Harlan has a distinct voice. Remember that one comedian they said acted in a film about a silver diesel train? He did this one routine about meeting with a woman he had sex with. Only that night he was so drunk he didn't remember how ugly she was. So he spoke in this whiny, nasal tone with every other word slurred to illustrate her...

Harlan had a voice THAT annoying.

That day in particular I was planning to go out with my girlfriend, but Harlan called me up at the last minute from a commuter video-receiver while traveling from Chi-Town to Abberbery. Looking forward to a nice evening out, I really didn't want to speak to him just then...but, hey! He's sort of my agent, and when your agent calls...

"Will!? The deadline's in one week," he told me. "Are you STILL working on the final model concept designs???"

Tapping my hand against the side of one of my two ergonomic boards on my picnic table desk, I remember squinting into the small window on my monitor at his ugly, pimpled face. Of course, who was I to judge? I had a few brushes with acne myself. Trade in stock for programmer types, even in the year 2019. Of course, I had the long ponytail and the home-worn chambray shirt and dungarees to go with the isolationist look.

"Har-man, look," I recall telling him, "I nearly have all of the final parameters set in this matrix program you sent me. That's easy. The tough part is making them look good." Grimacing at his wide-eye stare, which jiggled when the commuter passed through a mag-lifter junction, I added, "Besides, you told me this client wants total perfection?!"

"On time. On TIME, Will!" Harlan adjusted the Spago sunglasses resting on his nose. "We promised the people at Adventure Plex that they'd be getting a fully functional, totally independent Model K-33 Free Roaming hologram...in less that two months. And that was nearly TWO MONTHS AGO!"

"Easy there," I said in an undertone. "Your blood pressure, remember?" I leaned back in the natty leather chair I used for a throne in my desktop kingdom. "I'm on top of things here, Harlan. You told the client they'd get a hologram in two months? They get a hologram...in two months."

I remember his expression at that point. A true Harlan Original; blending worry, disgust, pessimism and a pinch of respect all in one. "Will... you, you are so DAMN lucky you are one of the best AI and holo-wranglers in the district!"

Flattery. Now, that was something new from the mouth of Harlan. I replied, "Gee, trying to inflate my ego? Too early in the morning for that, Har-man." Odd for me to say something like that, since it was nearly seven-PM at night.

"Yeah, well...just get that hologram finished in seven days, hot-shot! I may consider you the best," he sniped, "but I know a dozen programmers in this town that I can call on in a moment's notice to get the job done."

That made me chuckle under my breath. "Sure, but you'd have to pay three times my asking price just to get them to say three words to you crosswise." Flipping him a salute, I reached over and let one hand hover over the TALK switch. "Been giggles, bud. I'll see you in two-and-two."

"Oh, sure! Fine! HANG up on me, you--!!!" The window fell off the screen like a peeled sticker, never to rise again...I hoped.

Using one hand to rub my left temple, I sagged against the table. Oh, yes...this is definitely a two-pill job! I reminded myself to cut down on my interaction-time with Harlan, before getting up to shuffle through the sea of spent soda cans and hills of empty pizza cartons around me. In the clear, I stepped into the ridiculously small cubicle the apartment manager had the gall to call a 'full sized bathroom.' Well, what can one expect of a one-bed rat trap for two-eighty a month? A two-handed fumble with a bottle out of the medicine cabinet produced the pills. A paper-cup carried the two swallows of water to get them down my fuzzy throat, and I was ready to get back to work.

To call it 'The work of a lifetime' would be a bit much, even for me. This is the kind that only comes around once in a millennium, and makes you have an epiphany. You know? When you feel the entire slant of your existence is about to change for the better.

Sitting down in that beat-up chair, I flipped the data-switch and started tapping away on the second keyboard. The schematics there were for a hologram, sure... but not the one I promised Harlan. Oh, that one lay waiting in a server box on the other side of the desk. No, this one was mine and mind alone!

Okay, sure! Copying a major proto-form program for personal use isn't something you do on a whim. Even if you reason away the initial guilt, it's still a crime if you get caught. This isn't like the good old days just before the new century, where 'warez' was as common as a cold, and you could find multiple ways of getting around the piracy laws. These days the laws were so tight...well, let's just say I don't like to dwell on the fact too much. Besides, my work has me handling all sorts of copies of holo-ware. Harlan purchased the software in the first place, so I'd reasoned that the ends justified the means, after all...

I mean, when you get the chance to live out a fantasy, sometimes you don't let morality get in the way, right?

Of course, having a fantasy doesn't always guarantee harmony in your life. When we were first getting to know one another, my girl discovered my little secret when she surprised me by coming over to the apartment one day. I was sitting at the desk, working over some graphics with a beat-up tablet...and she comes in, wraps herself around my neck like an old scarf - in that comfortable, familiar way I was just getting used to - and stares at the one monitor before saying 'Good day, Will!'

The obligatory explanations came shortly after that. I'll give her this much; she wasn't too disgusted with me, but Jenna did make it clear that her feelings on my infatuation were...let's just say I never expected her to have such a vocal opinion, including the colorful words she used. Well...needless to say I had to do some incredible acrobatics that night - dinner, a show and such. All just to assure her that she was the only woman in my life...in the real world that is.

Back to where I was that day. A tweak here, touch up the wings, make sure the tail spades instead of flukes, and bingo! The matrix finished compiling. All I needed to do then was upload the final program to the matrix in the server box currently hooked into the projectors.

My hands were slightly clammy, poised to enter the final command. I was starting to get a little funny, brain-wise, you know? Like, there I was, seated before my computer like some modern-day Pygmalion, about to offer that prayer to his electronic Venus to bring Gaeleta to life. And for the life of me I felt like stopping for the briefest of moments. Then the moment flew off and my fingers were moving; my right pinkie hitting ENTER with all the flourish of a painter's last brushstroke.

Behind me, I heard the hum of the four emitters coming online. Skewing around, you could have seen my eyes lighting up like spotlights as I watched my dream come to life. At first, the only thing showing was the wire frame model, then the skin and clothing subroutines came into play. A moment to allow the program to smooth over the textures and the tones, and there she was!

"Magenta, Version 1.01... now online," she said. Taking a moment to flex her two-toned wings and run both of her taloned hands through her vermilion-tinted hair, she didn't realize I was there. That was fine by me, I recall, since I felt totally blown away by what I was seeing! She was perfection! Taller than me by at least a foot, she had long legs with digi-grade, three-toed feet. Flaring hips contained in a pair of cut-off shorts, and a narrow waist that looked waspish in comparison with the rest of her. A buxom chest that threatened to spill over the tied-off chambray halter top, and to top it all off a face that looked like Aphrodite.

"In-damn-credible!" Sure, it's not as poignant as 'Eureka!', but it was the first thing that came to my lips.

That first look she gave me - Magenta, that is - when I spoke up just then was priceless. A warmth that started in the eyes and worked down into a smile, which made her lips twist in a double-bow curve that spoke in promises on the way. She then shifted forward onto one three-toed foot, cocking her hips in a saucy, strip-dancer's angle. Placing her hands on those hips, she did a come-hither stare that would have affected any red-blooded male within eyesight.

"Hello, Will," she purred, replacing that dull tone of her start-up phrase with a throaty contralto made to curl your toes. "I'm so happy to see you at last."

Imagine that? I distinctly remember telling her. "I've been waiting all my life to see you, darlin'..."

She laughed at that, flicking her tail lazily back and forth. "Well, Will... looks like you don't have to wait any longer," she replied, just before holding out one hand to me in a welcoming gesture. "What shall we do first?"

Did I did some great work on her interaction subroutines or what?

Can you guess what happened then? 'The dream' was standing there, right in front of me. The one that had haunted my every waking though since I was a teenager, reading comic books in my parent's home. So here she was. Live and in living color, ready to fulfill every pubescent fantasy I ever had...

Without another word, I walked towards the grid where the hardware lay among the coils of wires and tubes, and Magenta followed my every move, anticipating what was to come. Stepping onto the crystal surface, a small tingle ran through me. If it wasn't a sexual reaction, my mind just chalked it up as reacting to the energy being thrown out by the emitters. My left hand reached out, and hers followed suit. First contact was amazing; the program's biofeedback routines were spot on, letting me 'feel' her for the first time. Skin like fine leather, so soft it would make you cry for butter.

Magenta's smile widened, revealing the fangs that barely stuck out farther than the rest of her teeth. At any other time that would make anyone nervous, but me? I just licked my lips and reached out to pull her closer with my other hand. Oh, she went along willingly. After all, her program had been written that way.

She felt like I'd imagined; the biofeedback routines were giving back a sensation of firm muscle and supple flesh. We ended up pressed together on the grid from thigh to chest...and brother did she have a lot of chest! Hang a label like 'buxom' on this creature, and there'd be plenty of room left for an entire dictionary on her rack.

With a languid movement, she looped her arms around my neck and smiled down into my eyes. "So...what would a little maniac like you want to do first?"

Sure, sue me. I watched that movie. It was too good not to place that little kernel into her IA matrix.

"Well, how about...a kiss?" You should have seen the look on my face. A prize-winner for the apprehension poster child, I'm sure.

Magenta's eyelids dropped to half-mast, giving me a smoky gaze that only a few real-life actresses could pull off. "Why not?"

Everything seemed to slow down... yeah, sure! How cliché. But sometimes that's what works. She slowly tilted her head, moving her face downward towards mine. It wasn't until we almost touched lips that I realized I was moving to meet her halfway. I didn't know what to expect... a shock? A buzz? A tingle? Then... contact! And, brother, let me tell you something; kissing a hologram isn't like _anything_ you'd expect! A lot of it was just like kissing a normal person: Magenta had soft, pliant lips...warm and definitely luscious in texture and sensation. Her programming made her nicely eager, as she reached up to run a taloned hand through my hair, while the other arm pulled me closer.

Of course there were some differences: she didn't breathe, so there wasn't any exchange of air one normally gets from a kiss that shifts to an open mouth version. Plus, no saliva. I could feel her tongue, but it was like someone shoving a dry slug inside my mouth. But other than that, I had to give her good marks for technique...

She broke the kiss off like you'd expect - slowly, with a little teasing nibble on my bottom lip. "Mmmm, that was... nice," she purred.

I had to agree.

Running her hands from behind my shoulders, around to my front, she reached down to lightly trace her talon tips over my cheek. "Well, now that we're past that...what would a little maniac like yourself like to do next?"

What did I want...? Well, I let my actions speak for me: I reached up and removed myself from her embrace, giving her a wry smile. "Don't move, okay?"

She placed her hands back at her hips. "Whatever you say, Will. I am yours to command."

Stepping back, I looked her over once more. She was every sleeping and waking fantasy of mine for the past several years. Standing there, I felt as if, through her, there wasn't anything I couldn't accomplish. I then knelt at the edge of the grid, feeling my denim-covered knees being pinched by the sharp edge of the platform. Placing my hands on the cool siliplex surface, I looked like a supplicant before a goddess...

Then, I braced one against the server-box housing and yanked it out.

Magenta's image didn't lose that smile as the projectors suddenly turned it into a flat line of pixels, before winking out of existence forever.

I leaned back on my heels with a heavy sigh. Looking down at the box I turned it over in my hands a few times. I can remember thinking and being a bit sad about what I had just done... I mean, any other guy might have just gone ahead and done a hundred-and-one things with her. Lived out every last dream and fantasy...

Then, I heard the knock at the door. I got up to answer it with Magenta's box still in one hand.

"Hi, Will," Jenna said, smiling in her faded Creole skirt and turtleneck sweater, giving me a peck on the cheek before grimacing at me. "What's up? I though I told you to be ready to go by seven-thirty?"

I ran a hand through my hair and grinned all sheepishly. "Sorry, hon. I've been working on that project for Harlan. Guess I lost track of the time."

She nodded, stepping through on those sneakers with the three-inch soles that still seemed popular then. "Well, you have enough time to change your shirt and comb your hair," Jenna replied. "Then, we can catch the mag-car to Stanton." She paused in the bathroom to use my mirror to comb her own strawberry locks, never blinking twice at the state of my apartment. She always told me she never minded a guy that didn't mind letting go once in a while.

Smiling at her, I used that time she was inside the john-closet to fish out one of my 'dad' shirts from the fiber-board dresser in the bedroom. In a moment or two, I was presentable enough for a church social, and she was waiting for me at the door.

It was then she pointed something out to me. "Um, Will? Are you planning to impress my parents with that hunk of hardware?"

I looked down at my hand, still holding onto the server-box Magenta was in. "Oh! Nah, I was still fooling around with the holo-emitters when you knocked." I tossed the box towards an over-full basket of clothing that was due for the Laundromat in the morning. Turning back to her, I offered her my arm while I dug in my pants for my apartment keys. "Shall we be off, my lady?"

Giggling, Jenna wound her arms around mine and led me out the door, which I locked behind us with two twists of the dead-bolts.

The End

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