The message "SCANNING FOR SOURCES" appeared on the screen, followed by:
KATIE COURIC AND SARAH FERGUSON ARE CURRENTLY OUTSIDE THE RANGE OF THE STONE USED TO MAKE THIS DEVICE. PLEASE SELECT ONE OR MORE OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE WITHIN THIS RANGE (I.E., IN THIS TOWN).
"Oh well," sighed Jon. Maybe it's for the best, he thought. What could he do with a middle-aged woman, anyway? It would be weird to see a 40-something woman act like Karyn. He could make a wish to cover up the weirdness, but nah. A teenage girl would be better. He thought of all the girls that he was attracted to. Karyn, obviously, but also Sarah - so pretty but so ugly inside. This machine could compensate for that defect. Jon typed in more names:
Tiffany Sanders
Melissa Smith
Yukio Meshida
Jennifer Taylor
Sarah Taylor
Stephanie Wright
(see
http://www.sapphireplace.com/cgi-bin/fbstorypage.pl?page=060625020818Weirdoid&path;=nospamstory
for descriptions)
Jon imitated the voice of the Count from Sesame Street. "Eight, eight, EIGHT girls in one! Bwahaha!"
Surely they were all in town. Jon had seen them all in one class or another yesterday. Even if they were sick in bed, they were still within the range of the stone. This couldn't fail. Jon pressed "enter."
Once more, he saw the message, "SCANNING FOR SOURCES." Checkmarks appeared beside the name of each girl. "Yes, YES!!"
Lightning bolts crackled inside the glass cylinder. Molecules appeared seemingly out of nowhere, fusing into clusters that gradually became visible. Amorphous gases solidified into bone. Fluids formed around a skeleton floating atop the floor of the cylinder, morphing into internal organs and circulatory and nervous systems. Skin and hair grew. Seconds later, a layer of clothes covered Jon's creation.
DO YOU WISH TO LET HER OUT, asked the device.
Jon selected "yes."
