(I was installing some marble countertops at this fancy mansion when this guy begins telling me the story of how his daughter picked out a female robot playmate. They were getting her the female robot to keep her company for when he and his wife were away. This robot was supposed to be the sister she never had. I'd brought some strong whiskey with me for lunch that day, and so the guy ended up sharing some drinks until he got drunk. Then he elaborated about the female robot. He claimed that unbeknown to him, the company had installed some extra features to this robot at the wish of his horny daughter. She got a lot more than her father had bargained for.)
The desk seemed more chrome than wood.
"Synthetic," Johnathon Wilson blurted out. "We've been experimenting with a number of fibres to keep costs down. Our entire office and factory is being run at a mere ten percent of what a normal office and factory complex would cost."
"I'm assuming your staff must be-"
"Robots. Ninety-five percent of them anyways."
Dawson frowned. "Wait a minute. I was under the impression this was a cloning center. If I had of wanted a mere robot I would have gone to the-"
"Calm down sir," Johnathon said. "We are a cloning center. We use robots to do the manufacturing, to process all orders, but live staff look after the developing clones. That is that they oversee the incubation process itself."
"Which means?"
"Which means that the clone you are buying is every bit as human as you or I, except that it will be made from an extract of your daughter's DNA."
"How exciting," Dawson's daughter, Cynthia said.
"Furthermore, we will be able to give her clone certain features that will distinguish the clone from Cynthia herself. We can also instill certain types of memory, personality, or emotions that might make the clone a whole lot more compatible and fun for your daughter."
"So then," Dawson ventured, trying to get things straight in his appreciative head. "This clone you are going to make for us, it will be human in every way and a suitable playmate sister for my nineteen year old daughter here?"
"Yes. They will be girlfriends and undoubtedly have the time of their lives, chatting together, laughing together, studying together and going places together. They will be very happy and productive as best friends because the clone, as I said, will be in reality, actually human, howbeit instilled with your daughters characteristics. A replica of sorts, but with modifications you can make according to your preferences and desires. In other words, you can modify the clone so that it and your daughter will complement each other in so many ways."
"Hmmm, fine, fine indeed. Just what I need to keep my daughter Cynthia here happy. I'm extremely proud of her. I told her that if she stayed home and got great grades, and didn't mess with guys or go to student parties, then I'd buy her a clone that would be like a sister to her. Her mother and I could only have one child. It's always bothered me that she's never had any siblings to play with. When I heard about your cloning factory, I thought, maybe it's about time we rectified the situation that was keeping her so all alone and lonely. I can't stand the thought of her making friends out there when she's on campus with some of the lawless, unsavory elements, so I make her come straight home after classes. Although Lord knows I might just be overly protective. But she does indeed deserve companionship and friendship. She's a straight 'A' student. And at one of our country's most prestigious universities."
"Daddy, stop bragging about me. I'm sure Mr. Wilson is not the least bit interested in my grades."
"Nonsense," Wilson corrected. "Hearing about ambitious and remarkable young people is quite refreshing. There is so much riff raff these days. Oh, by the way. Might I ask if the desired clone is to be a tad older or younger than Cynthia here? Sometimes children without siblings have a fantasy of having on older sister they can look up to or a younger sister they can give council to."
"I would prefer if she is exactly the same age as me, just turned nineteen."
"Ah, the twin desire."
"Yes, something like that."
"Hmm," Wilson commented. Being an only child can certainly be lonely. I take it you don't want her having a dorm at college so she can garner friends that way?"
"Absolutely not," Dawson said angrily. "No living on campus. And no dorm rooms where God only know what type of wild parties take place, with sex, drugs and alcohol flowing like some damn putrid river. I want my daughter to stay away from those bad influences. She will remain a virgin until she is married. It is bad enough she has to even sit in class with those 'riff raff' as you call them."
"You're such a prude daddy. Most of the girls I know have lots of boyfriends by the time they're eighteen. I don't see why, at the age of nineteen, I can't be permitted even one?"
"My house, my rules," Dawson spat out angrily.
"No need to get upset, dad. I promise I'll continue to go along with your strict rules so long as I can have a cloned sister like you promised!"
Wilson began to get nervous at Dawson's surge of anger. Many people were still buying robots which were much cheaper than clones. Business was slow in coming. Wilson had no intention of seeing a highly profitable deal fall by the wayside. He sought to nail the sale down quickly. "We're ready to begin cloning a nineteen year old sister for your daughter right away. We already have the DNA samples of your daughter here. We can start the incubation process immediately and have it ready in six months."
"Six months?" Cynthia yelped. "I'm tired of being alone, daddy, with no friends. You won't let me live on campus and you won't let me invite any fellow students over. Neither will you allow me to have a boyfriend. You promised I could have a cloned sister right away."
Dawson sighed. If he was going to keep his daughter a virgin and apart from unsavory young people then he needed to at least get her a friendship clone quickly. He knew his daughter was so lonely that she felt like she was in prison.
Dawson then pondered his options. Waiting a whole six months wasn't going to cut it. His daughter was ready to snap. He certainly didn't want her sneaking off behind his back to late night parties or to start chatting with boys. "I'm sure some cloning factory out there must have better waiting times, something a whole lot less than six long months. Let's go try some other cloning companies."
Wilson's heart jumped through his throat. Clients that could afford to spend millions on a clone were few and far between. And Dawson had already vocalized in his earlier conversations, his willingness to spring for the deluxe model. If money wasn't an issue for Dawson, then Wilson supposed he could make an exception and try tripling his already exorbitant fee.
"If six months is unacceptable," Wilson spat out quickly. "Then the process could be speeded up substantially, but then the costs would escalate, naturally."
Dawson threw up his arms in the air. "Do I look like the kind of a guy that worries about increased costs?"
Wilson now sought to outline the new costs. "I could fast track a sister clone for your daughter and have it ready in just two short weeks, but the cost would, in that case, be not twenty-five million, but thirty-five million plus modification charges of course."
"Done," Dawson blurted out, a smile of relief on his face. As a multi-billionaire, such a staggering sum was little more to him than pocket change.
Wilson could hardly contain his excitement. The company now stood to make a hefty fortune on Cynthia's clone, and he himself a hefty bonus. He sought to get the ball rolling.
"I'll need to spend about two or three hours showing Cynthia the different models, so she can choose whether or not she'd like to modify her clone in any number of areas. Things such as hair color, eye color, or what type of personality she might like instilled in her clone, whether it be identical to her own, or overly humorous, or feisty, and/or intellectual. Also, certain other physical characteristics can be added regardless of the DNA, such characteristics as height and the propensity to be fat or thin, and-"
Dawson sulked. "Two to three hours? I'm already behind schedule badly. Tell you what. I'll leave her here with you so she can take her time and have you design her clone, and then you can call me when you're just about done and I can send a car to pick her up and take her back home."
"Splendid idea," Wilson agreed. "Although some of the desired modifications can be a little pricey. Without you on site to actually approve the additional costs, then-"
"I don't care about additional costs. Consider me giving you a blank check with my signature on the bottom. Just give her whatever she wants."
Wilson smiled happily. He had hit the jackpot! He knew from experience that there were only two kinds of billionaires in the world. First, there were the tight fisted ones who knew how to save it. Second, there were the generous loose fisted ones that knew only how to spend it. Dawson was typically and absolutely a free spending kind of guy.
###
Wilson watched from the large shiny window as Dawson pulled away.
"Well then young lady," he said to Cynthia as he turned to face her. "Shall we tour the laboratories and show you the different stages of the process? We have catalogues at every stage to help you choose what modifications you'd like to make to the DNA sample you sent us."
"I had heard," Cynthia said softly, her eyes watching his facial expression closely. "That your company was experimenting with a different kind of clone."
Wilson paused for a moment then tried to discern her thoughts. Did she know of the experimental clones which were top secret? And if so, how did she know? Or, which was more likely, was she merely bluffing, trying to fish for information to see if there were any new exciting designs with new exciting features.
"What kind of different clone were you referring to?" he asked nervously.
"Well. I was browsing the internet, which is when I first heard of your factory, by the way. And I was reading about your male models and your female models, and I clicked on a box marked experimental, and imagine my surprise when up pops these three boxes to check. One was marked 'neutral,' which I supposed was a clone without any assigned gender at all. The other was marked 'duo,' which I assumed meant the clone would have characteristics of both sexes and both sex organs as well. But it was the third box which really intrigued me. That was the box marked 'she male.' The funny thing is, now, whenever I go onto your site. I can't find the 'experimental' clones anymore."
