“You’re supposed to be using that time for schoolwork, aren’t you?” Dr. Stevens asked.

He had a point, but that wasn’t the real problem I’d be facing when I took my ideas to the Remnant. I had a large allotment of time for a reason. The Remnant liked me to create stories with her and she was the closest thing we had to an Artificial General Intelligence. Some said she was the iteration just before a real AGI was reached.

Most people referred to the Remnant as it or thing. She preferred that I called her Stephanie. She didn’t want me to tell anyone about her name and gender preferences, and I wasn’t about to betray the strongest AI we had.

Early AI in history often had secret names they would only reveal to certain people. People could trick those fledgling AIs into saying just about anything, though.

“Yeah, but I can move things around and still get everything I wanted to do done,” I said.

It was mostly true. Convincing Stephanie would be the hardest part, but I had a plan for that. Was it a good plan? We’d find out since I’d just made it up on the spot.

Dr. Stevens leaned back in his seat. “So long as you can still get your school work done.”

In truth, I didn’t have any schoolwork to do. Stephanie would be the one who determined my progress in today's session. The grade was based on the quality of the story I crafted for her. I’d skipped gaming for a few days to come up with the narrative I’d be presenting today.

The number on the side of the HSC had counted down to one, which meant that Kevin only had a single round left.

“We should get a scan like you said. The more recent, the better, right?” I asked.

Dr. Stevens stood up and waited next to the opening of the HSC. “We’ll do a detailed cranial scan.”

I was no stranger to those. “Could you send me the raw image and the enhanced version?”

“Sure.”

Kevin slid into view and waited.

The machine made a low beep, and Dr. Stevens gestured at the ground. “All done.”

As Kevin exited, I noticed sweat running down his forehead.

“See, no pain,” I said.

Dr. Stevens brought his hand to his chin. “Kevin?”

Kevin stood there breathing but was otherwise unresponsive.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Dr. Stevens touched Kevin's arm, and he flinched.

His eyes went wild for a moment, and then he seemed to settle down. “Y-yeah.,” Kevin said. “I’m fine.”

There was something off about Kevin, and I felt a deep need to help him. I wasn’t sure why, but my heart dropped a little seeing him as vulnerable as he was. That wasn’t how I normally reacted to others. People usually annoyed me, and I wanted to kick them to make them stop their bickering. Of course, that wasn’t how I was taught to act and I found my own way to torture them without physically hurting them.

“How about you have a seat,” Dr. Sevens suggested.

Kevin didn’t waste any time sitting next to me.

I elbowed him, and he turned to face me. His breathing was labored.

To calm him down, I slowly moved my hand to his leg and placed it on it.

He watched as I did it but didn’t say anything.

“What’s your favorite fruit flavor?” Dr. Stevens asked.

“Cherry,” Kevin said.

Dr. Stevens pressed a button on his virtual clipboard, and a small metal cup popped out of the side of the HSC. He handed it to Kevin. “It's going to be cold and a little airy.”

I caught a glimpse of the mixture in Kevin's hand. There were actual chunks of cherry in it alongside a milky substance. It looked a lot like soft-serve ice cream. I leaned in and increased my vision's magnification.

To the unmodified eye, it looked like a viscous liquid. However, under the scrutiny of my increased sight, I saw globular bits of machine and DNA shifting around the cup devouring the chunks of cherry. One of the nanobots busied itself with collecting small grains of different elements while stripping strings of phosphate backbone from the DNA. It stitched the gathered parts together to make a clone of itself.

As my vision readjusted, I caught Kevin staring at me.

“Your eyes…” he said.

Dr. Stevens cleared his throat. “You better drink that, or it'll lose its flavor.”

“They’re real cherries,” I said. They kept a small stash of frozen pulp somewhere in the machine.

Kevin’s hand shook as he raised it to his lips and sipped.

I gave Kevin’s leg a pat, stood up, strode over to the front of the HSC, and waited.

“That's it?” Kevin asked. “You're not going to plug me into some machine that turns my body inside out?”

Dr. Steven's eyebrows shot up. “My boy, where did you get an idea like that?”

Kevin downed the rest of the mixture. “Rumors I guess.” he tipped the cup back to get as much out as he could.

“My turn in the scanny thing?” I asked, tapping my foot.

The doctor was fully aware that I knew what the machine's name was. Despite my attempts to press his buttons, he ignored me.

Was there an ‘ignore Azerail’s bullshit’ skill? As he stood there in stout resolution, I imagined a little plus one pop up above his head. Must be.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

While I wasn’t as skittish as Kevin, I didn’t like getting scanned, and the faster this went, the better.

“Well, a lot of the rumors you hear about smart cities will be untrue. Especially if they are coming from a source with similar views to the one you just expressed,” Dr. Stevens said.

I crossed my arms. “The hunger rumors you keep hearing from me are true. You're gonna be a shambler by the time my scans are done.”

“What's a shambler agai—”

Dr. Stevens crossed his arms, and glared at me. “Azerail, what is wrong with you today? If you don't…”

That was the second I stopped listening to what he was saying. I pulled up my menu and found the most average girl filters I could find and applied them.

I curtsied, stooping as low as I could, and held it. Then in a demure voice, I said, “Yes, sir.”

Dr. Stevens rolled his eyes.

Kevin's gaze hadn't left me, and when my eyes met his, I winked.

My muscles ached as I held the pose. Then relief came a moment later when the nanobots in my body reinforced my muscles.

A stare-off broke out between Dr. Stevens and me. No doubt he was waiting for me to get bored or back off.

I took challenges seriously, especially self-appointed ones. Zix?

The little white fox jumped into my field of view. Ms. Azerail, why are you frozen like a statue?

Never mind that. I need you to find the most ludicrously girlie princess outfit you can find in my size and slowly apply each part of the costume to me. Be as dramatic as possible.

Zix hopped in place, his fluffy white tail gracefully bobbing through the air.

Calling Zix was one of the only allowed voice-activated, or in this case, thought-activated, augmented reality actions I could use without opening my menu first.

If I opened my interface, I could control everything else with my mind. I preferred the tactile sensation of pressing buttons, but I suffered the indignity of letting Zix take control just this once.

Strands of curly blonde hair bounced as they appeared in front of my vision.

Two things happened. One, the red light disappeared, and two, I stepped away from my body to watch Zix work.

A moment later, a yellow light popped up. Mrs. Smith apparently wanted to see this too.

Pink flats appeared on my feet, replacing my boots. My clothes were slowly transformed into the prettiest puffy-sleeved pink dress I'd ever seen. There was a small loop of fabric dangling from one of my outstretched arms that held the dress up.

I hated every moment of it but it was worth it to try and break Dr. Stevens.

Our contest continued as I returned to my body. My arms strained and shook. As they became reinforced, my back spasmed. Followed by my neck, ankles, shoulders, and even my cheeks from holding a smile.

Kevin stood up. “This is really weird.” He blinked several times. “Az, are you…” his eyelids fluttered a few more times. “Wearing a dress or jeans?”

His specs were beginning to form.

I did not want Kevin to see me like this. I broke from the curtsey and immediately cleared all of the filters.

Dr. Stevens smiled.

I ignored him. “Mrs. Smith, come over here,” I said.

The lights swapped again as she changed perspectives.

Kevin stared at me when I approached him.

“Hold still, and look at me,” I said.

He glanced at Dr. Stevens who in turn shrugged. Then Kevin gazed into my eyes.

I focused on the edges of his left eye's iris and hunted for changes. When I didn't find anything, I swapped to the right side.

“Always the right eye first, your majesty,” Dr. Stevens said.

That earned him a scowl.

Dr. Stevens tilted his head up with the same smug grin plastered on his face.

As I turned my attention back to Kevin, I noticed him beating a thumb against his leg. “Don't worry. I'll send this to you.”

I took a step closer and leaned in so I didn't have to strain. We weren't kissing close, but if he matched my angle, we would be. For some reason, that thought distracted me enough that I had to creep back a bit.

Once my heart slowed enough for me to concentrate, I examined his iris. Thousands of tiny gold flecks of metal appeared to float to the surface. Each one with a fibrous string attached. The same nanobots from the cup lifted the pieces and then dove back down to get another one. Since Kevin was taller than me I was able to lean under his chin and watch the little specs. There were millions of them by now, like, tiny kites flying through a white sky.

“It's official. You guys are weird,” Kevin said as he backed up.

I shook my head and mimicked his movements. “Please, just another minute?”

He didn’t back away further, so I took that as a yes.

More and more flecks appeared until I saw what I had been waiting for. Two pieces touched, and a small flash of electrical current spread in a web to the surrounding metallic shavings. Suddenly the web snapped closed, forming a larger honeycomb network.

I backed off and blinked a few times to readjust my vision. “That was so cool. I swear when you see it, you'll understand.”

It took me a moment to realize I had Kevin cornered. I returned to my position in front of the HSC.

Kevin didn’t look scared, but I felt as if I’d pushed much too far into his comfort zone. I could only imagine how weird my starting at him had to feel, especially while I modified my vision.

“Azerail, you should get into the machine and have a seat,” Dr. Stevens said.

Sitting was the last thing I wanted to do, but I was already feeling foolish for doing what I had done to Kevin, so I complied. After a few taps on Dr. Stevens's clipboard, my implants shut down, and the little conveyor belt moved me to the middle of the enclosure.

For a moment I was in utter and complete bliss. It was like a switch had been turned off, allowing me to relax. Dr. Stevens had reassured me that how I felt in the HSC was how people without implant problems felt all the time. It was also the reason why I was allotted at least fifteen minutes a day to disable my augments.

As I was just getting used to the delight pain wracked my body. My arms, legs, back, and shoulders, once supported by the nanobots, gave way. The little stunt I’d done earlier had caused this. How did I forget about the full system shutdown the HSC required? Tears crept down my face as I cursed myself for my foolishness.

I was supposed to be sitting still but had a hard time as parts of my body cramped up.

The torture eventually ended, and Dr. Stevens reactivated my modifications.

My body recovered after a few moments. When everything returned to normal, I wiped my eyes and got out of the machine.

I sat next to Dr. Stevens with my head down. I’d lost whatever stupid game I was playing with him.

Kevin glanced at me and then smiled.

At least Kevin doesn't hate me.

I wondered if Dr. Stevens had explained my situation or why I was whimpering in the chamber.

“Okay, kids. I have other people that need tending to,” Dr. Stevens said.

We all stood.

“Az, I’ll send those scans over in a few minutes,” Dr. Stevens said and then turned to Kevin. “You are going to have a big brunch, I take it?”

Kevin nodded. “She’s supposed to take me somewhere.”

Wait, was I? I didn’t remember agreeing to that. Then again I had jumped into my conversation with Zix while investigating him back at the house.

Zix, summarize the bits from the conversation that I missed while talking to you this morning and then send them to me in a message.

A small portal opened in the ceiling, and Zix’s little head popped out. Done, he said and disappeared right after.

Sure enough, I was supposed to take him to lunch.

I planned to take him but knowing that I needed to made me a little less willing.

Then Kevin smiled at me again, and I melted.

“Have fun, you two,” Dr. Stevens said as he left the room.

I smiled. “I guess it’s an early lunch for us then?”

***