Maid to Order: A Catgirl Harem Adventure (Build-A-Catgirl Book 1)

by Simon Archer

  “Go for it,” I said as I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling.

  Beside me, Kennedi opened the laptop and began scouring through my code and sims.

  “Unfortunately, I think you may be right, Clark,” Kennedi said when she had finished. “You’ve already tried everything I would try.”

  “Yeah, it’s too bad we can’t just modify her nano-glass wires to stop her from auto-searching for networks,” I mused aloud. “Then she could purposely pull a network connection inside the firewall I built for her and connect without the rest of the network being able to detect her.”

  “Clark, you’re a genius!” Kennedi exclaimed. “That would work since it is the cross-flow of data that networks detect, not the actual connection. Since she will be in a space where you’ve put one-way valves in her firewall, at no point will data be going in and out of the same place. Hence, she becomes undetectable.”

  “Well, yeah, but I’m not sure how to… do that. The hardware modifications I mean, the work is just too delicate for me to perform.” I sighed. “Hence the whole trying to fix it with code thing.”

  “But you don’t need to fix it with code.” Kennedi was getting excited now. “If I put just one fracture in the correct spot on Ellie’s nano-glass connection port, it will make her invisible to the Omnicorp network because of the way we’re designed.”

  “That’s just it, though. How do you fracture the correct wires in her port without just jacking the whole thing up? I mean, unless we want her to not auto-update...?” I asked. The port was practically microscopic and to crack it in a very specific place didn’t sound like an easy feat.

  “I can do it.” She nodded emphatically. “I will use diamond dust. I can shave the particles directly off my claws and stack them on the wire. Then I just give it a tap. Think of it like a chisel that you use to crack a rock except the diamond dust is much sharper, so it is easier to place the edge exactly where you need it to fracture the wire.”

  “Are you able to see that small of an area and work with that much precision?” I asked. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind that her vision would be that good. I knew she could see in the dark, but I had no idea she could possibly magnify things.

  “My vision is whatever I need it to be, so yes, I can see that small of an area,” she answered. “And my reflexes are more than adequate for the task.”

  She bounced to her feet, practically brimming with excitement. She offered her hand to help me up even though I no longer needed it. My wounds had all but healed, and aside from a little tenderness and fatigue, I felt fine.

  “Go get ready, and let’s look forward to tonight!” Kennedy exclaimed as she bounced down the ladder and out of the barn.

  34

  The Lindys car pulled up at about eight o’clock. The sun was down, but the air was still warm. Ellie and Bev, who had become practically inseparable, met them and escorted them into the house. Theo, Kennedi, and I were relaxing in the living room when they entered.

  “Oh, good! You’re here!” I greeted them. I had been getting more and more excited about what was going to happen tonight. I stood up and shook Charlie’s hand. Leah had already headed around the couch to sit with Kennedi. The two were already lost in girl-talk by the time Charlie was offered a drink.

  “I just poured Clark and myself a scotch. Would you like one?” Theo asked.

  “Yes, thank you. A scotch sounds like a perfect kick-off to a fun evening!” Charlie replied.

  “Leah,” Theo said. “Would you like a drink? We have a little of everything.”

  “I appreciate that. I’ll take a scotch as well,” she said and went back to chatting with Kennedi. I don’t know why, but I was expecting her to order something a little less stiff.

  Theo stood and headed to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back with those,” he said. Before I could offer to pour the drinks for our guests, he was gone.

  “Come sit down, Charlie.” I motioned to several empty chairs that he had to choose from. He chose the one closest to the fire.

  Bev and Theo both came from the kitchen carrying drinks. Once they were passed out and everyone was seated, Leah looked over at Bev.

  “Your house is absolutely adorable, Bev. How long have you been here?” Leah asked.

  “Thank you! We built it almost twenty years ago now,” Bev answered, smiling proudly.

  Leah smiled and then looked over at Charlie and raised an eyebrow in an ‘I told you so’ type look. Charlie started laughing.

  “Leah has always wanted to build a house that we’d live in most of the year. We’ve just always traveled so much that it didn’t make sense,” Charlie explained Leah’s look.

  “If only you could pack a house in a suitcase and take it with you!” Leah joked.

  I heard footsteps coming down the hall, and in an instant, Ellie appeared carrying a tray. She was wearing a nice, flour-covered pair of jeans and a too-tight t-shirt that was covered by one of Bev’s aprons. She looked both frighteningly messy and adorable at the same time.

  She set the tray down on the coffee table in the middle of the room and took a step back. She almost looked nervous.

  “I made some appetizers. I would love for you to try them and tell me, honestly, what you think,” she stated quietly to the room. “They are marinated turkey slices wrapped around green onion sprigs and a jalapeno cream cheese filling.”

  Everyone in the room, including Kennedi, who didn’t need to eat, reached for a turkey roll. We sat back and ate them, taking extra time to note how they tasted.

  “These are going on the menu at our next event!” exclaimed Leah.

  “Absolutely!” Charlie agreed.

  Bev was beaming at Ellie. “These are magnificent, Ellie. They really are.”

  I had a second one in my mouth already, so I nodded exaggeratedly and flashed her the ‘okay’ symbol with my hand. They were absolutely amazing. It was the type of appetizer that made you want appetizers for dinner.

  Ellie was so excited she jumped up and down and clapped her hands like she’d just won the lottery.

  “I’m so happy everyone likes them!” she gushed. “Dinner won’t be ready for another twenty minutes, so I’ll bring out another tray!” she exclaimed as she skipped back into the kitchen.

  Ellie returned with a fresh batch of turkey roll-ups and, once again, leaned down to set them on the coffee table. She started to stand back up but stopped halfway, still hunched over. She went perfectly still, and her eyes went blank.

  “Ellie?” Leah said with concern in her voice. “Ellie, are you ok?” she asked.

  Kennedi got up and stood beside Ellie, waiting for her to move again. She looked at Bev, whose face was wrinkled up with worry.

  “Bev, will you please check on dinner? Ellie’s going to lose the last twenty minutes,” Kennedy said to Bev.

  Charlie sat forward and looked back at me. “You don’t look nearly as surprised as half the people in this room,” he noted.

  “This is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. We knew she was going to do it today. We just weren’t sure when. It will happen every twenty minutes from here on out,” I said to Charlie.

  “What is causing it?” Charlie asked.

  Ellie blinked before I had a chance to answer. She looked around, confused. Kennedi put her hand on Ellie’s arm.

  “Come with me, Ellie,” Kennedi said and started to lead her away.

  “What can I do to help?” Leah was on her feet, getting ready to follow Kennedi.

  “I need you to stay here and listen to what Clark has to say. I’m going to take Ellie out to the firepit and get her sat down. If I do it fast enough, then next time this happens, she won’t wake up in a different place than she remembers being last,” Kennedi told Leah.

  Leah reluctantly sat back down and turned her full attention to me.

  “What do I need to hear?” Leah asked.

  I looked over at Theo, who had been silent. I hadn’t filled him in on all the details yet
, but he at least was familiar with the issue. I turned back to Leah and Charlie.

  “As you know, we’ve instructed Ellie not to update or connect to an outside network because we weren’t sure if she was uploading information for Omnicorp or not,” I started. “A couple of days after we stopped allowing the updates, she started glitching, like you just saw. She loses twenty minutes of memory every twenty minutes. Kennedi had me connect the two of them so she could find out what the problem was. She discovered that, because we blocked Ellie from updating via wifi, Omnicorp was trying to force an update through her hotspot connection every twenty minutes,” I said and then paused to let the information sink in before I continued.

  “Why?” Charlie asked.

  “I’ll tell you. The force wasn’t for the actual update. It was to insert a virus that could copy all of Ellie’s memory files and take the data back to Omnicorp. But, because a hot spot has different connectivity properties than wifi, Ellie’s system is able to terminate the virus. It takes an enormous amount of electrical power for her to do so, though, and she has to draw power from her recent memory files, which erases them,” I explained.

  “That poor thing,” Leah gasped. “Is there any way to stop it?”

  “There are a couple of options,” I began. “The first is to let her update, but that allows Omnicorp to come in the front door, so to speak. The second is a solution that Kennedi and I have been working on that we planned on testing out tonight. We’d like you to see the results because, from the way it looks, it will solve Ellie’s issues. However, the same thing could be beneficial for all CGs.” I watched Charlie and Leah closely to monitor their reactions. Both looked deep in thought.

  Charlie looked up first. There was a new glint in his eyes. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not just yet. He watched Leah until she looked back at him. They both nodded. Charlie spoke first.

  “Do you have the programs to fix her ready right now?” he asked.

  “We do. We wanted to make the modifications tonight. There is a hardware modification that needs to be done as well, but Kennedi can better explain that as she’ll be the one who has to do it,” I replied.

  “I’d like to see the end results,” Leah said. Her voice had a distinct no-bullshit tone to it.

  I didn’t wait for them to change their minds. I got up and went outside to where Kennedi was sitting with Ellie by the fire pit. Kennedi had lit a massive fire, and the two of them were talking about cooking.

  “Kennedi,” I said to get her attention. “The Lindys are up for seeing the modifications as soon as possible. How long will it take for you to install the programs and crack the wire?”

  She looked at Ellie and then back at me. “We have just enough time before Bev said dinner would be ready,” she said as she stood up.

  “Let’s go back to the living room, Ellie,” Kennedi said. She waited until Ellie was standing and walked back to the house behind her. Ellie didn’t say anything. She just followed my lead.

  When we were back in the house, we got Ellie settled on one end of the couch, with Kennedi sitting next to her. I brought my laptop in and set it on the couch, just on the other side of Kennedi. I walked behind the couch as Kennedi pulled the end of one of her claws off and handed it to me. I looked up at the room one last time before starting the modification process. Leah and Charlie had moved to sit directly across from the couch while Theo remained in his usual lounger. Bev had come in from the kitchen and took the chair beside Theo. Everyone had their eyes riveted on Kennedi, Ellie, and me. This had better work, was the only thing running through my mind.

  I started with Ellie. I moved her hair aside and made the cuts to allow access to her connection port. Then I exposed Kennedi’s port. I plugged an HDMI cable into Kennedi and into the laptop. We’d had to get a second cable because of the change to the shape of the connector on the end. Now Kennedi just needed to download the program so she could put it inside Ellie. The process took about ten seconds. When Kennedi had pulled the program from the computer, she nodded to tell me she was ready to be connected to Ellie.

  I unplugged the HDMI cable from both the computer and Kennedi. I grabbed the second cable and plugged it into Kennedi. Then I moved the other end over to Ellie’s port and connected it. From behind them, I saw both Kennedi’s and Ellie’s bodies stiffen just a little. My part was done. Now the only thing to do was wait until Kennedi came back.

  “We have to wait while Kennedi installs the programs in Ellie’s processor and comes back. She takes the programs over via this modified HDMI cable,” I told the four spectators in the room.

  Each person had a different expression on their face. Theo was shifting and uncomfortable. Bev was worried. Leah looked determined, and Charlie was intensely interested. It was a full thirty seconds before Kennedi blinked her eyes and sat up straight. She immediately looked back at me. I disconnected her.

  “Ellie will wake up in about fifteen seconds. I have to crack her wire,” Kennedi said, hurriedly.

  She jumped back over the back of the couch and pushed me aside so she could stand behind Ellie. She unplugged the HDMI from Ellie’s back and took the end of her claw back from me at the same time. She unsheathed another claw and removed the end of it as well. She held the blades directly over Ellie’s connection port and started shaving one with the other. I couldn’t see anything falling onto the port, but it must have been there because three seconds later, Kennedy stopped and reattached her claws. Keeping them unsheathed, she started using them to position the invisible diamond dust. I vowed to myself to have her do this under a microscope one day, so I could see what it was she was actually doing.

  A few seconds later, Kennedi turned her claw sideways and tapped once on the top of Ellie’s port. Then she blew on it, I assumed to move the diamond dust aside. She peered at the port closely, moving from side to side to see it from all directions. Then Kennedi stood up.

  “It’s done. The wire is fractured,” she said.

  “What wire?” Charlie asked.

  Kennedi looked up. “There is one section inside one of her nano-glass wires that needed severing to make her invisible to outside networks,” Kennedi explained as plainly as she could. “I used diamond dust to stack and crack it.”

  “Where did the diamond dust come from?” This time it was Bev asking. “I didn’t see you take anything out.”

  Kennedi unsheathed all her claws and held them up. “My claws are diamond-covered to maintain sharpness,” Kennedi explained. “I just shaved some dust off into Ellie’s port and then manipulated it so that when I put pressure on it, it would crack in the right place.”

  “That is nothing short of amazing,” Leah whispered softly, not taking her eyes off Ellie.

  35

  The next ten seconds seemed like an eternity. Kennedi and I went around the couch, each of us taking a seat on either side of Ellie. There were six sets of eyes riveted on Ellie’s face, waiting for her to do something, anything.

  I saw the light start to come back to her eyes first. I looked up at Kennedi. She’d seen it as well. We looked back to Ellie just when she blinked. Then she blinked again and lifted her head slightly. She slowly straightened back up and slowly turned her head to take in the whole room. Then she looked back at Kennedi with a tear in her eye and threw her arms around Kennedi’s neck.

  “Thank you,” Ellie said and hugged Kennedi tight. After hugging Kennedi, Ellie turned and looked at each individual in the room. Bev got up, walked over in front of Ellie, got down on her knees, and took hold of Ellie’s hands.

  “How are you feeling?” Bev asked quietly.

  “I feel like a vice grip has been removed from all my systems. I didn’t know I was constantly battling the updates and viruses. Now it’s like I can operate without restriction, with a freedom I couldn’t before,” Ellie said, getting happier with every word.

  Bev let out a sigh of relief, and so did everyone else in the room. The tension in the air lifted, and smiles started formi
ng on everyone’s faces. I took a deep breath and let it out, relaxing my shoulders and neck, which I hadn’t known were tensed. It felt like Kennedi, and I had just saved Ellie’s life or quality of life at least.

  Leah and Charlie both stood at the same time. Leah was beaming with excitement she was having problems controlling. She threw her arms around Charlie for a quick hug before jumping up and down and clapping.

  “Oh, Ellie, I am so happy for you!” Leah shouted out. “It is so fantastic that you feel that amazing!”

  “I really do!” Ellie told her. “Thank you!”

  Leah looked at Charlie again, and her voice became a little serious with a hint of sadness when she said, “I wonder if that’s what Macy would feel if she was released from her Omnicorp chains.”

  Charlie looked at me. “Is your programming specific to Ellie?” he asked.

  “Other than the hotspot, because that is part of Ellie’s special skill, it is not. The program to allow for updates on demand without virus invasion would work on any CG,” I answered.

  “What about the wire needing to be cracked? Is that Ellie-specific?” Charlie inquired.

  “The wire crack is to keep them from being visible on other networks, so Omnicorp can’t try to shove an update or virus at them,” I replied.

  Charlie paused for a brief moment. He took a deep breath and nodded his head, almost as if he was giving himself permission to do something. When he looked up, he had a very serious expression. “Would you be open to modifying Macy for us? If not, no worries. I just know Leah has been looking for some way to free her of her constant need to be sadly subservient,” Charlie asked me.

  I glanced at Kennedi, who was already nodding her head.

  “Absolutely, we’ll modify Macy for you,” I told Charlie. Leah broke out clapping and jumping up and down again.

  Theo, who had been silent, leaned forward and said, “We still have dinner to get to… Charlie, do you want to send for Macy? Then she could be free as soon as tonight.” Theo watched me to make sure he wasn’t volunteering Kennedi and me for anything we didn’t want to do. I nodded back at him.