Chapter 3

Class was normal today. Anyway, I was in a bit of a shock when Renée asked me to join her for lunch.

We sat together and talked about the project. She then asked me why I thought she had to be the model for the mold.

I told her it was simple. “You see, my stature is too large to fit over the frame of a model 2, whereas your smaller size should be the perfect fit.”

She frowned, and then said, “I was hoping we could make a male android.”

“Oh, I see, I suppose Lucy wants to buy it for herself when we are done.”

“Cha-ching!” said Renée.

“Just joking”, I grinned.

“I wasn’t, you know ... if your idea worked, we could get rich selling robotic dolls on the Internet.”

I thought that over for a minute. Customers pay 25K for a plain doll. Those look real. But they don’t even move by themselves. Our product would create a new niche on the market, the leading class. We would define the standards! Oh yes! Definitely.

“I wonder what people would pay.” I absentmindedly said out loud.

“More than you think, I bet”, answered Renée.

OK, she had me here and I knew it. She was right. Program the frame with some human-looking movement routines. Now, how did she put it? Ah yes, anatomically correct! Well then, our androids would probably sell like hotcakes.

“Are you proposing we go into business together?” I asked.

“Well, only if you do ask me to the prom.”

I was speechless, staring at her forever. Damn! There was that glimmer in her eyes again. So, it seemed to me, anyway. The bell rang, sending us to class. ‘Saved by the bell’ was all I could think of as I walked away, and for some reason, I thought that was unusually funny.

That afternoon I logged on to the computer to find eight emails from Renée. Each one was a link to a different site. She had been a busy girl after school.

The first link was a supplier of silicon. They had all grades and even sold the dyes to make it the color you wanted; available in one or five-gallon sizes and even in a 40-gallon barrel. The other links were equally interesting. A company that sold latex suitable for art-grade casting models. It was on an art supply site. Another link proposing ‘do-it-yourself dildo kits’. “Make a mold of your own cock!” I sneered.

Great! What would I do with a mold of my own cock? I got a devilish grin. Could I sell it to Lucy?

Hmmm!

The next link was leading to a plastic mold company. They had a do-it-yourself plastic shell that you could wrap upon any object to fit its contours, nicely following each and every nook and cranny. One then filled the shell with liquid resins to make a hard cast mold. It was perfect for what we were planning.

Renée’s last email had a project’s price breakdown.

Robotic Parts?

Molds $200.00

Liquid latex $25.00

Silicon and hardener $125.00

CPU Free.

Miscellaneous $50.00

It looked like we were up to $500 for the project so far, that is, if everything went alright. This according to “Murphy’s Law” never happens. So, I took dad’s advice

‘Take the cost of your parts and double it, then you should have enough to handle any actual cost overruns.’ This would put the cost at a whole grand, all for a school project! I think my dad might just balk at that. However, if we just...

I became distracted by what I thought.

“Just what does a new model 2 sell for anyways?”

Just one way to find out quickly. Google to the rescue. And after a quick search, I found they were selling new for an average of $2500. Ouch! Well, that was my first impression. However, on further thought, what if we actually went into production?

Let’s see! Molds were a one-time cost. All we would need after that would be the silicon and the model 2. So, we could build those things for about $2800.00 each. If sold for the same price of $25,000 each, that would mean a unit profit of $22,200 each. And that’s only if we sold them for the same amount as the doll site.

It got me thinking -- dad works 10 to 12 hours a day and makes about 125,000 a year. So, I would have spent about 80 hours on each android. A total of two weeks for each from start to finish. That means I could make 23 of them in a year. 23 times 22,000 equals 506,000 for a year. Not too bad! If we could sell the androids for twice that price that would be a million. By the time I split that with Renée, we would each make 500,000 a year. Wait! If Renée would help me build them, then we could make them twice as fast, so that would be one each week. And if we were able to...

An incoming email interrupted my thoughts. It was from Lucy and read: “I am having a birthday party for Renée at my house next Friday night. She will be 18 years old then. You are invited. The party will be from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. for the boys.”

I wondered what she meant by the boy part, then remembered that my parents had let my sisters have a sleepover. That must be what was going on. But why would Lucy invite me? What the heck, just ask. I typed my answer:

“Lucy, are you sure that Renée would want me there? Tim.”

As I went back to formulating my plan to get a grand out of dad, the IM window opened. The graphic of the peanuts character showed up in the picture view window. It was Lucy.

“Hi, Tim.”

“Hello, Lucy.”

“I think you should come to the party.”

“So, you’re sure you want me there? Why?”

“I am not sure myself, but it would make Renée’s day.”