Penny spent the next few days working in her lab and preparing for her meeting with the military. She had half a mind to staff Valentina’s company with AIs in robot bodies, but that would require her to forge too many new identities and was just a hassle, so in the end she just hired a normal, non-robot lawyer for the meeting. She also drafted a proposal for training facility she could build with her haptic suits and holographic projectors that the military could buy. She already had tech that could do the job, so there was no harm to have the military pay for her to adjust it for their use. She could also sell them a program that could create new scenarios based on parameters they give it.

-That gives me an idea. A.I.C.A. get some highly rated public domain movies and convert them into games. Like that test from the book Ready Player One. When we start selling the game console, it would be great to have something for movie fans. And maybe amateur actors that like to replay movie scenes.-

The day of the meeting, Valentina Santiago and Aicaria Dias met the lawyer at his place and with the car she rented just for the day, they drove to the meeting place. This time Valentina wasn’t bringing briefcases with her. The military still owed her for the 4 she gave them with the prototypes and repair gear. No, today she was getting paid for her two prototypes and signing a contract to deliver 100 more to them for testing. And once she got the money and paid percentage to Penny for using her patents, she could build a production facility, hire an office and staff to finally look like a real military contractor.

When the meeting started the first thing Valentina did was talk about the stolen data of the TBRES and some other projects and insuring that there wasn’t going to be a problem. Then she wanted to be compensated for her four briefcases or for them to be returned to her. It may have been a little petty, but she wanted her briefcases back and that was that. The rest of the meeting proceeded a lot more smoothly once they promised to return them and they quickly came to an agreement on the contract. Once the lawyers went to draw the contract, Valentina started a little small talk with Rob.

-So, I heard a lot of facilities were hit by the thief. Anything military amongst them?-

-That is classified information.-

-You see, I think they were. The thief hit 3 facilities in just as many days, then there was a pause between and then other places were hit again without pause. The reports also say she began in the middle of the week, so I think that either at the beginning of the week or during that weird pause, some military installations were hit. After all, everyone knows military tech is the most advanced, so if you could steal from everywhere, you steal from there too.-

The liaison’s face changed several times while Valentina was talking, before again turning neutral and repeating.

-That is classified information.-

Not long after the lawyers returned and after checking the contract once again, Valentina signed it and had the money transferred to her bank account. Then they excused themselves and left the building.

After driving the lawyer back to his place, Valentina and Aica drove the car back to the rental place and after making sure no one was watching, they teleported back to Penny’s lab, where Valentina changed her appearance back to Penny and Aica stood in her recharging station. Not that she needed it immediately, she still had more than ¾ of a charge, but better charge when she could, so she could be prepared for the unexpected.

For the next few days Penny was busy making arrangements to buy property, build a facility and arrange equipment to be shipped so they could start production of the hover board and scooters. She also designed and build some production lines for her toy robots. Speaking of which, a few days later they officially hit the stores. Meanwhile on the other side, Aica was doing almost the same things as Valentina’s assistant. She was publishing job ads, looking for offices and a place for a production facility. Also a security company to guard said facility. All said, they were busy running and growing their businesses.

After finishing work for the day, Penny sat on her couch and turned on her TV. It was good from time to time to get out of the lab and see the news to stay in touch with what was happening in the outside world. What was happening this time soured Penny’s mood for the evening.

-We bring you breaking news from the trial of the CEO of such and such. The judge dismissed the case for the death of a family of three on a technicality. More on the subject tonight, when we take a closer look at how the case proceeded. Now back to the studio with…-

Penny asked her AIs to look at the case and give her all the relevant details and also to investigate in depth the CEO. At first glance he looked like a prime target for a little vengeance and she could throw a prank in there for good measure. A few hours later she was caught up on all the details and some bonus information and had all the props she would need. Penny put on her suit, cast selective invisibility on herself and activated her robot double before teleporting to the home of the CEO.

The place she ended up was quite fancy, but Penny didn’t pay it much attention. She located the CEO and approached him, then she took a spray bottle out of her pocket dimension and aimed it at his neck. The bottle wasn’t filled with liquid, but chilled gasses that Penny planned to use to simulate the chilly breath of a ghost that breathes on your neck. She sprayed the neck of the CEO twice in a few second intervals and watched his reaction.

At first he thought he imagined the chill on his neck, but after the second dose he put a hand at it and turned around to find from where the cold air was coming from. He didn’t see or feel anything when he looked. There was no breeze from anywhere and no devise or anything that could cause it. Even the thermostat of the air conditioner showed high temperature in the room.

The next thing Penny did was stick microscopic speakers on the necks of all his shirts and cast selective invisibility on them. That way she could whisper in his ear any time anywhere or leave the job of harassing him to his AIs. But first she had to plant the seeds.

Penny cast a voice changing spell on herself to sound slightly distorted, took a deep breath and whispered in the CEO’s ear.

-You didn’t pay for what you did. Now you have to deal with me.-

The man quickly jerked his head sideways to see who spoke so close to his ear, that he felt their breath, but found no one there. And to strengthen his confusion, Penny used telekinesis to move an object in his peripheral vision. That made the CEO turn his head to see what he saw and found his alcohol glass not in its place. Something strange was going on.

Later that night the man was woken up several times by strange whispers, threats and screams just before he could enter REM sleep. In the morning he was so tired he couldn’t thing straight.

Penny continued her harassment in the following days. Whispering to him from the speakers either when he was alone or in public, levitating objects and moving them around, first just in his peripheral vision and then in front of him. She tripped him when he was walking, shoved him when he was alone and threatened him and accused him for her death and telling him it wouldn’t end until he paid for his crimes. Then the day he scheduled a visit to a shrink, Penny left him sleep an entire night undisturbed.

When the next day the CEO returned home, Penny let him see a glimpse of something moving in his home. During his absence she had installed hologram projectors all over his home and was making him see glimpses of an apparition. Then in the morning after, he say a floating figure above his bed, looking him straight in the eyes.

-You aren’t losing your mind, you are just haunted. No amount of psychiatrists, medicines or exorcists are going to help you. Only paying for your crimes will let us rest in peace.-

And after delivering the message, the ghost started becoming transparent, while all the things on his night stand started levitating and then were thrown at the CEO one by one. The next few days he indeed visited more shrinks, but every one of them threw his case away once they heard the spooky, creepy whispers that he was not crazy, just haunted and stuff started levitating around the offices. The visit to the exorcist didn’t go much better. After the procedure, Penny pretended to be gone until the exorcist left and then resumed her normal activities harassing the CEO. In the end his only salvations were suicide, which Penny wouldn’t allow even if he tried and surrender to the police with a full confession. He chose the confession.

The police were bewildered when the CEO came to the police station and gave his confession and then begged to be put in jail. Penny said her goodbyes with the promise of returning if he weaseled his way out. She packed her gear away from him and his home and then went home. The next day the CEO’s case was on the news together with another interesting new connected with Penny.

-…and this time there is no way for him to escape justice. In other news, a toy is responsible for the arrest of an abusive parent. That’s right folks, a toy robot. The police received a call and when they arrived on the scene, everything looked normal. As they were about to apologize for the inconvenience and leave, a toy robot dog approached them, opened a compartment containing a monitor and played the abusive scene happening before the police arrived containing both video and audio as evidence. When they checked the logs in the toy’s banks they also found that the 911 call that led them to the house was also made by the toy. It seems the robot pet is equipped with an AI that could take care of and monitor the wellbeing of the owner. When the toy detected the harm and possibility for more in the future it called the police and reported the crime. Now that is a toy I would want to watch over my kids. And next…-

-Now that will either increase or completely tank our sales of the toy robots. Let’s hope it is the first and not the second.-

That night when Penny got to bed, she was happy to have done not one, but two good deeds. Even though the second one was indirect, being done by a toy she created, but was counted all the same. She couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.