Once back home, the girls tried to sneak passed Dr. Bless but to no avail: her security bots had detected them a long time ago. They scooped Quinnie and Marjorie and brought them to her office.

“Girls…I understand that you very happy to be together but you must NEVER leave this facility without my authorization! You two are very precious US military assets!” said Dr. Bless.

“It’s my fault, Dr. Bless…I am the one who took her out for some sightseeing,” replied Quinnie.

“Damn straight it’s your fault!” scolded Dr. Bless.

“I am sorry too, Dr. Bless” said Marjorie.

“Sigh…I can’t stay mad at you two. Now that you are back, Marjorie, let’s start right away with a few tests to awaken your gift!” said Dr. Bless

Marjorie was brought into a large gymnasium. It was filled with many fitness and bodybuilding apparels and accessories. In the back, a room containing several large computers and other monitoring devices.

Marjorie waited in the middle of the room, a bit nervous as to what Dr. Bless had in mind for her. She did say she was going to make a great Champion of her. But Marjorie’s gift had yet to manifest itself.

“Why do I trust Dr. Bless? Considering I trusted that Ms. Esquire…Quinnie said she was working for the Eastern Bloc! Good Lord, how good could my judgment be if I got so easily duped? How can I become a Champion of the United States if I can’t even tell the good guys from the bad guys?” thought Marjorie.

Dr. Bless exited the monitoring room and joined Marjorie.

“Good morning, child. I want you to know that everyone at this facility is here to help you reach your full potential. To help you recover from having been so cruelly pulled out from your pod before it was time…”

“…”

“I can only imagine how traumatic it must have been for you to see the world collapse around you…”

“It was…very scary, yes,”

“But you know the truth now. And your destiny is so grand!”

“Dr. Bless?”

“Yes?”

“What would’ve have happened had I never been taken out of the…pod?”

“You are the second girl of spirits we have ever “grown” at our facility. The first being Quinnie. She was our first successful attempt at creating a gifted person for the American Champion program,”

“…”

“As such, she is the template upon which we want to raise future Champions. As for your question, you would have completed your virtual program and come out with a fully authentic and genuine childhood, albeit of the virtual flavor.”

“How can you say it would have been genuine when it was all generated by your machines?”

“Because it would’ve been real for you. Your reactions, behavior and character, while guided by your virtual parents and community, would have been your own. And this is the most important part of your formation,”

Dr. Bless paused for a moment. Then she pulled out a flask of liquor from her lab coat and downed a few shots. Dumbfounded, Marjorie remained silent.

“What does it matter if your childhood was generated by machines or the old fashion way?” asked Dr. Bless.

“I…don’t know…” hesitantly replied Marjorie.

“That’s right! You don’t! Aherm. Good lord! What just happened here! Forgive my snark, child…drinking often brings out the demon in me…”

“Wait, what? What did you say? About the demon?”

“Nothing, nothing, child. In any case, the goal was to provide you with a great childhood and, minus the abduction event, I believe we reached our goal,”

“I think I understand. It will take some time to take it all in…”

“Don’t worry, child. We will all help you! Starting with assessing the development of your gift!”

Dr. Bless pulled out a clipboard and flipped through some papers.

“Our experimentation allow us to create the perfect gift for you, child. According to our data, you are endowed with super-strength,”

“Yes…”

“Yes, but starting today, we will help you master your gift and help you unlock its final form!”

“Final…form?”

“Yes! While all Champions possess the same solid bodies, which endow them with invulnerability and none of the regular human biologic needs such as sleep, eating or even sexual drive, it is their gift that makes them unique!”

“Sexual drive…as in wanting a boyfriend?”

“Something like that! You do not crave any of these things, which frees your mind to focus solely on your gift. Heck that is why Girls of Spirits are anatomically devoid of genitals! You don’t even have a bumhole!”

“Dr. Bless…” said Marjorie with a pout.

“I know, I know, language, right? Oh my…that whiskey is a bit stronger than I thought…”

“But I feel love in my heart, Dr. Bless. Love for Quinnie, for you and everyone in the country!”

“No clam doesn’t imply no feelings, child. The virtual simulation was also to impart basic human feelings upon your psyche, to make you able to appreciate and live the human experience,”

“I see…Wait, clam?”

“Child, you have all of the perks of being a human without the pesky disadvantages like dying or getting blotto!”

“Yes…”

“But enough tangents! Let’s get back to your gift. A Champion’s gift stems from her seed core contained in her solid body. It is fueled by a spirit.”

“A spirit?”

“Yes. It is a distilled mixture made from alcoholic fermentation,”

“So Quinnie wasn’t fibbing me; we are supposed to drink alcohol to use our gifts…”

“Don’t be so glum, child. Remember, you lack the biological makeup to even get drunk! Think of it as fuel. Delicious, soul warming fuel…”

As Dr. Bless started drooling, she pulled out her flask once more and voraciously gargled down a few shots.

“You shouldn’t drink like that in front of children,” admonished Marjorie.

“My, you are lecturing me now? Huhuhuhuh! Amazing!”

“I see now why alcohol is even a factor in all this…”

“Boo, I’m an alcoholic! Boo, Dr. Bless! Hips!”

“We should do this later,”

“Hey! Who’s the doctor here? Huh? Ok, ok, we’ll get back to your spirits of choice a bit later. After we dislodged the wooden cudgel encased in your rear end, of which there are no hole,”

“Dr. Bless!” shouted Marjorie, offended.

“I kid, I kid,”

Dr. Bless stumbled to the wall and, after a few tries, unfurled a projection surface. On it were displayed three silhouettes.

“Listen up, child. Your gift grants you a certain kind of power over yourself and the world around you. However, the intensity and magnitude of your gift is limited by your form of which there are three: Kid, Teen and Adult,” said Dr. Bless as she pointed to each of the silhouettes.

“Does that mean I will be able to grow up? Like real girls?” excitedly asked Marjorie.

“Yes and no,” said Dr. Bless as she downed another shot.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Aherm…care to explain yourself, Dr. Bless?” asked Marjorie.

“What? Oh, you were waiting for more exposition on that? Sure! Of course, you were! A doi!” replied Dr. Bless as she smacked her forehead.

“With all due respect, Dr. Bless, you are a bit queer and drunk,” remarked Marjorie.

“Yes. Yes, I am. Back to the explanation; right now, you are at your default form, the Kid form,”

“Right,”

“Once your use of your gift pushed your form to its limit, you will grow to the next one! Once in your new and bigger form, you gift will grow stronger and more potent with all the extra room it’ll get!”

“That sounds dangerous…”

“Yes. Yes, it does,”

“But you would let us grow to our new forms nonetheless?”

“Of course! The commies won’t hesitate to push their girls to do so! And we won’t either,”

“…”

“Look, Quinnie has reached her Adult form and so far, she has been very careful with her gift,”

“But that’s different! She is amazing!”

“Yes, she is, isn’t she?”

“Yes…But, how do I do that? How do I keep my gift in check? Can I have more than one gift?”

“By mastering it with daily usage. By not being an ass. One seed core, one gift; but if you are smart, you can tweak your gift for nice new effects. Now that all your questions have been answered, let’s find out which spirit is right for you!”

“But, I have told you: my gift doesn’t work anymore!”

“Sure, it does! We just need to power it out with…tatatata…”

Dr. Bless pressed a button which prompted a bar to pop out of the wall. A robot was bartending.

“Booze! Go ahead, child. Do not be shy. You will pick a spirit of choice to fuel your seed core!”

“This tin man…it can talk to me?”

“Oh yes! It’s AI is limited to bartending duties, but it can serve you what you want, hold simple conversations, you know, small talk and the like. Go ahead, try it!”

“And how will I know which spirits is my spirit of choice?”

“I dunno…It’ll be like schboom inside you and your gift will be good to go!”

“Schboom?”

“Yeah! You know? Like there is a party in your mouth and everybody is invited!”

“I’ve never been to that kind of party before…”

“Oh, that’s right! You didn’t complete your simulation…right, right. Barbot, booze her up pronto!”

Dr. Bless gently pushed Marjorie towards the bar.

“Good morning, young lady! A bit early to be boozin’ don’t ya think?” said the barbot.

“Excuse me?”

“I kid! I kid! I absolutely know that my mistress sent you over to pick your spirit of choice!”

“I don’t like alcohol. It is the nectar of laziness and lewdness,”

“Geewhiz, who put that stick up your bum, dolly?” asked the barbot.

“I know, right? I was saying the same thing just now,” said Dr. Bless.

“What is it with sticks going in my you know where!” replied Marjorie, exasperated.

“I kid! I kid!” said the barbot in a robotic laughter.

“Yes, child. He kids! He kids!” reiterated Dr. Bless.

Marjorie reluctantly sat at the bar.

“Alright, let’s start over. I am Bart, the Barbot! I will present you a selection of the finest spirits in the world! You will taste each one and pick the one you like best!” explained Bart.

“Very well. Let’s begin, I guess,” said Marjorie.

“Good show! Let’s begin with the drink of dangerous men: Whiskey!”

Bart extended a finger and from it, poured a Whiskey in a shot glass.

“It is the ultimate macho spirit! Do no sip it! Whiskey should be belted back in one neck-snapping gesture! Its smoky flavor will turn your inside into the furnace of Hell!”

Bart then demonstrated by downing the Whiskey shot in one quick movement.

“Ahhhhhhhh…”

“But…Bart sir, you are a robot no? How can you taste anything?” asked Marjorie.

After a moment of awkward silence, Bart started sobbing dramatically while looking at Dr. Bless.

“I know! I am a FRAUD! Why, mistress, why was I programmed to not taste alcohol? It’s one thing to not be able to taste it, but to deliberately program me NOT taste it?” asked Bart.

“And have you drink away my precious, precious booze? Ha! Dream on, metal boy! Oh, that’s right, I didn’t program you to be able to dream either! But what did I program you to do? Mmmm…Oh, that’s right! To serve booze to my precious Girls of Spirits! So, get on with it before I turn you into a toilet or something,” dryly menaced Dr. Bless.

“Yes, mistress…” replies Bart, resigned.

Bart poured another shot for Marjorie. A bit confused and amused by the exchange between Dr. Bless and Bart, Marjorie downed the shot.

Nothing.

“I don’t feel any different,” said Marjorie.

“Don’t worry, kid. I have plenty of spirits! This one didn’t buzz you up? Let’s try another!” said Bart.

Bart filled another shot glass with another spirit.

“I present to you: Brandy! It is essentially distilled wine naturally fermented from fruit and aged for at least two years in toasted wood barrel,”

“Toasted wood barrels?” asked Marjorie.

“This is the key to its characteristic brown color!”

Marjorie hesitated. She was still not comfortable with alcohol.

“Well…you did say it was made with fruits…” hesitantly said Marjorie.

“That’s right! It’s like drinking fruit juice except not really,” said Bart.

Marjorie drank the shot of Brandy.

“Nothing yet. No schboom inside,” said Marjorie.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find it eventually!” enthusiastically said Bart.

After finding drinking many spirits which had no effect on her, Marjorie finds the one, the one that created the schboom inside her: Bourbon Whiskey!

“Ahhhh! Bourbon Whiskey! The most American of all Whiskeys! Or was it Rye…Anyways, Bourbon is a full-bodied, full-flavored whiskey with a touch of fruit in the bouquet. Good choice, kid!” said Bart.

“Thank you? I guess…” replied Marjorie, feeling a bit different.

“A schboom inside! She felt it…” happily said Dr. Bless while wiping a tear from her cheek.

Marjorie’s confidence level greatly rose as she felt energized and strong just like before she got ripped out of the simulation: her gift was back!

“This is AMAZING! I feel like I can do ANYTHING! Let’s do it, Dr. Bless let’s test my gift!” shouted Marjorie, filled with energy.

“Just a moment, sport. Bart, hand this young lady a flask of your finest Bourbon,” said Dr. Bless.

“Wait, do you mean the one I just served her or another kind of Bourbon? I am confused,” said Bart.

“I meant the same, smart-ass. The same Bourbon you served her,” dryly replied Dr. Bless.

Bart handed a flask of Bourbon to Marjorie.

“This flask is all you will need to keep your gift running for a long time!” said Dr. Bless.

“Thanks. Huh, Einstein, I don’t have pockets on my dress. Where am I supposed to put this? In my purse?” sarcastically remarked Marjorie.

“No need for that, sassy sass-a-lot! Hold the flask close to your body and press it against in,” instructed Dr. Bless.

“What? Is that a joke or…ooooooooh!” said Marjorie, surprised.

The flask incorporated itself in Marjorie’s body.

“You have a body made of itty-bitty tiny machines which your seed core controls. I call them Blessobots! These Blessobots are very malleable and can take any shape. That’s how you can move around without the need for a skeleton or any muscles and all that junk. Right now, these tiny machines have taken in the flask and put it somewhere in your body,” explained Dr. Bless.

“What if I need to drink a shot?” asked Marjorie.

“Just think about taking a shot and your Blessobots will deliver the good stuff to your core! But not now; you already took a shot already,” said Dr. Bless.

“Whatever! I am ready! I am ready! I am ready! Let’s test my super-strength already! Right here, right now!” shouted Marjorie.

“Wooden cudgel removed,” said Dr. Bless.