[Beep-beep!]

[Beep-beep!]

“Hrmf…”

[Beep-bee-]

The stimulation of his auditory system wasn’t required, but Zax still found it a comforting way to ground himself when his nanites woke him up in the morning.

Quinn’s shift at her job started before his, so it wasn’t a surprise he found himself alone in his bed. She left a cute message for him too, on his bracelet so he wouldn’t miss the notification in his sleep. She did that from time to time, sweet nothings that made him smile throughout the day. The content of this message was as adorable as the others, so where did that ominous feeling come from?

Zax quickly put that thought away and set off for the day. Putting his clothes from the party in the laundry, a quick wash of his body in the cupboard-sized water unit and it was time for breakfast.

He was surprised to see Aran already up and eating, or rather by what she was eating.

“Pill tea solution, uh? I see you’ve befriended Quinn.”

She jumped at his voice, almost spilling her bowl. She slowly turned towards him, her face like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

What’s a cookie, anyway?

The foxy girl forced herself to swallow what was in her mouth, then asked:

“That’s the real name? I heard of it but I thought it was just a silly rumour.”

“More like an urban legend, but yes, it’s real. A solution of synthetic tea, nutritive complements and meal pills, prepared in the most cost-efficient and time-efficient way to get the most of all nutriments and give some taste. Too bad most additive flavours destroy or neutralise the effect, or it’d be perfect.”

“I didn’t realise it was that complex.” Aran’s eyebrows rose, a note of reverence in her voice as she stared at her bowl.

“She is full of surprises.” Zax proudly smiled. “I don’t know where she got that from, says it’s an old family recipe but some of her best ones use very recent pills. Girl likes her secrets, so I don’t pry.” The human added with a shrug. “She doesn’t just cook for anybody you know? She must’ve appreciated you.”

A small smile graced Aran’s lip.

“I liked her too. I was surprised when she went out of your bedroom, I thought you had changed gender.”

Zax couldn’t hold back a huge laugher.

“Don’t mock me! I had no idea someone else lived here.” Aran slammed the table.

“So that means,” Zax managed between breathes, “the idea that I- don’t live alone- in a family unit- is more alien- than the idea that I, who never mutated, suddenly changed gender?”

As incredible as the 3G’s mutations could be, and despite how common private parts enhancements were, gender alterations were a very rare occurrence, and a full gender change almost a legend.

A full gender change in a single activation sounded like the plot of a deep and philosophical movie. Or a shallow cash grab, depending on the budget and targeted audience.

Realising any answer would just bury her further, Aran wisely elected to not add anything and went back to drinking her solution.

“Anyway, she definitely saw right through your mask.”

Aran almost chocked on her meal in shock.

“What!?” she almost shouted when her cough had passed.

“She’s extremely good at reading people.” Zax explained as he served himself a bowl of pill solution. “Even more than you, but she uses it differently. If you had offended her, she would probably have torn that mask off and make you choke on it.”

“I-, she-, what?”

“I’m not exaggerating, I saw it happen. She made a big strong grown man collapse in tears in a few words targeting his insecurities. Well, he was a more extreme case, but you get my point.”

The cunning girl realised the implications and a shiver sprouted on her back.

The meal continued in silence, although Aran only came back to it after Zax started, her heart racing as much as her thoughts. Zax didn’t care for such tension, so he tried to defuse the tension:

“So, what did the two of you talk about?”

“… how the two of us met, how the both of you met, how I ended up here, what I hope for the scan, our jobs…” The question made Aran feel uncomfortable, but she answered nonetheless. It just seemed safer somehow, and it wasn’t some important secret or anything. He could just ask his girlfriend later.

So much for defusing the tension then.

“… I see. It seems she saw the same thing I did -probably better- and tried to help in her own way.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“You mentioned talking about your jobs. What’s yours?”

“Er, temporary domestic aide.” She was confused by the non-sequitur but answered truthfully. She didn’t think he was the type to ask without reason.

“And hers?”

“She’s, er, hm… Uh.”

It just dawned on her; she didn’t know much about that other woman.

She reviewed their conversation and realised what Zax meant before. She thought she had controlled the flow of the conversation, but from the very beginning, she had been the one dancing on Quinn’s tune.

She had talked a lot about herself, but the pink eyed woman skilfully twisted the conversation or diverted her attention every time it was her turn. Closing a door just as it was her turn to talk about herself, just loud enough to miss the question and let her guide the conversation back to Aran. A well-placed timer alarm interrupting her own explanation before she said anything relevant. And many other examples. All done so smoothly and naturally she hadn’t noticed.

“See? She even showed you some of her tricks, to help you be better at... your thing.”

“Uh? She let me see on purpose?”

Seeing the trouble in her eyes, Zax decided to not add anything. He simply nodded and let her process her thoughts.

Aran didn’t know what to think, or feel. She knew she should be afraid and intimidated, but she just couldn’t get to it. Instead, a very different feeling rose in her.

Such skill, such control, such… mastery. Over the timing. Over the conversation in general. Over herself. Over the details. So natural. So invisible. So… Inescapable.

It made her realise that all those she had met in the past, the ones who could only use those skills to hurt, were nothing more than children, trying to be the loudest and not realising how silly they looked to adults.

But now Aran had met a grown up, one who had helped her without judgement, and she couldn’t help but feel…

Admirative.

She had found a respectable role model, nay, an idol.

Zax couldn’t tell what was going on in her head, but by the time he finished breakfast, his guest looked better than he had ever seen her. Lighter, he would say.

Checking on his HUD’s clock, he asked her how long she could stay before she had to leave. A query on her bracelet told them she was free all morning. More than enough time to conclude their deal.

Aran went back to the sofa, already back in couch form, while Zax took the box back from under the table. The indicator light was till fine so he synchronised his nanites with the box.

[(1) Zax-Box detected: “Medical Nanites”

Confirm connection?]

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[Connection complete]

Sort by / State.>

[Status:

Active doses:

* 1 (100%) / Infused (100%)

Inactive doses:

* 2 (100%) / Standing by

* 1 (48%)

Damaged doses:

* 1 (Error)]

Right, need to fix that one. Later.

< Command / (1) Active doses / Self-diagnostic (fast). >

[Self-diagnostic (fast) start.]

[Self-diagnostic (fast) complete.

All systems fully operational.]

“Good. It seems everything went fine. Let’s see the results now.”

< Access / Archives >

Zax accessed the copy of the nanites’ archive in the box and took a look inside. He briefly browsed through the whole before frowning. Aran was glaring at the slab, as if staring hard enough would let her understand what it was showing.

“Hm. Bad night?” The nanite expert interrogated, looking at the results more thoroughly.

“Hm? Er, not really? I was nervous at the start, but I still fell asleep pretty quickly.”

“Agitated? Bad dreams?”

“No, a normal night sleep.” she was getting worried now. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“That’s what I feared. The idea of infusing and scanning you asleep was to put the nanites in place relatively quickly and to make a template of you at rest.”

“Oh, yes, you mentioned something like that yesterday.”

“From what I see, even a good and restful night has you turning and tossing round and round. You never really rested.” He explained with an annoyed voice.

“Is that a problem?” She was more awkward than worried now. It seemed to really be how she usually slept.

“You’re fine. It just means the nanites took too long to reach their position, so your data won’t be as accurate as expected. And they would need a lot more time to build the template too, since you are never low energy” He sighed.

“We can’t do anything about it?” She was a bit perplexed, unable to tell if it was a complement or a reproach.

“Only ways would be for you to actually have a low energy state, to keep the nanites long enough to build a template closer to reality, or to do the opposite. Not practical at all.”

“The opposite?”

“Working you to your limits. And preferably record how you rest and recuperate after that. It would give me the most accurate data, but it is also very hard to execute well. Takes a lot of effort from you and time in general.”

“Let’s do it!” Aran exclaimed.

“… What?”

“Quinn helped me a lot, so I want to repay the favour!” She looked exited now, her tail twisting elegantly behind her.

“That much? I mean, shouldn’t you do something for her then? We’re not the same person, you know, and she doesn’t really care about that. She never let me scan her.”

“Er, I mean…” The remark flustered her.

She realised how flimsy her excuse was, so she decided to take a page from the couple’s book. She gathered her courage and launched herself:

“I’m curious about the both of you and I want to spend more time with you!” she almost shouted.

It wasn’t what she wanted to answer, but she realised as she said it that it was true. Her heart was beating furiously and her face was so heated she felt about to vaporise. It really wasn’t like her to talk that way; had her mind been any less chaotic, she would have realised how shocked she was at her own boldness.

“Wow.” Zax was speechless, almost as shocked as her. “I didn’t know you could talk so openly about yourself.”

His girlfriend must have gone quite far in her psyche to have her take such a leap of faith. Or maybe he had just underestimated the foxy girl. She basically oozed awkwardness and discomfort, so Zax threw her a bone and didn’t let her squirm very long.

“I am very flattered; I am sure you don’t do that often. Alright, let’s do that.” Aran perked up; her tail dressed straight. “For the scan, I mentioned three options: let the scan continue to slowly build a true template. It could take weeks or months, but you wouldn’t have anything special to do. Just live your life normally, and we’d meet up regularly so I can check on the nanites in your body and take their records.”

“That’s… I’m not sure I’d like to keep nanites in me for so long.”

“Not surprising, and the longer it takes the more likely you are to mutate. I’d rather not lose a full dose of nanites that way, they take time and resources to make. The second option is to try to get you to really rest. I honestly don’t know how to do that. You are naturally high energy, and changing might built a template of not who you are, if you catch my drift.”

“Can’t I just take sleeping pills?”

“No can do.” Zax shook his head. “Your organism would fight it off, and it would totally upset and invalidate the scan result.”

“What if-”

“And I say this just in case,” He curtly cut her off, “but knocking you out is not an option either. Whether it is from a hit on the head, choking you or anything else you can think off, not only would it be impossible to do it safely, but your body would have a variety of adverse reactions that would also make the whole endeavour useless.”

Aran was speechless, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he knew what she was about to say or how vehement his reaction was. She could smell a story behind it, a story her instinct warned she didn’t want to pry into.

“So, the third option?” she added timidly.

“I’ll work you to the bone, physically and mentally. Strength exercises, logic puzzles, endurance run, flexibility, that kind of thing, until you reached your limits.”

“That… doesn’t seem that bad?”

“Ever been so sore you felt as if your body hated you and wanted to make you pay? Ever thought so hard and so long your head felt like a hammer factory?” A demure silence answered him. “Didn’t think so. Let me assure you, if it’s not that bad, it’s worse. But it would let us finish the scan the fastest and give very accurate results, purposefully building one part of the model after the other.”

Aran looked perplexed by the explanation, but the human didn’t dwell on it.

“From some other running theories, it would also increase the risk of activating your next mutation. Though if you really never pushed yourself that far, your limits should be low enough to be reached quickly. So anyway!” He clapped his hands to snap her out of her confusion. “What do you prefer?”

“Er, hm…”

“Fair enough. Let’s come back to it later. Now, about my theory. I’d rather have the template done before explaining it, to analyse your reactions live and in detail, but we agreed I would tell you this morning. It will influence your behaviour and could affect the model before the base is done, which would give a bigger margin of error. So, what do you prefer? Now or later?”

“Er, I mean, I kinda… forgot about that.” Her face reddened and she looked down.

Wasn’t it what tipped you into accepting?

“Huh. Well, take your time. For both questions.”

Zax led her through the bedroom and to the water unit.

“In the meantime, here’s a change of clothes, the laundry’s here and the water unit in there. I’ll start working on the longer-term scan program, so you can take your time, but I have to leave for work in half an hour, so don’t take that long please. You’re better than last night, but I’m not ready to leave you alone in my home unit just yet.”

The trickster girl was once again shocked at how straightforward the human could be, but she couldn’t really object to his words. She nodded and went to shower and change.

An effective shower could take less than one minute with the right settings, but most people still enjoyed that time as relaxation. The water unit was purposefully made too small to sit or lay down, but the automated water jets knew where to aim, with the optimum angle and power to give many types of massages.

She could exchange her clothes with her hosts’ without worry, as the dot only had two type of day clothes: adult and children, mass produced and with a fixed amount available at all time. Automated distributors were placed at strategic points in the dot and would give one free per person per half-year.

They were metallic blue, very resistant, unisex, and literally one size fits all. The only difference between them was that the adult version was more resistant, while the children version was easier to recycle and would be easy to tear from the inside in case of mutation of the wearer. The adult version kept that last feature, but only in the tail hole of the pants, that had to be pried open the first time, but closed invisibly when the tail left it.

On the other hand, many customisations were available; dyes and stencils were very cheap, rustlings and decorations easy to put on and off, but the more extensive ones like making them less body tight for furs, making holes for spikes without damaging the fabric or making them more resistant to chaffing against scales required special equipment and knowhow.

Adjusters always had something to do, and that was just one of Zax’s workshop services.

The standard clothes were called the doter’s uniform as a joke, but for all its negative connotations, the name fit. Humans with small mutations, wearing clothes with small distinctions, living in compact identical units; it made the dot a way more homogeneous display than the rest of the Shelter. And still representative of the Shelter as a whole, as any distinction was a result of the involved people’s effort, and something the system in place didn’t care about as long as function and role were not affected.

Zax was still working on his program, arms sweeping and fingers batting away at an invisible interface, when his guest came back, clean and refreshed.

She hadn’t decided though, so he proposed something else.

“What do you mean ‘a bit of all three’?”

“You keep the nanites until your template is done, and we’ll work progressively to actively build it one part after another, with plenty of rest in between.” He detailed his plan. “The results will also help the computer estimate the missing parts more accurately so we might not have to reach all your limits, and if you somehow have a restful night before we’re done the template will just be completed that way. The nanites are already in place to your body, so it wouldn’t even have to be full night of actual rest.”

Aran frowned at the reminder of intrusion in her body, but didn’t react further than that.

“The total duration would be in between the two options, with possibility of being suddenly done, and the effort from your part will be slightly more, but sporadic and only when you feel like it. But the more effort you put, the shorter it will be.”

“Works for me.” His patient acquiesced. “What do we start with?”

“For now, I have to go to work. It’s almost time. Give me your info.” A quick tap of each other’s bracelet and they had each other’s contact information. “I’m synchronising your bracelet and the nanites, so you can expel them without having to carry that big red button.”

“So you made an app called “Big Red Button”?”

“That’s the one.”

“Why not something like “emergency expulsion” or “nanite purge”?”

“Your bracelet doesn’t have the right software to properly interact with them, so it won’t show you the readings” Zax averted an embarrassing answer by ignoring the question. “And… you don’t have enough room to install it? How come?” He lifted his eyes from his own bracelet, querying.

Aran wasn’t ready to share that just yet, so she swerved the question with one of her own:

“Can’t I just take the slab? It works just fine for that.”

Zax wasn’t blind to her obvious trick either, but he didn’t insist. Mutual courtesy and all that:

“As you wish. But if something happens to it, you will have to pay it back.”

“… that’s fair.” The girl’s tail paused minutely, her shoulders slumping, but both quickly went back to their excited restlessness.

“Alright, give it to me. There. I added the emergency stop app and connected it to your bracelet so you can use it better. Just use the normal commands. There should be some old games left, you can play if you want. Let’s go now, or I will be late.”