I let Aegis direct me to Sasha’s dorm then I knocked.

“One second!” I heard faintly from the other side, then a moment later the door opened to review Sasha in a comfy looking multicolored sweater and black leggings.

“Ethan, Argus told me you would be coming by to chat about… all of this crazy dookie!” She said.

“Umm can I come in?” I asked.

“Oh right! Come on in!” She said in a bubbly sort of way.

“Do you want a drink? Unfortunately I don't have any alcohol, our AI buddies want to keep us sober.” She said.

“Any of the pre-workout drinks? I sort of like them.” I said.

“Sure” and she tossed me one from the minifridge.

“So… selected to save humanity…” I said in a sort of shocked expression.

“Yup… still trying to wrap my head around that…” She said, then sat down on the opposite side of her couch.

“I'm still getting over the whole, let's have you remote pilot a body to use anywhere in the Galaxy.” She said.

“Do you know how that works?” I asked.

“Not a clue… but I mean getting to choose our appearance sounds like lots of fun.” She said.

“Umm come again? I don’t remember that coming up in my talk with Aegis.” I said, then I felt a buzzing on my wrist that read “Oops Sorry”.

“How did she forget the best part?” Sasha asked the air, she still had her AR glasses and earbuds in so she was talking to Argus.

With a sigh I put my stuff back on and was greeted by two ethereal figures, Aegis and I guessed Argus.

“Ah there they are, and please remember we are people in our own right…” She said to me.

“Ah sorry… I guess I need to work on my etiquette…” I said a bit ashamed.

“Okay… so what is this about selecting a body?” I asked confused.

“So we are far more focused on the well-being of our charges like I said and part of that process is being allowed to choose how your remote shell looks and feels.” Aegis told me.

“Okay? You seem to be hinting at something but I'm still not getting it.” I said in confusion.

“Ah… well I guess you never thought of it as an option…” She said.

“Okay thought of what?” I asked.

“Well living as a woman.” She told me.

“What…” I said confused, dumbfounded, and strangely curious.

“Why would you think that?” I asked both confused and for some reason nervously.

“Ah… well during your time here I have been doing an analysis of your responses. When you see yourself in the mirror or try to fit yourself in a smaller space you tend to become despondent to a certain degree.” she said.

“Okay but wouldn't that mean I was just annoyed by my size? I was not any sort of sports person so the only advantage I had was reaching stuff on the top shelf…” I said somewhat defensively.

“It's also your reaction to seeing women, for most males it becomes an analysis of a possible mate… and yes I know it's far more complex than that and sexist… but there are still elements… for you it's far more complex.” She said.

"The second part does seem like a stretch…" Sasha said.

"It really isn't once you know what to look for. But I will add that it is a huge leap to go from mild body dysphoria to transgender…" Argus said.

"Alright fine… but as my charge I want you to be as comfortable as possible." Aegis told me.

"Besides, tomorrow morning the two of you will be transferred up to the next section to begin more formal training which includes the initial process of piloting a remote body." Aegis then told the two of us.

"So wait, does that mean we get to experiment with how we look?" Sasha asked excitedly.

"To a limited extent, yes but we will try to keep you from spending all your time playing dress up." Argus said, and I could almost feel the eye roll.

"So why the move?" I asked.

"We don't want possible candidates from learning about some of the benefits. At the end of the day those benefits are only supposed to help people cope." Aegis said.

"Ok that makes sense, also by the way I just remembered your comment about making myself and Sasha best friends. What the heck is that all about?" I asked.

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"I would love to be your friend!" She said excitedly.

"Ok fair… I would like to be friends as well..." I said a bit reluctantly, I really didn't like to be forced into these situations even if it was for my own good. In fact the few times I talked with Sasha I really did enjoy the interaction, we sort of got each other in odd ways.

"See I am just doing my job." Aegis said almost smugly.

"Alright so Ethan, what do you want to try tomorrow for your first remote pilot?" Sasha asked me.

"I don't know, I figure I could just like to be a foot shorter just so I can fit into regular spaces and stuff." I said somewhat embarrassed by the idea.

"You can change anything you want and you came up with being a foot shorter?" Sasha asked in disbelief.

"Well you try sitting down at a normal table only to bang your knees. Or what about bumping your head on a door frame." I said somewhat frustrated.

"Alright I won't bug you about any of that… It sounds like tall people problems." She said half jokingly.

"Well what about yourself?" I asked.

"I want purple cat ears and a bright green fox tail and pixie wings." She said.

"That might be a bit much… we still need you to fit into a mech cockpit." Argus commented.

"Wow…I didn't realize you could do all sorts of crazy fantasy stuff…" I commented after processing what Sasha had said.

"There are limits in size and weight we need the remote body to comply with… most of the time." Argus said, then added the last part reluctantly.

The four of us continued to talk for several more hours. It was interesting talking to Argus. We seemed to see thing more eye to eye and would have assumed the two of us would be a better match. Thinking about It later I also realized that some of the negative trends in one personality might end up compounding another.

Eventually I made my way back to my own room and sat down on my bed.

"Why do you think I would be happier as a woman?" I asked somewhat confused.

"Genetic and neurological profile indicates a high probability of possible gender dysphoria." Aegis said sort of robotically.

"I mean I think I have heard of some of that before but… that seems like a bit much." I commented.

"You are correct, it is not a guarantee." She said flatly.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Have you ever been so certain about something but no one else believes you?" She asked me.

"Im… not sure… I've never been that invested in any one thing." I said, trying to understand where this was going.

"That actually does help me understand a bit." She told me.

"Look… I would like you to try just one thing tomorrow, during the initial tutorial that is done via a full dive you will have the option to customize your new body. During that time I can set the entire thing to private, just you and me. I would like you to try it out for two minutes if you find no comfort or connection in it when you change back to whatever you feel fits best and I never bring it up again." She told me.

"If it will stop you from bugging me about this idea… sure. You said it will be in private?" I asked.

"Just you and me… hell just you if you are not comfortable with me being there." She said.

"Alright I'll try, I would be dumb not to… just thinking about it… how often do people get the opportunity to live a completely different life." I commented.

"See that's the spirit." Aegis said.

The next morning Sasha and I were directed up to the next section where we would get to experience new bodies… which was just crazy to even think about.

We were both provided fitted spandex suits that covered our entire body except our faces. I was quite embarrassed as it left absolutely nothing left to the imagination.

"Ths suits are designed to help monitor your physical body's vitals while your mind is projected elsewhere." Aegis told me via the AR glasses and earbuds.

"Does it have to be so tight?" I asked with embarrassed.

"The short answer is yes… the long answer is no… The normal process is to move your unconscious body to a long term storage bunker where it could sit for decades and it would all only ever be looked at by a series of medical AI." Aegis told me.

"Alright… so what is going to happen?" I asked.

"You will be seated then a local anesthetic will be administered to the back of your neck. Once completed and properly numbed up you will have a neural shunt attached to your spine that will cause all movement commands issued from your brain to be blocked." She told me.

"That seems like quite a bit." I said hesitantly.

"You are also going to have probes drilled into your brain, luckily these are nearly microscopic so you will not even feel them. These filaments will start to track and trace every neural connection in your brain until fully mapped. This is all dome while you are under a mild sedation where you will go to sleep in the chair and wake up in the digital environment." She explained.

"Alright as long as I'm not required to participate in the active mapping…" I commented.

"Alright let's get out there, you and Sasha will be connected roughly in parallel and we can eventually join environments." She said.

"So wait, is Sasha a partner for me in all of this?" I asked confused.

"Yes, having a person going through similar trials as your own helps with supporting one another." Aegis told me.

I was then directed out of the room and into a sort of medical and robotics facility. I could see Sasha was just sitting down in one of two chairs both being fussed over by multiple sets of technicians.

Sasha gave a cat call as I approached. "You have some long legs." She commented.

"Thanks… I think" I said embarrassed.

Seeing Sasha's soft curves made me skip a beat, I focused on what I was feeling in an attempt to disprove Aegis. I was hoping to find arousal or desire or something… instead I found… what jealousy, envy? The problem was the more I thought about it the more I realized she might be right… I didn't like being a guy I never did. But I was always too scared to admit it… even when it was brought up in therapy I was embarrassed by the idea… so much so that I realized how many of those sessions I had repressed…

"Sir if you can please take a seat we can start the process." The medical technician told me.

Right, I was overthinking it just like everything else. I would just sit down and enjoy the crazy experience. As soon as I was sitting down a nurse pressed an injector into my right arm and pulled the trigger. I felt a small spike of pain then a very mild coolness that I could feel slowly spreading.

"Have fun when you wake up you will be in the full immersion space. It's a wild ride for most kids." An older medical tech more than likely a doctor said to Sasha and myself. Then I felt my eyes getting heavier.