XVIII

In the morning, Jill and Claudia went into town for groceries, eight of us being a heavier demand on the pantry than anticipated. Lisa, Conner and I worked on the software, with Cory offering proffer. Henry M. Robert offered what help he could to Jennifer as she worked on the new flake design.

Cory asked for, and got, several improvements to the showing. The major subdivision of the brain were enclosed in wan transparent blobs of color, each incision could be rendered inconspicuous, the actual neurons were now downcast, line of descent vessels were red, The wad of the brain was a sick gray fog, and the skull, an shell white. Every change seemed to bring More life to the image.

"Cory,"I asked,"when we did your scan yesterday, there was an odd arena that seemed to snaffle your attention, what was that ?"

"Oh, I should have told you,"he said,"I got clobbered, accidentally, by a cricket bat when I was six or so. My mother said I was in a coma for almost a workweek. That spot was the old indication of a minor aneurism. Probably why I was out for a week."

Jill and Claudia got back from Ithiel Town, we all helped unload and put away groceries, then took a break for lunch. Cory wondered aloud how the glance over might work out on other parts of the body. I was n't sure, the encephalon scan were"illuminated ”, for want of a better Christian Bible, by the radiated Energy for the neurons, the get-up-and-go that an EEG normally picked up. But nerve cell, or nerves were throughout the body, so with improved sensitivity and unspoilt sign processing, we might be able to look at any division of the body. I 'd read about a gimmick that used ultrasound to do something like that, spotting broken clappers and major ancestry vessels.

We worked through the day with only a few small beaks. After dinner we split up, going to our room. Tomorrow I 'd be able to pick up the new computing machine and the Anglia as well as meet the letters patent lawyer and construct final system with the funeral home. I 'd asked Lisa about getting the software program to run on a one computer, she said she 'd think about it.

Jennifer and I crawled into bed, snuggling together, content with each other, knowing we would eventually have sex in one form or another, but not in any rush. Jill burst into the elbow room, sobbing uncontrollably ! Jennifer and sat up in alarm. Jill threw herself onto the bed between us. Jennifer immediately hugged her, trying to calm her. I quickly joined in. We eventually got her calmed down enough to talk.

Cory had turned her John L. H. Down. Last dark he had plead enervation, and they had just slept. But tonight, he had turned down her advances because, he said, she was too young and he did n't need a rape charge on his disc. This sent Jill into another crying jag and my choler rose as it never had before.

"As soon as she settles a bit,"I told Jennifer,"go get the others to come to the living room."

She nodded, as I stormed across the hall.

"Cory !"I yelled, pounding on the door,"Get your ass out here !"

I kept pounding until the threshold opened. Cory looked have-to doe with and a little scared.

"Get downstairs ! Living room !"I snarled.

He headed downstairs while I fought for a small-scale measure of control. Following a sec or two behind him. Jennifer was practically on my heals, heading for the door as I followed Cory into the living room.

"Sit !"I said, indicating a straight person game arm-less chairperson."What the blaze gives you the right wing to disrespect one of my champion ?"

He looked around, confused and unsure of himself. The rest of the gang came in at a run, glaring at Cory as the saw him. I asked Jennifer to play Jill down.

"well ? Are you going to resolve ?"I demanded.

"Let 's all take a breath."said Conner,"I think we may just have a mistaking here."

"Fine by me."I snarled, throwing myself onto the sofa.

Jennifer came down with a red eyed Jill and sat her on the sofa between us. Conner indicated fundament for everyone else. Claudia, to a greater extent than the rest, looked quick to wipe out someone.

"Cory, '' Conner said, obviously choosing his row with care,"How old do you think we are ? Tell us, from oldest on down."

"Well, Cory temporized,"I 'd say you and Lisa are xix, maybe XX, Robert, maybe eighteen, I 'd judge James, Jill, and Jennifer are around XVI or a bit less, exceptionally shiny, but underage, and I figured Claudia was Robert 's kid sister, XII, at the most."

Conner shook his header sadly, Henry Martyn Robert restrained Claudia, and Jill began to cry again. Conner motioned for Lisa to appease in her seat.

"You turned down Jill 's advances because you thought she was underage ?"asked Conner gently.

"Well, of trend,"said Cory, defensively,"med students live under a microscope. Any soupcon of misconduct can destroy a career before it even gets started."

Well, for your selective information,"Started Conner,"Claudia is 20 two, doing post grad body of work in economics, Lisa and I are 20 one, Henry Martyn Robert is twenty, Jill is 19, and James and Jennifer are eighteen."

Cory looked around the elbow room seeing eight disproving faces, though no longer openly hostile. He looked at Claudia, studying her closely and carefully pronounced a composite Latin musical phrase, as a question. Claudia nodded, adding that it was diagnosed when she was XV. He got up stepped over to Jill and knelt, gently taking her hand.

"Jill, I 'm sorry,"he said, apologetically, I did n't know."

"You could have asked,"she said, trying to grin through her puffy face,"I could suffer shown you my identification.

Cory stood and asked all of us for forgiveness. Conner, Lisa, Henry Martyn Robert and Claudia accepted, Jill, Jennifer, and I nodded. And everybody relaxed. After a farsighted moment, Jill walked over to Cory, sitting in his lap, after a slight here and now on indecision, he put his munition around her.

"When Jill gets tired of you,"Claudia said to Cory,"I 'm going to drag you out to my room and do my best to bonk you to death."

Everybody laughed but Cory, who blushed shiny red.

"If you stick with us longsighted enough,"Said Conner,"I dare say that one of these Clarence Day all four missy are going to strike you on at once, while us guys will exhort them on, or even join in here and there."

I pulled Jennifer to he human foot, leading her stake upstairs, to pick up where we 'd been interrupted. Conner, Robert, Lisa, and Claudia headed back to the carriage business firm. Glancing back, I saw Jill kissing Cory, with his full cooperation. It looked like the offset phase of his 'punishment'might encounter on the support elbow room carpet.

In the morn, after a speed breakfast, we were back to work. Cory worked with me, tweaking the computer software for better images. As a psychometric test we wrapped the headset around his elbow. After a few adjustments we got a dim and blurry mental image of the joint. He watched his elbow flex in the display.

'' We 're going to be working on cleaning up the image quality. '' I said.

'' You 'd meliorate add X-ray Guy to the people who will be out of line of work. '' he said.

`` I wonder if a set of flat scanner plate would make for better. '' I said to myself.

'' James. '' Lisa yelled from where she was tinkering with my new computer, `` who 's your computer guy ? ``

I named the shop, `` Why ? '' I asked.

'' Well, he did n't rip you off, '' she said, `` but he could experience done better. ``

I wrote down the address and sketched a map to the shop.

'' have him holler me if necessary. '' I said. `` It wont hurt to think about new equipment for the network while you 're at it. ``

'' Budget ? '' she asked, while wrestling the computer to the stairs.

I had to hold back and think for a moment.

'' Try to keep in under forty thousand dog pound. '' I said.

The room fell silent. Every eye was on me. I looked back, puzzled, then I realized they did n't love about the trustingness fund.

'' I got access to some money. '' I said, `` inheritance clobber. ``

'' Just keep all the receipts. '' said Jill walking toward me, `` Or we 'll never get the books straight. ``

'' I 'm passably for certain thy 're all around here somewhere. '' I said.

'' Just how much is 'some'? '' Jill asked softly, not to be overheard.

'' Uh, around eight hundred thousand, '' I whispered, `` more or less. ``

She exhaled forcefully, as if someone had punched her in the stomach.

Early in the afternoon we stopped for a late lunch when Lisa returned. We gathered around the kitchen table. Sandwiches and drinks appeared and disappeared. Talk about several parts of the undertaking never stopped. I supposed this could be called a workings lunch. Jill ran out and returned with diggings of paper and pens. Jennifer cleared away cup of tea and refilled glasses.

'' For all we 've managed to achieve, '' Jill began, `` we 're running this like a eminent schooling science project. On top of my other skills, '' she took a indorsement to pat Cory 's shoulder, `` I 'm a pretty expert part director. Our marketing department, that 's Claudia, has been managing to make us some money. Out secret plan segmentation, Conner and Robert, have provided the products we 've sold so far. Research and exploitation, James I, Jennifer, and Lisa, are pushing ahead at open frame neck upper. Cory is on board as a technical adviser and advisor and I, in my pollex fingered way, try to help wherever I can. I saw at to the lowest degree six task downstairs that were half done and set aside for something else. We need to get organised. ``

'' You mean with veritable hours and schedules and hooey ? '' said Lisa, `` I do n't think it would turn with this bunch. ``

'' No, it would n't. '' Jill said, '' but the dungeon is a good deal, the benches are cluttered, the equipment wiring facial expression like the Gordian slub 's granddaddy, and there are extension cord everywhere. With everyone working down there, the room get stuffy. We need safe ventilation. We could probably use a elevator rather than transport things up and down those stairs. We need more power and igniter to get to use of some of the other rooms. ``

Everyone sat there mute. I had to admit, there did n't seem to be much counselling to our work. But there never seemed to be time for everything. I could see everyone considering Jill 's picayune spoken communication and nodding agreement.

'' We did set up a companionship, '' said Conner, `` for the purpose of receiving some donated equipment and payments, but never really treated it like a real company. ``

'' We 'll lose a lot of time and momentum if we stop to get organized. '' Said Robert.

What I think we should do first, '' said Jill, `` is stimulate a inclination of what needs to better. Each of you work alone on that. Also write up tone and such on where you are on whatever you 're working on and on the projects that have been set aside. When you switch racetrack from one project to another, that will help a lot. ``

There were murmurs of favourable reception all around. Cory stayed at the table to indite up our progress so far, I would have to spell up the tech side of that. Jill also stayed, scribbling notes as fast as thoughts occurred to her. Robert and Conner moved into the support room to do their composition, and claudia used my Father 's role. The eternal sleep of us went back down. I started on my terrace, straightening and shelving incomplete projects, Lisa did n't hold practically clutter beyond a pile of liberate paper that needed organizing. Jennifer straightened around re drafting table and wrote up her progress. We needed more ledge and storage. We did n't get a lot of 'real oeuvre'done but the billet looked a lot better. We needed more earpiece line of business too. I had to use the telephone set and that put Claudia on grip till I was done.

I called contractor, reasoning that the advance I had in mind were to my belongings. I asked each of them to station out somebody in the morning, around nine or so to calculate at what I wanted done and cater estimates.

Everyone wanted my remark on what they were doing and that took up a surprising quantity of time. Dinner conversation was more about variety than work. I told everyone to defer requests for bureau trappings to Jill and told them I was going ahead with ventilation and electrical up class. Lisa wanted to go back to the drawing board for software package and networking. What we had now was a mess of variety and revisions and with my poor initial documentation, almost impossible to work on effectively Jill was having the meter of her life, organizing the party from the ground up.

I crawled into bed bone tired. Jennifer and I cuddled for a while, but she soon let it be known that she wanted more than cuddling. She burrowed under the mantle and took me in her mouth. I found I was n't quite as tired as I thought. After she sucked me off, I mounted her leppy vogue, pumping into her at a steady pace. She reached her climax in a few min and we settled down to sleep.

In the aurora Jill took the Anglia, now in excellent condition, to run Cory back to Swansea, promising to be back the next good morning. The contractile organ arrived. I took them around in a group because the projects would have to interact with each other. In the end, with a little back and forth discussion, it was decided that an excavation outside the dungeon rampart could accommodate the elevator, main respiration ducts and new electrical feeds.

Jill had left a compiled leaning of office piece of furniture on my bench. I had to make a margin call and advance the specifications of the proposed aerodynamic lift to accommodate broad sized desks. I drew up prelim stipulation of a pair of small luxuriously definition scanner plates about one metrical unit square and asked Jennifer to work on it when she could. I ordered shelving and filing locker to be delivered. The desks would accept to hold off for the elevation. I spent time on writing up all of the projects I 'd been working on. The checkup digital scanner, learning ability run down and write, the 'Big O', jaberwockie, virtual game touch, emotion sensing and their usage and covering. employment, of course, slowed but never really stopped.

I had a outcry from the data processor shop. Lisa had ordered quite a bit of equipment in my name and he wanted to confirm the Order. He also needed a deposit for such a great orderliness. I promised to be by in a day or so.

Jill returned looking rested and slightly smug.

'' Do n't worry, she said, `` He 'll have the hale weekend to recover. ``

There were a million affair to do and never enough clock time. Jill declared a holiday, for the weekend.

Sabbatum we slept in, rising to a lavish breakfast. We went to town. Everybody needed too do some personal shopping. We went to the cinima for a matinee and then to dinner. We were home by eight and gathered in the master bedroom with it 's outsized bed.

It started as a chemical group makeout session, the four miss circulating between us three guys kissing and fondling each other with episodic miss on little girl action at law thrown in for excess spicery. I was stroking into Jennifer dogie style, the way she liked it, Conner had Lisa curled almost into a ball driving straight down, Jill was riding Robert in what I thought was called reverse cowgirl. Claudia circulate between us helping out here and there. When we had all reached orgasm Claudia said it was her turn and wanted all three guys at once. Conner was on his back, Claudia on top. I entered Claudia 's ass and she was sucking Henry Martyn Robert. She choked a little when Robert filled her back talk with cum while she screached out her own orgasm.

Jill took the sidelines while I had Claudia, Conner had Jennifer and Robert was with Lisa. Then we ganged up on Jill, finally colapsing in a batch. We fell asleep happy as a basket of pup. I woke later to Lisa sucking me while the other girls licked, sucked and fingered her. What a way to end a day.

Dominicus was a tedious day. We took concern of assorted personal task, read, watched TV or napped.

Monday was Mom and Dads funeral service. Jennifer and I dressed for it together. When we came down everyone else was dressed and gear up to go. I was surprised, I had assumed that Jennifer would go, but the others had n't known my parents. They came to digest me. Mr. Farnsworth and maybe half a dozen local anaesthetic businessman were at the Service as well. I shook hands alot with people I did n't recognise. I managed to get through it without breaking down, but emotionally I was back to when I first learned of their dying. Jennifer and Jill stayed cheeseparing and Mon night they slept on either side of me just as they had before.

Tuesday we were back at it physically refreshed, but emotionally drained. Estimates for the study to be done were reviewed and approved. I had stopped by the computer shop class to bless the purchase fiat and pay the deposit Monday on the way home.

Jennifer, working from a short list provided by Mr. Farnsworth, had located a microchip maker in California who specialized in small production runs and offered very good cost if we could use the older 45 nano-meter architecture as they had machines sitting idle. She sent them her CAD drawings. The promised sampling within 10 days.

A oeuvre crew showed up on Wed. They used surveyors tool to match the contrive location of the cosmetic surgery in the dungeon to a emplacement on the control surface. A backhoe started on a vast hole in the ground.

The aesculapian image scanner was on hold until we had the new cow dung. I was working with the jabewocky program, finding ways to condense and speed up up the code when a actor called up to the excavation.

They had run into an old Edward Durell Stone structure about ten ft down. The foreman showed me drawing off that indicated that this was not part of the dungeon. They had cleared away dirt and found an sharpness. I climbed into the trap and examined their discovery. The Harlan F. Stone employment matched that of the donjon, but this was a way that extended away from the bulwark where I wanted the lift. They assured me that any competent mason could furbish up any damage they might do. I signed a press release and asked them to open a hole big enough to look inside the mystery room.

The machine operator was full at his job. He tickled loose the rock and soon had a jam about two feet square opened up. I was handed a torch, then the forman and I took a facial expression. All we could see was an evacuate sleeping room, about xx feet solid. One wall appeared to match the dungeon rampart. They opened the hole up and a ladder was handed down. We entered the room

An old smoothing iron bounce chest stood against one rampart, otherwise the elbow room was hollow. The chest was closed with a heavy and crude whorl. After carefully prying a stone loose, we could calculate into the dungeon elbow room where I wanted the lift. I stopped the work pending a re-evaluation of the projection. The gang packed it in for the day and they promised to sent their estimator back out in the morning.

What had we found ?