One-Of-A-Kind Meta-Clone-O-Matic

Amelie tracks Hey Kid Mk. 6's trail to the laundry room. There, they find the devil child curled up in Gertrude's makeshift bed atop the laundry machine, snoring loudly. It seems like the quick red Kid has burned out all of their energy running around so fast! The napping clone should be easy to wrangle now.

Amelie uses a bed sheet to make a swaddling blanket. Though Hey Kid is too big to be carried like that, their weight is not significantly different than an infant’s weight or Sal’s weight as far as a maid-bot can tell.

As they effortlessly take Hey Kid Mk.6 to the Tea Party-slash-Game Room, they say to Lady Sheradin, "You have an uncanny knack for finding these Hey Kids. Where might you anticipate another of them to be?"

Lady Sheridan thinks about it and says, "Hmm well I don’t think they will be in someone else’s room. Let’s look in the living room. Even if they aren’t there maybe one of the other guests saw them?"

She wheeled along pausing to try and fix her hair but her compact would not show her reflection so it was somewhat hit or miss.

Back in the living room, you find Mr. Boggs fretting over his soggy crossword puzzle. He looks up through his glasses. "Are you looking for Hey Kid? I think I saw them out in the yard with Robin."

Indeed, looking through the window, you can see Hey Kid showing the hulking lava elemental the Clone-o-Matic! "Neat, huh? Haven’t you always wanted there to be two of you? It’s okay, Robin. Climb inside! It’ll be fun, I promise!"

Robin looks uncertain...

Amelie says to Robin, "Robin, cloning may seem to have voluminous entertainment value, but it is a strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"

Robin looks even more uncertain. "Chess? I've never been much for chess. Checkers, though, that's my game! When I don't accidentally melt a hole through the board, that is..."

Hey Kid sighs and taps their foot as they look up at Amelie. "Aw, come on, Amelie. Why do you have to spoil our fun? It's just a game!"

"Hey Kid, these clones are real people. If everyone were to keep cloning themselves, we could no longer be Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast. We would be Yazeba’s Floor & Morsel because there wouldn’t be enough beds, nor enough space to store enough food so that everyone gets a complete breakfast."

Amelie shakes their head slowly, and will add a finger-wag gesture if Hey Kid suggests cloning beds and breakfasts as a solution to the maid-bot’s warning.

Lady Sheridan sits in her chair and supports Amelie by basically just being there. She does, of course, add. "I think the world would likely be better off with just the one of me anyway. Heavens know that back in the day I was quite the terror."

She continues from there, "Indeed, I remember taking over the entire Romanian Court and basically having every one at my beck and call. There was, of course, some famous hunter called out and ahh, what a delightful morsel he was. They just don’t make them like that anymore."

"There would have been plenty of room if you and Yazeba hadn't shut down the Hey Kid hotel," Hey Kid shoots back at Amelie, ignoring Sherry's reminiscing. "Then all the clones would have had a place to stay. And they could have enjoyed my delicious pancakes!" They plant their hands on their hips and stick out their tongue.

Amelie replies matter-of-factly, "The Hey Kid Hotel would have been condemned by the building inspector due to lack of a supporting wall, improper ventilation in the restrooms, and it is best I not specify the multiple fire hazards."As for Sherry’s use of the word Morsel, Amelie ponders whether this word is a euphemism. I thought it meant something you snack on, but that obviously is not how she meant it.

"You're just upset because you couldn't eat the delicious pancakes," Hey Kid counters testily.

Lady Sheridan had not been able to participate in the pancake incident. Sadly it had occurred outside and thus she had to stay inside and peek through the curtains. "Ahem, I did not get a chance to taste the pancakes because someone decided to build outdoors under the sun. It seems to me that a good host would assuredly recognize the needs of their guests. Wouldn’t you agree Amelie dear?"

She stares at this hey kid and her single fang extends. "Now, I suggest you be a good child and listen to Amelie before I decide to get out of this chair."

Hey Kid seems nonplussed by Sherry's threats. "I'm sorry for that, Lady Sheridan. Oh, I know! I'll go whip up a fresh batch of pancakes now, so you can see just how delicious they would have been! Okay see you later bye!" The devilish child skips off towards the kitchen.Robin scratches his head, a few globs of lava dropping to the ground and leaving sizzling scorch marks in the grass. "They're acting a bit strange today, aren't they? Say, I think I might be able to help you out with this clone doohickey. Besides being a pastry chef-in-training, I'm something of a handyman myself!"

The elemental fiddles with the machine for a bit, but then the smoldering spots in the grass suddenly ignite into a larger blaze! "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'll get the extinguisher!" Robin cries, rushing off with lumbering footsteps."Oh, dear! Remind me not to get too close to that young man," Yola Oleandar says.

She looks at Amelie and sighs, "This is going to be much harder than we thought, isn't it?" She shakes her head and, since the machine is there, she goes ahead and tries to fix it.

She looks to Robin and says, "Robin dear, could you make sure no one tries to clone themselves. We seem to already have an abundance of Hey Kid, we don't need more than one of anyone else. In return I have some special gloves you can wear from my wardrobe. There's a good young man." She pats the elemental on his head apparently ignoring just how flammable he is. Funny that, sunlight and she starts to go up in flames but, actual lava and she's just fine.

After the pat she pulls out some amazing full length ballroom gloves and helps Robin put them on. They are gloriously fancy and old fashioned but somehow, they aren't flammable at all.

Robin's molten eyes sparkle with wonder as he dons the gloves. "Wow! They fit like... like a glove," he says with a chuckle. The lava elemental then snaps off a smart salute. "Don't worry, Lady Sheridan! I'll guard this machine with my life!"

Amelie agrees this Hey Kid is quite the challenge. "A challenge indeed, Lady Sheradin. One which I accept. And you have given me excellent tactical advice by example."

The robo-maid skates off to the kitchen!


"I also have gloves," they say as they hand Hey Kid a pair of work gloves.

Giving gloves… why is it special? Oh, I know. "Gloves is ‘love’ protected by the letters G and S, which stand for Give and Someone. Give Love Someone… that almost works. You need a comma or the word ‘to.’

"I should probably have rehearsed that silently and revised for improvement. Well, Hey. Kid? Please accept these gloves."

In the kitchen, Amelie finds not one, but two Hey Kids! The first is the one who has been playing with the Clone-o-Matic. The second is taller and much more muscular, a jolly being in green clothes. The first Hey Kid is busy cooking pancakes while the green one helps by carrying huge amounts of pancake mix all at once! In the corner, Parish nervously wrings his hands, the frog chef muscled out of his own kitchen!

Hey Kid’s tail twitches as they look at the work gloves. "Hey, thanks! This way I won’t burn my hands on the stove!" They happily don the gloves and go back to cooking.

"Need help lifting anything, Amelie? I’m super swole! Ho, ho, ho!" laughs Green Bean Hey Kid.

Lady Sheridan looks for her friend, "Yola dear, have you seen this version? It seems they have decided that being a plant person is clearly superior to being a demon. I find myself in agreement."

As for the first one she says, "As for you young person. You have been gravely mis behaving and are in need of…well..I suppose a time out. Back in the good old days we would have put you in the stocks or the like."" She sighed grandly.

"We plants are generally well-regarded," Yola replies to Sherry, primping her foliage.

"You can't put me in time out," Hey Kid says. "I'm making pancakes!"

Amelie responds to the jolly green Hey Kid.

"I could actually use both your muscle and your height, if you would be so kind. There are sun beams coming through the windows in the hallways." The robo-maid projects a holo-map next to the refrigerator, marking it with ☀️s where curtains are needed, plus a 🔻 to mark where curtains are stored. "Once this task is complete, please seek me if you are interested in more work. This holo-map can track me as well."

—with THIS symbol: 🤖!