanted Rhodey to be the first, and to know Tony remembered him.

"I don't want to say. It's a surprise, Boss! Just wait until Thursday!"

Tony blinked. Friday was learning and becoming more of a person every day. Interacting with not
only Tony, but also Harley and Charley was changing her in unexpected ways, unexpected, but not
bad. It was good to have a different perspective. He decided to let her have her way for a while. He
could probably go over the plans a few more times, anyway, just in case he'd overlooked something.
And he's got a bunch of borked laptops to fix for customers, anyway. "Right. You know, Thursday
isn't my birthday. Is it?" Tony was pretty sure he hadn't lost that much track of time.

Friday giggled. "No, it's not a birthday present.

"Because if it was, I'd want cake." Tony went over to his workshop shelf and took down the first
laptop.

"Got it, Boss. Cake is for birthdays! Boss, when is my birthday?"

"Um, that's hard to say. Look up your code and find the earliest compilation date, we'll go with that."