It was a couple of hours before Angela and I were expected in the dining room, so we started unloading the van, cleaning the gear, and putting it away. My hands were getting stiff from all the water, so she had me stop washing stuff."

"Let's go work on some casing for you, before dinner." She said when we had put everything away. "It's easier to make plastic parts, and see how you move with them before we make your actual armor. In some cases you may opt to keep the printed parts rather than switching to metal."

I nodded to her reasoning as we walked into one of the rooms connected to the garage. It was full of machines that were moving, the largest one only came up to my hips. These must be the extent of modern robots.

"Do you think we could build a new frame as well? This one seems a bit blocky, and doesn't let me move the way I want." I tell her.

"Yeah, we should, but let's get this one protected first. Do you mind if we start with your head? Protecting those parts seems kind of imperative, and now that I've seen the ones in the basement, it seems like that is what we should do."

"Sounds good to me."

"Since you can't show emotion with this head, I was thinking a doll's head, like the ones from your memories as a girl, just before you got the chair."

"You can do something like that?" I asked.

She turned around and picked up a plastic doll of a fairy, that was about the same size as the doll in my memory.

"Printing it is easy, once we have what we want designed." We sat down next to her computer and started designing my 'doll face' and printed it in three pieces. The face as one part, the bottom of the back, and top as well as the rest of the back as the third part. All of it was solid white

It didn't quite fit right, and it limited my sight slightly. But at least the face's proportions looked right, and my cameras were in the right spot, we didn't have to move anything.

We were adjusting the fit between the pieces when we got called to the dining room.

Angela took a deep breath in, as we walked into the room. "Smells good Carol." She said. We sat down around the table. I knew where they wanted me because there wasn't a plate, only a oil dropper and a pint container of oil.

The group stopped what they were doing and looked at me when I came into the room.

"What?" I instinctively asked.

"We weren't expecting to see a face yet." Andy replied.

"I like the design." Jody said.

"It's a temporary design, Papa. I want to get her frame covered before I start doing anything permanent." Angela said as she sat down.

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

I sat at my seat, and looked at the home cooked meal in front of me. It was simple meatloaf, hominy, creamed green beans, and cornbread. I wanted some. And here I sat, knowing I could not only, not, eat this meal in front of me; I couldn't smell it.

I reluctantly started oiling my parts, watching as those around me ate. I hadn't gotten homesick like this in the last week, I hadn't ever been camping before, so I guess the camp soup pot, and the trail rations didn't do it for me. But seeing this, it was hard.

The white plastic mask on my head felt real for a moment, it felt like I was back in that chair, putting on the act of enjoying my friends being happy, and independent.

I bided my time, and once I had oiled every place that needed it, I asked to be excused.

I set the oil and dropper on the counter in the kitchen, and walked out to sit on the back porch. The cold air felt good. At least I could still feel. I don't know how it worked, but I was able to feel the dry cool air around me. It was one of the few things I had kept from my old life.

"Ayla, are you alright?" Angie asked.

"Yeah, just homesick." I told her as she sat on the step next to me.

"Well, we will have to make this feel like your new home. Just think of us as your new caretakers." She seemed to regret the choice of words immediately.

"Angela, do me a big favor," she nodded, "don't compare yourself to that woman."

She nodded, set her hand on my shoulder and sat with me for a short time. "It's time for bed Ayla, and you need to sleep tonight."

"I know." I looked at her. "it kind of scares me though." I confided. she stood up, and got in front of me and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why does Sleeping Scare you?" she asked me.

"No, but you know what happened to me.  I don't want you to have nightmares because of my accident, I know I did for years.  let alone, well, I don't want to talk about it."

"I know.  its not the first time I have touched a troubled spirit.  but it is the first time I have witnessed, well...."

"Yeah.  by the way, what room am I in?"

"Papa said you can sleep in my room.  some of your joints are sharp, so you cant sleep in one of the beds, but I have a bench next to my window you can sleep on."  she said to me.  I got up and followed her into the house.

"By the way, why does Jody call you 'Booger'"  I looked over at her, "Never Mind."  I replied when I saw her picking her nose.  and I don't mean just a scratch, I mean white-knuckle, and digging.

"What?"  she said the same way I had at the dinner table.

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