#97: Henry Drake: Fluffy

..............................................................................................................................................

Henry hadn’t really known what to expect. He’d thought that Fluffy was some kind of acronym. Like ‘Fabrique les umquat frackin fricking yumpers” or something, it didn’t have to be in english. When Fluffy arrived riding a manta, he changed his mind.

He decided that “Fluffy” was either a form of Gallows’s humor or it was a ‘Frickin Lovely Upscale Fearful Ferocious Yaffle’ or both.”

Henry was paranoid. Was he paranoid enough? So far he had been. They hadn’t got him yet. He was still alive against long odds. To insure that this happy situation would continue he instructed the Fluffy to makes some sentinel avatars the size of large hornets then ordered them to fly about. If there was something blundering about in the fog he wanted it to blunder into his hornets first. He didn’t want anything to sneak up on him while he was babysitting fluffy.


Then he got to work. Down and dirty. He instructed to give birth to a saddle to his specification. She did that. He put it on her, then settled down for a long ride.

“GO GET EM FLUFFY.” he told her verbally while mentally giving here more exact direction.

That’s all she needed. She went to work. The vehicles themselves were ripped apart and eaten. She left nothing behind. Her internal molecular furnace was burning as it reduced everything to it’s component elements. The Fabricator took what it needed from the element stream to make LPBs. She farted the unneeded gases or pooped, mostly metallic, solid elements over the side of the bridge. It wasn’t very pretty but it Fluffy was a real bear when it came to production. It wasn’t very long before his Augmented Reality indicator alerted him to the fact that she was going to deliver an LPB. Henry hopped off to watch.

It was creepy. He’d known what to expect but knowing it and seeing it were two different things. Fluffy gave birth standing up like a Giraffe. In fact the process hardly slowed her down at all, it wouldn’t have if he had remained in the saddle.

One minute nothing, next minute “Plop, Flop.” a fast delivery manta was wingtip walking across the bridge. That was fascinating in it’s own-self. It was worth the time that he stopped. The small manta, no larger than a Christmas Turkey and probably about as heavy, turned it’s ‘wings’ down and turned the tips under forming little pads. Then it drug it’s tail on the roadway for stability as it shuffled forward. When it got to the edge of the bridge it flopped over into the water.

Henry stepped to the edge he heard the ‘flop’ when it hit the water and ‘wiz” when it swam off. Before it was lost in the fog the manta was in hydroplane mode and really moving. He heard the ‘whiz’. It certainly shouldn’t take much time to get anywhere at that rate.

When a Crystal Manta, as he thought of the LPB in his mind, hit the water it was gone. It could move very fast in hydroplane mode. The fog didn’t seem to bother it. Something about GPS backtrack, radar or magic for all he knew.

Henry climbed back aboard Fluffy. He examined , mentally, his options and accounts. Then he chose and option and it was back to the grind. Fluffy started eating. When the time came to deliver another crystal manta she never stopped.

Plop, Flop, Flop, Fiz, Whiz, and that crystal manta was GONE.

Fluffy kept making bacon.

It took him forever it seemed but he cleaned out the whole bridge. He worked Fluffy hard for four hours, then he took a break, not for her but for him. Then he’d work four more hours to lunch, eat a meal and stretch his legs, then work another four hours or until it got too dark to see. He worked can’t see to can’t see until the bridge was cleared. Both sides, from levee to levee. There was nothing on that bridge before the rising water covered it but bare metal. The last crystal manta had paid off the lease. He was a free operator now.

He and Shelby had developed a good working relationship. They tended to be in touch weekly via video.

“This is the last one .” Shelby had told him. “ The Balloon is paid. Other than the monthly rental Fluffy is yours now. She’s free for your use subject to the lease restrictions we agreed upon of course.”

“Really?” Henry was actually surprised. “I’ve been keeping track very carefully and I thought there was another crystal manta or two yet to go.”

“I left the size of the ‘early delivery’ discount rather vague didn’t I?” Shelby grinned.

“Well yeah you did.” Henry said “Yeah you did.”

“ That’s the difference. You did a good job. I appreciate that and pay extra. What do you intend to do? Can I offer you a job? How bout a contract to keep doing what you have been doing? You can work day to day of course but I pay more by contract.” Shelby told him. “I hate to be a nag but I’ve got to remind you that if anyone else but you try to use use or abuse Fluffy she will get really nasty. So be careful about going anywhere that she can be stolen. She won’t allow that to happen no matter what. Governments are bad about stealing so be warned. If you see any government you might hide or runaway.”

“Yeah. I’m aware.” Henry told him. “I was a trucker if you recall. They took, and took, and took. Many times I wondered if it was worth trucking any more.”

“Oh well.” Henry said “for the first time in my life I don’t have to worry about anything other than what appears to be one small rental payment. I’m effectively rich. I think what I want about now is a boat.”

“That bridge starting to get a little damp?” Shelby asked?

“As a matter of fact it is.” Henry didn’t explain about the “hi rise” portions of the bridge, built to allow deep sea ships room to go under. Everything but the hi-rise was under water. He was on the high rise and the water was still rising.

“There are a number of boat plans in the MageLib. Shelby told him. “Some are free, some you pay for.”

“Pay for with what?” Henry asked “You keep saying that. What do we use for money?”

“I’m glad you asked that question” Shelby told him ”I think I mentioned that the name of our currency is ‘Groats’. It’s a cyber currency. Oddly enough we pay in Groats for SCrystal.”

Shelby named a number. It seemed kinda high.

Henry looked at him funny. He was wondering how that related to his rent. He’d figure it out later but his rent seemed awfully low.

“This is legit. It’s something that the kids set up. It seems to work so we use it. If you visit you’ll find all the prices in the Farmer’s Market, the Restaurants, and all services, are in Groats.” Shelby said.

“So if I just keep sending you CrystalMantas I get paid in Groats?” Henry asked.

“ Yup, or push your rental payment ahead, or both. It’s up to you.” Shelby told him. . You have to continue to make one Crystal manta a month, as you call it, to pay the rental. After that you can do anything you please. You can make more and take cash for them or you can tell Fluffy to make something else.”

“What else?” Henry asked. He thought he knew but he loved to hear this particular answer.

“Almost anything else.” Shelby told him.

“Almost?” Henry prodded.

“Nothing alive or that has been alive. Not food.” Shelby said.

“I think I like this” Henry said. “Where’s the bank to set up an account?”

“There is no bank.” Shelby told him. “Everything is in the Cloud. You can download an ebook from the MagLib that describes Groats in nauseating detail.”

“I think I’ll just do that” Henry told him.

“Got to go.” Shelby said “ if you happen to stop by some time look me up. Dinner at Ernie’s is on me.”

........................
The Next Episode Is
#98: Banana Slug - Lucy Get’s ‘Splained To…
The Last Episode Was
#96: Henry Drake: Video Call
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
..............
Book One: SoulStone
..................................................
I'm

@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
My books on Amazon.
I engage in political commentary
and
generally talk about anything that strikes my fancy
on
Steemit
and
Sola

When watching the LameStream FakeNews Media

it's hard to tell what’s true or when they are lying isn’t it? It seems that they are more interested in influencing public opinion than they are reporting the facts.
SteemPunk Snail Image from Pixabay