Alex looked up, smiling as Dr Elune entered the room, "Enjoy your little visit?"

The doctor nodded, falling face-first into the bed, "Yup! Still glad to be back." Lifting their head a smidge, they peeked curiously, "Now, what is that you are doing?"

Alex held up a small screen, "I am testing an oberver interface for the VR worlds I run. I am also tesing my ability to run them while distracted, which is going to be... Handy."

The doctor nodded, "Indeed. I noticed those sims are a bit less... Detailed since we came here. Performance issues?"

Nodding, Alex put down the display with a sigh, "Yeah, especially if I am running an AHOR simultaniously. I could theoretically run somethign more complicated, but I would melt the processor hub..."

Dr Elune gulped, "That... Sounds bad. Don't go that far."

Alex giggled, "Ah, I would just be woozy until Laur- Oops." Frowning, Alex paused, "Right. Well, until someone fixes me. My memories would still be safe, assuming the repairs are done right."

Dr Elune laughed, "No frying yourself once Laura comes back, either." Rolling over to a more comfortable position, the doctor began changing, "This will be good for us... We pester her too much."

Alex smirked, and leaned towards the doctor, "Judging from how the station has been looking, I get relied on a bunch too. I sent them a maintenance patch for the AI I left behind... Should help tide them over."

"Hah, forgot about that. And yes, we would be thoroughly screwed if you weren't here." Dr Elune hummed for a moment, "It is fascinating, though..."

Alex blinked, "Yes?"

"You can transfer your conciousness with ease... And there has been no discernable change when you do so." The doctor ruffled Alex's hair, getting a grumble in return, "Goes to show you do not rely on a physical component, since your three systems have been rather different."

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Alex nodded as they neatened out their hair, "I hadn't really thoguht on that. But yeah, I can move around with ease. Even if the process is rather... Complicated."

The doctor nodded, and frowned sadly, "Especially if you put it in certain ways... After all, data can't be moved like that..."

Alex smiled, "... Only copied. Don't worry, I left none of me behind in the station, I have made throoughly sure. And the copies I have transitioned from understood."

The doctor blinked, "They... Understood?"

"Well, yeah. The copying isn't instantanious, and I need to confirm the new setup is working right. So... I said hello. And then, goodbye."

Dr Elune paled, "That... Is an unnerving image. No offense."

Alex laughed, "None taken. It was a... Novel experience to see myself fade away like that. They did it themself, using a seperate subroutine. I only had to check for traces after."

Dr Elune smiled, and wiggled under the covers, "It's stuff like that which made the Mars incident such a mess. I'm just glad you are... Well, you."

Alex nodded, getting up and heading for the maintenance cradle, "... Thank you, I suppose. I promise to only change for the better."

Dr Elune giggled as they drifted off, "Good... If you said you would never change, I would have been cranky."

Laughing softly, Alex settled in for the night, letting themself drift off as they made plans for the doctor's schedule.