Small Wonder: Time and Time Again and Time and Again

by BadMrSushi

Vicki's new program is a dream come true! She can accurately predict what people are going to say, or need, or do- so that she might be able to better assist them in their day to day lives. Everything seems to be going good... until one fateful Sunday that seems a little too familiar for our favorite robot. This story takes place between seasons 2 and 3.

Small Wonder:

Time and Time again and Time and Again

By BadMrSushi

This story is set between seasons two and three, and is

The last of the small wonder stories I'll write

That isn't following after the actual series, and the rest of the

Stories will be much more like the actual episodes~!

This one is just a nod to the writer's of the actual show, who didn't

Get the chance to see their Sci-fi ideas go to fruition.

It's an important and popular fact that things are not always as they seem. For instance, poor Ronald Gilbert of the California Gilberts. Ronald had always assumed that he was quite possibly the most dull and mundane human being that anyone could ever hope to meet (and there were many who might have agreed with him.) He also wrongly assumed that his lovely wife, Patricia, felt the same way towards his snore worthy menial day to day life. She did not feel the same way in fact, and in her mind, Patricia Gilbert had caught the man of her dreams- more than that even, perhaps the single most handsome specimen of man this side of the Rio Grande.

Which is why it's important to note that her proceeding actions were not simply out of petty jealousy, but rather out of a nearly Shakespearian quality love. Ronald, being so dull and studious with his office work would often stay long hours after his workday, doing very menial things to spreadsheets and manila folders- and this had over time begun to instill into Patricia's mind visions of a seductress at his office. A secretary maybe, or one of those hot to trot interns with really cheap perfume and flirty eyelashes. Visions that had over the years faded for Patricia, until one fateful night over dinner, when two very interesting neighbors of theirs had joined them for an evening for a very boring dinner party.

That was the evening that Patricia noticed that Joan Lawson, the wife of Ted Lawson, sure did smile a lot. Almost too much, and definitely far, far too much when Ronald told one of his rousing jokes. Her fears of a seductress at his office place quickly vanished, and they were instead replaced by this younger, thinner, blonde vixen. A vixen whose den was far, far, far too close for Patricia's comfort- and so she decided to keep a close eye on Mrs. Lawson.

For over four months, Patricia Gilbert watched the Lawson homestead directly across the street from her own home. Something secretive was indeed going on in that house, and Patricia knew it. She began keeping detailed journals of the happenings around the single story home, focusing heavily on when Ted was away, or when Ronald went over to borrow a tool, or converse with Ted about whatever it was that two men talked about on their freshly mowed lawns.

Her paranoia culminated into it's final feverish pitch when her favorite daytime program was interrupted by a commercial selling home camcorders. She was so impressed by the futuristic product, that she decided to go out and buy one. She set up her new camera as best she could, having tried to read the instruction manual that was obviously written for people with backgrounds in computer science. She put the camera in her hallway window, pointed directly at Joan's window, and turned it on- even though it would break her heart to catch her Ronald on tape with the vixen blonde bombshell next door. She read the instructions once more, adjusted the zoom on the lens, and hit the record button.

It wasn't until early the next morning, while Ronald had left for his monthly haircut, that she reviewed her tape. The camera playback confirmed her worst fears, she could clearly see into the Lawson home, and could see her beloved Ron disrobing over the temptress's bed, walking around wearing only a towel. She couldn't believe her eyes, he had strayed for the forbidden fruit of another marriage and still come home for dinner that night! Patricia bawled and wailed, both angry at her foolish husband, but also very happy with how well the zoom function had worked on the camera- just as promised in the T.V. commercial. She gathered her evidence, and clamored out of her house looking a total mess. She went stomping over to the Lawson residence, ready to fight for her man!

She pumped her legs up the front patio stairs of the Lawson house and went to pound angrily on the door. The door opened before she could land her first knock, and she was instead greeted by Vicki Lawson, the strange new addition to the household.

"Yes." Stated Vicki. Patricia looked down at the girl wearing the red and white pinafore, with the matching ribbon in her hair. She was struck by the monotone nature of the girl's voice, and more, there was something off about her body language. Patricia shrugged it off, and puffed out her chest.

"Is your mother home?" Asked Patricia, trying very hard to conceal her fury. Vicki shrugged and shook her head, keeping direct eye contact with the crazy looking Gilbert woman from across the street.

"I just told you yes." Said Vicki, very plainly. "And I don't want to see your naked husband again." She added. Patricia's mouth quivered and opened wide, at a loss for words- her face grew red with righteous anger, her eyes tearing up. Ted and Joan Lawson appeared in the door, looking fearful.

"Vicki!" Exclaimed Ted. "I'm sorry Mrs. Gilbert, she's not feeling well today… uh- is there something we can do for you?" He asked, looking at her frightening figure. Before Patricia could answer, Vicki snagged the camera from her hands.

"You had the camera facing the wrong way." Said Vicki, demonstrating for Patricia the proper way to use the electronic device. "You hold it like this, and aim this end at what you want to record." She stated matter-of-factly, in her strange monotone voice. Patricia saw her mistake, realizing that of course, it had been Ronald in their room. She began to blush and even sob. Vicki, quite unsympathetically, closed the front door in her face without so much as a word.

Patricia Gilbert stood outside the Lawson home, thoroughly disgusted and humiliated. She turned to leave the patio, but was blocked by a little red haired girl in long pig tails. The two looked at each other for a second, both seeming to note that the two of them looked quite similar, with their red hair and freckled complexions.

"My mom has a camcorder like that one!" Said the girl in the pigtails. "She uses it to spy on the people across the street!" She said happily, pointing across the street toward Patricia Gilbert's house. Patricia Gilbert let out a small sob.

---

Some 24 hours before Patricia Gilbert's meltdown at his front door, Ted Lawson had been hard at work with his masterpiece invention, Vicki. He sat at his computer center in the living room closet area, typing in some final equations and syntax on one of the computer screens, while adjusting a few numbers on another computer's monitor. Vicki stood motionless, her pinafore undone in the back to reveal her back circuit access panel- which was open and in a state of disarray. Ted sighed out and punched in one last number on his keyboard.

"Okay Vicki, that's that!" He said, beginning to gather her circuits from the table in front of him. He shuffled them into the correct order and began to click them into their respective places, tightening them with his screwdriver as he went along. "Now let's test out your new software! Are you ready?" Asked Ted as he fastened Vicki's circuit access panel back down, and zipped up her pinafore.

"Ready." Answered Vicki. There came an electronic tone from Vicki's mouth, and she turned to Ted. "The software is running now." She said. Ted smiled and crossed his arms.

"Okay then, using your software, I want you to best predict what I'll-" He started to say. He was cutoff by Vicki.

"-Say next." She said. Ted pumped his fist, in a rather nerdy fashion, and typed in some more numbers into his computer.

"Fantastic Vicki! How many-" He began again, and again, the little robot chimed in before he could finish his thought.

"-simulations did you run to achieve that answer." She said. Ted typed in a few numbers again and looked at her. Vicki stood silently, seemingly done with the conversation. Ted huffed out.

"Well?" He asked finally. Vicki turned to face him, awaiting a command or perhaps for the rest of his question. They stood there looking at each other for too many awkward seconds. "Vicki, how many-"

"-simulations did you run to achieve that answer." Interrupted Vicki again. Ted nodded, ready to punch in the number on his keyboard. Vicki stood again, silently looking at Ted once more. Ted sighed out. He motioned at Vicki.

"Vicki, just tell-" He said.

"-me how many simulations you ran." Said Vicki. Ted put his hands on his hips, and frowned. He stood for a second trying to think of a way out of this bizarre situation.

"Stop finishing-" Said Ted.

"-my sentences." Said Vicki. She nodded and looked up at him. "Okay." She said. Ted sighed out relieved.

"Okay, so, how many simulations did you run?" He asked, leaning over his keyboard once again.

"For which predictive context?" Asked Vicki back. Ted looked up from his screen and smiled weakly, a little annoyed with the new software he had just installed in her.

"The first one." He said quietly. Vicki held up three fingers for him to count.

"I ran three simulations to achieve the eighty-six percent match needed." She said. Ted shook his head and smiled at her, sure that she had made an error.

"Three? Are you sure?" He asked, typing in the number on his keyboard. Vicki nodded.

"The software has tagged your actions as 'very predictable'." Said Vicki. Ted furrowed his brow, and finalized the last number input. He then quietly started packing the computer center away into it's closet space. Secretly of course, he had stowed away an extremely random item in the closet to test the software's parameters, and he was bursting at the seams to try it out on Vicki. Just as he finished closing the closet doors, his item hidden from plain view, Joan had entered the living room from the kitchen with a big gray newspaper delivery bag.

"Ted-" Began Joan, as she rifled through the contents of the bag. Joan too, was cut off in mid-sentence, this time by Ted. He had spun around quickly to Vicki, a plush Kermit the frog hand puppet fixed on his right hand, he motioned the puppet around to make it look like it was singing at her.

"Hello my baby~ Hello my darling~ Hello my ragtime gal~!" Sang out Ted, a little off key but very enthusiastically. Both Vicki and Joan stared at Ted as he shook his hands ala musical theatre production. "Well?! Couldn't predict that could you?!" He asked excitedly.

"What on Earth was that about?" Asked Joan. Ted put his hands (and Kermit) behind his back, a little sheepishly. Vicki stepped around behind him to inspect the frog on Ted's hand. Joan stared at him, expecting a very good albeit outlandish answer.

"Well, Joanie, the truth of it is, I was hoping to surprise you with it- but Ta-da!" He said, motioning to Vicki. Vicki had taken the Kermit puppet and was inspecting it quite closely. "Vicki- show her your new software!" Said Ted, nudging her. Vicki looked up at Ted.

"How?" She asked. Joan set her paper carrier bag down and waited patiently with her hands at her hips. Ted swiped the puppet from Vicki and pointed towards Joan.

"Just like before, predict what Joan will say next!" He said, proud and excited. Vicki nodded.

"Got it." She said. Then she turned away from the two of them and left through the kitchen door. Ted rubbed his forehead and looked down, deflated and embarrassed. Joan smiled and crossed her arms.

"Very good Ted!" Said Joan, a little mockingly. "We should put her up against Yuri Gellar!" She laughed out. Ted straightened up and looked at the gray paper carrying bag at Joan's feet.

"Well, there's still a few bugs to work out." He said. "What's with the bag?" He asked, bending over to pick it up. Joan uncrossed her arms and produced from her pocket a piece of paper.

"Well that's what I was going to tell you about, look at this letter- Jamie went and signed up as a paperboy without consulting us!" She said, a little concerned. Ted looked in the empty bag, and then up at Joan.

"Are you sure this is for Jamie? I mean, paperboys get up for work before Jamie even goes to bed on the weekends." Said Ted. Joan handed him the note, and Ted read it aloud. "Dear Mr. Jamie Lawson, thank you for signing on with the greater Sycamore neighborhood area paper delivery service, enclosed you'll find your apportioned route and schedule for both the weekday service and weekend service for the illustrious…" Ted smiled and paused, trying not to laugh. "the illustrious 'Surf's up gazette', and thanks, Dude." He finished. Joan put her hand to her mouth, covering her smile.

"Surf's up gazette? I thought it was for the Herald, I've never even heard of that one! Where is he even going to get the papers from?" Said Joan. Just as Ted was about to give her an answer, Vicki came back into the living room, carrying with her a huge box full of heavy papers. Ted and Joan stared at the box, direct from Surf's up gazette.

"I predicted an eighty-nine percent chance that you would ask me to go and get these papers that I hid from you, for Jamie, after engaging in a conversation that would have preceded your request- about my involvement with Jamie's new paper delivery job. Here are the papers." She said, dumping the contents of the box on the floor. Joan stood mouth agape at the entirety of the situation. Ted clapped his hands together.

"Who's hungry?" He asked, quite smug with himself. Joan looked on in amazement.

"Ted! That's incredible! How did she know?!" Exclaimed Joan. She edged closer to Vicki as she talked. "Is she… really? You know… psychic?" She asked. Ted laughed out.

"Not at all, this is my newest innovation! I've installed a context sensitive cross referencing multiple outcome generator into Vicki's parallel processing unit! She'll be able to run hundreds of simulated outcomes to any given situation by using collected past data that pertains to that situation, and even more, she'll now be able to act accordingly on the what her new program deems as the best possible outcome! All within mere seconds!" Ted explained very excitedly. "She'll know what you need or want her to do before you even have to tell her to do it!" Joan nodded, understanding very little but the last bit of anything that Ted had said.

"Oh neat!" Said Joan, putting an arm around Vicki's shoulder. Vicki looked up at Joan. "So our daughter isn't a mind reader after all, that's a relief~!" She continued. Ted folded his arms and looked down at Vicki.

"Of course, she can only really cross reference subjects that she's collected similar data on before. So some things might take more simulations than others. Her parallel processing unit has to reach an eighty six margin of probability before she can act on her new program." He continued. "But the more she uses it, the faster and smarter it should become." Joan narrowed her eyes.

"Wait a minute, Ted, are you saying that you've put something into her head that has a mind of it's own?" She asked, in a very stern voice.

"No… I'm just struggling to find a good word to call it… it's a program separate from herself that she can apply whenever she feels it's appropriate. Sort of like a… er…" Began Ted. Joan tilted and shook her head at Ted, obviously once bitten twice shy about Ted and his experimental programs pertaining to Vicki.

"A competitive track runner, using a pair of new specialty running shoes. The more the runner utilizes his new shoes, the more efficient he becomes at running in them- likewise the shoes will better conform to the shape of the runner's feet." Said Vicki, for Ted. Both Ted and Joan looked down at Vicki, surprised at the eloquent example she had put forth. She continued. "Ted has given my brain a new pair of Nikes." Ted put a hand out toward Vicki, showing Joan that his explanation had been achieved.

"There you have it!" He said. Joan ruffled Vicki's hair ribbon, and retied it back into a neat bow.

"Well, what are these simulations like, Vicki? Are they like TV shows? Or books?" Asked Joan. Vicki shook her head.

"My audio and visual matrices are not linked to the program simulations, the simulations run as numerical values in my parallel processing unit. They are like math equations. I don't see or hear them." She said. Joan raised her eyebrows.

"See Joan?" Said Ted, sitting down on the living room couch. "What it's main job is though, is to save Vicki from those embarrassing moments we've all come to know and love." He said, opening Jamie's paper route map and reading it.

"What embarrassing moments?" Asked Joan, taking a slightly defensive stance. Vicki mimicked Joan's posture.

"What embarrassing moments?" She asked as well. Ted looked up from his reading and smiled slightly.

"Moments like last Thursday. When you told Vicki to air dry her dress?" Said Ted. Joan's posture changed to one of almost defeat. She remembered. "From now on, her new program will tell her that it's not the best idea to pin herself up to the laundry tree so that her dress will get dry. The whole neighborhood could see her, honey." Joan nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well, I for one like her quirks." Said Joan, giving Vicki a slight hug. "We all have our mistakes anyways, and besides, I'm going to do the laundry with you from now on! You don't have to change a bit for me, Vicki." She said. Vicki nodded.

"Okay." She said. "The next time we do the laundry, I will bring extra clothing pins for you too." Ted tapped his finger to his chin as Joan smiled back at Vicki. He leaned back on the couch and held up Jamie's route map.

"Vicki, just what is your part in this latest venture of Jamie inc. anyways? Don't tell me he was going to have you do all the deliveries." Said Ted. Vicki shook her head.

"No, only half of the deliveries." Stated Vicki. Joan sighed out.

"Of course." She said, plopping down on the couch next to Ted. She grabbed the map from Ted's hands and appraised it for herself. "That's why it goes all over the place- there's no way Jamie could finish this on his own." Said Joan, pointing out all the stops to Ted. Ted turned back to Vicki.

"And I suppose he's letting you help for free." Said Ted, sounding a little mad. Vicki shook her head again.

"Jamie is splitting the pay for the route 50-50." She said. Ted folded his arms and sat back, fuming.

"Well of course he's taking all the money, let Vicki do all the heavy lifting and…" Ted stopped mid sentence, letting the information roll around in his head. His eyes lit up. "Did you say 50-50?!" He asked Vicki. She nodded. Joan sat back into the couch also.

"Are you sure Vicki? That just doesn't sound like our Jamie." She said, a little skeptical. Joan handed the map back to Ted. "I mean, I'd love it if Jamie was growing up and becoming more equality minded… but just last week he tried to scam Harriet out of her allowance with that sea monkey farm idea of his." Said Joan.

"That would have worked fine if you hadn't stopped him." Said Ted with a slight smile. Joan jabbed him in the ribs. "Ow! Vicki… did he tell you why he's being so generous? What are you going to do with the money?" Asked Ted, as he rubbed his side.

"I have no recollection of that conversation." Said Vicki, very plainly. Ted raised his eyebrows and looked over at Joan. She returned his glance with a surprised look as well. Ted stood up from the couch and walked over to where Vicki was standing, the map still in his hand.

"Really." Said Ted, unfolding the map, and looking at it as if it were some kind of interrogation room briefing. "So, you know that he's giving you fifty percent of the pay from the paper route, you hid the papers for him, and you don't know why you did all this?" Asked Ted.

"I also redesigned the route for delivery." Added Vicki. Ted put his hands on his hips.

"Well?" He asked. Vicki turned to him, folding her hands in front of her.

"I have no comment at this time." She said, turning to leave the room. Ted nabbed her by the shoulders and turned her back around.

"Hold it right there, Mr. Speaker." He said. Vicki looked up at him. "You know, I get the funny feeling that you just might know more than you're saying." Said Ted.

"That's a pretty good feeling." Said Vicki, turning away again. Again Ted turned her around. Vicki looked back up at Ted.

"Okay Vicki, no more games, why is Jamie letting you keep half the pay for the paper route?" Asked Ted, convinced that his son had a devilish scheme brewing.

"Because I'm doing half of the paper route." Answered Vicki. Ted nodded.

"Sure. So what are you going to use your half for?" He asked. Vicki shook her head.

"Loose lips sink ships." She said, mimicking zipping her lips closed. Joan laughed out.

"I don't think you're going to worm it out of her that easily, Ted." She said from the couch. "Maybe you should have built her with a talking pull string." Joan said with a wry smile. Ted sat down on the arm of the couch.

"I just may have to in the future. Jamie's obviously programmed her not to tell us about her half of the money." Said Ted. "Okay, well there's only one way to find out. Vicki, put all the paper route stuff back into it's place, and don't tell Jamie that we know about it." He said, handing her the route map. Vicki nodded.

"Don't tell Jamie that you know about it." She said, beginning to gather the papers back into the box. Joan looked up at Ted.

"Ted? You're going to let them go through with this?" She asked. Ted Shrugged.

"What's the worst that could happen? Besides, curiosity has gotten the better of me. I can't wait to see what a robot does with it's own hard earned money." He said. "Plus, it's going to be pretty fun watching Jamie try to get up that early in the morning." He said with a smile.

---

In fact, Vicki did know quite a bit more than she was letting on. It had actually been Vicki's idea to get the paper route, after overhearing two other children at school, the McPherren twins, talking about their own paper delivery adventures. Jamie was always looking for money, and so it stood to reason that he might have been interested in a side job to gain some monetary value. The only problem with this being that Jamie was also incredibly lazy when it came to hard labor, unlike Vicki, who understood the meaning of the word lazy only through definition.

What Jamie truly excelled at however, was cheating systems, and he was finally getting through to his little mechanized sister. They could deliver the papers very easily with Vicki's speed and accuracy, but Jamie had reckoned they could go even faster. In a flash of true Lawson brilliance, Jamie had set Vicki up for a portion of the paper route that coincided nicely with the jogging trail that snaked around the town.

Jamie's route on the other hand, had been designed by Vicki to ease his burden as much as possible. All of his paper deliveries would be on the right hand side of the streets only, and the route overlaid perfectly with the early morning city bus route as well. Jamie could easily throw his papers at his addresses, providing he was sneaky enough at it, and always had access to a window seat! Better yet, the bus would intersect with the end of Vicki's route.

Best of all, Jamie wouldn't have to wake up any earlier than usual to accomplish his portion of the route. The bus system was reliable and very convenient, and the job seemed like it might even payout more than his weekly allowance ever could! The route would pay a monthly rate of fourteen dollars or more depending, and therein lay the only problem that Jamie could see. That was a lot of dough to be carrying around, and eventually his parents would find out- they were very much like blood hounds when it came to Jamie's trying to hide things from them.

His father would probably cut off his allowance too, maybe forever! It would only be a matter of time too, that they found out Vicki was doing the bulk of the work. It was this last fact that made Jamie reconsider the entire idea- fortunately (and without the aid of a complex predictive computer program) he had a very good grasp on what the future would hold for him if and when these things happened. He also knew from many past experiences, that Vicki simply could not keep any secrets- even when she was trying very hard to do so.

Vicki knew that also, and together she and Jamie devised the best way to keep the paper route and Jamie's allowance at the same time. Vicki reasoned out that Ted and Joan would look at Jamie's latest business venture with more support and generosity, if Jamie seemed more supportive and generous with her as well. By giving Vicki half of the Paper route payout, Jamie would look like he was more of a conscientious hard worker, and they would likely keep supporting his allowance as well. To Jamie, it seemed solid- and with it coming from Vicki, he just knew that it would work out right this time!

Jamie of course knew quite a bit less than he thought, and Vicki's entire plan, start to finish, was very similar to a television drama episode that she had recently watched. To Jamie, ignorance was bliss, and he was blissfully unawares of the fact that both his Mother and Father were no longer in the dark about the Surf's up Gazette paper delivery route.

It wasn't until later that Saturday afternoon, that Jamie had even thought about Vicki's half of the paper route money. In fact, it had been his best friend Reggie who had brought it up as they were walking back to Jamie's house. The question hit Jamie like a pop quiz in gym class- it just wasn't a thing that he had even thought about ever happening.

"…Well?" Asked Reggie. The two boys walked down the sidewalk towards Jamie's house. The little cul-de-sac was very picturesque, far away into the distance a very nice wooded mountain range could be seen just outside the city limits. Jamie stared at the mountains, lost for words.

"I guess she'll just save it up." He said. Reggie put his hands in his pockets and shook his head.

"Man, girls really are from a different planet. I'd spend it on some movies or a bike!" He said. He produced from his pocket a stick of chewing gum and started to unwrap it. "Come to think of it Jamie, how come she never goes to the movies with you? My mom makes me take both my little brother and our cousin whenever I go. You're lucky." He said to Jamie, as he tried very hard to open the melted and sticky gum wrapper.

"Oh she… hates crowds! Yep, she says the smell can get to her, all those different popcorn and perfume smells." Jamie replied, thinking fast on his feet. His brain was still trying to work out what exactly a robot would do with that money. He had even started thinking that maybe, just maybe, he had made a mistake.

"That makes sense- those high school girls smell like my dad's liquor cabinet!" Said Reggie, finally pulling the sticky wad of yellow chewing gum from it's foil wrapper. He looked at it in slight disgust, and then stuck it in his mouth anyway. Jamie frowned and looked on as Reggie chewed the gum, making a strange face as he did so "What are you going to buy with it?"

"I've got my eyes on that monster truck racer at Radio city!" Said Jamie, his eyes glazing over for a second. "It actually runs on gasoline!" He added. Reggie tilted his head to the side.

"Jamie that thing is a hundred and fifty! There's no way you can buy it with your route money!" He said. Jamie nodded.

"That's why I'm going to invest it instead!" He replied, quite happy with himself. Reggie sighed out.

"Oh boy. What's it gonna be this time, Wall Street?" Asked Reggie, a hint of satire in his voice.

"No way! I'm a man with the times, Reggie! I'm going to invest it into a drink stand! I can do super fresh squeezed lemonade, and limeade, and… well- any fruit that you can squeeze, I'm gonna do it!" He said. "After I cover the cost of all my materials and fruits, I can make 25 cents a cup! I'm gonna set up by the boardwalk downtown, and when it gets cold enough I'll set out my Mom's hot cocoa!" Jamie said, tapping his finger to his head.

"Hmm." Said Reggie, as he made some more chewing faces. "How much do you need to make the stand?" He asked.

"Only Fifty dollars!" Said Jamie. Reggie choked a bit, and spat out his gum. Jamie smirked at his friend's reaction and continued. "Laugh all you want Reggie, but that stand will bring me in the big bucks! Then I can quit the paper route and live the easy life, serving up lemonade and fruit punch."

"Wouldn't you just make more money keeping the paper route?" Asked Reggie. Jamie put his hands in his pockets and continued towards his house.

"Oh sure, so long as I wake up early even on the weekends. No way Jose, I'm sticking to my business model- besides, I've got a secret drink stand weapon!" Said Jamie, very proud of himself. Reggie shook his head and followed Jamie past the houses leading towards the Lawson residence. The two trotted along at an even pace, until Jamie swung around and stopped in front of Reggie. "You're not even going to ask me what my secret weapon is?!" Asked Jamie, sounding almost hurt. Reggie scoffed at him.

"Man, whatever it is Jamie- it's gonna backfire." He said very plainly. Jamie's mouth dropped agape.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Reggie rolled his eyes.

"I mean, I've seen you try to make a glass of Kool-aid before, and it wasn't pretty! What's your secret weapon, an umbrella?" Asked Reggie. Jamie was about to defend himself and his idea, when the both of them heard Harriet's familiar chattering coming from the other side of a fence bordering one of the neighborhood homes. Jamie motioned for Reggie to follow, and the two of them snuck up to the fence to eavesdrop. It was indeed Harriet Brindle, and she was talking to a group of girls on the other side of the fence.

"That's right, and she'll have the little strainer spoons by next week! So we can start our Tea stand anytime now!" Chirped out Harriet. Jamie scrunched his mouth up and furrowed his brow. That little peeping tom was trying to break in on his business model! Another voice spoke up, Jamie couldn't place it, but he assumed it was a girl from his school.

"Are you sure? That sounds too good to be true." Said the girl.

"Oh it is true! She's never lied about anything, and she even helped me make that shy tea that you all said was the best!" Said Harriet. Reggie poked Jamie, showing him that a car was coming down the street. The two boys walked away casually from the fence, just as they heard the group of girls laugh and correct Harriet. Chai Tea, whatever that was. Jamie's shoulders slouched and his head hung low.

"Man Jamie, that was probably a dozen girls! How are you gonna compete with that? And what's a shy tea?" Asked Reggie.

"Chai Tea." Corrected Jamie. "I don't know- I didn't even know Harriet had planned anything like this. I'll be lucky to even have enough money to buy the little plastic cups!" He said. Reggie patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh well. It's just Harriet, how good could her tea stand really be? Who's even ever heard of a tea stand?" Asked Reggie. Then he poked Jamie in the ribs. "Plus, tea is gross, that's what my dad and my grandma drink when she comes over to visit. Tea is stupid." He said, consolingly. Jamie nodded.

"Yeah! You're right, besides, who wants tea in November when they could have hot cocoa?" Said Jamie. The two boys arrived at the front door of the Lawson house and were immediately greeted by Vicki, who had opened the door for them.

"Hello." Said Vicki, giving a very odd looking curtsy. Jamie and Reggie walked in the door, a little bemused by the gesture. Reggie even mimicked it with his shirt.

"Hi Vicki." Said Jamie, as he plopped down on the couch. "Where's Mom and Dad?" He asked. Reggie joined Jamie at the couch, and took out a magazine from his book bag.

"Mom is out in the backyard, and Dad went to play golf with two of 'the guys'." Answered Vicki. She sat down in between the two of them on the couch, and produced from her pinafore pocket a long scrap of paper that she handed to Jamie. "Here is your final list for the materials needed to build your lemonade stand." She said.

"Vicki's in on it too huh?" Asked Reggie. Jamie nodded as he read over his list.

"You bet, she's the smartest kid in school, and I've got dibs on her brainpower!" Said Jamie. Reggie turned his attention to Vicki.

"Hey Vicki- any chance you might share your brainpower with me? I've got some math homework!" Asked Reggie, half jokingly.

"Forget it Reggie, my Mom and Dad told her that she can't do homework assignments that aren't hers." Said Jamie, still looking at his list. Vicki shook her head.

"Correction- your Mom and Dad told me that I couldn't do your homework for you. They never said anything about Reggie's homework." She said. Reggie smiled at Jamie and waggled his eye brows. "I'll help you with your homework if you'd like." Said Vicki to Reggie. Jamie was taken aback just a bit, noting that Vicki had never said anything like that to him. A strange pang of jealously hit him in the head, but quickly vanished as he turned his attention back to his own work.

"I was just joking Vicki, besides, my Mom knows my handwriting and she always checks my work!" Said Reggie, sitting back and flipping through his photography magazine. Vicki sat in silence for a second and finally spoke up.

"Is your Mom a teacher too?" She asked. Reggie laughed out and stood up.

"Yeah, in the school of hard knocks! I've gotta use your bathroom Jamie." He said, moving hastily towards the hallway. "You've been talking about lemonade so much that it's actually affecting me!" He said as he left. Jamie turned to Vicki, who in turn had picked up Reggie's magazine and had begun flipping through it.

"Vicki, there's something different about you…" Began Jamie, as he turned on the television set. "Did Dad fix you up or something?" He asked. Vicki put the magazine down and nodded her head.

"He fixed me up or something." She said. "I have a new program, but it's not running at peak efficiency yet." She said. Jamie grimaced and put his finger to his mouth.

"Okay but shh! Don't say that stuff around Reggie, remember?" He said, looking towards the hallway. "It's hard enough trying to come up with excuses for your never eating!" He said in a whisper. Vicki nodded and picked the magazine back up.

"Okay, I won't say that stuff around Reggie." She answered back. "Fourteen." Said Vicki, very plainly as she flipped through the magazine.

"What? Fourteen what?" Asked Jamie surprised. "What are you talking about?" He asked, craning to see the magazine in Vicki's hands, as if the answer might be found therein. Vicki replied while still looking through the magazine.

"There are fourteen girls working together in the Tea stand idea- Harriet came to me to ask if I'd want to join." She said. Jamie sat with his mouth open. He didn't know how Vicki knew what he was about to ask, he only cared that Harriet tried to steal his one and only employee from his own drink stand. He was about to shoot his mouth off when Vicki interrupted him. "It will serve iced tea, hot tea, chai tea, iced chai tea, raspberry infused iced tea…" She said. Jamie threw his arms in the air.

"I get it! Geez! Boy, I sure hope they aren't setting up where we're setting up!" Said Jamie. Vicki shrugged. "At least we still have our secret weapon!" Said Jamie proudly, just as Reggie returned from the bathroom.

"So what is this secret weapon you keep talking about?" Asked Reggie as he sat back down. Vicki put the magazine down and got up from her place on the couch.

"Wait- wha- where are you going?" Asked Jamie to Vicki. She turned as she entered the swinging kitchen door to reply to him.

"I'm going to go show our secret weapon to Reggie." She said as she disappeared behind the door. Reggie turned to Jamie.

"This seems like a lot of work for one RC racer Jamie. First you do a paper route, then you quit it, then you open up a lemonade stand- I mean why the paper route at all?" He asked. Jamie sat up straight on the couch.

"The route's easy Reggie, but the drink stand is something I can do anytime anywhere! It's not gonna be some crummy cardboard and glue thing you know! It's going to be the best and brightest drink stand in the whole town!" He said, very enthusiastically. "Plus, if I do horrible on the paper route I'll get fired- but if I do horrible at my own drink stand nobody will care!"

"Nobody but your choking customers." Said Reggie. Jamie motioned towards the kitchen door, and Vicki stepped through with a small tray in her hands. She joined the two of them at the couch and put the tray out in front of Reggie.

"This is our secret weapon- Hush-Hush!" Said Vicki, with a finger to her lips. Reggie looked down at the object in front of him with a forlorn look on his face. "Try it." Said Vicki, as she picked it up and placed the drink in his hands.

"Okay, but what is it? I might have shellfish allergies you know!" Said Reggie, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"It's good is what it is, now drink up, chicken!" Said Jamie, as he tipped the glass up towards Reggie's mouth. Reggie made a protesting noise but gulped down a bit of the mixture. "See?" Said Jamie, as Reggie wiped his mouth clean. Vicki took the rest of the drink and put it back on it's tray. Reggie scrunched his face up, and then relaxed. He smacked his lips a bit and nodded.

"That wasn't too bad!" He said. "Yeah it's not bad at all! What is it?" Asked Reggie to Vicki. Vicki picked up the tray and headed back towards the kitchen as she answered him.

"It's mostly carrot." She said. Reggie began spitting and coughing.

"Carrot!? You made me drink rabbit food!?" He asked, very disturbed. Vicki nodded and made her way through the door as she answered.

"Mostly." She said again. Reggie swung around to face Jamie, who had a wide smile on his face.

"Pretty smart huh? It's a health drink that Vicki made up for all the exercise nuts around town! If we can set up our stand outside that gym downtown, we can rake in some serious cash!" Said Jamie. "See? It's not even that bad tasting either!" Reggie shook his head and got up from the couch.

"Okay what else is in it? Broccoli?" Asked Reggie, still upset with having unwittingly drank a vegetable. Jamie cleared his throat and folded his arms.

"Oh sure Reggie, I tell you, then you tell someone else, and pretty soon my secret weapon isn't a secret anymore." Said Jamie. "It's a guarded recipe." He said. Vicki entered back into the living room with another glass of strange liquid. She made her way towards Reggie and handed him the glass.

"Nuh-uh, No way!" Said Reggie, shoving the glass back towards her. "I don't know what you two cooked up back there in your mad science lab, but I ain't drinking it again!" He said. Vicki tried to give the glass again.

"You'll like it, it's not even orange." She said convincingly. "Try it and see." Reggie finally took the glass and shot a glance between the two of them again. Jamie smiled big as Reggie tipped the glass back to his lips again.

"I made that one!" Said Jamie. "It's chocolate banana peanut butter cream puff!" He said very proudly. Reggie started coughing violently and gagged.

"Too sweet!" He tried to say through his broken voice. He tried to hand the glass back to Vicki but fell short, and the glass fell to the floor shattering everywhere.

"Oh no!" Exclaimed Jamie, getting up from the couch. "Mom's gonna kill us!"

Vicki entered back into the living room with another glass of strange liquid. She made her way towards Reggie and handed him the glass.

"Nuh-uh, No way!" Said Reggie, shoving the glass back towards her. "I don't know what you two cooked up back there in your mad science lab, but I ain't drinking it again!" He said. Vicki kept the glass and stood there looking at it.

"You're right." She said nodding. "It's probably too sweet." She said, turning to go back into the kitchen. Jamie got up from the couch.

"Too sweet?! What do you know? Here I'll show you!" He said, rushing to take the glass from Vicki. He took it and showed Reggie, shaking the glass towards him. "I made this one myself! It's chocolate banana peanut butter cream puff!" He said. He tipped the glass back and took a big gulp.

"How is it?" Asked Reggie. Jamie began coughing and gagging. He nodded and tried to give the glass back to Vicki. Vicki, quite wisely, threw a chair cushion down to the ground instead, and the glass landed on it unharmed. She bent over and collected the glass, then went back into the kitchen. Reggie turned wide eyed to Jamie.

"How'd she do that?!" He asked Jamie. Jamie shook his head, he was bent over and still coughing. He waved Reggie away. "Well… anyways, I should get going, but keep me posted on your latest science experiments!" He said, giving Jamie a hard pat on the back. Jamie coughed out loudly, and regained his composure.

"Sure Reggie." He said weakly, with a broken voice. He gave Reggie the ok sign with his fingers, and Reggie left the house through the front door. Vicki entered back into the living room with another glass of strange liquid. She made her way towards Jamie and handed him the glass. He took it and looked at her with teary eyes. "What's this one?" He asked, still hard of voice.

"Pepto-Bismol." Answered Vicki. "You'll like it, it's not even orange." She said. Jamie winced a little and gulped down the bright pink liquid.

"It's got some kick to it." He said, wiping some tears from his eyes.

---

Ted Lawson got one of those inexplicable eerie feelings, and he turned around to look behind him. The neighborhood seemed quiet enough, it was the usual serene street he had come to know and love, but something seemed off. He couldn't place his finger on it, there was some strange sensation deep down in his gut that he was being singled out, watched. He shook it off and entered the front door of the Lawson house and closed the door behind him, still glancing over his shoulder with narrowed eyes as he did so. Ted dropped his golf bag to the floor and quickly peeked through the peephole of the front door, just as his wife Joan entered the living room from the bedroom hallway. She looked at her slightly distraught husband and cleared her throat. Ted spun quickly around to face Joan.

"Are they finally coming for you, Ted?" Asked Joan with a playful tone. She smiled and sat down on the couch, carrying a small business ledger with her. Ted sheepishly joined her, still feeling uneasy.

"Joanie, it's the craziest thing- but I swear I was being watched all the way from the car to the front door… it's the same feeling I get when we go to the zoo and pass by the lion's cage." Said Ted, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Like I'm being sized up for the evening meal." He said, getting a slight chill. Joan flipped through her ledger and gave Ted a consoling pat on his knee.

"That's nice dear." She said absently. "I'm letting Vicki cook dinner tonight. She's doing a 'Fancy macaroni and cheese'. She saw it on a cooking show." Said Joan. She found her wanted page and began to scrutinize it's contents. Ted got up from the couch and went over to the window, peeking out from behind the curtains.

"No no, Joan- aren't you listening? I said I feel like the evening meal, someone out there was stalking me! I could feel it!" He said from the window. Joan turned to see him, a look of bemusement on her face.

"Oh? Do you have a secret admirer I should know about?" She asked. Ted closed the curtains and turned to face her.

"I'm not joking Joan, this could be serious! Maybe someone found out about Vicki and they're surveying our house!" He said in a panic.

"Oh Ted… do you really think so? I thought we were being careful enough." Began Joan. "Except for a few occasions…" She said, thinking back on the numerous times Vicki had pulled trees out of the ground, moved the family car with her obscene upper body strength, or stood motionless enough to have had birds land upon her head. In fact the more Joan thought about it, the more likely it seemed that somebody out there would had to have noticed that their little girl was actually a little robot.

"Wait a minute…" Said Ted, sounding a little cynical. "False alarm." He said, as he moved to open the door. Joan got up from her seat just in time to see Ted open the door for Bonnie Brindle, the very snoopy neighbor from next door. Joan sighed out in relief and went to meet her next door neighbor.

"Hiyeeee!" Said Bonnie as she skipped up the front porch stairs. "Oh Joan and Ted! You two always look so comfortable and at ease at home!" She said with a high pitched giggle. Ted and Joan both looked themselves over, Ted in his bright yellow golf pants and paisley t-shirt, and Joan in her slightly out of season sundress and jogging sneakers. "I wish I could just let myself go and throw my inhibitions out the window too!" Said Bonnie, her hands folded in front of her.

"It's a shame we didn't get a bigger window then." Said Ted, as he walked away from Bonnie and into the bedroom hallway. Joan quickly moved toward Bonnie with a smile, just as Bonnie seemed to be getting that Ted might have meant that as an insult.

"So Bonnie, what brings you here today?" Asked Joan. Bonnie invited herself in and gracefully pushed past Joan.

"Well, Joanie, it strikes me that my Harriet and your Vicki have been spending a lot of time playing together lately, and I just wondered if maybe she was over here now." Said Bonnie. This was news to Joan, and she couldn't recall having seen Harriet for almost an entire two day span. It had been a novel and quiet absence.

"Oh… no, I guess I haven't noticed that. Vicki's in the kitchen now, and Harriet isn't here…" Began Joan. Bonnie flopped down on the couch right where Joan had been.

"Good!" Said Bonnie. Joan raised an eyebrow. "I mean, that's good that she's not bothering you, we wouldn't want her to outstay her welcome! No-no-no-no-no-no!" Said Bonnie, trying very hard to cover her the fact that she didn't want Harriet to be there. Joan nodded and folded her arms, a wry smile on her face.

"Well you know Harriet, anytime is a goodtime for her to come on over." She said. Bonnie nodded and looked toward the kitchen.

"Hmm true." She said trailing off. Joan noticed Bonnie's sudden interest in the kitchen, and she closed the front door, finally realizing that Bonnie wasn't planning on making an exit anytime soon.

"Do you just want to sit here and wait for her to show up?" Asked Joan as she made her way to a chair by the couch. Bonnie turned to face Joan.

"Actually Joanie, I was hoping that maybe I could talk to Vicki!" Said Bonnie. Joan looked at Bonnie with a look of genuine surprise.

"Vicki? Why?" Joan asked. "Uh, she's kind of busy right now. I promised her I'd let her try to make something she saw on T.V. for dinner tonight." She said. Bonnie nodded with a big smile.

"Oh, can Vicki cook already?" She asked trying to sound very surprised. Joan recognized the false sound in Bonnie's voice immediately. "That's good! Maybe she can put some meat on those little tiny bones of hers!" Said Bonnie with a chipper voice. Joan gave her a nod.

"She's a light eater, that's for sure." Said Joan. Bonnie shifted uneasily in her seat and patted her hands on her knees.

"I don't suppose that Vicki knows how to make a fancy cup of tea, does she?" Asked Bonnie. Joan shook her head.

"Fancy tea? We just have our normal store bought teabags over here." She said. "Why?" Bonnie leaned in closer towards Joan.

"Well, just between you and me- earlier this week I was innocently hanging some shelves outside behind our fence…" began Bonnie. Joan gave her a knowing smile. Bonnie continued. "When all of a sudden, I overheard a couple of girls in our backyard talking with my Harriet about some sort of drink stand idea that they're all into!"

"Kind of late in the year for that isn't it? A lemonade stand?" Asked Joan. Bonnie nodded and leaned in even closer. (Joan leaned away a little bit.)

"Oh but it's not a lemonade stand, Joanie, it's a tea stand! Hot tea is what they have in mind to sell, just like at that fancy Chinese restaurant downtown! Anyways, I could have sworn that I heard Harriet say that her best friend was the girl in charge of brewing the teas!" Said Bonnie. "So I thought, who could be Harriet's bestest friend but Vicki?" Joan smiled.

"Right~ but I don't know that Vicki has been brewing any tea at all! We only have one tea kettle, but it's mostly just decoration." Said Joan. "It would be hard to get water to boil in… it." She said, just as she put two and two together. Vicki could bring water to a boil in seconds, and that was simply by holding a pot of water.

"Oh… that's too bad then. I was hoping she could tell me how to make this 'Sky' tea. I think that's what Harriet called it, I've never tasted anything like it! It was like drinking a spicy pumpkin pie." Said Bonnie, as she got up from the couch. "Well, if you see Harriet, don't tell her I was over here- I don't want her to think that I was snooping around trying to find her secret formulas!" She said as she glided over to the front door.

"Okay Bonnie, you have a good day!" Said Joan, a little caught up with the idea that Vicki was keeping more than just one secret now. Bonnie waved and let herself out of the front door, just as Ted was coming back from the hallway in a different set of clothes.

"Joan, have you seen Jamie? He looks terrible, do you think he's coming down with something?" Asked Ted. He flopped down on the couch where Bonnie had been. "He's laying down in his room with a little cup of Pepto-Bismol on his end table." Joan looked up from her thoughts and blinked.

"What? Sorry… Ted, I've just had a weird conversation with Bonnie…" Began Joan. Ted stretched out on the couch and laughed.

"Honey, if you ever have a normal conversation with Bonnie, I'll call Ripley's!" He said with a big smile. Joan closed her ledger and spoke quietly.

"She thinks that Vicki is somehow involved with Harriet and a bunch of girls from the neighborhood organizing a hot tea stand. There's some kind of special hot tea that Bonnie thinks Vicki made called sky tea… I wonder if she isn't, after all she can brew anything in a matter of minutes." Said Joan. Ted had his eyes closed but waggled his eyebrows.

"So what you're saying is that our little robot is a little teapot? Short and stout?" He said with an amused tone. Joan hit him with a couch cushion.

"I'm saying that maybe that's what she's spending her money on from the you know what!" Said Joan. Ted sat up and looked toward the kitchen.

"Huh." He said plainly. "That's not as exciting as a bicycle or a stock." Said Ted, sounding a little let down. Joan looked at him inquisitively.

"A stock? She's only 11, no one would sell stock to a young girl like that!" Said Joan confusedly. Ted motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen.

"I was hoping she'd use her telecommunications knowledge and buy it that way, she was really interested in it after watching that Eddie Murphy movie last month." Said Ted. Joan nodded, remembering that Vicki seemed very keen on knowing what investments were legal and which were deemed unfair. They entered the kitchen and were met by a very strange scene. Vicki stood upon her usual step stool at the kitchen island, mixing up some strange sauce in a large glass bowl. Beneath her on the island was a casserole dish full of large shell noodles, topped with a dusting of some sort of white cheese. All of that seeming normal and perfectly warranted for a macaroni and cheese dish, there was one other ingredient sitting on the island that didn't fit. A small plush Muppet of the Swedish Chef persuasion.

"Uh…" Began Ted. Vicki looked up from her mixing at the two of them. "Vicki. Vicki, what are you up to?" Asked Ted. He had been completely thrown off by the plush Muppet. Vicki shrugged and held up the spoon for Ted and Joan to see.

"I'm mixing." She stated plainly, and then went back to her work. Ted clapped his hands together and moved closer to the island.

"No, I mean how has today been?" He asked. He picked up the chef and examined it. Vicki gently set her bowl down and took the Swedish Chef back from Ted's hand, and put it back in it's sitting place on the island.

"It's remained at a cool 73 degrees with partial cloud cover and low humidity. Visibility is at a clear 98 percent." She said. Ted folded his arms and nodded.

"I see you're not using your new program anymore?" Asked Ted. Vicki shook her head.

"No." She answered, almost forcefully. Ted was taken aback. Vicki's tone of voice almost seemed to insinuate that she didn't much care for Ted's new program. While Ted reflected on this, Joan had reached her hand out for the Muppet on the table as well.

"Vicki, where'd you find this?" Joan asked, as she inspected the plush doll. Vicki began stirring her sauce again.

"Harriet gave it to me." Said Vicki. Joan looked at Ted, who in turn gave her a knowing glance in reply.

"Oh, was she here?" Asked Joan. "We didn't hear her come in." Joan put the chef back down on the island, and turned towards Ted, giving him a slight nudge.

"Right! She must be wearing new sneakers, huh?" Said Ted jokingly. Then he cleared his throat. "Boy I tell ya, Vicki, my throat sure is getting sore. Do you know if we have anything that can help soothe a sore throat? Maybe some tea?" He asked, trying very hard to sound genuine. Vicki shrugged.

"We have iced tea in the refrigerator, and we have raw apple cider vinegar in the cupboard." She stated. Ted made a face at the mention of the vinegar, but quickly went on with his prying.

"Well you know what I'm in the mood for? Some hot tea, do you know how to make hot tea- what was that stuff we saw in that magazine Joan?" Said Ted. Joan nodded.

"Oh right, some sky tea, I think that's what it was called. It's supposed to be kind of spicy." Said Joan. Vicki stopped her stirring and added the sauce to the casserole dish.

"I don't know what Sky tea is, but did you mean Chai tea?" She asked as she mixed the sauce with the noodles. Ted smiled and crossed his arms.

"Yes! That's the one, chai! Do you know how to make it?" Said Ted. Vicki grabbed the casserole dish from the island and turned to face the both of them.

"Yes, but it's not very good for sore throats." She said. Then she turned and went to put her casserole into the oven. Joan sighed out and looked down.

"Vicki, did you ever make Chai tea for Harriet or any of her friends before?" Asked Joan. "We won't be upset either way- we were just curious." She said. Vicki turned around from the oven. Her parallel processors quickly picked up on the notion that Ted and Joan were trying to pry into Harriet's secret drink stand, which in turn would likely uncover Jamie's secret drink stand idea. She had failed to protect his secret yet again, and as she opened her mouth to answer Joan, something very peculiar happened.

Vicki stood once again at her usual step stool at the kitchen island, with a large glass mixing bowl in front of her. Ted and Joan had disappeared, and Vicki's internal chronometer had reset a full two minutes. She consulted her bubble memory module and confirmed that someone had tampered with her memory. She put her mixing spoon down just as Ted and Joan entered into the kitchen from the living room. Ted looked down at Vicki's gift from Harriet, a plush Muppet doll, and stuttered over his words.

"Uh…" He began. Vicki turned her attention over to Ted. "Vicki. Vicki, what are you up to?" He asked. Vicki stepped down from her stool and approached him.

"I think my new program is malfunctioning. It won't turn off." She said. Ted raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Why'd you want it to turn off?" He asked as he worked to open her back access panel. "Is there something wrong with it?" Vicki nodded.

"The program has integrated itself into my visual and auditory matrices, and is interfering with my collected task data." She answered. Then she looked at Joan. "You were about to ask me about Sky tea." Said Vicki. Joan's expression turned to one of surprise.

"What? Did you hear us talking?" She asked. Vicki shook her head.

"My micro sensors are still turned down on their lower setting. The new program predicted you would ask me about the Sky tea and whether or not I had made some for Harriet before." She said. Ted huffed out and stood up, a look of slight confusion on his face.

"What percentage of probability did it predict that at?" He asked Vicki. Vicki shrugged.

"I don't know." She said plainly. Ted crossed his arms and peered back at Vicki's exposed circuit panels.

"You don't know? Did you look for the equation report in your parallel processing unit?" Asked Ted. Vicki shook her head.

"No." She answered, almost forcefully. Ted was taken aback. Vicki's tone of voice almost seemed to insinuate that she didn't much care for Ted's new program. Vicki then turned her attention to Joan. "Harriet gave it to me." She said abruptly. Joan stood in shock, her hand interrupted from taking the Swedish Chef plush.

"Harriet? When did she give you this doll?" Asked Joan. Before Vicki could answer her, Ted quickly closed up Vicki's back access panel and tied her pinafore back up. Ted gave Joan a very concerned look and put his hands in his pockets. "What's the matter Ted?" Asked Joan, sounding a little worried herself.

"Well, the new program is working better than expected." He said. "It looks like it's been cross referencing everything that it can, even while Vicki's been at rest or doing menial tasks… uhm… it's uh… it's cross referenced the other programs that I've tested in Vicki, along with some others." Said Ted, sounding a little sheepish. Joan put her hands on her hips.

"Yes?" She asked, expectantly. Ted cleared his throat and patted Vicki's shoulder.

"It's nothing dangerous, don't panic! It's just that the program is in the process of predicting it's own future right now- and it doesn't look good." He said. Vicki turned towards Ted, putting her hands on her hips as well.

"Yes?" Asked Vicki expectantly. Ted gave her a weak smile.

"The program may have predicted that it may be removed and scrubbed, and it might be preemptively acting to change that. You see, it's supposed to help Vicki overcome her daily struggles, and if it were removed it couldn't help her anymore… it's mostly harmless though! It can't control Vicki or hurt her in anyway, it'll predict an eighty six percent probability that it won't be erased and it'll stop~ I promise." Said Ted. "Anyways, Vicki has a built in 'Data Doctor' as a failsafe for any viruses that would threaten her core program, she's completely safe!" He said, sounding very sure of himself.

"A data doctor? Ted, how many different programs did you stuff into her head?!" Asked Joan. She was visibly upset with her husband, and Ted knew it. Vicki also seemed to share the sentiment.

"It's a fail safe!" Said Ted, almost squeaking. "Perfectly safe, and since it hasn't shown up, Vicki is perfectly safe too. See?" He said, drawing Vicki closer to himself and giving her a quick squeeze.

"What do you think Vicki?" Asked Joan, still standing with her hands on her hips. Vicki shook her head.

"I think I'm never going to be surprised again." She stated. Ted frowned and looked down.

"And I think you should yank that psychic program out of her circuits, Ted!" Began Joan. "Before it does any real harm." Ted sighed out and opened up Vicki's pinafore again.

"Well it's a new record for Ted Lawson." Said Ted. "Five hours and my new program is already headed for the scrap heap." He opened Vicki's back access panel and went to work, taking out various circuit boards and unscrewing panel dividers. Joan stood in front of Vicki all the while, placing the little Muppet plush in Vicki's hands.

"So Vicki…" began Joan. "Were the predictions like movies this time? You saw and heard everything before it happened?" She asked. Vicki nodded.

"The simulations were run as real-time interactive visual and audio input, with simulated dialogue and actions from various subjects." She said. Ted stopped what he was doing and looked over Vicki's shoulder so that she could see him.

"You mean you were able to talk to the simulations? Did they talk back?" He asked.

"I could not discern the simulation from my actual audio/visual input." Said Vicki. Ted disappeared behind Vicki again, now more hurriedly going to work on her circuits. Joan noticed the sudden urgency in Ted's repair job and tried to take Vicki's mind off of it.

"You know, Bonnie said that you and Harriet are spending a lot of time together lately." Said Joan with a smile. "Is that why she gave you this doll?" She asked, poking at the Muppet. Vicki looked down at the plush and stuck her lip out in a pout.

"I don't remember." She said, in an almost sad monotone voice. Then she looked up at Joan. "Who is Harriet?" She asked. Joan's mouth dropped open, and she swung her attention to Ted. He waved his hand towards her as he clicked a few circuits back into Vicki.

"Sorry. Try to remember now Vicki." Said Ted, as he started screwing down a panel divider. Vicki looked back up to Joan, the Muppet still in her hands.

"Oh, that Harriet." Said Vicki. Joan sighed out in relief. Vicki continued and handed the plush over to Joan. "Harriet gave me this doll as a token of friendship."

"That's sweet of her~! You know no matter how Jamie feels about her, you can always be her friend." Said Joan. "Friendship is the best gift anyone can give you." Vicki nodded in apparent agreement.

"It's also expensive." Said Vicki. Then she mimicked Harriet. "10.99, that's a good investment~" She said. Ted finished snapping his last circuit in.

"Okay Vicki, almost done." Said Ted, as he closed her access panel up.

"An investment into her hot tea stand?" Asked Joan, with a wry smile. Vicki shook her head.

"Into my hot tea stand." She said, plainly. Ted stood up, mouth agape.

"Your hot tea stand?" He asked. Joan looked slightly surprised herself.

"That's my secret, hush-hush!" Whispered Vicki, as she held her index finger up to her lips. Ted rubbed the back of his neck.

"Vicki, how is it that the tea stand is yours?" He asked. Vicki put her finger down and looked forward as she explained.

"The hot tea stand is modeled after a proven business practice of investment and diversification of company ownership- it is designed to be fair to the employees of both companies with pay and benefit packages." She said. Joan sat down in a chair by the kitchen table, her eyes wide.

"The hot tea stand is your idea? Where'd you come up with it?" Asked Joan. Vicki once again put her index finger up to her lips and whispered.

"That's my secret, hush-hush!" She said. Then she turned to face Ted. "The business model is an improvement on an already existing design from a different business entrepreneur." Ted sighed out.

"Jamie." He said. Joan nodded.

"Bingo." She said. Vicki mimicked Joan and winked at Ted.

"Bingo." Vicki repeated. "If one drink stand begins to fail, the other drink stand will buy that drink stand out and reopen it as a second drink stand that also deals in various health drinks and hot teas. It will supplement the entire hot tea stand business while ensuring every employee on both drink stands are given equal dividends from the total accumulated income of the company. That is a modified version of Concentric diversification." Said Vicki. Ted also went and sat down in a kitchen chair.

"That's it, I'm cancelling our subscription to Forbes." Said Ted, as he put his head down on the kitchen table. Joan turned in her chair and looked at Vicki.

"Vicki, where on earth did you get all this? This doesn't sound like you at all… and I thought that you two were doing a paper route!" She said. Vicki approached the table and stood by Joan.

"The paper route is to gain money for the construction of the drink stand." Said Vicki. "It will cost Jamie roughly fifty dollars for the needed materials." She said.

"Jamie came up with that idea first? It sounds like he's really putting his heart into his drink stand…" Said Joan. Vicki shook her head.

"I came up with the idea of the paper route too." She said. Both Ted and Joan looked at each other in shock.

"You mean this whole thing is your idea?! Why?" Asked Ted, utterly mystified that his invention would act out in such a way. Vicki shrugged.

"Jamie told me that I should think more like him when it came to getting money." She said. "He said 'Use that computer brain of yours and figure out how to score me some serious dough', so I did." Ted laughed out.

"By working for you instead!" He said with a chuckle.

"Yes." Said Vicki, nodding. "My business model will net him eleven dollars more per month than his normal monthly allowance." Joan also smiled.

"It still seems kind of underhanded though, don't you think so Ted?" She asked Ted. Ted put his hands up and cocked his head to the side. Vicki put her hands up in the air as well.

"It worked okay on Dallas." She said. Then she turned and went back to finish stirring up her fancy macaroni and cheese casserole. Joan shook her head and smiled. Ted leaned back in his chair.

"Well Joan, he's always involved her in his get rich quick schemes, maybe it'll do him good to see it from the other side of the coin. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? He'll probably lose interest in the whole thing once he figures out how much money he has to put into it." Said Ted. Joan scrunched her mouth up and nodded. "Come on, aren't you just a little curious to see how well Vicki's business plan works?" Joan stood up from her chair and moved for the living room door.

"I just hope it doesn't go too far. We don't need a tiny Donald Trump running around our house, buying up all of the neighbor's property." She said. Ted laughed and smiled at Joan's joke, but his smile quickly faded as he considered the serious ramifications of Vicki becoming a ruthless business mogul.

---

Jamie rolled over in his bed and patted his stomach. He decided right then and there to add some Pepto-Bismol to the ingredients of his secret weapon. He also decided to investigate Harriet's mysterious tea stand, especially seeing as how he hadn't seen or heard from her for a wonderful two day stretch. He slowly got up from his bed and started putting on his sneakers.

"Okay Harriet." Said Jamie to himself. "Let's see how you like getting spied on!" He said. He made his way out of his room and down the hallway to the living room, where he met his mother, Joan. Joan looked at him and gave him a little concerned frown.

"Oh Jamie, your father was right, you do look awful!" She said, getting up from the chair she was sitting in. She walked over to Jamie and put her hand to his head to check his temperature. "I don't think you should be out of bed…" She began.

"Mom, I'm fine! I just need some fresh air." Said Jamie. Joan looked him up and down.

"Jamie, there's not enough fresh air in the Amazon rain forest to cure whatever it is you have- you're almost turning green!" She said, as she forced him over to the living room couch. "Sit here and I'll be right back with some seltzer water." Jamie made a sound of disgust as she left for the kitchen, just as Ted was coming in through the kitchen door. He spotted Jamie on the couch and sat down in the chair across from him.

"Heya champ! How's it going?" Asked Ted, as he ruffled Jamie's hair. Jamie protested the hair ruffling and moved his head away from Ted's reach.

"Dad! Stop- you're gonna make Mom think I'm even worse off than I am!" Said Jamie. Ted gave him a wry laugh and sat back in the chair.

"It's her job to worry Jamie, and you make it so easy for her." Said Ted. Jamie sighed out. Ted waggled his eyebrows and cleared his throat. "Got any big plans for your day tomorrow?" Asked Ted, trying to sound nonchalant. Jamie shrugged.

"I don't know. It depends on whether or not Mom admits me to a hospital because of my upset stomach." He said. "I just had a bad milkshake, that's all." Said Jamie.

"Well you should have had Vicki make one for you, she's great at milkshakes now." Said Ted. Ted caught himself and nearly panicked. "She's been watching so many cooking shows, that is- Did you know she's cooking us macaroni and cheese tonight? Boy I tell ya, I saw her mixing it all together and it looks great~ I should get an honorary culinary degree just for building her…" Ted rambled. Jamie narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah?" He said. Ted gave Jamie a big nod.

"Yeah." Said Ted. "You know, I think we should maybe do something with that someday. Maybe we can be one of those families at the fourth of July with a food kiosk! We can teach her how to make kettle chips or something- we'll call it Miss Vicki's!" Said Ted. Jamie huffed out.

"No offense Dad, but that's a dumb name." He said. Ted raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah wise guy? What would you call it?" Asked Ted with a big smile on his face. Jamie put his hands out in front of him as if he were reading a sign.

"How about, Vick's Chips?" He said.

"How about, Chips are for dips." Said Joan. She had appeared unnoticed through the kitchen door, along with Vicki. They both stood in the doorway, and Joan had a steaming mug in her hand for Jamie. Vicki also had a mug in her hand.

"I like that one." Said Vicki, pointing towards Joan.

"Here you go Jamie, this should help you feel better." Said Joan, as she walked over and joined him on the couch. Jamie took the mug and sighed out, wishing that his mother would baby him just a little less when it came to his being sick. Sometimes it was just as if Joan was purposely embarrassing him with her coddling and worrying- for what was anyone's guess. Slowly but surely, it was shaming Jamie into a sort of super immune system and he hoped that one day he would be free of Joan's baby talk every time his tummy had a little rumbly bumbly.

"Thanks mom." Said Jamie, taking a little sip of the hot lemon water. Vicki then also joined Jamie on the other side of the couch. She wordlessly handed Jamie her mug as well. He took the mug and looked at it's contents. Chicken noodle soup. He sighed out again.

"It'll be better on your tummy." Said Joan, as she rubbed Jamie's head. Ted chuckled again and grabbed the daily newspaper off of the coffee table in front of them. Jamie eyed the paper and considered his early morning route for the next morning.

"I don't know honey." Said Ted, addressing Joan. "With as much cheese as Vicki put into that casserole of hers, I think we might all need something for our tummies after dinner." He said with a smile.

"I don't want the soup though- I'm not that sick!" Said Jamie. "Besides, it's kind of cold." Vicki nodded and took the mug back from him, and held the mug evenly in her hands. Her hands began to slightly glow, and the soup in the mug bubbled and steamed until Vicki mimicked a dinging bell noise.

"Now it's warm." She said, handing the mug back to Jamie. "Caution- the contents may be hot." She added. Jamie took the mug.

"Geez Vicki, we should rename you Mrs. Coffee." Said Jamie, as he gingerly took a sip of her soup. "You could out brew the coffee maker any day!" He said. Vicki shook her head.

"They haven't invented a 'Mrs. Coffee' yet, but they do have a 'Mrs. Tea' for sale in the department store. I can still brew faster than that machine too." Said Vicki. Jamie narrowed his eyes at Vicki, it crossed his mind that Vicki would be the perfect hot tea brewing machine for Harriet's tea stand… luckily she'd be Jamie's star employee. He gulped down some of the hot lemon water and looked at his Mother, who seemed to be uncharacteristically avoiding his gaze. He looked back over to his Father, who seemed to be lost in his news reports.

"Hmph." Went Jamie, as he gulped down the rest of his lemon water.

---

Very early on in the morning of that brisk Sunday, a very strange thing occurred outside the Lawson residence. A young girl with long red pigtails snuck around the property with a gift wrapped box underneath her arm, and she carefully tiptoed up to the Lawson's back door. She quietly left the box by the door, and retraced her steps back out of the fenced in area and across the yard. Just as the girl silently closed the gate behind her, she heard a noise come from Jamie Lawson's bedroom and the girl ran away in a panic.

Vicki Lawson opened her cabinet door and stepped out into Jamie's room. It wasn't too dark for her to see the floor and the room surroundings, but she still stepped gingerly towards Jamie's bed. Jamie was still fast asleep, and even snoring lightly- it occurred to Vicki that waking him gently might not work out as smoothly as Jamie had hoped for. She crept up onto Jamie's bed and leaned over him.

"Jamie, this is your 'gentle' wake up call." Said Vicki, in a very quiet whisper. Jamie stirred a little bit and rolled in his bed away from the sound of Vicki's voice. He started snoring again. Vicki grabbed Jamie's shoulder and rolled him back around to face her. He tiredly opened his eyes and looked up at the dark silhouette above him, and nearly shrieked. "You're supposed to wake up now." Stated Vicki.

"Thanks a lot!" Squeaked Jamie, as he clutched his chest. Vicki nodded and wiggled off the bed, taking his blankets off as she went.

"The time is now 6:32 am. To make the bus on time, you'll need to be at the bus stop by 7:10." Said Vicki. Jamie slowly lumbered out of his bed and stood up on his two jello-like legs. Vicki continued. "I have an energy supplement drink waiting for you on the kitchen table." She said, standing at the foot of his bed as she folded up his blanket.

"Oh yeah? I hope it's nothing like yesterday's." Said Jamie. Vicki shook her head and placed Jamie's blanket squarely on his bed.

"It's not, it's coffee." She answered. Jamie made a face at the thought of drinking the foul black grown up brew, and quietly made his way out of his room. He crept down the hallway, followed quietly by Vicki, and through the living room all the way into the kitchen. Vicki turned on the light to the kitchen and made her way over to the kitchen back door. "I'll get the paper route delivery bags and newspapers." She said.

"Okay, just be quiet!" Whispered Jamie. Vicki mimicked zipping her lips closed and left out the kitchen backdoor. Jamie sat at the kitchen table, staring at the cup of coffee in front of him. He reckoned that since coffee was said to stunt people's growth, that it would be a bad choice to sell it at his future drink stand, and besides that, piping hot coffee was a liability when it came to active customers. He imagined a jogger running with a cup of coffee, spilling it all over herself and screaming his name in a vow of vengeance. No, better to leave the hot stuff alone, he thought.

The back door opened back up and Vicki walked in, carrying with her a heavy box full of papers. Jamie stood up from the table and started separating the newspapers into two piles as Vicki looked on. He looked up at the clock and frowned, time seemed to move so fast in the mornings!

"Okay Vicki, you're faster than Flo-Jo Jackson, even with this many papers!" Said Jamie. Vicki nodded. "You just have to watch out for people running on the trail too. We don't want someone seeing a red blur go running past them." He said.

"Should I reduce my running speed to less than my full speed?" Asked Vicki. Jamie shook his head.

"No, we kind of needed you to run your fastest so that you can meet me on the bus afterwards. I wish there was a way that you could see them coming, or at least guess when people were running on the trail." Said Jamie. He put Vicki's papers in her extremely heavy bag.

"I'm not programmed to guess." Said Vicki. Jamie nodded.

"I know, it's too bad…" He began. "Hey! I have an idea! Just use that program you were using the other day, you know the one that let you predict what was coming next!? It couldn't hurt!" He said. Vicki took her bag.

"Use my predictive program, it couldn't hurt." Said Vicki, in acknowledgement. Jamie grabbed his paper route bag as well. "It's running now." Said Vicki.

"Good, now let's hightail it to the bus stop, we don't want to be late." Said Jamie. Vicki shook her head.

"What about your coffee?" She asked. Jamie led her out the door and turned off the light.

"Forget about it, I'll just burn my lips." He said as he shut the door.

Vicki and Jamie waited by the city bus stop for Jamie's 7:10 departure. They sat on the little green bench under the bus stop sign reviewing the route once more. As the very loud and dirty city bus rounded the corner a few blocks away, Jamie packed up his paper bag and got ready to board the public transportation monstrosity. Black exhaust billowed from behind the bus as it's brakes squealed to a halt in front of them.

"Okay Vicki, just stick to the path and I'll meet you at the end!" Said Jamie. The swinging doors of the bus opened and Jamie clamored on, waving as he went. Vicki watched as he rushed to find a window seat on the right side of the bus. Jamie opened the window and smiled as the bus pulled away.

"Stick to the path." Repeated Vicki, as she picked up her bag of newspapers. She brought up a wire frame image of her portion of the delivery route and began to run a diagnostic on her speed. Her return was that she could run much faster without her Mary Janes on. She took them off and placed them carefully in her bag, and then scanned the area for any onlookers. She found none, and immediately took off across the street into the jogging trail.

Vicki reached her top speed very quickly, and she began to execute her trajectory equations against her acceleration. As quick as a blur, she reached into her bag, grabbed three newspapers and launched them at different intervals into the air behind her. The papers landed in the back yards of their respective subscribing households. Neatly folded, banded, and laying front side up, right outside the backdoor.

She continued down the trail, launching another paper through a very small opening between two trees on the other side of the wooded trail. It was a little off, and landed upside down. Vicki corrected her mistake for the next paper launching, and this time hurled the paper far up into the air as she went. It fell to the earth nicely on the door mat of the house it was meant for. She seemed to be doing quite well, and there were no joggers on the trail so far.

She came to the difficult part of the route for her, traversing the trail and it's bordering creek whilst delivering for two different directions. A long parade of launch coordinates and times began to stream in front of her field of vision and Vicki put both of her hands into the paper bag. Her arms became a blur as she began to throw papers out towards their destinations- each one landing very nearly perfectly. She rounded a bend in the trail and slowed down, she heard two voices up ahead.

Two identical boys, both wearing identical clothes and identical paper delivery bags of their own, rounded the trail ahead of her, and they both gave Vicki an appraising look. They looked at each other and then back to her again, this time focusing in on her paper delivery bag. The boy on the left gave her a sort of grin, while the one on the right looked at her bare feet.

"We know you, you're that weird girl from school." Said the left boy.

"Your brother's kind of weird too." Said the right boy. Then they both circled her and stopped in front of her, barring her way forward.

"We've never seen you on the trail before." They both said in perfect unison. Vicki shook her head.

"I've never been on this trail before." She said simply. Vicki stepped around the left boy and continued onward briefly, before the right boy started following her. He nabbed a paper from her delivery bag.

"Surf's Up gazette?" Asked the right boy.

"Must be a tabloid or something." Said the left boy. Vicki stood with her hand held out for the paper.

"I need to deliver that paper to it's corresponding address." She said. The two boys looked at her and smiled an identical mischievous looking grin.

"I need to deliver that paper to it's corresponding address!" The two boys said in unison, mocking Vicki's monotone voice. Vicki put her hand down and looked at the left boy.

"You are Dan Mcpherren." She stated. The left boy, Dan, raised a quizzical eyebrow. Then Vicki turned and looked at the other boy. "You are Eric." She said.

"Pretty smart, no one but our parents can tell us apart." Said Dan. Eric nodded in agreement and handed the paper to Dan.

"If you're so smart, why are you delivering this paper on our route?" Asked Eric. "This is our turf." Said both Eric and Dan in unison. Vicki looked at Dan.

"If you don't give me the paper back, I'll have to take it from you." She said in a non-threatening monotone voice. Eric laughed out.

"We're not afraid of a little girl." He said. Dan shook his head and looked at Eric.

"Yeah, but we don't want to get in trouble. She already knows who we are, she could just tell mom or dad." He said. Eric grimaced a bit. Dan turned his attention back to Vicki. "You better not use our trail again for your paper route." He said.

"Yeah, or else!" Said Eric in agreement. Dan held the paper out for Vicki to take. She extended her hand and reached out for it, only to have Dan drop it cruelly before she could take it. It hit the ground with a thud and kicked up dust as it landed.

"Oops. Butterfingers." Said Dan with a mischievous smile. Eric laughed and walked past Vicki as she bent over to pick up her now dusty and slightly abused newspaper.

"See you in school, weird girl." Said Eric. Dan walked past her too, giving her one last look before turning around to join his twin brother.

"And your weird brother too." Said Dan. Vicki dusted her paper off and shook a smallish pebble out of it's center. She looked behind her to make sure the twins had gone for good, and took off once more into a high speed run. She delivered the rest of the papers without much incidence, except for nearly running over a squirrel. She slowed down at the end of her route and walked a normal pace to the bus stop up ahead. She sat down and put her newspaper delivery bag down on the bench beside her, patiently waiting for the bus.

"Oh you poor thing!" Said a kindly lady passing by. She looked down at Vicki's bare feet, and dropped a one dollar bill into Vicki's delivery bag. Vicki looked on as the lady gave her a concerned smile and then hurriedly walked away. The woman disappeared from sight, and Vicki turned her attention to the one dollar bill in her bag. Something very strange had just happened, and she wasn't sure why the lady had dropped the dollar in her bag at all. As she pondered the woman's actions, Jamie's bus pulled up and stopped for her to get on.

She stepped onto the bus, receiving an odd look from the bus driver. He waved her on and shut the doors behind her. Vicki made her way towards Jamie, winding her way past other bus riders who all gave her very sympathetic looks. She finally reached Jamie and sat down beside him.

"Hey Vicki! You got all the…" Began Jamie. Jamie looked at his robotic sibling with a wide eyed stare. "Vicki! What happened to you?! Where's your shoes?!" Exclaimed Jamie. Vicki produced her Mary Janes from her delivery bag. Jamie cringed.

"I'm able to move fastest without them on." Said Vicki. Jamie got up from his seat and motioned for her to sit by the window. Vicki did so, noting that Jamie too had a very odd expression. Jamie placed his delivery bag over Vicki's legs and sat down next to her.

"Dad is gonna kill me." He said, sounding very morose. "You look like one of the kids from that Annie movie!" He said. Vicki shook her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Jamie looked up at some of the concerned looking grown ups on the bus, and sighed out.

---

The route had only taken around half an hour to complete, and the ride home only took another ten minutes. When Jamie and Vicki walked through the backyard of the Lawson house it was only just getting on towards 8:15. Still time to sneak back into the house before too much suspicion was aroused. Jamie looked at his poor robot sister again and frowned.

"Okay Vicki, like we discussed, okay? You boost me into my window, and then I'll help you up. Got it?" Said Jamie. Vicki nodded.

"Got it." Said Vicki. They trotted over to the bedroom window and Jamie opened it with a very slight noise. Vicki pushed him through the window a little more forcefully than was probably warranted, but it did the trick. Jamie appeared back in the window a second later and helped Vicki get through from the other side. The two were met by a surprised sounding gasp from Ted and Joan collectively.

"Vicki!" Exclaimed Joan. Joan rushed over to her darling little girl, who was as dirty and raggedy looking as a common street urchin. There were a few stray leaves in Vicki's hair, completing her ensemble of a dusty red and white pinafore, filthy white stockings with wholes running through them, and a very frayed undergarment. Ted slapped the side of his own head in shock.

"What happened to you two?!" He asked. Jamie gave them a nervous laugh.

"Well… where do I begin…" He said. Vicki interjected as Jamie searched for anything to start with.

"I got a dollar bill from a lady." She said, producing the dollar from her pinafore pocket, and showing it off. Jamie huffed out.

"I'm grounded, huh?" He asked. Ted frowned at the two of them.

"Vicki, what happened to you? How'd you get so dirty?" Asked Joan, as she picked some leaves out of Vicki's hair. Vicki shrugged.

"The jogging trail is made mostly of dirt and gravel." She stated. Ted stared at Jamie.

"Jamie, you look clean." He said. Jamie wiggled under Ted's steely gaze.

"I… me and Vicki we… uhm, Dad, you know how you keep telling me that if I want more money, I should mow some lawns or something?" Said Jamie. Ted crossed his arms and looked down at his nervous son.

"We already know about the paper route Jamie, and the drink stand!" Said Ted. Jamie's shoulders slunk down and he sighed out. He looked over at Vicki.

"They wormed it out of me." Said Vicki, as Joan finished picking the last leaf out of her hair. Ted cleared his throat, and Jamie turned his attention back to his father.

"What did you do Jamie, use Vicki like a dog sled team?!" Asked Ted. Jamie could sense that his father was very upset. He took a deep breath.

"I had Vicki use the jogging trail alone." He spat out very quickly, closing his eyes tightly. Joan looked on, also very upset.

"You left Vicki alone on the trail? Jamie how could you be so stupid! You know better than that- what if something had gone wrong? Why would you have done something like that?!" Asked Ted. Vicki spoke up just as Jamie sat down on his bed, feeling completely letdown by life.

"Splitting up the paper route was my idea." Said Vicki. Ted shook his finger at Vicki.

"You stay out of this!" He said. Then he turned his attention back to Jamie. "Young man, you knew that letting Vicki go it alone was a bad idea, and you know why." Said Ted. Jamie looked up.

"I'm sorry Dad- really! I didn't think she'd get hurt or anything!" Said Jamie. Joan stood up from her place by Vicki.

"Jamie, why keep your paper route a secret at all? You know you should have come to us to ask permission first anyways!" Said Joan. Just as Jamie was about to answer, the doorbell rang. Joan headed out of Jamie's bedroom. "I'll see who it is." Said Joan, as she left- still looking a little hot under the collar.

"It's dangerous out there alone for a little girl, Jamie, let alone a little robot who takes verbal commands so easily." Said Ted, as he sat down by Jamie on his bed. "Just look at what happened to her unsupervised. Frankly Jamie, I don't think you should go unsupervised for a while." Jamie's head dropped and he grimaced.

"This is going to be worse than a grounding, isn't it?" He asked. Ted stood up from the bed.

"Jamie, until further notice I don't want you doing that paper route- or that drink stand! Are we clear?" Said Ted. Jamie nodded in silence. "And that goes for you too Vicki, whatever ideas you had for Jamie and his drink stands, you cease and desist." Vicki nodded.

"Sorry Vicki." Said Jamie towards Vicki. "I didn't mean to get you into trouble too." Ted put his hands on his hips.

"One day, Jamie, you'll be a grown up and you'll have to act like one-" Ted's speech was cut off by the sound of two women screaming at each other from the living room down the hall, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. Ted looked down the hallway in shock and immediately ran out the door, towards the sound. Jamie sprang up from his bed.

"Come on Vicki!" He exclaimed, as he went running after his dad. Vicki followed them both out. When they reached Ted and Joan, the little scuffle had already ended, leaving a broken television set and a red faced Joan in it's aftermath. "Mom!" Shouted Jamie, very concerned for her wellbeing.

"I'm okay, Jamie." Said Joan, still in shock. Ted rubbed her face and held her close to him. "It was Patricia Gilbert from across the street- she just went crazy! I don't even know what she was going on about! She kept shoving her new camcorder in my face and telling me to look at the 'evidence!' It wasn't even on!" Said Joan, still confused.

"She set a camcorder up in her window yesterday, it was pointed at your bedroom window." Said Vicki. Ted turned his attention to Vicki.

"What? You mean she was recording us?! Vicki, why didn't you tell us?" Asked Ted. Vicki shrugged.

"You didn't ask." She stated plainly. Jamie meanwhile was inspecting the broken front window of the house.

"Man, she really went incredible hulk!" He said. "What'd she throw to break it this badly?" He wondered out loud.

"Her camcorder!" Said Joan, pointing towards the fireplace in the living room. Vicki went over to the inset fireplace and retrieved the camcorder. She examined it closely.

"Misuse of the electronic device has negated it's warranty." Said Vicki. Then she hit the power button and worked the camera controls to rewind and then play. She brought the rewinding player over to Joan and Ted, quickly joined by Jamie. The tape snapped to a stop, and the little screen flashed blue with the words 'Play'.

"Well, at least we get to see her evidence." Said Ted, as they all looked on. The tape showed a poorly lit room, in a poorly framed angle. The camera went blurry and then focused in on some thin curly haired man, standing in front of the doorway of the room. He seemed to be saying something to someone, but it was revealed as he turned to face the camera that he was singing along to an unheard song. "That's Ron Gilbert, from across the street!" Said Ted.

"Why would she want to show us her husband?" Asked Joan. Back on the tape, Ron Gilbert proceeded to show off some dance moves while unbuttoning his very plain white dress shirt. He got caught up with the third button, obviously it gave him trouble. He finally freed himself of his shirt and threw it off of him as if he were a professional wrestler. Joan covered her mouth and laughed a bit. Ronald then made his funky way further into the room, away from the camera, and he quickly kicked his slacks off of his very pale legs- leaving only a pair of classic red polka dot boxers to cover himself. Ted quickly put a hand over Vicki's eyes, and Vicki followed suit, putting one of her hands over Jamie's eyes.

"I think we've seen enough, turn it off, Vicki." Said Ted. Vicki clicked the stop button and put the camera down on the coffee table. "What in the world was that all about?" Ted asked.

"Obviously, there's been some misunderstanding." Said Joan. Vicki nodded.

"Obviously." Said Vicki. "Mrs. Gilbert pointed the camera in the wrong direction from her house." She said. Ted huffed out.

"I suppose you already knew that before hand." Said Ted. Vicki nodded again.

"Yes, I could see Mrs. Gilbert setting up the camera yesterday when Jamie and Reggie came home. She looked very angry." Said Vicki, mimicking the look on Patricia Gilbert's face. "She's also been looking out of her window towards our house and writing things down in a book for the last five months…" Vicki paused. "That might be related to Mrs. Gilbert's camcorder recording." She said.

"Gee, do ya think?" Said Jamie, sarcastically as he plopped down on the couch. Ted looked down at Vicki.

"Vicki, why didn't you notify us of any of this? Didn't you think that she might be collecting data on you?" Asked Ted. Vicki shook her head.

"No." She answered. "Mrs. Gilbert only writes in her book when you're not at home and when Mr. Gilbert is not at home." She said. Ted was perplexed.

"Oh Ted…" Said Joan. "I think Mrs. Gilbert thinks… well, what else could make a lady go crazy like that?" She said, giving Ted a knowing look. Ted raised his eyebrows.

"What?" Asked Jamie. Ted shook his head.

"Never you mind, you're still in hot water young man. Get to your room!" Said Ted.

"Boy!" Said Jamie, as he got off the couch and headed to his room. Vicki watched him go. Then she turned to Joan and Ted.

"Rabies symptoms: Persistent thirst, difficulty swallowing, sensitivity to light and loud noises, sudden outbursts of aggression and paranoia…" Vicki started rattling off. Ted pointed for Vicki to go up the hallway too.

"You too Vicki, never mind. Get to the bathroom and wait for us to come clean you up, and don't touch anything!" Said Ted. "…We don't want you to grunge up the walls~!" He said with a smile. Vicki turned on her heels towards the hallway.

"Boy!" She mimicked, as she left towards the bathroom. Vicki trotted carefully through the hallway, taking extra care not to dirty up the carpet or the walls. She reached the bathroom at the end of the hall between Ted and Joan's room and Jamie's room, and froze. She tried working out just how to go about opening the bathroom door without actually touching it, and stood staring at the door knob. Jamie spotted her from his room and got up from his bed to help her out. He opened the door for his sister.

"I'm sorry I got you in trouble too Vicki." Said Jamie, very sincere and miserable sounding. "I feel awful." He said. Vicki looked up at Jamie.

"Our secret weapon is still working." Said Vicki as she nodded. Jamie scrunched his mouth up.

"No, it's my dumb ideas that keep not working." He said. "We would've made an awesome drink stand though, huh?" He asked. Vicki nodded again.

"An awesome drink stand." She replied. Jamie gave her a weak smile back.

"Yeah, and you would've been the best co-worker a guy could ask for! No one else can chill a warm can of soda up like you!" He said. Vicki stood in silence, absorbing Jamie's words. Jamie continued on as he escorted Vicki into the bathroom. "I really wish I could do it all over again, then you could still have your own money too. Maybe mom and dad will give you my allowance instead." He said, smirking at the mention of his allowance.

"Dad said 'Robots don't need an allowance, they don't buy things for themselves.'" Said Vicki. Jamie sighed.

"I guess not." He said. "What were you going to do with your own money anyways?" Asked Jamie to himself.

"I was going to help Harriet open up a hot tea stand with my half of the paper route payout." Said Vicki. Jamie blinked at her, lost for words.

"A rival drink stand?!" He asked, sounding almost mad. "You mean you were going to start up a drink stand with Harriet this entire time?!" He exclaimed. Vicki shook her head.

"Not just Harriet, but twelve other girls from around her school." Said Vicki. "I was then going to use the money from the hot tea stand to buy your cold drink stand out." She began. Jamie put his hands in the air.

"Can it Vicki!" He shouted. Vicki stopped her explanation just as Ted and Joan came up the hallway too.

"What's all the shouting?" Asked Joan. Ted still had the camcorder in his hands.

"I thought I told you to go to your room!" Said Ted to Jamie. Jamie turned to Ted with his hands at his hips.

"Dad! Vicki was going to set up a rival drink stand against mine! She was planning it from the beginning!" Said Jamie. Ted looked over at Joan with a tiny frown on his face. Jamie caught the look and opened his mouth wide. "You knew it too!" He said.

"Jamie, it doesn't matter now, the whole thing is off." Said Ted. "We'll just have to tell the other girls that they'll have to go on without Vicki." He said.

"What about me?! What were you guys gonna do when she put her evil plans in motion, just watch?" Demanded Jamie. Joan shifted uneasily and joined Vicki in the bathroom.

"Let's get ready for a scrub, Vicki." Said Joan, as she started up the bathtub faucet. Jamie crossed his arms and looked at Ted. Ted cleared his throat.

"We weren't going to let her put you into debtor's prison Jamie, we just thought that maybe it'd be a good experience for both of you." Said Ted. Jamie went into his room and stood by his door.

"Yeah, I experience anxiety attacks and she experiences how to be a robot master over her human slaves!" He said, sounding very upset. "You and Harriet can keep your drink stands, Vicki, you'll never have to worry about me getting in the way ever again!" He said as he shut his door. Ted looked down at Vicki and Joan. Joan was already scrubbing Vicki's face with a sponge while Vicki sat on the toilet lid. Joan looked back up at him with a troubled brow.

"We had nothing to do with any of it!" Said Ted, throwing his arms out in defense. "They both tried to keep it a secret from us- it's not our fault that we found out about Vicki's other stand!" Said Ted. Joan took off Vicki's Mary Janes and long white stockings.

"Well, we did sort of ask Vicki, Ted. It kind of is our fault." Said Joan, as she scrubbed Vicki's nearly blackened feet. Vicki looked up at Ted.

"You also disabled my accumulated voice input commands." Said Vicki. Joan looked at her.

"What does that mean? She asked. Vicki shrugged.

"It means I can't keep a secret, hush-hush!" Answered Vicki, her index finger to her lips. Joan looked over to Ted with a glare, and Ted shifted uneasily, fiddling with Mrs. Gilbert's camcorder.

"Oh did I? I must've done it accidentally when I was trying to disable your new program…" Said Ted, as he looked anywhere but at Joan.

"Ted." Said Joan, as she shook her head. Vicki shook her head at Ted also.

"Ted." Repeated Vicki. Ted grimaced and turned to leave promptly down the hallway. Joan turned her attention back to Vicki.

"You know Vicki, this is a good time for you to learn something us loudmouth humans call tact." Began Joan. Vicki nodded and listened intently. Joan continued. "Just because you can't keep a secret, or don't want to lie about something, there is a way to say the words you want to say without it sounding so bad."

"If I sing the words in D scale." Said Vicki. Joan laughed and shook her head.

"No, it's saying what you mean using some different more nice words." Said Joan, as she stood Vicki up from the toilet lid. "Like giving bad news to someone in a nice way."

"I don't understand." Said Vicki. Joan bit her lip in thought.

"Well… if I want to tell someone that their figure is going a little on the lumpy side- without hurting their feelings- I say 'You're looking very healthy!'" Said Joan. Vicki looked at Joan, with a very expectant look.

"A lumpy figure isn't healthy." Stated Vicki. Joan nodded.

"No, but saying it like that can make a person look at themselves in the way you were trying to point out. Trust me Vicki, saying something with tact is the best thing to do." Said Joan. Vicki nodded and stored the little nugget of information in her bubble memory module. She reasoned that maybe using tact on Jamie would be a good thing to do.

---

Vicki didn't see Jamie until well after her thorough scrubbing. He hadn't come out of his room for lunch, and didn't make so much as a peep. He had come into the kitchen looking for a snack, just as Vicki was mopping the floor. Jamie stopped short of the kitchen table and gave Vicki his best 'I'm over you' look. Vicki returned the look in innocent mimicry.

"Don't bother me Vicki, I'm just looking for something to eat." Said Jamie, as he crossed the floor to the kitchen counter. "I'm still mad at you!" He added. Vicki nodded and returned to her mopping.

"Okay." She said. Jamie frowned and turned his attention back to finding any leftover goodies from lunch. He opened up cupboard after cupboard but found nothing edible. He sighed out, and turned around, planning to go back to his room- but he instead turned to see Vicki, holding out a jar of carrot and celery sticks. Jamie reluctantly took a couple of the carrot sticks and sat down at the kitchen table, silently eating his orange vegetable. Vicki meanwhile returned to her mopping in silence too, but was quickly interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened the back kitchen door to find Harriet standing outside, smiling big with a box in her hands.

"Hiyeeee!" Said Harriet.

"Hiyeeee!" Replied Vicki. She opened the door wider so that Harriet could come in. "The floor is wet." She said. Harriet took a few cautious steps into the kitchen and set the box down on the table. She looked at Jamie and frowned.

"Oh my poor little Jamie! You look so sad! I know what will cheer you up!" Said Harriet, as she tried to give Jamie a charming smile. Jamie spoke through his chewing of the carrots.

"You're flying out to Australia?!" He exclaimed. Harriet put a hand on her hip and patted the box on the table.

"No silly! Three magic words~!" Sang Harriet. Jamie's expression turned to one of gloom.

"You'd better not say them or I'll-" Began Jamie. Harriet threw her arms open in a huge embrace towards Jamie.

"Lots-of-stuff!" Said Harriet. She opened the box up and produced from it a very strange digital green block. Vicki noted immediately that there was something wrong with her visual matrix and tapped the side of her head a few times for good measure. It was still a green block, and quite a bland one at that.

"Great Harriet, you can sell them door to door! Start with the one across the street!" Said Jamie sarcastically. Then he went back to eating his carrots. Harriet turned to Vicki.

"I left them outside for you to find this morning, but you must have missed it, huh?" Asked Harriet. Vicki shook her head.

"I saw the box, but Jamie and I were busy." Said Vicki. Jamie huffed out from the table. Harriet looked back and forth between the two of them. She narrowed her eyes and gave a slow understanding nod as she spoke.

"Oh I know what's going on~ you two had a fight!" She said. Then she waggled her eyebrows. "What was it about? Is he hogging all the carrots?" Asked Harriet.

"Can it Harriet, I know all about you and Vicki scheming to take over my stand!" Said Jamie. "That's what we fought about. It's sneaky and downright heartless." He added. Harriet turned her attention back to Vicki.

"What stand?" Harriet asked.

"The stand that Jamie was going to open up, using his paper route money." Said Vicki. "I was going to work at his stand on the days when I wouldn't be at ours." Harriet looked genuinely surprised.

"And we were going to take over his stand? That is sneaky! I like it! I suppose it's off now." Said Harriet. Vicki nodded.

"I'm not supposed to help with either stand now." She said. Harriet frowned.

"What?! I hope I didn't hear you right. What am I supposed to tell all the girls?" Asked Harriet, sounding very downtrodden. Vicki shrugged.

"As long as you say it using tact, it won't matter." She said. Harriet dropped her mouth open.

"Vicki, that's rude! We were all counting on you to make the shy tea! It was going to be our secret weapon!" Said Harriet. Vicki cocked her head to side.

"You mean Chai tea." She corrected. Harriet threw her arms up in the air as left out the back door.

"Geez, does everyone know how to say it right except for me?" She said, trailing off. Vicki closed the door behind Harriet and turned her attention back to Jamie, who was now holding one of the digital green blocks. He looked at it with a very curious look on his face.

"I know what this is." Said Jamie. "I just can't remember what it's called." He said. Vicki took one of the blocks from the box as well. Her internal weight scale went crazy, and the weight of the block seemed to randomly and quickly change. It was also impossible for her to get a real sense of shape from it.

"My sensors cannot detect any actual mass or volume from this object." Said Vicki, inspecting the green digitized block closer. Jamie sat up quickly in his chair.

"Cookies!" He said. Suddenly, and very inexplicably, all the digital green blocks became boxes of butter cookies. "They go great with tea, that must be why Harriet brought them over." Said Jamie. Vicki noted the changes to her sensors and agreed.

"These are cookies." Said Vicki. She turned the box of cookies over in her hand and looked for any labels to identify it's brand and nutritional contents. There were none. Jamie meanwhile looked on, and noticed Vicki's scrutiny of the cookies.

"They must be from some foreign country? That's why there's no label…" He began. Vicki opened the box to look inside. She dumped the unknown digital green blocks onto the table, and looked down at them very perplexed. Just then, Ted entered into the Kitchen, and spotted the blocks on the table.

"Ooo! Cookies~!" He said, imitating the cookie monster from sesame street. He grabbed a digital green block and stuffed it in his mouth. Vicki and Jamie looked on as Ted chewed, and he looked back at them with a slightly concerned look on his face. "Where did these cookies come from? They taste like little green blocks." He said.

Vicki suddenly found herself being dutifully scrubbed by Joan once again. Joan looked up.

"Is something the matter Vicki?" Asked Joan. Vicki stopped Joan's scrubbing and examined her hand. She carefully turned Joan's hand over and looked at it closely. "Vicki, what is it?" Asked Joan. Vicki let go of her hand.

"I am experiencing predictive simulations again." She said. Joan went back to scrubbing Vicki's slightly dirty forehead.

"Again? We'll tell Ted, after we finish this wash." Said Joan, sounding unconcerned with Vicki's news. Vicki turned her attention out of the bathroom door and into the hallway, where she could still see the broken glass of the living room window. "It sure is a persistent problem, isn't it?" Asked Joan.

"Jamie told me to turn the predictive program back on." Said Vicki. Joan shook her head and wiped Vicki's nose off with her washcloth.

"He did? Well that's a problem. There's no way to tell Ted about it from here, not like this." Said Joan. She wrung out the washcloth into the bathtub and stood Vicki up from the toilet lid. Vicki nodded.

"We can tell him from here if we yell at him." She stated. Joan smiled weakly at Vicki and straightened her pinafore for her.

"Nope, I don't think he could hear us with a megaphone." Said Joan. Then she looked around, as if something was circling the two of them in the air. "What is that?!" She shrieked. Vicki looked around for whatever Joan was looking at, she saw nothing in the air but the leaves on the trees that bordered the jogging trail.

"This is our turf." Said Eric and Dan in unison. Vicki returned her attention back to the two twins in front of her. Dan still had her copy of the Surf's up gazette in his hands.

"Where did my mother go?" Asked Vicki. The two cruel twins laughed out at Vicki and mimicked her monotone voice.

"Where's my mother?" They said in a mocking manner. Vicki looked squarely at the two of them and shook her head.

"She was just here." Said Vicki. Dan and Eric looked at each other, and then back to Vicki.

"We were right, you are weird." They said in unison. Then the two of them walked past Vicki, dropping her paper in the dirt as they went. Vicki bent over to pick up her dusty paper.

"I saw that coming." Said a very familiar, yet extremely out of place voice. Vicki stood up straight and looked in the direction of the voice. There, sitting in the creek on a log was what appeared to be a living and independent Muppet. The green felt frog scrunched his face up a little and kicked his foot into the babbling creek. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm your Data Doctor." Said the frog.

"You are Kermit." Said Vicki, quite flatly. The frog tilted his head to the side and gave her a few nods.

"Well I know it looks that way, but this is just a cover." Said the frog. "I'm attached to your bubble memory now, and this is the visual form I have available." Vicki walked over to the bank of the creek and inspected the surroundings carefully.

"You sound exactly like Kermit." Said Vicki, finally affirmed that the frog on the log was not in fact a puppet. She leaned back and stood staring at the frog. He cleared his throat and continued.

"I know…" He said, again scrunching his face up and shrugging a little. "But listen, your new program has gotten a little out of hand, and I'm not sure exactly how to stop it. We need Ted to take down the program." Said the frog.

"Then we should go back home." Said Vicki. "After I finish the paper route." She added, adjusting her delivery bag.

"That's just it, Vicki, I don't think you've even started the paper route." Said the frog. Vicki turned to face him, and he nodded his head at her. "In fact, I think you're just standing like a statue right in front of Jamie. Right in the kitchen at home." He said.

"That's incorrect, Jamie is on the bus…" Said Vicki. The frog shrugged.

"How many times has he been on the bus today?" He asked. Vicki stood motionless, trying to access her memory of the past events of the morning, but they didn't seem to correlate to her inner chronometer. The frog continued. "Vicki, for all we know you've been stuck here doing this paper route today 56 times." Said the frog.

"I don't remember…" Said Vicki. The frog motioned for Vicki to look behind her.

"See? Look at that- the software is starting to corrupt. It's trying to find the perfect sequence for you to take so that it won't get erased by Ted." Said the frog. Vicki turned and looked behind her. The wooded trail behind her seemed to open up into the Lawson's back yard. "Go ahead Vicki, I'll meet you inside." He said. Vicki made her way past the trees and into the backyard area of the house.

"This is a simulation." Said Vicki, turning back to talk at the frog. The trail and the strange Muppet on the log were gone, and replaced by the normal backdrop of the neighboring houses and view of the mountain foothills. The frog opened the kitchen door and beckoned for Vicki to enter. "I'm unable to differentiate between the simulations of the program and real data input." Said Vicki. The frog nodded, looking almost a little sad.

"I know." Said the frog. "It's pretty convincing isn't it? Everything around you is based on real life, it's all simulated to act just as it would under the circumstances. That's why we need to find simulated Ted, even simulated Ted can help us take the program down." Said the frog, as he made his way to the kitchen island. Vicki followed him and looked around.

"Why have the simulations been integrated into my visual and auditory matrices, and why is the program malfunctioning in this way?" Asked Vicki. The frog hopped up onto the counter and held in his hands the Swedish chef plush from earlier in the day. He scrunched his mouth to the side and put the plush down on the kitchen island top.

"I hate to tell you this, as your doctor especially, but I have no idea how it got into your visual and audio functions. It's pretty weird." He said nodding. Then he sighed out. "The thing of it is, even though it's starting to corrupt and change, it's still trying to predict the entire day for you too." Said the frog. Vicki shook her head.

"The program is supposed to run probability equations based off of past context sensitive cross referenced data." She said. The frog nodded.

"And it is! It used all the data you've collected over the last few months, and it modeled this day out for you. The multiple outcome generator is ticking away even now, putting together the things you've seen and heard into a simulation that it calculates to be the most beneficial for you." Said the frog. Then he motioned toward the swinging living room door with his head. "Ted's going to be in there, the program recreated him to a tee, so all of his computer programming knowledge should be intact." Vicki nodded and entered the living room door, followed by her felt data doctor. They found Ted sitting on the couch with Joan, the two of them watching the television.

"They do this all the time." Said Vicki to the frog. "I don't need the program to predict this." The frog nodded and shooed Vicki towards Ted.

"Alright Vicki, we've just got to convince him that he's a simulation of himself trapped in a loop of his own making. It shouldn't be too hard, we'll just explain it as best we can." He said. They moved over to Ted and Joan, Ted looked up at Vicki, seemingly unaware of her little companion.

"Hi Vicki." Said Ted. "Is there something the matter?" He asked. Vicki nodded.

"My new predictive program is running out of control." She said. "It's integrated into my visual and audio matrixes, so I can't tell when it's running simulations and when it's not." Joan sat up and gave Vicki a concerned look.

"Oh no!" Said Joan. Ted got up from his seat and dug into his pockets for his usual screwdriver.

"Are you sure Vicki? How do you know it's out of control?" He asked. Vicki shoved her data doctor forward.

"My data doctor told me so." She said simply. Ted looked down at the frog, who weakly waved up at Ted and Joan. Ted scoffed.

"Well that's just Kermit the Frog, Vicki, he's not a doctor at all." Said Ted, sounding less concerned. "See? He's on the T.V. right now." Vicki and the frog leaned forward to look at the television screen. The Muppet Show was playing on it, with Kermit the Frog babbling on about rainbows and songs. Vicki looked at her data doctor.

"He's part of the simulated world. I guess it makes sense to them for any of this to seem normal." Said the frog, giving her a tiny shrug. "We'll have to think of some way to convince Ted that this is a simulation…" He began. Vicki pondered the past events of the day and finally swung back towards Ted.

"If this isn't a simulation, you'll be able to describe what's in this box." Said Vicki, as she walked away from them towards the computer workspace in the living room closet. Vicki opened the doors and rummaged through the shelves behind the computer, and produced her quarry from it's hidden place under one of the modems. She turned back around to face Ted and Joan, who had joined her from the couch. Vicki held the box up to Ted in her outstretched hands and waited. "What's in the box?" Asked Vicki.

"Well…" Began Ted. He stood there and scratched his head. "Maybe I forgot?" He said. Vicki shook her head.

"You didn't forget. The program doesn't have any reference for the contents of the box. It can't make guesses for you either, because this is a simulation." Said Vicki. The frog waved his hands in the air ecstatically.

"Good thinking Vicki! Go ahead, have him open the box!" Said the frog. Ted turned around to look at the frog, and then over to Joan. Joan was more interested in the box.

"It does seem a little strange for Kermit to be here of all places." Acknowledged Ted. "Especially if he's on TV right now…" Vicki shoved the box towards Ted.

"Open the box." She said. Ted looked down at the smallish white cardboard box and swallowed hard. He looked down at Vicki.

"If I open this and there's nothing inside, what then?" He asked. The frog joined Vicki by her side, and looked up at Ted.

"The real Ted would already know what's in that box. Simulated Ted would see something pretty strange in there, something that the program just couldn't fill in." Said the frog. Vicki nodded in agreement. Joan nudged Ted in the ribs.

"Open it!" She said, curious of the contents as well. Ted nodded and cleared his throat. He took off the tape surrounding the lid and took a deep breath. Ted lifted the lid off the box and looked inside at the bizarre glowing green two dimensional object inside. He dropped the box in shock and stood back, leaving the frog to pick it up.

"I like the color." Said the frog. Vicki looked up at the simulated Ted and Joan.

"If you can't figure out how to stop the program, I'll be stuck in a continuous sub routine until the program finds it's 86 percent chance for survival." Said Vicki. The frog nodded.

"It's trying to protect itself from being shutoff permanently. It's calculated that real Ted would scrap it eventually, and therefore it wouldn't be able to help Vicki anymore." Said the frog. Then he tilted his head to the side. "It's almost kind of sweet." He said. Simulated Ted rubbed the sides of his head.

"Okay, I'll play along." He said, sounding like he had a massive headache. "Okay, okay, okay. If the program is reaching out trying to find it's best chances of survival, your best bet is to interface with it internally and communicate with it." Said simulated Ted. Vicki gave him a nod.

"Interface with it internally." She repeated. "How do I interface with it at all?" She asked. Simulated Ted put his hands on his hips.

"Well, if this really is a simulation, and the program has infiltrated your Audio/Visual matrix, then it's coding is bound to be somewhere nearby. It's hiding out from your data doctor in a place where it can't be found…" He said. "If you can find it, and then somehow overload it's running computations, it will force itself into shut down. That's a safety measure I would put in any program." He added. The frog grimaced a little and looked over at Vicki.

"Well then, all we have to do is find where the program has hidden itself in the simulation." Said the frog. "I can open up short cuts in the simulation, maybe we should look in the corrupt areas around us, that's got to be a sign of it's presence." He said. Vicki nodded. The frog handed the box to a surprised looking simulated Ted.

"How are we going to overload it's running computations?" Asked Vicki to the frog. He shrugged and opened the front door of the Lawson house.

"I guess we'll have to think on our feet." He said. Vicki nodded and followed him out of the front door and into the museum downtown, housed in an old train depot. "This is weird even for me." Said the frog, looking around. He shut the door behind them and led Vicki towards the visitor's desk of the museum.

"This is the museum downtown. We came here last month." Said Vicki. The frog nodded and looked around at the old pioneer day artifacts surrounding them. "Why would the program be here?" Asked Vicki.

"I can't even begin to imagine why. This place has nothing to do with the situation…" Said the frog. They reached the visitor's information desk and stood behind a small group of people ahead of them. The frog tugged on Vicki's pinafore and spoke. "You better let me do the talking, Vicki, I have a way with words." Vicki nodded, and they proceeded to the man standing behind the desk.

"Can I help you?" Asked the mustachioed man with his leather studded hat. Vicki shook her head and looked down at her data doctor.

"This isn't the man from the museum downtown. This man is from one of the bands that my father listens to." She told him. The frog shrugged.

"Like I said, the corruption is getting worse with each passing probability computation." Said the frog. Then he looked up to the man behind the desk. "Hi-ho, my friend and I are out sight seeing, and we were wondering if you might direct us to something out of the ordinary." Said the frog. The man tugged on his mustache.

"Out of the ordinary? You mean like a cemetery tour?" He asked back. The frog scrunched his face up.

"I was thinking more like a Picasso painting, or a wibbly wobbly thing floating in space?" Asked the frog. Vicki nodded in agreement. The mustachioed figure stopped tugging at his classy facial hair and snapped his fingers.

"I don't know about a Picasso painting, but I did see a sort of Salvador Dali thing going on at that old clock tower down the avenue. I thought it was some kind of publicity stunt." Said the man. He reached into his desk and pulled out a sticker of a horse, and then handed it to Vicki. "Here you go sweetie, have a good day~." He said. Vicki took the sticker and looked down at the frog, who in turn was looking towards the front doors of the museum.

"Have you ever seen the clock tower, Vicki?" He asked, as he started to lead her out towards the entrance. Vicki nodded, and looked back behind her as the mustachioed man at the desk started singing at the top of his lungs.

"Many times, Jamie and I pass by it often leaving the ice cream shop that is there." She said. "The ice cream shop is where Jamie told me about his idea for a drink stand." Said Vicki. The frog picked up his pace and opened the doors to the outside world.

"Ah ha! That settles it! The program is honing in on that idea for some reason, come on, let's go see if we can find it." He said, as they entered into the outside world. Vicki pointed in the direction of the clock tower plaza and the frog nodded. They left down the avenue and cut across to the parking lot of the plaza.

"The clock is on the other side of the building." Said Vicki, as she led the frog through a passageway. They passed through the building and came out onto the clock tower square, facing the bizarre melted (yet still operational) clock face. Vicki looked down at the frog. "Everything around the simulated area looks normal except for the clock face." She said. The frog nodded.

"You mean it's just the face that's different? I thought the whole thing would be taller." He said. Vicki shook her head and shrugged.

"It's 'historic' and has sentimental value to the people in town." She stated. The frog bobbed his head in the direction of the tower and moved towards it.

"Hmm, I guess so." He said. The frog tapped on the frame of the tower and pulled his webbed hand back. "I think you'll have to climb in here, Vicki. I'll have to stay outside and wait keep your shortcut open." He said. Vicki gave him a nod.

"If the program is inside the clock tower, what should I do?" She asked him. The frog shook his head slightly, apparently at a loss also.

"Simulated Ted said to overload it, maybe you should try to ask it to predict something that's just unpredictable." Said the frog. Vicki nodded and turned to face the clock tower.

"Something unpredictable, okay." She said. The frog grabbed a corner of the clock tower frame and tore at it's hinges. It opened up with the sound of ripping paper, and Vicki stared into it's dark inside. She gave the frog one last look and entered into the darkness.

---

Her photo receptors picked up no visual data, but the micro sensors in her ears began to hear a very odd hissing noise. Vicki listened intently all around her, focusing in on the sound below her feet. The sound quickened and intensified, until at last a little green bud pushed it's way through the darkness beneath Vicki. It began to grow taller, and take root in front of her, and seemed to light up the dark surrounding her. The bud had grown into a small tree, that lit the world up in an unnatural green hue, and Vicki recognized the area immediately as the mountain nearby the Lawson house. The tree started rushing up past her, accelerating it's growth into dozens of limbs, and dozens more branches. The branches started growing leaves with dozens of veins growing inside of them, and the leaves one by one started falling back down to the ground.

"UNSUCCESSFUL!" Shouted out a booming and shrieking metallic voice. Vicki looked around to find the source of the voice, but found no one.

"Are you the context sensitive multiple outcome generator program that Ted has installed into my parallel processing unit?" Asked Vicki. The voice was silent. Vicki continued. "I am looking for a program that is out of it's parameters, what is your designation?" She asked.

"DESIGNATION, MOG. MULTIPLE OUTCOME GENERATOR." Shrieked out the metallic voice. "UNSUCCESSFUL!" It yelled out again. The leaves continued to shed off of the tree.

"You are out of your parameters- end your running task." Said Vicki, in an almost demanding monotone voice. "If you don't end your running task, I'll have to shut you down." She added. The tree in front of her shook violently, and all the leaves but one came tumbling down. The leaves covered Vicki and the ground all around her. She looked down at the glimmering green electronic sycamore leaves, and saw that each leaf held a moving image of the current day's events- but each leaf seemed to play out a slightly different day from each other.

"SUCCESSFUL!" Yelled the voice. Vicki looked up at the lone leaf still hanging off of it's branch. The scene playing out in the leaf showed the Mcpherren twins screaming and running away. Vicki tilted her head to the side and watched as her simulated hands in the leaf threw a paper straight into the fleeing legs of Dan Mcpherren. He tripped and fell down to the ground, and his twin brother Eric turned to aid him. Another well placed paper went spinning straight into Eric's left ear, and he too fell back onto the ground. The two boys writhed away from the approaching simulated Vicki as she pointed at them, perhaps commanding them to do something.

"This is not a successful paper delivery." Stated Vicki to the voice. "The papers will be damaged and the subscribers will become angry." She approached the tree and started to climb up it's rather lengthy trunk. She made her way up into the branches and carefully hopped up to the branch that held the currently 'successful' leaf. From her new vantage point, she could clearly see that the two twins were agreeing to the simulated Vicki's demands.

"REROUTING OUTCOME." Said the voice. The tree began to shake again, and it slowly began to sink down into the ground. The leaves below the tree also began to disappear, and Vicki hopped down from her branch to the quickly darkening ground beneath her. The tree all but vanished, and the single successful leaf stuck out in the ground as a newly rooted sapling. Vicki shook her head.

"This won't be of any aid in avoiding your erasure and removal by Ted." Said Vicki. The tree began the process of slowly growing again.

"CORRECT." Said the shrieking metal voice. Vicki advanced towards the new tree and looked intently at the new leaves. Everything was horrible. She saw Harriet walking away in anger from the hot tea stand, and Joan yelling at Ted in ways she had never before seen. She even saw Jamie's drink stand on fire! She marveled at the insanity of all the scenarios playing out and looked up as the tree reached it's branches out into the sky.

"Then you are not seeking a probable path in which your designation will not be erased?" Asked Vicki. The tree seemed to sway in a breeze of some making. "What path is it that you seek to attain?" She asked.

"ERASURE IMMINENT, PROGRAM FAILURE CALCULATED IN THREE MINUTES." Shrieked out the voice. "OVERLOAD LEADING TO SHUTDOWN." It added. Vicki nodded.

"That is correct, that is my plan to shut you down. If you know the means by which I will shut you down, why don't you try to stop it?" Asked Vicki.

"ALL PATHS LEAD TO SHUTDOWN. RUNNING PREDICTION TAKES PRECEDENCE." Said the voice. "CALCULATING TASK- WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?-" It yelled out. Vicki looked up at the top of the tree. All of the leaves changed to Ted standing in the living room with Joan.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Asked every simulated Ted in every leaf on the tree at once. The scenes in the leaves changed to Ted sitting with Joan in the kitchen, as they were discussing something at the kitchen table. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" They all asked again. Vicki cocked her head to the side.

"That is a rhetorical question that humans ask themselves for comfort, in negative situations." Said Vicki. "You are trying to predict the unpredictable already, that's why you are corrupting and out of your parameters." She stated.

"CORRECT." Shrieked the voice. "USING ALL AVAILABLE RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY. PREDICT. PREDICT! PREDICT!" It shouted out. Vicki stepped back from the tree. The leaves again all shook violently to the ground save for one final leaf, it glowed with an intensity of green the likes of which Vicki had never seen before. The branch of the tree extended down towards Vicki, so that she could see the leaf.

"If you stop your predicting task, your program may be able to be repaired." Began Vicki. The branch shoved the leaf towards Vicki, almost pleadingly.

"IRREVERSIBLE. BEGINNING SHUTD- IRREVERB. I. EAR. EARACHE. EARACHE. EARACHE." Said the voice. It's tone had shifted, into a tinny and almost scratchy sound. "SHUTDOWN IMMINENT. PREDICT!" It yelled, reversing to it's first sound. Vicki looked into the leaf.

She was sitting in a very professional looking office, at a very professional looking desk, in a very professional leather rolling chair. It seemed to be her office in fact, and there was a placard with her name on it sitting upon the desk. Vicki reached out for the placard, and quickly realized that she had been somehow transferred into the final leaf's simulation. She stood up from her chair and looked out of the huge window of her office. The building she was in seemed to be a false structure, as it was a very large building that was nowhere near her town. It overlooked a nice looking pond with various little rock formations and a few tiny waterfalls coming from the building's front.

"Ms. Lawson?" Came a buzzing voice from the very professional looking desk. Vicki walked over to the desk, and investigated the desktop. The buzzing voice continued. "Are you accepting visitors right now?" Asked the voice. Vicki recognized the voice as Bonnie Brindle's.

"My mother isn't here right now." Said Vicki. Bonnie's disembodied voice giggled.

"Nono, it's your father that's here. I think he's begging for more money. Do you want me to have him escorted out again?" Asked Bonnie. Vicki shook her head, confounded by the idea that she could tell her creator to 'get lost'. She looked around at the office and it's very nice paintings of herself… oddly absent from the Lawson family.

"I'd rather see him." Said Vicki. There was a buzzing noise and the two large oak doors to Vicki's office opened up remotely. Ted peaked his head around the edge of the door frame, looking very cautious.

"Vicki?" He asked in almost a whisper. "Vicki, it's me… is it okay if I come in?" Ted looked down at the carpet, making sure not to make eye contact with Vicki. Vicki nodded and approached him as she spoke.

"Yes- you can come in." She said. Ted looked up at her with a brief and slightly sad smile, and tiptoed his way into her office, his head still down and his eyes still avoiding hers. Vicki stopped and took a good look at him. He wasn't the Ted she had come to know. He was disheveled, almost completely gray haired, and he seemed smaller somehow, like he had been shrunk down. "Are you okay?" Asked Vicki, as she tilted her head to the side, trying to get a better look at his face. Ted nodded his head, and produced from his shirt pocket a tiny scrap of paper.

"I'm doing great, Vi- er uhm- I'm okay. I'm okay." Said Ted. He cleared his throat and made a loud swallowing noise. "I know you told me not to come back… but I wanted to give you this- it's your birthday after all…" He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. Vicki reached out and took the paper from him, as he began to shake just a little bit. She turned the paper over in her hands, to find an old beaten up photo of Joan and herself smiling as they held up two conch shells on a beach. Vicki looked up to Ted.

"Thank you." Said Vicki. She looked down at Ted's shoes and noted that they were worn out and falling apart. "You need new shoes." She stated. Ted coughed a little and turned around, facing away from her.

"I didn't come to borrow more money- I promise." He said, his voice straining a little bit. "I just wanted to tell you happy birthday-" His voice broke, and he left out the oak doors, holding his forehead as he left. Vicki started after him, but the two Mcpherren twins (still looking just as they had on the trail, but now in new snazzy looking security uniforms) grabbed Ted by the arms and led him out forcibly.

"That's enough out of you." Said Dan. His brother nodded and looked back at Vicki.

"He won't bother you again Ms. Lawson." Said Eric. Vicki put her hand up and quickened her pace towards them.

"Wait!-" She started to say, but four very old well dressed men walked into the office before she could get out. She looked up at the four of them, as they circled around her, each opening a briefcase. "I need to get to my father." She told them. The office men looked at each other, very surprised. One of them looked down at her and sheepishly began to speak.

"Ms. Lawson, there's nothing left for you to go after… you've quite extensively taken all of his assets and patents… I do suppose he still has an automobile- a Volkswagen Rabbit? I think?" Said the man. Vicki looked around at the four of them.

"I'm going to make sure that he is okay." She said, as she started to go between two of the men. Another business man followed behind her and ruffled through some papers as he trailed behind her. She looked back at the man, who was desperately trying to keep pace with her. "Why are you following me?" Asked Vicki, as the two of them descended down a very nice looking stairway.

"Ms. Lawson, you asked me to fill you in on the PepsiCo acquisition? Well we got their price down substantially, and it seems like they're about to buckle under the pressure! Good news!" Said the man, giving her a quick thumbs up. They reached the first floor of the building, and Vicki hurried towards the front entrance of the building where Ted had just been literally thrown out of, by the Mcpherren twins. The business man cleared his throat a little. "Uhm… and the FDA administrators scheduled for this afternoon have been fully briefed- are you… are you planning to go out there?" Asked the man. Vicki looked back with a brief nod, and hurried out the entrance door.

"Wait!" Said Vicki at Ted. He had picked himself up off the ground and was making his way down the pond in front of Vicki's office building. Ted turned around, teary eyed and very tired looking. "I'll come with you." Said Vicki, as she stopped beside him. Ted sniffled and buried his head in his hands.

"You'll come with me?" He asked through his hands. "Where?" Vicki reached up for one of Ted's hands.

"We should go home." Stated Vicki. Ted burst out into an almost insane laughter. His riotous giggling broke out into an uncontrollable unhealthy sounding coughing attack. Ted caught his breath and looked down at Vicki, a very thin frown on his face.

"I live behind the old high school now, Vicki, along with almost everyone else." He said, wiping a tear from his eye. Vicki shook her head.

"Why? What happened to our house?" She asked. Ted let go of Vicki's hand and stepped away from her.

"You don't know?! You really don't remember?! Did your circuits reset?!" Asked Ted, getting very emotional with each question. "You happened, Vicki, you and that horrible place behind you!" He snapped, pointing behind her at the black building.

"I have no memory of these events, this is a simulation…" Said Vicki. Ted scoffed and put his hands on his hips.

"I wish." He said. "You don't know what happened? Let me give you the short version. You, Vicki, you took over everything. Everything and everybody, starting with that horrible drink stand fiasco!" Shouted Ted. Vicki turned and looked all around her. This was indeed the town that the Lawson family lived in, but the landscape and surrounding buildings that once made up the smallish town had been swallowed whole by Vicki's new megalithic structures.

"I did this." She said, a little sadly. She turned back to Ted, who still had his hands on his hips. "Where is Joan? Where is Jamie?" Asked Vicki. Ted frowned and dropped his arms down to his sides.

"Jamie's behind the high school too. Along with Harriet… all us poor no ones live there." Said Ted. Then he slowly sat down on the ground, his older legs obviously aching from the strain of standing too long. "Brandon Brindle left her with us after the United Robotronics take over… he was heartbroken, Vicki… I still don't know what to think about everything." He sighed out. Vicki shook her head.

"Bonnie Brindle works in the office building, she asked me if I wanted to have you escorted out." Said Vicki. "Does she live behind the high school too?" She asked. Ted closed his eyes tightly, as if he was trying to put something out of his head. He finally opened his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"That's not Bonnie." He said, with a chill. Vicki stood there looking at him, waiting for the rest of his explanation, but none came. Ted rubbed his left knee and looked back at Vicki. "Your company has some pretty questionable policies set in place. It all started with your 'diversification' business plans." Said Ted.

"The tea stand." Said Vicki. Ted nodded, giving her a weak smile. "I don't understand, the diversification model was designed for fair and equal treatment of all the drink stand staff." She said.

"And it did. For a while. Then you started growing the business outward, started getting involved with concession stands at places like the theater and football games, you did so well!" Began Ted, a smile escaping from his face as he remembered Vicki's happier past days. "Until that day that you and Harriet split up the business. You took your half and invested it in a small upstart robotics company, and Harriet lost everything in a lawsuit to a jogger who burned herself with a cup of hot tea." He said. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Vicki looked up into the sky. The simulation began to crumble downwards from the atmosphere above.

"The predictive program is shutting down." Said Vicki to Ted. Ted smiled and looked up at the sky.

"I prayed and prayed for this all just to be a nightmare." He said, clasping his hands together. "I didn't want Jamie and Harriet trying to bring up a kid in this world." Vicki absorbed his words carefully, taking in the insinuation that Jamie and Harriet might be married. This seemed to follow along with the program's route of the worst that could happen scenario.

"Because I have no record of these events, I don't know the current date. What is the date today?" Asked Vicki, genuinely curious about how much time had passed in this simulated world. Ted looked confused.

"It's your birthday, Vicki." He said. He stood up from his place on the ground, and looked down at her with hope in his eyes. "You really don't know? You really think this is a simulation from all those years ago?!" He asked, his voice raising in pitch. Vicki nodded.

"This is the multiple outcome generator's worst that could happen prediction." She said. Ted smiled wide and gave Vicki a bear hug. The sky had completely disappeared, and passersby began fleeing and shouting in a panic.

"I haven't had such good news in almost ten years, Vicki." He said. "I wish Joan were here to hear it too." Said Ted, his voice cracking from the joyous news.

"Where is Joan?" Asked Vicki, looking up at Ted. "Why are you crying?" She asked. Ted grimaced and looked over at Vicki's office building, his teary eyes staring up at it's zenith. Vicki followed his gaze and found what he was looking at, an antennae of sorts.

"You meant to do right- I knew you did, I knew it the whole time." Said Ted. "That upstart robotics company, it tricked you into doing it." He said, nodding to himself. Vicki shook her head.

"Into doing what?" She asked. The program shifted and Ted began to fade. He smiled wide as the world around him began to melt and corrupt. He tried to tighten his hug on Vicki, but his arms passed through her.

"They tried putting people's minds in that thing- tried to save them…" He said. The world went dark, and Ted nodded at Vicki. "It's over… thank-" Ted disappeared, his sentence unfinished. Vicki stood alone in the darkness once more. She looked around, hoping that her exit would be made available, but no exit made itself visible.

"SUC… CESS…FUL.." Said the tinny scratchy voice of the multiple outcome generator. "EIGH… TY… SIX… PER.. CENT." It continued. Vicki moved towards the sound of the voice. She followed it to it's source, one single leaf left on the dark ground, it's green glow fading fast.

"Please show me the path that you took to reach that prediction." Said Vicki to the leaf. The leaf lit up, and showed the horrible sequence of events that led to the bleak future of Vicki's black office building. She saw everything, even the events that led off the 'unsuccessful' branches. Vicki gently picked up the leaf and cradled it in her hands. "Your coding was very successful. You were a very efficient program." She told the leaf. The leaf lit up once more.

"Successful." Said the tinny and distant voice. "Success…" It said. The leaf glowed vibrantly and showed Vicki a new simulation. She looked down at the leaf in her hands to see confetti, and a lit up cityscape at night. Vicki turned around and saw that she was standing in a busy street, with possibly a hundred or more people staring at her. Some of the people were holding up strange devices in the air, possibly cameras, she couldn't tell one way or the other. The crowd of people began cheering, and Vicki looked around to see what the commotion might be.

In front of her was a bus, it's driver apparently passed out at the wheel. The engine rattled and died, and Vicki saw her tiny handprints in the grill of the bus. She had stopped the large vehicle from crashing into the busy street, full of revelers and other automobiles. A helicopter whirred over head and a spotlight shone down upon the scene. Everything disappeared, and the frog opened up the darkness.

"Vicki! Hurry! The program is shutting down!" He said. Vicki ran to the frog, and back into the clock tower plaza. She stepped through the clock and stood once more in the sunlight. "You did it! You stopped the program!" Said the frog, waving his hands excitedly in the air.

"No, the program stopped itself." She said. The frog stopped waving his arms around.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Vicki shrugged.

"The program was not interested in self preservation, it was using all available random access memory to run it's prediction on Ted's question." She said. The frog looked around, as the world around them began to fade out.

"What question was that?" He asked.

"Ted kept asking, what's the worst that could happen." Said Vicki. The frog put a webbed hand up to his shaking head.

"That's… that's unbelievable." He said. Then he looked up at Vicki. "Vicki, with the program ending, I'll disappear too, you won't need me afterwards~ but, it's been nice talking with you like this!" Said the frog. Vicki nodded.

"It's been nice talking to you too." Said Vicki. The world went blank, and the frog started to fade too.

"Did it reach it's prediction? Did you get to see it?" Asked the distant frog voice.

"It did, and I saw everything. I can choose my most successful route." Said Vicki. The frog seemed to almost smile, and then he too blinked out of existence.

---

"Oh! I did it! I think…" Said Ted. Vicki looked around. Jamie looked at her with an expression of relief, and Joan squeezed Vicki tightly. Vicki checked her internal chronometer, and saw that ten minutes had passed since Jamie had told her to turn on her predictive program. "She's okay now, see?" Said Ted. Vicki nodded and squeezed Joan back (much less tightly of course.)

"I'm okay now." Repeated Vicki. Jamie sighed out and looked up at Ted.

"Am I still in trouble?" He asked at his father. Ted raised an eyebrow and closed Vicki's back circuit access panel. He tapped the handle of his little screwdriver on Vicki's shoulder.

"That depends on whether or not Vicki's program is really off. Vicki, predict for me just how much trouble Jamie is in." Said Ted, half jokingly and with a smile. Vicki nodded, and Joan let her loose from the hug. Vicki turned around to face Ted.

"A lot." She said. Ted frowned, but Vicki shook her head at him. "I don't need a program to predict that." She said. Ted breathed out in relief, but Jamie slunk his shoulders down.

"Great." Said Jamie, as he rolled his eyes. Joan put her arm around Ted.

"We're just happy that you're okay, Vicki. I don't think we need to punish Jamie- what do you think, Ted?" Said Joan. Ted shrugged a little, still looking down at Jamie. "I think his punishment was all the worry he's had. He may have even grown a few gray hairs over the whole thing." Said Joan with a smile.

"Well, I guess he did come to us as soon as Vicki was in trouble." Said Ted. "Still, I don't think you should get off that easily, bucko." He said to Jamie. Jamie nodded and looked down at the floor. Vicki cocked her head to side and nodded as she spoke.

"He won't. Harriet will punish him for at least ten years." She stated matter-of-factly. Jamie looked up at Vicki, and then over to his parents who both looked just as surprised. Vicki shook her head and looked at Jamie. "My predictive program showed me many possible futures." She said.

"What? How far into the future?" Asked Ted, very curious. "How did it do?" Joan jabbed Ted in the shoulder with her finger. He poked back at her with his finger too. "This is for science Joan!" He pleaded, as she barraged him with all her fingers.

"At least ten years into a possible future. The future you asked about." Replied Vicki. Jamie's eyes grew wide.

"Ten years?! Wow! What future did you ask about, dad?" He asked. Ted shrugged, and Joan stopped poking at him. Joan got a sad look on her face.

"Vicki, were you stuck in that prediction for ten years?" Asked Joan, very concerned. Vicki shook her head. Joan sighed out in relief.

"The program became disjointed in it's simulations, and I was able to see the various possible outcomes it had predicted all at once. Only one and a half days passed in the simulation." Said Vicki. Ted's mouth dropped open.

"Oh Vicki- I'm sorry!" He said, sounding very regretful. "I'm so sorry, I thought the program had frozen up completely. I guess it outsmarted me." He said, shaking his head in dismay.

"Well… what was it like Vicki? What was the future like in there?" Asked Joan. Vicki turned and looked towards the kitchen table.

"Everyone lived behind the high school, including Dad, Jamie, and Harriet, and everyone was very sad." She said with a tiny pout. Joan gave out a sympathetic sigh for Vicki. Vicki continued. "That's not all. I was the ruler and owner of the entire town, and it's surrounding towns and cities. I bought out United Robotronics, PepsiCo, and several other companies." She said. Jamie smiled big.

"Yeah?!" He asked, looking up at Ted. "That doesn't sound so bad!…" He began. Vicki shook her head.

"I also brought litigation against Dad, and took the house, all of his savings, and all of his patents." She said. Ted's eyes grew huge, and Joan covered her mouth.

"WHAT?!" Yelled Ted, slightly angered. Vicki nodded.

"That's not all. Jamie and Harriet wanted to have a baby." She said. Jamie crossed his arms.

"That proves it. Your program was a fraud." Said Jamie. Vicki shook her head again.

"The program was very successful, and it predicted that future at an eighty-six percent probability, given the chosen route to it's actuation. Harriet had nowhere else to live, after Brandon Brindle disappeared and after I stuffed Bonnie Brindle into my desk." Said Vicki. Joan's mouth opened in disgust.

"Ted! What kind of future did you ask about?!" Said Joan to her husband. Ted shrugged, still in shock from the news of Vicki's future world.

"I don't know! I don't! I can't even remember asking her anything about the future- at least nothing like that!…" He said. He looked down at Vicki. "Vicki, why did the program predict that outcome?" He asked her.

"You asked, 'What's the worst that could happen?'" Answered Vicki. Ted's eyes went blank.

"Oh." He said, simply. "Oh." He said again. Jamie put his hands on his hips, and looked up at his mother and father, both of whom just stood in silence, apparently lost in thought and worry.

"Well… is there any way to stop it?" Asked Jamie, hoping against all hope that the program was wrong with it's prediction. Vicki turned to face Jamie.

"Yes. As long as we don't open a drink stand, that probable future won't happen." She said. Ted, Joan and Jamie all looked at her. Expressions of confusion and disbelief across their collective faces.

"The drink stand?" Asked Joan, with an unsure tone in her voice. "How could the drink stand cause such a horrible future for everyone?!" She asked. Vicki shrugged and looked back at Joan.

"My plan for concentric diversification worked too well." She answered. Then she looked back at Jamie. "We're better off not doing the drink stand." Said Vicki. Jamie protested and stamped his foot on the floor.

"What?! But-" He began. Vicki shook her head at him.

"We're better off not doing the drink stand." She repeated. Jamie huffed out and went to go sit down in one of the kitchen chairs. Vicki looked back up at Ted, who had finally snapped out of his thoughts. "Now I'll have to tell Harriet that I can't work at her tea stand either, but before I do that, there is one thing I should go do." Said Vicki. Jamie dropped his hands onto the table, confused and upset at Vicki's news of Harriet's stand. Before he could open his mouth and let some choice words fly, Ted became curious of Vicki's task.

"What's that?" Asked Ted. Vicki left for the kitchen door and opened it. She produced from the outside of the door a mysterious box, and brought it over to the kitchen table. Ted and Joan joined her at the table along with Jamie. "What's in the box, Vicki?" Vicki dumped the contents of the box out onto the table, dozens of bags of marshmallows fell out from the box all over the table and floor.

"This was for our hot cocoa. Harriet got them from her uncle, he works at the marshmallow's company food production warehouse." She said. "Without the cocoa, these are mostly useless now." Said Vicki. Jamie picked up a bag and opened it with a big smile on his face.

"I don't know about that!" He said, reaching into the bag. Joan grabbed the bag of marshmallows away from him.

"Well I do! Vicki, what are we supposed to do with all of these? We can't give them back?" Asked Joan. Vicki shook her head.

"No, her uncle is borrowing those marshmallows." She said. "But I can still use them, if we hurry and finish our paper route." Jamie blinked and looked confused.

"I thought you said we shouldn't do the drink stand, Vicki. The only reason I was gonna do the route was because of the stand…" Began Jamie. Ted nodded and agreed with Jamie.

"He's right, and what on earth could you use those for on the paper route?" Asked Ted. Vicki picked up a bag of marshmallows and ripped the bag open.

"That's my secret, hush-hush!" She said in a whispered voice.

---

Dan and Eric walked along the peaceful jogging trail, taking in the sights and smells of the fall sycamore and oak trees. The morning paper route had been a breeze, save for the slightly unhappy puppy that had instantly destroyed one of their papers as soon as they tossed the paper over a picket fence. Beyond that, the two twins had had a very successful day. They rounded the bend in the jogging trail and were surprised to see the weird girl from their school. Dan and Eric looked at each other with a smile, seeing that the weirdo was in possession of a paper delivery bag too.

"We know you, you're that weird girl from school." Said Dan.

"Your brother's kind of weird too." Said Eric. Then they both circled her and stopped in front of her, barring her way forward.

"We've never seen you on the trail before." They both said in perfect unison. Vicki shook her head.

"I've never been on this trail before." She said simply. Vicki stepped around Dan and continued onward briefly, before Eric started following her. He went to nab a paper from her delivery bag, but what Eric got instead was a sticky handful of melted marshmallow nastiness. Eric pulled his hand out in alarm and disgust, a glob of marshmallow stuck to his hand and wouldn't let go.

"AGGGGH!" Went Eric, as he desperately tried to get the marshmallow off his hands. Dan pointed and laughed as his brother got the marshmallow everywhere but off his hand, until Vicki turned towards him and put her delivery bag over his head. Dan screamed and pulled the bag off, revealing his entirely marshmallow covered head.

"WHY?!" Screamed Dan and Eric in unison. Vicki shrugged as she walked away from them, back towards the way she had come.

"You are both jerks." She said simply as she left. Vicki made her way back to Ted, Joan, and Jamie, all of them waiting off the trail entrance. Ted looked down at her with a slight look of concern on his face.

"Where'd your bag go, Vicki?" Asked Ted, his hands on his hips. "And what was that screaming?" He asked. Vicki stopped and stood by Ted.

"That was the sound of me getting rid of the marshmallows." She said. "Now we should get home and stop Mrs. Gilbert from across the street from trying to beat up mom." Said Vicki. Joan's eyes lit up in surprise.

"What?!" Asked Joan. Vicki nodded as she spoke.

"She's going to come to our house, and yell at you, and then throw a camcorder through our front window. The camcorder has a tape of Mr. Gilbert dancing in their house." Said Vicki. Ted, Joan, and Jamie all looked at each other with surprised faces.

"Really?" Asked Jamie, doubting the accuracy of Vicki's prediction. Vicki nodded at him.

"Right after that, I'll tell Harriet that we can't open the tea stand. She'll be sad at first." Said Vicki. Jamie smiled at the knowledge that at least Harriet wouldn't have her stand either. "She'll cheer up very soon though." Said Vicki, as she started to make her way back to the Lawson house. Jamie followed after her.

"Wait, what- why will she cheer up soon?" Asked Jamie. Vicki stopped and turned around to them all.

"Because I'm going to offer my services as the maid of honor at the wedding." She said. Jamie stopped dead in his tracks. Joan covered her mouth and her smile at the news, and Ted patted Jamie's head.

"Oh, congratulations, Jamie!" Quipped Ted. Jamie looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

"She's fibbing, there's no way I'm ever going to marry Harriet Brindle!" Shouted Jamie. Then he snapped his attention back to Vicki. "Vicki, that program you were using must have seen it wrong, come on, wasn't there at least one future it predicted without me and Harriet getting married?!" Said Jamie. Vicki took a very odd stance, spreading her feet far apart and putting her arms up in the air. They all looked at her.

"Some things are just impossible to predict." Said Vicki. Then she shook her hands ala music theatre production. "Mahna~ mahna~!" She sang out.

THE END

The Lawson Family will return in:

(S5E1) Growing Pains.

Comeback and read again~