"Now, open your eyes."

"... I cannot. It's... Hard to explain."

Dr Elune sighed, "I thought you had all the bugs worked out, Laura."

"It is not a mechanical failure, doctor..."

"Phew, I was worried. I can guess what it is, though." Laura sniggered as she elbowed Dr Elune in the ribs, "Told you it was a bad idea."

"What? Ohhhh. Right. Can you, um... Do it manually? With your mind?"

"... I shall try, doctor."

A few moments of silence passed, before alex slowly cracked an eye open, wincing emmediately as their new eyes were beseiged with light.

"I'm not quite sure I understand. This is the same as the Norman model, correct? Why is Alex having so much trouble?"

"Oh Ren, ye of little imagination..." Dr Elune grinned, and tapped on Alex's thigh... Resulting in a yelp as the new body tensed up. "Good to see the reactions work out right. Back to what I was saying: The muscle strencht and such might be as per normal. But..."

"Get on with it."

"Yeah, Sam. Even I'm getting bored, and I know the answer already."

"Fine! Sheesh. I removed the limiters from her design."

"... Her?"

"Yeah. The norman model was male... So we went with female this time."

"Huh. Seeing Alex as a guy, I kinda just..."

Easing up gently, Alex groaned quietly, "I am an AI, remember. The assignment of a biological gender is... Optional."

Dr Elune chuckled, "And changable, as you see here."

"Well, that just makes things confusing. And I am now way too self consious that... She... Is topless."

Laura rolled her eyes, "Remind me again, why did Alex settle on such a... Middle of the road appearance?"

"Miss Laura, I chose this design to most approachable. I was only assigned a gender to make this model more... Convincing under scrutiny." As Dr Elune grinned, staring at Ren's deliberately blank expression, Alex continued, "I appear to have gotten the hang of this. I don't think I should move much yet, though..."

"Gotten the hang of what? I still don't get this talk of limiters."

"There are two kinds I removed. The first, and most obvious: No exceeding safe limits. Humans can't strain their muscles beyond breaking point... Alex can choose to ignore that. It will hurt, but we can replace parts should the emergency arise."

"Great.That one I had already fihured out, knowing you. But why would that cause trouble opening her eyes?" Ren fidgeted slightly, still getting used to Alex's new setup.

Laura interjected with a grin, "Yeah, she is having trouble with the other kind: Sensory limiters. You know how we can focus our senses, when we concentrate, or are in danger?"

"... Yeah?"

"Alex doesn't have that. This body has all the info, full blast, all the time. The Norman model had these limiters hardwired, to prevent overloading a person... They are meant to be cybernetics, after all."

"Ahhh. Now I get it. But alex is pretty powerful now, right?"

Alex slumped back on the bed, smiling gently as she put on a nearby shirt that had been prepared, "Two problems there, Doctor Ohara. Firstly, you underestimate how many sensations people blosk out. Secondly... Due to the wireless frequencies I have to deal with, my bandwidth is... Limited. I needed to set up localised rules to narrow my senses, ironically to a human level."

"Good to know. So, moral of the story: We wire her up to the network directly, and she becomes super-human?"

"Well, that, or we find a solution to the android brain dillema we have been facing. Then she will only have to sync with the main core now and then." As Ren pondered Dr Elune's reply, they smirked, "Oh, and by the way... Don't get too comfortable with Alex being a girl."

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"... Wh-No, don't tell me. I can already guess."

Laura grinned broadly, "Too late! We were making the Male and Female 'Diplomat' units at the same time. The other guy is in a room next door, waiting his turn with Judith."

"Just, why, but... Then why is this model androgynous?!"

Dr Elune grinned sheepishly, letting Alex answer instead, "The doctor has... Interesting tastes. I ended up liking this appearance as a result, and only made the seperate model at the doctor's insistance."

Sighing, Ren made one last feeble effort, "Okay then. Why did we turn on the female unit first?"

"We flipped a coin. Laura and Judith insisted turning both on would be too much."

"... I will never get used to you and your insanity, Sam."

"Always welcome. Now, Alex. Feel like you can handle the second unit at the same time?"

"Not a chance, doctor. I am utilising too many processors as it is, to prevent from being overwhelmed. Perhaps later... Laura, how long?"

"Give me a week. We should run some calibration tests on this one first, though."

Getting up slowly, Alex stretched with a light groan, "Very well... It feels good, being able to move around again."

"Get a little attached to that Norman model, did we?" Dr Elune giggled as Alex tottered over to the middle of the room, practicing stretches first.

"A little. And this model... I can turn up the sensetivity at will. The feel of air on my skin... It is... Interesting~"

As Ren's face once again became an unreadable mask, Dr Elune smugly leant over, whispering, "You know... The model next door has the same view from behind."

"... Did you have to point that out?"

"Yes."

".... You are incorrigable."

"Also yes."

Laura glanced up from Alex, who was in the middle of some leg stretches, "Do I want to know?"

"No.""Nope!" Ren sighed in resignation as Dr Elune beamed with glee.

"... Thought so." Turning back to Alex, Laura made a few more notes, "High flexability, as ordered. No signs of anything unusual... You sure you are fine, with the sensors as they are?"

"Thank you for the concern, miss Laura... But this is fine. I will not be able to handle this for great lengths of time, however... Perhaps an hour a day."

"Good to know. This unit checks out, then. Let's wrap this up, and go to the other room."

As Alex settle back down into the bed, closing her eyes to power down that unit, Dr Elune wandered over to Laura who was finishing with her notes, "Good job."

"Thank you. Also, I hope that is the last time I have to work on... Those segments."

"We will undoubtedly get orders for prosthetics. So, unless Alex handles those parts exlusively, which would be a rather interesting arrangement, someone has to do it."

"... You're an ass."

Chuckling, Dr Elune leant on her shoulder, and murmured, "So, what was this about one week?"

Blinking, Laura looked up at them confised, then her eyes widened slightly, "Ahhh... Alex didn't mention it to you. Well, I'm sure it's fine. This works out as a good test, anyway."

"... You aren't going to tell me, are you."

"Nope!"

"... You're an ass."

"Yeah, but I'm a better ass than you~"

As they both laughed at that, they headed off to the next room, Ren distracted as he glanced back at the unit peacefully laying there.

"... This might work."