Almost...

Ross stared at Madison, who looked dully at the wall. He licked his lips and opened his mouth to speak before Andrew cut him off.

"Listen, I'm as excited as you are but we've gotta play this smart," he said. He fished Madison's phone out of its pocket and, taking its limp hand, pressed the thumb against the sensor.

"What are you doing?" Ross asked.

"Texting Rachel that she'll be out late." Rachel was Madison's roommate.

"Good call," Ross said. "What about Professor Levinson?"

"I've been keeping an eye on her, and as far I can tell she sleeps here. Her life seems to be restricted to her job."

Ross stared at the professor with wonder. On impulse, he reached out and squeezed its breast.

"Focus," Andrew said. He slipped Madison's phone back into its pocket. "We need to stash Levinson somewhere for a while. Let's take them to her office."

Andrew turned to the golems. "Please act like real people and follow us."

Their eyes came into focus on him and they assumed a more relaxed posture. Ross waved his hand in front of Madison's face. She smiled politely. He reached out and poked her left breast gently. She followed his hand with her gaze, the pleasant smile never leaving her lips.

"Crazy," he said.

"If anyone else tries to interact with you while you're with us, apologize and say you're in a hurry. Erica, please do that for me right now."

She smiled apologetically. "I'm so sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush."

"Now Madison, do the same."

She frowned. "Sorry, can't talk! I'm in a hurry."

Andrew shrugged. "Good enough. Let's go."

Ross was equal parts nervous and thrilled as the approached the Yetzirah building. They had stashed the professor under her desk and locked her in her office before taking Madison across campus. They were relieved not to see any lights on in the building as they rounded the corner and it came into view.

When they got to the door, Andrew furtively took Madison's badge out of her pocket and swiped it. She continued to smile blankly as they ushered her into the lobby.

"The scriptwriting equipment is on the first floor," Andrew explained as the trio made their way down the hall.

"Do you know how to write scripts?" Ross asked. "I thought it was really complicated."

Andrew winked at him. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Come on."

They entered the scriptwriting lab and Andrew wasted no time inserting Madison's script into the nearest machine. After a few seconds of loading, a series of menus appeared on the display. He started tapping at the inputs.

"Dude, do you know what you're doing?" Ross asked. "You could fuck her up or something!"

Andrew didn't take his eyes off the display. "Scripts are immutable, dumbass. I'm making a copy."

"Oh." Ross felt stupid. "Why?"

"Because I want to add a few slight alterations. Here we go, overrides. First we'll say that she has to acknowledge her nature as golems when only a subset of us four around. Second, she has to obey-"

"Whoa, slow down!" Ross said. "Don't turn her into a sex **** or something!"

"It just means she'll do what we tell her," Andrew said irritably. "I'm leaving her personality intact."

Andrew pressed a button on the side of the display and a printer whirred to life. By the time he crossed the room there was already a fresh script waiting in the receptacle.

"Can you believe it used to take 16 hours to print one of these?" he asked with a grin. "Anyway, here goes."

As Andrew started the ritual, Ross fiddled with a ballpoint pen. "What if you screwed something up and she, like tries to kill us?"

"Then we go out in a blaze of glory," Andrew said as he touched it three inches above the milky white eyes. "AKEDAH."

The golem reanimated, blinked, and sighed. "I guess I'm a golem," she said. "So what are you gonna have me do?"

"Help us write some scripts," Andrew replied.