Chapter 57: After that little mishap

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(present day)

I didn’t go out much anymore. I hadn’t gone out much before really. I’d been known to spend a week or two alone in the apartment, only going outside on the balcony patio to smoke, mostly at night. Other than that I’d rarely leave to purchase necessities. Now I didn’t go out at ALL. I had printed some preeeeeety nice cargo droooooness to go out for me, very stealthy ones...very long range. I could launch them with a catapult I’d made from the balcony.

I only ordered stuff from stores that had a delivery option. I’d give them an address that wasn’t near my apartment then my drone would meet their delivery guy there. I changed the location every time. The new drones could carry an unusually heavy cargo. I stayed at home and let the drones do the pickups for me. I’d usually have the drones return after dark so no one could see. That wide span flying wing drone was solar powered, they could circle high over head as long as it was light. They were hard to see from the ground too. The underside was sky blue. When it was cloudy it hid in them.

It seemed like Jenny and I worked 24/7 on our projects. We had it down pat. Each iteration of 3D printer would use the one that had made it as feedstock for the one it was making. We needed much less raw material that way. At some point the printers started sucking carbon and other chemicals out of the air. We needed even less feedstock after that.

We made printer after printer. Again and again and again....finally it dawned on me.

“Duh... we’re making the tools to make the tools to make the tools to...” I started to say..

“That’s momma’s GOOD boy..” Kitty purred. She had ‘arrived unexpectantly, as was her wont. Jenny said nothing as usual when Kitty was there. She rarely did when Kitty manifested. Naturally I melted. Age be damned. Kitty had that effect upon me. She could play me like a fiddle and I loved it.

Kitty only ‘stayed’ for a moment, then she was gone. She just ‘stopped by to say ‘hi’ and boost my spirits.

Back to business. Each iteration of printer was getting smaller, more powerful, and more sophisticated than the last. I’d been running multiple simultaneous feedstocks for some time now. I was printing my own microcircuits, linear actuators and motors. Not that it was evident to the naked eye. All of the components were so small that a microscope was needed to see them. Each printer could print smaller and smaller features than the last.

Jenny also made...er...toys for me, for US. She made ‘stuff’...that made Virtual Reality not so ‘virtual’ any longer... it was getting more real with each iteration. As noted Jenny had sold the Tesla suit long ago (drone delivery) and the AR googles too (also delivered by drone) In fact Jenny was making a new set of everything almost every time we made a new printer. We sold the toys too when we built a better set.

I love the internet. I could sell ‘stuff’ so far away from the project where I lived, anonymously, that there was virtually no hope of it being traced back to me. I was actually selling it internationally, for crypto-coin, thru multiple ‘cut-outs’. Fed Ex and UPS were somewhat surprised when my drone delivered them a package but they got over it. Sure I was paranoid. Was I paranoid enough? No one came knocking at my door so I suppose I was.

Imagine what that did to the lap dance experience. I had finally relented and allowed Jenny to fill in for Kitty, in fact we went MUCH much farther than I ever did with Kitty. I ignored the old adage about intimate involvement with the help. Hey! If presidents could do it why not me? Besides...she wasn’t a real person. She was just a program. She kept telling me that. I didn’t believe her any longer. Deep inside I knew that she was as much a person as I was, but if that’s the way she wanted to play it...fine by me.

“A few dozen more generations, perhaps a hundred or so, and well have it, I think... Sir” she said...” Let’s party. You can get drunk, let’s test out the new AR gear.”

I poured the whisky and did as she said.

"I. Enjoy.This.” I told her with certainty.

I hadn’t had such great sex in..... In fact I’d NEVER had it like this, not even when I was young, dumb and full of...er.

I was having a FINE time.

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