570
Thinking of everyone he had changed, and how he felt like he couldn't even LOOK at a human now without changing them into one of his own kind, Casper for a moment wondered if he even had a right to do this.
Then again, if he didn't, the wizard wouldn't have given him a lawyer's number, and given him a personality examine before hand.
Oh well, Casper still wasn't using the ring to make people's choices for them. So far no one he had changed seemed to be living a lower quantity of life. And Synthetics weren't being treated as property or second class citizens by their creators (humans). They were still getting up in the morning, going to work, going home, watch TV or read a book and going to bed.
And that one little girl would have broken her neck when falling out of that tree, and that rubber peacock's children wouldn't have even had a chance to live! And depending on that happy couple, their child wouldn't even exist period without Casper.
If it really was the inside that counted, then he was just giving people's spirits new vessels to inhabit.
And if he hadn't bought the ring from the wizard, he wouldn't have met Ashley.
He wondered if Synthetics were immortal, they hadn't been around long enough for it to matter, but give them a few hundred years, and we'd see. Of course they'd cause hiccups for a system that never built or intended to handle an immortal person.
It reminded Casper of that film about the robot who lived for 200 years, and wasn't legally recognized as a person until he gave himself a limited lifespan. Of course, immortality, standing in defiance of death's grasp of old age, Casper had to admit, deep down, perhaps that had been one of the many reasons he had asked for a thing like this.
Alive, but without needing to fear death from old age, to be honest, Casper preferred it.
Casper didn't know it, but Lana and Tommy were feeling the same odd sense of loyalty that Ashley had after revealing he was the source of Synthetics existing, this was NOT servitude in any shape or form, let alone any type of submission. It was more like knowing, if Casper hadn't bought the ring, their kind, which their memories told them they had been all their lives (which according to reality they had been), wouldn't have ever existed. And while they didn't share Ashley's impulse to share the gift with every human alive, they did feel they had a vested interest in Casper continuing to use the ring, even if they had no idea when Casper used it.
Casper himself wondered if they remembered the number he originally told them, or whether that number changed when he asked them. Still, he was either impressed or surprised, at how readily they were accepting that Casper was changing reality and people's species without their permission. But people being OBLIVIOUS to REALITY changing, was kind of the entire POINT of it being reality changing, and not just their species.
Casper also made a point of programming his pager on the spot so he WOULD NOT miss that second game no matter what, and had Ashley do the same, and even set up to send himself an email alert on the subject. He wouldn't miss the second game!
The tattoo like marks on the Wild Cat player were jarring to Casper, it reminded him of seeing Synthetics eat for the first time. A feeling of making the Synthetics . . . more base. Maybe it was just a unique style when they were created. While Casper admitted he didn't want to rule the world . . . he really did want the species he was creating to be . . . well, perhaps ideal. That might have been why he had asked for the ring in the first place. To remake the human condition?
Synthetics still needed money to pay for rent and electricity, so he guessed he would have needed to change a laughably large number of people if he had wanted to change the fundamental shape of civilization. Still, he was not stopping, and knew he wasn't going to stop. Like this was his purpose as much as the ring's. Or maybe that was the ring's desire to be used effecting him, either way, he accepted it.
The pizza had cardboard crust, glue for cheese, latex for meat slices, and a couple other things he couldn't immediately identity. The horde of Synthetics present dug in without hesitation. It was apparent that Tommy had taken the Wild Cats and their bunny girls into account when ordering, as there was plenty for everyone.
Casper knew that unless the ring suddenly started providing for him for an education and fiances, he was going to have to ultimately cool things down.
But for now he still had the students in his mathclass (minus the teacher) for tomorrow, and his one B-Day class that he skipped for transforming Becky.
There was a knock at the door. Tommy answered. A pair of police officers were at the front door.
"Excuse us sir," One of the officers said calmly and in a controlled voice. "But we had a call from a neighbor about the noise."
So far the police had five Synthetics as part of the police. A husky girl, a horse, a wolf, a cougar, and a fox sage.
Casper barely thought about what he did next as the changed the two cops as well.
The police continued to talk with Tommy without missing a beat, the cops not wanting to be here, but who had given the call had apparently been shrill about it.
While the ring obeyed Casper's order for the new Synthetic's form to be chosen unconsciously via their favorite animal, Casper had set a precedent for the police officers he transformed. And trying to meddle with the foundation of a reality change this far along could backfire.
Their skin became shinny rubber the same color as their police uniforms that vanished, and their bones and internal organs all became air. On their backs in bold letters was the word POLICE. Their duty belts remained, along with their hats (but now with holes for their ears), their badges now hung around their necks. Their barcode was now displayed on their badges.
They gained the autonomy of Ken dolls, with nothing to show even if they were technically naked and no nipples or anything that you'd expect from a human besides general shape.
The first cop's feet became cloven hooves, and became a little more stout and round, a curly tail budding from his back. His hands became a set of hoof like tri-digits like Casper's. His ears became large and flappy as his face pushed out into a flat end as his change into a humanoid pig balloon was finished.
The other cop was unique in that while he was still blue, he had a white stripe in on his back. Hands and feet became paw like and digigrated, and a large almost curled tail, and ears became large and moved some on his head. His face pulled a little and tethered to a little snout.
A pig and skunk. No accounting for taste.
Like all the police (and one solider) he had seen so far, these two also had patches the same color as their bodies over their nozzles. They looked removable, so it was likely no different from a cup that a human wore during sports events.
Casper honestly felt like the Synthetics in the police served an important purpose. You couldn't have police officers of second-class citizens or a slave race or glorified robots, their very existence was likely what was helping keep the Synthetics as legally equals to humans even as their numbers increased as they went from a oddity to a novelty to a minority and beyond.
573.
The skunk had a wife apparently the ring told him.
Seven Synthetics on the police force now.
Ultimately Tommy had to coced to turn down the music. Casper wondered if Synthetics suffered hearing damage. Too bad that while Casper could guess where the neighbor was, vaguely, Casper couldn't visualize him.
At least the party went on without further incident. The Bulls and the Wild Cats getting along swimmingly for being rival teams and one who had just suffered a loss. The vixens and the bunny girls were also getting along surprisingly well. Maybe Casper's ring was improving people a little after all.