"Ah, Gabe! Glad you could make it-- just in time, too!"

Gabriel glanced around; he had been deep in thought, reflecting on a portrait hanging on the wall of a man, simple yet beautiful in his own way, with eyes that stared out at some hidden horizon with an air of longing and courage that seemed to reverberate with Gabriel. His own tall, blond features were undoubtedly more handsome than the man on the painting, but there was something, Gabriel felt, that he himself was missing, some ineffable quality of humility and strength that this man possessed in an endless and effortless supply. Grunting sagely to himself, Gabriel turned and faced the approaching figure, whose stride made it clear that he was used to roaming these halls. He wore white, but had no name tag to identify him - a recurring feature within this place. Everyone knew everyone here. It was that sort of place.

"Mike." Gabriel inclined his head slightly, a sober smile on his lips. "I hope I'm not interrupting your work."

Mike grinned, his unruly brown hair bouncing around his head as he shook it. "No, no, not at all! In fact, I'm glad you're here; we were gonna do an unveiling tomorrow, but I'd actually appreciate the chance to show you in private-- if you'll come this way?"

Gabriel shrugged and agreed wordlessly, and together, the two of them began to walk down a brightly lit corridor, passing a wide open space of lush greenery and a water fountain, around which stood a trio of people similarly dressed in white. They smiled and nodded at the visitor, who repaid the courtesy with a slightly distracted air; truth be told, Gabriel had little interest in small-talk with the local workers. He was here to do a job, and the longer it took to get to the point, the longer he had to wait to report to his own boss. Gabriel knew his employer well enough to know that he was the sort of person who might take umbrage with being made to wait, and his anger usually meant someone getting fired or demoted to the deepest sub-basement he could think of, neither of which was Gabriel's idea of a sustainable future. So, as he and Mike turned a corner and began to descend a set of wide, marble stairs, he cleared his throat and tried to focus on the task at hand.

"So.. I notice there aren't a lot of people around the offices here. How come?"

Mike glanced at him and grinned. "Oh, they're all down below, big guy. Making everything ready for the big reveal tomorrow. It's gotta be perfect, or the boss'll be pissed, won't he?"

Gabriel shrugged noncommittally. "Sure. But doesn't it seem a bit much? It's just a sex toy, after all."

"Are you kidding me?" Mike pushed through a door, and held it for Gabriel to follow. "Just a sex toy? Gabe, buddy-- this is more than just a toy. This is going to revolutionize sex as we know it. It's going to make everything leading up to it obsolete. Hell, I'm not even kidding here: It's gonna change the world! Just you see. C'mon, just through here."

Gabriel pursed his lips, but said nothing. He had never had a particular fondness for Michael and his over-the-top style, but something about the way he spoke about their latest creation made it seem as if there was more to it than just a toy. It would make sense, Gabriel mused to himself; Mike ran the most advanced research facility in the world, and while he himself was not the height of innovation, he had a way of motivating and driving a team that made practically any endeavor feasible. From agriculture to biochemistry, to the intricacies of human sexuality; if something needed inventing, Mike was the guy for the job. Personal issues aside, Gabriel had never been able to find flaw with the products that came out of Michael's lab, and he doubted that today would be any different. Then again, there was a first time for everything...

"Just... trust me." Mike's voice had acquired an edge of tension, and as he pushed them through more doors and deeper into the bowels of the facility, Gabriel began to feel slightly dizzy and disoriented. There were very few signs on the walls, and those typically only denoted storage closets, offices or the odd recovery station for chemical waste spills. He would be hard pressed to find his way back out of here, but at least he began to see more and more people around him, each and every one dressed in the same whites at Mike. They cast long, appraising glances at the pair as they strode by, and all of them offered Gabriel a curt smile and a nod before returning to their duties. The workers down here were evidently more secure in their worth to the organization-- not that Gabriel cared. He was here as an observer on behalf of his boss, not to fire anyone for being rude. He simply ignored their calculating glances, and followed closely in Mike's footsteps, until they came to a large, red double door. Mike stopped, grinned at Gabriel, and then ushered him through a smaller side-door into a small, oblong room.

It was pitch black inside, and the only light came from a huge, reinforced window on one of the walls, which served as an observation port for the larger room on the other side. Huge, cavernous and clad in sterile white and monochromatic, gun-metal gray, it looked like a mix between a factory floor and a surgery theater. Gabriel stared inside, and felt Michael's hand on his shoulder.

"There is it. What do you think, huh?"

Gabriel narrowed his eyes and stared at the fabled and famous object. Slowly, he tilted his head and tried to take in the full scope of the thing from his stationary position. He hummed softly.

"That's it?"

Mike withdrew his hand and turned to stare incredulously at his companion. "What? What do you mean, 'is that it'? This is a work of art!"

Gabriel shrugged. I guess. Just seems a bit... derivative, maybe."

"Deri--!" Michael scoffed. "What would you know about that? Look, maybe it doesn't look like much, but wait 'till you hear the specs! Okay? So: It's got three holes. Count 'em, three! One's got some texture inside it, the other has an elastic opening for extra tightness, and the third - get this - has a flexible, autonomous muscle for added pleasure, complete with self-lubrication and cleaning features. Oh, that goes for the first one, too. At worst, it'll need a bit of soap and water, but it practically takes care of itself-- in fact, that's probably the greatest thing about it."

Gabriel cocked an eyebrow. "Go on."

Mike seemed slightly more confident now, and he smirked to himself as he turned back to revel in the sight of his creation. "Okay, well, it has a realistic core temperature, so you don't have to mess around with heat pads or having to wait until it's conformed to your own temperature. We also made it very soft, especially around and near the areas intended for use, and the curves you can see help create a lot of natural hand-holds for assuming various positions with it. The flesh is realistic, too; we really worked hard on making sure that it had the right density and pliability, and that means that you can really get some great sounds out of it, too! Completely authentic flesh-on-flesh, I tell you. Oh, and speaking of sounds: Fully realized vocal system, too. So it can tell you everything you want to hear while you're going to town, only we had to route the sound through one of the holes - we didn't really want to put a speaker anywhere obvious, this is a luxury product, after all. So the voice producing module is located internally up near the third hole, which is the best we could do given the constraints of the whole endeavor. Euclidean geometry and everything--"

Gabriel nodded; he could feel his interest pique, and despite himself, he felt a slight giddy excitement about the product the more Mike spoke about it. Licking his lips, Gabriel burred a question:

"Does it also respond to voice commands?"

Mike made a noncommittal sound. "Mmyeah, I mean, that's sort of the only problem we didn't manage to fix before launch. It recognizes voice commands, but the follow-through turned out to be a lot more complicated than we had anticipated. We are trying to sell it as a feature - the marketing boys are calling it a 'personality', which I think might work, but I honestly kind of wished we'd ironed out that kink beforehand..."

Gabriel shook his head. "No. It's better this way; it gives it greater longevity with the customer. He won't grow tired of it as easily."

"Oh?" Mike glanced up at his companion, and then shrugged as if he did not care either way. "Maybe you're right. In any case, what's done is done. Considering what we were given to work with at first, I think it's amazing we got this far. So..."

"So?"

Mike shrugged, an impish smirk on his face. "Well, wanna give it a spin?"

Gabriel frowned. "What? No. No thank you."

"Yeah.." Mike grinned and gave Gabriel a wink. "Probably not a good idea. This one is just the prototype, but it's already been promised to a customer. I don't know what the marketing department does to sell these things, but whatever it is, it's working! My guess is we'll be cranking up production soon, but luckily, that's not my problem. I tell you, I already have the next project running through my mind; it's gonna be something big, something majestic. Maybe re-purpose some of that old ivory we have down in storage..."

Gabriel was barely listening anymore; instead, his eyes were fixed on the thing on the other side of the screen, its slender body draped in sinuous curves against the soft padding of its bedding. It was hard to make out, but he thought he could see a slight movement across the surface of the thing, as if it was shifting minutely. Alive.

"Michael." Gabriel's voice was soft, but it cut through the younger person's diatribe with ease. "I just have one more question for you."

Michael shrugged. "Sure. Shoot."

Gabriel did not remove his eyes from the thing. "Every product needs a name. What have you decided to call it?"

Michael hesitated only briefly. For a second, it was quiet enough that you could hear the soft rustling of two feathers that gently detached themselves from the archangel's wings and floated to the floor. He looked with luminous eyes at the Messenger of the Lord, and felt a shiver of trepidation.

"I've called it... 'Woman'."

Gabriel smiled. "Woman," he echoed. "Good. That's good."

On the other side of the screen, the woman shifted slightly in her sleep, her brown hair cascading around her shoulders. Tomorrow, she would be unveiled to the world. And then... Gabriel's smile grew wider. Then she would change the world.

Forever.