That there was a total look of disbelief on Randy's face would be an understatement. "Mother of Mary, that thing really thinks better than we do?"

He stooped over to see if he could find any answers under or behind the desk. Picking up the keypad he felt along the top of the desk.

"Please Mr. Shells, if you must call me something, I would prefer you call me the same thing Karen does. My name is Henry. Although 'thing' may be appropriate in your mind when you refer to the unknown, it does not endear you with me. I understand the nature of humans to do name calling when they’re mad, frustrated, and scared. It serves no useful purpose to do so at an inanimate object."

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

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

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

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

After his girlfriend dumps him, Dave's roommate asks for a simple favor. But when are things ever simple?

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

Two middle aged ladies clattered with confidence into the lounge carrying shopping bags and handbags. “Hello dear!” the first one said, without a care. “We’ve come to see Charles, is he in? I hope you don’t mind, we saw the lights were on and there was someone in the lounge.”

Charlie rapidly realised that while his Aunty Lilly had not immediately recognised him, the other lady, his mother surely would.

‘Sink or swim’ thought Charlie. “He’s here, please sit down both of you.”

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

If you read this and think "I have read this already, please return to part nine, that was a glitch in posting. Part nine has new content, that needs to go before this, Sorry!

As Beth walked back to her office Karen started up her car. Now if she could get by Max, she would see if she could find a parking space in the tower. People who showed up late for work usually ended up parking across the street from Comm Tech and walking a half mile to work. If she was lucky someone would have already come and left today leaving her a spot.

Karl Adder was in a rage. He had made a big show of letting everyone know he was being promoted to head of the duplication department. All his personal things were still boxed up for the move. His just rewards had been taken from him more times than he could tolerate. He made everyone within reach pay for his misery. Verbally abusing those around him, he soon had everyone in his department filing for a transfer. It didn't do any good. They couldn't transfer out because no one would transfer in to take their place. There were only two ways to escape the hell Karl was spreading in his department. One was, quit the company, or two, if someone hired on and you happened to be the worker with the most seniority then maybe, just maybe, you might get a transfer. The new help would take your place in Karl's little office of hell.

The day started off quietly enough. Karen awoke to find herself wondering if she dreamed it all. Looking in the mirror didn't help. Maybe she only thought about cutting her hair and fingernails last night before she went to bed? She was still looking at the model she and Henry designed two days ago. Be thankful for small favors, she decided. At least she didn't have to apply hardly any makeup. Everything was designed in. She couldn't change it now.

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

PROLOGUE

Thursday October 19th 2000

The bell above the door to the salon tinkled as I entered, and a young woman bounded enthusiastically from the rear of the shop to meet me.

“Hi”

“Hello. I, er, have an appointment for nine this morning…”

“Yes. It was me you spoke to on the phone. I’m Lucy, by the way.” She beamed engagingly. “So…you’re here for the works, pretty much…”

“Yeah. Hence the early appointment.” I smiled back.

“Hot date tonight?”

“Sorry?”

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

Raven wipes the sweat out of her eyes, as she tightens up the last ball joint. The heat inside the garage was causing her to sweat more than she normally did. The big floor fans Jordan put out in the garage to help cool it down, weren’t doing much.

She finishes the job and slowly lowers the car down. Once it was touching the floor. Raven makes the notes on the repair order and drives the car out to the parking lot to be picked up.

She sighs when she goes back into the building. The waiting area was nice and cold.

This is a single story for Christmas.

DISCLAIMER: These events are not real, just stories

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Each year I spend Christmas with my gram who lives alone a few hours away. With old age setting in, spending Christmas alone was awful for gran. So for the past however many years I've been spending the night at grans.

Just Like Auntie- ep4

DISCLAIMER: these events are not real, just stories

Looking back ep 1 will need a lot of editing.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

I got to the office and tried opening the door. It was locked. I go to look through the office glass but instead find a note saying she had to go home because she was ill and to keep the uniform she gave me. Just my luck.
I was being picked up by my aunt and going back to her house again. So that saved me explaining everything to mum.

DISCLAIMER: These are not real events, these are indeed story's

This is also my first time publishing so have at it and feel let me know how I'm doing.

Ep2/3 is where things get interesting

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-