Chapter 2

I set the credit card thing down on the coffee table, and lit up a cigarette. I got up and took inventory of the house. God knows how long that guy had been in my condo before I got home. There had been plenty of time to take stuff, I'm sure.

For the moment, I chose to forget that he had made a naked woman appear in my living room for a minute, or that I had witnessed "Kenneth" disappear in a dim pink breeze.

Everything of value that I could think of remained untouched. I concluded that outside of the comic books, the guy took nothing.

I checked the doors and couldn't find any evidence of a break-in. The doors, locks and windows all seemed in tact. That made me to decide not to call the police.

I almost believed that I had dreamed the whole thing. I was overtired, after all. But the evidence of his visit was sitting on the coffee table. And the box of comic books was gone.

I butted out the cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table, and examined at the card. It was black, with the dimensions of a credit card but about twice as thick. It had no writing or buttons, but it did have place where you could set your thumb, which was slightly indented.

I placed my thumb there, holding it naturally in my hand. Nothing. I switched thumbs. Nothing.

This came as a bit of a relief. The guy had tricked me somehow and knew more about the value of my comics than I. This was comforting. Well, it was more comforting than to believe what he had said — that he had stashed a bit of contraband so damning that he had to hide it in the hands of someone two generations back.

Then, I recalled that he had spoken a command as he had held it. What had he said?

"Demo." I said, remembering.

All of a sudden, instantaneously, a woman stood before me in my living room.

It was a different woman than before. The other one had been shorter, a bit younger, and with larger breasts. And blonde. And naked.

This woman that stood before me looked like...

It spoke, "Metacompanion demo initiated. Welcome! Ask me a question or command." She had a British accent this time.

She looked like Elizabeth Hurley. Or Kate Winslet. Somewhere in-between the two. Very stunning. She wore black knee-high leather boots and a matching leather corset. She wore a pearl choker necklace and had bright red lipstick on and heavy eye make-up.

She was very attractive in a dominatrix kind of way. She had to be a hologram, I thought. I stood up, and she followed me with her eyes, but her body did not move. I walked up close to her. Her body swayed a bit to accommodate me invading her personal space.

I could smell her. She smelled like a cheap musky perfume, like a spicy vanilla. The only women that I'd ever smelled that smelled like her were giving me a lap dance at the time. It wasn't unpleasant at all.

I reached out and touched her arm. She looked at where I touched her, and looked up at me and smiled. She remained still. She felt like skin. I squeezed her arm, and it felt like flesh, muscle and bone beneath. All warm.

"How are you possible?" I asked. More to myself than her, but she responded.

"I am a fourteenth generation nanite molecular AI unit."

That made no fucking sense. "A what now?"

"At the time of my build, I was the most complex artificial intelligence unit ever created. I have been built for companionship. If you would like to learn more, say 'run demo.' T demo takes about 20 minutes without questions."

"So you're not real, right?" I asked.

"Not human, no. But I can be as real as you want me to be. I can also as act artificial as you would like. From your line of questioning, I highly suggest you activate the 'run demo' mode. Many of your questions will be answered."

"Okay. Hold on." I left her standing there motionless as I went into the kitchen and grabbed a can of beer. I sat down on the couch, opened the beer, took a swig and said, "Run demo."

The Liz Hurley woman disappeared. And in her place, sitting in my lazy boy, was a busty brunette wearing a mesh top and nothing else. She spoke, "Welcome to metacompanion."

Suddenly, two more females appeared in my living room: The blonde that Kenneth had shown me, and the Hurley model. They both said, "Welcome to Metacompanion" simultaneously.

Over the next 20 minutes, my living room became like a 3D television set, as info and images projected onto the walls, and various women and men appeared to explain how this thing worked.

It was amazing. More amazing than I could have hoped for. And the technology was way beyond anything seen in 2007. I'll try to explain what I understood at the time about how the Metacompanion worked, and what it was capable of.

It said it was said up for a heterosexual male with relatively few kinks, but would be customized in the "Getting Started" to match my sexual desires. It was capable of creating up to six woman of actual mass at any time, plus numerous other holographic women or backgrounds, without any mass. It said it was fully customizable, but had 2,500 preset partners built in.

It attempted to explain that it ran on miniscule amounts of nitrogen in the air, and created mass from non-essential molecules found within 5000 feet of the controller. This made no sense, and my line of questioning on this led me to be more confused. It seems, if I actually "coupled" with this machine, I'd be fucking the dust in my house. But from touching the Liz Hurley robot's arm — it certainly felt like flesh. I have no idea how it created the smells, and asking led the Meta to explain, "smell and taste simulations are a firmly held trade secret of Hackshaw industries, but are non-toxic and fully comply with FDA regulations."

So, there was some sort of science behind this thing, but from my perspective — it was like showing a Zippo lighter to a caveman. It was magic.

It also explained that the controller would only work with my thumbprint after I completed the "Getting Started" option. It would then be my possession, and no other thumbprint would allow it to work.

It was more than a sex machine, however. It could clean, garden, do carpentry and plumbing and painting, minor medical care, accounting, and numerous other things that I don't quite recall, since the brunette with the mesh top had her legs spread and was playing with her pussy as she told the rest.

When the demo was over, all but the blonde disappeared. She asked if I was ready for the "Getting Started" option, which would take upwards of 2 hours to complete.

I looked at the clock. It was 2:40 a.m.

I wanted to get started. My cock was quite interested in trying this thing out. But the rest of my body needed sleep, and I think I was in a bit of shock by all of the events.

Tomorrow would be Sunday, and I wasn't due back from vacation until Wednesday. I would have plenty of time to play with my new toy in the next couple of days.

I told the blonde that it was late, and while I'd love to take it for a test drive, I was too tired to do the Getting Started option tonight.