The Magnus 360

"Shit!"

Murray played the traffic, found a gap and made a u-turn, headed back to the lab. He was supposed to send Syd a report and he had forgotten. Didn't see the point, actually. But the Magnus 360 was making them rich and if the boss was a micromanager, well, so be it. Syd was supposed to be on vacation. Key word: supposed. Oh well.

Murray pulled into the lot, let himself in the front door. There was no security to speak of other than a few locks. The industrial complex had guards, but they stayed outside. As he passed Syd's office he glanced at the bank of monitors on the wall. The cameras weren't for security, it was just Syd's way of keeping an eye on things. Murray stopped. Someone was at Dick's workstation - and it wasn't Dick.

Murray stepped into Syd's office, fumbled with the joy stick, panned and zoomed. Hard to tell if it was a man or a woman, looked like a kid, actually. There were drawings on the computer screen, drawings for the 360. He recognized them because he'd done them.

He made his way to the lab, took the long way around, let himself in from the loading dock. It was a girl. At least he thought it was given her hair was up in a bun. A guy would just have a pony tail. He back-pedaled and slipped into the storage room. He pulled a bottle of ether from the shelf, soaked his handkerchief and headed back into the lab. Moving quickly, staying low, he moved from workstation to workstation he was about six feet from the girl when he lunged. She never saw him coming. Didn't have time to react before his arm encircled her chest, before he pressed the damp cloth to her face. She struggled and Murray realized he probably hadn't needed the juice. She was a little snip of a thing. He could have easily grabbed a handful of shirt and lifted her out of the chair.

The struggles eased, then faded altogether. Murray kept her pressed against him, kept the cloth on her face until his head started to spin. He eased her down onto the floor. She looked young. But at his age, all girls looked young. On second thought he figured college age, maybe a bit older.

He moused around the screen. There were several windows open. One of them was a download and, sure enough, there was a flash drive in a USB port. He cancelled the process and pulled out the drive. He grabbed the phone.

"Pete? Sorry to bother you on a Friday night, but we've got company. Someone's hacked into Dick's machine. ... Yeah. ... I don't know how, you're the computer guy. ... Has to be someone from Alpha, right? ... Yeah. ... Hey! Wait a sec. Wasn't that Boris's machine? ... Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Before he went to Alpha, he left a little something behind. ... What? When did that happen? ... Syd and his paranoia. So you can trace every keystroke, huh? ... Okay. You want me to shut it down or leave it up? ... Yeah, okay, bye."

Murray turned his attention to the girl and almost before the idea came into his head, he bent and hefted her, carried her to the big scanner, laid her on the glass surface. He undressed her. She was wearing an oxford shirt and jeans. He undid the shirt. She had a pink bra with a front clasp. He undid the clasp.

Her tits were smallish, but nice enough. The brown nipples looked unnaturally large on the small mounds. Murray sat her up, pulled the shirt and bra off. He undid the jeans, tugged them part way down, pulled off her sneakers and socks, finished removing the pants. He slid the pink underwear down and off.

At first she seemed thin, waif-like, but now he saw she was merely petite. All the pieces were there in the right proportion. According to the scale on the scanner bed she was 4'9". Her black hair was up in a bun, her dark bush was lush and thick. Pink lips, like flower petals, peaked out.

She was an all over tan. No bathing suit marks, so she was probably Asian or Latina, though she had none of the typical features of either other than skin tone and hair color.

Murray helped himself to a bit of groping. He squeezed her tits, pinched her nipples, stroked her. Her skin was unbelievably smooth and soft. He parted her legs, spent some time exploring her pussy. Then he turned her over. She had the perfect little bubble butt. He flipped her over again, helped himself to a bit more groping.

Before he got carried away, Murray arranged her on the scanner. He rolled the camera over, made a circuit of the machine. Took several shots. It would make a nice memento.

He stepped over to the control panel and hit START. Razor-like ruby lines crisscrossed the girl's body. He went over to the 360.

Murray wheeled a fresh bin of powder into place. He set and double checked the controls. The scanner made its signature beep. The girl moved. He fetched the bottle and placed the damp cloth over her face.

He brought the scan up onto the computer screen, enlarged the image by a centimeter, smoothed out some of the rough spots, ensured that the girl's nostrils had been properly scanned as holes. He started the 360.

She had to be from Alpha. Alpha was their main competitor. No one else was even close to the two of them. Magnus held the edge and it was a big edge. With the 360, the gap widened. The new 3D printer used multiple print heads, was virtually dust-free, and fast. Way faster than the top-of-the-line Alpha.

Boris was lead engineer at Magnus before Alpha lured him away. Luckily Syd had a plan B. Murray was that plan. Syd felt Magnus was in a rut. Improvements were made, but they were just variations on a theme. Murray was a grad student when Syd approached him. While the 350 was Boris's baby, the 360 was Murray's. When Alpha came out with their improved version of the 350, Magnus was already two steps ahead. And the 370 was in the works. Murray knew that. Syd had taken his wife on vacation to a nice resort near a nice school with a nice engineering department. So there you go.

Murray watched the print heads skitter this way and that. It was like watching a time-lapse film as the object took shape, an object that looked exactly like the back half of the girl. He hit PAUSE EJECT. The safety hood flipped open and the platform rolled out. Murray went to the scanner and retrieved the girl. He reached in and lay her in the half formed case. He hit RESUME.

Murray rolled the camera over to the 360, pressed RECORD.

The centimeter, now two since she was laying inside the thing, gave the print heads just enough room to work around her. The sides built up, angled in and over the sleeping girl. Fast as the machine was, it took several minutes to complete the form. As if with a mind of its own, the object swelled to engulf the naked girl until there was nothing to see but white, dull plastic. In a few minutes there was a perfect replica of the young intruder, right down to her finger nails and a reasonable facsimile of her bush.

The machine stopped, the lip flipped up, and the platform rolled out. Even with her new plastic skin, Murray could lift her easily. The coating was only a couple of millimeters thick, thick enough to keep her trapped inside, but thin enough to be easily cut off. He set her on a dolly and rolled her out onto the loading dock.

In addition to doing research, Magnus did custom work and there was a selection of wooden packing crates. Murray found one that was about the right size. He spread a layer of packing material in the bottom. He rolled the girl over and eased her into the crate. He packed more of the straw-like material until she was wedged in tight and completely covered.

Murray hefted the lid, drilled several holes in the general vicinity of the girl's head, and nailed the lid into place. He stepped over to a terminal and printed out a shipping label, stuck it to the box along with a couple of FRAGILE and THIS SIDE UP stickers. He retrieved his truck and slid the box into the bed.

It was a short drive to Alpha. Both occupied space in the research area near the universities. Not surprisingly, Alpha had a real security force. Makes sense. When you're a thief you think of these things. Murray produced the shipping documents. The guard at the gate aimed Murray at the receiving area. When he approached, a door opened, a forklift appeared, and the boxed spy soon disappeared into the building.

Murray wheeled out of the lot and headed for home.

Halfway there: "Shit!"

He made another u-turn. Now he had something to tell the boss.

29.04.12