The biognostic nodded. "Expeditionary maintenance unit, tactical evolution strain."
Roz's mind buzzed with terror at the news, but her heart and lungs didn't follow suit. She blinked between them.
I can't be here! I need to be decommissioned. You can't let me be here.
"Why can't you be here, Roz-02?" a voice pushed.
My eyes blinked on their timer as the two men I could see looked at the corner of the room. Tension filled the air. Although I'd corrected everyone that had ever called me by my designation, I couldn't bring myself to do it this time.
Something is... wrong. With me. Warnings and priorities that aren't mine. There's code that isn't me.
"We have performed a variety of repairs and replacements," Roav said with succinct frustration, staring at the man in the corner. "The parasitic code has been isolated and destroyed. You should experience no further interruptions or failures of your autonomy. And your..." A series of quantum questions raced over his eye as he paused.Coil? Vir? Buck? Husband? Mate? Thuais? Harmony? Vital component? Partner? Spouse? Triumph? Prize? Zevara? Lebdalise? Trophy? Man? Apsire?
All of those things,I replied.
"He is eager to see you."
If I could feel anything beyond the front of my face, I'd have sighed with relief. Fásach was okay. Everyone was okay. If I could, I would have cried and smiled. An unrelenting need tocurl into a ball and sob hit me. A release from the anxiety of losing them without being able to say goodbye or explain myself. Because Fásach thought there was only one of me, and I would have taken it away from him to keep my promises.
Dr Zarabi patted my forehead softly, maybe guessing at my inner turmoil. "Ignore the immovable brick in the corner. We would like to restore your bodily permissions but want to be sure that you won't try something drastic again."
"Like fry your core," Roav added for clarity.
"Also, we should mention that you're lying on a surgical table with your casing open," the doctor added with an apologetic twist of his tendrils. "So you will remain numb and immovable through your thoracic region and legs."
Okay.
Roav's wrist desconstructed, the facets pulling open to reveal an articulated cable with a silver-sharp gleam at the end, so thin it barely caught the light. He lowered his wrist to my neck, plugged into what I assumed was my core processor, and my visual sensors blinked out as my systems were returned to my control.
Hundreds of notifications piled up as my vitals deck and regulator suite returned to me. Just as quickly as they popped up, they were dismissed. Roav stayed inside my system as things booted up, their locations and serial numbers different from before. It was disorienting, and having Roav inside me was a comfort.
By the time he was done, I felt...organized.Balanced. He'd recalibrated my systems so that the buzz of civilization didn't bother me so much. I knew where every piece of code was, every protocol. More importantly, there was a central control module now, where I could turn those parts of me on and off. It was a closed system, with no exterior access without a biometricsignature that I specifically allowed and stored in redundant locations throughout my core.
But more than that, my unit—mybody—felt like it was mine. My parumauxi no longer felt like a swarm of nanobots, but like my subconscious. My LMem flowed more naturally, without the garish ribbon of data but a stream of consciousness. I felt a sense of calm when looking inward, as if my river mirrored that of theMummer.
"Your unit was not built for evolution, so I took some liberties..." Roav said with unease. "If you dislike your system build, I can make adjustments as you see fit. This is more similar to a biognostic scaffolding, but I can return you to your default logic if it's uncomfortable."
"I like it," I said slowly, my voice hoarse from disuse. I turned my head to see in the corner. Another biognostic with five lenses and a hulking build stood curled into the corner with his arms crossed. He watched her but said nothing. "Where's Fásach?"
"He's outside with Sizzle and Arms Master Renatex." Roav was still connected to me through a spinal tap in the open seams of my neck, so he knew when I didn't understand the reference. "Ah, Vindilus. He and hisvirachanged their surname together."
"Imani James," I tried. The name didn't make me panic. I glanced up at Roav and he nodded once, stoic but understanding.
"Yes."
I turned my head in the other direction, and my brow creased. On a steel table to my right was another me. I didn't recognize myself at first, what with my head shaved down to the skin and my eyes missing behind sunken lids. But there I was, a mirror with her chest cavity, throat, and cranium split open at the seams, electrical wires spilling from her body like innards, tied in bunches and draping down towards the floor.
Ezraji stepped in front of her, his tendrils twisted up with anxiety. "Apologies," he said, covering her with a sheet. I expected oil and blood stains to seep through the white, but nothing happened.
"That's the unit that replaced Rosy when she left, right?" I asked, feeling distant. Roav and Dr Zarabi looked at each other warily, then nodded.
"We refurbished her components to replace the ones you damaged," Roav explained.
I smiled. "That's nice." Now a little part of all three of us would share my body. Rosy, her doll, and me. I searched for her and found artifacts of her experience. "She tried really hard to be a good human."
When Roav and Dr Zarabi's eyes met again, the doctor's tendrils relaxed into confident spirals. "Speaking of being human, we have one other development to discuss with you before we discharge you to the care of yourthuais."
My insides flipped at the term, heat creeping up my neck and cheeks.