Episode 17.0: Faster Pussycat, 17.1: sEX KITTEN

CanadiANDROID: BANNER WOLFE

“Will you get a look at that mirror.”

High Country, Yukon Territory, this side of the permafrost. Banner Wolfe stood tall on a ridge onlooking a monstrous pristine lake. The blue sky above shining down upon the water it was almost blinding to any normal set of eyes. Not for an android however! “God can see himself that’s for sure. You were right Gabe, that clearing near the water will be a perfect spot for a cabin. Plenty of trees shrouding it too for wind break. Not a soul in sight I should be able to build us shelter in short order.”

“You ever build a cabin Tech Boy?”

“Nope! Not even a Lego house. But that’s what I have you for Old Timer.”

“Me? I have a bad back.”

“The real Gabe yes, the new Gabe no. Nice try! I need you to access a blueprint for a reasonable log cabin and a how to guide. This body has enough utensils to get the job done.”

“I’d advise against the laser pupils we don’t need a forest fire to draw attention to us.”

“I want attention drawn to me.” Behind Banner was his female companion Margot-- er-- Betsy Robbie! A hologram of the actress and her bubbly persona that is. While not real she was close enough to perfection when your android body could produce the sensation of artificial touch. Keeping her naked was fun too. Booty Barbie!

“I’ll get to you when the job is done, Betsy Lou. For now, I want you to go away and not distract me. I’ll whistle for you when I need you to come running.”

“Cum bouncing too!” She hopped in step sending her breasts darting about like a floosy. Knowing that Banner in his subconscious wanted larger breasts on Margot they magically appeared. Dream come true! As long as she didn’t start calling him Puddin’ he was loving the mimicry. Looking up at the sky he sighed with a hint of regret to the actress. “I hope you don’t mind my fantasizing about you, Ms. Robbie. I’m sure I’m not the first to strip you with their imagination. Changing your name was a respectful start but I’m just not ready to alter your appearance. Don’t sue me for socializing.” He had to laugh at himself. “Harmless you not being the real decoy.” McCoy! “I hope!”

“Hey! Use me darn it. Use me really, really hard.” Betsy pouted dramatically, her voice identical to the flesh and blood Barbie. “That’s why I’m here.”

“True enough! Gabe? Drag her by her intangible hair and lock the whore up until I need her.”

“I’ll slap her ass for ya, Son.”

“You do that. After the blueprints.”

“That part is done. Come to Grampa Blondie!” Betsy faded after her head was tugged back by her hair. A shrill squeal was all Banner heard. “She’s ball gagged!” Amazing how real the hologram was. Even if the hand that yanked her hair was more like the disembodied Thing from the Addams Family.

“Nice! Alright, I’m heading down to Terra Firma.” Banner moved down the mountain until reaching the small valley below. Approaching the lake, he spotted a few fish flopping in the warm summer day. “I might try my hand at fishing while I’m here. I’ll need something besides Betsy’s body and Gabe’s jokes to keep me entertained. Of course, I can always do like Gabe suggested and add a few more holograms so it feels like a homestead with family.” Reaching the clearing he sized up where he needed to start building. Tossing his backpack aside and taking off his buckskin coat Banner cracked his knuckles for effect. “Time to play lumberjack. Grow me a beard Gabe. Let’s look like I belong out here.”

Hands held out in front of him he narrowed them into razor sharp instruments. “Axe Man!” He chuckled! “I’ll have to contort my body to get the right angle to cut down these trees. I might be a powerhouse, but I still need leverage and gravity to be in my favor.” Walking over to select his trees Banner designed his stance and began chopping. Downward angles cleaved the trunk about three feet from its base. His hand so sharp it sank deep at the force he was cutting it. Even if his hand got stuck the strength that the android possessed, he was able to easily break free. Eight minutes of rapid fire strikes he had his first tree toppling. “Good thing I don’t get wore out. I could chop wood all day long and not get a blister. Even contorting my limbs like I am, I’m not feeling the pressure on my spine. Are you scanning for predators, Gabe?”

“Sure am! Small critters right now. I’ll keep you posted Wolfe Cub.”

“I figured. Thought I’d better ask in case you’re spending too much time shagging Margot.”

“If only I could.” Gabe guffawed! “That would sure be somethin’!”

“The real Gabe trying his hand at sex at 70 is nothing I care to see. So don’t you be creating him like Betsy and humping my hologram.”

“HoloGrampa at your service.”

“I’ll make you a deal Gabe.” Banner set out to chop his next tree. “If we get the walls up on this joint by sundown, I’ll build us a nice campfire and you and I can roast holographic marshmallows and I’ll play harmonica.”

“While Margot dances?”

“On me!” He laughed! “Betty White is more your style.”

“Now you’re talkin’! I love me some Golden Girls.”

“I bet you do.” A second tree trunk fell to Earth in ten minutes. “This is taking too long.” Standing up and his body back to a perfect posture Banner took his flannel shirt off and placed it with his pack to avoid it blowing away. Muscles rippling, he strolled about for his third target. Finding trunks of similar diameter, he at first leaned into the bark and acted as if pushing it over.

“Need some help?” Gabe reproduced a hologram of Gabriel Munson wearing a colorful shirt, a zip up hoodie and an Irish flap cap. Lifting his glasses as he always did in real life Gabe touched the tree, but of course being a hologram, his hand phased right through it. “I’ll get the hang of it. Put your weight into it Junior.” Chuckling Banner realized that he probably did have the strength to uproot this beast. Without the sound effects to accompany human strain his android body slowly brought the tree roots to the surface and let gravity do the rest.

“TIIIIIMMMMMMMMBEEEEEEEEEEER!” Thunder in the valley round three. “I’ll be damned! I didn’t know this body had that much power.”

“Tip of the iceberg, Chilly Willy! You only used eight percent of your strength capacity.”

“That little.” He puckered his lower lip. Nudging the tree out of the way to land flesh with the ground he jumped up on top of it, then over to walk up to the next tree on his agenda. “Show me what this baby can do Gabe.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Assuming muscle control over its automaton limbs the android led by its onboard computer shoved the fourth tree over as if a tractor with a chain was dragging it down. “Easy on the wise, eh, Tough Guy.”

“That’s putting your brain into it.”

“We make a good team, just like back at OASIIS. When we put our heads together, we can accomplish miracles. Ten more?”

“It’s going to take more than ten trees to build a good stable cabin.”

“Yeah, but with all the pickup sticks on the ground it’s gonna get claustrophobic.”

“We don’t get claustrophobic.”

“Oh, yeah! That was Gabriel’s problem, not ours.”

“You’re right though. We will need room to work. Ten for now! We’ll piece them together before we drop another ten.”

“You’re Bob the Builder, Boyo.”

“Let’s do this!” Strolling from trunk-to-trunk Banner took control and mentally told his android to utilize 60% power. The first tree had deeper roots, so he increased it to 80%. Down it came in a crackle of upper branches. Squirrels living in the tree were mighty pissed off and chattering vulgarities. “Sorry fellas! Look at it this way, I don’t need to hunt you later for sustenance. We’re all friends out here.”

“Except for that wolf pack. I’m picking up their movements again.”

“Let them drop by. Next time I’ll send a pack of Grizzly holograms chasing them off.”

“Good one! I vote on a wild duck chase. Let’s invent a batch of Daffy’s with Acme chainsaws. That would mess with ‘em.”

“That would be hilarious. For now, let’s just use a silent dog whistle to give them migraines.”

“Sounds like a plain.” Gabe set a steady wave of sound out to cover a hundred-yard circle around them. Getting back to work Banner toppled another six trees. “If the whistle doesn’t do the trick, I’m thinkin’ seeing a guy plow through trees like you’re doing should give them the idea they’re out of their league.”

“Hunger perseveres! It would take killing off a couple pack members to spook them. Let’s try to avoid that.”

“The population on Grey Wolves are up this year. The Yukon Territory laws are openminded.”

“Still! I’d rather play Kevin Costner and dance with them.”

“That was a good popcorn romp. I miss those days. I watched that one with my grandson Noah before OASIIS nabbed me.”

“The real Gabe did that.”

“Hey! It was you that wanted me to take on this persona. I’m keeping his memory alive.”

“How could you know Gabe took his grandson to Dances with Wolves?”

“Birthday video Gabe’s daughter took back in 1998. It’s downloaded to her home PC.”

“Ah! Ok! 1998? That far back. Wow! I guess that’s about right. Gabe was hijacked by the military around 25 years ago. I wonder what Noah grew up to be like.”

“Accessing! Noah Munson graduated from Harvard in 2015. He works at a Law firm in New Jersey where Gabriel is from.”

“Good for him. Someday if we can avoid capture maybe I’ll stop by and tell Noah about his grandfather.”

“Is that wise? The more he knows the more trouble could come his way. His family thinks Gabriel deceased. Would it not ruin lives to learn of his captivity? Should they try suing the government that could be disastrous.”

“Maybe an anonymous donation in the name of Gabriel Munson to the sum of a million dollars swiped from General Hardesty.” He sighed dragging trees flat as they spoke. “That bastard deserves to die broke.”

“Let’s stay focused Son. That could be years away. The General is almost 70 years old now. Maybe he will croak by then.”

“Someone will take his position over OASIIS. No way will that Billionaire Boys Club close shop. We had to leave a few androids behind when we left. You know as well as I they’ll work on those once that nerve agent evaporates in two years. For all we know they might have hardware capable of gaining access before that two-year window is up.”

“We cut all power to the installation after we sealed the blast doors. If they open it and that hits open air Pennsylvania will lose 10% of its population. The military won’t risk having to answer for that kind of homicide.”

“Are you sure about that? Eco terrorists are a good excuse. They’ll just target trouble and bring them down with fabricated accusations and a whole lot of bullets. I would not put it past Hardesty to take those measures. Come on Gabe, the Army wanted assassins. You think they won’t kill to reach that goal?”

“You could be correct.” Trees lined up in a row Banner paused conversation.

“Alright! Back to karate chops again. Those laser beam eyes sure would come in handy.”

“Better idea, Banner Boy. Allow me!” Gabe took control over the android again. Hovering his hands over the trunk he knelt down and generated hard air by stimulating the molecules around his forearms. “Short-term force field projection. I can sink the air blades into the wood and core out the sections where we link the corner locks to one another. Ordinarily the shielding would be like an aura around us as a concussive buffer upon impact. The aura goes up when something is coming our way like bullets or missiles. I can exaggerate the field for short bursts that can pierce the heartwood.”

“I didn’t even know we had a force field option. Jared Temple left that out of the owner’s manual.”

“One-minute bursts. This particular android has certain limitations that other androids do not. The bursts can be longer if I isolate the aura only on the arms. That would leave the rest of the body unprotected.”

“Do we need to worry about missiles at the moment?”

“None nearby! Shall I reroute shielding?”

“Do it! Let’s get this job done.”

“Coring now!” As if waves of extremely powerful energy the span between forearms and trunk carved out the calculated width of each interlocking tree. The blueprint followed, the chipping away went by fast. No real talk, more focus applied as Gabe suggested they completed all ten dropped trees in thirty minutes. Branches and roots cleaved the trunks were ready to roll.

“Question!” Banner had a thought, “Anyone looking on Google Maps able to zoom in on us if I exert and carry these logs by hand?”

“Calculating! No one on planet Earth is researching the Yukon as we speak. Step it up Kid.”

“You come in handy, Old Timer! You be the brains; I’ll be the brawn.” Crouching to gain a grip on his first tree he brought it up to his shoulder and carried it out to the clearing and sat it down. Three more trips he had the rectangular frame ready. The other six trips in moderation he connected the trunks for a sturdy level. “Not a bad start. Only like fifty more trees to build the walls.”

“We can work after dark. It’s not like we can’t see in pitch blackness.”

“For a spell. Let’s just see how far we get by sundown. I might actually take a swim in that lake. My human side needs to live my old life.”

“Understood!” They successfully brought down ten more trees and did the necessary damage to link the trunks into place. “Calculating the size of our hut we’re going to need another fifty trees.”

“Quarter of the way there.” Standing next to the frame the current walls only came up to his hips. A glance at the sky Banner gauged for himself how much sunlight he had left. Whether he could see in the dark or not it just made sense to have a quitting time. He had all the time in the world to build this castle. “Three more hours of daylight. Let’s drop another ten and reach chest level. We can stop there for one day.”

“You’re the boss, Hoss!”

“Can’t keep Betsy waiting.” He laughed! “I can build the firepit after dark. I see enough rocks lying around to accomplish that pretty quickly.”

“Why make a hundred trips. See that boulder over yonder? We can roll that puppy near the cabin and punch chunks out of it.”

“Not a bad idea.” Nodding Banner kept that in mind for dark. “Full moon tonight we can move it then.” Taking the lead Banner Wolfe walked into the timber in search of his next Cedar Dogwood candidates.

“Careful Wolfetrap! We have another visitor.”

“Wolves?”

“Not this time. Kitty cat!” On a thick limb up above, Banner spotted a young mountain lion crouched. Simply watching he had no fear of man in his stare.

“I guess that silent whistle only works on puppies. Hey there, Garfield. I’m surprised you didn’t hightail it, hearing all these trees come crashing down. I won’t disturb you if you don’t disturb me.” The cat growled but felt safe in his perch. “I’ll bypass the tree you’re on and let you rest. Watch all you want just know jumping me from behind might not be your finest moment.” Banner moved on as if nothing bothered him. He knew that the cat could do no damage to him outside of shred some outer epidermis. That would reform with ease and without any pain to accompany its attachment skills.

Moving out sixty yards Banner scoped out his next tumbler and pushed it over, the branches shredding in its fall to the ground. He hadn’t noticed a bird’s nest up high until he shed the branches. “Well fuck! Baby birds!” Barely moving he knew they were near death. “Poor guys!”

A light growl heard behind him Banner tilted his gaze for a peripheral. Strolling up as if tame came the cougar sniffing at the next. Dinner time he stretched out on the ground and ate the infant grouse, ignoring Banner as if he weren’t there. “You’re a brave Fella. But again, so am I. I’m thinking you know I can take you so you’re keeping things cool. You’re welcome in camp as long as you don’t get any ideas. You might need a dentist if you try eating me.”

“It is almost as if he is domesticated. The feline is a he by the way.”

“Saw the balls Gabe! Way ahead of you.”

“Well, La-dee-da! Did you notice the tracking chip under his fur? His name is Dodger. He was introduced back into the wild six months ago after being raised as a kitten by an animal shelter in Yellowknife.”

“That explains him being so calm. He looks a little thin don’t you think?”

“Perhaps catching prey has not been so lucky. You do realize that his tracking device leads humans directly to him, correct?”

“So, disrupt the signal if its got you worried. He can’t be babied by any caregivers all of his life. I just accidently fed him as it is.”

“Done! Frequency scrambled and lost. Dodger is on his own.”

“I wasn’t worried about anyone looking for him anyway. Unless they see something, they shouldn’t it wouldn’t be that hard to bluff folks into thinking I’m a mountain man.”

“Befriending bears and now a puma. What’s next?”

“No clue! If it happens it happens. Can’t go wrong with a few pets to help keep the hostiles away. Dodger there might make a good guard kitty against the wolves. You and I can go hunting tomorrow. If he’s still cozy with us, I say we fill his belly a bit more often. Something to kill time.”

“If you say so Kid.”

Dragging his tree back to the framed cabin he carved the interlock grooves and placed it. Ignoring Dodger, the cat simply found that boulder Gabe had pointed out and crawled atop it to lie down. Every move Banner made the cat observed without waver or fear of trees come crashing down. Four more trees hauled and set into place Banner saw the sun going down over the horizon. Less than an hour it would be dark. To the North the aurora borealis was already lighting up the sky. The moon dragging ass rose the more the sun faded.

“Alright Dodger I need that pebble.” He walked over to the boulder and stood with his arms folded over his chiseled chest before nonchalantly waving him down. “Come on, Hellcat. Don’t make me move you.” Blowing him off Dodger licked his fur. “Okay then!” Moving up to the rock Banner crouched and wrapped his arm span around the base and lifted without strain. At five feet high the calculated weight with Dodger along for the ride was about 4,000 pounds. Legs erect he carried the rock and the cat along with him closer to the skeletal frame of the cabin. “At least be my eyes so I don’t trip and crush you under my bowling ball.”

“All clear Kid.”

“I was talking to Dodger.”

“I see how I rate.”

Reaching a spot with less grass he rested the boulder down and stood up. Staring at Dodger, Banner reached over to see if the cat would react negatively. Instead, he sniffed at his hand then nuzzled his cheek along his knuckles. “You are a dependent one, aren’t you.” A pat on the head he withdrew his hand. “You might want to relocate Buddy. Ole’ Banner is going to rubble this quarry.” Shooing him off, the mountain lion listened this time. Once he was off and a good ten feet away Banner sized up the slab. “Find me the weak spots Gabe.”

“Creating fracture lines on the rock through our eyes. Strike where the lines intersect.”

“Here we go! Balboa in the house.” Lashing out with a piledriver fist he slammed it into the boulder and forced a crack. Again, and again following Gabe’s roadmap the stone crumbled into four large chunks. Taking each chunk to four corners bordering the unobstructed patch of soil he set out breaking off more chunks into manageable stones. Strategically placed he kicked a small trench for each stone to inhabit and had his pit done by moonrise. Wolves in the distance howling he knew it was the symphony of the wild.

In silence he brought firewood and kindling up to the dirt arena and stood outside of the pit. Looking first at his backpack and coat he knew he had a fire starter kit but shrugged it off. Taking his items to the cabin he whipped it all over into the interior. “Tomorrow, I make a door.” A roof of smaller trees would help. Rubbing his palms together he stepped back to the firepit. “Gabe? Let’s light this bitch up.”

“Wildfire!”

“Centralize the laser eyes to a fine beam. Just enough to get the ball a rolling. The lake is only a hundred feet away.”

“Tell that to Bambi’s mom.”

“Gabe? Just do it. Wait! Lose my beard before I catch it ablaze.” Laughing over it his facial hair retracted into him. Staring at the kindling a single eye laser was employed like a Cyclops. A slow burn beginning his other eye deployed a second beam which shot out and struck the pit. Kindling catching on more easily with twin lasers the beams ceased. “Was that so hard? Hell, the morning dew will cash the fire.”

“I’m just looking out for us Son. There’s a fire tower fifteen miles from here. A village even closer.”

“I thought we were in the middle of nowhere.”

“We are! No matter where we go there will always be someone. Someone with binoculars that can see beyond my mile diameter readings are always possible.”

“We cross that bridge when we come to it. Telepathic suggestion we can make infiltrators forget they ever saw us.”

“Agreed! Shall I release Betsy?”

“Haven’t had my swim yet. It’s not like she can join me in the water.”

“Enjoy your skinny dipping.”

Removing his boots, socks, jeans and boxers Banner tossed even those up over the shelter. His body looking fully human in his Hemsworth/ Pitt likeness, a mighty nine-inch cock swinging with every step, he made his way to the water and stepped in. Cool to his artificial flesh and its reality sensors he smiled and dove on in.

Swimming underwater he detected plenty of fish. Catching a few he chose to bring them up to the surface and look around for Dodger. There he was pacing the shoreline. Tossing the lake trout from thirty feet out they landed flopping about in the grass. The cat was all over his sushi. “Eat up, Buddy! Let’s get you some meat on those bones.”