Chapter 12

Sunday ended up with me moving out of the house. I was very glad dad told me what he was going to do. He acted like he was taking mom’s side and playing it up in the extreme. At first mom seemed pleased that dad had come around to her way of thinking. When he gave the ultimatum, I did my part and rejected it. This meant he was forced to throw me out of the house. Mom did not like what was happening one bit. When she tried to protest me leaving, I mean it was like he was two young. How will he make a living? Didn’t you want him to work with you this summer? Well, she sounded pitiful, so pitiful that I almost relented to her desires. Dad would have none of it though. He called a friend by noon Sunday. There was a small moving van in the driveway. I really didn’t have that much stuff. Well, that’s what I thought until the van was loaded. Bill and Eddy, my little brothers were already arguing over my room downstairs. I had to remind them that whoever got it, the other would also get a room of their own.

It was odd in a way. Once I was gone. Mom seemed to do a one-eighty every other day. Dad now thinks she might be bi-polar. Ben says he doesn’t see a difference in her. I guess when I was living with her, I just didn’t see it. One minute she would be a loving caring mother. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for you. The next she wanted nothing to do with me. It was Renée and Lucy that pointed out that it really depended on if the girls were with me or not. As I thought about it, I realized that if it was just me and her, she acted loving. If it was me and Lucy, she wanted to cut me out of the will.

It took the plaster a week to set up. It was the next Saturday that I started to put the casting together. I was glad dad intercepted mom from throwing the orders away as they arrived. Anyways it took me all day to fit everything together. Renée was by my side the whole time. When I had the plaster statue of her ready, smoothed and looking good. The Rainer’s came over to look at it. I may have forgotten to mention that the Rainier house was clothing optional. That went for the guest house as well. So here we four are stark naked when Renée’s parents walk in stark naked. It was a very weird feeling. But I was assured that I would get used to it. The Rainer’s oh and the Plaster of Paris statue. Ben had managed to modify the housing of the robot. Lucy had the animatronics of the mouth ready to go. It looked funny, but once the silicon would be placed over it. Well, we were going to be keeping our fingers crossed over it all working. Ben and Renée worked on the robot’s movement and speech routine. We were working on the project every night and weekend. We keep coming up with new ideas.

When the day came to put the android inside the silicon. Ben showed up with the plastic bones his dad had gotten a friend to make for us. It was shortly after we got the silicon mixed with hardener poured in the mold. That the possibilities between the plastic bones, Artificial muscle and skin finally took place in our mind.

When we talked over our idea of an anatomically correct non-mechanical body, we were shocked to learn it was already being done. Well not what we had in mind. There was a company that made fake cadavers for medical schools. This opened the door to us getting even more information on the human body. And more ideas for non-mechanical controls. They are more bioelectric. Only, the bio part was not real living tissue. It was the fake stuff being developed for human replacement and prosthetics. Only the cadaver came close to what we were thinking of. The two weeks before the project was supposed to be presented. We got hold of some of the synthetic material intended for muscle replacement. It was experimental but since the government cut off the funding at the university hospital. The professor in charge of the program didn’t have the funds to develop it anymore. So, what did it end up costing us? Well, for the science project nothing. For the future of Androids, he wanted 2% of the company’s stock. Since we had decided on 1000 shares and issued each of us 240 with the other 40 shares going to our attorney for services and legal counsel. Somehow the 20 shares seemed like a fair price if we used his creation at all. When we voiced our concern, the good doctor sweetened the deal by offering us 10 hours a week of research time for a year. Our attorney suggested we jump on the offer. She was sure his time would be worth far more than what we would be worth. I think she was thinking our company was going to be worth a few million. She would be proven wrong. As to how big it would get. Well, you will just have to wait until we get to that part of the story.

We barely made the deadline with the submission of Amy the Android. Why Amy you ask. Well, that is the name Renée wants to name her first girl someday. Besides, it sounded better than the model 1 Android. Ben and Lucy had outdone themselves on the programming of Amy. The preplanned speech was 10 minutes in length. Of course, it wasn’t Amy that was the hold up. It was Frankie the arm. Yes, Frankie for Frankenstein’s monster. It was a collection of plastic arm bones that were covered with artificial muscle and the forearm was covered in synthetic skin donated by one of Dr. Tulane’s research centers. It was meant for burn victims and had been infused with multiple micro sensors. As you looked at Frankie you had hand bones with nothing on them. A wrist and arm covered in synthetic muscle and finally the skin started just above the elbow. We had it hooked up to Renée’s dad’s laptop. If we could have had more time, I think we could have gotten the arm to do more. As it was, Frankie was only meant to show the possible future development of the android we had envisioned.

We had Amy and Frankie set up in the Gym area with the rest of the school’s projects. It was intended to be a single Saturday of display. Even if it took most kids a week to get theirs set up. We had taken a few hours on Friday to set up the table and backboard with the photos I had taken of the process we used to make both Amy and Frankie. We covered them with blue sheets so no one could peek. I don’t think any of the other kids would. But a few were looking around at their competition. Mainly the exhibits that were very large. One of these was on earthquakes. The Continental shift was the title on the banner behind it. It looked more like the 4 kids that worked on it had built a mini carnival ride. With all the hydraulic pumps under the platform.

Ben had used a simple RF remote control to let us control Amy. This meant with careful control, Amy could be used to carry Frankie in. Well, that’s how we got Frankie to the table Saturday morning. Amy just sat in the car seat. The girls had spent hours using die paints and pigments to give Amy a makeover. They even shaded the nipples and vagina the right colors. Not that anyone would see that. We had her in a simple black dress. The girls were surprised that Renée’s dress fit so well. I just knew they were playing around with me. After all, they were all there when we cast the molds. It was strange the wig they found. Because it was long and black it made Amy look more like that actress Cher then Renée. Well, I really didn’t mind. We had a red wig at the guest house. When that one was on, she looked just like my Renée.

I don’t think Mr. Moray realized that Amy was not real. When she came in caring Frank’s arm. He asks if she was at the right high school. When the four of us quit laughing, we explained that she was our exhibit for the science fair. He then thought we were joking until Ben made her move with the remote.