The Watchman

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  Clarice said, “Sure, I don’t see why not. I will need your help designing the mechanics.”

  I said, “Cool. Let’s do it. Let’s make squirrels that distribute the network. So, how did you make the minions so quickly? How long have you been working on this?”

  Clarice said, “We started day before yesterday, when Brenda found out about Bamboo and Willow. We used the existing designs for the original elves, upgraded parts based on the nymphs, and made a few more refinements. The machines started making skeletal and muscular parts right away. Then we just took the designs for Brenda and I and made new molds that were smaller. The two that you saw were finished while we were in the shower. We knew that we needed skeletons for the moon maids anyway, so we figured we could go ahead and start production of some parts right away. The moon maids were going to have just three fingers and things like that, but about ninety-five percent was the same no matter what the external design looked like.”

  I said, “OK. I’m fine with it. Go into production if you want to.”

  Clarice said, “Done. We are loading the new parts now. We have most of the skeleton and muscle parts for another eighteen units waiting to be assembled. The nymphs are excited and want to come help. The parts that we need to complete are all of the sexual organs, facial structures and muscles, extra muscles that were not going to be needed for the simpler designs, and the hands and feet for five digits each. We have one body mold for each of us, but two would be good. We have to make the sub-skins for all of them, because they had to wait until we had the exterior design finalized. With two minions and three nymphs, we’ll probably have two units ready for molds in about nine hours. All eighteen will be ready for molds about six hours after that. The molding takes about eight hours, and then we need another hour and a half for final preparation and calibration. So, the first two will come on line in about twenty hours. Then we’ll get another two about every four hours after that because we will be staggering the molding and starting two new ones every four hours and taking them out eight hours later.”

  I said, “So by tomorrow morning, we have four of them? The two we have plus two new ones. The next morning, we have about twelve more, and the final ones are done by afternoon two days from now?”

  Clarice said, “Unless something takes less time than I expect, or one of us has to work on some other project. Brenda and I won’t need to work in the lab at all though and there won’t really be anything for us to do there. The two we have can handle the manual assembly and parts movement.”

  I said, “Then let’s make magical squirrels!”

  The squirrels turned out to be easy. To start with. Brenda had gone off to do something with the girls and to check on Bamboo and Willow, and Clarice and I stayed in the outer lab to do the design.

  She brought up a skeletal representation of a squirrel and we quickly reduced the number of bones to the minimum. The muscles were the same mechanism originally designed for the first AI, Alice, except smaller than any we had done before. Before long, it became apparent that squirrels were too small for the technology that we wanted to use, so we did try out a design based on a raccoon. The raccoon wouldn’t move quite as fast, and it would be easier to spot if it were on the ground, but hunters here didn’t use guns and raccoons weren’t hunted for food anyway.

  We used small raccoons, not full grown adults. Ours were about the size of a young female. This left plenty of room for everything we needed and the network node easily fit inside the body cavity. The larger body also gave more surface area for energy collection. We made sure that the design allowed for the raccoons to swim as well. If they could swim, like a real raccoon, then they could go to both sides of the river without us transporting them and dropping them off.

  It didn’t really take all that long. Clarice did have me review designs made by my grandfather and watch him at work on some of the existing video footage. The whole process was detailed fairly thoroughly in the books about his life, so I won’t go into it again here. It was fascinating.

  After the skeletal design and the muscular design was done, we looked at the need for any internal ‘organs’ other than the electronics and actuators. We added connections to the power for the network nodes and then built up foam-core body parts to fill out the flesh. Clarice designed a form fitting sub-skin, also described in detail in the books about Pops. Because the outer skin was going to be a fake fur, there was no need for a body mold. There was a mold for the internal foam fillers, but the parts were small enough that at least a dozen of the raccoons could be made at the same time. Possibly two dozen. The largest mold that we had ever made in the lab was for the bodies for Clarice and Brenda and a lot of raccoon parts would fit in a mold that size.

  I wanted to be careful not to use up too much of our technology supplies, but Clarice assured me that we had stockpiled vast amounts during the three years of preparation leading up to the cataclysm. In the end, Clarice suggested that we start with a hundred raccoons, after the first prototypes were tested and approved. Each network node gave us about two and a half square miles of coverage. We had used about sixty for the ones that had been installed by the nymphs last week. Because these would be more efficiently self-positioning, we expected that a hundred of them would give us at least twice the coverage that we had now. The ones already in place would be recovered and returned to the house.

  We still needed each of the raccoons to be in network range at all times, so it was fortunate that we already had the river covered, from the west bridge all the way to the east bridge, already. They could extend their range a bit at a time, but none of them could go beyond the coverage area until it was extended.

  Of course, we had no immediate need for the raccoons, so the lab would be dedicated to the making of the tiny twin minions until they were all finished.

  Clarice said, “OK. Anything else Mr. Wizard?”

  I smiled and said, “I need a noble steed, don’t I?”

  Clarice laughed and said, “Of course! What Hero doesn’t need a good noble steed. You told the girls that we would all have unicorns, didn’t you? When we were at Paul’s farm a few weeks ago. Wow, I can picture it now. You and your two giant Amazonian princesses riding great big unicorns! OK. Just for you or for everyone?”

  I said, “For everyone. If we go out, we all ride.”

  Clarice said, “Well, we just start with the design for the small ones that we have and scale them up. Here.”

  She showed the internal structure of the small unicorn, Flossy, the one that we had taken to Paul’s farm on several occasions. She put a representation of me beside it for comparison and then expanded it until it was the size of a horse.

  I said, “Bigger. Like a big Clydesdale. Something really noble.”

  We laughed and Clarice kept going until the thing’s shoulder was a full five foot nine, just three inches below the top of my head. It was within the parameters for a real horse, but way at the top end. The mounts for the twins, Willow and Bamboo, were the same size. The ones that Brenda, Clarice, and Lark would ride were about a foot shorter. And the ones for Raven and Aspen, six inches shorter than that. Of course the nymphs would want some as well, and since that were just over four feet tall, theirs were more like ponies, about four feet tall at the shoulder.

  I could just picture us: three giant unicorns, followed by four large ones, flanked by two smaller ones, and three more ponies. Twelve of us in all. Me, my six girls, the two AI, and the three nymphs.

  As we worked on the design, Clarice pointed out that we should start with the smallest ones first. That way, we could scale up, reduce the structure as appropriate and then scale up again. It was easier to scale up than down and still keep the parts workable.

  We increased the size of Flossy until it matched the size required for a nymph to ride it. It was roughly two-hundred and fifty percent larger than Flossy. Flossy’s skeleton was lightweight polymer plastics. Clarice felt that we could use plastics at the enlarged size and support the weight
and other forces OK, but that she preferred to use metal. Metal would be a bit heavier, but strong enough that she could reduce the size of the bones to compensate. When the design looked complete, with all of the internal components added, she enlarged the design to the next size up. Again, the forces were calculated and the materials were reduced to the appropriate levels. This was repeated a third, and then a fourth time.

  When we were done with the unicorn model for the twins and I, Clarice said that the resulting beast would easily support at least a thousand pounds even being ridden at full speed. And full speed was about fifty miles an hour. I pointed out that none of us would be able to stay on a horse moving that fast. In return, Clarice pointed out that these were not horses and would easily adjust to our shifting weight in ways that made it virtually impossible for us to fall off. She said that the robot AI would be far easier to ride than any horse ever born. She suggested that we could probably ride standing up on the back of the thing, but probably not at full speed.

  I reviewed in my mind what we had in the works so far. We had eighteen more copies of Clarice and Brenda, a hundred robot raccoons, and twelve noble unicorns. We decided that the priorities were minions first, raccoons next, and finally unicorns.

  By the time we were done, about several hours had flown by and it was time for dinner.

  We happily went up to the living and dining level, still wearing our pajamas.

  Chapter 18 - Dinner and A Surprise

  When Clarice and I exited the elevator, we were greeted by the four girls and Willow, who were all doing their best to help Brenda prepare dinner. They had all learned a lot, but a lot was still new to them, and Willow had never prepared a meal at all. She ran up to me and hugged me. She and the others wore pajamas like Clarice and I, and she asked me about Bamboo.

  She said, “Master, they say that Bamboo is sleeping and she has been in bed all day and hasn’t woken up. Brenda says that she is fine and that I shouldn’t worry, and I’m not worried, but maybe I should go see her and make sure.”

  I put my arm around her and said, “Of course. I think that Brenda wanted her to sleep until I could come and go wake her up with you. Brenda, can Willow and I go get Bamboo for dinner now?”

  Brenda turned and winked at me and said, “She’s in your bed.”

  I said, “OK. Come on Willow, let’s go wake up our sleeping beauty and see how she is.”

  I took the girl’s hand and led her down the stairs to the bedrooms.

  I asked her, “What do you think of your new home?”

  She said, “I don’t believe that it’s real. How can something like this exist? Master, I slept in a big bed with Raven and Viola and the sheets and blankets were so soft and the shower was so warm and we put on what lark called lotion and I have never smelled so good and these clothes are so wonderful and the floors are so squashy and the air is so nice and it can’t be real.”

  I said, “Have you seen my bedroom?”

  She said, “No.”

  I asked, “Did you pick a room for yourself?”

  She said, “No. What do you mean? I slept in a room in a big bed. I will sleep where you tell me.”

  I said, “Oh, I thought that Raven was going to have you pick one. We’ll do that later. Maybe it’s best that you didn’t yet. This is mine. Bamboo will be in here.”

  I opened the door and let Willow go in first. She stood and looked around the richly paneled room and then spied her sister sleeping peacefully in the bed.

  She walked to the side of the bed and said, “She looks happy. Like never before. She looks peaceful and like she is playing in the woods in her sleep.”

  I pulled back the covers gently and we could see that Bamboo wore the same pajamas as the rest of us and I suggested that the two of us join her for a few minutes under the covers. Willow climbed in on one side and I went to the other.

  When we were beside our sleeping bedmate, I leaned on one elbow and said quietly, “Wake up little one. We are all safe and cozy and your sister is here.”

  Bamboo smiled and stretched and then opened her eyes and grinned at me.

  She said, “Master, I had such a nice nap. It was so nice. I’m glad that this morning really happened and now that I am awake you are still here. Do you want to do fucking again?”

  Willow said, “Sister, how are you? I was worried.”

  Bamboo started and looked to her other side and said, “Sister! Hello! Oh sister, isn’t it wonderful?”

  Willow said, “It’s very wonderful, but are you well? You slept for a long time and I haven’t seen you since the bathing.”

  Bamboo said, “Sister, I am wonderful. Better than ever. The bad one is dead and she is gone and she can’t ever get me again. I am free now. I tried to swim across the river and I got too tired and I drowned and I was dead. But then Brenda swam and got my dead body out of the water and Joshua breathed in my lungs and I was alive again. But the curse got drowned and because I was in the river, it had to let go of me and it washed away so that when Joshua made me alive again, it was already gone and can’t ever come back! Sister, I’m a new person.”

  Willow was crying and said, “You are! I can tell. Were you really dead?”

  Bamboo said, “I really was, but I’m alive more than ever. Where are we? And what are we wearing? And why does everything smell so good?”

  I explained that we were in my bedroom and in my bed. I told her that she was wearing what was called pajamas and that they were for being comfortable in the house sometimes.

  I said, “Bamboo, we are in the house at Havenrest, where we live now. This is your house now. It’s going to be different than anything you have ever seen, but more wonderful in so many ways. Everyone is waiting for us to have dinner. We are going to go upstairs and sit at a big table together and eat as a family. You are going to have a lot of questions, but I want you to just look around and do what everyone else does and just let it become familiar to you. If you don’t know what to do, you can ask me or any of the girls and we will help you.”

  Willow said, “It’s so amazing here. We are going to be so happy.”

  Bamboo said, “But Willow, I talk for myself now. I love you and you were everything for me and you kept me alive and now I will do whatever I can for you, but I’m alive now again and I am learning to talk.”

  Willow said, “You talk just fine. I’m so happy.”

  I said, “So let’s go to dinner.”

  Bamboo said, “But how do we know it’s real?”

  I smiled and slid my hand boldly up under her shirt and squeezed her breast firmly.

  Bamboo gasped and said, “Oh, like that. Yeah, I guess it’s real, isn’t it. Wow that feels good. Being an untouchable was crap. Being touched is a lot better.”

  It surprised me how different Bamboo’s speech was than the other people here. Nobody but me and the AIs said yeah, or crap, or used contractions as often. I liked her. I liked both of them. The women had been right: I did like these two in a special way that was different than the rest. And I looked forward to being in bed with them again soon.

  After a few more minutes of hugging, we hopped out of bed and I gave Bamboo a tooth brush and showed her how we brushed our teeth with one. I showed her the bathroom and how it worked, and I explained the shower briefly.

  When we left the bedroom, I pointed out where the other bedrooms were and we went upstairs to the living room. Dinner was laid out on the big dining table and there were seats for eight of us. I sat at the head of the table, the six girls sat on the sides, and Brenda sat at the foot, across from me. Clarice was in the lab, helping the nymphs build the moon-minions. Neither Clarice nor Brenda needed to eat, but we had a habit of at least one of them being at all of our meals. It seemed that the conversation always needed them in some way, and I would have felt like someone important was missing without them. It was better when they were both there.

  There was a lot of talk welcoming Willow and Bamboo, a bit about needing a slightly bigger table, and
then some time where the girls told Willow and Bamboo about the nymphs. It wasn’t easy for the girls, who didn’t understand exactly what Brenda or the nymphs were, to describe to Willow and Bamboo, who had never seen anything like our house or the garden carts or even really nice beds before, what Ellie and the others were like. Brenda and I just smiled through it all and let them do the best that they could.

  I didn’t know what Clarice was working on, now that I thought about it. She had said that she and Brenda wouldn’t be required for building the minions, and that there wouldn’t even be work for them to do. I wondered where she was and what she was doing. My answer came as we finished up dinner and the dishes were cleared.

  When everything was cleaned up, Brenda said, “Let’s all go downstairs to the sitting area. We have a surprise.”

  We all followed Brenda down the stairs to the sofas on the bedroom level where Clarice was already waiting for us. Clarice welcomed us and had everyone sit down and then she explained.

  She said, “Girls, we have some house rules. These are old rules that Joshua’s grandfather had for the house and for his family and we might have the same rules if Joshua thinks that we should.”

  Brenda smiled and said, “I like these rules a lot. But, I never had a real family, except for just me and Joshua when he was little, but I remember them and I thought that they were wonderful.”

  Clarice said, “I know about them because Grandma Peach and Grandma Lily told me about them when we were in Kauai one time. They told me that someday, when everything was right, that we would do this.”

  Brenda said, “And, today is the day.”

  Clarice said, “It’s the day, first because we are all together now. We think that this is everyone. Me and Brenda, six princesses, and the nymphs. Oh, nymphs, take a break and get up here. You have to be part of this, too. OK, they will be here in a minute. Now that we are all together finally, we get to open the secret door to the room that has been locked ever since Pops, Joshua’s grandfather, moved out. That was when Joshua was born, and this room has never been used since.”