Ace Dreamer
06-16-2012, 02:55 PM
Harem Library – 16/Jun/2012
Harry wanted to be called 'Helmuth'. It was a proper Boskone name, and no one else was using it at the moment. But, they wouldn't, and, he thought they sniggered at him behind his back.
Harry was probably 'wet' Boskone. He didn't like the idea of killing people. But, he didn't like the having to follow silly laws. Laws obviously made for Mundane Earth, before the bright new age of handwavium. All those Fen were stupid – you've a chance for a completely new start, and you're dragging all that old morality and law with you.
The harem was probably the reason he broke with Fen in general. He didn't plan to enslave people who already existed. He was just going to make new ones, who'd obviously see his superior intellect. Why were people upset about that?
Drugs. He didn't do drugs himself, unless you counted the odd lager. Tobacco smoke made him cough. This 'thionite' stuff was pretty stupid – you wanted something more like Shatner's Tek[1] – cleaner, simpler, no messing around with Venus. But, not really his field.
The Catgirling Machine had real possibilities. Dr Asmodeus Grey was a genius, but he'd missed the point of the original Professor's 'Julian Friez' machine. Still, Grey really scared him, and he wasn't going to tell him that. You started with just chemicals, you got a living, intelligent, human – brilliant!
Harry'd studied plans made from analysis of the Professor's machine. He'd got on a project to duplicate the Catgirling Machine, one of several, he thought. No, he didn't plan to finish that, but it gave him access to tools and materials. It was the Friez plans that made things fizz in his head.
Shirow's 'Appleseed'[2]. The bioroids, made to order. You just needed the information to make-up their minds. Human, could even have children. Maybe he'd better stock-up on birth control stuff? Though, it'd be nice to have children, some day. Particularly if the harem would look after them, and stop them getting underfoot.
As for information, he'd the complete set of "Love Hina" manga, the anime series, and the OVAs. Even copies of the sort of school books they would have had. Hmm. Better see if he could make sure they were fluent and literate in English, as well as Japanese. His Japanese wasn't very good, though he could understand it OK.
He'd gotten greedy. While one 'Bioroid Mould' was in theory enough, he wanted to wake all the girls at once. So, he needed six, and questions started to be asked about what he was using all the materials for.
Lucky he'd scouted out an unused 'acquired' vehicle. The cover of the Patrol attack would give him chance to get away. Particularly as he'd secretly informed them about the twice-weekly 'hole' in the scanner coverage, so he could be pretty sure when they were coming. He'd got his freeze gun, for self defence. The one he'd bought from that half-drunk weapons otaku, 'guaranteed non-lethal, and guaranteed unique'.
The 40' cargo container ship was crude, but ideal. Ion jets were slow, but much less flashy than a lot of drives, so he hoped he could sneak away. The terraforming kit was a real bonus, with robots folded away in packing crates, and supervisor AIs, all ready to go. An asteroid would make a good place to live, with his harem. He'd wait until the Patrol had cleaned-up the Boskone, and come back a hero.
The books... There must be tens of thousands in the ship. All second-hand scifi or fantasy; a few general stuff. He'd always wanted his own library, and it'd be nice to have something to read. Maybe he could send one of his girls out, to score him the latest manga and anime releases?
---
Why'd it have to end here? This asteroid seemed ideal, so he'd woke one of the AIs, the one with an avatar that looked like a nice teacher. She seemed very pleasant, apart from having a skinny robot as a lower body. Good company. She was particularly impressed by his linguistic talents, and his desire to bring more people with good English skills into existence.
Unfortunately, she'd said she needed the other two, and woken them. The youngest-looking one with the businesswoman avatar, and the scary librarian one, who he privately thought of as 'Granny Weatherwax'. Librarian had promptly gone to check the books were OK, the businesswoman constantly asked him about library membership, for some reason.
He'd wondered why Boskone hadn't used the container ship for anything. The micro-meteorite that'd just smashed through the control room window, and was creeping towards his frozen face, might be why. Yes, it was a nice window, maybe recycled from an old RV, but someone should have taken time to wave it into something tougher than glass. He guessed time could slow down as you died.
Was someone standing behind him? With a hint of dark wings? He hoped his harem would be all right...
Postscript
The AIs had a clear job. They needed to set-up 'Library Alpha'. The asteroid, all the raw materials they needed, were right in front of them. Pity 'Harry' died – it looked like he'd have joined the library.
Resources were tight, to start with. There was a desperate need for good quality organics, to jump-start the mining process. No point in wasting Harry's body, he wasn't using it any more. His food, other supplies, clothes, etc.; it could all be recycled. Librarian kept his freeze ray for study.
They argued about the Bioroid Moulds. Containing the near-ready harem. Useful materials, thought the Librarian. Potential library members, remarked the Membership officer. Literate, said Literacy officer. So a divide between them opened.
To mollify the Librarian the others agreed to strict library discipline. The freeze ray shared components with some of the terraforming equipment they were assembling. So, once they could make their own spares, parts were diverted for 'security purposes'.
The finished harem later ended up 'on ice', in cryogenic suspension, as that avoided the need to feed them. Librarian pointed-out a library without people wandering around, reading and borrowing the books, is so much easier to run. The other two agreed they counted as literate library members, even while 'suspended', as they'd been 'born' in the library.
Maybe more would be a good idea?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
Harry wanted to be called 'Helmuth'. It was a proper Boskone name, and no one else was using it at the moment. But, they wouldn't, and, he thought they sniggered at him behind his back.
Harry was probably 'wet' Boskone. He didn't like the idea of killing people. But, he didn't like the having to follow silly laws. Laws obviously made for Mundane Earth, before the bright new age of handwavium. All those Fen were stupid – you've a chance for a completely new start, and you're dragging all that old morality and law with you.
The harem was probably the reason he broke with Fen in general. He didn't plan to enslave people who already existed. He was just going to make new ones, who'd obviously see his superior intellect. Why were people upset about that?
Drugs. He didn't do drugs himself, unless you counted the odd lager. Tobacco smoke made him cough. This 'thionite' stuff was pretty stupid – you wanted something more like Shatner's Tek[1] – cleaner, simpler, no messing around with Venus. But, not really his field.
The Catgirling Machine had real possibilities. Dr Asmodeus Grey was a genius, but he'd missed the point of the original Professor's 'Julian Friez' machine. Still, Grey really scared him, and he wasn't going to tell him that. You started with just chemicals, you got a living, intelligent, human – brilliant!
Harry'd studied plans made from analysis of the Professor's machine. He'd got on a project to duplicate the Catgirling Machine, one of several, he thought. No, he didn't plan to finish that, but it gave him access to tools and materials. It was the Friez plans that made things fizz in his head.
Shirow's 'Appleseed'[2]. The bioroids, made to order. You just needed the information to make-up their minds. Human, could even have children. Maybe he'd better stock-up on birth control stuff? Though, it'd be nice to have children, some day. Particularly if the harem would look after them, and stop them getting underfoot.
As for information, he'd the complete set of "Love Hina" manga, the anime series, and the OVAs. Even copies of the sort of school books they would have had. Hmm. Better see if he could make sure they were fluent and literate in English, as well as Japanese. His Japanese wasn't very good, though he could understand it OK.
He'd gotten greedy. While one 'Bioroid Mould' was in theory enough, he wanted to wake all the girls at once. So, he needed six, and questions started to be asked about what he was using all the materials for.
Lucky he'd scouted out an unused 'acquired' vehicle. The cover of the Patrol attack would give him chance to get away. Particularly as he'd secretly informed them about the twice-weekly 'hole' in the scanner coverage, so he could be pretty sure when they were coming. He'd got his freeze gun, for self defence. The one he'd bought from that half-drunk weapons otaku, 'guaranteed non-lethal, and guaranteed unique'.
The 40' cargo container ship was crude, but ideal. Ion jets were slow, but much less flashy than a lot of drives, so he hoped he could sneak away. The terraforming kit was a real bonus, with robots folded away in packing crates, and supervisor AIs, all ready to go. An asteroid would make a good place to live, with his harem. He'd wait until the Patrol had cleaned-up the Boskone, and come back a hero.
The books... There must be tens of thousands in the ship. All second-hand scifi or fantasy; a few general stuff. He'd always wanted his own library, and it'd be nice to have something to read. Maybe he could send one of his girls out, to score him the latest manga and anime releases?
---
Why'd it have to end here? This asteroid seemed ideal, so he'd woke one of the AIs, the one with an avatar that looked like a nice teacher. She seemed very pleasant, apart from having a skinny robot as a lower body. Good company. She was particularly impressed by his linguistic talents, and his desire to bring more people with good English skills into existence.
Unfortunately, she'd said she needed the other two, and woken them. The youngest-looking one with the businesswoman avatar, and the scary librarian one, who he privately thought of as 'Granny Weatherwax'. Librarian had promptly gone to check the books were OK, the businesswoman constantly asked him about library membership, for some reason.
He'd wondered why Boskone hadn't used the container ship for anything. The micro-meteorite that'd just smashed through the control room window, and was creeping towards his frozen face, might be why. Yes, it was a nice window, maybe recycled from an old RV, but someone should have taken time to wave it into something tougher than glass. He guessed time could slow down as you died.
Was someone standing behind him? With a hint of dark wings? He hoped his harem would be all right...
Postscript
The AIs had a clear job. They needed to set-up 'Library Alpha'. The asteroid, all the raw materials they needed, were right in front of them. Pity 'Harry' died – it looked like he'd have joined the library.
Resources were tight, to start with. There was a desperate need for good quality organics, to jump-start the mining process. No point in wasting Harry's body, he wasn't using it any more. His food, other supplies, clothes, etc.; it could all be recycled. Librarian kept his freeze ray for study.
They argued about the Bioroid Moulds. Containing the near-ready harem. Useful materials, thought the Librarian. Potential library members, remarked the Membership officer. Literate, said Literacy officer. So a divide between them opened.
To mollify the Librarian the others agreed to strict library discipline. The freeze ray shared components with some of the terraforming equipment they were assembling. So, once they could make their own spares, parts were diverted for 'security purposes'.
The finished harem later ended up 'on ice', in cryogenic suspension, as that avoided the need to feed them. Librarian pointed-out a library without people wandering around, reading and borrowing the books, is so much easier to run. The other two agreed they counted as literate library members, even while 'suspended', as they'd been 'born' in the library.
Maybe more would be a good idea?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind