The Daisy Chronicles: Meeting
Introduction to Nail and Daisy, roomates in the future where Humankind reaches for the stars.
It was a normal day for me, Nail Selune. Well, until that happened. But How exactly can you describe normality, with me, unemployed, and recently graduating from college, and debt free thanks to numerous scholarships, mostly from friends of my late parents, I suppose. I had high hopes of just being me for a bit, before settling down with a career in biomedicine. My college thesis on tweaking nanotech was well received, and I had a bright future before me.
Nanites were part of our enhanced biology, giving us health and assets that people once only dreamed of. But my work, would send humanity to the stars. Nobody had figured out stasis, and how to restart both our biology, and our Nanite lattice, which we all have now. My team had cracked the code. And now, we were ready for the first jump, our ship was being assembled in lunar orbit as I write this.
Oh, yeah. I write this in the hospital, after that happened. Even with all the nanotech, we are still susceptible to injuries. And spinal injuries are beyond the nanite lattice's perimeter. I can feel my extremities, but it's likely I'll never walk unassisted again. And there goes my shot at traveling to the stars. Boo.
As I lay here, I look at flowers. Guess they are from my old friends, ones that soon will be beyond the orbit of Jupiter. I hit the buzzer, and instructed the Nurse-droid to give me the envelope attached to the flowers. Opening it, I saw it was not from who I thought. Auroch Specialties Ltd. Had sent me an Invitation in the hospital, with flowers in a cute cow shaped vase. I had to laugh at the absurdity. They had been the ones who paid for my college, and funded in large part the mission to Alpha Centauri. How close exactly were they paying attention to me?
The Robotic nurse came back, this time with a wheelchair. You would think that in the year 2642 humanity would not be using the same kind of wheelchairs that humans had been subject to for centuries, but here we are, a manual wheelchair, and me being dismissed from care. I toss the flowers in the garbage, but keep the vase, what can I say, Cows are cute, and at least I smiled because of it. I get a Taxi ride home, a wheeled conveyance befitting my income-less lifestyle, which drops me off at my house.
Wow, I'm back at my house, and its like I live in a alien's world, everything is made for me being able to walk, even the bathroom. I decided to order out for dinner, I have no idea what to do. I will not admit to crying here, but I will not deny it. All the work I did to give humanity the keys to the stars, and I ignored everyone suffering like this. Is this some kind of karma? I pass out having eaten the dinner, and maybe a bit too much Rum.
I woke up the next morning, on the floor, and that was the 3rd worse revelation I had about my condition. Fortunately I had a skateboard from my Teenage days, one with the magnetic bearings with almost no friction at all. God I loved that board, and now, it was my conveyance around the house. After cleaning up, and getting back into the chair (a 2 hour journey) I was ready to do something, anything. And remembering the cow vase from the night before, I Picked it up, and removed the card and turned the card over in my hand. They knew my condition, and wanted to see me anyway. It was worth checking out.
I made the phone call, and was advanced to a Miss Daisy. I roll my eyes mentally, who was named Daisy in the real world? But their checks had cashed for my schooling, so I put on my game face as the screen cleared, and a Teledrone appeared on the screen. I could tell it was a teledrone because of the glowing Ruby all such machines had to wear by law lodged between her shoulder blades, but it looked to be one of the really expensive ones, a full dive model reserved for the truly wealthy. If I worked a decade, I might be able to afford such, even in my career of choice. The Surgery to be able to link with the AI involved is hideously expensive. I had no idea whether the person was shy, or showing off, but seeing one of these with my own eyes would check off one of my life's ambitions. "Hello there Nail, I'm pleased to see you. My name is Daisy, and I have been your patreon for quite some time now. I hope the flowers were in taste." She looked behind me, and sure enough, the cow vase was visible, sans flowers. I answer "They made me smile, few things this week has, so points to you, thanks for that, and all the help Auroch Specialties Ltd. Has done for me." Daisy giggles "No problem sweetheart! We are investors in your future, after all. And we intend on having a mutually beneficial relationship."
This Teledrone was truly top of the line, her cleavage bounced like the real thing, as well as her expressions mapped out to perfection. I would have boned her, no question. Her outfit revealed quite a bit, with her breasts being E cups. Or at least I think so, scale is hard to tell in videoconferencing. You would think 3D would have fixed that, but without objects in the foreground or behind, you had to look for things like buttons or zippers, to see the scale of the people on the other side. And that led to a lot of staring at the breasts of folks, while a nice hobby, hardly a good start with a stranger.
I answered Miss Daisy "I'm glad I can still help in the research side I suppose, though I need help getting around I suppose. I guess my seat on the spaceflight outbound though, will have to wait." She looked at me for a second. "You are alone, huh?" She said as her face went blank for a short time, indicating the person connected to Daisy here was doing something, then returned to animation. "Ah, we can't have that. We have an apartment ready for you, accessible for your condition, and with room service plus!" I started, a bit in shock. These people really wanted me there. And really, what did I have to lose by saying yes. Auroch Specialties was a mega corporation, with hands in many fields. And they had good Cheese too. "Throw in a Cheese variety platter, and you have a deal" I said. "I really loved those you all sent me for My Birthday each year."
Miss Daisy actually blushed. Wow was that Teledrone top of the line. "I'll get to work on that, you can start towards the door about now. See you soon!" Daisy smiled, as the monitor went blank. Leaving me to look at the screen for a second before a knock at the door. The monitor changing to security mode showing the person at the door. Stocky, and very curvy. A female who looked at the camera, showing the smiling visage of...Miss Daisy. Of course. If this model was being mass produced, there would be hundreds of this model. I keyed the mic "Who sent you?" I challenged. "I just talked to you on the Phone, I'm Daisy also." She said with a cute pout looking at the camera, which started to show flowers and rainbows. Daisy had hacked my system in under a minute. Great. I pop the door remotely, saving me the trouble of wheeling across the apartment. "come on in then, Miss Daisy, I suppose we need to talk."
Daisy was bigger than I had thought, in more than one measure. Her cow print dress framed her cleavage and Teledrone jewel in a favorable way, but her almost 7 feet of height was unexpected. I found myself looking at her from her groin level from my camera's height. She walked in, and I said "I'm back here" As I was in my gaming den, when taking the call, the tech there was capable of True Holography. She closed the door, and joined me, taking no time to sit in my beanbag chair I had for gaming. Filling it with her generous butt, she giggled, nesting into the chair. "I'm Daisy, I remotely piloted this drone while talking to you here. It's nice to meet you in person again, Nail." My mind raced, the Phone call was less than 5 minutes, how close was Daisy? And She had met me before? I had only met someone with the Teledrone hardware implants once, and they were Military. "I was at Lea and Charles's Funeral, you were just 8, and hugged me like you were a lost puppy." Click My mind supplied the memory. Painful, but yes, I do remember a very tall woman, but with Black and white hair,combed over, where I spent the day holding her hand, before driving together to my new home, the Herford Academy where my first cheese sampler awaited me, as well as years of study. "I do remember you, though you used a Teledrone too back then. I had forgotten that aspect. Whoever does the work on your tech, needs a raise." Daisy giggles a bit, and then looks up at me "Yes, I was there, Lea was a relative of mine, so I took care of you then, and will also now. You are not only family, but have a mind, worth investing in. Auroch is an interesting place to work, but I hope you do love cows, as there will be more around where we work. But you will never be lacking in the cheese samplers. So win, win?"
I look at Daisy "I really would like a contract with your company, I owe you so much, but that education of mine also means I want something in return. What are we talking about here? You want me to continue my work in Symbiosis and Keeping our Nanite lattice functional in hibernation? You already own my work on that, thanks to underwriting my college work. So, what do you have in mind, Miss Daisy?" Daisy stretches, her bosoms almost popping out of her dress, as she rocks the beanbag forward, coming level with my eyes she says "I think we can move forward with your work, there are more promising uses for custom symbiotes than space travel I think. Think of the possibilities. The original work for our Nanites is centuries old, the person who created it, they did not survive the great dying, or the chaos that went with it. Your work interfaces with the nanites without damaging what's there in promising ways. We look to work with you, as you find new ways to exploit the gift that is keeping us alive."
Daisy is looking at me with more than a lusty babe expression, and for the first time, I think I see the real Daisy as seen through the Teledrone. "I think I can agree to that, but what about costs? And who do I report to? And what status is this project? I'd hate to start on something to be canceled halfway through." Daisy stands up "I think the kitchen is this way? I can smell your dishes need cleaning. Lets talk while I clean, and then we can work out what we need, as we work on getting your place ready to move." And saying that, she walks to the kitchen, leaving me behind, only for my monitor to blink on, with her image as she cleans. I won't go into the details of what we finally agreed on, and just how much my place needed cleaning. But between both of our efforts, I was soon in an executive autogyro, swooping in for a landing in a field, near the Big Red Barn of the Headquarters of Auroch Specialties. Cows included.
Waiting for me there was a hoversled. A nice piece of tech indeed. The Base was a wheeled vehicle, but the chair was magnetically levitated, giving the best ride such a chair was capable of. Many CEO's had such chairs built into their offices, this one however had a cart, and was attached to a cow. A dairy cow. I let Daisy pull me out of the manual chair, and into this conveyance, where the cow plodded along, her gait surprisingly smooth for such a creature as daisy walked along as we entered the Barn, which was less a actual barn, and more a 15 story red stone building at least 2 kilometers wide with cow themed decorations lining the walls like a cathedral. As we walked, I noticed the cow led the way, rather unusual I would think, as Cows were beasts. Daisy held light conversation as we continued to what looked to be Combined Living quarters, and Stables. Daisy was telling me about how this cow and I would be roommates, but not to worry, as she was pretty much kept by the robotic staff. She would be responsible for my transportation outside of our shared room, and if there were any questions, Daisy would be a call away.
Once I got into the room, The magnetic fasteners connecting my sled to my cow popped off, and the sled docked with its charger, leaving me free to explore my new room, and my odd roommate. Who took the occasion to chew some cud. I saw some brushes nearby, and maneuvering my chair, was able to start brushing the cow, who let me. I seen the tray of cheese samplers, and grinned, as the cow turned
around, letting me brush her other flank. I guess a cow roommate would not be so bad, or they had augmented her intelligence somehow. Once done with the brushing, I took the time to eat some of the cheeses. I rather liked the Cheddar, no matter how pedestrian it may seem, a good cheddar with crackers, is just so good. The Cow watched me eat with a peculiar expression, but then I did not talk in "Cow" so her expressions were alien to me, but if I had to guess, she looked pleased. My stuff was not in either of our way and soon, the cow was just something in the background. There, but not really drawing my attention as she had her own trough, and feed bin, robotically filled. And apparently was potty trained too. Thank goodness. She did burp occasionally, but it only smelled of beer, like her internal fermentation of her guts were similar to that which made Beer, but seeing feed for her type was often leftovers from Beer making, this did not surprise me.
Miss Daisy came by before dinner, and hooked up my cow to be milked. This was largely robotic, but required some physical alignment of the teats, and apparently the cow liked her udder to be massaged during the milking. Miss Daisy got one side, while I got the other, thanks to the platform I was hovering on, which dropped enough in height to let me be at Udder height. The udder lotion supplied by Daisy was good on my hands, and even as she was milked, she never kicked, or otherwise caused an issue. As the machine rhythmically pulled the milk from her I looked across at Daisy and asked "Does this cow have a name?" Which led Daisy to blush, and the cow herself to look at me. "Her name is Daisy too. I was created to take care of her needs. So I get my name from her. But don't worry, this cow is the only Daisy here. As I am the only Daisy teledrone you will see. Other cows get people assigned to them, and take names from them too. You will likely take Daisy's name for your work name too, its an office Moniker, that makes it easier for all of us to work together. So Nail, everything else is working allright? Daisy here is easy to live with, and tomorrow you will see what else we have to offer."
Miss Daisy helped me get ready for bed, and Daisy the Cow Walked to her padded stall, where I suppose she spent the nights. We shared a room roughly, with my bed next to her stall. And Miss Daisy plugged in for recharge, her Red Jewel, lifeless as the link which animated her was deactivated. I was left with my own thoughts, and the occasional sounds of cow digestion, somehow soothing, like listening to the tide go in. If I listened hard, I could even hear her breathing. I had not had a roommate since my Academy days as a Tween, and I found this one all right. And nodded off, dreaming of how her udder felt under my hands, and not at all about the scientific challenges tomorrow would bring.