
Wendy strode confidently across the street, a cup of coffee grasped in
her manicured hand. On each sharp footfall her breasts jerked down
before bouncing back up. Without really thinking about it she placed
each booted food directly in front of the other, causing her wide hips to
roll invitingly in the tight black mini-skirt she was wearing. Her
green fitted button down hugged her curves tightly, and she was glad
she had spent the extra effort to get one which fit her trim waist
as tightly as her breasts which jutted out in a shelf-like push-up
bra. She had only popped a few buttons, so she was not showing very
much cleavage today, but sometimes less is more.

A man ran down the street towards her, a long-lens camera trained
on her voluptuous form, the shutter madly cycling. Every so often
one of the paparazzi would make it past Wendy's screen of bodyguards.
It was less common that they would make it back out again with their
camera memory intact. Wendy secretly rooted for the sleazy
photojournalists. Her position as CEO of the world's fastest growing
tech company put her firmly in the limelight, but it did not give
her as many opportunities to indulge her exhibitionist streak as she
might have wished. Her scorching hot body and wardrobe which showed
it off already made her a scandalous figure in some circles. When
asked about it in interviews she always said that she was both a
woman and an engineer, and didn't think how she expressed her
femininity was particularly relevant to her work at Genesis.

Wendy watched with some disappointment as Anton caught up to the
daring photographer and tackled him from behind. Technically they
were on the Genesis campus, and the photographer was trespassing.
Her bodyguards would threaten the man with some pretty scary legal
repercussions so that he did not take exception to the way they
manhandled him.


"Any fires to put out today Greg?" She asked, walking into her
large office.

"No ma'am. We're firing on all cylinders, for the moment." Replied
her CTO. Genesis ran a rapidly growing cloud network,
and Wendy liked to stay informed of the operational details. As
CEO she had to spend rather more time on publicity than she would
have liked, but she still thought of herself as a hacker first.

"What do the federation numbers look like?" She asked.

"The changes you made last week have really helped deal with churn.
We can still only handle 10% churn, but if we keep improving at
this rate we should be able to maintain cohesion in the face of
realistic conditions pretty soon. I think there are still a lot
of wins to be found in the transport layer." Greg replied.

Wendy chewed her lip. Despite Greg's optimism about improvements
to Genesis's global infrastructure, bringing the newest product
to market would require a heavy dose of inspiration from Wendy.
No one else really understood the AI frameworks she had created,
although a few of her machine learning researchers were starting
to get comfortable modifying her code. But Wendy knew that if
she was going to nail distributed AI she would do it alone.

================================================================================

"Ma'am? Ma'am?" Wendy pulled an ear bud out of her right ear and looked
up at her assistant, Alex. Apparently he had been trying to get her attention
for some time.

"Sorry Alex. What's up?" She asked, saving the buffer she had been
working on. Alex looked agitated and nervous. Then again, he always
looked agitated and nervous.

"You have that Daily Show thing ma'am." He said looking at her unreasonably
attractive boss. Alex loved being part of something as world changing as
Genesis, but he found Wendy incredibly intimidating. He was forever worried
that she would notice the way he lusted after her and become offended.
He masturbated to the thought of his boss as soon as he got home every
day.

"Oh right. Lost track of time." She said standing up. The motion caused
her heavy breasts to bounce, and Alex's gaze was drawn to them as if
by some irresistible force. In her 4" spike boots she stood 6'1" tall,
which meant that his eyes were level with her luscious lips. "Let's
go." said the leggy vixen, walking out of the room. Alex scurried after
her, beating back his awe at the monument to womanhood in front of him.


"Why are we stopping?" Wendy her driver.

"I'm sorry ma'am. There's a truck blocking the way." He raised his hand
to point, but it never got there. A storm of bullets smashed through
drivers side window and turned him into a bloody pulp.

Wendy reacted instantly, diving out the door of her limo. Obviously
whoever was attacking had some way to breach her reinforced shell,
and she did not want to stick around to find out how they planned
on using it. She was surrounded by dozens of black-clad men with
assault rifles. They reacted to her sudden exit with the speed
of professionals, but Wendy was faster. Her left foot came up
in a lightning fast kick which shattered the jaw of her closest
assailant in four places. Her stolen strength, speed, and grace
made her blow hit like a mac truck with perfect accuracy. She
had not meant to kill the man, but the shock wave of her blow
rattled his brain so hard that he was dead by the time she
had brought her leg back. Before the other men could react,
she caught his falling body and used it as a shield to charge
his closest neighbor.

Even with her strength and speed she would not be able to survive
this. Fortunately, those were not the only assets available to her,
and she reached out and started draining the athletic ability
from her assailants. Within seconds she had shattered another
man's ribs with a punch and killed a third with a flying knee
to the head. She could feel herself getting stronger, faster, more
flexible, and more graceful as she fought. By the time she killed
a fourth man with another head kick her attackers were too weak
to lift their weapons. Most of them had fallen to the ground.
She continued draining their athletic ability until they could not
move. Taking the time to look around, she saw that there had been
36 attackers in total. Four were dead or dying, and the others
were helpless on the ground. *I didn't realize it had gotten this bad.*
She thought. Oh well. Soon enough it would be as if they had
never existed.

Wendy moaned softly as she drained the helpless attackers. She
had never felt so much life energy before, and it felt amazing.
It was fairly obvious what athletic ability gave her, but it
was not as clear what life energy gave her. It certainly made
her feel more energetic, but it also seemed to make her more
attractive and helped her recover from exertion whether mental
or physical faster.


"Officer Mendez, I've sent you a recording of my account of what
happened here today. I'm afraid I'm already quite late to an
appointment, so further questioning will have to wait until
later this evening. Until then my lawyers will be in close contact
with the NYPD. I understand they have already contacted the FBI
counter terrorism unit. My team will offer all of Genesis's resources
to the official investigation, as well as conducting an investigation
of our own. Once you've sorted out any jurisdictional issues, please
contact me." Jose Mendez opened his mouth, and then shut it again.
He could not quite believe that he was looking at Wendy Lau. He
really shouldn't let a victim just walk away from a crime scene
without talking to him, but the prospect of trying to stop the
formidable woman in front of him was pretty terrifying.

================================================================================

An aid whispered something in Trever Noah's ear. "hold on everybody. I'm being
told now that we will be able to have Wendy Lau on after all. In fact, she's
coming out right now!"

Wendy walked out on stage with a wave and ten thousand watt smile. The crowd
did its best to bring the walls down with sound. They kept cheering for almost
a minute after she had sat down across from Trever, and only fell silent when
both the host and his guest made dramatic shushing motions.

"Well, that was quite a reception. Do you think they like you?" Asked Trever.
His question was met by immediate cheers which took some time to quell.

Wendy smiled, "Well, I'm really grateful for the support. As you know, I
just survived an attempt on my life, and it is good to see everyone here."

"I want to talk about that for a second, that is if it's all right."

"Of course."

"Obviously, it is a big and somewhat unusual decision to continue with the
show after surviving an attack like that. What, if anything, are you trying
to say by coming on today?" Asked Trever.

"I'm glad you asked. We don't yet know who was behind the attack, but
I have my suspicions, as I'm sure you do. I want to caution everyone to
avoid leaping to conclusions, and I want take this opportunity to stress
to my supporters the importance of remaining civil. I know that I've
been something of a controversial figure in the past, and I've tried to
rise above it. Today it has been made very clear to me that some people
will not allow that to happen. It can be tempting to lash out at times
like this, but I want to make sure that no Luddites are hurt by my supporters.
I've directed the Genesis mod-bots to be particularly aggressive in
doxing mitigation on Genesis Talks for the next couple of months, and I
would hope that anyone who wants to support me would avoid making the
world a worse place for anyone else." Said Wendy. As she spoke some of
the anger which had been hovering in the room seemed to disperse.

"You are a better person than I am. I think I'm madder than you are,
and you just got shot at an hour ago. You have every right to be
spitting mad, and you come here to tell everyone to take a deep breath.
If everyone in this country had just a tenth, no a thousandth, of your
sense of decency it would be a much better place. You're like a ninja
Mr. Rogers in heels."

"Well, no one's ever accused me of decency before." Replied Wendy
to a ripple of laughter.

"I'm serious. The dignity with which you carry yourself in the face of 
all the sexist, racist bullshit that comes your way is something
I've always admired." Trever Noah paused, "I'm sorry I'm not very funny
today. I'm afraid hearing what had almost happened to you chased all
the funny away."

Wendy crossed her long legs and looked back at Trever seriously.
"I am mad, Trever. I won't pretend that I'm not shaken by this
attempt on my life, but my priority is to make sure that no one
else gets hurt. We can and should be mad. What happened today was
an unacceptable breach of the norms of civilization and public
discourse. Nevertheless, I want to stress the fact that the vast,
vast majority of Luddites are peaceful citizens. It is not fair
for us to define them by a small lunatic fringe. That sort of thinking
just gives the extremists power."

It took almost two minutes for the cheers to die down. When they did
Trever spoke, "That sound expresses how I feel better than any
words could." He said. Then after a moment, "Is there anything you
want to say to any Luddites who might be watching?"

Wendy nodded and looked into the camera, "It is, and always has been
the position of Genesis and myself that AI represents a step forward
for humanity. History is a never ending chain of technological advances,
and we will find a way to adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence
just as we found a way to adapt to the assembly line. Machines are good
at lots of things, but it is still a human-computer team which is the
most productive worker of all. We do understand that the economic upheavals
brought on by AI are profound, which is why Genesis donates billions to
retraining and education. The future will be better with AI in it, and
because of Genesis the future is here."

The rest of the interview consisted of Trever serving up more feel-good
softballs for Wendy. He asked none of the probing questions about job
loss or the allegations of bias in moderation on Genesis Talks that Wendy
had prepared for, instead sticking to questions about the new capabilities
of Genesis Personal Assistant 3.1 or the fact that she had recently been
voted sexiest woman of the year. 

================================================================================

"Nine, start the build." Wendy said. It was 4 a.m. on a Thursday, and she
had a board meeting in six hours. Even her legendary stamina would start to
wear thin if she kept pulling such late nights, but she knew she would be in
the lab until eight before taking an hour long nap.

Nine, her machine assistant, took control of a soldering ring which whirred
to life. Smoke began to curl up from a myriad of spindly soldering irons, and
Wendy's fingers beat a rhythm on the tabletop. Normally she was much better
about picking up the slack on some secondary task while she waited for a build
to finish, but her latest side project held an urgency that she had never felt
before. She wanted to try her newest prototype as soon as it was ready.

When the build finished, Wendy lifted the helmet off bench. As soon as she put
it on she knew something was different. She could feel Nine's presence in a way
that she had never been able to before. The machine pressed against her
consciousness like a dog, all loyalty and eagerness. Experimentally, she tried
to direct Nine to move the soldering rig. Instead a dialog popped open on her
workstation. After a few more attempts, she managed to make herself understood.

================================================================================

Carlos shifted his stance and flexed his pecs as a tall woman walked towards
him. She wore tight fitting black leathers, which emphasized her dramatic
curves. A gleaming black helmet hid her face. Black stiletto boots clicked
as she walked. He was opening his mouth to tell her that the club was
closed, when he realized who she was. His radio was
halfway to his mouth before the strength seemed to flow right out of him.
He fell to the ground in a boneless heap.

"Hi Carlos." Said Wendy Lau, flipping the visor of her helmet up. How the fuck
did Wendy Lau know his name? She kicked his radio away from his hand,
"We wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

His breath was coming in quick gasps now. He was struggling to breath under his
own weight.

"Be seein' ya." She blew him a kiss, and then he folded in on himself and was no
more.

Wendy ripped open the door, tearing through the frame to do so, and stepping
into the closed nightclub. "Hey boys!" She said with a smile that could
melt steel.

A few of the thirty or so men inside reached for guns, but their hands fell
nerveless by their sides before they could do anything else. Wendy made a
tisking noise deep in her throat. "None of that." She said, letting her
hips sway as she placed one booted foot in front of another. She knew
she looked good in her tight clothes, and the effect that her
beauty was having on these men that hated her made her feel powerful.

"What the fuck are you sitting ar-" one of the men stood, shouting to the
others. He managed to take one step towards Wendy before he stumbled
and fell face first to the ground.

Looking down at his prone form Wendy tisked, "I told you none of that."
Now that the men had realized what was happening, fear was blossoming on
their faces. "You've all been very bad." The black haired beauty said
through pouting lips in a tone that made several of the assembled Luddite
terrorists aroused despite themselves. "You Luddites are always so concerned
about what will happen when I invent strong AI." Her sensual stride carried
her over to fallen man as she spoke, "But what you should really be worried
about is what will happen when I learn to integrate my AI with people."
Her long spike heal came to a rest on the back of the fallen man's head.
"I don't want to become obsolete any more than you poor things do." The
man dissolved into red gas beneath her foot, and she shuddered a little
as his life energy flowed into her. "The only difference between us is that
it is within my power to make sure that I never become obsolete." The strength
drained completely out of every man in the room. "Whereas you already are."
They disappeared, turning briefly into little clouds of red gas, before being
sucked into Wendy. "You just don't know it yet." She finished to an empty room.

The click of Wendy's footfalls made the only sound in the silent night club
as she left. Her new helmet had helped her pick up more leads, and she had
plenty of work left to do before the night was up. At the very least she
could make San Francisco free of Luddite extremists before dawn.

By the time Wendy cleaned out the last Luddite nest in the city, she felt
divine. She had stolen so much athletic ability that she was unquestionably
super human. When she tried to lift her motorcycle it was so easy that she
was momentarily worried that the thing had been replaced by a toy. She had
become perfectly aware of her own body. Her every action was deliberate, and
she knew deep in her bones that she would never trip or stumble again. As she
swung her leg up over her bike to ride home, she could not help but wonder if
it would not be faster to carry the bike and run home. The thought made her
smile, but she did not want to draw attention.

Wendy had never been so full of life force and vigor. She felt she could
swim across the Pacific, and still be up for a quick jog across Asia.
Every inch of her screamed health and beauty. Her clothes were sitting a
bit strangely on her. Hefting her heavy breasts in her hands experimentally
she decided she would be surprised if she had not gained a cup size or three.
Her custom bra dug sharply into the flesh of her chest, but she found the
discomfort arousing, so she kept it on. She kicked her bike to start and
then roared off into the night.
