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"What's inside?" The bunny-man asked pointing to Callen’s Lego robot creation. "How does it work?" He sat down next to Callen on the floor of his father's office with a huge grin.
"Umm...what do you mean?" Callen asked. "He attacks the knights, but the knights have magic guns and swords."
"No, what is inside that makes the robot work?" he asked rubbing his arm. Niknak's arms had a lot of needle marks, but no tattoos. "Did master tell you to think about what happens inside?"
"No, daddy didn't ask," Callen answered as he adjusted the Lego robot's guns.
"He just a robot or he have organics too?"
"Just a robot," Callen said. "Daddy never told me about that other stuff."
"All electronic." He said. "CPU brain, motherboard, sensors, controls...everything. Not complicated. They are controlled by computer language and mechanical parts not by electrical nerve impulses and muscle contractions. I have both."
Callen shrugged. "I don't know. It is just a toy bunny-man. Do you want to play?"
"Show me how, please."
Callen nodded and showed him how to play with Legos. He took two of the blocks and stuck them together. "See? You can put them together to make stuff."
He nodded when he understood. "What should I make?" He asked.
"Umm...well, I have a robot...the knights are ready." Callen grabbed a plastic container that was sitting next to him and pulled off the lid. He took out a mountain covered in Lego plants that he opened to reveal a hidden laboratory full of knights. "I'll make you!" Callen smiled. "Bunny-man and I can fight the robots!"
Niknak smiled. "Yeah! Make me!" Callen started rummaging through his extra Legos. "But if you make me with the extra pieces, then I will be too big!"
"I'm gonna use these," Callen said pointing to the extra body parts. "You build the people from the parts that look like people."
"But they are yellow and they don't have pointed ears or blue robot eyes." Niknak sighed.
"Well, I don't have yellow skin. It is pretend." Callen said. "See?" He picked up the Lego figure that he used to represent himself. The figurine held a pistol in his hand. "I have a pistol like mommy."
"But..." Niknak started to say.
Callen jumped up and grabbed a white and a blue marker off of his father's desk. He sat down and colored the head white and marked the eyes blue. "Good enough?" He asked. "We can just pretend it has long ears since they all don't have any ears." He handed him the Lego figure.
"Pretend. I like pretend." Niknak nodded as he looked at it. He picked up two swords from the bin. "Can we pretend these are knives too? He asked.
"Yup."
"Ok, good." Niknak placed the figure inside the mountain fortress. "Can I build a fort?"
"Yeah! There're enough extra pieces."
"I will build combat school." Niknak grinned. "Mistress can train me and you to fight robots there."
"Yeah!" Callen said. "But then we need more bad guys. 'Cause if we get training, we will be awesome. But, we need to make mommy too."
"And make an army of monsters to fight," Niknak said. "Use the monster heads." He pointed to the green heads in the Lego box that looked like monster heads from one of the assorted Lego sets.
"We need dwarves like grandpa and uncle Balkor to help," Callen said. "I'll make them too." He grabbed the Lego box and dumped it on the floor and quickly got to work.
The wall next to Callen suddenly slid open with a low rumble. "Niknak, everything's ready," Alex said as he stepped into the office. "Let's go."
"But Daddy, Bunny-man and I are playing," Callen said. "We didn't even get to start our game..."
"You guys can play later. Niknak and I have important work that needs to be finished." Alex said. "We've talked about this...you know we don't have a choice. When we finish, you can play with bunny-man all you want."
"Okay Daddy," Callen said. "But, can I come?"
"Yeah, come on."
In addition to the robot, Callen grabbed the Lego figures that represented himself and Niknak. He hopped up and followed them through the door, which closed behind them. They walked down a metal staircase and emerged in a lab loaded with a variety of machinery, equipment, tanks, benches and computers. Callen plopped himself down in one of the chairs and began playing with his toys.
"Alright, Niknak, hop into the chamber."
"Yes, master." He said. "Time for application?'
"Yup," Alex answered.
"No more pain?" he asked as he climbed into the medical tank.
"With any luck, after this, it won't hurt again." Alex began hooking up wires and tubes to him that were attached to electronic panels inside the bed.
"I don't like needles." Niknak said.
"Yeah, I know...sorry about that," Alex said. "I either have to cut you open or use needles to get the stuff into your blood. You are going to be a petri dish in this test, Niknak. I'm going to try to keep you comfortable."
"I know," Niknak said. "Is everything ready to begin making the final version when you get all the data you need?"
"Yes, and with all our work, it should be close to perfect," Alex answered. "I wrote all the programs and prepared all the equipment. The programming will happen upstairs as your data is collected. Both will be done at the same time with all the modeling. Any errors will be compensated for. Hopefully, by Christmas everything will be all set."
"Good." He said as he rested his head down on some mechanical device. "Will it make my skin change colors like the previous versions?"
"Unfortunately, yes. No matter what the simulations showed a blotched change in skin color." Alex said. "However, I made sure this time around that they look like tattoos in a pattern. The designs will start from the small nodes under your skin, but we’ll have to wait to find out what they look like."
"Did you do Celtic tribal ones daddy?" Callen asked. "You have those in that book..."
"Mommy designed them," Alex said. "But, I placed the nodes for the designs for both of you last test."
"Why you going to do it to the Bunny-man too, Daddy?" Callen asked.
"Bunny man is sick, just like you... I got something that will cure him and will help me to cure you." He hit a few buttons on the control panel attached to the bed. "Alright, Niknak. This shouldn't hurt. Least I don't think it will..."
The cover closed on the bed sealing Niknak inside. Alex walked over to the main computer console and began entering commands. Some large canisters began bubbling. "Here it goes." He whispered.
Callen watched thick chemicals began pumping through tubing connected to the bed and to the Bunny-man. His face twisted in pain. He screamed, but there was no sound. He started to spasm.
Alex input commands into the computer. Inside the bed capsule, Niknak began to relax. Callen could see copper spirals forming around the needles in his body and copper tentacles begin to entwine with his skin. The beginnings of a Celtic tribal pattern began to form.
"That's going to have to be worked on a bit," Alex said. "He is much more resilient than a human. I can't have it cause cardiac arrest..." He whispered.
"Is he okay, Daddy?" Callen asked.
"Oh yeah, he is fine. Everything is under control."
"Can he play now daddy?"
"No, he is going to be in there until Christmas, sorry pup," Alex said. "There's a lot of data to collect...and a lot of work to be done."
"Can he come to Christmas?"
"If all goes well, we will all have a lot to celebrate," Alex said. "That's for sure."