Green Thumb - The Greenhouse
The Small Business Chronicles: Green Thumb - The Greenhouse
Chapter One: Opening day
Chapter One – Opening Day
Gabby woke up with a start as the alarm she had set for herself woke her up. Fortunately, it was an alarm only she could perceive, since as an android, she could set her own internal alarms. Jack was still sleeping peacefully next to her, though she was about to remedy that.
“Jack,” she said softly, giving him a light shove to wake him up.
Jack responded with only a grunt.
“Jack!” Gabby said more forcefully, shoving him harder.
Another grunt.
“JACK!” She shouted this time, slightly modulating her voice so it would be directed only at him, so as not to wake up Henry.
This time he woke with a start, the sudden adrenaline boost caused by her shouting giving him the perfect wake up call. “What is it dear?” He asked somewhat groggily; it was only 5am.
“It’s the day,” she replied cheerfully, “opening day, remember?”
“Oh yeah, the greenhouse,” he said, rubbing the sand out of his eyes before looking at the clock with a grimace, “Uh, did you have to wake me so early?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so,” she said, taking on a more apologetic tone, “I have a lot of work to do, and some of the plants in there can only be tended to early in the morning.”
“Okay,” he nodded, stretching himself out before sitting on the edge of the bed, “you know what to do, right?”
“Absolutely!” She squealed, rushing over and planting a loving kiss on his lips before rushing into the bathroom and closing the door. She sent Gemma a wireless message to prepare Jack’s morning cup of coffee, and to get the ingredients ready for breakfast; she still intended on cooking for her husband.
While she messaged Gemma, and Ellie, she was simultaneously cleaning out her mouth, nose, and ears with a special solution meant just for androids. Then, she sat down on the toilet and expelled a blue-detergent like substance from her bowels. Ever since she had become sentient, she’d spent a bit of money on herself so she could purchase special detergent tabs that she could swallow each night and that would slowly clean out her digestive systems, all the way through.
Once she was done with the orifice cleaning, she stepped into the warm shower and made sure to scrub every inch of her perfect body. After all, she was about to receive some upgrades, so she wanted to be perfectly clean for when Jack worked on her.
Once she was out of the shower, she started a trick that Ellie had clued her in on to make working on her hair and face easier. She braced herself on the plush bathmat in front of the sink, making sure the entire area was dry, before reaching up to her neck and twisting her head off. Once her secondary visual and audio systems came online via the neck camera and mic, she carefully set her head down on a dry towel and began blow drying the hair before putting it up in the style that Jack liked. Finally, she applied a few dabs of android skin repair lotion to her face, rubbed it in, and then applied the minimal makeup that Jack preferred. When she was done, she paused briefly to admire her work, as well as the frozen look on her face, before carefully lifting her head back up and clicking it in place on her neck.
Once her head was back online, she took in a deep breath of the warm, humid air before heading out into the room and into the closet.
Nicolette was still being stored in the closet, though it had been a few days since they used her, so she was starting to gather a light layer of dust. She sent a reminder in her HUD to have Nicolette clean herself later in the day, though at the moment she was focused on picking out a good set of clothes to wear in the greenhouse. After she put on a comfortable pair of underwear, she slipped on some trousers, and a breathable t-shirt, before slipping on some socks and and a pair of slip on boots to protect her pretty feet. She then walked over to view herself in the mirror attached to the back of the closet door.
“Very nice,” she said to herself, though she knew she would have to undress in an hour when Jack began working on her, but since she intended on getting to work the second he was done; she didn’t want to waste any time dressing in something pretty, or casual.
Once she was sure she was ready, she sighed contentedly and began heading downstairs to cook her husband breakfast.
Jack smiled as he watched Gabby rush into the bathroom to get ready, acting like an excited child on Christmas morning eager to open presents. Despite her sentience, she still really enjoyed getting upgrades, since the wordplay he’d instilled in her, as well as the other androids, was still very strong.
Once he heard the sink turn on, he got up out of bed and slipped out of his pajamas and into the general set of clothes he typically wore down in the lab. Once dressed, he headed down the stairs, welcomed by the smell of a fresh brew of coffee that Gemma had just prepared.
“Gabby, I love you,” Jack chuckled, knowing she had sent Gemma a message to get some coffee ready. He even saw Gemma had prepared some ingredients for omelettes, though hadn’t cooked them.
“Thanks Gemma,” Jack said politely, taking the cup of coffee from her that had already been mixed with the peppermint cream that he liked, “I take it Gabby still wants to cook.”
“Yes sir,” Gemma said politely, still using the more subservient Mia personality since they were in the house, “it’s alright, I don’t mind.”
“Yeah, Gabby really does love cooking for me,” he smiled, taking the coffee out into the front room and sitting down, turning on the TV to the local news channel while he waiting for Gabby to clean up.
A few minutes later, he heard the shower turn off upstairs, followed by several footsteps a few minutes later. Finally, he heard their bedroom door open, and Gabby slowly descended the stairs seconds later in a decent set of gardening attire.
“How do I look?” She asked dramatically, pausing halfway down so he could get a good luck.
“Like you’re ready to work,” he smiled.
“Good, that’s what I was going for,” she smiled beautifully, continuing to the bottom of the stairs and turning into the kitchen, “breakfast will be ready in a few minutes dear.”
“I look forward to it,” he smiled, watching her blow him a kiss before heading over to the stove. Jack pretended to catch it before enjoying the rest of his coffee and watching the news.
Gabby called him in to the kitchen almost ten minutes later, though the smell of her cooking had been tempting him for several minutes leading up to it. Ever since she’d download some molecular gastronomy programs, her cooking skills had improved immeasurably. They’d cost her quite a bit, though with the greenhouse, she could afford it.
“So, are you excited for the upgrades?” Jack asked her, once he’d taken a few bites of the delicious food.
“Oh yeah,” she purred, “I mean, I’m always excited for upgrades, but these will actually offer me a more meaningful improvement than ‘7.275% better cpu speed’, or ‘.02% more battery life’, or ‘fixes more than 1,000 bugs’,” she said, quoting the change log blurbs and saying them in a funny voice.
“Hey, every little bit counts…especially for you,” he defended.
“I know, and I do appreciate it,” she said, “but these upgrades today will actually keep me safe in my own greenhouse, and greatly improve my efficiency outside of it.”
“Yeah, though you aren’t getting quite as much as the other girls, minus Ellen of course,” he pointed out, “unlike you and Ellen, they actually need to function in there 24/7.”
“Yeah,” she waved off, “by the way, when is Ellen supposed to be arriving?”
“Sometime this afternoon,” Jack said, “she’s still setting up her new unit, and wants to make sure everything is in order before bringing in her old one.”
“I see,” Gabby nodded, “you know, I’m really glad you convinced her to to part with that Secretary unit of hers…she’s quite fond of it.”
“Yeah, but when I offered her a company discount on a Perfect Friend model with discounted maintenance for a year, she was more than happy to part with it.”
“Well, I look forward to when it gets here…she’s very fun to talk to.”
“That she is,” Jack laughed.
“Do you know when Zoya gets off work at the clinic today?” Gabby asked, finishing her food and setting her dishes aside, “I know she changed her shift at the last minute, and I want to show her the section of the greenhouse that we’re growing her medicines and herbs that she’ll need for the clinic you’re gonna build her.”
“Hey Gemma, when did Zoya leave this morning?” Jack asked, since Gemma was standing by to clean up after them.
“Zoya left this morning at 3:37am,” Gemma reported dutifully.
“Well then, that means she was starting her shift at 4am, which means she’ll be home around 2:30pm,” Jack told Gabby; Zoya worked 10hr shifts at a clinic in the residential part of town.
Gabby zoned out momentarily as she ran a few calculations. “Okay, I think I can get most everything ready by then,” she nodded with a smile on her face, “assuming that you get Missy done right after me, followed by Camren.”
“I was actually planning on doing Enja right after Camren,” Jack told her, “do you want me to do Camren instead?”
“Yes please,” she nodded, “I need Camren because she’s shorter…Enja and I are more or less the same height, so I can easily handle her tasks until she’s ready.”
“Fair enough,” Jack shrugged, “it doesn’t really matter to me which order I do them in, to be honest.”
“Thanks, dear.”
“My pleasure,” Jack smiled, finishing the last bite of his omelette and downing the rest of the orange juice.
As soon as he was done eating, Gemma smoothly swooped in and collected both sets of dishes before taking them to the sink for cleaning.
“I know, I’m in a rush,” Gabby shrugged, indicating she’d instructed Gemma to do so wirelessly. “I wish I could communicate with these guys like you can,” Jack mused, as they both got up and exited the kitchen; Gemma swiftly approached the dining table to clean as soon as they left.
“Well, won’t you be able to with that project you and Zoya are working on?”
“I hope so,” Jack smiled, since it was still in the planning stages, and would likely be an irreversible procedure. They approached the lift leading down into his lab moments later, and stepped in, patiently waiting for it to empty out on the bottom.
When they arrived in the lab, Jack was pleased to detect fresh air circulating, with a soothing scent of peppermint.
“I had Ellie and JB clean the filters before we got down, and spritz them with some peppermint oil,” Gabby said, enjoying the content look on Jack’s face, “I know it helps you relax, and you work better when you’re relaxed.”
“I love you, Gabby,” he said, turning to her and planting a loving kiss on her lips.
“I love you too, dear,” she said, her face flushed as they broke apart.
When they walked out into the main lab, they saw Ellie and JB getting things ready for Jack. They had his computer terminal booted up, Gabby’s upgrades all laid out on a side table, and all of Jack’s tools ready. They even had a few snacks and drinks ready on his desk.
“Wow, you really want to get upgraded,” Jack laughed.
“You bet I do!”
“Well, you know the drill,” he told her, giving her a playful spank on her but as she began disrobing.
“Yep, and I get to borrow Ellie and JB for a while, right?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, getting logged in on his computer.
“Thanks,” Gabby smiled, pausing briefly in the middle of removing her clothes to transmit instructions to Ellie and JB. Once she was finished, they nodded politely and headed to the lift.
“We’ll be back in a few hours Jack,” Ellie called back, “Have fun!”
“You know I will!” He called back, before turning back around to gaze down on his wife, now fully nude with her primary torso panel removed, waiting patiently on the examination table. “Let the fun begin.”
Season One Closed for Christmas - The Shop | The Repair Shop - Part 1 | Off-season - The Motel | The Repair Shop - Part 2 | Slow day - The Cafe | The Small Business - End-of-Year Review
Season Two Homefront - The House | The Repair Shop - Part 3 | Green Thumb - The Greenhouse |