When Penny woke up in the morning she had a goofy smile on her face and a little drool in the corner, but that one was irrelevant. Today she was going to test her new gaming system by converting some VR games and trying to play them. She did her morning exercises, but instead of playing Dance Dance Revolution on a pad, she used her new game console and its movement recognition. The test was a resounding success. After taking a shower and starting breakfast, she was just thinking what games to try, when A.I.C.A. demanded her attention.

-Penny, the haptic suit wasn’t working as you wished during the simulations, so we incorporated the CM-v1.0 but working in reverse, hindering the movement of the wearer when needed to simulate hitting an obstacle or holding something. Also, you have a meeting in the Small Business Development Center with your employees, later today. You looked like you would forget about it if I didn’t remind you.-

-Thank the AIs for improving on the design. And yes, I was going to forget about it, even if I have almost perfect memory. This just shows me that if you are preoccupied with something else, you can forget to think about things. I will take the console to the meeting and arrive early, so I can test it while I wait. May as well show the team the beads while at it and hear their opinion.-

Penny finished breakfast, dressed in her business suit, a black pants over pink socks, white shirt, black tie, grey vest, black suit jacket and black duster trench coat over them all 3D printed in spider silk that same morning. She packed her work laptop, the game console and a couple of peripherals followed by a couple of games the projection board and the projector beads. She took her scooter from the charging station and started pushing herself towards the SBDC.

When Penny arrived in front of the building, she folded her hover scooter and then entered. She went to the same office they went to last time and connected the game console to the power socket and then had a thought. “I hate power cables that are too short, but long ones are also a pain. There are those vacuum cleaners with retractable cables, I will copy that and put a 3m cable on the consoles.” Then Penny connected a game controller and started playing a game. It was funny the way the game was running smoother and had a better resolution on the air projected hologram than with the original console the game was made for. Penny attributed the difference not only to the hardware but the game console’s AI as well. It seemed it was doing its job and was optimizing the software while it was running it, after all the hardware could take the strain, so why not do it. Penny was happily playing for a few hours, until people started arriving and she had to start paying attention to them, but when Jenny arrived, she no longer thought of that as a problem.

-Hello, Penny. What were you doing before we arrived?-

-Oh, you know, just playing games to pass the time while waiting.-

-I don’t recognize the console you are using. Is it something new or some knockoff brand?-

-Oh, this? No, that is a console I made after the last time we talked.-

-Penny! You were supposed to work on ideas for the hover board event. We talked about this!-

-But I did, see?-she took 3 beads from her backpack and her laptop and then activated them. A hologram filled the room with different 3D models of people doing tricks with hover boards.-In Sci-Fi they always advertise with holograms, so now we can do it too, right?-

There was a ‘slap’ sound followed by more of the same and when Penny looked at her employees, they all had a palm on their faces. Their boss was mad scientist insane if she had to invent new tech to help with advertising.

-Penny, tell us the truth, we promise we won’t be mad.-

-I got bored and thought what I should research and decided to make an air projected holograms, but then I thought ‘what is the point to reinvent the screen, if you don’t have something to put on it?’ So I started working on a game console, since we are a toy company and the making of both the projector and the console would occupy me for longer than just a projector.-

There was the ‘slap’ sound again, but this time Penny didn’t look toward her team. She decided to whistle the I-Am-Innocent tune and look to the side with arms crossed behind her back. After a few seconds she decided to leave them to calm their emotions while she started a game on Minecraft in creative mode on one of the hologram projection boards. She was halfway done with a model of R2Du when she heard another series of ‘slap’ sounds. It looked like she was going to have to wait a little longer.

It was minutes later when she was doing the finishing touches on a calculator, when the others were ready to resume the meeting they had asked for. Penny left the console in the corner of the room and joined then around the table.

-Penny, we discussed things and came to a decision. You are forbidden from inventing until the press conference about the hover boards!-

-But I get bored easily! What am I supposed to do to pass the time?-

-Why don’t you play some video games or watch some movies? In critical situations, the most we will allow is for you to program video games.-

-But when I watch science fiction I always come up with ideas I want to study and try. Where do you things most of my ideas for products come from? I know! We will just have to go on more dates to keep me distracted from work and focused on other things!-and just as she heard herself say that, Penny blushed and looked at a very interesting spot on the ceiling, away from the gazes of the others.

-…Yeeaah, we will discuss it some other time. Now back to work. What ideas did you all come up with? How will we proceed with the marketing of the hover boards and hover scooters?-

The meeting continued with different ideas thrown here and there. In the end they decided to use a skateboarding event that would be held in the beginning of next month and all the press that should be there to announce the hover technology and start sales at the end of the month. That would give them enough time to get the money for a production facility and start making the product.

-What about the papers on all your projects, Penny? How are they going?-

-Hmm? Oh, yeah, they are done! I just have to submit them to the scientific community or should I first use them to finish my PhDs? You know, the system is made in a way that I can’t just submit works and earn a PhD, I have to study in the institution for a given time, before they will even allow me to submit doctoral work? Eh, I could wait a while to earn my diplomas. Tomorrow I will submit my game console and its components for patents and then publish my papers.-

When the meeting was over and everyone started leaving, Jenny led Penny to a corner so they could talk.

-Why did you propose going on more dates in front of the entire team, Penny?! I thought we could keep between us a secret.-

-Why? We had only gone to one official date and nothing is certain, but I thought the thing between us was turning serious. Sooner or later they would have found out, so honesty from the start is the best solution.-

-I am afraid of being accused of sleeping with the boss for my position. Isn’t that what always happens in these kinds of situations?-

-But you haven’t slept with me yet. We only went on one date. Doesn’t that start happening somewhere on the third to fifth date? All the more reason to be honest from the start, they can see how our relationship progresses in the light, instead of speculating what happens in the shadows.-

Jenny blushed at the mention of sleeping with Penny on their third to fifth date. Now that was a hard image to erase from her head. Seeing Jenny, Penny also blushed and imagined the scene. She tried focusing on the conversation and continued speaking.

-Besides, isn’t the situation you ate talking about usually about women being in power because they slept with their male boss? What is the excuse when a woman in power sleeps with her female boss? In fact, what am I even talking about? We are a startup, we don’t have any power for other people to be jealous and criticize us about.-

-That is true for now, but with your inventions and the things I suspect your bored mind can come up with, I suspect that won’t be true for long.-

-Then you better keep me from getting bored until the press conference. What would you say to a second date?-Penny closed the distance between her and Jenny and lightly kissed her on the lips. The two women blushed again before Jenny answered the question.

-I should be free all of this week. Maybe Friday?-

-It’s a date. See you then, Jenny.-

All the way home, Penny was horny, so when she arrived home she locked herself in her bedroom until hours later. When she did come out of her room she had just showered and sported a wide goofy smile.

-A.I.C.A. remind me to construct better toys before my third date with Jenny. Most of the ones I have are trash.-

-Are you planning on playing with her on your third date, Penny?-

-On our third to fifth date.-