Oh hell, she could lie with electronic characters without getting caught.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she typed back.
The message light continued blinking. On the other end, her sister would somehow have known she hadn’t told the truth. Ilse’s ESP was a bitch sometimes.
“Come back to the pack,” the message came back finally.
“Too busy,” Cara typed. Another lie. “Gotta go. Long day tomorrow.”
She shut the instant messaging off and for good measure closed her browser. Alone meant alone, including her sister, no matter how much they loved each other.
Instead, she went into the folder called “schematics.” An innocent enough label. Boring, even. Most of the diagrams would mean nothing to a non-engineer. A lay person would recognize the eyes, though, even if she didn’t realize that the processor attached would serve as a cerebral cortex.
Other diagrams clearly showed a skeletal structure. A biologist might recognize it as canine. Still, even the top experts would assume she was building something animatronic -- the sort of machine amusement parks use in their rides. Only, if she did her job right, the automaton would be able to learn and think.
And mate. Most especially, it would be able to mate.
She closed out all the programs and sat staring at her computer wallpaper for a moment. The picture of the gray wolf she’d taken from a conservation website. Huge, sleek, and powerful with haunting silver eyes. The creature of her fantasies. The real wolf was probably dead now, but she wouldn’t have submitted to him, in any case. No, she’d build his living, thinking replica, and he wouldn’t be a creature of her imagination any longer. Smiling, she turned off her computer and went back to bed.
* * *
Standing at the hidden workbench in her lab, Cara ran her fingers through the material that now covered the sleek “muscle” she’d created for her wolf lover. Partly synthetic and partly silk, the fabric mimicked soft fur as best a human creation could hope. In fact, if the wolf’s “body” were the right temperature, it would fool anyone but its creator. A small internal heat source would take care of that little problem, and when the animal was done, she’d have a perfect living model of her dream lover -- right down to the sheen of his fur -- to run with, to curl up with in sleep, and to give her the mating she’d only had in dreams. And then, when she wanted to, she could shut him off.
Stepping back, she took stock of months of work. She might have been looking at the body of a real wolf, except for the cables protruding from his neck. A few yards away on a table sat his head. Empty sockets would soon hold his eyes, and behind that would sit the super-fast minicomputer. The one she’d designed to modify its programs based on experience, in other words, to learn. It had already spent months “looking” at images of forests, complete with prey and other wolves. Other sensors would detect hot and cold, up and down, and especially scents.
When she first powered him up, he’d have more knowledge than a newborn cub. Including how to recognize a female in heat by her perfume. She’d used her own aromas to teach him, of course.
The outer door to her laboratory opened. She’d been so concentrated on the wolf, she only caught it in time to step into the main part of the lab and wave her hand over the controls to shut the most secret part behind her.
When she turned, she didn’t find any of the techs approved to be in this part of R&D. Instead, her sister stood on the threshold, massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” Cara said. “How did you get the combination?”
Ilse squeezed her eyes shut. “Lower your voice, will you?”
Cara put her fists on her hips. “You used your sight to figure out the lock, didn’t you?”
Groaning, Ilse squeezed the bridge of her nose. “And now, I have the headache to pay for it.”
“Serves you
“Couldn’t sleep,” she typed back.
The message light continued blinking. On the other end, her sister would somehow have known she hadn’t told the truth. Ilse’s ESP was a bitch sometimes.
“Come back to the pack,” the message came back finally.
“Too busy,” Cara typed. Another lie. “Gotta go. Long day tomorrow.”
She shut the instant messaging off and for good measure closed her browser. Alone meant alone, including her sister, no matter how much they loved each other.
Instead, she went into the folder called “schematics.” An innocent enough label. Boring, even. Most of the diagrams would mean nothing to a non-engineer. A lay person would recognize the eyes, though, even if she didn’t realize that the processor attached would serve as a cerebral cortex.
Other diagrams clearly showed a skeletal structure. A biologist might recognize it as canine. Still, even the top experts would assume she was building something animatronic -- the sort of machine amusement parks use in their rides. Only, if she did her job right, the automaton would be able to learn and think.
And mate. Most especially, it would be able to mate.
She closed out all the programs and sat staring at her computer wallpaper for a moment. The picture of the gray wolf she’d taken from a conservation website. Huge, sleek, and powerful with haunting silver eyes. The creature of her fantasies. The real wolf was probably dead now, but she wouldn’t have submitted to him, in any case. No, she’d build his living, thinking replica, and he wouldn’t be a creature of her imagination any longer. Smiling, she turned off her computer and went back to bed.
* * *
Standing at the hidden workbench in her lab, Cara ran her fingers through the material that now covered the sleek “muscle” she’d created for her wolf lover. Partly synthetic and partly silk, the fabric mimicked soft fur as best a human creation could hope. In fact, if the wolf’s “body” were the right temperature, it would fool anyone but its creator. A small internal heat source would take care of that little problem, and when the animal was done, she’d have a perfect living model of her dream lover -- right down to the sheen of his fur -- to run with, to curl up with in sleep, and to give her the mating she’d only had in dreams. And then, when she wanted to, she could shut him off.
Stepping back, she took stock of months of work. She might have been looking at the body of a real wolf, except for the cables protruding from his neck. A few yards away on a table sat his head. Empty sockets would soon hold his eyes, and behind that would sit the super-fast minicomputer. The one she’d designed to modify its programs based on experience, in other words, to learn. It had already spent months “looking” at images of forests, complete with prey and other wolves. Other sensors would detect hot and cold, up and down, and especially scents.
When she first powered him up, he’d have more knowledge than a newborn cub. Including how to recognize a female in heat by her perfume. She’d used her own aromas to teach him, of course.
The outer door to her laboratory opened. She’d been so concentrated on the wolf, she only caught it in time to step into the main part of the lab and wave her hand over the controls to shut the most secret part behind her.
When she turned, she didn’t find any of the techs approved to be in this part of R&D. Instead, her sister stood on the threshold, massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” Cara said. “How did you get the combination?”
Ilse squeezed her eyes shut. “Lower your voice, will you?”
Cara put her fists on her hips. “You used your sight to figure out the lock, didn’t you?”
Groaning, Ilse squeezed the bridge of her nose. “And now, I have the headache to pay for it.”
“Serves you
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